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May 1, 2005

Cirque de Cyclisme Continued

There was a ride scheduled for 8:30, so I set my alarm for 7:30, but when I woke and looked out the window, a rainstorm had just ended and the streets were soaking wet. I went back to bed.

I arose again at a more civilized hour, and went over to the rec center for the flea market and bike exposition. I didn't buy anything (no room in my suitcase, and the prices were too high for me anyway.)

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eBook: The Dante Club Matthew Pearl, 2002

A historical whodunit, set in 1865 Boston, featuring the literary and academic élite: Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell. Longfellow is engaged in translating Dante's Devina Commedia, with the assistance of Holmes, Lowell and others. The administration of Harvard University is very opposed to this endeavor, partly because of nativist opposition to any emphasis on living foreign languages at the expense fo Greek and Latin, and partly because of the books Papist theology.

There is also a serial killer at work, knocking off prominent Bostonians in especially gruesome ways, which turn out to be an attempt to impose the various punishments that Dante describes as the tortures of the damned. Much of this gets extremely icky, and if it weren't for the Boston Brahmin connection, I would not have enjoyed this book at all.

May 3, 2005

Film: (DVD) Hell's Angels Howard Hughes 1930

Howard Hughes's WWI aviation film, hugely expensive to make in its time. The print was tinted to give an approximation of color. Doesn't really hold up too well.

May 4, 2005

Revels Pub Sing: Doyles in Jamaica Plain

Took George to the Revels Pub Sing, and this time he brought his trombone. It was the only instrument present, and he did a fantastic job of creating bass lines to a number of the songs. Everybody was very impressed with his performance, and I'm still glowing with pride.

George playing trombone at Doyles

May 7, 2005

Film: (DVD) How the Irish Saved Civilization Thomas Cahill, 1996

Fairly interesting book, mainly about St. Patrick. Somewhat marred by "trendy" pop-culture analogies.

May 5, 2005

eBook: Roundabout to Boston William Dean Howells

A short piece, probably more an essay than a book, describing Howells's early days as consul in Venice during the Slavery War, and the chain of events that eventually led him to move to Boston and to editorship of the Atlantic Monthly.

May 14, 2005

Concert: Ye Mariners All Watertown, Massachusetts

I've had the pleasure of performing with two of the members of this wonderful nautical trio. They gave a very nice performance, sponsored by the FSSGB.

May 15, 2005

Lilac Sunday

No Morris Dance groupie can stay away from Lilac Sunday!

Doyles

After the Morris Dancing, many of the folks repaired to Doyles for beer and song. There was a sizable Canadian contingent present, who seemed to appreciate my rendition of "Barrett's Privateers."

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May 21, 2005

eBook Imperium Keith Laumer 1962

A classic.

May 22, 2005

George Graduates from Brandeis

With honors in Mathematics and Music

Sheldon Brown, George Brown, Harriet Fell

May 23, 2005

Film: (DVD) Men With Brooms

Sort of a knockoff of "Breaking Away" only the sport is curling instead of cycling. As silly as the sport itself.

May 26, 2005

Film: (DVD) The Aviator Martin Scorsese 2004

Wonderful film bio of Howard Hughes. Not to be missed!

May 29, 2005

eBook The Rivers of War Eric Flint, 2005

An alternate history of the War of 1812. It is to be hoped that this will be the start of another series, one in which the Cherokees get a better deal than they did in our timeline, as they make themselves useful allies against the British. The central character is a young lieutenant named Sam Houston...

May 31, 2005

Film: (DVD) Slaughterhouse 5 George Roy Hill, 1972

Based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel, one of the best science fiction films ever.

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June 3, 2005

Went to Harriet's M.I.T. reunion at the Kennedy Library. Had a good time, first time I've been to the library.

June 4, 2005

Took a ride on the Brown out to Hopkinton, 46 miles, which is a long one for me these days. Very nice ride, listening to Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko on the iPod.

eBook: Candide Voltaire, 1759

I used to believe this was the funniest book ever written, but that was before Douglas Adams. I first read it in translation when I was in high school, but this is the first time I've read it in the original French. Still a hoot!

Tova arrived from California in the evening.

June 5, 2005

Off to Ithaca

Tova's doing a summer math program at Cornell, so we drove out to visit her. 354 miles, 5 hours 44 minutes.

June 8, 2005

Film: (DVD) Kinsey

Excellent film about Dr. Kinsey and his first scientific studies of sexuality, at a time when the world wasn't ready to learn the facts...

June 12, 2005

Hot muggy day, but I didn't ride yesterday (even hotter then) so I headed out on the IRO to Dover. I was eager to try out my new MUSA shorts to see how well they'd serve as a bathing suit, so I stopped along Claybrook Road for a dip in the Charles.

DESCRIPTION

It was a very welcome respite from the heat, and the MUSA shorts worked great as a bathing suit, drying in a very reasonable time despite the high humidity.

This is the first time I've gone swimming at this spot. I had feared it might be too shallow, but it turns out to be quite deep, with only the gentlest of currents. I greatly prefer swimming at unofficial swimming places, and I'll be back to this one. It has large rocks reinforcing the bank, making access easy enough.

Instead of music, I was listening to an audiobook reading of Sense and Sensibility for most of this ride.

Considering the oppressive weather, it was a pretty nice ride.

Film: (DVD) 50 First Dates Peter Segal, 2004

I may have to revise my very low opinion of Adam Sandler. He was so bad on SNL, but he's pretty good in this film about a guy who falls in love with a woman who suffers from a memory disfunction, and forgets everything when she goes to sleep each night.

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June 17, 2005

Film: (DVD) Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith George Lucas, 2005

I'm getting tired of these, and fell asleep for a while in this one...
The following entries are written in June 2006, after I noticed that there was just an outline of the later entries for this page.

June 18, 2005

Summer Revels-All Day Rehearsal

eBook: The Way to Glory David Drake, 2005

I'm afraid I don't recall this one, writing a year later after noticing a "stub" reference to it. It's one of the "Lt. Leary" series, military science fiction.

June 22, 2005

Summer Revels-Rehearsal

I fell going down the stairs, got a nasty cut on my forehead and busted my glasses. David Coffin was great administering first aid. In retrospect, a year later, this was an early sign of my health issues.

Cycling home afterwards, I was stopped by a police blockade at the corner of Linwood and Crafts...but then the officer recognized me and sent me on my way. There have been some recent housebreaks in our usually quite safe neighborhood, and they had established a temporary cordon. Don't know that they actually caught anybody though.

June 25, 2005

Summer Revels Performance

Boffo performance, well received despite brutal heat. I did have a fall on stage, but I was in the back and I don't think anybody in the audience noticed.

June 26, 2005

Summer Revels Performance

Not as hot as yesterday, but this time we had a rain delay.

George is also in the show, operating a huge puppet. During a break, he got to try Penpa's Tibetan horn, a wild and crazy instrument.

June 28, 2005

Film: (DVD) Shogun Jerry London, 1980

I really enjoyed the book when I read it back in the '70s, and this 1980 TV miniseries was excellent by the standards of the time. It still holds up pretty well.

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Back to:

2008:
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2007:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2006:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2005:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2004:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2003:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2002:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2001:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
2000:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
1999:
November-December September-October July-August May-June March-April January-February
1975-98:
November-December, 1998 April-May, 1975

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The overall Booklist has been moved to a separate page.

Books reviewed on this page:
How the Irish Saved CivilizationThomas Cahill5/7/05
The Way to GloryDavid Drake6/18/05
The Rivers of WarEric Flint5/29/05
Roundabout to BostonWilliam Dean Howells5/8/05
ImperiumKeith Laumer5/21/05
The Dante ClubMatthew Pearl5/1/05
CandideVoltaire6/4/05

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The overall film list has been moved to a separate page.

Films reviewed on this page:
50 First DatesJune 12, 2005
The AviatorMay 26, 2005
Hell's AngelsMay 3, 2005
Men With BroomsMay 23, 2005
ShogunJune 28, 2005
Slaughterhouse 5May 31, 2005

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The overall music list has been moved to a separate page.

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Plays:
November 29, 2002Lorraine BraccoThe Graduate
November 23, 2001Helen Mirren, Ian McKellnThe Dance of Death-August Strindberg
September 30, 2000Tova/Black Box Theatre, Cornell UniversityThe Maids-Jean Genet
May 30, 2000Kelsey Grammer/Colonial TheatreMacbeth
May 26, 2000The Huntington Theatre Co.King Hedley II
September 3, 1999The Publick TheatreNine
August 21, 1999Orange Tree Theatre, Ithaca, N.Y.Sonata
August 13, 1999Firehouse Theatre, Ithaca, N.Y.Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You
May 22-29Newton South/North High SchoolsRichard III
December 18, 1998Newton North High SchoolThe Bone Violin, May Flies
November 12, 1998Newton North High SchoolTo Kill a Mockingbird

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Travels:
November 21-24, 2007Plantation, Florida
September 25-28, 2007Las Vegas, Nevada
August 18-25, 2007Truro, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
November 22-26, 2006Plantation, Florida
September 25-28, 2006Las Vegas (Interbike)
June 10-20, 2006Santa Cruz, California
May 5-7, 2006Aurora, Indiana
November 23, 2005Plantation, Florida
September 26-29, 2005Interbike, Las Vegas, Nevada
August 26-28, 2005'Bentride 2005, Bath, N.Y.
July 21-24, 2005Family Reunion, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
April 29, 2005Cirque de Cyclisme, Greensboro, N.C.
February 16, 2005Indianapolis
November 24, 2004Plantation, Florida
October 8, 2004Santa Cruz, California
October 4, 2004Las Vegas, Nevada
June 8, 2004France, England
December 22, 2003Halifax, Nova Scotia
November 27, 2003Florida
October 31, 2003Potomac, Maryland
October 10, 2003Las Vegas, Nevada
September 21, 2003New York, N.Y.
November 27-30, 2002New York, N.Y.
October 8-13, 2002Evanston, Illinois
October 4-8, 2002Las Vegas, Nevada
July 3-9, 2002Canso, Nova Scotia
May 24-27, 2002Long Island, New York
November 21-24, 2001New York City
October 16-19, 2001Cape Cod, Massachusetts
September 29-October 3, 2001Las Vegas, Nevada (Interbike Show)
June 16-23, 2001Nags Head, North Carolina
October 5-14, 2000Evanston, Illinois
September 30-October 2, 2000Ithaca, New York
June 22-25, 2000Urbanna, Virginia
October 7-13, 1999Chicago/Evanston, Illinois
August 19-28, 1999Ithaca, New York
August 12-13, 1999Ithaca, New York
July 23-25, 1999Bridgeton, Maine
November 25-28, 1998Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1988-89France, England
1980Yucatan, Mexico
1975England, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Turkey

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Sheldon Brown's Personal Pages

Articles by Sheldon Brown and Others

Since November 8, 1998

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