Sly Mongoose-- Tobias Buckell-- Review
Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell is the third book in a science fiction series starting with Crystal Rain, then advancing to Ragamuffin. The setting for the third novel is quite interesting. It is on a planet like mercury with floating cities in the clouds, and very high pressure on the planet below. The clouds are acidic and the air is not breathable. It is also one of the homes of the Azteca, a human group once ruled by ruthless aliens. The Azteca have since declared the aliens false gods, and formed a democracy based on group consensus.
The story begins with a Pepper, a character who has appeared in the previous novels, falling from the sky into the dome of a floating city. Because of the alien biotechnology permeating his body, he survives the fall, although he is missing an arm and a leg in the story. This does not stop him from building a working armored suit so he can move around in the story. Pepper is the founder of the "Mongoose Men" and a member of the Dread Council on a world built by Caribbean immigrants.
Pepper has just escaped a harrowing battle with plague zombies on a passenger liner. He is wanted by several factions who want to know what happened on the ship. There are at least three different factions in the story, The Dread Council, The Azteca Consensus, and the Human League (which is virulently anti-alien).
Pepper is the center of intrigue. There is another character Timas, a teenage boy who goes to the surface sometimes to scavenge technology in a pressure suit. Timas provides the spare parts for a pressure suit so Pepper can lead the fight against the plague zombies.
This book has lots of action in it. There are battles aboard a spaceship, airship battles, pirate confrontations, and constant intrigue. The characterization is quite intriguing. The different characters in the story are culturally and individually distinct.
Pepper, one of the heros of the story leads the fight against the zombies, and must help the people of Chilo defend themselves. He helps them prepare the defenses and makes a last stand until the Mongoose Men can help. There is another hero in this story as well, Timas who has seen something which the zombies are seeking on the surface.
This was a fun book to read. The setting, plot, and characterization were all unique. Most science fiction stories are based on cardboard cutouts with aliens that are little more than substitutes for human fears. This was not one of them. An excellent addition to a series that gets better with each book. Once the action starts in this book, it does not stop until the book is done. Ragamuffin was short listed for the Hugo award. I think this book will be listed for the Hugo award and might win it.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Morning Thoughts
Interior view of the Jones & Co bookselling premises in Finsbury Square, London.
Morning Thoughts
I have started reading Groundswell Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. So far, it is quite interesting. The book is very concrete. It gives many real life examples of what can happen on the internet.
This morning I was looking at bookstores listed on Wikipedia. There is an interesting short description of the history of the Strand founded by Fred Bass in 1922 on Wikipedia.
Anyways, I am also thinking of my endless internal debate on whether or not to take the Bookselling Institute at the next Book Expo America in 2009 on how to open a retail bookstore. I know that I have no intention of opening a traditional retail bookstore. It is not a profession that rewards one well financially. Being a small bookstore or comic shop owner pays even less than being a librarian. It would probably be an enjoyable lifestyle if you did not get eaten by either the chain bookstores or the very large independent booksellers.
In some ways, I am frighteningly bad at business. I have an entrepreneurial streak. I rather liked working part time at a small bookstore and trading in comic books I found at flea markets and garage sales. I really enjoy this kind of thing. But, alas it is not a paying career. I also like investing in the stock market. A lot of the small bookstores have died in New York because of competition from the internet and the chain bookstores. Actually, this is not quite true, Strand Books ate many of the local chains and small bookstores.
I have looked and pondered on the idea of opening an online bookstore. You actually get more money from a physical bookstore of the same size as an online bookstore. Online bookstores work with economies of scale. You can sell a lot more books online on a website than you can in a physical store, unless your store is gigantic like Powell's or The Strand.
I have thought about how you would combine social networking with books. There could be some very interesting combinations. There are already some like Shelfari and Librarything. I really don't have the connections for this kind of thing right now. I would have to come up with a very interesting and unique combination of services built around collaborative tools.
Right now, I am just amusing myself with these kind of ideas. I had mentioned that I would be interested in working with an attempt at a total media site like Contentville which didn't do too well. Maybe, someone will figure out how to do it right.
Anyways, I am meandering along. If I was truly over the top, I could change this into a social networking site for a small fee. Something like Ning would allow me to do this.
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/ning . I am sure there are already a variety of social networking sites on books. I could point and click my way to a social networking site in a few days if I really wanted. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/
I have started reading Groundswell Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. So far, it is quite interesting. The book is very concrete. It gives many real life examples of what can happen on the internet.
This morning I was looking at bookstores listed on Wikipedia. There is an interesting short description of the history of the Strand founded by Fred Bass in 1922 on Wikipedia.
Anyways, I am also thinking of my endless internal debate on whether or not to take the Bookselling Institute at the next Book Expo America in 2009 on how to open a retail bookstore. I know that I have no intention of opening a traditional retail bookstore. It is not a profession that rewards one well financially. Being a small bookstore or comic shop owner pays even less than being a librarian. It would probably be an enjoyable lifestyle if you did not get eaten by either the chain bookstores or the very large independent booksellers.
In some ways, I am frighteningly bad at business. I have an entrepreneurial streak. I rather liked working part time at a small bookstore and trading in comic books I found at flea markets and garage sales. I really enjoy this kind of thing. But, alas it is not a paying career. I also like investing in the stock market. A lot of the small bookstores have died in New York because of competition from the internet and the chain bookstores. Actually, this is not quite true, Strand Books ate many of the local chains and small bookstores.
I have looked and pondered on the idea of opening an online bookstore. You actually get more money from a physical bookstore of the same size as an online bookstore. Online bookstores work with economies of scale. You can sell a lot more books online on a website than you can in a physical store, unless your store is gigantic like Powell's or The Strand.
I have thought about how you would combine social networking with books. There could be some very interesting combinations. There are already some like Shelfari and Librarything. I really don't have the connections for this kind of thing right now. I would have to come up with a very interesting and unique combination of services built around collaborative tools.
Right now, I am just amusing myself with these kind of ideas. I had mentioned that I would be interested in working with an attempt at a total media site like Contentville which didn't do too well. Maybe, someone will figure out how to do it right.
Anyways, I am meandering along. If I was truly over the top, I could change this into a social networking site for a small fee. Something like Ning would allow me to do this.
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/ning . I am sure there are already a variety of social networking sites on books. I could point and click my way to a social networking site in a few days if I really wanted. http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/9-ways-to-build-your-own-social-network/
Right now, I am just meandering along.
I am still having problems with Entrecard. I still cannot log into Entrecard from my home computer. I have talked to them for three weeks and gotten a completely unsatisfactory response. The technician who helped me kept on giving me suggestions I had already done. Then when I told him I already did it, he tried to tell me that I should try what I had already done in a different way. It definitely makes me want to try a different service.
I can log in elsewhere with no problem. I think what is happening is that when I log in, I get the message you need to go to the login page. So I have to be logged in to log in.
I removed my widget. It was taking up too much time anyways.
Greyton
Had a very relaxing time in Greyton. My first visit to the town and I thoroughly enjoyed it, not knowing what to expect and despite the negative comments of some old time visitors who believe the upsurge in housing developments has spoilt the place. Needless to say, I took all my painting paraphernalia and did very little actual painting. Took lots of pictures though and thought I would post a few. Here they are -
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Good Evening
A portrait of Pierre de Fermat, French lawyer and mathematician.Good Evening
I wrote a short review today. Today has been a day for relaxation. I finished reading another book, The Last Theorem by Frederik Pohl and Arthur C. Clarke. Arthur C. Clarke died before the book was published. Frederik Pohl might have finished Arthur C. Clark's novel. I am really not quite sure about this one. It is a solidly entertaining book. It is not as good as I would have liked, but things often get a little fuzzy when one author finishes another authors work or writers collaborate.
The craftsmanship in the book is excellent. The story at times does not read like a traditional science fiction book at all. It is more of a near future novel, than a science fiction novel. It reads very much like a novel. The characters seem like people you might meet in real life. The book is on the Locus bestseller list.
It is Labor Day Weekend. I hope for all of your sakes you consider the plight of labor. I wish you all luck wherever you work. I hope you have a place where there is little plight between labor and management and cordial relations. If you are in the corporate world, I wish you a bit of profit sharing. I believe in a certain amount of employee ownership. I am glad to be part of a union.
Wikinomics How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
Wikinomics How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams
This book is about the new world of shared digital information production. It has a lot of spin and hype in the writing, but at the same time it reveals many new ideas. The book is quite entertaining to read and well written. It has a nice exuberant feeling to the writing which is clearly tech evangelist oriented.
With wikis, blogs, and other mass forms of internet communications we have become the producers of a large slice of our own media. Large chunks of the publishing world have been freed up from direct corporate control and formed it communities of production. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can start creating their own content. This has extended beyond computers to include peripheral devices tethered to computers like camcorders, iphones, and similar things. The book does not talk a lot about this a lot, however.
Suddenly content can be shared in various spaces like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. I belong to all four of these spaces. More importantly, the content is syndicated and connected together with advertising like Technorati, Entrecard, and other services. Everyone participating in a sense becomes a producer of content.
This has not just extended into the public spaces like blogs and wikis, but has also moved into corporations and universities. This is not as visible to most social networking users. The book covers the use of collaborative technologies in corporations and universities. Things like open source software, patent and idea sharing networks like yet2.com and Innocentive, and modular open source style manufacturing are discussed. It even discusses MITs fab lab which is a modular home manufacturing center.
The book points out we have in a very real sense become the designers of our own products and the producers of our own media. People don't wait to have new features put into their Lego sets they send in custom designs to the factories, or hack new features into their Xboxes. When a news story comes on television it is often the result of someone catching it on camcorder or writing about it on a blog. Sometimes this is better than what the television shows produce.
Welcome to the new world of Wikinomics or massive collaboration. Those who produce the best content win. According to the book, it takes seven skilled people to build a world class content site. This can be done anywhere in the world where people have the skills and the internet connection. The internet runs in an "Always On" mode. (I am not an always on kind of person.) Step in and get ready to face obsolescence in a flash. This world is merciless, full of hype, and offers no guarantees.
Wikinomics is deep and complex. However, it fails to point out that some of the ideas in this book are flawed. For example, in touting the Boeing 787 Dreamliners, they don't acknowledge that for a while there were production problems for the plane. They had not gotten their open source form of sourcing parts together that well.
Also, I found the section on Geek Squad to be an extreme example of hype. I would not buy a computer from Best Buy and saying that Geek Squad are the best possible technicians seems overblown. Having a technician drive up in a black and white volkswagon beetle is not that impressive. Having them fix my computer is.
I also can understand the desire for IBM and Red Hat Linux to push open source for people. For the non-technically minded linux is incredibly complex and not that well documented. IBM clearly makes it fortune from providing consulting services and customizing linux services which can cost a fortune. The initial up front costs can be cheaper, but the customization and technical support requires people who have excellent computer skills.
Despite this if you want to know a bit of history on Wikipedia, or other collaborative projects this book will give the basics as well as many interesting facts. For example, Wikipedia has exactly five full time employees. The site is almost entirely run by volunteers.
The book is great if you want to learn about how business is using collaborative tools. It even includes the hype to go with it. There is a profusion of ideas; ideagoras, peering, wikis, prosuming, Wikipedia, open source, and so much more. In addition to this profusion of ideas, it does include how Wikis and collaborative tools may have an effect on your workplace. A lot of the material is focused on things which are currently happening, not theory.
This book is about the new world of shared digital information production. It has a lot of spin and hype in the writing, but at the same time it reveals many new ideas. The book is quite entertaining to read and well written. It has a nice exuberant feeling to the writing which is clearly tech evangelist oriented.
With wikis, blogs, and other mass forms of internet communications we have become the producers of a large slice of our own media. Large chunks of the publishing world have been freed up from direct corporate control and formed it communities of production. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can start creating their own content. This has extended beyond computers to include peripheral devices tethered to computers like camcorders, iphones, and similar things. The book does not talk a lot about this a lot, however.
Suddenly content can be shared in various spaces like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger. I belong to all four of these spaces. More importantly, the content is syndicated and connected together with advertising like Technorati, Entrecard, and other services. Everyone participating in a sense becomes a producer of content.
This has not just extended into the public spaces like blogs and wikis, but has also moved into corporations and universities. This is not as visible to most social networking users. The book covers the use of collaborative technologies in corporations and universities. Things like open source software, patent and idea sharing networks like yet2.com and Innocentive, and modular open source style manufacturing are discussed. It even discusses MITs fab lab which is a modular home manufacturing center.
The book points out we have in a very real sense become the designers of our own products and the producers of our own media. People don't wait to have new features put into their Lego sets they send in custom designs to the factories, or hack new features into their Xboxes. When a news story comes on television it is often the result of someone catching it on camcorder or writing about it on a blog. Sometimes this is better than what the television shows produce.
Welcome to the new world of Wikinomics or massive collaboration. Those who produce the best content win. According to the book, it takes seven skilled people to build a world class content site. This can be done anywhere in the world where people have the skills and the internet connection. The internet runs in an "Always On" mode. (I am not an always on kind of person.) Step in and get ready to face obsolescence in a flash. This world is merciless, full of hype, and offers no guarantees.
Wikinomics is deep and complex. However, it fails to point out that some of the ideas in this book are flawed. For example, in touting the Boeing 787 Dreamliners, they don't acknowledge that for a while there were production problems for the plane. They had not gotten their open source form of sourcing parts together that well.
Also, I found the section on Geek Squad to be an extreme example of hype. I would not buy a computer from Best Buy and saying that Geek Squad are the best possible technicians seems overblown. Having a technician drive up in a black and white volkswagon beetle is not that impressive. Having them fix my computer is.
I also can understand the desire for IBM and Red Hat Linux to push open source for people. For the non-technically minded linux is incredibly complex and not that well documented. IBM clearly makes it fortune from providing consulting services and customizing linux services which can cost a fortune. The initial up front costs can be cheaper, but the customization and technical support requires people who have excellent computer skills.
Despite this if you want to know a bit of history on Wikipedia, or other collaborative projects this book will give the basics as well as many interesting facts. For example, Wikipedia has exactly five full time employees. The site is almost entirely run by volunteers.
The book is great if you want to learn about how business is using collaborative tools. It even includes the hype to go with it. There is a profusion of ideas; ideagoras, peering, wikis, prosuming, Wikipedia, open source, and so much more. In addition to this profusion of ideas, it does include how Wikis and collaborative tools may have an effect on your workplace. A lot of the material is focused on things which are currently happening, not theory.
Mile High Risk, Mile High Reward
Risk versus reward has been a central theme of my life as it likely has in yours. Long ago, I learned to accept my high tolerance for risk coupled with experience and a reliance on my faith in God and his promise to "prosper me". I identify with the republicans and I learn more about the machines of both goverment and communities, I place my trust in people first.
As a relative newcomer to the political scene, I have been impressed with both the republicans and the democrats' rhetoric of late. That said, rhetoric is just words in the end. Delivering the goods is something quite different as anyone who actually leads can tell you. Obama has some great things to say, and inspires even a diehard republican like myself. McCain shares the classic signs of a leader but he adds the next dimension. I trust him and he has proven his worth over, and over, and over again.
His recent selection of Governor Palin is a master stroke if it works. I hope it does. Real leadership is almost always about taking risks to gain reward and feeling where the "line" is for making that call. By the time the party bosses work it all out, and the media machines grind on both of our candidates, it is hard to quantify the risk vs reward in a election. In a perfect world, I guess we would all get to meet them, shake their hand and test their mettle. In our world, we have to go with our gut and learn as much as we can.
As for me and my house.. well... We will serve the Lord. but.. we'll vote for McCain - Palin. I hope you will too.
Friday, August 29, 2008
damn busdriver =.=
I hate busdrivers. Ok, maybe I don't hate them but I really dislike this one. Their job is to fetch people that want to go home like me or just go somewhere farer away. That can't be hard to get, right !? So I was going to take the bus home after school. I finished 03.35 pm. and the 1st bus (03.42 pm.) I missed so I had to take the next one (03.57 pm.) I waited and waited. The bus was 6 min late the and came in a very high speed. I had grabbed my big bag and had my buscard ready and all and --- SWWWWOOOSH ! The GOD DAMN BUS JUST PASSED ME !!!!
I was soooo mad. I mean mummy was waiting for me to get home so we could go to Gränby Centrum (the biggest mall in Uppsala, 5 min away from us) together and shop. Now I had to wait for the next bus the 3rd one ! 04.17 pm. was that bus suppose to come...so I waited and when it came finally I could get home. Where I found mummy ready to leave by herself. The time was 04.30 pm. something so tell me I COULD HAD WALKED !
So to all busdrivers; even though you are late in schedule - do your bloody job ! We pay taxes that (or mum pays) is your salary and for that salary you are supposed to work ! I am not saying that I don't like busdrivers but please you work for the public society, maybe you didn't choose to but you are in that business now so do what you are payed to do. If you can't - that job isn't meant for you !
I was soooo mad. I mean mummy was waiting for me to get home so we could go to Gränby Centrum (the biggest mall in Uppsala, 5 min away from us) together and shop. Now I had to wait for the next bus the 3rd one ! 04.17 pm. was that bus suppose to come...so I waited and when it came finally I could get home. Where I found mummy ready to leave by herself. The time was 04.30 pm. something so tell me I COULD HAD WALKED !
So to all busdrivers; even though you are late in schedule - do your bloody job ! We pay taxes that (or mum pays) is your salary and for that salary you are supposed to work ! I am not saying that I don't like busdrivers but please you work for the public society, maybe you didn't choose to but you are in that business now so do what you are payed to do. If you can't - that job isn't meant for you !
Morning Thoughts, Afternoon Thoughts
Alice In Wonderland, Alice and the Caterpillar smoking his hookah. I really just like the image. It is just as good as the Cheshire cat.Morning Thoughts
I was reading Slanted Jack by Mark L. Van Name on the train this morning. It is solid writing, not exceptional. The book is the second in a series (John and Lobo). John is a mercenary with some unique abilities. He can listen to machines and talk to them. Lobo is his PCAV, a form of assault vehicle. It is kind of interesting in a way. John has a personal relationship with an assault carrier. This is the second book which the writer has done. It is a little more polished than the first book. The story is a little bit better in the first book, One Jump Ahead. The publisher is Baen books which publishes military science fiction.
This morning, I went through the civil service test books and weeded out some of the older titles, I also went through some of the career titles and weeded out older duplicate titles. One of the major reasons I weed books is to make the other, newer books more visible to patrons. Also, it makes it much easier to find things if you have weeded the collection. I always like being very systematic and checking every book. This makes it easier for me to order new books and manage my shelving library aide.
Weeding, ordering, and managing shelving in combination make it easy to find things. The location of many items becomes almost second nature. Combined with regularly checking the stacks to see if they are in order, it gives me a pretty good idea where everything is. It is up to the point where I can find many books if someone just mentions a popular title. It would be almost the same experience if you worked in a bookstore and you ordered, shelved, inventoried, and returned items from a specific section of books.
I was reading Slanted Jack by Mark L. Van Name on the train this morning. It is solid writing, not exceptional. The book is the second in a series (John and Lobo). John is a mercenary with some unique abilities. He can listen to machines and talk to them. Lobo is his PCAV, a form of assault vehicle. It is kind of interesting in a way. John has a personal relationship with an assault carrier. This is the second book which the writer has done. It is a little more polished than the first book. The story is a little bit better in the first book, One Jump Ahead. The publisher is Baen books which publishes military science fiction.
This morning, I went through the civil service test books and weeded out some of the older titles, I also went through some of the career titles and weeded out older duplicate titles. One of the major reasons I weed books is to make the other, newer books more visible to patrons. Also, it makes it much easier to find things if you have weeded the collection. I always like being very systematic and checking every book. This makes it easier for me to order new books and manage my shelving library aide.
Weeding, ordering, and managing shelving in combination make it easy to find things. The location of many items becomes almost second nature. Combined with regularly checking the stacks to see if they are in order, it gives me a pretty good idea where everything is. It is up to the point where I can find many books if someone just mentions a popular title. It would be almost the same experience if you worked in a bookstore and you ordered, shelved, inventoried, and returned items from a specific section of books.
Afternoon Thoughts
Sometimes I think a lot about the idea of a core collection. The idea is that in most libraries about 10% of books are used regularly. The other 90% of the books are not used that regularly. This applies also to bookstores. When you think about this, it amounts to about 1 in 10 books in most libraries.
Theoretically, through improved selection, you may be able to increase the amount of books to 25% of the collection. This requires a lot of selective regular weeding, being very selective in purchasing, and improving the usability and visibility of the shelving. It means the shelves should not be packed too tightly, and there should be room for expansion of the collection.
I like to expand the idea of core collection to a map of a whole collection. In some ways, I think of the collection as consisting of a set of core classic books like Machiavelli, The Prince, Plato, The Republic, Sun Tzu, The Art of War, Darwin, Origin of the Species, and similar titles. Surrounding this are practical titles that are used a lot, high use and high popularity items. Things which would appear on the New York Times Bestseller List, or be needed for everyday activities like buying a home, or growing a garden.
For me there is a kind of map when I am selecting things to buy. I like to think of core and popular titles which might be in a subject. When I buy popular titles, I like to expand the places which I might search for popular titles to include specialty magazines and sites. I don't just use the New York Times Book Review, I also look at places like Business Week Bestsellers, Locus Bestseller List (Science Fiction), Romantic Times, and The National Indie Bestseller Lists http://www.bookweb.org/indiebound/bestsellers/national.html , I also look at Diamond Comic Books Distributors Bestsellers http://diamondbookshelf.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=20&s=438&ai=0
Then I like to think in terms of community. Demographics and community statistics are actually fairly important when you are looking for books to buy. What languages does a community speak? What ethnic groups are there? For example if you have a lot of Brazilians, you might want to buy a decent amount of Brazilian fiction. We also buy a lot of urban fiction. Who are the local authors? What is the local industry? The largest professional association in our community is nursing, so we buy a lot of nursing test preparation books for the NCLEX. What is being assigned in the schools?
Then I like to think of the special collections which we maintain. Some libraries may have collections that focus on special areas. We have a large multicultural collection covering a wide variety of ethnic groups, a job information center collection, a law collection, a very large mystery collection, a collection of musical scores, a special collection of African American audiobooks, an African film collection, a very large cookbook collection, and recently I have been expanding the graphic novel collection.
There are also some surprising things. We have a refrigerator factory in our area, so we have to buy more HVAC books than might be expected. Then we have some things which are just uncategorizable that people like for some reason or other. There is a lot of interesting in knitting and crocheting in our community. We have a knittig club at the library.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Good Afternoon
Persepolis ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire during the Achaemanid Dynasty
Good Afternoon
Good afternoon. I finished reading Wikinomics on the train to work this morning. Basically the book is about collaboration between different groups using a computer. I am going to write a review for the book soon. It might take a little while to get all my thoughts together.
This morning, I faxed in the request for a free pass to the New York Anime Festival and put in my paperwork for work to go there.
One book came in for me this afternoon, Linnea Sinclair, Shades of Dark. I really enjoyed her other science fiction romance novel, The Down Home Zombie Blues. I hope this novel is just as good.
I did some more weeding of books this morning. I am starting on the oversize or quarto books focusing on business. There are a lot less of these than in the regular collection, so it should go fairly quickly.
I also wrote my monthly report for my supervisor. It was a little shorter than usual this time. I'll probably be making up for it this coming month. I think there will be a lot for me to do. More than ever.
One of my favorite graphic novel artists is Marjane Satrapi. She has written a number of graphic novels that I have really liked including Embroideries, Chicken With Plums, Persepolis, and Persepolis II. Her graphic novels are about everyday life of ordinary citizens in Iran. The stories are quite interesting and very sophisticated.
I just placed the movie she adapted from her graphic novel, Persepolis on hold. The animation won the Jury Prize for the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar. It has won numerous prizes. I am really looking forward to seeing this film. I am currently #29 in the holds queue for the item, so I may have to wait a couple of weeks to get it.
Good afternoon. I finished reading Wikinomics on the train to work this morning. Basically the book is about collaboration between different groups using a computer. I am going to write a review for the book soon. It might take a little while to get all my thoughts together.
This morning, I faxed in the request for a free pass to the New York Anime Festival and put in my paperwork for work to go there.
One book came in for me this afternoon, Linnea Sinclair, Shades of Dark. I really enjoyed her other science fiction romance novel, The Down Home Zombie Blues. I hope this novel is just as good.
I did some more weeding of books this morning. I am starting on the oversize or quarto books focusing on business. There are a lot less of these than in the regular collection, so it should go fairly quickly.
I also wrote my monthly report for my supervisor. It was a little shorter than usual this time. I'll probably be making up for it this coming month. I think there will be a lot for me to do. More than ever.
One of my favorite graphic novel artists is Marjane Satrapi. She has written a number of graphic novels that I have really liked including Embroideries, Chicken With Plums, Persepolis, and Persepolis II. Her graphic novels are about everyday life of ordinary citizens in Iran. The stories are quite interesting and very sophisticated.
I just placed the movie she adapted from her graphic novel, Persepolis on hold. The animation won the Jury Prize for the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar. It has won numerous prizes. I am really looking forward to seeing this film. I am currently #29 in the holds queue for the item, so I may have to wait a couple of weeks to get it.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
New York Anime Festival, Good Morning
Anime DVDsNew York Anime Festival
I think I am going to go to the New York Anime Festival on September 26 with a free professional pass. Librarians get in free on professional day. I think it will be fun to do. Plus, I want to see all the swag. This would be a perfect day to get lots of free giveaways so we can give them to the teenagers during programming. There should also be some manga and martial arts films, I hope.
Hopefully, it should be interesting. I went to New York Comic Con. I think this might be even bigger than New York Comic Con. A lot of the teenagers really like anime. We have an anime club at our library. http://www.nyanimefestival.com/
I think I am going to go to the New York Anime Festival on September 26 with a free professional pass. Librarians get in free on professional day. I think it will be fun to do. Plus, I want to see all the swag. This would be a perfect day to get lots of free giveaways so we can give them to the teenagers during programming. There should also be some manga and martial arts films, I hope.
Hopefully, it should be interesting. I went to New York Comic Con. I think this might be even bigger than New York Comic Con. A lot of the teenagers really like anime. We have an anime club at our library. http://www.nyanimefestival.com/
I know this seems to have nothing to do with books. However, we also order books on drawing manga and anime. I also have bought some books on how to do cartooning.
Good Morning
I just had my morning coffee. I am waking up a bit.
Good Morning
I just had my morning coffee. I am waking up a bit.
I spent pretty much the whole day finishing up weeding the business management books. The section ends with the advertising books. At least, I have looked at all the books in the section so I will have a much better idea of what to order. Next, I have to focus on doing the oversize computer books, the oversize business management books, and finally, the social science books. I have lots and lots of weeding to do.
Later this week there should be more items from my orders coming in. Things have been both busy and very predictable.
I have been spending a lot more time lately answering questions at the reference desk. It has been a bit of a vacation season.
Nothing new has come in for me to read. I still have to review a few books. I am a little tired right now.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Morning Thoughts
La Censure by George Lafosse c 1874Morning Thoughts
I am not happy with the publisher Chelsea Green's decision to limit sales of the book Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency to Amazon.com for the first week of the release. This shows a disregard for openness in competition in the book industry. It also restricts people's choices of where to purchase books. In some ways, I am not a fan of Amazon's practices in selling books. I think it was a bad decision on the part of the publisher.
I am not happy with the publisher Chelsea Green's decision to limit sales of the book Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency to Amazon.com for the first week of the release. This shows a disregard for openness in competition in the book industry. It also restricts people's choices of where to purchase books. In some ways, I am not a fan of Amazon's practices in selling books. I think it was a bad decision on the part of the publisher.
http://news.bookweb.org/6245.html
In a similar vein, September 27- October 4, 2008 is banned book week. There is a site up for booksellers and libraries http://bannedbooksweek.org/ . It shows one of my favorite books on the site, Maurcice Sendak In The Night Kitchen.
We have six of the ten Most Banned Books of 2007. Most are young adult titles or classics. I don't know why they want to ban teenage books so much. I put up a small display of the six books. I am going to try and get the other four as we go forward this month.
I am up to page 200 of Wikinomics. It is getting even more complicated. Wikinomics is writing about mashups, combining two or more sites to create a third sites. For example, you might combine google maps with the location of vacation rentals to create a new kind of information-- maps to vacation rentals.
I also took a break again and started reading Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell. I especially like Pepper, the main character who has been in all the novels. Pepper is the essence of being beat down and still going. I also like the new enemy, space zombies. They are a lot of fun to read about. I also like the continuity of setting. The Azteca even though they lose their alien masters, still remain a coherent culture in the novels. They proclaim that the aliens were false gods and become a democracy led by a council.
In a similar vein, September 27- October 4, 2008 is banned book week. There is a site up for booksellers and libraries http://bannedbooksweek.org/ . It shows one of my favorite books on the site, Maurcice Sendak In The Night Kitchen.
We have six of the ten Most Banned Books of 2007. Most are young adult titles or classics. I don't know why they want to ban teenage books so much. I put up a small display of the six books. I am going to try and get the other four as we go forward this month.
I am up to page 200 of Wikinomics. It is getting even more complicated. Wikinomics is writing about mashups, combining two or more sites to create a third sites. For example, you might combine google maps with the location of vacation rentals to create a new kind of information-- maps to vacation rentals.
I also took a break again and started reading Sly Mongoose by Tobias Buckell. I especially like Pepper, the main character who has been in all the novels. Pepper is the essence of being beat down and still going. I also like the new enemy, space zombies. They are a lot of fun to read about. I also like the continuity of setting. The Azteca even though they lose their alien masters, still remain a coherent culture in the novels. They proclaim that the aliens were false gods and become a democracy led by a council.
Today, I plan on doing some weeding of the business books. I still have quite a bit more to do with this.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Morning Thoughts
Information is where it is at. Information cannot be created or destroyed according to some theories much like matter or energy.Morning Thoughts
I put down Wikinomics for a night to read something a little bit more lightweight. I read Space Vulture by Gary K. Wolfe and Archbishop John J. Myers. This book is something that might have been written in the golden age of science fiction. It is very campy. However, there is a much more complex underpinning of morals to this story. I am going to take some time to review it later. Gary K. Wolfe is famous for creating Roger Rabbit.
Wikinomics is a fairly complex books. It covers a lot of collaborative ideas like prosuming, open source software, wikis, and ideagoras. It really makes you think when you read the book.
Afternoon Thoughts
I just got back from vacation. I did a variety of minor clean up activities, filing some legal looseleafs, making sure there were plenty of books on the display stand, walking around the stacks to make sure everything looked orderly, and picking up various papers to check from my work mailbox.
Most of my orders were processed during my vacation. I returned some of the books which I read during the vacation.
A bunch of science fiction books came in for me to read, Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl The Last Theorem, Gregory Frost Lord Tophet A Shadowbridge Novel, Mark L. Van Name Slanted, and Tobias Buckell Sly Mongoose. The book I really want to read is Sly Mongoose. I think this book will be nominated for a hugo award.
I put down Wikinomics for a night to read something a little bit more lightweight. I read Space Vulture by Gary K. Wolfe and Archbishop John J. Myers. This book is something that might have been written in the golden age of science fiction. It is very campy. However, there is a much more complex underpinning of morals to this story. I am going to take some time to review it later. Gary K. Wolfe is famous for creating Roger Rabbit.
Wikinomics is a fairly complex books. It covers a lot of collaborative ideas like prosuming, open source software, wikis, and ideagoras. It really makes you think when you read the book.
Afternoon Thoughts
I just got back from vacation. I did a variety of minor clean up activities, filing some legal looseleafs, making sure there were plenty of books on the display stand, walking around the stacks to make sure everything looked orderly, and picking up various papers to check from my work mailbox.
Most of my orders were processed during my vacation. I returned some of the books which I read during the vacation.
A bunch of science fiction books came in for me to read, Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl The Last Theorem, Gregory Frost Lord Tophet A Shadowbridge Novel, Mark L. Van Name Slanted, and Tobias Buckell Sly Mongoose. The book I really want to read is Sly Mongoose. I think this book will be nominated for a hugo award.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
sweet 16th B-day !!!
Maria asked me last week what I wished for at my birthday. I said I didn't really know since the biggest birthday craving that day was a ticket straight back to summer and Malaysia, haha. Which isn't really what I got since time goes forward and not backwards. I know my update is kind of late because today isn't my birthday because yesterday was my birthday. Anyhow Tarane was so sweet today and gave me a birthday card and we have known each other for like a week only. I couldn't had asked for more than a hug. My new friends are so sweet...=)
Ok, so this is what I got from my precious family (and a SEK 200:- gift voucher from auntie Katherine at H&M).
before
after
I got; 2 bags, 2 DVDs, an ubercute Hello Kitty pen set, SEK 1000 (I love you mum !) and these 3 pretty GUESS tops xD
Thanks for a great birthday my dearest mum and beautiful sis. It wasn't a normal one but I enjoyed it like everytime we do things together. =)
Good Morning
Young Romance Comic BookGood Morning
Good morning, I'm up, I've had my coffee. I put a science fiction romance paperback on hold Linnea Sinclair Shades of Dark. I actually read romance novels on occasion. Mostly science fiction and horror romances. There is just a lot more sex and relationships than in most science fiction and horror which tends to have cardboard cutout action heros as the main characters.
I think a lot of science fiction writers could learn something from reading a few romance novels. The exceptions of course are Philip Jose Farmer and Tanith Lee who have written science fiction novels about love. One of my favorite novels was Name of A Shadow by Ann Maxwell. It is a science fiction romanc that was nominated for the Hugo award. I think it probably would have won if people had less prejudice against the romance genre.
Romance is the most read genre of fiction. There is nothing like sex and relationships. Another author who started out as a writer of gothic romances is Marion Zimmer Bradley. She then switched to science fantasy with her Darkover novels. I rather enjoyed reading them when she was writing them. I don't particularly like the author who took her place to continue the series.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
weirdie Saturday
This was a very weird but quite good Saturday actually. Why it was weird ? Well...
#1 I have never had so much homework to do, like the same day (I mean not what I can remember, especially since this only was my first week at school).
#2 We celebrated or ate...
#1 I have never had so much homework to do, like the same day (I mean not what I can remember, especially since this only was my first week at school).
#2 We celebrated or ate...
but my birthady isn't until tomorrow. But like I told you all, I am going to a baptism AT MY BIRTHDAY ! But I didn't get any presents today because I wanted to save something for my real birthday...
#3 I have had no time to just relax today and it's Sturday !!! So I am very tired, hope mummy is finished with whatever she is doing so we can do what we haven't done in a long while; watch Oprah together ! xD. Gosh she's on the phone...wonder how long that will take =.=...
Ok, going to join sis infront of the TV watching the highlights of the Olympics...
XoXo Mei Mei
Library Fines, Good Morning, Afternoon Thoughts
The 2005 Hugo Award from Worldcon.Library Fines
This is a nice little article on a woman going to jail for not paying $38.00 in library fines. I think it is a bit extreme to call the police for not paying library fines. We have a collection agency that calls to collect money from patrons and attaches the bill to a persons credit card. We also put a block on a card if they have over $10.00 in fines. Still, it is an interesting if a little bit wacky article. The New York Post is a slightly muckraking paper.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08232008/news/nationalnews/this_nice_woman_was_arrested__handcuffed_125689.htm
Good Morning
Good morning to you all. I am having a nice moring. I have a 16 ounce cup of coffee in front of me from the local deli. Hot and fresh and time to wake up. Today, I am going to do some recaps from the news. There is going to be a Hugo award for the best graphic story. I am surprised that Locus and SFSite have not picked up on this yet.
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13139.html
Steven Brust author of the Taltos novels has written a free fan fiction novel based on the television series Firefly. You can get it here. I hear the magical call of the word free.
http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html
This is a nice little article on a woman going to jail for not paying $38.00 in library fines. I think it is a bit extreme to call the police for not paying library fines. We have a collection agency that calls to collect money from patrons and attaches the bill to a persons credit card. We also put a block on a card if they have over $10.00 in fines. Still, it is an interesting if a little bit wacky article. The New York Post is a slightly muckraking paper.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08232008/news/nationalnews/this_nice_woman_was_arrested__handcuffed_125689.htm
Good Morning
Good morning to you all. I am having a nice moring. I have a 16 ounce cup of coffee in front of me from the local deli. Hot and fresh and time to wake up. Today, I am going to do some recaps from the news. There is going to be a Hugo award for the best graphic story. I am surprised that Locus and SFSite have not picked up on this yet.
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13139.html
Steven Brust author of the Taltos novels has written a free fan fiction novel based on the television series Firefly. You can get it here. I hear the magical call of the word free.
http://dreamcafe.com/firefly.html
Afternoon Thoughts
I have been reading some more of Wikinomics. I am learning some interesting facts. Wikipedia has five full time paid staff members, the rest are volunteers. It takes approximately seven people to build a web company from scratch that can start on the way to becoming a top competitor in the web industry. (A pretty wild claim). Still a quite entertaining read.
Friday, August 22, 2008
finally Friday !
Been very, very busy these days and had no time to update. So really sorry about that. School is better now and the teachers seems great but the homework (especially the 2 ones we got the first day in maths and english) I think really can or will wear me out. But I will try to stay focus as long as I can on this, beacuse I really want this education. =)
Today we had speed-dating in class or actually we got to skip class for that, haha...it was really fun even though it only was our class because the other class didn't come. But it was like so embarrasssing since everyone knew my name and I didn't know the poor guys names. I got like total blackouts when they sat infront of me, but otherwise it was really fun and we got to know each other much (?) better :P.
Friday, Friday. Just so happy that I don't have to wake up at 07.00 am. tomorrow =D and that we are going to celebrate my birthday ! Ok, my birthday is not on Aug 23 it's on Aug 24 but on Sunday, because going to a baptism and that means I will miss the end of the Olympics...=.=...Got to do something about that.
Good Morning
Image of the Canadian Library of Parliament from 1877. The picture looks more like the outside of a gothic castle than a library to me.Good Morning
Yesterday was a day for lawyers and accountants. A day which I wish would have magically and permanently disappeared. There is nothing like getting up to go to see a lawyer early in the morning, then going and spending an afternoon with an accountant to try and solve a financial fiasco. It is a blessing that day is over.
I read some more of Wikinomics which is turning out to be a very entertaining and informative book.
I also rejoined Technorati. My anger is now over against Technorati. I realized that I probably should not have gone on a favoriting binge. It is like the endless clicking on Entrecard which I still can't get to work in my browser at home. Technorati is basically a way to get more traffic on a blog and be recognized.
Yesterday was a day for lawyers and accountants. A day which I wish would have magically and permanently disappeared. There is nothing like getting up to go to see a lawyer early in the morning, then going and spending an afternoon with an accountant to try and solve a financial fiasco. It is a blessing that day is over.
I read some more of Wikinomics which is turning out to be a very entertaining and informative book.
I also rejoined Technorati. My anger is now over against Technorati. I realized that I probably should not have gone on a favoriting binge. It is like the endless clicking on Entrecard which I still can't get to work in my browser at home. Technorati is basically a way to get more traffic on a blog and be recognized.
Afternoon Thoughts
I got a chance to go to the library this afternoon and return some books. I also got a chance to spend a little time on the library computers. It wasn't that exciting this afternoon.
Super Fan Letter
Hello, my name is Rebecca, and I absolutely love your books! I read the Model Spy, Down to the Wire, and The Winning Element in 2 days. They were really fantastic. I know that authors can be really busy, and not respond... or have an auto reply or an assistant who responds to the emails... but I really hope that you get this.
You are one of my favorite authors... and I couldn't wait to read your latest book, Native Tongue... but it wasn't at the library yet. I was going to buy it form the store, but they were also out. So I hope that they restock, and that the Library buys more copies... or I'll be go crazy waiting for the book. *laugh*
Okay, moving on to why I actually sent this message... I want you to know that you're doing a great job of writing such creative and novel books. Each and every one of the pages just catches my attention over and over again. It made me want more and more... and since I couldn't go to the library everyday... I read the first 3 books of The Specialists series 3 times each. They're totally exhilarating!
So if you ever have any down times... where you can't think of anything to write about... know that you've always got a fan... me! *smile* Keep up the good work, because, I'm hoping that the Specialists will keep having adventures together.
-- Rebecca
P.S. ... if you could reply, that'd be great. But I understand if you don't.
You are one of my favorite authors... and I couldn't wait to read your latest book, Native Tongue... but it wasn't at the library yet. I was going to buy it form the store, but they were also out. So I hope that they restock, and that the Library buys more copies... or I'll be go crazy waiting for the book. *laugh*
Okay, moving on to why I actually sent this message... I want you to know that you're doing a great job of writing such creative and novel books. Each and every one of the pages just catches my attention over and over again. It made me want more and more... and since I couldn't go to the library everyday... I read the first 3 books of The Specialists series 3 times each. They're totally exhilarating!
So if you ever have any down times... where you can't think of anything to write about... know that you've always got a fan... me! *smile* Keep up the good work, because, I'm hoping that the Specialists will keep having adventures together.
-- Rebecca
P.S. ... if you could reply, that'd be great. But I understand if you don't.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
duty calls
Heading for school sooner or later 10.25 am. Start my first lesson at the IB !!! Which is french for like 1 hour 15 min =.=...great. I don't even know which classroom I am going to be in, so guess have to ask someone there. And I have no idea when I am gonna be home, around 05.oo pm. I think :/, haha. But I will keep my hope up and try my hardest during these 3 years I can tell you. Because Do What You Have To, So You Can Do What You Want To right ? :)
Gosh, I have been home exactly one week from Malaysia now and all I want is to go back. I wanna go back so badly ;(...
Gosh, I have been home exactly one week from Malaysia now and all I want is to go back. I wanna go back so badly ;(...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Afternoon Thoughts
Hokusai MangaAfternoon Thoughts
I watched three short half hour episodes of InuYasha. It was kind of fun. The story was not very complicated. A girl falls down a well and finds herself in medieval Japan. She turns out to be a protector of a gem which can give demons spiritual powers. InuYasha is a half demon fox, half human person who lusts after the gem. Kagome Higurashi, a fifteen year old girl must stop various evil entities from getting ahold of the gem, but it is broken into many pieces. An entertaining lighthearted story. There is some mild non-frontal nudity without any exposed breasts or groin. It is an anime specifically written for teenagers. It is rated 13 plus.
Anyways, I also read The Discworld Graphic Novels. It was solidly entertaining, but not as entertaining as the books. I think the graphic extrapolation of the stories could have been done much better. The books were both better written and much funnier than the graphic novel. Still, it is fun to read about Cohen the 87 year old barbarian, Rincewind the magician who cannot cast spells but somehow survives everything he encounters, and Twoflower the visiting tourist.
There are parodies of evil trolls, monsters from the dark, death, the mystical magic shop, dragons, and barbarians. This all of course occurs on Discworld which is a world on the back of a turtle with four giant elephants on top of the turtle supporting a disc where various mythical kingdoms live. The story starts in a mythical place called Ankhmorpork.
If you are looking for an afternoon or morning of light entertainment this graphic novel is worth reading. However, it is not spectacular or exceptional. Still, it is sort of worth reading. The books by Terry Pratchett are far better than the graphic novel. I espeically liked Making Money.
I watched three short half hour episodes of InuYasha. It was kind of fun. The story was not very complicated. A girl falls down a well and finds herself in medieval Japan. She turns out to be a protector of a gem which can give demons spiritual powers. InuYasha is a half demon fox, half human person who lusts after the gem. Kagome Higurashi, a fifteen year old girl must stop various evil entities from getting ahold of the gem, but it is broken into many pieces. An entertaining lighthearted story. There is some mild non-frontal nudity without any exposed breasts or groin. It is an anime specifically written for teenagers. It is rated 13 plus.
Anyways, I also read The Discworld Graphic Novels. It was solidly entertaining, but not as entertaining as the books. I think the graphic extrapolation of the stories could have been done much better. The books were both better written and much funnier than the graphic novel. Still, it is fun to read about Cohen the 87 year old barbarian, Rincewind the magician who cannot cast spells but somehow survives everything he encounters, and Twoflower the visiting tourist.
There are parodies of evil trolls, monsters from the dark, death, the mystical magic shop, dragons, and barbarians. This all of course occurs on Discworld which is a world on the back of a turtle with four giant elephants on top of the turtle supporting a disc where various mythical kingdoms live. The story starts in a mythical place called Ankhmorpork.
If you are looking for an afternoon or morning of light entertainment this graphic novel is worth reading. However, it is not spectacular or exceptional. Still, it is sort of worth reading. The books by Terry Pratchett are far better than the graphic novel. I espeically liked Making Money.
I have started reading Wikinomics. The book starts with the story of Goldcorp who decided to put all their geological data on their mining site since 1948 and offer rewards for people who could identify where the gold was for their mining corporation. This made them lots of money. They got lots of responses from a variety of web resources.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Elvis Lover Has Tagged Me With A Meme
Elvis Lover http://www.elvislover.blogspot.com/ has tagged me with a meme.
The chore here to reveal six unspectacular quirks about myself and challenge other bloggers to do the same.The rules here are simple:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.
Six quirks about me: :)
1. Depending on my mood, I will drink either tea with lemon and honey or coffee with milk in the morning when I go to work.
2. I like to read paperback books on crowded subway trains.
3. I collect science fiction art books with full color illustrations.
4. I keep a bag full of convention name tags from conventions and workshops which I have attended. There are name tags from PC World, American Library Association, New York Comic Con, Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival, and many more places.
5. I have a television but I never watch television on it. I use it to play videos and dvds.
6. I like organizing other peoples paper, but not my own.
http://libdrone.info/
The Thin Red Line. A very interesting book blog about a library clerk who has a lot of books passing under his scanner. He reviews many things which are different than what I review. Cookbooks, picture books, architecture books, children's books, home decorating and design, and many other titles are reviewed.
http://residentreader.blogspot.com/
I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book. This is a fairly intellectual site which reviews books. He reviews mostly nonfiction focused on a variety of subjects including politics, science, and the environment. There are a few science fiction reviews as well. He reviewed one of Charles Stross's books.
http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
Pick of the Literate. I rather like the site because the design is very easy to follow. He reviews a variety of science fiction books by very mainstream authors that are solid writers with interesting books. His latest review is of a Mercedes Lackey book. He also swaps books. His heart seems to be in the right place.
http://stellascript.blogspot.com/
Stella Script. Haiku, poetry, and writing. It is about the writing, especially the classics, and inspired haiku. A blog well worth visiting.
http://singinglibrarian.wordpress.com/
The Singing Librarian. An academic librarian who sings and performs in shows. This blog is quite interesting. The librarian is in Kent UK which provides some interesting insights to librarianship.
http://cromely.blogspot.com/
Cromely's World. A variety of book reviews. Life in Seattle including things like cafes, Ikea, and various moments in life. Includes some humorous material on comic books.
The chore here to reveal six unspectacular quirks about myself and challenge other bloggers to do the same.The rules here are simple:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules.
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.
Six quirks about me: :)
1. Depending on my mood, I will drink either tea with lemon and honey or coffee with milk in the morning when I go to work.
2. I like to read paperback books on crowded subway trains.
3. I collect science fiction art books with full color illustrations.
4. I keep a bag full of convention name tags from conventions and workshops which I have attended. There are name tags from PC World, American Library Association, New York Comic Con, Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival, and many more places.
5. I have a television but I never watch television on it. I use it to play videos and dvds.
6. I like organizing other peoples paper, but not my own.
http://libdrone.info/
The Thin Red Line. A very interesting book blog about a library clerk who has a lot of books passing under his scanner. He reviews many things which are different than what I review. Cookbooks, picture books, architecture books, children's books, home decorating and design, and many other titles are reviewed.
http://residentreader.blogspot.com/
I'll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book. This is a fairly intellectual site which reviews books. He reviews mostly nonfiction focused on a variety of subjects including politics, science, and the environment. There are a few science fiction reviews as well. He reviewed one of Charles Stross's books.
http://bookrevues.blogspot.com/
Pick of the Literate. I rather like the site because the design is very easy to follow. He reviews a variety of science fiction books by very mainstream authors that are solid writers with interesting books. His latest review is of a Mercedes Lackey book. He also swaps books. His heart seems to be in the right place.
http://stellascript.blogspot.com/
Stella Script. Haiku, poetry, and writing. It is about the writing, especially the classics, and inspired haiku. A blog well worth visiting.
http://singinglibrarian.wordpress.com/
The Singing Librarian. An academic librarian who sings and performs in shows. This blog is quite interesting. The librarian is in Kent UK which provides some interesting insights to librarianship.
http://cromely.blogspot.com/
Cromely's World. A variety of book reviews. Life in Seattle including things like cafes, Ikea, and various moments in life. Includes some humorous material on comic books.
Morning Thoughts, Afternoon Thoughts
This image was taken by a government employee. I think this image is in the public domain. Anyways, there it is a great photograph of Elvis with Nixon.Morning Thoughts
I don't know what happened to me yesterday morning. I couldn't get myself to write anything at all. Right now, I am drinking my coffee a little bit before noon. I read a little bit of Snopes this morning. A little odd and humorous news.
http://www.snopes.com/daily/index.asp
I am trying to do very little. I went to the laundromat yesterday and read some more of Manga The Complete Guide by Jason Thompason. Jason Thompson is an editor for Viz publisher which publishes manga. It was a very interesting book to read through. One of the huge faults with this book is that it only reviews manga from Japan that has translated into english. There is no coverage of original American manga from companies like Tokypop, Del Rey Manga, or Darkhores. There is now a lot of manga style comics being written by authors from others countries than Japan like Korea, China, and Canada.
Still the book is quite interesting. It reviews manga from the very beginnings starting with Four Immigrants Manga all the way through 2006. It uses a star rating system for the different manga comics with stars and half stars. I think it is pretty accurate. There is a lot of material covered Ranma 1/2, Lone Wolf and Cub, Iron Wok Jan, Harlem Beat, Sailor Moon, and a huge variety of subjects are covered.
In addition to the coverage of individual reviews there are two page overviews of different subjects in manga like Cooking, Crime and Yakuza, Fantasy, Japanese History, Otaku, Martial Arts, and many other subjects. This is quite interesting. It also includes discussions of the more risque material in manga, cross dressing, gay and lesbian, and sex.
There are separate review sectsions for Yaoi and Gay Manga, and Adult Manga. As part of its rating system, the book discusses many of the issues with differences in culture. The Japanese have very different taboos about nudity than westerners or people in the United States. They also have a tendency to include sexual innuendo about little girls. This is something we are careful about in our library.
We have had some interesting issues with Sailor Moon and older men (There is even a "Sailor Moon" fan made dating sim which is quite creepy.) Because of the issues of sexuality, we have to be very careful when ordering things for teenagers. Some of the material goes right to the adult section where there are less problems.
Ranma 1/2 for people in the United States also has some interesting connotations. When water is thrown on him, he turns into her. For some people in the United States this is more x-rated than sex. It would be no problem in the adult section, but some people sometimes object to it being in teen section or getting the book at all.
Still even in the adult section, the material can be quite explicit. I was surprised at how explicit Path of the Assassins was. It is on the top 50 bestselling manga by Diamond Comic Distributors. Just because something sells well does not make it non-explicit.
There is a glossary and an artist index. The artist index includes the titles they have published as well as links to their website if it is available.
The book has numerous black and white illustrations of covers. The back has a photo credits section. There are also a few panels from different manga in the book.
I think that this is an excellent guide to Japanese Manga. The key here is that it only covers manga in translation to english from Japanese. This is an awful lot of material.
Afternoon Thoughts
I don't know what happened to me yesterday morning. I couldn't get myself to write anything at all. Right now, I am drinking my coffee a little bit before noon. I read a little bit of Snopes this morning. A little odd and humorous news.
http://www.snopes.com/daily/index.asp
I am trying to do very little. I went to the laundromat yesterday and read some more of Manga The Complete Guide by Jason Thompason. Jason Thompson is an editor for Viz publisher which publishes manga. It was a very interesting book to read through. One of the huge faults with this book is that it only reviews manga from Japan that has translated into english. There is no coverage of original American manga from companies like Tokypop, Del Rey Manga, or Darkhores. There is now a lot of manga style comics being written by authors from others countries than Japan like Korea, China, and Canada.
Still the book is quite interesting. It reviews manga from the very beginnings starting with Four Immigrants Manga all the way through 2006. It uses a star rating system for the different manga comics with stars and half stars. I think it is pretty accurate. There is a lot of material covered Ranma 1/2, Lone Wolf and Cub, Iron Wok Jan, Harlem Beat, Sailor Moon, and a huge variety of subjects are covered.
In addition to the coverage of individual reviews there are two page overviews of different subjects in manga like Cooking, Crime and Yakuza, Fantasy, Japanese History, Otaku, Martial Arts, and many other subjects. This is quite interesting. It also includes discussions of the more risque material in manga, cross dressing, gay and lesbian, and sex.
There are separate review sectsions for Yaoi and Gay Manga, and Adult Manga. As part of its rating system, the book discusses many of the issues with differences in culture. The Japanese have very different taboos about nudity than westerners or people in the United States. They also have a tendency to include sexual innuendo about little girls. This is something we are careful about in our library.
We have had some interesting issues with Sailor Moon and older men (There is even a "Sailor Moon" fan made dating sim which is quite creepy.) Because of the issues of sexuality, we have to be very careful when ordering things for teenagers. Some of the material goes right to the adult section where there are less problems.
Ranma 1/2 for people in the United States also has some interesting connotations. When water is thrown on him, he turns into her. For some people in the United States this is more x-rated than sex. It would be no problem in the adult section, but some people sometimes object to it being in teen section or getting the book at all.
Still even in the adult section, the material can be quite explicit. I was surprised at how explicit Path of the Assassins was. It is on the top 50 bestselling manga by Diamond Comic Distributors. Just because something sells well does not make it non-explicit.
There is a glossary and an artist index. The artist index includes the titles they have published as well as links to their website if it is available.
The book has numerous black and white illustrations of covers. The back has a photo credits section. There are also a few panels from different manga in the book.
I think that this is an excellent guide to Japanese Manga. The key here is that it only covers manga in translation to english from Japanese. This is an awful lot of material.
Afternoon Thoughts
I looked at 101 Ways To Promote Your Website by Susan Sweeney, C.A. . In a way I was not impressed with the book. On the cover it says "Main Selection of Computer Books Directs book club" I wanted to see if this club still existed, so I looked it up and the membership is closed. There are also a lot of complaints Computer Books Direct from various people. This knocked the book down a little bit in my mind. I also read the very short section on blogs and was not impressed with her suggestions for promoting blogs. They were very basic. So, I am putting the book down for now.
I also took a few minutes to start reading, Wikinomics How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. It seems entertaining so far. They have a blog promoting the book which has a nice fluffy branded feeling to it. http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/
I went to my local library today. However, I got there a bit late. The computers were closing in fifteen minutes so I decided to take a pass. I picked up a few items to read, The Darkness, A Vampire Huntress Legend by L.A. Banks and The Discworld Graphic Novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. I am hoping this will have a nice dose of humor in it. I also picked up a DVD, Inuyasha, I have not watched any of the television series anime, I have watched quite a few anime movies that are stand alone. So, this will be a slightly different experience for me.
Entrecard is still not working on my home computer. I wish they could tell me what was wrong with it, but they have not been able to.
first day at school
So today was it. My first day of school or should I say the start of something new - IB. Came there with no one to talk or laugh with, but ended up with a lot of laughs and newly friends leaving. I am going to say I was nervous, because I really was and it kept on during the whole day. I am still a little bit nervous, funnily...hahahaha...
Met this girl Tarane who's from Iran. She moved here 5 years ago but can speak really good Swedish actually. Chilled most of the day with her and it was fun. She is really one of those girls with a bubbly personality, that is great to party with, haha...Not that I am gonna get to party anything these 3 upcoming years...the schedule is AWFUL !!! I start like 08.30 am. almost everyday (like at Vaksala) but I don't finish like until 04.30-05.00 pm. EVERY DAY, except for like Wednesdays where I finish 03.15 pm. Like that is going to give me any further joy =.=...
So did I look approachable enough with Today's Dressed for Success ? (Haha, everyone that hasn't seen my Maggi mee hair...take a look :D)
The Aquarium 18"x24"
Monday, August 18, 2008
sob, sob...;(
I thought everything was fine and that I wasn't gonna cry after all this time. I was so wrong. Listening to Leona Lewis "Better in Time" and watching the Olympics really started mixing up my emotions...So don't try that at home folks, haha...;)
Alan Moore, Morning Thoughts
Alan Moore, mad, mindbending genius of comics
I have not started reading that much this morning. Anyways, good morning. I am drinking my coffee now.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Evening Thoughts
Evening Thoughts
I was surprised with the latest bunch of grapic novels and manga which I took out. I did not expect the manga, Path of the Assassin to be basically X rated with lots of steamy sex in it. Because of this, I would not recommend it. It looked like it was the same kind of thing as Lone Wolf and Cub. Lots of samurai violence, but very little sex. Path of the Assassin is truly steamy. It includes everything from palace intrigue, sex, and ninja assassins. You would call it humanity laid bare at its most base level.
I also found League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill to also have gone a little bit too far. The section called The New Adventures of Fanny Hill in the book was pretty extreme. It had a lot of erotic drawings done in a very similar style to Aubrey Beardsley. I like Aubrey Beardsley, but this goes pretty far. Also, the ending is done in 3D. There is even a pair of 3D Glasses included in the book.
Kevin O'Neill is drawing, "The Blazing World" or a kind of higher dimensional space in 3D. It is very strange looking. The actual pictures have a 3D quality, while the text bubbles appear flat. The effect is very mind bending, almost psychedelic in quality. There are all sorts of odd things in the pictures, whales, superheroes, buildings, and other things.
There is a lot of material that is truly over the top in this book. I could not begin to create what Alan Moore has written. Alan Qatermain and Mina are being chased through a 1950's style dystopia by the agents of a kind of big brother style government.
This is one of those books written with a singular purpose to confuse and blow your mind. It breaks pretty much every convention. My favorite part, and one of the few pieces that I found readable is "The Life of Orlando", a series of panels recounting the tale of an immortal person who changes sex every hundred years or so. It tells a story of a man consumed by warfare and intrigue traveling all of histories byways.
This book will not be for most peoples taste. If you want something very odd to read or something quite mind expanding, almost psychedelic read this book. Large portions of this graphic novel were very hard for me to read. Alan Moore wrote the comic book V for Vendetta. He also wrote one of the most famous comic books ever written, Watchmen. Watchmen is being made into a movie. I think at this point in his career he is free to write almost anything which he wants.
I did not read much that I wanted to review or write about so far this weekend. The Complete Guide to Manga by Jason Thompson is not bad. It covers all the basics. I am looking through it right now.
I was surprised with the latest bunch of grapic novels and manga which I took out. I did not expect the manga, Path of the Assassin to be basically X rated with lots of steamy sex in it. Because of this, I would not recommend it. It looked like it was the same kind of thing as Lone Wolf and Cub. Lots of samurai violence, but very little sex. Path of the Assassin is truly steamy. It includes everything from palace intrigue, sex, and ninja assassins. You would call it humanity laid bare at its most base level.
I also found League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Black Dossier, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill to also have gone a little bit too far. The section called The New Adventures of Fanny Hill in the book was pretty extreme. It had a lot of erotic drawings done in a very similar style to Aubrey Beardsley. I like Aubrey Beardsley, but this goes pretty far. Also, the ending is done in 3D. There is even a pair of 3D Glasses included in the book.
Kevin O'Neill is drawing, "The Blazing World" or a kind of higher dimensional space in 3D. It is very strange looking. The actual pictures have a 3D quality, while the text bubbles appear flat. The effect is very mind bending, almost psychedelic in quality. There are all sorts of odd things in the pictures, whales, superheroes, buildings, and other things.
There is a lot of material that is truly over the top in this book. I could not begin to create what Alan Moore has written. Alan Qatermain and Mina are being chased through a 1950's style dystopia by the agents of a kind of big brother style government.
This is one of those books written with a singular purpose to confuse and blow your mind. It breaks pretty much every convention. My favorite part, and one of the few pieces that I found readable is "The Life of Orlando", a series of panels recounting the tale of an immortal person who changes sex every hundred years or so. It tells a story of a man consumed by warfare and intrigue traveling all of histories byways.
This book will not be for most peoples taste. If you want something very odd to read or something quite mind expanding, almost psychedelic read this book. Large portions of this graphic novel were very hard for me to read. Alan Moore wrote the comic book V for Vendetta. He also wrote one of the most famous comic books ever written, Watchmen. Watchmen is being made into a movie. I think at this point in his career he is free to write almost anything which he wants.
I did not read much that I wanted to review or write about so far this weekend. The Complete Guide to Manga by Jason Thompson is not bad. It covers all the basics. I am looking through it right now.
Port Dickson and Seremban - a foodelicious journey
Before we headed for PD we visited all the places in Seremban that Ho Chak went to except the veggie place. That means ate 3 dishes in 1 hour. Uncle Kevin was more than happy to be our driver, since he loves to go to those places where you know they have really good food. But which Chinese doesn't really ? Haha. So, unfortunately we didn't take any pictures because that would had really made us look "jj", since we are not taping for Ho Chak, haha but I can tell you what we ate; claypot chicken rice (and uncle Kevin, claypot with salted fish rice) at Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Wai Kwai Choi, then we headed straight to Ah Paw to eat their delicious chicken rice where the skin is yellow ! After that the last but (best ? no everything was good just that I was soooo full I almost puked, after -) a very good bowl of lou shee fun at Restoran Yi Poh. We later brought egg tarts and siew pow from Kee Mei Siew Pow back to the hotel...
*We didn't eat everything big portions, so don't past out, haha...we were just testing everything :P
Haha, mum's western food with a touch of Malaysia =)...
Glory Beach Resort...couldn't find a better place =)...
Our hotel view was gorgeous...
Our pool...swimmed a lot of lenghts there :)...
Haha, I was being a little "jj" doing this and a man just came by and saw me, hahahaha gosh he was laughing...:D
And I just tried to act like nothing happened...:P
Vicki and I then decided to play the game "posing like the models" haha, this are the results...:P
And here is uncle Kevin again, haha....JPG)
See the balcony with the open door ? Our apartment :)...(three floors from the top )
My semester house then...hahahahahaha :D
Sis and I fell in love...but my size was totally sold out...:(
Hanged in the lobby while waiting for mummy to finish from massage that almost killed her, hahaha...those Thai's are small but strong :P
Mummy and I will always have a special bond, won't we ? hahahhahhah...
So on the way home, stopped in Seremban again to eat the grill and fried fish at Seremban Ikar Bakar...YUMMO ! Any conclusions ? That was a greeeeaaaaat trip !!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Pankor Island pics !!!
So just, what was it 2...yeah, I think so...days after we got home from Genting we were off to Pankor Island. It was my first time there and it was...well, really quiet since we came on a Thursday...we had fun but I don't think I necessary need to go again, though.
Guess which girls, haha...
Smallest cousin Yik-Yik...
We climbed up those rocks...pretty scary but fun and totally worth it when you are finally up...
Look like a ghost ship in Pirates of Carribean, just that is it in mini size, haha...
Yik-Yik and uncle Alvin wanted to see what the fishing man brought back with him...
Mummy and me =)...
Haha, this one is so cute...
Became good friends (?) with these picture perfect doggies :D...
Haha, mummy always got to be the cutest =). On the ferry back...
Stopped to take some pictures...
You know, when you are in Malaysia it is always all about the...CAR, so in this case uncle Kevin's new car, hahahaha. Do they look like brother and sister ? :P
Do we look like sisters ? :P
I can't believe I stood in front of a car and took a picture =.=...that is like soooo CHINESE !!! hahaha...got the genes haven't I...:P
Uncle Kevin's favourite picture, hahahaha...
My favourite picture...the final gathering =)...
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