"It" being Serenity, of course. It's very good. I'll see it again. I am slightly disappointed in two things, one of which I will discuss here: during the Captain's stirring speech (you know there's going to be a stirring speech from the Captain, so don't go whining about spoilers), it's all back-lit and smoky, positively Spielbergian. All in all, a very creditable first-time directing effort. I found the story worthy of the big screen, and the performances were outstanding. I was pleased to see Joss's calm Wash ("I am a leaf on the wind; watch how I soar"), rather than Tim's hyper Wash, though I think the DVD commentaries indicated Alan Tudyk was more comfortable with hyper.
In other notes, Jewel Staite said somewhere (maybe her blog) that she was happy Joss hadn't made her gain weight for the movie, but, frankly, I think both she and Adam Baldwin were too skinny to be Kaylee and Jayne.
From Hugo's Spanish Simplified, a text I would estimate was published in the 1910s:
"Teachers and students are hereby warned that any other book purporting to be Hugo's Spanish System is nothing of the sort, but merely an imitation of the first edition, with just enough alterations to spoil the arrangement, and make the exercises laughable.*
*We may mention a very amusing instance of this. Not to copy our exercises exactly, the plagiarist altered one of our sentences, 'Is your brother smoking?' to 'Is your sister smoking?' thus avoiding a charge of copying word for word, but making himself ridiculous in the process."
Want to know the latest on tropical cyclones? Sure, we all do! Visit the National Hurricane Center / Tropical Prediction Center for all kinds of useful info and graphics (including the lists of names—I hadn't known there are only six lists).
DirtyLibrarian recommended threadless, and already I'm thinking about getting some new shirts!
There's apparently a 14-month cycle of increasing tension and slippage in the neighborhood, where the Juan de Fuca and North American plates are colliding. Some geologists think the next megathrust quake will occur during a slippage event, one of which is happening right now.
What most caught my eye about this widely linked piece was its reference to Kohlberg 's work about the development of a moral sense. The author cites criticisms that Kohlberg's structure is gender- and culture-biased, with some evidence to support those criticisms. I found the article to be very interesting, and especially enjoyed this bit:
Similarly, children growing up in deeply religious Mennonite communities distinguish between rules that apply because they are written in the Bible (e.g., that Sunday is the day of Sabbath, or that a man must uncover his head to pray) and rules that would still apply even if they weren’t actually written in the Bible (including rules against personal and material harm).What I like best is that it clearly indicates that morality is unrelated to religious edict, and even children can detect the difference.
I think the fact that we kept coming up in searches for "forced" plus some other innocent word was causing a number of nefarious folk to include our content in their link-spam pages, which I suspect was causing Google to hate us. So while we continue to love the Forced Perspective, we're now extra-trendy with mid-cap and all, to try to restore our sparkling reputation.
The Poo Bomb by Vogel
It's the slightly edited version of the first year of Irony Central's Story About the Baby (I could only remember one thing that got dropped, but my favorite anecdotes are still there)-- A little much to take in one sitting, but if you savor it, it's excellent. Four stars for making me snort all over again about getting rid of his big pots.
Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth by Shaw
A compact little book, with glossy color pictures of everything Shaw ate, from meals to snacks, over the course of a year. This is a really neat book that FILLS ME WITH A JEALOUS RAGE! Tucker Shaw lives in New York City where every food fantasy you've ever had can be fulfilled, frequently also available late at night and/or as takeout. Four stars for making it really hard to take but hard to tear my eyes away.
Bad Cat by Edgar (Y)
Goofy cat photos with goofy captions. Not great. Local author. One star.
Working Fire by Unger
Autobiography on becoming a fire fighter. Very interesting, funny, and involving. Four stars for an engrossing read.
Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days by Vaughan et al
Graphic novel on a superhero who drops his masked avenger gig after realizing it's not the best way to save the world, then runs for mayor of New York. Great characters, good political intrigue, great premise. I wish it had been longer to allow more plot development. Three stars for good political plotting.
World's Worst: A Guide to the Most Disgusting, Hideous, Inept, and Dangerous People, Places, and Things on Earth by Frauenfelder (Y)
Is actually marketed for adults, but this is a great title for teens: interesting and very short chapters with eye-grabbing titles and horrific facts. Also, much higher quality than many similar titles: I found myself agreeing with many of the selections, finding out new things (very good, since I enjoy reading about the strange and odd, so I have heard of many such things before), and enjoying the supporting data. Four stars for excellent booktalk book.
Muzzlers, Guzzlers and Good Yeggs by Coleman
Biographicalish illustrated peek into the 1930 underworld. Like Carnivale, I could tell it was well-made, but I didn't really get it. One star for cool illustrations.
The Burn Journals by Runyon (Y)
Autobiography of the year after Runyon set himself on fire in a suicide attempt at 15. It's told in the voice of him at 15, very much not knowing why he did what he did. So raw it's almost hard to read in spots, but well worth the discomfort. Four stars for a difficult read.
The Men Who Stare at Goats by Ronson
Like his previous (very enjoyable) book Them: Advenures with Extremists, Ronson takes you through his investigation of something that starts off seeming funny and offbeat (in this case, the US Army's attempts to train soldiers to stop hearts at a distance by practicing on de-bleated goats) and ends up really spooky and thought-provoking (the fallout of secret programs with no oversight and no moral limits that can end up torturing people to death, even experimentally). Again, very good. Four stars for Ronson, and a hip, hip hooray for engaging investigation.
Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Almond
Fun and funny book, and I liked the research aspect a lot. The redemption at the end felt very tacked-on, but the book was otherwise well-structured. Almond's editor needs to learn the difference between pallet, palate, and pallette. And how to spell agar agar. Four stars for making me go out to buy Abba-Zabba.
Little Green: Growing Up During the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Yu (Y)
Compact, descriptive, and emotional, everything a story in poetry should be. Doesn't cover all of the background of the Cultural Revolution, but it is in poetry and told in the voice of the author from ages 2 to 10, so quite understandable. Three stars for poetry.