The post of the beast

Blogger tells me that this is my 666th post. In keeping with this nefarious theme I will regale you with tales of a dog movie. Dogs. Bleh. Evil creatures. Well, ok not really so much evil as dumb. Which if you believe Spaceballs actually makes them good, because Good is Dumb per Dark Helmet.

Anyway.

We recently watched Hachi: A Dog's Tale and it was quite good, if quite sad. It's a re-locating of a famous Japanese story about Hachiko, the faithful Akita dog. The quick version goes like this: professor has dog. Dog loves professor. Dog waits for professor to come home at train station every day. Professor dies of heart attack one day while at work. Dog proceeds to wait 10 years for professor to come home until it passes away due to old age. Town builds statue to memorialize dog and as symbol of love and loyalty.

The movie hits pretty much all of those points in a nice fashion. This is a quiet, simple movie and in some ways is all the more heart-breaking for it. And I'd really like to know how they trained the dogs to walk so pathetically at the end of the movie. There are a couple shots where you can just feel how old the dog is by that point. So if you need a good cry or like dogs or whatever I can recommend Hachi.

I also finished reading Haze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. I don't really have much to say about it except that it's a relatively solid sci-fi piece. Not amazing, but not bad either.

And I think that will pretty much wrap things up. We have learned a valuable lesson when it comes to planting our garden. (Wait till after Mother's Day or you'll have to buy more plants and start again) And one of the kids seems to think there's a birthday coming up. Strange.

Owly and some other stuff

I heard about Owly a year or so ago. And then forgot about it for a bit as I figured it would initially appeal to G and he wasn't quite ready for picture storybooks at the time. The other day I saw an ALA poster featuring the character and decided it was certainly time to check it out. And I'm glad I did.

Owly is (wait for it) an owl that lives in the forest and pretty much wants to be friends with everyone. Due to his owlish nature and the fact that most of the creatures he wants to befriend are lower on the food chain, this is usually a problem. But as is the case with most stories of this nature, perseverance and kindness pay off. The books are graphic novel in size and shape, but there are (almost) no words. When characters talk, you get the word bubbles, but the words are replaced with pictures. It's an ingenious way to tell a story for just about anyone. The art is great and the stories are often moving in spite of their simplistic nature. G and I both quickly devoured all five of the books I brought home. I haven't quizzed him on the contents yet to see just what he picked up, but he certainly seemed to enjoy reading through them. I recommend giving them a go regardless of how old you are, there's something here for everyone. Owly rocks.

Casa del 'd' is currently making its way through the old Nadia Secret of Blue Water anime series as well. It's not bad. And not really that dated either. It's an earlier series, but the art is still quite nice and the story holds up. Probably at least partially as it's based somewhat on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Follow Nadia and Jean as they have adventures above and below the waves on their quest to discover the nature of the Blue Water - the gem Nadia wears.

And I must point out that I have managed to make it to the end of the initial quest in Shiren the Wanderer. Oh yes, I battled my way through all 30 levels ultimately freeing the Golden Condor. It was glorious. Of course, that just opens up the 100(?!) level dungeon that is your reward for taking on the initial task. I haven't ventured forth to see it yet. Shiren needs to rest up a bit from all those mindless deaths. It only took a Master Sword +16 and a decent shield and armband to do it too!

Other than that, life continues here at casa del 'd'. The weather is currently in that constant state of flux that marks the winter/spring border so it might be rain, it might be sunny, it might be snow. And we're about to start planting our squarefoot garden. Yay vegetables! Very excited. More beans, more peas, more tomatoes and peppers!

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?!)

Haunted Houses, Dangerous Islands, you know, your typical stuff

Recently finished the audiobook version of Richard Matheson's Hell House. It's a decent haunted house type story that is not in any way for people under the age of, oh, say, 30. Matheson opted to go the creepy lurid route as opposed to the creepy psychological route (although there is some of that too). Which is to say there's some sex folks. I'm a little interested how the book got turned into a PG movie, because it seems like they'd pretty much have to re-write the entire thing to accomplish said task. And maybe they did. Who knows? There are some good twists and some nice spooky moments, but it's actually a little hard to recommend the title. The guy doing the reading did a pretty good job though, so that's something.

I'm actually going to start listening to some audiobooks as part of my commute. Up next is The Book of Fate.

Finished Warren Fahy's Fragment. It's fine for a summer popcorn book (which is pretty much what I read it for). Not quite up to Jurassic Park standards, but not bad for what it is. Follow the scientist based reality TV show as they head to an island left to itself for far too long. Cower in terror as they get devoured by said island's insane ecosystem. Thrill as more scientists show up - will they be saviours? Or savored? Yeah, it's kind of like that. Characters aren't terribly 3 dimensional, and plot is pretty standard. It does get points for some creativity in the monsters that inhabit the island though.

Up next is Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan. I love me some Westerfeld and this one has a steampunk-ish twist, so yay for that. Should be good.

Kids have been reading the Legend of Zelda graphic novels (and by kids I mean pretty much all of us - in fact I think all 5 of us read the first one...) and enjoying them. That's kind of fun.

The big success of the garden has been green beans I think. Snap peas are a close second, followed by the tomatoes and then the peppers. I suspect next year we may turn the trellis over to the pole beans and the snap peas and rearrange everything else a touch. But the beans have been great. Mmmm fresh steamed green beans...

Eureka season one has been fun, but it really makes me want to watch season two as I forget how some of these plot lines wrapped up. Leverage has been alright and Psych is still fun. Although the star of the week vein they're in is a little silly.

I would like to point out at this point that my wife has made some sort of pact with the devil when it comes to Alhambra. No one will ever beat her at this game. Ever. I think the letter 'r' and I will start handicapping ourselves about 50 points to keep things fair...

And that's pretty much how the summer has gone. Some books, some TV, some movies, some games and so on. Looking forward to settling into the fall and winter. Although the commute in winter is an absolute nightmare. Family in town soon, so that should be nice.

Of Big Bangs, Little Girls and Cities

Recently started watching Season One of The Big Bang Theory. It's terribly funny, occasionally crude and pretty much all true. Sheldon is certainly the best character in the show (I actually find Leonard only ok) and the one that really shines out as an example of true nerddom. If you've not caught an episode, it's worth hunting down. We've laughed quite a bit and look forward to the rest of the season. The nice thing is that they aren't making fun of nerds in the show. They are the main characters and they're portrayed honestly. The humor just comes from the situations they're placed in and their own interactions.

Finished off China Mieville's The City & The City. An interesting murder mystery where the locale the story takes place in is as much a character as the people involved. I won't go into details about the central conceit as it is a nice little twist (and honestly spoiled everywhere else) but it does make for interesting reading. While it would be fascinating to see something like that attempted in real life, I'm pretty sure it would be nigh unto impossible. It works in the story as both a physical thing and a symbol. Glean from this rather ambiguous paragraph what you will. If you get nothing else, just know it is an interesting story and also worth checking out.

Girls are off at Girl Scout camp. Although it sounds like the place they're at double booked and they're getting kicked out this afternoon. Oh well. I'm sure they had some fun.

I may need to start looking into making some homemade salsa. We're starting to get a decent number of tomatoes from the garden. Can't slice them all up for burgers. Or salads. Wish we had some jalapenos or serranos as well...

Finally got around to seeing Coraline the other day. It's decent. I'm not entirely crazy about some of the changes they made to the story and it seemed a touch long in places, but it is a bit of a marvel of stop animation cinematography. And the core story is pretty much intact. Kids liked it quite a bit and that's what really mattered.

Books, tables, weekly dose of randomness

Let's see. I finished The Strain by Del Toro and Hogan. It was good. Definitely the first in a trilogy (I believe). This initial story was sort of wrapped up, but there are certainly story lines left hanging and characters in dire situations. Briefly, it's a vampire story with a bit of a medical bent. Not so briefly? Well, we follow Eph Goodweather of the CDC as he's called to investigate a plane full of dead people. He provides the medical background mentioned earlier while Abraham Setrakian provides the vampire background. (He's the hunter, not the vampire) They either use or at least nod at most of the accepted vampire myths while tweaking a couple (it's a virus and teeth are not involved in the blood drinking). It will be interesting to see where the story goes, I look forward to the next one.

I also made it through The Magic Thief: Lost book 2 of that series. I really like the way these stories are told and this one is another fun little romp. Conn, the titular magic thief has lost his focus stone and proceeds to try and speak with the magic by blowing things up. Good lad that Conn. Sarah Prineas relates the story in a nice easy going fashion that will have you done with the book in an afternoon. Again I look forward to seeing what happens next.

I've burned through a couple of the Kindaichi Case Files books. They're always fun. I really need to track down some of the ones I've missed.

The letter 'r' has run across some lovely tables. If Dad wants to make that first one in the video we'd take a couple. Although I can't imagine how careful you'd have to be putting that one together... Yikes. Talk about measure twice cut once. I'm not sure I'd ever get out of the measuring phase on that one.

Weather has finally turned very much summer-y. Too hot. ^_^ I miss the rain. Although parts of the garden don't. I think our cucumbers and watermelons are doomed. Peas and beans seem ok though. As do the tomatoes. We finally have some serranos, although the poor jalapeno seems to have gone on strike... We blame the monster of a tomato plant we've got next to it.

Kids have been enjoying the pool (thanks littlest sis), although lovely wife is about to throw the lot of them in it and leave them there. Apparently they think she's some sort of pool toy.

We managed to survive the 4th without setting anything on fire (sounds like we're one up on Dad in that respect) although that can certainly liven things up. We had good food and decent fireworks. If I ever have to light lightning flashes again it will be too soon. That and snakes. Why did it have to be snakes...

At any rate the summer marches on. Which is good.

Befuddlement

Seems like there should be things to talk about here. I'm pretty sure I was aware of them earlier, but it's been that kind of day.

The Arts Festival is going on outside of the Library at the moment and if any of you have a couple grand to loan give us, I will acquire some nice art. As it stands I suspect it will once again pass us by. Although there's a rather nice Army of Darkness spray paint piece... Anyone? (And don't get me started on the beautiful Greek Boat photo... Water! So blue!)

Watched Sunshine again the other day. First 2/3 or so of that movie are great. Ending, not so much.

Apparently DirecTV does not play well with rain. You have rain for a few days in a row and suddenly the signal just wanders away looking for some sun. I wonder what people in, oh, say, Forks do for satellite service. Have the Cullens hold the dishes and sparkle sweat heavily?

Currently reading The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan. It's a pretty good vampire book. Part medical thriller (some pretty gruesome details yo) part horror novel, it's been pretty interesting so far. Although it appears the vampires don't have teeth. It looks like they may have some sort of extra appendage in their throat that they use instead. I'm actually just getting to the part where the vampire outbreak starts in earnest so I'm not certain of all the details yet. Why do people play around with the vampire rules so much? I don't know that any other undead critter gets yanked around quite so much...

I have a jalapeno from the garden. It will go on the chicken tacos we're making tonight. I'm hoping it is very yummy. And not without some kick. We shall see. Tomatoes are in existence, spinach too. Watermelons down for the count. Not sure about the cucumbers. Or the serranos.

Summer madness

And so the kids are out of school. Alas poor wife, we hardly knew ye. After the initial, "you are all driving me insane, now GO OUTSIDE!" phase has worn off I'm sure she'll be fine. Once she's applied some sunscreen since they're apparently living at the city pool.

Garden continues to grow, although we seem to have lost some watermelon seedlings along the way. We may have to plant one more just to be safe. Tomato plant seems a little stressed as well. I really need to take another picture so I have proof that we had things growing at one point. ^_^

Monster vol 2 was quite good and the story continues. Looks like Dr. Tenma plans to leave the hospital to hunt after the serial killer he saved. And the police are convinced he had something to do with several new deaths. Ooo tension. heh heh.

I'm currently reading through Cromartie High School volume 1 and let me tell you, it's hilarious. Upstanding student applies to delinquent high school to encourage friend to go to school. Only friend does not make it into said school. Hijinks ensue. Lots and lots of hijinks. There are stories about dominoes and rabbits living with lions and pudding. (And I believe I've made my feelings known on stories with pudding) If you can locate it, read it. Or possibly watch the anime, I have plans to do that as well.

Speaking of anime, Ghost in the Shell: 2nd Gig (or Stand Alone Complex season 2) is excellent. I really like that series. Production IG has done a great job with that world.

In other slightly related news, this week was E3. And there were some excellent Wii related announcements. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, and some others. If you have a Wii hooked up to the net, I recommend checking out the Nintendo channel and watching the videos. Some great looking stuff. Can't wait for Galaxy 2, I loved the first one. Oh and there's more Wii Sports and Wii Fit and... heh heh, like I said list goes on.

Anniversary was this week. 14 years. 14 long great years. ^_^ Love you honey! This last year was certainly better than the previous, but held it's own set of challenges. We're certainly ready for things to settle down a touch more.

And I believe that's enough. Oh I'll throw this out there. Some of those stories look pretty great. And it's possible to waste a bit of time at that site...

Moments in the Sun

Special follows your Average Joe™ who is accepted into a drug trial, becomes convinced he has super powers (he doesn't) and uses them to fight crime (tackle people). Drug company suits are not amused and downward spiral of events follow. Will Average Joe™ prevail over the suits? Well watch the movie. Draw your own conclusions. The trailer is a little misleading on this one. It sounds like a relatively funny movie right? And in some ways it is. The problem is, they play everything a little too straight and so there are times you really start to wonder if you should be laughing at what's happening. Instead of crying or finding someone to help the poor man. The performances are all really well done and I think that's what makes it so hard to decide how you should view this movie.

We officially have the starts of several things growing in the garden. Some Spinach, some Cucumbers, a couple others. This is good. I'm really looking forward to seeing if we can actually keep things alive long enough to get some food out of them. Mmm pickles. And Spinach salad...

I suddenly have a lot of things to read/watch. Some of them may make their way here. I can recommend Melody A.M. by Röyksopp. If you're familiar with the caveman Geico commercial that takes place in the airport (he's on the moving sidewalk), you know one song on the album, Remind Me. It's a good album if you like electronica (actually it's good even if you don't). Bits of it remind me of Pink Floyd for some strange reason.

Goings on gone

square foot garden,
originally uploaded by dkun.

Yeah a little late and you've seen the pictures, blah, blah, blah. Blame my wife who seems not to understand the concept "flickr pool".

Managed to enjoy the week off with Dad in town. Even if we spent most of it working. Here you can see one of the boxes we built for our square foot garden. There are two. And hopefully they will provide us with lots of yummy food. We also rearranged the girls' room. Bunk beds are now single beds. And the corner of shame has been banished.

We did squeeze some fun in. Star Trek is a good show (even in spite of reboot romances... Spock?! Seriously?!). Quantum of Solace is good (pay no attention to my wife or father, they're muddled from the work and the heat). And the Aquarium is quite nice now. A really nice South American exhibit.

Managed to finish Drood by Dan Simmons. I quite liked it. I'd really like to know which parts were fiction. Well ok, a lot of it is, but there's a lot of fact in there too. Sounds like Dickens got a little strange at the end of his life, although not as strange as some of his associates. Drood tells the tale of the end of Dickens's life as seen through the eyes of his friend/collaborator/jealous adversary William "Wilkie" Collins. Pretty fascinating and a touch horrifying. And what more do you want from a summer-y novel?

How about South American adventure and jungles and spies and lost cities and madness and death? That's what The Lost City of Z, the current book I'm reading, promises. Oh and did I mention it's all true? Nice.

20th Century Boys Volume 1 is pretty good. It sounds like it's a long series, but I look forward to the chance to read it.

Well, it's hot. Even in the basement. I must go melt now. As you were.

Storm before the calm

Getting ready for an entire week off. It will be glorious. And the best part is getting to see Dad since he's flying out this weekend. Looking forward to that. Even if we are getting suckered into manual labor. Got to build some squarefoot garden boxes and get some grub planted as well as possibly redoing the girls' room.

Had a great lunch to celebrate Cinco de Mayo yesterday (yes we celebrated a day late). Some truly yummy Mexican food. (I made salsa)

Watched Cronocrimenes (Timecrimes for favorite niece) the other night. Decent time travel mystery type flick. Some of it was predictable, but there were a couple nice little twists.

Will finally get to watch Quantum of Solace soon. Looking forward to that. Making my way through the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It's pretty enjoyable too, but then I like the GitS universe.

In mocking Twilight news, it gave G nightmares. Lovely wife decided to snag it from the redbox due to massive amounts of whining from McK and M. They all watched it without me (probably wise on their part). But yeah, G not so much ready for emo dudes with bad hair "vampires". Even ones that sparkle. And aren't really vampires. Oh and the director of the third movie totally mocked the first movie (wouldn't watch it at gunpoint) and then backpedaled when fans (and believe me, Twilight fans put the fanatic back in fan...) expressed emo whining outrage.

And long live blogger's autosave. This post was almost gone due to some lovely Firefox issues.

Suspect that's good enough for now.