Here are my picks for best books and movies of 2009. Caveats: some of the books may have actually been 2008, and I may have even read them in 2008. But if I can't recall putting them on a list before (and if we were talking strictly about my blog that would be true de-facto) I find them fair game to include.
Books - 9, an awkward number, will try to think of a tenth
The book entries are listed randomly; no preference assigned within the group.
The Gargoyle - this would be the one from 2008, most likely, but still so powerful and amazing I will include it again
People of the Book
The Help
The Raw Shark Texts
What is the What
Let the Great World Spin
Await Your Reply
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/The Girl Who Played with Fire (two books, most likely one in 2008, but go get 'em!)
Happy to provide review/commentary on these if you want, but you'll need to ask. My book friends have already suffered through my extensive commentary. But, the list includes historical fiction, futuristic fiction, great detective stories, great love stories, terrific mysteries, and painful/hopeful non-fiction. Many bookes contain multiple categories.
Movies
The movie entries are listed randomly, as well, except for my number one pick: The Road. My picks are only coincidentally the same as Robert Butler's (our KC Star movie critic). There are many times I disagree with him. But this year, we were simpatico. Major picks:
The Road
The Hurt Locker
Up
Up in the Air
Julie and Julia
Honorable mentions/really like them:
The Blind Side
It’s Complicated
Inglorious Basterds
Departures
The Hangover
Could not watch The Time Traveler's Wife or The Lovely Bones, both of which I loved as books. But The Road was as pure and elemental as the book, and equally as true, and it broke and uplifted my heart in the same way.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
What's Changing in the World
I've been looking at trend data lately, for purposes related to identifying opportunities for innovation. And while reading up on mobile banking and consumer demand for transparency, and the new "free" economy, I came across a NYT op-ed written by William Falk which promised to reveal which stories were really 2009's most important.
See what you think.
Robotic warfare: President Obama has sanctioned about 50 Predator strikes this year, which killed about 500 people, including important targets and the women and children nearby. The military is building new ones very quickly. Including one called The Reaper, which carries more ordnance. And will soon deploy drones to the Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean and the Carribean to look for drug smugglers. And, scariest to me, "nano-drones" are under development. About the size of hummingbirds, they will be able to pursue targets into homes and buildings.
New planets: Techniques for detecting "Exoplanets" - those which may have the right condition to support life - are becoming so sophisticated that over 400 such planets have been discovered so far - 30 in October alone. The discovery of Earth-like planets is now so likely that the Vatican held a conference of astrobiologists this year to discuss the theological repercussions of extraterrestrial life. In an understatement, a professor at the University of Arizona remarked that such a discovery would have "profound implications for our self-image."
Stem cells: Scientists re-engineered regular skin cells from mice into stem-cells, making it possible that in the future, scientists might be able to use a patient's own tissue to produce a replacement organ. Of course, the bad news is that a rogue scientist could create human beings from a few cells scraped from a person's arm. "All the pieces are there for serious abuse," said cell biologist Rober Lanza.
A few things to think about as you wait for the Massachusetts vote to be resolved, in case you don't want to spend your time pondering how out of nowhere, one person can de-rail months of work and render useless terrabytes of debate over health care. No matter which side you're on there, it's a pretty remarkable development.
See what you think.
Robotic warfare: President Obama has sanctioned about 50 Predator strikes this year, which killed about 500 people, including important targets and the women and children nearby. The military is building new ones very quickly. Including one called The Reaper, which carries more ordnance. And will soon deploy drones to the Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Ocean and the Carribean to look for drug smugglers. And, scariest to me, "nano-drones" are under development. About the size of hummingbirds, they will be able to pursue targets into homes and buildings.
New planets: Techniques for detecting "Exoplanets" - those which may have the right condition to support life - are becoming so sophisticated that over 400 such planets have been discovered so far - 30 in October alone. The discovery of Earth-like planets is now so likely that the Vatican held a conference of astrobiologists this year to discuss the theological repercussions of extraterrestrial life. In an understatement, a professor at the University of Arizona remarked that such a discovery would have "profound implications for our self-image."
Stem cells: Scientists re-engineered regular skin cells from mice into stem-cells, making it possible that in the future, scientists might be able to use a patient's own tissue to produce a replacement organ. Of course, the bad news is that a rogue scientist could create human beings from a few cells scraped from a person's arm. "All the pieces are there for serious abuse," said cell biologist Rober Lanza.
A few things to think about as you wait for the Massachusetts vote to be resolved, in case you don't want to spend your time pondering how out of nowhere, one person can de-rail months of work and render useless terrabytes of debate over health care. No matter which side you're on there, it's a pretty remarkable development.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Blogging
So as I re-dedicate myself to blogging, I find myself thinking about the whys, wherefores, and purpose of said blog. Because I started this one absent a strategy. And that really isn't like me. I mean, Julie Powell had her food blog, Ariana Huffington has her political blog, mommies have their mommy-blogs, but this is just a random thought blog. Not focused. Not for a particular audience. In fact, any thought I've given to "strategy" has been more along the lines of what I should stay away from:
Politics: I love to read political blogs, and love to read-out-loud to friends and family my favorite columnists. But my political views are not necessarily compatible with the interests of my business, and so I conclude they should stay private.
Work: Sort of the same boundary issue. Would never feel comfortable dishing out the gossip, peculiarities, etc. of work. In fact, my recent exposure to the social media listening platforms like Radian 6, has taught me not to even mention my company's NAME when I talk about work, lest my blog show up in lots of people's "rivers of news."
Daily activity: Facebook has enough anecdotes of daily life. In the vast majority of cases posts don't need to be expanded into full blogs. (My last story about mice being a possible exception). I mean, if I was a mommy of young kids who were spouting bizarre and profound thoughts on a regular basis I could see a daily life blog being fun. But I'm an empty-nester, and what I do is work, work-out, go to movies, read books, travel, and eat far too many meals at restaurants. Not spellbinding topics for a blog, especially when someone could go to Rotten Tomatoes, Goodreads, Zagat, etc. for much more robust content on the movies, books, restaurants, etc.
Travel might be an interesting focus, and like always, this year will bring a lot of travel, but not much going on there till the end of February. On the docket: San Jose, Beaver Creek, Atlanta, St. Pete to see Steph, Philly for Colin's graduation from law school, Ten Mile with Terri and Mike over July 4, New York for business, plus many more as yet identified trips.
But I also don't want to lose my outlet for random musings. Lyrics, daily happenings, ironies. So here's what I'm thinking. I keep LyricGirl for the ad-hoc, and create separate blogs for specific topics - thinking travel stories and book reviews, for two.
Thoughts?
Politics: I love to read political blogs, and love to read-out-loud to friends and family my favorite columnists. But my political views are not necessarily compatible with the interests of my business, and so I conclude they should stay private.
Work: Sort of the same boundary issue. Would never feel comfortable dishing out the gossip, peculiarities, etc. of work. In fact, my recent exposure to the social media listening platforms like Radian 6, has taught me not to even mention my company's NAME when I talk about work, lest my blog show up in lots of people's "rivers of news."
Daily activity: Facebook has enough anecdotes of daily life. In the vast majority of cases posts don't need to be expanded into full blogs. (My last story about mice being a possible exception). I mean, if I was a mommy of young kids who were spouting bizarre and profound thoughts on a regular basis I could see a daily life blog being fun. But I'm an empty-nester, and what I do is work, work-out, go to movies, read books, travel, and eat far too many meals at restaurants. Not spellbinding topics for a blog, especially when someone could go to Rotten Tomatoes, Goodreads, Zagat, etc. for much more robust content on the movies, books, restaurants, etc.
Travel might be an interesting focus, and like always, this year will bring a lot of travel, but not much going on there till the end of February. On the docket: San Jose, Beaver Creek, Atlanta, St. Pete to see Steph, Philly for Colin's graduation from law school, Ten Mile with Terri and Mike over July 4, New York for business, plus many more as yet identified trips.
But I also don't want to lose my outlet for random musings. Lyrics, daily happenings, ironies. So here's what I'm thinking. I keep LyricGirl for the ad-hoc, and create separate blogs for specific topics - thinking travel stories and book reviews, for two.
Thoughts?
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Losing the Food Chain Lottery
Last Saturday wasn't a good day to be a mouse seeking refuge in the warmth of our house. Actually, no recent days have been good days to be mice seeking refuge in the warmth of our house, and every day it gets more perilous.
Because the mice - and we - have developed a pattern, and given that at least two of us in the story are humans, we've gone up a learning curve, demonstrating our species' superior survival ability. Here's how it works
Because the mice - and we - have developed a pattern, and given that at least two of us in the story are humans, we've gone up a learning curve, demonstrating our species' superior survival ability. Here's how it works
- Mouse gets cold and enters garage
- Mouse is still cold, so enters the laundry room (through vents or whatever I don't understand about gaps between the laundry room and the garage)
- Mouse encounters Sid, who has been waiting for him
- Sid grabs mouse, helpfully alerting Jeanne and Jeff with the associated noise
- Sid runs - or more recently, strolls - across the hearth room with the mouse, taking it to his lair (our bathroom)
- Jeanne signals Jeff when Sid turns the corner into our bedroom. Jeff follows Sid and Jeanne follows Jeff
- Jeff retrieves coffee mug and piece of cardboard from the bathroom cabinet while Sid drops the mouse and stares at it
- Jeanne climbs up on the edge of the bathtub
- Jeff pursues - and in high percentage of cases traps the mouse under the cup
- Jeff carries mouse in cup with cardboard bottom to the deck and flings him off into the snow
This exciting new routine began when the weather turned frigid right before Christmas and it shows no signs of letting up. Much discussion about whether we should set traps, call an exterminator, etc. Jeff is of the opinion it's working pretty well right now. We just close the doors to the laundry room when we're not on duty to prevent the cat from "hunting" (lying on the floor waiting for the mouse to come to him). But you know that old question: if you see one mouse, how many more must there be? And I don't know where they go when he drops them and Jeff doesn't catch them. Or how many he catches and drops when we're not around. And there's sometimes a scritching noise behind the bed.
But I bear them no ill will. If they didn't run so fast I wouldn't even have to stand on the edge of the bathtub. So, I found myself feeling a little sorry for last Saturday's mouse. Just when he thought he was warm, Sid recruited him as a playmate. Then, just when he "escaped" Sid (who just drops them and never even uses his teeth), there is Jeff with his coffee mug. And now, out on the deck, where it is cold again. Then flying through the air and down about 20 feet into a snowbank. But then! Popping back up on top of the snow and running toward the tree! Not seeing the hawk that instantly spotted him and swooped down for his lunch. Damn.
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