The Christian band Petra was a group that I really enjoyed as a child. They were formed in 1972, and retired in 2006, but eventually reunited and have been doing isolated gigs ever since. But the picture below is something I just found out about. Last year, the band released a special collection of their music on both vinyl and CD, to celebrate their 50th anniversary. (Even though they formed in '72, their first album wasn't released until '74, so I figure they just picked '73 as a good compromise from an historical perspective). Anyway, I decided to buy the 3-disc CD version of this set, and for $30 (including shipping), that's pretty reasonable. Their website said it could take 8 to 10 days to arrive, but I'm cool with that - it sure beats that 3-week wait for my The Crow score to a pulp!
I used to like them, well a few of their albums. I found them in 1986 or thereabouts. I loved their cover art with spaceship guitars. On particular cover had the ship in a hangar with people standing around it looking so tiny.
I never saw any of their album artwork as a kid, but it was my older cousin who used to listen to them all the time, so his fandom was my intro on that level. I looked at the track listing online, for the 3-disc set...and there were a lot of songs I'm not familiar with. So it will be cool to experience them for the first time.
Please don’t post hotlinked images from sites that aren’t a dedicated image hosting service. From the board rules: I have converted your image to a link. I have also done the same to the quoted message in @Gingerbread Demon ‘s post.
That's cool. I had one like this awhile ago but it actually floated away when my house almost flooded:
In a couple of weeks I'm taking my nephews (who live in San Rafael) to a Giants/Dodgers game in SF. Just got the ferry tickets for their trip back. God, I love a ballpark that has its own ferry terminal.
Due to some prevalent financial concerns, I haven't bought anything off Amazon recently. But today, I decided to dive in again. Most of these will take a few weeks to arrive, which tremendously sucks...but at least they're better than a completely insane UK site which caused me trouble last month. Here's some detailed breakdowns, for anyone interested... Spoiler The first item is obviously the Blu-Ray version, of the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series. For the record, I despise the sequels, but the fact that whoever made this new show was able to get both Ewan and Hayden back is a minor miracle. I haven't seen any full episodes, just reading a bit online...but it seems the creators really wanted to respect what Lucas had brought to the first six Episodes. Next up is the late J.W. Rinzler's "behind the scenes" book about Revenge of the Sith. I wanted to buy it years ago, but every seller wanted way too much money. But this time, Amazon had one used for $40, so I jumped on it. I briefly flipped through it once years ago, but didn't pay much attention at the time. Hopefully, having my own copy will change that. My third purchase is a very interesting book, titled Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts. It was written last year, by Evan Ross Katz. He's been described as "the world’s preeminent Sarah Michelle Gellar historian", and Amazon describes the effort as "part oral history, part celebration, and part memoir". Mr. Katz collaborated with many originally involved with the program, and his aim appears to be an attempt of not just granting a "backstage pass", but examining both the fandom and all the issues the show brought up, from subjects like feminism and gender roles, to various controversies and overall cultural impact. I haven't watched a full episode in years, but I do enjoy these kinds of books, because they often provide a very deep insight that doesn't always appear on the surface. Finally, I bought the 30th-anniversary CD version, of Christian singer Amy Grant's 1991 album, Heart in Motion. The original version was what really established her as more than just a gospel act, and propelled her into the mainstream. The original release almost instantly made hits of songs like "Baby Baby", "Every Heartbeat", and "That's What Love Is For". However, she also suffered some fairly-major blowback by a few in the Christian music industry, who felt that her attempts to branch out artistically somehow betrayed her religious convictions. Still, it sold 5 million copies, and remains Amy's most well-received project overall.
A new set of 4 tires for my wife's SUV. When did it become necessary to sell a kidney just to be able to afford new TIRES!?!!
I just found out that last year, La-La-Land Records collaborated with Amblin Entertainment to issue a completely remastered and expanded Ultimate Edition soundtrack, for the 1991 family adventure Hook. Quite frankly, I'm surprised this happened given Steven Spielberg's open dissatisfaction for the movie in recent years...but I guess he still recognizes a lot of folks still love it (me included). Dustin Hoffman's casting was a stroke of pure genius, and Robin Williams played his role perfectly as the once-embodiment of childlike imagination, who's forgotten his past and must recover his identity to rescue his kids from his pirate arch-enemy. The supporting cast was amazing too, featuring Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins, Julia Roberts, and even a young Gwyneth Paltrow. John Williams has done so many amazing scores in a career spanning 70 years, with results from Jaws, Star Wars, and Superman, to Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and the first three Harry Potter entries...but I've been looking forward to this one ever since I missed out on the 2-disc version in 2012. This movie perfect for anyone who feels like they've missed out on their childhood, or wants to relive it for a few moments.
Thankfully, I'm on food stamps, so that covers most of my grocery bill. Its not a great or endless amount though, so I still have to be careful. After nearly going bankrupt last Christmas, I became even more determined to write all my expenses down by hand, checking and re-checking all of it every few days.