Oh yeah

The other thing I should mention. Scribblenauts. If you have a DS, this is worth picking up. It's a puzzle game in which you try to get the main character (Max, if you need a name) to the star(ite). The hook is you type in what you want to use to get there. Piranha in the lake between you and the starite? Type in shark or bear and drop it in. One less piranha. Cat up a tree? Try an elevator. Or wings. Or a dog. Or catnip. You get the idea. The dictionary in this thing is huge (as are the pop culture and geek references - keyboard cat, the large hadron collider, Cthulhu and lots of others say hi) so if you can think of it, chances are you can use it. The best part is the title screen acts as a drawing board where you can try out whatever you want. See how things interact: pit zombies against vampires (stronger than zombies, but scared of garlic and the sun will kill them, not make them sparkle), Cthulhu against a Shoggoth and so on. Honestly this may be the first game where the title screen is better than the game. The controls are certainly a bit wonky but the chance to stretch your brain more than makes up for it. So yeah, Scribblenauts. It's awesome. (And make sure you have a kid around when you play some times. It's totally worth seeing how what they come up with works too.)

And a week's gone by

No snappy title for you this week. Too tired to think of one. There has been a distinct lack of sleep in my life lately. Not as bad as some of my insomnia bouts, but things are definitely a little on the fuzzy side.

So I finished The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Honestly you don't need me to review it. You already know it's bad. Readable, but bad. Plot holes, bad characters, too much lecturing, out there science that's real darnit, yadda yadda. If you've read any of his stuff you know the drill. If you haven't, don't read this one. Read Deception Point instead. I still seem to remember thinking that one was good. It posits a relatively interesting question and then pretty much fails to deliver anything worthwhile. So yeah. Umptymillion readers are wrong. Or gullible. I fall into the taking one for the team category natch.

Also finished The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. It was alright. Relatively decent little political thriller. Unfortunately I was listening to the audiobook version and several of the cds were scratched to no end. So there are some strange gaps in my knowledge of the story. Especially near the end. Annoying. The one down side to audiobooks from the Library. May try his next one The Book of Lies. We'll see. The end was a little off, but I suspect it's because he's hoping for a movie deal.

Up next are Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman (book he wrote for charity in the UK that just came out over here), Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (sequel to The Hunger Games) and I'm still in the midst of The Magicians.

Season opener of House was fun. Will be interesting to see the new nicer House. Season finale of Eureka was good if frustrating. I liked Tess, am annoyed they're potentially writing her off. Not the biggest Carter/Allison fan. Meh. And last week's Bollywood inspired episode of Psych went a long way to redeeming an otherwise forgettable season.

So enough rambling commentary on ways to pass your time. If I were more awake I'd throw in a last line, or a game my wife hates, but I suspect that's better saved for next time. Or whenever I get back to this thing.

Weekly dose of books and such

Finished Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Enjoyed it thoroughly. It's a steampunk take on WWI, so you have giant robotic war machines on one side and living zeppelins (and other home brewed beasties) on the other. The story itself follows the young not quite heir of archduke Franz Ferdinand (the guy what got assassinated and started the whole shindig) on one side and a young girl masquerading as a boy so she can join the military on the other. The only down side is that this is the first book in a series, and so while it wraps a few things up there's still plenty to come. And I can't wait. It's typical readable Westerfeld with some fun characters and lots of good bits. Check it out.

Who watches the Watchmen? I watch the Watchmen. That's who. Movie was a decent adaptation of the graphic novel (which is still better). I'm not convinced the altered ending works as well as some have claimed (honestly I have a pretty big problem with it), but it's definitely standard Snyder. If you liked either 300 or his remake of Dawn of the Dead you'll find some decent bits here too. Lots of stylish slow-mo and some effective color palette use. (Strangely I wasn't as drawn to the opening montage as everyone else either. I think I'd have found it horribly confusing if I hadn't read the graphic novel and understood the history it was compressing. I'll have to double check with lovely wife and see if that's true...) I guess I can only really say it was alright. Not great, not horrible. I'm not convinced the message in this one holds up as well as something like V is for Vendetta. Cold War ended a while ago and most folks my age really can't relate.

I've started The Lost Symbol. It's... not good. It is standard Dan Brown. You'll get lectured a lot. The bad guy is a caricature (tattoos instead of albino-ism in this one). The plot is mind blowingly stupid. (I've spent most of my time yelling why would you do that?! No really, except for the fact the author needed you to, why would you do that?!) But it's strangely readable. And you sort of want to know what the big secret is. Guy's got a struck a deal with the devil to get it writing style, I'll give him that. So, turn brain off and read. Or wait for everyone to talk about it and nod along. You're probably not missing that much.

I really need to come up with a way to snag the two player board for Ticket to Ride. The problem is, you need either the original game, or the European sequel to cannibalize for parts. We've got Marklin. I suspect I'd really like the 2 player version of the game it's actually built for that number of players. The other boards really seem built for lots of players. At least that's my impression of Marklin. It's fun, sure, but also pretty cutthroat. If you happen to be lucky and don't end up heading for the same sections of the map the game is alright, but if you do... Well. You've been warned. Actually now that I think about it, I suspect the 2 player version probably ends in tears a lot more...

Oh and a quick plea to Dad - Send more Skinny Cows. That is all.

Hikes and fish

view from Timpanogos cave trail 3,
originally uploaded by dkun.

As you can see pictured here, we did indeed hike up to Timp Caves while family was in town. It was a pleasant enough trek (and apparently exercise is good for something as I was only vaguely sore the next couple days) that did afford some decent photos. You can see a couple more from the trail over at the flickr site.

So family was in town and that was nice. Everybody got along and a good time was had by all. I introduced Dad and youngest sis to Dominion. McK was insistent that she teach Dad how to play. She needs to work on buying point cards. Lovely wife's Dad took G to see Ponyo. I would have liked to have seen it as well. We all went out for ice cream at Maggie Moo's. (Twice! Once for each Grandpa) And the sprinkler system got fixed. That job went shockingly well.

And we got some yummy pulled pork from The Smoking Apple. Yummy enough that it deserves its own paragraph. Yes folks, it's that good.

McK featured in her own version of a favorite niece story. While Dad was here he took us over to Costco to wander around. He offered to make us some Parmesan Tilapia for dinner so we picked up some fillets along with a few other things. It came out nicely and was quite good. McK, known for her extremely narrow diet, refused to have fish for dinner. (Everyone else ate theirs, G eating an entire fillet by himself) We told her she had to try it. Shockingly we actually got her to. At which point she decided we were teasing her and we really had Parmesan chicken, not fish. She refused to acknowledge Tilapia as a type of fish, because fish can't taste good on general principles or something. So there you go, Tilapia - the new chicken of the sea.

Finished The Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar last night. I really, really enjoy this series. I don't have anything terribly illuminating to say about it other than it's a darn good Lovecraftian horror tale. Worth reading if you like Lovecraft.

Race to Witch Mountain was fun. I like Dwayne Johnson - I find him funny. We're a couple episodes into the second series of Hamish Macbeth and it's still good. There are a few things waiting in the wings.

Oh that Misplaced Effigy book showed up at the Library today. It doesn't go out until next week. But it's here. Mwa ha ha ha.

There really should be a few other things to cover, it's been a pretty momentous week, but I think that's really all that's worth mentioning. Poor McK has come down with walking pneumonia, and I've got a head cold I'd love to get rid of. The one downside to being around people that have been on planes and in other parts of the country, accursed foreign germs. Hopefully family didn't come down with things too.

Gardens, Monsters, Last Lines

Green beans and cucumbers,
originally uploaded by dkun.

So, here is the picture of the recent green bean/cucumber harvest. Alas, these are the only 2 cucumbers we were able to grow. Soon they will be pickles. Oh yes, yes they will. Tasty tasty pickles. Hopefully. As mentioned the green beans have been the big winner this summer (oh and the snap peas, can't forget them). This represents only a small amount of what we've grown, but this was the single biggest batch we picked. And they are mighty fine. We've had some decent tomatoes and some decent peppers as well. All in all the garden has been a success. And I just found out that lovely wife planted some spinach for a fall harvest. So yay for that. Next year we'll have a slightly better idea about what we're doing.

I have finally finished all 18 volumes of Naoki Urasawa's Monster. It was quite the ride. I'm uncertain how I feel about the ending (and really given the buildup that occurred across 18 volumes, I'm really not sure what would have worked) but I can wholeheartedly recommend the series. If you have access to it, track it down. It's a pretty fascinating ride. Politics, questions of humanity, intrigue - this series has just about a dash of everything. It really is pretty amazing how much stuff is crammed into the story. The few knocks against it are the constant introduction of new characters (even at the end) which can be pretty difficult to follow (wait, who did what to who and when?) and the fact that the story really does cover a lot of ground. It can be difficult to keep track of (even with the helpful charts at the beginning). (And yes I'm aware I just said that was a positive as well, thanks) So yes, Monster good. Letter 'd' approved.

And lest you think I forgot, here's another last line. This time it comes from The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine (Amazon link, yo) by April Lurie. It reads, "From the audience, Headbone calls out, 'Dylan! Studmeister! Give us lessons!'" It's been a while since I made note of this particular line, so I have no scathing commentary. I will simply say that if anyone should be using the term studmeister, it's definitely someone named Headbone. (Based on the blurb I have a sneaking suspicion that he's a band member. A particularly gnarly one at that dude. But that almost counts as research, so ignore that bit.) I am glad to see that Headbone is interested in learning something. Especially as the book is now over and he will never get the chance.

We recently caught the first few episodes of Hamish Macbeth, a Scottish TV series based on the M.C. Beaton books. It's good. It takes an episode or two to make sense of the accents, but after that it's an amusing little police show. Robert Carlyle makes an excellent Hamish (and a good zombie as well - 28 Weeks Later says hi) and the girl who plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter films does a good job as one third of the main love triangle. Also worth tracking down.

And I think that about does it. Family is in town at the moment and will continue to arrive through Saturday. It will make for a busy weekend, but it will be nice to see everyone again. So happy early Labor Day to all. (And who let it be September already?!)