Connected to Finland

Archive for June, 2010

My oldest son was surprised to hear that J.D. Salinger fought in World War II. He thinks of Holden Caulfield as a contemporary, a peer, anachronistically making his way through a few days of life. The period references in the novel are like props on a movie set, no more real than the phonies Holden encounters. It’s perplexing that so many of my son’s classmates felt no connection to Holden after reading The Catcher in the Rye this past year. We are told on TV, on the internet and in movies that our teenagers and young adults are increasingly savvy, mature and perceptive. When it comes to technology, they certainly are. But most of students in the class considered Holden a whiny freak without realizing that often, it’s the whiny freaks who walk through life with the clarity of sight and earnestness needed to leave this existence a little better than it was when we entered it. The story itself is a masterpiece. Salinger was firing on all cylinders and tapping into the strange other-worldly literary omnipotence we usually attribute to Shakespeare when he wrote Catcher. It’s interesting to wonder whether he was even aware of everything he was doing in the book or if he was like a pro athelete who enters “the zone” and emerges at the end of the game a puzzled hero. Every time one of Holden’s apologists dies, as his creator did this past week, a piece of Holden dies with them. Fortunately, he is as viral as one of my son’s favorite You Tube videos. When we follow his exploits, Holden’s DNA intertwines with our own and is propagated in everything we say and do. Fortunately, he will never completely die, but will continue to confound those who think him merely a whiny freak. RIP Holden Caulfield. Only Shot At A Good Tombstone
Special Occasion Gourmet Candy

At the age of 63 I started runing in organized runs and realized I needed to monitor my progress without spending a lot and this Garmin 305 has proven to be a good investment. Thanks.
60 Seconds To Weight

I really like the holder and strap on this pedometer as I have lost and broken 3 lesser expensive one. It also has all the features I like plus the memory feature. Have been extremely satisfied with this model which is also easy to set and use in comparasion to some I have looked at before.
DURAGADGET Water Resistance Laptop

Artemis Fowl was the recipient of the accusation in the title of this review, but even though he is a thief, he is also much more. The twelve-year-old genius has decided to use his intelligence to pursue a life of crime, so we find an unusual situation. A story with an evil main character is not a completely new concept; Jean-Baptiste Grenouille in the outstanding “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” or Serge A. Storms in the series of books by Tim Dorsey come to mind. If we go into a different media, then Tony Soprano is one of the most famous examples in our time. What is novel though, is using this concept in a book targeted to young adults, and this is certainly a reason for controversy. I have to say though that the final product is so good, that the good aspects of this effort more than overcome this “drawback”.

Artemis Fowl descends from a prestigious family of billionaires that a few years ago suffered a reversal of fortune. His father has disappeared and is presumed dead and her mother has gone crazy with grief. Artemis is decided to return his family to where it is supposed to be and crafts a plan designed to do just this. To try to accomplish his goal, he uses the help of Butler, a mountain of a man, expert in combat, and who as his name suggests is Artemis’ butler, and Juliet, Butler’s sister. The plan involves kidnapping a fairy and then getting a ransom in gold, which is a lot harder than it sounds.

The story involves a myriad of creatures besides fairies, such as goblins, elves, dwarves, centaurs and trolls. These variety allows the author to create several characters within each one of these groups that are interesting, peculiar and endearing. But the creative process does not stop there, since the author uses some of these peculiar characteristics, as well as some acute comments to make us laugh us loud in the middle of the action. In my opinion the funniest scene in the book involved Mulch, a dwarf, and Butler, you will know what I am talking abou
Dial search Listener s

This scale is everything it’s description says it is. I received it promptly. It is very accurate and easy to use. I highly recommmend it.

Wildfire

An amazingly easy to use sports watch which has increased my motivation to run by all the new metrics that are now available to me (displaying on download speed and elevation/grade, heartrate and pace, etc.). A great tool.
Pink Poodle in Paris