September 2008
70 posts
14. The Assault on Reason by Al Gore
I was really excited about reading this after seeing him talk about it on the Colbert Report (maybe Daily Show, it was awhile ago.) and reading this:
The Assault on Reason takes an unprecedented look at how faith in the power of reason - the idea that citizens can govern themselves through rational debate - is now under assault. the marketplace of ideas, once open to everyone through the printed...
Who could possibly think this is a good idea?
Calling For Help, Hope this mail meets you well, please permit me to introduce my self to you, my name is Ogechi Promise, I am 20 years old, the only child of Late Mr. Konan Promise who was a famous cocoa merchant based here in Abidjan , the Economic capital of Ivory Coast ( Cote D’ivoire). I am seeking for your assistance to help me transfer the sum of (10,500,000.00) Ten Million Five...
13. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
I always liked the idea of this being a letter telling a prince how to be a successful. I found myself underlining things like, “Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous.” Yes, very good, i may need that information later. An interesting read that brings to light some of the more negative aspects ruling, “There is nothing so self-defeating as generosity: in the...
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Free Rides!
I work at Navy Pier where i sell tickets for people to ride on the ferris wheel. It gets very repetitive and a lot of people seem to think i set the prices and get very upset at me when i tell them that everyone is $6. The two year old? yes, the two year old is six dollars. You don’t charge for the infant though, right? No the infant is $6 too. The infant?? Mam, if they’re...
-The Bone Men by Mason Proper
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12. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
I’ve read this book once before, but recently have heard or over heard many people exclaiming how great it is and having not liked it the first time i decided to give it a second try. With this being the 50th anniversary and Columbia doing events celebrating beat culture and this book specifically (they are going to have the scroll on display for anyone in the Chicago area) i really wanted...
11. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Thanks to these slow work days i’m getting more reading done at work that a way from it. Due to that i polished off another one today, Middlesex. The book starts off with Desdemona back in Greece and the love affair that starts with her brother, Lefty. (as this happens in the first 30 pages in an over 500 page book i’m gonna say that’s not a spoiler.) The story follows the...
Conversation with a customer at work today.
Man: What's that you're reading?
Me: It's called, "Middlesex."
Man: Oh! What's that about? hehe.
Me: Incest that results in a child being born hermaphrodite.
Man: Oh. I don't think i'll be reading that.
“She played an instrument too: the accordion. It sat in its case under the bed. ...”
– Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. This pretty much explains the relationship my accordion and i have.
While on a walk.
Christian: You know what they say..
Me: Nope. What do they say?
Christian: I don't know. Don't buy Johnny Mnemonic. Even if it is only $4 at Best Buy.
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Spending $10 in 30 seconds Saves a Life. So go... →
“Often a very old man has no other proof of his long life than his age.”
– Seneca, On the Shortness of Life. This book is always a hands reach away from modifying a bad day and increasing the goodness of a good day.
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Faulty Towers.
This was a show put out by the BBC in the 70’s that took place in a slightly crazy hotel and featured John Cleese.
John Cleese was inspired to write what became Fawlty Towers after he and the rest of the Monty Python team were staying at a hotel in Torquay called the Gleneagles (not to be confused with the world-famous Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire) whilst filming Monty Python’s...
Words I looked up today.
necropolis - a cementary, esp. one of large size and usually of an ancient city.
kibitzing - to look on and offer unwanted usually meddlesome advise to others
Jannissary - a member of an elite military unit of the Turkish army organized in the 14th century and abolished in 1826 after it revolted against the Sultan.
elegiac - expressing sorrow or lamentation
egalitarian - asserting, resulting...
“If someone had told me as a boy: One day you will see your nation vanish from...”
– Milan Kundera
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10. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
I liked it. I know a lot of people love this book, and i certainly enjoyed it, but it didn’t light me on fire or anything, maybe that’s because i don’t read a lot of short stories so i don’t really know how to analyze them. It is a very pleasant and enjoyable read. I particularly liked Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes. His story telling is really cleaver is the way he...
I remember when I thought the rain was charming.
I was younger and it involved me never actually getting wet unless i was specifically going for that. When i was younger (well until i left for college) i lived in a town where you drove everywhere which meant i never was in the rain for more than 2-3 min and i remember loving a giant pink poncho with white polka dots that i had. If you were in the rain for longer than 2-3 min it was because you...
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“There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know”
– Harry Truman
9. The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid...
And I thought I disliked news media before reading this book! To surmise:
Statements of alarm by newscasters and glorification of wannabe experts are two telltale tricks of the fear mongers’ trade. In the preceding chapters I point out others as well: the use of poignant anecdotes in place of scientific evidence, the christening of isolated incidents as trends, depictions of entire...
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“Isn’t my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972.”
– Cher in Clueless. I always watch this when it’s on tv, and I always laugh loudly. 