Crimes of Passion, Stephen King Style

She was beautiful in her faded blue jeans and bare feet, I wanted to lift her up and carry her away into an untroubled future, but that's not the world we live in, it's a badly broken universe, full of wars, cruelty and senseless tragedy. (Stephen King)

Sometimes life isn't always a butchers game, sometimes the prizes are real, sometimes there precise. (Stephen King)

Stephen King has way of seizing the readers attention and keeping it till the last word of all his books. The 2013 release of "Joyland" is no exception. King's best novels are behind him, but his character development and story lines always keep you guessing.

"Joyland" is about a fictional soul named Devin Jones whose in his early 60s and is reminiscing about his first and second loves from the early 1970s. In 1973, after Jone's girlfriend broke his heart and left town to attend college, Jones stayed in town and began working at an amusement park in North Carolina, Joyland. Jones was proud to put on his job resume that he sold fun for three months at Heavens Beach, Joyland amusement park.

Years before Jones started working at Joyland, a young woman named Linda Gray was murdered in the horror fun house ride at Joyland. Gray's ghost comes back to haunt and kill, or does it?
By the time I read 20 or so pages, I was thinking, OK, Jones whose developing a crush on Erin, a cute red head garbed in her short green skirt and takes pictures for Joyland customers is going to be murdered by Jones.

Gray, the murdered girl at the park years earlier was killed by her jealous boyfriend because he knew she was going to leave him for another man. While Jones learns this information, he reflects on his own heartache while a Beatles song with the following lyrics rings in his ears;

'I'd rather see you dead little girl, then to be with another man.'

In case you didn't know, King specializes in the horror genre. As I stating earlier, while in the early stages of reading "Joyland," I was thinking that Devin Jones was going to snap and become a serial killer / maybe rapist.

This book was anything but predictable, Devin doesn't get romantically involved with Erin, but the blue jean beauty, Annie Ross seizes his heart, and she loves him back, and the two lovers become one and live a life of eternal youth in the world of Zion which is tens of thousands of light years away from Earth. OK, this paragraph is a lie, except for the  part about developing a mental and physical relationship with Ross.

There is murder in "Joyland," but are the murders from a ghost, or Charles Manson minded psychotic evil fools? A mere 283 pages, an afternoon read to find out, three stars for "Joyland."

A Chaotic Symphony Of the Taste Buds, A Dangerous Heath Hazard?

Fifty percent of American food products are manipulated with synthetic taste enhancers states  an article in "Ideas & Discoveries" magazine; "The Deceived Sense of Taste."

Neurogastronomy is a fairly new research on artificial flavoring in the many eatables consumed across the globe. American flavor industries generate nearly $1.5 billion a year tweaking the tastes of many foods. Artificial flavors are much cheaper then using natural flavors that come from various plants and animals. Chocolate alone has 500 different flavors claims the German Research Center for Chemistry.

Food, whether it's all natural or enhanced has five basic traits. All five things affect our taste buds as well as the brain. Food may be salty, full of protein (umami), sugary, acidic (sour) or potentially poisonous. (bitter)

Food manipulation confuses the brain, and if abused may cause serious heath problems such as Alzheimer's Disease, Osteoporosis, (weakening of bones) and even cancer, neuroscientist Achim Peters said.

If you notice yourself getting sick a lot, I'd advise analyzing the products in the foods you eat most often. If those foods contain things such as Glutamate, Aspartame (artificial sweetener), Fructose, Citric acid or Phosphoric acid, healthier foods just my be your ticket to feeling better.

If your serious about getting into shape and losing weight, or keeping your present weight, it's a great idea to eliminate artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are perhaps the brains most menacing nemesis in synthetic food products. Fake sweeteners such as Fructose are contributing factors to obesity. Fructose satisfies the sweet sensations of the tongue and even our bellies, but the brain thinks it needs more, which it doesn't, hence a reason Fructose can lead to over eating. Fructose may also cause high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and heart attacks.

Citric acid, commonly found in ketchup, sodas, ice tea, sour candies, jam and pasta is a likely contributor to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease along with Multiple Sclerosis. Citric acid may also exacerbate existing health conditions.

I'm not writing this blog to arouse fear of foods, just learning about this stuff myself. While at the Oakland Airport in October awaiting my departure to tangible paradise, Hawaii, I purchased "ID" magazine, it's a magazine subscription Santa Claus got for me for Christmas!

Conspiracy theory number 'two', the savage huge money makers in the food industry are in cahoots with the medical industry to cause diabetes and other diseases, so more medicine can be manufactured and sold.

Mind Adventure

My transparent floating form gazed down upon my sleeping body on the couch. Seconds later, I was looking down upon the Earth from the moon, then cannon balled into the ocean. While under the sea, I walked the ocean floor. Through the clear sea water I looked up to observed the radiant sky while sun rays bounced off various billowy clouds which seemed to be in the form of Usas, a Hindu Goddess.

Usas, the goddess of dawn, She who sets all life in motion, the Maker of time who is a reminder of our limited time on Earth.

As I sat in the saturated sand under the beautiful blue sea admiring the countless tropical fish swimming amidst the colorful coral reefs, I noticed Usas smiling down upon me. Suddenly I started gasping for air, hence, I'm not a fish.

What was actually seconds seemed like an eternity to catch my breath from an awaking nap on the couch.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                   Izzy Schurr