1q84 | Three things to read, watch, and use

These are The Bribery’s good things.

Good things to read:

1Q84, Haruki Murakami – I’m not much of a Haruki Murakami fan but I’m completely drawn towards his books. He’s a great writer and he’s been a great writer as far as I’ve had read his books (and yep, I’ve read quite a lot). One of my favorites is this, 1Q84. It’s a dragging read for me and I’ve spent months reading this trilogy. It’s very dreamy and it takes you to places. It’s a special kind of roller coaster where you get tensed up with its exciting moments and then put you into a very monotonous mood with vivid description of events and conversations (and even the inexplicable death of a guard dog and the stylish outfit of the female lead…coming from a man). In between these two main moods are swings from different other moods: adventurous, curious, sympathetic, angry, and many others.

You’re an Animal, Viskovitz!,Alessandro Boffa – This may be, by far, my most favorite book of all. This is not your typical fable and you may not find this book easily. Finding this on a secondhand bookstore has been one of my best moments in my book buying history. In this anthology of mature fables, Viskovitz will relate you to mishaps in love and chances that will make you laugh and realize that life and love aren’t jokes both apart and together.

I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere, Anna Gavalda – Ironically, the long title is a collection of short stories. This must be one of my most favorite collections of short stories. As a fan of Haruki Murakami, I should’ve put Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman in this selection but this book has been one of my favorites. It has made me cry and it has stuck through me about how surreal simple occurrences are and how heartbreaking these events can be.

Good things to watch:

Paris, je t’aime – Over the years I’ve seen few films and luckily, most of them aren’t crappy. One of these films that I’ve seen is Paris, je t’aime and it has been one of my favorites for many years. I even put this on top of my movie suggestions. It is an anthology of stories that tells about the life in Paris of both tourists and locals. Each short film brings you to different realities mostly heartbreaking that will be relieved at the end. Inexplicable. You have to watch it to understand how it feels.

Synecdoche, New York – There’s no coincidence between this and the first film just because they have commas and names of places. Nonetheless, Synecdoche, New York is one of my favorite films of all time if not the most. I’ve seen this film for about 6 times and I still haven’t figured out most parts yet and it always gives me a very good time to figure out each part in order to get the whole. But as a synecdoche works, one can speak for the whole or the whole can speak for a part.

Tony Takitani – As a Haruki Murakami fan, I should’ve put Norwegian Wood on here but I was talking to another Murakami fan two weeks ago and asked which she likes more. Norwegian Wood was her answer and I quickly said Tony Takitani’s mine—NO QUESTIONS ASKED. If you’ve read the short story, there’s not much to expect in this film. It’s just over an hour, practically short but it’s slow and dragging. This makes it more effective when it comes to making the viewer feel more. The book conveys deep emotions while the film makes it alive. No need to explain further. (I was about to put Winnie The Pooh [2011] but there’s no way I’m not including Tony Takitani; that’s a good one, too, anyway.)

Good things to use:

iPod Classic 120GB – There’s no way that any other Apple product will replace this product in my heart. I’m a music lover and all I could ever wish for is something that I can easily carry and will bring me good music. No other reason why I wouldn’t love my iPod so much.

Ibanez AEG10EBK – This must be the cheapest Ibanez that you can easily find. I got this for my birthday and I never regretted buying it (well, my mom did). In spite of the cheap price, the woods of this guitar are very nice: mahogany for the neck, spruce for the top. Not bad for a cheap guitar. It also has great pickup, Fishman, with an onboard tuner and Ibanez SST electronics. The only problem that I’ve ever found is the tuners but over-all, this is a good find.

Minolta RIVA Zoom70 – My mother got my camera from her mother and she eventually gave it to me. I’ve never got the chance to own a camera and this is the closest I have gotten to the analog age. It has decent functions, nothing complicated and nothing special but it’s all great for analog amateurs.

My name is Mike Dariano and these are my good things

What are three good things you’ve read?

I just finished Anansi Boys by Gaiman and it was very good. I’ve read Gaiman’s American Gods and thought that was a better overall book but this was shorter and felt more focused. Plus it had a lot of the same good stuff that was in American Gods.

I also re-read Altucher’s I was Blind but now I See kindle book. Some good thought provoking ideas about college, congress, and life. I enjoy reading things that remind me that the power in my life is up to me.

Slowly I’ve been trudging through 1Q84 and it’s very good with the pacing and character development. It’s been like watching two sets of storm clouds slowly, beautifully, move across the horizon and you’re just waiting to see what happens when they meet. Though I do wish they would meet a bit sooner.

What are three good things you’ve watched?

After putting our kids to sleep my wife and I watch Colbert Report which seems a bit funnier to us than The Daily Show but Steward seems funnier than Colbert. Who knows.

I re-watched Drive again the other day and Ryan Gosling will always live in my mind as someone who doesn’t talk in movies but is very good at meme’s. The movie reminds me of driving around large cities at night when the roads are all lit but very few people are out and it feels like another world.

A friend turned us on to Tosh.0 an that’s another show we watch after the kids go to bed – and for good reason.

What are three good things you use?

Long ago I stopped watching or reading the news because it proved to be too much of a time-suck for me but recently I subscribed to Pell’s Next Draft. It’s a week day email summary of what happened with some clever comments from Dave.

For email I’m giving Postbox a try. After launching this site and taking a new teaching position my number of email accounts grew to too many for a browser and I’m hoping the desktop client works well. I’m still within my 30 day trial but it’s been wonderfully minimal in interface but with many features.

I’ve been using Orchestra for my new to do list and it’s great! Forwarding emails and dictating what I need to do while driving have been awesome features.