currently reading

Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving

by Martin Millar

I really enjoyed Ruby and the Stone Age Diet, so I went out and got this at Barnes and Noble.

One Reservation

I read this about nine or ten years ago, my dad got it for me for x-mas, I think. I've since gone on to read A Cook's Tour and The Nasty Bits. I even own the single season DVD of Kitchen Confidential TV series. I regularly watch No Reservations on the Travel Channel, so needless to say I'm a big fan. When I found out he was coming to Tulsa to speak at the PAC, I got all excited and made plans to go. That was a few months ago and I was disappointed when I saw on the internet that the cheapest advance tickets were over $200. Damn. I cancelled my plans to attend. Then today, while I was awaiting my daily venti frappuccino at Starbucks, I noticed Bourdain's face on the front page of the local entertainment section. I read it and it said that tix were $35-$45. No way. I came home and followed the link I saw in the paper and sure enough, affordable. I've been trying to be good and not use my credit card, but this is an unexpected opporunity that I just couldn't pass up.

I have been in the restaurant business for about 20 years, 7.5 years as a sushi chef. Kitchen Confidential is an essential read for anyone who thinks of themselves as a "foodie." Tony is a hardened kitchen veteran and it shows in his attitude, his writing and I assume, his cooking. As a chef and aspiring writer, I look up to Bourdain and look forward to seeing him live this saturday. My ticket is waiting at the PAC box office.

used books

Went shopping yesterday. Bought some books at Gardner's. Kind of inspired by the young adult stuff I've been reading lately, I ended up wth four YA titles and another Dr. Who book. It ended up being a Sleator bonanza. Here they are, with descriptions from the back covers:

1. Doctor Who and the Leisure Hive by David Fisher: The Leisure Hive on the planet Argolis is an entertainment centre for galactic travellers. At the heart of the hive is the Tachyon Recreation Generator, a machine with a most extraordinary performance capability and vital to the continued existence of the Argolin after their devastating war with the reptilian Foamasi... While visiting the Hive, the Doctor and Romana are sucked into a whirlpool of treachery and deceit, and are eventually arrested on suspicion of murder...
2. This Can't be Happening to Macdonald Hall! by Gordon Korman: Bruno and Boots are always in trouble. So the Headmaster, aka "The Fish," seperates them. Bruno must now room with the ghoulish Elmer Drimsdale. And Boots is stuck with nerdy, preppy, paranoid George Wexford-Smyth III. This means war. Because Bruno and Boots are determined to get their old room back, no matter what it takes. And the skunk was only the beginning. (I used to own this one. I can't believe he was only 12 when he wrote it.)
3. The Boy Who Reversed Himself by William Sleator: When Laura finds her homework in her locker with its writing reversed, she is totally baffled. Until she learns an unbelievable secret: her weird neighbor, Omar, has the ability to travel to the fourth dimension. Against his wishes, Laura forces him to take her there - and then, a novice in terrifying "four space," she goes there on her own, with her boyfriend Pete. There's only one problem. She doesn't know how to get them back...
4. Others See Us by William Sleator: It's summer vacation, and Jared's family is making their annual trip to his grandmother's beach house. He'll finally get to see Annelise, the gorgeous cousin he's been dreaming about all year. But almost as soon as they arrive, Jared wrecks his bike, falling into a swamp filled with toxic waste. Later, he begins to notice voices in his head. Strange voices- almost like other people's thoughts. He is horrified to discover what his family is really like. Soon Jared finds himself locked in a murderous battle of wills- because once someone else can enter your mind, there is no turning back.
5. The Boxes by William Sleator: When Uncle Marco goes on one of his mysterious trips, he leaves Annie in charge of two exotic, sealed boxes on one condition: she must not open either one while he is away. But of course she is tempted... and soon she has unleashed the unspeakable. The creatures inside the box are crablike and grotesque. And they possess a power Annie could never have imagined.

Swindle

TurnHereFilms — April 09, 2008 — After a mean collector named Swindle cons him out of his most valuable baseball card, Griffin Bing must put together a band of misfits to break into Swindle's compound and recapture the card. There are many things standing in their way -- a menacing guard dog, a high-tech security system, a very secret hiding place, and their general inability to drive -- but Griffin and his team are going to get back what's rightfully his . . . even if hijinks ensue. This is Gordon Korman at his crowd-pleasing best, perfect for readers who like to hoot, howl, and heist.

Gordon Korman

Losing Joe's Place by Gordon Korman
My favorite young adult author as a kid. I read all the Bruno and Boots stories, Bugs Potter (no relation to Harry), Son of Interflux, Don't Care High, Our Man Weston and probably a few more that I've forgotten. Thing I loved about Korman's books, there's always some sort of a riot at the end.

second favorite superhero

Machine Man
Don't remember when I discovered it. High school maybe. 1984? More like 6th grade.
It was a four part series, Machine Man 2020.
From Wikipedia: Machine Man was reactivated in the year 2020 by a group of outlaw scavengers called Midnight Wreckers (led by X-51's old friend Gears Garvin), and forced to battle his old enemy, the industrialist ice queen Sunset Bain, as well as mercenary Arno Stark, the amoral Iron Man of 2020.

After reading up a bit on this character, I realized that I know very little of it's history outside of the four issues I had read. At the time I was just getting into Heavy Metal magazine and Blade Runner. I wanted to be a Midnight Wrecker and live in an abandoned McDonalds.

To me Machine Man was a cross between the Terminator and Inspector Gadget. Not as cheesy as Gadget, but not as threatening as Arnold.

I've decided to create a comic book hero dream team here. First memeber was Longshot, second is Machine Man. Don't know how many more yet, to be continued...

the two walls

The Wall of the Sky,

The Wall of the Eye

by

Jonathan Lethem

at the library 6

sequel

Night of the Living Rat
Daniel M. Pinkwater's
Melvinge of the Megaverse Book 2
by Doyle and MacDonald
This is the book I would have read

if the Colts had won the last Super Bowl.

excerpt

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young adult

Singularity by William Sleator

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

Longshot

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.

unfinished business

Sewer, Gas & Electric

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.