The night I arrive, we had a spectacular full moon that had a great time blasting light all over the island. You didn’t need any lanterns or other devices, so bright was it.
Looking towards the mountain, we saw the usual rain clouds hammering the upper slopes. All of a sudden, a huge greyish ring forms, and we realize we are seeing a rainbow of moonlight. Is that a moonbow?
Ok, I’ll give it away immediately: this is one charmer of a book! It’s the story of a woman who escapes an abusive husband and chronic poverty by participating in contests and winning prizes in a big way. She is so good at it, she makes a living with it and eclipses her husband’s earnings.
All in all, though, it’s at the same time the story of ten kids that have to suffer through a childhood full of strictures just to find themselves a wonderful family that will stick together forever. This is all told with the honesty that accompanies American family biographies, revealing all in a humorous tone.
Continue reading“Guns, Germs, and Steel” counts as one of those eye-opening books that correlate things you hadn’t thought about before, just like “Godel, Escher, Bach” a while back. I enjoyed it immensely, and I was looking forward to whatever Jarred Diamond was cooking up next. Which turned out to be the present book, Collapse.
Guns was about how European societies dominated the world because Europe benefited from climatic benefits that no other area of the world had. While the premise was deeply flawed (China had none of the benefits, rose much faster than Europe, and then declined), it was a very interesting read, since it pretty much said that any culture would have made it to the power of Europe if it had had the advantages that Europe enjoyed.
{moszoomimglink:Looking out from the living room}This time the trip was longer (2 weeks) and the need more desperate. Would I be able to propel the construction to the next level? Would we be able to finish on time? And could I really see that people were working?
Well, it looks like progress is swift, and that I was certainly right when I complained about the slowness when I am not there. We got it to the point where I can name the items still missing:
Continue readingA sob story of colossal proportion, Whale Rider falls under the category “minority trying to keep its culture alive.” In this case, it’s the Maori culture in New Zealand we are talking about, and the story of a family that loses its only male offspring and has to live with his twin, who will have to take over the destiny of the tribe.
Acting is pretty good, admittedly, with the young hero having received more than a few awards and nominations and being pretty certain of a real chance at an acting career. As far as the rest goes, the actors move one more than expected – there is always a danger with a movie about a foreign culture that one doesn’t understand the emoting, but this movie is savvy about avoiding the risk.
Continue readingAmazing how much two different comic book franchises can be. The Fantastic 4 was one of the grandest comic book series, second only to Spiderman, but the movie derived from the former was worth only a fraction of the latter’s spinoff. Actually, even the X-Men series works much better in movies.
There is something about the characters of the series that doesn’t work as well. In both other franchises, the heros are derelicts fighting for survival and hiding from a cruel society that wants to get rid of superfreaks. Oddly enough, we seem all to be able to empathize with superfreaks, and we’d wish we had the superpowers. Easy transition to believing the story.
Continue readingShe’s done it again! Madonna has continued amazing me since her first album, Madonna, was released in 1983. Back then, my idea of music was classical, and her songs sounded wildly exotic to me.
Hung Up, a worldwide No. 1 hit, uses a sample from Abba’s Gimme Gimme, a device that works incredibly well. The precise swing of the sample fits perfectly in the rhythm of the song, imitating the working of a clock. Hung Up ends up being a revelrie on the concept of time and waiting that convinces with the same devices that propelled the Pet Shop Boys’ amazing album Introspective.
Continue readingIf you go to the CHP road condition page, you have to swallow a giant stream of roads until you find the two that tell you how your commute to Tahoe is going to be. Now I found a valuable shortcut:
… In Corduroy and Jeans. David Sedaris’s 2004 book continues the series of stories from the author’s family, including early childhood memories and recent memories of life in France with his partner, Hugh.
I find it astonishing how the same man can write 5 books on his family life and still have more to say. I guess everyone else would run out of things to tell, but Sedaris’s family can be counted on for one more little funny story every single time. Or maybe the commentator on the jacket is right: even when given the phone book as material, David Sedaris would know how to make that sound funny.
Continue readingIt’s after midnight, I can’t sleep because of shoulder pains, and I was checking the web (thanks, wireless networks!) There was a little star next to the weather forecast for SLT, which usually indicates severe weather alert. I clicked, and to my surprise, this is what I found:
RAIN AND SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE SIERRA SUNDAY. SNOW<br></br>LEVELS WILL LOWER TO 7000 FEET BY EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON AS LIGHT<br></br>SNOW MOVES INTO THE SIERRA. BY SUNDAY EVENING...SNOWFALL WILL<br></br>BECOME HEAVY AND CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. HEAVY SNOW IS<br></br>EXPECTED TO CHANGE TO SNOW SHOWERS MONDAY AFTERNOON AS THE FAST<br></br>MOVING SYSTEM PUSHES EAST OF THE AREA. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO<br></br>NEAR 5000 FEET IN THE NORTHERN SIERRA TO 6500 FEET IN MONO COUNTY<br></br>BY MONDAY MORNING. SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF A FOOT OR<br></br>MORE ARE EXPECTED.
Hooray!!!!