July 3, 2008

Book reviews: The Namesake, Nine Hills to Nambonkaha and Walking with Zeke

Just a few words from my notes on these, you can read my full reviews for all three books over on GoodReads.com.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
While my first impressions of The Namesake weren’t flattering (the first 10 or 20 pages felt dry and I almost gave up on it), by the fifth or sixth chapter I understood what she had pulled off. Using deceptively spare, undecorated language, Lahiri manages to paint richly-detailed yet unapologetically imperfect portraits that firmly affix readers to the lives of her characters as they unfold.

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha by Sarah Erdman
I believe I just spent the last two weeks in a remote, traditional western African village among incredible people and circumstances. I love when a writer tells a story that becomes indistinguishable from my reality when I’m reading/listening. Kudos to Erdman for pulling that off.

Walking with Zeke by Chris Clarke
In short, Walking with Zeke is a compilation of journal entries over the years that come together to offer a raw, touching portrait of the relationship between a man and his aging dog, treading not only the hills and washes of their physical landscape together but also the very winding, up-and-down path toward the inevitable.

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July 1, 2008

time to ask

Over the last few months there have been two particular visitors, one with an IP in Washington State and one in Staten Island, who seem to spend a lot of time digging through not only this web site but both of my work web sites as well — and last night one of them was messing around with the contact feature and sent a bogus request.

So I have to ask: is there something I can do/answer/find for either of you? I’m happy to help if there’s something you’re looking for, and if you’re just lurking and wandering around all three web sites because you’re curious that’s fine, but it’s just a little creepy knowing there are people out there checking you out to that degree when you’ve got no idea who they are.

So how about sending me an email and introducing yourselves? Would love to hear from you.

Posted by tee in de la vida
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June 30, 2008

QOTD

Our collective geek rears its head again:

Me (tongue-in-cheek) to Shane: “Left side of my head is foggy. Hope I don’t have anything analytic going on today.”

Shane: “Maybe just computing how many boxes we can fit in the trailer if the median box size is .592 cubic feet.”

(pause)

Shane: “…with a standard deviation of 4%.”

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June 29, 2008

Why are so many TED talks prone to fizzling?

For the last year or so I’ve sought out and eaten up TED talks every chance I get. Speakers are top-notch creative thinkers and real-world logicians, and the talks are almost always fantastically entertaining and full of revolutionary ideas and critical messages to internalize (and to spread, as is the point). Rarely will I turn down an opportunity to watch another, and another (and another…).

Despite that, I cannot shake off my irritation that the majority of them also become so meandering that they veer from what might otherwise be a finely-pointed exit, one that brings the whole magnificent body around to its natural, teleological argument. But time and again the topic, which felt pregnant with potential for the first nine tenths of the event, is left flat and dangling in the final minutes, unsatisfying, like a well-played ball suddenly dropped and left to roll off the stage.

Why is that? Not enough time? Do the speakers get so caught up in the enormity of ideas (would be easy to believe, the ideas really are stunning) that it’s impossible to gather it all into a solid, secure knot on the end of the balloon? Am I over-thinking it? Missing the point? I’d be curious to know if anyone else who’s seen several of them have noticed the same pattern.

That being said, I haven’t seen a TED talk yet that wasn’t worth watching. This is one of my favorites:

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June 29, 2008

pinhole

I haven’t turned lights on yet but I open the window, and the gray outside is cool and flat. Last night’s rain is still hanging on leaves and in the road and in the air. It refuses to go. I tear number 28 off the desk calendar, we have nine days left now, and the word for 29 is, appropriately, interloper.

I scoop dog and cat food into dishes and fill water bowls at the sink, watching Shane and Sarah out the window trying to walk to grandma’s because Sarah likes to go with her to church, but they are preoccupied with the black cat across the street who tries to follow them. They pick him up, afraid he’ll be hit by a car in the road, and walk him back home and deposit him in his own yard and try again. And again. But he runs to catch up and trots happily at their heels. On the fifth try he stays, and they quickly disappear around the misty corner and out of view. In two hours it’ll be my turn to make the trip in reverse.

I start water for coffee, and turn on the light to warm up the gray. The child in me wants to say I bet it lasts for the whole eight days.

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June 27, 2008

Good news for Eric Shiveley fans

After much prodding by numerous friends and fans, Eric’s award-winning soundtrack for Everyone But You is now available for purchase online - .99 a track or $10.99 for the whole album (12 tracks). Listen and/or purchase here.

The whole album is fantastic and original. But if you’ve only got a couple of bucks to spare and want recommendations, I’d say tracks 3, 4 and 9 are my favorites. Of course I say that, and then think of another, and then another… so play it safe and just pick up all 12 tracks.

As I’ve said before, Eric’s music feels like being on a long, lonely stretch of road with the windows down. Only without the high gas prices.

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June 27, 2008

Friday afternoon playlist

A new addition at the top, Old Coyote by the Weepies, given to me last night by the very witty, wise, whacky and wonderful Toni. May take a minute to load.

postscript: looks like a few of the tracks convert to 30-second samples when it’s embedded…that’s annoying.

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