Die Another Day

8/31/08, 12:07 AM

Bond-James Bond. What is there to say. It's an action movie. And those can definitely be fun.

Mostly though I just wanted to note that I think the female villan may have been Kaylee from Firefly.

All in all I wish I could be an awesome kick ass heroine. Or even villan. Cuz even then I could kick-ass. And that would be pretty sweet.

[Edit: Nope, definately not Kaylee]

Intollerable Cruelty

8/30/08, 11:55 PM

I have now moved onto movies. Why? Because I want to. Now shut up and read on.

Do not watch this movie. Now chances are you will not. It is an old (not really, but not new either) chick flick and normal people have by now moved on. But I remembered seeing the previews on TV and was drawn in by the big name actors.

I can't believe George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones signed on for this movie. Instead watch any of the Danny Ocean movies, good stuff. Or for her see Chicago, or even that more recent one about her being a chef, not at all great, but still better.

Somehow the movie managed to just loop around in these crazy spins and really go absolutely no where. And seriously the acting was bad. I can't figure out if they were for some reason supposed to have these bizzare nonsensical demeanors or if somehow the actors suddenly sucked.

All in all not worth the 2 hours or whatever it took to watch it. I couldn't believe that that was it when it finished. I kept waiting for hte 'surprise' to jump out and lunacy to make sense. But no.

Oh well. It did work as a mild form of distraction while we worked on the mailing at home...

Peach Jam

I spent my evening making and successively canning Peach Jam.

So pretty much I more or less belong in the last century and totally don't fit in. Seriously it is way too true.

TRM and I are planning to can oodles of applesauce so that we can eat it all year long. An orchard somewhere around here has apples for $10 a bushel. That means it'll even be pretty freaking cheap. All around awesome. Although even TRM is started to make fun of me for my new compulsive canning tenancies.

I see nothing wrong with stockpiling my body weight in apple sauce. The society I am surrounded by disagrees.

I'm slighly concerned that tonights second and third batches of Jam may not set up so well. It would be pretty sad if they didn't, I was planning on giving my co-workers each a jar. But only time will tell....let us hope for non-runny Jam.

The Birth of Venus

8/30/08, 11:48 PM

When I saw this on the shelf I knew I'd read about, or well seen, it on some list. And I know the famous painting and generally like historical fiction so I thought it'd be nice as like my 'fluff' read.

Unfourtionately it was rather disappointing. Like there was passing mention of but really nothignt o do with the painting. I was sad. Instead the titled worked more with themes and all.

Maybe I'm just getting tired of writing out here my book reviews, but all in all not much to say.

A decent read if you're bored. And I think that a few interesting ideas were brought up. But obviously nothing stuck with me that much.

Dune

8/30/08 11:33

I actually read this Frank Herbert Masterpiece quite a while ago (and or 2-3 weeks). I loved it! I guess there is a reason stuff becomes 'classic.' And given as I love to read fantasy, and I consider sci-fi to be an extension of Fantasy, and I consider Dune to be a sci-fi/fantasy classic. When I noticed it as I was browsing the shelves of the library some 7 weeks ago in the absence of Atlas Shrugged I figured I ought to read it. How is that for a run-on thought.

At first Dune is fairly difficult. Herbert does not give the reader any nice little easing into the world. No, instead there is a glossary of terms for introduction. I tried to read it first. But with out context it was rather pointless. So I just started reading. And at first I would look up the foreign terms, but after a bit I stopped even that. And really it's all that better this way. You just let the foreign newness wash over you. and you can delight in this amazing new place you are learning about.

The prose is also different. Maybe because it is older literature, which often seems awkward on our toungs. But I like to think of it more as an extension of such lengths to the new universe created.

There are sequels, I love me a good series. I have book 2 up with me this weekend and shall start it tomorrow. Yay.

Love in the Time of Cholera

8/30/08, 11:14 PM

I just finished reading the book Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. And honestly I'm disappointed.

The book came highly recommended. I had seen in on various lists and noted it as worthwhile literature. And Marquez won a Nobel Prize for lit in 1982. He must know what he's doing. And rather coincidentally I heard it recommended by a co-worker. On Sunday I browsed the library's website to decide what books to get given I'd finished what I had on Friday, the books were due on Monday, and I needed to stock up for the weekend. And I put this on the list. So go figure on Monday as we were working on the season ticket mailing the new education director mentioned a book she had unrecommended to her daughter, I don't remember at all how it came up. But I asked her what book and she said 'Love in the Time of Cholera." And said it in such a way that I knew she really had lied it, without her giving a description.

But anyways I was psyched.

So I started it and it seemed quite slow and didn't really get anywhere. I figured it must get better. And admittedly it did start up finally and found a, mostly stuck with, time line and series of actions.

Yet all in all I was not moved by it. It seemed like some of it was trying to be about sex. But t hen it wasn't at all sexy and didn't light upon anything new or different. In fact for all it kept bringing it up it didn't ever feel like much.

and more importantly I'd imagine it was supposed to be about love. (The word being in the title clued me in to that.) Yet I don't think it even made me feel anything at all about love either. There were no new ideas or thoughts at all. More of just relating a take that should have been exciting, but somehow was turned dry.

Plus I really didn't like one of the characters. And could never figure out if he is/was supposed to be a good or bad character. Maybe that indifference is what makes the guy a good author. The necessity of drawing my own conclusions.

I also wonder that the book may have lost some of its potency in the translation from Spanish.

No hablo Espanol.

Old School

8/30/08, 11:06 PM

Back to Blogging...old school style.

So it is a long weekend. Hooray. And I made it even longer by taking Friday off. Seriously I need to use more of my comp time next year. Anyways as with most of these minor holidays my Mothers side of the family is gathering up at my Aunt and Uncle's lake house.

There is barely any cell phone service up here. And don't even thing of the internet.

And so, given the lack of the technology required to actually blog, I am still determined to blog - old school style.

And so I find myself hand writing in a journal.

I've never been a fan of my own handwriting. It definitely leaves something to be desired. But even given that I do enjoy seeing the space fill up with those little meaningful scribbles.

I find that a filled notebook, or even just a page is akin to a work of art.