hmm, so this is the legitimate way to cheat in formula 1. interesting.
dead climber found after the ice melted. 17 years later.
gives a new meaning to the words lady KILLERS doesn't it?
Our Lady of Guadalupe spotted in a piece of chocolate.
Don Vito Margera arrested on alleged sexual assault of a minor.
out of gas in Baghdad. yup, the country with the most oil has no fuel.
Jimmy Carter speaks about the US, Israel, Cuba, and george bush's "radical and unpressured departure from the basic policies of all previous administrations including those of both Republican and Democratic presidents"
“what the U.S. government is doing in Nicaragua would be illegal if a foreign government tried to do it in the U.S.” what, we have too much free time on our hands?
Japan imposes suspension of exported U.S. rice that has not been approved for human consumption.
official language debate in Ukraine
the few, the proud the rapists?
did i mention that my vacation starts soon? i'm down to 9 days...
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Luis Urrea and Charles Bowden
sometimes i tend to obsess over a particular author or theme – i’ve read more books on Vietnam than most people – both non-fiction and fiction for instance. lately though, i’ve gotten my hands on most of the books by Luis Alberto Urrea and Charles Bowden.
the list goes something like this:
Luis Alberto Urrea:
1) Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border
2) The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
3) By the Lake of Sleeping Children
4) In Search of Snow: A Novel
5) Nobody’s Son: Notes from an American Life
6) Six Kinds of Sky
7) The Hummingbird’s Daughter
The Hummingbird’s Daughter is why i started this list really. it’s probably one of the most beautiful books i’ve ever read. Urrea’s writing grabs you by the arm and puts you in your most favorite chair and the next thing you know it’s thursday and you’re starving. i felt like everything i had to do while reading this book (like shower, go to work, walk the dog, etc.) was a major inconvenience and i was more than mildly exasperated by them all. does anyone else get like this? it doesn’t have to be about books mind you, it could be about oh i don’t know – watching the westminster dog show on TV or new music. anything.
OK. as for Charles Bowden. he’s a journalist with the heart of a poet. for real. he writes non-fiction accounts on topics people generally don’t want to hear about, let alone learn more of. but once you start reading, you just get hooked and by the end of one of his books you’ve learned, by osmosis really, things about the extinction of bats in the southwest and the mexican/american drug trade and people’s lives that you’d never heard of before like (Lionel) Bruno Jordan from El Paso, Texas and his family. all true, but told with a feeling almost of desperation that these things, people, places not be erased or worse, never known about in the first place. do yourself a favor and pick up a few of these books. you won’t be sorry, i promise. and if you don’t already have a library card, GET ONE, because books are expensive! the cool thing about using the library is that if your branch doesn’t have what you’re looking for, chances are another one does and you can request it delivered to your branch. amazing, no?!
Charles Bowden:
1) Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family
2) A Shadow in the City: Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior
3) Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America
4) Trust Me: Charles Keating and the Missing Millions
5) Blue Desert
6) Desierto: Memories of the Future
and his first book (re-visited)
7) Killing the Hidden Waters
the list goes something like this:
Luis Alberto Urrea:
1) Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border
2) The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
3) By the Lake of Sleeping Children
4) In Search of Snow: A Novel
5) Nobody’s Son: Notes from an American Life
6) Six Kinds of Sky
7) The Hummingbird’s Daughter
The Hummingbird’s Daughter is why i started this list really. it’s probably one of the most beautiful books i’ve ever read. Urrea’s writing grabs you by the arm and puts you in your most favorite chair and the next thing you know it’s thursday and you’re starving. i felt like everything i had to do while reading this book (like shower, go to work, walk the dog, etc.) was a major inconvenience and i was more than mildly exasperated by them all. does anyone else get like this? it doesn’t have to be about books mind you, it could be about oh i don’t know – watching the westminster dog show on TV or new music. anything.
OK. as for Charles Bowden. he’s a journalist with the heart of a poet. for real. he writes non-fiction accounts on topics people generally don’t want to hear about, let alone learn more of. but once you start reading, you just get hooked and by the end of one of his books you’ve learned, by osmosis really, things about the extinction of bats in the southwest and the mexican/american drug trade and people’s lives that you’d never heard of before like (Lionel) Bruno Jordan from El Paso, Texas and his family. all true, but told with a feeling almost of desperation that these things, people, places not be erased or worse, never known about in the first place. do yourself a favor and pick up a few of these books. you won’t be sorry, i promise. and if you don’t already have a library card, GET ONE, because books are expensive! the cool thing about using the library is that if your branch doesn’t have what you’re looking for, chances are another one does and you can request it delivered to your branch. amazing, no?!
Charles Bowden:
1) Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family
2) A Shadow in the City: Confessions of an Undercover Drug Warrior
3) Blood Orchid: An Unnatural History of America
4) Trust Me: Charles Keating and the Missing Millions
5) Blue Desert
6) Desierto: Memories of the Future
and his first book (re-visited)
7) Killing the Hidden Waters
Saturday, August 5, 2006
i'm all over the map today... plus books
pitbulls are getting a makeover - the new 'it' dog is born!
fries free to be french again - and i'll have syrup with my FRENCH toast please!
edvard munch - more than just The Scream.
the thefts from the State Hermitage Museum have been solved.
michael medved on mel gibson and michael moore (?)
The UK and California are to work together on reducing greenhouse gases and promoting low carbon technologies. does this mean that the govenator will be selling his hummers?!
neal boortz on the ‘incompetents and ‘worthless’ making the human...oops, i mean the minimum wage
books for the last while...
1) américo paredes - Between Two Worlds
2) américo paredes - "With His Pistol In His Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero
3) delia poey - Out of the Mirrored Garden: New Fiction by Latin American Women
4) oscar lewis - The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family
5) oscar lewis - A Death in the Sanchez Family
6) brendan halpin - Donorboy
7) denis johnson - The Name of the World
8) denis johnson - Already Dead: a California Gothic
9) luis alberto urrea - The Hummingbird's Daughter
10) richard perez - The Loser's Club
fries free to be french again - and i'll have syrup with my FRENCH toast please!
edvard munch - more than just The Scream.
the thefts from the State Hermitage Museum have been solved.
michael medved on mel gibson and michael moore (?)
The UK and California are to work together on reducing greenhouse gases and promoting low carbon technologies. does this mean that the govenator will be selling his hummers?!
neal boortz on the ‘incompetents and ‘worthless’ making the human...oops, i mean the minimum wage
books for the last while...
1) américo paredes - Between Two Worlds
2) américo paredes - "With His Pistol In His Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero
3) delia poey - Out of the Mirrored Garden: New Fiction by Latin American Women
4) oscar lewis - The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family
5) oscar lewis - A Death in the Sanchez Family
6) brendan halpin - Donorboy
7) denis johnson - The Name of the World
8) denis johnson - Already Dead: a California Gothic
9) luis alberto urrea - The Hummingbird's Daughter
10) richard perez - The Loser's Club
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