Monday, February 17, 2014

Questionable Practices



“Without Eileen Gunn, life as we know it would be so du five or six North Americans currently able to write shor near enough.” —Ursula K. Le Guin

Now *that's* a review to envy...

I was excited to be first to get ehands on the ebook from Hennepin County Library, once it came in.  As Le Guin says, Eileen Gunn books are a rare event.  I will probably end up buying this at Wiscon, especially if a friend is working the Small Beer Press table, but a preview is a treat.

So far the first story drew me right in.  It's snowing heavily outside at 7:45 a.m. on this holiday morning.  I'm thankful not to have to shovel, try to commute, and shovel again.  A good book to read is even better.

I saw "Flight," with Denzel doing his Denzel scene chomping thing.  It was ok, but not as good as the Olympic skating, which has been good but not great.  (I missed the pairs team competition, which sounds like it was sizzling.)  Nothing at Sochi has been really riveting, that I caught.  Sort of, "Oh yeah, he got the medal."  Partly, some people, like the long track speed skaters, just make it look too easy.   I realize it's not...

I did get to benefit from having watched a  bunch of skate skiing technique videos on Youtube.  It was more exciting to watch the X-country/Nordic ski races and understand more what they're doing at different points.  V1, V2, etc. 

Same with swimming, I learn best by watching people do it and trying to visualize their technique as I try it.  In swim class, this really Zen swimmer was in a lane nearby showing perfect, relaxed form.  Now I have something to think about to slow down my crawl, so I can breathe properly.  Making slow progress toward being able to swim a sprint triathlon.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Interviews

An interview of  Marijane Meaker (Vin Packer, M.E. Kerr), and one with
Billie Jean King.   They both shed interesting light on lesbian history, on how far we've come, and what still persists.  Nice photo of King at the height of her powers, too.


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