2 things to check out that you may now know too much about

One book and one movie on two very different topics. But they are both enjoyable and give you lots of information on its given topic. The first is a book called Staley: The Fight for a New American Labor Movement. The second is a documentary movie called Scratch. The former gives you an in-depth look of a labor strike in the mid-90s from the workers' point of view. The latter gives you the history of the DJ in hip hop music.

I grade part time for the Labor Education dept at UIC. Staley is a new book published this past year by one of the professors, and is really an engaging story. Not only does it talk about the struggles the Staley workers faced, but also gives you a brief history of the company as well as some nuggets of labor history in general. I found myself very drawn into the story while reading the book, and was fortunate to go to a Q&A with the authors and a couple of the workers who were a part of that labor movement.

In a similar fashion, the documentary, Scratch, gives you an overview of how the DJ started hip hop music with some turntables. It is plenty enjoyable for those both familiar and newly initiated with the genre and lifestyle. A lot of rare interviews and performances from legends in hip hop including DJ Shadow, DJ Q-Bert, DJ Babu, and loads more. If you find a copy of either of these, I highly recommend checking it out.

reading

I was never into fiction before, but I totally dig spy novels now. I read Casino Royale and then went through all the Robert Ludlum Bourne books. Obviously the books are better even though I've devoured all the movies. But now I have no more spy novels and I can't decide what to read next. Therefore, I'm going back to read books I've already read. Stupid since I have atleast 117 books on my "to-read" list but I'm getting reminded of why I liked those books in the first place. Said books are Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel and Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. I hadn't been into Christian spirituality books in awhile but as I said, I'm being reminded of why I like those books so much in the first place.

If you're not sure if you should go through those books or not I recommend a chapter in each of those books. I can't remember the exact chapter in Ragamuffin Gospel, but there's a powerful story about a time that Brennan Manning was attending an AA group retreat. In Blue Like Jazz, chapter 7 titled Grace (though almost all of the chapters are good to me) still sticks out the most.

I'l have to get back to you on that chapter in Ragamuffin. Until then, keep reading...