Lucas mentioned in a previous post some books that I had read by the author Daniel Quinn--Ishmael, My Ishmael, and The Story of B. I first purchased Ishmael because I had a gift card to use up and the reviews on the back of the book caught my eye: "From now on I will divide the books I have read into two categories -- the ones I read before Ishmael and those read after." -- Jim Britell, Whole Earth Review. That was intriguing enough to me to warrent purchasing an unknown book. As Lucas mentioned, the character Ishmael is, in fact, a gorilla. Ishmael is the "teacher" in the book and he places an ad in the newspaper in search of a "student." At first I wondered why in world it was necessary to make the teacher a gorilla instead of a human, but once the subject matter he is teaching comes to light, it begins to make sense. The teachings of Ishmael couldn't come from a human point of view, because he was teaching about humans. If the teacher was a human, he would not have a objective view. He "could not see the forest for the trees," so to speak. More specifically, the teachings revolve around a specific subculture of humans--the one we are members of. Not so much members of the American culture, modern culture, or any other culture you might think of, but a whole different view of culture that I had never considered prior to reading this book. Without going into great detail, the culture we are part of is basically that of totalitarian agriculturists ("takers", as it is referred to in the book). It is fascinating to view things from the perspective that Quinn presents in these books. He takes historical events such as Agricultural Revolution and looks at them from an outside perspective--and that perspective really changes how one might think of history.

Some of the arguments made in Ishmael and the other 2 books are not exactly "politically correct." For example, in one discussion it is brought up that we should stop increasing food production year after year. Increased food production allows a greater amount of the population to be fed, allowing the population to continue to grow. His argument is that if you hold food production steady, the population will stablize. Quinn gives examples of how this works in various tribal cultures and it does not in fact cause million to die of starvation. Keep in mind that this book is fiction, so there are no facts or numbers to drive home his theories--but it is interesting to try and wrap your brain around them!

Another note about these books--they may not be appropriate for those who do not know where they stand on their faith or are easily offended. Quinn makes many arguments from a somewhat agnostic viewpoint, especially in The Story of B. But, they make you think and I think that is a good thing for anyone.

~Kelly

This is probably my favorite movie I have seen recently, and is also the first movie that's ever had a scene that surprised me so much that I actually involuntarily gasped. I know that sounds like such a small thing, but I was in public at the fitness center and I even put my hand in front of my mouth in surprise; movies never really shock me, but this one did. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know exactly which scene I'm talking about.

The story revolves around a man and his family, who receive anonymous packages that are either videotapes of the outside of their own home or some disturbing childlike drawings. These all seem to have something to do with the husband, Georges, and his past. The effects of this terrorizing take their toll on Georges and his family, and that's just about all I can share without giving anything away.

The movie is meticulously directed by Michael Haneke, wonderfully acted by Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche, and has the great bonus of making its emotional impact without the use of a score or soundtrack. It's raw, real, and contemplates many ideas about guilt, responsibility, and what people choose to hide from each other.

I can't go into more detail about my favorite aspects of the movie without ruining it for people who haven't seen it, but I loved it.

Today was the beginning of my weekend. Once again, I am pretty busy. I took a test at school for my Intro to Programming class. I had to write a C# program without a book or notes. I nailed it on the first build. No errors and it did what it was supposed to. It was a very simple program that calculated Field Goal Percentage. I almost slipped up when I was trying to figure out how to display a percentage because we never had to do that in our homework. It was pretty darn obvious (P) but I always am second guessing myself when it comes to that stuff. I guess I should stop doing that. I got my financial aid money, which couldn't have come at a better time. Greg, Monica, and I saw The Last King of Scotland, which I really enjoyed. Forrest Whitaker was pretty freaking amazing and deserves all the praise he's getting but James McAvoy deserves a lot of credit too.

Tomorrow I'm going to actually sit and work. I have homework to do as well as a ton of different things Phil and I are working on for pop.vox.music. We got a lot of great ideas at the DIY Convention last weekend and now we're working on implementing them. I've also decided to give my online music promotion business a real try so I'm going to be working on the site for that. On top of all that, I'm continuing the job search and resume polishing and what not. Good times.