Just Finished Reading Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World

I have embarked on a new fantasy series at the same time that I am nearing the end of another (Terry Goodkind's The Sword of Truth) and am waiting for the next entry of a third (George R.R. Martin's ongoing A Song of Ice and Fire).  The new series I've started pursuing is the late Robert Jordan's 14 volumes of The Wheel of Time.  Sadly, the author died before he could finish this ambitious project and Brandon Sanderson filled in to write out the final three books.  From what I could gather, this series is highly regarded, so here I go. And I have just finished book #1, titled The Eye of the World.

With The Eye of the World, we once again find ourselves in a different world with a different map and history.  Magic runs rampant here and is connected to two opposing forces: one female and pure...and one male and tainted.  The premise as I see it is that the ultimate hero and the ultimate villain are locked in a continual struggle against each other for the control of the world, a struggle that transcends individual lives (as the "Wheel of Time" turns).  The same entities resurface through different people over the course of time and reengage with the conflict.  The last confrontation had been disastrous, with terrible destruction and loss of life brought down upon the world...apparently the fault of the "good guy".  But the main story in this book takes place much later and revolves around the lives and exploits of three young men named Rand, Mat, and Perin...along with three women Egwene, Nynaeve, and Moiraine.  Moiraine is a member of the Aes Sedai, a group of magically endowed people who are connected to the female force.  She has a protector with her, the Warder Lan.  Also with the group is a traveling entertainer, called a "gleeman", named Thom Merrilin. The story flows around the efforts of these to flee evil forces pursuing them, and how the past figures into the present regarding the true historical identities of Rand and his two friends.  The antagonists chasing them are composed of the murderous trollocs, who I suppose are Jordan's version of J.R.R. Tolkien's orcs (only more animal-like) and their leaders the Myrddraal, all who serve the evil lord Ba'alzamon. 

There are parallels between this book and the first book The Fellowship of the Ring in Tolkien's Lord of the Ring series: (1) the fleeing from evil pursuers dominating the narrative, (2) the obsession of Mat about an evil dagger reminiscent of the pull of the Ring on people, (3) a wizard-like protector of the group (Moiraine instead of Gandalf) (4) a brave and mysterious man, Lan, who bears a degree of similarity to ranger Aragorn in the Ring trilogy, and (5) the Shire-like unassuming home town of the heroes, the isolated Emond's Field.  But that having been said, Jordan's story is ultimately distinctively different and plays upon different themes...as well as giving the lord of evil a more active, interactive role in the story. He repeatedly has unpleasant conversations with Rand, Mat, and Perrin through their dreams, continually inviting them to either join him under his authority or be destroyed.  

Without giving away the ending to The Eye of the World, I will just say that it was satisfying in that a complete story was delivered here...while ensuring that future volumes will be needed to clear up mysteries and resolve the ultimate conflict.  Overall, I liked this first book in a long series although it got a little muddled with all of the inevitable new terminology, complicated historical background material, and new "rules of magic" that get put out with any new fantasy series... 

This Blog Now Seven Years Old

It is now exactly seven years to the day since I began this blog, and I have tried with mixed results to produce daily articles.  It is personally-themed, partially about stuff going on in my life and partially about my opinions on different topics I pick up on in the media.  But most of all, it represents a daily discipline of writing for me...along with the presentation of that writing for public inspection.  Hope you enjoy reading it!

As of today, my blog contains 2,262 articles.  You are welcome to go through the archives, which you can access in the upper left margin.  If there is a special topic, then by clicking on a label at the bottom of an entry (this entry naturally contains the labels ANNIVERSARY, BLOG), this will reveal the articles I've written that include the theme you're interested in.  Or, you might just want to pick out a block of time in the past and see what was going on then.

I try in this blog to be upbeat about my personal life, while steering clear of anything hinting of gossip.  Sometimes I do make some statements about society and people in general, and I will discuss public figures by name since, well, they are public.  If you discern where I'm at politically (and I don't hold back in this area), then in all probability it won't exactly be where you are politically...please keep in mind that I respect others who don't share my opinions on the issues and also to please don't take things personally: in the end I'm just one person among some seven billion!

During the past few weeks I have begun posting links to my blog on Facebook and Twitter.  I enjoy reading others' posts on these two remarkable social media sites, but my main purpose here is to make my writing more available for reading.  Maybe at some time in the future I'll be more interactive with Facebook, but for now this blog will just have to suffice...

Two Politically Incorrect Words

With all of the problems facing people nowadays, there are some who are obsessed with words that people use.  I don't mean the hateful epithets of the type that Norman Lear satirized coming out of the mouth of bigot Archie Bunker in that old groundbreaking series All in the Family.  No, I'm talking about words like "bossy" and "thug" that describe behaviors and are applicable across the board, regardless of race, sex, or religious beliefs.

There has been a strange movement afoot among some feminists to stigmatize the use of "bossy" because it supposedly is only aimed at women.  That's strange to me, because I have heard it used quite often to describe men's behavior as well.  "Bossy", as I have come to learn of its general usage definition, is used to describe the behavior of someone toward others that goes beyond the agreed-upon authority level that said person possesses in his or her relationships.  So perhaps a manager or supervisor in the workplace somewhere might tell a subordinate to get for him (or her) a cup of coffee or exert pressure to contribute to a personally favorite charity...or a kid in a school class small group may automatically assume the role of "leader" and assign tasks to members without any authorization from them.  Apparently, though, some women feel that "bossy" is just used at them and not at men.  To me this is a preposterous statement.  "Bossy" may not be the most diplomatic, love-inspiring thing to call someone, but it doesn't come under the heading of "hate speech" either. I've used it myself...and haven't slanted my use to make women seem more bossy than men.  To me, bossiness is something that people sometimes need calling out on...I have a right and, ultimately, a social responsibility, to assert myself against overly aggressive people who go beyond their established, specified authority over me. Maybe using the word "bossy" isn't the most diplomatic way to go about this, but it is an accurate description of the problem...

The term "thug" is another example of a term that one group...or at least one representative of that group, i.e. professional football's Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, deems inappropriate.  In his case, he thinks it is used in a racist sense against blacks...maybe he has a point here, though.  You see, I would myself employ the word "thug" to describe a bully...with weapons.  So the appellation as "thugs" of the groups of (white) armed pseudo-soldiers who occupied Crimea a few weeks ago seems fitting.  This obviously has nothing to do with race.  But I heard the word "thug" thrown around Sherman after his outspoken comments following last year's NFL championship  game...and it didn't make any sense to me either.  Sherman is brash, to be sure, but he is also a well-liked pillar of his community and is no "bully with weapons".   Maybe here we are seeing a special use of "thug" that stereotypes a certain type of cultural presentation within the African-American community that somehow tries to imply that it is inherently criminal.   

I would like everyone on Earth to get along and have sparkling personalities and never hurt one another or make mistakes.  But since none of this is true, then our language needs to have some words that serve a criticizing and corrective function to educate and guide those exceeding the norms of acceptable behavior.  And sometimes, although it may be hurtful, hearing someone call you "bossy" or that you are acting like a "thug" may be an important warning sign that there is a problem with your behavior that needs your attention. I understand the well-intentioned reasons behind those seeking to ban the use of these words, but the only thing that this will accomplish is to raise up substitute euphemistic language that conveys the same meanings. Anybody from any segment of society can be "bossy" or a "thug". If you eliminate these words, the problems won't go away...talking about them will just be made taboo...
   

Condolences, Congratulations in NCAA Men's Final Four Hoops

Condolences and congratulations are both in order after the Final Four games in the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.  Condolences to Wisconsin and (especially) Florida after their respective losses to Kentucky and Connecticut, who in turn receive my congratulations.  The victors will face off on Monday to determine this year's national championship. 

It is ironic that Kentucky, a team that Florida beat three times this season, might well end up with the title...but the Gators don't have a say in that matter anymore since they were just decisively defeated by the Huskies.  Florida's shooting was atrocious in yesterday's game: usually when some players were cold, then someone else would step in and be able to make the crucial shots...not the case with this game.  They just didn't have anything going on the outside, and UConn defended very well in the paint. 

I'm not sure which team to root for in tomorrow evening's game.  Part of me wants the Southeastern Conference to do well nationally, but part of me recognizes the serious rivalry between Florida and Kentucky in basketball.  So I don't know...frankly, I'm not all that interested anymore in who wins.  Had Florida not advanced, I had been hoping that Louisville would have gotten to this final title game.  But Kentucky had already knocked them out earlier in the tourney.

Still, looking back on the season, it's been a great run for Florida.  They won 30 in a row, went 18-0 in the SEC regular season, and did make it to the Final Four...all fantastic accomplishments.  Yes, ultimately it's congratulations, not condolences, that are due to them for what they achieved...

Beck's New Album: Morning Phase

It has been about six years since alternative rock musician Beck Hansen, more popularly known as simply "Beck", has issued a new album.  Finally, he's got one out now, titled Morning Phase.  Being a big fan of his music, I promptly went out and bought it.  As with his previous works, this new album has its own special personality.

The songs on Morning Phase are much slower in tempo than the typical Beck album, hearkening back to his equally-slow Sea Change from 2002.  But that album was marked by the melancholy tone of its songs; Morning Phase is much more positive (and a little more mysterious).  Still, I found myself gravitating to the more fast-paced tracks (which would have been "slow" on almost all of his other albums).  With this in mind I found myself most drawn to tracks 3, 5, 9, and 11, titled Heart is a Drum, Blue Moon, Blackbird Chain, and Turn Away, respectively.  Of these my favorite is Blackbird Chain...so much my favorite that I now regard it as my personal "song of the year" so far for 2014.  But having stated my favorites from Morning Phase, I must emphasize that the entire album is very listenable...but you need to understand this along with the acceptance that this is a different kind of Beck album than the ones that produced past hits like Loser, Where It's At, or Think I'm in Love.  I'm sure that this talented artist will speed things up a bit on his next release...I'm just happy to see him out there with something new.  And it's good, maybe one of his best...

The Myth of Voter Suppression

It's been a recurring theme of the political left that the Republican Party, on a state-by-state level, has been actively and deliberately engaging in a campaign of voter suppression by either demanding photo identification from voters at the polls or purging lists of ineligible voters (such as those with felony records).  Opponents of the latter action point out that there is a higher prevalence of potentially Democratic voters among those purged voters and that the GOP is trying to rig the elections in their favor.  And I've heard the argument as well that asking for adequate ID at the voting precinct is tantamount to those earlier Jim Crow era literacy test demands that discouraged blacks from voting.  I'm a little at a loss here...are they saying that having a photo ID is a racial issue?  And if it is, then who exactly is responsible for that situation? 

As for the voter-roll-purging accusation against the Republicans, an equally charged argument can be made that Democratic administrations deliberately refused to purge those ineligible votes in order to tip the numbers in their favor.  And that the Republicans are just cleaning up someone else's mess.  Regardless how you look at it, if they are complying with the demands of the law, I don't see the problem...except that I think that if you're a free person, past felony conviction or not, you should get to vote.  But with that it's the law, not its enforcement, with which I take issue.

As for asking for a photo ID before voting, I can't recall a time in recent memory when the worker behind the table at the polling station didn't ask for mine anyway...new law or not.  To me this is just common sense and does not mean anything...except that the Republicans seem to be the only party interested in mandating it. However, according to critics, in close elections, the demand for a photo ID can suppress Democratic-leaning voters and give the Republicans narrow victories in close contests.  So this isn't fair, is it?

Well, regarding voter suppression, I have to just come right out and state for the record that it IS happening, and on a scale much larger than what may or may not be going on with voter ID laws or the purging of ineligible voters. And this suppression I guarantee does very often tip elections...and also contributes greatly to the problem of wealthy corporate fatcats "buying" elections with expensive media campaigns.  This voter suppression is nothing other then the self-suppression by the large majority of the registered voters who don't think it is worth their time and effort to just pull off the road into their local precinct for a few minutes on election day and cast their ballots.  Even in heated elections for president, upwards to 40% of the registered voters simply don't vote...and it has nothing to do with supposedly nefarious voter suppression laws. But then, what about non-presidential elections?

Nearly a month ago, we here in Gainesville had a local election for three city commission seats. This is our local government and affects everyone living here...how much taxes do we pay, how is that tax revenue spent, what are the priorities with various issues such as the roads, parks, police, business zoning, and so on.  I went late in the afternoon on election day to cast my ballot.  The senior recreation center, where my precinct is, happens to be located directly across the street from a Super Wal-Mart.  The rec center was full, as I walked through it, but not of voters...just elderly folks enjoying the facilities.  I walked into the voting center in a back room and discovered that I was the only voter there.  So lonely. When the worker opened up the voting register to the page where my name was, the ENTIRE PAGE was empty: I was the first one on it to vote...at about four in the afternoon!  And yes...crime of all crimes, they asked for my photo ID, so I forked out my drivers license.  And voted.  Meanwhile, across the street Wal-Mart was packed with customers. Going there and waiting in insanely long lines apparently wasn't too inconvenient for people...but then, I suppose we're talking about food and "stuff" here...not civic responsibility. Oh by the way, the official city-wide voter turnout for this election was 15%: 85% of the registered voting population FREELY CHOSE not to vote!  Now THAT is voter suppression...and it's the voters themselves doing it, not any evil political party with ulterior designs on power.  This lack of general voter interest and civic responsibility is what I believe is driving the skyrocketing corporate campaign spending.  The ads that are mailed out or shown on TV aren't necessarily aimed to change people's minds as much as they are to motivate their targeted voter group to get all emotional (usually in a negative sense involving outrage against the opposing candidate) and flock to the polls in droves.  This is why Barack Obama could win Florida in 2008 and 2012, but in 2010 Rick Scott, a far-right tea party candidate, could win the governor's race with a much lower overall voter turnout.  And why he also stands a good chance for reelection this year.  If the registered voters would just step up and perform their duty consistently in every election, the effect of specially motivated voting blocks would be minimized and we'd have a more consistent representation of the general population's preferences...

Just Finished Reading Prince Caspian (Again)

I never did see the film adaptation to C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia story Prince Caspian, but I have read the book three times.  I suppose that I might want to see if Netflix has it and see for myself how the movie stacks up against the book...and how much they changed it to make it look better on the screen.  Prince Caspian was originally the second book released in this series, although chronologically the events place it as the fourth book...and that's the order I'm using to reread this series.

It's been centuries since the legendary Narnian Golden Age of the Two Kings and Two Queens.  But Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy have only aged one year since their return to the planet Earth after their The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Horse and His Boy adventures.  The four are about to board a train together when they are summoned back, out of thin air, to Narnia by Prince Caspian, who is fleeing for his life from his cruel, usurping uncle.  Caspian, you see, is the legitimate heir to the kingdom of Narnia...his supporters refer to him already as "King Caspian".  Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy find themselves suddenly back at the castle from which they reigned earlier...and it's in ruins now and is on an island, separated after so many years from the mainland and reputed to be a haunt for ghosts.  Then they rescue a dwarf from execution, after which he fills them in on Caspian's plight.  From this point the story forks into two narratives: Caspian's tale as told by the dwarf and the efforts of the Four to reach him and aid in fighting back. 

As in all of the Chronicles of Narnia stories, the great lion lord Aslan makes his indispensable appearance...first to ever-faithful Lucy and then to the other doubting three.  Aslan leads them all to victory over the oppressors, who as it turns out are not native to Narnia in the first place.  The peculiar life forms, such as talking animals and dancing trees, that had been driven into hiding by the usurper, are once again welcomed back into the kingdom as full citizens. But although Aslan expects the "good guys" to put in the effort and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices in this struggle, ultimately it is he who determines victory.  And as in The Horse and His Boy, at the end he delivers his own special brand of justice to the vanquished.

I felt that the story Prince Caspian was the weakest of all the Narnia tales as far as the plot was concerned.  Lewis seemed instead to be much more interested in describing the world of Narnia and its special creatures in great detail.  I'm not sure how this translates to film, but I'm looking forward to finding out.  Speaking of Narnian film adaptations, the book Voyage of the Dawn Treader has also been made into a movie.  And it also happens to be the next book in the series I'm going to read...

TV and Baseball's Diversity of Parks

I was watching the season opening game for the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox the other day on TV when I noticed a peculiar thing.  Looking out toward right field, just past the ball park and in surrounding Baltimore starkly looms a large beige building...with numerous windows facing the park.  It was as if whoever put it there was daring any slugger to break one of them with a tape measure home run.  Of course, perceived distances can sometimes be deceptive...especially on TV.  So I don't know exactly how far away from the park that building is.  But the view is impressive regardless. 

Each baseball park has its own "view" past the outfield...some are more enclosed and all you see is more seating.  Others, like Boston's Fenway Park with its Green Monster wall in left field, have peculiar features that clearly distinguish them from the other ball parks. And although the dimensions of the infield in baseball are strictly measured, the outfields are incredibly different in size from one park to the next. This diversity in baseball of its ball parks makes its presentation on TV markedly different from other sports like basketball, hockey, and football, although with the last the existence of domed stadiums in some cities precludes the sight of snow or rain in their games.  But visually, except for blimp shots from above, the games in these sports don't reveal their locations to the degree that they do in baseball: just follow a long fly ball into the outfield (or beyond) and you'll get a glimpse (sometimes) of the city beyond.  And since baseball parks tend to be more downtown oriented, the view can be pretty interesting: the open-ended outfield in Baltimore inspired some there to create a pretty shopping/dining area just outside...and it is showcased on TV with every home game. Now I want to go there...I just saw something similar with the Chicago White Sox ball park.  I wonder how it is in St. Petersburg, where the Rays play their home games...

Just Finished Reading Terry Goodkind's Naked Empire

As I continue along with my reading of fantasy writer Terry Goodkind's twelve-part series The Sword of Truth, I was gratified to discover that it only has eleven books (if you exclude an added prequel).  That doesn't necessarily mean that I dislike this series, but rather that perhaps the author will sooner get around to resolving matters instead of just inventing new lands and characters in order to further his philosophical beliefs.  There's nothing wrong with that, though: fiction can be a very effective way for someone to promote their own worldview, as long as they don't come out sounding as if they are lecturing the reader in the process.  Unfortunately, Goodkind has this flaw, and book #8, titled Naked Empire, has him continuing with his "teaching" without any attempt at subtlety.

In Naked Empire, protagonists Richard and Kahlan are still fighting the Imperial Order...which they've been doing since book #2, as a matter of (fictional) fact.  They discover a people called the Bandakar that had been isolated by magic from the rest of the world. Bandakar is composed of non-magical people who fancy themselves as being civilized (and therefore superior) and everyone else as barbarian (and inferior)...including Richard and Kahlan.  When the magical barrier comes down and the Imperial Order overruns them, one of Bandakar's former leaders enlists our heroes to help them defeat their conquerors by being the "barbarians" they refuse to be themselves.  In other words, get the uncivilized outsiders to kill off the enemy that they themselves are too "good" to stand up to. The philosophy of the Bandakar has them continually making excuses for the cruel, oppressive rule of the Imperial Order while refusing to lift a finger to resist them in any way...even chastising those of their own who act or even speak against their oppressors.  I can't help but think that this is a not-so-oblique analogy of Goodkind to the tendency that some in the West have had to go out of their way to apologize for and explain away the oppressive and militarily aggressive Soviet Union and its proxies...and, later, terrorist groups like Al Qaeda...while roundly criticizing any resistance to them from the U.S. and its allies (aka "blame America first"). I also believe that Goodkind is indirectly criticizing some of America's allies who benefit from their protection without making any appreciable sacrifices in terms of money and human lives...while many of their people condemn the actions of their protectors.  While I think that Goodkind has a good point to make here, I still think that in recent years we've been too eager to go off to war without first leveraging our military advantage to gain diplomatic solutions to conflicts (Iraq comes prominently to mind).  Also, turning our brave soldiers into "nation builders" under PROTRACTED OCCUPATIONS of hostile lands isn't protecting anyone...least of all our precious young men and women serving so selflessly.  Maybe Goodkind would agree with this last opinion of mine...especially when the leaders of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, whose very regimes have depended on our presence there, often speak out as if we were the enemy and our (and their) enemies were their friends. In this regard they sound a lot like Goodkind's Bandakars.

One thing that appeals to me in this Sword of Truth series, the soapbox philosophizing notwithstanding,  is the way I have come to know and like its main characters.  This skill at character development, as I see it, is Terry Goodkind's great strength and it keeps me reading on.  I have read that the concluding books 9, 10, and 11 represent a trilogy in themselves, which I find a bit perplexing...since each book in the series directly leads into the next anyway...    

My March 2014 Running Report

After my half-marathon race on 2/16, I had planned on stepping up my running to a level that would allow me to feel comfortable entering any half-marathon race, at any time of the year.  Unfortunately, at the very end of February I somehow managed to strain my lower back and had to curtail my running to a degree.  Still, I managed to cover 111 total miles and run on 28 of March's 31 days (although some runs were very short).  My longest single run was for 5.6 miles.  Good figures, but I had wanted all of them to be higher. 

I also had opportunities to run in races in March.  A couple I missed because of the back problem: the 10K in nearby Tioga on the 15th and a half-marathon near St. Petersburg on the 23rd.  This last Saturday, the 29th, we had two 5K races: I didn't choose either because I was tired and besides, it ended up raining the morning of the races.  But I don't feel bad about missing any of these events. 

I would like to run in something in April, and in each month thereafter...even if it is only a 5K race.  I think that running in at least one public race is something new that I would like to start including in my monthly running goals...

Clouds Parting for Gators in NCAA Tournament

In the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament this 2014 season, some teams have had pretty daunting matchups early on...I'm thinking of Wichita State having to face Kentucky in just their second game as a prime example.  But the South Region's #1 seed Florida has had a remarkable run with lower seeded opponents.  In their first game they couldn't have had it any better, facing 16th seed Albany.  In their second tourney game they got to play 9th seed Pittsburgh, which had easily handled 8th seed Colorado.  Then they played 4th seed UCLA, the only opponent that didn't upset a higher seed, to get into the Elite Eight.  Yesterday they got to play 11th seed Dayton, which had previously done Florida a double favor by beating both 6th seed Ohio State and 3rd seed Syracuse.  And what became of 2nd seed Kansas, which would have been a formidable opponent to the Gators?  They were handled by 10th seed Stanford, whom Dayton subsequently defeated.  But wait, it's not over...

In the semi-final game in the Final Four, Florida will face the East Region champion.  They will end up facing not top seed Virginia, not 2nd seed Villanova, not 3rd seed Iowa State, not 4th seed Michigan State, not 5th seed Cincinnati, or even 6th seed North Carolina.  No, the upcoming game for them will be against 7th seed Connecticut.  Unbelievable.

Yes, the clouds are truly parting for Florida in this tournament.  But the Gators made it to the Final Four and are in a good position because they were prepared to take advantage of their good fortune and took care of each opponent, closing out each game as it came...

Rainy Morning Rest Break

Last night Melissa brought to my attention a 5K race at UF that was to be held this morning.  I checked it out on the Internet and discovered that there was also one going on at Westside Baptist Church west of Gainesville.  I weighed the idea of getting up early the next morning and going out on one of them, but decided against it.  No, I felt I needed the sleep...and as it turned out, I ended up sleeping about eleven hours.  I missed a race opportunity, but that's O.K. since (1) I hadn't yet paid the entry fee (2) I needed the rest/sleep and now feel refreshed, and (maybe most of all) (3) it has been raining like crazy all morning long and the streets look like one giant network of slip 'n slides...

Instead I am once again sitting here on a Saturday at the Magnolia Parke Starbucks, this time in the early afternoon, looking outside at the dreary, wet parking lot. But the music's good, the coffee's even better, and I'm doing all right (getting good grades, the future's so bright I gotta wear shades)...

Just Finished Reading John Grisham's The Appeal

I'm not sure why I decided to venture into another legal novel, since I already have a strong enough aversion to jury duty and tend to have a probably irrational disdain for lawyers and our justice system in general.  But John Grisham, a renown writer in this genre of fiction and two of whose more famous works (The Pelican Brief and The Firm) I've already read and enjoyed, will paint a more rational, positive picture of attorneys, judges, and the legal process in general, won't he?  I mean, I'm sure there are unscrupulous people out there who think that justice is something that you can buy, as much a commodity as a car or loaf of bread, but the legal system will filter out these dregs of society, expose them for what they are, and protect the weak and victimized...right?.  Unfortunately, as Grisham's novel The Appeal lays out, these folks are not only out there: they are wealthy, powerful, and used to getting their way by using any means available.

In The Appeal, a wealthy Wall Street corporation is handed a surprisingly severe verdict of $41 million in damages after being judged by a Mississippi jury as being liable for causing numerous cancer deaths and injury from its excessive toxic waste dumping that seeps into a community's underground water supply.  As the book's title suggests, this company, under its amoral chief stockholder, decides to appeal the verdict to the Mississippi Supreme Court. This puts the already financially strained plaintiff lawyer team on the edge of bankruptcy as this powerful man embarks on a strategy to stack that Court in his favor by buying the appeal's expected deciding vote in the upcoming judicial election.  This results in a very seedy combination of business, political, and judicial manipulation and leaves me, the reader, wondering if our legal system isn't completely tainted with corruption.  That, I'm sure, would sit well with Grisham, who with this story has obviously set out to state his case against the politicized elections of judges in favor of them being appointed to their seats.  I think he has a good point, but has regrettably fallen into that trap I've seen other writers succumb to in which, depending on which side of the conflict you're on, the protagonists all have great personalities and high moral character and the antagonists are all a bunch of slimy, selfish, lying thugs with anger management issues.  And he painted the picture of an ignorant and irrational voting population that only votes on hot button emotional issues like gay rights and guns, making them easy targets for manipulation by anonymous heavily-financed special interests with hidden agendas. Well, maybe Grisham got that one right...

The Appeal, which due to its author's good reputation, initially carried its own "appeal" to me, quickly transformed into a "trial" that made me want to steer clear of courthouses and lawyers even more than I usually do.  This is one very dreary novel that has an interesting message but a very depressing narrative.  I think I'll be reading other genres of fiction, at least for the immediate future...

Florida's Next Hurdles in NCAA Tournament

Tonight in the NCAA Tournament the University of Florida men's basketball team will attempt to match their level of advancement for the past few years when they try to get back into the "Elite Eight".  Last year they performed well in the tournament until they got completely clobbered by Michigan as they tried to get into the Final Four.  This year, they will first have to get by UCLA tonight and then on Saturday beat the winner of the game between Stanford and Dayton, two low-seeded bracket-busting surprises.  The Gators were fortunate in that those two teams were able to upset more formidable opponents like Kansas, Syracuse, and Ohio State on the way to their showdown against each other tonight to determine "Cinderella 2014" (last year's big Cinderella team was Florida Gulf Coast...whom Florida finally knocked out of the tourney after falling behind early in their game).  Florida should win both games against UCLA (which begins late tonight at 9:45) and the Stanford-Dayton winner.  It will be the Final Four lineup that could present the Gators with some real problems...including a possible rematch with Michigan.  But the favorites to join UF in the Final Four are defending champion Louisville, ACC regular season and tournament champion Virginia, and Wisconsin...which beat Florida earlier in the season.  As a matter of fact, my own bracket is still in play, but only starting with that possible Final Four lineup. I had Florida then going on to beat Virginia, Louisville beating Wisconsin, and the Gators winning the championship game, 66-62.  But who knows what will really happen...

Besides the men's team, the University of Florida women's basketball team merits praise for getting into the NCAA championship tournament and winning their first game against Dayton with a spunky come-from-behind performance in spite of their low #11 seeding in their region.  Unfortunately, Penn State beat them handily in the next game.  Still, congratulations to head coach Amanda Butler and her team for making it this far...

Pollen Nation

For the past few weeks I have been increasingly aware of some people around me in public sniffling and sneezing.  They might have been suffering colds, but I know better: the Florida springtime allergy season has kicked in!  Pollen is lying around everywhere, but it has a special affinity for cars...and me.  I am one of those unfortunate people who are particularly prone to seasonal allergies, but for various reasons had managed to stay indoors recently much more than I am used to.  Then a couple of days ago I was outside for about a half-hour...I am now in full-blown allergy mode, seeking out those over-the-counter remedies that help to alleviate the symptoms without making me even more sleepy than I usually am...

In Florida we like our weather moderate...well, I'll just speak for my own preferences.  The only drawback, though, to this kind of pleasant weather is that pollen-bearing plants seem to share the same preference!  Part of the price tag that goes along with living in such a wonderful place as my state is the current yellow-green horror spreading around us like radioactive fallout from a nuclear event.  But for the time being, I'm not planning to retreat from it...no, better (for me, at least) to get outside more, allergies or not, and revel in our beautiful world...and life in general...

C.S. Lewis and Narnia: The Horse and His Boy

I just finished reading, for the third time (or is it the fourth), the short novel The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis. It is one of the later published books in his Chronicles of Narnia series, although the chronology of Narnia has it placed right after book #2, which is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Well, actually, to be more accurate, The Horse and His Boy takes place chronologically within the last chapter of that book, while the series main characters Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy are sitting on Narnia's throne during its Golden Age.  This isn't the only thing that distinguishes this story among the seven Narnia tales: it is also the only one in which no one from the not-so-fantastic world of Earth travels to or from Narnia.  The reason for this is self-evident, as the protagonist here is a boy native to southerly lands within Narnia's world.

Shasta is presented as an orphaned boy who grows up under the near-slavery yoke of his "adopted" poor fisherman father in a country called Calormen.  Calormen resembles our world of the Middle East of the old caliphate days with its stark landscapes and glorious and ornate cities.  There is a religion there alien to Narnia and the god Tash is worshiped.  One day Shasta finds himself about to be sold into slavery by his "father" to a visiting Calormen official, but with the aid of that official's horse (a Narnian talking horse named "Bree"), he makes his escape from them.  Along the way as he makes his way northward toward Narnia he encounters another fleeing child, this one a girl named Aravis who is escaping an arranged marriage.  Then they enter Tashbaan, the capital city, where Shasta runs into Edmund and Susan, who were visiting and involved in their own problems with the Calormens.  In the end, the "good guys" are all fleeing (some by desert and some by sea), the Calormens are pursuing them, and eventually a great battle takes place across the desert in Archenland, a kingdom lying between Calormen and Narnia and which carries its own secrets... including a boy named Corin who is a dead ringer for Shasta.  Exactly how this battle takes place, why it happens in the first place, and who are involved in it are matters that I leave you, the future reader, to discover for yourself.

Oh, there's one element to The Horse and His Boy that I omitted, which is actually its most important element...not to mention that of the rest of the Narnia series as well.  And that is Aslan the Lion Lord, the embodiment of Christ the Son of God on Narnia.  Aslan's presence is subtle and mysterious...but ultimately he is the one on which everything hinges.  As with the other tales in this series, Aslan does not force his authority on people except in his merciful administration of justice. Although he is ultimately all-powerful and all-knowing, he allows all around him to make their own choices in life, according to their free will...including whether or not they freely choose to follow or reject him.  A crystal-clear analogy to Christianity...

I liked The Horse and His Boy, although as has been the case with other fantasy series I've read, including George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, that aforementioned Middle Eastern "Arabian Nights/Aladdin" type of society is predictably depicted as being brutal, oppressive, and corrupt.  Wait a minute, what am I saying...ALL of Martin's lands are brutal, oppressive, and corrupt! 

SEC Better Than ACC in NCAA Men's Tourney

The two major NCAA conferences affecting the southeastern section of the country are the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.  In football, the SEC dominates the polls and is generally considered to be the superior conference (although the ACC's Florida State won the national championship less than three months ago) while in basketball the reverse is true.  This perceived ACC supremacy in basketball over the SEC is no less apparent than in the number of teams selected from each conference to be in this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.  The Atlantic Coast Conference enjoyed six entries while the Southeastern Conference could only get three teams in (and there was a question as to whether even Tennessee would admitted to the bracket).  Six to three...that speaks it all, right? Wrong.

Less than a week ago the tournament was about to start, with 68 total teams in the running.  Now, after the first three rounds and 52 games in the books, the field has been reduced to 16.  And where do those two conferences I was talking about stand within this field?  Of the ACC's six teams that started out in the tournament, five have already been eliminated...leaving only one, the Virginia Cavaliers (and a #1 seed) left to carry on the ACC banner.  How did the "inferior" SEC do?  All three teams (Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee) have advanced, not a loss among them...and a cumulative tournament win-loss record so far of 7-0! 

I would like to see all three SEC teams make the Final Four, if only to send the message to those who make decisions in the NCAA as to which teams are allowed to play in the tournament  that the SEC should get more teams in it.  But unfortunately, Kentucky and Tennessee are in the same Midwest Region and, should they both get that far, would have to play each other in that region's final in order to see which of them would go to the Final Four.  But I'm still proud of how well my conference has performed so far!

Go Florida, Tennessee, and Kentucky!

Books-a-Million Only Major Bookstore Left in Gainesville

As I write this, I am sitting here in one of Gainesville's two Books-a-Million bookstores, the one on NW 13th Street (US 441).  I don't come over here often anymore, although in the late 1990s and early 2000s I was almost a daily customer...chiefly for their flavored coffee.  Unfortunately, the bigshots running the stores decided that it wasn't cost-effective to brew flavored coffee.  But if I wanted just plain coffee I could have gone to McDonalds and spent a lot less.  Starbucks doesn't brew flavored coffee either (also they sell ground packs of it in grocery stores), but I prefer their dark roasted brand and have become a regular of theirs instead.  But neither Starbucks nor McDonalds have the loads of cool books to browse through that Books-a-Million has, and for this I still occasionally stop by.  Besides, I got a gift card for this place last Christmas!

I know that the big trend in the publishing industry nowadays is the eBook, such as Kindle or Nook (I own a Paperwhite Kindle).  But there is nothing like going along the shelves in a bookstore and browsing various books that meet my eye, surveying them and briefly reading sections to get a sense of what they are about.  It's easier for me to find what I might be interested in reading this way...if  go to a bookseller's website I'm only going to get a partial booklist at best for my search.  And I'm not always sure as to how I should exactly phrase my search anyway.  Many times in bookstores I have expanded my scope of interests just by going down aisles seeing what's out there. Plus, it's a sad fact that not all literature is available on Kindle.  Not just the out-of-print stuff, which is overwhelming in number, but much material currently in print is still off-limits for me to buy for my e-reader.  So it's frustrating for me to see other major booksellers in Gainesville, like Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, Borders, and Barnes & Noble completely shut down their stores here.  Other than a few local used book sellers and stores supplying the University of Florida's textbook needs, all that is left are the two Books-a-Millions.  I wonder how much longer they're going to last.

I like my Kindle, but I also buy hardcopy books as well, both new and used.  And I make liberal use of my county library system, using its online catalogue to place material on hold and then stopping by at my nearest branch library when I am notified of their availability.  Two things that I focus on when I go to a place like Books-a-Million are the magazines and puzzle books.  Magazines tend to have a greater pictorial/graphic quality to them on paper than on a Kindle screen (especially for a black & white screen like mine has).  And the puzzle books I am referring to, such as KenKen, Sudoku, Kakuro, etc., involve me writing on them...also something not recommended for a Kindle...

Putin Hypocritical About Exceptionalism

The rationale that Russian president-turned-de-facto-dictator Vladimir Putin has given for his forcible taking of Crimea is that he is there to protect Russians living there.  Then he got his parliament to pass a law authorizing him to invade any other country containing Russians as he sees fit...all under the excuse of "protecting Russians".  H-m-m, last year I was walking down Hollywood Beach in south Florida one evening and encountered no less than three Russians.  I wonder if they're safe...better let ol' Putie know...

In spite of my cynical view of Putin's even more cynical and aggressive policy toward his neighbors (he invaded and took over territory from Georgia in 2008), Russia's situation is rather unique.  I don't recall another situation in which a multi-national empire just spontaneously disintegrated into its constituent provinces (or in the Soviet Union's case, "republics")...leaving the dominating ethnic population group unexpectedly scattered throughout each new country.  But in truth, this is the situation we're looking at with Russia today.  The boundary between Ukraine and Russia wasn't always the same, either: Crimea had traditionally been a part of Russia proper until a different dictator, Nikita Khrushchev, in 1954 assigned it to Ukraine, which then was then just a cog within the Soviet system. This historically Russian identification also goes for that eastern and southern Ukrainian territory overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Russians.  But in other former republics of the U.S.S.R., such as Estonia, there is a sizable Russian minority that moved there back in the Soviet years, never imagining that they'd find themselves belonging to their adopted land as citizens of a nation apart from Russia.  

That having been said, this doesn't justify a hostile, military-backed attitude from Moscow toward these much smaller and weaker countries ringing Russia.  Just because Putin can dredge up "protecting Russians" as a reason for his aggression, in the end it is just an excuse...much in the same way that Hitler used the excuse of "protecting Germans" for his invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1938-39. I myself have no problem with an orderly, peaceful political process that culminates in Crimea seceding and then joining back up with Russia...or even those formerly Russian lands in southern and eastern Ukraine voting go back to Russian rule.  A few years ago, the nation of Czechoslovakia peacefully broke up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia when the latter clearly expressed its desire for independence.  Why can't this be the model for the former Soviet republics as they try to come to grips with the demographic fallout from the 1991 breakup?
 
From my perspective anyway, I would think that Putin should want sizable Russian minorities in neighboring countries in order to politically influence those respective governments into a more Russia-friendly orientation. By taking away from them those parts of their lands that have majority Russians living on them, Putin would essentially be turning the remainder of those countries into more solidly anti-Russian regimes, more likely to orient themselves toward the West not only economically, but also militarily.  Seeing it this way, Putin's recent actions seem foolhardy.

But it appears that Vladimir Putin has recognized the strong Russian nationalist fervor among segments of its population and is more focused now on solidifying his political hold on his own country than he is on getting along with the rest of the world...especially with his own neighbors. Maybe this will work for him: if it does, expect more of the same during the next few years.

A few months ago, President Obama considered using force in the crisis in Syria because the ruling regime there was accused of using chemical weapons against its own people.  Russia under Putin intervened diplomatically and helped to negotiate a Syrian surrender of its stockpile...and the use of American force didn't happen.  During this period, Putin wrote a New York Times letter to the editor decrying the concept of "American Exceptionalism".  Now he is employing his own "Russian Exceptionalism"...but this isn't his only hypocrisy.  He invaded neighboring Georgia in 2008 on the pretext of protecting minority nationalities (not Russian) within that sovereign nation, but has waged a brutal, savage war against nearby Chechnya in his own country, suppressing the ethnically-different population there that wanted to become independent.  In other words, Vladimir Putin is really good at reciting high and holy principles...but only as long as they expediently serve his own purposes...

Just Finished Reading The House of Thunder by Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz is one of the most prolific novelists around. He began his career before fellow "K" writer (and bookshelf buddy) Stephen King and has consistently churned out his product to this day.  Earlier his career, Koontz wrote some of his books under pseudonyms, also like Mr. King (who occasionally wrote under the name Richard Bachmann)  Nowadays all of the pen names that Koontz used in his earlier books have been abandoned and his works are now uniformly published under his real name.  Leigh Nichols was one of the pseudonyms he used, and happens to be the name originally adorning his 1982 novel The House of Thunder.

The protagonist in The House of Thunder is a young woman, Sue Thorton, who finds herself incapacitated in an Oregonian small town hospital following a coma-inducing car accident.  She recovers most of her memory that she lost, including the fact that she is a physicist working at a California company.  Also remembered is that fact that thirteen years earlier when she was in college she witnessed the murder of her boyfriend by four members of the fraternity he was trying to join (and for which he was undergoing what he thought was traditional hazing).  The killing took place in a cavern known popularly as the "house of thunder".  Sue was also targeted for killing but escaped.  But now she keeps seeing the killers around the hospital thirteen years later, none of them appearing to have aged a day...although she remembers that at least two of them had already died years before.  She tries to convince nurses and doctors of her fears, but they refuse to believe her, attributing her concerns to lingering symptoms caused by the car accident.

This mystery of her old tormenters resurfacing like this (and renewing their pursuit of her) is the main driving force of The House of Thunder.  It is at this point that I withdraw from further commentary on the plot as I don't want to give away the ending.  But I will say this much (hopefully, it's not TOO much)...

The House of Thunder reminds me of sixties television series like Twilight Zone and The Prisoner, in which the protagonist is placed in a controlled environment and is deceived by others as to the nature of reality that he or she is experiencing.  In particular, I'm thinking about that one episode of The Prisoner, titled Living in Harmony, that has the kidnapped secret agent Number 6 (played by the late Patrick McGoohan) as a reluctant gunslinger in the old Wild West.  I don't know whether Koontz drew upon this when he envisioned his own story...or maybe he referenced his memory of the many Twilight Zone episodes that involve false realities (such as that classic episode Stopover in a Quiet Town in which a hung over couple wakes up in a strange abandoned town).  In spite of this old literary/television ploy, I still enjoyed the book's ending, in which Sue's perception of what is real get turned on its head...

The House of Thunder, like the typical Dean Koontz novel, isn't a very long read.  I think that's part of his appeal to his readers.  I for one find reading excessively long books...well, excessive.  Koontz has the ability to pack his story into a shorter space...good for him and good for me as well!

One final note: when Koontz had House of Thunder published in 1982, the United States and the Soviet Union had resumed their Cold War and it looked like peace was a remote prospect.  It is interesting for me to read this novel with this historical context in mind, and how Koontz was obviously playing up to the popular sentiment of that time...