Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Zzzzz

Sinus medication is evil.

Seems like there were a few things that I meant to put out here for public consumption, but I have no idea what they were. I blame the drugs. Speaking of which, apparently the medication my brother-in-law had with him got nicked at the airport. Curse you street value! My sister managed to get him home, but it was a long trip that involved too many hours awake and not a little pain.

So, five weeks left to the end of the year. Still a few Christmas presents to track down. But mostly done. That's always a good feeling.

And this poor disjointed post needs to come to an end. The aforementioned sinus medication demands it.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Colossus!

Shadow of the Colossus is a beautiful game. I'm not quite at the halfway point, but it's truly something to look at. The Ico team strikes again. It's too bad I have no desire to pick up a PS3 - I'll most likely miss out on their future offerings. But if you've ever wondered if video games could be considered art, then look no further than these two games. I'll do a better look at the game once I finish it, but for now I just had to gush a bit over the look of the thing.

A few movies out at the moment that I may try to pick up. Mr. and Mrs. Smith for one. Sky High was cute. Wouldn't mind snagging Millions... the list goes on.

Now to go listen to the rain before it turns to snow.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Winter sets in

And so there's snow on the ground, the temperature has dropped quite a bit and the house is almost back to normal. My folks have left, leaving a bit of time with my sister and her husband and then it's just us once again through the new year. Well, I tell a lie. It sounds like there's a pretty good chance that we'll have a visitor next week. And that will be a welcome bit of fun.

Caught Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Enjoyed it thoroughly. I liked it as much as the last film, if not a touch more. The first chunk is quite jumpy as they cut bits from the book left and right, but then it settles down and you get a good story.

Millions was also quite enjoyable. Some really good acting and a delightfully moral story. If you run across it, do yourself a favor and give it a go. Danny Boyle is another director to watch.

We've acquired quite a few games over the last week. The best of the lot so far is probably Qwitch. If you've ever played the card game speed, the concept is similar only letters and numbers are thrown into the mix. It's by Out of the Box Games - the people that did Apples to Apples and Shipwrecked. They're quite the talented bunch.

We've also played a bit of Tsuro (which is beautiful and challenging) and Killer Bunnies (which is mostly silly but also oddly compelling).

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Calm before the storm

Well, nieces arriving later this morning. My wife and I are going to try and get to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this afternoon. Turkey needs to thaw. House really needs tidied up. Etc. Etc. But hey, week off right? Never mind the yard work and the laundry and the kids running rampant...

Actually there are always a few bright moments during all the chaos. Miranda and I once again managed to triumph over my wife on the Baby Park track of Mario Kart: Double Dash. Since that's "her" track, that's always a nice feeling. ^_^ Miranda tried to help with the raking, and while her raking skills certainly need some work, it was fun to see her try.

Graeme is pretty close to walking. We have undoctored video proof of him taking a few steps on his own. Pretty soon any sense of peace and calm we had will be out the window.

But again, most of these things are cause for quiet joy. It's been a pretty amazing year in a lot of respects. Watching Graeme grow up, McKenna's taking off in school, Miranda in preschool. Lots of little milestones that we really have to focus on. Despite all the challenges, there are more than enough rewards to make up for it. I hope you can all spend a few moments with your families during this time of year. Even if it's only over the phone.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Book 46

The Vanishing Hitchhiker by Brunvand covers Urban Legends from a folklorist's point of view. Apparently he teaches at the University of Utah, so some of the variants of the stories are local to Utah and, surprisingly, a large chunk of them come from Kansas. In fact, one of the Hookman variants was actually from McPherson. Apparently there's a Hookman's road just outside town. I didn't remember the road in question but my Dad did. I suppose a lot of those stories wandered through Kansas on their way to other places. I'd certainly heard most of them. It's a fascinating look at the ways stories travel, what they might mean and how they change over time. If you like stories, especially urban folklore, this a great book that delves into some of the history of those stories and lets you see some of the forms they take.

Friday, November 18, 2005

*Yawn*

Family is in town and I have a week off. So chances are I won't be spending it with you lot. Crushed I know.

At any rate, Thanksgiving coming up, Black Friday (guess who's planning on skipping it this year), putting up the Christas tree. All that holiday stuff.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday (if you celebrate it). Think of a thing or two you're thankful for and send a prayer the way of those that are in need.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Mmmm

My kind of award...

Gaming and charity

Child's Play is up and running again this year. Over at Penny Arcade it says they're at around $100k at the moment, which is great. If I lived at all close to the Seattle area, I think I'd try and go to the formal dinner they're having again this year. The menu certainly looks pretty amazing. It's always good to see positive press for gamers. Too often gaming makes the news for violence and the "what is it doing to our kids" storyline. The real truth is that gamers are people and just like there are all kinds of people, there are all kinds of gamers. And we support charities just like others.

One of my favorite gaming sites used to be The GIA. They're gone now, so no link for you, but you can find some of the staffers running around some of the bigger sites now. They had a letters column that was my daily highlight. I even contributed a letter or two while it was running. One of the topics that I did chime in on was where you saw yourself in 20 years or so. Gaming is starting to be mainstream enough that it can be a worthwhile family activity. Just about any game on the Gamecube makes for a better family activity than what passes for prime time "entertainment". MarioKart and Warioware are certainly more enjoyable activities than some of the values that get paraded around on TV. But it doesn't even have to be videogames. We've been playing Don't Break the Ice and Gobblet as well. Time spent together is worth quite a lot.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Days go by

Well, we're at the time of year when it's pretty hard to tell one day from the next. Winter is approaching and starting to settle in, skies are going gray (although today was surprisingly sunny) and the temperature is dropping. Several of these factors are somewhat welcome (I hate the heat) but others just add to that mild insanity that is Winter. And while I'll take Winter over Summer, that doesn't mean it doesn't mess with my mind.

I've got to get some new tires on the car - the front tires are basically bald and anything with less traction than a sticky summer highway is presenting a problem. So, tomorrow's randomly shifted day off will be spent at a tire dealership. I may try to take Jarhead with me. The library only had it as a book on tape and I haven't really had a chance to listen to it. Not exactly carpool material.

Tuesday night TV was once again enjoyable. Bones is still the weak link, but it's growing on me. Supernatural is still wonderfully spooky and House maintains high levels of sarcasm and wit.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Book 45

When I was younger I loved the Myth series by Robert Asprin. Somewhere around High School the series went on a pretty long hiatus. In college I ran across a new book, Sweet Myth-tery of Life, and then I lost track of it again. Book 45 was Myth-ion Improbable, which apparently came out some time ago and there have been a few books since. It was good to visit with Aahz and Skeeve again. This book was Asprin's attempt to kickstart the series after some writer's block and so takes place earlier in the continuum. I enjoyed it. It's made me want to track a couple of the older ones down as well as some of the new ones. It looks as if Asprin has gained a co-author on some of them and some of the reviews I've read have been less than kind, but we'll see. Hopefully I can track some of them down. If you like fantasy and comedy, this series has that in spades.

Watched Chungking Express. Great show. I liked the second half a bit more than the first half, but they were both good. The second half reminded me of Amelie. Parts of it were truly funny. And some of the camera work at the beginning was pretty interesting. Wong Kar-Wai filmed a slow motion chase scene that had the camera all over, but there were segments where it seems like he did something with the footage that turned it into something pretty artistic. It's hard to describe, you need to see it.

And family is coming to town later this week. So posting schedule will be even more whacked out than it has been.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Friday thoughts

Watched Star Wars Episode III last night. There were some good bits, but mostly I just thought it was long. I will admit to a small wish that we'd caught it on the big screen. I suspect the effects were indeed pretty cool. Which was part of the problem. In some scenes there was almost too much going on in the background. I'm glad George was paying attention to detail, but he probably should have spent that time editing the story. But the prequels are over now and most of the questions are answered I suppose. I can't really bring myself to care. Despite any loss of Geek cred that statement might bring me.

Up next for our viewing pleasure is Chunking Express. I've been hunting for that movie for a while so I'm looking forward to finally seeing it. There's an article here that goes over some of the classic HK action flicks. Will have to go poking around for them. Am also open to suggestions so feel free to leave those in the comments section.

This could be an interesting food blog. I want to try the potato and leek soup recipe.

And it seems like there was something of interest at one of the music blogs I follow but I forget what it was so you can go find it yourself. Mwa ha ha...

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

And again

Once again we reach the middle of the week. Despite the fact that the year is flying by, the days themselves seem to drag on...

You'd think that with as sketchy as my posting schedule has been that I'd have more to ramble on about. Jack Thompson getting thrown off the GTA case. Mariokart DS coming out soon. Child's Play starting up over at Penny Arcade. Y'know, random stuff. But honestly none of that is really holding my interest. Well, ok, I really want Mariokart for the DS...

Been trying to read through Dracula. Mostly it makes me want to watch that silly movie with Keanu Reeves. I don't remember thinking it was all that spectacular, but there you go. So I have no idea what book will be next. It's getting close to the end of the year and I'm in the home stretch. Hopefully I can make it through that last chunk. Will just have to find something that grabs my interest.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Book 44 and some movies

Read The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson. I enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes when it was in the papers and much like Larson's Pre-History of the Far Side this collection gave Watterson a chance to talk about the strip - some of its influences and some of the difficulties he had. Oddly enough I only agree with Watterson on a handful of issues, but I still find the strip terribly enjoyable. Certainly an interesting look at one of comic strip's brightest stars.

The movie weekend was salvaged by the letter 'r'. We managed to take in the pilot of Dead Like Me and Premonition. Dead Like Me was an enjoyable show. Reminded us of Wonderfalls a bit. Wonder if there are any cast/crew in common. Premonition is the J Horror equivalen of that old TV show Early Edition. Evil Edition perhaps? So the J Horror fix was temporarily appeased as was the movie fix. Tonight we're going to watch Final Cut with Robin Williams.

And Thanksgiving draws nigh. This year we're going to try doing the turkey in the slow cooker - Cider Turkey to be exact. Hopefully it will turn out well, we'll have a decent amount of family around.

At any rate, not much else to pass along. I'm just glad Monday is on its way out.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

More scenery


Utah Sunrise
Originally uploaded by dkun.


Took this the other morning before I headed out to work. You can occasionally get some pretty sunrises despite the mountains.

The movie weekend is not going well. In fact, up until this point it has been distinctly movie free...

I have attempted to remedy that, but not to much success. Oh well. I think I'll just sit and look at the pretty sunrise. There's another shot of the same sunrise over at my flickr stream.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Book 43

The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano comes in at number 43. Unlike a lot of Gaiman's fans, the Sandman series was not my introduction to his work. I'd heard of it, but had never read it. It wasn't until I'd read several of his novels and short stories that I finally sought out the famous comic series. The Dream Hunters is probably my favorite standalone volume, but there are certainly bits of the entire series that I enjoy more. But still, Sandman folk tale. Amano art. Can't really ask for too much more than that.

When my wife and I went to hear Gaiman speak a couple years ago, he mentioned that the story he put in the back of The Dream Hunters explaining its origin was a hoax. He'd written the story himself and then made up the back story. Not unlike William Goldman's story about The Princess Bride. Those wacky writers.

My wife is currently making her way through Anansi Boys. I've seen a brief smile on her face most of the time she's been reading it, so I suspect she's enjoying it.

I've started making my way through Golden Sun: The Lost Age. A worthy sequel to a nice RPG on the Gameboy. If you're looking for a fairly traditional console RPG for a handheld, you really can't go wrong with this series.

And I hereby declare this weekend Movie Weekend. I plan on spending far too much money on movies and then watching them. And doing little else. Popcorn. Soda. Couch. Woo hoo!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Wednesday's Child

Far to go? It sure seems like it.

House was back on last night. I missed that show. Last night was another enjoyable episode of sarcasm and witty banter. Good times.

Everyone's favorite anti-videogame lawyer is back in the news. This time he's claiming Sony is causing a second Pearl Harbor. Good ol' Jack. Glad to see that I'm not the only one with a tentative grip on reality.

And now that we're in November the shopping season is ramping up. We've actually done a bit of Christmas shopping. Still need to track down a few things though.

Well, I'm tired. So be off with you...

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Kids in costume


kidhalloween
Originally uploaded by dkun.


And here we have our resident trick-or-treaters. Ariel, Belle and Baby Luigi as they prepare to brave the mean streets in search of candy and mischief.

They had fun this year and came home with far too much candy.

Also, just off to the sides you can catch a glimpse of the Anansi pumpkin and the birthday pumpkin. My wife decided to celebrate Graeme's birthday a touch early.