Just a Gwai Lo fun within prescribed limits [?]

Matt Mullenweg posted his end-of year tasks. Right now the only tasks I have are making lists of stuff to do in the new year, one of which is reading the unread books in my personal library. First up (but not necessarily in this order) are the following:

• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (already started)
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
• Stanley Park, which was the 2003 selection for One Book One Vancouver, and which I picked up at the local library's annual book sale for a couple of bucks.
• The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, which I bought at the end of a date (yeah, I know) and which will go against my effort stop caring about politics in the coming year.
• Magritte by Jacques Meuris, about the Belgian painter, because I'm all about the René Magritte references.
• Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation by Chris Turner. Heard about it through Joey DeVilla, saw the book discounted at 40% off, and since I have a weblog about things in real life that remind me of episodes of The Simpsons, I figured the $20 it cost me was better off in the grocery store's hands and the book better off in mine. Evidently I missed the book tour as it rolled through Vancouver, but the Planet Simpson weblog is regularly updated, so I shouldn't miss too much news about it while I'm waiting to read it. Or, more likely, keep it as a reference book for when The Simpsons Archive doesn't have the quote I'm looking for, which is surprisingly often.

See also: my other stack of unread books, which I may or may not get to in the new year, though one of them I recently finished reading, finally.

That's unquestionably a cover photo inspired by René Magritte. This would be the best evidence to support my claim that "fo' sheezy that's Magreezy".

Ceci n'est pas une pipe.

A week ago in the school I work for, the students were given artists' names and told to research one of them and give a brief presentation. Just to help set an example, I did a mini-report on R�n� Magritte, an artist that, I told the class, an artist friend had turned me onto. The students were asked to print examples of the artists' work, show them to the class, and talk about what it means to them. I chose this painting and this painting. The latter is my favourite, and my thoughts about the painting (no claim of originality or accuracy made) were that because the painting not what it seems on first look, sometimes you have to look at something more than once to fully appreciate it.

Finished reading Magritte by Richard Calvocoressi.