Do you know the way to Art Lobster.

My good friend Kara rightly informed me that in my recent post about the move to Art Lobster, I didn't inform people where to find the Art Lobster. The official URL is artlobster.blogspot.com. I'm still working on all the graphics and layout. But the brilliant content is all there. And isn't that what matters.

Book one: Justice.

Recently over at Salon.com a writer suggested starting the new year by keeping a book journal, a place to write a paragraph or two about every book you read. It sounded like a good idea to me so I'm starting my 2010 book journal. And why not share my journal here on the Art Lobster.

The first book I finished in 2010 is Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? by Michael J. Sandel. It's a great book to learn more about the ideas set forth by some of history's greatest philosophers, from Aristotle to Kant.

It's written by a Harvard professor so it sometimes reads like a lecture. But the book accomplished something that's hard to do in our polarized society: It forced me to seriously reconsider some of my core philosophies and beliefs. Like the role of religion in public discourse and even the role of morals in discussions about issues like abortion. I've seriously changed my attitudes because of this book.

I'm adopting a three tier rating system for my mini book reviews. Read it is an enthusiastic endorsement which means I recommend the book. Nothing better to do means it's a worthwhile book but only if you have nothing better to do. And burn it (no I don't condone the burning of books but it makes for a great rating system) means I wouldn't suggest wasting your time.

The rating for Justice: Read it!

New year. New home.

Not only is it a new year, it's a new decade. What better time to move my blog to a new home? So with apologies to Mr. Laupin, the former Mrs. Laupin, and Johnny Blue Jeans (I still love and miss you), I'm changing the name of my blog to Art Lobster. Regular readers of Viva Variety will understand why.

I'm also setting a blog goal. The first year of Viva Variety, I wrote 34 posts. The second year, I wrote 37 posts. Last year, I took the whole thing a little more seriously and wrote 92 posts. This year, I plan to post an average of three posts per week for a total of 156 posts. And since I'm already behind, I'd better get busy.

So to all you regular readers (and you're few and far between), change your bookmarks, your Bloglines settings, your RSS feeds to keep track of Art Lobster.