Current State of Me 1-22

Listen: Today I'm going to change it up a bit and do an audiobook. Listen to Seize the Night by Dean Koontz. Excellent book, and even better job by Keith Szarabajka of reading it. This is actually the second book of a trilogy, although I happened to read this one first. The first one in the series is Fear Nothing which is also excellent. The third hasn't been relased yet, but is supposedly going to be titled Ride the Storm. Excellent writing, excellent characters, and incredibly engrossing. The unique group of main characters and their diverse back stories mesh well with a driving plotline. The main character, Christopher Snow, is a man for all seasons, yet one acquainted only with the night.

Watch: One Night in Beijing Shot by a photographer from the UK newspaper The Guardian, this is a phenomenal video of scenes from Beijing at night shot exclusively with a Canon EOS5DmkII camera. It does a lot to capture the true essence of that amazing city. Make sure to watch it in HD.

Check out: Danwei This is a great blog about "Chinese media, advertising, and urban life." If you're interested in China at all, it makes for some interesting reading.

Read: The Devil We Know: Dealing With the New Iranian Superpower by Robert Baer. This book is excellent. A thoroughly realistic approach to the Middle East, it proposes some radical shifts in policy and ideas that challenge the current conventional wisdom regarding the way forward in the region. An unrestrained analysis of the situation right now, not tainted by political obligations or tradition. It's what needs to be done, plain and simple. Baer would know too, having spent years deep in the some of the region's darker corners.

Thought: Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School Interesting food for thought...