Monthly Archives: April 2007

Sci Fi: “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman

Posted on by

Considered a seminal release by many, I heard about this from my Dad. Probably everyone serious about military history and war (or anti-war) that was his age when this was published read this book. The story of an anti-hero, who fights in every war Earth carries on over hundreds of years. Haldeman touches on many issues, not just war related, but genetics, prejudice, the whole nine yards. And the message comes through loud and clear. I think Vonnegut would approve.

Worst of all was the feeling that perhaps my actions weren’t all that inhuman. Ancestors only a few generations back would have done the same thing, even to their fellow men, without any hypnotic conditioning.

Memoirs: “She Got Up Off the Couch, and Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana” by Haven Kimmel

Posted on by

A worthy follow-up to her early memoir “A Girl Named Zippy.” My favorite chapter was: “A Short List of Records My Father Threatened to Break Over My Head If I Played Them One More Time.” My favorite moment may have been when another student in her class got up and recited a John Denver song, pretending it was his original poem, and Kimmel was so angry she was determined to turn him in for committing a crime. Or when her mom tells her to go wash her hands for dinner, and “I considered saying “Mom, I eat rocks, for heaven’s sake.”

Really hilarious stuff and great slices of smalltown life. But here’s my question: how in the holy fucking hell does she REMEMBER all this stuff? If I tried to write a book of childhood memories, there’d be maybe two pages of what I remember, then five to six pages of “shit my parents have told me so many times, I kinda THINK I remember it, except really I don’t.” And the other 292 pages would be BLANK because I.Do.Not.Remember.Anything and I’m so not joking about that. She remembers so much she’s gotten two books out of it. She remembers exact conversations she had in sixth grade. Or before. Did she keep a diary? Is that how? I am baffled by this. When I finally get a superpower, maybe it’ll be MEMORY because I am surely lacking it.

I have no time for you.

Posted on by

I have a whole stack of books and concerts to write up. But I’m too busy watching TV: Buffy and Friday Night Lights. I’ve also watched EVERY episode of the US version of The Office over the past four days. No, I’m not joking. I’m overdosing, perhaps, but not joking. How a show can be so fucking hilarious and yet so sweet and sometimes (desperately) sad is really an accomplishment. More, please.

Supposedly Grey‘s is a new one this week. Do I care? Not at this moment. I’m just halfway through Lost from two weeks ago, and obviously would still have last week’s to watch too. Another show I am not caring very much about. The last six episodes of Standoff were supposed to start showing April 6, but apparently they decided to show reruns of House instead. It might be returning June 8 if this site is right. We’ll see.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut.

Posted on by

His appearance on Jon Stewart last year was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and fortunately for us, you can watch it on the web. In addition, here’s the list they refer to in that interview.

He never lost his edge. He never stopped saying the same simple message over and over: War = Wrong.

Can you claim to be well-read if you skipped “Slaughterhouse Five”? I think not!

Who knows if this is accurate, but on Wikkipedia, they cite his own grading of his books, and here are the four he graded highest: “The Sirens of Titan”; “Mother Night”; “God Bless You, Mr Rosewater”; and “Jailbird”.

To Whom It May Concern:

Posted on by

A customer comment I sent to Philosophy today:

Why oh why did you discontinue the Orange Sherbet? It was SOOOOO MUCH better than the Mimosa. In fact, it was so much better that I cannot even stand to sniff the Mimosa, as it is just a sad, sad imitation and not worthy.

If there are any bottles of Orange Sherbet left in the warehouse that I could in some way purchase, please do not hesitate to let me know.
I am very sad.

Sincerely,
my hair misses it the most,
Duff.

Best of March.

Posted on by

Oh dear, halfway through April but so busy watching Buffy that I’m barely blogging. Dearie me.

The best gig I went to in March was on the very first day of the month when I saw Gomez. If they swing through your town on this tour, I highly recommend getting a ticket! They were just brilliant and wonderful and I’ve spent weeks now listening to their back catalog. Really talented musicians. Of course, the night I saw Lupe Fiasco and the Roots was also really fun and I’d have to say they were close runners-up.

The best flick I saw in March was The Lives of Others, the german film that won the foreign language Oscar. But Zodiac was a close second… I meant to see a couple other movies, but wound up cancelling on people due to my extreme slacker tiredness and ridiculous early morning work schedule. So far April is not seeing me in the theater much either so this seems to be a contining problem, doesn’t it.

While I wasn’t at the movie theater much, I did get back on the reading horse in March and the best book I read was “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell. It was short and sharp, biting and intense, and I was blown away. I also read some great short stories by Margo Lanagan, some poetry by Claudia Emerson, and “Black Cat”, by Martyn Bedford (the author of one of my all-time faves “The Houdini Girl”).

And as for tunes I listened to in March? Hmmm, that’s a tough one. I was enjoying the new Arcade Fire, especially “Intervention”, a beautiful new album from Great Lake Swimmers, and lots of singles from folks such as Brett Dennen, Bob Evans, Soltero, and Chris Brokaw … and still listening to stuff I bought earlier in the year: Guggenheim Grotto, the Shins, the Fratellis, Explosions in the Sky, and Youth Group.

Random personal highlights: a) I finally uploaded my London pictures to Flickr, although I have yet to get them printed for my mom, despite her asking me every time I talk to her; b) I got my taxes done a month ahead of time; c) went down south for (another) family wedding and got some quality time with lots of my cousins and one of my aunts; d) met Jen & JR!!; e) went to an awesome Cuban restaurant I hadn’t been to before; f) had a random doctor visit to find out I have officially lost 16 pounds on the infamous diet! Wooooooot!!!!; g) got a letter from Rumi, an old, old friend I haven’t heard from in ages (now if only I can find some time in my slackass life to write back!!!); and h) met KC’s new baby Avery (a.k.a. “Mini Coop”) who I had made a quilt for before her birth.

Lowlights? I can’t believe I’m saying this, but looking over my calendar, I’m not seeing any real lowlights. Must’ve been a damn good month! 🙂 Maybe the lowlight is I was only out of town for one weekend, but I still didn’t really get any quilting done. My powers of procrastination = they are mighty!

It’s a thin line.

Posted on by

Love and hate hold hands always so it made natural sense that they’d get confused by upset married folk in the wee hours once in a while and a nosebleed or bruised breast might result.
–from “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell. Best book I’ve read so far this year.

When your body leads and your heart follows, and your mind thinks “Whaaaa??”

Posted on by

Since she had always considered herself a woman with broad interests, concern for world affairs, deep affections for a range of friends, and a driving ambition to pursue her own career, the discovery that apparently all she’d really wanted all along was to get laid by a particular snooker player was a little bit grim.

–from “The Post-Birthday World” by Lionel Shriver.

Big Screen: The Lookout

Posted on by

This movie is getting much better reviews than I would give it, Rolling Stone seemed to like it A LOT, and I’m wondering if they saw a different cut than I did? Bizarre. The manipulation stuff is, as expected, pretty fucking icky. But there’s other icky stuff as well. There’s about a zillion things you can pick apart in this plot, and nothing that WOWed you enough to make you not notice the gaping holes. Not recommended.