First of the Fall

Captured this group of leaves today which are showing the first signs of changing color for the Fall. The low sunlight of a hot summer day was making the leaves glow and the little branches acquired a nimbus of their own. Even though it was the evening, I had to dial in -1.3 exposure compensation to achieve the effect I wanted.

Shell

These little dudes are all over the pine trees around the house. Believe it or not these are the abandoned shells of skin that they've shed. They seem to have taken a pretty tight grip on the pine bark before leaving their old homes.

Blaze and Time’s Eye

Finished Time’s eye by Arthur C Clarke and and Blaze by Stephen King. Yeah I was reading both of them together and finished both within the last two days.

Time’s Eye was a total disappointment. I should have known better than to take it out in the first place since this is also one of Clarke’s collaborative works. I actually made a resolution not to read any of Clarke’s collaborative work after the bad experience with the Rama series. I think what’s happening is that Clarke is just lending his name to this recent work to boost book sales. This particular book has the name Stephan Baxter attached to it and I think the writing is all his.

Time’s Eye is based on a preposterous premises where the Earth is carved up into a jigsaw puzzle of different time lines from the pre-historic to 2037. The science part of SF stops there, the rest is a confused jumble of history and characteristics of historical personae through the author’s eye. These range from a quirky tilt-head glance of Alexander the great to the body odour of Gehghis Khan. And then it ends without any explanation at all why this happened. The synopsis on the jacket is totally misleading, it hints at a plot of a depth which the mergre imagination of the author is clearly not up to concocting.

Blaze is the latest by Stephen King and by the looks of it the last of the Bachman books. It’s a nicely written story centering on a kidnapping. The kidnapper is a victim of circumstances more than anything else. From the time that his father threw him down the stairs three times in a row, life has dealt a raw deal to Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. aka Blaze. He ends up being a dimwitted oaf that other criminals make a tool of, but the kidnapping makes the reader realize that under all that scar tissue Blaze harbors a sensitive soul. A soul maybe ripped in two by the damage his brain suffered but a sensitive one nevertheless. The story ends in the inevitable death of Blaze and doesn’t contain any of the twists and mind boggling surprises that King usually sets out for his readers. It’s a nice story but not an unconventional one as what we’ve come to expect from the master of horror fiction.

Our new car

After nearly 3 months of Avis rentals, I've finally bought the car. As you can see it's a Toyota Rav4. Specifically it's a 2l 4-door 4WD model with a few options thrown in. I've always been partial to SUVs and even more partial to Toyotas, so the best combination that fits the bill for the moment is this.

Thanks Uditha.. I counted on Uditha's help yet again and not only did he come with us to inspect the vehicle and give his advice, he also ended up driving it home for me since I did not have insurance. I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have Uditha living close by. . I just realized that our friendship extends back nearly 20 years now.. Well buddy, here's to another 20! you rock!!

Arranging insurance was pretty easy, just a couple of clicks and a phone call later I had my insurance. Of course the costs are pretty high compared with the SL rates, one reason being me not having driving history here.

I've been driving the RAV4 for only a couple of days now, but I think I've made the right decision. It's a joy to drive and the acceleration is quite good for the small 2l power plant. Also the utility and the configurability of the rear passenger and cargo areas is quite amazing.

One thing I'm still not sure is the fuel economy on this. Since it's AWD, the economy is supposedly less than the 2WD model. Hope it wont be too much of a difference. Talking about fuel economy, I returned the Corolla and when I was pumping the tank full I found out that it had done nearly 26MPG on city running. Pretty cool!

Potter Fever

Well, JK Rowling has done it again! beat her own record for book sales and pre-orders. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the highest selling book ever and the highest sold within the first 24 hours after release.

Yours truly had the dubious honor of being in the queue for the 7'th book as well! I was at the Wal-Mart late on Friday 20'th and when I found out that the book was going to be released that night at 00:01 I joined the queue. I was about number 100 in a queue of about 300 people.

Not a great picture I know, just the best my cheap Nokia could do. Anyway, what I wanted to share most is my views on the HP series and JKs phenomenal success. In my eyes it's probably the best piece of innovative writing I've ever come across. Yeah I mean Innovative as opposed to inventive. To me Harry Potter is a marvelous combination of elements from one of the great epics of our time and a lesser known children's book written some time ago.

The first one is none other than Tolkein's Lord of The Rings. My all time favorite fantasy and a cult classic. The second is a lesser known book called "Groosham Grange" by UK writer Anthony Horowitz. I do not want to delve into details of the elements that JK seems to have drawn from each book. But the parallel's between LOTR and the Harry Potter books from the mirror of Galadariel which was introduded to us in "Harry Potter and the Philosoper's Stone" as the Mirror of Erised down to Wormtail's closing act in the 7'th book which is so reminiscent of Gollum's closing act in LOTR are evident to someone who has read LOTR more than once. (OK, I admit, I've read LOTR about a dozen times now)

JK Rowling's fresh and vibrant language with her perfect sense of humor and witticism made the entire series the most read book in the world and her the most commercially successful writer of our time.

One more question is worth trying to answer, why was the plot line so attractive to our generation of kids and adults alike? It was is essence a silly premise, without the faintest grounding in reality.. I mean magic, come on!! That's David Copperfield stuff, nothing to write stories about.

I believe the answer lies in the overly complicated, technocratic lifestyles of the 21'st century society. We may all love our iPods and our bluetooth equipped cars and our micro miniaturized PDAs and even our household Fridges which talks to Wal-Mart to order fresh eggs, but deep down I think humans are actually overwhelmed by the complexities of the society we have built. And we crave simplicity. The world that JK brought to life gives us a glimpse of how much simpler life can be, and right in the midst of the 21'st century. Spells, incantations and wands are the ultimate quick fix. And all the underlying complexity is veiled from human senses. It's just the act of waving the wand and saying the magic words.

After the rains..

We had constant drizzling and even some genuine thunderstorms for the last couple of weeks. When the sun started shining again, a whole lot of different mushrooms have started blooming around the pine trees.

Chapa captured this nice shot of one in our front yard. I personally think it's one of her better shots, the composition and the color combinations are quite pleasing.

Saying bye to the HHR

Today I went to renew my rental contract with Avis and get it extended for another month. Sure hope this will be my last month on a rental car!

Anyway, I had grown quite fond of the little HHR by now. I've had it for over 2 months and it had served me very well. Even though initially I was a little sarcastic of it's retro looks, I found it the perfect little vehicle for my needs.

So I was a little saddened when I found out I'd have to return it and take out a different car with the new contract. Apparently the plates on the HHR are up for renewal (something that those of us in SL do not have to live with) and the Avis lady didn't want me to get copped due to an expired plate.

After a little deliberation and actually going out and checking it out, I opted for a Corolla over a Ford Escape SUV. SUV lover that i ever am, the Escape was a little old and clunky for my taste. And familiarizing myself with the Corolla will be an advantage since I will be using Hussain's Corolla for the road test on the 15'th. (thanks to Husain's generosity :)

Anyway, I am going to miss the little blue HHR. A great car for a lot of things. Here's to you CHEVY!!