Author: Mike P. Lewis

Spook Country sucks

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This is not a good book. I would highly recommend you DON’T read it. The book has been written about in all the major outlets (Newsweek, Time, etc.) and i think they all are just smoking crack. Just because it’s about iPods, virtual reality and things in the future does not mean it’s fun to read.

The plot didn’t capture me and the story didn’t develop quick enough and when it did, i just didn’t care.

I read his last book “Pattern Recognition” and it was a little bit better but still not great. All in all, i’d say that William Gibson is extremely overrated.

3:10 to Yuma is a good Western

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I saw 3:10 to Yuma this weekend. It is good. I’m not sure if it’s better than Unforgiven or the classic westerns, but it’s pretty damn solid. On par in its genre to Bourne Ultimatum.

3:10 to Yuma, stars Christian Bale and Russell Crowe in an old-school style Western drama. Both are are great (i mean it is the Alpha Bale), the supporting characters are right on the money, and i can’t think of one scene that doesn’t work.

Some quick thoughts:

  • Gretchen Mol, who plays Bale’s wife, is always a total bitch in her movies. From Rounders to this, she’s always a total wet blanket.
  • Bale and Crowe have some good chemistry. Crowe is one of the smartest cowboys i’ve ever seen and he seems so happy to have finally met someone like Bale, someone who is worthy of his conversation.
  • The guy who plays Crowe’s second in command, Charlie, is terrific (played by Ben Foster). He crushes every scene. He was Angel in X-Men and was just so-so and didn’t really prepare me for this super-duper performance. He was great.
  • The final scene did not play out as i had planned. I was waiting for Bale to get a bunch of guns and tear some shit down. Instead he just moronically made a run for it. While it worked, it caught me by surprise. I think I’ve been conditioned by film like The Matrix, Bourne, and others to anticipate a superhuman performance at the end of a film. I was pleasantly surprised to see something different

This would explain why i sleep so much

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Ever since i started my triathlon training, i’ve been going to bed earlier and earlier. I thought it was because i’m just getting old (turning 30 in 2 weeks), but today the NY Times has informed me that it is because i’m now an “endurance athlete” and these athletes require much more sleep than regular people. There’s a scientific reason for this….

One possibility, Dr. Chediak said, is that cytokines — hormones that signal the immune system — are making these athletes sleep so much.

Exercise, Dr. Chediak said, prompts muscles to release two cytokines, interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, that make people drowsy and prolong the time they remain sleeping. In fact, those cytokines also are released when people have a cold or infection, which is why people sleep so much when they are ill.

It turns out that the single most important factor for increasing the release of those two cytokines is increasing the duration and intensity of exercise, Dr. Chediak said. And, he noted, that’s what is happening when endurance athletes train. “A sprint will not get you as great an effect,” he said.

Go ahead and read the entire article HERE  if you’re interested.

Dean Kamen's Robotic Arm

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Many of you know about my Kamen man-crush.  He just gave a speech about an arm he built for the Department of Defense.  It’s an awesome thing and brings the Luke Skywalker’s fake hand fantasy closer to reality

It bothers me that there have been over 7 million Michael Vick jersey’s sold and nobody knows who Dean Kamen is.

Check out the latest video here (click on video to play):

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