Father's Day Gifts

My wife and kids got me two amazing gifts for father's day. One I expected and the other one out of the blue. The one I expected to get was The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman. It's impossible to convey in mere words how much Hodgman makes me laugh, to do it justice requires actual gesticulation, but perhaps a small sample of the introduction will give you a hint:

I say "good evening," though of course I don't know what time it is where you are. This is one of the defining sorrows of books: that we cannot see one another.

Of course it might have been different had my Publisher inserted the camera I designed to fit snugly in the spine of this book and spy on you. But this was determined to be "too expensive and "too illegal" and so we are left once again to our imaginations.

The other gift, which I was not expecting was The Essential Shakespeare: LIVE. It's a collection of scenes and speeches from the Royal Shakespeare Company, with people like Olivier, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen (as Romeo no less, that shows you how long ago some of the recordings were made), Patrick Stewart, Alan Rickman, etc. I've only listened to the first few selections and so far it's pretty good, although it's definitely easier when you're familiar with the piece (the very first piece is from Coriolanus, a play I'm not very familiar with).

In any event as you can see I made out pretty well particularly when you consider how shoddy my performace as a father has been...

To banish your defenders; till at length your ignorance, which finds not till it feels...