Surprised Kitty Cat cutest ever :))

I'm not a cat person, but this is cute.

Pocono Trees

Got enough wires?

Well, do ya?

9/11 Mother Confronts Holder

I can't help but feel impressed at this exchange.

Under the Dome

Stephen King's latest offering is a 1074-page tome called Under The Dome.




The small Maine town of Chester's Mill is suddenly and inexplicably enclosed by an invisible, impenetrable force field. Air gets through, barely, and water, but that's it. All efforts by beast, man, and machine to break through the dome amount to zero.


Shenanigans don't ensue. Instead we see an exacting case-study of what happens when folks get the idea that their actions have no consequences.


King of course is a master storyteller - he really has a gift for character and motivation. He likes a large cast, and is good at filling out the back story of 'minor' characters in quick bold strokes that make us care.


Enemies are always easy to find and easy to hate in King's stories. Part of his genius is his knack for exposition of his villains' motivations and intents. We never love them, frequently dread them, and are always happy when they get 'it' in or near the end.


The great strength of this book is it's creeping, unrelenting claustrophobia; by the end, as certain characters sit struggling for air, you have to remind yourself to breathe.


The weakness in Under the Dome is the general weakness of many of Kings horror stories; here as in other stories, something or someone is the ultimate cause of the basic problem (the dome had to come from somewhere, right?), and at some point King has to reveal the 'monster'; this always seems to fall flat, to me (think 'It', 'Dreamcatcher', 'The Tommyknockers').


By the end of 'Dome', King has screwed our psychological pegs really tight - he's plucking our strings, and we're quivering with the thrill of fear. But what to do with all that delicious angst? I keep feeling that King has been struggling with this dilemma for most of his career, and that he's never quite resolved it. In fact, looking at his most successful stories (think 'Shawshank', 'Stand by Me', 'Green Mile'), you can't miss the fact that in these stories, there's no monster to be unveiled; the stories have a high hopeful core, and King's superb craftsmanship makes them shine.
Revealing the monster remains a discordant note in King's storytelling, and though in 'Dome' King's craftsmanship saves the day - I'm still not quite satisfied with the resolution.


But as a whole, Under the Dome is a great read. At base, it's a good story, masterfully told. 4 stars!

lip sync

What's up with ads where you hear one person singing, but you see 4 or 5 folks doing the lip sync?
Am I the only one who finds their inner stickler rising up in umbrage over this? I know - I know, there's got to be a better way to start a Monday. And if that's the case, they shouldn't play those ads on a Monday morning. Right?

Cool Fall Colors