Book: The Mermaid Chair

Unique story I finished this a while ago but didn’t get to writing a review right away. I thought the book was good. I liked The Secret Life of Bees better, but I also enjoyed this. It is a story about a married middle aged woman whose daughter leaves for college and she realizes she is unhappy with her life. She goes to stay with her disturbed and self-destructive mother and ends up falling in love with a monk. The characters are well developed, the storyline is unique, and it isn’t very predictable. Worth a read.

On January 15th, my cousin Sally's baby was born 10 weeks early. Apparently there was a complication that caused the baby to lose all its blood. I don't really understand what happened but it sounds like the doctors don't either. Lilly Kate is doing well considering her early arrival and last I heard she'd made progress every day. They hope to be able to hold her in 2 weeks and nurse her in 3 weeks. For now, they're feeding her breast milk through a tube. Our well wishes are with them.

Book: Peace Like a River

A lovely story Mimi recommended this book to me. It was a beautiful story. It didn’t “touch my soul”, as it did for another reader, but I thought it was interesting, unique, and well told. The characters were well developed and I liked that the story was told from the point of view of an 11 year-old but with the insight of an adult (the same man looking back on the events).

Movie: Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story

A must-see for fans of the TV show This movie was hilarious and widely offensive. It’s reminiscent of the South Park movie. The Family Guy TV show is very funny and the movie is no exception. I’m not sure that it’s funnier, but it is packed with offensive humor and much longer than an episode. Worth watching!

Movie: Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children

Beautiful, but a poor film As with the previous movie, the animation is fantastic. As Benjamin said, it’s so good it almost looks like poor quality live action. Strange. Unfortunately for the makers of this movie, beautiful animation isn’t enough for me. I should say straight out that I don’t like most anime (Witch Hunter Robin is a notable exception and to some extent Hellsing). I only stayed awake for the first 30 minutes or so. There was no character development and tons of oblique references to things not explained in the movie. My guess is if you’d watched the first movie (I slept through a lot of that one too) and played the game, this wouldn’t bother you. I recommend against renting this movie if you aren’t a huge Final Fantasy fan and you need character development to invest yourself in a movie. And even if you are, keep your expectations low. Benjamin didn’t like it either.

Movie: The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Very funny, not just stupid I’d heard this was really funny, but I thought that it would be stupid funny. It wasn’t the wittiest thing ever, but it wasn’t just dumb slapstick. I recommend watching it for a good laugh.

43 Things: Get an iPod

Pretty good player, sad no WMA DRM capability and iTunes is annoying I've had a lot of problems with iTunes on my PC, which is annoying. But I do like some of its features like Smart Playlists. The iPod itself is a nice little player (it's an iPod video 60 GB). The things I like least about it are that it can't play Windows Media Player files and if the WMAs have DRM then there is no legal awy to even convert them so they'll play on the iPod. This means that the digital audio books available from most sources other than iTunes won't work for me without extra work and questionable conversions. :-( Its other weakness: charging only from the PC. It is lame that they don't include an AC charger anymore. Now you have to use a computer that is turned on and runniniPode Ipod driver in order to charge your iPod. You can buy an AC adapter, but of course it costs extra even though you paid $400 for the latest, greatest iPod.

Windows Vista Tattoo

One Microsoft employee went a little too far. I knew of someone a few years ago who got the MSN butterfly as a tattoo as well. What is wrong with people? I wouldn't get any brand tattooed on me, no matter how great it was.

More on Windows SideShow since CES

As I've mentioned before, I'm working on the Windows SideShow feature at Microsoft. There's a bunch more press on it this week because of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week in Las Vegas. Here's one "in-depth" review. There's also a new Windows SideShow blog, if you want to stay abreast on this feature in the future.

Window of deliciousness is narrow

One thing I don't like about coffee (specifically lattes and mochas) is that it only tastes good when it is a certain temperature. Too hot or too cold and the experience is significantly diminished. This isn't true for me when drinking tea. I suspect it has to do with the amount of (soy) milk in the drinks. The simple answer is to choose coffee drinks without milk, but since I don't like the taste of coffee this seems like a challenge. All of the yummy coffee-disguised drinks seem to contain milk. Or is there a coffee drink I haven't thought of?

Bush could bypass new torture ban

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief. After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a ''signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said. Boston Globe article: Bush could bypass new torture ban

Extreme views and deception: Write to stop Alito

Write a letter to your senator asking them to oppose the Alito nomination. You may feel like you've had enough of this issue already and he's going to get it no matter what, but Alito is bad news. Don't give up yet!

Movie: Pretty Persuasion

Dark, well done version of a not-so-unique story There's nothing new about the story of teenage girls using their power to destroy a teacher with false sexual harassmentt claims. But this movie takes it to new places worth going. It's an extremely dark portrait of a brilliant and driven young woman willing to do anything to get what she wants. The stories of her two cohorts are also worth consideration. The movie is multi-layered and complex, yet holds together solidly with no visible cracks. If you like dark comedies then I highly recommend this movie.

Movie: National Treasure

Good, considering it's Disney This movie was pretty fun. There were tons of things about it that weren’t credible, but it was still a good little story. I hold it to a lower standard since it’s a Disney flick. Benjamin hates Disney, but he enjoyed it too.

Free audio books

I just read found this website, LibriVox, that is recording audio readings of books in the public domain and distributing the audio recordings for free. They use volunteers to do the reading. While the quality of the reading will certainly be lower than when read by professionals, I still think this is very interesting. I am tempted to volunteer, though I have enough on my plate for now. Thanks to LibraryCrunch for turning me on to this. And I found LibraryCrunch from Michael Casey's profile on 43 People.

Book: Sweetwater Creek

Good, then weird, but ultimately still pretty good

I really like Anne Rivers Siddons books. They aren't the best literature out there, but they've always been enjoyable. Unfortunately this one takes a turn for the dark and bizarre near the end. Interestingly, so did her last book, Islands. Either she's changing her tone to match what readers like these days or she's got something dark on the brain. For her sake I hope it's not the latter. Anyway, the protagonist in this book is a twelve year old girl who lives with her family raising hunting dogs outside of Charleston, SC. The girl has experienced a lot of loss in her young life and is stuck with her emotionally withdrawn father and brothers. She's a tomboy with a gift for training dogs. Part way into the book a Charleston debutante suffering from an unknown problem comes to stay with the family to rest and heal over the summer. I think that the story of Emily, the main character, is a good one. The story odebutantebutant friend Lulu on the other hand is less convincing. Regardless, I think it was a good book. If Siddons had chosen a deeper and more convincing source for the debutante's problems, the book could have been even better. I don't want to spoil it, so I am being vague.

Movie: The Polar Express

Nice animation, decent story Benjamin and I watched this today. It was cute and pretty. It was completely about the myth of Christmas but its entire message was that you only get to experience the magic of Christmas if you truly believe. It made me think about applying that position to religion, but I don’t think that was the intent of the film. Who knows.

Movie: Anywhere But Here

Resonates with the age group I read and loved this book as a pre-teen and I think the movie and book are good for pre-teen and teen girls. It’s not an amazing movie and I’m biased because of my history with the book, but I think the movie is worthwhile. It’s also kind of fun to see the teen actresses when they were a bit younger.

Movie: She hate Me

Weird but interesting This movie somehow manaes to have a lot of worthwhile things to say while simultaneously being sort of taudry and freakish. It's about a black Wall Street business ma whose career falls apart when he blows the whistle on the finacial firm he works for. With his assets frozen nd facing SEC charges he ends up gettig paid to impregnate a whole bunch of lesbians. And they do it the old fashioned way. Anyway, it is pretty interesting and the main character's speach to a Congressional committee is pretty cool.

Movie: This is My Father

Slow, sad, but good Tivo recorded this movie for me because John Cusack makes a small appearance. The story is about star-crossed lovers in Ireland and is centered around a man’s search for his real father. It’s slow and sad and kind of odd, but it is a beautiful and substantive love story.

Movie: City Hall

Good movie, and we always love Cusack I watch all John Cusack movies, but this is one of the substantive ones. I’d seen it before, but just watched it again because Tivo recorded it for me. It’s a dark film about corruption in politics. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth checking out.

Movie: First Daughter

Cute and more nuanced than the competition Although the specifics of the plots are different, the underlying story in this movie is identical to the movie Chasing Liberty. with Hilary Duff. And oddly, they came out the same year. But if you’re choosing one, this one if far better. Not only do I have a soft spot for Katie Holms, but this story is a lot more nuanced and well presented than the Hilary Duff equivalent. Hey, she’s cute too and I have nothing against her, but this is the better version of the story.

Movie: Titanic

Better than I imagined I never watched this movie when it came out. I was turned off by the hype and everything I heard about it. It seemed like melodramatic drivel. But when it came on HBO yesterday I got sucked in. While I admit there was a melodramatic component, there was also a lot of quality storytelling. I don’t know how accurate the titanic “facts” were, but they were moving. Completely setting aside the central romance, the story of the Titanic was very sad. From the lack of disaster preparation to the classism to the chaos of mobs and the selfishness of survival, it’s a devastating example of human shortcomings. I am surprised to find I recommend the movie.

Movie: The Lizzie McGuire Movie

Dumb, silly, cute movie I’m embarrassed to admit that I watched this, but I did. It came up in my Tivo “suggestions” and I was desperate for something to watch (nothing is on this week!). Anyway, it is silly drivel. It is cute and amusing, but in a 12 year old girl kind of way. There are many better movies out there, even for 12 year olds, but it isn’t awful. Just embarrassing.

Movie: March of the Penguins

Beautiful, but the DVD extras hurt the story My husband and I watched this movie while we rung in the New Year. It was very beautiful and they did a good job of engaging you in cheering on the penguins. And of course baby penguins are adorable. The only bad thing that was immediately obvious was some statements made in the narration that over-anthropomorphized the penguins. For example, they referred to the loss of the chick as “unbearable” for the mother penguin. After the movie, we watched all of the DVD extras and they ended up calling a lot of the movie into question. The documentary “Of Penguins and Men” seemed like a complete documentary of the penguins on its own, like perhaps it was the original product but they redid it later to remove the humans and turn it into a more emotionally sensitive story. Aside from the redundancy and a few small discrepancies, it also revealed the harshness and the holes in their observation of the penguins. We then went on to watch the included National Geographic “Crittercam” documentary and I found that to be the most informative and seemingly accurate. It made a lot more sense and had a lot less hyperbole. Anyway, the movie was still very good. Just keep in mind it is a story and don’t take it as 100% accurate and reflective of all emperor penguins’ cycles.

Movie: The Interpreter

Nothing special I’m indifferent to this movie. If it is politically accurate, and I have no idea if it is, then it’s more impressive. But either way, it was ultimately a bit contrived and didn’t amount to much. It wasn’t bad but I don’t recommend you rush out and see it.

Book: The Probable Future

I liked this book. I thought it was a pretty enjoyable story with some uniqueness to it. It wasn’t amazing, but good enough that it will lead me to try more of Alice Hoffman’s books. I felt that the book’s biggest weakness was the lack of bonding with the characters. They were all portrayed so objectively, with their faults as clear as their strengths. It made it hard to really put yourself in the place of any of the characters. There were a couple of them that came across as just really nice people whose faults were minor, but they weren’t the main characters. Regardless, it was ultimately a pretty good read.