Before watching the video below, give a few sprays on the marketing site "fire meets desire."

I've got to hand it to Burger King...they are really stretching the limits of fast food marketing. While other burger joints are content to advertise the great taste of their food or the great value or the cheesy toy in the kids meal, Burger King throws it all to the wind and goes back to the old adage that sex sells.

As a man, I'm not enticed by this image:



But women may be. (Really???)

The zany, whimsical and often creepy "King" they've been using in advertising has been intriguing me for a while now. I actually prefer commercials with him over the "standard" commercials.

But has BK taken this a bit too far with their latest campaign? Or is this yet another brilliant ad strategy that will not only sell burgers but might sell a few novelty sprays as well?

I found the following on the web...not sure if it's a televised ad or not, but it's a full live-action add-on to the web site above.

Enjoy (??)


I think I might need a Whopper for lunch. ;)

I was given this book when I passed by a table on campus hosted by the "Campus Crusade for Christ." The Campus Crusade is basically a group trying to generate religious discussions among students without pushing any particular religious tenets...a sort of lower pressure forum for students to think about religion. This book takes that same tactic. It looks at the Bible's treatment of Jesus Christ and evaluates the messages presented by the gospels as well as some of the writings from the Old Testament and New Testament. The book tries to take the stance of just presenting a portrait of Jesus and Christianity without the overhead of any particular beliefs or doctrines taught by any formal religion. In essence, it's exploring the roots of "Christianity."

The writing style was very accessible. The author uses very conversational language and references many contemporary objects and themes. He also lets his personality come through as he narrates the subject matter, filling it with humorous asides and anecdotes. The tone of the book is light and easy to read even though the material itself is definitely treated seriously and with respect. It's a book about Christ that's not going to be heavy and intimidating to a casual reader.

Being fairly religious myself and having taken formal scripture courses over the years, I found a lot of what is presented to be things I'd already learned. There were a few things that he presented in a new light and with interesting insights that I hadn't thought about. There were a few points that seemed contrary to things I'd learned and as such I'm now motivated to do my own study to set myself straight.

To those who haven't done any real study of the Bible or of Christ or who haven't had any formal scripture/gospel courses, this book seems like a pretty good introductory text. It answers the question of "Who was/is Jesus Christ?" from a biblical perspective. Because he's not preaching about any particular religion other than Christianity, readers shouldn't feel their own belief system threatened or undermined by anything he has to say.

I recommend this book to those interested in Christianity and looking to get a basic foundational introduction to Christ and the content of the gospels. I would not recommend that you take this book at face value and stop after reading it, assuming that you now know and understand all there is to know about Christ and Christianity. And I don't think the author would recommend that either. Rather, I would recommend that you take the thoughts, emotions, questions and feelings raised by this book and apply them to your own study and investigation. Go read the Bible itself. Seek out other instructional and inspirational books. Talk with other religious Christians and see what there is out there.

***
3 stars

For Jason's birthday, he wanted a Batman theme. We weren't quite sure what sort of activities to plan for a group of nine year olds. They're a bit young for the new (and even the ~90s) Batman flicks. We turned on the old ~60s Batman movie and it held them entertained for a few, but we knew something more might be needed.

Fortunately, an unexpected visitor came to our rescue. As we adjourned from the cheesy movie to go and open presents and get cake, we found the table had been emptied except for a bright green piece of paper, dotted with question marks and touting a message.

It seems the Riddler was jealous he wasn't invited to the party and so he decided to steal the cake and the presents and hold them hostage until the kids followed his devious clues to their logical conclusions.

The kids spent the next hour huddled over cryptograms, rebuses, chess puzzles, word searches and fiendish riddles. There were many brain cramps and many shouts of joy as puzzles were solved and the kids worked their way closer and closer to their goal.

After an hour of searching and struggling through clues, they were overjoyed to find the cake (touting a batman ziplining down to his batmobile) and the pile of gifts all safe and sound.

Overall, a pretty successful party, despite of (or perhaps thanks to) the unexpected appearance of the Riddler on the scene.

Happy 9th Birthday Jason.

---

Well, apparently my blog is rated PG. Not terribly surprised that it's "family friendly"...pleased in fact. :)

As a family we went to the Draper Temple Open House last Friday night. It was really very cool. The kids were entranced by how pretty and nice everything was. They were very curious about the decorations and the way each of the various rooms were used. The murals in the ordinance rooms were amazing and they loved that the trees in the paintings were "our trees" that we stare at out our front window. The celestial room was very cool and Andrew had fun staring all the way up at the huge chandelier. For a few weeks, he's been asking me what it would look like if you held two mirrors up to each other...so when he got in the sealing room, he thought it was very cool to look at the reflections going on forever.

It was a very cool experience to get to go there as a family and to talk about temples, god, and eternity with our young kids in such a cool setting. I wish we could go back with them sooner rather than later. It was a great time.

As promised (or at least referenced) a few days ago here are some bowling pictures and the infamous video. ;)

This article (or rather this series of articles) claims to have created the definitive list of books that you MUST read in your lifetime.

Scan the list and let me know what you think is missing? What you think is there that should be removed? And more.

As I get time (ha ha), I'll pull the list down and mark the books I've read, the ones I want to read, and the ones I think are a waste of time. :)

So as I mentioned a few days ago, I got a Charlie & Candy Mountain T-Shirt for my birthday. I wore it to work today, and as a result, we had to pull up the video. If you haven't seen it, check the first video clip below.

Well, after watching the video, I hit up the creators' website and found a second Charlie video. YES, there's even more Charlie goodness. Check it out by hitting the second video clip below.

They're both filled with amazing awesome goodness. Enjoy. And then check out the other vids at filmcow.com.


Charlie 1


Charlie 2

So in addition to aching all over and being congested and yucky...my brain has been completely muddled.

I'm working a split schedule right now to attend school. So this morning, I dragged myself to work and plugged away through the morning tasks. At 11, I went out to the parking lot to head to school.

I pushed my hand into my pocket to grab my keys...and there was nothing there.

I checked my coat pocket. Empty as well.

I checked my pants pocket again. Then all of my other pockets. I tried to figure out where I could have dropped my keys. I decided that since I was already outside, I'd look for them between the building and the car.

I didn't see anything on the ground, but as I got closer to my car, I realized that someone had left their car on. There was nobody around.

As I came upon my car, I realized that MY CAR was running.

I had gotten to work at about 8:30 and left my car running in the parking lot for 2 and a half hours without even realizing it.

Fortunately I had enough gas that it didn't die. Even more fortunately, nobody stole it.

The heater had been blowing for nearly 3 hours and the car was a sauna. I climbed in and shook my heavy, aching head as I realized what I'd done.

I need to get better. Calling in sick tomorrow to sleep. Ugh

If a great musician plays great music but no one hears...was he really any good?

An interesting (and sad) social experiment. Long article, but worth the read.

We're sitting at day ~5 of a nasty inversion hanging over the Greater Salt Lake Area. Yesterday it finally caught up with me. My head feels like it's going to implode. My sinuses are screaming complaints through my ears and nose. My throat is burning. My lungs are heavy and ache from the nasty air they've been taking in.

We've got a storm inching its way in, but "they" say it probably won't clear out until a Sunday storm.

Add to this a biting morning cold...and it makes me wonder why I still want to live in Utah. It's days/weeks like this that make me hate winter.

Ugh.

*sniffle*

You Are 68% Non Conformist

You are a pretty serious non conformist. You live a life hardly anyone understands. And while some may call you a freak, you're happy with who you are.

The writers@work organization is prepping for their 25th annual conference...which means it's time for a writing contest.

Details can be found here.

Tanner stopped for a moment and listened intently. The only sound was his ragged breathing and the occasional crumbling of dirt and rock as the walls around his body collapsed slightly. His eyes burned through the dry, dusty air and his throat choked on the dirt thrown up around him as he continued crawling through the small tunnel. The light behind him was fading and he knew that before long he would be hugged by darkness nearly as closely as he was now hugged by the earth piled up all around him.

Stretching his arms forward, he inched himself along the hard dirt floor, his toes kicking hard at the tunnel behind him. The tunnel was only slightly taller than he was as he crawled along on his elbows, stomach and knees, but sometimes it sunk a few inches and he felt the roof graze the top of his head. Once he had misjudged the distance and raised his head too soon, pounding into the packed earth above him and rearing back with searing pain pulsing through his skull. Since then, he kept his head low, his chin just above his fists as he pulled his arms beneath him to inch forward.

Tanner had started into the tunnel just after the "Lights Out" call earlier that night. The first few yards were the easiest. The tunnel was the biggest back at his cell when his energy was high and his patience sure. The further the tunnel went, the smaller it became until finally it had stopped completely.

Tanner had given up altogether. But then a voice from a nearby cell called a "Farewell" through the walls and claimed to be leaving. At first Tanner thought the prisoner was giving a suicide speech. Those speeches were far too common and had been coming more and more frequently as the prisoners' rations continued to dwindle. As Tanner listened to the man's rantings, they took a different turn and Tanner realized that the man was either totally insane or truly intended to see the outside world soon. Tanner called back and it soon became clear that the man had nearly completed his own tunnel. He had begun to hear the sound of water as he dug and knew that he was nearing the stream and thus could be free within that next night.

After some more shouting, Tanner learned the direction he needed to dig in order to potentially intercept the other man's tunnel. The voice in the darkness wished him luck and then let the air fall still again. Tanner sat in silence for a few more minutes and then decided to resume his tunnel. He turned the path sharply to the right and began to dig again every night. After a week of digging, he broke through.

Curious to see the other man's cell, he turned back towards the prison and followed the tunnel there. The entrance had been filled in with new dirt. It was still soft enough that Tanner knew he could dig through if he had to, but he also knew that it was likely covered with rocks or some other method of securing the cell against future escapes. He returned to his own cell, covered the tunnel, and fell into a heavy and peaceful sleep.

And now, Tanner crawled. And crawled. And crawled. Dirt fell from the walls as his wide shoulders rubbed against the cramped corners. Rocks dug into his body as he scraped himself along the ground towards his freedom. He had no watch, no way of keeping time. Everything he had was stripped from him when he was tossed in his cell four years ago. He longed to have it back.

The darkness around him grew thicker with each small inch he moved forward. Early in his crawling, he had realized that he'd left his light on back in his cell. He debated going back and turning it off, knowing that if a guard noticed it, he'd be caught. He finally decided he'd rather keep crawling since he had no idea how long the tunnel was and he didn't want to waste any time. Besides, if someone found his empty cell and started crawling after him, at least he'd have a good head start.

So Tanner crawled on. The air grew thick around him. The tunnel was very tight in spots and he found he had to widen it on occasion. Whoever crawled it before him was a smaller man than he.

Everything was black now. It unnerved him not being able to see anything. Pulling himself on based only on what he could feel beneath his rough fingers. His fingers darted ahead then gripped the dirt and latched his arm down hard from finger to elbow to help pull his body along. The tunnel was so short now he could barely bend his knees to allow his feet to help push him along. He was truly inching along like a bug.

Tanner's ears perked up as he heard new sounds. He stopped immediately and strained to hear them again. Moments later he heard soft, deep, hollow sounds echo through the earth. The noise was muffled but heavy. He decided that perhaps some creature was lumbering along the ground somewhere above him. He had no idea how far below ground he was and so had no idea what could possibly be creating the thuds rumbling around him.

Suddenly the occasional heavy thumping was replaced by a rumbling that sounded like rolling thunderclaps far across the plains. The noise was deafening within his small dirt cocoon. A few rocks fell from the tunnel wall and hit the exposed skin of his arms and face. The falling rocks jolted him back to the urgency of his situation and he crawled forward with new found energy.

Tanner was sweating now and his arms and face were caked with chunks of soft earth. The rumbling was behind him but still echoed all around him. He thought the walls around him continued to shake but then he realized it was his own body that was shaking. He stopped and tried to focus inward. To calm himself. To breath softly.

The rumbling behind him began to subside and he calmed himself enough to go on. He opened his eyes, not realizing he had them closed to focus on his breathing. He brought his dirt smeared hand to his face to try and see it. To see something, anything. When he couldn't see his hand even when his finger touched his nose, his mind began reeling again.

He pictured himself back in his cold, hard empty cell, laying idly on the floor day after day, eating tasteless food, breathing tasteless air, and living out his life, if it could be called a life. Then he pictured himself crawling like a worm through thick, heavy dirt, ready to collapse around him at any moment and end his life. He panicked as he twisted his arms and legs around to assess the true size of his new prison. His potential coffin.

He saw himself buried, lying motionless under piles of dirt. He thought about how it would feel to die in there, being unable to move, unable to scream for help. He realized he would likely suffocate and die peacefully. Then he began to think about the possibility of suffocating as he crawled along the ground. He wondered if the previous prisoner had suffocated somewhere ahead of him and lay there now, blocking the path to freedom, trapping him in and marking Tanner's grave with his corpse.

He scraped along the ground as fast as he was able. His head pounded with each breath. His eyes burned even though he couldn't see. He closed them but found this panicked him more so he opened them and stared into the impenetrable darkness.

Another noise came, this time from his right. He couldn't identify it at first. It was a shuffling, soft and rhythmic. He paused to listen. It didn't change either in volume or tempo. Wary but intrigued, he continued on, trying to match the pace of his crawling to the pattern of the rising and falling that the sound provided. As he crawled, he noted that his own tunnel began to turn toward the sound. The sound grew louder as he crawled and suddenly he realized he could make out the very slight grey silhouettes of his arms beneath his chin. A few more yards, and he saw the shape of his fingers before him.

The sound was louder now and somewhat melodic. Tanner's heart leapt inside him when he recognized it as the sound of water bounding over rocks in a riverbed. The air around him was growing lighter both in terms of visibility and in terms of freshness. He took a long deep breath through his nose and felt his lungs rejoice as they were filled completely by an air slightly cooler than the heavy, dank air he'd been breathing for the past few hours.

Tanner's entire body was burning from the strain of his crawl, yet he crawled faster than he thought he could. He was exploding with the excitement and hope of finally being free. With each inch he progressed, his mind filled him with another memory of the freedom of years past. He thought of the farm he'd grown up on. He wondered about his parents. About his younger brother and sister. He saw himself wrestling with his brother on the front porch during a summer sunset. He saw himself at school, heckling the teacher and flirting with Katie Shepherd. He remembered his first date with her. And his last. He saw his best friend Zach Thompson heading off to save the world, and never coming back. His entire free life whisked through his mind. He felt tears run down his face as he thought of all he'd lost and all he was about to regain.

The air continued to grow cool and light around him. He no longer noticed the sharp rocks scraping along his chest as he inched along. His head jolted up and slammed against the earth roof when the passage in front of him was suddenly a wide awkward circle of light. He scrambled along the ground as fast as he could to reach the exit to the tunnel. He heard the stream rolling nearby and thought he heard leaves rustling in trees.

He reached the opening and pushed his arms through, straining to pull his body behind them. He bent his knees as much as possible, digging his toes into the ground and pressing forward hard. He nearly jumped from the hole and tumbled down a slight hill, coming to a sharp stop on a rocky soil at the bank of the stream.

He collapsed with exhaustion but let his eyes fly around his new surrounding, taking everything in. The night was dark, but not as dark as his tunnel. Ahead of him, the world moved slowly by a shimmering stream of water. He saw large rocks protruding from the stream and noted thin silver-white trees extending upward on the other side of the stream. He followed the trunks up into the leafy branches and saw a deep blue sky above him, dotted with stars. He rolled to his back and stared at the stars, his eyes welling with tears again. A laugh fell from his lips.

"Don't laugh too much just yet." The voice was soft, yet strong. It came from his left, slightly upstream and back towards the whole he had crawled through.

Tanner craned his body to the side and scanned the bank of the stream, looking for the owner of the voice. He found it in the shadow of a man, seated on the grass at the edge of the bank. He was too far away to see distinctly, but Tanner could see that he was big.

Worse, Tanner saw that a rifle lay across his legs and he held a pistol loosely in his right hand.

"Come on over where I can see you." The man grunted and waved his pistol, pointing to a spot of ground a few feet ahead of him. Tanner saw the starlight glint off the cold steel of the gun and caught a brief flash of light from the man's smile.

Despite the despair pulling his soul down, Tanner summoned strength from deep inside him and pushed himself to his knees to crawl over and face the man.

Thanks to everybody for your birthday wishes. I tried to stay off the computer (or at least the web) for most of the weekend, so I didn't get your wishes until today...which helped extend the fun. Thanks. :)

The weekend was great.

Friday night Lynette and I went to a surprise birthday party for a friend. It was pretty fun...filled with food, dancing, and zaniness. :)

Saturday began with a luxurious laying in (I'd say "sleeping in", but with kids getting up between 6 and 7, sleep doesn't always happen). I rolled out of bed around 10 and the day began. We pushed through Saturday chores and got the house tip-top shape. We had fun playing some board games (Jason's been begging to play Simpson's Clue for a few weeks). We walked up to the video store and picked up some cheesy vids for the kids. Then we spent the afternoon relaxing a little bit before going out to dinner. I was in the mood for Barbeque, but we didn't want to drive too far, so we thought about trying out the new "Texas Roadhouse" in town...but they had a ~90 minute wait. So, we hit up Lone Star Steakhouse for a rollickin' good time. :)

Sunday we slept in a little bit, but not too much since we had to get ready for church. Lynette was speaking in church, so she was a little nervous (despite the fact that she always does fabulous when speaking). I went home teaching before church which left her to finalize things with the kids (not sure if that was good or bad for her jitters...took her mind off the talk for a few anyway). After church (Lynette's talk was great, by the way), we had Lynette's family over for a birthday dinner. With my birthday this week and Jason's next week, we decided to split family get-togethers over both weeks. So Lynette's fam came over this past Sunday and my fam will come over next Sunday. Dinner was good and the kids had fun playing with their cousins until "past bedtime."

Monday was also pretty relaxing generally...though we had 3 extra kids around the house for most of the day so things were a little hectic in that regard. I tried to punch through my homework reading (~100 pages of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species")...didn't quite finish...it's slow reading for some reason. Monday afternoon, the mechanic called and told us our van was fixed (the "check engine" light has been on for about 4 months and we haven't been able to get it off through our methods...hopefully this $500 fix will do it). Later in the day we went over to help clean the church. Then after dinner, we went bowling as a family which was pretty fun. I'll have to get some pix up before long (and the hilarious video of Andrew dancing after his turn...very funny).

So that was my birthday weekend. Relaxing, fun and great. Oh, in terms of gifts, Lynette picked up some roses for the table. I got a big book of Jim Christian's art. Then a couple of shirts and some money. One of the shirts features two unicorns...beneath it is the message "Hey Charlie, we found a map to candy mountain!" The shirt brought instant giggles from those "in the know."

If you're not 'in the know', then you MUST watch the video below. It's one of those polarizing clips (I think you either love it or hate it and go "huh?"). I'm on the "love" side...it makes me laugh every time I see it.

First, I'll admit that I have not yet finished reading the entire Harry Potter series. I've stalled about a hundred pages into Goblet of Fire. So I have no context for the appearance of Beedle's stories somewhere in the later books or of Hermione's or Dumbledore's relation to them.

That said, I don't think much context is needed to read this book. Rowling does include elements from her magical world (references to "muggles" and different characters, books and places) but she also includes footnootes to many/most of these, so I suspect/hope that the virgin Rowling reading would be able to catch on fast.

This book and its stories are very short and simple. The reading is fast and young...younger than even some of the earlier Potter books. The tales are whimsical and entertaining, but nothing extraordinary or earth shattering. I've read a bunch of fairy tales over my life and actually last year I read a big collection of "Grimm's Fairy Tales", so I found a lot of common/reused elements. Some of the stories felt very familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint any plagarism per se...just reuse of common elements for fairy tales & fables. I'm sure she had particular stories as inspiration for her tales and somebody familiar with them can likely see the resemblance.

The one tale I had been told was "borrowed" from something I read was the tale of the three brothers which had supposedly been a sort of remake of Chaucer's Pardoner's Tale. In each of the tales, there are three brothers who meet and 'cheat' death. That's about the extent of the similarities. The character development and the plot itself are very different between the two tales. Frankly, I enjoyed Chaucer's more. :)

Overall, while the stories were fun and whimsical for a bedtime reading, they were entirely unremarkable. The only real "meat" of the book is the inclusion of Dumbledore's commentary on each story. While fairly superficial and obvious as far as commentary goes, it was interesting and fun to essentially participate in a literary discussion about tales of magic from within a world that magic really exists. Even then, the commentary isn't meaty enough to turn these Tales into a "Great" book.

I applaud Rowling for her creativity in writing a book within this "form"...a backlog of fairy tales from within the wizarding world accompanied by a commentary from a wizard/professor. Personally, I would like to have seen more in-depth treatment in the commentary (since that's the real "novelty" here). Additional illustrations may have made this better as well...the stories are clearly young children's stories, but the book presentation makes it difficult to present to very young readers. I'll probably try reading a couple of the stories to my kids...not sure how it will go over since they are really so bland and underdeveloped.

It's worth the quick read, but (unless you just want to contribute to Rowling's charity), I can't really recommend shelling out to buy it.

**
1.5 stars

I did better on this test than I thought I would. I got 95%, only getting one wrong.

How'd you do?

For those of you "international" folks, you may not know that next Monday is a holiday here in the U.S. While I always tried to convince people they got the day off because it is my birthday, nobody ever seemed to accept that I was important enough to warrant a national holiday.

Anyway, next Monday is "Martin Luther King, Jr. Day." Sometimes it's called "Human Rights Day."

In any case, I was reading tonight and I came across this quote that I thought was pretty cool and thought I'd post. When I realized it's by MLK, I figured it's all the more appropriate.

Enjoy:

---

Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Hate multiplies hate,
violence multiplies violence,
and toughness multiplies toughness
in a descending spiral of destruction.

--Martin Luther King, Jr.,
--From "Strength to Love," 1963

I got "Hey, That's My Fish" for my kids for Christmas this past year without having ever played it but having heard lots of great reviews.

Tonight, we finally tried it out.

While I read the rules, each of my three kids had fun punching out the ice floes. The rules seemed fairly straightforward while also having a lot of depth to them, so I was excited to get going.

The basic gist of the game is that the players are a bunch of penguins on a large sheet of ice covered with fish. The ice floe is breaking up as the penguins wander around eating the fish. Whichever player eats the most fish by the time the entire ice floe is gone, is the winner. The movement and strategy involved in capturing fish is simple enough...the strategy comes in the fact that every move a player makes removes a piece of ice from play, limiting moves and potentially breaking the ice apart and stranding a penguin or sending a lot of valuable fish off into the ocean without being scored.

I guessed that my oldest (Jason, 9) would get the general idea of the game and possibly start seeing some strategy in this first play through. I figured my middle (Andrew, 7) would understand the moves but not likely have any set strategy. And I deduced that my youngest (Julia, 4) would need coaching from me just to get her penguins moving but that she'd have fun with the theme and being involved with the older kids.

With the rules in mind and the tiles punched, I set to laying out our giant ice floe. It took a minute, during which the kids had fun making their penguins do various acrobatics or carry on strange conversations about the fish they were about to eat.

Once our sheet of ice was ready, we placed our fish. Within two turns, Julia had essentially moved one of her penguins into a corner that was about to break off from the main floe, Andrew and Jason were bouncing back and forth on long sweeping paths of the glacier, and I was just trying to remember which color penguin was mine and which was that of the kids I was helping.

A few turns in, a minor catastrophe struck as Andrew accidentally swept his hand across the tiles while reaching for his penguin. One entire side of the ice floe turned into a cardboard snow-cone, with chunks of ice strewn all over the place. We recovered well enough and he was much more careful the rest of the game (although he did almost break it up once more).

After a few more turns, one of Julia's penguins was totally cornered with no more moves and the other was hugging the far side of the ice chunk. The boys were rapidly whittling things down and I was just trying to keep my penguins alive by constantly moving towards the largest side of the floe.

After rules and setup, the game itself only lasted about 20 minutes.

Final scoring was actually very close:
Andrew - 20
Julia - 21
Jason - 22
Dad - 22

All the kids had a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll play it again. I definitely plan to try it with [i][b]only[/b][/i] an older crowd so I can try to see more planning and strategy, but it's still a lot of fun with a bunch of kids just having fun...the way games with kids are supposed to be. :)

In reading this article, I got to thinking about my "100 best."

I've never really gone through and come up with a comprehensive recommendation list like that. I've read quite a few and gotten some great recommendations from them (as well as groaned as I saw some of their 'top' choices).

I think I'll add this to my list of goals/projects...to come up with my own prioritized list of recommendations. It sounds like a daunting task, but could be a bunch of fun also.

I'd be curious if any of you out there have a feel already for your "Top Books"...maybe not 100, what are your "top 10", "top 5", etc.?

OK...go read this article.

I'm stymied at a lot of different people and organizations and the world in general as I read this.

First, I'm confused as to why there isn't more mention of this as an illegal act of prostitution. She mentions that her sister prostituted herself to pay for college. This new offer is even more blatant...prostitution by auction. It seems to me the state should have shut the auction down under some prostitution law.

Secondly, I wonder at the hypocrisy of this girl. She's prostituting herself away so she can earn money to pay for a degree in "Family and Marriage Therapy"?!?! Isn't that a huge contradiction? From what I've seen, promiscuity is the reason some people go to Family/Marriage therapy. Would you really want to go to a therapist who sold herself to the highest bidder?

Third, I'm curious who it was that paid millions of dollars for a one-night-stand. I have a few questions about the amount.
     First, I can only hope (with my higher sense of morals) that the outrageous winning bid was by someone trying to protect this girl from herself...who instead of sleeping with her, will pay for her college and let her keep her virtue (even though she's already essentially dragged it through the gutter just by this act). No offense to the girl, but somebody paying millions of dollars for a one-night-stand must be off his rocker somehow. I can hope that he's altruistic and puts a huge value on virtue...if he's truly planning on sleeping with her, this seems like a ridiculous amount of money to spend.
     Second, how can she justify accepting that much money. If her end goal was to pay for college, 3.7 million seems a bit over the top even at some of the "best" colleges out there (googling tuition costs at Harvard, Yale, etc. make me think that she could get through school on a couple hundred thousand for tuition, housing, etc.).

Finally, I'm worried at this becoming a trend. Another article tells about some foreign models doing the same thing. I also have no doubt that this is happening on a smaller scale (as indicated by the fact that this girl's sister did presumably more standard prostitution to pay for her own school in the past). How many people out there are compromising their own morals (or learning incorrect morals) in order to achieve "higher goals"? Why does society continue to present these sorts of compromises as acceptable? There have been numerous books/movies/TV shows with plots sadly similar to this. Not only is promiscuity on the rise and accepted as the norm...but are we now suggesting that prostitution is just as acceptable? I acknowledge that internationally, morals vary and so the Italian model may not think anything morally wrong...but my question is...do we want those same moral attitudes brought to our country?

Thoughts?

Admitedly, I haven't read any of the Kitty novels or many other books that fall into this genre (though I keep intending to).

Still, I really liked Carrie Vaughn's analysis of what "Urban Fantasy" is and why. I think a lot of her observations apply not only to urban fantasy but to a lot of other novels coming out these days with very strong female leads in difficult and transforming situations.

This article is part 3...excuse me while I go read the earlier posts. :)

As a manager of a black box test team (with minimal white box testing on occasion), this article was pretty interesting. I agree emphatically with the author's explanation that there are really two main factors to consider Effectiveness and Efficiency, though I think that's fairly simplistic and truly applies to pretty much any job in any industry as a high level comment.

Fortunately, Overbaugh elaborates on this high level claim, defining and expounding on these definitions as they relate to a career in Software Testing. If you're in the testing world, it's worth a read just to make sure you've got your thoughts together concisely. His keeps his suggestions general enough that they should be good advice to anybody in the software testing world...perhaps with slight tweaking at times.

I look forward now to reading his blog and see what else he has to say.

OK, so after lurking around the book blogosphere for a while, I finally decided to "officially" sign up for one of the challenges (I sort of did one earlier, but it's fallen away).

The challenge I chose? The Baker Street Challenge.

Basically the challenge involves reading books from the Conan Doyle and Holmesian tradition. I've read a couple of the stories in their entirety, but most of them I've only skimmed or seen on film/TV.

I'm looking forward to this challenge. Should be fun.

With a year to do it, I'm confident that I can achieve the "Seven Per Cent Solution" goal of 7 books/stories for the challenge. Keep an eye out for some Holmesian reviews in 2009.

Day 1, Class 1, complete.

Well, the introductory class is done...complete with your general "scan the syllabus, explain the class objectives, take roll", etc.

I'm still a little unsure about all the scientific essays we'll be reading...There's a reason I signed on as an English major rather than a Science major (in spite of my AP science classes in High School). Fortunately, the prof is paring down the scientific readings such that we'll only be reading ~5 page sections of longer essays (with the exception of On the Origin of Species which we'll be reading most of). So even though the reading assignment for Wednesday is about 25 pages of scientific essays, it includes 6 different essays, so hopefully that will break up some of the monotony.

Going over the approach to the course, I was relived to find that we'll be focusing on the various texts as literary works first and as reaction to scientific impetus lower down on the influence level.

So even though Water Babies talks about a kid evolving his way from a small tadpole like creature back up to human child, we'll be looking at the language, narrative style, etc. rather than just looking at a scientific discussion of evolution.

Once we hit Tess, we'll be looking at her as a sort of "social" or "character" evolution and see how that plays out in the novel.

It should be an interesting course. Hopefully I can get into it...especially since the only real grading is based on 3 papers throughout the course.

Wish me luck. :)

It's back to school time at the U of U.

I'm heading off in a few minutes to my English "Methods & Theories" course, "Intellectual Movements." I'm not super thrilled about this class yet, but hopefully it will prove more interesting than I'm suspecting. Here's the opening from the syllabus:
     "In honor of the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859), this course will examine the "Darwinian Revolution" in biology, literature, and culture. We will interrogate the specific concepts of Darwin's evolutionary theory and explore more broadly how science and literature approach questions about life, nature, and human specialness..."

Our reading list includes:
* various essays (Malthus, Butler, Haeckel, de Beer, and others)
* A book filled with Darwin essays
* Tarzan of the Apes
* Erewhon
* Heart of Darkness
* Tess of the D'Urbervilles
* The Water-Babies
* The Island of Dr. Moreau

Sadly, I generally find "these types" of writing to be very dry and hard to get into. Even the novels sometimes get fairly dry (I distinctly remember falling asleep time and again while pushing through Heart of Darkness). Hopefully the discussions will be interesting and engaging.

In addition, I've got a filler course that I may or may not drop. It's a basic linguistics course taught online. The syllabus for that course isn't posted until tomorrow, at which point, I'll decide if it can be fit in between work, family, scouts, school and other goals.

Anyway, I'm off...wish me luck.

To go along with the list of faves from 08, here are some things I'm looking forward to in 2009. These lists are in no particular order and are definitely not complete. Please feel free to give me additional ideas as you see fit.

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Movies I'm looking forward to seeing in 2009 (based on movies releasing in 09...there are many more on video that I still need to catch up on)

     *  To See In Theaters
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Sherlock Holmes
Rapunzel
Silver Surfer
The Road
Transformers 2
Star Trek
Angels and Demons

     *  To See On Video
Inkheart
Race to Witch Mountain
Push
Easy Virtue
Night at the Museum 2
The Clock Tower (maybe?)
Me and Orson Welles
Moon
The Soloist

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Books I'm looking forward to reading in 2009:

     *  New Releases
A Princess of Landover - Terry Brooks
Looking Glass Wars Book 3 - Frank Beddor (if released)
The King's Rose - Alissa Libby
The Fetch - Laura Whitcomb
Agincourt - Bernard Cornwell
Fool - Christopher Moore
Tuck - Stephen R. Lawhead
Kings and Assassins - Lane Robbins
Drood - Dan Simmons
An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon

- and many more I'm sure I've missed

     *  Finally Reading (or re-reading)
People of Sparks - Jeanne Duprau
Pillage - Sky Obert
The Elves of Cintra - Terry Brooks
The Gypsy Morph - Terry Brooks
Watchmen - Alan More
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Fool's Tale - Nicole Galland
Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R. King
Death in Venice - Thomas Mann
Fablehaven - Brandon Mull
Finn: A Novel - Jon Clinch
Angels and Demons - Dan Brown
Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain
Princess Academy - Shannon Hale
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Anonymous
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Don Quixote - Miguel de Servantes Saavedra
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Austenland - Shannon Hale

- and likely others will fall onto this list and push others off

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Theatre excitement of 2009:

Wicked - Capitol Theatre
Scarlet Pimpernel - Hale Center Theatre
Miss Saigon - Pioneer Theatre (maybe? - already seen a bunch)

- still waiting on fall/winter season for Pioneer & Capitol

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As I mentioned above, please give me thoughts and recommendations as to things I've missed...there's so much out there to enjoy and not enough time to grab it all. :)

With 2008 over and 2009 starting, I've been putting together a few lists of favorites from the year. Putting this list together made me realize I've been remiss in my movie reviews and missed a few/bunch. I'll remedy that in '09.

Without further ado, here's a few of my favorite movies seen in 2008.

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The Dark Knight
I've always loved Batman...I was a big fan of the Batman films of the 90s and I've continued to love the new series. Christian Bale is doing an amazing job and the storylines and acting are wonderful. Heath Ledger was stunning and utterly creepy as the Joker. I'm bummed that we won't see more of him, but hopefully whoever picks up the trail will still do well.
The Dark Knight was definitely Dark. The Scarecrow from Batman Begins explored the darkness a bit, but not as much as we saw here. I loved the contrast between the Joker, Two-Face and Batman. The writing and directing really created a very cool tension between them and left you thinking.

My Review

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Wall-E
I took my kids to see Wall-E over the summer and I enjoyed it more than I thought I might. The character of Wall-E was so adorable and endearing, I was smiling about him again and again. The 'adult' message of the film felt a little much at times, but that was from an adult perspective...it didn't bother the kids (or rather, it didn't interfere with their entertainment). Wall-E is another of the many home runs from the Pixar crew. Wonderful film.

My Review

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Prince Caspian
While I didn't enjoy Caspian as much as Lion/Witch/Wardrobe, I still had a ton of fun with this movie. I'm spending time this year re-reading through the Narnia series to keep it fresh...we're reading Caspian right now. I love the Narnia world and the good ideals it lays out. Great film. I look forward to seeing these continue.

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The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
I love the humor from the folks at Big Idea who make these Veggie Tales films. This movie was very fun to watch. It was filled with tons of creative storytelling and wonderful fable-like-morals. I loved the writing and the acting. We rented this on DVD and I watched the commentary which was also hilarious as it was done not by the directors/animators/voice-artists, but rather by the characters themselves...in-character. I had a lot of fun watching this and recommend it as a fun family cartoon film.

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Quantum of Solace
I've loved Bond for as long as I can remember. I was a little nervous when Daniel Craig took the role since he felt a little (lot) stiff and harsh as compared with the smirky Bonds of the past. With the new writing and direction, he's filled Bond's shoes admirably. In fact, for the stories we're exploring, only a harsh/driven/stoic Bond would do.
I really enjoyed Quantum but felt like it wasn't as tight a story as it should have been. The mission was a little loose in terms of direction. I missed having a harsh central villain character. While they had a villainous head for Bond to chase, the real villain was never exposed...or rather, the villainous group. At the beginning of the movie, Mr. White alludes to the organization and escapes. That seems to be Bond's initial focus and it's referenced a few times through the movie, but it wasn't ever given anything meaty enough to placate me appropriately.
It's as though the writers thought up a great conspiracy group (did they forget about SPECTRE?) and then had to finish the movie before they really figured out the ins and outs of the group...so they dangled meaningless clues about it and then pushed out a mediocre plot to dangle us along and give themselves another years to figure out the conspiracy.
Despite that criticism, I really enjoyed the movie and I'm really enjoying seeing this new Bond develop. Like Narnia, I'm working my way through Flemming's books (although the current Bond has departed from the novels) and having fun there too.

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And there you have a couple of my favorite movies from the past year.

I know that we're over a week into the new year, but I've been mulling over these and finally decided to post 'em. Hopefully by the end of '09, I can look back at this list and laugh at how deftly I accomplished these things.

Without further ado, here's my Top 10 List of goals/resolutions for 2009:

1. Daily Personal Scripture Reading
2. Monthly Temple Attendance
3. Weekly (maybe daily?) Creative Writing
• 5 Complete/Polished Short Stories
• Break out my "book" into 2 separate books and get 1 to a moderately polished state
4. Monthly (or more frequent) "structured" family fun time activity (larger scale such as bowling, skating, going to a movie, hiking, swimming, etc.)
5. Structured Exercise Regime
• Lose 20 pounds
6. Date Nights
• One 'big' structured date each month
• Informal/ad-hoc dates weekly
7. Go Hiking
• Timp Cave hike with family
• At least one other "big" hike (Elephant Rock maybe?)
8. Monthly Letter writing to distant friends/family
9. Read 50 books
10. Finish up my Bachelor's Degree (finally)

With 2008 over and 2009 starting, I figured I'd put together a few lists of favorites from the year. So, without further ado, here's a few of my favorite new songs from 2008.

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I think this one came out at the very end of 2007 or early 2008. I really liked the lyrics and the message. The video had some cool effects as well that I really loved.
Lifehouse - Whatever it Takes

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About halfway through the year, I heard this one on the radio. I've heard it on both country and pop/rock stations (just slightly different instrumentation). It's got a great story arc style crescendo going on. I love the fairy tale romance story told here and the literary references, although the "Scarlet Letter" reference is misplaced and wrong...but otherwise, it's a fun song. The video is also a lot of fun for this lover of Victorian drama.
Taylor Swift - Love Story

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Later in the year, I caught the tail end of a gravelly love ballad and kept listening to hear it again. As soon as I confirmed the artist, I pulled it off iTunes and have listened to it again and again while waiting for the rest of the album. Another great song with fabulous lyrics. I haven't watched the video yet, so we'll enjoy it together. :)
Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody

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And finally, here's another new fave and I know it didn't come out in 2008 (back in '07, I think), but I first heard it this past year and really liked it. The song doesn't actually start until halfway through the video...so either watch and wait or let it buffer and skip to the ~5 minute mark
Brad Paisley - You Save Me

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And there you have a couple of my favorite new songs from the past year. Stay tuned for more faves from '08.

With 2008 over and 2009 starting, I figured I'd put together a few lists of favorites from the year. So, without further ado, here's a few of my favorite books read in 2008.

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The Pale Blue Eye - Lois Bayard
I think this was probably my favorite read of 2008. Not being an avid reader of mystery, I can't say how well it compares to other mysteries or even to modern day "thriller" mysteries. But as a fan of Poe and of "darker" stories, this was a lot of fun. The mystery was well crafted and the writing was wonderful. I look forward to picking up more Bayard in the future.
My Review

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The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
This is one of those classics I never knew much about. Somehow I missed reading it in Junior High or High School and was never really driven to read it elsewhere in my youth. Now that I've read it, I'm glad I did and I feel bad it took me so long to get to it. The story is real and fresh. It gives an interesting perspective on the life of a troubled teen. I really think this is something that should be read by most (all?) teens.
My Review

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The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
I'd heard a lot about this book before reading it. I'd actually purchased it when it first came out based on the word of mouth it was getting, but it still took me a year or more to finally read it. At first I thought the basic plot of the book would be trite or overdone and that the gimmicks used would seem lame after a while. I was pleasantly surprised as to just how rich and enticing this book was. The story had intriguing twists and depth I hadn't expected. I really enjoyed the characters and the actions of the novel. A great read.
My Review

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The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - Kate Dicamillo
I'd seen this book sitting on the store shelves again and again and was continuously tempted to pick it up. Reading the synopsis always turned me off and I put it back down, thinking it would be too cheesy or sentimental. Finally I gave in and grabbed the book and pushed through it in an hour or so. It was a little sentimental but it was sentimental in a good way. It was a very cute story with a great narrative to engage children and provide some good thinking time afterwards. This is one of those books that I came away from with a "feel-good-feeling" and felt better for having read it. It's simple and light, yet has a good message behind it. I plan to read it with my kids at bedtime reading this year.
My Review

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And there you have a couple of my favorite books read in the past year. Stay tuned for more faves from '08.

I saw a couple of episodes of The Tudors...it was interesting, but a bit too graphic in a few areas for my taste.

Still, to help promote the release of season 2 on DVD, they've created a website with a quiz to help determine where you fit in the world of medieval culture.

Take the quiz and let me know where you fall.

I took it twice (once based on my student "career" and the other time based on being in IT). My two results were right next to each other on the chart...

I am either a Bishop or a Noble depending on my daily whims.

What about you?

After having read through 2 of the Wayside School books, I was interested to see Sachar's writing style in a longer book. So, my son got Holes for Christmas, and I read it shortly after. :)

I'd seen the movie a few years back without realizing it was based on an award winning book. It's always hard to try and distance movie memories when reading a book, so I'm sure some memories tainted my reading.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I'm glad we have it in our home for the kids to read. While not as wholly whimsical as his Wayside School books, Holes is filled with great humor and wonderfully perceptive observations of people and the world.

Sachar created his characters very skillfully in just a couple of pages in each story of Wayside School. With a full novel, he was able to take that character development farther and really bring these characters to life. I was very impressed with the depth he gave to Stanley and the other characters at Camp Green Lake. I found myself very emotionally invested in the plot.

The plot itself was rooted in reality but with enough whimsical elements and crazy coincidences that it was very comical to read. I wonder if some of the "flashback" style sequences might be confusing at first. Having already seen the movie, they felt completely natural, though I do have a memory from watching the movie that reminds me that I was initially slightly confused. Still, the plot and pacing is quick and straight forward enough that I suspect any disorientation with the multiple plot lines would be quickly resolved by an average reader.

I loved the 'fairy-tale'-like elements of the story. If I have time, maybe I'll make it a project to try and parallel some of the characters from Holes with some characters from classic Grimm Fairy Tales. Could be fun. :)

Overall, Holes was a lot of fun and I definitely recommend it. With all the male protagonists, it's probably more of a "boy" book, but I'm guessing girls would enjoy it as well (it does have a love story stuck in the middle for those hopeless romantics).

****
3.5 stars

This book was actually supposed to be one of the books for a class I cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. It was also listed as one of the best American novels of the past 25 years...so I kept it even after canceling the class. While it was an interesting story and a thought provoking read, I had a hard time with this book for a few different reasons.

Writing Style

The narrative was written in a close third person following very closely alongside the minds of a few main characters, Sethe primarily but also Denver, Paul D and some other characters who showed up later (Stamp & even Beloved herself). The voices used were likely fairly authentic to the voices of mid/late-1800 recently freed slaves in America. The grammar was a little mixed up at times, but generally very understandable.

The grammar wasn't as difficult to follow as the actual style of the voices themselves. Often, I was caught in a sort of stream-of-consciousness type narrative from one of the characters. Being pulled that far inside the character's head made it difficult for me to keep my bearings or perspective clear. The roundabout way subjects were treated left me confused and really slowed down the reading for me while I tried to keep the message straight. I'm not sure if this disorientation was intentional or if it's my own personal distance from this type of character that made it hard, but that was my primary complaint with the book.

Characters, Setting, Tone, etc

The characters were well created and very alive to me, especially as the book progressed. Even though the 'stream of consciousness' writing hung me up a lot, it also helped me get to know the characters better. I felt like I understood Sethe and Denver much better after getting into their heads.

The settings fluctuated back and forth for me...sometimes they felt extremely real and vivid and other times they felt very flat and clapboard/2-d.

My biggest complaint with the characters and the setting was that I often lost site of the fact that this was set in the mid-1800s in a post-civil-war/abolitionist nation just rising out of slavery. The tone of the novel was often the largest element, and that tone often didn't ring "post-civil-war" to me.

Again, it could be my distance from the subject but many times through the book, it was almost a shock to be reminded that these characters had just recently been living on a plantation as slaves. Most of the time while I was reading, my mind conjured up a more contemporary setting...people living in a poor borough in the 1900s, perhaps even the late-1900s.

Maybe that should be a compliment to the story rather than a detractor...it shows that this is a Timeless sort of tale that could easily happen 150 years ago or last week.

Themes

This novel presented a number of strong messages.

The racial message was naturally there loud and clear. It came as a strong reminder of the horrific reality that was slavery in the U.S.A...and the racism that followed after abolitionism...and even today. I loved the line where Sethe comments that she has her freedom now, but she's still not free.

That sense of freedom leads into another major theme, that of Identity. Sethe and these other ex-slaves are trying to redefine themselves in a world that has chewed them up and spit them out. Beyond the slave reference, Sethe and her family have an added stigma because of Beloved. All of the characters come face-to-face with their own identity (or lack thereof) and have to take major actions to determine what they want to become.

The other major theme that struck me was that of Family and of relations within the Family. Most of what Sethe did was for her family. She was driven to escape slavery to protect and provide a better life for her family. She ran with her kids in tow to the tool shed when the white authorities came, because she had to protect her family. She went to prison for her family. She lived alone and stigmatized in a haunted house in an effort to keep her family whole. And yet, her actions also served to drive her family apart. Her sons leave as soon as they feel physically capable of doing so. Her remaining living daughter Denver is totally estranged and practically ignored by her. Going back to the "identity" factor, Sethe hasn't really learned how to be a mother and has to learn what it means to create a family in the world she's living in.

Overall

Overall I had a hard time with this book. It was a very slow read for me, often talking itself in circles and leaving me confused. Still, I found the story very interesting and thought provoking. I felt awful for Sethe and her family and for the trials they had to endure. Even though, as I mentioned above, I felt that the 'slavery' theme often got overshadowed, I was still struck by the awful fact that slavery did exist (still exists some places in the world) and just how awful it was. Even the "good" slave owners (of "Sweet Home" where Sethe ran from) were despicable and made me shrink in shame.

It was a good book, but hard to read. I don't know how good the movie was, but if it's true enough to the book, I might recommend watching that rather than trying to push through the book.

Still, it's worth reading if only to get a new insight into the world of slavery and racism that raged (and still lingers) in America and the world.

***
3 stars

Well yikes...I am officially the Cubmaster for our local Cub Scout Pack. I haven't been in Cub Scouts for ages. Jason became a cub last year and is earning his Wolf this month...so at least I've had some minor refresher courses in what Cub Scouts is like. Still, I'm at a bit of a loss as to exactly what I need to do to get ready for Pack Meeting (in ~3 weeks).

Generally, I'm excited. Scouts is a ton of fun and it's a great program. I'm looking forward to fooling around with the scouts and having a lot of fun. I'm also nervous about being a lame Cubmaster and screwing up what could otherwise be a very fun bunch of memories for these kids.

Wish me luck.

I kept hearing good things about this book so I finally picked it up and read it over Christmas break. Being a kids/young adult book, it was a fairly fast read. Still, because of the depth created in the world of the book, I tried to slow down my reading and take it all in.

The overall plot of the book felt fairly familiar after having read other 'futuristic' or 'alternate humanity' books. My most recent memory was to _City of Ember_ which I read earlier this year. In both books, there's an isolated Community with rather specific rules and regulations as well as a sort of lottery process that specifies a future career for children once they reach a certain age. Stepping beyond that plot device, the two books diverge greatly...with Ember dwelling largely on the mystery and adventure of escaping the city and Giver concentrating more on what is lost and missing in such a community (granted, Ember still contained the same theme and I thought a lot about if, but it wasn't as overt).

The writing style was easy to follow and the story line was concise and interesting. Through the first many chapters, I grew close to the main character, Jonas, and enjoyed his perspective and his thought processes.

Once he received his assignment as the next Receiver, many new revelations came to light. Up until he met the Giver I wasn't entirely sure of the direction the book would take. I still wasn't entirely sure where it would go, but the message and intent became more clear.

It was interesting to me some of the things I didn't realize were missing in the book prior to meeting the Giver. Once Jonas meets and begins his training with the Giver, he becomes more "awake" to the state of the world and more aware of his surroundings. Naturally, his descriptions become more vivid. Looking back at earlier sections of the novel, I wasn't aware of some of the simple adjectives that were missing from the descriptions. I must have just chalked it up to the simple writing of a younger book...but now that I know better, I attribute it to the artful direction of a talented author using his writing style to propel his message.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to picking up more books by Lowry. My biggest complaint is with the ending of the book. Don't get me wrong...I don't mind "sad" or even "ambiguous" endings. In fact, my wife will tell you how much I love depressing stories. What I felt was lacking from this book was more sense of closure.

I don't want to spoil the ending, but be warned that this paragraph may allude to elements, so skip it if you like. I didn't mind not knowing the exact nature of the lights Jonas saw at the end. I can be hopeful that they indicate a positive ending, but even if they are elements of a sad ending, that's alright.

What was missing for me was closure as to the results of his final actions. What happened in the community? I realize that Lowry probably didn't want to spell things out exactly because he wants to leave a sort of "call to action" for the reader. Still, I wanted a few pages about what happened in the community...whether or not Jonas' theories were valid...even if the book ended before a resolution happened. I wanted to know whether or not Jonas' actions were valid and justified or whether they were ineffective and futile. I wanted to see some hope of change for the community rather than leaving it completely nebulous.

OK, now that I've added sufficient ambiguity to all those who haven't read it, I hope you'll take my call to action and go read it yourself. It's a fairly short book with quick reading and a thoughtful message.


****
4 stars

For a bit of 'inspirational' reading this Christmas, I picked up The Screwtape Letters. I've read some of the Narnia series as well as Mere Christianity (which was years ago, I may have to re-read it) by Lewis and I knew the basic gist of Screwtape, but still wasn't 100% sure what was in store for me.

The book is a series of letters written by the demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood. Both are demons of Hell and the letters are discussions of the practices used to tempt humans and lead them down to Hell rather than letting them make it to Heaven. Wormwood is a junior demon working on tempting a human man in 'contemporary' (to Lewis...~1940s) London. Screwtape is a senior demon no longer doing field work but now in a higher administrative role and full of good advice for the young Wormwood.

The book is often humorous as you read about the follies of humans from the point of view of these immortal and immoral tempters. The humorous anecdotes are also subtly invasive as you realize just how true to life these comments are.

Screwtape advises Wormwood to take advantage of the foibles of human nature to lead the man down the path to Hell while all the while letting him believe he's on his way to Heaven. The subversive realities these demons try to persuade the human to believe are strangely familiar to the social norms of the world in which we live.

Screwtape admonishes that, unless the man is truly vile, Wormwood shouldn't try to push him away from religion but rather let him get puffed up in his religion to the point of self-exhaltation based on his own interpretations. The demons are wary of the truly penitent but are grateful for the many who go through the motions of religion for perception only.

There are many good lessons to be learned through the book. Many poignant passages softly chastising humble pride, valueless bravery, hopeless nostalgic dreamers and others. It's a great satire on the state of the world.

What was most sad and scary to me is that ~50-60 years later, not much has changed. The same subtle lies are being whispered through the world and countless humans (myself included at times) are believing them and gently paving our own way to Hell.

Two other things I found very interesting in this book:

1. This edition included a short epilogue from C. S. Lewis. In it, he discusses the difficulty of writing from the point of view of a devil. He wrote of the darkness he felt in trying to shed all semblance of goodness in order to portray such a viewpoint. Perhaps one of my favorite themes in the book was that of Screwtape trying to understand "God's Love." He just couldn't believe that God truly loves us and that it is that Love that is at the heart of his motivations. I think Lewis truly threw himself into the role of Screwtape and did a great job embodying the demon. I don't envy him that difficult task.
2. This edition also included Lewis' one follow up to the Letters. It was a short work called "Screwtape Proposes a Toast" and the setting is a graduation commencement for novice demons just out of training and ready for assignments. Screwtape is giving the commencement speech and toast. His language and themes were again very relevant and honest satires on the world we live in. A few paragraphs really caught my attention...He talked about the education system of humans and ways they (the demons) might undermine it. He talked of standardized testing and lowering the scale to the least common factor such that the most inept student could succeed (only with that bare minimum) while the average and excellent students will leave school with no educational increase. He talked about undermining the true study and learning by replacing it with rote memorization of facts and figures to the point that any ability to truly think would be diminished and thus humans would not be able to see through the flimsy temptations. Sadly, a lot of the language in this section sounded far too similar to the No Child Left Behind legislation and other similar practices in the school system today. How sadly prophetic Lewis was on this front

I'd be interested to find some analysis of it that helps break out different letters into their themes...maybe I'll work on one. Something that could be used to pull out passages about some of the different temptations: Love/Romance/Sex, Religion, Pride, Nature, etc.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. There were a few sections that really seemed to drag on but generally it was a lot of fun to read and it left me in a state of deep thinking afterwards. Give it a try.

****
4 stars

About ~1/3 of the way through the year, I set a goal to read 50 books in 2008. I fell about 10 books short of that goal (not counting the numerous children/picture books I read with my kids), but I still did pretty good. I'm setting the same goal for 2009 and I'm sure I'll make it this year.

Books I read in 2008:

1. Grimm's Fairy Tales
2. The Candy Shop War
3. The Garden In Which I Walk
4. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
5. Alice's Adventures Through The Looking Glass
6. The Looking Glass Wars
7. The Jungle Books
8. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
9. Peter Pan (Peter & Wendy)
10. Dark Wraith of Shannara
11. The Eyre Affair
12. From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
13. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
14. Hide and Seek
15. The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe
16. The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber)
17. The Pale Blue Eye
18. The Catcher in the Rye
19. Speak
20. Artemis Fowl (book 1)
21. My Name is Asher Lev
22. Bless Me, Ultima
23. Seeing Redd (Looking Glass Wars Book 2)
24. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
25. Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe)
26. The Book Thief
27. Virgins and Martyrs
28. City of Ember
29. Into the Wild
30. Sideways Stories From Wayside School
31. House of the Scorpion
32. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
33. The Picture of Dorian Gray
34. Push
35. The Canterbury Tales
36. Wayside School is Falling Down
37. A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories
38. The Screwtape Letters
39. The Giver