Books of the Year

My "book of the year" is the Amazon Kindle. My actual Kindle is shown to the right. I've read many many books on it so far, and have a few comments:

1) The Kindle falls out of its leather folder-case too easily. Maybe this is resolved with the Kindle 2.

2) It locks up too much. Maybe this is resolved with the Kindle 2.

3) It's way too fragile. The one I have now is a replacement for one where the screen shattered. I hear all over the place stories about Kindles breaking too easily or buttons just not working anymore. This is true for the Kindle 1 and Kindle 2.


1) It has an actual on-off switch, an incredibly useful and time-proven ease-of-use feature that even Apple has forgotten (last time I checked, iPods don't even have one).

2) My Kindle has 60 or so books in it. Imagine how much shelf space this would take up.

3) There's such a large number of free (and good) books in the Kindle store, more than I would have expected.

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Other books I have read this past year, worth mentioning:

Dracula by Bram Stoker. Reading this one, I found out that the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was still not actually Bram Stoker's: while quite good, it had a lot of major deviations from the book. It is quite worth reading. A sure antidote to the Twilight vampires too: Dracula does not visit for romance and he can be contained or destroyed by an intricate and varied number of methods (as opposed to the Twilight vampires, who are like Superman but without the flight and kryptomite).

Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child. I've just discovered "thrillers" recently, and the Jack Reacher series is considered to be one of the best. The author bills his character as "the toughest guy in literature", and he's probably right. Compared to say, Connery's Bond, Reacher is a lot more mission-focused (once you convince him to take on the mission), and he could probably beat Bond in any type of fight. There are no movies yet, but the most recent buzz has Hugh Jackman to play Reacher.

Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly. I'd also never read police novels before this year. There's a first time for everything.

Sookie Stackhouse / Southern Vampire Mysteries / True Blood books by Charlaine Harris. I think three names for the series should cover it. I've been reading these on the Kindle, but the paper-books have great cover art, reminiscent of the "Harry Potter" covers.

The books complement the "True Blood" TV series in the best way: the TV series sometimes sticks very closely to characters and situations, but other times goes off in entirely new angles so a reader of the books won't get bored watching the TV show and knowing what exactly will happen. I read two or three of the books, then watched two seasons of the TV show, then read more of the books, and each enhanced the other. I've read 8 of them so far, and there are two or three more.

What books would you mention?

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"Santa Jaws"

I got busy during the holidays, and didn't keep up with the Christmas music posts. But here is one final one (unless I do the old Huron hymn on Friday). This is a follow-up to my earlier post on the Christmas comedy song Santa Jaws. Here at last is the audio for the song, with a video:

"Breath of Heaven" (Christmas Music)

I'll probably be doing Christmas music related posts through Friday.

This one is "Breath of Heaven", which comes to mind as the best Christmas song of the modern era (modern era being the last 20 years or so). It tells the story of the Nativity from Mary's point of view. I've never understood the Catholic fixation on Mary, and it seems Protestants hardly mention her.


What are my readers' favorite "serious" or religious Christmas songs?

Aled Jones "Walking in the Air"

I've been listening to Sky FM a lot lately for music, in particular the Sky FM Christmas music station. I guess I'm kind of retro when it comes to stereos, as the main stereo in the house is a 15 or so year old silver Cylon-head boombox, typical of how they looked in the 1990s. A few weeks ago, I decided to update it and get it into the Internet age. I plugged a 5 year old laptop computer I got for free into it, and the sound is amazing. The only cost really was a $30 Wifi card, which lets the laptop get the music web stations from the Internet hub without having to have a network cable.

One song I've heard on the Christmas station is "Walking in the Air" by Aled Jones. I loved this song right away, but I can't for the life of me figure out why they are calling it a Christmas song. Give it a listen:



You might want to listen to Sky FM on your computer, even if you are not hooking a dedicated laptop to your stereo. It's free, and they have a wide variety.

"Avatar" North American Premiere

Thank you Michael Moore and James Cameron.

I had to get in line pretty early to get a ticket earlier tonight (as the movie had quickly sold out the day before), but I did manage to get into the State Theatre in downtown Traverse City, Michigan for the first (only) North American premiere of James Cameron's "Avatar" (or maybe the Hollywood premiere was first?). I stood in line next to a woman with an Australian accent who went to school with the main star, Sam Worthington. It's very late at night, and I could write more, but I will say that this movie is the best thing I have seen in a long time, and it probably comes close to living up to Roger Ebert's extremely glowing review in which he said it was a game-changer like "Star Wars".

Watch the video below. James Cameron's now way cool in my book.


I'll write more later.

Happy Birthday, Wes Studi

I heard on the radio this morning that today is the birthday of Wes Studi. He has starred in many projects, and is one of the stars in James Cameron's "Avatar", which premieres tonight. To the right is a photo I took of him at a showing of his film "The Only Good Indian". I got to speak to him briefly then, and sometime might do a post about "The Only Good Indian". Even though it is late for such a post (I saw the movie this past summer), it might not be that late since the movie was only officially released this month.

Below to the left is an action figure of Studi's Avatar character, Eytukan. Studi, a Cherokee, is 62 today.

Buffy Slays Edward

I've seen the "Buffy Spikes Edward" meme a couple of times before. First, as a scribbled sign, then as a mash-up photo (with Blade doing the duty instead of Buffy). Now, someone has done an actual video-clip of it. It's really pretty well put together. One thing that stands out is how blue the "Twilight" footage is compared to normal real-world colors (the colors used in the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" show)



Watching this is actually more than I've ever seen of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". When it was first aired, it was banned from our area due to a government regulation (called "must carry") which prevented the cable company from showing the Detroit station that had "Buffy". I heard the show was good, however. Maybe some time the seasons of it will be available dirt cheap. It's not on Ch131.com yet, though.

Fitful Snowman

Tonight, I went downtown to the State Theatre to get tickets for tomorrow's premiere of "Avatar". I had no luck. But while I was waiting, they were setting up for the premiere of the latest Rich Brauer film, "Fitful". This new movie stars Renee O'Connor, who is best known for playing the sidekick Gabrielle in the "Xena" TV show. She wasn't going to be at the premiere, but Larry Joe Campbell was coming to town for the movie. Campbell has appeared in the TV shows "Weeds" and "According to Jim". The movie was filmed on a ship in nearby Manistee, Michigan.

In this photo, they get ready to put Campbell's name on the marquee. A dirty Jabba-esque snowman (with visor, sunglasses, and scarf) watches from a few feet away. I saw this snowman several days ago, and he looked a lot better then.

"I Saw Obama Kissing Santa Claus"

This morning, Dirk Van's morning radio program, "FirstLight", discussed favorite Christmas songs.

One caller mentioned "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", and Dirk misheard it as "I Saw Obama Kissing Santa Claus", and they briefly joked that that would be a good song, as well. Well, just about everything is on Google, and I was able to find some lyrics to this already-existing song:

""McCain saw Obama kissing Santa Claus, underneath the mistle toe last night.
He didn't see McCain creep, down the stairs to have a peep, he thought that he was tucked up in his bedroom fast asleep.
Then he saw Obama tickle Santa Claus undermeath his beard so snowy white;
Oh, what a laugh it would have been, if Hillary had only seen Obama kissing Santa Claus last night.
He saw Obama, He saw Obama kissing Santa Claus"

Obviously, from a year ago, during the campaign. By now, everyone is probably going "McCain who?", thinking that Sarah Palin was Obama's only opponent in the election.

This song does not exist on video, however. It might be a funnier song if it weren't so completely dated by the lyrics.

What are my readers' favorite funny Christmas songs?

Let's hear it for Mr. Heat Miser

To the right is a close-up of Mr. Heat Miser. Probably too close for comfort. Laura B did a post that featured him a couple of days ago. So I figured I'd do another

The first of his three TV specials, "The Year Without a Santa Claus", came out ages ago, in 1974. Back then, the big fear of climate change was global cooling (the new ice age). So I suppose that Snow Miser was the big villain then. Now, in this decade, global warming is the big deal, so Mr. Heat Miser is the guy to stop now. To realize his goal of getting rid of white Christmases would require a significant rise in global temperature.

So, who does he remind you of? Here are some possible choices:

• Syndrome from "The Incredibles"
• Glenn Beck
• Bill Clinton
• Chris Matthews
• Don King

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A lot of you know the regular "Heat Miser" song. Much less well known is the song "Heat Miser" by Massive Attack:

Never heard it? Well, if you are a fan of prime-time medical dramas on TV, you probably know this much more famous track from Massive Attack:

Quincy and Fevre Dream (Postcard Friendship Friday)

Welcome to another entry in Postcard Friendship Friday. It's a day early, to try to keep up with the Europeans (as it is already Friday there).Above: ImageShack art of the steamboat Fevre Dream (unknown artist).
Above: Vintage postcard of the wreck of the steamer Quincy, 1911, at Trempealeau, Wisconsin.

The postcard view above is one of many I have of the steamer Quincy. It is also one of a few I have that show it after it was wrecked. Another postcard I have of the wreck, with a different view on it, is postmarked Aug 1, just a few weeks after the boat sank on July 11, 1906.Apparently, the wreck remained in the river for a while.

On the front it reads.'

"Dear Hazel,
Your letter was forwarded up here to me. I've been here just a month and may be here till Sept. 1st. Never had such a time in my life. Will write particulars soon. This is the Quincy that hit a dam and sank. It's only 1/4 of a mile from camp. I'm crazy to get the pictures and I'll send you some of camp. We have two launches, two machines, and a house boat. I can swim like a fish. Lovingly. Blanche."

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I got the idea for this post when reading and commenting on a recent post at the Valkyrie blog. I've been meaning to blog about steamboats for some time (a request by Ananda Girl). It brought to mind George R R. Martin's "vampires on riverboats" novel from 1982 called, entitled Fevre Dream. I think Fevre Dream might have the first example of a "vegetarian vampire". "Vegetarian vampires" are common in recent vampire books and movies. They are considered wimpy by many, and are vampires who have forsaken human blood in order to drink a "gentler' substitute: such as animal blood, or artificial concoctions such as "True Blood". The steamboat-era vampires in Fevre Dream concoct a forerunner to "True Blood" in order to wean vampires off of drinking from humans.

At the top of this post, and to the right are renditions of the steamboat from the novel. The steamboat is named Fevre Dream. As it is a fictional steamboat, there are, unfortunately, no postcards of it. It has been a long time since I have read the book. I seem to remember that Fevre Dream, like the Quincy, ended up wrecked. Maybe it is time to re-read the book and find out.

Some like it Hoth

I've used the photo below a couple of times before. I was out in the snow earlier today. The driving conditions were a lot worse than in the photo. No, not as in more Imperial Walkers. Worse, as in much worse visibility. A lot more snow.Downtown yesterday, I saw the building going up in the former "Clovelly Hole" in downtown Traverse City, Michigan. This was the hole in the the ground that was the result of a building project being killed (apparently by government objections to the style of the balcony railings). Now there is a new building going in there. The towering crane will be there for a while, and actually they will be dropping some sort of ball from it on New Years Eve as part of a downtown New Years Eve party.
And here's State Street. The speed limit is 25, which is probably too fast for conditions.
Front Street in the area of Michael Moore's production office. The shopkeepers are shoveling off the walks, often to no avail, as the snow keeps piling up.

Iron Man hits the road.....

I got a link to this video sent to me on an email list. Watch this guy. He's like Iron Man, but on the road instead of in the sky. It's an extreme sport called buggyrollin or buggy rollin that I only first heard of this evening.

The video below is a nice hi-res one, better than the usual Youtube. It's fun to watch. You are supposed to be able to click on the "X"-like symbol on the lower right to make it fullscreen, but that is not working for me right now.

According to this site, buggyrolling "was invented by a French fellow named Jean-Yves Blondeau. He created a special suit adorned with 31 wheels which he dons and rolls through the city at breakneck speeds. Basically you transform yourself into a crazy fast multi-wheeled thrill ride. There are so many ways this could go wrong that it has to be a killer way to get some kicks and generally freak the bejeezus out of pedestrians, motorists and whatever insurance agency handles your policy. Bouge Toi!". One commenter observed: "This dude is like if TRON and Brian Boitano had a baby, and it was raised by the internet.

I've gone down Alpine highways before, but always in a vehicle. They can be steep and go on for miles.

Hopefully we can look forward to seeing one of these used in a James Bond movie or something; that would make for a pretty good stunt.

This is all downhill, of course. Working only on gravity. To go uphill, you'd have to add a jetpack.

Tiger Woods Burning Bright

Tiger, Tiger, swerving right

Smashing hydrants in the night,
What immoral fan's tanned thigh
Could make thee drive it so awry?

And what temptress, & what slut
Can cause thy wife, thy head to putt?
And on thy face, the club didst beat
With strength of righteous, jealous heat?

The civil fine, thou hadst to pay
But still this tale won't go away
And with untoward blows to psyche
Thou mightest lose thy cash from Nike

Whence the frenzy? Whence the pain?
In what hazard plunged thy brain?
And what bimbo at 19th hole
Could ensnare thy noble soul?

When thy fans throw down their cheers,
And water golf greens with their tears,
Wilst thou smile their looks to see,
As thou steps't up to the tee?

Tiger Woods, burning bright,
With embarassment, thy face alight,
What immoral fan's tanned thigh
Dare make thee drive so much awry?

Avatar: James Cameron Takes on Alien Smurfs

I keep reading about the Avatar movie. When I first heard about it, it sounded something like a guy going to a planet inhabited by alien smurf-elves. Just reading earlier descriptions had me thinking it was "Dances with Smurfs". I last saw the trailer in the the theatre before "Twilight: New Moon". I thought the trailer was better than "New Moon" actually. Here it is below:

The bit from about 0:30 to 0:37 or so sounds like a pretty good recruiting ad for the Marines, doesn't it? I thought the trailer was quite impressive. It's too much CGI, but the CGI looks pretty good. After it was over, I realized I'd seen it before. The plot was so familiar. It wasn't Smurfs.... this "Avatar" is really like a live-action/CGI science fiction adaptation of "Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest".

The video below combines the two pretty well.

I'm looking forward to this movie, but it seems like one of those that will get two and a half star reviews. But hey, Will Ferrell isn't in it, so how bad can it be?

Cat Blog Friday: Hello Kzinti

Cube usually has a Cat Blog Friday blog post entry. I haven't participated before, but have decided to this time. This is a favorite illustration of a Kzin, one of the warrior cats of Larry Niven's science fiction, and also "Star Trek". I like this one because it shows the ferocity, and other illustrations make the Kzinti too cuddly or ponderous. Or they make them look exactly like tigers. Tiger with space helmets: not very original. This illustration is found on the front cover of the "Guide to Ringworld" book.