Tag Archives: books

22/365. the award winning “Gödel, Escher, Bach” ( in more ways than one ).

22/365. the award winning "Gödel, Escher, Bach" ( in more ways than one ).

the award for book I’ve owned the longest, and most repeatedly attempted to read but never finished without a doubt goes to “Gödel, Escher, Bach”. i think I’ve had in for 30 years. attempts to finish, maybe a dozen.

i could possibly convince myself to read it while watching the MIT opencourseware lectures videos that accompany the course “Gödel, Escher, Bach: A Mental Space Odyssey”.

The New York Public Library publishes list of 100 Great Children’s Books

the new york public library published it’s first ever 100 Great Children’s Books ( they are, of course careful to refrain from calling the a “top 100” list ). it’s a superb list and we’ve read many of them with odin but it’s tough to take a children’s book list seriously that doesn’t contain “the wind in the willows”?! i bet odin would have fun writing down his top 20 or 30.

i’m always happy to hear what books you all like that are appropriate for a 9 year old. right now odin is tearing through percy jackson series. it’s not pulitzer prize winning fiction, but he loves it and that’s all that really matters 🙂

update: i received many excellent suggestions we’ve read quite a few but several we haven’t including, “Guardians of Ga’Hoole”, “The Famous Five” series, “The Prince and the Pauper”, “The Cricket in Times Square”, “The Cat Who Wished to Be a Man”, “the mouse with the question mark tail”, “george’s secret key to the universe”, and the “myth-o-mania” series.

narration scenes from “The Joys of Ridesharing”.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". I.

some scenes from filming “The Joys of Ridesharing” movie which is a fun video encouraging folks to use the the rideshare van at work. you’ve already seen a scene from me “playing” the part of the “lonely guy” riding in his gigantic car all by himself trying to catch up on his reading.

and now, in an internet exclusive ( take that TMZ! ), here are a few images of us filming the narration scenes which will humorously tie together all the footage. the scenes were filmed in and around driftless books in the forgotten works warehouse to give it a masterpiece theatre vibe.

it was a whole lotta fun helping put this together with macon luhning and mister koppa. as you might imagine it took us more than a few takes to make it through some of the surreal scenes.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". II.

there’s always some interesting reading in general metaphysics. you can tell when i’m standing around getting a little bored while mike and macon are rehearsing dialogue.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". III.

more standing around pondering interesting scenes between the scenes at the forgotten works warehouse.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". IV.

macon and mister koppa making comedy gold.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". V.

just finished with my “lay on the floor and roll mister koppa into the scene on a ladder” duties and notice the more things change the more they stay the same ( published in 1968 ).

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". VI.

the “tricycle and elevator” scene where mister koppa descends in the elevator, flings open the door and somberly states, “driving by yourself can make you lonely. make you sad.” this was the hardest scene to film and keep it together. there are a lot of outtakes that end with one of bursting into uncontrollable laughter. my sole job was to stand off to the side and help mike open the elevator door while sitting on the tricycle.

rumor has it that if you view the finished movie you can see my disembodied hand flinging up the door.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". VII.

it’s not every day you can get a shot of a man on a tricycle in an antique elevator, so i savor the moment.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". VIII.

spontaneous scene set-up.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". IX.

spot the secret message in this scene?

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". X.

mister koppa opening the scene with “my mother, my self an electric fire accompanied by me playing a sappily sad piano tune in the background.

narration scenes from "The Joys of Ridesharing". XI.

the final scene with more than a few allusions to mister rogers’ neighborhood.