A must* read!

*not


So, no one ever recommends good books to me...other than my mother and then only rarely.  Sometimes, she just suggests a book and then says that it wasn't very good.  Such mixed messages only confuse me though.  She did recommend "Poisonwood Bible" and that really was a great book, right up my alley.

Anyway, someone at work put out a bunch of books in the break room and put a sign that said, "free".  I took a couple...a sci-fi...a mystery...and this little gem, "Flood Tide" by Clive Cussler.  I thought a little adventure book, while not my normal fare, would be enjoyable.  I really didn't know anything about Clive Cussler books.  I didn't know that they all focus on ship wrecks underwater or underwater adventures.  That's fine.  I didn't know that the most description that he gives is about the specialty underwater equipment or procedures, which he does at length.

At one point in this 1997 book, a character is talking to the President of the United States about how the influx of illegal Chinese immigrants is actually part of a plot of the Chinese government to take over the United States.  They then discuss extreme military measures that the United States needs to take against immigration, which is, after all, a direct attack on the American people.

One of the lines of narration in the book actually says, "He heard the clanging sounds that the orientals call music in the room as he passed."

I have only read 100 pages of this book and I fear the romance that is going to ensue between the main character and the undercover Chinese CIA agent that he saved from the hands of evil human smugglers.  I think that I don't have enough testosterone for this book.

Something else odd about me

When I drive my car and listen to music, if the song ends right when I turn off the car, I get a thrill.  I feel like I've timed everything so well, that I was destined to arrive at my location.

Another pleasant man

A very large, drunk man was playing blackjack on the table next to mine.  For some reason, he began to bleed.  (This happens more often than you can imagine...I have no idea why).  He had a cut on his hand that appeared for unknown reasons after being on the table for half an hour.  Because of obvious health reasons we are not allowed to deal to someone with an open wound.  Makes sense, of course, they would get blood on the cards, the table, the chips...it's a haz-mat nightmare.  So, the dealer says that the man has to wash his hands.  The man took a couple of steps away from the table and poured water on them, having it pour over the carpet.  The dealer said that he still could not play.  Luckily, a security guard was nearby with a bandage.  The man put on the bandage and was handing the wrapper back to the guard.  The guard, following procedure, said that the man would have to throw that away himself.  The man than threw the paper on the floor.  The guard said that the man had to pick it up and throw it in the trash.
"You told me to fucking throw it away."
"That means in the garbage, not on the floor....pick it up."
"You told me to throw it the fuck away, so I did."
"The floor is not garbage.  You have to pick it up."
Another security guard joined in and unfortunately I was unable to hear the end of this argument as I was dealing cards myself. 
In any case, the man went back to the table and the bandage was not stopping the flow of blood.  The dealer said that he still could not play.  So, the man started to get irate and say that he could play if he "fucking wanted to".  Then the other players chimed in and said that they didn't want his blood all over the place.  The man got up from the table via security escort and he started yelling, "What did I do wrong...get Metro then!"  He yelled this several times and then as he was leaving he yelled "Whore!" about 7 times back at the table.  I don't know if he was referring to the dealer or one of the players.
I had actually noticed the man from my table before all of this happened.  I would have kicked him out when he started to call people "homos", but our floor supervisors tend to be on the skittish side.

Something odd about me

If I drink too much caffeine, I feel psychic.

That is, I feel psychic.  I don't have premonitions and I don't read people's minds.  I don't really believe that I am psychic at that point.  I just feel psychic.

How does that feel?

Honestly, I don't know how to describe it.  However, I can always tell when I've had too much caffeine because I have this sense that I'm about to do something otherworldly. 

Tooth and Nail

I keep meaning to write a little review of this movie, but I keep forgetting.  I read a review of this movie that was titled, "Painful........ Like stabbing yourself in the eye with a sharp object!"  That about sums it up.  Greg, for some reason, wants to recommend it to everyone for its unplanned camp-factor. 

It's a post apocalyptic movie about a handful of people trying to survive by living in an empty hospital.  The apocalypse, by the way, happened because the world ran out of oil.  You would think that this might be dragged out into some sort of heavy handed social commentary throughout the movie.  Luckily, this movie wasn't written well enough to do that, so the social commentary only exists for the first 5 minutes.  It still really doesn't explain how a city of millions has been reduced to about 20 healthy looking individuals, 10 idiots and 10 ravenous cannibals.  

So, these 10 people living in a hospital are trying to establish a set of communal rules like it is some sort of rebuilding of society.  They rescue a woman in distress and then start coming under attack by cannibals.  The woman they rescue is small, blond and clean.  The cannibals are big, greasy and dirty.  It still comes as no big surprise in the end that the blond is their leader.  Anyway, the blond starts making suggestions like, "we should split up" and "we shouldn't defend ourselves".  I don't see how these people survived the apocalypse, because they think her ideas are the best and become easy targets.

These cannibal humans have this huge appetite.  Greg and I figured that at the rate they were eating, they could eat about one human a day...each.  These cannibals were completely obsessed with eating other humans too.  One cannibal chasing down a victim would shout, "I'll gnaw your bones!"  Another would say, "I want the heart."  There was a part where a cannibal was sitting, waiting to make a kill when his stomach growled.  He then said something to the tune of, "Soon, my precious, I will fill you with delicious meat."  When they ate, it would show them eating hands and holding femurs.  The two universal ways of eating humans in movies.

There was a young, mute girl....of course.  Young, mute girls always survive, as did this one.  Young, mute girls always say one word, as did this one.  And in stereotypical fashion this young, mute girl's one word was an insult to one of the cannibals.  She called a cannibal, "Retard!"  Of all the one words to choose, what a absolutely idiotic choice on so many levels.

The picture above is of the heroine of the story.  She learns to become bad-ass and primitive in order to kill the cannibals by injecting the dead with sedatives and stabbing them while they are groggy and full of delicious meat.

What music has stood the test of time?

What album do you think has stood the test of time? After many years, still you think is amazing? (I mean whole album, not just a couple of songs)

At first thought, I think for me:

Portishead - Dummy
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
Bongwater - Power of Pussy
Camper Van Beethoven - Key Lime Pie
Nina Hagen - Nunsexmonkrock
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Mr. Bungle - California

On my waiting list:
Pink Martini - Hang on Little Tomato
Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block

Picture I found on the web that I wanted to share