What Has Jon Been Listening to For 3 Months?

Been a while since I did a music list based on my iPod playcount. The summer got busy. I was fortunate enough to get in on two vacations: a family trip to St. Louis and the anniversary trip to Hawaii. My iPod went along both times to provide the soundtrack.

Here's an expanded look at what I've listened to the most from June 19 through Sept. 19:

1. Walk Away - Franz Ferdinand - Haunting melodies and a jangly, Doors-sounding tune.
2. Through Fire and Flames - DragonForce - Sounds like Dream Theater on meth. Super fast guitar. Love the video with the guitarist drinking a beer while the other solos, only to put his beer down and come back with a blistering guitar response.
3. Fury - Prince - Old School Joint by the New Funk Soldier...or something like that. Liked this rocking tune since seeing Prince do it on SNL with even more guitar.
4. When You Were Young - The Killers
5. Call Me When You're Sober - Evanesence
6. Tell Me Baby - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Ever since I got Stadium Arcadium, I thought the chorus on this one was one of the catchiest I'd heard in a while.
7. American Witch - Rob Zombie
8. Stuck With You - Green Day - Been in a GD mood lately and always loved this one off "Insomniac."
9. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Land of Confusion - Disturbed - Surprisingly straight forward, yet heavier take on the Genesis song from the 80s.
11. The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand
12. Too Fast for Love - Motley Crue
13. The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
14. Don't Tell Me You Love Me - Night Ranger - A cheese rock classic in my book. I recently put together a playlist of songs I'd cover were I famous enough to do a tribue album (like Def Leps recent). That's where the Green Day, Crue and this one come from.
15. Snow (Hey Oh) - Red Hot Chili Peppers

What He Said: Path to 9/11

Busy lately with school getting started for the kids, work, making sure I blogged all the details of the Hawaii trip, etc. ;) So busy that I missed the Katrina anniversary and the fifth anniversary of 9/11. But they were in mind even if I didn't blog.

Scott has a fine take on the ABC miniseries, "Path to 9/11", (and subsequent ratings flop) on its right wing lineage. I'm reminded how inevitable it was that all sides would seek to politicize the tragedy for partisan gains.

Even al-Qaeda didn't miss the propoganda opportunity.

An Alternative 9/11 History [Scott Standridge.com]
ABC's 9/11 Docudrama's Right-Wing Roots [Yahoo]

Hawaii, Pt. V: 'Lost' and Homeward Bound

Ana Lucia leads the Tailees on the Lost Island. Jon Lucia leads no one at Lana'i Lookout.

Sorry for the delay. Been a hectic few weeks since returning from vacation and my blogging time has been limited. I know this has disappointed the literally two of you out there waiting to hear more about Hawaii. ;)

Upon returning from the volcanoes on the Big Island, we were exhausted. We also returned to find the news of the British terror plot being uncovered. That was an uncomfortable feeling considering how far we were from home and the long flight two days away.

So in the remaining couple days of vacation, we rested some, visited the nice Waikiki Aquarium (I remain most impressed with the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, which we visited back in ’98.) On Friday of our week vacation, we rented a car and drove around Oahu.

First up was Hanauma Bay, a snorkler’s paradise. Having never snorkeled and unsure how much we would like it, we put this off until the end of the week and had limited time. BIG MISTAKE. Snorkeling took some practice, but I learned pretty quick. And it was an amazing, breathtaking experience, swimming with the fishes…the big colorful tropical fishes within arm's reach, just going about their business. I almost freaked when I saw a Gill from Finding Nemo. We hated to leave.

The last highlight of our trip was riding up the east coast of Oahu then around to the North Shore. The views were so awesome that you got numb to it after a while. But we made a couple of stops.

Jack on the beach. Susan on the beach.

Being fans of the TV show Lost, which is filmed all over Oahu, we found this site, which gave directions to filming locations on Oahu. Two notables we found were the Lana'i Lookout, where the Anna Lucia led the Tailees on their way to meet the other crash survivors. Then on the North Shore, not far from where we saw sea turtles frolicking in the surf, we found Mokule'ia Beach, the main beach for filming. It was isolated and windy, but wonderful to see in person. I kept expecting to see Jack or Kate.

On Saturday, we began our trek home, leaving Honolulu at 1 p.m., local time…after arriving extra extra early for new security checks and moving all liquids to our checked luggage. Got to LAX around 9 p.m., local. Left after midnight on a very uncomfortable flight to Dallas (so much for sleeping). Got to Dallas around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and left around 7:25 to arrive back in Little Rock at 8:30. Then it was home to get ready for the 1:30p open house at Alli’s school where she was set to start preK on Monday. Sheesh. No rest for the weary.

I cannot believe I’ve now been to Hawaii. But I have the pictures, and a jillion memories to prove it.