December, 29, 2005 archives

i came close to averaging one book per week. the best non-fiction books i read this year were on intelligence and nature noir. the best fiction book i read this year was the kite runner, but i also enjoyed george r.r. martin’s a song of fire and ice series, and terry pratchett’s discworld books.

1. on intelligence by jeff hawkins and sandra blakeslee (review)
2. midas world by frederik pohl (review)
3. singularity sky by charlie stross (review)
4. children of the mind by orson scott card (review)
5. the geography of thought: how asians and westerners think differently...and why by richard e. nisbett (review)
6. myth-taken identity by robert asprin and jody lynn nye (review)
7. myth alliances by robert asprin and jody lynn nye (review)
8. ender’s shadow by orson scott card (review)
9. the tides of time by john brunner (review)
10. the coming by joe haldeman (review)
11. camouflage by joe haldeman (review)
12. shadow of the hegemon by orson scott card (review)
13. slack: getting past burnout, busywork, and the myth of total efficiency by tom demarco (review)
14. high stakes, no prisoners: a winner’s tale of greed and glory in the internet wars by charles h. ferguson (review)
15. fuel-injected dreams: a novel by james robert baker (review)
16. blink: the power of thinking without thinking by malcolm gladwell (review)
17. old man's war by john scalzi (review)
18. the color of magic by terry pratchett (review)
19. going postal by terry pratchett (review)
20. shadow puppets by orson scott card (review)
21. kitchen confidential: adventures in the culinary underbelly by anthony bourdain (review)
22. disneywar by james b. stewart (review)
23. democratizing innovation by eric von hippel (review)
24. nature noir: a park ranger’s patrol in the sierra by jordan fisher smith (review)
25. scoop by evelyn waugh (review)
26. a game of thrones by george r.r. martin (review)
27. massive change by bruce mau and the institute without boundaries (review)
28. someone comes to town, someone leaves town by cory doctorow (review)
29. a clash of kings by george r.r. martin (review)
30. the plot against america by philip roth (review)
31. the light fantastic by terry pratchett (review)
32. the snows of kilimanjaro and other short stories by ernest hemingway (review)
33. equal rites by terry pratchett (review)
34. make love the bruce campbell way by bruce campbell (review)
35. mort by terry pratchett (review)
36. rebuilt: how becoming part computer made me more human by michael chorost (review)
37. bowling alone: the collapse and revival of american community by robert d. putnam (review)
38. the kite runner by khaled hosseini (review)
39. behavior in public places: notes on the social organization of gatherings by erving goffman (review)
40. the mystery of capitalism: why capitalism triumphs in the west and fails everywhere else by hernando de soto (review)
41. quicksilver by neal stephenson (review)
42. sourcery by terry pratchett (review)
43. freakonomics by steven d. levitt and stephen j. dubner (review)
44. excession by iain m. banks (review)
45. let my people go surfing: the education of a reluctant businessman by yvon chouinard (review)
46. the family trade by charles stross (review)
47. wyrd sisters by terry pratchett (review)
48. maverick: the success story behind the world’s most unusual workplace by ricardo semler (review)

donnie darko is an odd film. it is beautifully shot and acted, and i would likely appreciate the story more if i had the patience to watch it again. perhaps the mistake was in getting the director’s cut, which is almost certainly more languidly paced than the original, since it clocks in with an extra twenty minutes.

three best things about the last year: getting my camera, meeting shannon, and meeting celia.

honorable mention would go to selling blo.gs. (but after six months, it means the most to me as the catalyst for getting the camera.)

worst thing about the last year: the intense dissatisfaction.

i wanted to take a self-portrait before i shaved. i took a break from shaving over thanksgiving and kept that up until now. but there were a couple of days when i gave the beard a trim (including yesterday).

self portraits are annoying to shoot. lots of aiming the camera into empty space, taking the picture, checking the image (thank god for digital), and repeating. i took thirty-four of them, and ended up liking the second one i took the most. i had my eyes closed on the first.

i guess if i am going to say that getting a new camera was one of the best things of this year, i should share why. so here is a set of my favorite pictures from this year.

my absolute favorite is “birds on orange,” even if more people have marked the similar “birds at dawn” as their favorite.

this picture of the fountain at the city national plaza is one that i think helped spark my interest in taking photos again.

there’s something about orange.

bad santa is an incredibly profane holiday movie. i really wasn’t expecting much, but billy bob thornton really owns the role of a bad mall santa, and what’s not to like about lauren graham as a santa fetishist?