LACEY, Wash. – The state Liquor Control Board has voted to raise the markup on alcohol by about a third. t Wednesday's meeting in Lacey the board approved a 32 percent increase in the amount the state charges over costs.
Spokesman Brian E. Smith says final prices will be affected by suppliers and taxes. For an example, Monarch vodka, the most popular product in state liquor stores, will go from about $9.95 to $10.75 a bottle.
The increase will take effect Aug. 1 and raise about $80 million in the next two-year budget cycle. The action will offset $79 million the Legislature removed from a liquor fund.
A vice president of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, David Wojnar, told The News Tribune of Tacoma the price hike is a stealth tax.
After the cigarette tax, having a good time is going to be quite a penny pincher eh?
Ben Kweller's Changing Horses is a breath of fresh air for the young artist who has already released two albums so far: On My Way and Sha Sha. Kweller explains Changing Horses by saying “After the Beatles and before Nirvana, country music was the soundtrack of my life, the music that shaped who I am… this album focuses in on that one side of me.” And while the record is not bursting at the seems with spurs and prairie references, Kweller remains poignant and true to the genre. Kweller, while a pop master hands down, has no problem translating his craft to the bluegrass mode in the vein of Paul Roberts. Kweller is an old soul to say the least as his songs weave imagery that he could not possibly have experienced, but does it believably.
From the peaceful meditation of “Gypsy Rose” and “Old Hat,” both of which remind one of a Bob Dylan-esque Blood on the Tracks, to the truck stop ballad of “Fight” and the diner side rhapsody of “Sawdust Man”, Kweller keeps his truck a' driving by constantly changing pace. Even with the intra-album evolution, he never strays from his sentiments:
“I’m like my grandma Short, but I stand tall Playing every single card that’s dealt to me Well, some days are aces And some days are faces Some days are twos and threes!”
In Changing Horses Ben Kweller has slipped smoothly into another philosophy of songwriting. Kweller has not strayed so far from his comfort zone that he cannot safely return to his pop-laden past making him more flexible than ever.
Well what do you know! It's only been three days live and Mr. A has already decided to diversify! Even a complete site name change! We are no longer the book review, but now SeattleBlotter@home! Instead of books I'm covering video games, music, movies! Books! All manner of devilry for anyone to read! Come on guys! Make my site more popular...if its POSSIBLE. Cheers.
Stephanie Meyer's Twilight is a teenage cult phenomenon to say the least. To this point, it has sold over $6,600,000 in books since Twilight's initial publication. I find this number disturbing to say the least. According to Meyer's website, she states that the story came to her in a dream. Further reading on her website gives a detailed account of the discovery of her characters to the woes of getting her story published. Getting over any personal bias, I lit up a smoke and began the arduous task of stomaching a novel that was clearly written for teenage girls who feel estranged from their peers. Upon first hearing of this novel and the movie that followed, I found myself dumbfounded. Haven't we seen this before? The answer is yes...sort of. Meyer simply wrote the right story to the right audience at the right time. It can be hearkened to a garage band writing a hit song and riding it all the way to the bank. Based on the style of writing we may soon find the once the waters have receded, Meyer will be a one trick pony. The story begins with the protagonist, Bella, and her woes about moving to the small town of Forks. Reading the book, I found that Meyer has no grasp on either Phoenix or the Pacific North West. It was almost as if Meyer simply Googled "the sunniest place in America" and "the rainiest place in America." (After reading her website I learned I was half right!) The romance between Edward Cullen and Bella Swan is as forced and awkward as the relationships I experienced in my younger days, but taken so seriously that the author does not give the reader even an inch of comfort. The writing style is horribly forced, and I felt sorrow for the thesaurus which was abused during the writing of this story. With such shallow characters, it is difficult to extend beyond simple terms to describe characters. It was hard to stomach my guilt throughout my reading of the novel, for I felt as if I had been slyly reading my 14 year old sister's journal, not a published work of fiction. To keep this short and sweet, Twilight while successful to the very niche audience it was aimed at has no chance of transcending the genre. Twilight fails to draw new readers to the genre and simply reignites followers of bubble gum writing all over again. In Meyer's defense, she has bolstered the economy of one of the loneliest and deprived towns in the Evergreen State.
Thank you for visiting the new Seattle Book Review! This blog is currently under construction, so it is pretty meat an potatoes until the graphics come in! The first real post should come within the week. We are going to start the reviews with a cult classic among readers of pop fiction: Stephen King's The Dark Tower. At this point, I don't have plans to cover the entire series. The Gunslinger, being the first book in the series will be reviewed and rated against the rest of King's work. Pop fiction reviews will be a norm here at the review. My initial selection for review was Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight' but I could hardly stomach the novel. A post will also follow on the arduous task of reading Twilight (An achievement I have yet to claim). Thanks again for visiting. Hopefully, within the next few months, this blog will grow exponentially. Keep it classy America.
