This guy and I share the same television philosophy, right down to how we watch Pardon the Interruption. I'll say it again: my TiFaux has changed my life.
[article link via tvtattle, which rocks]
I loved Life of Pi. It's been a long time since I've unequivocally loved a book. Life of Pi is the first book in quite a while tht absolutely gripped me. I read it in a two-day time period, most of it in one sitting. The last book that I felt so drawn to was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last summer. I was totally due for an absorbing, entertaining novel. I've been reading a lot, but was really feeling fatigued, and Life of Pi sort of acted as a jolt of electricity in my reading life.
Life of Pi is splendid in many ways, but I was so impressed by how successful it is with a plot that sounds bizarre and potentially boring, and with no sex or romance at all.
There's an interesting promo movie here worth checking out if you've already read the book.
I had absolutely no idea what the book was about when I read it. I recommend this approach to anyone who has yet to read it.
Having read the 2002 edition earlier this year, I knew what I was getting into with The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003. I thought the 2002 edition leaned a little too heavily on stories by and about adolescents and the 2003 edition let up on that a bit. I thought Zadie Smith's introduction was great. Favorite pieces in the collection included, "Tales of the Tyrant," "How Susie Bayer's T-Shirt Ended Up on Yusuf Mama's Back" and the superb, "Riot Baby (Life in South Central Los Angeles)." Keeping with my tastes in general, those three pieces were all nonfiction journalism. The only piece I loathed was "Lost Boys," but there were several pieces that were somewhat "meh." In sum, it was worthwhile, if a bit uneven.
This will certainly put a hitch in "Barbie Family Night," I'd reckon.
A sign near a local public library...
I love it on so many levels. I mean, is it a Night for Barbie Families or a Family Night for Barbie? It says bring your doll--will any doll work? And what on earth will happen? If I didn't think I'd look really creepy as an adult with no kids at Barbie Family Night, I'd go just to see what it's all about.
I was interested in Alma Mater, the chronicle of a year in the life of Kenyon College partly because I looked at Kenyon when I was visiting colleges, but mainly because I wanted to see how what Kluge had to say about Kenyon dovetailed with what I experienced at another small, private, liberal arts college. The answer? There was some dovetailing, but I was left feeling very pleased with having chosen not to apply to Kenyon. Kluge finds himself discouraged at the end of the book that what he experienced in a year at Kenyon led so many people to tell him, "everything you talked about happened here where I work/studied." He found out that his experiences weren't unique, and admittedly, private liberal arts colleges are all going to share some characteristics. I was disappointed not to learn more about what Kluge felt made Kenyon unique--what led students to choose Kenyon over another school? More than anything it seemed as though students were choosing other places over Kenyon. Alma Mater is an interesting read for anyone interested in higher education, and for those of us who are products of small liberal arts colleges.
[Interesting note: the main reason I didn't apply to Kenyon? The man who interviewed me spent half the interview talking about the swim team. I can barely swim.]
I received R.E.M.'s In View DVD for Christmas and finally got around to watching it. It's all videos, many of which I had never seen because the songs never took off as singles. I was surprised by how there were certain images that popped up in several videos, spanning years, such as the moon, turbines, and twinkly lights. Clips of most of the videos can be seen here. I think that the "Man on the Moon," video is really Stipe's biggest movie star moment. He just looks great and oozes charisma on that one. The video for "E-Bow the Letter" was the most interesting to me, and the most filmlike, and Patti Smith just rocks. I had forgotten that the World Trade Center is in the first frame of the "Stand" video; that was a little jarring. The "Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" video is one of my favorites, mainly because Stipe is wearing this sort of early-90s boyband outfit (which I don't think was meant to be funny). It's very funny. He's kind of dressed like Vanilla Ice.
Jane Stern (a well-known food writer) decided in the midst of a severe depression to become an EMT. Ambulance Girl is her memoir of that journey. I found educational, especially since I really had no idea what all was required for one to become an EMT. By jumping into EMT training and facing fears greater than those that were debilitating her she gets a deeper root set in the community and manage her depression. I liked the book well-enough although it left me with some lingering questions, specifically regarding her decision to go to EMT school and about how things are with her husband now.
Sure, everyone's doing it, but I love how organized my "states visited" map is.
I mean, if I can just get to Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Iowa, I'll have such an orderly half of the country done. Cool. Clearly, though, I need to take a trip west. Click "More" for the map.
create your own visited states map