Midnighters, Vol. 3: Blue Noon, Westerfeld. Yes. A fitting conclusion to the Midnighters series, very exciting in spots. If you've read it, we can compare notes on whether you, too, were reminded of a thing at a spot in the book.
I had no idea “Alan Smithee” had been retired as an official Directors' Guild pseudonym.
The Complete Stories, O'Connor. Yes. This took me quite a while to get through. The writing was just good enough to keep me going despite my inability to enjoy the stories themselves very much. On reflection, though, perhaps I should have enjoyed them more, as they were very Seinfeld-like: Awful things happened to awful and non-awful alike, and there was no hugging and certainly no learning.
Apparently we only now have data indicating opiates make your cough better. No kidding. It seems up to now they've been prescribing them “on a hunch.”
Midnighters, Vol. 2: Touching Darkness, Westerfeld. Yes. Given the amount of research that Westerfeld apparently did for Peeps, I'm disappointed that he didn't bother to check what the GPS constellation looks like. It's not entirely clear he knows what the mailbox flag means, either, though maybe the character merely phrased something oddly. There's mention made of the Scrabble® dictionary, but what he describes sounds more like the wordlist, except that he would have to be talking about the long word list, and he gets that wrong, too. Also, fingerprints, anybody? And finally, there's an issue that I'm not willing to go back and look at The Secret Hour to verify, but it's a fairly serious flaw, or cheat, whichever way he handled it (or didn't) in that book. He hangs a bit of a lantern on it in this volume, which doesn't soothe my somewhat ripped-off feelings much. Withal, though, the book kept me turning pages. I like what he's done with the world and the characters, and only wish he had bothered to deal better with a few things.
Update: per his words elsewhere, he got the mailbox flag wrong (“finds bill for [name]”).
The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, Brooks. Non-fiction. Again, billed as humor. I mean, sure, it's ironic and po-mo and all, but I still didn't find it a laugher. I was interested that it creeped me out in a way no fiction has in a long time. I think this was mostly because so much of the survival advice is applicable to a wide variety of unpleasant-to-contemplate situations. I wonder if broader exposure to the zombie and survival genres would have enhanced my enjoyment. Brooks seems like a pretty nice guy in his Suicide Girls interview. I'm somewhat relieved to see this exchange in his World War Z interview:
[SG]: Survival Guide wasn’t exactly humorous and World War Z is definitely not that humorous.But maybe they're being ironic.
Max: Anyone who thinks this World War Z is funny has severe emotional problems.
The common theme in these stories is an old one: we really seem to want something easier than eating reasonable quantities of appropriate food and getting plenty of exercise.
A very entertaining ukulele lesson with many useful tips.
Ukulele is the miracle music instrument . The ukulele sound won't interrupt the talking of business or the whisper of lovers.
If you softly hold a baby or cat under your arms, usually some people will smile and say "How pretty this baby is! or How cute this cat is!" On the other hand, the ukulele will not make people so excited.
If your family and friends' faces turn bitter, you don't have to worry. If you are a poor player, just back up slowly and fade away.
I'm not the usual knitting-minded contributer at this blog, but I had to investigate this project: “Knitted breasts help new mothers”
The current episode of the Ken P. D. Snydecast contains a quite entertaining discussion of the menu (and staff) of the Musso and Frank Grill in Los Angeles. And indeed, as discussed, their menu is straight out of the fifties. The actual fifties, not the Happy Days fifties. Chiffonade salad! Imported sardine sandwich! Creamed spinach!
Midnighters Vol. 1: The Secret Hour, Westerfeld. Yes. Written for a younger audience than Peeps and The Last Days, but I found it no less compelling. I was disappointed in the mathematical error made by the master trigonometrician, and I imagine I should be troubled by the implication that there's something magical about Greenwich, if only on principle, but these defects did not diminish my pleasure in any serious way.
The Campfire Collection: Thrilling, Chilling Tales of Alien Encounters, ed. Hyams. Yes. The final section disappoints (other than the Tiptree story, of course, which I optimistically fancy to be dated), but the rest of the stories are solid—in many cases classic—SF. I do need to check the credits to They Live, or Google for lawsuits.
Update: The acknowledgment is right there in They Live's credits.
The fine folks at Taquitos have commented on McCormick's '07 flavor forecast. That comment is "ew."
Longtime listener, first time caller Elsa submits historical pictures of Wisconsin library students. For cute! My own library education involved fewer costumes.
Because New Yorkers conspire to taunt me with their wonderful restaurants, here are an assortment of menus to peruse. The Comfort Diner, for example, offers "Herb Crusted Salmon ( Low Crab )." I think it is terribly considerate of them to offer menu items with a minimum of crab.
Do cereal boxes count?
Just kidding, I eat oatmeal.
Serenity: the official visual companion
I got a lot out of this, and now I need to watch the movie over and over to really exegetize it. Three stars.
Shock Point, Henry (Y)
Cassie discovers her stepfather's involvement in a crooked drug trial that resulted in the cover-up of three deaths. Then her stepfather accuses her of using drugs and has her shipped off to a boarding school to shape up-- a boarding school run like a prison camp. Well-paced thriller! Four stars.
Serenity: Those Left Behind, Whedon
A graphic novel to bridge the plots of Firefly the series and Serenity the Movie. Very functionally written rather than lyrically. Two stars.
Rash, Hautman (Y)
In a future where risk is eliminated in the US, insulting someone can send you to jail. But there's so many prisoners that the rehabilitation is subcontracted to mega corporations who in turn use the prisoners as free labor. Which is how a bad temper got Bo sent to the arctic to make pizzas. Fun read. Four stars.
Offbeat History, a compendium of lively Americana, Griffin, Bulkley S
A victim of its title. I was hoping for forteana, and I got interesting first-person accounts of history. Like expecting chocolate and getting goat cheese. Nothing wrong with goat cheese. Three stars and extra points for being named Bulkley.
Spiral-bound: top secret summer, Renier
Not bad, but much younger than I was hoping. Three stars.
Natural Causes: death, lies, and politics in America's vitamin and herbal supplement industry, Hurley
Interesting topic, but covered with a bit too much drama. I don't think it really needed additional drama, since people are already really emotional about it. Two stars.
Vampire High, Rees (Y)
Really well done middle school novel (though takes place in a high school, as the title suggests), with really well-drawn characters and a realistic vampire plot (though does Massachusetts really require all schools to have a water polo team?) Four stars.
Last Days, Westerfeld (Y)
Sequel to Peeps, and like Peeps I will be enthusing about this book- great book! Great sequel! Five stars.
The campfire collection: thrilling, chilling tales of alien encounters, edited by Gina Hyams
A really really well-assembled collection with lots of classic stuff. Because I'm probably going to want to follow up on some of these authors, I include the contents here.
am the doorway / Stephen King -- Project: Earth / Philip K. Dick -- Radiance / Nina Kiriki Hoffman -- The Venus hunters / J.G. Ballard -- The one that got away / Kristine Kathryn Rusch -- To serve man / Damon Knight -- Pictures don't lie / Katherine MacLean -- Betelgeuse bridge / William Tenn -- Eight o'clock in the morning / Ray Nelson -- Night of the Cooters / Howard Waldrop -- The women men don't see / James Triptree Jr. -- Saul / Peter Schweighofer -- A rustle of owls' wings / Thomas Smith.
Five stars.
It's kind of a funny story, Vizzini (Y)
Fiction, but semi-autobiographical, written after Vizzini got out of a five day inpatient psychiatric hospital stay. Very immediate and visceral and very true. Five stars.
In case you need to explain to someone exactly where they are a pain in your ass, a helpful set of diagrams.