Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day

O ants crawl my drunken arms

and they let Van Gogh sit in a cornfield

and take Life out of the world with a shotgun,

ants crawl my drunken arms

and they sent Rimbaud

to running guns and looking under rocks for gold,

O ants crawl my drunken arms,

they put Pound in a nuthouse

and made Crane jump into the sea in his pajamas,

ants, ants, crawl my drunken arms

as our schoolboys scream for Willie Mays

instead of Bach.


(from On Drinking by Charles Bukowski)

7½*/10. The complete review is here.

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Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Monday, December 28, 2020

Friday, December 18, 2020

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day

Initially the docent had refused to take pity on the man who claimed to have come all the way from America to pray at the Baptistry of San Giovanni in hopes of curing his terrible skin disease. Eventually, though, he had been inspired to become sympathetic, aided no doubt by an offer of five hundred dollars for five minutes alone in the baptistry ... combined with the growing fear that this contagious-looking person would stand there beside him for the next three hours until the building opened.


(from Inferno by Dan Brown)

7½*/10. The complete review is here.

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Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Saturday, December 12, 2020

Friday, December 11, 2020

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The drone nodded.  “We were sent out as cannon fodder.  We turned out to be better at staying alive than expected.  When they attached us to a praetorian regiment, we thought they wanted us for our survival skills.”


    “What did they want you for?”


    “Breakfast.”


    “So what happened?”


    SVN/2187 shrugged.  “There was an unfortunate error.  Our commanding officer accidentally got shot by the entire platoon, and then happened to set himself on fire and fell down a hole.  And then a bio-grenade rolled down there after him.  For some reason, high command decided that we were responsible.”



    (from The Pincers of Death by Toby Frost)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Covid Testing

They've changed the sample-taking protocol for Covid-testing where we go. Before, they'd stick a Q-Tip in your nostrils. Now, you have to spit/drool/salivate through a straw into a vial.

My learning curve was rather steep for that new process.

Sunday, December 06, 2020

Friday, December 04, 2020

Thursday, December 03, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day


    “So,” I said, eyeing him closely, “maybe it’s good there’s no such thing as time travel.”


    He raised his eyebrows slightly.


    “Or to qualify further, no such thing as public access time travel.”


    “Exactly.  Although the phrase ‘time travel’ is so sci-fi.  We don’t do that.  Here at St. Mary’s we investigate major historical events in contemporary time.”



    (from Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor)

 

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Wednesday, December 02, 2020

Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Photoshop Tuesday


    A way-kewl picture even if it is completely fake.

Monday, November 30, 2020

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Friday, November 27, 2020

Masks


    Wear 'em correctly, peeps.  Lives depend on it.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day


    “I didn’t drop acid before writing the lyrics, as many people later assumed.  And the lyrics weren’t about an acid trip.  I may have smoked a joint that night, but that was it.  Since birth, I’ve had achromatopsia – complete color blindness.  If I had dropped acid, I would have been hallucinating in vivid black-and-white.  I doubt that would have helped me or the song much.  (John Kay, regarding “Magic Carpet Ride”)



    (from Anatomy of a Song by Marc Myers)

 

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Waldo


Word for the day: *Waldo* (n.): a remote manipulator, as for puppets, operated either mechanically or electronically.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Sunday, November 22, 2020

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day


    “I’ve left my husband,” she said, “and it’s for real, and I’m never going back.”

    “To him, or to New York?”

    “Neither.”

    “How come?  Is he the mayor?”

    “What?”  She looked blank for a second, and then she laughed.  “It’s all connected in my mind,” she said.  “It’s a journey into independence.  Or does that sound stupid?”

    “No, I can see that,” he said.  “If you’re making a big move, you want to make a move.”

    “Right,” she said.  “If I’m leaving, I’m leaving.”

    “Sure,” he agreed.  “If you’re throwing out the bath water, you might as well throw out the baby.”

    She frowned at him.  “Somehow that doesn’t sound the same.”



    (from Dancing Aztecs by Donald E. Westlake)

 

    9½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Friday, November 20, 2020

Creating Jobs


   Today's Wondermark comic.

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Art Appreciation Thursday


  Or "your weekly Calvin & Hobbes dose".  Either one.

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Scientific Proof: The Earth is Flat

    You can argue with me, but you can't argue with Science.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Horsing Around


    It took me a moment to 'get" this.

Monday, November 16, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day


    “It’s not fair, not fair.”


    “Your world is always fair.”  I didn’t make it a question, and she just straightened and looked at me without speaking.  I don’t think she would have or could have answered it anyway.  “There’s no fairness to worlds.  Fairness is a thing created by men.  It doesn’t exist.  It isn’t the same in different cities, or among different people.  How can fairness be the same thing in two different worlds?  In your world you were a scholar, in this one you’re nothing.  In this world I’m a warrior, but if I went to yours, I might be a beggar.”



    (from Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Saturday, November 14, 2020

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Gluten-Free


I hear you, Pig. My company once ran a "drug-free workplace" campaign. Turns out they weren't giving out any drugs, free or otherwise.

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “What happened?” he asked.


    “You were in a fugue state,” Josephine said.


    “What did I do?” Gary asked.


    “Nothing,” Josephine said.


    “You made it really cold in here,” Alice interjected.


    “That is exactly why it was necessary to sever the link between you and Gary,” Morgan said to Josephine.  “There’s no predicting what can happen when you have a splintered subconscious.”


    “You certainly know how to toss around buzz words and psychobabble,” Alice said.

 

    (from Grumpy Old Wizards by John O’Riley)

 

    4*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Monday, November 09, 2020

Saturday, November 07, 2020

Changing of the Seasons


    99°F for a high temperature two days ago.  62°F for a high two days from now.  Hello, Autumn.  Goodbye, Autumn.

Friday, November 06, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day


    “Gentlemen, I am going to tell you about the OSS … the most fantastic damned organization in all our armed forces.  Its people do incredible things.  They seduce German spies, they parachute into Sicily one day and two days later they’re dancing on the St. Regis roof.  They dynamite aqueducts, urinate in Luftwaffe gas tanks, and play games with IG Farben and Krupp, but” – throwing up his hands – “90 per cent of this has not a g**d***ed thing to do with the war.”



    (from The Secret War by Max Hastings)

 

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Thursday, November 05, 2020

Wednesday, November 04, 2020

Monday, November 02, 2020

Saturday, October 31, 2020

Book Excerpt for the Day


    “So you dance now, Gully?”


    “I dance, speak four languages miserably, study science and philosophy, write pitiful poetry, blow myself up with idiotic experiments, fence like a fool, box like a buffoon...In short, I’m the notorious Fourmyle of Ceres.”


    “No longer Gully Foyle.”


    “Only to you, dear, and whoever you’ve told.”.



    (from The Stars My Destintion by Alfred Bester)

 

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Friday, October 30, 2020

Thursday, October 29, 2020

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Billionaire Limit


    I'd vote for this.