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First of all, two Audiobooks I just finished:
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales -- I really enjoyed this one; excellent narration and music, silly and giggle-provoking. The narration was extremely over-the-top in terms of expressiveness, which is good for drawing young kids into audio stories. And having seen the book, I know a lot of the humor is in the illustrations and arrangement, so I was really impressed with how well that was conveyed in a purely audio form. I'd still recommend getting the hard copy, but for $1.36, I don't see how you can go wrong with this (well, except for using an Audible Credit for it, which would be hugely wasteful -- always spend cash for anything under $17 or so). 20 minutes of excellent car entertainment, especially for young kids who are old enough to recognize the shape of familiar tales being satirically twisted. Also likely an excellent accompaniment for the book, which is well-worth owning in its own right.
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
Publisher's Summary:
"One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier," Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other Founders could ever have envisioned the contemporary national security state, with its tens of thousands of "privateers"; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rusting nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to dismantle; and its strange fascination with an unproven counterinsurgency doctrine.
Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. She offers up a fresh, unsparing appraisal of Reagan's radical presidency. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the priorities of the national security state to overpower our political discourse.
Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seriously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a "loud and jangly" political debate about how, when, and where to apply America's strength and power - and who gets to make those decisions.
©2012 Rachel Maddow (P)2012 Random House -- An entirely accurate summary. The audio version is read by Rachel herself, which was extra enjoyable for me. I plowed through this, despite normally having to drag myself into reading material on war like drinking cod liver oil. I found it fascinating and very usefully educational about how we got where we are. I laughed more than I expected. I understood more than I expected. I'll let better reviewers than myself tackle it beyond that, but definitely highly recommended.
Doctor Who: Starry Night TARDIS Jigsaw Puzzle -- See this awesome puzzle? See my icon? See this awesome puzzle? It's now in my Porta-Puzzle (the only way to do a puzzle in a house with so many pets) thanks to Bec and Jer! I spent most of last night working on it; it's wonderfully challenging, with no hard edges or unique color blocks, and lots of swirling gorgeous. As I commented to Chad, puzzles are great for my OCD traits; it's all about making order out of chaos, with bonus shiny colors! This one is extra-special, since it's from one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes of all time.
Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids -- While I admit to being a bit baffled by this being at the Natural History Museum of all places, it looks like a lot of fun! This is the tentative plan with Kidlet this coming weekend.
Also, I have plans to go out to a party with Erin this weekend, too. Wow. Out of the house twice in one day voluntarily? What is my life coming to?
I also have good news on the health front; doctor appt yesterday about the fibro, and I finally have a scrip for provigil! Woot! Only took two years, and I'll have to be really careful about monitoring for mania, but this will make a huge difference in my quality of life (I was on it before, so I'm really quite sure about that). Even being all exhausted today feels more manageable knowing that once I fill the scrip I'll actually be able to _do_ something about it.
The other thing I was thinking about was why I post what I post, and what goes into selecting the Linketies. A few people have asked me recently, and this is what I brainstormed:
( this got long )
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales -- I really enjoyed this one; excellent narration and music, silly and giggle-provoking. The narration was extremely over-the-top in terms of expressiveness, which is good for drawing young kids into audio stories. And having seen the book, I know a lot of the humor is in the illustrations and arrangement, so I was really impressed with how well that was conveyed in a purely audio form. I'd still recommend getting the hard copy, but for $1.36, I don't see how you can go wrong with this (well, except for using an Audible Credit for it, which would be hugely wasteful -- always spend cash for anything under $17 or so). 20 minutes of excellent car entertainment, especially for young kids who are old enough to recognize the shape of familiar tales being satirically twisted. Also likely an excellent accompaniment for the book, which is well-worth owning in its own right.
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power
Publisher's Summary:
"One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier," Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other Founders could ever have envisioned the contemporary national security state, with its tens of thousands of "privateers"; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rusting nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to dismantle; and its strange fascination with an unproven counterinsurgency doctrine.
Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow's Drift argues that we've drifted away from America's original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we've arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today's war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. She offers up a fresh, unsparing appraisal of Reagan's radical presidency. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the priorities of the national security state to overpower our political discourse.
Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seriously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a "loud and jangly" political debate about how, when, and where to apply America's strength and power - and who gets to make those decisions.
©2012 Rachel Maddow (P)2012 Random House -- An entirely accurate summary. The audio version is read by Rachel herself, which was extra enjoyable for me. I plowed through this, despite normally having to drag myself into reading material on war like drinking cod liver oil. I found it fascinating and very usefully educational about how we got where we are. I laughed more than I expected. I understood more than I expected. I'll let better reviewers than myself tackle it beyond that, but definitely highly recommended.
Doctor Who: Starry Night TARDIS Jigsaw Puzzle -- See this awesome puzzle? See my icon? See this awesome puzzle? It's now in my Porta-Puzzle (the only way to do a puzzle in a house with so many pets) thanks to Bec and Jer! I spent most of last night working on it; it's wonderfully challenging, with no hard edges or unique color blocks, and lots of swirling gorgeous. As I commented to Chad, puzzles are great for my OCD traits; it's all about making order out of chaos, with bonus shiny colors! This one is extra-special, since it's from one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes of all time.
Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns & Mermaids -- While I admit to being a bit baffled by this being at the Natural History Museum of all places, it looks like a lot of fun! This is the tentative plan with Kidlet this coming weekend.
Also, I have plans to go out to a party with Erin this weekend, too. Wow. Out of the house twice in one day voluntarily? What is my life coming to?
I also have good news on the health front; doctor appt yesterday about the fibro, and I finally have a scrip for provigil! Woot! Only took two years, and I'll have to be really careful about monitoring for mania, but this will make a huge difference in my quality of life (I was on it before, so I'm really quite sure about that). Even being all exhausted today feels more manageable knowing that once I fill the scrip I'll actually be able to _do_ something about it.
The other thing I was thinking about was why I post what I post, and what goes into selecting the Linketies. A few people have asked me recently, and this is what I brainstormed:
( this got long )
