Serenity and Book 37

What an excellent movie. I suspect you'll certainly get more out of it if you were a fan of the show, but it is pretty accessible if you weren't. Although a few of the events won't mean as much, but that's to be expected. One of the things that was different about the series was the size of the cast. Nine people on the ship and each of them was a little different and special in their own way. It's impossible for the movie to really play to that, but it does try. And for the most part it succeeds. So, go see it and then go see it again. Lovely, lovely movie.

Finished off Midnighters Book Two. Also enjoyable. Advance the story nicely, throws some intrigue in there like all good middle arcs of a trilogy. Look forward to the finish. I'm finding Westerfeld to be quite a nice writer. I've already started another book by him and it's looking pretty good as well. So if you run across him, you could do worse.

Shining

Yeah, yeah, it's everywhere, but this is a great re-imagining of The Shining. Jack Nicholson in a romantic comedy. The server is getting pounded so it may take a while to load, but it's totally worth it.

Revolution roundup

Nice FAQ on Nintendo's upcoming console. So far away...

Anticipation

Serenity in a couple days. Hopefully we can track down a sitter. The sister-in-law caved. Oh well. Should be a pretty good show.

Not really a lot to pass along. And I'm a little too tired to delve into a retro look at something. We still haven't managed to find time for An American Werewolf in London. We should. I remember thinking I found it quite amusing and a decent werewolf flick.

The Audio Editions over at The Movie Blog have been pretty good recently. Yesterday's dealt with a list of the 50 best sci-fi TV shows and whether they'd make decent movies. I'd like to see a Dr. Who movie...

Gratitude

Neil Gaiman book signing
Originally uploaded by dkun.

Full marks for my mother-in-law. She braved the Neil Gaiman signing Sunday evening and scored us a copy of Anansi Boys and had him sign our copy of Wolves in the Walls. But she did get to hear him do a bit of a reading, so at least is wasn't a total waste of an evening for her. She even got to see a couple Sandman cosplayers... Heh heh. Thanks!

Graeme Determined

Determined Graeme
Originally uploaded by dkun.

We're trying to convince Graeme that sleeping through the night is a good thing. He's not convinced. My wife was up with him for a bit the other night around 11 and then put him back to bed. And then he woke up around 3. I told her to just yank the baby monitor out of the wall and let him cry himself back to sleep. So she did. He cried for a bit and then I heard a thump and the crying started to get progressively louder. I asked my wife if she thought Graeme could get out of the crib. She mumbled some form of negative response and rolled back over. But the crying kept getting louder. I mentioned then that I was pretty sure he'd gotten out of the crib and was slowly crawling up the stairs to come enact some baby form of revenge. So she got up and looked out the door of our room. I asked her where he was. "Two steps from the top of the stairs..." I laughed for a little while and then went back to sleep.

Graeme will not be ignored.

Interview

With Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon. Go read.

The interweb

Well, I have a couple pictures to throw on here, but Flickr is off in some back alley massage parlour. So you'll have to wait. Until then, imagine a picture of Graeme crawling up the stairs and a very tired Neil Gaiman at the book signing last night.

Book 36 and a game

I ran across the name Scott Westerfeld over at Boing Boing (I think). I'm pretty sure Cory Doctorow was talking about one of his newer books. So I browsed the local library to see what they had by him. Midnighters Book One was an enjoyable little romp through the realms of YA fiction. An old premise given a couple coats of paint and some varnish. Westerfeld has a nice literary voice and the story was pretty engrossing. It looks to be a trilogy and I'm starting book two at the moment, so you can expect a couple thoughts on it soon.

Did some birthday shopping for the letter 'r' the other day. Picked up Shipwrecked. Great game. If you come across a copy, pick up a couple. You'll want one for yourself and one for friends or family. Stranded on an island, you have to outbid your fellow castaways for resources and other necessities. Monkeys! Every castaway needs a monkey. The setting is really just window dressing for a clever little bidding game. It would be nice if you could have more than four players, but that would probably require some serious retooling of the bidding mechanics. Still if you have a regular group of 3 or 4 that you hang out with, this is the game for you.

Dracula

As a blog. Pretty cool. I remember there were some other literary blogs wandering around. Someone was putting up Samuel Pepys's diaries and what not. Go check it out.

Nothing to see

Move along.

And the week marches on

Four hours. Four hours of TV worth watching on Tuesday nights... That's wrong on a few levels. Bones picked up a bit last night. The NCIS opener was quite good and House and Supernatural are still quite enjoyable. Four hours...

At least there's not really anything on Wednesdays. Didn't really get into Lost last season although that's probably about to change. The letter 'r' picked up the DVDs so we'll plow through it at some point. May or may not watch it tonight.

McKenna is taking after me in reading skills. She's at about a third grade reading level a week or so into the second grade. I suspect she'll start ramping up at some point pretty soon. Her math skills mimic mine as well. Poor girl.

And I believe Ruth is going to brave the Neil Gaimain book signing in order to snag me a signed copy of Anansi Boys.

Book 35

The Wizard be Gene Wolfe is the sequel/second half of The Wizard Knight series started in The Knight. I enjoyed the first book, and was slightly underwhlemed by the second. It might have been partly due to the fact that it's been so long since I've read the first book, but the second left me mostly confused. Things were going on that didn't make a lot of sense. I remember thinking that about the first one, but that at some point it clicked. There wasn't a real good clicking moment in this one. There were moments of pure brilliance but they were weighed down by the bits that just felt tedious to me. Which is a little surprising, because again, Wolfe eschews a lot of exposition, speeding up sequences that would be terribly drawn out in other books. I'm beginning to wonder if some of that exposition isn't a little more necessary. At any rate, overall the series was certainly unique and mostly enjoyable. I suspect a decent knowledge of Norse mythology might enhance your understanding/enjoyment as well.

One more

Nintendo article.

Pet peeve for the day: shirts that are one color in the store and another color entirely outside. I picked up a nice blue shirt from Target a couple weeks ago that turns a rather strange purple color in daylight. Odd and yet frustrating...

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was ok. Not great, but not horrible. If you've read the book, you know most of what to expect. There are some differences (much like the differences found in the other versions) and some work and some don't. The rescue Trillian bit wasn't worth the "I'm English, I know how to queue" joke - in fact the rewritten Trillian/Arthur romance wasn't terribly well done - but the point-of-view gun was a nice touch. And I really liked the segment where Arthur and Slartibartfast travel through Magrathea's workroom floor.

Fever Pitch was good. Nice romantic comedy. Who knew the Farrelly brothers had it in them?

Book 34

Hachiko Waits by Lesléa Newman is a delightful telling of the traditional Japanese story concerning the Akita, Hachiko. I first ran across the tale when I was taking Japanese in college. When we started learning kanji and reading in Japanese the story of Professor Ueno and his faithful dog was an interesting look into some of the culture and history of Japan. Newman's book blends the basic true story into a fictionalized account that does a wonderful job of bringing out the trasitional elements - loyalty, friendship and faithfulness. This is a children's story, but it's one that everyone should read.

Book 33, TV

Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes is an odd little book. A "comic-strip novel", Ice Haven concerns itself with the inhabitants of the titular town and their lives during the search for a missing child. Sort of. The missing child arc is mentioned mostly in passing and the "meat" of the story is the lives of the people each set of strips follows. There are brief flashes of brilliance and it's interesting to put things together for yourself (very little is spelled out) but overall it's not really something I'd recommend. There are a few interesting meta-story bits where Clowes looks at the world of comic strip critique, but that's about all that can be said.

And so we've survived the first week of the new TV season. The winner? Threshold. Seems to be well written and intelligent. I hope that they have the story mapped out and that there will be a definite end to the show. This isn't a story that should go on and on, but it should prove to be an interesting ride. Supernatural is a close second. There are a couple new shows next week, so we'll see what else is out there. I'm a little worried about NCIS after seeing the teaser commercial the other day. I really hope they're not screwing with the dynamic. I realize that's a nigh impossible task with Kate's death, but here's to hoping.

And as I don't think I've mentioned it, Super Monkey Ball is quite the game. The girls have fallen in love with it and I must admit to a certain bit of enjoyment as well. Monkey billiards is quite the little mini-game...

Revolutionary

And so the Nintendo Revolution's controller is revealed. Cool. It's definitely different. I suspect it's a controller that you'd actually have to spend some time with in order to form a real opinion. I'll just leave it at interesting idea and hope that it's as cool as the possibilities for it suggest.

Update: And here's a video demonstrating possible game uses. Ok, now I'm officially excited...

Prelude

This is a nice little short film by Michel Gagne - one of the Flight artists.

A few more words

Poor little blog. All abandoned and no real updates to speak of. Alas. The end of the year is like that for me though - short weeks lead to more relaxation and unwinding. And since there are new things to mock on television (Head Cases? Seriously? Who greenlights this stuff?) Less time here. Oh well. You'll live.

Picked up Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 for the kids. We borrowed the first one and loved it. Nice gameplay and there are lots of things to do with the girls. I even got my Dad to play some. ^_^

I meant to write more on 12 Monkeys. It's been a while since I've done a bit of a retrospective post. Grand ideas and such... That's been one of the standout sci-fi films in the last several years. Criterion needs to put it out on DVD with a nice set of goodies. All star cast and a script that lets you go back and watch it again and again. You'll probably pick up something new every time you see it. I need to track down a good site with some commentary on the film. It's probably a little late, but as the net never throws anything away (pack rat that it is) I'll probably be ok.

At any rate, a time travel story that twists in on itself a couple times, 12 Monkeys follows Bruce Willis as he travels back in time to unlock the secret of a virus that wiped out most of humanity. And along the way he unlocks a few things about his past as well. I suspect a good portion of the film is really Gilliam's critique of the mental health care industry, but there's a solid story here with some great acting by Willis, Pitt and Stowe. If you haven't seen it, you really should. And if you have, watch it again. It's that good.

I've been reading a bit about Takeshi Kitano. An interesting fellow with some interesting movies under his belt. I need to track a few more of them down and watch them. This is a nice little site that follows his career. Go give it a couple moments of your time. Some of the background on Zatoichi was quite interesting.

New TV sound bites

Supernatural - best new show tonight, will definitely keep watching (this is 'd' speak for don't get attached I'll be cancelled before you can blink).

House - excellent as always, although my wife isn't too sure about the Sela Ward dynamic.

Bones - weakest link tonight. Will give it a couple more episodes to see if they can find their stride, otherwise Tuesday gets a little simpler.

Monday rides again

Gearing up for Serenity later this month. We're watching through Firefly and enjoying it immensely.

New TV season starts up in earnest tomorrow. Once again Tuesdays feature far too much TV for one night. NCIS (not new tomorrow), House, Bones and Supernatural. And the checking things out begins. Threshold is also a possibility...

And there are even a couple DVDs worth checking out this week: H2G2 and Fever Pitch. So many ways to kill brain cells, so little time.

1up has some video coverage of PAX up. I'd like to get there some day.

And for a random link, here's a list of some software that you may, or may not, find interesting if you have a Mac.

TV's new season
features things that go bump in
the night. Ooo spooky...

Sound bites

12 Monkeys - still great.

Battlefield Baseball - wacky, get together with some friends fun.

Mean Girls - formulaic, but not too bad.

Confessions of a Teenage... - I watched about as much as I typed. And I regret that... (Actually we didn't make it past 10 minutes or so.)

The House

Creepy. Yay!

Hmmm

Apple made their announcements today. iPod Nano looks trés cool. I'd take one of those.

And the new TV season is trickling in. Haven't really watched Prison Break, but it might be interesting. House starts up next week. And why does Martha Stewart have some form of reality show? Haven't we been punished enough? Is the American TV viewing audience that stupid? Oh. Wait. Yes, yes it is... <sigh>

And we're back

And the long weekend has come to a close. It seems we are unable to have an end of summer activity that doesn't end in sunburn. Last year the beach trip resulted in massive burns and kidney stones for my wife. This year we went to watch border collies herd sheep. Hopefully we can skip the kidney stones. I was a little surprised at how much fun it was to watch the show, but there you go. Plus there was plenty of food and some Scottish Highland games going on in the background. I suppose we should buy some sheep for Ein to practice with. It would be pretty amusing to see how she handles something like that.

Sahara ended up being a lot of fun. If you've read a Clive Cussler book, you know what to expect. And despite my initial wincing over the casting decisions, things worked out. The banter and chemistry between Steve Zahn and Matthew McConaughey was actually just about spot on. They still don't really fit the physical descriptions, but they fit the part. And I have no idea why everyone hated Penelope Cruz in this movie. I didn't find her accent that hard to follow and I think her acting was fine for the role she was cast in. Besides, it's an adaptation of a Cussler book. What are you expecting here? So, yeah, Sahara was just what it should have been. Could be the beginnings of an interesting franchise.

White Noise, however, was mediocrity in it's purest form. In theory it's a spooky idea. In reality not so much. I suspect part of the problem lies with my own personal beliefs on the afterlife and how we interact with it. The movie tries (mostly) to play it straight - up until the end - and those sections work alright. I was able, for a while, to just sit back and watch the show, but ultimately I just couldn't buy it and my own biases ruined any real enjoyment that might have been had. I think the problem stemmed from the fact that the movie tried to play it straight - since it was serious, my own world views felt no need to take a hike so I could just watch. And so, in some ways, the ending lost a lot of its impact.

If nothing else, it is an interesting topic. My friends and I messed around with Ouija boards for a bit (well ok, a very small bit) and my wife and her mother have some interest in psychics and communication with those who have passed on. I certainly believe that we continue to exist and I think that communication is possible. But it follows very strict rules. And when you try to just randomly interact with that world, you're asking for trouble. Part of me wonders if the end of the movie is meant to add credence to that view. While on the one hand he helped someone, it wasn't necessarily worth it.

And I think I'm going to have to rent The Longest Yard. It looks funny...

Radio silence

And this will be me for a couple days. Time to enjoy the weekend and spend some time with the folks and the kids. I've managed to round up enough booster packs of Pirates that I can attempt the full game so we'll see how that goes. And we may track down a copy of Sahara. Or who knows, maybe there's actually something worth seeing at the theater.

Have a great weekend, and our hearts go out to those in Louisiana.

Tasty

Ah, Del Taco. You are my friend. And Graeme has decided that Del Scorcho sauce packets are the best of toys. I tried to take one away from him and he cried until I gave it back. That's devotion to your hot sauce. ^_^

And so the four day weekend commences. I predict much laziness attempted and some laziness accomplished. Gonna coerce my Dad into a game or two of Pirates and we may track down a copy of Sahara. Other than that, who knows.

Sounds like Blockbuster has decided to get rid of their VHS tapes. A silly move at this point if you ask me. There are still plenty of classic movies that aren't out on DVD yet. And Star Wars 3 won't come out on DVD. Eh. Whatever.

And I borrowed a copy of Super Monkey Ball from a guy at work, so much monkey goodness will be had.