I Love My Gadgets--Sony ebook and Insignia portable HD radio

SONY EBOOK

I'm still enjoying the Sony Reader Touch. I've probably read more books in the last eight months than in any eight-month period since before there was a World Wide Web. Word on the street is that Dad may be getting a cool accessory for Fathers' Day tomorrow.

The titles I've read include Falling Man (DeLillo), The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End (Follett)--Pillars is soon to be a Starz mini-series (which I can watch on the Netflix Starz channel), His Last Bow [Sherlock Holmes] (Doyle)--from the Google library, Flags of Our Fathers (Bradley), The Guns of August (Tuchman)--gave up a little past the middle, the story was too hard to follow without large maps (sorry, tiny ebook screen).

And then there was The Phony Marine (Lehrer), Double Play (Parker), The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe (Smith), 13 Things That Don't Make Sense (Brooks), Gold Coast (Leonard), The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (Larsson)--the publishing phenomenon, I have the other two books in the trilogy already loaded in the ebook, Home (Julie Andrews' memoir)--I got this from the library and bought the paperback for Mom.

His Last Bow [Sherlock Holmes] (Doyle)--from the Google library: there were many OCR errors but still enjoyable to read, especially the eponymous title tale, where the boys are "surprisingly" revealed in the end to be two on the trail of German WWI saboteurs in England. It is a rare Holmes yarn written in the third person, because Watson's (spoiler alert) identity is revealed during the denouement.

INSIGNIA PORTABLE HD RADIO

An infinitesimal portion of the radio audience listens on public transportation. Thanks to my new Insignia HD Radio (FM only, no AM), I can listen to Imus in the Morning on WPLJ-HD3. The amount of electrical noise in a train has made AM radio reception problematic. Also, I'm enjoying Jeff Spurgeon and the morning crew on WQXR-FM, via WNYC-HD2. The regular QXR FM signal is on 105.9 and much harder to pull in than the powerful blast from the WNYC stick. I sent an amplified TV antenna to a friend's mother on the island, who could no longer pick up QXR when they switched from 96.3. It's sad to think how many people in the fringe areas were disenfranchised when this switch occurred.

HD radio isn't catching on, because it doesn't offer the correspondingly big leap in sound quality that HDTV provides in picture quality over standard TV. I was watching yesterday's 2-2 draw by the US against Slovenia, on the edge of my seat, and the picture quality was outstanding, if not the vuvuzela din.

The Insignia charges through the USB port of a computer; it is not an Internet device. It may be time to retire some of my old rechargeable batteries that used to feed the AM/FM radio. I bought a bunch for $90 years ago when the kids had constant need for them for video games devices. I've probably re-used them hundreds of times and saved boku bux.

HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL

I'm thoroughly enjoying the iconic TV series HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL on Netflix streaming. Tonight's episode from the first season tackled the subject of religious phonies imposing their mindless views on medicine on cowed cowardly cowpokes. The great Richard Boone as Paladin, with guest star June Lockhart as one of the first lady doctors, try to save a baby from a lynch mob. The God-besotted wagon master has diagnosed typhoid and has left the mother and the baby in the desert to die. Paladin wants to bring them in town to the doctor's office, to the displeasure of the townfolk.

Especially striking is Paladin's attitude toward the idea of a lady doctor. His attitude, other than a comment that she looks like she should be perched on a divan instead of serving these miserable townfolk, is 100% acceptance. Fast forward to 2010 and crap like GRAY'S ANATOMY, where underwear models of both genders masquerade as brain surgeons while having office sex, and you see that television has been in decline since 1957, the broadcast year of this episode. 

 The lyrics of the show's theme song:

Have Gun Will Travel reads the card of a man.
A knight without armor in a savage land.
His fast gun for hire heeds the calling wind.
A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin.

Paladin, Paladin
Where do you roam?
Paladin, Paladin,
Far, far from home.

Mjöllnir's Shame

Very disappointing costume shots from the new Thor movie.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=28049

I thought Barry Gibb was too old to play Thor.

IANA artist, but to show strength, you hold a hammer by the far end, sinews bursting under the weight. And the block is way out of proportion to the shaft. This looks more like a Will Ferrell parody. Where's the glory? Whoever designed the hammer and shot the pix has never held anything at arm's length heavier than a stylus.

Avenge Me, Boy

RED DAWN (1984) is one of my favorite movies (not to mention there is a similar novel by CM Kornbluth, NOT THIS AUGUST). The former is about a Soviet takeover and the latter about a joint Sino/Russo subjugation of the US. The final scenes of Kornbluth's novel still give me goosebumps just thinking about it.

Can a RED DAWN remake play today? I doubt it. As long as people are fed, have HD3DTV, and don't have to go to or send their sons to war, 21st c. consumers will reject this plot. Those who remember the 20th c., whom we used to call "citizens," might find this plot appealing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/red-dawn-remake-china