I wanted to share two books with you. I enjoyed these some time ago and won’t be able to give you a detailed review of either. However, I recall enough to recommend them to you.

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley

A novelist is “right on the cusp between someone who knows everything and someone who knows nothing,” yet whose “job and ambition is to develop a theory of how it feels to be alive.” – Jane Smiley

I read Ms. Smiley’s book when it was released in 2005. She is a Pulitzer prize-winning novelist and her understanding of the novel is on full display in this work. The title is self-explanatory. Read attentively and you may even wish to write your own novel. At least, you will become a more insightful reader.

The books second section, A Hundred Novels, is composed of 100 essays; one for each novel she read in preparation for this work. This section will guide an avid reader in catching up on reading some of the classics.
Ms. Smiley varies the pace and keeps it interesting throughout.

Electric Universe by David Bodanis

Mr. Bodanis’ book is subtitled The Shocking True Story of Electricity. His style is to paint a vignette featuring an inventor and how he came to shape our world. For example, Chapter 2 Aleck and Mabel is a love story in which a teacher of the deaf falls for one of his deaf students, a seventeen year old girl named Mabel. Her parents won’t allow the romance to blossom. They tell Aleck that Mabel doesn’t love him and doesn’t want to see him again. He is not convinced and determines that Mabel’s wealthy parents would be impressed if he made a name and a fortune for himself. Bodanis then reveals Alecks background: his mother is deaf and his father worked to develop a method of teaching the deaf to speak. We then learn that Aleck’s full name is Alexander Graham Bell.

In the meantime, we learn of contributing factors in the invention of the telephone and how love was Bell’s primary motivation. This is one of twelve chapters that entertain, as well as, educate on the interesting lives of inventors to whom we are indebted.

I hope you enjoy one or both of these volumes.

-Thomas

I wonder if sparks dream of becoming stars
and if sparks dream, I wonder if they know what fools they are.

This is a quote from a song, as I recall it. I am sorry that I don’t know the songwriter. I like this lyric because it is a profound thought for an Alt-Country song. It makes the listener think about his own aspirations and the great odds against him. We are tiny dust mites hurling through space on a tiny spec of dust. We question whether we even matter.

-Thomas

Watch this video, 10/GUI, and see if you agree that this would be a step forward in computer interface. I think it would be a leap forward.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

-Thomas

These guys are crazy. They skateboarded down a long road with some traffic. It could have ended tragically, but there were no accidents. So, the skateboarders enjoyed a fun and wild ride.

Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

-Thomas

Salman Rushdie — 2009 Americans for the Arts Annual National Arts Awards Gala — Photo by PR Photos

“I think there is something very resilient about the intimacy of the book. You go to see a movie and the movie is up on the screen in front of you and you are there with hundreds of other people. You read a book and it is just you and the book and what is inside your head. That particular intimacy is something that I think people value, some people anyway. I hope enough people.” — Salman Rushdie interviewed by Douglas Harrington for Hamptons.com

On October 5, 2009 Salman Rushdie was presented with the Contribution to the Arts Award by Americans For The Arts. Mr. Rushdie’s thought on the importance and resiliency of books is encouraging to book lovers and accurate, I hope.

-Thomas

It’s no secret that Eric Clapton is my favorite musical artist. His take on the blues rings true to me. This video demonstrates why I could listen to Clapton all day.

-Thomas

It is difficult to believe that, after all these years, Roman Polanski has finally been arrested for raping a 13 year old girl. What is even more bizarre is the widespread support he enjoys in Hollywood. However, it appears that Hollywood is not going to influence average Americans this time. Feminists are taking the lead on the left in condemning Polanski and his supporters. “‘Roman Polanski raped a child. Let’s just start right there, because that’s the detail that tends to get neglected,’ wrote feminist and author Kate Harding in an impassioned column in Salon.” — The Guardian.co.uk. Those liberal voices are harmonizing perfectly with the conservative voices which have long reviled Polanski.

The Guardian owns this story. It’s from The Guardian that we learn what is going on in Polanski’s head: “…he fled to Europe to escape sentence, where he promptly began walking out with Nastassja Kinski, then aged 15. In an interview with Martin Amis, he said if he was a murderer the press and police wouldn’t be so obsessed by him. ‘But… f—king, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f—k young girls. Juries want to f—k young girls – everyone wants to f—k young girls!’”

Do you see what Polanski implies? “…everyone wants to f—k young girls!” Everyone includes you and me. He does not speak for me. I want young girls and boys protected from predators, whether pedophile priests or pedophile actors.

What are we able to discern from the defense of Polanski by the Hollywood elite? They think that a great artist should be excused for pedophilia. Further, by extension of their argument, the glitterati are telling us that they are above the law by virtue of their involvement in the arts.

The Guardian makes a powerful argument that liberals are killing liberalism. Examine their thought, via the links above, on the detrimental effects of multiculturalism on liberalism.

For years I haven’t given much thought to Roman Polanski, but now that he has been arrested, I hope he finally serves his time in prison — a real prison.

-Thomas

The trick to creating the affect of animation, without animating, is in the shutter speed relative to the revolutions per minute; you can make this out during the video.

-Thomas

David Jon Kasson is a Brooklyn based artist. His work is fresh and realistic. His finished works look quite natural, as if the subject has something on her/his mind. Wait just another moment to see if they speak to you. Kasson has a site loaded with images and videos. Check out the live drawing demo in the video below.

-Thomas

A new breast cancer awareness PSA, Save The Boobs, is raising controversy, at least at ABC News. Take a look and judge for yourself. Do you think this ad would raise awareness of breast cancer and motivate young women, the target audience, to schedule a breast exam?

-Thomas