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Jul. 8th, 2009 @ 09:21 am Life update
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Haven't posted in much too long; my apologies!

Had a lovely super-long holiday weekend - my department decreed that All Regular Employees Shall Take Thursday Off to help us spend down our vacations.  So I spent Thursday taking a kitty to the vet (just regular checkup, no emergencies!), having lunch and hanging out with a work buddy from the Genome Center, rummaging at the library, finishing Chapter 2 of Paper Mario 1K-year Door, and generally relaxing.  (I was sorry to miss seeing [info]nezumiko  - hopefully next time she won't have the flu!)  Friday we both had off.  Um... we went skating, and I think we just hung out.  Saturday I did a pretty thorough vacuuming of the bedroom, which badly needed it.  Privet trees/bushes, to which I'm horribly allergic, are just starting to come into bloom, so anything I can do to lower the amount of allergens around is a Good Thing.  We spent the evening indoors with the kitties with the doors and windows closed, so the noise of the fireworks wouldn't freak them out too much.  Sunday I went to church, we skated again, I cleaned the living room/dining room, and finished Phoenix Wright 2.  (If you make the last couple of in-court choices wrong, you get a surprisingly detailed 'wrong' ending; much more interesting than the usual simple slamming of the courtroom doors.  The 'right' ending is, of course, even better.) 

We also finished reading Neal Stephenson's Anathem aloud to each other.  It definitely deserves its own post, hopefully I'll get to it soon.  For now, suffice it to say that it's a book that demands your close attention on pretty much every page, but is overall worth the effort the reader puts into it. 

Finally, a marvelous video ganked from kayray - College Humor's reworking of West Side Story into Web Site Story.  It's only about 4 minutes long, and extremely well done.  (Worksafe.)

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Jun. 14th, 2009 @ 09:43 pm Great weekend!
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Winding down from a generally fantastic weekend.  :)  We hosted the all-too-infrequent Bay Area Storyreading at our house Saturday night - shouts to [info]nezumiko , [info]orichalcum , [info]cerebralpaladin , and other non-LJ friends.  While the two 3-year-olds were around, we read picture books.  Selections included Two Bad Ants (in which (a) the author had clearly had an ant infestation and took revenge and (b) the moral of the story is that if you do your own thing you'll get into big trouble), the slightly surreal Pete and Pickles (in which a pig and an elephant come to be great friends - the idea was based on a sketch done by author Berkeley Breathed's five-year-old daughter), and the incredibly surreal Hedgie Blasts Off (in which all the scientists are dogs who dress in hazmat suits even when writing entirely accurate orbital equations on blackboards, all the reporters are birds, and Hedgie the hedgehog goes up in a spaceship and saves the day).  Those who could stay later started on Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, which will probably be the semi-official post-bedtime long.  Great stuff.

And today we went and saw Wicked, which was much better than I'd expected it to be given how much I knew its story diverged from Gregory Maguire's book.  It deserves an entry of its own; I hope I get the chance to write about it soon.

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Mar. 31st, 2009 @ 09:26 am Linky link
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I have not much to say at the moment, apart from the usual Work! Music! Too Much Stuff in my Brain!  But a good real-life friend of mine just posted an entry in his blog about e-readers, books, and paper.  It's a nice piece, and I figured that the high volume of readers around here might like it.

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Feb. 22nd, 2009 @ 04:45 pm A brief note for future updates
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I have stuff that I want to write up in some serious detail, but I am way too busy to do so right now.  (And I've had other writing I have done/need to do: a brief reflection on a Biblical text for our church's Lenten meditation book, and something-or-other for a memory book that one of my paternal aunts is putting together for the other one, who turns 70 next month.)  So I'll just note here, in very brief form, the main points that I wish to make.

1.  Coraline the movie was really really good.  Coraline the book was also really really good.  The movie did some things differently from the book, but they all work surprisingly well (including the generation of an entirely new character).  But because there are some things in the book that didn't get into the movie (including my very favorite scene which, admittedly, would have been difficult to film), you should read the book as well as see the movie. 

2.  Sweeney Todd had his beginnings in a penny-dreadful serial called The String of Pearls that was recently recorded at Librivox and which we just finished listening to today.  The story is essentially a mystery - what's happening to the customers who enter Todd's barbershop and are never seen again?  The modern reader likely knows the answer already, of course, but that doesn't stop the original tale from being interesting, mildy horrifying, humorous (intentionally or otherwise, sometimes it's hard to tell), and at times even pretty well-written.  This recording is a collaborative effort, and there's a wide variety of styles and abilities of readers ranging from folks for whom English is not their first language to professionals.    The catalog page is linked above.
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Feb. 15th, 2009 @ 03:58 pm Ahhhhhh..
Current Location: home
Current Mood: content
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There is nothing quite so civilized, so pleasant, as sitting down to a cup of really nice tea (Stash green chai), a plate of chips (we had no cookies), and a good book on a cold and rainy afternoon.  Pure heaven, that.

Being thus fortified, I will now go do vacuuming.
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Nov. 13th, 2008 @ 09:05 pm Almost entirely content-free
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There are parts of my friends-list who I expect haven't seen these yet, and would appreciate them. Mightygodking spent some quality time with the science fiction and fantasy novels he read as an adolescent... and the novels' covers, and a lot of time with Photoshop. The results are astonishingly apt retitlings of some moderately well-known works. (My personal favorite: Mercedes Lackey's Magic's Price, retitled to My Little Pony Goes to War.)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Thanks to [info]apintrix  for the original links!

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Oct. 1st, 2008 @ 09:10 pm Librivox recs
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We recently finished listening to Mark Nelson's recording of Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X. I'd never read any of the Tom Swift books before, and was continually astonished at how much of a product of their time (1950s and 60s) they are. What boy doesn't dream of being listened to and respected not just by his elders, but by the head of the local police department - and the FBI and CIA? What boy doesn't think it would be incredibly cool to be handed a potentially life-threatening problem and have the brainpower and materials handy to rig up a working solution in only an hour or two? What boy wouldn't prefer use a visiting space alien to spy on enemies to America (thinly disguised Russians in this case) to learning about the planet the visitor comes from? Despite the various ludicrous departures from reality, overt sexism, and brief moments of religiosity, the book retains a certain charm. Our enjoyment of the book was aided by Mr. Nelson's excellent reading and character voices. If you enjoy stories of adolescent boy adventure/incredible inventions, this roughly four-and-a-half hour recording is for you.

I received a notification this morning that the Short Nonfiction Collection #009 has been catalogued.  Awhile ago, I told a few of you about a piece that the huz recorded for this collection and which is now available: The Book of Accidents (originally noted by a buddy of ours on an email list; I forget who).  This short (~25 minute) book reads as if it were intended as a parody of all the Victorian instructional books for children ever written - except, of course, it's deadly serious.  From the dangers of drowning to being bitten by a dog to getting gored by a bull to being run over by a sleigh, it's actually kind of surprising how many of the core lessons apply even today.  (Okay, maybe the bull isn't so timely.  Substitute cars for sleighs, though...)  The huz gives an appropriately mock-serious air to his reading, which is the third piece in the collection.  Be sure to increase your child's chances of becoming a properly productive member of society by playing this recording to them.

The hyperlinks will take you to the catalog pages for each work.  Enjoy!

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Apr. 29th, 2008 @ 04:56 pm The 106-book meme
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Mar. 26th, 2008 @ 12:21 pm The Pilgrim's Progress as RPG
Current Location: work
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I've been listening on and off to Joy Chan's Librivox recording of The Pilgrim's Progress.  It's one of those classics that I never had to read in high school or college, and I'd heard lots of comments about how good her reading is.  I am largely enjoying it, though I have to take breaks every now and then; Bunyan apparently never heard of subtlety, and his lack thereof eventually becomes tiresome.

I listened to Part 1 Eighth Stage on Sunday on my drive home from church.  Every so often, Christian (the main character) does something sort of stupid, but this particular episode took the cake.  He and his companion Hopeful got captured by the Giant Despair and were cast into the dungeon of Castle Doubtful.  This happened because Christian saw a nice, easy-looking path parallel to the currently-rocky Way to the Celestial City, and after failing a Wisdom check and winning a Contest of Skill (Fast-Talk versus Hopeful's Intelligence), convinced his buddy that it would be just fine if they walked on the nice easy-looking path instead.  It turned out to be not such a hot idea.  You also see what I mean about a certain lack of subtlety in Bunyan's writing.

Anyway.  They get stuck in the dungeon on Wednesday, and are left there without food, water, or light till Saturday, at which point the giant starts beating them and exhorting them to commit suicide rather than live on.  Oh, and of course not giving them any food or water.  It's a little unclear how many days this treatment goes on, but eventually Hopeful and Christian spend a long time in prayer.... immediately afterwards, Christian realizes that, d'oh! he's got a key (called Promise) in his breast (pocket? shirt?) that should open up all the doors in the castle.  Using this handy tool, the two make their escape, after some four or five days of imprisonment.

Dude, when you're lost or puzzled, check your inventory! 
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Mar. 2nd, 2008 @ 10:58 am Book recommendations
Current Location: home
Current Mood: chipper
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One of the ways I entertained myself during the Cold That Would Not Die was by reading.  I've had the great good luck to read three quite good fantasy novels.

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Nov. 29th, 2007 @ 01:47 pm Fresh Air star!
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Joel's interview on Fresh Air (just shy of 20 minutes) is now available online!  Can't wait to listen to it... but alas, will have to.
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Nov. 28th, 2007 @ 08:11 pm Squee!
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(most of you already know this, sorry for the overlap!)

My college friend Joel Hafvenstein ([info]havenstone) is being interviewed on Fresh Air and All Things Considered about his recently released book Opium Season!!!!  Way to go, Joel! 

Links to interviews will be provided as I get them.
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Nov. 26th, 2007 @ 08:03 pm Home sick
Current Location: home
Current Mood: still sick
Current Music: sniffles and coughs
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Oh, and one nice discovery I actually made yesterday: Orisinal: Morning Sunshine is a site with a whole bunch of very pretty, almost entirely nonviolent Flash games that are great when only half a brain cell is working.  You can herd cats.  Feed ducks.  Bounce stars on bubbles.  Be a little rabbit, hopping up bells that are falling from the sky.  Collect sugar cubes for tea.  Help deer cross a stream.  All with pretty pastel-style art and nice (if eventually repetitive) music.  Great stuff for when you don't feel well.
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Nov. 10th, 2007 @ 05:37 pm H.G. Wells and Games
Current Location: home
Current Mood: calm
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The huz and I just finished listening to two audiobooks available at Librivox, both by H.G. Wells, and both on a subject that I would not have expected him to write about: games.

Floor Games is a brief (45 minutes) essay about the games Mr. Wells played with his sons on a large cork floor.  They use boards, toy soldiers and animals, and common household objects to create islands, cities, parks, and other inhabited landscapes.  Then the imagination of the boys, both old and young, is let loose to create events and act them out.  It's a droll, well-written set of general instructions on how to have fun with your kids.

Little Wars is a slightly longer (1 hour 45 minutes) booklet which should be of interest to anyone who's ever played a turn-based tabletop-style combat strategy game.  While I haven't done the research to make sure, I rather think that Mr. Wells' 1913 publication may be the first time that someone had published rules for a game that would eventually evolve into the tabletop games we know today.  The writing is clear and often amusing.  The instructions themselves are fairly brief, and much of the work is a detailed description of a short campaign between himself and another middle-aged gentleman of his acquaintance.  Wells devotes a brief section at the end to thoughtfully commenting on the connections between Little Wars and what he terms Great War - the wars that humanity fights out in the real world.

Both works are narrated by one of my favorite readers on Librivox, Mark Smith.  He has a great sense for the text and for making the most out of the drama and humor in both works without overdoing either aspect.  I recommend both books to people who like to play games of every sort.  :)
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Oct. 3rd, 2007 @ 05:58 pm Happy Banned Book week!
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A meme from [info]ladybird97!
Here are the 100 most frequently challenged books in the US, 1990-2000, according to the American Library Association - that is, books that people have wanted to ban. Bold the ones you've read.  (Looks like I've read 33.  I may have read more of the Blume books; it's been a very long time since then, so I don't remember quite.)

( Long list )
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Aug. 9th, 2007 @ 09:50 pm Leisure stuff (including Potter - NO SPOILERS)
Current Location: home
Current Mood: pretty good
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We've been reading Harry Potter aloud to each other the last few nights.  Things have happened, some unexpected.  I decided that it would be both useful and fun to write up quickie summaries of each chapter as we finish them, with new mysteries highlighted.  Each chapter summary is then followed by reactions (what was surprising? what not?) and new guesses as to what will happen or be revealed later.  It's an interesting exercise, and it'll be a good record of how our thoughts change based on what happens.  Some of it will probably end up here eventually.  But given that we're only five chapters into it, that'll be a while in coming.  Do be assured that it'll go behind LJ-cuts when it does... assuming we haven't gotten confirmation by then that we are the absolute last people on the planet to finish it!

We just watched the first 40 minutes or so of the 'Director's Journey' section of the bonus material in the Lion Witch and Wardrobe Special Edition DVD set that arrived last week!  I'm pretty pleased so far.  The narration is reasonably interesting and content-ful most of the time, and the visuals are all very interesting indeed.  I'd wondered a few things while watching the film: what the carvings were on the front of the wardrobe (elements from the story of Magician's Nephew), how the heck the legs of the various hybrid creatures worked (the actors wore green-screen tights with mo-cap markers on them - it looks pretty funny), and how much of the battle sequence was CG (a pretty large fraction).  I'm impressed yet again with how good the creature models and animation are.  Clearly a lot of work was put in to get them as spot-on (plus emotive faces) as possible.  Congrats to all involved!  I'm very much looking forward to watching the rest of the bonus stuff.

As a note to myself: (1) Have a decent-sized snack before playing Zelda.  (2) When you start feeling dizzy, for heaven's sake, stop!  I don't care if it's in the middle of a mid-boss battle.  You need to stop,  then and there, otherwise you'll end up feeling very ill! 
I'm better now... don't worry.
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Jul. 25th, 2007 @ 09:47 pm Bleh. *...zzzzz...*
Current Location: home, soon to be bed
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: cats purring
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I stayed home from work today, because even after what ought to have been a perfectly fine night's sleep, I felt too tired and sleepy to drive 20 minutes safely - and knew that if I did manage that, that I'd be exhausted by the time I got to work and would want to go sleep.

(A sign of how not-cogent I was this morning: While putting away the dry dishes this morning, I stuck one of the stainless steel dinner knives into the knife block... and didn't notice that I'd done so till after breakfast.)

I spent the day messing about on the computer, playing Zelda for a while (more poes, another piece of heart, another golden bug or two.  Time to go off and do plot stuff now), taking a couple of hour-long lie-downs, and finished rereading Harry Potter 6.  I did actually cry this time round; I hadn't when we read it aloud in my book group.  HP7 arrived on Monday, and is sitting temptingly on the coffee table.

Hopefully I'll be up for driving and doing stuff tomorrow.  It was an okay day today, but you know?  I prefer being productive if I can.  I doubt that I'll make it to skating; I walked to the grocery with the huz earlier and was completely and totally oh-my-god-I'm-tired-now bushed, so I'm guessing I should reserve my energy for things like, well, driving and doing lab work.
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Jul. 18th, 2007 @ 02:59 pm A Harry Potter plea
Current Location: work
Current Mood: apprehensive
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Some people read big fat books very quickly.

Some people read big fat books much more slowly.

Some people read big fat books aloud with their family over the course of a month or two.

Some people read big fat books aloud with friends, in 1.5-2hr increments roughly once a month.


The huz and I will be enjoying the last Harry Potter book by one of these last two methods, and we'd really prefer not to see any spoilers!  So I beg all of you on my friendslist, please please please hide any detailed discussion of the book behind LJ-cuts. 

You can say you loved it, or hated it, openly.  But please don't discuss plot elements (like the revelation that Harry's scar is an independent intelligence from outer space) except behind a cut!

Thank you sooooooooooooooooooo much.  I will appreciate it HUGELY.
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Jun. 8th, 2007 @ 01:40 pm Bad crossover imagery...
Current Location: work
Current Mood: full
Current Music: throat-clearing noises
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There are a number of fun off-topic conversations at Librivox.  Someone started a thread about books being adapted into movies and vice versa.  I made a brief and incoherent post, including reference to this interview with the director of The Dark Is Rising, in which he mentioned draping real snakes on the actors rather than doing a digital effect.  (Ain't no such scene in the book... in Part 2 of the interview, there's a lot of chatter about several other 'added' scenes in the movie, which are making me even more leary of the film.)

Anyway.  Kayray's response to the comment about the snakes?

"Snakes on an Old One."
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Jan. 26th, 2007 @ 02:02 pm The Man who Planted Trees, a story by Jean Giono
Current Location: work
Current Mood: contemplative
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[info]nezumiko gave my husband and me this lovely book for Christmas. In brief, it tells the story of a solitary man living in Provence, visited a few times by the narrator over the course of decades (1914-1950-something), who gradually and singlehandedly plants a forest over the previously desolate and desert-like countryside. We believed that the tale was true - until we read the foreword and assorted afterwords present in the 20th-anniversary edition we were given. I was terribly disappointed by this revelation.

Why? What led me to believe that a book with "a story by" in its title would enclose anything but fiction? Why did I want the tale to be true?

( Read more... )
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