February, 21, 2004 archives
so i finally caught up with another geek classic and read ender’s game by orson scott card for the first time the other day. i think it is easily one of the giants among the geek classics, although some of the language and characterizations haven’t quite stood the test of time.
i can understand how the book appeals to a certain geek aesthetic with regards to a feeling of superiority, i was impressed that the book was relatively nuanced in comparison to most science fiction (and geek lit).
they’re making a movie based on the book and ender’s shadow, one of the sequels. the first draft of the screenplay was written by card, and the second draft is being worked on by the screenwriters of x-men 2. ender ages from six to eleven in ender’s game — i wonder how they plan to pull that off in the movie. (movie news via marginal revolution.)
cut loose like a deuce
neighbors of walt disney hall get blinded by the light reflecting off part of the structure because the wrong steel was used. no discussion that at street-level, the residents of those condos face a mostly blank wall. (david sucher commented on related issues, with some pictures, back in october.)
to push one of my amazon orders over the free-shipping threshold, i ordered speakerboxxx/the love below by outkast. i’m not a huge hip-hop/rap fan, but this is great stuff.
apartment gardening
now that i’m in an apartment that gets a lot of light, it occurs to me that i should really get some plants. there’s a couple of large stretches of windows (12' each) that it would be cool to pack with plants. even better if some of them are edible.
i don’t have a great history with plants. at my last apartment, i had one plant on my balcony that eventually died. i didn’t water it often enough because i almost never went out on the balcony, and it probably didn’t get much in the way of light (a combination of the north-facing balcony and the walls on the balcony being just as tall as the plant).
i’ll have to check out the los angeles flower district. the floracle at windowbox.com provided numerous suggestions.