Wednesday, 02 November 2005, 22:32:07 EDT
There is going to be some insensitive bitching in this post. This post employs MLA style citations. You have been warned. Also, while composing this post I found out that my site had disappeared (technically, just the "james" subdomain). It is clearly back. It seems my hosting provider has been troubles today with the machine this site resides on and it magically lost part of my site. A kind gentleman at Bluehost restored everything without any fuss.
Fall Semester 2004, I took a history class on United States history since Reconstruction. The professor that taught the class has a policy of assigning each of his classes a book to read, and review, each semester. Every semester it is a different book. That semester he assigned Parting The Waters: America In The King Years 1954 – 1963 by Taylor Branch. I didn't like the book because it literally put me to sleep every time I tried to read it. I ended up writing my review having only read twelve of twenty-three chapters; I think I made a B on the assignment. I did manage to pick up a few bits of knowledge whilst suffering the portion of the book that I suffered. One of those bits happens to be about something in the news lately that they just won't shut up about — Rosa Park's famous bus ride. What do you hear on television, the radio, and read in print recently about this historic event? That Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. Is that the whole story? Hardly.
Have you ever heard of a woman named Claudette Colvin? I doubt it. On March 2, 1955, Miss Colvin refused to give up her Montgomery bus seat for some white passengers. She, a minor at the time, was hauled off the bus and arrested. Why haven't you heard about this? The black community leaders didn't think they could press a segregation case with Claudette because no one would back an unwed pregnant teenager who was prone to outbursts of profanity (Branch 120 - 123).
Before going on I would like to explain a bit about the bus segregation in Montgomery, AL at the time. The buses were essentially split into three sections: white [front], black [back], and "no man's land" (Branch 14). Basically, as white people boarded the bus they would fill in front-to-back and as black people boarded they would fill in back-to-front, meeting in the middle. The dividing line was arbitrary and imposed at the discretion of the bus driver. If the driver felt the the white section needed to extend further back he would do so, forcing anyone sitting in the then black, or limbo, area, now white area, to move back or stand as seating permitted. A completely retarded system and one that needed to be abolished, along with the rest of segregation, to be sure. But, thems was the breaks.
Okay, fast forward to December 1, 1955; the day Rosa Parks did exactly the same thing Claudette Colvin did — refuse to give up her seat in "no man's land." The only charge filed against her was that of "violating Alabama segregation laws." Long story short, Parks was a model citizen, other than this infraction, and just the person to become the poster child of bus desegregation. Knowing full well the danger of standing ground in this matter, she agreed to fight the charge. That is essentially the extent of her involvement — she consented to let others use her in a fight (Branch 128 - 131). Very brave and very ... (view rest)
Wednesday, 11 May 2005, 22:22:57 EDT
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Dune. I could probably wax philosophical about the Dune chronicles for hours so I will try to keep it short. I read the first couple books during my senior year of high school. I had put off reading them for a long time because I heard so much about them that I didn't believe they would live up to the hype. Needless to say, I am extremely pleased that I gave in and read the book. Some people say that Frank Herbert should have ended the story with the first book; personally, I think that would have been a crime against humanity. The first book is so good that it leaves the reader pining for more of the story. Frank, if I may be so bold, did not disappoint with the subsequent five books. I believe that he wrote the best messiah story ever.
Any way, Frank Herbert died in 1986 leaving behind a collection of notes for more books in the Dune chronicles. His son, Brian Herbert, decided to finish off what his father started. I have not read a single one of the books written by his son because I feel that he is just cashing in on his father's legacy. I agree with the Penny-Arcade comic where they suggest that Brian isn't quite... up to the task. However, I think that I may be reading these books soon. Yes, it is true. I think that I may have to read them because of some information that I learned this evening.
Before I get to that I should mention that there was a Dune movie made in 1984. Fans of the Dune books either like this movie or hate it with a seething passion. I happen to like it. Frank Herbert was on set during filming to guide the process so it is very faithful to the book. Sure, some things were changed a little bit to make it palatable to the general movie watching public but that will happen with any book to movie translation — some movies more deliberately than others. It has been known for quite some time that there exists a version of the movie with an extra forty minutes of footage. The movie is already over two hours long. Well, I learned tonight that they are finally releasing the extended version of the movie. As if that isn't good enough, the special edition DVD will contain the original theatrical cut, both editions in widescreen and pan scan, and a whole host of extra tidbits. I may be broke but you better believe that I will find a way to buy this come the end of July.
So, what does that have to do with me reading the infidel's books? As I was searching for the information about th ... (view rest)
Monday, 09 February 2004, 12:12:51 EDT
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Remember the assembly book I want you to buy me? You don't have to. It seems the author wrote it under a Creative Commons license. So, if you have the money then by all means buy the book and support the author. If you don't have the cash then here is the link to t ... (view rest)
Sunday, 07 September 2003, 15:23:10 EDT
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I just finished reading Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind. I bought it eight days ago when I stopped by Media Play just to look around. It strikes me as rather coincidental that I would finsh the eighth book of this series in as many days.
Any way, the book was very good. Every book in this series has been so good that I just couldn't put them down until I absolutely had to (like to sleep or work). I remember that the first book, an almost 800 page paper back, I finished in about three days. This latest book, while being very good, did sort of irritate me though. After I had finished the seventh book I believed that the author would get back to the war that had been raging for the past two books. Instead he takes the main characters off in yet another random life threatning adventure which delays their ability to end the war for yet another book. I can't quite decide if the author has just decided that he can cash in on this series or if he really designed the "saga" to be this long from the start. I will keep buying the books though; I am very interested to find out what will happen with all of the major characters. I just noticed that amazon.com has this hard cover book listed at 608 pages - that is a lie - it is 667 pages.
If you like fantasy books I suggest you pick up ... (view rest)