All manner of things
Oct. 24th, 2012 08:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljGood grief!
I've just read a short news article where a condemned prisoner who is due to be executed by lethal injection in January is trying to get out of it citing health reasons. He weighs about 400 pounds and his first push of the envelope was that he feared the table would not support his weight. It was proven wrong by a test using a large jail guard and extra weights. Hmm. Well, he also claims that his weight, vein access, scar tissue, *depression* and other conditions would make his executioners "encounter severe problems". His lawyer filed something with the court to say that "there is a substantial risk that any attempt to execute him will result in serious physical and psychological pain" .
So?
He's a murderer, judged guilty (for a murder 20 years ago, which is another rant altogether, these endless appeals). He's suffering depression? Is anyone feeling sorry for him yet? If he's worried about his weight or vein access, I'm sure a gas chamber can be arranged. Or a guillotine.
Apparently weight has caused problems in the past with injections according to this article. I suppose they're trying to say it's undue hardship or emotional abuse. The man is a murderer. And besides, I'm in the "obese" category and they never have any trouble finding a vein to take bloodwork or inject an IV in my arm. Every body is different and there's a lot of places in your body you could use to tap a vein.
The new iPad mini is coming out. (or "miniPad" *snork*) It's a 7.5 inch screen and more the size of the ereaders (slightly bigger) and some tablets. Apparently two weeks after it's released, another version will be out that can take advantage of cellular service. Doesn't say that it'll be a phone but probably that's the 4G network so you don't need a wi-fi hotspot. Seems like a lot of fuss for something that's already out there sold by other companies but Apple has to keep up, i suppose and they certainly have their dedicated fans. I do have an iPod touch, several generations old now and newer apps won't run on it. But then i always ran my PC operating system years past the newer ones that were offered. I don't own a smart phone either because i really don't think i'd use it to any advantage most of the time. I may upgrade the iPod at some point i suppose but there's no hurry. The main thing i use it for is tunes and it does that quite well.
I saw the latest Bruce Willis movie, Looper last night. good clean bloody fun. And I do mean that literally. Typical action movie shoot up all over the place with some timey wimey paradox confusion thrown in. It takes place about 30 years from now. And 30 years from that point, time travel has been invented but is illegal. Because disposing of bodies is also more and more difficult, Mobsters use it to send their targets back 30 years, where a hitman is waiting to shoot and then dispose of the body. The victim is sent with bars of silver attached to their back as payment for the hitman in the past. Sending the hitman himself back to be shot by his younger self is called closing the loop. The victims are hooded and the assassins don't know it's their future selves until they slice open the back of the jacket the body has on to find gold bars instead of silver bars. The equivalent of the gold watch kiss-off i guess. They can then retire and live their lives until they're sent back to be killed.
This loop closing is suddenly happening all the time. There's a mob boss in the future called the Rainman who has just taken control and is closing all the loops as his first order of business. Nobody knows who he is or what his real name is. Most of the loopers are youngish men, cocky, stylish, braggarts. One of them discovers his victim is his future self and can't kill him setting off a man hunt for both men. His best friend gives him up and later, one of his hits is, yes, his future self.
Here's where it got confusing. The first time it happened, the future him, Bruce Willis, turns around and the younger him shoots him in the back, but that's where the gold bars are so he doesn't get killed. He fights back and escapes. We watch the subsequent manhunt as the present day boss of the loopers orders his men to find the two renegades. It looks as if the younger guy may have died from a fall out a window but then the next thing you see is the remote cornfield location where the looper does his thing and this time, Bruce appears (hooded) and is killed as per usual. The Looper finds the gold, sees that it's his future self, takes the gold and moves to Shanghai, grows up to be Bruce, who is apparently still a bad ass but is saved by the love of a good woman. However, when it's time for the loop to be closed, he fights back but his wife has been killed. He goes back in time and we are back to the first scenario. Huh? That's where I lost it a bit.
Never mind. Bruce decides he has to find and kill the child that grows up to be the Rainman to save his wife while his younger self needs to find Bruce and kill him.
That's as much as i'll spoil, without going into the ending. But suffice it to say that i had to chuckle when in a typical Bruce scene, he's squinting, cocking his head to one side, looking rather complacent and shooting the place down with a series of various guns. Most of the action movie guys are screaming or gritting their teeth, leaping about over-adrenalized, it's a big show of Tough Muthafuckin Badass. Kind of like when Bruce Springsteen is straining like he's passing a horse out of his arse, sweating and grimacing while crooning out a soft ballad. Not Bruce Willis. He's resigned to the fact but equally determined the opposition isn't going to cream his ass, he's going to take them out first. He's also a Tough Muthafuckin Badass but he doesn't have to make a big production out of it.
Anyway, I liked the movie for what it was. And Emily Blunt is in it. I always like her. And the little boy that plays her son was quite good for being so young. I didn't see the ending coming. Probably should have.
89 - The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker
The earth is slowing down it's rotation. The effects are devastating to the earth. Seen through the eyes of an 11 year old girl whose family is falling apart, possibly from the stress of the circumstances but which might have happened anyway. It's a coming of age type story told from the girl's future perspective of about 10 years on so you know they all survive at least to that point. Good book, well written.
90 - Before the Storm - Melanie Clegg (aka![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madameguillotine
Takes place in the months before and a few years into the French Revolution. Two sisters and a couple of their friends are searching for husbands among the French nobility. There's a good view of the court of Louis and Maria Antoinnette. There's lots of great descriptions of the fashion and lifestyles of the day. There's romance and both good and bad choices in men for the girls. Well written, interesting, you can tell it's well researched. Quite liked it!
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428689823
91 - Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428689299
Story of a young woman in her 20s, a year in her life, 1938 as she meets a young man in the upper crust of society in New York and what happens to her and her friend through the year. I did like this, good descriptions of what New York and life for a single woman was like back then. She learns much about herself.
92 - The Fallen One - Rick Blechta
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/424306663
Mystery. About an Opera singer who loses her husband suddenly, has a breakdown but when she's back on stage 2 years later, thinks she sees her husband on a rainy Paris street. Is he alive or is she seeing things? What do you think? Predictable, Canadian author with mostly a Canadian setting (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa) which isn't a bad thing except if i had never been to those cities, much of the detail put in would be lost on me. And oddly, not once does the author mention the CN Tower, the icon of Toronto, not even in passing as in a view out a fancy condo window. Nor does the author mention the Canadian Parliament buildings while in Ottawa though mentions the local Byward Market which is a stone's throw from it. If you're going to add streets and neighbourhoods that mean nothing to most people reading, add a touchstone better known landmark to place them. Anyway it was all right but not great.
93 - The Snowman - Jo Nesbo
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428688825
Good mystery about serial killer hunting with Inspector Harry Hole. It was a bit anti climactic because i've read some of these books out of order and have read a subsequent book first which pretty much outed the killer. I couldn't remember exactly but i was pretty sure i knew who it was because of something else that occurred in The Leopard, the next book in the series that referred back to the killer in this one. Still. Good writing, good characters. I seem to be growing fond of this type of crime novel.
94 - Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Wanted to read the book as i've seen the movie trailer and it looked quite good, even if it's filled with CGI which is not my favourite thing. The book covers six time periods from the mid 19th century to two different future periods, the last being a post-apocalyptic one. There is a thread that connects them and it seems as if there is a reincarnation element where the soul of one person continues on. The story goes through the six eras, then goes backwards through the eras, continuing on the stories of the characters in reverse, expanding on the theme. The movie tag line says it follows one soul who starts as a murderer and ends up a hero and uses much of the same cast to give that continuation feeling.
I liked the book though wasn't as fond of the first 9th century part even though it's the establishing and ending of the book. The rest of it i really enjoyed. It's interesting to see how the author used so many different writing styles to give you the feel of the different periods, times, and characters.
95 - Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart - Beth Patillo
Another of her Jane Austen themed books. Very easy to read. Not quite as good as some of the others I've ready. A woman finds her real life Darcy but it isn't all she hoped for. It felt a bit rushed and contrived in parts. Not as fun as the others I thought.
I've just read a short news article where a condemned prisoner who is due to be executed by lethal injection in January is trying to get out of it citing health reasons. He weighs about 400 pounds and his first push of the envelope was that he feared the table would not support his weight. It was proven wrong by a test using a large jail guard and extra weights. Hmm. Well, he also claims that his weight, vein access, scar tissue, *depression* and other conditions would make his executioners "encounter severe problems". His lawyer filed something with the court to say that "there is a substantial risk that any attempt to execute him will result in serious physical and psychological pain" .
So?
He's a murderer, judged guilty (for a murder 20 years ago, which is another rant altogether, these endless appeals). He's suffering depression? Is anyone feeling sorry for him yet? If he's worried about his weight or vein access, I'm sure a gas chamber can be arranged. Or a guillotine.
Apparently weight has caused problems in the past with injections according to this article. I suppose they're trying to say it's undue hardship or emotional abuse. The man is a murderer. And besides, I'm in the "obese" category and they never have any trouble finding a vein to take bloodwork or inject an IV in my arm. Every body is different and there's a lot of places in your body you could use to tap a vein.
The new iPad mini is coming out. (or "miniPad" *snork*) It's a 7.5 inch screen and more the size of the ereaders (slightly bigger) and some tablets. Apparently two weeks after it's released, another version will be out that can take advantage of cellular service. Doesn't say that it'll be a phone but probably that's the 4G network so you don't need a wi-fi hotspot. Seems like a lot of fuss for something that's already out there sold by other companies but Apple has to keep up, i suppose and they certainly have their dedicated fans. I do have an iPod touch, several generations old now and newer apps won't run on it. But then i always ran my PC operating system years past the newer ones that were offered. I don't own a smart phone either because i really don't think i'd use it to any advantage most of the time. I may upgrade the iPod at some point i suppose but there's no hurry. The main thing i use it for is tunes and it does that quite well.
I saw the latest Bruce Willis movie, Looper last night. good clean bloody fun. And I do mean that literally. Typical action movie shoot up all over the place with some timey wimey paradox confusion thrown in. It takes place about 30 years from now. And 30 years from that point, time travel has been invented but is illegal. Because disposing of bodies is also more and more difficult, Mobsters use it to send their targets back 30 years, where a hitman is waiting to shoot and then dispose of the body. The victim is sent with bars of silver attached to their back as payment for the hitman in the past. Sending the hitman himself back to be shot by his younger self is called closing the loop. The victims are hooded and the assassins don't know it's their future selves until they slice open the back of the jacket the body has on to find gold bars instead of silver bars. The equivalent of the gold watch kiss-off i guess. They can then retire and live their lives until they're sent back to be killed.
This loop closing is suddenly happening all the time. There's a mob boss in the future called the Rainman who has just taken control and is closing all the loops as his first order of business. Nobody knows who he is or what his real name is. Most of the loopers are youngish men, cocky, stylish, braggarts. One of them discovers his victim is his future self and can't kill him setting off a man hunt for both men. His best friend gives him up and later, one of his hits is, yes, his future self.
Here's where it got confusing. The first time it happened, the future him, Bruce Willis, turns around and the younger him shoots him in the back, but that's where the gold bars are so he doesn't get killed. He fights back and escapes. We watch the subsequent manhunt as the present day boss of the loopers orders his men to find the two renegades. It looks as if the younger guy may have died from a fall out a window but then the next thing you see is the remote cornfield location where the looper does his thing and this time, Bruce appears (hooded) and is killed as per usual. The Looper finds the gold, sees that it's his future self, takes the gold and moves to Shanghai, grows up to be Bruce, who is apparently still a bad ass but is saved by the love of a good woman. However, when it's time for the loop to be closed, he fights back but his wife has been killed. He goes back in time and we are back to the first scenario. Huh? That's where I lost it a bit.
Never mind. Bruce decides he has to find and kill the child that grows up to be the Rainman to save his wife while his younger self needs to find Bruce and kill him.
That's as much as i'll spoil, without going into the ending. But suffice it to say that i had to chuckle when in a typical Bruce scene, he's squinting, cocking his head to one side, looking rather complacent and shooting the place down with a series of various guns. Most of the action movie guys are screaming or gritting their teeth, leaping about over-adrenalized, it's a big show of Tough Muthafuckin Badass. Kind of like when Bruce Springsteen is straining like he's passing a horse out of his arse, sweating and grimacing while crooning out a soft ballad. Not Bruce Willis. He's resigned to the fact but equally determined the opposition isn't going to cream his ass, he's going to take them out first. He's also a Tough Muthafuckin Badass but he doesn't have to make a big production out of it.
Anyway, I liked the movie for what it was. And Emily Blunt is in it. I always like her. And the little boy that plays her son was quite good for being so young. I didn't see the ending coming. Probably should have.
89 - The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker
The earth is slowing down it's rotation. The effects are devastating to the earth. Seen through the eyes of an 11 year old girl whose family is falling apart, possibly from the stress of the circumstances but which might have happened anyway. It's a coming of age type story told from the girl's future perspective of about 10 years on so you know they all survive at least to that point. Good book, well written.
90 - Before the Storm - Melanie Clegg (aka
madameguillotine Takes place in the months before and a few years into the French Revolution. Two sisters and a couple of their friends are searching for husbands among the French nobility. There's a good view of the court of Louis and Maria Antoinnette. There's lots of great descriptions of the fashion and lifestyles of the day. There's romance and both good and bad choices in men for the girls. Well written, interesting, you can tell it's well researched. Quite liked it!
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428689823
91 - Rules of Civility - Amor Towles
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428689299
Story of a young woman in her 20s, a year in her life, 1938 as she meets a young man in the upper crust of society in New York and what happens to her and her friend through the year. I did like this, good descriptions of what New York and life for a single woman was like back then. She learns much about herself.
92 - The Fallen One - Rick Blechta
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/424306663
Mystery. About an Opera singer who loses her husband suddenly, has a breakdown but when she's back on stage 2 years later, thinks she sees her husband on a rainy Paris street. Is he alive or is she seeing things? What do you think? Predictable, Canadian author with mostly a Canadian setting (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa) which isn't a bad thing except if i had never been to those cities, much of the detail put in would be lost on me. And oddly, not once does the author mention the CN Tower, the icon of Toronto, not even in passing as in a view out a fancy condo window. Nor does the author mention the Canadian Parliament buildings while in Ottawa though mentions the local Byward Market which is a stone's throw from it. If you're going to add streets and neighbourhoods that mean nothing to most people reading, add a touchstone better known landmark to place them. Anyway it was all right but not great.
93 - The Snowman - Jo Nesbo
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/428688825
Good mystery about serial killer hunting with Inspector Harry Hole. It was a bit anti climactic because i've read some of these books out of order and have read a subsequent book first which pretty much outed the killer. I couldn't remember exactly but i was pretty sure i knew who it was because of something else that occurred in The Leopard, the next book in the series that referred back to the killer in this one. Still. Good writing, good characters. I seem to be growing fond of this type of crime novel.
94 - Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Wanted to read the book as i've seen the movie trailer and it looked quite good, even if it's filled with CGI which is not my favourite thing. The book covers six time periods from the mid 19th century to two different future periods, the last being a post-apocalyptic one. There is a thread that connects them and it seems as if there is a reincarnation element where the soul of one person continues on. The story goes through the six eras, then goes backwards through the eras, continuing on the stories of the characters in reverse, expanding on the theme. The movie tag line says it follows one soul who starts as a murderer and ends up a hero and uses much of the same cast to give that continuation feeling.
I liked the book though wasn't as fond of the first 9th century part even though it's the establishing and ending of the book. The rest of it i really enjoyed. It's interesting to see how the author used so many different writing styles to give you the feel of the different periods, times, and characters.
95 - Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart - Beth Patillo
Another of her Jane Austen themed books. Very easy to read. Not quite as good as some of the others I've ready. A woman finds her real life Darcy but it isn't all she hoped for. It felt a bit rushed and contrived in parts. Not as fun as the others I thought.
