order:

Robert's Rules of Order in Brief: The Simple Outline of the Rules Most Often Needed at a Meeting, According to the Standard Authoritative Parliamentary Manual, Revised Edition
$6.95
It was just what I needed. The merchant was timely. Why bother with the big book when this one is more than the average boardroom director needs.

Substance
$24.98
Like Joy Division, New Order's singles as a rule didn't appear on their albums. Unlike Joy Division, New Order's singles were nearly always their best songs. All of this makes 'Substance' an essential collection for serious New Order fans, as well as being the best place to start for casual fans. 'Substance' covers that band's most consistent and creative period, beginning with the final Joy Division song 'Ceremony' and ending with 'True Faith', which would become one of their biggest hits.

The first CD consists of New Order's singles from 1981-1987, containing all of their most important songs: 'Ceremony', 'Temptation', 'Blue Monday', 'Perfect Kiss', 'Bizzare Love Triangle', 'True Faith'. Apart from new recordings of 'Temptation' and 'Confusion' (both of which are superior to the original versions), these are all the original extended 12" mixes. This does mean a couple of songs drag on a little, but the quality of the music is so high that most of the time you won't care. While every song has a clear electronic and dance/rock influence, there is still considerable diversity here: the post-punk of 'Ceremony', the vaguely hip-hop 'Confusion', the blue-eyed soul of 'Thieves Like Us', the football chant of 'Shellshock'. The only dud is the 12" mix of 'Subculture', which is a shocker, marred by annoying backup singers and unnecessary studio affects. The 7" version on 'Low Life' is vastly superior to this.

The second CD consists of all the B-sides, and as with Joy Division's 'Substance', there are some real hidden gems here. About half the tracks are take-it-or-leave-it remixes and instrumentals of the A-sides, but there are 7 original songs. Beginning with the unsettling 'In a Lonely Place', it includes 'Procession' and 'Mesh' (actually 'Cries and Whispers')from the Movement sessions, the proto-industrial 'Hurt', and a pair of decent pop/rock tracks in 'Lonesome Tonight' and '1963'. The most interesting song here is the disturbing 'Murder', a chaotic tribal song that sounds like it belongs a horror movie soundtrack.

In all, this is the best collection of New Order songs around. The 12" mixes really highlight the impact New Order's early work had on dance and electronic music, whereas most other collections present songs in the more radio-friendly 7" mixes. And given the band's singles were their best tracks, there are no weak spots or embarassing moments which plague a couple of the studio albums. This is simply a great collection of innovative dance/rock music, and arguably New Order's best ever release.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [Blu-ray]
$35.99
OH MY GOSH!! How does this happen! How does a series start off wonderful and then become this fast moving train we have here. Half the time I couldn't tell what was going on! Thank goodness I read the book or I wouldn't have understood half of the halved halved scenes. Again discrimination against hous elfs, "Hermione where are you!!! Again Dobby's contribution to the movie is taken over by who els but the incompetant Neville who somehow finds it by strolling past it once when you're really supposed to walk past it three times thinking what you want it to become. Hermione somehow knows of the room already but I too lazy to find it. Kreacher, the cause of Sirius' death gets barely a minute on screen so why may I ask is he even in here, just so the moviemakers could say he was there. Also when harry was training in Occlumecy he did reflect Snapes Legilimency spell but he didn't see that scene becaus all you see from unfocused Legilimency is fragments of scenes. Again the makers are too lazy to bring in the pensieve and do an entire scene. When Harry sees the scene in Snape's head he decides he doesn't care and runs away. Also the issue with Cho Chang, the love affair with her started out fine but it ended with no explanation with them not even going out just POP! apart. Dolores Umbridge has been transformed from a toad like woman to a skinny pink clad cheery woman. There really aren't enough scenes to really hate her and I would have felt sorry for her if I didn't have the many more numerous things she does in the book! Anyways I've lost hope for this series. I wil be seeing the Half-Blood Prince but just to point out to my sister, who has not read the book, what's missing. Chris Columbas please save this series!

Law & Order: The Seventh Year
$59.98
OK, OK...so the DVD isn't out yet...I can still comment on the show as I remember it. A superb packaging doesn't make it better or worse.

This was Benjamin Bratt's second season (after replacing Chris Noth) and Cary Lowell's first season (replacing Jill Hennessy.) I've already commented that Ben Bratt was a ratings move rather than a quality move. He wasn't bad, he just broke the spell of the "New York" feel to the show we had with Chris Noth and Jerry Orbach as cynical cops. They may not have had much contrast, but it felt more real to THIS New Yorker.

Cary Lowell in for the (supposedly) dead Jill Hennessy....OK, didn't hurt nor help, since they were both cut from the same privileged Ivy-League character.

Anyway, episodes in this season started to "borrow" from earlier episodes: Briscoe is accused of corruption and needs to wear a wire ("The Blue Wall" season one.) Criminal investigations are again stalled by technicalities (Causa Mortis...the tape is inadmissible.) A sequel to the Season 3 (or 4) "Malcolm X"-type shooting...with an equally unsatisfying ending.

I noticed this season, the writers were happy to allow murderers to go free and endings to lack finality or completeness...they spun it as realistic...I took it as lazy.

The show also broke out of its "city" mold with stories about suburban Soccer Moms and a 3-PARTER in LOS ANGELES !!!

There are some great episodes: Matrimony, from the Anna Nicole Smith case, Karen Allen as a basket-case survivor, "Barter" an interesting spin on the loan business, Burt Young as a paroled serial-rapist, a race against time bargain with a cop shooter...etc.

The best episode of the season (i.e. where the plot gets more and more twisted thought the entire hour) is "Past Imperfect" about a murdered actress...well, it's about that for 10 minutes.

Anyway, my point is, in Season 7 confirmed that Season 6 was not a fluke...the varying quality of the episodes had slipped further and that the "street" feel to the show was gone: Curtis is a family man, Lenny tries to be a better father, Cary Lowell fixed up McCoy with a date instead of sleeping with him....political correctness had crept in and flawed characters had less flaws.

The show never really recovered...subsequent seasons saw the loss of the intricate plotting where the whodunnit, followed by the "whydunnit" was replaced with polemics and weak endings.

Season 8 was about the same (no cast changes) and the ratio of good to bad was the same...but with Season 9...watch out.