Thursday, April 29, 2010

Bad Monkeys

I was hesitant at first, to put such a long video on here. But after watching it last week, I decided it was definitely relevant, and it was very interesting. Here's some info:

AtGoogleTalks — June 18, 2008 — Author Matt Ruff visits Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA, to discuss his book "Bad Monkeys". This event took place on September 19, 2007, as a part of the Authors@Google series. For more information about Matt Ruff please visit http://www.bymattruff.com

Thursday, April 22, 2010

shopping spree

Yesterday was my day off and I bought a half dozen books at the used book store. Here they are:
  1. Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon. Recently read Maps and Legends by this author. Tried to find the one that he won the Hugo and Nebula for, but they didn't have that one.
  2. Ender in Exile - Orson Scott Card. I read Ender's Game and War of Gifts last year. Now I have Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon as well as this one. They're all thick-ass books.
  3. Losing Joe's Place - Gordon Korman. This guy was one of my favorite YA authors growing up. I used to have a bunch of his books, now I'm trying to collect them all again. I'd never even heard of this one before.
  4. Singularity - William Sleator. Another favorite from my youth. I still have 3 of his books sitting on my shelf: Fingers, Into the Dream and The Green Futures of Tycho.
  5. Doctor Who & the Talons of Weng Chiang - Terrance Dicks. Did I mention that I love Dr. Who? Nerd Alert! This was a 6 part story starring Tom Baker (my favorite Doctor) and Leela (my favorite companion).
  6. Doctor Who and the Android Invasion - Terrance Dicks. Another book based on a Tom Baker story, but one which I don't have on DVD yet. I vaguely remember seeing the episode on PBS back in the mid 70s. I seem to recall Sara Jane's face falling off to reveal fake eyes and computer circuits inside. Probably traumatized thousands of Brittish boys and girls for life.
  7. Anthrax - Return of the Killer A's. Not a book. Gardner's also sells music, videos and toys. I was a little disappointed to learn that the version of I'm the Man on this CD was the censored version.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

unfinished business

by Matt Ruff
I first started reading this book in '01 or '02. I remember I was working at the cafeteria in the TU dormitories at the time. I actually had a locker at work and kept this book in there a couple of times. I think I stopped reading after about 200 pages because I started a second job at The Hardwood bar and grill across the street. I think I went about 3 or four months straight without a day off. Plus it's a pretty long book, 560 pages! I must have gotten tired of it and gave up. My bookmark tells me I left off at page 195. That leaves 365 pages to go.