Friday, February 28, 2020
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
The
canning process was invented in 1809 by a French confectioner named Nicolas
Appert. Oui, the simple proletarian vessel that shepherded our Spam from
processing plant to dinner dish emerged in Paris, birthplace of so very much
genius, so very much chic. Is it
inappropriate, then, that a painter, Andy Warhol, had caused the soup can to be
the most recognized image in contemporary art?
Is it mere coincidence that the most representative Parisian dance is
called the cancan? Or that the famed
French film festival is held at a place called Cannes? Yes, of course it is, but no matter.
(from Skinny Legs And
All by Tom Robbins)
.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Sunday, February 23, 2020
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Friday, February 21, 2020
Thursday, February 20, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
“Do
you read well?” asked the Countess.
“I
think so. Recently I have had very
little opportunity. And the bookshelf in
my room is empty so-“
“That
is easily remedied,” replied the Countess.
“Mother taught both of us,” Maggie continued. “Tom and I, from a young age.”
She was going to say more, but stopped herself. Stopped herself from repeating the words her
father used to illustrate the importance of reading: reading and power go hand
in hand he had said. The rich prefer to
keep the poor illiterate and ignorant.
Remember, Maggie: knowledge is power.
(from Dark Remains
by Sean McMahon)
.
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Monday, February 17, 2020
Sunday, February 16, 2020
American Gods
A fantastic book that I read years ago. American Gods is my favorite Neil Gaiman novel, although I say that same thing about a couple other of his books. And today you can get it for your Kindle for the low price of $2.99.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
The kingdom to which Trurl repaired was
ruled by King Atrocitus. He was a
militarist to the core, and an incredible miser besides. To relieve the royal treasury, he did away
with all punishments except for the death sentence. His favorite occupation was to abolish
unnecessary offices; since that included the office of executioner, every
condemned citizen was obliged to do his own beheading, or else – on rare
occasions of royal clemency – have it done by his next of kin. Of the arts Atrocitus supported only those
that entailed little expense, such as choral recitation, chess, and military
calisthenics.
(from The Cyberiad Stories,
by Stanislaw Lem)
.
Friday, February 14, 2020
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Buddha Beatnik
I have hit a new level of obscurity for a music CD. The band's name is/was "Buddha Beatnik", and in 2000 they put out an album titled "Liberty School or...". Amazon doesn't carry it, indeed, just Googling the name gets zero hits. YouTube also lacks any hits.
Googling one of the band members' names - "Borfus Wallaby", gets a single hit to a Myspace site. Borfus apparently hangs out in the Portland, Oregon area.
My local used-record store offered the CD for $5.99 for a couple years, then dropped the price to $1.00, then further dropped it to $0.50, before some guy (me) took a chance on it.
I listened to the first 13 tracks today (there are 19 in all) as I did my Fitbit walk. The musicianship, songwriting, and vocals are surprisingly good for an album about which there is zero information out there.
Monday, February 10, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
“There were a couple cryptic inscriptions in
the temple. Gnothi seauton, which translates-“
“Know thyself,” Gray answered.
Painter nodded. He had to remind
himself that Gray was well versed in ancient philosophies. When Painter had first recruited him out of
Leavenworth prison, Gray had been studying both advanced chemistry and
Taoism. It was this very uniqueness of
his mind that had intrigued Painter from the start. But such distinctiveness came with a
price. Gray did not always play well
with others.
(from The Last
Oracle, by James Rollins)
.
Sunday, February 09, 2020
Saturday, February 08, 2020
Saturday Existentialism
I read the book when I was 18 and hated it. I reread when I was 50 and loved it. Go figure.
Friday, February 07, 2020
Thursday, February 06, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Even
after a squirt of oil, the lock wouldn’t budge.
“Wrong key? Or maybe we don’t
have one. Now what?”
“We saw it off.”
“Got a saw?”
My
dad huffed out a laugh. “First time I’ve
been without my own tools in fifty years.
Makes me feel kinda naked.”
“Thanks for that mental image, Dad.
Got any other ideas?”
(from A Dead Red Alibi
by R.P. Dahlke)
.
Wednesday, February 05, 2020
Tuesday, February 04, 2020
Monday, February 03, 2020
Sunday, February 02, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Under
the top-secret MK-ULTRA project, Dr. Hollister and many others across America
administered LSD and other psychedelic drugs to paid volunteers who were
observed and tested under hospital conditions.
One of these volunteers was a young creative writing student at Stanford
University named Ken Kesey (born 1935), who would soon find fame, fortune and
literary acclaim as the author of One
Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Reasoning that lying on a hospital bed while being prodded and
questioned by an endless stream of not all that quick-witted doctors and
constantly having blood samples taken was perhaps not the most conducive
environment for psychedelic experimentation, Kesey liberated (as we used to say)
some Acid and other drugs when no one was looking. Thereafter there followed years of Kesey’s
more relaxed cosmic experimentation within his own home, in the company of his
friends, and, more famously, on an old clapped-out 1939 International
Harvester school bus.
(from Boom! – A
Baby Boomer Memoir 1947-2022 by Ted
Polhemus)
.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Carvel Soft Ice Cream
This brings back ancient childhood memories. Once every couple of weeks or so, my parents would pack us kids into the family station wagon, and we'd go to the local Carvel Soft Ice Cream Store (similar to this one) located in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania, I was in sugar heaven.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
The next day, she could hardly settle to
anything. In the morning she fussed with
her little garden, pruning this, repotting that, but her mind wasn’t on
it. Then it started to rain, so she went
inside and made some coffee and did what she had never done in her life: tried
the newspaper crossword.
“What a stupid exercise,” said her daemon after five minutes. “Words belong in contexts, not pegged out
like biological specimens.”
(from The Book of
Dust, Book 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip
Pullman)
.
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Monday, January 27, 2020
Exercise
According to my Fitbit, 20 minutes of mowing the lawn qualifies as exercise. But three hours of dusting and vacuuming does not.
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Friday, January 24, 2020
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
As a small boy, Norman had always enjoyed
putting his chemistry set to ill use and blowing things up. But, as an adult he came to the conclusion
that the problem with blowing things up was that it always left such chaos
behind. Not that Norman was an
altogether tidy man, but explosions do tend to leave behind quite an
unwholesome jumble.
So, when now called upon to show his scientific stuff, as it were,
Norman determined that he would create a clean bomb that would tidy up after
itself.
And thus, with this goal in mind, and his thoughts that Alfred Nobel had invented dynamite and that Norman
still was very keen to win a Nobel
Prize, Normanite was born.
Normanite was unique in that it was an implosive, it sucked rather than
blew.
(from The Chronicles
of Banarnia, by Robert Rankin)
.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Monday, January 20, 2020
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Reading Stats - 2019
Reading stats for 2019:
Books read: 72
Words read: 25,262 (per Goodreads)
Shortest book: 75 pages (Carl Sandburg)
Longest book: 1,252 pages (Brandon Sanderson)
Non-Fiction: 9
Female Authors: 15
Poetry: 1
(Auto)Biographies: 2
New Authors: 34
Highbrow Lit: 3 (Proust, Hawthorne, Barzun)
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Imagine
that you are a government official charged with procuring the funds to fight
one of two proven killers: terrorist attacks and heart disease. Which cause do you think the members of
Congress will open up the coffers for?
The likelihood of any given person being killed in a terrorist attack is
far smaller than the likelihood that the same person will clog up his arteries
with fatty food and die of heart disease.
But a terrorist attack happens now;
death by heart disease is some distant, quiet catastrophe. Terrorist attacks lie beyond our control;
French fries do not.
(from Freakonomics
by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner)
.
Friday, January 17, 2020
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