lightning strikes twice

The last four days have been spent on a “baby-moon”, our last little get away before the baby arrives in November.  We had a little suite at Wategos in the Watermark accomodation, and it was absolutely superb — the beach is fantastic, and the time away from currently constant work was amazingly refreshing.  Highlights were the weather and location, and the fabulous meal we had at Rae’s at Wategos on the last night — magic!

from watermark, beach across the road

Old School by Tobias Wolff

An excellent return to classic American writing, where the prose have purpose and structure, and there is more on show than just a good story.  The story is of a privileged boys school, where literary achievement is highly regarded and an audience with the visiting writer is the pinnacle of a students school life.  The protagonist is a gifted writer with some competition.  Along the way of this succinct and punchy story, we see the true nature of deceipt, and how lies can often hurt the proponent more than the more obvious victims.

Dave Doppelganger

I actually bought the exact same jumper from Our Spot (the place with the photo) a few months ago….

Adrian Wojnarowski often strikes me as on overly earnest journa-idiot, but over the last year he has been noticeably better than his early Yahoo Sports days, where he just seemed to want to nit-pick.

Today, though, he’s come up with some screamers.  His article, about how the USA Basketball Team has won the respect of the world again, starts with:

It made Peterson and the rest of the educated basketball world wonder: How many times did the United States have to get embarrassed to show the respect to learn the names of several of Europe’s elite players?

which was a good and valid point.  Then, he somehow comes up with:

Perhaps this surprises people in the States, but most of the world has been rooting for this American renaissance.

Really?  Most basketball people I know would love the US to get knocked off again.

Then later:

The medal round is on the way Wednesday against Australia

and:

The United States has gone eight years without winning a major international tournament, but that’s all about to change now.

You know what?  I would think a massive part of acting respectably would include not acting as if winning a gold medal is a foregone conclusion, even if it is.  In this case, Adrian is letting the US team down, because he clearly has no respect for the foreign opposition.  Sounds like arrogance to me, and that is exactly why we like to see you get beaten.

Despite recent injury on a motor scooter (dusty Thailand roads, damn you) I’d still like to ride a bike to work in Sydney.  But as this article indicates, we’re still light years behind Europe, and from what I’ve seen, it’s just not safe enough yet, even taking back streets.

There seems to be an almost overt hostility to cyclists not only from many motorists, but more importantly from the planners and highway engineers who create the street environment.

Sydney needs to wake up to the benefits of pedal power - Opinion - smh.com.au.

Interview: Trender Bender - Glitter - Lifestyle - adikted.tv (beta).

Interview: Inez Garcia - Glitter.

CJ Bruton ran the floor and drained an early three-pointer but the Boomers lost nothing when coach Brian Goorjian subbed the veteran guard for teenager Patrick Mills. Mills, 19, was in the game early, driving to the basket and drawing a foul as he matched up on New Orleans guard Chris Paul.

and

As the Olyroos cheered on the Boomers from the stands, Brad Newley drained a three-pointer. When his shot dropped sweetly, he turned and ran back to his position. Seconds later at the other end, Carmelo Anthony nailed a jumpshot, hung his tongue like a dog and played the crowd.

Basketball - Sports - Olympics - theage.com.au.

Pat Mills was on fire for the Aussies in their pre-Olympic game versus the United States.  And he’s not even 20 yet.

Aussies are looking good for the very tough competition in the Olympics, the USA, well, still kinda being jerky.

Previously: Team USA “secures” the bronze

Fantastical and whimsical Japanese translated prose.  Very quirky, but towards the end, its the sort of book you have to keep reading.  The protagonist is a not particularly ambitious, but stubborn, man with a small copy agency.  Some VERY weird things happen to him after designing a newsletter with an odd image of a sheep, and he spends several weeks with his equally strange girlfriend on a “wild sheep chase”, including encountering a man who dresses as a sheep.

Like The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns is solid story-telling, compelling, but not brilliant.  This story gives insight into the lives of Afghani women, and the trials of living in a society that has historically been ruled by men.  Mariam and Laila are years apart, but through various routes both become married to a much older traditional man who provides stability in a country not helpful to single women, but nothing else.  The descriptions of their life, their escape to Kashmir and their return show how deep cultural and patriotic ties run in those parts of the world.  Here in Australia, where we’re so young and so lucky, a book like this is truly mind opening.

by Dave Eggers

A fantastic and moving book about the tragedies of Sudan (not just Darfour, which gets all the publicity).  In particular it follows one young boy, and the trials and experiences of his life.  These include not just escaping from marauding northerners while walking thousands of kilometres with other “Lost Boys, but also the difficulty of living as a refugee, and trying to assimilate into North American life, all while being looked on as a leader.  Dave Eggers has done a brilliant job of not mangling this story.