3 posts tagged “al gore”

i started the summer by reading two 'political' books - Barack Obamas 'the Audacity of Hope' and Al Gore 'Assault on Reason'.  They are both good but not exactly light summer reading ... I struggled to read more than 10 pages at a time.  I did finish Al Gore's book, but I had to give up on Barack after 100 pages.  Maybe I'll pick it up again when the primaries come around. 

between reading about politics, I read Kurt Vonneguts 'Breakfast of Champions'.  It's the 4th Vonnegut book I've read, and probably my favorite ... I've heard people say if you've never read a Kurt Vonnegut book 'Breakfast of Champions' is a good one to start with, probably because it's so funny.  The story is a bit twisted, I had to read a few chapters twice to take it in.

next up I read Michael Chabon's 'Mysteries of Pittsburgh', he wrote one of my all-time favorites 'Kavalier and Clay'.  This is the kind of book I love, it's about characters that I wish I was like, and situations I can relate to. It is a bit strange how the book seems to be set in the 70s, but the style and language seem more like the 30s and 40s.

so after reading a few hard books I think I'm going to go back and read a few of my favorites

• Catcher in the Rye - I know it's a cliche but it's my all-time favorite.  I usually read it once a year.
• the Great Gatsby - I can read this book in a day no-problem
• Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo is great for going off on tangents for 50 pages about secondary characters.  My favorite part of this book is how Hugo wrote the book in 1830, set in 1482 and he writes how it's such a shame that the great old buildings in Paris are being torn down to build more modern ones.

whoa, what a weekend. I finally got Guitar Hero II, there should be a warning label on that game that says 'this game is ridiculously fun'. I took my xbox over to Jamies on Saturday night and we played for 6 hours. I slay on easy level, I can usually get 95 - 100% but I'm still struggling to finish a song on anything harder than normal. My favorite song … Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters, the Pearl Jam is great too.

Also on Saturday night, Jamie & I went to see 28 Weeks Later. It's the sequel to 28 Days Later, which is about how a virus sweeps through England that turns people into cannibalistic-zombies. The sequel is a lot tougher to sit through than 28 Days Later, with scene after scene of people being torn apart …. 30 minutes into the movie the plot goes in a 180 direction from how I thought it would be from the trailer. I wouldn't say I enjoyed 28 Weeks Later, the whole time I kept checking my watch hoping for it to end (half because I was sickened, and half because I wanted to hurry up and get home for some more Guitar Hero II). But I will give 28 Weeks Later 5 waffles because it is an amazing movie (I want to give it an extra waffle because the star of the movie is a hot Aussie chick, Rose Byrne).

Our multiplex has 12 screens, and there were only 5 movies playing ... Pirates 3, Shrek 3, Spiderman 3, 28 Weeks Later and something else. I don't think I'm going to see any of the '3' movies, the reviews have been pretty crap. I have to say though the lines for Pirates 3 were massive, they were lined up out the door.

I also bought Al Gores new book, 'the Assault on Reason' on Saturday and it's great (don't worry Jordan, I'll send it with Barack if you want). Everyone keeps saying Al Gore should run for President (well maybe not everyone, but a lot are). After reading the first 100 pages I've realised the world doesn't need Al Gore to be the President of the United States … the world needs every single person to wake up and reflect on the real issues. I'm definitely going to start watching less TV and stop covering Paris Hilton news on 10 mInute blitz. Al Gore thinks its important for people to read newspapers and not get their news solely from TV and the internet. I stopped buying newspapers because I thought they weren't environmentally friendly. If the worlds biggest environmentalist says we should read newspapers I guess its ok …. newspapers are recyclable at least.

Al Gore is at the University of Toronto today to give his Inconvenient Truth PowerPoint presentation.  I would have given my left nut to be there, but it sold out in 2 hours.  It was interesting on breakfast tv this morning, there was a climatologist being interviewed who said the minority of scientists who try to rebuke Al Gore are being ridiculed and shut down.  The doctor on tv this morning said an Inconvenient Truth has been put on the curriculum in high schools in the UK, and is basically treated as gospel.  We watched it at my school last month, not as part of a class but because we had nothing else to do one afternoon.   I always get nervous when I hear somebody saying a certain book or issue should or shouldn’t be taught in schools. There are school boards that make those decisions.

They were talking about the Michael Crichton book which is supposed to be the opposing side to an Inconvinent Truth & is full of statistics that shows there have been other peaks in global temperatures & its natural.  Michael Crichton.  The guy who wrote Jurassic Park.   I would be interested in reading his book too, I probably will.

I think An Inconvenient Truth is obviously biased, but I don’t think Al Gore has any other agenda than to stop global warming & save the planet.