Some great new Lord of the Rings pictures if you’re interested… (I can already tell I’m going to have a major Viggo Mortensen fixation in about six months.)
Pisces buddies!!
Some great new Lord of the Rings pictures if you’re interested… (I can already tell I’m going to have a major Viggo Mortensen fixation in about six months.)
Hooray! Martina Hingis has suffered a stunning first round defeat at Wimbledon. I really dislike her.
Oh jeez. It’s going to be hell on the Tube tonight. Not only is every train packed full because of various strikes and breakdowns, but our sunny weather is going to raise the temperature down there to over 90. People are going to be dropping like flies. (Thank God I live within walking distance of work.)
Ugh. I finally managed to finish that horrid The Wind Done Gone piece of crap. Since I know at least one person who takes an interest, here’s what I got from the last half:
Seriously, here’s the whole book distilled into one paragraph: “My mother always preferred my half-sister to me, and I spent my whole life having huge issues because of it. To make up for it, I stole her husband and her house and her clothes. But wait, I guess I really did love my half-sister and my mom. I’m going to leave her husband and go bear a child for a black Congressman and then die of lupus.”
It adds nothing to the idea of the Old South that the original book perpetuates. I wanted to hear the voices of the people that made Scarlett’s extravagant childhood possible. Instead of telling the real story of slavery, though, this mean-spirited author merely re-wrote the story to make herself win. She ends up with fine clothes, living in a fine house, and sleeping with Rhett Butler. She becomes Scarlett. Big friggin’ deal. If she needed to write that to be able to sleep at night, good for her. It’s like, hate Scarlett if you must, but don’t hate her simply because you envy her. It makes for a very boring book.
Wimbledon has started. Venus Williams has been on the front of every sports page in London for the past week. Quite mannish, that one.
Reason 6,000,004 Why Microsoft Sucks: They’re shutting down ListBot. It was a free service that you could use to manage large e-mail lists and send out newsletters. Now I’ve got to go download the 200+ addresses I’ve collected on my Dahl site and figure out a new solution. Poodoo.
If you haven’t seen the Powers of Ten site yet, take a look. It starts in the Milky Way and then closes in on the Earth by powers of 10, ’til you end up looking at a proton from a leaf on a tree. Very cool.
I’ve wanted to buy a new mobile phone for a while now, but I haven’t been able to justify the expense to myself. My old one works fine; I just want a cooler looking one with ring tones and games. But if I can get one with Atari games on it… Clear a path to Carphone Warehouse, baby.
Reuters asks, “Is Michael Jackson Still Marketable?” As a big former Michael Jackson fan (with the souvenir glove to prove it), even I have to answer with a resounding: No! Even if his new album is the greatest piece of pop ever, the man still looks and acts like a freak show. And not in a good way. Not in a marketable-to-teens way.
On my way out, I stopped at reception to pick up a package that had arrived for me. It turned out to be three! One was a CD from a musician friend, one was a Roald Dahl video, and one was my long-awaited copy of The Wind Done Gone. So I came home, put in a load of laundry, and cracked the book. It’s pretty short and I’m a fast reader, so I’m already about halfway through it. Max, you have no need to worry about this book tarnishing the glorious South. I have no problems admitting that it sucks. Big time. I was honestly interested in reading an alternate version of Gone With the Wind, but this version is seriously on crack. If you’re planning on reading this book (and I wouldn’t advise it), skip the rest of this post. If you’re curious, here’s what I’ve learned so far:
Seriously, was the world crying out to have this stuff told? No. This is not a thoughtful re-write of literary history from a politically correct point of view. This is Gone With the Wind on acid. The “parody” label is fully deserved. This isn’t a novel; it’s the kind of thing you imagine as a dirty joke. It isn’t thought-provoking, it isn’t well-written, and it isn’t a fun read.
Of course I’m still going to finish it. I paid $30 for the damn thing. *sigh*
My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.
No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.
Pisces buddies!!
TIL we share the birthday month/week. Happy Birthday!
Thank you!!
Special thanks to Matt Hinrichs for the site logo!
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