Darwin’s Radio

by Greg Bear

The human race is on the verge of it’s next big jump in evolution, but we don’t know it. Biologist Kaye Lange predicted years ago that dormant bits of DNA might get turned on, and suddenly finds that she’s the world’s expert on the outbreak of illnesses and spontaneous abortions that have gripped the world. Christopher Dicken of the CDC is also investigating the epidemics, but finds that the cause that he and Dr. Lang propose is not politically acceptable. They race to find definate proof of the cause.

I quite liked the first two-thirds of this novel where Bear describes the outbreaks of illness, the response of the public and policymakers, and the search by Lang, Dicken and others for the cause and cure. However, the last third of the book the quality of story and plot seemed to break down. Here the plot is more character-driven than proceedure-driven, and the writing just wasn’t as engaging.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

by Judy Blume

This is another book I picked up to release during Banned Books Week. Several of Blume’s books appear on the list of the most challenged books of 1999-2000, which is a complete mystery to me. I remember reading Blume’s books as a kid, and loving everyone one of them. This, however, was one I hadn’t read before.

Margaret is an 11-year-old girl with a Jewish father and Christian mother. Her parents gave up their religions when they married, and have been cut-off from her mother’s parents. Her father’s mother, however, has stuck by the family, and looks at Margaret as “her Margaret”. Margaret has grown up without a religion, which didn’t matter until her family moved to a suburb of New York where the girls talk about going to Sunday School or the Jewish Youth Center. Margaret is confused about where she belongs and her parents are no help.

We follow Margaret through her sixth grade year, anticipating “developing” and her first period. She also attends temple for the first time with her Grandmother for Rosh Hoshanna and church with a friend for Christmas Eve services.

As with most of Blume’s books, this as a good, honest coming-of-age tale for girls.

Go Ask Alice

by Anonymous

I picked up this book to read and release in honor of Banned Books Week. It has been one of the most challenged books of 1990-2000.

This book is the diary of a teenager who gets caught up with drugs and struggles to free herself both from the drugs and from the stigma of having been part of “that crowd”. This is an excellent book, even 30 years after it’s first publication, and can certainly speak to teens of today. However, the book does not answer any questions, but should instead be used as a springboard for communication about drugs and their dangers.

I’m not sure why this book has been challenged so much, since it does not glorify drug use. I suppose it also talks about how great a high can be, which could make drugs more attractive; however, if anyone actually reads the whole book, including the epilogue, they will understand that the dangers far outweigh the highs.

A note from Snopes: this book is actually written by Beatrice Sparks, an author who has written several books, all purported to be true stories, about teens who’s lives are ruined by drugs, pregnancy, sex, etc.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

3.5/5 stars

We finally got to go to a movie in the theater today. It’s been a really long time, at least for us. We decided that of the movies we want to see, Sky Captain would be best on a large screen, and boy were we right. It’s a beautiful film to look at and a lot of fun to watch. Andrew commented, though, that it’s too bad the plot made not one bit of sense. I disagreed — if you stand back and squint, the plot makes perfect sense.

Tropico

It has been months, maybe even over a year, since I’ve had the time and energy to play any of my computer or PlayStation games. Since the wedding planning is going so well, and I have the next two weeks off from work, I’ve been playing Tropico every night for the past three nights.

Tropico is a game where you play the dictator of a small tropical island. The game starts in 1960 and goes for 10-60 years, depending on how you set up the game. The goal is to develop the island for one of several goals: capitalism, military strength, the size of your own Swiss bank account, the overall happiness of the citizens, or some combination of these.

In the past when I played, I never reached the end of the game — I usually got frustrated after about 20 years when I was getting very far into debt. These games, however, I seem to have gotten the hang of the first 30 years now. However, once again, the economy goes south after 35-40 years. At that time, the people start to rebel, and I’ve been ousted through a coup in each of these games (but I’ve lasted several extra years each successive game).

I’ll probably play again tomorrow. Here’s hoping I make it through my entire 50 years of rule!

Cheesy Get-to-know-you Thingy

Haven’t gotten one of these for a few months, so I thought I’d actually fill this one out…

1. What time did you get up? 5:40 AM, or so…though today I slept until after 6…what decadance!
2. If you could eat lunch with one person, who would it be? Einstein — sometimes I just need to be reminded how little I really know
3. Gold or silver? Plantinum — I’m allergic to gold and silver
4. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Collateral
5. What is your favorite TV show? Clean Sweep
6. What do you have for breakfast? Oatmeal if I’m at work, bowl of cereal if I’m at home
7. Who would you hate to be stuck in a room with? Carrot Top — only one of us would emerge
8. What/Who inspires you? The stars at night
9. What is your middle name? Jo (soon to have two middle names: Jo and Mattson
10. Beach, city or country? Country, but not too far from the suburbs
11. Favorite ice cream? Phish Food
12. Butter, plain, or salted popcorn? Butter
13. Favorite color? Most of the various shades of blue
14. What kind of car do you drive? Corolla
15. Favorite sandwich? The ones we make at home with homemade bread and lots of veggies and cheese
16. What characteristic do you despise? Dishonesty
17. Favorite flower? Lilacs
18. If you could go anywhere in the world on a vacation, where would it
    be? Photo safari in Africa, though I’m more likely to do the whole European-thing before that ever happens
19. What color is your bath robe? Blue with stars and moons
20. Where would you like to retire? Southwest USA
21. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
22. What did you do for your last birthday? Bike ride, shopping and dinner out
23. Where were you born? Minnesota
24. Favorite sport to watch? Figure skating
25. What fabric detergent do you use? Tide-free
26. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke (Vanilla or Cherry, preferably)
27. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl turned morning person for the sake of my commute
28. What is your shoe size? 9.5
29. Do you have any pets? Yup, three cats: Duncan, Ares, and Artemis
30. Favorite alcoholic drink? Mudslide

The Music Man

3/5 stars

I don’t actually remember ever sitting down and watching The Music Man end-to-end. I know snippets of many of the songs, but couldn’t put them into context, so I decided to add this one to the queue.

Campy, cheesy, typical musical from the 60s. I ended up fast-forwarding through many of the slower musical numbers, as I started to lose interest in the 2 and a half hour film…

Collateral

3/5 stars

Vincent (Tom Cruise) hires a cab for the night, driven by Max (Jamie Foxx), to make five stops. However, after the first stop, Max discovers that Vincent is a hired assassin….

Not bad. I can’t remember any other films where Cruise has played a “bad guy”, and frankly he does a credible job.

Hole in the Wall Books (II)

We biked up to Hole in the Wall Books again today. We didn’t have very much time last Thursday, since we needed to get back to the car before it got too dark, so we decided to head out again today and take our time at the bookstore.

The ride feels shorter and shorter each time that we do it. Today, like Thursday, I actually made it up the big hill going east just after the Beltway. But today, unlike Thursday, I also made it up that same hill going the other way. Whoo Hoo!

Our destination:

After we got back, Groom Bear, in the back seat of the car, felt the need to be protected from my driving:

The Good Girl

3/5 stars

This is just not my kind of movie. I can see why Aniston would choose it as a break from her typical comedy role — her character is a “ordinary” woman stuck in a marriage she’s not happy with and working a dead-end job. She finds an easy diversion with a new, young employee. But in the end, this is just a depressing movie about ordinary people where not much happens along the way.