Such a Small Universe

In an earlier blog post I said that the only person I’ve ever been able to talk Stargate with, live-and-in-person, is one of my cousins. But he lives in Madison Wisconsin and I don’t see him much.   So it was nice having him in town for Thanksgiving to talk TV. (Turns out he’s also a big Farscape fan; so now I’m even more determined to find the DVDs and watch them.  And he and his wife are working their way through The Wire so we three had a nice chat about that.)

Alt-Classical

Music critic Greg Sandow, who writes among other things about the future of classical music,  has just written a thought provoking series of blog posts comparing the history and current state of contemporary classical music with the history and current state of contemporary art. 

Sir Walter

Back in 2002 my sisters and I took my parents to Scotland as a “retirement” gift for my dad. (I put the word “retirement” in quotes because he continues to go to work each week in a part time capacity.) We drove all over the eastern part of Scotland from the Borders up to Loch Ness.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Have a great day.    Hope your turkey comes out ok and if it doesn’t, there’s always the side dishes. :)

Amelia

It’s easy to forget that less than 100 years ago no one had ever flown across the Atlantic ocean.  We take it for granted today that we can jump on a plane in the evening and be in Paris in the morning.  But until Lindbergh did it, no one had.   And even after Lindbergh did it, not many other people flew across the Atlantic. It was dangerous.   People died trying.  In fact, the first person to do it after Lindbergh was a woman, Amelia Earhart.   And she ended up in Ireland, not Paris.

Wherein I Complain About Apple

Since I wrote such a nice post about my APPLE iphone earlier this year, I think it is only fair and balanced to write about how much I HATE itunes 9. 

I’m not very good about updating my itunes.  In the last year I haven’t purchased that much music so it hasn’t been necessary to sync my ipod very often and, hence, I seldom even open my itunes.  For the most part, I only open it when I want to do an upgrade to my iphone.  Which doesn’t happen very often.  And earlier in the year it took so long to upgrade my iphone in the first few days of an upgrade that I vowed I would wait the next time.  There was an upgrade that came out a month or so ago and I don’t think I’ve done it yet.  

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

The first John Irving novel I tried to read was The World According to Garp.  I got to the point where someone (I don’t remember who) had an eye poked out and I stopped.   I didn’t try another John Irving novel for a long time, not until someone whose reading judgment I trust recommended A Prayer for Owen Meany.   I loved it.  (Someday I’m going to re-read it.)   A few years ago one of my reading groups chose A Widow for One Year as  the selection and I enjoyed it too.  I saw the movie Cider House Rules, but I never read the novel.   And that’s been about it for me as far as John Irving goes.