Category Archives: Diversions

The stuff that didn’t fit elsewhere.

Reading

"Mary Modern"

Well that was weird.

“Mary Modern,” by Camille DeAngelis, is the story of a young scientist who wants a baby. When Lucy discovers that she’s unable to have children, she decides to clone her grandmother. In her basement.

Like I said. Weird.

Things go awry for our thoroughly unlikeable heroine when GrandmaClone arrives not as a newborn but as a 20-something who has retained all of her memories. Young Grandma Mary is confused and quite unhappy to find herself so swiftly transported from the Roaring Twenties to 2009.

In addition to Lucy and her GrandmaClone, Lucy’s boyfriend and her five boarders live in the family’s ancestral home. The boarders seem for the most part to be meant as comic relief. I found them more annoying than humorous. The boyfriend is one of the few even marginally likable characters in the book.

This was a really odd book, and I didn’t much care for it.

Screen time

Australian Idol

I have a pretty good track record at picking the “American Idol” winners from the initial auditions. I was right about Carrie Underwood and about Jordan Sparks, and I think I’ll be right again this time.

Here’s my pick this year: Michael Johns, the super-cute guy from Australia.

Have a listen:

Oddly, the Paula and Randy clips weren’t actually from this episode, much less from his audition.