Watchers

My reading habits tend toward nonfiction, but when I get into a fiction kick, my imagination goes wild and I experience a satisfaction unlike I get from anything else. I also begin to write more fiction when I'm reading it, which is very exciting.

A family friend turned me on to Dean Koontz a few years ago, and a few days ago I took a stab at Watchers. Good book. There's a part of me that wants everyone who reads this to hear me say, on the record, that Koontz's books are "a guilty pleasure," but you know what- I'm not going to apologize. I don't think there's a distinction to be made between a book like Watchers- which won't be winning any literary prizes but which did, in fact, command my attention in rapid page turning fasion- and something with more "literary" heft. Good books, like good movies and everything else that's a creative endeavor, aim to stimulate an audience and provide an experience worth having. The form of take-away, be it a slight glance over the shoulder while walking through a dark apartment late at night, or a profound intellectual self evaluation, should not lead to judgement concerning the creator's merit.

So, I recommend Watchers as heartily as I'd recommend The Corrections. And on an interesting note, while I consider The Corrections to be one of my favorite books (and Watchers is not), I plan on reading more Koontz before I read more Franzen.

Persuasian

I read Robert Scoble's blog every day. He seems like an interesting guy- a computer geek who now works for Microsoft and is evangelizing the hell out of Longhorn, which means in many ways he's like the devil's press secretary.

But, he's got a great entry about persuasion, which talks about a lof of stuff that I believe in strongly but have never taken the time to express in writing. Highly recommended.

"Kill Bill: Vol. 2"

Kill Kill: Vol. 2 is a logical extension of the film that came before it, carrying forward the plot to its inevitable conclusion while throwing in a few surprises. Vol. 2 is less action oriented than its predecessor, spending more time on character development and the mythology behind the story- too much, in my opinion.

If Vol. 2 had been a half hour shorter, it would have been a fully satisfying conclusion to the first. At over two hours, however, it drags a bit.

Cocoa Gestures

Every once in a while, I stumble across a software program that does something so simple- yet so revolutionary- that I am stunned into realizing how powerful and flexible computers can be. Tonight, I discovered Cocoa Gestures, a simple, free program for OS X that allows you to create something akin to "keyboard shortcuts" for your mouse.

Cocoa Gestures plugs into all Cocoa-based OS X software (i.e. most software designed specifically for OS X, as opposed to older Mac programs that have been converted to run on OS X) and gives these programs the ability to use mouse gestures. For example, in Safari, I now hold down the Command key and move my mouse to the left, and I go back a page. I don't have to move the mouse up from its current position to the tiny "back" arrow or fiddle with a shortcut key- I can just wave my mouse to the left (while holding down Command), and I go back. That's a mouse gesture, and Cocoa Gestures let's you define your own, fully customizable gestures for each program you want to use them with.

Really cool stuff!

"Dawn of the Dead"

Wow. That's the first thought that came to mind when the lights came up after this remake of George Romero's 1978 film of the same title (which I haven't seen). The original "Dawn of the Dead" is considered a classic by many horror and zombie film fanatics (which I am not); thus, my expectations for this version were low.

But "Dawn of the Dead" is a fantastic film that's a hell of a lot of fun right off the bat. It manages to combine ingenious special effects, a kooky storyline, stylized title sequences, and a whole lot of over-the-top action while not taking itself too seriously.

I recommend this movie highly to anyone who likes to go to the movies for a wild ride, and who can stomach the occasional head being blown off.