Reviews

Book: I started reading Why We Love by Helen Fisher sometime in August or September, put it down, and finally finished it sometime in December 2004. I've mentioned earlier that I found it useful in understanding the biochemistry of love. Near the end, I also found the strategies useful that Dr. Fisher gave for getting over a love. Among them were doing new things, keeping busy, getting exercise. These help raise natural dopamine levels. She also suggested doing new and exciting things together as a means to sustain an existing love, again to raise the dopamine levels. Considering she recommended these strategies that work with our bodies' nature, I thought she rather cavalierly dismissed polyamory as idealistic and impractical, tossing off jealousy as a reason it just couldn't work. She seems to pick and choose where we can make choices, depending on what she's trying to prove. It's still a useful book for understanding the nature of love.

Book: Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold is a great escape book. A girl raised by wolves could possibly be a lost princess. The author hints that this is a world previously colonized by a more advanced people, and it's possible "magic" is magic, or lost technology. With the court intrigue of a medieval age, SCA types would love this, I imagine. On the other hand, pagans would also love this for the wise royal animals, and the protagonist's ongoing wish to really be a wolf. A great combination of passion and complexity, but not too complex, this is good for forgetting about yourself, work, the world, etc. This review assumes it takes place on Earth, but this could be a new world colonized long before. The first of four books, I suspect as different alliances unwind between the countries, more history will come to light.

DVD: I guess I'm going to have to stop saying, "I'm not into anime," since I love Cowboy bebop, and anything by the director of Spirited Away. I just saw Tokyo Godfathers and I loved it. In an interview, the director said most anime is about cute girls, robots, and explosions. This one isn't. Three homeless people find an abandoned baby on Christmas night. They call her Kiyoko, for being so 'pure' on this purest of nights. This movie is a cross between one of my favorites, Raising Arizona, and It's a Wonderful Life. Like the baby in Raising Arizona, Kiyoko causes all sorts of fortunate circumstances to arise simply by being in the vicinity. She's the angel that inspires her godfathers to their full potential: the teenage runaway CAN go home; the middle-aged drop-out can become an action hero and a worthy father; the poetic drag queen can make the sacrifices of a mother for her family.

Website: Here's a nifty new website for library users. Everybody wants to be notified before their items are due, but that would bog down our telephone and computer notification system. They finally have their wish with libraryelf.com. I find myself wondering how a library gets listed on their system, because I know people who use our library as well as neighboring Clackamas County or Fort Vancouver. My sweetie might be pleased to know his home town's library is listed. I find myself wanting a bookmark to hand to those families who all have separate cards and all use them, and one harried mother or father feels compelled to keep track of the different due dates.