Wil Owen is a resident of Plano, Texas. Like much of the population of the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, he is not a native Texan. However, he still considers this state home as it is the longest he has lived in any one place.

With a father in the military, Wil had the opportunity to live in Europe, Asia and both coasts of the U.S. as well as several states in between. After earning a master's degree in computer science in 1995 from Auburn University in Alabama, he headed to the Lone Star state.

As a programmer, Wil has worked for a variety of industries including space (NASA), defense (TI and Raytheon), telecom (Nortel) and tech support (IBM) -- not necessarily in that order. Since shortly before 9/11 was ingrained in our minds forever, Wil has worked (without much fear of layoffs) at an airline that has continued to bring in profits for years following that incident, despite the heavy downturn in the industry. How did that airline succeed where others have failed? They're "Just Plane Smart."

What Wil likes most about Rambles.NET is the freedom to review entertainment material and give an honest opinion without worrying about sponsorships or repercussions -- well, at least until it was mentioned that he lived in Plano. Wil pretty much writes the way he talks (except in this case where he is trying to write about himself as if he was another person).

Wil lives with twin boys, three cats and a dog, all of whom fight over his lap whenever he sits at his computer to write reviews. Wil's favorite pastime is scuba diving, which he first got into back in 1994. He also has a private pilot's license but will admit that he is not a natural ace as Top Gun convinced him he would be in the mid-'80s. Finally, Wil loves to travel and explore the world, observing other cultures and experiencing their cuisine. He is rather envious of those people who work for National Geographic or Lonely Planet, but tries to make up for it whenever he gets a chance to use his passport.

Reviews by Wil include:

CDs:

Mary Abraham
• The First Five

Ray Abshire & Friends
• For Old Times Sake

Alexandra Youth Choir
• South African Choral: Songs of the Alexandra Youth Choir

Altramar Medieval Music Ensemble
• Celtic Wanderers: The Pilgrim's Road

Amethystium
• Aphelion
• Evermind
• Odonata

Eric Anders
• More Regrets

Joyce Anderson
• The Girl I Left Behind
• Right Where I Should Be

Ann-Marita
• Ann-Marita

Antibalas
• Talkatif

Argenti
• Argenti

Yasko Argirov
• Hot Blood

Badi Assad
• Verde

At the Racket
• Mirth-Making Heroes

AvaLoon
• I Can Go Anywhere

Aztec Two-Step
• Days of Horses

Beldock & Watson
• Just Like You & Me

Bharat Nepali Party
• Himalaya Roots: Traditional Music of Nepal

Big Blue Hearts
• Here Come Those Dreams Again

Bio Ritmo
• self-titled

Lee Boice
• Sacred Spaces

Brobdingnagian Bards
• Memories of Middle Earth

Brother
• Pax Romana MMV

The Browne Sisters & George Cavanaugh
• Ready for the Storm

Bruce & Lisa
• Gifts of Love

David Burgess
• Silver Nuggets & Fool's Gold

Frank Cassidy & Friends
• Tin Air

Stella Chiweshe
• Talking Mbira: Spirits of Liberation

Stephen Cohen
• Stephen & the Talk Talk Band

Conjunto Jardin
• Floreando (Flowering)

Johnny Coppin
• Keep the Flame
• The Winding Stair

Coyote Poets
• Unmistakable Evidence

Heather Dale
• Call the Names

Mason Daring
• Sunshine State

Kyle Dawkins
• Conasauga

Anjuli Dawn
• Reason

Arby DeCamp
• Sleep by Numbers: Lullabies for Children of All Ages

John DeGrazio
• Abandoned World

Gigi Denisco
• Too Close for Comfort

Mamadou Diabate
• Tunga

The Dilettantes
• This Small Town

Craig Dillingham
• Almost Yesterday

Dezi Donnelly & Mike McGoldrick
• Champions of the North

Stephanie Dosen
• Ghosts, Mice & Vagabonds

Dromedary
• Live from the Make Believe

Egschiglen
• Zazal

Eli Young Band
• Level

Eliza Blue
• One Year

Stephen Endelman
• Evelyn

Equation
• Hazy Days

Etnika
• Nafra

Steve Eulberg
• Soaring

Katie Evans
• A Passing Afternoon

Eyuphuro
• Yellela

Mahmoud Fadl
• The Drummers of the Nile Go South

Amy Fairchild
• Mr. Heart

Farzad
• Mirror of Emotions

Feathermerchants
• Last Man on Earth
• Street Theater
• Unarmed Against the Dark

Bryan Field
• Way

Rick Fines & Friends
• Live at the Harvest

Five Mile Chase
• Your Town

Denice Franke
• Comfort

Todd Fritsch
• Sawdust
• Todd Fritsch

Abbie Gardner
• My Craziest Dream

Michele Dominguez Greene
• Luna Roja

Lloyd Gregory
• Free Fallin'

Galactic Agents
• Human Contact

Abbie Gardner
• Abbie Gardner

The G-Man
• Grin Groove

Elliot Goldenthal
• Frida

David Goodrich
• Accidentals of the West

Harry Gregson-Williams
• Spy Game

The Hackensaw Boys
• Give It Back

Wayne Hamilton
• Lucky That Way

Harpers Hall
• Celtic Harp Magic

Jeffrey Harrison
• Jeffrey Harrison

Cynthia Hart
• Let Me Make the Music in Your Life

Shawn Prescott Haussler
• Taking the Air

Sara Hickman
• Motherlode

Hiroshima
• The Bridge
• Obon

James Hollingsworth
• Alive in 2005

Rob Huffman
• Tone Without Tension

Andy Offutt Irwin
• Banana Seat

James Isaak
• James Isaak

Richard Isen
• Let It Fall

Christopher Jak
• Applause of the Rain

Bob James
• Angels of Shanghai

Lalgudi G Jayaraman
• Violin Soul: South Indian Classical Music

J.E.R.M.
• self-titled

Jezzro & Huff
• Worldbeat Brazil

Juliana's Pony
• Total System Failure

Don Julin & Glenn Wolff
• Brite Lites, Big Insects

Rebecca Katz
• Spendin' On Today

Penny Kerr
• Conscious Contact

Miguel Kertsman
• Amazonica

KilBride
• KilBride: Traditional Fiddle Music from Cardiff

Kin Za Za
• Number One in Shambala

Habib Koite & Bamada
• Baro

Ron Korb
• Behind the Mask
• Japanese Mysteries, with Hiroki Sakaguchi

Kudu
• Kudu

Kultur Shock
• FUCC the I.N.S.

Lady Godiva
• Zooperation

Lalezar
• Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. III: Minority Composers
• Music of the Sultans, Sufis & Seraglio, Vol. IV: Ottoman Suite

Peter Lang
• Dharma Blues

Tom Langford
• Acoustic

Lantana
• Unbridled

Joni Laurence
• With No Apology

Christine Lavin
• Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind

Eddy Lawrence
• Going to Water

Leerone
• Hail to the Queen

Lenore
• Another Life

Elisabeth Lohninger
• The Only Way Out is Up

The Mike Longo Trio
• Still Swingin'

Lura
• M'bem di fora (I've Come from Far Away)

Yvonne Lyon
• A Thousand Questions Why

Dave MacKenzie
• Solo

Talitha MacKenzie
• Indian Summer
• Spiorad (Spirit)

Lata Mangeshkar
• Mata

Mariza
• Fado Em Mim

Samuel Markus
• No Mission

Ado Matheson
• Out on the Islands

Brendan McCloud
• On the Edge Of Time (Ancient Futures)

Raymond McCullough
• The Great China Bike Ride
• Into Jerusalem

Lili McGovern
• A Bare Calliope

Corey McKnight
• My Solitude

Audrey Auld Mezera
• Lost Men & Angry Girls

Chris Murphy
• Juniper
• Noir

Mystic Harmony
• Kindle a Flame

David Newbould
• Big Red Sun

Thomas Newman
• Jarhead
• Road to Perdition

Papa Noel & Papi Oviedo
• Bana Congo

North Sea Gas
• Dark Island

Angie Nussey
• Paint & Turpentine

Victoria Parks
• Wild English Rose

Dave Patten
• Fly Away

Rama IV
• Silk Mind

Keali'i Reichel
• Kukahi: Keali'i Reichel Live in Concert

Magdalena Reising
• Blue Cafe

Norah Rendell & Brian Miller
• Wait There Pretty One

Reunion of Souls
• Reunion of Souls

Jennifer Richman
• Flowers of Gold

Jason Ring
• Patchwork

Ernesto Rodrigues, Jose Oliveira & Marco Franco
• 23 Exposures

Shao Rong
• Orchid

Mya Rose
• Breaking Free

Kev Rowe
• Into the Gold

Mando Saenz
• Watertown

Roger Scannura & Ritmo Flamenco
• Misterio

Bob Schneider
• Lonelyland

Zoe Scott
• Beautiful to Be Alive

Erin Sax Seymour
• Good Girl

Jason Shain
• Sooner or Later

Shave the Monkey
• Good Luck, Mr. Gorsky

Blake Shelton
• self-titled

Show of Hands
• Cold Frontier

The Silverado Bluegrass Band
• All Doors Will Open

Simaku
• Echoes from Iliria

Gino Sitson
• Song Zin': Vocadelic Tales

SONiA
• No Bomb is Smart

Soulhat
• Experiment on a Flat Plane

John Sponsler & Tom Gire
• Final Solution

Jen Spool
• Soul Threads

Rick Spreitzer
• Meanderthal

Chalee Tennison
• Parading in the Rain

Gentle Thunder, with Will Clipman & AmoChip Dabney
• Beyond Words

Too Human
• True

Toss the Feathers
• Columbus Eclipse

Townhall
• The New Song

Transcend with Time
• A Haunting Presence

Trout Fishing in America
• My Best Day

Wes Tucker
• Tradition

Wes Tucker & the Skillets
• Beauty in the Broken

Tulku
• A Universe to Come

UB40
• Live at Montreux 2002

Carla Ulbrich
• Her Fabulous Debut
• Sick Humor

various artists
• African Groove
• African Playground
• An Afro-Portuguese Odyssey
• The Best of Greece, Vol. 3
• Bhangra Beatz
• Cafe Lounge
• Caribbean Voyage -- Martinique: Cane Fields and City Streets
• Colombia
• Electric Highlife: Sessions from the Bokoor Studios
• Euro Lounge
• French Caribbean
• Inner Balance
• Jamaica
• Latin Groove
• Latin Travels
• A Leap in the Dark
• Making Music Matter
• New Latin Xpress
• Oxfam Africa: Dance Rhythms from Algeria to Zimbabwe
• The Road from Erin: Ireland's Musical Legacy
• The Rough Guide to Rai
• The Rough Guide to the Cuban Music Story
• The Rough Guide to the Music of the Gypsies
• Rumba Flamenco
• Sahara Groove
• World Lounge
• World 2004

Vas
• Feast of Silence

Jason Vigil
• Heart Gone Sober

Hope Waits
• Hope Waits

Stephen Warbeck
• Captain Corelli's Mandolin

John Williams
• Memoirs of a Geisha

Women in Docs
• Under a Different Sky

Royal Wood
• Tall Tales

Ruth Wyand
• Distant Drums

Doug Young
• Laurel Mill

Lesley Young
• Inside

Young Elderz
• Children of Rastafari

Zuco 103
• Outro Lado

Books:

Brian David Andersen
• "My God, I'm Hit!"

Robert Asprin
• Little Myth Marker/Myth-ing Persons
• M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link/Myth-nomers & Im-pervections

Robert Asprin & Peter J. Heck
• No Phule Like an Old Phule

Stephen Banick
• Accidental Enlightenment: The Extraordinary Travels of a Modern-Day Gulliver

Sarvananda Bluestone
• The World Dream Book

Matt Bronleewe
• House of Wolves

Laurence B. Brown
• The Eighth Scroll

Orson Scott Card
• Ender in Exile
• Posing as People, with Scott Brick, Aaron Johnston & Emily Janice Card

Haggai Carmon
• The Chameleon Conspiracy

David Chacko
• The Severan Prophecies

Todd Cobb
• Ghosts of Portland, Oregon

David B. Coe
• Rules of Ascension

Bruce R. Cook
• Philippine Fever

William Dietrich
• Ethan Gage #2: The Rosetta Key

Michael Dobbs
• Churchill's Triumph

Alan Dean Foster
• Dinotopia Lost

Ginger Garrett
• Chronicles of the Scribe #2: In the Arms of Immortals

Tom Gauthier
• Mead's Trek

Keith Hartman
• Gumshoe Gorilla

Melinda Haynes
• Chalktown

Donald Himelstein
• Above Honor: Rachel's Story

David Jerome
• Roastbeef's Promise

Ingeborg M. Johnston
• The Unbelievable Adventures of a WWII German War Bride: Collections of Acts of Kindness in War & Peace

Larry Ketchersid
• Software by the Kilo

Lee Killough
• Blood Games

Howard M. Layton
• Love & Sand

Whitney LeBlanc
• Shadows of the Blues

Tom Lewis
• Pea Island Gold #1: Sunday's Child
• Pea Island Gold #2: Hitler's Judas

McKendree R. Long
• No Good Like It Is

Eric Van Lustbader
• Mistress of the Pearl
• The Testament

James Macomber
• A Grave Breach

Mack Maloney
• Starhawk: The Fourth Empire

Christian McCallister
• Coming Full Circle: Munising to Munising

Jack McDevitt
• Chindi

Charles W. Meister
• Religion: Bane or Blessing?

Carl Nomura
• Sleeping on Potatoes: A Lumpy Adventure From Manzanar to the Corporate Tower

Blaine Lee Pardoe
• Battletech: Operation Audacity

Stephen R. Pastore
• Never on These Shores

Ellen Pearlman
• Tibetan Sacred Dance: A Journey into the Religious & Folk Traditions

Steven Pressfield
• Killing Rommel

Heather Pringle
• The Mummy Congress

Brant Randall
• Blood Harvest

Brant Randall & Bruce Cook
• Tommy Gun Tango

W. Craig Reed
• DNA

Lewis Richmond
• A Whole Life's Work: Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually

Brian Righi
• Ghosts of Fort Worth: Investigating Cowtown's Most Haunted Locations

Lorene Robbins
• The Dead Detective

Don Sakers
• A Voice in Every Wind: Two Tales of the Scattered Worlds
• Dance for the Ivory Madonna

Peter Carpenter Schneider
• Shining City

Terence Shannon
• What Happened to the Indians

Barry H. Smith
• Twilight Dynasty: Courting Evil

David Stinebeck & Scannell Gill
• A Civil General

Helen Tse
• Sweet Mandarin: The Courageous True Story of 3 Generations of Chinese Women & their Journey from East to West

Harry Turtledove
• The Disunited States of America
• In High Places

John Vornholt
• The Troll King
• The Troll Treasure

Terry Wright
• The 13th Power

Evie Wyld
• After the Fire, a Still Small Voice

Robert Zubrin
• First Landing

Gordon Zuckerman
• The Sentinels: Fortunes of War

audiobooks:

Tilly Bagshawe
• Adored
• Showdown

David Baldacci
• The Camel Club
• The Christmas Train

Carol Birch
• Lou Gehrig: The Story of a Great Man

Alice Blanchard
• The Breathtaker

James Bradley
• Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

Kristen Breitweiser
• Wake-Up Call: The Political Education of a 9/11 Widow

Ken Carodine
• All the Tea

Jim Cline
• A Small Percentage

Michael Connelly
• The Closers
• The Lincoln Lawyer
• The Narrows

Sue Ellen Cooper
• The Red Hat Society: Fun & Friendship After 50

Nelson DeMille
• Night Fall

Roger L. Depue
• Between Good & Evil: A Master Profiler's Hunt for Society's Most Violent Predators

Fran Drescher
• Cancer Schmancer

Glen Duncan
• The Last Werewolf

J.F. Freedman
• Bird's-Eye View

Amy Friedman, Jillian Gilliland & Laura Hall
• Tell Me a Story
• Tell Me a Story 2: Animal Magic

Jane Goodall
• Reason For Hope: A Spiritual Journey

T. Ray Gordon
• Inhumanity Quest
• Strawberry Automatic
• Tears of the Tin God

Tim Green
• Exact Revenge
• The Fifth Angel
• The First 48
• The Fourth Perimeter
• Kingdom Come

Brian Haig
• Mortal Allies
• Private Sector

Pete Hamill
• Downtown: My Manhattan

Keith Hartman
• Murder Beneath the Buried Sky

Alice Hoffman
• The Ice Queen

Joshilyn Jackson
• Between, Georgia

Jerry B. Jenkins
• The Youngest Hero

Mary Johnson
• An Unquenchable Thirst

John Kasich
• Stand for Something: The Battle for America's Soul

Faye Kellerman
• The Garden of Eden & Other Criminal Delights
• Street Dreams

Jonathan & Faye Kellerman
• Double Homicide

Dave King
• The Ha-Ha

Lori Lansens
• Rush Home Road

Billie Letts
• Shoot the Moon

Brad Meltzer
• The Zero Game

Joyce Meyer
• In Pursuit of Peace

Michael Moore
• Dude, Where's My Country?

Walter Mosley
• Little Scarlet
• The Man in My Basement

James Patterson
• The Big Bad Wolf
• 4th of July
• Kiss the Girls
• Mary Mary
• Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
• Sam's Letters to Jennifer
• Season of the Machete
• Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
• When the Wind Blows

James Patterson, with Andrew Gross
• 3rd Degree

James Patterson, with Howard Roughan
• Honeymoon

George Pelecanos
• Drama City
• Hard Revolution
• The Night Gardener

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• Brimstone
• The Cabinet of Curiosities
• Dance of Death
• Still Life with Crows

Russell Proctor
• Days of Iron

Sheriff David Reichert
• Chasing the Devil

Elizabeth Robinson
• The True & Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters

Sidney Sheldon
• The Other Side of Me

James Siegel
• Deceit
• Derailed
• Detour

Nicholas Sparks
• Nights in Rodanthe
• Three Weeks with My Brother, with Micah Sparks
• The Wedding

Ellen Sussman
• On a Night Like This

J. Randy Taraborrelli
• Elizabeth

Denise Tiller
• Calculated Risk

Kate White
• A Body to Die For
• If Looks Could Kill

Lolly Winston
• Good Grief

Herman Wouk
• A Hole in Texas

Graphic Novels:

Johnny Jihad

The Man Who Grew Young

Movies:

A Christmas Family Tragedy: Legends of the 1929 Lawson Family Murders

Country Teacher

Habermann

Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)

Red River Valley

Concerts:

Loreena McKennitt