Ace of Spades HQ

April 15, 2012

Sunday Morning Book Thread: Anniversary Edition 04-15-2012 [OregonMuse]
— Open Blogger

Good morning, morons.

Incidentally, those of you in the east are going to have to get used to the book thread appearing later than it has when Monty was doing it. I'm 3 hours behind you guys.

I see lots of commemorations for the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. All well and good.

But there's another anniversary in April, too, that all morons should remember:

It was on April 3, 2006, that ace attempted to link to the United 93 movie trailer, got confused, and instead posted, ahem, certain items of a suggestive nature that somehow had found their way onto his hard drive.

So for a couple of hours until the mistake was discovered and corrected, the AoSHQ front page looked like a Cinemax screen test.

It was a day that will live in infamy. Or hilarity.

Here is the original thread

Here's some fun facts about that thread:

1. The date was April 3rd, 2006. Holy crap, that was six years ago. I've been putzing around on this blog for that long?? I guess so.

2. The thread only has 91 comments, and little or no spam. No lace wigs, no ugg boots or reaming machines. If a thread like that went up today, the number of comments would probably go into the thousands. We'd be laughing about it for weeks. This is a testimony to the increase in audience that ace's unique brand of conservative rowdiness has managed to pick up over the years.

3. This is a great blog, even when it makes mistakes. And I am happy to be part of it.

Books? Oh yes, books. I don't have much this morning. I'm reading the first dragon tattoo book, and I guess it's ok. But there's just something about Scandi books or movies that just doesn't set right with me, and I've never been able to understand what it is, exactly. I don't know if it's because they're mostly depressing, or godless, or maybe something else, it's hard to say. If I were smarter, I'd be able to figure it out.

So what has everyone else been reading this week? Something good, I hope.

Book thread tips may be sent to aoshqbookthread@gmail.com

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:26 AM | Comments (118)
Post contains 384 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Ah book thread, Better put up a new open thread as well.

Currently reading Ben Hur on the Kindle per recommendation by one of the posters on the book thread last week. Good book and, as the poster said, there is a LOT more stuff in the book than what is covered by the movie. Waiting in the wings also from a recommendation is Quo Vadis also available for the Kindle free.

Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 07:42 AM (YdQQY)

2 And thanks OregonMuse

Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 07:45 AM (YdQQY)

3 To honor April 3, 2006, I'm re-reading the Kama Sutra.

Posted by: Cicero Kid at April 15, 2012 07:50 AM (iXSO+)

4 The Goddess Irony thinks it's funny that I created an impromptu book club at work months ago and have read only one chapter so far. At least we share a mutual hatred of Gaia.

Posted by: eman at April 15, 2012 07:50 AM (YrBvI)

5 Were these lesbians anywhere near an Israeli tank that was stuck in the mud?

Posted by: eman at April 15, 2012 07:50 AM (YrBvI)

6 I'm currently reading Don Quixote. Also a book on the Persian language and a college algebra textbook as a refresher.

Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 07:52 AM (MQd6r)

7 I'm reading 'Susie Has Two Mommies' in honour of the Flight 69 Post.

Posted by: garrett at April 15, 2012 07:54 AM (fSusx)

8 Ahh, the classics.

Posted by: Andy at April 15, 2012 07:54 AM (XG+Mn)

9 Finished a couple of books on my last excursion back east; finished Zone One by Colson Whitehead. I'd avoid that if I were you guys - it's basically the modern snooty self absorbed tone applied to a zombie story. It also adds a zombie that tries to do whatever its host was doing just before it died (working a copy machine, standing over a fryer, etc) so that makes for lots of comments about society (gag). I also finished Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku, if you like science fiction at all I highly recommend it. The way he goes over how science fiction can become nominal science fact in 100 years is very impressive and very entertaining. I'm currently about 1/4 done with Hero: the Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. Now here's a guy who is an enigma but still a long praised and honored hero. And what kind of a person he was only makes this more fascinating. His interactions with the arab world, unfortunately, look little different than what our soldiers have to do.

Posted by: Defector at April 15, 2012 07:58 AM (5uOjH)

10 Morons,
Good Morning.
Alex reminds me that I am looking for the best translation of Don Quixote. I've never read it (!) but have been told the translation makes a difference. Comments?

Posted by: Contemplative Lobster at April 15, 2012 07:58 AM (+rBDt)

11 Fot Titanic Weekend I pulled John Malcolm Brinnin's 'The Sway of the Grand Saloon' off the shelf.

Posted by: JEM at April 15, 2012 07:59 AM (o+SC1)

12 Contemplative Lobster,

I would imagine so. The translation that I'm reading seems pretty good. I don't have it on hand or I give you the name.

Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 08:01 AM (MQd6r)

I've killed all the Drizzt books, again, and I've moved onto 'The Sellswords' trilogy. Too much Salvatore in the past 2 months for me...

I need some Fantasty/SciFi suggestions.

Posted by: garrett at April 15, 2012 08:04 AM (fSusx)

14 Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 12:01 PM
------------------------
Thanks Alex. Let me know which you're reading if it's by you and the computer at the same time; even if you don't see me around. I lurk a lot.

Posted by: Contemplative Lobster at April 15, 2012 08:04 AM (+rBDt)

Ah, yes, the infamous link.

I was reading the blog back then, but didn't comment.

And thankfully didn't click on that link.

I pre-ordered JK Rowlings book for adults. Coming out in September.

And no, when I say "book for adults" I don't mean anything like the "link for adults" that Ace posted.

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 08:07 AM (XdlcF)

16 garret

a relatively new author who I have found to be good is Brandon Sanderson. He took over finishing the WOT, but his other stuff is good too.

I'm sure you are familiar with all the other long time SF/Fantasy writers.

http://is.gd/UMkg5W

Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 08:08 AM (YdQQY)

17 oregon my mom recommended the dragon tattoo books to me as "historical, post world war ii nazi mystery" after reading them i asked my mom how about the scandi pron?.......

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:08 AM (Ho2rs)

18 I'm reading "Absolute Power" by David Baldacci.

Posted by: Athena at April 15, 2012 08:08 AM (YRLgh)

I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities.

Seemed to drag on endlessly when I had to read it in school, but I'm enjoying it a bit more now.

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 08:09 AM (XdlcF)

20 Thanks for the Kaku tip...I'm a big Kaku fan (not a corprophagic).

Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at April 15, 2012 08:10 AM (730bb)

21 Since the topic is books ... Book 11 of the 12 book scifi epic I've been writing for the last decade has been online for a few weeks now... http://worlds-apart.net/

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at April 15, 2012 08:10 AM (azHfB)

22 Ok, still on the post-apocalyptic kick. I am a little braver posting but usually don't jump into te big issues yet. You do get some nasty trolls on occasion. I quit posting on political blogs for quite a while after getting kicked off some board a few years ago when I went into crazed loon mode arguing with a cretinous chomskeyite. As I noted last week, thanks to the recommendations here I read the Wool Ominibus (very good). I also read "The Road" (Cormac McCarthy) - excellent, very haunting and highly recommended . I'm reading "One Second After" right now - formulaic , but fun (and Newt did the intro). Also read another EMP tome "77 Days in September", which wasn't bad. I think the thing that royally pissed me off about "On the Beach", which I finished a couple of weeks ago, was the stiff upper lip, wait to die attitude of the characters. Old Nevil must have had an axe to grind or something (and the science was questionable).

Posted by: Ex-Terrified Lurker, Still Cautious at April 15, 2012 08:10 AM (iKZTY)

23 i'm reading the hunger games.....i saw the movie first....everyone else has breezed through the series....i'm only half way through the first book.....after a week ....it's good but .....not can't put it down good.....

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:11 AM (Ho2rs)

24 gregory i have a nook damn it!!!!!

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:12 AM (Ho2rs)

25 The feeling I get about Hunger Games is the target audience is teenaged girls. Is that true?

Posted by: Vic at April 15, 2012 08:13 AM (YdQQY)

"Persian Fire" by Tom Holland tells about Persia, the frist world's empire from its beginnings, its invasion of Greece, the battle of Thermopeyae and Persia's ultimate defeat by the Greeks at Marathon and the sea battle of Salamis. Reads like a novel and well worth your time.

Posted by: Libra at April 15, 2012 08:13 AM (kd8U8)

I guess Ace launched the war on womyn back in 2006...

Lesbian pron is incompatible with chess? What about when the black queen and the white queen are interlocked in a sensuous battle?

Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at April 15, 2012 08:13 AM (730bb)

Wow. I've been a daily reader of this blog since May, 2004.

If you look over there =>, it was the first post linked under "Greatest Hit Jobs" that made me think I needed to keep an eye on this guy.

Cuz he was funny, I mean.

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 08:14 AM (XdlcF)

29 Lesbian pron is incompatible with chess? What about when the black queen and the white queen are interlocked in a sensuous battle?

Obviously the black queen is betraying her race!

Posted by: Louis Farrakhan at April 15, 2012 08:15 AM (MQd6r)

30 Vic, yes, teenaged girls. I think people tend to forget that.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at April 15, 2012 08:16 AM (SsG4J)

>>We have become so highbrow

I figured the chess thread was full of morons who thought it was a chest thread.

>> I am a little braver posting but usually don't jump into te big issues yet.

We're really nice, I swear. Unless you have pointy elbows, then there will be some unpleasantness.

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 08:17 AM (XdlcF)

32 Agreed re: Sanderson. Have read first book of new series and he creates a very unique world (which is something I have a *thing* for)

Posted by: Polliwog, Teahada hobbit at April 15, 2012 08:17 AM (X8/ER)

33 The feeling I get about Hunger Games is the target audience is teenaged girls. Is that true?

Well, teen-agers, perhaps, ages 12-18, which (not coincidentally) is the age range where in the book you'd have to be placed in the Hunger Games lottery.

It's not a "chick" book where the protagonist gets all dewy-eyed & weepy over some unobtainable guy.

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 15, 2012 08:17 AM (avUWP)

34 I wasnt part of this blog in 2006... geesh, thats hilarious.

Posted by: Jumbo Jogging Shrimp at April 15, 2012 08:18 AM (DGIjM)

For what it is worth, I am reading Lord Kinross' "The Ottoman Centuries" now. It is quite an undertaking but it is interesting now to read about a 'superpower's' long descent into oblivion. Further, the Islamic patronage of the arts and science and engineering of the time contrasts sharply with their insular ways today. In short lots of parallels for today, but it is an imposing volume that will keep you busy for a long time.

Posted by: Warren Buffet at April 15, 2012 08:20 AM (l3vZN)

36 I just finished reading THe Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein. There was a lot of talk, but some action too... I thought it was pretty entertaining. The narrator had a pretty odd way of speaking but you don't really notice it after a while.

Posted by: Crazy Bald Guy at April 15, 2012 08:20 AM (2WvmU)

37 19 mama i love re reading the classics....just re read les miserables.....funny reasoning behind it....daughter is in ap soph english.....i kept asking for the summer reading list .....kept being told there wasn't one and since she is a super responsible kid i never bothered to check ....THE DAY BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED...A SUNDAY....AT 3PM...her friend texts her a message....are you ready for the test tomorrow...my daughter thinks it's some sick joke...friend says....no joke ...summer reading was les mis.....test tomorrow....sends her the link to the study guide.....we run out get the book....i download it on my phone....study guide thank God had page numbers to the questions.....we drank coffee and i helped her cram......she passed but man that was exhausting!!! after helping her i realized how good that book actually was so i read it at human pace and enjoyed it......highly recommend it....now i'll have to download tale of two cities....i loved that one in high school....

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:20 AM (Ho2rs)

>>The feeling I get about Hunger Games is the target audience is teenaged girls.

I don't know. The main character is a girl, but she ain't girly. She hunts, takes care of her family and fights when necessary.

I've seen two boys I know, 9 and 11 years old, carrying the book around to soccer practice and other places because they couldn't put it down.

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 08:20 AM (XdlcF)

39 Castigo Cay by Matt Bracken. All his books are available at Amazon.

Posted by: Spock grocks Glocks, but looooves biscuits and gravy at April 15, 2012 08:21 AM (S7ZyK)

40 vic....my 13 yr old girl is devouring it....so yes....i think it's aimed at her....

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:22 AM (Ho2rs)

41 15 I pre-ordered JK Rowlings book for adults. Coming out in September.

And no, when I say "book for adults" I don't mean anything like the "link for adults" that Ace posted.

-------

You won't really know until you read the book, will you?

Posted by: Anachronda at April 15, 2012 08:22 AM (g1Lui)

42 my 17yr old son loved the movie....but then katniss is gorgeous and knows how to hunt......

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:23 AM (Ho2rs)

43 Andrew Jackson by H. W. Brands. I didn't know much more about Jackson than he's the Old White Dude on the $20, but after reading a brief mention of Jackson in The Creature From Jekyll Island (which I highly recommend), I decided to find a true biography.

Posted by: Azlibertarian at April 15, 2012 08:24 AM (YMn/S)

44 Not book related but I have been on a couple of advance trips with Secret Service and when I heard the story I was not surprised. A trip like that is usually a rolling frat party. I mean bathtubs full of ice and beer party, and sampling whatever the local specialty is. I can't say that I ever saw prostitution the trips I was on were not in places full of hot women and legal prostitution. I am not in any way excusing the behavior, just saying that's been the culture in SS for a long time. And for the people who are like this is a national securi threat - thing was when the principal was on his way, it was all business. Those guys take security seriously.

Posted by: Blaster at April 15, 2012 08:24 AM (Fw2Gg)

45 Tom Rob Smith's Secret Speech. Not too bad. I bought myself a Nook since holding books hurts my hands due to a recent stroke. Glad I did. With all the stuff it does it helps me get through 12 hours of dialysis a week. As I'm now retired I have a lot of time to read.

Posted by: bigred at April 15, 2012 08:25 AM (mIcI8)

46 LOL, how funny. Does that explain the "Web Divas" link?

Posted by: indigo child at April 15, 2012 08:25 AM (xXhWA)

47 the Gospels today - it's Serbian Orthodox (& Greek, Russian, Romanian, etc.) Easter. Hristos Voskrese! Vaistinu Voskrese! Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! BBQ lamb later.....mmmmm

Posted by: the Butcher at April 15, 2012 08:26 AM (YPtzF)

48 Oh, two 11 year old boys. They are into Hunger Games.

Posted by: Blaster at April 15, 2012 08:27 AM (Fw2Gg)

>>summer reading was les mis

Okay, now I've got the music on! I'll think about reading the actual book...

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 08:27 AM (XdlcF)

50 It's not a "chick" book where the protagonist gets all dewy-eyed weepy over some unobtainable guy.

No, it's not that, but there is somewhat of a love triangle throughout the series (not as much in the first book, but develops more in other two). They throw in two guys who both like the heroine (probably something the publisher suggested to make it appeal more to the twilight crowd). The heroine is basically just trying to survive, and doesn't want a relationship with either guy, because she doesn't want to have children in the world she was born into.

Posted by: not the mama at April 15, 2012 08:30 AM (96Kco)

51 Read Les Miserables back during OCS and OBC. Took me almost a full year to finish the book, but it was good.

Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 08:30 AM (MQd6r)

52 Read "Treasure Island" this week. Hadn't before and really enjoyed it. The old-fashioned pirate/nautical dialogue was pretty creative.

Posted by: slatz at April 15, 2012 08:31 AM (T9FFR)

53 Your clue to it being geared towards teenaged girls is the same as it was for Twilight....the boys like her, but are not insisting on consummating the relationship.

The story itself is good enough for any age or gender. I'm shocked by people who worry about their 13 year olds reading this.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at April 15, 2012 08:31 AM (SsG4J)

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 12:20 PM (Ho2rs)

I have a major problem with summer reading lists. thank god I didn't have them in school. I liked to read but wanted to read the books I wanted when i was on my time.

Posted by: buzzion at April 15, 2012 08:31 AM (GULKT)

55
at 100 comments this turns into a Book/Weather/NASCAR/Food/Movies thread

Posted by: soothie at April 15, 2012 08:32 AM (rSBCZ)

56 Posted by: Blaster at April 15, 2012 12:24 PM (Fw2Gg)

There is very much a work hard / play hard attitude among guys like that. You see it in the military as well. When you're working, you're working. When you're away from home and you get down time, you cut loose.

Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 08:32 AM (MQd6r)

57 "Foucault's Pendulum" by the Disturbed Italian author Humberto Eco. He wrote "The Name of the Rose"

uber-paranoid mega-conspiracy with a Euro flair. Prolix but interesting

( a re-read; this book needs to be read several times...)

Posted by: SantaRosaStan at April 15, 2012 08:34 AM (Dll6b)

58 buzz same....i didn't have them in high school...that would have ruined summer for me........reading what someone told me to read......

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 08:35 AM (Ho2rs)

59 I'd like to make a belated shout out to the new members of the White Devil's; The Hispanics.

Hola Amigos/Amigas.

The free ride is over, you're now officially a part of the White, Christian, Patriarchy. No more downtrodden, poor and discriminatory labels for you.

You've finally made it baby. You're an oppressor of the people now.

Hope you enjoy your new status, here's a wanted poster by the enforcement arm of the DNC to make you feel at home.

Join us as we tell the DNC and any and all leftists:

Besame mi culo, pendejos!

Posted by: If It's Mitt, Obama's a Hit at April 15, 2012 08:35 AM (CP+yl)

60 Just downloaded "An Infamous Army" by Georgette Heyer, a historical fiction set during Waterloo. Very good read. It has been years since I read this particular book, but Heyer has always been a superior wordsmith.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 15, 2012 08:36 AM (9+7eo)

61 "But there's just something about Scandi books or movies that just doesn't set right with me, and I've never been able to understand what it is, exactly. " I had a good friend who was a huge fan of Ingmar Bergman films. Yeah, they're called films as opposed to movies. Why, because they are a huge snorefest, which makes them "art".

Posted by: nerdygirl at April 15, 2012 08:36 AM (J0l/o)

62
The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Honderich
It's hard to stop reading this. It continuously links to associated topics.

Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, Hall

Hyperspace, Kaku
a fun physics read

The Society of Mind, Minsky

The Masks of God, Vol. 1-4
amazing work

Effective Phrases for Performance Appraisals, Neal
ultimate manager cheat sheet - or when you are just too tired to think

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Edwards
incredibly hard read if you are more left brain oriented

The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
fabulous book, really

Godel, Escher, Bach, Hofstadter
one of the best books written

The Life of the Cosmos, Smolin
another facet of thought

The large volumes of Janson's History of Art books are jewels

Anything by Hemingway

Son of Hamas, Yousef - I can't stress what an eye opener this was.

The Tao of Pooh, my favorite all time

Dr. Seuss

Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet, ... wealth of information about the world.

oldies but goodies

Posted by: Oldies but goodies at April 15, 2012 08:37 AM (HOOye)

63 Umberto Eco is an interesting author. I've read "The Name of the Rose", "Baudolino" and "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana". The last one was bizarre, but the other two were good reads.

Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 08:37 AM (MQd6r)

64 When you're working, you're working. When you're away from home and you get down time, you cut loose.

Posted by: Alex at April 15, 2012 12:32 PM (MQd6r)

In Vietnam, back in the Day, there was ( unlike Iraq and Af-stan ) beaucoup alcohol and hookers. Asian women, diligently professional, small but durable.

Forty years ago............................................( sigh )

Posted by: SantaRosaStan at April 15, 2012 08:38 AM (Dll6b)

oh, yeah. Must have for the Kindle

'Stuff Jefferson Said : Vol. i-xiii '

Posted by: garrett at April 15, 2012 08:40 AM (fSusx)

66 59 "Foucault's Pendulum" by the Disturbed Italian author Humberto Eco. He wrote "The Name of the Rose"
--------

I have this on my "have read" bookshelf, as well.

The most depressing book I ever read, gathering dust as well, The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiquro.

Don't read it. It haunts you.

Posted by: Oldies but goodies at April 15, 2012 08:40 AM (HOOye)

67 "Foucault's Pendulum" makes fun of the whole Euro-pop culture thing about the Rosicrucians and the "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" thing

Christ didn't die on the cross, produced a son with Mary Magdaliene, etc

Posted by: SantaRosaStan at April 15, 2012 08:41 AM (Dll6b)

68 I downloaded the Hunger Games series free from my library to my ipod. I painted a bathroom, caulked, grouted, cleaned etc. for each book in the series. Other than putting poor poor painters out of work, it made me feel less guilty to indulge in pop-lit because I was doing something productive and it was free. Now, I'm listening to How Green Was My Valley and some silly Scotish Laid Romance while at the gym. I need to find something really good for the restaining of my deck.

Posted by: dagny at April 15, 2012 08:41 AM (CMM9V)

'Chances are Your Sister's Full of Shit'

'How to Kill a Rat with an Oboe'

Posted by: George Carlin at April 15, 2012 08:42 AM (fSusx)

70 I finished Howard Schultz's Onward, about the last few years at Starbucks. I wanted to read something business-y as I'm an engineer and tend to get overly interested by the problems I solve at work rather than getting a product out the door. I wanted to like it more, but it seemed like a diary infused with upper-management EVERYONE MUST BE PASSIONATE philosophy. My dad's a veep at a hospital network so I get that from him already. Followed that up with Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series. I'm halfway through the second book and can't put it down. It centers on the life and times of Owen Z. Pitt, new recruit at a supernatural extermination company that lives off secret government bounties TR established to keep the monster population down. I really like this one, and a fourth book is due in the fall.

Posted by: deathbyscience at April 15, 2012 08:42 AM (a65UX)

71 Scandi. Bleh. Excuse my french, but those fuqing Girl with the Dragon Tatoo books actually irritated me to the point of anger.

Posted by: dagny at April 15, 2012 08:44 AM (CMM9V)

72 Blackhawks baby!

Posted by: DeepBeam at April 15, 2012 08:44 AM (19uT8)

73 I seen the reference to "links to busty lesbian pron" before, but never knew what it was about.

Also: about a month ago--right about the peak of the Carbonite mess--I had a HD crash.
Short version: FOAD and DIAF, Carbonite.
Everything about trying to restore made childbirth sound like fun. Every fucking thing about it was a mess. Had to download my 55Gb's of files from their site and manually rebuild my directory via their fucking stupid "can only download 1000files/100MB" limit. I never would have gotten my files back at the rate their "complete restore" was going.
Again: FOAD and DIAF, Carbonite.

Posted by: jimmuy at April 15, 2012 08:46 AM (kSaUf)

74 I am dipping my toes into the digital reader pool starting tomorrow. Kindle Fire should arrive then and I hope that I have not made a mistake in getting that unit instead of spending more and getting the DX or whatever. Anyhow, I am going to read a new book about energy politics, etc. titled "Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us", as a first test of the unit. I, being irresolute because of an uncertainty that I have concerning one-size fits all solutions to problems (with the exception of my belief in the use of atomic weapons in almost all offshore circumstances), hope to find the soothing balm of a "use everything that works" approach within the bits that I will download. Yes, I am now securely tied to the whipping post ....

Posted by: And Irresolute at April 15, 2012 08:46 AM (RC3M9)

Blackhawks baby!

Shaw didn't deserve the gate. If Smith had played the backhand, they would never have made contact.

We just have to win out at home, now.

Posted by: garrett at April 15, 2012 08:46 AM (fSusx)

76 Took the college tour thing on Friday. Apparently the theme is "everyone is soooo Passionate." Am I too cynical? or did people not use to advertize how fucking "passionate" they were? Did they call it something else, like, oh, "interested"? I have such a low tolerance for silly over exuberance.

Posted by: dagny at April 15, 2012 08:47 AM (CMM9V)

77
I'm in the thread that OM linked from 2006.

Are you?

Posted by: soothie at April 15, 2012 08:47 AM (rSBCZ)

78 Finally getting round to reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I love it so far - just the sort of meta-literary stuff that I like (there are definite riffs off Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius which if you havenÂ´t read you are in a State of Sin, and if it's Templars/Grail stuff that floats your boat then this book just serves to show what a pathetic, brain-dead hack Dan Brown is). Also on the go at the moment is Elmore Leonard's Raylan, which is fun. I can't get Justified here (I think it's coming on FX, but not for a bit) but if the book is anything to go by it will be fun.

Posted by: David Gillies at April 15, 2012 08:48 AM (NNg7I)

79 I started reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship" during the week preceding Easter and I'm still at it. Pastor Bonhoeffer recognized that the National Socialist Party of the 30's and 40's was an attempt to turn man into a slave of the State, a state not constrained by the morals of the Judeo-Christian ethic, a state that would destroy men and destroy Western Civilization if not stopped, and thus he joined in the resistance movement that ultimately led to his martyrdom in a Nazi concentration camp. The way that Pastor Bonhoeffer lays out the Christian's duty to oppose totalitarianism and tyranny gives me courage and at the same time humbles me beyond measure.

The book I just finished, on a much lighter note, was John Sandford's Shock Wave, his latest Virgil Flowers mystery. I love that f'n Flowers. ( Those of you who have read the series know that is the way this moron-in-a-good-way detective is known to his friends.) I especially love the descriptive narrative background Sandford includes in his books regarding muskie and pike fishing in NW Wisconsin/SE Minnesota. Spoiler alert: In this latest mystery, a bomber blows up Virgil's fishing boat. I shed a small and sympathetic tear.

Posted by: mama winger at April 15, 2012 08:49 AM (P6QsQ)

80 those fuqing Girl with the Dragon Tatoo books actually irritated me to the point of anger.
Posted by: dagny at April 15, 2012 12:44 PM

Both my kids liked those books but told me not to read them.

Posted by: mama winger at April 15, 2012 08:50 AM (P6QsQ)

81 Again: FOAD and DIAF, Carbonite

Never trust a consumer-level online backup product. You're better off backing up to an external USB drive and if necessary taking it off-site for safety.

Of course, you know that now...

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 15, 2012 08:52 AM (avUWP)

82 Didn't read the Dragon Tattoo books, but my husband and I watched the Swedish movies on netflix streaming. I was a bit shocked because my mother-in-law loved the books and I never would have thought she could enjoy a book or movie with that much graphic sexual violence, but maybe it's less shocking when you read it than when you see it on the screen.

Posted by: not the mama at April 15, 2012 08:53 AM (96Kco)

83 I'm in the thread that OM linked from 2006

What name were you using back then?

Posted by: OregonMuse at April 15, 2012 08:55 AM (avUWP)

84
I prefer to keep my old name off the internet, that's why I changed it.

Posted by: soothie at April 15, 2012 08:57 AM (rSBCZ)

85
But I'm sure some jerkoff will come along and type it.

Posted by: soothie at April 15, 2012 08:58 AM (rSBCZ)

86 Just finished "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville. Very confusing.

Posted by: navy2af at April 15, 2012 08:59 AM (uqE8z)

87 I read Eco's The Prague Cemetery a few months back. That was pretty good, somewhat along the lines of Foucault's Pendulum, except about anti-Semitism and the fabrication of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the 19th century. Apparently every character and event in the story, aside from the main character, is/was real. Enjoyed it more than Baudolino, anyway, which I guess I just didn't "get".

Posted by: Waterhouse at April 15, 2012 09:01 AM (gk+++)

88 mama winger and dagny i was pretty horrified that my mom recommended them to me....can't believe she read them and liked them!!!!

Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 09:01 AM (Ho2rs)

89 89 I prefer not to... I LOVE that story.

Posted by: goddessoftheclassroom at April 15, 2012 09:02 AM (NPn7G)

90 Just finished "Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II" by Barrett Tillman... great insight on those men that manned CV-6 during her lifetime.

Posted by: Satan's Barbed WeeWee at April 15, 2012 09:03 AM (Jls4P)

91 Did they call it something else, like, oh, "interested"? I have such a low tolerance for silly over exuberance.

It's how to prove You Care! these days. And the more You Care! the better person you are, apparently.

Or maybe I just put too much cynicism in my coffee this morning.

Posted by: Retread at April 15, 2012 09:04 AM (joSBv)

92 Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at April 15, 2012 12:31 PM (SsG4J)

One of my friends has an 11-year-old daughter who was a very reluctant reader (always had a hard time getting through assigned reading, never read for fun, etc.) but simply devoured the first Hunger Games book. My friend ended up taking her to see the movie, even though she was a little young for the target age, because she wants to encourage her to keep reading. She's now reading the next two books.

I remember when I was her age I was really into Stephen King books. Those books not only were violent, but also had some sexual content. There were a few nights I had a hard time getting out of bed to turn off the light at night (mostly while I was reading "It"), but I turned out OK.

Posted by: not the mama at April 15, 2012 09:04 AM (96Kco)

93 goddess, lots of people love it but I don't get it. Bartleby was a no-load squatter and the lawyer was a textbook Beta male with serious confrontation issues. Actually, that sounds like a good sitcom pitch!

Posted by: navy2af at April 15, 2012 09:07 AM (uqE8z)

94 i was pretty horrified that my mom recommended them to me....can't believe she read them and liked them!!!! Posted by: phoenixgirl at April 15, 2012 01:01 PM

My kids pretty much pre-screen most of the popular fiction I read, and always, always pre-screen any movies I see. They know me inside out, backwards and forwards, and they know what upsets me or messes with my head. They are the most lovely guardians of my well-being.

Posted by: mama winger at April 15, 2012 09:09 AM (P6QsQ)

95 Your secret is safe with me, soothie.

Posted by: Mama AJ at April 15, 2012 09:11 AM (XdlcF)

96 Cliff Graham: Benaiah and Day of War
Very enjoyable books about Jewish warriors at time of David.

Posted by: nfield4 at April 15, 2012 09:20 AM (bAFEG)

97 #45 Azlibertarian, the best biography of Andrew Jackson is by Robert Remini. But whatever you do don't waste your nickel on the alleged bio "American Lion" by Jon Meacham who is the editor of Newsweek (which should tell you something.) This waste of a good tree also won the Pulitizer (which should tell you something else.)

Posted by: Libra at April 15, 2012 09:23 AM (kd8U8)

98 I'm with you, dagny. Whilst reading the first Dragon Tattoo (and that was the last one I read) hubby kept asking me what I was so upset about. It drove me nuts the way the author kept referring to characters by their last names only -- when five or six of them had the same damned last name! -- and the rape scenes were nauseating. The worst of it was, this was supposed to be a mystery thriller and by the end of the book I found I didn't give a rat's patootie about who done it. I would recommend just about anything by Tim Powers - he makes your brain hurt in a good way.

Posted by: natasha at April 15, 2012 09:30 AM (pyYXJ)

99 Very good read. It has been years since I read this particular book, but Heyer has always been a superior wordsmith.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at April 15, 2012 12:36 PM (9+7eo)

Her description of the battle was so good it was allegedly used in a course at Sandhurst.

not the mama, I also read hair raising books at a young age. Also plenty with very randy passages....didn't seem to hurt me any! (Oh, the King books scared me no end, but I loved 'em. I think I just skimmed over the sexually graphic parts of books; wasn't interested in it )

I need some good old fashioned manly man ass kicking books to cleanse my palate after the Jeffrey Deaver book I just read. The heroine's enlightened husband opts to lock a gun up in the closet instead of bringing it with him when he goes off to find his missing cop wife, for fear of elevating any situation he may find himself in.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at April 15, 2012 09:39 AM (SsG4J)

100 "Cooking"
"Cooking with Heat"
"How to Fillet a Panda"
"I Suck, You Suck" (possibly a book about our POTUS candidates?)

Posted by: More George Carlin at April 15, 2012 09:57 AM (sJKFk)

101

Posted by: More George Carlin at April 15, 2012 01:57 PM (sJKFk)

finally

Posted by: garrett at April 15, 2012 10:03 AM (fSusx)

102 I've discovered the Jonathon Kellerman mystery novels and enjoy reading them a lot. His characters are interesting and sometimes hilarious. He wrote so many novels that usually there are several available to download immediately from my public library into my Nook. Reading "Deception" now.

Posted by: texexec at April 15, 2012 10:05 AM (30pUR)

103 Lesbian pron is incompatible with chess? What about when the black queen
and the white queen are interlocked in a sensuous battle?

LOL, I was at a bachelor party many years ago, where some of the guys were playing chess while a video called "Sistahs" was playing on the TV.

Posted by: Where're my ping pong balls at April 15, 2012 10:10 AM (YxaXw)

104 texexec at April 15, 2012 02:05 PM

I like his wife's books too, maybe even more. Faye Kellerman.

Posted by: mama winger at April 15, 2012 10:31 AM (P6QsQ)

105
This week's books:

"Ghost Story", the latest book in the Dresden Files series. It, and its predecessor "Changes", are distinct let-downs from "Turn Coat". Still, if you're into Harry Dresden, it's worth reading.

"Ben Jonson: A Life", by Ian Donaldson. Jonson is the greatest Elizabethan dramatist whose work you've never seen. He was a superb poet, helped sponsor the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio, fought bravely in the Netherlands, was tried for murder, was imprisoned when a play of his dared to make of James I's wife (be glad the JEF doesn't have that sort of power - yet), and his circle of drinking buddies included Shakespeare and Donne. Donaldson's book is, at times, a little dry and obsessed with scholarly minutiae; but it's an amazing life, and a fine book, well worth reading.

Posted by: Brown Line at April 15, 2012 10:46 AM (Lb3Hm)

106 "...ace's unique brand of conservative rowdiness..." There is nothing, repeat nothing, as safe, tame, or conventional as being a Romney supporter.

Posted by: Mike James at April 15, 2012 11:36 AM (spLGA)

107 Brown Line @109, I'd agree Changes was a letdown, thought it wasn't as well written as the previous entries in the Dresden series. But I did really enjoy Ghost Story, thought it was different enough from the other Dresden books that it didn't feel like a retread, it wrapped up all the loose ends and setup the next book very well. Looking forward to the next Dresden book, thought we'd have it by now.

Posted by: waelse1 at April 15, 2012 11:46 AM (DwOGr)

108 Bringing up the rear, but mega thanks to the 'ette who recommended The Gargoyle. It was epic. No movie could ever do it justice. Just to tease the horde, Gargoyle begins with our protagonist, a drunk, drugged porn star, driving home late one Good Friday when he sees what appears to be a flaming arrow coming at his car from the adjacent woods. He then flips over the bank and is nearly burnt to death. It goes on from there.

Posted by: RushBabe, Praying for Divine Intervention at April 15, 2012 12:53 PM (tQHzJ)

109 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at April 15, 2012 01:33 PM (7W3wI)

110 If anyone here is open to it, I've been reading mangas as of late (Japanese graphic novels) -- it's the only thing that I've had time to read because I'm so busy. The one I'm re-reading right now is "Chobits," about a future world where all computers are human shaped (mostly pretty women). Future college student finds his in the trash, and starts to believe he has a special model from the possible "Chobits" line. Explores a lot of themes along the lines of virginity, the meaning of love, and being human.

Posted by: Scoop11 at April 15, 2012 01:43 PM (jjWPM)

111 Whoever posted the Iron Druid series. Thank you. I'm really enjoying it. First 3 books cost me $19.99 Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book One by Kevin Hearne

Posted by: joe dagostino at April 15, 2012 01:48 PM (hlZx/)

112 Reading Mackay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" which details some seriously ridiculous happenings in history, as well as Michael Savage's "Trickle Down Tyranny". I find both to be exceptional in their writing and the content which is covered. Chapter nine of Savage's book, The Tyranny of Green Energy, is brilliant, and the whole book is meticulously referenced. Enjoy!

Posted by: BlackhawkShark at April 15, 2012 02:41 PM (3LB6D)

113 When Mackay's book is upgraded it will contain a chapter on global warming.

Posted by: Libra at April 15, 2012 04:01 PM (kd8U8)

114 I saw the Dragon Tattoo movie last week and I think that it would be pretty much incomprehensible to anyone who had not read the book first. Just finished The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly, his latest in the Lincoln Lawyer series.

Posted by: javapoppa at April 15, 2012 06:24 PM (mMX8j)

115 "The Complete Yes, Minister" by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. It is hilarious! Everything it says about the duplicity and doublespeak of politicians is just as true today.

Posted by: microcosme at April 15, 2012 07:22 PM (zcC+d)

116 Dragon Tatoo book sucked. Mediocre at best, and Nazi rich people as the bad guy...ho hum.

Posted by: sexypig at April 16, 2012 12:24 AM (wgp2i)

117 Tim Powers...oh, man he rocks. Some of his books take some time to get into though...I never finished The Stress of Her Regard...but I enjoyed what I read so that doesn't count as a failure of the book.

Posted by: sexypig at April 16, 2012 12:27 AM (wgp2i)

118 Reality Dysfunction is great and most books by the Author who I forget.

Posted by: sexypig at April 16, 2012 12:27 AM (wgp2i)

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