Stuff we're reading / watching / listening to

[Digit]

Virtual compound microscope.

[bobtheenchantedone]

I'm currently listening to Game Change, a book about the 2008 presidential election, written by interviewing hundreds of people involved in the various campaigns and putting it all together in an attempt to get the most accurate portrayal of events. It's actually super interesting and I can't wait to finish it. When it looked like my computer wasn't going to work this morning, the first thought I had was "now how will I listen to my book?!"

[Katya]

I'm currently listening to Game Change, a book about the 2008 presidential election, written by interviewing hundreds of people involved in the various campaigns and putting it all together in an attempt to get the most accurate portrayal of events. It's actually super interesting and I can't wait to finish it. When it looked like my computer wasn't going to work this morning, the first thought I had was "now how will I listen to my book?!"

That is a fantastic book. I read it a year or so ago and was surprised at how relevant it still was.

[Dead Cat]

I've been reading the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court for a little while now and the current chapter has been driving me crazy, but it finally got somewhere today. Starts here (or, if you want to read it backwards, here).

[bobtheenchantedone]

I watched Undefeated today, a movie about Sarah Palin. I skipped the ending, due to a sudden stop in "Obama is destroying America" land, but I enjoyed most of it. It was an interesting look at Palin and what she had done in politics up to that point.

[Genuine Article]

I am diving into Shannon Hale's books as my first exposure to Mormon fiction/fiction by a Mormon. I felt pretty meh about Book of a Thousand Days, I liked Austenland okay except for the fact that there's not enough explanation leading up to the resolution, and now I'm reading The Actor and the Housewife which I can't seem to put down.

[Dead Cat]

Fact: Death does not exist.

[Digit]

Listening to the ongoing news about David Petraeus. Even though I have no sources as to why they ought to be correlated, on a gut level, it just seems weird to me that a guy with enough professional discipline to become a four-star general and the head of the CIA didn't have enough personal discipline to keep from having an affair, given also that it's not only undisciplined from a societal more point of view, which he personally may or may not subscribe to, but also that in his case, it does have professional consequences as is obvious now.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Read Slaughterhouse 5 last night. It's a really interesting read, especially all in one sitting. Vonnegut is a brilliant writer.

[Laser Jock]

Read Slaughterhouse 5 last night. It's a really interesting read, especially all in one sitting. Vonnegut is a brilliant writer.

Yeah? I read it a few months ago, and was pretty underwhelmed...which was disappointing, given how many good things I'd heard about him. I also read Cat's Cradle and Welcome to the Monkey House (a collection of short stories), and tended to like the short stories better. I still came away thinking I'd describe his writing as mostly just weird.

[bobtheenchantedone]

It is pretty strange, but that's one of the things I love about it. I thought the stories in the novel were wound together beautifully. There was a rhythm of sorts to it, with the time jumps and the repeated phrases and symbols and referring to things that were told earlier or later in the novel. I also think he makes some delightful turns of phrase, both hilarious and poignant.

[Portia]

Listening to the ongoing news about David Petraeus. Even though I have no sources as to why they ought to be correlated, on a gut level, it just seems weird to me that a guy with enough professional discipline to become a four-star general and the head of the CIA didn't have enough personal discipline to keep from having an affair, given also that it's not only undisciplined from a societal more point of view, which he personally may or may not subscribe to, but also that in his case, it does have professional consequences as is obvious now.

I assume you're aware of the updates that it was with a woman with extraordinary access to him, as his biographer of sorts? She's 20 years his junior and has two young kids. (Sources: nytimes.com and abcnews.com)

[C is for]

I just watched the first episode of the 2009 BBC miniseries Emma. I'm glad that I have matured to the point that adaptations don't have to match the book exactly, because this is would I would call a "fresh" interpretation of the story -- the main plot is followed, and the characters are true to the original, but the dialogue is pretty different from my memory of the book (and other adaptations of the novel).

[Katya]

I just watched the first episode of the 2009 BBC miniseries Emma. I'm glad that I have matured to the point that adaptations don't have to match the book exactly, because this is would I would call a "fresh" interpretation of the story -- the main plot is followed, and the characters are true to the original, but the dialogue is pretty different from my memory of the book (and other adaptations of the novel).

Is that the Ramola Garai version? I've heard good things about it, but I haven't seen it.

[C is for]

I just watched the first episode of the 2009 BBC miniseries Emma. I'm glad that I have matured to the point that adaptations don't have to match the book exactly, because this is would I would call a "fresh" interpretation of the story -- the main plot is followed, and the characters are true to the original, but the dialogue is pretty different from my memory of the book (and other adaptations of the novel).

Is that the Ramola Garai version? I've heard good things about it, but I haven't seen it.

Yes, it's that one! Nothing like watching Michael Gambon pout and complain about everything.

[Digit]

I assume you're aware of the updates that it was with a woman with extraordinary access to him, as his biographer of sorts? She's 20 years his junior and has two young kids. (Sources: nytimes.com and abcnews.com)

Maybe he would have been better off with a male biographer. Even if the male biographer was a worse biographer than this woman, having a worse biography and your career still in tact is better than having a great biography and no more career. But this is assuming that he knew himself and was honest with himself to know that he couldn't handle being intimately close to a beautiful woman over a long period of time without his restraint giving in.

[Digit]

It's interesting the fairly wide variance in people's aging. On the one hand, you have Petraeus, who looks like this at age 60 (attached file below).
While on the other hand you have someone like Michael Mukasey who looks like this at age 66:

I'm sure there are even more extreme examples out there.

[The Happy Medium]

There's Mitt Romney who's still looking pretty good for a 65 year old.

[Digit]

Medieval help desk.

[Portia]

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. (As one woman on Goodreads said, I have to parcel this one out in 50-page chunks to enjoy it longer.)
The Best American Short Stories 2012 (SO good and actual, noticeable differences in style from, say, 2007.)
Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks (I'm a sucker for general interest neuroscience books.)