Oct 26 2008

The Host by Stephanie Meyer

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 4:11 pm

The Host was my book club‘s selection for October.  I don’t think i’ve ever read that much book in so little time.  I read 4 or 5 chapters last Saturday morning, and the rest of the 600+ pages the following day.  I was riveted.

The “host” mentioned in the title is the body of Melanie Stryder.  She is human, but her body has been taken over by an alien parasite.  This parasite goes by the name of Wanderer, and she refers to her species as “souls”.  The souls have taken control of the large majority of human bodies on Earth, not to mention many other worlds where life has evolved.

But Melanie is not entirely gone.  Her mind is still active, and she struggles for control of her body and her life.  Melanie’s human emotions overwhelm Wanderer, who finds herself in love with Melanie’s memories of Jared (Melanie’s lover) and Jamie (Melanie’s brother).  Somehow, Melanie convinces Wanderer to go in search of her Uncle Jeb, who foresaw the invasion and prepared a cavern in the desert in which to hide.  Melanie and Wanderer find the hiding place, and a small pocket of human rebels.  Among them, amazingly, are Jared and Jamie.

The rebels don’t trust Wanderer, as they know she is a parasite and not fully human.  Half of them want to kill her, and the others are not sure.  As she resides with them in captivity, she develops relationships with those who live there.  Most of them learn to accept her, and some even love her, for who she is, even though she is an alien.

It is an absolutely beautiful story.  It causes the reader to question, what is human?  What is a soul?  Meyer absolutely mesmerized me with her depiction of human emotion, and above all, love.  I was extremely sad when i had to leave this world and these characters.  The Host was one of my all-time favorite reads.

I have since heard the Stephanie Meyer has a series of books called The Twilight Saga.  I understand it is directed toward the teenage girl demographic, but i’ve also read that it has captured the hearts of women of all ages.  After The Host, I am eager to read more of Meyer’s work.

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Oct 26 2008

Atheist Universe by David Mills

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 3:44 pm

The full title of this book is Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalistm.  And that is precisely what it deals with – Christian Fundamentalism.  There are a lot of other angles and religions out there to consider, but Mills doesn’t focus on religion as a whole.  He targets Christian Fundamentalists, the ones who believe the Bible is the undisputed Word of god, the ones who literally believe that the world was created 6,000 years ago and that dinosaurs roamed the Earth along with humans.  He gives some time to the moderates as well, but is mainly giving good rebuttals if you ever find yourself in an uncomfortable living room with your fundamentalist friends, parents or in-laws.  Or grandmother, as may turn out to be the case for me during the upcoming holidays.

Every chapter is an entity unto itself, and he invites you to read them out of order if you wish.  I did so, and everything was presented very clearly.  It was definitely very readable.  I’ll mention two chapters.  The very first chapter in the book is titled Interview With an Atheist, and is essentially a conglomeration of questions that David Mills has been asked in various interviews.  The questions are all typical questions that i imagine an average person has about an atheist, and gives him a chance to dispel myths and clarify what atheists really do or don’t believe.  Many of the future chapters further explore concepts in that first chapter.  The second chapter i’ll mention was about Hell and the case against it.  Very thought-provoking.

It’s definitely an interesting read, in my opinion.

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Oct 24 2008

Detached

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 3:03 pm

I woke up this morning and i felt like Carrie Bradshaw from Sex & The City, the morning she realized she was no longer in “the nook”.

At night i like to turn the heat off, or way down, so that the air outside the covers is a bit cool. It makes it that much more cozy under the covers. But when i woke up this morning i realized i was only half as warm as i wanted to be, because the only body heat around me was my own.

I could have closed the gap myself, but i didn’t.

I’m not quite sure how we got here, or where we are exactly. It feels funny.

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Oct 24 2008

Dress Your Family in Cuorduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 1:25 pm

What an interesting book. This was my first experience with David Sedaris. Last month, my book club read another book of his, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and i didn’t get it from the library in time. However, i did go ahead and read this book because i’d heard good things about it.

I loved the format. Short essays or stories about his life. One neat thing about David Sedaris is that he grew up in Raleigh, NC, which is of course, where i live. So when his stories touch on that era of his life, it’s a treat to get to see Raleigh through someone else’s eyes.

Dress Your Family seemed to focus a lot on his childhood. Many of the stories were amusing, and i loved how there were so many inside jokes that persisted throughout the book in later stories. Families are like that. It was fun experiencing those pieces of his life.

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Oct 19 2008

Robocalls

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 10:38 pm

I watched the 3rd Presidental debate Wednesday night.  It was a good debate, i thought, and i was glad it was focused entirely on domestic issues.

In the debate, I heard McCain denouncing Obama for his negative ads “attacked (McCain’s) health care policy.”  I thought it was a strange comment, since that is the sort of thing i think political ads should be addressing.  You know, the issues.

And then McCain turned right around and started talking about Bill Ayers.  And i just read that McCain has authorized thousands and thousands of robocalls - automated voice calls – that do the same thing.  Calling voters and warning them of Obama’s supposed association with a terrorist.  It’s even more despicable since McCain has loudly criticized robocalls in the past.  Isn’t this the worst of negative campaigning?  How can he accuse Obama of it with a straight face?

I guess i understand where he is: he has no other choice.  He is losing, from what i’ve seen of the polls.  And McCain will do anything not to lose.  Which is one of the big reasons i do not want him as President.  An unscrupulous man, who will intentionally mislead the American people and try to scare them about the character of a very responsible and honest man, just to get elected.

It scares me.

If Obama responds in kind i will lose faith.  Maybe move to Canada.

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Oct 19 2008

Wolfpack Card Stunt

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 9:52 pm

NC State vs Florida State

We lost, but i love going to football games.  This one was especially fun, though – we were sitting in the Card Stunt section!  It was… the coolest thing ever.  I nabbed these two pics that someone posted on the web.

Other things i love about NC State football games, and about this game in particular:  Hanging out with Jason, who is awesome enough to let me come to a game or two with him every year.  Watching the marching band (i used to be a band geek myself in high school).  The enthusiasm of everyone when the team is doing well.  The angry fans when refs make questionable calls.  The Coke i get to drink at half-time – football games are the only time i drink real Coke instead of diet.  The paper airplanes that were made out of the cards after the stunt was over.  The Wave.  All good things!

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Oct 14 2008

Religulous

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 5:01 pm

Lance and i went to see Religulous at the Galaxy Theater the night it opened. It promised to be a good movie, with my recent dealings with my family. Also, Bill Maher is just out and out hilarious. The Galaxy is one of my favorite theaters.

And it was a great movie. Not a documentary by any means. Does Michael Moore make documentaries? I think his films are often labeled such, though i would argue they are not “true” documentaries. Religulous is even less of a documentary than Moore’s films.

But it is interesting. Maher travels around the country and around the world, interviewing various religious leaders. About 40% of the film is focused on Christianity, and he then tackles Scientology, Mormanism, Islam, and Judaism. There were a lot of good jokes and poking fun at the various religions.

After watching it, i had to do some research. Maher had told the story of Horas, the son of Isis. If Maher’s depiction is true, then Horas existed a thousand years before Jesus and performed many of the same miracles, such as walking on water, being crucified and being raised from the dead. However, my research did not confirm or deny this story of Horas. There are conflicting accounts, and I could not find a good source to verify the story of Horas as Jesus. I also found that some of the quotes used, particularly of our founding fathers, were taken out of context.

Another factoid given is that 16 percent of the U.S. population is un-/non-/anti-religious, which is a larger segment than blacks (13%), gays (3%), or NRA members (2%). If that is true, i believe getting organized is in order! That is one of Maher’s messages near the end of the movie – a call to action.  Definitely a movie worth watching.

Speaking of getting organized, some people might be interested in this link regarding Kay Hagan’s bid for a NC Senate Seat. It all started when Elizabeth Dole issued a press release criticizing her opponent, Kay Hagan, for meeting with a group of law-abiding and responsible citizens, who happen to be non-believers. Be sure to read the comments of that post – that’s the best part! Readers of Friendly Atheist were so disgusted by Dole’s behavior that many of them, most of whom are out-of-state, have contributed money to Hagan’s campaign.

Since then, Dole has begun an outright smear campaign against Hagan, for being associated with and supported by web sites like “Friendly Atheist”. I guess Dole doesn’t think that everyone deserves representation. Vote for Kay Hagan in three weeks!

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Oct 14 2008

Make-Believe Maverick

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 4:10 pm

Did anyone else notice that McCain did not once utter the word “maverick” during the second Presidential debate? I think, like me, the rest of the American public is extremely tired of hearing about McCain the Maverick, and his campaign has wisely cautioned against its use.

I just finished an interesting essay from Rolling Stone called Make-Believe Maverick. It’s very, very long, but there is a lot of information in there that i’m positive McCain does not want you to know. Such as his history as a pampered and mediocre Navy pilot. Such as his connection to the Keating Five. Such as his extremely volatile temper. If you have some time, check it out.

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Oct 05 2008

The Lone Wolff by Bobby Wolff

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 3:01 pm

If you are not a bridge player (and that will include all but maybe three people who read this blog), you can stop reading now.

The Lone Wolff is the autobiography of Bobby Wolff, one of the greatest bridge players of all time.  He has won numerous national and world championship events, and there is no question of his abilities.  He also demonstrates that he has high ethical standards.  I have no doubt that he has always tried to do what he thought was best for the bridge world.  But this book just pissed me off.

It is Wolff’s self-righteous attitude that left me with a bad taste in my mouth.  I did not like him.  As the protagonist in this story, that makes it hard to like his book.  He’s probably a decent guy, but he comes off as an asshole.  His word for it is “maverick,” a word which i’m sick to death of hearing.

The span of time is vast, and the topics are numerous.  Wolff basically discusses four areas: his personal life and bridge career, cheating scandals and ethical considerations, professionals and sponsors, and ACBL politics.

I did find myself interested in the details of some of the cheating scandals, and learning the details of the “Oh, Shit” case.  The beginning of the Nick Nickell team was interesting, as well as the more general evolution of professionals and sponsors.

The list of things that rubbed me the wrong way is much longer:

  • Despite his vow to “tell it like it is,” there is an awful lot of lip service paid to people throughout the book, just because they were on his side.  For example, both his brother and his first wife, early partners of his, received much praise from Wolff in their bridge abilities.  But soon after, Wolff disparages the abilities of known experts such as Jim Jacoby and Charles Goren.  I believe the word mediocre was used regarding Goren.  Perhaps he’s using different measuring sticks?  It’s just not consistent and makes me doubt the sincerity of some of his statements.
  • He talks about a few incidents early in his career where he is on the wrong side of ethical situations.  Such as reporting an incorrect score (favorable to him, of course), and not proactively trying to correct it.  It’s tough to swallow that from someone who is now such a policeman for bridge ethics.  He admits it was wrong, but sort of blows it off and makes excuses.
  • He admits to a complete lack of diplomacy, and seems somewhat proud of it.
  • He admits to bullying committees in order to get his way.  He admits to using his clout to push things through the Board.  His explanations amount to “the ends justify the means.”
  • He seems to think that a lot of people hold grudges against him and that it affects their actions regarding political workings of the ACBL.  He’s probably right.  But then he claims naivety and is surprised when a particular ruling goes against him.
  • He comes across as awfully paranoid that people are out to get him.  Suppose he presented idea A.  When people don’t support it, or support idea B instead, he often assumes it’s because of his personal history with them, instead of the merits of the ideas.
  • He seems to have very little respect for anyone who isn’t what he considers a great bridge player, an old-timer, a pro.  Isn’t there more to a person than that?
  • He wants to revamp how the ACBL is run – which is fine, it obviously is broken and needs to be fixed.  But his proposal basically says that the people in charge should be a) world-class bridge players, but b) not professionals or sponsors (due to conflicts of interest).  This leaves an extremely small pool, and how many of that small pool even want to be in politics?
  • He wants to take credit for everything.  The book is full of places where he’s pointing out his role in accomplishing X, Y and Z.  And not in a way where you can say, “wow, cool, Bobby Wolff did that?” but instead he’s ramming it down your throat, “And I was the one who…”

One thing i think i can thank him for is the warning not to get involved in ACBL politics.  I have considered that i might want to give it a try at some point, but i am completely disenchanted by it now.

I am probably being too hard on him.  But he admits that his book was going to piss off a lot of people.  I wonder if he thought he would evoke such strong negative reactions in people who don’t know him personally and who he doesn’t dis in his book.

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Oct 04 2008

Third Letter from Grandma

Category: Uncategorized — podrey @ 3:54 pm

Grandma wrote me back!

Lance came in with the mail, and excitedly handed me the letter from another Audrey (i was named after my grandmother). I held it nervously, and was suddenly afraid. Physically, i was showing the symptoms of fear (like when i drive over a bridge). Why? It’s just a letter. But for some reason, i feared the judgment i felt sure lay within.

As i opened and read it, i realized i had nothing to fear. She’s just a grandma, and MY grandma at that. She loves me, and reassured me of that fact. She also said she really had no impression of me as being someone who only get her kicks at bars and nightclubs. She also expressed a delight in the fact that we were conversing at all, even if we were disagreeing, saying we haven’t talked this much in years. Which is basically true. There was a little more of the preaching, and quite a few bits of anecdotal “evidence” of how god has answered her prayers. But overall it was a pleasant letter.

I think this correspondence will continue. I certainly plan to write back, and perhaps, if she also continues to write to me, we can regain something of the bond we had when we were both younger. I am her oldest grandchild, her namesake, and we did have a special grandmother/granddaughter understanding. For a few years in elementary and middle school, i would ride the bus to her house after school. She would inevitably be napping, and i would sneak into her room and lie down next to her, and we would talk. Then we would get up and she would treat me to a slice of her splendid sourdough bread, topped with jelly. Eventually my brothers also started coming to Grandma’s after school, and i remember wishing they would go away and i could have her to myself again.

Grandma also took me to my piano lessons once a week. When i was ten, she got the notion that i should learn to drive. We would leave early for piano lessons, and on the back roads near the teacher’s home, she would let me drive her big banana-colored Cadillac. I could barely reach the pedals and couldn’t really see over the wheel of that huge car! Once instance, i remember fondly. “Now Audrey, pretend there is an egg underneath the brake. Press gently on the brake, you don’t want to break the egg. I said DON’T BREAK THE EGG!!!” After the car came to a very sudden halt, i said “Grandma, i think there’s egg on your floor.” And we both dissolved in laughter.

She loved horses, and wanted me to learn to ride. I had some experience with horseback riding from summer camp, but she wanted me to learn real riding. When she was young, Grandma had ridden a lot, and she has many stories about those days. To teach me, she had some friends who owned horses, and i learned how to ride and how to steer on my own – these horses would do what you told them, and weren’t just follow-the-leader horses. Once in a large pasture she said, “OK Audrey, now we’re going to gallop.” With terror in my voice, i replied, “But Grandma, i don’t WANT to gallop!!” Her response was to grab my reins and kick her horse. All i could do was hold on. When it was over, i agreed it was thrilling, but declined to do that again.

All these memories and more, i cherish. We can’t go back to that innocent time, but my hope now is that we can get to know one another again.

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