Book 42 and J Horror

Snow White, Blood Red is a collection of fairy tales for adults. It's interesting, for the most part, but not necessarily something to track down. There are, of course, a couple real gems, but eveything else was ok. The introductory articles were almost more interesting than some of the stories. It's nice to see fairy tales geared for an older audience (the way several of them used to be), but I can't claim much more than that.

On the other hand, if you run across J Horror Anthology Legends at your local video store, I can recommend that. Six short pieces of Japanese horror fiction. I've been reading a lot of short fiction lately it seems and watching it can be just as fun. There's something about the short story that I really enjoy. I suspect it's the fact that the story teller has to pay closer attention to what's being given. You get a much more succinct story that's focused on the important bits. There are a few more J Horror collections running around Blockbuster, I may have to call a truce with them and give them a go.

The kids had fun trick-or-treating. And there is far too much candy running around the house. Oh well. You may get to suffer through a few more pictures in the upcoming days...

Weezer

Perfect Situations reminds me of FLCL. I suspect it's the opening guitars and the brief baseball reference. Great song though.

We've finally caught up on all our TV viewing from the trip. I suspect were it not for the fact that a few of the shows we watch were in repeats this week, we'd still be a bit behind. But now we can focus on spooky movies for Halloween. We'll see what my wife comes back with. I sent her for the Donald Sutherland version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers or Dawn of the Dead or something spooky.

Book 41

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman is a true joy to read. In fact, it's probably one of my favorite novels by him. I suspect I still like Neverwhere a touch more, but it's close. Anansi was one of the more enjoyable side characters in American Gods and it's good to see him in his element - a story of his own. After all, all stories are Anansi stories, and this one is a corker. If you enjoy folklore and mythology, you can't really go wrong with Gaiman. Once again he weaves facets of the old world into settings from the new. I don't really know of any other author with such a grasp of mythology. Truly a wonderful book.

In fact, I enjoyed the book so much that our recent trip to the library resulted in the procurement of a couple Anansi stories. If you can track down Anansi and the Talking Melon, I highly recommend it. Anansi the Spider is also a nice story, albeit a little more sedate. I'll have to try and track down a collection. It would also be interesting to compare some of the Trickster stories...

My wife is going to plug through The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket. I occasionally wonder if I've missed something by skipping out on that series. I skimmed the last few pages of this one to see where things are heading for the big finale, looks interesting. I suspect Handler found his bearings a book or so after I quit as that was when an actual plot seemed to emerge. Maybe after they're all out I'll try gunning through them. That or I'll just have my wife fill me in on the details. And then the kids.

Speaking of Handler, I believe there's a new McSweeney's collection out featuring some of his work. Children's stories this go round. Should be interesting.

Side note: Smallville? Really, really silly. And I can't believe they hired some band to redo Bela Lugosi's Dead. Well, ok, I can't believe they took the result they got... Poor Bauhaus.

Anansi pumpkin

Anansi pumpkin
Originally uploaded by dkun.

Tonight's Scout activity was influenced a little by my current reading material. We were carving pumpkins and I decided Anansi needed to be represented...

Unfortunately my nighttime photography skills need a little work. But you can get the general idea. I must admit, I'm rather impressed with the final result. The web shows up pretty well and the spider turned out about as well as can be expected. It is missing a leg on purpose - but for some reason I transposed which side it was on from how it looks on the book cover. And I forgot the fangs... Oh well. There's always another pumpkin.

Slow news day

Well, vacation '05 comes to an end. Did some yard work today and other general tidying. Not the most exciting of days off, but at least things were Accomplished. October is rapidly drawing to a close. Hard to believe another year is rounding out. Time is just one big sinkhole of, "Huh... Yeah, that flew by" anymore.

I'd be tempted to use If not for the Cat as book 41, but that's stretching things a little. We ordered it from McKenna's Scholastic Book order sheet this last time because it looked cute - haiku about various animals. It is a pretty cute little book and some of the haiku are quite nice. If you run across it, give it a glance.

So Supernatural did the Hook Man urban legend tonight. That's a fun little show. I thought the spin they put on it was ok, but a bit of a cheat. Now we just need to bother catching up on all of the TV we missed over the last week...

Book 40, photos and other random thoughts

Photos first. This is my photostream over at Flickr. There are quite a few new shots as we just got back from vacation and I 1) used the digital camera and 2) actually bothered to upload some photos. So there.

Book 40 was Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. I like Murakami's stuff. This one is broken up into two interwoven stories. Hard Boiled Wonderland follows the main protagonist as he gets caught up in all sorts of intrigue. End of the World follows him a little deeper into his own subconscious world. It's a mind boggling little tale on a few levels. I certainly don't claim to understand all of it. But I did enjoy it. It would be interesting to read each story as a whole (they're interspersed in the novel).

So we got back from our trip. It was far too short and I'm certainly not ready to go back to work. Fortunately I still have tomorrow off - I needed a day to unwind from all of the travel. It was great getting to wander around DC again. The FDR memorial was probably my favorite in spite of non-working waterfalls. The Korean memorial is rather eerie. And it was nice wandering around the Mall and seeing parts of the Smithsonian. I especially enjoyed the Freer Gallery. They had a really nice China/Japan exhibit. My goofy souvenir for the trip was a sumi-e board that lets you draw in what looks like sumi-e ink. It evaporates and you can draw something else.

The Capon portion of the trip was restful. We had some rain so we didn't really try to do a lot. I just enjoyed sitting and kicking but at Rummikub. We took Shipwrecked with us and Saturday night ended in the game that just would not end. The trees were turning so the area was rather pretty and with the rain things were fairly quiet.

The girls had a good time and we managed to survive the plane rides, connections and all. Even Graeme was pretty well behaved. Now I just need to shake this cough that's been hounding me. It started before we left but has recently decided to relocate to my chest. Not fun.

Didn't manage to drag my wife to see The Fog so will have to come up with some alternative method of brain-washing.

And that's about all you're gonna get for now. More as I think of it...

As Promised

SpaceShip One at the Smithsonian
Originally uploaded by dkun.

And here we have SpaceShip One at the Smithsonian. It was pretty neat seeing it hanging there with some of the other aerospace pioneers. They even had a little display that would play various video clips. Kept hoping for a glimpse of Matt in the background, but no luck. Congratulations again guys!

Walk, don't run

Well, the walk all over the city portion of the vacation has come to an end. Unfortunately the waterfalls were off at the FDR Memorial Park, but it was still a pretty nice Memorial. Will have to go back at some point.

And we now reach the sit back and relax portion. This is also the nothing resembling an internet connection portion so you'll just have to imagine witty commentary and pointless musings for the next couple days. Hey, it's not that different from the last couple weeks! Good you've had some practice.

So go wander around and find your own entertainment. I'll be back in a few days. Like you care...

Quick hello

Did a lot of walking today. Will probably regret it tomorrow when we do even more. But fun was had and it was good to get back into D.C. Saw Spaceship One at the Air and Space Museum. Took a picture of it that will end up here at some point in the not too distant future. Saw a couple other monuments/museums. Will visit a couple more tomorrow with the kids. Today was all about the adults running around the town.

It's funny, I remember being a lot more impressed with some of the Smithsonian buidlings the other times I've been to town, but there's a certain sense of satisfaction that you get from wandering around downtown D.C. I think it's just the sense of history that just about oozes out of everything in the area. I remember getting off the plane yesterday and driving back to the in-laws' house and being able to sense the history again. Utah just doesn't qutie manage that. But Virginia sure does. It's reassuring.

Well...

So, how about that last week? Pretty sporadic posting and certainly not much worth reading. And guess what, the future looks pretty similar. Poor unfortunate readers. You'll live.

There really isn't much to pass along. I don't recall sampling any new forms of entertainment over the weekend. Will probably drag my poor wife to see The Fog at some point in the next few days. In spite of the fact that they released it without screening it for the press. Sure sign of a dud, but the special place the original holds in my heart will drag me there anyway.

At any rate, don't expect to hear too much from me. Ran across a really good collection of Philip K. Dick short stories and it should really be the next book on my list, but I didn't quite finish it before I needed to get it back to the library, so it may make a slightly later appearance. And there is the possibility of photos in a not too distant future post. If that doesn't scare you away from here, I'm not sure what will...

Oh, if you can track it down, apparently Pullman (His Dark Materials) is really ranting about the upcoming Narnia flick. I wasn't too impressed with Pullman's work, but I can't say as I've read all of the Narnia stuff either. But I've certainly read Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and I think the movie looks fantastic. So, it's not a stretch to guess who I'm backing in that argument...

Ugh

Inter...net.... is c...rawl...in....g

Something is not right with our internet service. So, don't expect much in the way of anything over the next couple of weeks. I may try to post from the road a bit. And maybe there will even be pictures.

I'd hoped to relate another Miranda haircut story.

Or talk about Shrek 2. (It was better than the first, but still only ok. Puss in Boots definitely made it worthwhile.)

But that's not going to happen so, go find something else to occupy your time.

Book 39 and a couple bits

Terry Pratchett's Thud! comes in at number 39. I've read several of the Discworld novels and tend to enjoy the Watch novels a little more than the others, so this one was right up my alley. All the Sam Vimes, Captain Carrot goodness you could want. I think Pratchett's earlier work tends to be a little funnier, but the newer stuff is arguably better. Or it could simply be that I'm not remembering the corresponding social woes he's satirizing. I'm just glad there's an appearance by everyone's favorite bloody stupid architect.* If you like Pratchett, this book is a no-brainer. If you've yet to read his work, I don't know that I'd recommend starting here, but it's probably not too awful a leap. Pick up a couple of the earlier Discworld novels and then give it a go. (Remembering to grab a couple that deal with the Ankh-Morpork Watch of course...)

Adam Sandler's remake of The Longest Yard was funny. And a decent way to kill a couple hours. High cinema? Of course not. But certainly passable entertainment.

The Eye 2 by the Pang Brothers is an odd little film. It's a sequel really only in name and partially in spirit. (Pun firmly intended.) It's not quite as horrific as the first movie, but it's an intriguing plot. My wife warns that it's not for those who are currently pregnant. Or about to be, or just recently were. In fact if Graeme weren't about a year old, I'd probably be getting the evil Eye for suggesting that we watch it. There are a couple decent jump moments, but like the first movie it's more of a quiet film that unnerves rather than one that goes for the jugular.

And that's pretty much a summation of a weekend well spent. Some random acts of cleaning were accomplished and we're getting ready to gear up for a vacation. So things may get pretty sporadic here for a while. I'm sure you're all crushed.

Oh and if you haven't gone to see Serenity, shame on you.

*Bloody Stupid Johnson of course. I suspect he had a hand in the creation of several miles of freeway in Texas and Utah...

Strange

Why is Barnes & Noble selling Warhammer 40K figures? The game section is growing by leaps and bounds. It's very odd. I did get to see the new Complete Calvin and Hobbes collection though. So very, very pretty.

And that's another work week done. I needed this week to end. Unfortunately it's set to start up again in a few days. Alas.

Long week

Is it over yet?

Not really a lot to pass on. If Serenity hits the $50 million mark (domestically), we'll most likely get to see a sequel. That would be nice, so go and see it. And then go see it again. I'd like to get back to see it at least once more myself.

Lots of complete randomness running around. WETA doing the effects for the Halo movie. Uwe Boll somehow convinces actors to be in his movies (most notably Ben Kingsley and Michael Madsen in the upcoming Bloodrayne flick). Lots of interesting possibilities in the upcoming holiday game onslaught. Apple may finally be releasing a video iPod.

And this blog makes me hungry...

Colossus!

Received a demo for Shadow of the Colossus in the mail today. This is the next game from the team that put out the absolutely amazing Ico. Unless I'm doing something very wrong, it's a pretty short demo, but it certainly gets the idea across and it looks like another stellar game. I don't know how they do it, but this group manages to capture wonderfully realized worlds in their games. Ico took place in a castle that would have been amazing to explore in real life and this one seems to take place in an enchanting little valley. One of the things that sets Colossus apart is that the game is basically a series of boss battles. Gone are the pointless random encounters and frustrating mini battles. This is all about exploration and taking out the big guys. Should be pretty interesting. One of the few titles for the PS2 to hold my interest.

And due to baseball playoffs, Tuesday TV gets a lot easier to keep up with. Yay.

Hachiko Waits is too emotionally draining for McKenna. She finds it too sad that Hachi waits day after day for a master that won't be coming home. And she didn't want to finish the story to find out that something happened to the dog. So my wife is letting her off the hook. Probably a wise move.

Highlander

With bunnies. I've mentioned this site before, but as I hold a soft spot for the original Highlander, I thought I'd pass it along again.

And if you're clever, you can track down the new Goblet of Fire footage featuring Malfoy the bouncing ferret. This is the other big movie release I'm looking forward to this year. Well, that and Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Other than that, it's a Monday. And it can't end soon enough.

Book 38

So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld ranks up there in the top five books I've read this year. Flashes of Pattern Recognition by Gibson and the circle of cool fed by the net and all things advertising. It's a pretty quick read and an exceptionally entertaining one. I suspect that if you've heard of Westerfeld, you've heard of this book. He's definitely an author to keep an eye on. I may have to track down his new book Peeps. Highly recommended.