When using Lightroom before, I was never able to figure out how to move photos from one folder to another. You'd think that you could just click on a photo and drag it. I just spent twenty minutes figuring out what I've been doing wrong. After you've selected multiple photos, click on the photo thumbnail and not the surrounding gray frame, and then you can drag the photos to the target folder.

I had become accustomed to clicking on the frames to multi-select photos, so naturally I assumed that was also how you dragged a set of photos. But clicking on a frame of a selected photo merely deselects all the other photos.

Title: Layer Cake (movie)

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Copyright: 2004

After reading Layer Cake earlier this week, I decided to rewatch the movie. The screenplay was written by J.J. Connolly, adapting his own novel. Although the convoluted plot has been much simplified and somewhat rearranged, it's still complex and tricky to follow. Most of the humor is gone, as director Matthew Vaughn didn't want to make Lock Stock III. It's more of a straight thriller. The Cockney is toned down, making it easier for a non-UK audience. And Daniel Craig is somewhat older and calmer than the narrator of the book.

The film succeeds both in its own right and as an adaptation, though I prefer the book. It was Daniel Craig's first starring role. He carries the story in his role of a coolly professional drug dealer whose world starts falling apart. The other characters are rather thin; only Colm Meaney and Michael Gambon have any heft.

Worthwhile.

Title: Layer Cake

Author: J.J. Connolly

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Publisher: Black Cat

Copyright: 2000

ISBN: 0802141684

Pages: 309

Keywords: fiction

Reading period: 11–14 August, 2009

The unnamed narrator—My name? If I told you that you'd be as clever as me—is an up-and-coming London drug dealer who wants to retire by his thirtieth birthday. He's professional, low-key, and a little bit cocky, and he has every chance of pulling it off. He reluctantly does a favor for the crime boss Jimmy Price and suddenly his plans are derailed. Double-crosses, snitches, betrayals, murders, hold ups, and stings ensue. There's little honor among thieves, save for our hero's immediate circle.

It's easy to see why Layer Cake was made into a movie. It's very funny and quite serious—our hero learns some hard lessons. Connolly has an excellent ear for dialog, particularly Cockney dialog, and perhaps a soft spot for London villains.

Recommended.

I rode Seattle's new Light Rail system for the first time yesterday morning. I walked to the new Beacon Hill station. It took me just over 20 minutes at a brisk pace, so I'm not likely to walk there often. I could have taken the 60 bus to the station, but it only runs every 30 minutes.

When I got to the Beacon Hill station, I couldn't figure out if my book of $2.00 tickets for Metro bus tickets were valid on the train or not. The first three workers I asked didn't know either. The cop I asked said “yes”, so I took the elevator 167 feet down to the platform and rode the train into the Pioneer Square station next to the Smith Tower. After looking on the Sound Transit website, I don't think the cop was right.

I'm not the only one who's confused either. Seems like everyone else is confused too. Bus transfer tickets work, at least, and light rail tickets are accepted as transfers on the bus. Unlike the buses, there's no ride-free zone for the light rail in downtown Seattle.

We took the light rail home from the Mariners game last night and transferred to the 36 bus after a short wait. (The 36 runs down 15th after 7pm; the 60 and the 39 stop running about 9pm.)

I found the trains and the Beacon Hill station to be clean and pleasant. The train reportedly runs every 7½ minutes, which I haven't confirmed. It certainly travels faster than the bus.

The light rail seems nice, but I'm not likely to use it often.

Tonight was the annual Irish Night at the Mariners and we bought tickets for $11.

Even after 20 years in the States, I still know next to nothing about baseball. I picked up a copy of the Baseball Field Guide before last year's Irish Night, and found the first chapter very helpful in explaining the basics. I re-read it last night and it helped me follow tonight's game.

Neither the Mariners nor the White Sox could score a run. Inning after inning the game went on, zero-zero. No one had scored by the bottom of the ninth, so play continued. A tenth inning. An eleventh. We called it a night and took the new Light Rail to Beacon Hill.

The game finished in the 14th inning when the Mariners finally pulled ahead.

Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Author: Stieg Larsson

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Publisher: Vintage Crime

Copyright: 2005

ISBN: 0307454541

Pages: 590

Keywords: mystery

Reading period: 8–9 August, 2009

After crusading financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist is convicted of libel, he reluctantly agrees to investigate the 40-year-old disappearance of the teenaged Harriet Vanger for her great-uncle Henrik, a rich industrialist. He is aided by the antisocial hacker Lisabeth Salander, the eponymous tattooed girl.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was published shortly before Larsson's untimely death, and later became an international bestseller. It's a classic locked-room mystery—Harriet disappeared from a sealed-off island full of the extended, ugly Vanger clan. It's an indictment of the Nazism buried not so deeply in Sweden's past, of sexual violence and misogyny, and of the ethical failings and complicity of financial journalists. It's a dark thriller where Blomkvist and Sanger are hunted by a sadistic killer. It's a Ludlumesque technothriller where Sanger “stings” a rich crook. It's a character study of a disturbed and brilliant young woman.

It's a bit too much really: there are too many things going on. But it is quite entertaining.

Title: Torchwood: Children of Earth

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Copyright: 2009

Torchwood began as a more adult spinoff of Doctor Who, but came into its own right in its third season, the five-part mini-series, Children of Earth.

One day, all the children of Earth freeze up and announce, “we are coming” over and over, before carrying on unawares. The aliens known as the 456 are announcing themselves. What soon becomes apparent to the audience is that the British government had dealings once before with the 456 back in 1965—and they don't want it to be known. They attempt to destroy the Torchwood team, blowing up the immortal Captain Jack Harkness, to keep them silent. The 456, it turns out, were given a dozen children in 1965 and have come back to take 10% of all the children of Earth.

It's a powerful tale, where bad decision after bad decision threatens to topple humanity into the abyss. Two actors deliver noteworthy performances, John Barrowman as Jack and Peter Capaldi as John Frobisher, a senior civil servant. Jack cannot die and he can barely live with himself after he betrays several trusts. Frobisher is a man who's worked hard all of his life, only to discover that his masters consider him an expendable pawn. Some of the minor characters keep the story rooted in the human experience, saving it from technobabble, and shed light on the main characters' backstories.

Highly recommended.

Title: Shadowfall

Author: James Clemens

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Publisher: Roc

Copyright: 2005

ISBN: 0451460502

Pages: 507

Keywords: fantasy

Reading period: 4–8 August, 2009

For four thousand years, the gods have dwelt in human form amongst the people of Myrillia, rooted to the very land. When the goddess Meeryn is found murdered and the disgraced Shadowknight Tylar de Noche is found at her side, miraculously healed of his maiming, he is accused of being the godslayer. He escapes and uncovers a dark conspiracy of corruption and evil.

As an exercise in world building, this book succeeds. For example, the gods' humors—blood, seed, menses, sweat, tears, saliva, phlegm, and yellow bile and black bile (“piss and shite”)—are collected by their acolytes, since they contain the much-treasured Grace, the blessings of the gods. The writing, however, is clumsy and the plot, pedestrian.

Mildly enjoyable.

Title: Winterbirth

Author: Brian Ruckley

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Publisher: Orbit

Copyright: 2006

ISBN: 0316068063

Pages: 654

Keywords: fantasy

Reading period: 3–4 August, 2009

A century and a half ago, the believers in the Black Road were forced into exile. Now, in some bloody surprise attacks, they've conquered the Glas Valley. The story is largely told from the viewpoints of three brother-sister pairs: the young leaders of the Black Road attackers; the adolescent nephew and niece of the thane of the Lannis-Haig Blood; and a warrior of the Kyrinin race and his sister. Each side believes that it is in the right: the clash between two human cultures was inevitable, as is the war between the Kyrinin tribes.

A strong debut. Lots of swords, a little sorcery.

Title: Thunderer

Author: Felix Gilman

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Publisher: Bantam Spectra

Copyright: 2008

ISBN: 055359110X

Pages: 527

Keywords: fantasy

Reading period: 27 July–2 August, 2009

Ararat is vast, unknowable, unmappable, home to many living gods who make their presence felt. Arjun comes from his far-distant home, seeking the Voice, the god that abandoned his people. He arrives as the Bird sweeps through the great city, transforming it by its passage, only to be captured in the warship Thunderer. A boy, Jack, also captures part of the Bird's power as he flees the workhouse.

Gilman has created a city reminiscent of China Miéville's New Crubuzon, a vast baroque tapestry of neighborhoods, ruled by heavy-handed oligarchs squabbling to enlarge their fiefdoms. Miéville is a better writer, but this is a fine debut novel from Felix Gilman.

Title: Careless in Red

Author: Elizabeth George

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Publisher: Harper

Copyright: 2008

ISBN: 0061160903

Pages: 725

Keywords: fiction, mystery

Reading period: 26–27 July, 2009

Out of his mind with grief after the senseless murder of his wife Helen in What Came Before He Shot Her, Detective Superintendent Tommy Lynley has been walking along the Cornish coastline for weeks when he stumbles across a dead body. Reluctantly, he becomes part of the police investigation. Half the village seems to have a motive for killing the victim. Old slights and recent fights have festered, pitting family members against each other.

Elizabeth George is noted for the depth of her characterization. Even the supporting characters are well-drawn, complex individuals. But they're almost uniformly grim and unpleasant people who make bad choices. Aside from the late Helen Lynley, there are few light-hearted cheerful people in George's books, which can make her books heavy going.

Recommended.

This may, perhaps, be old news in bear circles, but I only read it ten days ago on the plane over, in Robert Hughes' quirky Barcelona the Great Enchantress. The founder of Catalunyan/Catalonian/Catalan national independence a thousand years' ago was the Visigoth known as Wilfred the Hairy. History does not record with any clarity how Guifré el Pilós earned that name.

I haven't visited the Iberian peninsula since the 1970s when the well-founded stereotype was that Spanish men had mustaches. That seems to have gone out of style: almost all men, young or old, were cleanshaven. And after having seen countless women wearing tanktops in the heat, I can say that the stereotype about unshaven armpits is equally dated.

The enervating heat aside (high 30Cs = high 90Fs), Barcelona, the Pyrenees, and Figueres (Dali's hometown) were all most enjoyable.

Title: Ink and Steel

Author: Elizabeth Bear

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Publisher: Roc

Copyright: 2008

ISBN: 0451462793

Pages: 441

Keywords: fantasy

Reading period: 20–25 July, 2009

The Prometheans are a secret society sworn to protect England and Elizabeth I. Kit Marley (Christopher Marlowe), playmaker, poet, and intelligencer, has been killed by a dagger in the eye, at the behest of a rogue faction in the Prometheans. Another talented polemicist is required and Will Shakespeare is recruited. But Kit is not dead. He has been spirited to Faerie, where now he must serve their two queens. He becomes the lover of one, Morgan le Fay, and her son, Murchaud. Kit can return to the land of the living, but only briefly. Meanwhile, Will is drawn ever deeper into a web of intrigue.

Bear brings the Elizabethan era to life and builds plausible personalities for two great dramatists about whom we know little. And it's a rare pleasure to read a novel where the protagonist is a male bisexual. The complex plot is confusing at times and the Elizabethan dialog is betimes tiresome.

For a' that, 'tis well done.

Title: Barcelona the Great Enchantress

Author: Robert Hughes

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Publisher: National Geographic Directions

Copyright: 2004

ISBN: 1426201311

Pages: 169

Keywords: history, autobiography

Reading period: 15–24 July, 2009

Robert Hughes has been in love with Barcelona and its people for four decades. This book—part selective history, part memoir—is adapted from a much larger, earlier book about Barcelona. Hughes is a partisan of Catalan culture and food. He brings us from its Roman origins as Barcino, Catalunya's founding as an independent nation a thousand years ago by the Visigoth Wilfred the Hairy, up through the Olympics in 1992. This is no comprehensive survey: he spends more time on submarine inventor Monturiol than on the Spanish Civil War.

Well-written and opinionated, if overly selective.

Title: The Name of the Wind

Author: Patrick Rothfuss

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Publisher: Daw

Copyright: 2007

ISBN: 0756404746

Pages: 722

Keywords: fantasy

Reading period: 15–19 July, 2009

Kvothe—the infamous, legendary Kvothe—has been living under an assumed name when the Chronicler tracks him down and asks him for his life story. Kvothe relates the story of his early years: his precocious talents for music and arcanism (magic); the happy childhood that ends when his parents and their troupe are murdered by an ancient evil; his years as a feral street child; and his early entrance into the University to study the Arcanum, where his brilliance makes him a star and his recklessness brings him much grief.

Discursive and entertaining. Despite the superficial similarities to Harry Potter, this is an adult tale, full of depth and complexity.

My eight-month experiment in daily blogging will go on hiatus for a few days. We fly out tonight and I will have only intermittent Internet access for the next three weeks in Spain and Ireland.

It's possible that I'll write a daily post, but I often won't be able to post immediately.

We're off to Spain and Ireland tomorrow evening, so lots of last-minute preparations tonight. I laid out my clothes on the spare bed on Sunday; Emma picked out hers this evening. I've just paid some bills and I'm transferring files onto the netbook that I'm bringing.

I still have to whittle down the large pile of books that are under consideration. I don't want to run out before we get to Ireland, but I don't want to take too many. Depending on what else is going on, I'll get through a book in a day or two when I'm on vacation. Maybe two books on those long plane flights.

I mentioned three weeks ago that I was putting together a group of people to see Greenstage's production of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors at the Seward Park Amphitheater. Six of us braved the rain last night, ate our picnic, and enjoyed an hour and a half of ribald slapstick.

Almost all of the cast cross-dressed. The main male parts, the two sets of identical twin brothers, were played by women, The wife, her sister, and the courtesan were played by ugly men in the best panto dame tradition.

The play, like so many of Shakespeare's comedies, requires an endless series of confused identities, which could be cleared up in moments if only someone paused and said, “Wait a minute!”

Much running around, no subtlety, fun.

Lots of photos at Flickr.

Seattle Shakespeare are also putting on free, outdoor productions of Shakespearean plays, Taming of the Shrew and Richard III. Both end on August 2nd, before we get back from Europe. Cathy saw their white trash production Taming yesterday and raved about it today.