Paris – Day 4
Today is my day. We're off to see my childhood home in St. Nom La Breteche. We managed to get going a bit earlier today, because we actually set an alarm instead of relying on Ellie.
We took a brief stroll down Rue Mouffetard to start off the day. The street runs down from Place Contrescarpe, where we ate dinner the other night, and has a ton of little shops that open up onto the pedestrian only street. At least half a dozen cheese shops (who will conveniently vacuum pack your cheese to get it into the US) and three or four fondue and raclette places. We'll be going back there later.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
My review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a tremendous piece of literature. It's not an easy read. You're not going to turn its pages like you would the latest John Grisham novel, or The DaVinci Code. You have to read each page, soaking up every word, immersing yourself in the imagery. Mr. Marquez says that he tells the story as his grandmother used to tell stories to him: with a brick face. That's useful to remember while reading, because that is certainly the tone the book takes. If you can get through the first 50 pages, you will enjoy it. But those 50 are a doozy. It's hard to keep track of the characters, at times (mainly because they are all named Jose Arcadio or Aureliano), but a family tree at the beginning of my edition was helpful. The book follows the Buendia family, from the founding of fictional Macondo to a fitting and fulfilling conclusion. The family goes through wars, marriages, many births and deaths, as well as several technological advances and invasions by gypsies and banana companies (trust me, the banana company is important). You begin to realize, as matriarch Ursula does, that as time passes, time does not really pass for this family, but turns in a circle. And as the circle closes on Macondo and the Buendias, you realize that Mr. Marquez has taken you on a remarkable journey in his literature. Recommended, but be prepared for a hard read.
The book for March is The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Only 657 pages, and that's without the glossary! Better get started.
Let that be a lesson to you
I hope no one used my totally uninformed Oscar picks for wagering purposes, because, man, was I ever waaaay off. Not a single one right. Ouch.
You would think I would learn not to open my big mouth about sports before things happen. Naturally, MSU lost to Indiana on Sunday, two days after I wrote that they should receive a 2 or 3 seed at worst. Ugh.
And yesterday was a horrible day of curling for me. We built a big lead after two ends, allowed the other team to tie it up, then had a two point lead in the final end. I had two chances to remove at least one of the rocks, so that the best they could do was tie. Both times, I crashed on guards, allowing them to score three points and win. Sickening.
The good news is that I'm here at work, waiting for the snow to start falling, but you, the reader, have some good stuff ahead today. The 12 books review of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and Day 4 of Paris.
Amazon rant
So, the other day, when looking for books to read in March, I went on to Amazon.com to see if it had any recommendations for me. Since I hadn't updated any of the books I have read recently, I proceeded to say that I owned "Song of Susannah: Dark Tower 5" and rated it highly, since I like Stephen King. Well, now every other recommendation from Amazon is for a Stephen King book. Look, you idiots, I've read all but the absolutely most recent Stephen King books. Trust me, I don't want to read Cujo or Firestarter or The Stand again, as good as they are. So stop recommending them to me! I've gone through and told Amazon that I own most of the Stephen King books by now, but man, he has a lot. Finally, Amazon is starting to recommend other books. Still what a pain. Wouldn't it be nicer for Amazon to say, oh you like Stephen King, well maybe you'd like this other author, rather than just stupidly suggesting maybe I'd like other books by the same author?
Rant over.
Paris – Day 3
Another late start... We'll have to start setting the alarm clock as our Ellie alarm isn't working. More coffee and chocolate croissants (raisin for me, to switch it up a bit) for breakfast. Ellie managed to lose a mitten along the road next to Notre Dame yesterday, and since it is still really freakin' cold we had to stop to buy some new ones.
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You Ashcroft!
On the flight to Paris, I was able to watch (thanks to my inability to sleep on planes, ever) a few movies, including Oscar-nominated "Sideways". I thought it wasn't bad, of course, I don't ever get to see movies any more. I enjoyed the characters, especially Virginia Madsen. It wasn't sweeping like "The Aviator" or moving like "Million Dollar Baby", but I liked it. Of course, I'm an almost middle-aged guy who likes wine (though not to that extent), so maybe that has something to do with it.
Anyway, the point of this whole thing was that I was surprised on the flight by the dubbing they did to make the film plane-safe. They dubbed over the curse words, but the surprising one was that they replaced "asshole" with "Ashcroft". To anyone who knows me, it should come as no surprise that I found this hilarious. "The Reliable Source" column is currently investigating to find out why they chose that particular replacement. It should be fun to hear their explanation.
MSU hoops update
Finally, the Spartans managed to beat Wisconsin! Seriously, I was getting quite sick of the Badgers. In theory, not that I want to jinx them, they should be able to beat their remaining Big Ten opponents (Indiana, Northwestern, and Penn State). If they are able to at least make the finals of the Big Ten tourney, they should be assured of a 2 or 3 seed. It's looking like they should be no worse than a 4 at this point, which, along with the 5 seed, is one of those danger positions ripe for an upset.
Our women's team, thanks to their upset of Ohio State a few days ago, is now assured of a share of the Big Ten regular season title. Well done ladies!
At least he’s organized
This is too good not to share. I don't know how a guy lives like this, but at least he's managed to organize all his collections (of Kinder Egg toys, bottles, etc).
Office Space Mashup
Take the cartoon, "Justice League", and dub it with dialogue from "Office Space", and you get TPS: This Place Sucks. Funny stuff.
Doesn’t anyone read any more?
Seriously, Tony is the only one who even suggested a book. Thanks Tony. "The Eye of The World" by Robert Jordan will be March's book.
I've got some other interesting ones lined up (through my own research), including "Song of Susannah: Dark Tower 6" by Stephen King, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, and "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami. I may also read "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway, since it's short and we just spent a week in Paris not far from a lot of places he describes in the book (and we have a copy readily available). I will also eventually have to read the last book in the Dark Tower series (whether that will "count" as one of the 12 is another story), and go back and check whether I have any other books on the shelf that I've been meaning to get to. That will take me through at least June, leaving six months open, so I'm still taking suggestions.
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