National Treasure

Made it to National Treasure today. Fun movie. Nice action piece. Certainly worth an afternoon. It's nice to see that Hollywood hasn't completely forgotten how to make an adventure movie. And for a change this one was more brain than braun. I'm trying to remember if there was any blood at all in this one. A couple corpses, but other than that, it was all about solving riddles and actually thinking about things. Truly an activity that we should encourage Hollywood to celebrate more. So go see it for that reason alone.

Aside from the fact that it is a long weekend for me, it's felt like a long weekend. And not entirely in the, oh goody, I have three days off sort of sense. I'm being forced out of my comfort zone and I'm rather cranky about it...

We finally heard from the contractor and on Monday we should be entering the (hopefully) last phase of the whole leaking pipe debacle.

Lists

This is the place to hit to keep up with 2004. I need to stay away or my Christmas list will grow exponentially. I already made the mistake of noticing that there's a Wong Kar-wai DVD collection out...

Oh the humanities...

Romeo and Juliet? I think not. My eyes! They burn! It hurts us... (Stolen from the Bookslut blog)

I, Palindrome, I

Good ol' Weird Al.

Use the Helmet, Luke

Darth Vader Voice Changer Helmet. Let that sink in for a moment. Then read Chatchi's review of the product. I think that's all that needs to be said...

This was stolen shamelessly from Tea for One

Hazy Shade of Winter

The temperature has finally dropped out here and winter is making itself known - a bit of snow still on the ground and the occasional slick step. Yep, definitely winter. Winter is actually my favorite time of year. I love watching snow fall and seeing the art it creates from trees and everything else it touches. The air always takes on this magical quality during a snow storm - a hushed, entrancing quality that, if you can stop long enough, reminds you that there is true beauty in the austere season that is winter.

Last year between Christmas and New Year's, we went up to Yellowstone. It was an amazing trip. Yellowstone is really beautiful during winter. It's also a complete nightmare to get into. I may try and put up a couple photos from the trip and talk about it some over the next few weeks.

Now switching topics completely, I must take a moment to praise Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. What a great game. It offers some amazing visuals centered around the "paper" theme - from puzzles where you turn yourself sideways to enter a narrow crack or folding yourself into a paper plane, to a world design that feels like a giant pop-up book. It just fun to look at. And the battle system offers some nice strategy options while remaining terribly easy to understand. Plus it's quite funny. Definitely one of the Gamecube's must have titles.

Welcome back to reality

Actually, we're going to have to give it a couple days before reality truly sets in. But my folks left today to head back home so the house is starting to return to what passes for normal. It'll take a bit for the new routine to assert itself, but hopefully in the meantime we can catch some sleep and enjoy the slightly more sedate pace.

It was great having the folks around though. It's always interesting to see how different sorts of occasions enable your houseguest limits to stretch. Having a newborn enables you to handle just about anything. They cease to be houseguests and instead become a buffer between sanity and a complete meltdown of epic proportions.

At any rate, now that things will start settling down again (well for a brief interlude before the Christmas holiday rush) perhaps I can regain some semblance of focus. I wouldn't count on it though...

Incredible

Saw The Incredibles this morning. Absolutely wonderful movie. If you haven't seen it, go. Go now. Go see it right this very instant. And then go see it again. I already want to see it again. When I was in college I had a friend that went and saw The Fisher King two showings in a row (also a great movie), I could have done that with this movie. Could have just stayed in my seat and watched it all over again. Part Watchmen, part superhero movie, part coming of age tale, this movie just fires on all cylinders all the way through. Some people will tell you it takes a bit to get going. They're wrong. Just enough time is spent on exposition to get you into the lives of the main characters. You need that build up to get to the point where the movie really takes off. And boy does it take off.

It's to be expected really. Brad Bird helmed the also wonderful (and horribly under-appreciated) Iron Giant. And Pixar has probably entered some unspeakable pact with Satan to have the track record they've got. (Although we're placing bets now on Cars. The trailer, I must admit, doesn't inspire tons of confidence, but I'm hoping it wasn't really a trailer showing what the movie is about so much as a feel for what the movie will be like - not that that's too much of an improvement...) Anyway, I will now stop raving and just tell you to go see the movie one last time. Go!

Black and blue Friday

Well, I don't have what it takes to be a diehard Black Friday shopper. I was hoping to snag a digital camera from Best Buy this morning, but no joy. It's at least partially my fault for deciding to go to the brand new store that was a little closer to a couple other places we wanted to hit. They had no clue what they were doing. Handing out vouchers to half the line but not the other half. Starting multiple "camera" lines over in the digital camera section. Suddenly deciding that you did have to have a voucher in order to snag the camera. Talk about your comedy of errors. So I got fed up and left empty handed. Skipped the backup camera at Ultimate due to common sense prevailing. Instead went to Media Play and picked up some movies and whatnot. Then came home and let my folks take a stab at the places they needed to run. We're actually just about done with the Christmas shopping. One or two more items ought to do it.

Then we tried to go see The Incredibles only to realize it was sold out. But we picked up tickets for tomorrow so it wasn't a complete wash.

At any rate the artificial spike in the economy is pretty much over and we can go back to what passes for normality. I suspect we should all band together and smack the retail industry on the nose with the rolled up economy and teach them that they really can't get away with this crap.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I hope you can be near those you care about this holiday. If not, I hope the ones you care about are safe.

This morning was spent perusing the Black Friday ads in search of the places we absolutely have to be tomorrow morning. For a change it seems we might avoid WalMart. Instead I think we'll hit Best Buy in search of a digital camera and a few other places. Then we had quite the enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner and we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It's easily my favorite of the three movies thus far.

Well, again, a happy Thanksgiving. I hope you take a few moments and ponder all that you have in your life to be thankful for. In spite of the media and their often skewed perspective, we live in a great country, have lots of freedoms to be thankful for and it's in our power to keep them there.

Partial success

Well, we have a new pipe that does not leak, and furnace ducts that are back where they belong. Now we just need a general contractor to replace some sheet rock and paint. So close and yet so far... But at least everything is working like it's supposed to.

Black Friday is coming up. I suspect I'll get dragged around by Mom to see what oddments have been marked down to oblivion. Seems like I saw some progressive scan Apex DVD player going for $20 at Best Buy. That's way too tempting.

Well, my brain is tapioca due to lack of sleep and, well, lack of sleep. So that's all you get.

One small step

So, the plumber arrives and finds the leak (several holes in our house later) only to discover that we need to bring in a furnace contractor to remove part of the ductwork so he can get to it. And then he can come back to fix it (he did manage to plug it temporarily). And then we need to get the furnace guy back to replace the ductwork. And then we need a contractor to fix the walls...

Shoot me now.

Hopefully insurance will cover a lot of this (after our deductible), but we will have to pay for the time the plumber spends actually fixing the leak. Home ownership is definitely one of those love/hate sorts of things. It's nice to have a place of your own, but keeping it up is murder.

Anyway.

Not much to point you lot towards as I've been caught up in other things. It's just about Thanksgiving. And I thoroughly enjoy that holiday so hopefully we can all take a moment and ponder the things we've got to be thankful for.

Go see The Incredibles or National Treasure. Just don't tell me you've seen them as I haven't yet and I'm a little bitter...

drip, drip, drip

Well, we're still living in a slowly leaking house. Although the leaking isn't quite as slow as it once was...

Have been playing around with Donkey Konga. It's great. The girls (while not technically playing the game) are having a blast playing with the bongos. And once they start to get the idea of which drum to hit and when I expect the enjoyment value to continue to climb.

Paper Mario 2 also looks promising. The art style is great and the story seems to be up there with Mario and Luigi: Super Star Saga which was one of the funniest games I've played. (The Bard's Tale just out on the PS2 also looks to be terribly funny, but alas, it will be relegated to a rental...)

So, other things are going fine, it's just the whole slowly flooding domicile that's really putting a damper on things. Ha Ha! <sigh>

Pouring, not raining

So. We have some sort of hidden water leak currently causing a small stream in our storage space. Spent part of the morning clearing that out. Fortunately my Dad was able to handle the bulk of that as I'm still recovering from having tweaked my back... Absolutely no idea where the leak is originating. And we suspect it's getting worse. At least for now things are mostly under control and the water is temporarily being held at bay.

So, I guess tomorrow will involve plumbers and large amounts of cash siphoning out of the bank account. Just great. I just hope they don't have to start poking holes in walls to sort it out. I don't know that our insurance would cover anything at the moment.

Such a wonderful way to start the week. Especially Thanksgiving. At least the folks are here and can continue to help out.

Parent swap

My in-laws have relocated to my sister-in-law's house and my folks have arrived. So roughly another week of house guests and then the reality of life with three kids will start to set in. It's been great though. Aside from all the help it's just nice to see family. My wife's folks are from Virginia, so getting to see them is always a little nicer as it's not as likley as seeing my folks (who are currently in Texas, which is in the realm of practical driving distance if I have the time off). I actually get along pretty well with my in-laws which is nice.

It's good to see my folks again. They got in earlier this morning and have been soaking up some quality grandkid time.

And I have done something to my back. I threw it out several years ago shoveling snow and it's never been right since. So this is a short entry as the pain level is steadily rising the longer I sit here...

Meh

Sleeeeep. Doesn't have quite the same compelling nature as fooood, but at the moment it's much higher on the wish list.

Not really much to pass along. The new PS2 demo disc includes a "bug" that will wipe all the save files off your memory card. That's pretty exciting. They've long speculated on the possibility of viruses for game consoles (especially now that a couple of them off hard drives and internet connections) and this is arguably a specimen.

Sounds like they're going to remake Evil Dead. Not sure how I feel about that. Can't claim to have seen the first one, but I have seen the two sequels. Arguably (from what I've heard) they have remade Evil Dead. It was called Evil Dead 2...

And finally, there are bongos in my future. Oh yes. Donkey Konga will be mine.

Slow boil

A couple weeks ago we picked up 101 More Things to do with a Slow Cooker. Great recipe book. We had the shredded beef with root beer sandwiches last night and they were delicious. I suspect we'll be sampling several other recipes over the coming weeks. The chicken with creamy black bean sauce sounds pretty tempting too. I love using our crock pot. I make a pretty mean chili (red and white actually) and we've taken to making roast and beef stew in it as well. It's nice to have some new options. So if you like crock pot cooking, I recommend the recipe book whole heartedly. It's got a pretty good variety and the recipes aren't terribly difficult.

Actually cookbooks rank among some of my favorites. It's next to impossible to have too many and they're such fun to look through. Sure, you probably won't make every recipe in there, but it's fun to drool and dream. Well, assuming you like food to any degree. And I do. I find cooking to be a strange mix of fun and tedium. There are certain aspects of cooking that I don't always enjoy (just about anything involving raw chicken) but it's very easy to get in a cooking zen state of mind that can be a nice counterpoint to an otherwise hectic day.

And we're just getting ready to enter the winter months, quite arguably my favorite cooking time of the year. I must admit a certain predilection for Thanksgiving and the turkey dinner that goes with it...

A couple more Bone volumes have been consumed. There's just one left. And a couple prequel volumes. I really can't say enough Good Things about this series. You really should experience it for yourselves if you at all enjoy the comic form and even if you don't, it's worth picking up and giving a chance.

Monday redux

Yesterday was a busy day. Doctors appointments. Lunch. Shopping. Returns. More shopping. A movie. You get the idea. And then today was back to normal for me - work, some laundry when I got home, that sort of thing.

Watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen last night. It was much better than I expected. Mostly because I only have vague knowledge of the comic book it was based on. I knew enough to be able to spot some of the inconsistencies that would drive a fan of the comic nuts, but not enough to let it ruin it for me. Admittedly there are some flaws, but it's still an enjoyable action piece that at least nods in the direction of the comic. Which means you get some of the ideas from the comic (the cast and some of the setting) thrown through the Hollywood action blender. So they stuck in the obligatory car chase and toned down some of the nastier characters. I still got a kick out of it. And you could do worse...

Ah, rest

Managed to catch up on some of my missing sleep. Now I just need to sleep for about a week straight instead of a fortnight.

And the Omega Pirate in Metroid Prime on Hard Difficulty is impossible. Feel free to mock my gaming abilities, but this guy is driving me crazy...

Now just to enjoy having tomorrow off. Sounds like we'll be running around again some and who knows what else.

A cautionary tale

Well, ok, maybe not. But this is certainly a tale nonetheless. And it's funny, so that's all that really matters. To me anyway. At this moment in time.

Plowed through the next volume of Bone. Such a great story. Such pretty pictures.

We've got the house to ourselves at the moment. Well if you count the kids that is. The in-laws are up checking out a couple different shows at the convention center with my sister-in-law and her family. Gun show. Christmas show. Same convention center. What could go wrong? ^_^

Now I just have to make it through this next week and I'll have a week off. And that will be a very good thing. It will be bad when the new year starts and I have to go back to full weeks again. I do so enjoy my short weeks at the end of the year...

Well. That's enough. Back to your own lives!

It really is

Monster Party - The most quotable game in history!

Dancing Zombies!

It's Friday

And that's about all she wrote.

This has been a long week. Work has been a hassle and then home has included a newborn. So, yeah, stress level has certainly been a bit higher than normal, but it's just one of those things. Graeme is slowly adjusting to us and we to him. He's a great little kid. He seems to smile a lot more than I remember the girls smiling at this point and that's pretty cool. He also babbles a bit more. I think he's just trying to make sure we notice him... Not that that's really a problem.

I've been trying to read The Bourne Ultimatum, but it's slow going. I just don't have the focus to derive any sort of story or meaning. It seems like it will actually be interesting, but I may have to try again once life settles back down.

And oddly enough, the final moments of Joan of Arcadia were nice. I'm not a fan of that show. I don't like the way it portrays God and I find it to be a little too contrived. And overbearing. But the final moments tonight dealing with death and emotion were actually nice. In some ways it reminded me of the scene in Phenomenon where John Travolta is trying to convey a similar sentiment. Besides, juggling with glow-in-the-dark juggling balls is cool.

One step forward two steps back

So, sleep deprivation continues.

Not really much to comment on at the moment. Between work and a newborn life just sort of blurs past. You're aware that things are happening - daughters lose teeth, etc. - but you only sort of take it in. It's much like a constant state of insomnia. Admittedly more of a self inflicted variety. Well, ok, when it's two in the morning and your son decides anything is more interesting than sleeping or eating, it's not terribly self inflicted, but the concept is still valid.

So, alas, you're all on your own for entertainment. I'm sure you can come across something interesting without too much effort. Just make sure you point me towards it in the comments section... Slackers.

Oor wee little mannie

Graeme and Grandma
Originally uploaded by dkun.

Well, here he is. Graeme reporting for duty. Came home a week ago today.

Here's a set of photos of wee Graeme.

Covers

A Perfect Circle have re-imagined Lennon's utopian hymn, Imagine as a dirge. Bad pun, I know. It's interesting, certainly, but I'm not sure I like it. If nothing else you can't claim they simply threw something together. I suspect a fair amount of thought went into this version. It's a unique take on Lennon's song that, because of the disparity, causes you to think about what you're hearing. Of course, if you've never heard the original (shame on you!) you'll have no idea what's going on...

Got to hear a bit of the Dresden Dolls on the way home. They're in concert locally tonight and they were down at the radio station playing a bit. Oddly enough they performed a guitar piece despite being a piano and drums band. I suspect it'll be a fun show. If I were more of a concert-goer I'd check them out.

And I managed to survive a full day at work. Curse my lack of financial independence...

See the pretty colors

Well, despite Graeme actually making it through a night without waking us regularly, sleep deprivation begins...

Happy Birthday to my Father-in-Law. Hope it was great Phil. Glad we could share it with you.

And work starts back up tomorrow. I'm not sure I'm ready for a full day...

Down time

The grandparents have carted the kids off so my wife and I can get some much needed rest. Graeme and sleeping at night are still mutually exclusive. It's going to make for an interesting week when I start work again on Tuesday. It's a good thing my wife's folks are here. They're providing a much needed buffer for us. Babies can be cute (Graeme is) but they're also a handfull...

I made the (fortunate) mistake of picking up the first three volumes of Jeff Smith's Bone from the library the other day. What a great series. I think I may have to track down that complete paperback edition that's running around. Truly a great piece of work. The art is wonderful and the story flows perfectly. It's in turns humorous and sweet, with building seriousness. And I can finally place the "Stupid stupid rat things" reference. Heh heh... Stupid, stupid rat things... And if you need higher praise than that, my wife's been reading them as well. Truly a ringing endorsement.

And now to rest, perchance to sleep...

Shaun of the Dead

Easily one of the best films I've seen in the theater this year. Clever direction, excellent story, lots of humor, I could go on and on... Easily my favorite zombie movie now. It edges out 28 Days Later due to the humor. It's hard to be funny and yet serious at the same time, but Shaun pulls it off. If you're looking for a straight spooky zombie movie, then stick with 28 Days Later, but if you want one with humor and heart that still manages to be an effective zombie flick, go see Shaun of the Dead.

Zombies!!!

Off to see Shaun of the Dead, Will report back later...

Running on (nearly) empty

Managed to put in a half day at work today. Of course as far as productivity is concerned... ^_^ Actually it wasn't that bad. The worst thing was the headache that starting pounding away not too long after I got there.

Graeme decided sleeping through the night was over rated. So he opted not to. That was pleasant. He's been pretty awake today so hopefully tonight won't be so bleak. Insomnia is one thing, forced consciousness is outlawed in several countries for good reason. (And if it isn't, it should be...)

My friend An acquaintance has been sending me old Calvin and Hobbes strips. Today's was terribly appropriate and dealt with Calvin's Dad escaping to work in order to avoid the little terror. I have no idea why that's funny. None at all... <whistles innocently> I really hope they come out with that complete collection.

And finally the comic store called today to let me know that Daisy Kutter #3 is in. Never mind the fact that somehow he neglected to get #2 for us... <sigh>

Baby comes home

Graeme J. Eoff decided it was time to check out his home today. Mom and baby are back and doing well. Grandparents have arrived. Hopefully sanity levels will return to normal.

The election has been decided. I'm glad Kerry opted not to put the country through a repeat of last time. We'll see what the next four years hold.

Other than that, not much to say. I'm tired. I've been re-reading the Elenium by Eddings and have just about finished it off. In some ways that series has replaced Dune for the you must re-read me every so often award. It's a nice if somewhat formulaic fantasy series. But the formula is, in a lot of ways, what makes it enjoyable.

I really should make some comments about Heroscape, but that's still going to have to wait.

Instead I present you with Angry Alien. This link is for you Kit. Really great flash animation depicting famous films re-enacted in 30 seconds by bunnies. Truly top notch.

And the tiredness sets in

I will never. NEVER. be a Mr. Mom. There will most likely be a trail of bodies should that unlikely event ever occur. Which has no bearing on how much I love my kids, but rather my complete and utter lack of patience. Which is surprising considering the fact that we already have two kids and they've been around a while. You'd think I'd have been able to work on that some... And anybody that doesn't think being a stay at home Mom is a full time job is a moron. (Actually this is mostly a nice back handed compliment to my wife - she does an amazing job and I'm more than ready to let an expert take over.)

I suppose I should make some comment on the election... Is that enough of one? This country is in dire need of a real third party. That's about all I have to say.

It's Alive!

And we have a baby boy now! ^_^

7 lbs., 14 oz. 19.5". Graced us with his presence at 4:30. And won't tell us his name. We'll have to get to know him a little better before we figure that out.

Mom and baby are doing well. Girls are doing their best to drive me insane. Actually they're doing great also. If I had a digital camera I'd be annoying you with a picture at the moment. So you're in luck... For now...

And I'm tired so that's it.

Happy Halloween

And Halloween has arrived and is just about gone. Hopefully it was a good one for all out there. Lots of candy or scary movies or time with friends and family.

We're still on babywatch much to my wife's growing discomfort. But I suspect that tomorrow will remedy that one way or the other.

Read Running Out of Time by Haddix - the author with the lawsuit against The Village and Shyamalan for plagiarism. I haven't seen the movie yet, so I can't comment on that aspect of things. It was an interesting book though. A very quick read (my wife and I both finished it yesterday) as it's juvenile fiction, but worth spending some time on. In some ways it would make a good stepping stone for a younger child to something like Crichton (although I suspect there are those of you out there that already consider him juvenile fiction...).

Also made it through Endless Nights by Gaiman and a whole slew of artists. It was enjoyable, but not my favorite Sandman piece (I think The Dream Hunters still holds that title). Partially due to the fact that it's a collection and some stories resonate with me better than others I guess. I enjoyed several of the tales to some level, but very few stood out as spectacular. On an unrelated note, it's the first Sandman book I've gotten my wife to read, so that's something. Hopefully she'll pick up The Dream Hunters now as well. She liked the Destruction story in Endless Nights as well as the Destiny piece. She found Dream's bit sad (go figure... heh) and the rest moderately confusing to just not her style. As it was her first exposure, I consider that a success.

Make up your own title...

So, for the moment my internet connection seems to be behaving itself. I think it's been tripping over a few too many DNS servers. At any rate, it's working and I'm not going to complain.

My wife is still refusing to go into labor. Well, ok, more realistically my soon-to-be-son probably has a death grip on her spleen or something and is refusing to come out. Maybe he's scared of the upcoming election... That or he knows not to show up until November. Either way it's been a long week and it's just stretching on and on.

Most likely come Monday we'll induce labor and just get this show on the road. I've got most of the week off from work if I need it and my wife's parents get into town on Wednesday. So we'll have some help and so on.

Not really too much to pass along in other news. McDonald's is once again doing the Monopoly/Best Buy game so we are tricked into eating there far more than we should in a vain attempt to score some sort of prize/free money at Best Buy. Truly they are evil...

I just discovered that our local library has finally started a graphic novel section! Bliss. I've already checked out Neil Gaiman's Endless Nights and Volume 2 of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (as Volume 1 was nowhere in sight...) Truly a wondrous day.

Quicker

Still no baby.

And still a lousy internet connection...

<sigh>

But it is Friday. And I didn't have to go to work. Except for the bit where we took the girls trick or treating through the office. Man they got a lot of candy. But fun was had by all. Well except for my wife who just really wants to have this baby.

Quick

No baby yet.

Lousy internet connection.

That is all.

Waiting

Babywatch '04 update: No news to report.

BoSox snag the pennant. I blame the lunar eclipse ^_^ So the curse of the Bambino comes to an end. 3-0 and that's all she wrote for game 4. Eight straight games in a row, nice job Red Sox.

Watched The Ring tonight as we forewent renting anything due to imminent baby arrival. It's fun to watch it again as you generally pick up some nice little twist that you missed the first time through. It's also nice to watch it with someone just seeing it for the first time. Heh heh. While I don't think it's the scariest movie around, there are some nice moments and a couple chills. (As mentioned previously here.)

And that's enough for a Wednesday night.

Klonoa

Managed to finish up Klonoa: Empire of Dreams the other day. (Well, except for a couple of the bonus levels...) It's an interesting little game. I have a soft spot for Klonoa as his games are among the few that my wife really enjoys (this one happens to have been her birthday present). I can buy a Klonoa game for her and it will get played by her. She's struggling with the final boss in the game so she's managed to make it further in this outing than either of the PlayStation games.

This is a GBA game, and while the difficulty level isn't always tweaked for that system, it's safe to say that in this case the difficulty level is a little lighter. And that's not really a bad thing. The bonus levels certainly stretch your platformer reflexes and some of the puzzles in the main game were quite insidious.

There were some odd choices made though. The level design was curious. The two Klonoa games on Sony's systems offered a unique 2.5-D world that you travelled through as you were playing the game. You always had the sense that you were going somewhere. Empire of Dreams offers up strangely circular levels that buck against that trend. More often than not you'll end up exactly where you started. And this negates that feeling that you're going somewhere or progressing through the story. It was an odd feeling in comparison to the other games. It wasn't bad - it highlighted the focus on puzzles that this game focuses on a bit more - but it was occasionally distracting.

The graphics were well done for the GBA's smaller screen and the level goals were in keeping with the other games in the series. Collect a few stars hiddden randomly and collect a lot of gems placed so as to work out your platforming skills. The hoverboard and action levels were particularly twitchy in spite of offering a nice break from the game's main "story" levels. The music was relatively forgettable, but that's almost par for the course in a GBA game.

It cerrtainly provided a lot of enjoyment and a lot of frustration. Which can be a good thing in a platformer. At the $10 I picked it up for it was a great deal. I highly recommend Empire of Dreams to those of you with a GBA and an interest in platform games. If you have a child or spouse that isn't all that into gaming Klonoa may just soften their hearts a bit. Kids will be able to do some of the earlier bits, but you may be asked how to do some of the later levels. I must admit my wife and I helped each other more than once through tough spots.

Wahoo!

One Week

So, the doctor gave my wife the rest of the week before she has the baby. Which means there may or may not be much in the way of new posts for the rest of the week. I was really hoping she'd have the baby come November. All the kids would have been 3 years and 3 months apart (apparently my sisters and I were all 2 years, 5 months) and my birthday is also in November (as is my Father-in-law's). So there were plenty of reasons to hold out. I suspect she just wanted to share the birthday month with the baby. ^_^

She's certainly ready to have him though. This is the longest any of her pregnancies have lasted and she's just ready to have her body back under her control. Ah the miracle that is pregnancy...

At any rate, this will be a hectic few weeks. Family is coming out to ooh and ah. Birthdays and holidays are coming up. New baby. Short staffed at work. Bring it on...

The Amber Spyglass

I finally finished off Pullman's The Amber Spyglass. It ended up being quite difficult because I found myself enjoying it less and less as it wore on. As I mentioned, I enjoyed the first book quite a bit and the second one wasn't all that bad either. But I didn't particularly care for the third book. It was just as well written as the previous two, but I really didn't care for the handling of the subject.

It's pretty easy to make religion a bad guy. It's harder to do it convincingly or well - if you're audience is religious. Which I am. And while I realize this is young adult literature, that really means that you're arguments had better work. Kids are less forgiving than adults. And Pullman's ultimate goals just don't work for me. Mostly because I don't view God the way he does and so, while I can follow the story he's telling, it really isn't compelling for me and fails to engage me on any real level. And worse, the alternative he's pushing isn't all that appealing either.

I get pretty annoyed when people try to imply that it's impossible to be intelligent and spiritual at the same time. Contact was a big offender and while at the end it tried to reconcile that disparity, it still makes my teeth grind.

Anyway, what this really boils down to is that Pullman's work isn't going to change any minds on either side of the fence and it may not be all that entertaining a diversion. So there you go.

d and SpaceShipOne

d and SpaceShipOne
Originally uploaded by dkun.

Well, as promised, here's a shot of SpaceShipOne and myself (well, ok, it's the tail of SS1). This was taken during our trip out to California this summer. We spent a bit of time at the beach and then went to visit some old friends from High School. Little did we know that they were working on the X Prize winning spaceship.

My wife commented that my enjoyment of the trip was pretty obvious from the photos as I ended up with a huge grin on my face in the bulk of them. A true rarity in photos I assure you.

At any rate, this should hopefully take you to a (very) little set of photos (as in 2) taken on the trip - this one and one of me sitting in White Knight.

I have to once again thank Kit and Matt for helping to make that trip great. We had a wonderful time and seeing the ship was really only a small part of that (but a truly amazing small part! ^_^). You're Good People! You better make it out here some time soon.

Pop Quiz!

This little quiz is for all you gamers out there. Identify the videogame from the sound clip. I will admit to a score of 14 out of 18. I really should have had 16, but ignored my gut instinct on a couple. Alas. I will try to apologize for my score by simply saying that I never owned an Atari or an NES, so my score is based strictly on playing games at other people's houses. So there.

Of course that probably makes me even more pathetic, but we'll ignore that won't we...

Before I forget

Great interview with Neal Stephenson over at /.

It's worth checking out even if you haven't read his stuff. It might spark your interest. I've read Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon. They were both entertaining for different reasons. I haven't tackled the new Baroque Cycle books and I only made it part way through The Diamond Age so he's not somebody that I've felt compelled to read completely but he's certainly talented and one of the better newer sci-fi writers.

Demon Children

Watched Godsend as part of the October movie marathon. Clever idea, only so-so execution. Which means it was perfect for our purposes. ^_^ Couple of jump moments but that was about it. Considering there were 4 alternate endings on the DVD it's pretty obvious they weren't sure how to end it. None of the endings are spectacular, but there were some decent ideas.

Next week may have to feature zombies. 28 Days Later or Night of the Living Dead or even the remake of Dawn of the Dead... Mmm brains...

Oh and reward for best demon children goes to Silent Hill in the videogame category. Cowboy Bebop episode 6, Sympathy for the Devil in the anime category. Possibly The Midwich Cuckoos in the book category. And as for movie? Hmm... I'll actually have to think about that.

Laziness

Today was a lazy day. Spent a little time playing with the RSS client I decided to try out. Nifty little gadget, but it will take some getting used to. I enjoyed browsing the sites directly and while using the aggregator is a little more convenient, it's still different. It is pretty cool having everything in one nifty little package though. Now if I can just start finding all the feeds I want. I've snagged several of them, but a few are elusive...

Spent a little time with Miranda tonight while the wife and McKenna were off elsewhere. She's so funny sometimes. She told an enchanting little story about a princess and a dance (which strangely coincided with the fact that she had just been dancing) and then proceeded to make sure that we danced as well. Ah the mysteries of the three year old mind. I'm just glad both girls seem to enjoy music. It's something I enjoy and it's always exciting to see little bits of yourself in your kids. Well, your good bits anyway...

Pumpkins

Before I forget, this is my seasonal link for this year. Despite my love of horror movies, I'm actually not the biggest Halloween fan. Don't care for costume parties much. Candy is fine, but I'm old enough now that I mostly just enjoy good chocolate on occasion as opposed to unadulterated sugar highs.

Still, the site is quite nice. My favorite is the Drowning in a bag pumpkin. Heh...

50s Flashback

So, I mentioned The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra last night pretty quickly. I just thought I'd take a moment and point out that they did a remarkable job of parodying/paying homage to old 50s sci-fi/horror movies. The acting was all in earnest, the dialogue was dreadful and the props were homemade. It's great. My favorite moment is probably the dinner sequence and Animala is probably my favorite character. And maybe the Skeleton. If you find yourself with a spare afternoon there are certainly worse ways to kill an hour and a half.

Some of the bonus features on the DVD were quite nice as well. There's a nice little featurette with the cast and crew (well the director anyway). And a Q&A session as well as a blooper reel. You can tell the director was a fan of films from that era as well as some of the other low budget horror films. He mentions Roger Corman specifically, but I suspect Sam Raimi would fall into the same camp.

Which allows a segue to Bruce Campbell's book If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a "B" Movie Actor. If you like Campbell's films or are interested in creating your own low budget flick, give this a read. It will either help immensely or bring you back to your senses. Bruce has a really nice writing style and presents a lot of material in an anecdotal style that draws you in quickly. Great book, nice guy.

And that's about all I've got for a Sunday. I will warn you that White Knight/SpaceShipOne photos are imminent. We're getting our film developed finally and I'm going to have to put a couple pictures up.

Quick bits

The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is truly excellent.

Heroscape looks like a nice introduction to the realm of the strategy game.

Klonoa and the Empire of Dreams is guaranteed to drive any platformer fanatic happy with desire and mad with frustration.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife. Love you sweetie!

Right at this very second

I really like the bass line in Cake's version of I Will Survive. It is the epitome of ROCK.

Really.

Oh go find something better to do.

Gaming thoughts

Don't really have much today. But since when has that ever stopped anybody from putting more random nonsense on the internet. So here's a little more.

I haven't really talked much about gaming lately. The news is starting to come in concerning the next gen systems from the big 3 (Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft for those that aren't paying attention). Next year's E3 will most likely be concerned with actual demo machines and then the next battle in the console wars will be joined.

I've been a gamer for quite a while. Started with board games, moved on to pen and paper RPGs, then spent far too much money in the arcades. Didn't really ever have a home system until I got married and picked up a Playstation. I started off a fan of Sony's little system and picked up a PS2 on launch day. Lately though my devotion has changed over to Nintendo's offerings. Mostly because I enjoy playing games with family and friends and quite frankly the Gamecube is just about the best system to do that on. The Mario games are perfect for playing with the girls and there are other options for when I want something a little different. Sony still manages to put out the odd quirky title, but Nintendo does that and occasionally takes the old flagship titles in new directions (I really want to pick up the new Paper Mario game).

So this next skirmish in the ongoing battle for entertainment dominance will probably be marked by a non Sony purchase. And I won't join the fray right away either. Time to sit back and watch them rant and rave for a while and then swoop in when things get a little cheaper and there's a bit of a library built up...

Music and the Savage Movie

Ok, in some ways, it's better that I put off Watcher in the Woods until today. Mostly because The Howling V suffered from a couple of the same problems. But we'll get there in a moment. Watcher in the Woods wasn't too bad and was at just the right level of spookiness for the girls. We could tell they were pretty tense over the course of the movie wondering what was going to happen, but by the end McKenna was ready to watch it again.

It was a decent ghost story with the usual Disney tweaking and ending. I'm pretty sure I've seen the same ground in tales like Ghost Story by Straub and, uh, those other stories featuring groups of people tortured by some secret act from their past. I Know What You Did Last Summer type fare. It was fun mostly because we included the girls, but there was a nice bit of tension to it and it wasn't any worse than any other cheap horror flick.

An in a like manner, The Howling V actually hasn't aged too badly. The story (as mentioned Ten Little Indians with werewolf trappings) is serviceable and the twists still work. My wife suffered through it patiently and didn't run from the room screaming at the hour and a half she'd just lost.

But both movies suffered from some stilted acting and music that tried way too hard. Music can be a great influence in horror movies, but subtlety is the key. Sure you can have some shock moments that punch a little harder with a musical spike, but Watcher in the Woods came out swinging in the first seconds of the film. Really not the way to go. The Howling V also opted for a score that was more brawn than brain. But hey, cheap horror. ^_^ Oddly, the younger sister in Watcher did a better acting job when she was possessed than when she was supposed to be just a plain, little girl...

In other news, the new Azumanga disc is out and it's a little slice of heaven. A country of Chiyos! Field trips! Sakaki and a different cat! And that's just the first couple episodes.

So that wraps up a couple thoughts on October movies. Now if that second issue of Daisy Kutter would just show up...

Lazy Monday

I meant to type up a few thoughts on Watcher in the Woods. And possibly a random bit about High School and road trips. You get neither. Because instead, I'm going to kick back and watch The Howling V. It's Ten Little Indians dressed up as a werewolf piece, but it's fun and I'm going to watch it. So there. Plus I get the added benefit of putting my wife through aforementioned werewolf movie. It's good to be me...

I'll do the other stuff later. Really.

Weekend

Watched The Minus Man last night. Owen Wilson was perfect for that part. The funny thing is that, in my opinion, most of Owen Wilson's acting talent lies with his voice. The way he delivers lines is what makes him so interesting to watch. The movie was an interesting look at the life of a serial killer. Mostly becuase it tries to focus on the worldview of the killer, not the acts of the killer. In a lot of ways the body count is secondary to what is being explored by the rest of the movie. And it's a low body count, and they've opted for a much more passive style of serial killer (he favors poison over more bloody methods).

It's a somewhat slow paced movie, but it is certainly interesting to watch and think about. There were several great performances in the movie, in fact the entire cast does quite a good job. You can just feel the pain and sadness in the lives of the couple that Owen is boarding with. Just as you can sense the loneliness in Janeane Garofalo's character. The trailer for the movie does a good job of showing how this movie may affect you. It opted not to show anything about the movie, but instead focused on a couple discussing the movie throughout the night. And then added a nice twist/nod to the movie as the girl realizes she's late for work - as a lifeguard where a couple people have drowned due to her negligence. If you can track down a copy of the trailer it's worth seeing.

So that is one down for Halloween movie viewing. We've also got a copy of The Howling V for Werewolves and Watcher in the Woods for, actually I'm not sure. We borrowed it from a friend and will most likely give it a go in a little bit. Good old October. Any excuse to force those around me to watch fun, silly, creepy movies is a Good Thing (TM).

Oddly enough...

I am a hybrid of: Indie Girl Girl Next Door Click on the pictures below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

I really am... Despite the whole lack of being a girl thing.

Long day...

Reorgs suck.

Here are some great shots from the Monday SpaceShipOne launch. (Found via Boing Boing)

Just finished watching all the commentary episodes of Firefly. It's truly a shame that that show isn't still on the air. The commentaries were all pretty interesting. It's rare (I suspect) that a cast gets along so well and embodies the thing they're portraying...

McKenna gets to endure school pictures tomorrow. I shall have to torment you all with pictures of the girls soon as a couple rather cute candid shots got snapped the other day.

I need to be watching more horror movies (it is October after all). I was really hoping to snag the upcoming 13 Nights of Fright on the Fox Movie Channel as it combines horror movies and Neil Gaiman, but alas, I don't know anyone with the Fox Movie Channel. So I shall have to make due with my local video store and some gems from the past. I'm going to try and hit at least all of the major players - vampire, werewolf, zombie, ghost, etc. We shall see.

And with that, I'm off to bed.

Too tired

There is no blog.

Go find something here.

Cowboy Feng's

I forget exactly where I ran across the name Steven Brust. But I remember thinking it was a positive mention. So when the astounding library here in town had Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille with the new books (it was published in 1990...) I picked it up.

Brust has a very pleasant narrative style that made reading through Cowboy Feng's relatively simple. Part conversation, part detective noir and maybe a touch of Spider Robinson. The book is broken up into the story itself and a series of Intermezzo chapters that delve a little deeper into the main characters and their motivations. The story follows Cowboy Feng's Bar and Grille as it travels through space and time courtesy of the most recent nuclear strike. Ostensibly a mystery the deeper story revolves around people and their ideals and prejudices. Considering the timing of the book, I suspect it's a fantasy/sci-fi parable about AIDS and the way it was viewed at the time (and to some extent still today). Fortunately the material isn't terribly preachy and the story is interesting enough that it's pretty easy to read in a couple sittings. I should note that there is quite a bit of talk about music throughout the book as several of the main characters comprise an Irish/blues/what have you band. Each chapter starts with a bit of lyric from an Irish folk song as well. It was a nice touch. But if you're not familiar with music to some extent, some of the passages will just blow right past you. The only truly odd thing about the book is the cover art. I was reading the trade paperback and the cover does a delightful job of portraying some other novel entirely... So strange.

I also feel the need at this point to state that the trade paperback is probably the best form of book in existence. Large enough to get a grip on and soft enough to be a real pleasure to read. So there you go.

SpaceShipOne Wins!

Here is the official press release concerning SpaceShipOne. And if you're quick (as in today the 4th of October) Google has a SpaceShipOne logo.

Congratulations to all involved. Wish I was out there with you Kit and Matt! I bet it feels pretty good right about now. ^_^ Thanks again for taking us around when we were out there. I'm going to get that picture of me sitting in White Knight up here as soon as we get that roll of film developed!

And on the anniversary of the Sputnik launch. Nice timing.

Random roundup

So. Banned Book Week draws to a close. I hope you all choose to read something. Anything. It's a healthy habit and as they say, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing - Read a lot."

Alas, I broke my daily string of posting yesterday. Blame it on SSX Tricky and a trip to the library. And maybe The Nightmare Before Christmas. They were far too entertaining. Or something.

Tomorrow SpaceShipOne goes for the X Prize. We wish them well. Good luck again guys!

And finally I direct your attention here. Some of the other lists are quite amusing as well.

Bourne Supremacy

Finally got around to seeing The Bourne Supremacy this morning.

The Bourne Identity is a movie that I enjoy quite a bit. We missed it in the theater and caught it on DVD, but it ranks up there as one of my favorite action/spy flicks. It didn't follow the book, but it stood well enough on its own. They did a good job and told a good story.

So I was pretty excited about the fact that they were making the sequel. Then I heard about the camera work. I've read all the opinions on the matter and I can understand what they were going for. Can I appreciate it? No. But I can understand it. The camera is just as bad as you've heard (or more likely seen). But the story is a good one. Again they deviate wildly from the source material, but they pretty much had to and the books are still out there to be read. They've opted to go the vengeance route - hinted at at the end of the first movie. So Bourne is no longer the lost man, searching for some sense of himself, confused by the acts of violence he can so easily perpetrate. Instead he welcomes his obvious talents as they allow him to harm those who have harmed him. The amnesia that plagued him in the first movie is still a factor (in a much more limited form) but he's more certain of himself and is set on his course. Oddly enough the sense of identity that was such a mystery in the first film makes an appearance at the end of this one, so possibly the third film (finishing off the three Ludlum novels) will focus on that story. And maybe we'll even get glimpses of Carlos...

And I was pleased to hear Extreme Ways by Moby closing the film. Overall the music was well done and I was glad that some of the same theme music from the first film made its way into the second. It suited the mood of both films exceptionally well.

So, yes, it's worth seeing, just be prepared for a camera that gets progressively worse the closer to an action sequence you get.

Oh, one more thing: Best. Car. Chase. Ever.

Seriously.

Today's featured letter: P

Wil Wheaton's blog is always a fine diversion and at the moment he has quite the poker story going on. I realize poker is all the rage at the moment and Texas Hold'em is the hip new thing, so consider this my obligatory nod to current pop culture. Actually poker can be quite fun. Back when I first started college I was home one Christmas and my best friend was working graveyards over at the Texaco. A few of us would show up around 1 or so in the morning and we used to play using the car wash tokens for chips. Good times.

I've been reading Philip Pullman lately. Just finished The Subtle Knife, book two of the His Dark Materials trilogy. It's certainly been interesting reading. I'm not sure if I like it or not at the moment. I'm going to have to wait until I finish The Amber Spyglass to come to any conclusion on the series as a whole. I did enjoy The Golden Compass though. But now that I've finished the second book it's harder to judge them independently - I'm focusing more on the story being told and not the individual pieces.

And I suppose all good things should come in 3s. So for a third 'P' I offer up P.F. Chang's. I enjoy family style dining at Oriental restaurants, and the food there is certainly good. I recommend the Chicken in Black Bean Sauce, the Double Pan Fried Noodles and the Great Wall of Chocolate. Mmmm...

The 100 oz.

disclaimer, originally uploaded by dkun.

So. Here's the disclaimer found on the BigAss mug.

It was quite the hit at the office today. I'm pretty sure I hold the record for largest mug... Now if I can just wear it in enough to get rid of the plastic taste.

Woohoo!

Congratulations to Scaled Composites and SpaceShipOne on a successful initial flight! Good job Matt! That's great. Here's to another successful flight in the coming 2 weeks.

I'm tired

... <sigh>

Happy birthday to the letter 'r'. You can try out the new year for a couple months for me ok? If it looks lousy, feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to avoid it.

I toyed with commenting a little more on Man on Fire but I think I'll let my brief review stand.

Viewtiful Joe has shown up on the PS2 and the sequel is about to come out. I played it on the 'cube. It's a game that I wanted to like. And there are things about it that are great. It's different. It has great style and the level design is clever. But it starts getting old a little too quickly. It was worth the rental I allotted it. And there are certainly worse games out there.

I'm hoping tomorrow brings Daisy Kutter #2. Really. I am.

<submliminal moment of the day>Donkey Konga - it must be purchased. All bow before the greatness that is Donkey Konga</end subliminal moment of the day - nothing to see here, move along>

Just a quickie

Watched Man on Fire. Good, if brutal, action piece. Denzel did a brilliant job as did Dakota Fanning. Some interesting choices from a cinematography perspective. Thoroughly enjoyed the soundtrack (although this may taint future listenings of Clair de Lune, which is a shame as I love that piece). Recommended if you can stomach the violence. Most of it is the best left to your imagination sort, which is always more effecive, but there are a couple visceral moments shown. If you have kids of your own you will want to spend the next 6 hours hugging them and not letting them out of your sight.

Return of the King

Well, the specs are in. Four hours +. That's just crazy. I've enjoyed all the extra footage in the previous editions though. And I suspect there won't be another "ending" added. I'm pretty sure they nailed them all the first time around. ^_^ December 14th can't come soon enough.

Random moment

Was driving home and the mountains were a nice red color due to the sunset and there was a not quite full moon just above them. It's moments like those that make me wish I had a digital camera. It was quite nice. So instead of seeing a partial view of it through a photograph, you'll have to use your imaginations and picture a mountain range not quite ready for winter - trees starting to change colors here and there, but patches of snow near the summit from a recent storm - bathed in reddish light with a soft blue sky and a not quite full moon just above. Good luck.

Internet Wandering Monster Table

Ka-link. This is great. And all too true. (Shamelessly stolen from Making Light)

The Knight

So I finished The Knightby Gene Wolfe. Looking forward to the next book (The Wizard I believe it's called). It was definitely an interesting read. As I mentioned previously, there are several elements of the book that come with the fantasy genre - especially the knightly aspect. There are some interesting choices made with regards to narrative and the way the story is told. It reminds me in some ways of something like Kill Bill, Part 1 where it becomes obvious that the story is being told after the fact and so, in some ways, the tension is lessened allowing you to focus a little more on what's happening and the experiences themselves. Also the character telling the story is typical of all of us and tells us only what he wants to. If you like fantasy I recommend it and if you don't, while this probably won't change your mind, it might. It's very well told, easy to read and best of all interesting.

H2G2

Looks like the BBC has updated the old Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text game. It's now a flash app that incorporates some graphics with the text. Find it here (Found via Boing Boing. I remember playing the original back in the 80s. Might have to spend some time with this one and reminisce a bit.

SpaceShipOne

Fark recently held a photoshop contest for SpaceShipOne. Pretty amusing. One of my best friends from high school is married to the head engineer on the project. She also works for Scaled Composites and while we were out in California on vacation we got to take a tour and see White Knight and SpaceShipOne. I even got to sit in White Knight. It was pretty cool I must admit. Here's to hoping for a successful launch next week and a successful followup. Go Kit and Matt!

In other news, X96 is the radio station that currently occupies most of my commute time. They're getting ready to throw the last really big outdoor concert of the season, the Bigass Show. Lots of bands, lots to do. But the best part is the Bigass mug. 100 oz. I managed to grab one today while one of the DJs was on location. I was completely unprepared for just how big a 100 oz mug really is. It even comes with a warning that small children may drown in the Bigass mug. I shall do my best to get a photo of the warning and get it up here in the near future.

And finally, today is my Friday. Again, long live the three day weekend! Huzzah!

Here kitty, kitty

This t-shirt over at ThinkGeek has to be one of the coolest things I've seen recently. Schrodinger's Cat is one of my favorite quirky thought experiments.

Random thoughts, random links

Joystiq is a game news blog that I stumbled across a while back. Quite nice.

Games are Fun is another game blog that also incorporates reviews and whatnot. They just started an anime section which affords a nice segue to this next link.

Anime on DVD. My favorite site for news and reviews. If it's anime and on DVD you'll find it here. They have a pretty good forum as well.

The Iconfactory is probably the best Mac icon site around. Pixelpalooza is always fun to watch as well. And even more fun to enter.

So, there you go.

Petals Around the Rose

Now that I've sussed this out I can pass it along. That's quite the nice mental exercise.

I Found Some Of Your Life

I Found Some Of Your Life is either scary or brilliant. Probably both. Pro tip: Never leave your digital media card in a taxi...

Edit: Looks like this might be down. If you got to see it consider yourself lucky. Have a cookie.

Complete Calvin & Hobbes?

According to this Andrews McMeel are planning a Complete Calvin & Hobbes collection much like the Far Side Collection.

Wow. I'd like to pick up the Far Side set, but Calvin & Hobbes would probably win out for my hard earned pennies first...

The Yard

I hate yard work. Easily top 5 of my least favorite things. Managed to get some of it done today. We had a guy mow and edge the yard. It was expensive, but he did do a nice job. I spent my time running back and forth to Home Depot buying bags of bark so that we could put some ground cover where my folks helped us rip out a bunch of overgrowth. It looks bettter. Still need a bag or two, but it's a start. Now if I could just get the lawn to come in. We hydroseeded last year and most of the lawn looks nice, but we have some patchy parts. (This is why I hate yard work - not only is it actual work, but sometimes regardless of what you do, it still looks like crap...)

Anyway, let's just hope I haven't managed to tweak my back again hauling the bags of bark...

Well, enough of that.

Started reading The Knight by Gene Wolfe. Good book so far. I suspect it will end up being one of the better ones I've read this year. Nice style, interesting characters, hits all the genre expectations you expect it to and I suspect there are a couple tricks in the wings.

The Incredibles

New trailer up. Still looks great. I'm glad that the guy responsible for The Iron Giant is finally with somebody that will do some advertising and isn't afraid to do animation solely aimed at children. That was a great show as well...

Santa Monica

Santa Monica by Everclear is a great song. It's got a good beat and the lyrics aren't bad as well. Mostly it's just a nice excuse to rock out for a moment and, really, sometimes that's what music is all about.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I actually managed to get to Santa Monica this summer during our brief vacation out west. Nice beach. Fun pier. Good times.

Rated F

Rated F

Again proof that there are no coincidences, this book was written by one of the DJs at the radio station that's currently my favorite...

I should comment more on this, but I think the shock needs to wear off first.

Hit the beat now

I enjoy music. One of the more interesting random quotes I've heard (and alas, I don't have a source for it) is that people that are musically inclined are Beatles fans, while people that don't know much about music like Elvis. I've found this to be true in that generality sort of way. I enjoy the Beatles far more than Elvis and I know a fair bit about music. I've played several instruments over the course of my life and I sing some as well.

Admittedly, lately most of my musical ability is more in the theoretical realm versus practical, but I still love listening to music and I also really enjoy rhythm games (DDR, Frequency/Amplitude, the new Donkey Konga looks great and I suspect I would've enjoyed Samba de Amigo quite a bit as well...). I tend to like music that focuses on instruments a little more than vocals, but there are some great lyrical bands as well. Dido has a great voice and Bono's voice is only improving with time much like Elvis's (just because I prefer the Beatles doesn't mean I hate Elvis ^_^). They Might Be Giants and Barenaked Ladies are pretty much the best at music with fun lyrics. The Pillows rock. Classical is wonderful (Debussy, Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Copeland, Gershwin... ok I'll stop now). I enjoy lots of different types of music. About the only things I can't handle are Country, most of what passes for Pop music any more (admittedly I'm well outside the target demographic for it) and Rap.

I'd like to pick up the cello if I get back to playing an instrument and I wish I still played the piano. I took lessons for about eight years, but it's been several times that since I've tickled the ivories. I don't suppose there's really a point to this post. I haven't pointed out anybody worth keeping an eye on (Jet? Franz Ferdinand?) and the few names I've singled out are hardly secrets any more. I can claim to have been a TMBG fan since they were first around and a friend of mine used to call their dial-a-song quite frequently (from Kansas mind you) but that's only worth so much these days...

Better late than never

It's Monkey Week over at Engrish.com.

Everything really is better with monkeys...

You can't take the sky from me...

Firefly is probably my favorite tv show of the last couple years. For the most part I'm terribly disillusioned with the state of tv. Survivor and the whole "reality" tv craze has heralded the end of watchable tv in my opinion. I miss shows with writers and plots and characters. Which explains why every tv show that I've enjoyed over the last several years has ended up cancelled (Firefly, Wonderfalls and Sports Night to name a few). Heaven forbid a show require some actual thought on the part of the audience. And let's make doubly sure that it's not given any time to build an audience. If it's not a ratings powerhouse in the first week it's on, make sure it's cancelled... <sigh>

Anyway. Firefly. Brilliant concept, stellar cast, wonderful writing. The cinematography was really top notch for a tv show. The world was well realized, everyone meshed just right and you could really come to love the characters. I haven't watched either of Joss Whedon's other shows, but as far as I'm concerned Firefly is really his greatest work to date despite the cancellation. Lately we've been watching the episodes with the commentary tracks and that's been a great experience as well.

Serenity (the Firefly movie due out next year) gives us a chance to spend a bit more time in that universe and I can't wait. If you haven't seen the show, pick up the DVDs. They're worth it. (It's a sci-fi show with western trappings in appearance, but in reality it's a show about people trying to get by in a world that is content to ignore them or worse. It's in turns funny, scary, touching and just all around great.)

Speaking of creativity...

This is either brilliant or just strange. Actually it's both. So there. (link via Boing Boing

Creativity

This is interesting. At the moment I don't have a whole lot to say about it. One of the reasons I started this blog was to give myself a creative outlet. It's been quite a few years since I've written much of anything and I'd missed it and I wanted an opportunity to get back into some sort of creative groove. There are lots of places you can look for inspiration. I have a book that I found pretty helpful a few years back called Walking on Alligators. There are myriad sites around the web (like this, or this) that offer insights into writing and creativity. And of course friends and family are often quite useful for the bouncing of ideas.

I suspect the best way to be creative is just to actually do something. People that want to write are told to write. Artists need to paint or take pictures or work in whatever medium they're exploring. The mere act of doing something is often pretty good at sparking some sort of creativity. Of course, you may end up with just the beginnings of an idea that really don't go anywhere for quite some time, but seeds can be more useful than fully grown plants sometimes.

It's an interesting topic. And it can be approached from lots of angles and there really aren't a whole lot of "right" and "wrong" steps. Certainly there are general, broad strokes that work for everyone and are necessary, but you've still got to find your own little niche. Your own vein. And that's the great thing. Everybody has something to contribute.

On three day weekends

The joys of time off
As strings wound tight do loosen
Ah, relaxation...

The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm is on tonight. I plan on taping it despite the commercials ruining some of the necessary atmosphere built up in the movie. (Nope, no Tivo here...) I remember reading the book before I saw the movie (on DVD, we didn't make it to the theater for that one, which is a shame as I suspect the big screen really made some of the moments just awesome - in the actual sense of the word, not the 80s lingo) and enjoying it. As much as you can enjoy that story anyway...

One of the things that really got to me in the book was the appearance of one of the fishermen to his son after they were lost at sea. I believe in the afterlife and I suspect that that situation was one in which the father would have been given the opportunity to visit his son however briefly. It was a touching moment and one that really helped drive home the sense of loss those people went through.

I grew up in Kansas and have had my fair share of storms (albeit just plain wind - no water added) and they can be anything from exciting to frightening and are often a mixture of both. When I was in High School, my best friend and I were out in his bright orange Pinto during one of the larger tornados to hit our area. That car rocked pretty good as we drove on one of the overpasses in town.

New England is an area I like quite a bit and every once in a blue moon I think it would be nice to live there. But I'm not sure I could handle the winters. Or the humidity for that matter. It's certainly a wonderful place to visit though.

Ico

Wanda and the Colossus appears to be the sequel to Ico. At least in spirit if not in fact - as there is very little revealed about the nature of the game. All we really know is that it's from the same development team.

Ico is one of my favorite games on the PS2. When I got around to selling off a bunch of my older games in order to get some games for the Gamecube, Ico was one of the few I held on to. It was such a beautiful, well realized world that I knew I'd want to spend time there again and again. In a lot of ways it's much like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I think one of the best ways to make an enjoyable game is to know the world you're setting the game in. Even if you don't show off all of the aspects of that world, players can tell that the details are there. Ico didn't give away much about the world you were in, but you could tell it was there from the glimpses of back story you got at the beginning to the castle itself that the game took place in.

It was amazing to look back at certain points in the game and see places you had been or look forward to places you knew you were going to see. The gameplay itself was clever and encouraged thinking and moments of quiet contemplation rather than brute force. True, there were moments of combat and they could be harrowing as you were trying to protect this relatively frail girl that you couldn't understand. But the best moments in the game came as you worked with her to overcome some puzzle that allowed you to move through the castle to freedom.

That's one of the things that really made Ico shine - the little touches. You could tell the team behind the game had a specific story they wanted to tell and they knew exactly how they wanted it to look. In gaming circles there is a lot of talk about when games will be considered art and this game is almost always mentioned as one of the candidates to prove that such an idea is more reality than wishful thinking.

So, if you haven't played it, do yourself a favor and track a copy down. And then look forward to Wanda and the Colossus I suspect the same magic will be there.

The Day After

And the soreness sets in. Alas physical activity. You are a cruel, cruel mistress. Especially for such a sedentary soul as myself.

The Final Cut looks promising. I must admit, I enjoy the "serious" Robin Willimas quite a bit. I think he's quite the talented actor, but whoever is calling the shots had better be prepared to control the mighty beast that is Robin Williams.

Managed to catch Medical Investigations last night. That may be one of the few shows worth watching on network tv this fall.

And it's Friday. And I've managed to secure Monday off so happy 3 day weekend to me. ^_^

Company parties

So today was a version of the company party. Got out early for some varying sports and then dinner. Dinner was pretty good and some of the games weren't too bad. I enjoyed the volleyball and the horseshoes. In the past, family members have been included in the festivities, but not recently. I miss the picnics my Dad's old company threw. Lots of food and games for all ages and they had some pretty cool prizes too. I managed to win a raquetball racket and a mini Pacman game over the years. I still have the Pacman game...

At any rate, it took up most of the day, but good times were had. So there you go.

Random Wednesday

Pay no attention
There is nothing to see here
Best just move along

Not much worth mentioning today. Mostly because I am far too tired to find something to say. I'm not even going to point you to some other more interesting corner of the net. I suspect you're all more than capable of finding it on your own. Although if you managed to wander here from there, I might be overestimating your ability on that count...

But it is Wednesday. And that means relatively little in the grand scheme of things.

Harry Potter Moment

101 Ways to Annoy Lord Voldemort.

My own suggestions:

-Stare at his forehead until he asks what you're looking at. Reply, "Nothing" in a meaningful way.
-Name your house elf Lord Voldemort. Constantly mix the two of them up.

End of Monday

The three day weekend comes to a close. It was a good weekend. Got quite a bit done around the house. Spent some time with friends. And watched Hidalgo. Two out of three ain't bad.

You win some, you lose some

My boss brought in some fresh Roma tomatoes the other day, so my wife and I decided to try and make spaghetti sauce this evening. Try would certainly be the operating word there. We'll have to mark this one down as a failure. Not of the soul destroying variety, but certainly the wow, that wasn't right kind. It was a step up from tomato juice on the evolutionary tree, but several jumps down and possibly a branch or two over from spaghetti sauce.

Alas. There's always next time.

Every so often I get the bug to try and mess with recipes in the kitchen. I think, this could use some tomtatoes. This could use a mushroom or three. That could use a bit of sour cream. It's pretty rare that I follow through on such urges, but it's fun to think about and every so often fun to do. Cooking is one of those things that I think would make a fun occupation. I've had little dreams of my own sandwich shop specializing in sandwiches that are horrible for you and a bowl of chili to go with them. Maybe some day...

Well, the crib is back together and most of the furniture is in place. We could probably use a small night stand sort of table, but things are just about perfect. I think we should paint a big light house on one wall, but I'm not sure that will make it out of committee. It's been a pretty successful weekend as far as actually accomplishing things, but horrible on the goofing off side. I suspect tomorrow will make up for that. ^_^

Now, if I could just find some way to move the ocean from California to my back yard, things would be perfect...

Saturday - in which our Hero is very tired

Well, the baby's room is now a very new shade of blue. Oddly, it resembles the girls' room quite a bit. An unintended happenstance. It was supposed to be a lighter shade, but the second coat really darkened it up some.

So we are all very tired and somewhat befuddled from paint fumes. But the hard part is done. Now I just have to remember how to put the crib back together. It's good the baby isn't due for another couple months, because I suspect it will take me that long to get it back the way it belongs...

This will make for another short post, but at this point that's ok.

So random thought for the day: Speedy zombies = much happiness.

Long Weekend

Ahhh... 3 day weekends make the world go round.

Of course, as this is Labor Day weekend, we will be spending a good chunk of tomorrow painting the baby's room. At least we have roped some friends into lending a hand. Mweh heh.

Nothing really to ramble on about today. Mowed the lawn (hopefully for one of the last times this year) and am now kicking back.

So there you go. Have a great weekend. Give your kid/spouse/significant other an extra hug and make something a little different for dinner this weekend.

The Horror!

I mentioned briefly yesterday that I was a fan of the horror genre. So I thought that today I might go over some of my favorites from various mediums.

BOOKS

• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is probably the best piece of literature written about a haunted house. There are a couple film versions (which have their pluses and minuses), but the book is definitely the way to go. Eerie and compelling.


• Stephen King's books are typically full of frightening moments. I'm cheating a little here by not naming any specific one, but it's my blog, so deal with it. King's characters get put through the ringer with gleeful efficiency. And there is enough variety of what's doing the spooking (although the supernatural and aliens are pretty recurrent) that there's something for everyone. And you can also find plenty of nasty humans of you don't care for some of the traditional horror villains. If I had to pick a couple to spotlight, well, Pet Sematary and The Stand are always a good choice. And keep an eye on his short fiction as well.

MOVIES

• Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is to this day the only movie that actually scares me. I will occasionally jump in other horror films, but this movie scares me. I can't explain what it is about the movie that does it, but it does it well. The atmosphere is oppressive, the actors are spot on and the story told (while not faithful to King's book) is creepy as all get out.


• The Ring or more appropriately Ringu is a great campfire tale. A Killer Videotape. In this age of digital media here's a tale suited to our generation. I'll leave the arguing about which version is better to others. The American version is told in a fashion that we're more used to (you get more of an explanation as to what is going on for one thing) but the Japanese version is more disturbing. Although the ferry/horse sequence in the remake is absolutely brilliant.

I feel the need to stop at this point and mourn the loss of the Saturday night Creature Feature. This was a staple in my childhood. Crematia Mortem would guide my poor soul through whatever horror was to be shown that weekend. I've heard tell of the creation of a horror cable channel, but as I don't have cable this will do nothing for me. Besides there was something about staying up late (or better yet recording for multiple viewings) and losing yourself in the moment. Good times. Neil Gaiman will be hosting a series of scary movies this October on the Fox Movie Channel and my wonderful in-laws will be taping it for me, so there are occasional glimpses of the way it should be, but not enough. Although what passes for programming on tv is certainly terrifying enough...

GAMES

• The Silent Hill series is probably the current king of the hill when it comes to survival horror. Resident Evil certainly has its moments, but for overall horror Silent Hill wins. A town where nothing is what it seems. A town that draws broken people to it like moths to a flame. A town that most will never escape. That is Silent Hill. The games let you experience the stories of several tormented souls that have found their way to Silent Hill one way or another. Turn the lights off and the sound up and be prepared to sleep lightly that night...


• Fatal Frame is also worth mentioning. While the horror quotient of Silent Hill is higher, the spookiness factor of Fatal Frame isn't to be discounted. A ghost story with a twist is probably the best way to describe this game. The twist being that the only weapon you have in the game is a camera. Taking the old idea that a camera can steal your soul, Fatal Frame allows you to hurt the restless souls found in the game with your Mother's camera. Also best played in the dark with the sound up. If you can...

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Tales from the Darkside was one of my favorite tv shows growing up. Similar in many ways to The Twilight Zone, but more geared for horror. And often quite funny, in a black comedy sort of way...


• The Blair Witch Project is oddly enough a better campfire tale than a movie. At least for being scary. I found it spookier relating the story (as well as much of the backstory for the show) than sitting in the theater watching it. <shrug> Go figure.

So that covers a good chunk of what I've found scary over the years. And believe me, I've left a lot out. Cheap horror movies are what my friends and I thrived off of in High School. It's a pity my wife doesn't get the same enjoyment out of them that I do. There have been some real corkers released over the years.

In other news, if you haven't heard Coin Operated Boy by the Dresden Dolls, you're listening to the wrong radio station.

Games and more games

GamerDad has a series of articles up at the moment covering Gen Con. Several of the games sound pretty good, from the upcoming DOOM board game to Zombies!! (Ok, I admit, I have a thing for the horror genre. Scary movies, scary games, scary books, it's all good...)

Gaming has always been a staple of life. Be it board games, card games, video games you name it I've dabbled around with it. The girls are starting to get big enough that we can get them involved as well. McKenna has some mad MarioKart Double Dash skills and she's starting to develop some decent strategy skills from a board game called Gobblet. A friend of mine comes over once a week for some form of entertainment ranging from games to movies. Munchkin is a popular choice for gaming as are Catan and Carcassonne.

I'm glad that gaming is starting to go more mainstream. You can learn a lot from games - strategy, lateral thinking, hand/eye coordination - and you can also just have a great time and bring people closer together. I've often been tempted to try my hand at making some sort of game but just haven't jumped in and done it.

So, go read about Gen Con, look for something new and get some family or friends together and make a night of it.