Polymath

Hi there! – [musings]

I was hoping to upgrade my blog to Movable Type 4.1, and potentially allowing comments to the site once again, but my web host only has a perl installation of 5.0 and MT 4.1 requires 5.6. So I guess I'll have to postpone the site facelift a little longer. I know things are pretty dull on the site right now, I haven't posted any art for ages, all I do is generate lists of books I've read and even those have become short and brief.

I have been playing Super Mario Galaxy and I have 119 stars. I'm still trying to get through Luigi's Purple Coins, which is just way too difficult.

Reading for March, 2008 – [books]

Finished A Prayer for Owen Meaney.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger.

Still working on Trainspotting.

Did not finish the new Pinker book.

Reading for February, 2008 – [books]

Fight Club (1996) by Chuck Palahniuk. Pointless. This is the second book I've read by Palahniuk, and I think I get the gist: although he doesn't care much about writing, it is a good way to make a living.

Other reading for the month: Made some progress on A Prayer for Owen Meaney. Also started Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, as well as the classic Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I read Brenda Richardson's essay in Jennifer Bartlett, Early Plate Work, which unfortunately diminished my enthusiasm for her work somewhat. And I have a copy of Steven Pinker's latest "linguistic" exploration, The Stuff of Thought. Here's a taste, from the introductory chapter:

A name points to a person in the world in the same way that I can point to a rock in front of me right now.

What a wretched analogy.

Billy Joel in Anaheim, CA – [city]

On February 23 my wife and I went to sell Billy Joel perform in Anaheim. Here's a list of the songs he played at the concert:

Angry Young Man
It's My Life
Everybody Loves You
The Entertainer
The Ballad of Billy the Kid
Allentown
New York State of Mind
Zanzibar
Root Beer Rag
Movin' Out
Don't Ask Me Why
Captain Jack
Always a Woman
Keeping the Faith
River of Dreams
Highway to Hell (written by AC/DC) (featuring Chainsaw)
We Didn't Start the Fire
Still Rock And Roll to Me
You May Be Right

Encore:
Italian Restaurant
Only the Good Die Young
Piano Man