Mike's Place

David Pogue recently published a book based on Twitter responses to a number of questions he'd post each day. Those whose responses were selected for inclusion in the book received an autographed copy of the book.

Mine arrived today.

I'm quoted on pages 67, 181, 214, and 269...

Page 67
Question: What's the weirdest job you've ever had?
My Response: Balling machine operator, during high school. I ran the machines that attach ball ends to Ernie Ball guitar strings.

Page 181
Question: Rewrite a famous quotation in the style of the half-wits who leave comments on YouTube.
My Response: dewd like askin 4 stuff from ur country is like so ghey u shud be doin stuff 4 ur country

David liked that one, and sent me a response:

That is the best one EVER...

Though he should have spelled it EVAR. :)

Page 214
Question: What's the cutest thing you've ever heard a kid say?
My Response: My mom to my 6-year-old nephew: "Once, when I was your age..." My nephew's response: "Well, once when I was YOUR age..."

Page 269
Question: What should your vanity license plate be?
My Response: BACK OFF

I responded to more than these four, but only these were selected for inclusion in the book. One contributor appears to have over a hundred responses in the book!

Thanks, David! This was a fun collaboration.

Labels: Books, Twitter

Interface by Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George

Fascinating read. The President gave a speech, announcing his intention to forgive the national debt. This angered the Network, the mysterious them behind the scenes, who pull all the strings for their own financial gain. Fortunately a recent development in technology provided the Network with a means of implanting a chip in the brain of Governor William A. Cozzano, allowing them to effectively control his actions. Soon began a perfectly scripted plot to make Cozzano President.

I'd only read one other Stephenson novel, Snow Crash. I found this one a captivating read, and quite enjoyed it. Especially after suffering through a couple of Anne Rice novels, below.

Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis

I read this a couple of weeks ago, in advance of the release of the film (which I haven't yet seen). It's a quick read, and a really short story, and frankly, I don't know how they're going to turn this into a 90 minute film. Really the only thing that happens, of any relevance, is the battle, so I figure it's probably 15 minutes of the children talking, and 75 minutes of special effects. The story's really not that interesting. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite of all the books, though if memory serves, I also enjoyed The Magician's Nephew (which relates the story of the creation of Narnia, and, I believe, the genesis of the White Witch).

Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle by Anne Rice

I don't know what happened to Anne Rice. I loved Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and The Queen of the Damned. The Tale of the Body Thief was okay, but most of the others have been lackluster. BWF and BC were utterly dreadful. But I had to read them, to complete the set (which I actually haven't yet accomplished, as I haven't yet read Violin).

Blackwood Farm tells the story of Quinn Blackwood, though for the life of me I couldn't figure out why I should care. The story didn't get interesting until about 3,000 pages in, when Quinn finally got turned. And even then, it seemed Anne Rice had adopted Laurell K. Hamilton's love of vampire porn. Bleah. Sorry, but vampire porn is not my thing. I'd read the Anita Blake books through Obsidian Butterfly, which completely turned me off reading another one of her novels.

Blood Canticle continued the story where it left off, only in this one she'd returned to having Lestat narrate the story. And what'd she do here? She spent the first several pages, as Lestat, complaining about all the people who didn't like Memnoch the Devil! Sorry Anne, but Memnoch was crap. No, I'm not at all suggesting I could do better, I'm merely saying that Memnoch was crap.

But what really turned me off was Lestat speaking like some surfer from Santa Monica. I'm sorry, but the word "dude" should never pass Lestat's lips. Hopefully, she'll stop writing vampire novels altogether. I'd hate to see her destroy her mythos more than she already has.

Blood and Gold by Anne Rice

Above I commented on the handful of vampire novels I liked. I'd omitted this one from this list, as I'd planned on providing its own entry, as a recently read book. I finished this one a year ago, before I began my year-long saga to force my way through Blackwood Farm. (I'd forgotten to mention that above, but yes, it took me a full year to get through Blackwood Farm -- it was so dull!)

Blood and Gold, however, was fascinating. This one told the story of Marius, from his beginning in Rome. It tells of his efforts to protect Ankil and Akasha across the centuries, of his battles with the religious vampires, of his patronage of Botticelli, of his search for Pandora, and of his creating Armand. The tale is narrated to Thorne, an ancient who had been turned by Maharet, and who had awakened in modern times after centuries of sleep. Of the few I'd mentioned above, I'd add this to the list of enjoyable Anne Rice vampire novels.

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

I absolutely love the Odd Thomas books (Odd Thomas and Forever Odd being this one's predecessors). In this one Odd has taken up residence in a monastery, to recover from his prior adventure. Soon we encounter the bone beast, and Odds efforts to discover its origins. As usual, the ghost of Elvis is there to keep him company.

I heard a radio ad for a new Odd Thomas book, which I'm going to have to order, in spite of not having any income at the moment. :)

Labels: Anne Rice, Books, Reading