Netflix: Doctor Zhivago (1965)

I don't really have any thoughts on the movie. I mean, other than the heavy British, I mean, Russian accents were pretty hilarious. I thought it was well done and theMonica could have done without all the adultery, but, hey, I didn't want to gauge (hurts way worse than gouging) my eyes out. It had that going for it.

At any rate, I know a dispropororpoportionate percentage of this blog's readers are incredibly smart and have advanced degrees and whatnot. And the movie did pique my curiosity. I'm looking for a good book to read to learn all about Julie Christie. No, not her, that slut. I want to learn more about this time in Russian history. I'm leaving it vague ("this time") because I don't know how far I would need to go back tsar-wise, nor how far into the revolution. That's where all you history Phd's/Phd's to-be come in (I'm including you Alan).

And I'm looking for the straight dope. I don't want a romanticized view written by some '30s style American/British communist-sympathizer intellectual (if I just made up the existence of that class of people, please disregard) nor the late-Tsar's autobiography.

This is like homework. Nose to the grindstone people!

put that coffee (cake) down!

And go read this book which effectively refutes (using only already established science) the idea that all calories are created equal. Well, it appears they're not.

It's interesting on its face, but also on interesting study on how sometimes scientific consensus isn't controlled by actual science. It can instead be controlled by politics, egos and particularly charismatic advocates of a particular viewpoint. I don't know. I found it all fascinating.

So this was book 2 of 2009. I'm already like 50% behind. Ugh.

all your books are belong to some old guy that yells at you if you go near his boxes

I busted out of work (with permission!) for a couple of hours today to go to another ultra-inexpensive used book sale.

Silverfish must have rejoiced at the sight of the (about) 70,000 books lined-up on tables in the Case gym. (Case is a school for brainiacs and from the looks of things, they're basketball team hasn't had many practices in there). I went for the last day of the sale: the no-holds-barred, all bets are off, awe-inspiring, jaw-droppingly inexpensive, box of books for 5 bucks. Yes, you got to choose the books that fill the box, but while doing so you had to fight your way through all the greedy re-seller types, weakling college freshmen and their inability to control their boxes and pedestrian old school folks whose power-walking group had taken an unexpected detail. Many of those 70,000 books were already gone, but there was still plenty to pick from.

My tact this time was to look for things I was generally interested in or authors/topics that "rang a bell," as it were. Problem being, aren't exceedingly crappy things, that I'd be best to avoid, just as bell-ringing as my vaguely remembering I once read of glowing review of Bruce Catton's work? As sometimes, the names are familiar, but the reasons for recalling them are nowhere to be found.

Well, I got me some Catton amongst other things and in the end I paid about 80 cents a book (I include the $4 parking). So, I got me some free knowledge - just like the internets only nicely bound.

veni, vidi, vici

I went to a used book sale at a library on Saturday. Now I've been to a few library book sales in my day, so I was pretty sure what to expect - mass confusion. Books are helpfully categorized into categories: fiction and non-fiction. And then they're sorted into cover design appeal - or something; I'm not sure what the second-order sorting variable is. I knew this going in, so I had a brilliant idea: I would print out a list of my Amazon wishlist books and take it with me. BRILLIANT! Then I got to the library (smartly keeping the 10-page list out of sight) and thought, "This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever done." As if I'm really going to check this list against each title I look at. The books are in no discernible order. They are fiction or non-fiction (ok, there were a couple of other categories, but those only contained a handful of books). As I was contemplating my nerdy jackassery, I happened upon a book that actually appeared on my list! Forget the fact that I probably only remembered because it was my most recent add to my wishlist. I swear I remembered because of the ass-info osmosis going on between my list and my money-maker. I'm so smart.

The problem with so many cheap books being so readily available is that you'll buy stuff that you'll never, ever read. It took a while, but I ultimately resisted the urge to by $1 copy of "Compiler Design in C." Compiler design is to my job as barley harvesting is to a bartender. You could draw a connection, but it's tenuous at best. I just diddn't see myself reading 600 pages on compiler design anytime soon.

By far the highlight of the trip was overhearing some old lady try to haggle on a 50 cent paperback. "I would buy this if it was 25 cents, but not for 50 cents." She was clearly, though awkwardly, trying to hint that the price should be dropped. The library workers just kind of stared at her amidst a dense fog of confusion. So what? - their looks asked. Finally, old school left without the overpriced book, muttering about a time when two bits could get you a steak dinner, a movie and a private audience with Teddy Roosevelt