What Secret Asian Girl is Reading Now

In general, I'm not a fan of this type of "pop fiction," or "chick lit," whatever this genre's current tab is. It's like cotton candy, fluffy and ... (show more)

In general, I'm not a fan of this type of "pop fiction," or "chick lit," whatever this genre's nom du jour is. The Island by Elin Hilderbrand is like cotton candy, fluffy and sugary with nothing really substantial to it. Plus, it's completely unrelateable to most readers. A totally narcissistic family, so engrossed in each of their own pleasures that they don't see other family members crumbling around them. Every conceivable human drama or tragedy is stirred into this story: suicide, divorce, rock climbing accident, engaged to one rich handsome brother but actually in love with his not-rich-but-still-handsome rock star brother...there's even some lesbian dabbling thrown in. "But how will that affect ME??" Wah, wah, wah. What a bunch of whiners! Compounding the dynamic is the fact that all of them are drowning in money, which, at the first sign of trouble, enables all of them to pack off and spend a whole month in the family's beach house on an island near Nantucket - ostensibly to HEAL - eating foie gras and raspberries delivered daily by a sun-bleached blond hunk of the month delivery stud (whose young wife is dead and who has left him with two impossibly cute tow headed boys). Wahh... what a terrible life. The cell phones don't get great service, proving that they're roughing it. Every venture each of them has tried in life has been wildly lucrative: the youngest food editor ever for a national magazine, a sought-after computer programming whiz...even the mom's divorce was amicable and generous . The fact that AFTER the success came the reality of some tragedy is supposed to make us sympathetic to the characters. Nope, not buying it. Most people don't even get to taste a morsel of the luxurious life these folks have enjoyed. If reality is too harsh for these immature, spoiled brats afterward, oh well. I gave this book a few pity stars because as a beach read, it's quick and escapist, without having to connect to the characters. In the end, everyone ends up deliriously happy, on the outside, at least. Looks good on the outside, but is it? Sort of like fat-free cheese. This was the first book I've read by popular author Elin Hilderbrand and will, most likely, be my last. I guess I got caught up in the whole "fun summer reading" whirlwind of excitement. That, and I am drawn to her novels' beautifully photographed covers. If you see me reading another book of this kind, please, for God's sake, slap it out of my hand and replace it with something by Chris Bohjalian! Gag. Bleah.

Klingon Panhandler

Just because I like this picture.
lIjSoS ghajtaH Hab Quch!
(Translation: Your mother has a smooth forehead!)

You Oughta Be In Pictures #91 Fun With Photos

This assignment was just too tempting for someone like me. I love image generators! Fotoflexer is familiar to me but BeFunky was a new site. I really liked the variety of special effects you can add to your uploaded photo. Unfortunately, you do have to register at the site if you want to save it. You can "share" your edited photo from its home site but not save it to your own files. I edited the photo of my dog, Sam, in both Fotoflexer and BeFunky. The finished product, below, is a cartoonized version courtesy of BeFunky. I liked the quality better and the woodcut effect I ended up with was very cool. The logo watermark doesn't really bother me. If you're not interested in precise matching, FaceinHole is a lot of fun. This Baywatch photo may not be very funny to some of my co-workers but what the heck! I'm sure they don't mind sacrificing some dignity for a training exercise! he he BigHugeLabs also looks like a creative resource for future "experiments." The other plus with BHL is that you can create monthly calendars, movie posters, stickers, jigsaw puzzles and mosaics all from your own photos. There are also links where you can find out what time sunrise and sunset is going to occur at any geographical location in case you're interested in taking that "gorgeous sunset" shot you've always dreamed about. I think all of these sites are terrific resources for playing with, and learning about, digital photo manipulation. And if you happen to get a few laughs at the expense of a friend or ahem, a co-worker or two....so much the better!

You Oughta Be In Pictures #90 Sharing Photos

Used to be, if you wanted to share a classic photo, like the one left, you'd have to hurry to finish your film roll, rush it to the drugstore and then wait for a phone call to go pick up your prints on photo paper. Then you'd have to mail it to someone via good ol' U.S. Mail and hope they received it in good condition. With the advent of digital technology, you could save it on a floppy diskette, e-mail it and wait for your recipient to respond. Now, thanks to sites like Flickr, Photobucket, and other digital album storage sites, your friends and family can readily access the images at their own convenience immediately and you don't have to pay for processing. Who wants to wait for a picture like this one? I've had a Flickr account for awhile and use it mostly to store photos I've taken from my digital camera but also favorite photos I've scanned from old family albums. Not only is it easier to access an on-line album, but it's a way to preserve and archive the old paper images that have become family heirlooms. There are also editing capabilities to crop or rotate your image. For beyond basic editing, you can always use a free site like Picnik to get out red-eye or adjust color saturation. I watched the video introducing all the different photo sharing websites but I've already explored the ones listed. One is really just as good as the next one but I suppose I prefer Flickr. Protecting the privacy of my images is important to me but I'm not naive enough to think that once that picture is out there, whether on a blog like this one or on Facebook, the chances of it showing up elsewhere is pretty good. Fortunately, there are billions of photos out there to steal so why choose mine? Still, it should always be in the back of your mind that anything published is now public. And really, now that you've seen this image, it's gonna be hard to get it out of your mind anyway. Yikes.

Life Cycle of a Tree

Berkeley Breathed used this unusual "treed bike" as inspiration for his children's book, Red Ranger Came Calling, a unique holiday story about a boy's waning ability to believe in the unbelievable and how he restored his faith in the abilities of others. This real bike is located on Vashon Island in Washington. What story could you make up about how this bike-in-a-tree came to be?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 - November 19