After doing a lot of digging the past few days at the office because it's a bit slow work-wise I've made the decision to move over to Wordpress for my blogging needs going forward.
I'll leave this blog here so nothing gets lost, but new updates and news from me can be found here:
20four12.wordpress.com
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tonight I Will Shrug an Atlas for the First Time
Just moments ago I finished reading the final book of the Millenium series. The last book took a bit of effort because I wanted to finish it before beginning Atlas Shrugged, but I also wanted to just put it on the back burner and begin Atlas Shrugged immediately. I stayed strong though and finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest first.
Now I get to start figuring out who John Galt really is. I'm really excited but I'm also really, really nervous. What if over the past couple of weeks I've gotten my hopes up far too much and I'm disappointed by what I discover? What if I have no idea what's in store and things are even more awesome that I could imagine in my wildest dreams?
It's going to be good. I'm pretty sure about that.
I intend to write numerous posts about reading this book. I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot to say about it. I want to read all of it tonight, but I also want to digest each piece very, very carefully. My goal is to finish by the end of the month, but I may take a little longer than that in the end. We'll see.
Now I get to start figuring out who John Galt really is. I'm really excited but I'm also really, really nervous. What if over the past couple of weeks I've gotten my hopes up far too much and I'm disappointed by what I discover? What if I have no idea what's in store and things are even more awesome that I could imagine in my wildest dreams?
It's going to be good. I'm pretty sure about that.
I intend to write numerous posts about reading this book. I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot to say about it. I want to read all of it tonight, but I also want to digest each piece very, very carefully. My goal is to finish by the end of the month, but I may take a little longer than that in the end. We'll see.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Perhaps I Should Watch a Political Debate Someday
My wife's cousin Cari will probably smack me upside the head for making this admission, but I've never actually sat down and watched a political debate of any kind. Yep, it's the truth. I'm not a very politically active individual beyond sort of knowing the general stance of the major candidates once all of the primaries are finished. It's just never something that has interested me all that much.
Everyone talks a lot about how it's so important to vote, and I did the first time I was able to vote even though I had to do it using an absentee ballot. Four years ago I didn't vote though. I wasn't pleased with the idea of either McCain or Obama being elected president at the time so I decided I didn't feel like wasting my vote since it's pretty clear nobody outside of the Democratic or Republican party is ever actually going to win.
For whatever reason I'm feeling a tickle in the back of my mind like I should start paying attention to politics a little more at this point in my life. Why, I'm not really all that sure because my opinion is that a lot of things being discussed by politicians don't have much overall impact on me given my position in society and life. But, that tickle is still there for whatever reason.
Right now, if I were forced to walk into a voting booth at gunpoint and place a vote I would vote for Mitt Romney, but I couldn't give you a very good reason why beyond the fact that I haven't been all that impressed with the work Barack Obama has done and I'm not convinced he deserves another four years in office and the fact that Newt Gingrich looks weird and I think foreign dignitaries that see him walk into a meeting with them are going to think it's a joke of some sort and that the president is still out in the hallway. He just doesn't look presidential to me.
So, I think I'll watch a debate and actually pay attention even if I'm not sure what I'll learn from it. The question is, which one should I actually watch at this point in the campaign?
Everyone talks a lot about how it's so important to vote, and I did the first time I was able to vote even though I had to do it using an absentee ballot. Four years ago I didn't vote though. I wasn't pleased with the idea of either McCain or Obama being elected president at the time so I decided I didn't feel like wasting my vote since it's pretty clear nobody outside of the Democratic or Republican party is ever actually going to win.
For whatever reason I'm feeling a tickle in the back of my mind like I should start paying attention to politics a little more at this point in my life. Why, I'm not really all that sure because my opinion is that a lot of things being discussed by politicians don't have much overall impact on me given my position in society and life. But, that tickle is still there for whatever reason.
Right now, if I were forced to walk into a voting booth at gunpoint and place a vote I would vote for Mitt Romney, but I couldn't give you a very good reason why beyond the fact that I haven't been all that impressed with the work Barack Obama has done and I'm not convinced he deserves another four years in office and the fact that Newt Gingrich looks weird and I think foreign dignitaries that see him walk into a meeting with them are going to think it's a joke of some sort and that the president is still out in the hallway. He just doesn't look presidential to me.
So, I think I'll watch a debate and actually pay attention even if I'm not sure what I'll learn from it. The question is, which one should I actually watch at this point in the campaign?
Thursday, February 2, 2012
A Look Back on My Reading in January 2012
I've got this big goal to read a whole bunch of books in 2012 and I think I did a pretty good job getting ahead of the curve in the month of January. Overall I finished seven books, which averages out to just a bit under two per week, which is good by any definition.
Granted, some of the books were of the slightly shorter variety being from authors who are fairly new or from a series where the books aren't that long, but the others were of above-average length, so in the end I think it evened out pretty well.
The final tally is five science fiction or fantasy books, and two popular fiction books. Not too bad I think coming from someone who doesn't read much popular fiction. If I could down one or two popular fiction books each month until the end of the year I would feel pretty good about things.
I was curious, so I spent a few minutes on Amazon looking up page counts for the books I did read since I read them all on my Kindle and don't have that sort of information readily available. It turns out that I read the equivalent of 2,205 pages, or an average of 71 pages per day. That's kind of cool. In more abstract terms I like to think of it as having read two Wheel of Time books, which is pretty impressive in its own right.
So what is on tap for February? Do I think I'll get another seven books finished? Well, I don't think I'll get seven more finished in February, but I should get at least two or three. Right now I'm about a third of the way through the final book of the Millenium series, which I think will only take me another day or two, but then, well... then I get to start Atlas Shrugged, and I have a feeling it's going to take me at least a week or two which means I might sneak in another book (if it's short), maybe two right at the end of the month, but no promises on that front.
Right now I'm trying to stay ahead of my "one per week" idea so I can indulge in a couple of really long books later in the year such as a re-read of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of the Kings and the final Wheel of Time book due out sometime late this fall. So far so good, but we'll see if I can keep up in the coming months.
Granted, some of the books were of the slightly shorter variety being from authors who are fairly new or from a series where the books aren't that long, but the others were of above-average length, so in the end I think it evened out pretty well.
The final tally is five science fiction or fantasy books, and two popular fiction books. Not too bad I think coming from someone who doesn't read much popular fiction. If I could down one or two popular fiction books each month until the end of the year I would feel pretty good about things.
I was curious, so I spent a few minutes on Amazon looking up page counts for the books I did read since I read them all on my Kindle and don't have that sort of information readily available. It turns out that I read the equivalent of 2,205 pages, or an average of 71 pages per day. That's kind of cool. In more abstract terms I like to think of it as having read two Wheel of Time books, which is pretty impressive in its own right.
So what is on tap for February? Do I think I'll get another seven books finished? Well, I don't think I'll get seven more finished in February, but I should get at least two or three. Right now I'm about a third of the way through the final book of the Millenium series, which I think will only take me another day or two, but then, well... then I get to start Atlas Shrugged, and I have a feeling it's going to take me at least a week or two which means I might sneak in another book (if it's short), maybe two right at the end of the month, but no promises on that front.
Right now I'm trying to stay ahead of my "one per week" idea so I can indulge in a couple of really long books later in the year such as a re-read of Brandon Sanderson's The Way of the Kings and the final Wheel of Time book due out sometime late this fall. So far so good, but we'll see if I can keep up in the coming months.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Movie Review: Contagion
There are a lot of movies that try to depict how things would be like in the real world if certain events were to transpire. Very few of them accomplish their goal and do so in a manner that comes across as anything close to believable. I've always been interested in the idea of worldwide trouble for some reason, I think it is really interesting to see how different people think different things would affect the entire human race. That's what got me to watch Contagion. Everything I've seen or heard about it points to its incredibly realism.
THE RUNDOWN: Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Contagion features a rather star-studded cast which includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, and many others. The film deals with what would happen if some sort of completely unknown virus/disease were to be unleashed upon humanity at some point and there was no known treatment or vaccination. Beyond just depicting the attempts to find a treatment of some sort, Contagion has moments where it focuses on the fallout in society when dealing with a horrid medical disaster.
THE POSITIVE: First and foremost, as a movie buff, this cast is amazing. There are big names all over the place and each of them was slotted into a role that fit them perfectly. Soderbergh is known for being a director that lots of actors want to work with and he clearly puts that reputation to good use here, grabbing individuals who convincingly fit every piece of the overall puzzle.
Most impressive to me was Jude Law in his role as Alan Krumwiede, a freelance journalist/blogger who is one of the first to start the media frenzy about the MEV-1 virus. His screen time is limited, as it is for most of the characters in a cast this large, but he makes the most of it. I completely believed that his portrayal of Krumwiede was spot on as he tried to make the viewer believe he was an opportunistic writer who was trying to get his message out. In this case, that the government powers that be were in bed with pharmaceutical companies looking to make the biggest profit from the research into a vaccine for the virus.
Laurence Fishburne also turned in an excellent performance as the head of a government health agency looking to keep control of the media frenzy, the research into the origin/treatment of the virus, and the inevitable fallout of both situations. I think I'd like to know that someone like his character was in charge of things in such dire circumstances.
The story was superb. The chain of events were presented in a way that left me believing every single step along the way was completely probable in a real-world situation. From the unexpected death of a mother and son to the looting and mob mentality as the epidemic reached its most dire point, everything seemed like I could be watching out my living room window and see it happening in real time. Even the sub-plots that are revealed once the vaccination is finally discovered were something I could see happening, and as a matter of fact, I think I would be shocked if they didn't happen to be honest.
I've only seen a couple of Soderbergh's movies, but it seems he likes to keep dialogue to a minimum as much as possible. I'm okay with that as he does an excellent job telling the story with imagery that you can follow, adding your own internal dialogue as you watch. At this point I'm beginning to think I should find some of his other work to watch as well.
THE NEGATIVE: This isn't an action movie, it isn't a thriller, it isn't even a drama. It's more of an observation if anything, which took a little getting used to. At no point did I feel lost, or disinterested in what was happening during the film, but when I finished I felt like I had a hard time pinning down where I felt the film fit as a whole.
As a result, I feel like Contagion is missing a piece of its identity, but not in such a bad way that I can't get past it and see all of the good things it had. The only other knock against the film is that outside of Fishburne and Law, the remaining actors, while excellent in all of their roles, were left with characters that felt a little bit under-developed. It's probably a result of Soderbergh having to decide if he wanted to focus on the individual stories, or the overall picture most, but I do sort of wish I had been given more to go with on Matt Damon's immune husband/father character, or some of the other peripheral characters as well.
WHAT I THINK I THINK: Stay inside if there is ever a worldwide airborne viral epidemic. No, seriously, if you see serious news that a crazy disease is wiping out millions of people around the world, stay home, don't go to work, don't visit your friends. That's not paranoia, it's common sense if you ask me.
Although, after watching Contagion I find myself wondering how I would react if I was in a quiet suburban neighborhood and saw looting and robbery commencing all around me by those who were in panic mode and searching for food or other supplies. I think I would keep my cool fairly well, but you never know, it might depend entirely on if my entire family had been wiped out by the epidemic or not.
Food for thought to be sure. If nothing more, it got me thinking that living in a house someday rather than an apartment complex in close quarters with other families might not be such a horrible idea in such situations.
WHO SHOULD WATCH CONTAGION: Anyone who likes a realistic story will enjoy this film. It's probably not a great date or party movie due to the heavy nature of the subject matter, but if you are at all interested, definitely give it a watch, you likely won't be disappointed. Also, anyone who likes good soundtrack music should enjoy it as well, I was captivated by the soundtrack Soderbergh put behind the imagery he was using. It really drew me in.
FINAL SCORE: 9 out of 10
THE RUNDOWN: Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Contagion features a rather star-studded cast which includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, and many others. The film deals with what would happen if some sort of completely unknown virus/disease were to be unleashed upon humanity at some point and there was no known treatment or vaccination. Beyond just depicting the attempts to find a treatment of some sort, Contagion has moments where it focuses on the fallout in society when dealing with a horrid medical disaster.
THE POSITIVE: First and foremost, as a movie buff, this cast is amazing. There are big names all over the place and each of them was slotted into a role that fit them perfectly. Soderbergh is known for being a director that lots of actors want to work with and he clearly puts that reputation to good use here, grabbing individuals who convincingly fit every piece of the overall puzzle.
Most impressive to me was Jude Law in his role as Alan Krumwiede, a freelance journalist/blogger who is one of the first to start the media frenzy about the MEV-1 virus. His screen time is limited, as it is for most of the characters in a cast this large, but he makes the most of it. I completely believed that his portrayal of Krumwiede was spot on as he tried to make the viewer believe he was an opportunistic writer who was trying to get his message out. In this case, that the government powers that be were in bed with pharmaceutical companies looking to make the biggest profit from the research into a vaccine for the virus.
Laurence Fishburne also turned in an excellent performance as the head of a government health agency looking to keep control of the media frenzy, the research into the origin/treatment of the virus, and the inevitable fallout of both situations. I think I'd like to know that someone like his character was in charge of things in such dire circumstances.
The story was superb. The chain of events were presented in a way that left me believing every single step along the way was completely probable in a real-world situation. From the unexpected death of a mother and son to the looting and mob mentality as the epidemic reached its most dire point, everything seemed like I could be watching out my living room window and see it happening in real time. Even the sub-plots that are revealed once the vaccination is finally discovered were something I could see happening, and as a matter of fact, I think I would be shocked if they didn't happen to be honest.
I've only seen a couple of Soderbergh's movies, but it seems he likes to keep dialogue to a minimum as much as possible. I'm okay with that as he does an excellent job telling the story with imagery that you can follow, adding your own internal dialogue as you watch. At this point I'm beginning to think I should find some of his other work to watch as well.
THE NEGATIVE: This isn't an action movie, it isn't a thriller, it isn't even a drama. It's more of an observation if anything, which took a little getting used to. At no point did I feel lost, or disinterested in what was happening during the film, but when I finished I felt like I had a hard time pinning down where I felt the film fit as a whole.
As a result, I feel like Contagion is missing a piece of its identity, but not in such a bad way that I can't get past it and see all of the good things it had. The only other knock against the film is that outside of Fishburne and Law, the remaining actors, while excellent in all of their roles, were left with characters that felt a little bit under-developed. It's probably a result of Soderbergh having to decide if he wanted to focus on the individual stories, or the overall picture most, but I do sort of wish I had been given more to go with on Matt Damon's immune husband/father character, or some of the other peripheral characters as well.
WHAT I THINK I THINK: Stay inside if there is ever a worldwide airborne viral epidemic. No, seriously, if you see serious news that a crazy disease is wiping out millions of people around the world, stay home, don't go to work, don't visit your friends. That's not paranoia, it's common sense if you ask me.
Although, after watching Contagion I find myself wondering how I would react if I was in a quiet suburban neighborhood and saw looting and robbery commencing all around me by those who were in panic mode and searching for food or other supplies. I think I would keep my cool fairly well, but you never know, it might depend entirely on if my entire family had been wiped out by the epidemic or not.
Food for thought to be sure. If nothing more, it got me thinking that living in a house someday rather than an apartment complex in close quarters with other families might not be such a horrible idea in such situations.
WHO SHOULD WATCH CONTAGION: Anyone who likes a realistic story will enjoy this film. It's probably not a great date or party movie due to the heavy nature of the subject matter, but if you are at all interested, definitely give it a watch, you likely won't be disappointed. Also, anyone who likes good soundtrack music should enjoy it as well, I was captivated by the soundtrack Soderbergh put behind the imagery he was using. It really drew me in.
FINAL SCORE: 9 out of 10
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Atlas Shrugged is On the Horizon...
It won't be long before I start reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I posted a little while back that I wanted to read it pretty badly after watching the movie, but despite my desire I couldn't bring myself to start a book of that size without finishing the other two series' that I was currently in the middle of.
I'll admit I'm extremely excited but also terrified that I'll be let down after my own rather immense expectations have now taken root. At the moment I'm thinking that I may blog about some thoughts as I go through, perhaps summarizing here and there about what is happening so I don't lose sight of the big picture, which happened a little bit when I was reading The Fountainhead a few years ago.
So, all I have between me and finally discovering who John Galt really is is to finish the final book of the Millenium series which I have started just a few moments ago. I think I'm going to read like a man possessed until I finish it so I can get started solving the mystery of John Galt.
I'll admit I'm extremely excited but also terrified that I'll be let down after my own rather immense expectations have now taken root. At the moment I'm thinking that I may blog about some thoughts as I go through, perhaps summarizing here and there about what is happening so I don't lose sight of the big picture, which happened a little bit when I was reading The Fountainhead a few years ago.
So, all I have between me and finally discovering who John Galt really is is to finish the final book of the Millenium series which I have started just a few moments ago. I think I'm going to read like a man possessed until I finish it so I can get started solving the mystery of John Galt.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Music I've Recently Added to My Collection This Week
I don't buy albums anymore, nor do I buy songs dependent entirely upon genre, style, or artist. I buy songs because I think they sound cool. Even more specifically, I buy songs that I think have cool sounding "hooks" in the chorus or verse. That's just how I do things. As a result, I have a rather mixed bag of music in my iTunes library.
New songs in my collection happen whenever I've had the chance to listen to the radio for a little bit, or when I see a music video of something I hadn't heard before. I tend to let the list gather a few songs and then download them all at once.
Here are the four I added to my collection this past week:
New songs in my collection happen whenever I've had the chance to listen to the radio for a little bit, or when I see a music video of something I hadn't heard before. I tend to let the list gather a few songs and then download them all at once.
Here are the four I added to my collection this past week:
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