Monday, December 30, 2013

Independence Day

After I finished The Sportswriter I wanted to wait a while before coming back to the next book in the series, Independence Day. In the meantime I did read Canada on my Nook and I listened to it as an audiobook. Frank Bascombe is no more cheerful in this book. He is a realtor with real estate problems. He is also dealing a divorce and the problems of his fifteen year old son. I will add comments as I am reading the book.

Destroyermen Series


A colleague at work told me about the Destroyermen series. It sounds crazy. A WWII destroyer near Indonesia goes through a mysterious squall while fighting a Japanese battleship. It ends up in an alternate universe where dinosaurs  are still roaming. The ship and its crew ally themselves with the Lemurian race in their fight for survival against the reptilian Grik race. It sounds crazy, but the story and the characters are very engaging. In each book the alternate universe expands as we meet more people and creatures in this new world. There are also some really exciting, if improbable battle scenes.

I have just finished the fifth book and am about to start the sixth.


Into The Storm by Taylor AndersonBook 1
Crusade Book 2
MaelstromBook 3
Distant Thunder Book 4
Rising TidesBook 5
 FirestormBook 6
 Iron Gray SeaBook 7
 Storm Surge  Book 8

I copied this list from Librarything. 

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christmas Turkeys

 
 

When I came home from walking the dogs I noticed a big flock of wild turkeys in the corn field across the street. They were all over the field, foraging for among the corn stalks. By the time I got the cameras and came back I think they had had enough. The birds quickly started running back into the forest. I hope they come back again.
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Tuesday, December 03, 2013

Serendipity

Our TV is broken and we are waiting for a new one to come. (It is significantly cheaper at Walmart to order online and have it delivered to the store.) So I was playing with Youtube on my cellphone when up pops a recommendation to watch an interview with Paul Simon at Barnes & Noble from 2008, when he won the Library of Congress Gershwin award.

What an amazing interview. We sat through the seven segments for the hour interview.



He stressed the importance of structure and knowing what you're working with as the song is created. (At least that's the point I got from it.) Also, you have to rework the music and keep adding on new things. Experience is important.

You also have to think about how what your are doing will affect the listeners. It struck me that that's something I should really keep in mind when preparing for a class.

Finally, that suggestion option in Youtube isn't too bad after all. From having listened to some Paul Simon videos before, it led me to this.