Dec. 5th, 2016
Having a day off and relaxing. I have six visits in Ashford tomorrow , five at the Designer Outlets and one at nearby supermarket.
This morning i listened to the Brian Wilson CD "Smile" from 2004. A great album that was based on the lost recordings of Smile from the sixties.
Yesterday i caught up with two more series, the final episode of the online BBC 3 series Class and the latest Agents of SHIELD.
This morning i listened to the Brian Wilson CD "Smile" from 2004. A great album that was based on the lost recordings of Smile from the sixties.
Yesterday i caught up with two more series, the final episode of the online BBC 3 series Class and the latest Agents of SHIELD.
Book 91 - Joan Didion "Where I Was From"
Dec. 5th, 2016 01:33 pmJoan Didion "Where I Was From" (Vintage)

Didion explores the uneasy, unarticulated, and ultimately tragically ironic relationship between Calif.'s citizens and the state. She uses the story about her family and its long history with Calif. to describe the values of Californians, especially among those whom have a long history with the state, as including rugged individualism, resilience, and taking care of ones own. But, as Didion explains, those values run counter with the state's dependence on the federal government for its economic well being. The defence industry, especially aerospace, followed the railroad industry in creating one of the world's biggest economies. Huge ranches were purchased with government support, then sold off as housing parcels and commercial real estate. The rich farmland (shades of Steinbeck) was made possible by federal investment in dams and irrigation technology and the diversion of water from other states. Didion is uneasy about this unspoken relationship between values and economics.
I very much enjoyed this thoughtful, incisive examination of what it really means to come from, or belong to, California. Didion grew up in Sacramento surrounded by the pioneering legacy of California and its ethos of self-reliance and independence—only to look more closely and realise how thoroughly dependent the state’s agriculture, water and economy is on taxpayer funding from the very federal government that so many Californians disdain. Reading Didion is in a way like listening to music, because her prose is so spectacularly sharp and clear, and her themes re-emerge and connect to one another in such unexpected yet harmonious ways.
I must admit, i did not expect to be engrossed in this book, but she hooked me in nonetheless.

Didion explores the uneasy, unarticulated, and ultimately tragically ironic relationship between Calif.'s citizens and the state. She uses the story about her family and its long history with Calif. to describe the values of Californians, especially among those whom have a long history with the state, as including rugged individualism, resilience, and taking care of ones own. But, as Didion explains, those values run counter with the state's dependence on the federal government for its economic well being. The defence industry, especially aerospace, followed the railroad industry in creating one of the world's biggest economies. Huge ranches were purchased with government support, then sold off as housing parcels and commercial real estate. The rich farmland (shades of Steinbeck) was made possible by federal investment in dams and irrigation technology and the diversion of water from other states. Didion is uneasy about this unspoken relationship between values and economics.
I very much enjoyed this thoughtful, incisive examination of what it really means to come from, or belong to, California. Didion grew up in Sacramento surrounded by the pioneering legacy of California and its ethos of self-reliance and independence—only to look more closely and realise how thoroughly dependent the state’s agriculture, water and economy is on taxpayer funding from the very federal government that so many Californians disdain. Reading Didion is in a way like listening to music, because her prose is so spectacularly sharp and clear, and her themes re-emerge and connect to one another in such unexpected yet harmonious ways.
I must admit, i did not expect to be engrossed in this book, but she hooked me in nonetheless.
In The Bourne
Dec. 5th, 2016 05:26 pmThe rest of the day has been spent listening to the radio, or reading ,or listening to music. I am thinking of watching the Beasts film tonight and if not it will be back to watching more DVD's of Babylon 5 from season 4.
There are two other films i want to see - Arrival , and A Street Cat Named Bob Film.


A Street Cat Named Bob movie trailer
There are two other films i want to see - Arrival , and A Street Cat Named Bob Film.
A Street Cat Named Bob movie trailer