March Photo a Day - Week 1




Day 1 - Up

I work on the top floor of this building.  A six story office building looks more impressive from this angle.  And thank goodness for the grid lines on my camera ap, taking wonky camera phone pictures has become a specialty of mine. 

Day 2 - Fruit

Having winter citrus is one of the many benefits of living in Southern California, if only your screen was scratch-n-sniff.  Orange blossoms are one of my favorite scents.  I can't really take credit for the oranges, only the photos, since this was taken at my parents house. 



Day 4 - Bedside

Started off the day with literal optimism.  The glass is half full.  Also you can see the lack of paper.  My Nook has become a permanent fixture on my nightstand.

Life as a photo narative

I love the art of the narrative, regardless of the medium: photography, novels, audio, films...  Our lives are a compilation of moments, and sometimes these moments can be captured.  I'm sure everyone throughout the course of history has thought that they were living in a unique time, and I wholeheartedly agree. Some days feel special, while other days just feel special. This is an era of total documentation, we record every little thing, you tube, pictures, blogs and maps.  There are more maps now than anytime in human history.  Cartographers you have served us well. Everything has been charted; thank you google maps/earth/space. 

In my never ending quest for a satisfying narrative, I've given up Facebook for a new social media addition: Instagram.  I love the camera on my iPhone, I realize that some of you might disagree with this statement. It has given me the ability to take pictures and capture moments that would have been otherwise ignored. 

Halfway through February, I decided to join the photo a day challenge.  There are several versions of this out there, but I've gone with the one from an Aussie blogger. It's been a fantastic experiment in creativity.  If you have thought about participating, I highly recommend it.  I've done pretty well this month, and only missed one day.  But I have a fantastic excuse, the topic was "clouds" and it was one of those obnoxiously typical sunny California days and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  I was going to be creative and draw a cloud on a post it and attach it to my window.  But by the time I remembered my concept, the sun was down.  Oh well. 

Photos are a narrative, and now I'd like to include some of my Instagraming in my posts.  I'll try and keep these to only the best of each week.  Somedays the topics are lame, or that's just my excuse for why my photos are less than fabulous.  All pictures are via iPhone, but I have no problem with using all of my filter aps.  I think tweaking the pictures are half the fun.   Hope you enjoy.

The Hunger Games 
Suzanne Collins

My rating:      

The movie comes out later this month, so my curiosity got the better of me, and I jumped on the bandwagon to read the novel. Often, my views are in the minority, but I found Hunger Games to be horrific. Despite my complete disdain, I gave this two stars solely because Collins kept me wondering how the story would unfold.  


I enjoy dystopian novels. A good novel has the ability to reflect and connect with a cautionary tale for our current society. Collins is certainly no Kafka, Golding or Bradbury. I find the complete lack of humanity in this book appalling.


In a nutshell: 24 youths (2 per district), ages 12-18 are randomly selected as tributes in the annual Hunger Games. The idea is that this pageantry will remind the citizens of Panem (ruins of N America) about their vicious past and how they are powerless. After a few days of pointless coaching and strategies, the youth will be released into a wilderness arena and fight to the death while the citizens of Panem watch at home.


Collins establishes the stark contract where the citizens of the Capitol live in opulence, while the people of the 12 districts regularly starve to death. Katniss is everything we want from a heroine. She offers herself as tribute in place of her sister, she is self reliant and strong willed.


What troubles me most about this novel is the absolute acceptance of this horrific world. The 74th annual Hunger Games are done with such pageantry, literally there's even a beauty pageant/fashion runway involved as the citizens of Panem are introduced to their contestants. Everyone watches with delight to see how the contestants will hunt each other and savagely kill until only one remains. There is zero value placed on human life. Yes it is a kill or be killed world, and Katniss knows that to stay alive 23 others must die.


The morality of this world is never called into question. With the exception of two people, Katniss dehumanizes the contestants. She creates names for them like "Foxface" or just refers to them by gender and or district. She acknowledges the cruel nature of the game and wants to "show the Capitol they don't own me." I really wanted Katniss to make a larger condemnation on society. She tells herself that it's okay that she can't save others. Even her big social statement is self centered.


While orchestrating the deaths of fellow tributes, Katniss muses about two boys and their possible affections for her. One is her dreamy hunting partner back home, while the other is the fellow tribute from her district. The fellow tribute from District 12 may be genuinely in love with her, or it might just be a ratings ploy to gain sympathy and support from potential sponsors. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that gem.  There is corporate sponsorship for the killfest, which is very dystopian and I didn't mind this fact . The boy crazed aspect of Katniss is painful to read, which makes me angry at Suzanne Collins. How dare you take this dystopian world and turn the heroine into a trite 16 year old who dreams about the feelings of boys while battling to live another day.


This world is so sick and twisted that I'm disgusted. I don't know if I can handle two more books. I hope that there is some type of redemption, because the lack of humanity is deplorable. I find the popularity of these novels confusing, and just makes me sad.

Reflective

My confidence in the eReader has officially worn off.  In my last post I was feeling confident in bringing my iPad on a business trip. 

It was fantastic on the plane.  Although I admit that I slept during takeoffs and didn't even crack open a magazine, but that was okay because I finished one book and started the next.  All thanks to being stuck on the tarmac at LAX for an hour which resulted in rebooking my connection in DWF (that's the Dallas airport code y'all).  So it was a glorious day for the iPad.

This morning I grabbed the trusty iPad and headed out for my business meetings.  I took notes, showed my staff some PDF files which saved me from paper waste.  All was glorious.  My Eco champion attitude continued, and I took the half mile walk back to my Fort Lauderdale hotel.  Once I returned to my room, I  sent off a dozen emails.  This was cause for a celebratory mojito at the marina bar. 

I found a lovely spot at the bar and decided to take a reading break with drink in hand.  But it wasn't quite working, my iPad was turning into a mirror.  I tried moving to a few different places.  I almost found one awkward position, but I kept seeing my face or the sky reflected in the iPad.  I finally gave up trying to read, and took this picture instead.  No trick photography.  I don't even know how to use Photoshop; I’m more of an excel nerd.  It does makes for a pretty awesome picture, so not a total loss.

Take-Offs and Landings

I have packing for air travel down to a science.  I am leaving for a 12 day business trip tomorrow and will have no problems packing my suitcase in 15 minutes flat.  It’s simple, I grab a few suits, blouses, other business clothing, casual items for my downtime including snorkel gear, toss in my handy hair towel, zip up the case and done.

It used to take me an agonizingly long time to pick my reading selections.  I would start planning two weeks prior. I’d gauge what book I was currently reading so I could power through and finish that book,  or be no more than a third into the current book before going on a trip.  I would then try to estimate my leisure and flight times to determine how many books I should pack.  Once I was gone for 14 days and packed 5 books.  I had forgotten how much books can weigh and take up space.  I bought a couple of bottles of wine, and of course those took priority, so I ended up leaving books scattered about as a finished them.  I imagine that’s how coffee shops acquires stray paperbacks, wayward travelers get tired of lugging them around and leave them sitting atop yesterday’s newspapers. 

Tonight I’ll charge up the iPad, and with favorite nook ap available to read the many books waiting for me.  The only downside will be when the flight attendant tells me to switch off all electronic devices.  I have no problem powering down my iphone or laptop, but when someone tells me to switch off my book – it doesn’t sound the same, and I want to take offence.  It seems too personal.  Almost makes me want to pick up a magazine just for takeoffs and landings.

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ransom Riggs
My rating:      

I almost deserve to be disappointed. I read this book because I was lured in by the cover. At one time or another, we’ve all been victim to book jacket or title seduction. The book jacket enticed me with the false promise of an interesting, creep filled Halloween styled read.

This book was a disappointment in just about every way. Ransom Riggs crafted a novel around a collection of delightfully odd vintage photos. I can see how this collection of photos became a muse. However the execution was totally lacking. The novel was awkwardly crafted around these photos. It felt like a writing assignment gone too far.  

Anyone who has taken a writing class probably knows what I'm talking about. The instructor assigns a photo, and the student is asked to create a short story or narrative around the photo. They served as character crutches, rather than Riggs using them as a platform to describe something additional about the character.  He may have well said “refer to photo 34.” His writing ability fell flat. The prose ranged from clunky to non-existent with the sophistication of a bologna sandwich.

Sixteen year old Jacob is the witness to his grandfather’s brutal murder by something he believes to be a Monster. His family reacts to his testimony by sending him to therapy. Jacob suffers from stereotypical rich kid problems, and comes across as a total whiner.  No wonder why he doesn't have any friends. Jacob seeks answers by traveling to a remote island off the coast of Whales in search of orphanage that his grandfather so-called home just before he left to fight in WWII. When Jacob arrives at the Island he quickly realizes that all of those stories and photos of Peculiar children were in fact real and not trick photography and lavish stories of his childhood. From here a vague plot and problematic time travel logic unravel.

The only thing that saves this from being a one star review is the photos themselves. It’s hard to give Riggs much credit for this. I wish that someone else would have gotten a hold of the photos and woven them into a more creative and evocative novel worthy of the vintage inspirations.

Subdued Rage for eReaders

When eBooks really began to take off - I was 115% against the idea. I would rant and shake my fist at the whole concept. I imagined my future as a crazy book hoarder, the last holdout in the tablet craze. I would not give in; ereaders were nothing shy of evil. I feared that if books became available only to those with expensive tablet devices, then reading books would become an elitist activity, setting civilization back 400 years to when only the wealthy owned books. Books should always be accessible to everyone no matter the state of their bank account. And not to mention the scent of an old book, ereaders give off no enchanting aroma.  I even made books the centerpiece at my wedding. There is nothing romantic about a Kindle.

But somewhere along the way, there began a subtle shift. First the Borders across the street from work went out of business. I used to spend my lunch breaks reading (my own books, I'm not a total freeloader) in their cafe. I grew tired of calculating how many books to pack in my suitcase when I would go on vacation. I didn't want to run out of reading materials, and when traveling in a foreign country, the book selection in English can be pretty bleak. I eventually grew weary of my rage, and gave in. Last Christmas my partner bought me a nook. He watched with some anxiety as I opened it. He was pleased I said thank you rather than lobbing the device at his head, a reaction which would have been inevitable the year before.

I do see both pros and cons to ereaders, and overall prefer a more organic reading experience. Maybe I'm less idealistic; maybe it’s my age. Life was more black and white in my 20s, there were idealistic absolutes, and I felt more passionate. Now that I've transitioned into my 30s my black and white world has changed into a lovely rainbow of grey.

I am not 100% onboard with ereaders even though I now have both a nook and an iPad. I'm just less angry about their existence.

Review: The Night Circus

The Night Circus 
Erin Morgenstern
Published September 13th 2011 by Doubleday

My rating:      
The Night Circus is a beautifully written novel which captured my interest from the first sentence. “The Circus arrives without warning.” I had some moments of concern because of the various points of view. Yet, Morgenstern’s well crafted fairy tale remained uncluttered despite the varied cast of characters.

The Circus itself becomes a beloved character, and as the reader I was often more concerned for the wellbeing of the circus than for some of the characters. The novel tells the story of Celia and Marco as they are bound by a magical contract which plays out in a mysterious competition.  The rules of this competition are mostly unrevealed to the reader as well as the various characters. Morgenstern successfully convinces the reader that the details of the competition are unimportant.  Yet at the same time I am concerned for the players and the eventual outcome.

The circus is held together by magic, but for the most part the patrons have either convinced themselves that it is a well crafted illusion, or they blindly accept and embrace the wonders of the circus not wanting to understand any of the mysteries.  

The Night Circus is nonlinear but was surprisingly easy to follow.  There were even occasional chapters that dared to use the risky 2nd person point of view. Typically, I find this narrative device to be ineffective and generally obnoxious. Somehow she pulled it off, and it brought the reader even deeper into the various tents of the Circus. The narratives were serene, yet almost suggestive, as if the reader was being lead through the tents by a hypnotist. There are several chapters woven through the novel that only serve to describe specific tents in the circus. The book was as enjoyable as the circus, Morgenstern brings the reader into the haunting and complex lives of the circus member, events are played out, but she never pulls back the curtain to reveal some of the more mysterious elements.  I wholeheartedly accept Morgenstern's magic and hope to see more from this author.

I have learned that Summit Entertainment has the film rights.  This is also the company that are responsible for the Twilight movies.  So needless to say I'm concerned that they will turn this novel into a steaming pile.  The visuals in the novel are stunning, so I hope that they can turn the film into something even more beautiful.  I worry that they will twist the classic Alice in Wonderland appeal into something more harsh and Burtonesque.  Guess I will have to wait and see.

Star Rating System

All of my book reviews use a basic five star ratings system.  I have used this system for a couple of hundred books that I've read on goodreads.  Five stars means the book is spectacular, and one star means that book seriously blew.  Star ratings two, three and four are more nuanced.  Of course all ratings are subjective, because they are just personal opinions.  And you know what they say about opinions ______  Fill in the blank with your favorite expression.

  Tremendous, spectacular and throw in any other extremely pleased superlative. I do not give these out lightly.  They are the books that impact and resonate with me for a long time after reading. I am left with nothing to criticize, and everything to praise.

Better than most.  They are missing that elusive magical element which prevents them from achieving that five star rating. Overall, I was impressed by the novel and will think back fondly on the characters or writing in the future.

Good. Yes this is a boring description. But there was nothing truly wrong or horrible about this book; but on the other hand, it wasn't compelling.  I enjoyed the author's world and do not regret the hours spent reading, but Im also ready to move onto the next book.

Did not like it; almost as simple as that.  I can count the number of times that I did not finish a book.  I want the author to turn the car around and get back on course, but many times they don't.  There is usually some sort of inconsistency in the nature of the characters, or the writing is nothing shy of painful.  Whatever the reason, I can tell you exactly why I'm not a fan.

Total Mess!  The book was horrible and a total waste of time.  The book has zero redeeming qualities.  I am angry for wasting my time on this book, and feel obligated to sound the alarm and warn as many people as possible to save their valuable time and skip this disaster.  I don't like hating on a book.  I know that the writer spent countless hours crafting their manuscripts, so it's like telling a parent their baby is a hideous monster.  But sometimes people make really ugly babies.

Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer
Published April 4th 2006 by Mariner Books (first published January 1st 2005)

My rating:      

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is full of beautiful contradictions: finding and losing, loving and hating, the spaces between something and nothing, a boy dressed in all white looking for Black, creating a voice while keeping silent, looking back at life while trying to move forward.

The primary narrator is a 9 year old boy named Oskar. I could describe him as curious, precocious but he's just plain odd. He wears all white, learns French and has numerous characteristic that should make him totally unrealistic. Yet Jonathan Safran Foer makes him like able and somehow relatable. His father died in one of the towers in 9/11. Oskar grieves for his father, and the book is about how he searches for ways to connect with him. Other narrators include Oskar's grandparents who have also experienced an unspeakable loss. The author explores life and grief in a deeply powerful way.

I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie. However now after reading the novel, I have zero desire to see the film. The novel was visually powerful: the changes in fonts, dialogue format and photos. The powerful use of the photos made me cry, and not the blink away tears kind, but the take my glasses off and redo my makeup kind of tears. I'm not sure what the English professors would call this particular style, hyper realism, post modern or whatever; but I enjoyed the non traditional structure. I wouldn't want to read a large amount of novels like this because it might loose its power.

I am emotionally exhausted after reading this novel, but grateful to Safran Foer for giving me the experience.

Review: The Domino Men

The Domino Men 
Jonathan Barnes
Published February 1st 2009 by William Morrow (first published February 21st 2008)
My rating:      

The Domino Men is the story of poor Henry Lamb. He leads a seemingly drab life until the day he visits his grandfather who fell into a coma. A window washer falls from the hospital and tells him, “The answer is yes.” From this point on it is a fast pace roller-coaster of a novel. Henry is whisked away by an organization that his grandfather worked for, and leaps from adventure into adventure. Henry is the key pawn to saving London. There has been a war waged between the House of Windsor and the people of London for over 200 years. And it has to end.

The novel has a truly bizarre cast of characters. Henry is our hero, and the events mostly play out from his first person POV, there are exceptions to this because the manuscript is periodically hijacked by the loyalists from the Royal Family.

I am not sure what Barnes intended, but Henry Lamb often seemed pathetic. Or perhaps he lacked the same creativity and outlandishness that the other characters possess. But then again this is my problem with some moves – the villains are far more entertaining. The book’s namesake are two of the villain’s in the novel. The Domino Men AKA the Prefects, AKA Hawker and Boone are a pair of disturbingly twisted tweedle-dee tweedle-dumb-esque grown men who dress like school boys and take maniacal pleasure in torturing and reeking total havoc.

I found the novel to go from grotesque to humorous and then back again. It’s a strange place to be; yet Barnes pulls this off quite well. It’s a truly bizarre ride, but nevertheless I did enjoy it.