Reading, Watching, Listening ... August 09 in Review

Books read in August 09

Epistolary novel

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

I rather enjoy epistolary novels. It would grow tiresome if every novel employed that technique but once in awhile I find it fun.

I will have to add this to my growing list of WW II reads in recent years. I picked Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book based on the quirky title and the fact it kept showing up on Goodreads and other lists. I didn't expect the setting or story at all.

I now feel like I know a bit more about the Channel Islands between France and Britain. And again, I've a slice of WWII life from a different angle.

The novel is set in the year following the war and it's about a young British writer, Juliet, who stumbles upon a story, actually a rich collection of stories, when a young man, Dawsey, decides to write an inquiry about Charles Lamb. Incidentally Charles Lamb has come up a fair amount in the past year and I wonder if this book has anything to do with that!

I enjoyed the characters, the spirit of the story and am happy to have read this book!

Sci Fi/July's RRVWP Book Club Pick

The Diamond Age, or a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson
We read this book for July and I was about half done when we met to discuss it. It seems I'm about half a book behind at every book club meeting because the same thing happened this month with Thunderstruck. (Am determined that I'll be back on track for September!)

This was one "messed up" book. I liked it and I didn't like it all at once. It's a post-cyberpunk novel and it's really the story of Nell, a young disadvantaged girl (a thete -- person without a phyle) living in a futuristic version of Shanghai in a world that no longer has countries but has people groups, also known as tribes or "phyles."

John Percival Hackworth, a scientist, is part of the Victorian phyle and he creates an interactive primer, the likes of which have never been seen before, for the daughter of his superior, but not before making a copy for his own daughter. When his copy falls out of his hands and into Nell's he is forced to create one more.

The story follows Nell as she uses the Primer, and to a lesser degree, two other girls who receive similar books, named Elizabeth and Fiona. The Primer reacts to its owners environment and teaches them what they need to know to survive and grow.

The difficulties I had with this story were more of a stylistic nature. I found some of the dense description to be unwieldy and actually unclear. His murky descriptions of things in this futuristic world left me unable to visualize things and at times I wasn't really clear on where the various characters were in the world and how they got there. The terminology is to be expected with a sci fi book and so I wasn't surprised by the vast number of words I needed to add to my vocab in order to navigate the Stephenson book, since all books of this genre do this, but there were times when it just became a bit much.

The book plays with the notion of education, the role of a teacher/mentor, with communication and the idea of a "group-mind or hive-mind." It explores nanotechnology, seed technology, artificial intelligence and its failures and the sociology of a world without countries.

It's an interesting book and while I didn't love it, it still proved to be a good book club choice simply for the discussions that emerged


History/August's RRVWP Book Club Pick

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson (in progress)

Having read Larson's Devil in the White City, I expected to enjoy this title too. Thunderstruck is a book which interweaves the stories of Hawley Crippen, a murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi inventor of wireless technology. I am finding it to be a less gripping story than The Devil in the White City and it's not moving as quickly for me, but it's also been a really busy time of year. Expect a review to follow next month!

Films watched in August 09
Bolt (library rental)
Mamma Mia (rental -- rewatched)
The Ugly Truth (theatre)
Happy Go Lucky (library rental)
Fool's Gold (borrowed)

Music listened to in August 09

Mostly My Chemical Romance as I prepped my classroom for the start of school

Memories and Shaving Creme

via Le Love

When I was young I often had the occasion to spend the night at my hometown grandma's house. Thinking of those times summons all sorts of sensory images:

Kitchen: Sun shining in, prisms casting dancing rainbows on the wall, the floor. Fresh flowers on the table.

The room was warm, friendly, the heart of the home. Grandma was a great cook/baker, but her cookie jar always had Oreos inside.

Living room: Black Forest cuckoo clock. Jade, ivy, rich flowering violets. A china cabinet with Coalport figurines.

"Mine" was named Kelly, because she was a teacher and green and lovely and prim and Grandma said she reminded her of me. While I've no urge to collect china dolls for myself, I spent many childhood hours looking at her figurines and pouring over the import catalogues that featured them.

The Front Entry: The Tupperware animal toys, Lincoln logs, Jeans Beans and other dolls. On the shelf, out of reach were board games: Chinese checkers, Whot, Scrabble, and more. Hanging in the closet were her coats -- including a worn fur she'd had for years.

I realize now, my grandma was not only a stylish lady but my own hero when I was young. I held her world and possessions in a kind of awe that hasn't faded. I saw her every day of my life, but she was always someone special.

The Basement: Cool, damp, scary open stairs, a small enclosed root cellar that smelled of potatoes and onions and earth. Canned goods, vases waiting for flowers, and old toys. My favorite was an old baby buggy that my aunts played with in the early 1940s.

The Front Yard: Bird bath, hummingbird feeder, lilac bushes, tiger lilies that would stain your clothes, babies breath and gorgeous flower beds.

The Back Yard: Rose bushes, a small garden, clothes line, mint plants, honeysuckle, and a shed full of all kinds of treasures -- old hats and gloves, things from grandma's past.

I remember being fascinated by "taking one's garbage out" and how it was picked up by someone. We just had "the burn barrel" and an entirely different garbage routine at home.

Guest room: firm mattress, cool sheets, new nighttime noises

I grew up on a farm inhabited by nature sounds at night and found the sounds of town unusual and distracting when it was bedtime for mini-me. Of course now, I'm trained to ignore the loud clanking of the trains that pass 1/2 mile from my house and the whistles as they blow through the center of town at all hours of the night.

Grandma's bedroom: the wooden jewelry box, her drawer of handkerchiefs, her kissing angels and lilac perfume. I loved to just put my nose to the bottle and inhale deeply. That smell was incredible to me when I was young. Grandma always had a Bible and a small book of devotionals by her bed.

Bathroom: Dove soap, ceramic wall hangings, a wooden toilet seat, a towel hamper built into the wall where we'd hide as children when playing hide and seek. It's so small I can't imagine ever fitting in there.

The inspiration or seed for this blog post came from the picture at the top of the post. It reminded me of the medicine cabinet mirror at my grandma's house. Truly, MY first home. What I think of as my grandma's house was actually my parents first home where they lived for about eight years before taking over the family farm.

Sometimes when the bathroom gets really steamy, one can read a message on the mirror written forty years ago in shaving creme. My memory fades and I can't quite remember what it said. I know there was a heart and it might have just said I love you, I think there might have been names or initials. Mom says she's not sure who wrote it -- her or dad. She thinks Valentine's Day may have played a role. It doesn't matter. I just know that I loved that steamy mirror message. I loved that 20 years later it would still show up, forever imprinted on that mirror surface.

The house was sold about a year after Grandma died. All sorts of memories are linked to the physical bits of that place, but I have them in my heart too. I hope that steamy mirror message still appears spreading its love.

Bolt

Bolt (2008)

I've been meaning to watch this film for ages and it did not disappoint. It was even more sweet now that I have my own little hamster who has a ball to run around in. It was the first movie we watched together! This film is a great tribute to pets and the love of a girl for her dog. It's also about self-fulfilling prophecies--if you believe you are great, sometimes you can be!

Bolt is a show-biz dog who has no idea that his acting career and superpowered abilities are anything less than reality. His entire life is on set or in a trailer nearby. Penny, his owner/co-star, is everything to him and when he believes she's gone missing Bolt risks it all to break free and search for her. What he doesn't realize is that she's just gone home for the day at the end of the shoot. Most of the film is Bolt's cross-country adventure in search of Penny and the green-eyed man who he believes is holding her captive. Along the way, Bolt picks up a street-smart, jaded cat named Mittens and a star-struck hamster named Rhino who believes in Bolt even more than Bolt does. It's a lovely film. Watch this one.

Wordless Wednesday -- Hamster Style

Mamma Mia -- Sing-A-Long

On Sunday, my pal Mike invited Pam and me to his place for some quality time with ABBA. I'd already seen the Mamma Mia film and while it wasn't my favorite movie, I do love the music. I was hesitant at first (remember my karaoke phobia). Howeverl, I actually KNOW these songs inside and out and it was quite a different experience for me. A good time was had by all--wine helped! (Pam, could you tell me the name of the wine? I want to remember that one)

Babysitting -- Secret Agent Style

Couldn't resist posting a few pics of some of my favorite kiddos. We had a blast shopping and snacking and being secret agents while mom and dad were away. We even solved a mystery right in my building. The case of the misplaced letters was solved by this trio of crackerjack investigators. They created their own FBI badges and we dusted for fingerprints and interviewed neighbors. We communicated by code-names with two-way radios and tested suspicious liquids found in the laundry room!

You can find all kinds of fun stuff for kids here, and here

Wordless Wednesday -- The Harvest Edition

The Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth

My pal Kristine and I have been meaning to get together and hang out for ages and so finally we settled on lunch and a movie--a girl's afternoon. The Blue Moose never disappoints and it was such a nice day we got to enjoy our meal on the deck. Summer. Gotta love it. Long Island Teas in the afternoon, gentle breezes, warm sun, relaxing lunches and matinees. Yep, it was a good day.

The movie wasn't great, but I wasn't expecting much. We both noticed that it seemed a tad more "crude" than necessary, which took away some of the potential charm it might have had. It was a typical, predictable chick flick about a girl who falls for the jerky guy who turns out to be not such a jerk after all. Hmmm.... Rent it rather than make a trip to the theatre and if you are able score a free copy rather than rent. It's a bit lower on the list than others I've seen this summer.

Let the Sun Shine In -- Hair

Last Friday night, Pam and I attended the Crimson Creek Players performance of Hair at the Empire Theatre. Since it's one of my favorite musical soundtracks I got a big kick out of it. I had to resist the urge to say, "oh, I love this song" or "this is my favorite song" to about half of the songs in the show. Truly, though, my favorites tend to be as follows:

Aquarius
Air
Ain't Got No
I Got Life
Hair
Manchester, England
Easy to be Hard
3-5-0-0
Good Morning, Starshine
The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine In) as the final number is very moving and powerful every time I hear it...

I recognized a number of the cast members from other local productions and I have to say that Jared Kinney did a fine job as Claude and Tyler Rood's Margaret Mead performance was priceless. Of course, they were all terrific, but those were two of the standouts for me.



Here's the link to the new Broadway version of the show with some clips too.

Here's a link to some of the history of the musical.

Loving the Lettuce.

I am a salad-hater. Yet, somehow when the choice of greens ranges away from iceberg, I'm loving it! I've been enjoying some fresh punchy salads lately and am thrilled with the results and even more thrilled that I have a seemingly endless supply growing in my garden.

This was my version of an Asian salad -- edamame, sliced almonds, mandarin oranges and grilled chicken breast with a Sesame and Ginger Vinagrette -- the light variety tastes great and I love the Paul Newman brand even more, but Wishbone works great too!

Engineering Enrichment

This week I had a rare opportunity to co-teach in a summer enrichment program for elementary students. Our topic was "engineering--bridge building" and anyone who knows me will likely think that's pretty funny since math and measurements are not my strong suit. However, since the lead teacher is a math and science whiz, it was great fun following her lead and working with such enthusiastic kids.

We started the week learning the lingo -- types of engineers, types of forces, types of bridges. We tested shapes and and played with forces -- tension and compression--and talked about how those affect bridges.

Next we learned about live and dead loads. We used paper to test how much live load could hold before collapsing. First the kids tried a single sheet across the top of two books. Next they placed a sheet of paper in the form of an arch below that paper to add support and finally they accordion folded a sheet of paper and placed that between their arch paper and the flat sheet.

One little boy was soooo excited by how it worked he was determined to jot it down so "he wouldn't forget" and he wanted to keep track of how many paper fasteners he was able to put on the paper before it collapsed--170. (note how he wasn't quite sure how to write the numeral. :) )


On the second day we tested shapes for the piers using rolled up paper and did some computer activities. The kids ranged in age from 1st grade to 6th grade and so that age range was a bit of a challenge. Then we paired up and created pasta bridges using an activity that demanded the kids plan, create a budget (since they had limited "dollars/points" with which to "buy" their supplies) and use their time wisely since they only had an hour.

On Wednesday they tested their pasta bridges and the kids were amazed at how much weight they held and we all learned from WHERE they broke. The look on the kids' faces as their pasta bridges snapped in half was priceless! Finally we were ready to start on our popsicle bridges. We were building a truss bridge in pairs that we were planning to test out on Friday at the university on our field trip to the engineering dept.


The popsicle bridges were more frustrating because the glue was slow to dry and kids were impatient and less than precise and this demanded more precision. We did spend a fair amount of time talking about reinforcing our bridges where they were weak. On Thursday we had a speaker from UND who showed the kids a few more bridges and talked about trusses and how bridges are actually constructed. He also introduced them to the computer program--West Point Bridge Design where they could design bridges and test them. They loved that!


Friday's popsicle bridge breaking was a little anticlimactic, but the entire field trip was well received. The kids broke their bridges and then we actually saw how concrete is created and just how strong it is... We put a small concrete cylinder in a machine and broke it using 200,000 pounds of pressure. When that thing shattered, it sounded like a gun shot!

The next phase took us to a geological engineer's classroom where he talked about the soil and the ground and plate tectonics and how important it is for the engineers to plan for things like earthquakes and the like. He did an extended Google Earth tour and I was quite impressed with how much the kids knew about different countries and volcanoes and tall mountains.

Our presenter was a rock star with the kids. He really knew how to work the crowd and had them entertained from the start. We ended our day by making structures with spaghetti and gum drops and trying to make the tallest self-supporting structures.

Mr. Y was terrific when it came to dealing with the kiddos whose towers had fallen and were only a few centimeters high because they'd come apart. They'd try to show him how high it WAS before it broke and he'd insist on measuring it in its current state and we recorded heights on the board. Then he'd assure them that they had a lot of room for improvement and they should try to figure out where things went wrong because everyone got to try it again! He just turned those frowny faces into ones full of purpose and then after both trials were done we did some basic math to determine whose was highest, what the average height was, and who had the most improvement.


In all, I was really quite impressed with the way the kids responded to some pretty big ideas and how eager and excited they were to get in there and try things. Yay for learning.

Some websites we used in planning this week:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/index.html

http://www.tryengineering.org/lesson_detail.php?lesson=56

http://www.nbm.org/assets/pdfs/youth-education/bridges_erpacket.pdf

Happy Go Lucky

I watched this one because Sally Hawkins won a Golden Globe for her performance this year and my curiosity was piqued. I wasn't disappointed with her at all. The film was a bit bleak, though. I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. Hawkins plays Poppy, a 30 year old primary school teacher whose wholly genuine, unique style and awkward friendly manner is not as disarming as she means it to be and instead provokes some discomfort on the part of many of the people she encounters.

Poppy enjoys trampolining once a week, tries flamenco dancing, goes dancing and drinking with her mates, and schedules driving lessons. She's embracing life and while it's painful to watch at times it's an interesting depiction of an imperfect world and a woman who is striving to make it a tiny bit better.

I'm left believing things will work out just fine for Poppy, but there is a twinge of something that reminds us that nothing is easy. In some ways I like the fact that this film isn't some happy-clappy romantic comedy that Doris Days all our troubles away. This film is something of substance sprinkled with glib speaking, playful banter that at times serves as a mask and at times reveals. It's a film of lightness and laughter, embedded in reality--and it's about a woman who chooses to smile anyway.

Goals are Good.

I find that I do best when I have clearly expressed goals and plans to accomplish them. Highly visible reminders help too! I have decided I've been sloth-like too long and the excuses for why the exercise didn't happen in June don't apply any more. I've continued my efforts toward getting up bright and squirrelly every morning but I tend to be on the computer instead of the elliptical and so a plan for progress in August is underway.

Note the poster--


I have a whole system involving star sticky notes, different colored markers, heart sticky notes and I can't walk past this wall without noticing my daily progress.

This is a place for me to log my progress on cardio -- elliptical, 30 day shred, running, and biking.

It's also a place for me to record my daily weight and my caloric intake.

It's a bit much for a long term plan but to get me back on track, I think a month of micro-management might be in order.

Soon I'll join the gym again and that should help too.

Children's Books Brought to the Big Screen

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Film by Wes Anderson

The funny thing is I saw the trailer before I read about the film and my first thought was "Wow, this has a sort of Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic feel to it." I love how distinct Anderson's style is. His approach to film is akin to Dahl's approach to literature and I simply can't wait to see this one.

This is one Roald Dahl book I've not read, but its slim volume is nestled in the Dahl books on my shelf and I'm sure it will be read before the week is out and I'll be anticipating this film even more. Yippee!


Another film that has my mouth watering is Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, due out in 2010. Until today, I'd only seen movie stills, but the trailer is a wonder--spooky, magical, wild and wonderous. It features Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as The White Queen, and Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen, Alan Rickman as The Caterpillar, Stephen Fry as The Cheshire Cat and the list goes on in this all-star cast.