Green Oasis

Five Things

2009-03-09T20:46:05Z

I am grateful…

… that all the math that is involved in my current class is soaking in. I’ve finally learned how to study regularly.
… for the generous spirit that pervades the intertubes and leads us to share our knowledge with others. Case in point: Academic Earth.
… for the family-focused attitude that I learned from my own family, and yes, the Mormon church.
… for all the wonderful books out there, more than I’ll ever be able to read.
… to live without constant fear.

Reviews in 50 Words or Less: The Power of Myth

2008-08-27T23:18:08Z

The Power of Myth changed how I viewed religion. Where I had thought religion was either true and good or false and bad, now I think religion can be consciously false and useful: now I see the transformative power of myth and symbol.

Reviews in 50 Words or Less: Parenting Beyond Belief

2008-08-25T20:29:21Z

As a newly minted atheist father, I worried about how to teach my children. Parenting Beyond Belief convinced me that teaching my children to be freethinkers was not only acceptable but preferable, even beautiful.

Reviews in 50 Words or Less: The Old Man and the Sea

2008-08-25T19:21:25Z

I last read The Old Man and the Sea for seventh grade reading class. What a difference twenty years make! While I’m not yet old, some lessons come only with time: they can’t be rushed. The consciously futile struggle against mortality enriches our stark, youthful views into compassionate, full color vistas.

Ephemera VI

2008-08-05T02:58:18Z

Ah, the sweet irony of reading Moby-Dick safe in the landlocked Mojave with nary a cetacean in sight.

Reviews in 50 Words Or Less: X-Men 3, Georgia Rule, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

2008-07-26T03:45:00Z

X-Men: The Last Stand

This is a fun, visually interesting movie. Not being a hardcore X-Men fan, it felt kind of like starting in the middle of a soap opera. Even though I knew most of the characters, I didn’t really care as much as I felt I was expected to.

Georgia Rule

I didn’t expect much from this film featuring Lindsay Lohan among others. This might be the secret to enjoying what turns out to be a reasonably human look at sex, love, and truth. I might reconsider my low esteem for Lindsay. Bonus: “the Mormons” have a central—if comical—part.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The obvious thing to say is the narrator’s voice is unique: an autistic teenager tells of his investigation which starts with a dog’s murder and ends in family secrets. While probably not truly authentic, that voice provided a window into what it might be like to be autistic.

Reviews in 50 Word Or Less: Wall-E and Dharma Bums

2008-07-10T22:57:36Z

Wall-E

In the first Pixar film to choke me up with emotion, Wall-E is more lovable than R2-D2. I couldn’t help but connect with him and his bumbling, sincere naïveté.

The Dharma Bums

With breathless, stream-of-consciousness enthusiasm that isn’t in style anymore, Keroac writes a love poem to people, mountains, and Bodhisattvas. It makes me want to hop a freight train and leave the world behind (for just a while).

Reviews in 50 Words Or Less

2008-07-28T04:50:08Z

I often think to myself that I should write a review of a book or movie. I almost never get around to it because it seems like too big of a hassle. Still, I’d like to record what I’ve read or watched because the truth is that sometimes I forget. From here on, I’m going to try an experiment to see if it motivates me. So to start things off here are a few reviews:

Love Actually

This movie is a charming and honest (and charming for its honesty) look at love and all its bittersweet agonies.

2010

Much chattier than Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece (comparisons are unavoidable), this movie was still an enjoyable show. Plus, you get to find out what the monoliths are all about.

Bluebeard

This is my first Vonnegut book. I allowed the hype surrounding Vonnegut raise my expectations a little too high. The book is an interesting examination of the human condition and the search for meaning despite inescapable mediocrity.

Ahhh, now that wasn’t so hard.

The Second Book of Go

2008-02-23T02:08:01Z

The Second Book of Go by Richard Bozulich provides a comprehensive survey of the basic concepts of go for the advanced beginner: openings, handicap strategy, josekis, attacking, tesuji, life and death, capturing races, good shape, endgame, and ko fighting. The book covered these topics in greatly varying lengths. It treats capturing races in two chapters—probably exhausting the subject—while ko fighting only gets five pages. I had trouble following some of the examples; I think the author expected more expertise from the reader and therefore left much unsaid. I enjoyed that many of the chapters suggest books for further study, a welcome guide to the bewildering number of available go books.

Despite its title, I found it an excellent third book, and it definitely required more than a simple knowledge of the rules, despite its subtitle. I’ll be digesting the contents of this book for quite a while.

Foreskin’s Lament

2007-10-09T00:24:49Z

Shalom Auslander, author of Foreskin’s Lament: A Memoir, was interviewed on Fresh Air. It continues to amaze me how similar the two communities are: Mormon and Orthodox Jew. He discusses what it was like growing up in an Orthodox community, how it exacerbated his family’s troubles, and why he can’t get God out of his mind but wishes he could. The title of the book comes from his dilemma of whether or not to circumcise his son and how it ruined his joy at being a new father.