Reading STILL LIFE by Sarah Winman for my book group but the light and small font is not fun. I do need some procedure done to clean off the lens from my cataract surgery and perhaps that will help. I have a bunch of books waiting for me that I'd rather be reading.
Kevin took his SATs Saturday. We went out to celebrate but he can take them five more times if need be. I hope he doesn't have to though. These kids have too much pressure on them.
I am almost done my PT- but don't think it's helped my knee much. But the other day, walking down a very small incline, I wondered if my ankle isn't some of the problem. It seems to roll over.
We have been getting horrible storms with too much rain for the infrastructure. Why didn't we begin address climate change fifty years ago?
How about you?
19 comments:
Kevin took his SATs? Wow! Time has passed so quickly, Patti! You're right about the pressure on kids... As for your knee/ankle, I hope you get some relief.
SATs are the devil's invention and are no true indication of a student's ability, measurng only the student's talent at taking a test rather than his knowledge of a subject or of his/her critical thinking. Too many schools are now teaching to the test rather than imparting real knowledge. Ptah! And don't get me started on the scam that is the PSAT! With luck, a simple procedure may help your eyesight. And your therapist should check out your ankles; therapists come in all stripes and it can be difficult to latch onto a good one. And yes, we should have have tackled climate change fifty years ago, but the politicians were bought and the thinking people did not make much of a fuss and here we are.
We get what we deserve, I guess. Your friendly neighborhood curmudgeon has spoken.
Another quiet week here. Erin came down with COVID, but has bounced back. The rest of the fam are doing well. Kaylee turns 27 today -- where does the time go? Governor Meatball has declared an emergency for most of the state in preparation for this week's hurricane; if a mighty wind does blow all the people all away and if he does not have a "You're doing a great job, Brownie" moment, his flagging campaign might see a slight boost. Mark has been placed on hurricane duty the zoo because he is one of the few people employees who work on this side of the bridge. We asked what happens to the animals during a bad hurricane and he said, "We're supposed to put them all in boxes."
Another lovely morning at the beach yesterday. Warm sun, a mild breeze, and gentle waves. Again the girls saw a dolphin. I didn't. They may have seen another dolphin (or two) but it could have been a shark (or two). Again, I saw nothing. I did see all the sand flies on the Gulf Coast as they began snacking on my legs. I got a mild sunburn where the sand flies were munching on me so I have to be doubly careful not to scratch.
No real television this week; Jack has usurped by TV set to watch an endless stream of Marvel superhero movies and an uncounted number of LEGENDS OF TOMORROW episodes. **sigh**
Books read include an "Ellery Queen" novel ghost-written by Fletcher Flora, THE DEVIL'S COOK, and two early Dean Koontz SF novels from when he signed himself Dean R. Koontz -- WARLOCK and (my FFB this week) NIGHTMARE JOURNEY. I also read two old Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins, Martin H. Greenberg anthologies, PRIVATE EYES and VENGEANCE IS HERS. I happily devoured S. A. Cosby's latest, ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, as well as an older Dave Robicheaux novel by James Lee Burke, LAST CAR TO ELYSIAN FIELDS. I should be fInishing Mark Rich's lengthy C. M. KORNBLUTH: THE LIFE AND WORK OF A SCIENCE FICTION VISIONARY today -- an interesting although heavily flawed read that relies heavily on divergent and often contradictary memories of those who knew and worked with Kornbluth; the book also suffers heavily from the lack of a good editor, a decent fact checker, and a skilled proofreader -- a slow slog, recommended for those mainly interested in Kornbluth, the Futurians, and the state of science fiction and publishing in the Forties and Fifties. After that, I'll be picking up Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest, SILVER NITRATE, from the library.
Patti, a number of colleges and universities have dropped the SAT requirement. Most of them are suffering from declining enrollments since the Pandemic.
August is usually a dry month in Western NY. But not this year! We've had 18 days of rain this month so far.
Scientists warned of the effects of climate change 50 years ago. But, few took. them seriously. Most of the candidates on that Iowa stage last week are Climate Change deniers.
Diane and her Book Club meet today. Diane loved Tom Lake. She's looking forward to seeing Jackie Winspeare in San Diego later this week. Stay safe!
Thanks, Margot.
I am perhaps the slowest reader who hangs out here. Cosby really took off quickly, didn't he?
It seems like I used to read much more than I do now. Not sure why. reread Kings of Cool by Don Winslow. I am now reading the newest book by David Grann The Wager.
Finished watching Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. Still watching Loudermilk.
HBO looks bad this fall. The only thing coming soon is the fourth season of True Detective
One of my grandsons in heading to Western Michigan to Study Mechanical Engineering and business.
Half the country seems to be taking those courses.
Tom Lake is fun if you’re from MI!
We have our rescheduled Jackson Browne concert at the Beacon tonight. We're staying over at a Marriott on 28th Street. Jackie decided to use points to stay at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown in October when we see Lucinda Williams, since it is the week of our Anniversary. Surprisingly, it cost her fewer points than a lot of other lesser hotels.
Nothing much exciting going on. We finished MESSIAH (Netflix) last night, binging much more than we normally do to get it done - two episodes on Friday and four last night. Good show that consistently held our interest. The real reason it wasn't renewed, IMHO, is that the villains are mostly awful Americans - the President's advisors, a rogue CIA agent, etc.
We started the final (third) series of RAGNAROK, though it got a pretty bad review. This is on Prime, I think. The Swedish THE TRUTH WILL OUT says it was "based on true events" - appalling but not really surprising that the cops and ministers would deny the obvious facts - that their "serial killer" was no such thing - and try and shoot the messenger, rather than admit that mistakes were made and correct them.
I can't say I'm very enthused about DARK WINDS series two, but it's almost done.
Now that POIROT is done, we will probably rewatch JONATHAN CREEK on Saturday nights, but this week we finished the Aberdeen-set GRANITE HARBOUR, whose plot is a bit sketchy but which has nice scenery and Scottish accents. It was on Britbox, I believe.
Lawrence Block really is something else. He's in his mid-80s but still turning out page turning books. The latest seemed an unlikely premise to me, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MATTHEW SCUDDER (Block's famous PI). But when I saw a rave from Joe Lansdale ("This is a wonderful book!"), and saw the library had an ebook copy, I figured, why not? And I really enjoyed it. I've only read the first half or so of the Scudder books, but I have read the short stories and most of Block's other books.
Currently reading is THE BITTER PAST by Bruce Borgos, set in the Nevada High Desert in 1955 and the present, with Russian spies, nuclear testing, etc. Pretty good so far.
I enjoyed Tod Goldberg's book of short stories (THE LOW DESERT).
Nice review
Second recommendation for Tod Goldberg's work. His ongoing mobster novels and stories are very well done. I look forward to publication of his third novel in the Vegas-set series.
There are a lot of valid criticisms of tests like the ACT and PSAT. Most colleges now will do a comprehensive look at a student's application and not rely on test scores. Some colleges will see an extra-high score and say, "Apply and you're in."
My family went to Milwaukee on Saturday for a presentation by four colleges from out-of-state. Mostly a waste of time. Each of the four admissions people did a power point and were there or questions. Since Boy #2 had no questions if was mostly a bust for us. But, we got out of the house and swung by a couple other places for lumber and clothes.
I started reading a rural crime novel set in MN - LAY YOUR BODY DOWN by Amy Suiter Clarke - and have enjoyed it. But, I still suffer from concentration troubles and have not just sat and read. I listened to a couple Ruth Downie mysteries in her MEDICUS series and tried out a DOCTOR WHO novel, THE WAY THROUGH THE WOODS.
Yes, did Covid destroy our concentrations. I am much better with podcasts than reading. Don't know why.
I would love to hear Lucinda Williams live. Wow. Done with the oncologist unless something turns up in the blood work.
Patti, sorry about your knees. My knees only bother me now and then now, but I have also had ankle problems for years. Glen had that procedure done to clean off the lens from cataract surgery a few months ago and it made a huge difference to his vision. He can see and read better now than ever and also better than I can at this point. So I guess I need to go ahead and get the cataract surgery sometime soon.
We are watching THE AFTERPARTY; we are about half-way through the 2nd season. And still enjoying it. Also watching ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, season 3 and GOOD OMENS season 2, along with our normal shows. About to finish ALMOST PARADISE Season 2, an American-Filipino crime drama television series, filmed in the Philippines. And we did finish the 12th season of DEATH IN PARADISE, and will move on to BEYOND PARADISE.
Beyond that, mostly reading. I have finished a lot of books, most of them short. I finished THE DOOMSDAY CARRIER, the fourth book in Victor Canning's Birdcage series. It is a domestic espionage series set in the UK, and this was not as good as the previous one, less complex. A chimpanzee has escaped from the facility where it had been infected with plague bacillus, with the goal of creating an infectious carrier after a three week incubation period. So it is partly about the ethics of experimentation on animals and biological warfare, and also focuses on the covert group trying to get the animal back without alerting the public to the danger involved.
I finally finished OPERATION MINCEMEAT by Ben MacIntyre, which I had been reading between fiction books. It was very, very good but an overwhelming amount of information. And we had watched the film and I was irritated that the film had added a fictional romance and friction between the two men who came up with the plan. But the film was mostly accurate beyond that.
I also finished 84, CHARING CROSS ROAD in one evening because it is very, very short. A wonderful story. I will read it again and again. And a graphic novel which we have had at least 4 years: A FIRE STORY by Brian Fies, about the horrible fires in northern California in 2017. The author and artist lost his home in Santa Rosa in the fire.
Glen is reading THE WINTER GUEST by W. C. Ryan. A mystery is set in Ireland after World War I. Focuses on an IRA intelligence officer with trauma from the war, whose former fiancée was killed. Another one I will read too.
Sorry for the length but lots of good books to talk about.
No Apple+. No Disney+. No Paramount+. No Hulu. No Peacock. So none of the shows on those channels.
We do have most of the pay channels like HBO and Showtime and Starz/Encore. Plus, of course, Prime and Acorn and Britbox and PBS Masterpiece and MHz Choice.
Apple is the best. Paramount and Peacock, the worst. Never had Disney. Hulu provides shows from the networks I don't get.
Loved 84 Charing Cross Road. I need to read/see it again.
Have never tried either Lee or Tod Goldberg. So little time.
Are they teaching to the SATs, or to the various state-standardized tests, as opposed to actually teaching? As someone who has always been good at standardized testing, I have to wonder if it would've topped me out had I ever taken a test-prep course, or gotten a good night's sleep before my SATs. (I amused myself by getting exactly 10 points lower on my GRE exams in the two comparable tests...730 v. 740 verbal, and 690 v. 700 mathematical...when I took them...but, as Jerry notes by implication, there is little that is objective rather than arbitrary about these tests. Never took a PSAT as a PSAT, but did to see how I would do in the scholarship race as the NMSQT--same test, and got the highest score in my school and perhaps the state in 1981.) The Educational Testing "Service" has indeed always been a racket. But it did help the occasionally undermotivated/distracted student such as myself annoy their schools, and get some higher ed attention that their required schools wouldn't encourage.
Speaking of distraction, the development of cataracts in my eyes and the slow disimprovement of my eyes with age (Patti and Tracy, I had not been aware of post-surgical cleaning of cataract-replacement lens...should probably Go Look into that, or Go Squint) has certainly slowed my reading, as have other distractions, health and otherwise, helped diminish concentration. Particularly in some of the microprint in some old paperbacks, particularly, and (as you note, Patti) the Artistic Choices of some to use gray ink in more recent publishing. (And if you're walking less because of knee difficulties, your ankles lose some of their abilities too...I've had that happen, with other proximal causes...but I've never been able to skate well at all, given not-great ankles.)
Addressing climate change and other threats to world and humanity in it would've been Inconvenient, particularly for the wealthiest among us, and so the neoliberal-dominated Democratic Party and the completely corporation-compliant GOP have done their best to do as little in that regard as possible, and thus the contributions keep rolling in. I suspect that Nixon's hatred of basically everyone, including the wealthy donors whom he depended on, was a fair amount of the reason his admin introduced what EPA we've had over the decades since. Or course, the Sierra Club was largely Republican, if almost uniquely so among enviro groups, in those years, as well.
I am still enjoying DARK WINDS, but the supervillains whom no one can stop because they keep doing stupid things to enable said villains did creep a bit high in the episode or two before last. Also, HBO does at least still have WINNING TIME, which remains good by me, and they are trotting back out, on cable, a bunch of their better series over the last few years, perhaps to goose Emmy voting, perhaps to draw eyes from broadcast schedules increasingly filled with sad game shows, both, or something more yet. MGM+'s SAN FRANCISCO SOUNDS, basically a feature-length doc they broke into two parts to make a "series" out of it, was pleasant in its way and well-enough made (and reminded me that the ever-duller and more popular band Journey was initially the more-commercial and -jazz-hostile members of the early lineup of the band Santana striking out on their own...the doc's coverage of Altamont was about as too-kind to the Grateful Dead's utter irresponsibility there as nearly everyone else's has been). MINX on Starz remains watchable. BREEDERS is about to wrap up the new season tonight, as is WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS later this week, and the new, last season of espionage comedy ARCHER will debut later this week as well...losing George Coe, Jessica Walter and Ron Liebman pretty much ensured that they were going to wrap it up in a way that, say, FUTURAMA or THE VENTURE BROS. were less compelled to do.
Much better times, folks!
The World Channel, the APT/PBS broadcast network, has been going out of its way in digging out jazz documentaries on Saturdays of late, and I've caught those on Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Ron Carter over the last two weeks, as well. One can do worse.
You seem to have access to all the streaming channels, Todd. I think I saw Breeders on Brit Box when I had that. And I liked it. In desperation I have begun Grey's Anatomy, which should see me out the final door. Although I don't really like medical dramas.
There is a recent jazz biography, SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS: THE LIFE OF AND MUSIC OF SONNY ROLLINS, I bought for work that sounds quite good. I'd be better off with an audio version though.
Well, I have most of the cable channels Verizon still (grudgingly) provides, Patti...we'll see how long that lasts...the CW is apparently streaming a Whole Lot of stuff for free...we'll see how long that lasts, as well. GREY'S started acceptably, as I recall, but it Soaped Up PDQ...
Plenty of Rollins to check out online, Gerard! And you could do much worse...
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