Books YaYa Read Recently

 In recent days YaYa has finished reading "Julie of the Wolves", "Babysitting is Dangerous" and (at my request) the wonderful "Ender's Game". She seconded my opinion of Orson Scott Card's signature work.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I finished reading "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins today. I'd heard this was the darkest of the three books (which it was) and that it 'ruined' the series (it didn't). SPOILERS: I would have preferred if Book 3 didn't devolve into a standard shoot 'em up, but I think the growing realization that the rebellion was just the old gov't in different clothing was an important and mature turn of events. I don't like Katniss' decision to host one final Hunger Games - b.s. is what that was - but I loved the climactic scene of Snow's scheduled execution. And that final exchange between her and Peeta "You love me - real or not real?" was perfect. Grade: B

 I had Smiley in my group today at the zoo - he is such a doll. So sweet and polite and kind. He used his $2 to buy an ice cream sandwich to share with two others. And wow, he knows so much about animals! It was fun to spend the day with him - Chris Pl-man

I Squish Your Head

 

My Nook

 

 Whoa - big news: I wrote a piece about Romney, but instead of sending it to the Journal-Sentinel I decided it was time to be bold and try to get my name better known around the state. I submitted it to two newspapers. Today, the response: both(!) wish to print it, and the editor of one *will contact the other* to see who gets dibs. Hot dog!

Update: The Waukesha Freeman has told me they'll be printing my column tomorrow *if* the smaller paper agreed to hold off running it until after the Freeman published. That was still up in the air as of a couple of hours ago, so . . . I may be in the Freeman tomorrow. Or not. Take a look in the morning and let me know one way or the other.

The Hunger Games

 I just got back from seeing "The Hunger Games". Wow. Seriously - wow. They could have raked in a fortune just by slapping something together on screen that loosely resembled the books. They could have, but they didn't. In every shot, in every scene, in every subtle adaptation from print to script, there is a respect for the source material. The best compliment? Absent the existence of the books, I still think this would rank as a damn fine movie. Well done. Grade: a solid, easy A.

Well after midnight I remembered I need to do a load of wash for school, so I was up til maybe 2 or 3. Somewhere in my exhaustion my inherent paranoia kicked in and I became certain, ab-sa-fing-lutely certain that someone had stolen my camera. It was not where I store it (but I often forget to put it there).

So do I calmly say to myself "You're cuckoo" and go to bed, or do I rip apart two different rooms at 2 in the morning, creating a debris pile the height of Mt. Suribachi? You know the answer.

Then, this AM, LuLu says to me: "Dad, do you mind if I borrow your camera for the zoo field trip?" After I explain that it has vanished, she responds. "Oh, well I wanted to charge the battery in case you said yes, so I took it out yesterday. It's in my backpack." @*&%\%#

The Rutgers Bully

I watched the 20/20 special on the Rutgers "bully" convicted of inspiring the suicide of his gay roommate.

Never mind that the facts fly in the face of the jury's decision, and that even Dan Savage has spoken in his defense. Or that the victim had actually written of the continuing depression inspired by his family's reaction to his coming out (a family that now, natch, claims to have supported him 100% gosh darn it).

The roommate is a jerk, but hardly a criminal.

Regardless, what strikes me as the most ludicrous bit is the NJ law on the books. You can be convicted of a hate crime if the victim 'feels' intimidated - EVEN IF it is proven in court that you had NO INTENT to intimidate. How is that remotely constitutional? Really??

Be careful in your comments on this post; you'd hate to make me feel bad and get tossed in jail on felony charges.

 Today's paper featured a letter to the editor defending my recent column.

The Hunger Games movie - and Junie almost burns the house down!

Last night Lisa woke up YaYa @ 11:15 pm and surprised her with the news that we'd bought tickets for the midnight premiere of the Hunger Games! They went together and had a blast, and even sat next to another STAA kid they saw there.

When they got home and woke me up it was a preview of 'Catching Fire' - YaYa saw smoke coming from LuLu and Junie's room. Sure enough, Junie had fallen asleep with her head sandwiching the desk lamp between the pillow and mattress.

Smoke was coming out, the pillow (Big Fat Kitty) was scorched and melted in bits, and Junie - she was oblivious. How my smoke detectors scream at a slightly overdone pizza but missed this is beyond me, but I'm very glad the ladies changed their minds and skipped a 3am ice cream run on the way home from the show.

 Today's paper featured a letter to the editor defending my recent column.

Catching Fire - The Hunger Games

I just finished reading "Catching Fire", the 2nd book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I liked it, but thought that a return trip to the arena was a predictable and somewhat lazy plot device. And enough with this Gale yahoo already, Katniss; sure, he's the best looking of the two in the film, but it's plain Peeta is the better man. Grade: B

The White Mountains

 Today I polished off "The White Mountains" by John Christopher, a fine young adult sci-fi novel from the late '60's. It was adapted into a long running comic in Boy's Life magazine and I lived and breathed for each issue as a kid. The book was very good - think Hunger Games, (only w/ a boy as the protagonist) but written forty years ago with a more literary edge. While I read it on my Nook, I've kept a hard copy around forever, and borrowed it to YaYa tonight. I hope she likes it as much as I did at her age. Grade: A

The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick

 For the last few days I've been enthralled by "The Last Stand", a history of the battle of Little Big Horn by Nathaniel Philbrick. It's a detailed narrative of the events leading up to that infamous battle, effortlessly weaving both the Sioux and U.S. Calvary perspective. As should be the case, there are no devils - or angels - to be found, but there is plenty of courage and human failings. Reno is given a bit of a (tempered) scourging for his loss of nerve, but so is Benteen for his ill-timed tantrum against Custer. Sitting Bull is praised but also shown to be resented by fellow Sioux who felt he bullied them into a war they didn't want. And Custer? He was careless and wild, but a genius at war, and one who came perilously close to turning this tragedy into a staggering victory. A well deserved A+.

Carnage

 Lisa had me rent "Carnage" a Roman Polanski dark-comedy starring John C Reilly, Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. It's an adaptation of a stage play, and the script works hard to fabricate reasons why these four people remain in the same room despite hating one another. For a stage production, that works - for a movie, it seems forced and claustrophobic. That having been said, I thought the movie was more fun than I expected, starting - quite literally - at the moment Kate Winslet threw up all over the coffee table.

Carnage

Lisa had me rent "Carnage" a Roman Polanski dark-comedy starring John C Reilly, Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet. It's an adaptation of a stage play, and the script works hard to fabricate reasons why these four people remain in the same room despite hating one another. For a stage production, that works - for a movie, it seems forced and claustrophobic. That having been said, I thought the movie was more fun than I expected, starting - quite literally - at the moment Kate Winslet threw up all over the coffee table.

A Response to my Column

This morning's Journal printed a response to my column by a Capt. in the Waukesha County Sheriff's Drug Unit. This evening I am pleased to see that his letter was skewered quite effectively by readers, all of whom seemed to recognize that his argument was . . . poorly thought out, to put it mildly. Your income directly depends on the continuation of this law, be it right or wrong; to me, that eliminates you as a reliable source of information on its validity.

 Two more people from my training class were fired today. 9 of 19 still remain.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

Today on my lunch hour I finished reading "Destiny of the Republic" by Candice Millard, a non-fiction account of the assassination of President Garfield. Personally, I think Millard made it read a little too "pop history" for the subject matter, but she does a great job of letting the modern reader get to know Garfield. He sounds like a great man by any definition : the poor child who grew up without a father but scrapped his way to college degree; who led Union forces to victory in Kentucky during the Civil War; who not only didn't campaign for the Presidential nomination, he tried to refuse it; the man whose views on racial equality would be impressive in 1970, much less 1880; and the father who, on the day he was shot, started the day by playing on all fours w/ his children. His death was a waste of goodness and potential, and the method of his death (rotting away for 80 days as infection literally consumed his body from inside) is horrific. RIP. Grade: A-/B+

The Man from Primrose Lane by James Renner

I was eager to read "The Man from Primrose Lane", so eager, in fact, that I read it in a single day. I loved the first 3/4ths of the book, which was a compelling blend of mystery and thriller with a subtle thread of sci-fi sneaking around in the shadows. And then . . . ah, and then. Then the book hit a wall and turned 100% into a sci-fi novel, and not a very good one. Essentially it was two different books, pasted together under the same cover. Sadly, I have to give this a C at best.

The Man from Primrose Lane

 I was eager to read "The Man from Primrose Lane", so eager, in fact, that I read it in a single day. I loved the first 3/4ths of the book, which was a compelling blend of mystery and thriller with a subtle thread of sci-fi sneaking around in the shadows. And then . . . ah, and then. Then the book hit a wall and turned 100% into a sci-fi novel, and not a very good one. Essentially it was two different books, pasted together under the same cover. Sadly, I have to give this a C at best

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

Today on my lunch hour I finished reading "Destiny of the Republic" by Candice Millard, a non-fiction account of the assassination of President Garfield. Personally, I think Millard made it read a little too "pop history" for the subject matter, but she does a great job of letting the modern reader get to know Garfield. He sounds like a great man by any definition : the poor child who grew up without a father but scrapped his way to college degree; who led Union forces to victory in Kentucky during the Civil War; who not only didn't campaign for the Presidential nomination, he tried to refuse it; the man whose views on racial equality would be impressive in 1970, much less 1880; and the father who, on the day he was shot, started the day by playing on all fours w/ his children. His death was a waste of goodness and potential, and the method of his death (rotting away for 80 days as infection literally consumed his body from inside) is horrific. RIP. Grade: A-/B+

Dancing Bee

 

Junie