Year: 2007
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Book: Under Orders
What a nice surprise to linger in the public library on Saturday morning and find a Dick Francis novel I had not read: Under Orders. According to Wikipedia, this was the first novel since the death of his wife, Mary. Like all of the Francis books, a fun read that didn’t take much more than…
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Movie: A History of Violence
I read the graphic novel over a year ago. The film version of A History of Violence has been on the list ever since. The film was solid. Different, though, in its patience and willingness to linger even further on the small town scenes instead of the Philadelphia backstory and finale. Unlike a horror movie…
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Book: Chances Are…Adventures in Probability
Chances Are…Adventures in Probability was my other pickup at Cody’s a few weeks ago. Michael Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan jointly authored this exploration of statistics, but the voice is consistent. Chances Are… picks through history with an eye on the odds. Skills with numbers, and misconceptions about numbers, affect far more than simply the roulette…
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Do you listen closely?
I’m not very musically inclined, so I know I don’t listen carefully. I’m afraid I would have been one of the 1,000 people who walked right by one of the world’s best violinists playing in the Washington DC metro during rush hour without hesitating. Fascinating story, enlivened by video of some of the telling moments.…
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Movie: Shooter
Shooter was exactly what I expected last night. Nothing more, nothing less…so I was entertained. Metacritic shows a 53. I suppose your standard “lone hero against the conspiracy” movie doesn’t excite anyone any more. But telling a genre tale well isn’t a terrible thing. Shooter felt like a mix of a Tom Clancy movie (pretty…
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Book: In High Places
My mother suggested I would enjoy Harry Turtledove, so when I was wandering an airport bookstore and came across In High Places, I bit. I finished this slim novel on the brief flight to Phoenix. This was a reasonable tale, though nothing special. Certainly an imaginative premise, though. I learned just now that the Crosstime…
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Movie: 300
Writing of comics, I finally got to see 300 last Tuesday. Another Frank Miller comic book made into a movie, 300 feels like a great graphic novel. Not having read the graphic novel, I don’t know if it’s great or not, but Frank Miller is a sign of quality. The movie’s story isn’t fantastic, but…
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Book: Making Comics
I have no artistic talent, and no plans to start drawing or writing comics — even if I were to call them graphic novels. So, why did I just read Making Comics? This broad how-to about how to, yes, make comics caught my eye because the more I do in business, the more I realize…
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Book: The Fallen
I picked up The Fallen because it was sitting out at Cody’s Books (Stockton Street), on a table near the front. I wanted something I could dive into immediately on the bus ride home. Don’t ever let someone say that awards don’t matter, because the big “two-time winner of the Edgar award for best novel”…
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Better ginger beer
I’ve made ginger beer three times now, with the most recent time being earlier this week. I’ve made two adjustments to my process, and the results are slightly improved. First, I use nine cups of water instead of ten. The resulting brew is a tad bit sharper, which I like, and I don’t lose any…