France 24 (Vent-quatre)

French news delivered just like BBC World except the English is a bit shaky and the music not quite as snazzy.

Planet Earth

The BBC series narrated by David Attenborough has amazing cinematography. A Hi-def and high speed camera mounted on a helicopter captures amazing hunt sequences so they can be replayed in slow motion: a huge white shark arcing out of the water and going after a sleek, but defenseless seal, a crocodile snapping at the leg of a huge wildebeast, grasping it, and drowning it (apparently after several hours), african dogs diabolical strategy of splitting up to surround and hunt down antelope (one of which escapes by taking a desperate swim), and hungry pride of lions going after and taking down a large solitary elephant male at night. Some of the most breathtaking landscapes and seascapes are also featured. The series is quite long and should take a few sittings to go through. I think I got fatigued just looking at too many amazing vistas and hunting sequences. The behind the scenes parts of the DVD are actually utterly fascinating as well with Attenborough narrating as well in his wonderfully proper English prose.

Counter-Insurgency Field Manual

For some reason, Gen. Patraeus is not listed as the author explicitly. But perhaps this is because the manual seems have input from many sources. While I haven't read the whole thing through, it seems to build entirely on the idea of population protection. This is simply because if the insurgents cannot hide among the population then they will be easily eradicated. As well, civilians will not be encouraged to join or help insurgents if they feel the US Armed forces are helping them and protecting them from the insurgents.

I suppose it is very interesting that there is so little (bad) news out of Iraq recently. It could very well be that this strategy is working, if only just barely.

Babel (2006)

Did this thing win some award? Approximately simultaneous stories with different synchronization points. Hasn't that been done to death in TV serials?! Sure, there are some high points and hilarity. The Japanese policeman was cute. Pitt gets the typical in your face selfish and senseless American attitude of being superior to everyone else when surrounded by foreigners. Then Pitt breaks down at a ridiculous non-sensical point in talking to his son on the phone and exposes his less than stellar acting ability. The deaf girl is so desperate for sex she walks around naked and gets her breast caressed -- ok, this wasn't a high or low point for me though really -- actually, I was hoping she might put her clothes back on or the guy would take his clothes off. But I suppose this must be the reason why the movie won a Golden Globe. Otherwise, it's totally hopelessly boring and too long.

Crysis

I just tried the 1.9GB demo which took hours to download over my slow broadband. The North Koreans decide to take over Islands down by the Phillipines? How do they supply their troops, via Star Trek transporter!? It's first person shooter. The gameplay is easy and intuitive -- except the damn crouch button is 'Z' instead of the Call of Duty 'C' (but this can be customized anyway). The graphics are pretty amazing, so who cares that the story makes no sense?

New rules: polite musings from a timid observer, by Bill Maher

Bill Maher is quite funny as a liberal commentator on his HBO show. And in this book on tape, he shows the wide range of his brilliance. His delivery is short and sweet, with 3-4 sentence paragraphs encapsulating each joke.

McLaughlin Group

The PBS political discussion television show is full of yelling, attitude, interruptions, and arguments between right and left leaning commentators. Overall very entertaining.

Oriental Institute / Smart Museum at University of Chicago

Here 'Oriental' refers to the Middle East, and I think it is one of the best collections of such art in the US. The other University of Chicago museum is the Smart Museum which houses more modern Western art is smallish and a little less impressive (though the kid at the desk was super nice).

Discover Your Inner Economist by Tyler Cowen

How do you find a good ethnic restaurant in a new town? Is it right from an economics perspective to give to beggars? Can you enjoy billions without spending it? The book attempts to answer these questions. Honestly, the writing is seems a bit scatterbrained and disorganized, but still it is interesting in parts. And some of the answers make sense. An interesting point is that attention and time are really the scarce items in modern western society.

Buffettology by Mary Buffett (Graham) and David Clark

Want to understand how Warren Buffett makes his investment decisions? It seems pretty simply explained in this 10 year old book by his ex-daughter-in-law, Mary.

Full Circle by Michael Palin

Palin spent a year traveling around the Pacific rim in 1996. There's a startling variety in all these different countries on the Pacific rim. The Northern hemisphere is more monolithic and actually a bit boring. But the rest of the trip through Southeast Asia and South America is different and interesting. Palin has the dry, self-deprecating and inoffensive British humor which is easy to listen to, but doesn't make for much extra entertainment. Still it isn't needed because the locales are so interesting in an of themselves. His excellent descriptions fill in well for the lack of actual images from the book on tape. There is probably a video somewhere, which is hopefully shorter than the book on tape as it might be rather boring actually seeing the place and getting the verbal description at the same time, and only worth fast-forwarding through.