Entries from December 2007

31 December 2007

2007 Year in Review: Favorite Books

Every year since 1996 I’ve made a list of the ten favorite books I read that year (here is my 2006 list). Rarely are the book actually published in that year, the only common factor is that I read them in the same year (The six books I read that were actually published in 2007 [...]

30 December 2007

Movie Review: The Triplets of Belleville

The Triplets of Belleville (2003) has it all. It’s an animated feast for the eyes featuring a bicyclist named Champion, his heroic grandmother Madame Souza, his dog Bruno who barks at trains, the mafia, grotesquely fat people, three swingin’ old ladies, and some groovin’ music. And it has hardly any dialog (yet [...]

30 December 2007

Links of the Day (week, actually) for 30 December 2007

Is the Supreme Court going to define “well regulated militia”? by Brooks Jackson (Annenberg Political Fact Check)
Subways: The New Urban Status Symbol by Jennifer Fishbein (BusinessWeek, 12/5/07)
Society on Steroids: A Bill Moyers Essay (Bill Moyers Journal, 12/20/07) - cheating and cutting corners are endemic in American culture, not just Major League Baseball
Best Urban Spaces by [...]

29 December 2007

Book Review: Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon by Jim Paul

One day Jim Paul decides that he wants to launch rocks into the ocean with a catapult and so he convinces his friend Harry to colloborate with him in building one, a process described in Catapult: Harry and I Build a Siege Weapon (1991). Paul manages to convince National Park Service to allow him [...]

28 December 2007

Extreme Napping

Today we received more boxes in the mail with gifts for Peter.  I opened the boxes with scissors and read one of the gift books to Peter.  Afterwards I decided I would take a power nap on the couch.  At that point I realized I still had the scissors in my hand.
Susan said, “It would [...]

28 December 2007

2007 Beer in Review

My friend Brian recently observed that I’ve been reviewing more books and fewer beers since becoming a parent. Indeed, one of my goals for this blog was to sample and review new beers, but I didn’t get too many reviews up (although I did drink the beer). Nor did I accomplish my goal [...]

28 December 2007

Book Review: Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird

Before reviewing Andrew D. Blechman’s Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird (2006), a book I learned about on the WBUR radio show “Here and Now,” I’d like to relate a few of my own pigeon memories:

I’ve long been a fan of pigeons and enjoy watching them (but not feeding [...]

28 December 2007

Movie Review: The Longest Day

Once again inspired by watching Ken Burns’ The War, we watched The Longest Day (1962) a dramatization of the D-Day invasion.  Its a long film with a mammoth cast that appears to be trying to tell the entire story of D-Day from every angle all at once.  Despite some typical Hollywood hokiness, The Longest Day [...]

27 December 2007

Library Links of the Day for 27 December 2007

I’m on holiday break thanks to my union so I’m not thinking too much about library work right now, but here are three interesting stories I’ve culled just for you!

Ten Stories that Shaped 2007 from LISNews (12/20/2007). Here are my contributions to four of the stories:

10. Movie Review of The Hollywood Librarian & Attack [...]

25 December 2007

Links of the Day for Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.  I’ve had a wonderful day celebrating with my family and friends.  I hope it was a happy, hopeful day for everyone.
Here are some Christmassy stories for the day:

National Geographic features an essay about Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus: “Bethlehem, 2007 A.D.” by Michael Finkel (December 2007).
Snopes has the scoop on [...]