lists ect.

Why didn’t they have books like this at my middle school?

dylanbabb — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:45:05 +0000

the London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Ted and his sister watch as their cousin Salim enters a pod on the London Eye and follow his progress around the wheel; when the pod empties, Salim isn’t there. The book records the events that follow Salim’s disappearance

Dowd’s characters are absolutely compelling and the plot simple but well developed. Nothing in the book felt overblown or overwrought (you know how mysteries can quickly spin out of the norm). Dowd keeps the plot tight and grounded, and that sense of reality makes it all the more gripping. Ted is a wonderfully insightful narrator, and his relationship with his sister is spot on. It a fun quick read, perfect for summer afternoons in the park.

Check out her website for an excerpt and a few other reviews.

Looking forward to while I’m in NC:

dylanbabb — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:36:08 +0000

Mountains
Good food (biscuits, homemade brick oven pizza)
A massage
Sleeping in
Staying in my pjs
Mom, Dad, Cambo
Down time with Fred
Sitting on the front porch sipping coffee
Hiking
A nighttime that gets dark
Quiet
Mountains
Sunsets

Lists

dylanbabb — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:51:06 +0000

Reasons to start blogging in lists (in order of practicality)

1. I’m no good at real posts.
(see past posts)

2. I’m always thinking in lists
- to do’s
-groceries to buy
- people to email
- books to read
- things to remember

3. This’ll be a good exercises in brevity

4. I’ve always loved these lists at McSweeny’s

love yo mama

dylanbabb — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:14:18 +0000

I got sucked into the internet void this afternoon looking at this website, postcards from yo mama.

The whole concept is pretty brilliant: a website to post emails from or IM chats with your mom. Mothers are one of the best sources for stories, and these flashes of insight are both laugh-out-loud funny and cringe-worthy. Ahh… such are mom stories. Mom stories usually start as harmless rants and then break into a game of one-upping, “oh yeah, well my mom…” or “that’s nothing my mom is even crazier.” Until the only thing left to do is drunk dial your mom.

Needless to say, I’ll be looking at their book when it comes out on March 24th.

And I just have to add, that my mom is NOT one to be counted among the crazy. If anything, she should start a blog collecting all the wacky voice mails and emails I send HER.

art, art, art

dylanbabb — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:55:44 +0000

these guys are awesome!

I’ll admit that I have a soft spot in my heart for performance art. I kind of love it from afar, but hate it when I’m forced to sit through it or discuss it the way that I would discuss a book, movie, play, dance piece, or any other work of art. From a distance it’s totally cool.

The Moth!

dylanbabb — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:59:34 +0000

Last night I *finally* made it to a Moth show. I’ve been a long time listener of the podcast, but never had the pleasure of attending a live show…and it rocked my socks. It’s fantastic! If you ever get the opportunity…take it, 6 bucks!

The stories last night were all about “Foreign Soil,” and over all I was impressed by the performances. A couple stories felt over rehearsed and off topic, but the majority of tellers had a great blend of humor, insight, and authenticity. The best part of hearing the stories live was being reminded of my own adventures on foreign soil. I hadn’t thought of my study abroad in years. (some of the memories should remain rightfully buried). This memory-recall doesn’t really happen when I’m listening to the podcast; I think the ipod/computer is just to removed. But as I listened to the stories last night it was great to be reminded that we all have stories to share and we are always telling stories and listening to stories. Last night I remembered why I studied writing and why I think writing/storytelling is important…it is one of the essential bits to being human.

When you get the chance listen to a story.

A little about the Moth
The Moth is a non-profit storytelling organization, that was established about 10 years ago and now has six ongoing programs in major cities. This is storytelling + improve at it’s best. Members of the audience, selected out of a hat, have 5 min to tell a personal story that relates to the theme of the evening. Each performer is judged by the audience and a host guides the evening. I know it starts to sound like slam-poetry…but this is WAY BETTER.

You can check out their web site here

Or download their podcast.

New kinda post

dylanbabb — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 16:44:38 +0000

I had an epiphany this week…I’m a terrible blogger. I’m not consistent, and when I do the articles are kinda long. So in a effort to work on a new years resolution (blog more) I’m going to completely ignore the “review” part of my blog. I’ll still post reviews, but I will also post more links and photos.

So here you go, articles and images that have captured my imagination this week.

Fictional Men Worth Loving a fun article from the Wall Street Journal.

I’d like to add a few from my personal list:

Peter Lake in Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin

I love bacon, but this kinda makes me gag.
ummm…it’s 4 pounds of a heart attack, and the images make me feel sick

This chocolate torte looks sublime.
Lucky for me it uses a spring-form pan, and I don’t have one so I don’t have to worry about making one and eating it all. (right. Unless I need to go buy a spring-form pan)

See you soon!

Hug a Tree

dylanbabb — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:41:44 +0000

Well kids I’m not quite back in the swing of things, after almost 2 weeks of holiday-ing the regular work routine seems all the more grueling. But I had the chance to get some great reading done, it’s amazing how much reading you can get done when 8 hours of your day aren’t spent at an office. I’ve got a couple reviews in the works: a post on The Man Who Loved China, a biography of Joseph Needem, and The Watchman, just in time for the movie release.

But for now I’m taking in some heavier material: The Tree, by Colin Tudge. The subtitle says it all, “A natural history of what trees are, how they live, and why they matter.” In the first fifty pages I’ve taken in more biology than in the past 4 years of my life. My brain feels like it’s gone into hyper-drive trying to remember my seventh grade biology class. This book has me sniveling like an idiot over the reproductive strategies of cod, the 224 cormosomes needed for some species of trees, and the ever changing taxonomy of botany. Yet, in between all the science I can’t remember, Tudge offers some great little insights that I think are worth sharing.

A note on different “kinds” of trees:

In fact, there are many lineages of trees — quite separate evolutionary lines that have nothing to do with one another except that they are all plants. Many plants, in many of those lineages, have independently essayed the form of the tree. Each achieves treedom in its own way. “Tree” is not a distinct category, like “dog” or horse,” it is just a way of being a plant. The different kinds have much in common, and it is good and necessary to have feel for what is essential, but the essences of nature will not be pinned down easily. In the end, all definitions of nature are simply for convenience, helping us focus on the particular aspect that we happen to be thinking about at the time.

Ah, the limitations of language…reminds me of some of my freshman philosophy classes:

The way we define natural thing influences the way we treat them — whether we speak of wildflowers or of weeds, of Mrs. Tittlemouse or of vermin. But in the end nature is as nature is, and we must just try with different degrees of feebleness, and for our own purposes, to make what sense of it we can.

Life is hard, and no one way of living is perfect. So all y’all can get of my back:

All of life’s requirements — metabolism, reproduction, and the business of getting along with others — are difficult. Each creature must solve life’s problems in its own way. There is no perfect, universal life strategy. Each has its own advantages and drawbacks.

Move over Buffy…

dylanbabb — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:30:22 +0000

I’ve been mulling over this Twilight phenomenon for the past few days. With the movie is coming out midnight tonight, the press/media/web has been awash in vampire reports. Just this morning NPR did a story on Forks Washington, the primary setting for the books. Entertainment Weekly has been on this like white on rice for the past month now, they’ve done two covers and a tone of articles. And while they didn’t give glowing reviews they’ve been full of ads and pictures that fawn over the lead characters.

We are in vampire mania…

The soundtrack/album for the movie has topped pop charts at number 1. There are girls (with their moms) by the hundreds lined up outside Hot Topic to get a signed poster from Edward. These girls (and their moms) are swooning and screaming and fainting. They are tattooed with references to the book. (And folks I mean literally, the NYTimes article mentions one girl with an apple tattoo and the word “lamb”).

And I don’t get it. I’ve read the books. They’re fun. It’s light escape reading. It’s 300 pages of wondering if Bella and Edward will ever kiss or if he’ll end up sucking her blood. But…
I’ve read better romance.
I’ve read better YA.
In general….I’ve read better.

But perhaps I just missed the wave on this one. It could be one of those things that you can sweep you up if it hits you at just the right time.

(I remember a study from one of my college classes that argued women were more aroused by porn while they were ovulating. Maybe if my hormones had been tuned right, I’d be more likely to try and go see the new movie…or at least finish the series.)

Maybe all those Harry Potter readers are growing up….

For more reading on Vampires

Jezebel

Gawker

NYTimes

Lessons in book selling

I love Science!

dylanbabb — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:55:38 +0000

Science Fair
by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Peter and the Starcatchers by Berry and Pearson totally rocks. It’s just the kind of young adult reading I love, action adventure, humor, and a little bit of magic. It’s a wonderful adaptation of a classic that was in desperate need of retelling. And in all fairness I’m happy these Berry and Pearson have found so much success with the series. The book is now part of a 4 (5?) volume series, and the Disney machine has expanded the world they created to include early chapter books and a young reader series.

Being a fan of this dynamic duo, I was already inclined to like this book. The plot has hints of M.T. Anderson’s series Whales on Stilts (2005) and The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen (2006) – some of my favorite YA, humor/adventure/sci-fi. Plus it’s go the page turning suspense that I found familiar from the Peter Pan series.

This book is your average plucky kid who gets picked on by the rich-kids and has a couple friends (a boy and a girl) who goes on an amazing wacky adventure that involves everything from the wacky to the miraculous: a chase in an Oscar Mire Weiner Mobil, a hard-core Star Wars fan dressed as Darth Vader, threats to national security, an iphone with magical capabilities, a levitating frog, and the largest Mentos in Diet Coke experiment of all time. These guys through everything in including the kitchen skin, and it’s pure joy. The plot kept me turning the page and the humor was non-stop. This book is the reason I’ve been ignoring chores. This dishes didn’t get done until I could finish.

I can’t say it’s brilliant YA; it’s not going to open minds, but it is 400 pages of pure fun.

Here are a few preview links:

Dave Berry’s column
http://www.miamiherald.com/283/story/18921.html

Science Fair Video, book preview thing on youtube…
Watching this felt like seeing an ad for a book on tv. I felt a strange dislocation and the preprogrammed consumer in me didn’t know I was supposed to go buy a book….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Cl7OeE3Zs