Getting close. Counting down.
Friday, September 28, 2018
Friday, November 24, 2017
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Reading in 2014
Books finished in 2014:
+--------------------------------------------------------------+----------------+---------------+----------+
| title | Authors | yearpublished | Finished |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+----------------+---------------+----------+
| Storming Las Vegas | John Huddy | 2008 | 1/2014 |
| Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The | Robert Spencer | 2005 | 1/2014 |
| Pilgrim's Progress, The | John Bunyan | 1678 | 5/2014 |
| Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe | 1719 | 7/2014 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+----------------+---------------+----------+
Mid-year I started trying to read the great novels. So far it's been a pretty tedious slog. "Storming Las Vegas" was by far the most interesting of the four from 2014: a non-fiction account of thieves bumbling their way through the casinos' huge piles of cash.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Willy Wonka Musical
This should show my true colors as far as how much I enjoy performing. Maybe test my limits. I'm Mr. Salt in the musical version of "Willy Wonka" running from June 5th to June 22nd. That's 15 performances. Is that a lot for a community theater? It is in my experience. The most performances of a show I've been in was 9. And that's only happened with 5 shows -- out of the 41 I've been in before "Willy Wonka". In fact, more than 5 is pretty rare. Here's how many shows I've been in broken down by number of performances.
| Number of performances | How many shows had that many performances |
|---|---|
| 9 | 5 |
| 8 | 2 |
| 7 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 |
| 5 | 13 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 3 | 8 |
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Reading in 2013
It didn't take much ciphering to come up with this year's list. In my defense, time does fly like an arrow. The full list of what I read in 2013:
I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. I'm not sure what the title means. It's disturbing how quickly things pass from my memory -- but I don't think better (total?) recall would help with that title. However, I don't think it had much to do with the story, which was about people escaping their dreadful future life through a socially acceptable escapist drug.
+----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+----------+
| title | Authors | yearpublished | Finished |
+----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+----------+
| Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, The | Philip K. Dick | 1965 | 2/2013 |
+----------------------------------------+-----------------------------+---------------+----------+
I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. I'm not sure what the title means. It's disturbing how quickly things pass from my memory -- but I don't think better (total?) recall would help with that title. However, I don't think it had much to do with the story, which was about people escaping their dreadful future life through a socially acceptable escapist drug.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Traveling shoes, traveling blues?
I spent most of my weekend on the road. Or at least it felt like it. Here's my general route, showing the towns I stopped in. Even in the final destination towns, in Tennessee, most of my activity was observing from my car, so, that's a lot of driving.
View Larger Map
Patoka and Sandoval were way off the beaten path, so to speak, at least compared to what I'm used to. I did find some expected and unexpected relatives in their final resting places at the Patoka Cemetery.
Sandoval Cemetery was a little larger and, even though I allowed more time to wander aimlessly through it, I wasn't going to spend all day there. Unfortunately, I left without finding any ancestors. Some of these small cemeteries are big enough to require hours to go down every row but still too small to have a searchable website or an office or some place you can look up records of where specific plots are.
In Tennessee I did stop the car a few times, at sites such as the Cold Springs schoolhouse in Portland and Trousdale Place in Gallatin.
View Larger Map
Patoka and Sandoval were way off the beaten path, so to speak, at least compared to what I'm used to. I did find some expected and unexpected relatives in their final resting places at the Patoka Cemetery.
 | |
| Civil War Soldiers' Monument at Patoka Cemetery |
 | |
| Monument to all veterans of the Sandoval area |
In Tennessee I did stop the car a few times, at sites such as the Cold Springs schoolhouse in Portland and Trousdale Place in Gallatin.
 | |
| Cold Springs, a one room schoolhouse now planted in Portland |
 | ||||||
| Monument to Confederate Soldiers in front of Trousdale Place |
Monday, December 31, 2012
Reading in 2012
Another year gone by, another year of meager book reading. But really, there's so much in the way of television and movies out there, how can I be held responsible. Even worse, this short list contains pretty much lighter reading. No epic novels this year. I do imagine, in the distant future, after most of humanity is wiped out, that I'll have all the time in the world to read everything. Until I accidentally step on my glasses, that is. Oh, cursed fate!
And, besides my own limited personal db, I am still maintaining my listings on Goodreads and Shelfari. Who can choose.
"Early Dayton" was published on Dayton's centennial. I found it in Google Books. Today it would probably be a self-published thing, like a family might do for its own history. There are some good historical sections about the first settlers and a few old pictures, but the majority of it involves listing a prominent citizen, and then listing that person's descendents and current living relatives, without much flavor.
"I Hate Myself And Want To Die" is just a list of 52 popular, depressing songs -- sometimes surprisingly so for those who don't pay much mind to the lyrics. Each song's accompanied by a brief essay, emphasis on brief. I really like the idea of something like this, but I imagined it being much better. Besides the briefness, the comedian in the author shines through in some write-ups more than others -- not laugh out loud funny, though. I recall it feeling more like the style of VH1's snarky talking-head countdowns and "I Love The Whatever" shows.
"The Sword of the Prophet" explains Islam from its beginning; guaranteed to be hated and denounced by the politically correct and people who favor "coexist" bumper stickers.
"Predictably Irrational" is all about behavioral economics. It doesn't really teach or explain much about economics (of any kind) in any great detail, but it does describe, for the layman, several fascinating behavioral economics experiments that try to decipher how people really behave and are motivated.
And, finally, I just finished "Blessed Are The Meek", which is subtitled, "A Novel About St. Francis Of Assisi". Turns out it really isn't about Francis as much as it's about Sir Jean de Brienne and the final Crusade. (I think it was the final one.) Francis keeps showing up in the early part of the book and again in the latter part of the book when the Crusade gets going. And that was fine. I wasn't expecting a bio of St. Francis. And I do like me some historical fiction. Not being much of a historian -- and that goes double for the 13th century -- I don't know where the historical ended and the fictional began, but I'd say this turned out to be the most enjoyable read on this list. If it were written today, instead of 70 years ago, give or take a decade (1944 is probably just when it was translated to English) , it would probably be twice as long and only the first part of a trilogy. Several subplots might have been greatly extended. But I thought it was good; which was probably enhanced by my low expectations going in.
For the record, on Goodreads, I rated them all 3 stars ("liked it") except the Dayton book, which I gave 2 stars ("it was ok").
And don't forget, it's still not too late to enjoy some Christmas Punch:
And, besides my own limited personal db, I am still maintaining my listings on Goodreads and Shelfari. Who can choose.
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+----------+
| title | Authors | yearpublished | Finished |
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+----------+
| Secret Diary Of Laura Palmer, The | Jennifer Lynch | 1990 | 3/2012 |
| Early Dayton | Robert W. Steele,Mary Davies Steele | 1896 | 6/2012 |
| I Hate Myself And Want To Die | Tom Reynolds | 2005 | 7/2012 |
| Sword Of The Prophet, The | Serge Trifkovic | 2002 | 9/2012 |
| Predictably Irrational | Dan Ariely | 2008 | 11/2012 |
| Blessed Are The Meek | Zofia Kossak | 1944 | 12/2012 |
+-----------------------------------+-------------------------------------+---------------+----------+
"The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer", of course, is one of the better-known "Twin Peaks" memorabilia. It may come as a surprise, but there is no small amount of "Twin Peaks" stuff that I never acquired, much to my regret. And when I saw that they (for some reason) decided to do a second printing of this thin volume a year ago, I snatched it up.
"Early Dayton" was published on Dayton's centennial. I found it in Google Books. Today it would probably be a self-published thing, like a family might do for its own history. There are some good historical sections about the first settlers and a few old pictures, but the majority of it involves listing a prominent citizen, and then listing that person's descendents and current living relatives, without much flavor.
"I Hate Myself And Want To Die" is just a list of 52 popular, depressing songs -- sometimes surprisingly so for those who don't pay much mind to the lyrics. Each song's accompanied by a brief essay, emphasis on brief. I really like the idea of something like this, but I imagined it being much better. Besides the briefness, the comedian in the author shines through in some write-ups more than others -- not laugh out loud funny, though. I recall it feeling more like the style of VH1's snarky talking-head countdowns and "I Love The Whatever" shows.
"The Sword of the Prophet" explains Islam from its beginning; guaranteed to be hated and denounced by the politically correct and people who favor "coexist" bumper stickers.
"Predictably Irrational" is all about behavioral economics. It doesn't really teach or explain much about economics (of any kind) in any great detail, but it does describe, for the layman, several fascinating behavioral economics experiments that try to decipher how people really behave and are motivated.
And, finally, I just finished "Blessed Are The Meek", which is subtitled, "A Novel About St. Francis Of Assisi". Turns out it really isn't about Francis as much as it's about Sir Jean de Brienne and the final Crusade. (I think it was the final one.) Francis keeps showing up in the early part of the book and again in the latter part of the book when the Crusade gets going. And that was fine. I wasn't expecting a bio of St. Francis. And I do like me some historical fiction. Not being much of a historian -- and that goes double for the 13th century -- I don't know where the historical ended and the fictional began, but I'd say this turned out to be the most enjoyable read on this list. If it were written today, instead of 70 years ago, give or take a decade (1944 is probably just when it was translated to English) , it would probably be twice as long and only the first part of a trilogy. Several subplots might have been greatly extended. But I thought it was good; which was probably enhanced by my low expectations going in.
For the record, on Goodreads, I rated them all 3 stars ("liked it") except the Dayton book, which I gave 2 stars ("it was ok").
And don't forget, it's still not too late to enjoy some Christmas Punch:
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Is it hot in here?
I think it's been in the 90s for probably the last week. And today we breached 100. It may have rained once or twice in the last 3 weeks, but I haven't personally noticed.
Last weekend's storms, which I wouldn't know existed if I hadn't read about them, remind me that it was a year ago my power was out for four days. I try not to dwell on this, but I don't know how I'd have made it through those 4 days except that places a mile or two away did have power, so I could go to the library, or the McDonald's, or whatever. Even if I had the 6 month food supply like the doomsday preppers, which I don't, although I've thought about it for a lot longer than there's been a show called doomsday preppers, I don't know how I'd make it through a real disaster. I wouldn't be able to cook anything. And if it was a real disaster, I'd die of dehydration before it mattered anyway. Where's the water going to come from if the pumping stations run out of gas for their generators? If I ever buy a house with a well again, first thing I'll have to find out is if there's some way to get to the water when the electric pump stops working.
Somehow humanity made it through thousands of years without electricity. Hmm. What would Ben Franklin do.
Last weekend's storms, which I wouldn't know existed if I hadn't read about them, remind me that it was a year ago my power was out for four days. I try not to dwell on this, but I don't know how I'd have made it through those 4 days except that places a mile or two away did have power, so I could go to the library, or the McDonald's, or whatever. Even if I had the 6 month food supply like the doomsday preppers, which I don't, although I've thought about it for a lot longer than there's been a show called doomsday preppers, I don't know how I'd make it through a real disaster. I wouldn't be able to cook anything. And if it was a real disaster, I'd die of dehydration before it mattered anyway. Where's the water going to come from if the pumping stations run out of gas for their generators? If I ever buy a house with a well again, first thing I'll have to find out is if there's some way to get to the water when the electric pump stops working.
Somehow humanity made it through thousands of years without electricity. Hmm. What would Ben Franklin do.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Reading in 2011
At this point in the year, it's safe to say I won't be finishing any more books -- since I'm not in the middle of any at the moment. Here's my list of books finished in 2011 in order read, which is longer than usual -- thanks, global economy!
(And I'm still maintaining my lists at both Goodreads and Shelfari, FWIW.)
I'd easily put "Anathem" and "Word Freak" at the top and the last two at the bottom. Really, I was disappointed in the last three. I'd heard so many good things about them. "Stranger In a Strange Land" turned out to be long stretches of dialog that sounded like lectures on philosophy, religion (a lot of opinions on religion), and the meaning of life. Where's the sci or the fi? Or at least some good Martian stuff. Maybe "Foucault's Pendulum" was the wrong Eco book to start with, but I like a good conspiracy. However, it seemed like lengthy passages -- dozens or hundreds of pages? -- that just droned on about nothing. Maybe it's a problem of translation to English. And then Ambrose Bierce. I'm guessing his more than 90 stories were amazing and shocking in the late 19th century. They're grouped into three categories -- ghost stories, tall tales, and war stories. Most of the time it felt like there were only actually three different stories -- and sometimes it seemed like only one. I mean, a lot of the war stories were pretty much the same as the main ghost story template -- except they took place during the Civil War. And all those ghost stories seemed like pretty much the same story with different characters and places. Was I ever shocked that the person the main character was talking to turned out to have died in a town 50 miles away a couple weeks earlier? No. Not the first time. Not the twentieth time.
Wow, it's pretty easy to be critical, yes? Well, I loved the writing style of "Word Freak"; kind of like the lengthier articles in "Wired" or "The New Yorker". And I admire that kind of obsession. And "Anathem", well, Stephenson is one of my favorite authors, if I had to make a list. Yes, the first 50 pages were a struggle, what with, not only all the wacky alien names, but worse, all the made up words, which I'd think a story of an alien culture could do just fine without. But once I got over that hump, it was a thrilling adventure. This is how I like my science fiction, I guess. I suppose it, too, was full of the philosophizing, but it never felt as if I were reading a sleepy lecture, no offense to the esteemed Mr. Heinlein.
I guess I shouldn't mention all the others and leave out one book from the list. The mere fact that I read Michael Savage's book should tell you enough, and I don't want to start a political fight with the haters. Instead, I'd rather remind you to enjoy some Christmas Punch!
(And I'm still maintaining my lists at both Goodreads and Shelfari, FWIW.)
| Trickle Up Poverty | Michael Savage | 2010 |
| Anathem | Neal Stephenson | 2008 |
| Word Freak | Stefan Fatsis | 2001 |
| Stranger In A Strange Land | Robert A. Heinlein | 1961 |
| Foucault's Pendulum | Umberto Eco | 1988 |
| Complete Short Stories Of Ambrose Bierce, The | Ambrose Bierce | 1970 |
I'd easily put "Anathem" and "Word Freak" at the top and the last two at the bottom. Really, I was disappointed in the last three. I'd heard so many good things about them. "Stranger In a Strange Land" turned out to be long stretches of dialog that sounded like lectures on philosophy, religion (a lot of opinions on religion), and the meaning of life. Where's the sci or the fi? Or at least some good Martian stuff. Maybe "Foucault's Pendulum" was the wrong Eco book to start with, but I like a good conspiracy. However, it seemed like lengthy passages -- dozens or hundreds of pages? -- that just droned on about nothing. Maybe it's a problem of translation to English. And then Ambrose Bierce. I'm guessing his more than 90 stories were amazing and shocking in the late 19th century. They're grouped into three categories -- ghost stories, tall tales, and war stories. Most of the time it felt like there were only actually three different stories -- and sometimes it seemed like only one. I mean, a lot of the war stories were pretty much the same as the main ghost story template -- except they took place during the Civil War. And all those ghost stories seemed like pretty much the same story with different characters and places. Was I ever shocked that the person the main character was talking to turned out to have died in a town 50 miles away a couple weeks earlier? No. Not the first time. Not the twentieth time.
Wow, it's pretty easy to be critical, yes? Well, I loved the writing style of "Word Freak"; kind of like the lengthier articles in "Wired" or "The New Yorker". And I admire that kind of obsession. And "Anathem", well, Stephenson is one of my favorite authors, if I had to make a list. Yes, the first 50 pages were a struggle, what with, not only all the wacky alien names, but worse, all the made up words, which I'd think a story of an alien culture could do just fine without. But once I got over that hump, it was a thrilling adventure. This is how I like my science fiction, I guess. I suppose it, too, was full of the philosophizing, but it never felt as if I were reading a sleepy lecture, no offense to the esteemed Mr. Heinlein.
I guess I shouldn't mention all the others and leave out one book from the list. The mere fact that I read Michael Savage's book should tell you enough, and I don't want to start a political fight with the haters. Instead, I'd rather remind you to enjoy some Christmas Punch!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Cary Grant Project
"Wedding Present" was a fun, pre-WWII movie, but it felt like it ended abruptly. It did have Uncle Charley from "My Three Sons", though!
- "North By Northwest", 1959, also starring Eva Marie Saint and James Mason
- "Bringing Up Baby", 1938, also starring Katharine Hepburn
- "Charade", 1963, also starring Audrey Hepburn
- "The Philadelphia Story", 1940, also starring Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart
- "The Awful Truth", 1937, also starring Irene Dunne
- "Notorious", 1946, also starring Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains
- "His Girl Friday", 1940, also starring Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy
- "People Will Talk", 1951, also starring Hume Cronyn
- "Houseboat", 1958, also starring Sophia Loren
- "Holiday", 1938, also starring Katharine Hepburn
- "My Favorite Wife", 1940, also starring Irene Dunne
- "Father Goose", 1964, also starring Leslie Caron
- "Indiscreet", 1958, also starring Ingrid Bergman
- "Suspicion", 1941, also starring Joan Fontaine
- "The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer", 1947, also starring Myrna Loy
- "An Affair To Remember", 1957, also starring Deborah Kerr
- "To Catch A Thief", 1955, also starring Grace Kelly
- "The Talk Of The Town", 1942, also starring Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman
- "That Touch Of Mink", 1962, also starring Doris Day and Gig Young
- "Operation Petticoat", 1959, also starring Tony Curtis
- "Arsenic And Old Lace", 1944, also starring Raymond Massey
- "The Bishop's Wife", 1947, also starring Loretta Young and David Niven
- "Monkey Business", 1952, also starring Ginger Rogers
- "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House", 1948, also starring Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas
- "Walk Don't Run", 1966
- "Destination Tokyo", 1943, also starring John Garfield
- "Only Angels Have Wings", 1939, also starring Jean Arthur
- "I Was A Male War Bride", 1949, also starring Ann Sheridan
- "Once Upon A Honeymoon", 1942, also starring Ginger Rogers
- "In Name Only", 1939, also starring Carole Lombard
- "Thirty Day Princess", 1934, also starring Sylvia Sidney
- "The Amazing Adventure", 1936
- "Topper", 1937, also starring Constance Bennett
- "Wedding Present", 1936, also starring Joan Bennett
- "Big Brown Eyes", 1936, also starring Joan Bennett
- "Born To Be Bad", 1934, also starring Loretta Young
- "The Grass Is Greener", 1960, also starring Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum
- "Kiss Them For Me", 1957, also starring Jayne Mansfield, Ray Walston, and Werner Klemperer
- "Penny Serenade", 1941, also starring Irene Dunne
- "Kiss And Make-Up", 1934, also starring Helen Mack
- "Hot Saturday", 1932, also starring Randolph Scott
- "Night And Day", 1946, also starring Alexis Smith
- "The Howards Of Virginia", 1940, also starring Martha Scott
- "Wings In The Dark", 1935, also starring Myrna Loy
- "Room For One More", 1952, also starring Betsy Drake
- "Sylvia Scarlett", 1935, also starring Katharine Hepburn
- "I'm No Angel", 1933, also starring Mae West
- "Merrily We Go To Hell", 1932, starring Sylvia Sidney
- "Gunga Din", 1939, also starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
- "None But The Lonely Heart", 1944, also starring Ethel Barrymore
- "She Done Him Wrong", 1933, also starring Mae West
- "The Pride And The Passion", 1957, also starring Frank Sinatra and Sophia Loren
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