I am one of those people who is extremely busy during the day I have a full time job working about 9 hours a day with maintaining 4 blog sites at night.  I have my wife and two children who I carve out as much time with as I possibly can as well.  I don’t have any time to read novels like I used to, I used to enjoy reading a novel a week when I was younger and had alot of alone time.  Now my alone time is usually only found when I drive into the office which is about a one hour commute each way.

Audiobooks are the best thing for long drives in my opinion, I can listen to my favorite books or books that I want to catch up on and I have come to love the audio book medium better than reading the books manually.   Even Stephen King himself has once said that Audiobooks are among the best mediums for delivering the author’s work as it forces the reader to stay at the pace of the narrator and helps prevent people who skip ahead or skim faster through certain pages rather than others.

I find when I listen to a good audio book I can get lost in the story, almost like I am listening to a movie.  I can almost see and feel as if I was there with the characters, some audiobooks are just fantastic and others are just droning bores.  The narrator and speaker makes or breaks the audiobook in my opinion and even a mundane story can be more entertaining if read by a good speaker.  Some examples of great audiobooks are Jim Dale’s reading of the Harry Potter series, which is really engaging.  Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series read by George Guidall is among the best there is.  Though Frank Muller who read the original four books before suffering a critical accident was even better, George did a fantastic job taking over the reigns and provides the voice of Roland Deschane and company with convicing voicework.

Other more engaging audiobooks are in the Star Trek and Star Wars lines, where they blend in sound effects and music into the audio book itself.  So it feels like you are listening to a movie not just an audio book.  This is very much like the audio book version of Stephen King’s The Mist which was created to be an interactive Audio Experience.

When I was a kid I used to record my favorite movies onto cassette tape and listen to them at night, creating my own version of interactive audio books and this was over 20 years ago.  I would record Legend, Labyrinth and others and just listen to the story, music and sound effects instead of watching.  Letting my own mind create the visuals for me was an even more creative and expressive way of enjoying the works themselves.

So how many of you out there are this passionate about audio books?  Who prefers reading vs audio books?  I would like to hear from you.

-Justin Germino

I have been a fan of Vayden’s music for over a year now and have seen them four times play live in the local Arizona market scene. Each time they are spectacular and have a great stage presence, their music is generational and appeals to many rock genre fans. Though some of their stuff is harder than traditional radio rock, their catchy tunes and superb music style swept Arizona and will soon start to sweep the nation I predict.

They have been signed by the same record label as Tantric and did a brief tour with them this year, next year they plan on doing a longer tour. Radio Station 98 KUPD plays them often here in Arizona as they can also be heard on Sirius Octane with their hit song “The One you Left Behind”.

To share one of their songs with my readers I found a youtube posting of their live video Anthem Of The Used, which is another of my favorite songs by the band:

Vayden - Anthem Of The Used - Live in Hollywood

Curtis the lead singer has very powerful vocals and softens his voice very well before releasing his powerful voice in the chorus of the song.  Vayden when they play live does a Beatles cover of “Come Together” that sounds in my opinion better than the original.

Armin is amazing teenage guitarist having just turned 19 recently and been playing with the band for years, he is able to do impressive solo riffs and has fun entertaining the audience with his blazing fast fingers and handwork.

Bruce is one of the most amazing drummers in the business able to wow the audience with being able to spin the drumsticks in his hands between hits of the snare drum which is a feat of amazing dexterity.

Jason the bass player plays some complicated arrangements on the bass guitar and does a great job doing backup vocals for Curtis.  The dynamic of the group is incredible overall and they have fun with their audience especially their home town in Arizona.

If you live in Arizona, or hear about Vayden coming to town in your area I highly encourage you to see them live, they are even better live than on their recorded album.  If you are interested in their music check we will be posting their album for purchase on Rock Along Productions soon.

-Justin Germino

My wife actually happened to grab this movie off of the shelf as it looked like a funny road trip movie.  I happen to like romantic comedies and the premise was interesting.  The story involves a young soon to be lawyer working for a major company who accidentally stumbles into the company president in an elevator.  The company president played by Rutger Hauer (BladeRunner, LadyHawke) hires the young lawyer to be Rick (played by Ben Gourley) to transport a crate and his daughter from Florida to California.

Rick must make the trip in five days or he will miss his bar exam, what he didn’t count on was the CEO’s daughter Michelle (played by Mila Kunis) was a wild one.  She is completely ruleless, and does everything possible to delay his trip, not because she is mean or malicious but because she is a wild spirit and wants to experience life along the way.

Jon Heder has a funny cameo as Orlie a Native American Spirit trapped in a White Mans Body.  He tags along for the road trip to reach his destination where his is supposed to meet his spirit in a Native Americans Body.  Naturally there are various hi-jinx, break downs, fights, delays along the way.

The real nice part of the film is seeing the change for Rick as he starts off the film only caring about being the next partner at the firm and big shot lawyer, and gradually start to realize that love and passion are more important than simple career goals.  He starts to fall deep for Michelle over the several days they spend together.

By the end of the film he chooses to pursue love with McCallister’s daughter and in doing so we learn that Mr. McCallister was planning that outcome all along and was hoping for it.  This was kind of a fun twist to the film and you realize the whole trip was kind of a test.  How Mr. McCallister would know his daughter would fall for Rick is unknown and not explained, but the film simply worked.

It was a cute romantic film that also mixed a coming of age / realizing whats important in life film.  For a movie that went straight to DVD it was a pleasant watch in my opinion.

-Justin Germino

I will be attending the Rock Along Productions “The Age of Rock” show on Saturday November 22nd at Crabby Dons in Gilbert, Arizona.  This excellent show features two of my favorite local Arizona rock bands, Razer and Daughters of Fission.  They are joined with Big Mouth Mason as well as special guest Opus Dai who is coming in from California to play the show.

All four bands and almost four hours of live music for only $7 at the door, in addition the first 100 people get fully signed posters by Opus Dai.  I will be hoping to see some of my twitter and blogger friends there, and be sure to say hi and how you came to find out about the show.

Here is full details and poster for the show:

-Justin Germino

I watched the new Animal Planet TV Series Whale Wars for the first time yesterday and I was actually taken aback on how little I knew about the whaling situation in the pacific ocean near Antarctica.  Whale Wars is a new TV show that chronicles Captain Paul Watson and the rest of the Sea Shephard Conservation Society as they try to deter the Japanese Commercial Whaling vessels from killing hundreds of whales in the ocean under the false guise of scientific research.

The Captain and crew aboard the Steve Irwin, yes the boat is named after the famous wildlife host and his wife and family have given the Sea Shephard their blessing.  They brave the harsh ocean waters near Antarctica to scout and locate Japanese ships and convince them to abandon their hunting of whales.  These talks are not peaceful by any means and the Sea Shepards resort to hit and run guerrilla tactics using stink bombs, and other devices that cause havoc to the Fishing vessels.

Some would call the group eco terrorists or nuts for directly going and risking open hostilities with another nation’s vessels.  The fact is that they only patrol protected “No Whaling” area’s and they are actually engaging in a public service to protect the whales from being hunted and killed.  This in my opinion is no different than park rangers partrolling the protected preservation area’s in Africa and trying to deter and scare off elephant poachers except in this case these people volunteer and are not paid by any government agency.

The show has a “Deadliest Catch” feel a little bit as far as the live camera’s on deck and interviewing the crews, catching mishaps…etc.  But it most definitely is not about making profit, it is about risking your life for a cause you believe in.  Many of these crew members know they are risking their lives to save the life of a whale.  In the first episode you even see the Japanese vessels threaten and finally open fire on the Steve Irwin and the Captain is injured.

The Steve Irwin has two raft type vehicles that it launches to pester and slow down the fishing vessels so the larger craft can catch up and the crew can throw their make-shaft stink bombs at the whaling vessels.  They have a small helicopter on board that is used to scout the area and find the offensive craft as well.

The pilot episode only aired last Friday on Animal Planet and was pretty engaging, I am definitely hooked to see what happens with this show and where it goes.  I had no idea that there was this kind of eco piracy and actually that Japanese poachers were still hunting and killing whales by the hundreds in protected waters.

Personally I think whaling should be banned entirely and without exception, these creatures much like dolphins are proven to be the smartest creatures on the planet next to human beings and killing them is unacceptable.  It is one thing to raise animals in captivity that are bred for food versus hunting and killing animals in the wild where you risk bringing them to extinction.

Everyone should check out this show Whale Wars on Animal Planet and get involved in learning about what is going on every day regarding whaling and the people who try and do something about it.

-Justin Germino

I have told my most embarrassing story to only a few people in my life and was convinced to turn it into a blog post, and not just that but make an audio clip of me telling my story.  I put this out here hoping that some people find it funny and realize that very few people have as embarrassing story as myself.  I am a real life Ben Stiller and I often tell people this, I am always caught in embarrassing situations or doing things on accident that cause embarrassment.

So I share this story with you knowing full well some of you will be disgusted, some of you will be amused, and I share this story knowing full well it is my own humiliation that I face.

The written narration of the story is below, but my friend told me to make an audio clip and the audio clip is much funnier.  So listen to the audio clip and/or read the story and let me know if you found it funny and amusing.

Leave me a comment, or shoot me a tweet @dragonblogger on twitter.

• The Airline Story - My Most Embarrassing Story

So you think you people have had embarrassing situations at airports?  You know, some of you who kept a water bottle in a carry on bag, and security stopped you and said “What’s This Sir”, and you replied “Oh sorry, I forgot about that”, security says “you have to step out of line and finish the bottle before you can go through sir”.  You say “Just throw it away I don’t need it” and you finally get through security.  Occasionally, one of you might have a real embarrassing airport situation, where maybe two couples are going away on a romantic vacation and might pack some “extra” toys to help the situation.  Security Guard might look at the x-ray scanner, spend a few moments lingering too long, and say to your wife “Excuse me ma’am, is this your bag?”  You slap your forehead, and think don’t open the bag, don’t open the bag.  But the security guard opens the bag and pulls out the metal pocket rocket that was hidden in there.  We don’t allow metal devices on carry on’s, this will have to be checked.  Meanwhile onlookers are all staring, trying to take pictures with their camera phones.

Those are normal embarrassing situations folks, but I am about to tell you a true story that will forever make you think, at least it didn’t happen to me.  You will have embarrassing situations and forever realize there could be worse after I tell you this story.

It all started with a hotel in Jersey, and ordering in some unusual Spanish food.  I had ordered a plate with shrimp and pasta with some sort of sauce I can’t pronounce.  When it arrived in my hotel room, the florescent yellow glow of the sauce should have been an early warning sign.  The grumbling in my stomach after eating it should have clued me in that I was in for some problems.  But I thought nothing of it, there was a flight back to Phoenix the next morning.  Arriving at the airport a little early, my wife and two year old son were with me while we waited for my flight.  A little tugging and grumbling in my stomach, which I had just assumed was hunger acted like a reminder that I hadn’t had breakfast.  Finally after three hours of waiting we were boarding the plane, got my 2 year old settled in his car seat on the airplane seat, wife sat down, I sat down while the rest of the passengers started to board and get seated.

So there it is, simple bad luck, delayed 300 people almost 3 hours, got my wife, 2 year old kicked off a plane, had me inspected and interrogated for 45 minutes.  Lesson learned here, now before I fly, I eat only the plainest normal food possible the previous evening.  Like a simple burger or some steak, nothing with sauces, or exotic food.  I literally keep a stash of pills with me whenever I fly now, in case something like this were to happen again.

-Justin Germino

One of my favorite past Halloween traditions is to watch scary movies, not necessarily horror/slasher flicks, but truly frightening movies. I remember loving the feeling of your heart racing, the fear and anticipation building in your bones. When I was a young boy I had the scariest movie of my life shown to me at the time:

John Carpenter’s The Thing

This movie terrified me, I swear to you I was afraid of my own black and white border collie for like a week after seeing this movie at 10 years old. Even by today’s standards some of the special effects and scare hold up very well. Particularly the Dog Scene, The Autopsy scene and the scene where they are all testing their blood to see who is the impostor.

John Carpenter has done some great films since “In the Mouth Of Madness, They Live…etc” but The Thing was the scariest movie he has ever done in my opinion.

So what are some of your scariest movies when you were a kid, which movies gave you nightmares?

So my wife who runs Rock Along Productions received two free tickets to see a show last night at Club Red where 9 bands were playing across two stages.  Bomber was the band we knew and had done a show with them in the past.  I saw Dagger, Impulse Aggression, Jack Ripper and several I can’t remember the name of.

By far the most impressive of all of the bands was Jack Ripper, I am going to write a post about it on Rock Along Productions website shortly.  This band is centered around a kid prodigal guitarist who is so amazing, the band plays some covers and some original material but this young kid can shred a guitar as any master electric guitarist I have ever seen.

We left before LA Guns came on to pay a visit to Hollywood Alley to check out the band Daughters of Fission who will be playing in our November 22nd show.  This band is also very good and mixes keyboard instrumentals with a metal sound.  The most unusual thing is the drummer is the lead singer and it is amazing how he can keep his voice steady while being so active and physical on the drums at the same time.  It takes real talent in my opinion to be able to do that.

-Justin Germino

I am posting the review on my Dragon Blogger blog tomorrow morning, but I just wanted to tell everyone who sees my personal blog that the movie was great.  I actually watched it with my five year old even though it had inappropriate language and don’t regret letting him see it.

The movie was inspiring and showed what creativity two boys can have and the bonds of friendship and what they mean.  I really liked this movie at least as much as I liked Bridge to Terabithia, it is a similar style of film in my opinion except instead of role playing the kids are acting in a film that they are making together.

I highly recommend it to everyone.

I was browsing Aronils web site which I do daily, she runs a beautiful site and its so artistic and I like what she writes about. I saw she had a typing results page up on her latest post and decided to try my hand on the typing test. I usually rate between 91 and 100 WPM on normal typing tests, and this test is very accurate. I was able to knock out 95 words per minute with 0 errors, now, I do make errors but you can hit backspace and correct them before finishing the word and they count as not making a mistake. I would probably have been over 100WPM had I not backspaced to fix some errors before finishing the word.

This was a fun little test just wanted to share it with my readers, thanks Aronil for finding this and posting about it.
95 words
Speed test