So, I'm glad I finally got around to reading the godfather of Scandinavian mystery, Henning Mankell. I liked this and I have the feeling Kurt Wallander grows on you. I definitely want to read the next ten. Also, it appears he wrote one about Wallander's estranged daughter, Linda.
The story is about a particularly nasty murder of an elderly Swedish couple in Scania (Southern Sweden. County seat: Malmo, the third largest city.) The violence of the murder raises the question of the increase in violence in Swedish society. The crime scene is so bloody (the man's nose was cut off, his wife had a noose tied around her neck) that one of the first responders tells Wallander it looks like "an American movie." Ahh, it's great how the rest of the world views us.
I found several things interesting including that Swedish cops at that time (~1990) didn't regularly carry guns although Wallander feels they probably will have to soon. The Swedes are trying to cope with the growing refugees requesting asylum in their best socialist Democratic fashion but the government is inept, the refugees are largely unaccounted for and can easily disappear and the police and populace (particularly the racist elements) are fed up. There are retaliatory crimes against refugee camps: someone throws a sack of turnips (!) at an old man, hitting him in the head. The camp in Ystad is set on fire. Finally, a Somali man is randomly shot and killed as he walks in the woods near his camp. I thought the solving of that crime was a little anti-climactic although I liked the little details like Rydberg and Wallander theorizing there are two perps since the shooter was seen eating an apple but there are cigarette butts around where they think the getaway car was parked. Since someone who gets stressed and eats apples probably also wouldn't be smoking. I think Mankell is more interested in telling a story and getting his points across than in creating suspense. It felt a little like the first episode of Prime Suspect. Oh, it's.....the guy they suspected all along.
The murder of the elderly couple turns out to have been some shifty Czech immigrants (it was a foreigner after all just like the elderly woman said with her dying words to Rydberg) who hung around banks looking for someone making a large withdrawal. The farmer had an illegitimate adult son and was still paying for him. He also had money from some shady business he and his father ran to supply the Nazis during WWII. It involved horses. I don't want to think about it.
Poor Rydberg, who was the only detective that had many distinguishing features besides Wallander, looks to have terminal cancer and won't be back. I wonder if Swedish cops these days are always armed?
In which I engage in shallow discussions about books, movies, science, history and whatever else I'm thinking at that moment. And have beers with Captain Howdy.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
What show exactly did Andy Kaufman get kicked off of?
I was listening to an old Lyrics Undercover podcast today about REM's "Man in the Moon", which btw might be one of my favorite songs ever. They mentioned Andy Kaufman being voted off of Saturday Night Live. This always confused me because I've heard at different times he was kicked off of either Fridays or SNL. I also have a dim memory of watching Gary Kroeger tell people to call in and vote and I only remember him being on SNL. I also remember this was back in high school or junior high and my friend Carla was sleeping over and she wanted to call in but we couldn't agree because she wanted to vote for him to be on SNL again while I thought his stupid Latka routine killed Taxi and I said vote him off. Shit, I didn't know he was going to die of a rare lung cancer shortly afterwards. Also, we ended up trying to pull the phone out of each others' hands and broke the jack so the question quickly became moot.
According to Wikipedia, it was indeed SNL. There was a blowup on Fridays about him breaking character in a sketch and getting into an on-air fight with a producer but that was staged. I remember that (although I didn't see the show-I never watched Fridays) but the voting incident occurred on SNL. I kind of remember now reading a history of SNL that mentioned it was a prank but a serious one. It hurt Andy's feelings when he was voted off but he abided by the vote although he did appear on tape one more time to thank the people who voted for him.
I'd really like to see his movie "My Breakfast with Blassie" (for some reason, my favorite part of the REM song is when Blassie is name-checked. I get a shiver.) It's one of those moments that make me wish I had Netflix. But, I am just not down with having to subscribe. I'm bummed out Blockbuster might not survive. Then again, they wouldn't have that flick anyways.
I also remember A&E had an old show that was taped at the Improv. Cindy Williams hosted it once which was kind of a surprise but she had a background in standup, particularly with Andy Kaufman. He used to do his routine in nightclubs and it was her job to stand up and mock him in a French accent. I found Kaufman annoying about half the time but that sounds hilarious.
According to Wikipedia, it was indeed SNL. There was a blowup on Fridays about him breaking character in a sketch and getting into an on-air fight with a producer but that was staged. I remember that (although I didn't see the show-I never watched Fridays) but the voting incident occurred on SNL. I kind of remember now reading a history of SNL that mentioned it was a prank but a serious one. It hurt Andy's feelings when he was voted off but he abided by the vote although he did appear on tape one more time to thank the people who voted for him.
I'd really like to see his movie "My Breakfast with Blassie" (for some reason, my favorite part of the REM song is when Blassie is name-checked. I get a shiver.) It's one of those moments that make me wish I had Netflix. But, I am just not down with having to subscribe. I'm bummed out Blockbuster might not survive. Then again, they wouldn't have that flick anyways.
I also remember A&E had an old show that was taped at the Improv. Cindy Williams hosted it once which was kind of a surprise but she had a background in standup, particularly with Andy Kaufman. He used to do his routine in nightclubs and it was her job to stand up and mock him in a French accent. I found Kaufman annoying about half the time but that sounds hilarious.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Epistemophilia: no LaGrange for Hubble
I listened to an episode of Astronomy Cast that answered listener questions. Most were hard to follow such as the one about whether you can accelerate matter to a speed sufficient to cause a black hole. Sorry, too dumb to understand that bit of quantum weight gain. But there was one about Hubble that was interesting.
So, Hubble cannot be pointed at the Sun and its caretakers take pains not to do so, lest it be seriously damaged. If that is the case, why didn't they launch it into a LaGrange point? Specifically, L2 (or even more specifically, Sun-Earth L2, as opposed to the Earth-Moon L2.) L2 being the point on a line drawn between two large masses where the point lies beyond the smaller of the two. In other words, so that the Earth would be shielding Hubble from the Sun. In fact, that's where Planck (observing Cosmic Microwave Background) and the European Space Agency's Herschel (looking for water and like molecules) are now. And that's were the James Webb telescope will be headed.
The reason Hubble is not in L2 is simple: the Space Shuttle. It was designed to be periodically serviced by it (it's the only space-based telescope so designed) and getting out to L2 is simply beyond the Shuttle's reach. Since Hubble was originally launched with optics that caused it to be near-sighted, it's also a good thing we could get to it. The Shuttle that carried out the initial corrective mission was Endeavour.
Here is a link to a great NASA article about LaGrange points. L1, L2 and L3 are unstable and I believe require periodic corrections to remain in the sweet spot. Aha, NASA says, "The L1 and L2 points are unstable on a time scale of approximately 23 days, which requires satellites parked at these positions to undergo regular course and attitude corrections."
So, Hubble cannot be pointed at the Sun and its caretakers take pains not to do so, lest it be seriously damaged. If that is the case, why didn't they launch it into a LaGrange point? Specifically, L2 (or even more specifically, Sun-Earth L2, as opposed to the Earth-Moon L2.) L2 being the point on a line drawn between two large masses where the point lies beyond the smaller of the two. In other words, so that the Earth would be shielding Hubble from the Sun. In fact, that's where Planck (observing Cosmic Microwave Background) and the European Space Agency's Herschel (looking for water and like molecules) are now. And that's were the James Webb telescope will be headed.
The reason Hubble is not in L2 is simple: the Space Shuttle. It was designed to be periodically serviced by it (it's the only space-based telescope so designed) and getting out to L2 is simply beyond the Shuttle's reach. Since Hubble was originally launched with optics that caused it to be near-sighted, it's also a good thing we could get to it. The Shuttle that carried out the initial corrective mission was Endeavour.
Here is a link to a great NASA article about LaGrange points. L1, L2 and L3 are unstable and I believe require periodic corrections to remain in the sweet spot. Aha, NASA says, "The L1 and L2 points are unstable on a time scale of approximately 23 days, which requires satellites parked at these positions to undergo regular course and attitude corrections."
What I've looked up thus far for Faceless Killers
So, I'm winding up my holiday mystery sojourn. Some of it was at least on the heavier side, like the current one I'm reading by Henning Mankell. The overarching theme of his series is what has caused the decay of Swedish society. At least they've been successful in keeping up appearances. I think of Scandinavia in general and Sweden specifically (along with Denmark) as being somewhat Utopian. Vast social welfare networks, high literacy and a nearly atheist society. However, there are also serious problems such as human trafficking, racism and Nazi movements and increased violence towards women. Although on the last one, some Swedes dispute the meaning of that statistic, saying women are simply more likely to report acts of rape, etc. in Sweden because they are encouraged to do so which means its a positive.
(then again, the Swedes' history of collaborating with the Nazis in WWII is kind of murky so is their society really degenerating or are they fighting their way up?)
Faceless Killers is the first book in the Wallander series. The farmer who opens the story by discovering his neighbors have been murdered makes several references to the county of Skåne (which seems to be pronouned "Skoanay" according to Wikipedia.) Skåne is known to English speakers by the exonym Scania which is preferable because I don't have to mess with the crazy Swedish diacritic. And speaking of Scandinavia, that's where the word comes from.
Scania is the Southernmost county in Sweden. Its seat is Malmo (where the Oresund Bridge now connects Sweden to Denmark although the ferry they mention in the book still exists.) It's small but contains ~13% of Sweden's total population-which makes sense when you look at a map.
Wallander is based in Ystad which is on the Southern coast. According to Wikipedia, it's small. Like 17,000 people. Curious to read a mystery set in a fairly obscure place. According to Forvo.com, it is pronounced "ee-stad" with a soft "d." If you Google Ystad, btw, you invariably get references to Wallander. A whole tourism industry is set around him. Also, Ystad is apparently very picturesque and one of the best preserved old towns in Sweden.
(then again, the Swedes' history of collaborating with the Nazis in WWII is kind of murky so is their society really degenerating or are they fighting their way up?)
Faceless Killers is the first book in the Wallander series. The farmer who opens the story by discovering his neighbors have been murdered makes several references to the county of Skåne (which seems to be pronouned "Skoanay" according to Wikipedia.) Skåne is known to English speakers by the exonym Scania which is preferable because I don't have to mess with the crazy Swedish diacritic. And speaking of Scandinavia, that's where the word comes from.
Scania is the Southernmost county in Sweden. Its seat is Malmo (where the Oresund Bridge now connects Sweden to Denmark although the ferry they mention in the book still exists.) It's small but contains ~13% of Sweden's total population-which makes sense when you look at a map.
Wallander is based in Ystad which is on the Southern coast. According to Wikipedia, it's small. Like 17,000 people. Curious to read a mystery set in a fairly obscure place. According to Forvo.com, it is pronounced "ee-stad" with a soft "d." If you Google Ystad, btw, you invariably get references to Wallander. A whole tourism industry is set around him. Also, Ystad is apparently very picturesque and one of the best preserved old towns in Sweden.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
First and last Grave Secret
Not much to say about this book but I enjoyed it and I'm glad I picked this series back up. Mystery of Cameron's disappearance resolved : murdered by her stepbrother (and Tolliver's brother) Mark when she told him she had discovered their younger sister Gracie was not their sister. And that is because their shitty junkie father took the real Gracie to the hospital too late when she was sick and she died. Or he might of killed her but they really don't know. And he replaced her with another baby but that story is even more complicated. The baby had green eyes. Both of the parents had brown eyes. Throw in Gregor Mendel and Cameron's senior year biology project and bazinga. Harper and Tolliver get married and, yes, they are step-siblings. Fuck it. It's not that creepy except for Harper's tendency to still call Tolliver her brother sometimes (a really odd artistic choice on Harris' part but clearly intentional so whatevs. ) Some people bitch that some characters names and ages changed between the four books. I didn't read them back to back though and since they were minor characters, I doubt I would have noticed. Part of me feels like a slacker but part of me feels like, "There is someone out there more obsessive and lint picking than I. Hoorah."
First line:
Last line:
"And they're all out there waiting for me. All they want is to be found."
First line:
"All right," said the straw haired woman in the denim jacket. "Do your thing."
Last line:
"And they're all out there waiting for me. All they want is to be found."
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Epistemophilia: I saw infrared
Ok, that was dumb-but, it does make me think of one of the best celebrity interviews I ever read which was with Michael Biehn of Aliens and Terminator fame. He was so unusually honest he flat out rocked balls. He said his least favorite directors were Edward James Olmos (who was kind of a dick) and the guy who directed that Navy Seals movie he was in. Biehn said the guy was a dumbass because, among other reasons, he told Charlie and Michael that they were going to infiltrate a terrorist camp because they were able to see with their infrared goggles that they had missiles stored away. Michael had to explain that infrared didn't mean you could see random things through walls. How can you not love that guy? Outraged over the egregious state of science education in this country.
I see the director's name was Lewis Teague and his career highpoint appeared to be directing Jewel of the Nile and Cujo. He has since gone on to direct something called TBone N Weasel. (Holy shit, Gregory Hines was in it? Ok, time to step away from the IMDB.)
So, I listened to an Astronomy Cast the other day about infrared astronomy. Being able to use telescopes in the infrared was a huge boon to astronomy (it's how we found the supermassive black hole in the Milky Way among many other things.) Infrared is split into near, mid and far with near being closest to what we can see with our eyes and when we talk about terrestrial infrared detectors, we usually mean near infrared. Far infrared is cold stuff. Anything that emits heat (which is just about everything) emits some form of infrared.
The name, btw, comes from the Latin meaning "below." So Infrared is below red on the spectrum. Or you could say, between microwaves and visible light/red.
We experience far infrared as heat but not near infrared. Here is some info from NASA, which is geared toward kids thus I could understand it about the using false colors to read infrared images, among other things.
The boundaries between near, mid and far and not universally agreed upon, but the boundaries of infrared in general are. It's a much longer wavelength range than visible light.
They also mentioned that you can remove the infrared blocking filters from your fancy digital camera to use it as an infrared detector (or, presumably, see secret missile stashes.) This almost makes me want a digital camera.
Infrared telescopes that see in the far range have to be super cooled so they have to be in orbit. Like Spitzer and, in 2014(ish), the James Webb. Germanium is typically used as it is a semi-conductor that is transparent to infrared light.
Also, Theodore Gray has a website? Cool. I love his book.
I see the director's name was Lewis Teague and his career highpoint appeared to be directing Jewel of the Nile and Cujo. He has since gone on to direct something called TBone N Weasel. (Holy shit, Gregory Hines was in it? Ok, time to step away from the IMDB.)
So, I listened to an Astronomy Cast the other day about infrared astronomy. Being able to use telescopes in the infrared was a huge boon to astronomy (it's how we found the supermassive black hole in the Milky Way among many other things.) Infrared is split into near, mid and far with near being closest to what we can see with our eyes and when we talk about terrestrial infrared detectors, we usually mean near infrared. Far infrared is cold stuff. Anything that emits heat (which is just about everything) emits some form of infrared.
The name, btw, comes from the Latin meaning "below." So Infrared is below red on the spectrum. Or you could say, between microwaves and visible light/red.
We experience far infrared as heat but not near infrared. Here is some info from NASA, which is geared toward kids thus I could understand it about the using false colors to read infrared images, among other things.
The boundaries between near, mid and far and not universally agreed upon, but the boundaries of infrared in general are. It's a much longer wavelength range than visible light.
They also mentioned that you can remove the infrared blocking filters from your fancy digital camera to use it as an infrared detector (or, presumably, see secret missile stashes.) This almost makes me want a digital camera.
Infrared telescopes that see in the far range have to be super cooled so they have to be in orbit. Like Spitzer and, in 2014(ish), the James Webb. Germanium is typically used as it is a semi-conductor that is transparent to infrared light.
Also, Theodore Gray has a website? Cool. I love his book.
Best and worst of 2010-a rambling pastiche
So, I actually thought to make a "2010" shelf on Goodreads this year thus I am able to correctly assess my reading. Wow, I read more mysteries than I thought. Here are some of the high and lowlights:
Worst read of the year: White Noise. Well, thanks to Don DeLillo, I don't have to pick a book that was just ok but dull and unfinishable (Judgement Calls) or amateurish and sloppy (Slipknot). I could pick one that was fuck you awful. Smarmy satire about academia that was a smarmily pretentious as the behavior it sought to mock. Hated. It.
Best discovery of the year: I have never been inclined to pick favorite authors because I gravitate more towards individual books. (Well, there was that time in 8th grade when I discovered romance novels and I told the local librarian that famed romance hack Janet Dailey was my favorite writer. I wish I could look her up and tell her I grew out of that.)
Anyways, John Steinbeck is officially my favorite writer after I devoured Cannery Row, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Moon is Down last year. I struggle to pick my favorite among them but I think it's Cannery Row. Still don't get the poison cream puff thing that Ed Ricketts' wife likened the book too. I read The Pearl back in 8th grade and didn't really like it. I read East of Eden in college and loved it although other than reading Of Mice and Men a year or two ago, I hadn't really picked him up since.
Best mystery: This is a tie between Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith and Garnethill by Denise Mina.
Best scifi: Again, I'm torn between The City and The City by China Mieville and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. I liked but didn't love Cat's Cradle.
Best short story collection: well, I didn't read that many but the winner is easily Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom which left me feeling everyone on the planet should read it.
Best memoir: Spider Eaters by Rae Yang. I would say it's the most visceral memoir of the Cultural Revolution but who am I kidding? It's the only memoir of the Cultural Revolution I've read. Still, it's rare because she admits to being in a group that beat a (possibly mentally ill) man to death after accusing him of attempted rape on flimsy evidence.
I am happy to have overcome my literary prejudice toward graphic novels. Not sure why this was. I didn't really like Watchmen that much (which makes me unique on this planet I realize) but that's not the reason. I certainly loved comics as a kid-mainly Archie and The Fantastic 4. Anyways, Ghost World cured me. In fact, I have Volume 1 of The Walking Dead waiting in the car right now.
My favorite TV show is impossible to pick but at the moment, I'm obsessed with Breaking Bad. I even have the elements picked out that would show up in the opening credits were I in the cast (vanadium and nickel...)
I don't really have a least favorite show as I just turn shit off if I don't like it but Gretchen winning Project Runway was probably the worst tv moment of the year for a show I used to love. Granny panties and pleather? Really?
Worst read of the year: White Noise. Well, thanks to Don DeLillo, I don't have to pick a book that was just ok but dull and unfinishable (Judgement Calls) or amateurish and sloppy (Slipknot). I could pick one that was fuck you awful. Smarmy satire about academia that was a smarmily pretentious as the behavior it sought to mock. Hated. It.
Best discovery of the year: I have never been inclined to pick favorite authors because I gravitate more towards individual books. (Well, there was that time in 8th grade when I discovered romance novels and I told the local librarian that famed romance hack Janet Dailey was my favorite writer. I wish I could look her up and tell her I grew out of that.)
Anyways, John Steinbeck is officially my favorite writer after I devoured Cannery Row, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Moon is Down last year. I struggle to pick my favorite among them but I think it's Cannery Row. Still don't get the poison cream puff thing that Ed Ricketts' wife likened the book too. I read The Pearl back in 8th grade and didn't really like it. I read East of Eden in college and loved it although other than reading Of Mice and Men a year or two ago, I hadn't really picked him up since.
Best mystery: This is a tie between Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith and Garnethill by Denise Mina.
Best scifi: Again, I'm torn between The City and The City by China Mieville and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. I liked but didn't love Cat's Cradle.
Best short story collection: well, I didn't read that many but the winner is easily Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom which left me feeling everyone on the planet should read it.
Best memoir: Spider Eaters by Rae Yang. I would say it's the most visceral memoir of the Cultural Revolution but who am I kidding? It's the only memoir of the Cultural Revolution I've read. Still, it's rare because she admits to being in a group that beat a (possibly mentally ill) man to death after accusing him of attempted rape on flimsy evidence.
I am happy to have overcome my literary prejudice toward graphic novels. Not sure why this was. I didn't really like Watchmen that much (which makes me unique on this planet I realize) but that's not the reason. I certainly loved comics as a kid-mainly Archie and The Fantastic 4. Anyways, Ghost World cured me. In fact, I have Volume 1 of The Walking Dead waiting in the car right now.
My favorite TV show is impossible to pick but at the moment, I'm obsessed with Breaking Bad. I even have the elements picked out that would show up in the opening credits were I in the cast (vanadium and nickel...)
I don't really have a least favorite show as I just turn shit off if I don't like it but Gretchen winning Project Runway was probably the worst tv moment of the year for a show I used to love. Granny panties and pleather? Really?
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