Ill definitly have to read that then. Ive been bitching about the media since I was a high school student and all my friends thought I was a dork for even thinking about that. My Dad just bitches about anything the Democrats have to say ...Heres to you pops
ENder,
NPR has the best programs out there!!! I love it!!!
Super System: A Course in Power Poker by the Legendary poker player Doyle "The Dolly" Brunson. Rather than stating combination odds and winning statistics, like most every other poker book reads, The Dolly himself dedicates this entire book to discussing the psychology of a poker player and what makes em tick. It's quite clear, to those of us who play poker from time to time, this is a game of people, not cards. And finally released for the first time since it was written almost 30 years ago, this book covers reading your opponent through tells, playing styles, and betting habits. The author claims that in his prime, he could read a hand blind, meaning he could tell a person exactly what cards they were holding just by studying them, and as a result, he averaged over $million/year playing poker...back in the 70's. As an avid poker player, who gets in a couple strong games a week, it all seems true to me. It's hands down the best poker book out there, and aside from teaching you how to read people more acurately, it helps keep your wallet packed with cash. And if there's something I've learned...its that money WON is twice as sweet as money EARNED!
I FUCKING HATE the abbreviation of girlfriend as GF or gf (danz) even because I associate that with someone I fucking will kill if I ever see his fat fucking wussy ass in person ever again...
I finished reading both Snow Crash and Zodiac by Neal Stephenson. Both are pretty enjoyable. I think I liked Snow Crash a bit more though. Zodiac is billed as an "eco-thriller" and has a pretty different feel and focus than his other "techno-thrillers." I really like the way Stephenson creates such dynamic and powerful protagonists. Both I highly recommend.
I am about 1/3 of the way through The Beach by Alex Garland. It is a good story so far but the writing style is a bit strange. Garland employs the use of subtitled mini chapters ever 2-3 pages. It just seems a bit distracting. I am already dissappointed in the movie although I have yet to see it. It has so much potential to be a cool movie, but all I have ever heard is that it was a totaly flop.
Picked up William Gibson's latest Pattern Recognition which I am planning to bring with me to the real Beach. It seems to have been received with great applause.
Finished The Beach which was a good quick read. I still haven't seen the movie, but after hearing about all the changes they made I'm pretty sure I don't want to.
Pattern Recognition was a really enjoyable read. Gibson is an artist with his prose. His work is really beautiful and hist story telling is spot on. I highly recommend this one.
I spent a day re-reading Hesse's classic Siddhartha. This book really touched me when I read it as a 15 year old and it was very interesting to see how I have grown since then. Still a very moving book, it's descriptions of life and enlightenment mean something more to the more mature me.
Now working on Ken Follett's Jackdaws which is already proving to be a thriller. It seems to focus on secret agents organizing the French resistance towards the end of WWII. Interestingly Follett has built up very likable characters on both the Allied and German sides of the war.
I finished Lost Japan by Alex Kerr and am almost finished with The Study of Language by George Yule. I also picked up another book by Kerr called Dogs and Demons and am already a few chapters into it.
I am in the painful position of reading some 63 books at the same time. They are as follows;
The Rum Diaries Hunter Thompson (in my bum bag)
Krakatoa Simon Winchester
Radical Chic Tom Wolfe (but only on the toilet)
Japan - A Reinterpretation Patrick Smith
Blinded by the Right - The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative David Brock
So I'm channel surfing through snide literary brilliance, Dutch colonialism and plate tectonics, an agonising but sympathetic look at why Japan is the fucked up little country it is and who is at fault, and evil doctrines on the rampage in the US.
Never gets warm, comfortable keyboard placement, multiple USB ports on BOTH sides (big plus) and weighing in at 7.2 lbs, this thing plays Doom3 at 39 fps in 1024X768 low mode. This notebook really is a great deal when priced at only $1600 (doesn't include external HDD). A comparable notebook from dell will easily run you $2500+, $4000+ if ordered through Alienware or Falcon. The only thing I don't like about it is the placement of the case fans: two on the bottom sucking air in, one on the side blowing air out. This sucks when the laptop is sitting in my...lap, since the vents get blocked if it's not sitting on a hard flat surface. Surprisingly enough, the damn thing still doesn't overheat when there's no air flowing through it and I'm playing doom3...with the touchpad.
Not that I will have time to read them... but just curious.
I finished Neal Stephenson's fantastically wonderful first novel in the Baroque Cycle, Quicksilver right before the quarter started and have barely had time to read my monthly issue Wired since then. However I am really looking forward to the other books in the series (which are already out). I may try to start The Confusion over winter break... but at 1100+ pages I have no hope of finishing it and I would hate to get into it just to have to put it down for another 11 weeks.
I just started A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. This book so far is absolutely hilarious, although I haven't figured out what it really is about. It takes place in New Orleans, and is filled with the most outrageous characters and scenarios. The writing is incredible, and it has been a real pleasure to read so far.
