I light my flame of remembrance.

For my family, nearby and global.

Friends close to my heart...always.

Those that lost their lives on what should have been just another day.

And the ones that made it through the terror only to deal every day with the horrors of the aftermath. Residents and workers, like my friend and mentor George Tabb...suffering now with chronic illnesses that will shorten their time here on earth.

I light my flame of remembrance, in honor of you all.



Blessed be...














this a repeat from my blog 09.11.2007

I've been a reading and writing fool lately.  Lots of things to come and soon.

Just now, BlogCritics published my latest review of a brand new book called Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone (the Ramones Years) by Vera Ramone King.  Click here to read it.

I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.  Not just because I liked the book but it also afforded me the opportunity to talk to Vera Ramone herself!

Going into the interview I knew we had several things in common.  Besides the obvious interest in the Ramones music and Dee Dee's part in it as the major contributor as songwriter we are both from Queens NY and are Leo babies.  What started out being a formal interview turned into conversation.  As things progressed and we talked several times more similarities came to the surface. 

While Vera was busy with her life with Dee Dee on the East Coast, I was here in California and active in this music scene.  Many of the bands that she got to know as they were forming and growing within the New York punk scene at the same time as the Ramones were, I was a fan of all the way across the country.  But it's more than just that.  We both had long-term relationships with our current husbands prior to tying the knot and feel the same way about the commitment being married entails.  We also share our love of reading.  You know...I could go on, but then this might become a book itself.  Suffice it to say that meeting Vera was like talking with someone for the first time yet seeming like I'd already known her my whole life.

As you might recall, I love to add bits of my own personal RnR history when I write here for you and this time is no different.  There are a lot of Ramones stories I could draw from.  I'm telling you about this one because it is one I shared with Vera and that she got a kick out of hearing it.

When my older brother moved back here to California he brought with him his son and daugther.  Never having had kids of my own, this was very cool for me, especially the bond I would form with my niece.  One of my very first memories with her is of the two of us riding in my car down one of the SoCal freeways.  I think she was about 10 or 12 years old, I really don't remember that part of it.  What did stick in my mind and will forever is our speeding down the road with the car stereo cranked up to the max...singing full blast.  The song?  "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones.  That's it, that's the memory.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just something we would do together on any given day.  What made it different was the song and how it connected the two of us together.  And now, it connects us with Vera. 

As I said earlier, she was tickled when I told her about this.  It was when we were talking about the wide spread appeal of the Ramones' music (read the review to find out more about that).  It really brought home one more point that both Vera and I agreed upon...the timelessness of the band.

The book will be available for purchase from your fave vendor on Monday, June 1st, 2009.  Many places, including Amazon, will let you place a pre-order.

BTW, I would like to publicly thank Ms. Vera Ramone King.  Not just for the courage she showed in writing her book either.  Also for her generosity of time and spirit during the course of the hours my interview took place.

I hope you'll check out the review.  Remember, comments are always welcomed and encouraged.

It's sad day at our house.  We had to put our Wiley down a few hours ago.  He was almost 20 years old, as far as we could tell.  We rescued him about 15 years ago from a local shelter.  They'd estimated his age as 5 years old back then and the vet confirmed it. 

We hadn't planned on getting another dog, although it had been my wish for quite some time that we would adopt another one in hopes of him/her teaching Maisie how to be more like a dog-dog.  Instead, she showed him how to be a dog-person, just like she was.  And we wouldn't have had it any other way.  We always have and always will love both of them with all of our hearts.

He was quite a character, with a big booming voice that made him sound like a dog two times his size...must have been that bit of bassett hound in him that was most noticable in his legs.  Primarily though, he was a cross between two breeds with the head of a beagle and the fur and body of a terrier.  The beagle would really come out in him on walks.  Man, once he got on a scent, he was relentless.  But in every other way he was a just happy-go-lucky kinda guy.

He had a mellow soul too. He was very outgoing, with a wagging tag and a willingness to let everyone pet him.  As for kids?  They just loved him.  One time he got out, and frantic, we went around to our neighbors to see if anyone had seen him.  At one house they were eating dinner.  Their youngest child came up to the door, poking her head around her father to tell us that as soon as they were done eating, they would find him.  And you know what?  They did!  He was just around the block and when they opened up their door, he jumped right in.  I remember going out to their van after they'd pulled into our driveway and he was sitting in the driver's seat on our neighbor's lap.  His eyes seemed to say "Look.  They let me drive!"  With a bit of rebuke in his eyes because we would never let him although it wasn't for his lack of trying.  Excited to have gotten to ride in a car and gladder still to be back home.

Reading back what I just wrote, it still makes me smile through the tears in my eyes.  That's the kind of dog he was.  Always up for an adventure wherever it took him, yet happiest at home surrounded by his family.  He never met an animal or person he didn't like. 

For most of his life he was a pretty healthy dog.  He'd had a few problems in the past but we'd gotten through them.  He'd started having problems with his eyesight and in getting up and down the steps to the house.  Six months ago the vet said that he'd noticed a heart murmer for the first time and that a few cysts had returned.  We all knew then that our time was growing short. 

In the last few days we could tell that he was not doing well.  He would only eat a few bites at a time and was having trouble making it out to the backyard.  With each passing hour we could see his strength waning.  I sat up with him for the last 36 hours or so, catching naps only to snap wide awake to see if he were still alive.  This afternoon, the hub and I knew we would have to go to the vet soon and that it would be the very last time. 

I want to add this.  Anyone with a pet in their family, my wish for you is to have a vet as wonderful as ours.  Both he and his staff were kind and caring, giving us as much time as we needed.  They were also in tears afterwards and took a moment or so to tell their favorite Wiley antedote.  You see...he really was that type of dog.

Wiley died the way that I hope to one day.  Held in the arms of the people that he loved and having made their lives better just for being a part of theirs.  I know he's with his beloved sister Maisie now and I'll be seeing them later on, after crossing the Rainbow Bridge.

Thanks to the urgings of a few friends, I'm now on Twitter.  Why?  I don't know.  It's sorta like IMing a bunch of people at one time about the day to day trivia of your life..almost but not quite like stalking too.  I haven't quite got a handle on that yet.  I will tell you that it's kinda addicting.



My user name there is tinkie101.  Let's take this experiment together.

I have a new review up on BlogCritics.  It's for the CD Ashford & Simpson:  The Real Thing.  You can read it here.

If the names don't ring a bell for you, then some of their songs titles most likely will as they are responsible for many classic songs.  A lot of them have been recorded by Motown artists.  "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", "You're All I Need To Get By" and "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)" are just three of them.  This new CD for the husband and wife singers/songwriters has their own versions of these songs and more.

Hope you like my review.  Even better if it prompts you to go and pick it up.  I've loved this duo for ages and I'd sure like to see them get some of the recognition their work deserves.

Also, I'm pretty proud of the fact that I was able to embed the code on BC for the widget all on my own.  Remember, I'm probably the least computer-savvy pixie you know, so for me, this is huge.

Update:

Here it is, weeks later and numerous emails to the ever patient and diligent Janice at Technorati Support. The links are finally up and running. Besides working on this, I've changed from a desktop to a laptop. That part is cool...I totally dig that it is greener. Unfortunately it's a MacBook which is a whole 'nother learning curve unto itself since I've been PC for eleven years. I'm not going to let changing to a completely different OS stop me now! What am I talking about? Read on, McDuff!!

Even if I haven't posted here in a while, it's not that I haven't been busy. Something that is new for me is my Technorati Profile: qhsnyg5gvx.

You see, I have been working to improve my writing. Not just my skills as a writer but also how to drive more traffic to my blog here and my articles on BlogCritics . One step that I am taking is getting more involved with BC and their new partner Technorati.

What is Technorati?? Here's a quote from their site that should give you a better understanding, "Technorati was founded to help bloggers to succeed by collecting, highlighting, and distributing the online global conversation. As the leading blog search engine and most comprehensive source of information on the blogosphere, we index more than 1.5 million new blog posts in real time and introduce millions of readers to blog and social media content." To quote Time Magazine "If Google is the Web's reference library, Technorati is becoming its coffee house."

Yea...it's a big deal. In order for me to get the most out of this new relationship between the two is harder than it sounds. It is more than just continuing to hone my craft as a writer. It's also more than just putting together a profile on Technorati. It's about my grasping the concepts on what blogs tags are, how to incorporate them into my work and how to use the two to my advantage...learning the principles and putting them to use.

If you are a regular reader, you know that I've made no bones about the fact that I am not the most computer savvy pixie on the block. Every thing that I have learned about computers I've taught myself...by a hands-on method as I've never been a good book learner. Having a chronic illness that messes with my cognitive thinking doesn't make things any easier. Really...it's not pretty. But I'm going to keep at it, nose to the grindstone and all that. Babysteps they may be but I'll be moving in a forward direction.

Which brings me here. Publishing this post will mesh my blog here with my Technorati Profile: qhsnyg5gvx. If it works out as it should, it will strenghten my presence online, both here on MySpace and at BlogCritics.

Fingers crossed...

I have a new article up on BlogCritics Magazine! It's a review on the latest Disney Studio CG animated Blu-ray release Tinker Bell.

Of course it's a 'no-brainer' that I should want this movie. After all, it's a bio of my early life.  And that's pretty cool, right?  That I was able to score an advanced screener to write about it?  Even better!!

This piece was a new experience for me as I've never reviewed a Blu-ray (BD) release before. I thought that it would be easy. That I could just say that it looked and sounded great. Little did I know, when I picked up the assignment, that it would be a lot more complicated than that.

You see, there's a standard form that BDs reviews are supposed to follow. I didn't know that at the time. There are 5 parts (plot, audio, video, supplements/exclusives and overall rating) to this method, listed in a specific order. Most reviewers use a 5-star point system for each one of them, the last to be an average of the first 4.

I can see how this might be important to some folks. But to me, the grading system is a bit much. So, while I did follow the basic form, it is not a strict by-the-numbers textbook review.

I found out that in having to do that I had to have a basic understanding of the technology and what all the tech specs (1080p, 5.1 sound, etc.) mean. Not that I mentioned those terms in writing about the Tinker Bell movie.  I don't think that the average viewer is going to make their decision to purchase based on those facts alone. But I had to know enough to be able to touch on each one.

In the long run having to do all the extra research and understanding it to some extent added a couple of days to the process of putting a review together. Which I didn't take into account when I planned on having the piece go live because I didn't know what I'd gotten myself into. I'd wanted it to hit four or five days prior to the release date. Instead it squeaked in on October 27th, a scant twenty-four hours in advance.

Regardless of all of that...it is what it is. As with my Billy Idol review, I added a new dimension to my work. In my Blu-ray Tinker Bell article on BC, I have embedded video clips for the very first time! I'm sure many of you are thinking that it's no big deal to put pix or vids into the mix. For me it meant that I have taken things to another level in learning how and where to place other media content into my articles. My hope is that in doing so, I have enriched the experience for my readers.

Looking forward to hearing back from you. Remember, on BlogCritics, you don't have to sign up on the site to leave comments. Nor do you have to give them a URL although you can put your MySpace profile address there if you wish.