Book 6 and the Academy

McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories, edited by Michael Chabon, claims the number 6 spot for the year. And what a book it was. A collection of stories in the tradition of Poe and Weird Tales, it was an absolute joy to read. In turns eerie, haunting, and moving, an amazing group of writers take turns telling stories of things that go bump in the night or places that look like our world except for those niggling little differences.

Usually a collection contains a few stories that don't really resonate with you as well as the others, and while there were certainly a couple pieces that I didn't like as much, I can truly say that every story included was a real gem. If you enjoy stories that evoke a Twilight Zone sort of feel, run out and pick up this collection, it's a great read. I frequently found myself trying to read faster just to find out how things were going to turn out. This is a book that I suspect I'll read many times just to enjoy the stories again.

And so the Oscars were given out. No real surprises. I'm glad to see The Incredibles walk away with Best Animated Feature. Was also glad to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind win Best Original Screenplay. Chris Rock was only moderately amusing. I think my favorite comedic bit was where he talked to people at the local movie theater to see what "regular" America was interested in. I can say that I haven't (and won't) seen White Chicks, but I know where they're coming from. And while I'm not terribly interested in Million Dollar Baby, way to go Clint. Put out another western.

And so the weekend says good night...

Weekend rambling

As a teaser, I will offer up the opinion that what I'm reading for book 6 is probably the best book I've read in a long time. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. And that will have to do for now.

I mentioned Dick's work in brief yesterday. I've rambled on about him before, but he's probably worth a brief re-visit. I've only read a few of his stories (to my great shame), but I've enjoyed just about all the ones I've read. I like his short fiction quite a bit (mostly because I feel the short story is just about the perfect medium) as it gives you an excellent boiled down version of what he's all about. And it's mostly drugs, insanity, paranoia and humanity. Well, ok, I'm being a little facetious, but only a little. His work does do an excellent job of looking at what it means to be human though. And he's one of those "sci-fi" writers that really helps show just what science fiction can do for literature. It's not the red headed step child that mainstream literati try and present it as.

But I digress. I shall kick the soapbox back over in the corner. If you haven't read anything by Dick, then you can probably start in a couple places. A lot of his work has been turned into film. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is probably the most notable instance as it became Blade Runner. But there are short story to novella length pieces that morphed into Total Recall and Minority Report to name a few. So you can start with some of the collections of his short fiction (a good place) or you can try Electric Sheep.

If you want a look at something that hasn't been filmed yet, I can recommend Ubik as a wonderful little diversion. It's quite amusing and has that same feel as the rest of Dick's work. Most people will point to A Scanner Darkly as his best work in a lot of ways, although I still need to track down a copy and verify that.

I can't explain why, but his writings in a lot of ways remind me of William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. And I don't think it's just the obvious drug connections. I keep meaning to track down Burroughs's Naked Lunch and give it a go, but Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is similar in some ways to Dick's work, just a different tune using some of the same notes (to try and cram it into an awkward musical metaphor). I don't believe I've mentioned the recent death of Thompson here, but I should have.

At any rate, I believe that's enough rambling about that. At this point I think I'll simply offer this link to a site about PK Dick and call it good.

PK Dick

This is the trailer for the upcoming Linklater adaptation of A Scanner Darkly. It looks like it will be quite amazing. I'm a fan of Dick's work and have enjoyed most of the movies based on his stories. (I even enjoyed Screamers for the most part... ^_^) Here's to hoping.

Of afternoons and coffee spoons

miranda,
originally uploaded by dkun.

Cute kid moment ahead. You have been warned...

So, the other day Miranda asks my wife what the smaller spoon she's using is called.

"A teaspoon."

"Oh, ok."

Then at dinner that evening we gave her a salad fork to eat with.

"Is this a tea fork?" Miranda asks.

"Why yes dear. Yes it is."

And they really are...

Movies worth seeing (or why the Oscars don't matter anymore)

Since the Oscars don't actually bother to celebrate that, here's a list of movies that should really win some awards (not in any particular order):

The Incredibles - This is probably my pick for Best Picture. It's a perfect mix of action and drama. If you've read Alan Moore's Watchmen, you'll understand where some of the inspiration for Brad Bird's wonderful film came from. I could have watched this movie all over again right after I saw it, it's that good.

National Treasure - This should win an award for being an action movie with a brain. Any movie that celebrates intelligence over physical prowess should be cherished.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - This one needs to win Best Original Screenplay. A long, hard look at romance and relationships, this movie is a treat on many levels. Visually stunning, Eternal Sunshine offers us a look into the mind of a man losing his memories of a failed relationship - only to discover that it wasn't really the failure he thought it was. Heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.

Garden State - Zach Braff is a wonderful story teller. This is another one that should win a screenplay award. As well as a couple awards for its actors. And it's music. Look into a mind dulled by prescribed medication as it slowly becomes aware and alive again. A great piece with an absolutely wonderful soundtrack.

Shaun of the Dead - Any movie that can be a comedy and a zombie movie all at once needs to win something. I'd probably pick this for best horror film and best comedy both. Excellent casting and a truly wonderful script. And the editing is a treat too.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - My favorite Harry Potter movie so far. Excellent cinematography and direction. Cuaron really nailed the world that Harry and crew live in.

I'm sure there are others, but this is a good start...

Ah Americana

Superman covers... Just go and laugh.

And the work week rises from the grave...

So, like all good things (curse you only the good things dying young!) the three day weekend has come to a close and the work week is once more upon us. Alas.

Forced Coerced Lovingly bestowed Shaun of the Dead on my wife last night as the closer for the ZWoF. Now if only we could convince the kids that bedtime is more than just a word that passes in one ear and out the other... Any dramatic tension that might have been built up was pretty much ruined by the constant barrage of little voices and frequent interruptions. The best one had to be McKenna informing us that she had pulled her own tooth. Kids these days... I mean really, what kind of kid yanks their own tooth?

Caught the trailer for Dark Castle's remake of House of Wax. I've enjoyed the other remakes they've put out. But I may have to miss this one. They've cast Paris Hilton. And that really makes me weep for humanity. What bright bulb made that decision? It's bad enough that they constantly put her on tv in that ridiculous attempt at a "reality tv" show but to actually make us pay money to see her "act"? I don't think so... Although the prospect of seeing her meet some gruesome end is almost enough of a counterbalance.

So, upcoming movies to look forward to: Be Cool, Millions and The Cave. The Oscars are looming and I can't quite bring myself to care. Normally I enjoy watching them, but this year there's not much to look forward to in the candidates they've selected. I keep meaning to throw out my list of movies worthy of accolades. Maybe tomorrow. And with that good night.

What day is it again?

Three day weekends do that to me. Never mind weekends involving zombies and other undead creatures...

We watched 28 Days Later on Saturday night. I believe I've mentioned it before in passing. Great film if you haven't seen it. I wouldn't exactly call it scary, but it is a nice re-vamping of the zombie genre. Speedy zombies are quite nice. I find zombie movies to be ultimately frustrating because it seems like there is little a person can do to survive in a zombie infested world. Much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. How are you supposed to fight something like that? Now, it can be fun to briefly visit a hopeless case scenario, but I'm certainly glad I don't have to live in one.

I suppose that pegs me as at least a partial optimist, but certainly only a partial one...

At any rate, Shaun of the Dead is up tonight and I couldn't be happier. Also a great film. And I suspect we'll play at least one round of Zombies!!! as well.

Anyway, enjoy your day off if you have one, and if not, you should. Take a day for some reason and relax a bit. Me, I could use another couple days to detox unwind, but I'll take what I can get.

Zombies!!!

Played the first game of Zombies!!!. It's quite a fun little game. This first game was just between the letter 'r' and myself. I suspect it might be a little more fun with a couple more people. In some ways the pace of the game matches its namesake, but it certainly has a lot of heart. You can tell the designers wanted to create a game that payed homage to the zombie genre and I say they succeeded admirably. The figures certainly help maintain the atmosphere and the cards are great. This is mostly an every man for themselves style game so it's fun to try and hinder the other players. Like several recent board games, it's tile based so the layout will change every time. There are expansions available that offer more cards and more locales. Something to look into I suspect.

And with that game we have kicked off the ZWoF. Long live the undead!

Small towns

Watched Napoleon Dynamite last night. It was an interesting movie. Definitely an accurate portrayal of small town high school life. While I didn't grow up in Idaho, I certainly knew people like that in the town where I spent a good chunk of my youth. If you've spent any time in small town America, you'll probably "get" this movie. If you're not, you'll probably wonder why it's popular at all. Oddly the movie is funnier to talk about afterwards than it is to watch. Mostly because it's full of little moments that are just amusing to bring up and remember. Much like Mystery Men...

The cast was all well chosen and performed admirably. In a funny "small world" coincidence, the woman I carpool grew up with the guy that played Kip. And as you'd suspect he was nothing like the character in the movie. Jon Heder did an amazing job as the titular Napoleon. It was interesting to see the little short, "Peluka" (I think was how it was spelled) included on the DVD. As I opted not to listen to the commentary on the short, I am left wondering if it was a character sketch they threw together before they made the movie that blossomed into the final theatrical version or something else.

In a cruel twist of fate, it is (predictably) difficult to track down a copy of Resident Evil 4 for the upcoming ZWoF. We may have to settle for renting the remake of Dawn of the Dead instead. Alas.

Retro Post

Took the van to work today so I could gas it up as gas is much cheaper up the road than it is here in town. One of the benefits to doing this is that the van includes a DVD player. So I throw something in for listening purposes on those rare instances that I find myself behind the wheel. Today I popped in the recent update of Akira.

Akira is considered one of the milestone pieces of anime. And rightfully so. When it came out over here the timing was such that the existing anime fans rejoiced at something new and a whole new generation of anime fans came into being. It's a little funny that you can somewhat date anime fans much like layers in rock by what they consider their introductory show.

Anyway, Akira is a stunning piece of work. One of the things that I always find amusing about the show is the fact that I forget just how violent it is in between viewings. For me Akira isn't about violence. It's about power and change and what happens to people when they receive power they aren't ready for. The original version of the show that came out over here in the 80s (I think) is, admittedly, something of an enigma. The dub wasn't the greatest (in terms of clarity) and the show itself was pretty long (for the time) - back then I'm not sure I'd ever seen a movie that clocked in over 2 hours, let alone an animated movie. But despite the murk that makes up the plot, it was something different. Something interesting.

The recent update that Pioneer released really allows Akira to shine. Sure, it's still a 2,000 page graphic novel condensed into a 2 hour movie, but the new script really does clear up some of the confusion as to what's going on. You get a little more of the motivations behind what's happening and things start to click. Plus it got a great graphical and aural update (minus the fact that they turned Kaneda's bike orange - it's red! RED you fools!)

If you're a fan of the show and you haven't tracked down the original comics, do yourself a favor and grab the recent Dark Horse re-release. You get the whole thing in six large collections. It's a great set and you'll gain a greater appreciation for the story. Characters that were relegated to cameos or ignored are fleshed out, people you thought were "bad guys" turn out to be far more human and the whole story takes on an even greater weight as political intrigue and personal strengths and weaknesses join the stage with the aforementioned study of power and evolution. It's a great example of what science fiction can show the world about itself.

So that's some of what makes Akira special. I do need to point out that the anime is actually rather violent. There are probably those of you out there wondering just how I can forget that fact when I haven't watched it in a while. To you I say, "eh..." To the rest of you, you probably understand.

Just a quickie

It's late. I should be in bed. In preparation for the Zombie Weekend O' Fun (ZWoF) I have acquired Zombies! the game. It looks like it will be quite fun. Any game with 100 plastic zombies can't be bad. This is the site for the game in addition to a bunch of fan submitted rules/decks etc. So go check it out.

My brain is no longer functioning so that's all you get.

Monday...

So, the last few updates have been comprised of my net meandering. Not really been a whole lot to pass on. But hey, wacky parrot. Hello Kitty crop circle. Truly the things that make the world go round.

I need to pass along Skinny Panda. Looks to be a truly great webcomic. If you have doubts about that, look no further than this sequence. So far the stick figure bits are my favorite, but the Skinny Panda continuity is pretty good too. Ah humor, you are my friend.

And it's once again Valentine's Day. Hope you survived. Such an odd little holiday. Any holiday that could spawn this Hi and Lois comic strip has to be a little warped. I think I've become a little emotionally scarred due to that. So of course I had to pass that scarring on to you.

Our Valentine's Day was fairly typical. Kids running amok. Dinner at a so-so restaurant. A couple little gifts exchanged. Chocolate. Not that I need an excuse for chocolate, but ah, the chocolate that becomes available for February. Easter comes close (which really just means all of spring is awash in chocolatey goodness) but Valentine's Day is a little classier.

Anyway, enough rambling on about comics and chocolate. It's time to begin the countdown to the Zombie Weekend O' Fun. Three days of Zombie goodness. Joy. ^_^

Hello Kitty Crop circle

This is what a crop circle should be.

Shoulda never gotten married

This is a wonderful list of names. Think Leno's headlines and go and laugh.

Polly wants a quiz show

Go watch the parrot. That's a good way to welcome the weekend...

More randomness

Ran across Lifehacker the other day. Seems to be an interesting blog. Covers things from answers to tough job interview questions to converting color photos to B&W. Go give it a looksee.

Polished off a couple more Kindaichi Case Files. Terribly enjoyable reads.

Loaned out The Grudge to one of my coworkers. She was suitably spooked by it as well. It's definitely one of the better horror films to come down the pike in a while. I tracked down an old review I'd read of the original the other day. Some of the plot points it covered helped clarify a couple of the events in the remake. Too bad they didn't leave some of them in. A good deal of the curse's origin in the original was quite disturbing and would have been right at home in the remake.

And Valentine's Day is lurking around the corner like the shady character it is. Just make sure you know what your significant other's real favorite candy is or you'll end up playing a depressing game of twenty quetions...

Screen Clean

Screen Clean. Heh heh... Just go check it out...

Edit: Link should work now.

Wonderfalls

Wonderfalls was just released on DVD. We watched the first couple episodes as well as the special features they threw on the discs. I enjoyed that show quite a bit and was rather cross with Fox for cancelling it. It would have been interesting to see where it went. In the little behind the scenes featurette they mentioned that in the third season Jaye was going to have been institutionalized. That would have been something to see. It will be fun to see the unaired episodes.

And that's about all I've got for tonight. Graeme is at that age where you can just sit and watch him. Little kids are fascinaing that way. They're always discovering something new and it's fun to watch it happen.

An Interview with Brian Evenson

Bookslut has an interview with Brian Evenson up.

I knew Brian Evenson. I was in one of his English classes the year he lost his job at the Y. I got him to autograph a copy of Altmann's Tongue before he left. I was deeply saddened by that turn of events despite understanding what was going on.

Brian's work is hard to take. I haven't read his newer books, but Altmann's Tongue was definitely something that made you stop and think. It is a deeply violent book. At the time, American culture had turned violence into entertainment. That's not to say we don't still see violence that way, but post 9/11 there are some subtle differences. He was writing in a manner that made the reader look at violence and be appropriately shocked and sickened by it. The short "stories" in the collection were really only partially narrative - the incompleteness of the stories is what made you see the violent acts as just that - violence. They were disturbing and uncomfortable and in some ways brilliant. He certainly achieved his goal of making an audience uneasy about violence.

So, go check out the interview. Pick up one of his books. They're not for everyone, but if you consider yourself a little callous to violence, his work will remind you that it's not something to slough off. It will remind you of what it means to be mortal and human. And for that reason alone it has some merit.

This is Jack's Blog Post Title

Ok, that was probably a little obscure, especially as this post has nothing to do with Fight Club. You'll just have to live with that, while I have to live with the fact that it's occasionally really hard to come up with titles.

My in-laws just sent out the illustrated Da Vinci Code. Very nice book. Whatever your opinion of the story, this edition is quite lovely. You get high quality paper with pictures of the artwork and architecture being discussed. Cool. Should make my next read through of the book a lot more enjoyable. If for no other reason than I can distract myself from some of the plot holes with pretty pictures. ^_^

Read the next Kindaichi graphic novel, The Mummy's Curse. This was one of the more gruesome mysteries, and yet still a delight to read. I'm not quite prepared to call it book 6, but if I only make it to 49 this year, you can bet I'll pull this one back out and say 50! ^_^

Both sets of parents have received their copies of the movie I threw together on Friday. iMovie and iDVD are fun. I took a bunch of pictures from the last year and half or so and a couple video clips taken with the digital camera and strung them together for my folks. Mom had requested one for a thing she's doing on keeping in touch with family over long distances. The only problem I had was the audio on a couple of the later video clips - the audio wasn't synching up with the video. It played fine on the computer, but every copy I burned to DVD was a little off there at the end. I have no idea why either...

Well, in keeping with the lack of a good title, I'll let you suffer with the lack of a good ending for this post as well. So there.

Book 5 and the Superbowl

Read The Opera House Murders, Book 1 in the Kindaichi Case Files by Kanari and Sato. This is a fun mystery series put out over here by TokyoPop. It follows Hajime Kindaichi, grandson of a famous detective, as he himself becomes one. The story is pretty clever and the art is nice with some good attention to detail. There are several volumes in the series, I believe about 10 of them are out at the moment with another couple due this year. It's easily one of my favorite manga series. This first volume involves a series of murders that mimic the plot of The Phantom of the Opera. Kindaichi's childhood friend Miyuki has invited him along on the theater club's trip to an island hotel. And one by one they start dying. Good stuff.

Watched the Superbowl. Best commercial goes to the FedEx/Kinko's commercial featuring Burt Reynolds. The game itself was for the most part boring (mostly due to there not being a team involved that I really cared about one way or the other), but the end picked up some. I hoped the Eagles would win, but alas it was not to be. There's always next year. Go Rams!

The Grudge

I forget exactly how I ran across The Ring. I know it was on the web, but the details are gone. I enjoy several aspects of Asian culture and the chance to see a Japanese horror film was truly welcome. The Ring in a lot of ways is simply a mixed media campfire tale. It's spooky and the story has some genuinely creepy bits. The central focus of the movie (the tape), however, means it really does need to be seen. Especially once the nature of the images on the tape starts to come clear. And like any good campfire tale, it ratchets the tension up from start to finish with the big payoff scare coming at the end. The American remake cleared a few things up for an audience not used to having to think a little more and unwilling to take some things for granted as simply being the way they are.

The Grudge is a different animal entirely. For one, it's a lot creepier than The Ring. A lot. And it doesn't let up over the course of the film. It starts off with a bang and then maintains the mood over the course of the film. A haunted house story at heart, The Grudge is perfect for film, especially because of the way they tell the tale. As the story unwinds, several threads come together to make a cohesive whole. And all the while they find ways to keep you on the edge of your seat. My wife tried to ban me from picking it up, but it's so rare to find a genuinely creepy movie that's fun to watch that I had to snag it.

The interesting thing about this version (also a remake of a Japanese horror film) is that they used the original Japanese director. They had him remake the movie for an American audience. As I haven't seen the original version yet, I'm unsure of some of the stylistic and story differences, but it seems to be a very nice meld of Asian cinema and American cinema. The story is certainly Asian, but there are allowances made for the way Americans are used to stories being told. If you like horror movies, this one is certainly worth your time. It's horribly creepy and lots of fun to watch. Especially with the lights out and the volume up.

It's Late

Got caught up making a DVD for the folks. So you'll have to wait until tomorrow for my thoughts on The Grudge. The Cliff Notes version can be summed up by the fact that I picked up my own copy on the way home from work today.

Applegeeks

Applegeeks is a webcomic that I enjoy quite a bit. It's got a great art style and it caters to the Mac fanatic in me. The current storyline, while not quite me, is pretty close. Today's strip in particular made me laugh as it dealt with the new iPod Shuffle. And I really want a power button t-shirt...

Tonight we'll be watching The Grudge, so there's the possibility of another post with some thoughts on that.

Shall We Dance?

Watched the recent update of Shall We Dance. Wonderful little film. Highly recommended. Even if it does make my wife want to watch Strictly Ballroom again. I haven't seen the original, but I'd like to. It's a nice little tale about a man simply caught up in life who takes a chance to learn to dance. And he finds that he likes it. It gives his life a little extra spark. The really nice thing about this movie is that it really is about the dancing and finding joy in life. If Hollywood had made this movie originally it would have been about an affair. But it's not, and that's great. Go see it.

Book #4

Finished off The Hidden City by David Eddings. Oddly, I've only ever read the Sparhawk books by Eddings - never got into any of the other series he's written. Not entirely sure what it is about the two trilogies featuring Sparhawk that I enjoy, but I find them a pleasant diversion. The characters are certainly nothing terribly original - they all fit they typical fantasy mold, but there are certain bits of life breathed into them that I find endearing. By the end of that first book, The Diamond Throne you felt like the characters were old friends and you wondered just what they'd get up to next.

Eddings doesn't spend too much time on battle sequences either. You had the siege of Chyrellos in the first trilogy and mostly random skirmishes in the second. I must admit that's one of the few tropes of fantasy lit that really grates on my nerves - endless battle sequences. Political intrigue is a little more the flavor of the day in the Sparhawk books. The one thing that really gets old in the Tamuli is Caalador's "accent" I hate it when people try and write colloquial speech... It can occasionally be done well, but mostly it's just annoying. Dorlin'. Anyway, if you haven't read either The Elenium or The Tamuli, they're worth flipping through as light reading.

Lather, rinse, repeat

And thus begins another work week.

My wife felt the need to point out that Lemony Snicket was being clever in book whatever of his Unfortunate Events series by printing the start of Chapter 5 twice in order to illustrate déjà vu. I was only moderately impressed. Lemony Snicket is the kids version of John Grisham in my opinion. Pick any one book by either of them and it's great. The rest are all the same though. I stopped reading both of them after the first couple. And that's my illustration of déjà vu...

Ran across several random little bits today. Things are perking up a bit in the video game realm. This year's E3 promises to be moderately interesting due to the new console unveilings. The new models of just about (if not all) of the consoles are rumored to be in attendance. So we're getting little teases of what features might be available and so on. It's funny, as I've mentioned, for the longest time I was a PlayStation fan. I've recently joined the ranks of the Nintendo followers though and haven't really been too interested in what's on Sony's little black box. I got a demo for God of War today and I must admit, it was kind of fun. It reminded me of a Greek Prince of Persia. The battle and puzzle nature of the gameplay was very similar. It could be worth checking out. And then, of course, there's Wanda and the Colossus. Anything by the Ico team is worth looking at.

At any rate, I don't really have anything specific to point you towards, mostly you just have to listen to the rustlings on the wind. Winter is just about over and the year is getting ready to get it in gear. There are rumblings afoot and if you know what to look for, you can start to get ready for it. And I suspect that applies to just about any realm, whatever your interests.

Laziness

Went ahead and installed Firefox here at home. It will make a better backup browser than IE. Now if only it could have read my Safari bookmarks. That was quite the task... Will have to play with some of the extensions, I'd like to try installing the weather forecast thing at least.

Need to wander over to Target. They're doing some sort of random furniture/knick knacks from around the world sale. Might be able to pick up some Asian bits and bobs. Could possibly find something to go with the lamp my wife got me for Christmas.

I gave up on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I just couldn't bring mself to pick it back up. I might try again once it's no longer a new book at the library.

Anyway, it's Saturday and that means it's time to be lazy...

Book #3

So, I finished I, robot by Asimov. It was an interesting read for the most part. Some of the stories were better than others, but that's just a generic statement that applies to any collection. I don't know that I've read a collection yet that contained nothing but great stories. ^_^ At any rate, Asimov's collection of thought experiments on the three laws of robotics made for both a nice bit of relaxation and some occasional thought on ethics and logic. Having seen the recent movie, I can now compare them better and while the movie didn't use any of the stories outright, it did feature the same questioning nature of the book. It certainly explored the same themes and did use a couple similar moments.

In a lot of ways this book reminded me of some of PK Dick's work. It looks at humanity and what it means to be human, but through the lens of technology and often robots/androids specifically. I like Dick's works a little more than Asimov, but I, robot was certainly a worthwhile read. Consider it recommended.

Looks like Wes Craven is back again with Cursed. A new take on the werewolf movie possibly? I suppose it's about time they got their due. There aren't really that many great werewolf movies. An American Werewolf in London springs to mind. And you have the Howling series, but that's about it. After the recent zombie craze (and there were some great ones) it will be interesting to see what happens with our furry, moonstruck friends.

Kung Fu Hustle

Trailer!

Looks great. Reminds be a little bit of Yojimbo.

Random Scottish moment

I spent a couple years in Scotland and completely fell in love with the place. It was Burns Night a couple days ago - time for haggis and poetry and friends. I've had haggis and actually like it quite a bit. I'm not brave enough to buy any over here - I suspect it's better from the country that makes it on a regular basis. There was a butcher by one of the flats I lived in for a while that was absolutely wonderful. I often stopped by for caramel squares, but also picked up a haggis once and even got him to do a turkey for Thanksgiving. (Not that he knew what we wanted the turkey for...) I miss being able to shop like that, a butcher for meat, and little shops for produce or various odds and ends. I think some of the bigger cities offer you that opportunity, especially if they incorporate any sort of ethnic community which offer their own specialty shops, and it can be quite nice.

Anyway, this moment of complete randomness was brought to you by the recent post over at Websnark concerning Burns Night. I developed a bit of a fondness for his poetry after my time there and I can say with a certainty that "my heart's in the highlands, a chasin' the deer..." If you ever get the chance to go, take it. Beautiful place Scotland.

Murakami!

Thanks to Bookslut for pointing out that there's a website for Haruki Murakami now. Joy!

The obligatory Firefox post

So I'm a little late on this. Mostly it's because I have no reason to use Firefox at home. I'm extremely happy with Safari, so I've had no reason to try it out. But work is another story. So I finally gave in and installed it and there will be no looking back. In a lot of ways the two aforementioned browsers are very similar. They offer similar features and even have some similarities in their presentation. I suspect Firefox is a lot more customizable what with the open source community behind it and all, but Mac homebrew developers have often come up with some useful widgets too. And quite frankly I hardly ever play with the serious customization stuff. I'm just glad to have a browser at work that can open all the bookmarks I have in a folder as separate tabs now. And it looks like I can integrate some RSS feeds into things as well. So that's cool.

Anyway, if you haven't played with Firefox yet and you have a Windows based machine I suggest you give it a download. It certainly beats the pants off IE, that's for sure. And I like it better on first glance than the 7.whatever version of Netscape I've been running.

Jumps and Jive

Picked up the Garden State soundtrack over the weekend. Great disc. It's a pretty mellow collection of songs, but that often works in it's favor as it certainly makes perfect background music for just about anything. I really enjoy In the Waiting Line by Zero 7 and Winding Road by Bonnie Somerville, but the whole disc is great (although I suspect my wife is getting tired of it spinning in the background). At least it's not the scrubs soundtrack - I've just about worn that one down to nothing as well. The two cds do share some artists in common (and one song by The Shins) but they are slightly different - scrubs is a little more upbeat on the whole.

Watched both The Village and The Forgotten this weekend. Both were better than I expected, so that was a nice surprise. The Village was pleasantly interesting. It is basically a movie version of Running Out of Time by Margaret Haddix, but there are a few differences (if I were really cyncial I'd say enough to keep her from winning a lawsuit...). And I must admit that a few of the plot turns surprised me. It's an interesting idea, but you have to wonder at some of the decisions made concerning the film's end. That is one of the major differences between the film and the book. I won't go into details (despite it having been out for a while) but I don't think the film made the right choice. Although, again, there are some differences in motivation between the two stories.

The Forgotten was much better than I expected it to be despite the sci-fi copout. This was a movie that in a lot of ways was harmed by the trailer and commercials. Far too much of the plot was given away. Although, oddly, it sort of helped too. Mostly because the filmmakers decided they weren't going to tell the more interesting and (obviously) harder story. I personally think a story concerning the main character's questionable sanity would have been more interesting. I suppose because it's more real. Instead (and this is why to some extent the PR people can be forgiven) they chose to tell a story about alien abduction. So in order to give people some warning that the story wasn't going to be grounded on this planet, the trailer had to give away the fact that Julianne Moore's character wasn't crazy. The film has several great jump moments and overall tells a good tale. And while I was disappointed they went the route they did, I won't deny that they did it well. Since we rented the DVD we chose to watch the "extended, alternate ending" version. So I can't really comment on what people saw in the theaters. We did go back to check out the theatrical ending and there are differences, some more obvious than others. Sadly, I think you need to see both to really get the complete feel for what they were trying to accomplish. Which may be why I got such mixed opinions from family and friends about it when it was in the theater.

I'm just about to wrap up book #3, so expect comments on it in a day or two. And I still haven't quite shaken my head cold. Curse you head cold!

Oldies but goodies

Watched a couple of old favorites today. One was mentioned pretty recently as they've just put out a special edition on DVD. The Fifth Element is a movie that I didn't really care for at first. This has more to do with the circumstances under which I watched it though. It was the second feature at a drive-in and the sound was screwed up so I had to try and make sense of the movie relying solely on visual cues. While extremely tired. Yeah, not an easy task. So for a while it was just some weird, frenetic sci-fi movie with Bruce Willis. But when it came out on DVD I was talked into giving it another chance by the guys at work. Oddly enough when you can hear the movie and you're awake, it makes much more sense.

And that time I fell in love. The Fifth Element is still an odd little movie. While overall a sci-fi movie it defies easy genre classification. But there are so many wonderful little moments that it's just great. The hopped up mugger, the window service oriental food, Leeloo's fascination with the multipass - gems all. Despite a very fast visual style, the little things add up to a world. It's a much brighter dystopia than your typical Blade Runner inspired retread. This future, while still dysfunctional, is colorful and vibrant. And it's got Chris Tucker hamming it up. What more could you ask for? And it gets better each time you watch it. A fact that has convinced my wife that it is indeed a good show (it took her an additional couple viewings before she started to see the brilliance that is The Fifth Element). There are so many little things going on that you can find a new nugget of joy each time you watch it. I suspect my favorite aspect of the movie that stands out every time I watch it is the cross cut nature of the conversations that happen in the film. I think this may be why it failed for me at the drive-in. It's hard to make a visual narrative out of something that's jumping around what appears to be aimlessly. But when the sound is added in, you realize what's going on and the visual disparity gives way to understanding through the continuous dialog. Plus it's wonderfully quotable. All things that add up to instant classic in my book. Green? Super green.

The other show is one that proves that good things can indeed come in small packages. Voices of a Distant Star was created by one guy on his Mac. And you would never know from looking at it. The only real indication that this is the case is the show's length - a mere 30 minutes. But you get a lot in that 30 minutes. At heart a love story, Voices of a Distant Star deals with two teenagers separated by vast distances. Their only means of communication is the text messages they send that take longer and longer to reach one another as Mikako travels further away in a war that she might not come back from. And as she is travelling at light speed she remains young while Noboru ages normally on Earth. It's a powerful piece that looks at love and the strength that two people can get from each other. Plus it has an amazing soundtrack and a series of stunning visuals. I am impatiently looking forward to the next movie by Makoto Shinkai.

So there you go, brief looks at a couple sci-fi movies that are in some ways not really sci-fi movies. They certainly involve other things and the sci-fi aspect in a lot of ways is just window dressing. My wife is going to put me through The Village and The Forgotten this weekend so look forward to a writeup on them soon.

And if you've managed to run across the video of the dog beating the guy at Soul Calibur 2 be a pal and send me a link that works. I really need to see that video.

iPod, iWant

As I am currently in the depths of a sinus cold, go over here and find yourself a review of the iPod Shuffle. Then buy me one. Or two.

What If...? from 1UP.COM

What If...? An interesting, if pointless fluff, piece. Certainly questions that everyone has pondered at some point, if you're a fan of video games.

And that's all you're getting today. I'm tired...

Humor for a Tuesday

This is pretty funny. For several reasons. And if you read this blog (poor souls), chances are you'll find it funny too. I think my favorite bit (wizard ninjas) has to be (bears with laser beams) the facial expressions on Boromir at the end. And as an aside (in keeping with the theme of this paragraph) the parent site (big-big-truck) is actually a pretty good one. I used to go there pretty frequently for Bebop wallpaper and other randomness, so check that out too.

Is there some unwritten law somewhere that corporate meetings have to be mind-numbingly boring? It's pretty sad when the best bit of an entire meeting is the regular guy forced up there to talk about his project and he does so in regular terms and with actual opinions on things. When I was in college I used to read Dilbert and laugh uncontrollably. I thought it was hilarious. Then I graduated, got a job, the company got bought out, and I realized it was a documentary. And it wasn't funny anymore. In fact I can't really read the strip because it's too depressing...

Speaking of comics, I stumbled across this link today. It seems like it might be pretty interesting. And while I'm throwing out links dealing with commentary about comics, have this one as well. And as one last link for a link laden paragraph, Jeremy Parish has rebooted Onion again over at Toastyfrog. It was initially a comic based on a dream he had, but he's gone to a text format for this iteration. I'm hoping for some occasional graphics to go along with it. Although if you hang out through Onion, he's going to start Toastyfrog ZM up again as well and it should feature more artwork...

Catching up

Ok, watched Evil Dead over the weekend. And first let me say, "Holy Cow! Bruce Campbell is really, really young!" It's not too bad for a first time horror flick from a bunch of kids no one had heard of then. But you probably recognize their names now - Sam Raimi, Bruce, The Coen brothers... I've seen both sequels, but only just got around to watching this, the original inspiration. There are some really nice camera shots and the story, while presented in an earnest fashion, is still pretty campy. It's easy to see why the sequels went the route they did - Over the Top Ash works much better than Horrifyingly Distraught Ash. But still, fun to see where things came from.

Also watched Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Such a pretty, pretty movie. The plot is pretty standard fare for the GitS universe. And if you've read any reviews for the show, you've no doubt heard how the movie is chock full of philosophical quotes that tend to drive home the points being made. It's certainly true, but it's not as bad as it sounds. Well, that or my tolerance for philosophical mumbo jumbo is pretty high. It's a pretty mellow movie - the first one had more action and was a little more visceral physically as well as philosphically. But the questions pondered here still carry some weight and there are a few really nice moments. I think I preferred the music in the original a little better, but there are a couple scenes towards the end where the soundtrack makes a really nice, powerful counterpoint to what's happening. All in all certainly worth watching and if you've enjoyed any of the works based on Shirow's stories, you'll feel right at home here. And it's really pretty. Really. Oh, and the subtitle/closed caption thing isn't nearly as annoying as I was afraid it would be. There are only a couple of instances where I felt it was bordering on intrusive - the rest of the time it was pretty reasonable.

Managed to polish off the second Shooting Stars graphic novel. I don't really have anything to say about it in hindsight. It's been a couple days and for the most part it's pleasantly forgettable. I enjoyed reading it and it was an interesting glimpse into an alternate Bebop universe, but it didn't grab me the way the series did. I think it's at least partially due to the compressed form. The stories weren't really given the room to grow the way they did in the tv show. And while there were certainly plenty of short "filler" episodes in the anime, you knew parts of them were driven by the very real back story. Here the back story isn't as visible and so everything gets relegated to filler. Even the Scorpion arc - which is as close to what makes up continuity and back story in this series as you get - still felt pretty light and rushed.

I may not make it through what would have been book 3. I'm trying to read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and it's just not clicking. I wanted to like this book. And there are flashes of something very nice, but it's not really grabbing me. I really like some of Susanna Clark's short fiction, so it's a little surprising to me that I'm not enjoying the book more. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Managed to make a small video of Graeme smiling for the grandparents. Lovely digital camera. And lovely iMac. It's terribly fun to poke around with iMovie and iDVD and whatnot.

Weekend a go go

Danny Boyle's new film Millions looks pretty good. I really enjoyed 28 Days Later, so it will be interesting to see how this one turns out.

And it's now time to veg out for a couple days. Ahh, bliss. So go watch the trailer. Pop some popcorn and find something mindless to occupy a couple hours. You're on your own.

Book #2(ish)

So, I really ought to roll the Bebop Shooting Star graphic novels into one book. There are two of them and I finished the first one this evening. It's an interesting re-imagining of the Bebop Universe. If you're familiar with Cowboy Bebop from the anime series, you'll see things from the show, but from a slightly different angle. The stories are mostly interesting, but in some ways frustrating as they are telling stories you've seen. Even if they are slightly different. Towards the end of the first graphic novel things get more interesting as truly new material starts to surface and the characters are all accounted for. I look forward to the second volume to see where it goes.

The Scrubs soundtrack is quite excellent. The music is a big part of the show and it's fun to listen to the pieces they've selected for the cd. At least one interesting remake, some old favorites and some (possibly) undiscovered gems. And it seems that Zach Braff really likes The Shins. He used music by them in Garden State also. I don't know if he has anything to do with the music in Scrubs, but if nothing else he liked them enough to include them in the movie.

And I find myself watching Committed. I'm not sure why. I didn't really want to like it. But I kind of do...

Quiet Wednesday

Which is really just a way to say that there's really nothing worth mentioning here. And I'm too tired to try and draw some meaning out of life's quieter moments. But I felt the need to jot something down here. So you get to live with these random little sentences that don't really amount to much. Lucky you. I'm still juggling about 3 books and 4 games. It makes any sort of cohesion difficult. But certainly does wonders for randomness.

Still haven't managed to watch Ghost in the Shell 2. I think I'm dragging my feet because of the subtitle track. And I have this strange desire to watch The Fifth Element again. That's probably at least partially related to the fact that the new 2 disc DVD set just came out. I have this irrational desire to pick it up. I'm going to try and fight it this time.

Anyway, I've rambled enough. I do feel the need to point out, however, that my wife spent most of last night convinced that the rather large wind storm we had was made up of people's voices. She was convinced someone was just outside talking about something or other. It made for a nice ghostly winter moment. At 2 A.M.

Cold winter wind blows
at night, are there voices, or
are they just my thoughts?

Marathon trilogy for free, a new magazine and the iPod Shuffle

So, it looks like you can download the Marathon Trilogy for free. Plus Anvil and Forge. That's pretty cool. Go see the precursor to that Halo game all the kids are talking about. I miss Bungie. It's too bad Microsoft had far too much money for them.

And this looks like it might be a cool magazine. Certainly some potential there.

Plus it sounds like there have been lots of interesting announcements at MacWorld. The iPod Shuffle sounds like it might be my first iPod purchase. Certainly in the right price range and lots of space... Trés cool.

'Tis which season?

So, despite the fact that it's the middle of winter, the weather has decided to spend all day raining. Now, I like rain, but it's winter. A little snow would be appreciated. Oh well, at least I don't have to shovel rain...

This is UGO's top 50 DVD list. Nothing terribly surprising on the list, but interesting to flip through. I enjoy looking at lists like these, because not only do I like collecting movies, but sometimes it's fun to collect DVDs that stand out in the medium - really good commentaries, soundtracks, etc. So it's interesting to see what's come out lately.

I'm hearing rumblings about the looming release of Resident Evil 4. I must admit, from the bits I've seen of this game it looks amazing. Curse you survival horror games! Why must you all be so scarily good?!

Book #1

Finished off State of Fear. Here's the thing: it's a horribly silly book. It's overbearing and the plot is just ludicrous, but it still contains Crichton's trademark readability. You'll find yourself reading it anyway, in spite of realizing just how bad it is. At least it's not one of his diatribes against theme parks. I swear, he must have been lost in one as a child.

So, if you want me to spare you from the terror that is State of Fear know these two things: Global Warming is a theory that, like any good scientific theory, is now falling out of vogue, and the politico-media machine is still in full force making sure we know next to nothing and are afraid of it all.

In other news, we watched Garden State last night. Good movie. This has been an indie film filled weekend. It's refreshing to see real people make movies for a change. Zach Braff was someone we liked on Scrubs, turns out he's a decent director/writer too. It's an interesting piece on life, love and medication. I will admit it's not a film for everyone. There are a few odd and uncomfortable moments, but overall, the progression from a life lived enveloped in cotton to a human being that can think and feel again is quite interesting to watch.

Here shark, shark, shark

Watched Open Water last night. Great movie. It was pretty intense and the last 20 minutes or so are quite gripping. In fact, I'd say the thunderstorm sequence ranks up there as one of my favorite moments of suspense in film. Definite edge of your seat stuff. The actors did a great job showing us the possible last hours of two people placed in an impossible situation. In a lot of ways this is the low budget version of The Perfect Storm. Both films take a look at people and what happens to them when they know things have seriously turned for the worse. Of course, we don't know what actually transpired between any of the people in either of those situations, but it's not hard to imagine something like what is shown in either of these films being the case.

One of my favorite little moments in Open Water was discovering Daniel's last name was Kintner. I believe that's the last name of the boy in Jaws that got eaten by the shark. Nice touch... So if you're in the mood for an intense character piece, Open Water is a pretty good choice.

Long week

It's that first full week back at work and boy is it dragging. I remember thinking yesterday that I couldn't believe it was only Wednesday and I still had half the week to make it through. And now it's only Thursday. ^_^ Who came up with this 5 day work week? They should be shot.

We've had quite a bit of snow over the last couple days and that's been nice. Except for the commute. I think the statistic yesterday morning was 30 accidents on the highway at one point during morning rush hour. When I was on the road people were taking it slow, which was nice for the most part. Today people were much more confident and the roads were somewhat cleaner, which isn't the greatest combination - really all it leads to is a bunch of people pulling out in front of you when you can't stop or slow down easily. Quite nice.

So, I got a couple day-by-day calendars for Christmas. One featuring some pretty shots of lighthouses and one featuring daily origami projects. They're both pretty good for obviously different reasons. I was never a huge fan of the day-by-day, but these two are pretty good. The movie trivia calendar last year was fun as well. My biggest complaint with them is that I can never write down appointments and days off and whatnot and be reminded of what's coming with ease. It leads to more of a sense of surprise I guess...

As far as things going on, track down some of the stuff on our friend Bill at CES. I'm so glad I have a Mac. And a Gamecube.

Webcomics Redux

Ok, so I finally read, well, most of that article. It got a bit long in the tooth. There were certainly interesting points made, but it did begin to drag on. My biggest complaint though would be the complete and utter lack of links to the people they were talking about. The mind kind of boggles at that really.

My own thoughts on the matter are certainly less than profound. I don't really read much in the way of newspaper comics anymore. There are a couple I'll check out in the Sunday paper, but for the most part I just don't find myself interested anymore. Webcomics however, I follow. Mostly because I've found a few that cater to my interests. Gaming comics, manga style comics, geeky humor. That's the one thing about webcomics - you can find your niche and frequently you can find quite good ones. There may not always be a ton of high quality strips, but there are real gems to be found. And while some of them may not take full advantage of the possibilities the web offers, they certainly still fill a void. And in a lot of ways some of the bells and whistles you could add on the web aren't really adding anything to the comic format.

So, there you go, my 2 cents.

Webcomics

The Future of Webcomics looks to be a great article. I'm off to read it myself...

Books, a set of sides, and a moment of silence

So, ran across a meme the other day, the 50 Book Challenge. Read 50 books in a year and blog about them as you go through them. I will admit to some curiosity on this, so I may try to tackle it. I don't think I actually go through 50 a year although I certainly could. I'm not clear if there are rules as to what constitutes a book so some of my choices may be a bit grey. It's funny, as I ran across this the other day I took a moment to take stock of what I was currently reading. Normally I only read one book at a time, but at the moment I can actually claim to be in the middle of three. However, two of them may not get finished as I'm not sure I can read much more of either of them. I used to be able to read just about anything, but as I've gotten older I find myself finally running out of patience for some things. It's not really that I claim any sort of literary elitism, I certainly read enough fluff, but there are limits. Currently Eragon and State of Fear are trying my patience. We'll see if I make it through them or not. (The third is actually a non-fiction book - my Mom would be proud... ^_^)

So, again, last year ended and it prompted a plethora of top 10 lists and I am nothing if not occasionally a lemming. So here you go - my top 10 list.

Top 10 condiments (in no particular order):
1. Hot Bone Suckin' Sauce (the best BBQ sauce in the world)
2. Tabasco (plain old regular Tabasco - yum)
3. Arby's Sauce
4. Arby's Horsey Sauce
5. Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy BBQ Sauce (a close second to Bone Suckin' Sauce)
6. Soy Sauce
7. A1 (or alternately A1 with Tabasco)
8. Brazos Legends Rawhide Burning Salsa
9. Yellow mustard (it's a classic - and it doesn't have to be French's)
10. Lehi Mill Cider Syrup (need something sweet to round things out)

And in the spirit of Spinal Tap I believe this list goes to 11.

11. Hershey's WHOPPERS Chocolate Malt Syrup/ Hershey's Special Dark Syrup (can you really pick just one?!)

As the letter 'r' says, "Food is just an excuse to eat condiments." Truer words have never been spoken. I realize the above list is tilted heavily to the spicier side of life, but sometimes, that's what life's all about.

And now for a serious moment, Will Eisner passed away yesterday. A true legend in the comic world. Neil Gaiman's journal has a couple very nice entries talking about Will, so I'll send you there.

In with the new

So, it's a new year. Is it over yet?

Here's a good article on blogs over at Fortune magazine.

Caught I, Robot and Collateral over the past couple days. They were both quite enjoyable. In some ways surprisingly so. I hadn't heard a lot of good things about I, Robot, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Admittedly I haven't read the series of short stories upon which it's based, but it seemed to explain some of the same themes. Actually it reminded me a lot of the back story for The Matrix. I suppose that's at least in part because the revolt of the machines is a fairly common sci-fi topic, but in this case, it was handled pretty well. It certainly had enough action, but it wasn't just an action flick - the characters had a decent amount of characterization. Admittedly, they relied pretty heavily on stereotypical backgrounds to flesh them out some, but by the end there was some growth and you enjoyed the ride.

And speaking of not-just-action movies, Collateral fits the bill there as well. I've seen a couple of Michael Mann's films (Heat is the one that pops immediately to mind) and this one ranks up there as one of his most enjoyable. I will admit to a certain letdown at the end. After watching the extras that came with the DVD, I realize why he tied things up the way he did, but upon first viewing it certainly stretches the limits of suspension of disbelief. This is a movie that's all about characterization. It's predictable in the sense that the story's been told before, but that doesn't make the characters any less believable or less powerful. The scene in the jazz club is worth the price of admission alone. And it's quite mesmerizing to watch - filmed almost completely in high-def it's a sight to behold. L.A. at night is just as much a character in this film as any of the actors. And Cruise and Foxx are great.

So, that covers movies of recent note. As for New Year's itself, I was blissfully asleep. Hey, New Year's with a newborn - you take what you can get. I even turned off the phones and the answering machine. Absolutely nobody was getting in between me and some z's. So the year changed and I was blissfully unaware. Eh, they all feel the same anymore anyway.

In the next couple days I should have some thoughts on Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Unfortunately, I expect the experience to be marred by the subtitle track. Apparently Dreamworks decided that a closed caption track could fill in for a proper subtitle track. Which is strange as this movie was in the theater and I suspect a proper subtitle track exists. Oh well, keep your eyes on the Glitch Disc forum over at Anime on DVD and wait for the recall.

And I'd contemplate mocking Crichton's new book, but this does it just fine. And I like Crichton's stuff. Not sure I'll make it through this one...

Daisy Kutter and New Year's wishes

Finished reading Daisy Kutter today. Kazu Kibuishi has created quite a nice little world in that comic. It's a mix of old west and sci-fi tilted heavily towards old west. The story revolves around Daisy and her attempts to put her life back together after a poker game gone awry. She's the ex-con gone straight that gets pulled back in for one last "legit" job. The formula is nothing new, but Kazu still manages to tell a riveting story within those trappings. He is both artist and writer for the series and that's something to be applauded. His art style is fairly simple with strong lines and is quite appealing. His storytelling is also pared down, but the two mediums work well together and get the story across very well. The end of each book contains a small story that takes place in the same world done by a friend. At least one of them occurs simultaneously with the action Daisy and company are a part of.

The books themselves are black and white with very nice color covers. Rumor has it the graphic novel will include about 40 extra pages featuring more artwork and some of the process Kazu used in creating the series. I wish I'd known that a little earlier... If you're looking around for something new to try in the comic world, this is definitely a worthy read.

Hope every one has a nice New Year's. There's a lot going on in the world right now, so take a moment to remember the things that you take for granted and the people around you that make life wonderful. And if you're separated from those people, may they be safe.

Ah the 80s

So, the 15th anniversary showing of Heathers is on. I can't count the number of times I've seen that show. There was a period of time where I had just about that entire movie memorized. Which makes watching it on the WB quite painful as they've been axing dialogue left and right (I can't believe they cut the "loose was too noose" line! I mean really...). It was something of a cult favorite among my group of friends in High School. It certainly fits the whole angsty teenager bill... Part of what we liked was the fact that it was so quotable. Little snippets of dialogue that just begged to be bantered back and forth. It's probably one of the first black comedies that I can remember seeing. A couple worthwhile messages wrapped safely in sarcasm, Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. What more could a teeanger at the end of the 80s ask for?

I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship with black comedies. I suppose it depends on the subject matter. I absolutely loathed The War of the Roses, but Falling Down was pretty good. Roses just depressed me. I couldn't stand watching them fall out of love and destroy each other. Marriage means enough to me that the humor was lost and it just became depressing and vulgar. Falling Down however did a decent job of showing us the ordinary guy just losing it completely.

When I was in college I took a class on humor my senior year. It was an interesting class and it covered a few varieties of humor including black comedy. In fact, I want to say that Heathers was at least touched on during that portion. Humor is one of those things that people really only sort of understand. While it has admittedly been a while since the class, I don't remember thinking we ever had a real definite statement as to what humor was, or what made something funny. I think that's one of the most important aspects of humor. It tends to arise from a sudden unexpected event, but you can't really pin it down too well. It's like the old adage - you kill a joke by explaining it. Humor suffers something from trying to understand it too much. The joke is dead, long live the joke...

Hoity Toity

Played the other board game we got for Christmas today - Hoity Toity. It's from the people that did Settlers of Catan and the pedigree is there although not as noticeable as you might expect. In some ways Hoity Toity is like playing paper/rock/scissors with two hands. The goal is to throw exhibits so that you can move around the board, but first you need pieces to exhibit. So the turns in the game are broken into an auction house phase for acquiring art and a castle phase where you display it. Through a paper/rock/scissors mechanic you can gain the pieces you're seeking, steal some money or manage to move your pawn around the board. It actually works quite well and involves a fair amount of strategy. Playing with a group of people you know will probably be a far more interesting experience as you'll have a bit of a read on them and their playing style, which enhances the strategy. It's a fun way to spend some time and it's certainly a game we'll play again.

I've now managed to pick up the fourth Daisy Kutter so in the next few days I'll be able to talk about the series as a whole. And Flight, Volume 2 is set to come out pretty soon as well. I wouldn't mind snagging a copy of that also, but we'll see...

I'm really tired of Blade Trinity commercials. #1 action movie eh? Up against what exactly? And you can't claim #1 movie spot why? Oh that's right, you're not even in the top 10... Boy those advertisers know how to spin things.

Middle age zen and Harry Potter Candy

Well, back to the mini grindstone just prior to the New Year grindstone. I've reached the point where not only do the years tend to fly by, but they tend to blend together as well. It's all just one big blur of time passing. Having kids both contributes to that effect and occasionally snaps you out of it. Of course, it's things like your daughter deciding she's a horse and doing nothing but neighing for an hour that knock you out of that gray haze, so occasionally you do all you can to reachieve the Nirvana of mediocrity. There's no zone like the comfort zone...

Of course, you do learn to cherish some of those little moments. If you're smart, you write them down or obtain future blackmail evidence in the form of photos or video. Favorite mispronounced words, strange little habits that are peculiar to each child, the first time your three year old daughter button mashes her way to victory in Soul Calibur 2 despite your halfhearted efforts - or your six year old beating you despite the fact that you're actually trying... Not that I have any experience with that. They become the little milestones that mark the years instead of birthdays and random holidays.

I have to admit a new fondness for Chocolate Frogs. I've tried most (if not all) of the Harry Potter candy and they're probably my favorite. Admittedly they have a bit of an advantage being chocolate, but the cards are fun and the chocolate isn't too bad. Droobles Best Blowing Gum is probably my next favorite followed by the Ice Mice and the Jelly Slugs. The Fizzing Whizbees and Bertie Botts Beans come in at the bottom of the pack. Only kids could love Bertie Botts Beans. Mostly because half the time they don't realize what they're eating. I took one of the newer batches in to work a few weeks ago and we goaded each other into trying some of the less savory flavors. I swear, Harry Potter has secretly fulfilled some guy's dream over there at Jelly Belly. You just know there's one guy that always wanted to make a vomit flavored jelly bean and now he has an excuse.

Death Knell

Well, I must apologize to all House fans. I've decided it's my favorite new show this season and that means it probably has about 3 episodes left before Fox yanks it off the air. My track record on this is pretty good. Firefly, Wonderfalls, Karen Sisco have all fallen prey to being favorites of mine. About all it takes are decent characters and a plot that takes more than two brain cells to follow. So reality tv is safe. The sooner they create that all reality tv cable channel and we can force that rubbish to the side the better. I really can't believe what passes for entertainment on network tv any more... So, hopefully Fox won't follow their usual practices and House will stick around for a while. If you haven't seen it, Tuesday nights at 8 PM Mountain time. Check it out if you have any interest in well written medical dramas.

The holidays were enjoyable - we all had a great Christmas. We are now the proud owners of a Casio Exilim, so expect slightly more frequent photo evidence of whatever oddities occur locally. The girls are going slightly stir crazy - I don't envy my wife's job this week as McKenna is out of school for the Christmas break holiday. I suspect it's entirely possible that by the end of the week the number of people in our family will be reduced by one or two...

The fine fellows over at Penny Arcade have just wrapped up their Cthulhu Christmas story, so feel free to go check that out. It was a nice horrific little holiday tale. I really need to snag one of those plush Cthulhu toys running around the net...

Anyway, enjoy the lull week between Christmas and New Years. The start of 2005 and regular work schedules are waiting just around the corner to mug us all.

Christopher Walken Christmas Letters and Holiday Sentiments

This is truly great. The other letters are good, but this one is my favorite.

I don't know that I ever wrote a letter to someone famous. I have vague memories of writing the hostages that came home in the early 80s (it might even have been 1980). The only reason I remember that is that I got to help deliver the letters from our class. I wrote William Goldman to request the two page "reunion scene" from The Princess Bride. That was a clever bit of trickery. I suspect famous people get some truly interesting letters.

And the Christmas holiday weekend begins. The girls are currently at Defcon 2, itching to up the stakes. We're letting them watch The Santa Clause at the moment. While not my favorite Christmas movie, they enjoy it and it has its moments. There are certainly worse choices. I admit a certain loyalty to It's a Wonderful Life. I don't have to watch it every year, but I do have some small amount of affection for it. A Christmas Story also helps ring in the Christmas season. Although ever since that 24 hour marathon a few years ago I haven't felt a burning desire to watch it again... Holiday movies are strange creatures. They subsist almost entirely on emotional manipulation and nostalgia, and yet they certainly help define who we are. And what's a little emotional blackmail between friends anyway. ^_^ Actually holiday movies can provide a nice bit of catharsis and remind us of the things that make life worth living. But then, most of the fine arts can do that - music, art, literature, film. It's amazing how they can bind themselves to little pieces of our lives and forevermore remind us of those things regardless of time or distance.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and can spend some time with those you hold dear.

Biting humor

Played through Munchkin Bites tonight. A worthy addition to the Munchkin series. If you're unfamiliar with the Munchkin games they're card based games that, to an extent, emulate a role-playing game. You try to get your character to level ten by defeating monsters and picking up treasure. You also do your best to prevent the other players from accomplishing the same tasks. You can work together, stab each other in the back, go it alone - it's up to you. The cards are all humorous parodies of whatever genre the particular Munchkin game is focusing on: the original Munchkin takes on fantasy games, Star Munchkin goes after sci-fi films/tv shows, Munchkin Fu tackles the kung fu world and Munchkin Bites parodies horror films. The game is all about humor and getting the other player before they get you. So if you tend to take gaming too seriously, you should probably stay away as several of the cards will reduce you to tears if you're not careful. A game tends to start off nicely enough as the other players are more than willing to help in an effort to boost their own chances at gaining levels, but once people get closer to the magical 10th level the vicious cards come out and it's all about taking everybody else down.

Switching gears, we watched House last night (the new medical show on Fox, not the great cheesy horror flick from the 80s). It was quite nice. House himself reminds me of Perry from Scrubs with a little less restraint. I plan on checking it out again.

Survival of the least annoying

First, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is due out July 16th, so that's good news.

Today my wife and I went through the girls' room and culled some of the accumulated clutter in preparation for Christmas. We try to do this every so often in order to prevent death by assorted odds and ends. It's pretty amazing how much stuff two little girls can horde away. Well, amazing or terrifying, your call... This morning was trial by garbage bag. Based on highly tuned parent gut reaction we scoured their room and the life of each stuffed animal, each piece of dress up clothing hung in the balance. It was quite satsisfying. Unfortunately, we really only managed to bring the level of kipple (thanks PK Dick for such a wonderful word) back to normal. We really should have strived for less than normal in anticipation of Christmas, but we'll re-calibrate once the presents are opened and we know where we stand. Oddest thing found this morning - a receipt. I don't recall what it was for. And I certainly have no idea why McKenna thought it was necessary to hold on to it.

A couple more days to go this week and then it's a nice four day weekend. Actually, I'm just trying to make it through tomorrow and then the rest of the week will be pretty easy. At least tomorrow night is game night. That will help kick things off right. We have recently acquired Munchkin Bites and Hoity Toity. Expect reviews in the not too distant future. The Munchkin series is well loved around here. Between the letter 'r' and I we have managed to gather all the variations. They're quite fun and each new installment tends to tweak things just enough to emphasize a certain aspect of gameplay. That and the cards are hilarious. Munchkin Bites tackles the horror genre, so I suspect I'm in for a treat.

Short week

So, the week of Christmas has arrived. And there are only a handful of days left in the year. Normally I enjoy this time of year - it's a mixture of the quiet that winter seems to bring, the excitement that the holidays bring and the contemplation that the end of the year inspires. Unfortunately there are a few things going on that are keeping me from enjoying the season to it's fullest. Oh well. Once I make it past Wednesday this week things should begin to calm down. For at least a little bit.

Actually, this should be a pretty good Christmas. The girls are at the age where they really get into it and one of the presents under the tree this year is quite nice. So hopefully I can manage to put the other stuff behind me and focus on family and friends and fun. Of course, my wife still hasn't figured out what she's getting me for Christmas, so there are a few opportunties for some good natured teasing as well. That always helps. ^_^

And alas, I believe today was the day they were announcing the winners of the Metroid Prime Haiku contest and I failed to receive that e-mail or phone call letting me know that I'd won the grand prize. How inconsiderate of them. I fail to acknowledge the possibility that someone else created a finer haiku. I'm sure the computer in charge of the random drawing was biased in some way...

Santa Graeme

Santa Graeme
Originally uploaded by dkun.

Need to get this up before I forget. This was almost the Christmas card we sent out. If I'd had a bit more time and an unlimited supply of ink I would have.

My mother and wife went out shopping one afternoon and came back with this outfit. Terribly shameful I must admit. They wasted absolutely no time in getting it on him and taking pictures for future blackmail purposes. My folks had a picture they wanted to try and use as a Christmas card so I dummied one up for them real fast. When I snagged the photo from them and some of the others that were ours, I realized I had to make a card for us as well. The idea of a gangster Santa just appealed to me for some reason...

The funny thing is that it's such an accidental shot. Of course, those always end up being the best. All I have to say is that Santa is ready to bust some heads if you're on his "naughty" list!

Humor continued

And here is the actual Bulwer-Lytton contest winners.

Humor for a Friday

Lyttle Lytton contest winners. Just go read them, they're great.

That kind of day

Well, the contractor finished fixing the holes in the wall from the water leak. Now we're just trying to breathe as the fumes are pretty terrible. But the house is once again whole. So that counts for something. And it was finished in time for Christmas.

Mixing paint fumes and sinus medicine isn't really all that good an idea.

I really need to locate a spare 4 hours or so to watch the extended Return of the King... I may attempt to do that tomorrow - I've managed to snag another 3 day weekend. This could have turned into quite the party weekend. Tonight was the company Christmas party, tomorrow is the church party and Friday we're getting together with a good friend. We skipped the work party due to the newborn. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I tend to prefer smaller get togethers with people I know.

My wife has made friends with the librarian responsible for the graphic novel section. This is a good thing. We've put in a few suggestions for things the library really can't do without. Hopefully they will make their way to the shelves. Apparently she's also a fan of the Gamecube. It's good to see Nintendo's little box of joy gaining more favor. I probably should have linked to this yesterday, but I didn't. It's an alright little piece about the 'cube.

Well, I'm starting to see blue bunny rabbits so I better go operate some heavy machinery.

fuzzy logic

Cold medication is taking over my brain so don't go expecting any pearls of wisdom. I'm glad the year is drawing to a close. I would say, that for the most part, it's been a pretty good one. But it's time to move on. Things will certainly prove to be interesting around here for the next few weeks, I'm just glad that I've got the holidays to get away from it all for a bit. This will be the first year that we don't have extended family celebrating the holidays with us. Would be the perfect opportunity to start some family traditions of our own, but I really haven't put much thought into that. I'm sure that there are some traditions my family had for the Christmas season, but the only one that I can remember with any ease is putting the tree up the day after Thanksgiving.

I would start pointing you to other places of interest now (in fact, I'm sure I had a few I meant to mention) but my current mental state really isn't going to allow that. I should just curl up with the new extended edition of Return of the King and visit Middle Earth for a bit.

800 lb. Gorilla

EA has apparently secured a deal with the NFL to monopolize the football videogame industry. <sigh> You really have to wonder what they're thinking. They already own most of that market due to the popularity of Madden. I guess Sega's recent price cut on their sports games made them feel pretty threatened. It was certainly a bold move on their part (and a sensible one - nobody should be paying standard game prices for a sports game that is really just an updated roster of the teams). Although rumor had it they were going to raise the prices again in a year or two. What really ought to happen is that sports games should go the way of the MMORPG - you buy the game once and then pay a yearly fee to have the updated content. Plus the online factor ensures that there's always a decent opponent. You could probably work out some pretty interesting things with regards to trades and draft picks as well. So there you go. Million dollar idea. Just remember to give me credit when you rip it off.

Sounds like a bunch of game magazines are getting the axe. GMR and XBN and one other one I can't recall (it's mentioned on GAF's main page if you went to check out the EA story). I like magazines. We currently only subscribe to a couple. I'm always on the lookout for something new to peruse though. I used to subscribe to a game magazine. (OPM if you're that curious) It was interesting for a while. Game journalism is a tricky thing. Reviews are odd things - they're barely more than hype - occasionally you'll find a reviewer you can trust, but it's a rare thing. Previews are really nothing but hype, and the game industry itself (while getting more interesting) certainly lacks the appeal of something like Hollywood or the political arena. So that leaves not too much more than the ads - which game magazines are chock full of as well. (Not that there are many magazines that aren't mostly ads...) There have been some interesting pieces on the state of game journalism and where it needs to head. Who knows, it might even get there some day. It's sad that more magazines are disappearing though. I suspect it's pretty hard for magazines to survive. I think the internet has hurt them slightly more than things like newspapers or books. Magazines tend to be pretty specialized, and while there's something satisfying about the physical aspect of a magazine, the net has the potential (and the reality) to be a lot more specialized than a magazine.

And we're back

Watched Spiderman 2 and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind over the weekend. Discerning readers will know which one I thought was better. For the rest of you, it wasn't the sequel. Eternal Sunshine is actually the first Kaufman film I've seen. We thought about watching Being John Malkovich but never got around to it. Eternal Sunshine is a great piece of work. Extols the "It's better to have loved and lost" line with some nice twists and a shiny sci-fi frame. There are some really nice scenes in it too. The series of scenes at the very beginning where Joel and Clementine basically relive their initial courtship is pretty great. And the scene at the end where his first memory of her is being erased is wonderfully poignant.

Spiderman offered little in the way of surprises, but was a decent sequel. Far too much time was spent on drumming into the audience how much it sucks to be Peter Parker, but the villain was enjoyable and the last third or so of the film was fun to watch. I must say that either Tobey Maguire wanted much more of his face seen in this movie or there are far too many people who now know who Spiderman is. I'm not a huge Spidey fan (that honor belongs to my wife) so I don't know if Harry Osborne knows that he's Spiderman or not, but it just seems that he was far too willing to walk around saying, "Hey! Look, it's me Spiderman!"

Ah, the weekend

Tim Burton is a unique individual. Edward Scissorhands to this day qualifies as one of my favorite fairy tales on film. There's absolutely no discussion necessary regarding the idea that Burton's films exude a certain sense of style. Apparently he's remaking Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And, also without surprise, he's cast Johnny Depp in the role of Willy Wonka. The trailer is running around on the net now. I almost didn't link to it as on one level it's just horribly disturbing. On another level it suits the book perfectly. I suspect this may be a wonderful adaptation, but it will also be terribly strange. But it is children's literature, so I guess that's perfectly normal.

The War of the Worlds teaser is running around as well. You can find that one on your own. It has summer blockbuster written all over it. I suspect it will be a decent popcorn movie. And that's not really anything to be too ashamed of.

Seems there was something else I meant to call attention to, but it has wandered out of my conscious mind looking for greener pastures. So, you'll just have to wonder what it was.

Anime Thursday

So, my good friend - the letter 'r' - has been pvr-ing Fullmetal Alchemist (FMA) and Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex (GitS:SAC) recently. Great shows. Absolutely great shows. (An aside here. I'm going to be obnoxious and lazy and resort to acronyms for these shows. I'm too lazy to type the names out or copy and paste, so there...) FMA is possibly the more entertaining of the two, but only slightly and only because it's got a bit more "entertainment" in it. GitS:SAC is a touch more cerebral.

So far, we've watched the first four episodes of FMA and the first three of GitS:SAC. FMA tugs pretty hard on the heart strings. You can sense just what the main characters are going through as they search for a way to right something that went horribly wrong in their past. A cross between a morality play and a redemption tale, FMA explores pretty deep themes while managing to be funny and serious, often at the same time.

On the other hand GitS:SAC is more action with occasional humor. Based in pieces on the original Shirow manga and the film, it actually manages to walk the line paying homage to both. I was surprised at just how well some of the stories felt like they came from Shirow's manga series while the slightly more philosophical nature of the movie is there in the background peeking out at you every so often. It still deals with the themes of humanity and technology while keeping the action/political thriller trappings.

There's certainly a lot of room for growth in both series and I look forward to seeing where they go.

Yellowstone

yellowstone tree
Originally uploaded by dkun.

This is the photo set I've begun for the Yellowstone trip we took last winter.

Yellowstone is such a stark, beautiful place in the winter. It's also just about impossible to get into and out of (especially when you decide to travel on the days the two worst storms of the year occur...).

I remember when my wife mentioned that we were going up to Yellowstone with her family (her folks and her sister's family), I wasn't initially all that thrilled. I had my own suspicions about what the trip would be like (and the travelling part was frighteningly accurate) but I also had some ideas about what the park itself would be like (which, fortunately, were also accurate). But, there wasn't really all that much that I could do about it. I knew we were going, so it was just a matter of getting there. At the time, we just had our trusty little Saturn, so driving up was an experience. I think I should just leave it at that. There were moments when we were certainly lucky we made it in one piece. As mentioned, one of the worst storms we had had up to that point decided to take place the day we drove up.

But West Yellowstone and the park were certainly worth the trouble it took. My wife had decided to do the snowmobile tour and I opted for the snow cat tour. The snow cat tour was great. My in-laws and I took that trip and we got pretty lucky - there were only two other people on the same tour. They try and pack you in those things like sardines, but the rest of the people that were supposed to be in the group never showed. So we had a great guide in one of the better vehicles with just the right number of people.

One of the things the guide said still sticks with me. I asked him if he liked Yellowstone better in the summer or the winter. He replied, "Winter. There's nothing convenient about Yellowstone in the winter. The people that come to the park want to be there." It's really true. There is absolutely nothing convenient about Yellowstone in the winter. But it is definitely worth the trip.

Random Monday

This is a pretty cool recursive flash animation.

Oddly enough that flash animation pretty well encapsulates my day. The same thing over and over. Contractor failed to show and also failed to call to explain lack of showing; that seems to be par for the course. Work is, well, work. And the kids are refusing to go to bed. I think I may have to call Santa and have a little chat about the Christmas presents the kids are allowed to get. Pity we don't have a coal stove. I foresee a large amount of it in their futures...

At any rate, I meant to post a few things about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (yes the older one), but that will have to wait for another day. Instead, contemplate this little tidbit: Tales of Symphonia is an interesting take on the action RPG. The plot, so far, is hitting all the right clichés notes. The battle system is certainly interesting, a cross between a hack and slash and a typical RPG turn based affair. And the trappings (graphics, sound, etc.) range from quite nice (the visuals) to the workable (the voice acting/music).

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