Speak Quietly: Ramblings About Libraries, Writing, and Everything in Between

BroadBand2Go

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:48:00 +0000

As a freelancer, I use my computer on the go a lot; usually I'm writing and don't need Internet, but it's nice to occasionally read an email or fact check something...it's not nice enough to pay the 60 dollar fee for a 3G data plan.

Virgin Mobile is about to release a new plan that's perfect for people who want the "occasional" Internet on the go. The BroadBand2Go USB device sold exclusively through Best Buy let's you get Pay As You Go Internet access with no monthly fees or contracts.

The catch is it's $150 dollars to buy the USB drive, but if you need your Internet to go in minimal doses, then it's perfect.

Another One About Legos

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:39:00 +0000

Here's yet another addition into my blogger Lego tag...a blog about people who recreate art with Legos. All of these put my childhood creations to shame, and it makes me wonder, "Is it possible to get an MFA in Lego Art?"

In Library News...

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Two interesting news stories for all those librarians out there in blog land:

From the OC Register: Teens rally to save their library.

From NBC's Today: Great piece on libraries in the modern world and the challenges they face.

Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Darling Darling has a short interview with Diana and I...follow the link if you want to read it.

The Simpsons

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:30:00 +0000

I've heard a lot of covers of The Simpsons, but the video believe is now one of my favorites! Also check the kid out playin MC Hammer in the second video!

Best Pixar Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Sat, 30 May 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Now that I’ve seen Up here’s my amended list of favorite Pixar Movies:

1) Wall-E

2) Monster's Inc

3) Toy Story 2

4) Toy Story 1

5) Up

6) Finding Nemo

7) The Incredibles

8) A Bug's Life

9) Cars

10) Ratatouille

My Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:12:00 +0000

I love people who do cool things with Legos; this guy is completely amazing! He created a MASSIVE Lego layout of Disneyland. I can even begin to imagine how much ity would be to buy these many Legos.

Happy Memorial Day

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Diana and I decided to use a half off coupon to visit the Anaheim Muzeo today. Below the phtos below of the exhibit (it was a monster theme)...

How California are these palm trees?

This guy isn't quite as scary with the flash on!

Geeky Computer Cases

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:28:00 +0000

These Star Wars computer cases are probably the geekiest (and most awesome) computers I have seen in a long time!

The Kindle Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:00:00 +0000

A few days ago, a thought occurred to me: I haven't used my Kindle in quite awhile. It's not because I have already grown tired of eBooks; it's because I recently bought an iPod Touch, and find the experience to be a bit more agreeable than the the Kindle in most settings.

The text on the Touch is clear and does not tire my eyes, can be read outdoors, and is easy (and light) to keep in your pocket. I now find myself reading everywhere I go--the movies, waiting rooms, etc. One of the biggest problems I have with the Kindle is the lack of back light; this makes reading in low lit places (like movie theaters) impossible without bring a light with you. With the newest Kindle app update, the software just got better (it now rotates text and let's you have different text colors)

The Kindle is still a great device (it has better lighting and it is a bit easier to read outdoors), but the Touch has proven to be the perfect companion. The great thing about Kindle is you can have the both worlds--since Amazon stores all your books online it's incredibly easy to download your books on both devices.

If you'd like to try out eBooks, the Touch is the perfect starter device; it's pretty cheap considering how powerful it is (it runs all the iPhone apps, can surf the net, play videos (both videos you have bought and videos you want to stream from places like youtube), and view pictures). Refurbished you can get one for less than $200.

Wise Blood: A Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:32:00 +0000

From: Disturbed Christian

2001 was the year I discovered Flannery O'Connor. I was a college senior doing an independent study on post-WWII Christian literature. My advisor suggested that I add O'Connor's "Wise Blood" to my growing list of semester reads.

It was one of those books that went on to change my life--the one that made me say, "I've never seen the world in this light before."

For the past four years in college, I had been intrigued by the idea of the sacred and profane; the idea that even in the most sacred places of the world were always broken vessel, more polluted and shameful then those who followed them.

I have been curious to see John Huston's adaptation of the movie ever sense I put the book down; unfortunately, it was one of those classic movies long out of print in any format.

Earlier this month, Criterion restored and rereleased the film on DVD; for obvious reason, I put my order in when I first found out, and got the chance to watch it this past weekend.

The film, like the book, follows Hazel Motes--a young soldier returning home to the South, who discovers just about everything, but the religion, has changed. Hazel is a changed man, and wants to forget that God ever existed; he's so convicted in his ways that he intends to start his own church called, "The Church of Christ without Christ" (which, Hazel later clarifies is a Protestant denomination!)--for those who have not read the book, Hazel actually called this "The Church Without Christ," and then another man started a church called "The Church of Christ without Christ" to rival his.

You would think people would just pass up Hazel as a crazy war veteran, but they don't; they are intrigued by his church, and that lies the power of both the film and the book--we all have a void inside us that we try and fill in some way; if we try to strip away religion from our hearts we still are searching for something to replace it. Every character in the movie has something that's not God which they cling to as a form of God--from a gorilla to a historic artifact. Hazel tries to believe that you don't need God if you have a car, and even uses that vessel to play the part of God and take someone’s life by running them over.

====================================
<<<--------S P O I L E R A L E R T---------->>>
====================================

The tragedy of the movie is Hazel never can replace God; when a police officer’s pushes his car into a lake, he takes away the one thing that Hazel thought could replace God, and it crushes his soul. He inflects bodily torture on himself to try and redeem himself, but none of it works because only God is capable of giving this kind of redemption, and Hazel refuses to accept God, and is left empty.

=====================================
<<<--------E N D O F S P O I L E R---------->>>
=====================================

No film can ever match O’Connor’s, wit, or gothic charm; and it would be impossible to capture the idea of free will and redemption that O'Connor thematically, and perfectly, captures in her novel--but that's not to say it's not a worthy viewing; however it is you that you get your movies: rent, own, or illegally download--get this movie, watch it, and tell all of your friends to do the same.

And if you have never read the book, then it's about time you did so...

Papua New Guinea Artifacts

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:05:00 +0000

I was helping my Dad at my parents house the other day, and went into my old bedroom where too many of my old belongings still remain. One of the things that stood out where all the things my brother has sent me from Papua New Guinea, where he currently lives...thought I'd share a few of them...

The one below is one of my favorite birthday presents EVER. During his first stay in the country ten some odd years ago, he found a New Guinea artist and asked if he'd paint his interpretation of The Simpsons. My brother showed him a picture, but he didn't need one--he knew who The Simpsons were! The man had no TV (or electricity for that matter) and yet somehow managed to know the show.

The next painting is a New Guinea interpretation of Noah's ark; I don't know if it's the same artist or not.

For the life of me, I never did figure out what this next thing is, and my brother never bothered to explain it.

Really isn't all too sharp for a cutting tool...

Believe it or not this is what straps onto the men's...member...during native dances. It sort of looks like a primitive form of birth control...I'd really hate to be on the receiving end of that device...talk about a wicked splinter!

He sent it home one year as a Christmas gift to all the males in my family; my Grandma has a picture somewhere of several of my cousins, myself and my Grandpa wearing it...over are clothes of course.
Hand carved decoration of a creepy looking headhunter.

Kindle, A Good Idea Wasted

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:44:00 +0000

So, if you haven't been following, there's a new Kindle coming to town. I cannot begin to even tell you how disappointed I am in this new reader. $359 is a lot of money, but the price you pay for having cutting edge technology...$489 (the price of the new Kindle DX) is complete uncalled for; especially if they are calling it the Kindle that every college student will want, because it will save them money.

They are "probably" right about the saving money thing if you account for long term; many publishers haven't put textbooks on Kindle, but that will probably change come Fall if Amazon holds up their end of the bargain. The problem, of course, is it will take between two to three years before a college student has actually "saved" money. By that time, it's very likely that the screen on the Kindle has broken, or there's something much better on the market.

Realistically, college kids don't have $500 dollars to put down on something that won't actually save them money for two to three years, and parents aren't going to see this of much of an investment because it's just too new. As far as textbook e-readers go, the rumored $200 touchscreen Android netbook seems like a better solution, because in addition to reading books, you can get applications. If I was going to blow $500 for a e-reader, I would hold out for the rumored Apple tablet, which is expected to be just a little more (and, I'm willing to bet, will be capable of running the Kindle application like the iPhone and iPod Touch).

Sure, it's nice that the Kindle can now read PDF's; and that rotating screen is a pretty nifty feature that is sure to make all your friends say "cool," but that's not enough to get me to pay over $100 more. I was actually expecting a price drop, not a price hike--I guess they just assume that if you enjoy reading then your not one of those poor saps out of work, because your smart enough to keep your job during the economic crisis?

What does the Kindle need to win me over (in five easy steps)?

First, drop the price. $200 is more realistic. I read that it cost about $190 for Amazon to make a Kindle, but the hardware isn't where their profit is--it's the books. They are making a pretty penny selling things that cost basically no money to produce, sell or ship.

Second, give it a touchscreen! You want college kids to use this like they would a textbook? Students highlight textbooks! Sure you can use the highlight/bookmark feature, but that's hardly interactive or easy to do.

Third, make the experimental features REAL! A functional Web browser shouldn't be "experimental." It should be a real, fully operational feature that sits on the home screen...not tucked away in a less visited place. The same can be said of the MP3 feature, which is really quite lousy--you can't even browse songs, for crying out loud! You'd get a better MP3 player off some street vendor.

Fourth, give it a light. I'll be honest, I tend to use my iPod Touch more than my Kindle when I'm reading in bed. How hard is it to put a little back light on it? The iPod Touch is so much more piratical for night time reading.

Fifth, again, get the price down. If they can't do this by dropping the price then find other ways. Like users get $200 if they subscribed to the NY Times or WSJ for a year or two; or initiate a Kindle loyalty program that let's Kindle first and second generation users turn in their old Kindles for an upgrade at a reduced price.

I love the idea behind Kindle--I love my first generation Kindle. I just hate the price.

999 Boycott

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:22:00 +0000

I found out today that Quiet, Please is one of the books listed on the 999 boycott! Who knew?! For those of you who don't know about the boycott, it was started because of a bunch of readers getting mad at bestsellers selling for 15 bucks on Kindle; the whole point of Kindle is you save the publisher money by not having to waste money on paper, and passing on the savings to you. At 15 bucks you could just as well go to Border or Barnes and Noble (heck even Amazon!) and buy a copy of the book since bestsellers are typically priced well below the retail cost ($25 to $30)

I don't exactly fit into the 999 club sense I am not the author of a bestselling book, but it's still nice to be included in something!

From an authors point of view, I do wish my book was 9.99; it's a better price point and I think it would grab a few more readers. And why shouldn't it be cheaper? You don't have to market an ebook, you don't have to pay anything to print--really all you have to do is do a bit of formatting changes to the book and upload it.

The Hunger Games

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:12:00 +0000

I love distopia novels; if I had to list off some of my favorite books of all time, books like 1984, The Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World and The Giver would all rank pretty high. In each of those books, in their own way, they show that often society's biggest flaw is it's desire to be perfect and the sacrifice's they make to achieve this.
A few months back, I heard about a new distopia book called The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. In a nutshell, the book takes place in a future version of the United States; in this future there are 12 districts, and every year the 12 districts send two teens (a boy and a girl) to fight in the Hunger Games--a televised battle where 24 kids fight to the death and only one survives.
Katniss, a girl from one of the weaker districts (District 12), agrees to fight in the games in place of her younger sister; she knows she doesn't stand a chance in the games because, unlike some of the other districts, District 12 doesn't train kids for the games from an early age. Katniss learns quickly the power of media manipulation (one of many great themes in the book), and it's here that the book really starts to take off.
I've heard a few people say this book is just a cheap rip-off of Battle Royale; I haven't read Royale yet (but it's currently on my reading list), but I am going to take a wild guess and say they're wrong. I can see the similar themes, but The Hunger Games is more about finding identity than attacking a social structure--there's really hardly any back-story at all about how the society in The Hunger Games got to be the way it is.
At the heart of the book is a story about friendship, romance, sacrifice, survival, and discovering your identity--each key ingredients in what makes compelling read. It's also not very gruesome--something I hear Battle Royale is.
The Hunger Games is the first book in a proposed trilogy (Catching Fire comes out in September); I imagine it's this book that will go a little deeper into what's wrong with the society and play more on the theme of man's voyeuristic tendencies. I can't wait to read it, because by the time I finished The Hunger Games I was completely engrossed with the characters and eager to see how they develop.
I won't give away the end, except to say the games do end and the government is not happy at all with the outcome, because they have been embarrassed.
Check it out if your looking for a summer read you won't be able to put down.
And thanks to Diana for the gift...

Spreadtweet

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:57:00 +0000

Those who know me, know I'm a sucker for finding ways to look busy while not actually doing anything; it is true that the lazy man works twice as hard, and that's why I do it--I like working hard.

So when Diana emailed a link to Spreadtweet, I just had to share! Spreadtweet is one of the most brilliant lazy man solutions I've come across in a long time! It let's you use Microsoft Excel to Twitter...that way you look like you're actually doing work.

Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:24:00 +0000

There's a new interview of me up at Litterbox Magazine. FYI, Litterbox is a new Web magazine that just started earlier this month; they have some nice essays, stories, and seem to be nice people--check them out...

Me, As a Game Character?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Someone quite randomly said that I looke like Gordon Freeman from the video game Half-Life. What do you think? Is it true?

Happy Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 08:06:00 +0000

Hope you and yours have a happy Easter. If your bored you can read my thoughts on the Easter Bunny @ Disturbed Christian.

6,768 Miles Apart

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:08:00 +0000

My wife, who already has way too many things on her plate, has decided to add yet another serving of work; for the next year she (along with another blogger) will be taking pictures (1 a day) of something each morning.

You can read about there adventures on the following post. They will post a new set of pictures each week.

April Fools!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:25:00 +0000

I've been a fan of Google's April 1 jokes for quite sometime, but I must admit this years prank was lacking. Chrome in 3D is funny, but I have to admit the pranks from The Guardian and The Pirate Bay were far better.

In case you haven't heard, Pirate Bay was acquired by Warner Bros. The best April Fools pranks are the ones that seem so true they making you actually think it's a possibility. Such was the case with this bogus prank.

The best prank, however, was The Guardian, who announced that they will be entirely published via Twitter post! Sadly, I think they just might be on to a trend, and I could actually see a newspaper doing this in a few years.

Today's other classic pranks:

Global warming is just a big hoax

Surf the Internet through facial expressions

Wise Blood

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:06:00 +0000

Wise Blood will, at long last, make it's way to DVD May 12th! This movie has been out of print for years.

It seems Flannery O'Connor is finally getting the love she so deserves...first a bio was released in February (oddly enough, the first in depth biography ever wrote), and now this.

Debt to Clancy

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:12:00 +0000

As I watched the two towers burn on 9/11, the first thing I thought was "Tom Clancy wrote this would happen."

I've had a love hate relationship with Tom Clancy for quite sometime; on one hand he describes WAY too much and isn't the greatest writer...on the other hand he may just be one of the best storytellers of the Cold War age.

I have read his Jack Ryan books off and on ever since I picked up "The Hunt for Red October" one summer while looking for an easy read to spend a few days with. Those of you not familiar with Clancy, Jack Ryan is the main character in most of the books, and he's done it all and seen it all. In "Executive Orders" he became President--one of the best ones the country ever saw, of course (it's fiction, after all)

When Amazon released Tom Clancy on Kindle last month, I was in the mood for an easy read, and download "Debt of Honor" (SPOILER ALERT: the reason this book is known as the 9/11 one is the ending has a plane crashing into the Capital Building in DC, and wiping out a huge chuck of the government (including all nine Supreme Court Justices and the President), which is how Ryan becomes President, and the stage is set for "Executive Orders")

The book is about a war between the U.S. and Japan; the book would be interesting if it was just a plain old fashion war, but what makes it absolutely fascinating is one of the ways Japan attacks the country--economically; Japan engineers the collapse of the U.S. stock market--done so in a way that made me think instantly of our current economic crisis; in the midst of this, the Vice President is involved in a sex scandal, and Ryan is later asked to become Vice President just until the elections over.

Most of his books are about 800 pages; a good editor would have no problem cutting this down to 350 or 400. Writing narratives isn't what makes Clancy so great; it's his stories. He writes about scenarios that I'm not sure the government has fully worked out, and he does so in a way that makes you just a little afraid, because you know that everything he's writing could quite easily come true.

The dialogue is a bit corny at times, but if you ever wanted to know the workings of government he's worth the read.

The Evolution of Quiet, Please

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:15:00 +0000

Coming soon, "Quiet, Please" in Chinese and Korean

Happy Birthday, Diana! I Love You!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Douglas) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:00:00 +0000