The Rule of Four

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason.

This book is often mentioned as a well-written version of The Da Vinci Code, so I've been wanting to read it for a while in order to (in good conscience) recommend it to library patrons. It is similar to DVC in that it deals with a mystery hidden in an ancient manuscript, and even gets into religion a little bit, and it is fairly well-written. I suspect it's not quite as quick-paced as Dan Brown's thriller, though, as Caldwell and Thomason actually take time for things like character development. What I found most interesting about the book was a recurring theme of prioritizing one's loyalties: the main character is struggling throughout the book to not repeat his father's mistake of becoming so entrenched in the mystery of the Hypnorata Machia that he neglects the woman he loves, and this gets complicated when his commitment to solving the mystery becomes intertwined with his commitment to help his best friend. The choice, then, is not between his girlfriend and a book, but between his girlfriend and his best friend. There's an added tension in the narrative because despite the fact that the narrator is trying to convince the reader and himself that his girlfriend is what's most important, the mystery of the ancient manuscript is really what's most important to the narrative. I'm not sure whether the authors intended this or if it's just that they didn't succeed in making me care enough about the girlfriend. While I enjoyed the book overall, the end disappointed me because this conflict of loyalties was never satisfactorily resolved even though the authors seem to want me to believe it was. That, and the fact that the book ends with a twist that could have been explained if the story had gone on for just one more chapter, but unfortunately was left unexplained.

Overall I give Rule of Four three out of five Fobs:

Things That Make Me Sick

1. The fact that there are people in this world who abduct small children.
2. When my professional and personal commitment to intellectual freedom requires me to help groups of young men with shaved heads to find Mein Kampf and other Nazi-related books.

Now On Sale at the Fobcave!!!

100% Homemade Sno-Cones

Real-life customer LD Fob (not an actor) says: "alsdkj;asdkjdkke."

Two Quick Reviews

(So I can update my "Books I've Read" list with links.)

Small Steps by Louis Sachar. The sort-of sequel to Holes, featuring Armpit and X-ray. Not quite as amazing as Holes, but still a good read. X-ray talks Armpit into getting into the scalping business, a situation that is complicated when Armpit meets and falls in love with the girl whose concerts he scalped. The fact that this book is largely about music and the music industry was a happy coincidence, as I am currently attempting to write a book that deals with similar themes.

The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher. Interestingly, I read this book about censorship so that we can discuss it next week in a staff meeting at Library #2, in which we will discuss whether "edgy" teen books should be in our collection. A good story about a teenage boy going up against censorship at his high school, as told by his dead best friend. The anti-censorship theme is a bit heavy-handed, even for me, but the appearance of Chris Crutcher himself in the story won me over, as I'm a sucker for metafiction.

Why My Baby Smells Like Pot

Thursday night Foxy and I took S-Boogie and Little Dude to the first of this year's Twilight Concert Series at the Gallivan Center in Salt Lake City. I had learned that Michael Franti and Spearhead would be performing at a free concert in SLC a few months ago and spent the intervening time in drooling anticipation. I discovered Michael Franti a couple years ago when I figured Lauryn Hill was likely not going to release a new album any time soon, so if I wanted to listen to something besides her two albums, I'd have to diversify my interests a bit to include other artists. Spearhead is listed on AllMusic.com as a soundalike for the Fugees because they're both hip-hop groups heavily influenced by reggae, soul, and various other non-rap genres, and also because they both have a reputation for being socially and politically conscious. In the case of Michael Franti and Spearhead, this is a ridiculous understatement. Sporting dreadlocks down to his butt and hemp t-shirts, Michael Franti is the epitome of the 21st-century freel0ving, bleeding heart, anti-war, anti-Bush, pro-choice, anti-death-penalty, pro-gay, all-politicians-are-corrupt, down-with-the-establishment, let's-all-get-high-and-love-everyone hippie musician. Basically, he's a perfect match for me.

The funny thing is that I was first interested in MF&S because they were a hip-hop group, but that's not really true anymore. Over the last twelve years they've progressed from reggae-influenced rap music to reggae-influenced rock with just a touch of rap. Their last album and their current one (coming out on July 25th) hardly have any rap at all. Their music is amazing enough, though, that I forgive them for that mishap. The nice thing about their new rock sound is that it makes them much more palatable for Foxy J, as well as pretty much everyone else I know and subject to my music.

At any rate, the concert: Foxy and I were picturing a pleasant little affair sitting on the grass, listening to music. I suspect the Twilight Concert Series is more often along these lines, but we didn't take into account the demographic of SaltLakians who listen to freeloving hippie rock. The Gallivan Center was packed--meaning that finding a place to put our blanket on the grass, even out of sight of the stage, was tricky. Moving at all, for that matter, was tricky. It was refreshing to be reminded that the whole world does not have the clean-cut cookie-cutter look of the entire population of Utah Valley, but we quickly realized that no matter the group, everyone within it looks the same--it's just that the uniform appearance of the hippie subculture of Salt Lake is different from the uniform appearance of the BYU culture of Provo. The other thing that unified this group and distinguished it from our usual surroundings was the required cup of beer in one hand and cigarette in the other. Of course, a large number of little white sticks emitting some form of smoke had nothing to do with tobacco. Hence the unique smell we all came home with. Probably not the sort of atmosphere I want to expose my children to on a regular basis, but for one fun night it was not bad.

The nice similarity between Mormons and hippies is that neither group has any qualms with bringing small children wherever they go, including outdoor concerts. S-Boogie had a blast, whether playing with other kids, trying to escape from her parents in the crowd, or rocking out on my shoulders, waving her hands in the air and singing along with Michael Franti, "Yell fire! Yo, yo yo yo!" Between the convenient distraction of the ultra-cute toddler on my shoulders and the fact that everyone around me was drunk out of their minds, I didn't feel self-conscious at all about dancing and singing along myself. In short, I had a lot of fun.

The music, of course, was great. Michael Franti is a talented performer--I could tell, even from fifty yards away, that he was enjoying himself, and that energy spread to the crowd. He introduced his bandmates as his friends, and I believe it. Doing concerts and making music is not a way for him to make money--in fact he left a major label several years ago in order to make the music he wanted to--but a chance for him to get together with friends and share. This is why the political messages of his songs, which otherwise might seem trite or contrived, come across so poignantly: he believes every word he says, and he cares about everything he talks about. When he decries war in a song, it's because he's been to Iraq and Israel and seen its effects, and it makes him sick. When he sings that "every single soul is a poem / written on the back of God's hand," it's because that's how he sees people, and how he treats them.

By the way...

That last one was my 200th post. Hurray for me.

Fobsvithing Obediently

Master Fob's thoughts on obedience, as inspired by a discourse delivered in church last week:

Obedience is a valuable tool in raising children. S-Boogie is not quite old enough to understand (despite previous experience) that taking off her own diaper can have disastrous consequences, but she is old enough to understand that she should obey Mommy and Daddy's counsel to not remove her own diaper. Similarly, she is not old enough to understand that running in the street or parking lot could have even more disastrous consequences, but she can understand that obeying her parents when they tell her not to run into the street is a good thing. Therefore, it is in her own and everyone's best interest for her to learn obedience.

This principle extends into adulthood only insofar as God understands consequences that we, like children, do not. I might not understand the full extent of the consequences of killing people I do not like, but I can trust that God does and therefore I obey his commandment that I shall not kill.

This is God telling adults what to do, though, not adults telling other adults. I acknowledge that God often speaks to people through other people. As a self-proclaimed follower of God, it is my responsibility to determine when people are speaking for God and when they are not. Theric, for example, might suggest to me that I eat more raisins. I might not understand why in the world I should eat more raisins, but if I pray about it and I feel that this suggestion, counsel, or commandment comes from God, then I will trust that God knows why I should eat more raisins and act accordingly. If I determine that the counsel is Theric's alone, though, I am under no obligation to follow it and I would appreciate if he would respect that. (The jerk.)

Here's my take on Gordon B. Hinckley's counsel that good Latter-day Saints should not have more than two piercings if female and none at all if male: I honestly have not prayed about it because it doesn't matter to me. I have no desire to pierce my body so I don't need to know whether God considers it a sin. If you have prayed about it and you feel the counsel is from God, please follow it and please ensure that your underage children do so as well. If other adults don't feel that the counsel comes from God, though, and choose not to follow it, I believe it is everyone else's responsibility as decent human beings to respect that. I can't speak for everyone, but I find it annoying when my fellow adults call me to repentance on some counsel or commandment that I honestly do not feel comes from God. Determining what is right and wrong is every human being's right and responsibility and should be respected.

A lot of people explain the piercing thing by saying that it's not really about how many piercings you have but how obedient you are. You are welcome to believe this if you choose to, but it does not fit with my personal understanding of God and the universe. God has plenty of opportunity to teach his children obedience with commandments that really do matter; I can't imagine why he would throw arbitrary commandments at us just to make sure we'll obey the important ones.

So if you are ever speaking at a meeting where the congregation is spread thin and you politely ask everyone to move forward, I probably will comply with your request just because that's the nice thing to do. But please don't try to make a moral issue out of it. I obey God as much as I can, but I feel no obligation to obey people on power trips.