Big Brilliant Book of Bart Simpson

As an animated show, the Simpsons could be an ideal candidate for comic books. Here, the stories have much of the charm of the TV show. The stories share some of the biting humor of the show. The drawing style is very similar to that of the TV show. It attempts to use some of the visual humor. However, it is not quite as funny as the animated show. (And it is missing the audio component.) The stories here also seem to end on a minor "moralizing" message.

The comics are worth a quick read and chuckle, but not much more.

Mo and Jo Fighting Together Forever

Mo and Jo are constantly bickering siblings who happen to share a love for a great superhero, "Mojo". As it so happens, his secret identity is as the local mailman. He is ready to retire, so he gives his costume to the two kids. They fight over it, and eventually it breaks in two. Luckily, their Mom fixes it and transforms it in to two costumes. Mo gets the stretchy arms, while Jo gets the magnetic boots. They are still bickering. At a parade, they run in to a bad guy who is trying to spread his badness. Mo and Jo finally learn to work together and are able to defeat the bad guy.

This comic is lighthearted and humorous. Sure, they save the world, but being kid focused, the more important message is that they achieve peace with each other. The best part, however, is the stretchy plastic-man type stretchy superpower.

Kung Fu Panda 2

This sequel is a bit darker and more realistically animated than the original. It also features a lot more kung-fu. The plot is a tpyical kung-fu one. A panda is predicted to be the destruction of a bad guy. The bad guy tries to kill all pandas. However, our hero was left in a radish crate. he eventually finds inner peace and saves all of China.
The movie uses simple animation for telling history and back-story, while CGI animation is used for the real story. This is a nice touch I have not seen before. There are also some landscapes that look "real" rather than animated. Even though the movie was mostly set at night, the visuals are still good and visible. It also has a lot of action, but is still good for kids.

Spiderman, Hulk and Ironman

In this book, Hulk is always Hulk, though tends to be more "stupid" than mad. Hulk, Ironman and Spiderman are buddies who have a few random adventures. They babysit Cerebrus, they save the world by participating in "intergalatic xgames". Their adventures are geared towards children, and don't have the heaviness and vulgarity of modern comic books. However, they also lack some of the advanced characterization in those books. If only we could get something in between those extremes.

Skrulls vs. Power Pack

This new Power Pack series is aimed at children. This provides stories that seem more like the "classic" comic books than the edgy modern books. Power Pack are framed for a crime and hauled back to another planet to stand trial. On earth, skrull shape-shifters take their place. Eventually, their bowling buddy, Franklin Richards (son of the Fantastic 4) uses their spaceship to help rescue them. They eventually discover that those stolen treasures contain an import message that says that the defenders (and destroyers) of the universe may in fact be them.

The story was very engaging. However, the end was predictable, and not up to the caliber of the remainder of the story. There is also an additional "lite-feature" of the fantastic 4 saving the world from skrull invaders. This is drawn in a more cartoony fashion and good for a few laughs.

Dr. Carbles is Losing His Marbles

The My Weird School series is aimed at young children, and doesn't go much beyond that audience. The principal and the school board chair are both skateboarders, though the principal still maintains his quirkiness. He is fired due to a runaway turkey. Dr. Carbles takes over and remakes the school with military discipline. However, when he finds out the former principal mentioned his toupee, he challenges him to a skateboarding duel. And who should walk in after they crash, but the county school boss, who fires Carbles and restores the superintendent.

The book is filled with puns and misheard words (including many that are repeated over and over and over again.) There are better kids books out there.

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe was the inspiration for Bike Friday, so it must have something going for it. The story reads a lot like the Victorian adventures of Jules Verne - only Defoe wrote his work a couple centuries before Verne.

Crusoe denies the advice of his family and takes to a life at sea. He runs in to trouble but manages to come ahead. Eventually, he is the lone survivor of a shipwreck on a deserted island. He luckily is able to get some provisions from the hip and live off the bounty of the land. The bulk of the novel concerns his quarter-century adventures on the island.

Eventually he notices cannibals using the island to consume captives. He eventually chooses to rescue one, and this fins his faithful servant Friday. They later rescue Friday's father and a Spanish shipwreckee from similar fates. Eventually some English mutineers arrive. The island crew return the captain to his post and eventually exit the island.

The return to Portugal where he checks the state of his estate and eventually travels overland towards England. In this travel they have the last adventure fighting wild animals.

DeFoe spends a good deal of time in the head of his main character. His gradual increase in religious faith and optimism help him through what appear to be great challenges. Even with the heavy moralizing, the story moves at an effective pace.

Crazy English

Crazy English could make a good "bathroom book". There is almost no narrative in the book, and each short chapter stands on its own.

Many of the chapters are lists of items, or pretentious attempts at stuffing every single instance of some oddity in to a "story". There is a dialog where a person responds entirely in palindromes, and another where somebody makes all plurals "irregular". Some of these chapters can be extremely tedious, while others are worth reading. This makes it a good candidate for a quick skim.

Way With Words I: Writing, Rhetoric, and the Art of Persuasion

Way With Words


This is an introduction to rhetoric, with balanced coverage of both spoken and written communication. It starts with a brief history of rhetoric, then goes on to the "big picture" areas of organization. (It even advocated the structure of the "5 paragraph essay".) It then goes in to some details, covering logic, some tropes and scheme, and some examples of good and bad speeches.

The section on logic was easy to understand, and provided a great basis for identifying logical fallacies in arguments. The grammar section provided a balanced view of grammar rules which boiled down to "know your audience". It doesn't matter whether or not some "authority" views something as appropriate, what matters is that it will be seen as appropriate by the audience.

There was also a quick introduction to various rhetorical devices, including when to use them and when to avoid them. It left me eager to further explore the details of rhetoric.

Cat's Eye

This tedious book dealt with the childhood reminiscences of Elaine, a popular, controversial Canadian artist. She traces back her experiences growing during World War II and going to school in Toronto. Her big concern seemed to be the relationship with Cordelia, a friend who used to tease the narrator, but later had struggles of her own.

The novel occasionally bounces from the past to present, but seems to have an odd "remembering" structure. The earlier parts of life seem to be in much greater detail, while the later parts of life whiz by quickly. The narration is fairly easy to follow, and has fairly vivid pictures of post-war Toronto. Cordelia plays the role of Citizen Kane's "rosebud", representing the lost youth that is difficult to reclaim.

Elaine has had challenges in her life, never quite fitting in with groups, yet not forcing herself to be a victim, or altering her beliefs to conform to groups at any end of the spectrum. Alas, the book is slow moving, and not very engaging. The characters change, but don't seem to grow. This is not a book I would recommend.

Word Myths

Word Myths attempts to "debunk" various word origin urban legends. It does a fairly good job of doing so. (However, its approach seems to be primarily based on looking up the earliest origin in the Oxford English dictionary.) Some of the origins "Debunked" seem to be obvious bits of humour (such as a "life in the Shakespeare's day" story that managed to give the "false" origins of all sorts of cliche's.)

Unfortunately, the book tends to be extra verbose and "chatty". And some of the "debunkings" aren't worth the effort. It is actually more interesting to see the origin of the "false etymology" than the true etymology.

Rings, Swords and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature

These lectures almost inspired me to read some fantasy books. However, the size of the books is always intimidating. (Not to mention the fact that they tend to be boring.) However, some of the pre-Tolkein fantasy books do look like they may be worth pursuing.

The bulk of the lectures concern J.R.R. Tolkein and his Lord of the Rings. he is given extra credit for giving the linguists touch to his work and creating large "full" worlds. Many others are seen as responding to or imitating his work. In other words, the dominant form of today's popular entertainment is dominated by one person. Quite impressive. Though perhaps stretching things a little too far.

The other obervation is that fantasy often deals with "needs" rather than wants and tends to be really long. The length is definately accurate, and what has often turned me off. Sure they are full worlds. But it takes a huge effort to get in to them. Once the effort is taken, going further may be worthwhile, but why take the effort?

The lost bit touched on some non-Tolkein fantasy, such as the "King Arthur" fantasy and magical realism. T.H. White, Borges, Garcia-Marquez, etc. Now this stuff sounds interesting. Perhaps there is some fantasy for me after all.

The Eyre Affair

I enjoy reading Jasper Fforde books, yet feel no urgency to read more. The books have plots, but they are not particularly engaging. The characters have their interesting points, but they are not the types you would want to get to know better. The strength of the books lies in the style. This makes them fun to read, but doesn't leave an urgency for more.

In the Eyre affair, the characters inhabit the "real" world, however, a few things are different. Britain is still fighting the Crimean war. Wales is an independent republic. Certain people can travel in time (or make time stand still.) And their are also some inventions, such as a machine that lets people travel in books. Of course, the bad guys get hold of this and use it to remove characters from original manuscripts, thus changing the novel.

There is also a giant corporation that dominates the control. It seems to play the role of nuisance. And of course, the hero has a love interest, a father that pops in and out, and plenty of other side interests.

However, all of this stuff is secondary to the bizarreness of "life" in the universe. I'm often stuck wondering - "is this a real event?" or "is this how the novel really is?" Historical fact and fiction are weaved in and out of the novel. Characters often bear names of "pop-culture" objects, whether they be games, scientific procedures or expressions. It makes for plenty of fun bits in the Monty Python/Douglas Adams tradition, but alas doesn't quite maintain interest.

A History of Hitler's Empire

This series of lectures does a great job of presenting Hitler in his time. The key events that lead to his power in Germany were described. Hitler's strengths along with the proper sidekicks and right situations all helped him gain power. The Nazi party had a bizarre set of values. However, in the nutcase that was interwar Germany the simple "we stand for something different" was all that was needed to gain a large share of the votes.

The early rise of Hitler's nazi party seems perfectly legitimate. Later on there was a little thugery. However, even that could be brushed aside. Hitler was a deft salesman, often building off of the supposed international abuses to unite the German people. The catch was the logical extension - you either go on conquering, or have your empire implode as you run out of enemies.

The actual war years only hold a brief section of this work. A disproportionate amount of the war coverage relates to the Holocaust. However, the actual extermination of the Jews seems to have been not very well known in the world or inside Germany until near the end of the war. The attack on Jews was a natural extension of the "unity through enemies" approach carried out by Nazi party. However, when the enemies are different and have money, they become easy target. The impression in these lectures is that the cruelty originated from lower level functionaries, but those higher up did not object and later gave their approval. (Some even began to take pride in their ability to "dehumanization" them.)

The lectures bring out the point that Hitler was not some gross aberration, but a product of our western culture. Germany of the time had one of the most open, educated, liberal welfare states. However, it also felt abused by other nations, and was thus ready for someone to unite them against a common enemy. Unfortunately, this had disastrous results. Could this be repeated again?

Bikes are faster than planes

With a section of freeway shut down in Los Angeles, JetBlue airlines ran a promotional flight between two nearby airports. Some L.A. bike groups didn't miss the opportunity to stage a race between destinations near each airport.

The winners?

bicyclists.

The plane came in fourth place, behind a transit user and rollerbalder. The transit user is the most intriguing. You can actually take transit on a weekend in L.A.? Wow. Perhaps there is a city down there with all the sprawl.

It reminds me of the commute from Sunnyvale to Stanford. The fast bicyclist could always win. However, even the transit user could often beat the driver - especially when factoring in the trip from the parking lot to the office.

Slate or LA Streetsblog or US News

Toy Story

Toy Story was the first big Pixar animated movie. Since then, it seems all movies have gone the computer generated animation route.

The story was quaint, not bad, but not incredibly memorable.

I thought it was an ok movie when it first came out. Now it still seems ok. I guess it has thus stood the test of time. It has a few scary parts (with the kid that destroys toys), however, other than that, it is great for kids. For adults, it has a nice simple plot about acting rashly and seeking forgiveness. But, the toys are still the main selling point here. By using classic toys, the movie has managed to stand the test of time.

Santa Clara county library fee

The Santa Clara County libraries have started charging $80 to use the library. It seems to be an interesting divide with some of the wealthiest cities in the county (Los Altos Hills, Saratoga, etc.) charging a fee to some of the poorest areas (San Jose) for the privilege of using the library. Something seems a little wrong here.

To be fair, areas like Los Altos are up in arms about the fee, while it is "poorer" areas such as Campbell that are most in favor of the move. However, that just adds to the irony. The poor "in crowd" gets libraries subsidized by the likes of Los Altos, but doesn't want to subsidize San Jose.

On their homepage, they bragged that over 800 paid library cards (and 500 free student cards) were issued in the first few days. The big question is how it will turn out.

At one end, the library could rake in all sorts of money from the fee, and see a significant decrease in library activity.

On the other end, they could get just the most frequent library users ponying up. Say 2000 people pay the fee, bringing in $160,000. Since they pay the fee, they may increase their library usage to make sure they get their money's worth. Plenty of students get the free student cards, with families using a student card for occasional library usage. The net result is a stabilization or increase in library usage. Los Altos remains very perturbed about the library situation, and decides to leave the county system, taking away their multi-million dollar subsidy to the other libraries. End result: increased demands on the library, with decreased funding. (Not to mention the ill will.)

How will it pan out? It would be nice if Santa Clara county could simply create a unified system like San Mateo county, but that may be dreaming a bit too much...

Paxtis Pizza

Real Chicago style pizza in California! I had endured the horrors of "Pizza Chicago", and resigning myself to never finding "real" pizza in California. (Pizza Chicago is not all that bad for what it is; however, it is definitely not Chicago Pizza.)

Then some friends brought over some Patxis Pizza.

Unbelievable. It was real pizza. Stuffed crust. Spinach. The whole deal. It was like the stuff we would get from Giordano's down the street in Chicago. Stuffed deep with cheese. Layers of tomato sauce, and enough spinach hidden away to let you pretend its healthy.

At last, "real" pizza in California, without having to make it yourself.

Kung Fu Panda

It's funny. The plot is crazy. There is also a Panda who's father is a bird. It doesn't actually make a lot of sense, but, hey, isn't that the point of Kung Fu movies?

A panda is somehow ordained the chosen one to save the world from the evil bad guy. Problem is he doesn't know squat with regard to martial arts. He learns a little, and then goes crazy fighting for a dumpling. He then learns from his father that the secret ingredient is - nothing. That gives him the faith to finally beat the bad guy and make everybody happy.

Ahh. How nice. There is also plenty of kung fu action. (Enough to get a 6 year old up and dancing on the couch) Not bad for an escapist movie.

A world lit only by fire

This book rambles on about the middle ages and renaissance, and eventually goes on the laud Magellan. Finally in the afterward he explains that it started after he wrote an introduction for a friend's work on Magellan. He decided that he wanted to write a brief background to the times of the explorer. Things got out of hand, and we ended up with this book. He also admits to using all secondary sources in the work.

Alas, what we have is a book that is half filled with lurid details of the depredations of corrupt popes, and half filled with the voyage of Magellan. Here is the middle ages as seen through the eyes of modern sensibilities.

This book reads like a disorganized term paper on the middle ages that was graded on length not quality. About the only part worthwhile part was the tale of Magellan's final fall. And this would probably be better told in a more focussed book. That leaves, well, nothing to recommend in this book.

Babies

The movie shows babies in the US, Japan, Mongolia and Africa. That's about it. There is no narrative and just a smattering of dialog (all in local language). Even growing up in very different surroundings, babies act a lot a like. They like to nurse, explore their world, and get in to general trouble. The movie can be quite boring at times, but does have its bits of interesting parts. It is interesting to see how "overprotective" legislation doesn't seem to change the core behavior of little ones.

Indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull

Perhaps Indiana Jones should not have gone out of retirement. The Last Crusade was a great movie. Crystal Skull was not. Aliens? Com'on. Sure, they tie it to ancient artifacts and the city of gold, but it just seems to stretch the Indy concept a little far from the core. The 50s background also just didn't seem right. (It felt like the 30s masquerading as the 50s.) And an illegitimate teenage son? And a wedding to the son's mother? ugghh. The story has plenty of Idy's trademark ironic quips, but here they just seem to fall flat. About all that is left is a lot of action (with the trademark theme.) Even this just doesn't seem to cut it like it used to. If only this franchise had remained in retirement.

Lost Languages

This display is "encyclopediac" with two columns per page, filled with diagrams and pictures. However, this does not distract from a very engaging narrative. It begins with background on deciphering lost languages, and how it differs from code-breaking. (One intends to deceive, but renders a common language. Another does not intend to deceive, but does not render to a known language.)

It then spends time covering some decipherments such as Linear B and Mayan. These are intriguing synopses, with plenty of details provided to allow the reader to try it on their own.

After that it goes in to some of the major "undeciphered" scripts. The degree to which they are not deciphered varies. Some are totally unknown. While others have a few proposed decipherments, but nothing that scholars can agree on. Part of the problem is simply identifying what defines a "character". We haven't been blessed with ancient civilizations that did a beautiful job typesetting all of their artifacts. Instead we have characters that may be the same, but have slightly different shapes. We may also have compound characters and perhaps characters that look almost the same, but are really quite different. Then once the characters are "cracked", there is the matter of figuring out what they mean. If we don't know the language of the time, we cna try to find related languages and hope for the best. Or we can try computer models, or we can just try to come up with something new.

Will we be able to crack this old scripts? Probably one day, but it could take a while.

This book does a great job of exciting interesting in ancient languages, while also making their challenges clear.

Hebrews, Greeks and Romans: The Foundations of Western Thought

Hebrews , Greeks , and Romans : The Foundations of Western Civilization ( Course Guide ) (THE MODERN SCHOLAR)

It starts out good, but my interest faded when he started going in to details about the Greeks and Romans. I had recently heard a lot of the similar material and was hoping for more details putting everything together. Instead it was a big narrative of the Odyssey, Illiad, Socrates, Aneid, and how they are all important. That is all nice, but more useful would be how they all built upon each other and how the different areas combined to give us our modern western thought. For that, we do have bits and pieces such as descriptions of how some Greek philosophical views are the root in communist arguments. However, we really didn't get much more until the last lectures where he finally ties everything together. If the middle lectures kept up the quality it would have been much more enlightening.

Antz

Take a run-of-the-mill story, animate it with ants, and voila, you have a blockbuster. Unfortunately, underneath it is still not much to reccomend.
In Antz, a worker ant feels that the conformist life of an ant is not for him. It just so happens that the princess ant happens to be slumming one night, runs in to him and he finds himself hooked. He chases her down, runs off with her to insectopia, and eventually they grow to like each other. They come back just in time to save the ant colony from the destruction instigated by the princesses fiancee. Everything finally works out in part by the ants ability to work together. Wait, wasn't the goal supposed to be to think independently? This isn't the only sort of confusion. At times, it seems to be geared towards kids, then it tries to get serious and throw in some bad language in attempt to attract adults, or perhaps throw in some toilet humor to attract "older kids". In the end it just makes for a bad movie.