Thursday, September 14, 2006

Return of the Thursday Three: Shiny New Things!

This week heralds the return of the perennial favorite and all round good blog filler The Axis of Weevil Thursday Three! Terry, our illustrious leader, posts the following:
OH YES! The Thursday Three this week celebrates newness and novelty and originality and freshness and sparkly brightness with THIS SET OF QUESTIONS:

1) What are three new books that you’ve read recently?
2) What three new products have you tried lately and what were your experiences?
3) What are three new movies or shows or plays or whatever that you have seen lately, or would like to go see soon?

SEE HOW EASY THAT IS!?

So, leave your answers below or a link to your exciting new blog post for us all to come peruse.

Oooo, shiny!

1.) This summer I picked up a copy of Funny Cide at our local dollar store. I love horses, horse racing and a really good deal on a hardcover book so I couldn’t resist. It is a surprisingly good read. It is a well written book about how some ordinary guys ended up with an extraordinary racehorse. Halfway through I realized the author had co-written “Every Second Counts,” A terrific book about Lance Armstrong that I inhaled a few years ago at the beach.

A few days ago I just finished “Finn the Wolfhound.” Admittedly it is not a new book and this is the second time around for me, but it had been over twenty years since I last read it and felt like a new book once again. It is a gripping story of the travels of an Irish wolfhound named Finn. His life starts out well enough in England, but through misfortune, just plain bad luck and the cruelty of man he ends up in the wilds of Australia. It is an excellent book, but I think my boys are still a bit young for it. The abuse Finn experiences would horrify my sons.

Right now I’m reading “Starfish” by Peter Watts. It is a rip roaring sci-fi set in the San Juan de Fuca Rift in the Pacific Ocean. The tone of the novel is quite dark and is filled with graphic language and some violence. I am completely taken by it, again not a book for my children to read.

2.) I love Glad Press’n Seal. It is far superior to just plain old plastic wrap. It really does seal to everything.

I got a new digital camera this spring to replace our ancient frankencamera which finally gave up the ghost. My new camera is a Fuji FinePix E900. It is a fantastic camera that is a snap to use. I love using it so much I actually upgraded my Flickr account. I swore I would never pay for this blogging thing, but it is worth it so the grandmas can see all the pictures. It’s cheaper than getting reprints.

The last item was a bit of a dud. We were driving back from Virginia Beach and passed a multitude of peanut stands. Jake had a hankering for peanuts so we stopped and picked up a tin. They are Plantation Peanuts of Wakefield. It says gourmet peanuts on the can and it was nicely vacuum packed, but I find them stale, dry and not very tasty. I’ll stick with Planters dry roasted or Spanish peanuts.

3) Cars, it was great fun for the whole family.

X-Men II: The Last Stand, a terrific flick. Larry and I made an effort to see it on the big screen and we are glad we did.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, our whole family is eagerly awaiting the restart of the series this Friday. Just the other day the kids and I were discussing what sort of bender each one would be. Nate was the easiest; he would be a water bender. He loves playing in the water and would spend hours in the tub if we let him. We thought Rebecca would be a fire bender because of her temper; she got mad at that point. Jake thought earth bending would suit him since he is stubborn. This left air bending for Max, which is not a bad fit. However, with his huge feet and stocky build I think he could be an earth bender, then again he doesn’t like getting dirty.

That’s it for me, I’ve got to go paint a bathroom now.

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