Lazer on Stun

Little Bee by Chris Cleave Review

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 01:05:59 -0400

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The front flap begs the reader not to disclose information of the happenings of the book when they finish as it is a very special tale.

I will have to agree but I will say this.. I read the whole book in one sitting today. The way the events unfold is mesmerizing, and you always want to read just one more page.

View all my reviews

Schemer! “The Beginning of Everything Worth...

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:11:49 -0400

Schemer!

“The Beginning of Everything Worth Doing”

Although the mustache wiggly logo is a little creepy, it’s a fun idea that’s a great add on to a G+ account. You fill out your “schemeing” profile and the webapp gives you suggestions based on time of day, location, and weather. You can also post new schemes and add other people’s schemes to your to-do list.

After playing around with it for a little while, it seems like this is the Google version of Pinterest, but with an actual purpose (sorry Pinterest fans!). On Pinterest, I too would add a picture of a home-made pizza to my “DIY” pin board. But, what schemer does is encourage you to actually go out and do that today.

My major criticism would be that people post schemes, without any instructions or links. “Make your own pinhole camera”.. sure, but how? While the point is supposed to be inspiration, rather than instruction, often I felt like the page just let me hanging.

However, sites like LifeHacker, Flavorpill, Wired Geek Dad, and others are using Schemer as a new platform to share their posts and listings. They tend to provide helpful comments with links on how to realize all these schemes.

The engineers at Google clearly have a good sense of humor, and this is a fun novel app that gives you inspiration to go out and do stuff.

So… anyone wanna scheme with me?

Book Review: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 21:45:15 -0400

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall, I really enjoyed the story telling of this book. The narration perspective was well done and I liked how the book focused on Shadow as it gave me someone tangible with whom I could build a relationship throughout the novel. However, the main focus and message of the book was clearly not about Shadow, himself which was really interesting. This book also made me think about gods and spiritualism again. Gaiman takes a very interesting approach that was thought provoking and attention grabbing. Again, he created characters that were godly and humanistic at the same time. The thematic choices that Gaiman takes make this a great novel to read with a friend or group to discuss. I can see myself debating a lot of his interpretations and going back to try to dig deeper into the metaphors he creates.

I do have one big criticism of this novel, that makes me rate it a 3/5. I was disappointed in the style and quality of language. Perhaps it is because Gaiman is used to being a children’s author, but the language was sometimes too simple or too childish. Some of the character dialogue, or descriptions were too obvious, too inappropriate almost of a reader of older than 12. There were parts where I began to wonder why this book has been praised so much and sometimes just wanted to get through the 500 some odd pages faster, not because I was excited about the happenings but because I wanted to get the book over with.

One sentence summary:
This is a great novel, filled with expert story-telling but whose language left a lot to be desired.

View all my reviews

amyohconnor: “Beastie Boys filmed an unreleased musical...

Mon, 07 May 2012 02:11:57 -0400

amyohconnor:

“Beastie Boys filmed an unreleased musical performance of “The New Style” for the aborted 3rd season of “Chappelle’s Show” in late fall 2004. It was on a boat in the East River, NYC. Rest in Peace, Adam Yauch. You were excellent.”

- via Neal Brennan

Take a Tartan to Work Day (my first professional post)

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:59:37 -0400

“Oh and I’m wearing pink legs” texts Nina Barbuto, as I am walking full speed down Forbes to meet her. We have agreed upon Kiva Han, as Nina, a CMU Architecture Alum, is checking out the CMU arts and technology fest in CFA. Her bike lock ate her key, she knows everyone in Kiva, and I have no idea what to expect. We order some food and sit down to chat. Nina’s friend is about to join us, they’ve been best friends since their Freshman Year in college and work together on Nina’s non-for profit start-up Assemble Pgh. It’s an art and technology space that aims to reach out to the local community by planning events such as “Bring your Own Brains” and “Everyone is a Superhero” parties that encourage interacting with technology and foster learning. We chat for over an hour about life, start-ups, motivation and how everyone has a bit of an entrepreneur inside of them. Nina shares with me her story of making her way into improving the community and the daily challenges she faces when doing something different and out of the ordinary. She emphasizes two magic make-you-successful words to me: “network” and “delegate”. She repeats them throughout our conversation and makes sure I understand their impact and I believe her. When I leave I feel excited about this great person I just met and will follow up with her in the Spring. Nina mentioned that if I want I can be one of the key people planning their big February fundraiser. This was one of the best (and most motivating) conversations that I’ve had in a while—in between being stressed about school and job applications, I got to eat mac-n-cheese and talk about networking, delegation, and confidence.

"This one Halloween, I hollowed out a pumpkin and put it on my head” - Ryan"

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:57:57 -0400

““This one Halloween, I hollowed out a pumpkin and put it on my head” - Ryan”

Sometimes, it’s not about checking your attitude at the door, but checking it straight and...

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:27:30 -0400

Sometimes, it’s not about checking your attitude at the door, but checking it straight and making sure it’s on right.

Interactive Xbox Kinect Kids Exhibit

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:04:15 -0400

Interactive Xbox Kinect Kids Exhibit

thedailywhat: Passive-Aggressive Note of the Day: Borders...

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:18:50 -0400

thedailywhat:

Passive-Aggressive Note of the Day: Borders locked up the last of its brick-and-mortar bookstores last Sunday. The above list of gripes — reportedly posted at one of many out-of-business outlets — claims to speak for all Borders employees.

A transcript follows, courtesy of EW’s Shelf Life:

We hate when a book becomes popular simply because it was turned into a movie.

It confused us when we were asked where the non-fiction section is.

Nicholas Sparks is not a good writer … if you like him, fine, but facts are facts.

We greatly dislike the phrase “Quick question.” It’s never true. And everyone seems to have one.

Your summer reading list was our summer reading NIGHTMARE. Also, it’s called summer reading, not three days before school starts reading.

It’s true that we lean to the left and think Glenn Beck is an idiot.

We always knew when you were intently reading Better Homes and Gardens, it was really a hidden Playboy.

Most of the time when you returned books you read them already — and we were onto you.

Limit One Coupon did not mean one for every member of your family — this angered us. Also, we did know what coupons were out.

It never bothered us when you threatened to shop at Barnes & Noble. We’d rather you do if you’re putting up a stink.

“I was just here last week and saw this book there” meant nothing to us. The store changed once a week.

When you walked in and immediately said, “I’m looking for a book,” what you really meant to say is, “I would like you to find me a book.” You never looked. It’s fine, it’s our job — but let’s be correct about what’s really happening here.

If you don’t know the author, title, or genre, but you do know the color of the cover, we don’t either. How it was our fault that we couldn’t find it we’ll never understand.

We were never a daycare. Letting your children run free and destroy our section destroyed a piece of our souls.

Oprah was not the “final say” on what is awesome. We really didn’t care what was on her show or what her latest book club book was. Really.

When you returned your SAT books, we knew you used them. We thought it wasn’t fair — seeing that we are not a library.

[shelflife / fark.]

Watch Anthony speak about The Hype Machine at MIT Startup Bootcamp

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:16:28 -0400

Watch Anthony speak about The Hype Machine at MIT Startup Bootcamp

jesuisperdu: early beach boys

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:59:14 -0400

jesuisperdu:

early beach boys

jesuisperdu: leo berne

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:48:36 -0400

jesuisperdu:

leo berne

Hipster Music Blogs Need to Get Over Their ‘Authenticity’ Problem (via Gawker)

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:47:39 -0400

Hipster Music Blogs Need to Get Over Their ‘Authenticity’ Problem (via Gawker):

strawberryjusty:

I really, really, really LOVE Johnston, Maura.

From Me To You: Tory Burch

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:07:47 -0400

From Me To You: Tory Burch:

This week I learned Tory Burch is the new hotness.

fromme-toyou:

“For Spring 2012, we were inspired by Deauville in the Twenties—sporty and polished with an emphasis on special details. There’s an ease to proportions-raised, below the knee or ankle-length hemlines, drop and natural waist dresses and lightweight knit layers. It’s all mixed with feminine details…

Process

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:01:13 -0400

Process:

jaimemixtapes:

Frank Gehry: Outside the Box

TV on the Radio- Staring at the Sun. I LOVE this song so so so...

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 01:27:16 -0400

TV on the Radio- Staring at the Sun. I LOVE this song so so so so much.

wordboner: You Can’t Prove Everyone Wrong (available on a tee...

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 22:44:44 -0400

wordboner:

You Can’t Prove Everyone Wrong (available on a tee until 09.09)

more: store | blog | make your own wordboner store | twitter | facebook | coupons | follow wordboner

Stephen Wilkes - Day to Night in One Frame [For more prints]

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:40:39 -0400

Stephen Wilkes - Day to Night in One Frame

[For more prints]

Listen Baby, Your wish is my command.

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:29:00 -0400

Listen Baby, Your wish is my command.

“Kiwi Getting Ready for the Beach” This made me...

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:51:46 -0400

“Kiwi Getting Ready for the Beach”

This made me giggle today :)

[via SoBadSoGood]