Month: November 2007

From the descriptive text surrounding this novel, I was expecting an east-meets-west sixteenth century novel. What I got was that, and far more.

I cannot recommend this book enough to people who are fans of tackling the connection between the sticky parts of “cultural norms” and religion. Beyond the epic backdrop of an expanding Venetian trade empire, and the otherworldly descriptions of daily life in Pegu, Morrow manages to find some truly bigger issues to examine with a new lens. Through the journals of a Abraham, Jewish, Venican jewel trader, you are left wondering at the significance of traditions – both religious and cultural, as well as what the true ramifications of change in society mean to those who keep traditions.

Counterbalancing a very masculine, western narrator is the other protagonist of the story,Mya a native woman of Pegu, who fate land in the life of the protagonist. Her tale of tragedy, love and joy is very much tied to Abraham’s trials and choices – something which creates a delightful mix of linguistics, ancient tradition, and spirituality. A truly inspired and open dialog occurs which examines the connections and differences between Buddhism and Judiasm, as well as the core truths each of those faiths correspond to in the hearts off their believers.

Tying these ethereal components of the story together is some very acute social commentary on the nature of government and corruption, and the significance of family in the face of drastic change. Hantover does a fantastic job of drawing the reader in – I was barely able to put the book down, once I got past the first chapter.

It is released in January. Too late for Christmas, but definitely something to spend your gift cards on.

I got hold of this book through the Advance Reader program at Librarything. I am not getting any monies or incentives from either Mr. Hantover, William Morrow, or Harper Collins for writing this review – I just wanted to share the experience I had reading it with y’all.

this dude is a serious motherfucking tough guy. a pen knife? shit – maybe with a machete…

last night, after hours, i got pulled into a meeting with our programming division. Live from Lincoln Center is going to be half web cast this year. last month’s barn on fire was setting up a streaming server so we could serve flash video for our podcasts. now, i need to figure out live media stream from satellite/fiber feed, potentially how to get a feed back from captioning (if that is happening) and do a scalar load test of our deployment page (which isn’t written yet).

best info suggests 4-5 million watch this over a week. operating on a 2-3% conversion ratio, we should only be about 300% over potential capacity when this thing launches.

i spent all morning in contract negs with PBS. the funny thing is, i’ve got to get this thing off the ground, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if i get 0 cred on the front end. it is a huge project visibility wise though, one which could definitely catapult me in the direction(s) i want, if i can make it happen.

in preparation for what will likely be another hellish month, i’m going to have a liquid lunch.

thanksgiving was nice, but lots and lots of running around.
i’ve pretty much spent the rest of the time between here and there writing, and fighting being sick. apparently, i got sick, which makes me feel awful.

i woke up this morning wondering what insignia a fascist america would use… an eagle, maybe?

how was your weekend?

i know it is supposed to be november, but i put this on par with the gunpowder plot.
i have one “floating holiday” i have to take at work before new years. with everything going on in my life, i really can’t justify this in any simple way; i need an excuse.

hence the fifth of december.

i am voting for a bar outing to celebrate the 74th anniversary of the twenty first amendment.

who is in? if we get enough heads counted, i’ll pull some strings to get a bar deal. yeah, i know it is a thursday wednesday night (thanks ). my floating holiday will be the sixth – what better way to celebrate the right to drink than to take the day after the celebration off?

They changed the tiny bottle law in SC back in January.
That did not improve my performance at today’s 7am tee time.

That being said, I learned that being good at golf is not that important. All you have to do is be less hung over than the people you are golfing with; a feat I managed to pull off with astounding results. I wasn’t under par once, but most of the other guys, who regularly pull in games under par (and golf this goddamned course all the time) were totally pulling boners.

At first, I thought they might be throwing to try to make me look good, until one of the sales guys puked in a sand trap after his fifth stroke.

I have discovered the return to working for a nonprofit – apparently if youa re an unmarried man at a fundraising convention, you are like a purple zebra – everyone has to stop and look, and noobody quite believes you exist. The upside is that the guy to girl ratio is like 5/1. The downside is that of the 600 odd women, most are scary run away types. I have never been hit on by so many women over 50 in my life, nor have I ever seen so many women wearing sweats which look like spandex.

how many times can a meeting be rescheduled in a week? try (on an average) 1.6 times per day. i have had this presentation i need to give ready to roll since 8am monday (when i was supposed to give it the first time, after complete rewrite number three). then it got pushed pm, then tuesday, and so on, and so on. today was my last shot. my 11 got canceled as i was setting it up, at 10:50.

i’m leaving sunday. i’m getting sucked in to sales-land with no internal review by the president, and no clear understanding of where things will be fiscally. i have to play golf, go to a dinner, and deal with sr. mgmt of this company, and pretty much the whole time, i need to keep a smile and a good attitude, even when these fuckers are going to try and crack me like a coconut, despite the fact that there is no way that i am authorized to make the commitments they want me to make (even verbally).

i have to play golf with these people. i fucking hate golf. consider “i have to play golf with these people” said in the same tone of voice as “i told those fuckers i liked michael bolton’s music”.

sunday, during the pats game, , , and myself were talking about the use of a time out post snap to stop a kick. it is dirty pool, but it works – you get pumped up, you find your inner space, you zero in your sights, and you get ready for a fluid motion, only to have to come to a shuddering, lurching halt. i’ve done that so many times this week, i can’t begin to describe the fatigue i am feeling after facing it again.

i may try to drown myself in tiny bottles of booze while i am in south carolina.

The online company Helium is trying to create a sort of peer-review writing/editorial virtual space for freelancers. I have 0 time to explore this at the moment past browsing the model, but it is _really_ cool. It operates on input metrics – you have to write in order to be able to rate. Ultimately, the best writers are supposed to be the ones who get the cash.

I am curious to see how this pans out.