Hey all, I read one book this month. Here it is:
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett: I love this book. It's the second in the Discworld series by Pratchett, and it follows Rincewind the wizard as he reluctantly saves the world. With one of the eight great spells stuck in his head, Rincewind, though inept, is basically impossible to kill. With the help of Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, and the luggage, which has 100 legs and a mind of its own, Rincewind faces druids and heroes, other wizards and creatures from the dungeion dimensions. It's a little more clunky than the later books in the series, but I will say this: It deals with the faculty of Unseen University, which always makes it a winner in my book. Any author that can satirize a faculty so completely and so accurately deserves all the ice cream he can eat and then some.
That's it for my reads, kids. Feel free to share your own in the comments.
Well, kids, NASCAR opened today with the Daytona 500, which is pretty much, to quote the announcers, "The Superbowl of NASCAR." It's the biggest race of the season, and Tony Stewart did not win, which is something that I personally appreciate. He did lead several laps, but then he and the second car behind him got into it and he was done for the day. I will say this--They must have gotten him on some meds during the off-season. He's far calmer than he's been in the past.
Harvick (probably spelled wrong) won the race with Mark Martin in second place by something crazy like .002 of a second, which made me sad because he hasn't won at Daytona once in 23 years, but the highlight of the race came at the end. The cars behind the winner and the runner up went smashing into each other, and the 07 car finished the race by sliding down the track UPSIDE DOWN WHILE ON FIRE! The driver was fine, but the car had seen better days, obviously. He finished 18th, and it counted because he stayed on the track. He thought they probably finished higher than 18th and was going to have to review the tapes. Ha! Only in NASCAR.
So, on the whole, it was quite a good race. Most of the cautions came at the end, so it went relatively quickly, there was a drive for the finish at the end and it was really anybody's race right up until the checkered flag dropped.
Additionally, I got to watch it with my dad on his b-day, so that was awesome! In addition, a friend of mine asked me if I wouldn't like to go to the Talledega race. I don't think I'll probably be able to go, but it's fun to fantasize about. On the whole, it was a great day.
To quote the great Darrell Waltrip: "Boogedy, boogedy, boogedy! Let's go racing!" Next week, it's the Auto Club 500, and the prize is something like a million bucks. Whoo hoo! Should be a good one, and I think it's on Fox. I'll be sure to make a full report, ladies and gents.
Well, to make a long story short, I had a good Valentine's Day. There were still fancy chocolates, which those of you have stuck with me for a few years will know I appreciate. In addition, however, there was a delightful meal with my boyfriend. I cooked.
I do not make a habit of cooking. Most of you know this. It's not that I can't do it; it's just that it's time consuming and messy, and I hate touching raw meat. (Only people who have also butchered animals may feel free at this point to call me a sissy.) I also don't usually feel like it's much of a pay off because I am just as content to eat a turkey sandwhich as I am to eat a turkey pot pie.
However, for Valentine's Day, I ponied up and cooked. The boyfriend helped, and it went really well. We made chicken parmesean (probably spelled wrong), and I added eggplant parmesean (also probably spelled wrong) on a hunch that it was probably not too different in anything but the fry time. And I was right.
I was impressed that I did not blow up the oven. He was impressed that the eggplant part turned out. There were leftovers for future meals. On the whole, it was very successul.
And he supplied the fancy chocolates this year, so you gotta love that. The only thing better than fancy chocolates is free fancy chocolates. ;) (And he picked a good box, too, which is also highly important.)
Anybody else do anthing fun for V-Day?
I am once again sitting around on a Friday before my paper is due trying to figure out what to do with my crappy paper. I don't know if I've just written too many blogs lately so that my standards have sunk to the level where all I can do is spew crap or if the topic is just hateful or what. I no longer want to profile a place. I forget why I ever liked any place in the first place.
Remember when we were all in college, and all our friends were in college, too. And all we had to do was walk down the hall to co-miserate. Now all my friends are off vacationing, drinking beer, and watching movies while I sit here doing this crap.
I AM MISERABLE.
Why the hell do I keep doing things I hate for other people.
I know, I know. I should be writing the obligatory SuperBowl entry. I watched good ads, ate good food, drank good beer (Sam Adam's Boston Ale is a winner in my book), and watched the Colts win. Hell yeah on all fronts. I will say this: The announcers were terrible. They brought us such wonderful lines as "Turnovers have been a factor...today" after about the fifth one and "Well, it's still raining out there" as we watched sheets of rain spill from the sky. We decided that they had a bottle of Wild Turkey under the desk and they had to take a shot any time someone said Payton Manning. They also had to take a shot if they said Bears or Colts. They could only say Chicago and Indianapolis. There were other rules, too, but I forget what they were. At any rate, the only logical explanation for announcing that bad is a drinking game gone wrong. Period.
At any rate, as I said, it was good times had by all, but alas, alack, the football season is over, and we must move on. And I move on by bringing you the books I read last month. (Books are rated on a five star scale.)
Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett: Four and a half stars. This fantastic little book is one of the Tiffany Aching series which ties in with the witches series as well. In it, Tiffany Aching dances with Winter during "the other Morris dance" (the one danced silently in the fall vs. the one with bells in the spring--a concept Pratchett brings up in previous novels), and he becomes smitten with her. She then has to figure out how to save the world from eternal winter. And she's in her teens. This is considered a young adult book, so it's not as elaborate or as subtle as some of Pratchett's other novels, but it is hillarious none the less. It is third in the thread and good all around.
Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi: Three stars. Brought to you by the same author who created Persepolis and Persepolis II, this graphic novel follows the break down and death of a musician over the course of about a week. (I'm not giving anything away; it starts out by saying the guy is going to die.) It's pretty good. It's not as good as Persepolis, but it is better than Persepolis II. My theory on all this is that she has a lot of really great stories, but she got famous before most of them were ready. She needs a little distance before she's going to be able to write something as powerful as Persepolis. That's just my opinion. Still, Chicken with Plums was moving and worth the read.
Grease Monkey by Tim Eldred: Four stars. This graphic novel was interesting to say the least. It's weird and a little campy, so be warned, but I enjoyed it. This book is set in a future where a great portion of the human population has been killed and aliens called the Benefactors have advanced the intellegence of primates in order to help humans prepare for a confrontation with the evil aliens who destroyed a good portion of the population. In the midst of this, a young mechanic, Robin Plotnik, joins the orbiting "Fist of Earth" space station. Here, the military does its training drills, and Robin gets assigned to the best (and most ridiculed) squadron--The Barbarians--who happen to be all girls. It's mostly about growing up weird, so that's kind of fun. And it's set in space because most of us who grew up weird like space. I dug it. You could, too, but only if you're weird in all the right ways.
And that is it for the reads, kids. I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to share your own in the comments.
In a move more anticipated than most weddings, J.K. Rowling has set the date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. July 21st, kidos, is the date to mark on your calendars.
B&N and Borders are both offering pre-order options, which I am seriously considering this year just to avoid the crowds of screaming children.