And the winner is.....

Random Thoughts: Favorite Blog

July Book Preview: Dry

While you wait. Courtesy of Google Books.

http://books.google.com/books?id=bgNTd11fHWkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dry

July Movie Options

Please leave your vote in the comments section. Voting closes Sunday at 11:59pm or when a simple majority vote is reached (4 votes). Please vote for only one movie.

Option 1: Baraka


Option 2: Chop Shop


Option 3: Unforgiven

Save the Pleasant Hill Library!!!

A lot of us in this group check out books, movies, and auto-books from the Pleasant Hill Library. We should all fight to keep it from further cuts! If you can't speak at the city council meeting then please attend. If you can't attend, please write or call the council members!

More info below:


PH Library Budget Cuts
jsb10401, 6/29/2009 5:37 pm



From July 1st until September 30th, Pleasant Hill Library's hours will drop from 48 per week to 43 per week. There will be 5 staff laid off, all other staff will have their hours reduced and, more than likely, the programs will stop since the remaining staff will be too stretched to run them. Beginning in October, the hours may be reduced even further to 35 per week, which would mean the library not opening on Mondays.

The Pleasant Hill City Council will be discussing library funding at their July 13th meeting, beginning at 7:30pm. If you would like to support the library and encourage the city to help keep the library open as many hours as possible, you can:

(1) come to the meeting to speak or to show your support
(2) contact the City Council via e-mail, fax or mail - contact details here: http://www.ci.pleasant-hill.ca.us/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=22

Countywide, the budget for library materials and databases has been drastically cut, while the demand for library services is higher than ever. If you would also like to help the library directly, you can volunteer at the library, make a financial donation, join the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library, donate material for their book sales and shop at their sales. Contact details for volunteer opportunities and the Friends can be found at the Library site:

http://ccclib.org/donations/
http://ccclib.org/friends/

Thank you,

Katherine Bracken
Library Commissioner
City of Pleasant Hill Representative

Random Thoughts: Favorite Author

The Origins of the Slap Bet

The Official Slap Bet Rules

As you may remember, a slap bet has been made for this month's book between Josh, Tony and Bryan. The bet is whether Josh will read/listen to the book for this month.

Below are the official slap bet rules:

THE BILL OF SLAPS

1. A slap bet is created when two parties involved in a disagreement, argument, or difference of opinion mutually agree that whichever party is proven right (or winning party) gets to slap whichever party is proven wrong (or losing party) across the face as hard as they possibly can.

2. In all Slap Bets, a Slap Bet Commissioner must be appointed. In the event of a discrepancy, the Slap Bet Commissioner makes the final ruling. The Slap Bet Commissioner must be someone fair and unbiased, someone kind hearted but not afraid to rule with an iron wrist.

3. When issuing a slap, the slapper must avoid lips and noses at all costs. The goal is for the palm of the slapper's hand to connect with the meaty part of the slappee's cheek thus providing utmost enjoyment and pain. If you're seeing handprint on cheek, you're doing something right. In the event of a bloody nose, the Slap Bet Commissioner shall award the slappee three slaps to be used in succession. Suggestion: The Dead Man's slap (rule 8.)

4. When issuing a slap, the slapper must not wear any rings, gloves, or other finger/hand ornaments to protect the safety of the slappee.

5. When issuing a slap, the slapper must keep one foot on the ground at all times to protect the safety of the slappee.

6. In the event of Premature Slapulation, (when the slapper slaps the slappee as hard as he or she possibly can and then afterwards, finds out that the slap was not warranted), the slappee gets to slap the slapper at least three times.

7. The Blind Man Slap: If the Slap Bet Commissioner deems the slappee particularly deserving, the Slap Bet Commissioner can issue The Blind Man Slap in which the slappee must close their eyes while being slapped.

8. The Dead Man Slap: Backhanded slaps are permitted only if used in succession. For example, if the Slap Bet Commissioner awards the slapper multiple slaps, the slapper can use a backhand if and only if it's preceded by a forehand. This is commonly referred to as The Dead Man Slap and is the only existing slap that allows the slapper to connect with both sides of the slappee's face thereby earning maximum slappage.

9. When the slappee gets slapped, he/she must accept the fact that they've just got slapped. Any retaliation against the slapper, by the slappee, will result in no less than ten slaps (with a set number to be delivered by the Slap Bet Commissioner.)

10. The most important rule: Enjoy! Few things in this world match the sheer joy one receives from slapping a friend right across the face. Especially after being proven right. So slap away!

June Movie: What the Bleep Do We Know?

WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW?! is a new type of film. It is part documentary, part story, and part elaborate and inspiring visual effects and animations. The protagonist, Amanda, played by Marlee Matlin, finds herself in a fantastic Alice in Wonderland experience when her daily, uninspired life literally begins to unravel, revealing the uncertain world of the quantum field hidden behind what we consider to be our normal, waking reality. She is literally plunged into a swirl of chaotic occurrences, while the characters she encounters on this odyssey reveal the deeper, hidden knowledge she doesn?t even realize she has asked for. Like every hero, Amanda is thrown into crisis, questioning the fundamental premises of her life ? that the reality she has believed in about how men are, how relationships with others should be, and how her emotions are affecting her work isn?t reality at all!

June Book: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale concerns Alec Leamas, a British agent in early Cold War Berlin. Leamas is responsible for keeping the double agents under his care undercover and alive, but East Germans start killing them, so he gets called back to London by Control, his spy master. Yet instead of giving Leamas the boot, Control gives him a scary assignment: play the part of a disgraced agent, a sodden failure everybody whispers about. Control sends him back out into the cold--deep into Communist territory to checkmate the bad-guy spies on the other side. The political chessboard is black and white, but in human terms the vicinity of the Berlin Wall is a moral no-man's land, a gray abyss patrolled by pawns. Le Carré beats most spy writers for two reasons. First, he knows what he's talking about, since he raced around working for British Intelligence while the Wall went up. He's familiar with spycraft's fascinations, but also with the fact that it leaves ideals shaken and emotions stirred. Second, his literary tone has deep autobiographical roots. Spying is about betrayal, and Le Carré was abandoned by his mother and betrayed by his father, a notorious con man. (They figure heavily in his novels Single & Single and A Perfect Spy.) In a world of lies, Le Carré writes the bitter truth: it's every man for himself. And may the best mask win.

Who Watches (or reads) The Watchmen? (includes all Watchmen trailers)

Unfortunately, a number of us didn't get to read or finish "Watchmen" by Alan Moore. That's unfortunate. I don't know how it's even possible to not read the monthly book. You'd never see that outta me.

Anyway, the book was awesome and for those of you who missed it, I suggest reading it before the movie comes out. It's one of the most anticipated movies of 2009 and that's because it looks like they're doing an awesome job on it, and that is because the book was so damn good. It's like a vicious cycle that makes me happy.

For the curious, here is the 1st trailer for the upcoming movie:


If you want to know more, here is the 2nd trailer:


And if those two got you hooked, here's the 3rd trailer for Watchmen:


And yet, one more! Yes, a fourth preview with even more footage. At this point, you've pretty much seen the whole Watchmen movie in full (not really of course) and don't need to pay your $9.50. But this is a good one....


See you guys next month!
- Josh

September Movie: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

September Book: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson

The greatest superpower of all isn't to be part spider, part man, or to cast magic spells -- the greatest power is the power to create. Daniel has that power.
Daniel's secret abilities -- like being able to manipulate objects and animals with his mind or to recreate himself in any shape he chooses -- have helped him survive. But Daniel doesn't have a normal life. He is the protector of the earth, the Alien Hunter, with a mission beyond what anyone could imagine.
From the day that his parents were brutally murdered in front of his very eyes, Daniel has used his unique gifts to hunt down their assassin. Finally, with the help of The List bequeathed to him in his parents' dying breath, he has located the killer.
Now, on his own, he vows to take on his father's mission--and to have vengeance in the process.