Eess? Ice? I give up....

Last week Thursday I began reading The King of Ys series by Poul and Karen Anderson. I've read some of Poul Anderson's other work, including his Fantasy anthology, Orion Shall Rise, and the Hoka stories he wrote with Gordon R. Dickson. I'm familiar with his writing style, which I've found appealing, and dispite some disappointment with the aforementioned Orion Shall Rise, I've found his work very entertaining. I'm hoping this series will be the same.

Anderson is one of those versatile writers who can handle both science fiction and fantasy, and in the Ys series, he tackles not just any fantasy, but historical fantasy. So far it appears to be well-researched and the historical aspects seem to be accurate.

My only remaining question is, "How do you pronounce 'Ys'?"

Utilizing the 1st Amendment....

Film makers of a more conservative opinion organize their own film festival in response to the ignorant propaganda Michael Moore tries to pass off as documentaries.

Tell it like it is...

Michael Moore: propaganda trafficker.

More Lott, Less Moore....

Mike Adams comments on how even academia is becoming tainted by political opinions, but it is always one-sided.

It looks good on paper....

This morning I was finally able to finish Doctor Zhivago. It took about two weeks for me to finish it. I have some mixed feelings about it. The book is highly recommended, with Englands' The Guardian touting it as one of the top 100 novels of all time. Yet as I read it, it really seemed to be one of those "slice of life" stories. One of my college English professors, for a creative writing class, insisted that "slice of life" rarely works. And in a way, Doctor Zhivago doesn't work. It chronicles the life of Yuri Zhivago, first set against World War I, then the Russian Revolution, then World War II. Zhivago's life touches many other lives, especially amidst the continual chaos from World War I all the way through World War II.

It's been said that communism looks good on paper, but doesn't work in practice. That's about the most I got out of this book. Don't get me wrong me wrong: the book was good, and after the initial onslaught of characters, the central characters were better developed. But in the end it almost seemed that Boris Pasternak was saying, "Communism might be a good idea, but it doesn't actually work. Look what it did to this guy."

Lies and videotape...

Christopher Hitchens, columnist for Vanity Fair, presents a scathing, no-holds-barred review of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. "Review" is probably a poor description of the piece.

The cutting room floor...

"It's representative of the fact that Michael Moore doesn't always give the whole story, and he's a master of the misleading."

And Michael Moore claims he's in touch with the people of the Midwest.

He's certainly not in touch with me, and I'd prefer to keep it that way.

I have a dream...

I had a strange dream early this morning. I dreamt that, for some reason, Mom wanted to plow up part of the old garden out by her house. I was actually able to fire up Grandpa's old tractor, and I actually knew how to operate it. I hooked up the little disc harrow and started working the soil. I was all very bizarre.

Comments, revisited....

I told Maryanne about my dilemma regarding commenting on the website. I told it would be nice to have everything in one place with Blogger, but that would mean loosing comments from HaloScan.

"No one leaves comments anyway," she said.

Gee, thanks.

So after some playing around, it turns out I'm not overly crazy about Blogger's commenting engine anway.

The (not so) great white north....

John Lott again chimes in on the gun controll issue, this time addressing Canada's failed past attempts, and what our neighbors to the north intend to do about it.

Decisions, decisions....

It would appear Blogger may have its own commenting engine now. The question remains, how easy is it to implement? It might be nice to have all my blogging needs in one place, but HaloScan does provide the track back feature. I'll have to check in to Blogger's commenting some more.

From Russia, with too many names to keep straight....

Last Thursday, which would have been June 10, I started reading Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Almost a week later, and I'm just barely a hundred pages into it. It's been a slow start, obviously. Part of the reason for that is an onslaught of characters, and trying to keep them all straight has been a bit taxing so far. I imagine it's going to take me a while to work through it, as it's well over four hundred pages in length.

You'll notice that I've more or less titled this blog entry. Hopefully that will be a trend of sorts, as Blogger has added some features that don't work so well if you don't title your entries. Once I get more than ten titled entries, I may try that feature. In fact, I'm contemplating a whole website redesign in general, but not sure I'm going to have the time for it. Since Maryanne and I bought a house, we've got a lot of things we want to do with it, and since the summer weather is good for a lot of outdoor work, a lot of other things will be put on hold.

The Gipper on guns....

This article was written by Ronald Reagan for the September, 1975 issue of Guns & Ammo. It contains truths that are just as valid today as they were in 1975.

Made in Japan....

It took me a mere two days to get through Dave Barry Does Japan. Like much of Dave Barry's work, it was humorous, though this featured a more serious, thought-provoking chapter. It was a quick read. Unfortunately, I didn't bring anything else with me today.

Men in tights....

Today I was able to finish The Adventures of Robin Hood by Paul Creswick. I enjoyed reading it. While being very heavy on dialog, it was very character driven, and presented a plethora of characters, some with familiar names, others with unfamiliar. My only disappointment was that much like Roger Lancelyn Green's work on Robin Hood, this book, too, was ultimately a tragedy.

The illustrations, of course, were marvelous, being the work of N.C. Wyeth. The book also featured some ornamentation by Howard Pyle, making the whole edition a very beautiful work.

I don't know what I'll start on next.

Rewriting history....

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most reversed court in the land, tries to pull another fast one. Prof. Richard Skidmore not only shows they have no precedent, but that the judges appear to be trying to legislate from the bench.

Having read the book....

Today I finished Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace. In a way I'm glad I haven't seen the movie version yet, as my interpretation wasn't skewed by it.

I had to adjust to Wallace's writing style; once I did so, however, it was a good read. Each chapter started with some exposition before moving to the more dialog-driven action. The story runs parallel to the Gospels, starting with the Three Wise Men, and ending with the Crucifixion and the persecuting of Christians by Rome. The story in between, though, was very character-driven, and while some parts were predictable, others were not.

Next I start on The Adventures of Robin Hood by Paul Creswick. I'm not familiar with Creswick's writing, but I had to buy the book. Not only is it a nicely bound hardcover published by Reader's Digest, but it contains illustrations by the great N.C. Wyeth.