Posted by barb on Mar 4, 2005 in
Books,
Memes, Etc. Here are the rules:
- Grab the nearest book.
- Open the book to page 123.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
- Don’t you dare dig for that “cool” or “intellectual” book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
Here’s mine:
The transformation of components of the second rank ημν transform by
η’αβ = Λαν Λβμ ημν
by comparison with Eq. (4.26), η’αβ = ηαβ. Thus ηαβ has the same components in all frames, as we have assumed.
From Radiative Processes in Astrophysics by George B. Rybicki and Alan P. Lightman. No lie — that’s the book I have out on my desk at work. Maybe I’ll try at home tonight, and see what’s lying around there.
[Link from Mr. Hassle’s Long Underpants]
Tags: dumb fun
Posted by barb on Feb 25, 2005 in
Movies 2.5/5 stars
I’ll confess that I added this to our Netflix queue because it starred Sting. No, he’s not the best actor, but he’s pretty to look at. I didn’t really know much about the story except that it was vaguely related to Frankenstein and involved his creation of a female companion for his “monster”.
In the end it was a “not bad, not great” retelling of the story of Dr. Frankenstein. In this version, Frankenstein constructs a bride for his monster, but she scares the monster away and becomes a ward of Frankenstein. He decides to mold her into an independent woman, contrary to the standards for women of the day. But when she becomes too independent, Dr. Frankenstein resents her.
I probably wouldn’t watch it again, but was a decent distraction for an evening.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Feb 25, 2005 in
Memes, Etc. bold the states you’ve been to, underline the states you’ve lived in and italicize the state you’re in now…
Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /
[via Geeky Mom]
Tags: dumb fun
Posted by barb on Feb 14, 2005 in
Movies 3.5 stars
Not bad, not great. A writer, played by Diane Lane, frustrated after a messy divorce, takes a vacation in Tuscany, and ends up buying a house. We follow her struggle to make the house livable while trying to rekindle both her love life and her writing in the process. A fun diversion.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Feb 13, 2005 in
Books by Philip Pullman
In this second book of the Sally Lockhart trilogy, where we pick up with Sally a few years after The Ruby in the Smoke. She has built herself a small financial consulting business, no small feat for a woman in 1878, and has helped her friends from the first book build a respectable photography business.
This novel starts with two seemingly unrelated minor mysteries — one involves the sinking of a ship, losing one of Sally’s customers all of her retirement savings that she had put into that ship on Sally’s advice; the other involves an enigmatic performer at the theater where Sally’s friend Jim (and also employee at the photography studio) works backstage. These mysteries come together when an elusive company, North Star, pops into both the mystery of the ship, and the mystery of the marked performer.
Pullman’s style is easy and fun to read; though I tend to get lost during fight scenes, so I just skim ahead and see who’s standing at the end. I like that he doesn’t treat any of his characters as sacred, though I was a bit startled and upset by a death near the end of the novel.
I look forward to finding and reading the last book in the series.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Feb 5, 2005 in
Concerts We went to see Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie at the Warner Theatre tonight. Basically they did a live version of Whose Line is it Anyway?, with some familiar games and some unfamiliar games.
The show featured a lot of audience members — more so than the TV show, since there were only two actors instead of the show’s usual four. They played “moving people” and “Whose Line?” (with lines of dialog provided by audience members). They also did “Sound Effects”, which made me laugh so hard I nearly peed.
The final game they played was also the most disturbing game. It was “Alphabet”, but no ordinary game of Alphabet. No. They played it blindfolded. With bare feet. And 100 live mousetraps scattered about. Yeah. Live mousetraps and bare feet. At first I found this game nerve-wracking, but after a while, when they were both on their hands and knees looking for unsnapped mousetraps to thrust in the direction of the other’s voice, I started to get into it, though I hardly paid attention to the improv itself — just the mousetraps.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Feb 2, 2005 in
Movies 3.5/5 stars
Ten years ago, nearly one million people were killed during three months in Rowanda by the Hutu militants. We didn’t hear much about it in the US because our news media was enthralled by the O. J. Simpson trial.
Hotel Rwanda tells the story of a hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, who keeps his family safe at his hotel during this madness. He also takes in over a thousand other Tutsi refugies and uses his connections to keep them safe as well.
This is not a “happy” movie, but is very well done. They manage capture a small bit of what the horror must have been without sinking into the pit of gratuitous gore. Don Cheadle does gives an excellent performance, along with most of the rest of the cast. The exception was Nick Nolte, who turns in an uneven performance, giving the impression that he’s drunk much of the time.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jan 25, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
This movie is a spoof of B-movies. Betty and Paul (a scientist) travel to a remote cabin in the woods to track down a meteorite which is sure to be rich in atmospherium. The cabin happens to be near a cave which, legend has it, is home to the lost skeleton of Cadavra (whatever that is). Dr. Roger Flemming is seeking out the skeleton as part of a plan to take over the world (cue maniacal laughter). On top of all that, a spaceship crashs in the woods nearby, and the pet mutant gets lose. This is all a recipe for a great B-movie!
The movie was a lot of fun. The acting was, well, B-movie, but B-movie on purpose. The dialog usually stayed just shy of being too over-the-top, although occasionally a gag was held for just a smidge too long.
A couple of my favorite lines:
- Dr. Paul Armstrong: Betty, you know what this meteor could mean to science. It could mean actual advances in the field of science.
- Dr. Paul Armstrong: Ranger Brad, I’m a scientist, I don’t believe in anything.
- Dr. Paul Armstrong: I don’t understand. Why does she need an Amish terrarium?
Betty Armstrong: Don’t the Amish live in open air, like us?
Dr. Paul Armstrong: Of course, Betty, it’s absurd. Putting the Amish in glass cases would be inhumane.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jan 24, 2005 in
Movies 2/5 stars
Bad News Bears grow up and play dodgeball. The humor grew up (or became a bit raunchier), too, but not much else. Not bad, not great, just a so-so diversion.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jan 22, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
This was a great spoof on horror movies! Sean decided to win back his girlfriend by acting as hero when zombies start to take over London. Sean and his deadbeat flatmate, Ed, set out to pick up Sean’s mother and his ex-girlfriend, and bring them to safety at his favorite pub, The Winchester.
Excellent, highly recommended hilarious movie.
Cool DVD feature: I don’t normally go on about DVD features, but this one had the best feature I’ve ever seen — Plot Holes. This feature had three sections explaining a few plot holes involving three different characters. Comic-book-like graphics showed what happened while the involved character narrated their story.
Tags: reviews