Scooter Chronicles

On Wednesday evening, I finished reading “The Crazed” by Ha Jin.

Here is the plot synopsis thanks to Michael Ferch through Amazon.Com:

Set during the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989, The Crazed, a novel from Ha Jin, the award-winning author of the bestseller Waiting, unites a prominent Chinese university professor who suffers a brain injury (more specifically, a stroke) and Jien Wen, a favorite student and future son-in-law who becomes his caretaker. As Professor Yang rants about his earlier life, his bizarre outbursts begin to strike Jien as containing some truth and, considering the uncertain...

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I am now the proud owner of an iPod! Yes, me. One of the many people that is usually behind on the technological front. I wouldn’t say that I am always behind, or not embracing technology. It is due mostly to affordability. However, an iPod started becoming a good option back in June.

I approached Marcia one day a couple of months ago and told her that I had an idea for my birthday. In the past I always said to look at my wish list at Amazon.Com and you could find plenty of ideas. But this year there was something of greater interest. Since my new employer didn’t allow employees to put songs on the PC’s they worked on, I would be very interested in getting an iPod. It was much easier then lugging around CD’s...

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Last night Marcia and I watched the movie “Zodiac” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, and Robert Downey Jr. amongst others.

The movie is based on facts and reports regarding the famed Zodiac Killer that murderer five people, injured two people (failed murder attempts), and is possibly linked to many more murderers in and around San Francisco and northern California. The known murders happened in 1968 and 1969. Others possibly linked to him happened as early as 1963, and as late as 1978. This movie goes along with the book by Robert Graysmith,...

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Other then one incident, our vacation turned out to be a great get-away. We didn’t see all that we wanted to, and part of that was to save money, but we did make sure that we enjoyed our time. It all started with the drive down to Virginia, where we left five minutes ahead of schedule. A couple of years ago my Mother-in-Law traveled with us to Virginia, and she had brought along a crossword puzzle. With us helping her fill in the answers, we realized how it helped pass the time. We had bought a couple of books to bring with us, and Marcia started one just as we got on the beltway around Washington, DC. It seemed that in no time we were just miles north of the exit for Ashland, Virginia. With little traffic and the crossword puzzles...

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On Sunday afternoon Marcia and I watched the movie “Perfume”, based on the novel of the same name by Patrick Süskind, and starring Ben Whishaw, Dustin Hoffman, and Alan Rickman.

From Amazon.Com, here is a synopsis of the movie plot:

Based on Patrick Suskind’s novel about a serial killer who hunts victims with his superhuman sense of smell, “Perfume: Story of a Murderer” is a florid, grisly portrayal of this historical drama set in 18th century France. Jean-Baptiste Grunuis (Whishaw) is born under his mother’s table at the fish market, onto a pile of muddy fish guts,...

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For our anniversary yesterday, Marcia and I headed out to the movies and saw “Stardust”, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman.

From Fandango’s site, here is a description of the plot:

To win the heart of Victoria (Sienna Miller), a beautiful but cold object of his desire, a young man named Tristan (Charlie Cox) ventures into the realm of fairies to retrieve a fallen star. What Tristan finds, however, is not a chunk of space rock, but a striking girl named Yvaine (Claire Danes). However, Tristan is not the only one seeking the star. A king’s four sons need the star as they vie for the throne....

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While on vacation in Virginia, I read “Martin Sloane” by Michael Redhill.

From Publishers Weekly via Amazon.Com, here is this plot description:

Martin Sloane, the protagonist of Redhill’s elegant debut, is an Irish-born Canadian who makes dioramas from “found objects.” Among these chanced-upon entities is the book’s narrator herself, Jolene Iolas, a Bard undergrad who happens upon Martin’s work and falls in love with the artist. Their affair lasts several years, until one day Martin purposefully and inexplicably vanishes. Achingly sweet in its execution,...

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One of the good things about the place we stayed at on vacation compared to the place the previous two times was the having a DVD player. So while there, Marcia and I watched “A Scanner Darkly” (thanks to her sister Paula bringing it), based on the Philip K. Dick’s novel of the same name, and starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Rory Cochrane.

From Amazon.Com, here is a description of the movie plot:

The drug war’s been lost, citizens are kept under rigid surveillance by holographic scanning recorders, and a schizoid addict...

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Before leaving for vacation, I finished reading “InterWorld” co-written by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves.

Here is the rundown thanks to Amazon.Com’s book description:

Joey Harker isn’t a hero.

In fact, he’s the kind of guy who gets lost in his own house.

But then one day, Joey gets really lost. He walks straight out of his world and into another dimension.

Joey’s walk between the worlds makes him prey to two terrible forces—armies of magic and science who will do anything to harness his power to travel between dimensions.

When he sees...

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Six years ago, on a fine August day (meaning no humidity like we have been bombarded with lately) Marcia and I were married.

Today, continuing with our vacation (which we returned from yesterday afternoon), we are going to take it easy, but at least go see a movie. We haven’t decided which one, but right now the two leading candidates are “Stardust” and the new “Mr. Bean” movie.