Far East Cynic

When I was a young man, I was a fan of the short lived TV show, Battlestar Galatica. I was going through flight school, there had been only one Star Wars movie and the Galatica seemed like an aircraft carrier. Besides-the chicks on the show were pretty hot.

When its reimagined version came out a few years ago- I did not follow it much-I was living in Japan and had other things to do, like go to Tokyo for my Japanese classes and find new and better bars on the way home. I did watch the final episodes of the series when it closed-but I found the ending, and the changes from the original series-to be dissapointing. For the record, Starbuck is supposed to be a man. And second, when you come upon a young planet earth wth nothing but natives for the conquering, you don’t just toss your technology aside and live like the natives.

So I was curious what was going to happen when Sy Fy developed the prequel series Caprica. Caprica is set 58 years before the Cylons destroyed the 12 colonies and launched the “rag tag, fugitive fleet” on its lonely quest for Earth.

The first time through- I did not warm to the series so much. I could not get it. Here was a world that had developed spaceflight, yet still had people dressing like they lived in the 1950′s-complete with fedora hats for the men. And while there was lots of new technology-it seemed odd to me that so much of the world looked and seemed like the current world we live in now. After all we don’t have interplanetary travel yet-much to my chagrin.

Then, quite by accident, I stumbled upon the first 12 episodes available for down load on I-Tunes. I down loaded and loaded all of them up to my I-Phone. While I was on this recent series of international travel I watched the series again. The light bulb finally came on -and now I can truly say I am hooked. I can’t wait till the series resumes again in October.

Science Fiction has always been a clever way to provide interesting commentary on current events and I realized that Caprica was following this old SciFi tradition very well. The plot line of  Caprica tells the story of how Colonial humanity first created the robotic cylons, who would later plot to destroy humans in retaliation for their enslavement.  I always hate it when they use that term-they are machines, they are meant to be used and abused. That is not enslavement. People are enslaved. Machines are used.

Nonetheless, it is the interesting story of how the first Cylon robot becomes self aware. I also find the technology of the show fascinating-especially the Virtual world that creates the vehicle to make the first Cylon self aware. ( Plot spoiler follows). The virtual world is the ultimate of electronic gaming-enabled by “holobands” that allow you to assume the form of an avatar and navigate through a world where any thing is possible. ( Pioneered by the porn industry of course).

The central characters, the Graystone family includes the father Daniel and mother Amanda, a computer scientist and surgeon respectively. When their daughter Zoe dies due to the religious fanaticism of her boyfriend, Ben Stark, her father manages to resurrect her — after a fashion. Already having acquired a digital clone of her personality developed by Zoe herself, he uses stolen technology to create a robotic version of his daughter, the first step towards creating the Cylon race.

In the worlds of the colonies, polytheism is the religion. Try to imagine Greece-with 21st century  technology. Monotheism-the belief in the one true god-is the Caprican version of Islam in this series. Ben Stark is the modern day Islamic terrprist. Or is he a Christianist? It is never really clear.  In one of the early shows, this line is spoken: ” Don’t you realize how dangerous this is? A belief in one all knowing, infallible god, with which there is no disagreement-and in whose name unspeakable acts of violence can be committed.”  I found that particularly interesting and it provokes interesting parallels with our own age and history.

And that is what Science fiction is supposed to do. Provide a vehicle through which clever commentary on our own society can be expressed. In Caprica, its about a   a world intoxicated by success. And technology. It opens a lot of ideas for discussion-since the virtual world featured in the series can be likened to some of the video games of today.

The second  half of the series airs in October-I can’t wait. If you have not watched the first episodes-buy it or down load it.

Or the dog gets it.

And we would not want that to happen would we? Especially when this book will make you a lot smarter about the world you live in. And unlike Sarah Palin’s book-you can rest assurred that there were no ghost writers at work here. Steeljaw Scribe is one of the writers in the book: Securing Freedom in the Global Commons.

Details here-and as an extra added incentive, you will be giving SJS a chance to lord it over me that he has money from his “book deal” when I talk to him every week. Surely that’s worth a few bucks in entertainment value alone.

Details here.

That just won’t seem to go away-the book meme is back again.

What is the book meme? It is where you list the last ten books you have read-and no, Manga does not count. ( Damn it Jim, I’m a doctor-not a reader!).  Oh what the heck-here are the last 10 that I have read or am currently reading:

1) Imperial Cruise- This is a book about the journey of  William Taft and Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter to Japan to negotiate a settlement to the Russo-Japanese war. It is by James Bradley, same guy who wrote Flags of Our Fathers. Now that was a good book. This one? Not so much. The biggest problem with this book is that Bradley turns it into an anti-colonialism screed about the Philippines and Korea, without considering the context of the time. Plus, given the current track record of Madame President Arroyo-its not certain that Teddy Roosevelt was wrong: The Filipinos just might have been better of under American protection. Interesting history-but you will want throw the BS flag pretty early.

2).Rape of Nanking-by Iris Chang. I did a detailed review of this book back in 2006. I wanted to go back and re-read it for two reasons: 1) to refresh my memory for another book about China I was to read and 2) to have ammunition to throw at the S.O. every time she goes on one of her “ I don’t understand why the Chinese are so pissy” rants.

3) Red Light Nights, Bangkok Days-Chronicles of Sexuality across Asia. -by William Sparrow. Hey, a man needs to hang on to his dreams, doesn’t he? Nuff said.

4) Six Days of War-By Michael Oren. Its a pretty good account of  the Six Day War in 1967. Does a particularly good job of chronicling how the Arabs were inept in the build up to and the prosecution of the war.

5) The Wrecking Crew-by Thomas Frank. Its an account of the hollowness of many conservative ideas before Bush junior and during. An enjoyable read but I agree with Publishers Weekly about it: While Frank’s assessments and interpretations of key events, players and party doctrines is accurate and justifiable, his overwhelming blame of the Republican Party as the source of everything that’s wrong with this county and as the emblem of self-destructing government denies the Democrats and the citizenry their roles in a decaying democracy. That sums it up pretty well-although his description of Saipan as being some sort of sexual playground, kind of overstates what it is really like there. ( Its about the sweatshops set up in the Marianas).

7) Shanghai Girls-by Lisa See. This book was not what I thought it was about. Has all the makings of a movie on  Lifetime someday. Blech!

8  )  Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America.-by Mark Ehrman. This is what almost two years of exile in Shopping Mall USA will do to you. See line 3-stoking the fires of my dreams.

These last two  I have not read yet-they are on my to do list.  I probably would not have ordered them, had I not read about them over at Expat at Large.. Once I did read about these books-I just had to get them and read them.

9  )The Singapore Grip-by J.G. Farrell. Life in pre-war Singapore.

10) The Siege of Krishnapur-also by J.G. Farrell. Set in India in 1857 during the time of the Mutiny.

So there! My work here is done. Now get your own books and read them.

Haven’t been able to post so much in the last couple of days. I’ve been tied up in the Alternate Universe-where its not so fun:

But hopefully, I will be able to bridge the gap-starting tomorrow!

I have been thinking about what life in the alternate universe is like-for example in the alternate United States where people actually thought about fixing the country’s problems. Take for example what it could do if it really wanted to fix the debt problem-instead of just giving lip service to it:

1. Substantial cuts in spending. Ensure that the commission is as much about shrinking government as raising revenue. My personal favorite would be to raise the age of eligibility for Social Security and Medicare. Do it gradually but substantially. Then index it to life expectancy, as it should have been from the beginning.

Leaving both Iraq and Afghanistan would be a good way to get head start on item 1.

But then we live in the other universe-where no one realizes it is possible.

What me worry?

No need to worry about the next election. John Cusak and Danny Glover have already solved that problem for us:

Of course, in 1972 , the Late Great Planet Earth told us that the European Common Market was the next roman empire too-how’s that working out?

Something tells me this movie will be too much power at the start, not enough power in the middle, add lots of power at the ramp.

Its been a couple of weeks since I got the Kindle DX. I thought I would pass on my observations of the device, and my recommendations of how I think it could get better. Like most things in life, its not 100% great nor 100% bad-it has things to like and things to dislike.

The Good:

     I like the screen size and the ability to change the type font size. I really think it allows me to read a book at a faster rate than I would with a regular book.  I’m not sure why. I don’t know if it allows me to scan more of a paragraph-or if I am just glancing at a paragraph and not really retaining its contents. Nonetheless, the little voice in me that says, "turn the page" appears to be working faster.

     It’s great to travel with on an airplane.

      The side buttons to select pages, table of contents, and to turn the electronic pages are well placed and easy to use. The biggest difficulty I have found so far is remembering to use the "mouse" button to select links and specific books and not the "next page" button for that. However the transition time is so quick-its not a big deal.

       The size of the device. I paid more money and bought the DX model with a 9" screen. I am glad I did.  It allows me to see the list of content I am subscribed to easily-and select what I want to read.

        The Kindle allows me access and the ability to absorb a lot of news content each day. Subscriptions to newspapers and magazines (real news magazines with thoughtful content-not sheer Fox News types of rubbish) are easy to group together and scan through over a 30 minute cup of coffee. ( Or a few beers at a bar on the way home from work.). However the subscriptions are a two edged sword as I’ll explain later. It’s a great news aggregator-especially if you want to understand content, not just hear stupid headlines that reinforce already held opinions like Fox  news, Townhall Harlot,  and Drudge readers do.

         The fact that it updates with the latest editions of the newspapers and magazines and blogs every time I turn it on is cool. I like that-it reminds me of what I think the "Newspad" of 2001 A Space Odyssey Fame would be like.

          Kindle books are significantly cheaper than hard back books. And really old books, like Machiavelli’s The Prince, are free. 

       The Bad:

      The DX comes with a web browser. I have to be honest-its not that great. Sure it will display web pages, but it takes longer to load than on my cell phone-even though it is using the same network. You can tell why in an instant-the bastards at Amazon want you to buy blogs et all through their paid content. The paid content I have subscribed to loads a lot faster than when I put my blog in the URL reader. I object to having to pay for content I should be able to get for free.

       Speaking of content-there is preciouos little foreign newspaper content available through Kindle/ Amazon. I have e-mail subscriptions to the Straits Times, Japan Times,and the South China Morning Post. It would be nice to have them on the Kindle.

       The Keyboard SUX! If you read a blog you want to be able to dash off a snarky comment or two, when you read something that gets your dander up. However, the way it does special characters like quotations and caps-leaves a lot to be desired.

        If you are not careful, the screen changes from portrait to landscape and back again.

       The device has a PDF reader that works just fine, and you can e-mail PDF documents to. It would be better if it had a Powerpoint feature, so that you could do the same with power point presentations. The larger screen makes it more effective than a Blackberry.

       And speaking of a Blackberry, having an Outlook function on the device-e.g read only would be nice.

My recommendation?  Its useful-but only if you are really an avid reader like me. Or you travel a lot. However its still a lot of money to shell out-and it does not pay itself back right away unless you read a lot of books. Oh and the subscription fees for newspapers etc-should be tossed out the window.  This idea that paid content is the only good content is crap. Make money through advertising if you must-but don’t charge me for content I can get free elsewhere.

On the whole, for me-who is a voracious reader-its a good buy.

We went to the fireworks last night at one of the literally dozens of shopping malls here in this hillbilly hell litle burgh. Fortunately the Barnes and Noble was open-the better to capitalize on hundreds of people converging on said shopping mall. Since they had a Starbucks and we had time to kill-we joined the throng. $52 poorer we went out to see the fireworks. ( Which seemed shorter than last year-but then again no American fireworks display holds a candle to the Hanami which will go on in Japan from now through the end of August.)

Two gardening books for the S.O. Big mistake-last thing she needs is to get more dug in.

And two books for me:

Seemed like an interesting book that refutes most of the popular myths that have taken hold in the public consiousness. We’ll see as I read it on the plane up north next week.

And the other:

Slate columnist Kaplan takes a contrarian view to the common wisdom that the ’60s were the source of the cultural shift from pre-WWII traditions to the individualistic, question-authority world of today. In Kaplan’s view, the watershed year in this transformation is 1959. He delves into that year’s cultural and political scene, citing Miles Davis and his revolutionary album Kind of Blue; William Burroughs and his equally revolutionary novel, Naked Lunch; and the opening of Frank Lloyd Wright’s radically designed Guggenheim Museum in New York City as examples of fundamental breaks with past conventions.

I’m hoping to get this one done a little later in the month. I had read about the book and since I was born during that particular era -and I had heard a lot about this particular book-I thought, "Why not?" I suspect Kapaln may be right.
 

I also finished a couple of books recently. George Friedman’s book was interesting but I think he started from a conclusion and worked backwards from it-namely that American dominance as the single superpower is pre-ordained. Nonetheless, his look at some of the trends and the flows of international politics is worth a look. And he does point out that the competitors are nipping at the heels of the US.

I liked Fareed Zakaria’s book better. Most neo-cons and supporters of the neo-con interventionist philosophy probably hate it. Basically, Zakaria takes a look at the data and says that there is no way the US will remain the only power to contend with in the world. Rather than bemoan that fact however-he points out that its actually something the US can embrace-and emerge better from-if it would only try. I agree with him on that. A recognition that the US does not have to be every where, for everyone is a good thing. If, in that retrenchment, the country turned inward to strengthen itself economically-it will be in a stronger competitive position. Zakaria is not advocating isolationism-just a recognitions of the limits of what US power can achieve.

Probably the one down side to the book is that Zakaria is way too complimentary to India. ( He’s Indian-so go figure). I don’t share is admiration for a complex set of reasons, some which have to do with the fact that I still think they ought to be governed by a Viceroy answerable to the British government.  That’s a pipe dream of course-but it still does not mean I have to like them any more.  I think India still has a long way to go-and it needs to make a greater commitment to all of its people-not just the 1/3 or so that it props up at the expense of grinding poverty for the rest.

Nonetheless, its worth a read-and I recommend it.

It has taken me a while but I finally have plowed through my latest bit of books. I’ve also begun to attack two others.

The S.O. dragged me to an estate sale after my sister left Saturday morning. She and her friend were moving on westward-as they move out on their yearly “escape trip” from the mind numbing banality of life in the particular circumstances life has place upon her. As one who is plotting a similar trip- I understand the need completely.

The sale was well gone by, by the time we arrived. It was in a house that was in one of those “yuppie” communities with houses jammed up next to each other-well kept, but trying to maintain a city atmosphere, without the city to support it. I told the S.O. this, “This house tries to be an old Charleston house-without Charleston around it. Doesn’t work very well”.

And then, in the display case, I came upon them-the wings of gold of a Naval Aviator.

Now unless you have endured the hours of anxiety and sweat required to earn them, one probably does not appreciate the reverence with which I type those words. When I was 16 years old-to be a “Naval Aviator” was the only thing that matter to me. I could think of no higher aspiration in life. That I eventually became the Naval Aviator’s kid brother-a “Naval Flight Officer”, does not in any way diminish my respect for that shiny piece of gold metal.

I asked the sales persons if the estate belonged to a Navy person-and they politely informed me that, yes the man had been a Navy pilot, “and had served in Korea”. No they did not know what he had flown.

Sitting next to those hallowed wings of gold was an officer’s hat crest-the kind worn on what properly-and if the world were still as it should be-would be known as a “cunt” cap. Further down were an officer’s cuff links-the kind worn with a white shirt-and are no longer used very much anymore.

To the left was the remnant of the book collection. Many of the books had been sold already but two were still there that caught my eye. One was a picture book on Disasters at Sea-Every Ocean going passenger ship catastrophe since 1900. It is an interesting book with descriptions and fairly comprehensive list.

The other and more important purchase I made was a volume of Rudyard Kipling. The book actually had a raised seal in the front page-again something very few people do nowadays-proudly informing me that it was “From the Library of __________ _________.”

This evening I set about to peruse it. The opening of the “Drums of the Fore and Aft” is apt reading for anyone who spent time in the profession of arms.

Two words breathed into the stables of a certain Cavalry Regiment will bring the men out into the streets with belts and mops and bad language; but a whisper of “Fore and Aft” will bring out this regiment with rifles.

The courage of the British soldier is officially supposed to be above proof, and, as a general rule, it is so. The exceptions are decently shovelled out of sight, only to be referred to in the freshest of unguarded talk that occasionally swamps a Mess-table at midnight. Then one hears strange and horrible stories of men not following their officers, of orders being given by those who had no right to give them, and of disgrace that, but for the standing luck of the British Army, might have ended in brilliant disaster. These are unpleasant stories to listen to, and the Messes tell them under their breath, sitting by the big wood fires, and the young officer bows his head and thinks to himself, please God, his men shall never behave unhandily.

I also finished my books peering into the brave new world that is coming to America-and which America is quite unprepared to receive:

And the book by George Friedman-The Next 100 Years:

Interesting reading both of them-although George Friedman’s conclusions are not very well backed up within the text. In particular I think he is overly optimistic about the role of the United States and its global power-but still worth the read nonetheless.

More to follow on these two books tomorrow.

I’ve seen 62.

Of the 75 movies every man should see.

I went to see the Star Trek movie tonight. Would have seen it this weekend-but we went to the lake instead.

Now that I have seen the movie-I think the lake was the better deal.

WARNING! PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!

Here is the bottom line up front: if you did not know much about the Star Trek series-the movie is good entertainment, and the acting was not as campy as the original series. ( But there was a lot of attempts to make sure all the buzz words from the original series were present).

However if you are like me, who watched the original series, all the movies, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine ( Which I liked), Voyager ( Which I did not like) and Enterprise ( Which I kind of liked and kind of disliked). Read a lot of Star Trek novels in my youth-and are more than a little familar with the timeline of the Star Trek universe-its more than just a little disappointing what they did with the Star Trek Canon.

They did not just change a few details, they shredded a lot of key items with a buzz saw. While that may make for high box office gross for this movie-it may not leave you a lot of good options for the sequels. ( You’ll have to see the movie to understand that some of the races they jettisoned were kind of important down the line-unless you really want to give the Alpha Quadrant over to the Dominon. (Inside Joke)).

Plus I’m not a big fan of plots where there are time travel implications-gets back to that whole, “Can you kill your own father before you were born” thing.

Plus, I am always amazed at the other convenient plot gimmick-the rest of Star Fleet is just “out” , there are no Vulcan ships any where, and so it just happens that the Enterprise has to save the day.

Again.

How many times have we heard this one?

Add to that I’ve never quite understood the whole vision of the Star Trek “Navy” , so to speak, where its perfectly alright to f**k fraternize [with] your hot looking female fellow crew members and it does not ever seem to get in the way of saving the day. As a result of that nonsense-the “real Navy” tried it.

And how well did that whole thing turn out?

All that said, I still think its worth $7 bucks to go see on the wide screen. Especially while munching through a large bag of popcorn as my dinner.

And as I said in the beginning, if you are not a geek big fan, most of my complaints will pass unnoticed.

Enjoy the show.

I’m staying away from a lot of my favorite blogs for a while. The fact that they have gone so totally gaga over Gidget Palin is just too much. And I’ve given up trying to find nude pictures of her on the internet-so that’s a dead end hobby too. I’ll have stick with my old favorites.
(NSFW)

So what to do with the extra time? Read, that’s what. Especially with the S.O. glued to “America’s got Talent”.-Ugh.

So here is a summary of some of the recent books I have read or am reading:

Continue Reading »

From the friendly residents of the People’s Republic of Tung Chung, who live where I wish I was living-a mere 20 minutes by train from one of my two favorite spots on the planet-and very near the world’s best airport.

“The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.”

And so here’s the list, complete with the following instructions:

• Look at the list and embolden those you have read.
• Italicise those you intend to read.
• Underline the books you LOVE.
• Reprint this list in your own blog.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (I’ve read some-not all)
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

As Richard says,” it is obviously very subjective”-and it lacks some of the really great non-fiction books out there, “and strangely redundant in places (the Complete Works of Shakespeare and Hamlet? The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe? But no Screwtape Letters? Who compiled this list?!), but it’s an interesting metric nonetheless. If any of my readers reprint this in their own blogs, do post a link in the comments section here! ”

Like he said, do the list yourself and trackback here!

The place where I work is very different from any other place that I have ever worked at before. As I have probably mentioned before (and I remind the S.O. every night), I am having a hard time adapting to its manners and customs.  Although purportedly existing to support “the warfighter”, so many of its denizens have very little idea of what is really important to the warfighter-or how to get things done rapidly. To many of occupants of the house named for the Man from Panemunde, tracing the trons right, or having the correct number of meetings, councils, and video teleconferences seems to be an objective unto itself. That’s a hard adjustment considering in my previous employ-results mattered;  did the cargo get to its appointed destination when expected? Everything else was simply horse hockey.

And of course, being a large organization-there is little of what one would call, camarderie. For someone for whom beer with co-workers used to be an integral part of the routine, this is purgatory of a sorts. So too, is kind of the unwritten expectation that I should consume my noon time re-past at my desk. Like the teachings of Brother Bill, that last little custom is one I cannot, nor will not accept. Even it is only 30 minutes- I need to get away from the building at midday. I make up the time on the back side by staying longer, so rest assured the government is getting its pound of flesh money’s worth.

Of course some days, its damn near impossible to get away-so today when a meeting was cancelled-I booked for the elevator and out the door of the gulag building. Jumped in the car,  and headed up to the Yuppie Mall to pay my first visit to the newly relocated Barnes and Noble. In the true tradition of life here in Shopping Mall USA, the store had been relocated from one shopping mall to a bigger shopping mall.

Now, it has been open a month. However during our forays out, I have been unable to persuade the S.O. to go with me. She will drag me to any old stupid garage sale or antique store-but spend a learning hour in a bookstore? Perish the thought. Today I had enough. I needed to wallow amid the smells of coffee and fresh newsprint. Besides, I’m not going to see my little bookstore in Soho anytime soon am I? ( I had to hold back tears when I saw those pictures again-I do miss it so.)

You know the rest, I took longer than I meant too, came back a little later than I should have, and had to rush through the Krystal drive through, after which-wolfing down Crystal burgers with one hand, while trying to show the guard at the gate my ID with the other-I returned to work. A healthy, nutritious lunch!

I also came back some 65 dollars poorer. But I have new additions to my library:

I thought this might be a timely read in light of the current events in Georgia. While I am in disagreement with Buchanan as often as I am in agreement, he agrees with me about Iraq being a drain on American resources that in the long run will hurt the US more than it helps it.

We also are of a like mind in that we both regard the end of the British Empire as one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century, and a big -if not the number one reason-the world is as screwed up as it is today. Pat is unabashedly in favor of the West “uber alles”. I am too.

That said, his theory is a controversial one, namely that the British bungled their way into World War I, and then following that mistake allowed Winston Churchill to, without intending to, pursue course of actions that ultimately cost the British their Empire. His central thesis is that had the British and French not guaranteed the Polish in 1939, over time they could have sat back and let the Germans and Russians kill each other while the west watched-thus doing us all a great favor by ridding the world of both the Germans and the Russians. Or at least weakening them both to the point that we win anyway.

I am not so sure I agree with that premise-Hitler would probably have attacked France anyway -if only for the reason of erasing the stain of Versailles- but it is an interesting premise. We’ll see what he has to say as I read the book this week.

Up next was a book I heard about on NPR by Howard Fineman:

The thrust of the book? America cannot make up is mind about a lot of things:

Shouting is not arguing, Fineman notes, but often hot-button topics, media “cross-fires,” and blogs reflect the deepest currents in American life. In an enlightening book that cuts through the din and makes sense of the headlines, Fineman captures the essential issues that have always compelled healthy and heated debate–and must continue to do so in order for us to prosper in the twenty-first century. The Thirteen American Arguments run the gamut, from issues of individual identity to our country’s role in the world, including:

• Who is a Person? The Declaration of Independence says “everyone,” but it took a Civil War and the Civil Rights and other movements to make that a reality. Presently, what about human embryos and “unlawful enemy combatants?”
• Who is an American? Only a nation of immigrants could argue so much about who should become one. There is currently added urgency when terrorists are at large in the world and twelve million “undocumented” aliens are in the country.
• The Role of Faith. No country is more legally secular yet more avowedly prayerful. From Thomas Jefferson to Terri Schiavo, we can never quite decide where God fits in government.
• Presidential Power. In a democracy, leadership is all the more difficult — and, paradoxically, all the more essential. From George Washington to George W. Bush, we have always asked: How much power should a president have?
• America in the World. Uniquely, we perpetually ask ourselves whether we have a moral obligation to change the world — or, alternatively, whether we must try to change it to survive in it.

Probably be a while till I get to it-but I am interested in his conclusions.

And finally, in tribute to E @ L who is living where I should be-I purchased a Wodehouse collection. I’ve never really read P.G. Wodehouse in depth-just excerpts. Any real man and golfer should have read the man.

Your tax dollars at work! Something tells me I will be back there for lunch-sooner rather than later.

The S.O. and I went to see Get Smart on Sunday. If it was a plane landing on the carrier here is the grade it would have gotten:

Way too much power on start, big settle in the middle, power on, flat at the ramp-1 wire.=No Grade.

(A no grade is like getting a C-minus on a test. Passing but nothing spectacular). I’ll not being paying to see it again that is for sure.

Which made me think a couple of thoughts about movies and what is wrong with them these days-or what is wrong with the movie going public.

Idea number 1- Computer Graphics is a toy that movie makers are starting to use way, way, too much. Don’t get me wrong-they have their place. And they make the visual effects seem a lot more realistic than hanging an airplane in front of a movie screen.

However, it seems to me that directors and producers have become overly reliant on them. They cannot save a movie with a lousy script. And no amount of computer effects should be so strong it makes the actors seem secondary to the movie.

I mean think about it-the one thing the old movies had was dialouge, which painted a picture and told a story. Think about James Stewart in Harvey. One never saw the rabbit-but you did not need to. His verbal performance had you sold early on.

Which to me,  is where Get Smart falls flat. The real beauty of Don Adams and the TV show from Mel Brooks and Buck Henry,  was the word play and its topical humor. The TV show did not have absurd visuals-it relied on the spoken jokes to carry the day. The movie tries-but never gets it. Even the S.O. turned to me about a 1/3 of the way into the movie and asked me when it was supposed to be funny. I think both Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway were horribly miscast. Carrell never pulls off the innocence of Don Adams of the role of Max. As for Hathaway-all I wanted to do during the movie was put a sock in her mouth and bend her over the couch. Her legs and ass ( which are Oscar worthy) gave a better performance than she did. Better acting-not stupid visuals and really bad sex jokes would have done more justice to the memory of a good TV show.

Observation number 2.- There have been a lot of movies that have been very political dramas lately. Spurred on by the news of the day and the war that never ends. They have been panned by critics and attacked by GWB supporters-but to me it misses another point. A movie is supposed to tell a story….and make a point. It is not supposed to hit you over the head in doing so however. Contrast, Seven Days in May-which was a very anti military movie, but still good nonetheless; to the recent Robert Redford movie about the War on Terror. It makes a point, but it really is a bad telling of the story. The same point could have been gotten across, but in a more subtle way.

But is that the movies fault? Or is due to the fact that subtlety is lost on audiences who don’t even know where Iraq or Afghanistan is-much less the history of how the West has never had a good look in either of these particular hell holes. Or audiences that think the only play William Shakespere wrote was Romeo and Juliet and think Henrik Ibsen was a Swedish gymnast. Think about it-could Arthur Miller-one of my favorite playwrights-have even sold a play these days? I wonder.

So the lesson learned in either case is-movie writers need to write better stuff. And not rely on the people at Industrial Light and Magic to save them from a poorly written script. Or to simply wish themselves out of a linguistic corner by the movie equivalent of “and then I woke up!”.

Just my opinion.

On Saturday I went back to my little book store. Can you tell I was in a very introspective mood when I bought 3 more books ( Like I’ll have time to read them…).

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (This had me about ready to cry while I was sitting in the Smugglers Inn in Stanley Bay). The book is background information to this lecture. What really struck me was the blatant unfairness of it all-the man clearly loves his wife and family and is being ripped away from them. I’ve had to put the book down a couple times and come back to it.

More Sex is Safer Sex-The Unconvential wisdom of economics by Steven E. Landsburg. I’m not so sure that really works out that way……………..

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss. I need to read this book!