Blog Blender

Review: A Visit From the Goon Squad

★★★★☆ [amazon_link id=”0307477479″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan[/amazon_link] – Central to the story are time, music, Bennie Salazar and Sasha. Beyond them are pasts that they share between people they’ve known and places they’ve been.  Bennie is an aging record executive and Sasha is his assistant. The story travels back and forth in time, sometimes jumping past, present and future all within a paragraph describing out people try to escape their actions despite the passage of time. The format is unorthodox, and a long chapter, told in the guise of a PowerPoint deck, comes across as amusing at first, then sobering. Jennifer Egan figured out how to wring emotional catharsis out of a PowerPoint deck. In a sense, the past catches up with all the characters presented to tell a story of transformation.

 

PJH Studios artwork, Portrait of a sun

PJH Studios

Movies, music, books, whiskey, and culture in a blog blender

  • Review: A Visit From the Goon Squad

    ★★★★☆ [amazon_link id=”0307477479″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan[/amazon_link] – Central to the story are time, music, Bennie Salazar and Sasha. Beyond them are pasts that they share between people they’ve known and places they’ve been.  Bennie is an aging record executive and Sasha is his assistant. The story…

  • Use a mason jar with a blender

    It turns out, most blenders fit properly with a mason jarmost blenders fit properly with a mason jar. We use this trick most often to make whipped cream. The blender whips it right in the jar, so if we have extra, it’s already in a jar for storage. And it is easier when it comes…

  • Crossword Puzzle Girl

    Petite, blonde hair always in a pony tail, blue-eyed, she occupied the same corner of the campus cafeteria. Whenever I saw her, her face peered down, lips pursed and eyes intently engaged in the day’s crossword puzzle. Her books and backpack would be either piled at her feet or on the table next to her,…

  • Recent non-fiction reads

    [amazon_link id=”1422133443″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]HBR’s 10 Must Reads The Essentials[/amazon_link] – This complilation collects 10 articles that business leaders should readily consider–strategies for broad aspects of business.  Each article is summarized in a side bar with the key points. This is handy as the articles are 20-30 pages in length.  Drucker, Porter, Christensen are…

  • Recent fiction reads

    And by recent I mean, in the last 6 months. [amazon_link id=”159514188X” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher[/amazon_link] – Clay Jensen receives a box of cassette tapes, narrating why a dead classmate killed herself. Hannah Baker tells of teenage heart break and cruelty that pushed her over the edge. The novel shows how…

  • Twitter Stories

    Twitter splendidly presents stories of tweets or clever uses of its service in Twitter Stories. A guy who saved his mother’s book store. Fishermen who sell the day’s catch while still on the boat. Complete recipes in 140 characters. Twitter is finding a singular purpose–enabling people to communicate uniquely and directly to the entire world,…

  • Art begets art

    Art begets art.  One creative act should be free to inspire another creative act.  To say that one creation, once delivered to the world, remains tethered to its creator, unable to inspire, evolve or grow into something new, restricts the life of the original creation.  As much as one may try to control the perception…

  • How to have a whiskey tasting

    How to host a whiskey tasting 1. Know the difference between the types of whiskey. 2. Decide which whiskies you wish to share. 3. Be able to talk about a) whiskey in general, b) each individual whiskey. 4. Serve food. Recently, I held a whiskey tasting for a small group of friends. Over the past…

  • Ten years on, he still stands

    Ten years on, new stories find a way to be told about that day. Everyone owns a part of history, however far removed they were from the events that occurred. September 11, 2001 horrifically created a common experience. My experience became real, running late to a business law class and arrived to a visibly upset…

  • Review of the Star Telegram iPad app

    Summary: The Star Telegram app is functional app that delivers content well, but restricts and undervalues the content. Pros: great value, photos look great, environmentally friendly, solid delivery of content. Cons: You’re reading a PDF at first, inconsistent browsing behaviors, the power of the iPad is underutilized, download times vary. Price: The app is free,…