Sebastian and the stars

Teri read to him last night, but then he wanted me to come in and sing to him. We lay on top of his sheet-canopy (it's up again); he turned off his bedside lamp and nightlight. He told me to lie flat, cross my legs, put my fingertips together, close my eyes, and imagine really hard that I was out in space. Then he told me to open my eyes and we'd count the stars.

We counted 38 glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. He climbed under his canopy, I sang to him for a while, and he fell asleep.

Later, at around 11:30, I looked in on him. It was an awfully hot night, and Teri refused to let me put in the AC; I'd found some fans to put in his room and ours, though, and they helped a bit.

He was thrashing around quite a bit under the sheet. I ducked under and asked "Are you okay, Sebastian?".

There was a pause, and then he said in a very clear and calm voice, "Where am I?".

"You're at home, big boy. Everything's fine. Do you want me to take the sheet down?"

"...No."

"Okay. Good night!"

The next morning he didn't remember any of that, of course. I knew at the time that he wouldn't; he was basically asleep the whole time.

Sebastian and the stars

Teri read to him last night, but then he wanted me to come in and sing to him. We lay on top of his sheet-canopy (it's up again); he turned off his bedside lamp and nightlight. He told me to lie flat, cross my legs, put my fingertips together, close my eyes, and imagine really hard that I was out in space. Then he told me to open my eyes and we'd count the stars.

We counted 38 glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling. He climbed under his canopy, I sang to him for a while, and he fell asleep.

Later, at around 11:30, I looked in on him. It was an awfully hot night, and Teri refused to let me put in the AC; I'd found some fans to put in his room and ours, though, and they helped a bit.

He was thrashing around quite a bit under the sheet. I ducked under and asked "Are you okay, Sebastian?".

There was a pause, and then he said in a very clear and calm voice, "Where am I?".

"You're at home, big boy. Everything's fine. Do you want me to take the sheet down?"

"...No."

"Okay. Good night!"

The next morning he didn't remember any of that, of course. I knew at the time that he wouldn't; he was basically asleep the whole time.

(no subject)

Given Obama's flat-out lie about recognizing the Genocide, of course he's lost my vote forever. I'll support anyone who runs against him in the next Presidential primaries, and when he gets the nomination (as of course he will) I'll vote for a third party candidate before I vote for him. If no third party candidate is available, I'll consider voting for the Republican candidate...and if s/he's not acceptable (which is likely) I'll write in someone instead. But I will never vote for or support Obama in any way ever again.

Of course he doesn't give a shit, because he clearly calculated that he could do without my support when he broke his word on torture, wiretapping, and the Genocide. Still, I have to make my gesture.

But what else to do? Here's are some other options that I'm considering:

1. Disenrolling from the Democratic Party and becoming an independent.

2. Voting by default for ANY third-party candidate in preference to a Democrat or Republican.

3. Hell, I should probably just join the Greens and never vote for a Democrat again. They've screwed me and lied about a million times over, and I really have no excuse for supporting them any more.

A few people begged me to vote for Obama in the general election last year; they urged me to have hope. I gave him and the Democrats the benefit of the doubt, and they royally abused it. So please don't bother to tell me that I'm throwing my vote away, or that I'm supporting the Republicans by not supporting the Democrats: fuck that. The system is beyond salvation, and I am not a Democrat any more. The only reason I can see to stay enrolled as a Dem is to try to screw up their primaries.

(no subject)

Given Obama's flat-out lie about recognizing the Genocide, of course he's lost my vote forever. I'll support anyone who runs against him in the next Presidential primaries, and when he gets the nomination (as of course he will) I'll vote for a third party candidate before I vote for him. If no third party candidate is available, I'll consider voting for the Republican candidate...and if s/he's not acceptable (which is likely) I'll write in someone instead. But I will never vote for or support Obama in any way ever again.

Of course he doesn't give a shit, because he clearly calculated that he could do without my support when he broke his word on torture, wiretapping, and the Genocide. Still, I have to make my gesture.

But what else to do? Here's are some other options that I'm considering:

1. Disenrolling from the Democratic Party and becoming an independent.

2. Voting by default for ANY third-party candidate in preference to a Democrat or Republican.

3. Hell, I should probably just join the Greens and never vote for a Democrat again. They've screwed me and lied about a million times over, and I really have no excuse for supporting them any more.

A few people begged me to vote for Obama in the general election last year; they urged me to have hope. I gave him and the Democrats the benefit of the doubt, and they royally abused it. So please don't bother to tell me that I'm throwing my vote away, or that I'm supporting the Republicans by not supporting the Democrats: fuck that. The system is beyond salvation, and I am not a Democrat any more. The only reason I can see to stay enrolled as a Dem is to try to screw up their primaries.

GoodReads Review: The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars

Is the human race getting dumber? Or is it just the literary establishment?

I picked up a mint-condition hardcover copy of The Da Vinci Code at my local public library's permanent book sale for $1. At that price, I couldn't lose; I was going on a six-hour drive with my wife, and I needed something to read. My one concern was that the book might be too complex to be a relaxing car read. After all, according to the blurbs on the cover the New York Times said it was a work of "genius"!

It's not. It's a fairly fast-paced and somewhat over-talky action/mystery/conspiracy theory novel; a potboiler, really. I was surprised by several aspects of the novel. The writing actually betrayed a slightly juvenile touch. No offense to Mr. Brown; he's a competent writer. But standards seem to have gone down in the last twenty years or so. Back in the early 1980s I ended up reading a number of best-sellers. Several of them went on to become some of my favorite books: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Shogun, Marathon Man. All of these were much better-written than The Da Vinci Code, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was far and away more intellectually challenging.

Not to mention authors like Frank Herbert and Roger Zelazny. Their works require real thought on the part of the reader. Not so The Da Vinci Code. It's a decent potboiler with some mildly interesting secret-society conspiracy theory stuff, but even that is hardly anything new to anyone who has done even a little light reading on the topic.

On the plus side, at least Mr. Brown didn't get too disgusting. At one point I was afraid he'd pull a Wingrove or Chalker on me, with secret cult ceremonies that might turn out to be truly disturbing. Instead, the ceremony was hardly anything new; in fact, it couldn't have been older.

The characters were rather flat. The plot was a series of wham-bam escapes and secret-society deductions; the pace keeps moving along well enough, but the story becomes a bit repetitive and predictable. It was a decent time-killer (and I got an extra fillip from the odd coincidence that the hotel I stayed at while finishing the book was hosting a Knights of Columbus event, in full regalia), but it wasn't really memorable.

I'll probably give Brown another try, but only because I run out of reading material so quickly. I have to wonder, though: are all of these supposedly "brilliant" modern best-sellers so simplistic and unchallenging? I'd thought that the Left Behind series was unbelievably stupid, but now I'm starting to suspect that it's merely slightly sub-par.

View all my reviews.

P.S. - When your "shocking revelation" has already been widely featured in popular culture (including movies like Dogma), it doesn't really qualify as "shocking"!

GoodReads Review: The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars

Is the human race getting dumber? Or is it just the literary establishment?

I picked up a mint-condition hardcover copy of The Da Vinci Code at my local public library's permanent book sale for $1. At that price, I couldn't lose; I was going on a six-hour drive with my wife, and I needed something to read. My one concern was that the book might be too complex to be a relaxing car read. After all, according to the blurbs on the cover the New York Times said it was a work of "genius"!

It's not. It's a fairly fast-paced and somewhat over-talky action/mystery/conspiracy theory novel; a potboiler, really. I was surprised by several aspects of the novel. The writing actually betrayed a slightly juvenile touch. No offense to Mr. Brown; he's a competent writer. But standards seem to have gone down in the last twenty years or so. Back in the early 1980s I ended up reading a number of best-sellers. Several of them went on to become some of my favorite books: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Shogun, Marathon Man. All of these were much better-written than The Da Vinci Code, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was far and away more intellectually challenging.

Not to mention authors like Frank Herbert and Roger Zelazny. Their works require real thought on the part of the reader. Not so The Da Vinci Code. It's a decent potboiler with some mildly interesting secret-society conspiracy theory stuff, but even that is hardly anything new to anyone who has done even a little light reading on the topic.

On the plus side, at least Mr. Brown didn't get too disgusting. At one point I was afraid he'd pull a Wingrove or Chalker on me, with secret cult ceremonies that might turn out to be truly disturbing. Instead, the ceremony was hardly anything new; in fact, it couldn't have been older.

The characters were rather flat. The plot was a series of wham-bam escapes and secret-society deductions; the pace keeps moving along well enough, but the story becomes a bit repetitive and predictable. It was a decent time-killer (and I got an extra fillip from the odd coincidence that the hotel I stayed at while finishing the book was hosting a Knights of Columbus event, in full regalia), but it wasn't really memorable.

I'll probably give Brown another try, but only because I run out of reading material so quickly. I have to wonder, though: are all of these supposedly "brilliant" modern best-sellers so simplistic and unchallenging? I'd thought that the Left Behind series was unbelievably stupid, but now I'm starting to suspect that it's merely slightly sub-par.

View all my reviews.

P.S. - When your "shocking revelation" has already been widely featured in popular culture (including movies like Dogma), it doesn't really qualify as "shocking"!

Politics

Okay. I'm going back to putting future political posts (including most posts about the Genocide) under my Politics filter. If you didn't see a post on the subject in the last ten minutes, you're not on that filter. If you're at all inclined to tell me that I'm full of shit, politically, please don't bother asking to be included.

Politics

Okay. I'm going back to putting future political posts (including most posts about the Genocide) under my Politics filter. If you didn't see a post on the subject in the last ten minutes, you're not on that filter. If you're at all inclined to tell me that I'm full of shit, politically, please don't bother asking to be included.

Birthday!

Happy birthday, tonysalieri! Many Happy Returns.

Birthday!

Happy birthday, tonysalieri! Many Happy Returns.

Chris Elliot, Television Miracle

This is so incredibly weird...George Takei narrates a documentary about the astonishing animatronic Chris Elliot.

Chris Elliot, Television Miracle

This is so incredibly weird...George Takei narrates a documentary about the astonishing animatronic Chris Elliot.