I bought my 8 year old daughter “Twighlight”. She started it. I wanted to read it for appropriateness but she had it, so I grabbed “new Moon”. My daughter gave me a hard time for reading out of order, but I just ignored her and plowed on. Very engaging series. I was worried about gore, but it turned out to be very low. Might be a bit racy for 8 years old, but not as bad as even some Disney movies I have seen. Read it in three days. Very engaging and good for all ages. I rate 4 of 5 stars.

Ross MacDonald is ALMOST as good as Raymond Chandler. I still like Raymond better. But Zebra-Striped Hearse is up there in hard boiled detective stuff. Very entertaining. Good summer read. I rate 4 of 5 stars.

i have read everything by Raymond Carver. Now I just finished his “uncollected writings”. I guess that is it. Wish he were still with us to produce more great writing.

De Niro and Pacino have made some great movies. Righteous Kill is not one of them. Transparent, boring. A couple of old guys bumbling around an uninteresting plot until final totally obvious twist. Too bad these guys needed money…

ok, so I am doing file maintenance stuff on my music archive last night. I come across a folder called Judas Priest. In there is every album they have made from 1974 to 2006. So last night I started a flight of Judas Priest with 1974. the last album i listened to last night was 1982 Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance. That was the anthem album for my senior year in highschool. Listening to it I realized i still knew every word of every song. And it made me type fast. No coffee included. This morning I am continuing the flight with 1984 Defenders of the Faith. This rocks…

my mom sent me this book. I like fiction about florida. This is a good one. Good plot, interesting characters, classic Florida characters (the cut of jeans guy in boat shoes who lives in the Keys). Yum yum. Good plane and summer read. I rate 3 of 5 stars.

I like to ride my bike. Off and on over the years. Some years alot, some years a little. This year I have ridden more than usual. Did 214mi on Seattle to Portland. hacked the Swobo, doing 100mi tomorrow, etc. But I have never been a racer. Racing bikes is a whole nuther kettle of fish. Ten Points wraps all the challenges and demons in life up in trying to win ten points at the Thursday night Crit series. I have ridden the Thursday night Crit (in Seattle). It is brutal. At a certain point, all the racers are fit enough and it comes down to grit, determination and desire to inflict pain on oneself to win or even place.

A very inspiring book about life, bikes and dreams. The important parts, the ability to dream and keep dreaming even when you don’t get your dreams. Everyone should read this book.

I rate 5 of 5 stars.

On my trip to Indonesia, most of my conversations with locals and Americans were Asia centric rather than Euro centric. That was at first surprising, then obvious. Claude from Nihiwatu suggested this book and how it is re-writing western ideas about discovery of America, and a whole raft of euorcentric history books. I love it. In the same year that England invaded France with about 600 men making huge waves in western historical records, the Chinese emperor was marching an army of over 1 million north against the Mongols without as much as a note in the west. The most fascinating part for me has been reading the maritime exploration parts about a 10,000 ship armada with tankers larger than the largest supertankers today going all over the world to find a Southern Star for navigation. We in the west have alot to learn about World history. Read this book. I rate 5 of 5 stars.

and rightfully so. Very funny. Not a slapstick rolling funny as the show, but plenty whitty. And a bit smarter I think. Go see this summer fun movie. 4 of 5 stars.

I am a minimalist at heart. My house is minimal, all my art is modern, etc. Most books are too thick and have too many words. While I have never been a fan of graphic novels or cartoons generally, a friend suggested this book so I one-click’ed it off Amazon. Got yesterday and read it in about an hour. Entertaining. The “career” advice is pretty standard fare stuff for an old wizened CEO like myself, but will probably be manna from heaven for the 20 something lost generation it is targeted to.

Let me save you the hour if you are that pressed for time.

1. There is no plan
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

got it?