Partially for my Uncle

First, I finished Death from the Skies and it was great. It seems to me that boys go through some distinct phases growing up. First there are Dinosaurs (G says Raaarrr!) and then there's Astronomy. This book rekindled quite a bit of my old love for Astronomy. Never mind that the book focuses on the destruction of the Earth a dozen or so times. Death by Asteroid! Death by solar flare! Death by black hole! They're all great. Well, ok, horrific, but you get the idea. The science is always at a manageable level and if you like sci fi apocalyptic tales, it's nice to see what might really happen. So give Death a chance.

Oddly, speaking of growing up male, that brings me to my current book: The Elfish Gene (another one with a subtitle I can't be bothered to type up). If you played D&D or knew someone that played D&D I suspect this book will bring back memories, fond or otherwise. It might also help you understand that poor creature that was the nerd in the 80s. I'm not very far in, but I can already tell this will be a great book.

My own sordid past with D&D all starts with my Uncle Paul. I still have fond memories of the old red box and the hours of fun it led to. I also remember pestering him to let me fight a Dragon with my brand new magic user. The death my poor character received at the hands of the foul beast was one I still treasure. My Uncle probably still rolls his eyes at the thought of some young kid with magic missile and an obvious death wish.

And if that last paragraph made any sense to you at all, you really need to read The Elfish Gene.

In (mocking) Twilight news, they fired the director of the film as they gear up for the sequel. And it also sounds like they fired the actor that plays Jacob. The werewolf. That's not a werewolf. Because in a movie about vampires that are not vampires, you better have werewolves that are not werewolves. Has the last decade of bad fantasy cinema taught you nothing? At least you can rest assured there will be no leather clad heroine in the Twilight sequel. That would just lead to impure thoughts and we know nobody in that series has those...

Christmas fast approaches. Which means I will have to brave airline travel. I don't think I'm ready for that. Trip to see the family notwithstanding. I hate airports.

If you're not watching Leverage on TNT on Tuesday nights you should be. And the Librarian movies were pretty good too. I only caught most of the second and the third, but (go figure) our Library carries them so we'll be watching the first two on DVD. They're a little National Treasure, a little Indiana Jones, a lot The Mummy, but it works. Although Noah Wyle is no Brendan Fraser. It was funny seeing Gabrielle Anwar in the second one. Glad to see she's still working (Burn Notice!) I liked her quite a bit in 80s/90s. Whenever that silly Invasion of the Body Snatchers re-telling came out. That and If Looks Could Kill with that Grieco kid. I think she was in that.

Well, that's quite the bit of rambling. I should point out at this point that Blue Moon does look to be rather fun, especially once you're familiar with the cards. It does look like there's a learning curve there, but I think it will be worth it. Also, I managed to collect all 120 stars as Luigi in Super Mario Galaxy. I won't comment on what kind of a geek/nerd that makes me. Did you not read the beginning of this post?

Steampunk and other odds and ends

Finished up Starcross and it's genre-riffic subtitle the other day. It's the second in a series (Larklight was the first and I believe Mothstorm just came out) of Steampunk novels in which our heroes have adventures and save the world. All while extolling the virtues of the good ol' Victorian era. Huzzah! Not sure why I've been on such a YA reading kick lately. But there you go. It was a fun read and is another one that won't take much time to read through. Lots of twists and turns and yarn.

I must take a moment to point out that the book I'm currently reading (Death from the Skies: These are the Ways the World Will End) is truly awesome. It's written by an astronomer and details what would really happen if all of those sci-fi, astronomical, world-ending scenarios came to be. Truly brilliant. And funny. Go give it a look. There's plenty of humor and the science is aimed firmly at the lay audience, so there's very little pesky math to be muddled through.

Fall is coming to an end and I suppose and that's a good thing. Tired of leaves on the ground. Ready for some snow and some cold weather. It's been cold enough in the mornings, but strangely warm in the afternoons. Or at least it seems that way.

Sock animals have taken over the house. Pigs, cats, totoro. (Totorii?) I am amused by that. Most of them fall in the disturbingly cute camp, but you'll find a mutant here or there.

Speaking of mutants, the world can finally shut up about Twilight after this weekend. It will have its one big box office weekend and then we can all go about ignoring it and living our lives again. It will be nice, he thought giddily, while typing furiously and glittering in the afternoon sunlight. See I've read the book... Well, ok enough to know that Meyer should be brought up on abuse of adverbs. Early reviews are coming in and they're mostly positive (if you ignore the "vampire" content and see it for what it really is - tween romance chick flick) while knocking Edward. And really after seeing that trailer, who thought he was a good idea?

Guess I'll need a new passtime.