Books To Read

Here is a list of book I've read in the last few years that are worth the hours of investment. Do it.

Books that reveal truth about the human condition (aka... art)
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray... Wilde
2. This Side of Paradise... Fitzgerald

Prophetic Genius
1. 1984... Orwell
2. Anthem... Rand

Beauty of life and nature
1. The Sun Also Rises... Hemingway
2. A Land Remembered... Smith

Non-Fiction
1. Walking On Water... L'Engle
2. Irresistible Revolution... Claiborn

Short Stories
1. The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol 2
2. The Sons... Kafka

Different Time or Place (Nostalgic)
1. Their Eyes Were Watching God... Hurston
2. The God of Small Things... Roy

From the Stage
1. A Streetcar Named Desire... Williams
2. The Importance of Being Earnest... Wilde

These are in somewhat of an order from what I suggest first to what I suggest last.

The Beauty of Bocce

My first time playing Bocce Ball was with my friend and workmate, AJ.  Bored of office and coffee house meetings, we would hit up Portofino Bay...

... or at least as close as the two of use could get to the actual Italian village... the Portofino Bay Hotel in Orlando.

AJ has since moved to California, but Bocce remains.  Over the last few months, when the weather's nice, we've arranged picnics at Lake Eola, and my other friends Ian and Melissa Soto have brought their set to the park.

I finally broke down and bought my own set a few weeks ago.  Here are some pics from our last Bocce picnic in the park.

I'm sure true Italians would find our court-less games laughable, so I was inspired to find some examples of real technique.  First, I found this, which made me feel okay about our games in the park - except for the fact that Eleanor Foltz is apparently a Bocce stud!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPUQUmV0ePE

Then I found this video of Josco Mardesic, a Croatian Bocce Champ in what is called the "Progressive Throw."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0HGEHXAkoo

I kind of want to see Eleanor try the Progressive Throw competition now.

Maybe we can convince Leo, the park manager at Lake Eola, to install some Bocce courts out at Lake Eola, but until then, we'll keep biking to our games in the grass.

St Pete/Tampa Art Show

If you're in the Tampa/St Pete, FL area tonight, be sure to check out this gem of an event.  A t-shirt art show put on by some of the top designers in the country.  Sure to be a good experience.

http://backinblackapparel.com/

Coldplay, quitting?

Saw this news article today.
It reports that Chris Martin expects the band to be done by the end of 2009.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

RadioLab

If you haven't heard of it, you have lots of catching up to do.

Remember when you'd be watching Sesame Street as a kid, and they'd cut to the factory scenes where they'd show the machines making crayons or peanut butter cups? That was always my favorite part. RadioLab is the same thing, for adults.

The show is produced by New York Public Radio (and is the best produced audio program I have ever heard), and distributed on some NPR stations across the county. It's also available as a podcast.

The first episode of season five called "choice" was just released. You can get it free, here.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=152249110

My favorite is the one on "emergence." It's #20 at the same link.

Enjoy learning science again... and if you end up going and listening to the "choice" podcast, you'll come to see that your role in the entire decision was rather small.