In about two weeks Scott Pilgrim vs the World will be in theaters. This is grand news indeed. If you've not read the graphic novels you really should. All six are out now, so the story is complete. I've seen book 6, but have to wait my turn to read it. (Accursed hold list!) I'm hoping to get it before the movie comes out, but we shall see. I'm biding my time reading the first five over again. The story follows Scott as he starts dating Ramona Flowers only to find out that he has to defeat her seven evil exes in order to continue dating her. The movie is being directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) so it will, of course, be brilliant. If there's a guy more capable of grasping the source material than Wright, I'd like to meet him.
I've managed to finish off the second books in both the Skulduggery Pleasant and Last Apprentice series. They were also quite enjoyable. Playing with Fire (the second Skulduggery book) was once again hilarious and thrilling while The Curse of the Bane was still somewhat spooky and mysterious. I'm going to have to read more. This may present a problem...
The Courtyard is Alan Moore's take on Cthulhu. It's disturbing and gritty and not really for the faint of heart. Kind of like Cthulhu. (The best Cthulhu news I've heard? Guillermo Del Toro is going to make At the Mountains of Madness with James Cameron producing. This will be an absolutely awesome movie. Much like Wright's suitability for Scott Pilgrim, Del Toro is a match for Cthulhu.)
Lovely wife and I are currently watching the first season of The Mentalist. It's fun. Simon Baker is an absolute joy to watch as Patrick Jane, the ever observant consultant for the CBI. Where Psych goes almost strictly for comedy with serious moments, The Mentalist goes for drama with moments of humor. If you've not seen it, it's worth checking out.
And as a closing piece of advice, never give your spouse and kids a chance to practice at PitchCar. When it comes time to actually play, they will kill you.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Oregon and back...agon
As you can see from the lovely picture accompanying the post here family del 'd' recently returned from a vacation. Celebrating lovely wife's Father's 70th birthday we went to Depoe Bay in Oregon with her side of the family. And it was wonderful. I'm pretty sure I could settle down in Oregon on the coast. We stayed at the Worldmark resort in Depoe Bay courtesy of lovely wife's sister and had a lovely 3rd floor room looking out over the ocean. I will attempt to get some more pictures up soon, but for now you can look at the Yaquina Lighthouse that was down in Newport.
We played on the beach, flew a kite, visited the lighthouse and an aquarium and enjoyed lots of other coastal town activities. We saw seals, starfish, crabs, anemones, and other assorted critters. The temperature was a lovely 60-ish degrees. It was great.
We went out on a boat in an attempt to see a whale, but ended up discovering that lovely wife and M are more prone to get seasick. McK, G and myself had a grand old time in spite of the waves and wind and I still think it would be great to learn to sail. I really need a sailboat... Alas the weather (some fog and lots of wind) prevented us from seeing a whale, but the boat ride was fun (if you weren't lovely wife or M).
We enjoyed lots of local cuisine (taffy! Tillamook ice cream! Crab Legs!) and just generally did our best to relax and unwind and enjoy some time together. If you're looking to get away for a bit I can certainly recommend the Oregon coast.
On the way back we stopped off at Crater Lake and marveled at the startlingly blue water. Not so much the return to typical summer temperatures, but the lake itself was quite pretty.
I've also read far too many books recently. I shall try to recap them here.
Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice Book 1) by Joseph Delaney is pretty darn good. And also creepy. I look forward to reading more of this series. It follows Tom, the 7th son of a 7th son as he is apprenticed to the Spook - the guy responsible for dealing with all the supernatural problems the towns in the area face. Witches, boggarts and the like. It's a quick read that you don't want to put down that has some really nice atmosphere. McK claims to not have found it that creepy. I think she's putting on a brave face.
The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade recounts the 11 1/2 year history behind the popular webcomic. If you're a follower of the strip you'll recognize some of the stories, but there's plenty of material here that's worth revisiting. They cover everything from the strip itself to the creation of Child's Play, the charity and PAX, the premiere convention for the gaming public. Jerry and Mike are a couple of pretty amazing guys and it's fun to read about all the things that have happened. If you're not a fan, but someone you know is, the book will give you some insight into just what they find so fascinating.
The Ark, by Boyd Morrison was a decent summer popcorn book. And then I realized I was reading Clive Cussler. Two male action heroes with witty banter? Check. Beautiful woman tied to current mystery for predominant male hero to fall in love with? Check. Lots of vehicles? Check. Wacky vehicle chase scene? Check. Alternate take on historical artifact? Check. End of the world scenario that our heroes must stop with seconds to spare? Check. So yeah, it's really Clive Cussler in disguise, but it's still fun.
Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy is another series that I look forward to reading. We listened to the audiobook version of this and I can wholeheartedly recommend that. The story is an absolute riot and full of lots of action and suspense. Stephanie is 12 years old when her uncle passes away. At the funeral she meets Skulduggery, who she later discovers is a fire wielding, magic using skeleton. They then go on adventures to save the world. It's great. Go read it now. The entire family (with the possible exception of G who was probably a little to young for the whole audiobook spanning multiple cds thing) loved it.
So yeah, lots has happened since I last rambled on. But things should settle back to normal now. And I will settle for missing the ocean...
We played on the beach, flew a kite, visited the lighthouse and an aquarium and enjoyed lots of other coastal town activities. We saw seals, starfish, crabs, anemones, and other assorted critters. The temperature was a lovely 60-ish degrees. It was great.
We went out on a boat in an attempt to see a whale, but ended up discovering that lovely wife and M are more prone to get seasick. McK, G and myself had a grand old time in spite of the waves and wind and I still think it would be great to learn to sail. I really need a sailboat... Alas the weather (some fog and lots of wind) prevented us from seeing a whale, but the boat ride was fun (if you weren't lovely wife or M).
We enjoyed lots of local cuisine (taffy! Tillamook ice cream! Crab Legs!) and just generally did our best to relax and unwind and enjoy some time together. If you're looking to get away for a bit I can certainly recommend the Oregon coast.
On the way back we stopped off at Crater Lake and marveled at the startlingly blue water. Not so much the return to typical summer temperatures, but the lake itself was quite pretty.
I've also read far too many books recently. I shall try to recap them here.
Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice Book 1) by Joseph Delaney is pretty darn good. And also creepy. I look forward to reading more of this series. It follows Tom, the 7th son of a 7th son as he is apprenticed to the Spook - the guy responsible for dealing with all the supernatural problems the towns in the area face. Witches, boggarts and the like. It's a quick read that you don't want to put down that has some really nice atmosphere. McK claims to not have found it that creepy. I think she's putting on a brave face.
The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade recounts the 11 1/2 year history behind the popular webcomic. If you're a follower of the strip you'll recognize some of the stories, but there's plenty of material here that's worth revisiting. They cover everything from the strip itself to the creation of Child's Play, the charity and PAX, the premiere convention for the gaming public. Jerry and Mike are a couple of pretty amazing guys and it's fun to read about all the things that have happened. If you're not a fan, but someone you know is, the book will give you some insight into just what they find so fascinating.
The Ark, by Boyd Morrison was a decent summer popcorn book. And then I realized I was reading Clive Cussler. Two male action heroes with witty banter? Check. Beautiful woman tied to current mystery for predominant male hero to fall in love with? Check. Lots of vehicles? Check. Wacky vehicle chase scene? Check. Alternate take on historical artifact? Check. End of the world scenario that our heroes must stop with seconds to spare? Check. So yeah, it's really Clive Cussler in disguise, but it's still fun.
Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy is another series that I look forward to reading. We listened to the audiobook version of this and I can wholeheartedly recommend that. The story is an absolute riot and full of lots of action and suspense. Stephanie is 12 years old when her uncle passes away. At the funeral she meets Skulduggery, who she later discovers is a fire wielding, magic using skeleton. They then go on adventures to save the world. It's great. Go read it now. The entire family (with the possible exception of G who was probably a little to young for the whole audiobook spanning multiple cds thing) loved it.
So yeah, lots has happened since I last rambled on. But things should settle back to normal now. And I will settle for missing the ocean...
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Cloning around
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro ends about as well as it can. I first heard about the book a few weeks back when a trailer for the movie showed up. I didn't watch the trailer (which was probably wise prior to reading the book) but decided it sounded a little interesting. I'd heard of the author before, but not read anything by him. So I picked it up. The book follows Ruth, Tommy and Kathy as they grow up, first in a boarding school type location and then as they venture into the world after school. Or as much of it as they're allowed to see. I won't go into specifics about the plot as some of the impact comes from following the story, but it is interesting. It's told from a reminiscing/memoir point of view and is mostly slice of life with a sci-fi edge to it. And a rather sharp one at that. It's not terribly surprising there' s a movie in the works and that the book is gaining some attention again considering the topics it tackles. It's definitely interesting and well written. (And a little depressing.)
Other than that, life continues in casa del 'd'. The weather has been wonderfully cool for July. I approve of this oddball summer we're having. It's certainly hot enough during the day, but the evenings have been actually pleasant.
I contemplated rambling a little bit about video games. Mostly as I was thinking about consoles and the sorts of games you tend to buy for them. Everybody needs a good racer and a fighting game and so on. But really, there's not a lot of topic there. At least that hasn't been covered better elsewhere. So no ramblings for you. Just go buy a racing game and a fighter and a platformer or two. Maybe a party game.
Oh hey, remember that last line thing? Here's one without any commentary: Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini, "They were now on Liquidia's short list, and the man known in Tijuana as the Mexecutioner had a very long memory." Ok, the only comment I have is Mexecutioner? Really? I suspect the author had one too many of his last name. You know what the best name for an assassin would be? Mexecutioner. Because he's from Mexico. And he executes people. I love you man! <sigh>
Other than that, life continues in casa del 'd'. The weather has been wonderfully cool for July. I approve of this oddball summer we're having. It's certainly hot enough during the day, but the evenings have been actually pleasant.
I contemplated rambling a little bit about video games. Mostly as I was thinking about consoles and the sorts of games you tend to buy for them. Everybody needs a good racer and a fighting game and so on. But really, there's not a lot of topic there. At least that hasn't been covered better elsewhere. So no ramblings for you. Just go buy a racing game and a fighter and a platformer or two. Maybe a party game.
Oh hey, remember that last line thing? Here's one without any commentary: Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini, "They were now on Liquidia's short list, and the man known in Tijuana as the Mexecutioner had a very long memory." Ok, the only comment I have is Mexecutioner? Really? I suspect the author had one too many of his last name. You know what the best name for an assassin would be? Mexecutioner. Because he's from Mexico. And he executes people. I love you man! <sigh>
Thursday, July 01, 2010
And so it goes
It seems like that's a line from Kurt Vonnegut. (The title that is) It seems to fit things in casa del 'd' at the moment. Hmm.
I've been reading The Name of the Wind again in the evenings. Such a good book. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good the second time through (especially as I only read it a few months back), but nope, still excellent.
We picked up a couple little games in preparation for some family time. Qwirkle Cubes takes the gameplay from Qwirkle and mixes it up by turning the tiles into dice. So you're still trying to complete lines of 6 (either same color different shape or same shape different color) but at the beginning of your turn you can opt to roll any of the dice that are in your hand. It makes things a little more interesting. Also you can see what your opponents have at any time so there's a little more strategy to what you might place.
Forbidden Island is a co-operative game that has you trying to collect 4 treasures from a rapidly sinking island. Each player has an ability that lets them break the rules in a specific way as you work together to try and keep the island from sinking before you get the goods and get away. It's by the guy that created Pandemic which is a pretty well known co-op game. This one is a little simpler and meant for families. It's also much cheaper - priced around $15. It plays 2-4 people and lovely wife and I found it pretty fun.
We've still been having some fun throwing the frisbee around and taking some walks around the neighborhood. They built a pretty nice biking/walking path close by that we like. I've not been real good about exercising lately, so we try and get out for a walk in the evening to at least pretend.
And that's about it. The kids still live at the pool (when we let them) or terrorize the neighborhood. I guess we'll try to blow some stuff up this weekend and celebrate the holiday. Too bad we can't get any real fireworks...
I've been reading The Name of the Wind again in the evenings. Such a good book. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good the second time through (especially as I only read it a few months back), but nope, still excellent.
We picked up a couple little games in preparation for some family time. Qwirkle Cubes takes the gameplay from Qwirkle and mixes it up by turning the tiles into dice. So you're still trying to complete lines of 6 (either same color different shape or same shape different color) but at the beginning of your turn you can opt to roll any of the dice that are in your hand. It makes things a little more interesting. Also you can see what your opponents have at any time so there's a little more strategy to what you might place.
Forbidden Island is a co-operative game that has you trying to collect 4 treasures from a rapidly sinking island. Each player has an ability that lets them break the rules in a specific way as you work together to try and keep the island from sinking before you get the goods and get away. It's by the guy that created Pandemic which is a pretty well known co-op game. This one is a little simpler and meant for families. It's also much cheaper - priced around $15. It plays 2-4 people and lovely wife and I found it pretty fun.
We've still been having some fun throwing the frisbee around and taking some walks around the neighborhood. They built a pretty nice biking/walking path close by that we like. I've not been real good about exercising lately, so we try and get out for a walk in the evening to at least pretend.
And that's about it. The kids still live at the pool (when we let them) or terrorize the neighborhood. I guess we'll try to blow some stuff up this weekend and celebrate the holiday. Too bad we can't get any real fireworks...
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