A friend of mine runs a library. He had a friend called The General. The two of them are known for making a pyramid out of vodka bottles roughly 8′ x 8′ x 8′. Anyway, one day my friend asked The General to pick him up at work. The General declined, saying, “Where I come …
Category: books
Feb 04
Review: A Death in the Venetian Quarter
Alan Gordon’s is one of a series of mysteries set around 1200 AD and based on characters from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The main characters are jesters who belong to the Fool’s Guild, who in this particular novel attempt to solve a murder and prevent the fall of Constantinople. Judging the book by its cover like …
Dec 27
petticoat government
n. A government by women, especially at home. “…instead of being a subject to his Majesty George the Third, he was now a free citizen of the United States. Rip, in fact, was no politician; the changes of states and empires made but little impression on him; but there was one species of despotism under …
Jul 22
Sad but true
From the Wikipedia article on bonded leather: “Bonded leather is not as durable as other leathers, and is recommended for use only if the product will be used infrequently. An example for the use of this type of bonded leather is in Bible covers.”
Apr 20
Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox (movie)
I really can’t say enough good things about this movie. I love the story, direction, music, animation, and acting. I went into this movie with no preconceived notions (I barely knew a thing about it, not even that it was based on a Roald Dahl book), and it was awesome. George Clooney is hilarious as …
Mar 27
8 Cardinal Virtues of George Washington Carver
The world is a better place thanks to George Washington Carver, and not just for his brilliant invention of peanut butter. The following is excerpted from a thank-you he wrote to the members of his senior class at the Tuskegee Institute: “…it is needless for me to keep saying, I hope, except for emphasis, that …
Mar 17
Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (movie)
I saw this movie before I had read the book. In fact, I had barely even heard of the book. So I had no expectations going into it, either good or bad. It wasn’t very good. The very first conversation in the movie already seems out of place–stating a situation that already seems to defy …
Jan 22
Review: Dracula
I recently read Dracula by Bram Stoker. It wasn’t my first attempt at reading this book, but it was the first time I succeeded. Overall, I liked it a lot, and it’s easy to see why it’s such an enduring classic. The first third of the book is amazingly slow; it’s told from the journals …
Jan 12
I made pie
I made my first two pies this weekend. I’ve been re-reading Pascale LeDraolec’s American Pie (nothing to do with movie of the same name). It chronicle’s the author’s drive across America looking for pie, and it includes a bunch of pie recipes. My first two attempts were marriage pies (pies containing two different but complementary …
Dec 12
Review: Julie & Julia
I just finished staying up with Heather watching Julie & Julia, a 2009 movie about two women: Julie Powell, as she spends a year cooking her way through all the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking while living in post-9/11 New York with her husband. It also tells the story of Julia …
