1. Joke
I heard this on the radio after doing a little snow-shoveling myself.
How do you turn your dishwasher into a snow blower?
Give her a shovel.
Sigh. Smile. Snort.
2. Zone One-Star
Book: Zone One by Colson Whitehead
Review: 1 bill-star (out of 5)... really bad
Goodreads review: www.goodreads.com/review/show/265945213
Zone One is a story about the apocalypse and zombies and senseless violence and gore... wow, sounds perfect Bill, you say. Nope. It stinks. I gave up after 170 pages, with about a hundo to go. I really hardly ever do that. How is such a thing possible?
The apocalypse in Zone One is some unidentified plague. Most everyone gets the plague and turns into a flesh-eating zombie of some flavor. Pretty standard stuff. And honestly, a very nice backdrop for some good "guy reading".
So, what's the problem? The author uses this post-apocalyptic opportunity to whine and complain. Incessantly. About everything. Well, Bill, it is the end of the human race and civilization as we know it... so maybe a little complaining is in order. Hey, I'm with you. But the author, using flashbacks, bitches and moans even more about the world before the plague than after. Blech.
There is very little plot in Zone One. There are very few characters. The book has almost no humor or even smart, biting satire or sarcasm to its credit. The writing style is stilted, self-aware.
This was my favorite little bit from the book... the lead character complains of PASD, which is Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder. That's cute. It's also funny that he describes the symptoms (nervous, nightmares, paranoia, etc) and notes that nearly everyone has the symptoms, even before the plague hit.
And this is a fun one...
QOTD
They had become a backward people, stunted and medieval: the world is flat, the Sun revolves around the Earth, everything is better in Canada.
- Zone One
While reading, I kept comparing Zone One to another post-apocalyptic book: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (williamt review). It's not fair to hold anyone to the Cormac standard, but they are both books dealing with life after the apocalypse. The Road doesn't contain a single whine. The Road is a punch in the mouth that dares you to complain.
3. Cultural divide
I don't know if I agree with this, but here's an interesting (long) WSJ story about what's different in America now... the cultural divide:
Here's the money chart from that story...
This is stuff that is so fun to think about... what has REALLY changed over the last 50 years, over your lifetime. For sure, people are getting married less. Way less. Organized religion is down. I certainly didn't know that affluence and education were such a big part of the equation though. Interesting.
The author makes broad, sweeping conclusions about this cultural divide. It's a long walk, and I'm not signing up to a lot of it. But perhaps the foundation is worthy... In a high-tech world, the difference those who are educated and those who are not is going to get more and more acute.
yow, bill
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