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I can't believe this is a real review from Library Journal:
Combat Sports: An Encyclopedia of Wrestling, Fighting, and Mixed Martial Arts
by Hudson, David L., Jr.
Getting paid to beat people up? Wow, what a concept! Essentially a biographical dictionary of mostly obscure boxers, brawlers, and chop-socky types, this work includes only a handful of entries that discuss the actual sports alluded to in the title. There is an article on sumo wrestling, for example, a spectacle in which Japanese lard butts attempt to shove each other beyond the bounds of a circle on the floor. This work is of very limited usefulness, as the sketches of various fighters are not much more than a dry recitation of their various matches. To the book's credit, each individual's professional record and list of championships, if any, are included-- certainly a plus as far as statistic-crazed fans are concerned. The wooden writing style and lack of substance are understandable given the credentials of Hudson, who is neither an athlete nor a sports writer but rather a lawyer. Perhaps the most salient point in the title's favor is that it is made from quality materials. A statement appearing beneath the bib record attesting to the durability of the paper employed implies that anyone with more tattoos than teeth who wishes to check up on potential opponents can drool all over this tome with impunity. BOTTOM LINE This book is simply a catalog of people you've never heard of doing things you'd rather not know about. Those wishing to bolster a sports-and-games collection should instead turn to the four-volume Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport. Expensive but worth it, the Berkshire set is professionally produced and written by people who really know their stuff. -- Michael F. Bemis, Washington Cty. Lib., Woodbury, MN |
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Shinto
When sorrow lays us low
for a second we are saved
by humble windfalls
of the mindfulness or memory:
the taste of a fruit, the taste of water,
that face given back to us by a dream,
the first jasmine of November,
the endless yearning of the compass,
a book we thought was lost,
the throb of a hexameter,
the slight key that opens a house to us,
the smell of a library, or of sandalwood,
the former name of a street,
the colors of a map,
an unforeseen etymology,
the smoothness of a filed fingernail,
the date we were looking for,
the twelve dark bell-strokes, tolling as we count,
a sudden physical pain.
Eight million Shinto deities
travel secretly throughout the earth.
Those modest gods touch us--
touch us and move on.
_______________________
via![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kali921 (my thoughts are with you)
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 Fragment by Warren Fahy
My review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
With sagging ratings, the ocean exploration reality show SeaLife desperately needs a boost before the network cuts their one-year voyage short. What could be better than answering a distress call on a mysterious island? Surrounded by a 700 ft cliff wall, Henders Island is largely inaccessible and its distance from the shipping lanes means very few seafarers have even seen it. But when a live broadcast of the landing shows the cast of the SeaLife eaten alive by the island’s flora and fauna, the show is condemned as a hoax.
Fortunately for readers, Henders Island is not a hoax. The two-mile wide island contains an ecosystem which has been isolated for hundreds of millions of years – with the resulting evolutionary divergence creating life which might as well be alien. Fearing that Henders Island might be weaponized, the president blockades the island and calls on an elite science team to explore it.
What follows is a combination of scientific exploration and adventure which reads more like a missing Michael Crichton book than a debut novel. Warren Fahy handles scientific debate and thrilling chase sequences equally well, while giving us a cast of interesting characters. His greatest accomplishment, though, is bringing fresh ideas to a concept which stretches back to Jules Verne.
View all my reviews. |
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From the Palm Beach Post:
Sharp-eyed library worker spots missing DVDs in Riviera Beach thrift shop
By ELIOT KLEINBERG
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 26, 2009
DVDs for sale at a Riviera Beach thrift store caught the eye of a shopper who noticed some of them bore stickers identifying them as property of the Palm Beach County Public Library System.
The shopper should know; he shelves items for the library.
Riviera Beach police have recovered 174 DVDs and nine music CDs, most from the county system but others from other public libraries, Sgt. Pat Galligan said this afternoon.
( The rest )
Jun. 29th, 2009 @ 08:59 am
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| » Robert Stanek |
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Robert Stanek has to be the worst author in the world.
Jun. 25th, 2009 @ 09:32 am
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| » I'm not a speed reader, damn it. |
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Our catalog lets us place holds on titles before they are released so:
1. I place holds.
2. Everything comes in at once.
3. I read what I can.
4. I renew what I can't.
5. I end up returning many titles un- or partially read.
I don't understand why I can't have a Netflix like queue for my library books.
I want to be able to place holds and then have them filled five at a time. If I return a book, go ahead and fill the next hold.
This can't be that hard, can it?
Does anyone know of any vendor, application, front-end which allows this?
May. 20th, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
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| » Contest |
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Here's what I entered for this contest: http://geeksdreamgirl.com/2009/04/13/easy-win-contest-how-would-your-geek-icon-cook-steak-win-25-to-outback-steakhouse/
Merlin lived through time backwards, so cooking a steak began with a pleasantly full sensation in his stomach and the taste of steak in his mouth (and his beard mottled with drippings). After a chewing sensation he would find himself before an open fire grilling a well-seasoned piece of meat. Viviane had stolen his secret blend of spices, but that lay ahead of him in the past. After the grilling, Merlin would buy the steak from the local butcher -- taking care to compliment him on serving up such a delicious cut. Later, Merlin would stand wistfully before a cow and offer his apologies.
Apr. 17th, 2009 @ 01:14 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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Mar. 12th, 2009 @ 05:56 pm
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| » The Beast House books |
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Suddenly I'm a huge fan of Richard Laymon's Beast House novels.
The Beast House is a Victorian home in Malcasa Point, California (yes -- mal casa). It's the site of a series of gruesome murders which started in the early 1900s, it's now a tourist attraction with wax dummies replicating the victims of brutal attacks which have taken place over the house's history, all perpetrated by beasts -- humanoid creatures which are neither man nor ape. They are heavily muscled, clawed, covered in white hair and are prodigiously endowed.
A note. If you only read one of the books, read The Midnight Tour. It's accessible if you haven't read the other books. It's the best written. It lacks the child endangerment and minimizes the sexual violence which drive the other books -- The Cellar especially.
The best part of any Beast House book is the tour of the house where the characters are led through the house from the front porch where Gus Goucher was wrongfully lynched to the sitting room where Ethel Hughes was butchered, then upstairs, and finally down to the cellar where the tunnel is. As you enter each room a realistic wax figure greets you: terrified Larry Maywood staring back at his dead friend; Lily Thorn's slain sons.
It's a macabre tour which appeals to the characters' (and our) baser instincts. But it's just a haunted house. Sure real people died here, but that was a long time ago. And if the beasts were real, wouldn't this place be closed down? One of the reasons the Beast House books are so effective is that the beasts are treated as folklore and the house is a tourist trap.
The Beast House could be Lizzie Borden's house, or Loch Ness, or Whitechapel. When more is unveiled in later books, the Beast House becomes the star of a movie series. The more brutal the murders surrounding the house are, the more tourists come out and the tickets' price rise.
The series appeals to me on that level. They also appeal to me as a bridge to early horror.
There's something Lovecraftian about the setup. Information is passed down by word of mouth or from scraps of journals. Malcasa Point is isolated, surrounded by forest on one side and the ocean on the other. And the fog always seems to be sitting on the ocean, threatening to smother Malcasa Point on a whim. There are strange people around town. You hear unexplained noises at night. And what you see -- what you experience, changes you.
The Beast House Series
The Cellar (1980)
The Beast House (1986)
The Midnight Tour (1998)
Friday Night in Beast House (2001)
Mar. 12th, 2009 @ 11:39 am
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| » Game Couch |
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Really happy with Game Couch this week and I'm working on a gaming in libraries interview which should be up next week.
Feb. 26th, 2009 @ 09:19 pm
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| » A Wild Ghost Chase |
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When Amanda and I were on the road to Virginia back in November, we caught a Travel Channel show on haunted houses. I was very surprised that the paranormal research team was investigating a house about fifteen minutes away from our home.
It's called the Riddle House and there's information about it online, so I'm not going into it here.
The Riddle House is part of Yesteryear Village, which is a collection of old Florida homes and shops, along with a school and whatever else you think might be there.
Okay, so the goal is to see the haunted house. I look at their website and it seems like their hours work -- closed Monday, open on Saturday -- e-mail to reserve a tour.
So E-mail 1 finds that they are only open Monday - Friday from 10:00 to 12:00. Fine, enough of my friends can make that work. E-mail 2 finds that the Friday that would have worked has already been booked. I should point out that you can only visit Yesteryear Village as part of a tour. You can't just walk around yourself, except for "Event Days" like the Sweet Corn Festival in April (which sounds like something Haruhi would force Kyon into).
At this point, I'm frustrated, but there's an Omega Option (tm). You can rent the Riddle House if you want to conduct your own paranormal research.
Well, yeah! And how much can that really cost?
$750 + the cost of a security guard (price not quoted).
So the haunted house options are down to a) find the magic Friday that works for enough people, b) wait until CornFest, or c) fall into a pile of money -- I'm guess $1000 would be enough.
Okay this seems promising: http://www.meetup.com/Gold-Coast-Paranormal-Society-Meetup/
Feb. 24th, 2009 @ 03:29 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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Yay, Leigh Alexander linked to my "rape game" article in her latest post: http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/2009/02/rapelay-response.html
Feb. 24th, 2009 @ 09:07 am
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| » Yay Failblog |
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see more pwn and owned pictures
Also, I'm amazed that no matter which way I typo "livejournal" the resulting URL has been bought.
Feb. 23rd, 2009 @ 09:05 am
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| » Meme |
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Borrowed from EVERYONE
Google "unfortunately," + [your name].
Post results:
Unfortunately Terry returned TJ later than planned, making him and Dawn miss their flight.
But unfortunately, Terry started having pains in his chest.
Unfortunately, Terry never really found his way after leaving CHUM in 1985. -- this might actually be applicable.
Unfortunately, Terry missed out on a starting position in the FA Cup final due to illness and the team were eventually defeated.
Unfortunately, Terry did not achieve his dreams but clocked more than 3000 km at the time of his early death.
Feb. 21st, 2009 @ 10:52 am
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| » The Dentist |
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I went to the dentist today and had the same thought I usually have -- it must be depressing to be a dentist. I figure if you only see people two times a year, it must look like they're rapidly aging.
Feb. 19th, 2009 @ 11:20 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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Hear about the Rape Game Amazon banned? My thoughts here: http://www.gamecouch.com/2009/02/the-rape-game/
Feb. 15th, 2009 @ 10:18 am
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