tune worth listening to

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Holy poop this gal's voice is angelic. Nice tune.

...

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enjoy your dessert the 'natural' way

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Ever want to eat your dessert on plate that looks like a testicle? Well, you're in luck! Medical illustrator Emily Evans designed these plates to look like histological samples of different body tissues. Enjoy your flan on testicle, liver, thyroid and esophagus.

Don't mind if I do! Get em here.

Best resume ever

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I wonder if I could pull something like this off on my CV and get away with it. What do you think? Awesome or cheesy?

what if....

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The What If... comics used to be some of my favs. Here are some that I'm pretty sure weren't in the franchise.

zombie truths

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Sounds about right.

wash your hands

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breeding zombie-loving children

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What better way could there be to prepare your little ones for the zombie apocalypse than to get them a teddy bear. Tell me that this doesn't look like the perfect gift for your little tyke. Every little kid dreams of a gory zombified teddy bear.... right?? 

Okay, even I'm not weird enough to get my kids something like this. 

even this can't make Comic-con bad

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gif-a-licious

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Book Review: City of Saints by Andrew Hunt

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City of Saints: A Mystery by Andrew Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First off, I want to say that City of Saints was NOT was I expected it to be. I went into this book expecting a dark book filled with mystery and Mormon intrigue. Now don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it just didn't fit my prior expectations.

City of Saints is a fictionalized version of a true unsolved murder that occurred in Salt Lake City in the 1930s. Andrew Hunt took a lot of liberty in telling the story so very little is true to fact other than time periods and a few renamed characters. In my opinion this was actually a pretty smart move on his part because he turned this story into a fabulously exciting tale that kept me wanting more. The writing was smart and fun and gave just enough depth to have a degree of realism to the plot. The ending was somewhat disappointing but I think it was probably quite a challenge to find a resolution to the story that both satisfied us as readers and held true to the actually murder that took place.

My only real complaint about City of Saints is that the time period didn't feel authentic. Honestly, the way it was told, the story could have occurred in the 2000s and I wouldn't have know better. There was very little effort made to place the reader in the 30's. I would have loved to feel more authenticity of that time period but really the only thing that makes you realize it's even occurring during that time is the occasional mention of a Model A and a reference to the date.

Overall, the book was better than I expected despite being nothing like I thought it would be. Enjoyable to the very last page!

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Just good business sense.

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Ever had a really good teacher?

Pin It I hope I can be half as good a father as this. I dare you not to cry.

I beat Mike Tyson

Pin It Brilliant documentary of an unknown Irish boxer, Kevin McBride, who beat Mike Tyson in front of hundreds of thousands of people and then faded into obscurity.


I BEAT MIKE TYSON - (FULL FILM) from Joshua Z Weinstein on Vimeo.

Book Review: Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins

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Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I've been on a poetry kick lately which has lead me to a discovery: I detest most modern poetry. While I admittedly prefer rhyming lyrical poetry to the conversational style that is currently popular, I enjoy it all in moderation.

What I don't like is that poetry such as this seems to have no point. It discusses very banal subjects in a very bland way. I felt like Billy Collins was simply collecting random thoughts in short bursts rather than waxing poetic. I guess this would be fine as well if those random thoughts had something interesting about them but overall I didn't feel a connection with anything in this collection of poetry.

If this book is meant to represent the best of modern American poetry, then I think I will stick with the classics. Of course I am being dramatic because there are some contemporary poets that create beautiful and fascinating work (I am currently enjoying Leigh Stein's collection 'Dispatch from the future' and Sarah Kay is quite incredible) but I can't appreciate the stuff in this book at all.

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Why Skyrim is better than real life

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Book Review: Among Others by Jo Walton

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Among Others by Jo Walton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Among Others felt less like a fantasy novel to me and more like a very long personal tribute to sci-fi. There is a lot to like about the book (which I trust you have already read in other reviews) such as the fantastic writing by Jo Walton, the complex characters, and the "soft fantasy".

However, there is plenty that I equally disliked and unfortunately at times my dislike overpowered the positives. Any lover of SF can appreciate the author's love affair with LeGuin and Silverberg. I too felt some excitement that it was integrated into the story. Sometimes it felt like way too much though. I especially disapprove of the fact that numerous spoilers were included in the story of books I intended on reading. Granted, most are considered "classics" which people may argue have been spoiled by plenty of others in the past. However, it still troubles me.

I also felt that the light sci-fi/fantasy was perhaps a bit too light. Most of the book was just a well-written teenage girl's journal. I read enough of those when I snuck into my sister's rooms decades ago. I wanted an escape - real fantasy or SF.

Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic. Clearly there are multitudes of people who loved the way this story was told. I just didn't feel like there was much of a story. The climax didn't so much climax as simply distract from a lull in the story.

I am almost offensively shocked by people who have compared this book to Ready Player One (probably my favorite book). There is simply no comparison between the two. I felt very little nostalgia or excitement in Among Others, something that ran rampant through RPO.

This is definitely a book for those passionate about SF but who don't expect to find much of it in the story.

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Book Review: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

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Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I had such high hopes for Cloud Atlas. The praise I read about the book illustrated it as a complex and exciting story that ties multiple characters together into a beautiful story. I must have missed something because I didn't get that at all. The fact that I made it through the book at all is a miracle. It was dry, long, and kind of felt pointless. I kept waiting for the story to give me some sort of revelation that linked it all together but that never happened. Maybe I missed something or simply don't have the ability to think deeply enough to understand the point of the tale but really, it just felt like a bunch of short stories shoved together in a way that I can't quite seem to understand.

I told myself at least 5 times that I should just quit reading it but I persevered and I don't think I'm glad I did. While I applaud David Mitchell's ability to create so many unique voices in his characters, I found them uninspiring. This is one book I simply can't recommend to anyone. Perhaps the movie was more exciting but I'm not sure I care enough to find out.

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Geeky Poetry: Week 3

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Feeling Sorry for Myself While Standing Before the Stegosaurus at the Natural History Museum in London

by Michael Derrick Hudson

Oh yes my friend, I've been there: the insects battering at
the armored lids of your yellowish eyes

the moment you pecked your way out of that rotten shell
and dug out from your sandpit nest.....

And I've experienced the thud thud thud of your days,
the indigestible monotony

of everything's spiny orangy-green husk. How the sun
gets daily whiter and hotter and just

a little bit closer. The week spent gobbling down your

own weight's worth of whatever. One stumpy
footprint after another, tracking the trackless, squelching

across last night's marsh into a volcano-spattered today
hip-deep in ash and yawning

a muzzleful of sulfur. Swishing through stiff fronds,

we drag an unbearable load of tombstones on our back
and a fat lugubrious tail, shit-smutched and

spiked. The flattening of the razor grass. The forgotten
clutch of eggs. Our shrill yaps

and groans. That tiny gray walnut
for a brain and the fat black tongue tough as a bootsole.....

They've explained us away a dozen times: some passing
meteorite or another, the rat-like mammals

eating our pitiful young, all kinds
of new weather. Issueless, but far too stupid to be forlorn,

we trundle along the pink quartz shore
to sip at the lukewarm edge of yet another evaporating sea. 

Book Review: Darth Vadar and Son by Jeffrey Brown

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Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Darth Vadar and Son is a graphic novel that is about the size and length of a children's board book. Part of me feels as though I should be slightly ashamed at how awesome I think it was. There's no real story involved (the only reason I gave it 4 stars rather than 5) but is rather a series of single page comics that are both hilarious and full of nostalgia.

This is a must-own for anyone who loves Star Wars.

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Medical school zombies

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In the midst of studying, I often look around the school and see an interesting phenomena - about two days before any given exam, the otherwise empty study rooms begin to fill to capacity with zombies. Not the kind that wants to eat your brains... unless, that is, they are able to absorb some of the information lodged therein for themselves.

These are students who are absent from lectures, libraries and study rooms 95% of the year to suddenly appear like rabid bunnies to devour their notes in the 48 hours prior to d-day. Most of these are normally fairly well adjusted kids who like all of us suffer from distractions and confusion with the lecture content. However, when they appear in their haste to cram, something interesting happens which, quite frankly, kind of scares me.

It is during this time that everyone gets a little grumpy. Minor disturbances in silent recesses of the "quiet study rooms" are met with shushes and 'zip its'. Annoyed glances are common-place among these hypersensitive scholars. Normally straight backs turn kyphotic and stooped. Hair that is typically well kept when hitting the bars on a school night is replaced with sex hair minus the sex. Eyes are buggy and hazy - absent of life or passion. Moods are generally more irritable and jittery. You can often look over at these students and see them staring at their notes from 5 inches away without moving a stitch or blinking or peeing in a 8 or 10 hour period. Seriously, I have seen a student or two not get up once in a full day. No eating, no pooping, no talking, no standing. This is a DVT's dream scenario (they should know better).

So, this must be normal, right? The normal physiological response to the abnormal stress thrown our way in medical school?

Nope. It's a shiny little pill called Adderall. This is the zombie drug that turns C students into A students in the space of 48 hours. This is what separates many top-of-the-class students from those of us who struggle to stay above the curve. This magic pill is a living miracle - a story which you can hear in any medical school hallway or lunch room. It is also an amphetamine. You might have heard of those before. Adderall's more notorious siblings are drugs like speed, crystal meth, and base. These are the drugs that parents fear most and that we see on crime dramas with crackheads who run around out of control. Don't be mistaken, Adderall is one of these drugs too, just the prescription form of the drug. It is often used in ADHD... or in college students for performance enhancement.

Don't get me wrong, there are people who need drugs like this. As with all medications there are appropriate uses which can benefit those with disabilities or psychological disorders. One of my good friends at school is one of these people. He's got the worst ADHD I've ever seen. However, the irony is that he is one of the minority at my medical school that isn't using the drug. He was prescribed and tried it but stopped taking the drug due to the negative effects - in short, he thought it was going to kill him.

My thought is this: if you don't need a drug to control your behavior when it isn't test week, then you probably shouldn't need it when tests are 2 days away. You know that anxiety you have before tests? It's called being human. We all get it. It's sad to think that what really separates an A from a B is drugs in some cases.

It's doping. 

Of course there are a few souls with abnormally massive brains who can pull off straight A's without a booster. I salute these animals. However, I have an inkling that these are the exception, not the rule.

People get all up in arms about the fact that Lance Armstrong took performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France or that Barry Bonds juiced to be a better ball player. I'm interested as to why people are less concerned that future doctors or lawyers or pilots are doping. Is a student at the top of their class on Adderall really an A student? Are they going to rely on uppers to keep them in the zone while they operate on you?

This isn't a new phenomenon. It's been going on for years and years. It will probably go on for many more. However, all I know is that while I am not a straight-A student, I can feel proud that I earned every single grade I got without the assistance of a chemical study partner. Doing it the old fashioned way is painful and tiring and makes me looked retarded in comparison with some of my classmates... but at least I can say it was all me. And maybe a few 5-hour energy drinks.

Geeky Poetry: Week 2

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The Sciences Sing a Lullabye

by Albert Goldbarth

Physics says: go to sleep. Of course
you're tired. Every atom in you
has been dancing the shimmy in silver shoes
nonstop from mitosis to now.
Quit tapping your feet. They'll dance
inside themselves without you. Go to sleep.

Geology says: it will be all right. Slow inch
by inch America is giving itself
to the ocean. Go to sleep. Let darkness
lap at your sides. Give darkness an inch.
You aren't alone. All of the continents used to be
one body. You aren't alone. Go to sleep.

Astronomy says: the sun will rise tomorrow,
Zoology says: on rainbow-fish and lithe gazelle,
Psychology says: but first it has to be night, so
Biology says: the body-clocks are stopped all over town
and
History says: here are the blankets, layer on layer, down and down.

Geeky Poetry: Week 1 (a second helping)

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The nutritional value of brains

stooped behind a guarded wall
I watch the world devoured
and consider the nutritional value
and taste of brains
modified by the stuff
packed inside

that kid I’m watching there:
his head ripped off
had brains so sweet
(lobes of confectioners sugar)
filled with cartoons or video games
Nothing good is contained inside

so the undead search on
with his saccharine taste
dripping from their lips

my voyeuristic glances
unearth a fantasy draft interrupted
by flesh-eating hordes
in search of tonight’s fix
They end up disappointed
by lack of sustenance and flavor

suddenly it dawns on me
that the apocalypse will
be short-lived
since those brains filled
with Mieville and Le Guin
number few among the living

Far more are the brains
filled with rubbish
and artificial sweetener
They will never sustain a
starving mass plagued
with decomposition

so I plan to wait it out
For if zombies survive
on the nutritional value of brains
it won’t be long before they
expire of malnutrition

Geeky poem of the week

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How I saved Planet Earth 

by Raj Arumugam

in the deserted streets last night
the Aliens pointed their laser
and equipment at me
and one of them said:
“Take me to your Leader.”
And hoping to pocket
all the presents
they might have brought
I said:
“Well, I am the Leader
of all Planet Earth.”
And the Aliens
conferred awhile
(as I waited in anticipation
of the presents they might pull out for me)
and one of them turned to me
and the gender-negative Creature said:
“Hail, Leader of All Planet Earth!
Our Intelligence Measurement Devices
give a Low Life Form reading on you;
and so we can deduce
what even Lower Life Forms you must lead” –
and then this gender-negative Creature
turned to the other Aliens and declared:
“Lets’ go. This planet’s not worth our time.”
And thus did I save the Earth
though I wish, at least, those Aliens
had left me some presents for my trouble…

ummmm..... okay

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truth

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Geek Art: Lady Edition

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I would really love to get my hands on a copy of these superhero lady prints by Baz Pringle. They remind me of my more innocent days on those saucy nights when I was a little nipper staying up late reading comics and would catch a frame of Catwoman or Wonder Woman and my tiddly-bits would get all tingly. Of course those were the olden days...