Item 16 - Finish 30 18 books - "They Live" Deep Focus critical viewing and interpretation by Jonathan Lethem

They Live by RustyShakelford

You guys, I seriously love this movie. So much that I bought and read this book. It's worth a read if you love it as much as I do. But if you do, you've probably already read it.

Seriously, I love this movie.

Item 12 - Introduce 3 1 people person to movies I love "They Live" and "The Thing"

They Live by deathink

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I watched these movies for the umpteenth time in a single viewing with my friends Marquelle and Kyle. I think "They Live" is one of those movies that should either be watched in conjunction with another film, preferably one that is objectively great, or with friends that will enjoy it and can still laugh at it's absurdities. I lucked out with this viewing as I got both.

I don't think that there is a finer alien horror film than "The Thing." I doubt you'd find many people that would disagree with that statement. There are films that approach it or are as good ("Alien" and "Aliens" of course being the benchmarks, but "Slither" is another highly underrated film in the same camp) but most will always be in it's shadow. It works as every kind of horror movie: monster, slasher, gore-fest, unseen terror and psychodrama. And it has Cronenberg levels of body-horror that other movie makers could only dream of. If John Carpenter made no other films he would still have been considered a genius for "The Thing."

To have had the chance to watch these two movies back to back with my friends that hadn't seen either was a real treat. They loved every action movie line that Roddy Piper delivered; howling with laughter as he got tossed through plate glass windows. They appreciated Keith David's performance in both films (how could you not: he's one of those few modern character actors that have Presence, and not just because of that voice). And of course they loved the fight (the real deal of course has been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons, but how cool is it that South Park based that whole scene on that movie?) and wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over.

So much of watching and appreciating certain movies depends on the environment and mood that you are in and I'm happy that I was able to help facilitate a great viewing experience for these two movies for these two friends.

Housekeeping

Just a quick post with a few updates. I've decided that I'm going to suspend book reviews for a time. I've just finished a book that already has had volumes written about and I don't think I can contribute much in the way of scholarship or critique. I also haven't really had my heart in writing them for a while now. I'm going to continue tracking the books I read and am thinking of ways to post about them and still keep it interesting.

I've also had my eye surgery and will be posting on it later this week. Hopefully I'll be able to bang it out tomorrow. I've got some ideas of what I want to say about it but my keyboard has decided to crap out on me. Currently the right arrow key and the comma are not working. A few other keys are dicey as well.

Review of "War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches" edited by Kevin J. Anderson Item 16 - Finish 30 19 books

War of the Worlds by Paul Alexander Mudie

I tracked down a copy of this book (another one that appears to be out of print) once again because I loved the concept: the Martian invasion of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" through the eyes of contemporaries.

I have very fond memories of "War of the Worlds." I read it when I was 8 or 9 years old, it was one of the first books that I remember actively seeking out. I don't remember what it was that started my obsession with it, but I have a feeling it had something to do with the Orson Welles radio play, which I found on cassette at the library and listened to multiple times. After reading the book I tracked down a VHS copy of the 1953 movie which has the fact that it is a film that is firmly of it's time as an excuse for it's mediocrity (come to think of it, that's a pretty reasonable excuse for the Spielberg version as well).

The further you get away from those early obsessions of your youth the stronger the impulse to revisit them becomes. Plenty of people refuse to move beyond them; embracing them either sincerely or ironically (if irony even still exists, I'm really not sure if it does). For my part, I think I can separate out my feelings of sentimental attachment to the original book to accept that it's not all that good. As I said, it will always have a special spot in my heart.

As for this book, it doesn't really matter what I thought of it. It's out of print and unlikely to ever be reissued. I will point out that I thought that Connie Willis' section is one of her funnier short pieces that I've ever read and definitely worth tracking down (it's called "The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective," if you're curious). Overall, my sense of nostalgia wasn't enough to make this a book I will ever revisit but the same is true of the original, so it's in good company.

Item 23 - Donate blood

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In all the years I've been eligible to donate I never have. Not because I haven't wanted to, but more from laziness. Through most of my youth my attitude was "yeah, that's totally something I should do; they have vehicles, right? Maybe they'll just show up somewhere I am tomorrow." And as I've gotten older I always expected the opportunity to kind of present itself in a similar way. Maybe I would get an email or something.

Apparently my particular brand of apathy and selfishness finally did pay off. I looked into donating blood through my local Red Cross last month, but they had no information about upcoming blood drives (it didn't help that when I called I got a pre-recorded message with no information) so I back-burnered it and hoped that my previous 29 year history of not giving blood would end up being the exception. And then I got that magical email that I had been expecting my whole adult life. There was a blood drive at one of the local schools and they needed volunteers.

To make a mundane story short, it was a positive experience. For some reason I'm really excited to get my donor card, not because it's something of a badge of honor or anything like that but mostly-I think-so I'll know what my blood type is and I can finally answer that question for all my Japanese friends that have ever asked me. Seriously, that is almost as stupid a question as "what's your sign?" and actually creepier to ask. Knock that off.

Post donation bandage or Racer X memorial armband?

5K In the East Bay: Lake Merritt Fun Run Item 20 - Run 6 5 5K's

I've been running since high school, off and on. Like most people that say that exact phrase it's been more off than on since high school. For the last six years, however, I've been trying to be more serious about running. I spent a good part of last year training for a marathon that I never ran (more on that in a later post) which was sort of the culmination of my first year of ever running competitive races. I ran three 5K's last year and decided to double it this year (it doesn't hurt that six 5K's equals that magic number 30). As far as inaugural races for this project go, I could have done much worse than the Lake Merritt fun run but they probably could have done a bit better.

My understanding is that this was the first 5K that this group has organized and I'm sorry to say that it kind of showed. They did some really nice things, but they were all tempered by the issues that also came along with them. From the start, the directions said that the race would be starting at the pavilion. I lived for a time near Lake Merritt before I moved back to Washington, and my sister lived there even longer, the first thing that came to mind for both of us (and the first result that Google Images returns when you search for "Lake Merritt Pavilion") is this building:

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But what they meant was this building:

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This was our fault, the directions do give the cross streets; but still not off to a great start. Luckily, we came to the park early so that my niece could run in the Lolly Pop Dash before the 5K. Unfortunately, this leads us nicely into the second complaint that I had: the timeline was seriously weird. Registration started at 8 a.m. (but the initial email seemed to indicate that that was when the race itself started), the Lolly Pop Dash (a free race for the kids that came along with their parents) started at 9:30 and the 5K itself started at 10:30. The Lolly Pop Dash lasted no more than five minutes. FInally, the raffle for prizes was held at about noon. That's about a three hour commitment for 5K.

Look at that chump, he has no idea what kind of wait is in store for him

The raffle brings us to a final point: the gifts. This race was for charity, so I'm willing to make allowances, but it also cost $35. I've run other charity races that cost $15 and came with a swag bag that had a t-shirt and snack. The swag bag this time had some advertisements and a coupon for free shipping on a Road ID (a $1.49 value!).

The bag didn't even have the organization name on it

It might sound like I didn't have a good time, and that would be wrong. I loved running at Lake Merritt, the organizers were really nice and obviously excited about putting it on. And despite getting lost twice during the race (I should point out that the course consisted of running around the lake, so I might be an idiot) I still had the second fastest time, which is a nice ego boost. I really loved doing this race and am happy that it went to such a good cause. I hope that the next one that they organize works out the little kinks from this one, because I have a feeling they could do a really fantastic race.

Review of "Anatomy for Runners" by Jay Dicharry Item 16 - Finish 30 20 books

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The classic wisdom is that every runner gets an injury at some point, the ones who never hurt themselves just stopped running. Before I switched to minimalist footwear I'd had a few instances of tendonitis and bursitis, after making the switch I had no injuries for a long time. That caught up with me eventually, this last year I've hobbled along between minor pains, most of which didn't last very long and that I just put down to getting old.

That was all fine until about six months ago when I noticed that I would get a pain in my knee and hip after I finished longer runs. The pain wasn't constant but would show up again every time and would stick around longer than I liked. My doctor, who is also a runner, diagnosed it as being an issue with my form and suggested going to a sports medicine doctor to have an assessment. When I explained that my budget ran more towards Excedrin than experts he recommended this book as an alternative.

Much like my own doctor, Dicharry tends to focus on form. It makes sense, if you aren't running correctly you are going to hurt yourself. The problem I had with this is that he tends to repeat a lot of the same information, alluding to advice that he will give later. The advice is there and is useful, but when you diagnose what your actual issue is, it's hard to not just rush straight to the solution. The result is that with so much repetition that solution can often get confused.

It really is a great resource, but I would never recommend reading it straight through. Better to find your particular problem and then read the exercises he suggests to help with it. If you are intent on reading straight through as I was, go the Marshall McLuhan route and read every other page, at least until you get to the exercises. You likely won't miss any information and you will save yourself the time.