Need to round out this tagging exercise and talk about Library Thing. As you can see from the sidebar I found Library Thing a while ago. I believe I ran across it on Neil Gaiman's blog. At first I was pretty entranced. Thumbnails of book covers! My collection out there for all to see! Oh... I have to put them in. Um, but I love books. I have no space in my house for all my books. I am so not cataloging all of these. Especially when I can't find my actual version on this site! Why do you make me hurt you internet? I'm sorry, I've found someone new... I actually like GoodReads better. And I can follow authors like the aforementioned Neil Gaiman there and maybe Felicia Day from Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (just to see what she reads you know, totally not in a creepy internet stalker sort of way. Oh wait. Did I say that out loud? On the internet? Hey look Godzilla!). And e-mail updates comparing friends and categories and Q&A stuff, and well, she's just better in my opinion. Remember the good times Library Thing, the good times. <quietly back away>
And how creepy is it that my author tag cloud has Michael Crichton so prominently featured. Well ok, his older stuff was pretty good, but his newer stuff? Yikes!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Technorati and Cabret
First things first. Why is Paris Hilton included in a list of top anything, anywhere? Have we not managed to rid ourselves of this evil yet? #8 on top searches? Really? Are they searching for her brain? Her morals? Oh wait, those are things that will never be found. Silly me.
At any rate, Technorati seems like a little too much peeking behind the curtain of the web. I'm glad it's there (I suppose) in a bringing things together sense. But it seems like a lot of effort for something... not quite intangible, but something like that. I suppose there are sites that live or die by a Technorati ranking (and I certainly know of/use several that are listed in the popularity rankings), but meh. I just can't get that excited. Searching the site was sort of interesting, things narrowed down a touch with each "filter". But I don't know that it seems terribly practical from a search engine standpoint. I suspect I just need some re-edumacation or something when it comes to this place. (And I must admit, the herd mentality in me really wants me to claim this poor little blog. Must resist herd mentality...)
In other news, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick is awesome (thus far). Why was I not informed of this sooner? Demerits for the lot of you. DEMERITS! You cannot escape the demerits. They will find you and you will rue the day you earned them.
SLCPL2.0, Hugo Cabret
At any rate, Technorati seems like a little too much peeking behind the curtain of the web. I'm glad it's there (I suppose) in a bringing things together sense. But it seems like a lot of effort for something... not quite intangible, but something like that. I suppose there are sites that live or die by a Technorati ranking (and I certainly know of/use several that are listed in the popularity rankings), but meh. I just can't get that excited. Searching the site was sort of interesting, things narrowed down a touch with each "filter". But I don't know that it seems terribly practical from a search engine standpoint. I suspect I just need some re-edumacation or something when it comes to this place. (And I must admit, the herd mentality in me really wants me to claim this poor little blog. Must resist herd mentality...)
In other news, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick is awesome (thus far). Why was I not informed of this sooner? Demerits for the lot of you. DEMERITS! You cannot escape the demerits. They will find you and you will rue the day you earned them.
SLCPL2.0, Hugo Cabret
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Mmm Delicious
I am a late to the party Delicious user. I remember first noticing it when I switched to Firefox, as it was one of the default search engines in the drop down menu. Had no idea what it was and didn't bother finding out. Then a few months ago I picked up Upgrade Your Life by Gina Trapani and there was a section on Delicious (and can I just say that I'm glad they got rid of the periods in the url?) that explained what it was. Suffice to say the idea that I could access my bookmarks from anywhere was simply too good to pass up. I don't really search it that much, but I can see the appeal. Seeing what others have tagged when you're trying to search for slightly oddball things can be helpful. I remember trying to use it once to see if anyone had any good sites for auto loan calculators or something equally out there. Google is still a little easier to use and my first engine of choice, but tagging definitely brings a nice randomness and yet personal touch to things. Besides tagging things is fun. Especially if you use strange phrases or tags. I mean, no, use only the Alliance approved terminology when tagging your bookmarks. Big Brother is watching...
And in non Library 2.0 news I should point out that lovely wife is getting far too good at Blue Moon City. Must find a way to disrupt her dominance at said game. Hmm...
And The Ruins was not too bad although the book was better™. No really, book better. Movie not bad, but book... eh, you get the idea.
Littlest sister has departed our fair state. She can now go watch the Olympics in peace. Alas, wife not so lucky. She will still get to deal with snarky comments and much eye rolling. (Seriously, sports commentators are mouth breathers, who writes this nonsense?) Deep breaths.
And in non Library 2.0 news I should point out that lovely wife is getting far too good at Blue Moon City. Must find a way to disrupt her dominance at said game. Hmm...
And The Ruins was not too bad although the book was better™. No really, book better. Movie not bad, but book... eh, you get the idea.
Littlest sister has departed our fair state. She can now go watch the Olympics in peace. Alas, wife not so lucky. She will still get to deal with snarky comments and much eye rolling. (Seriously, sports commentators are mouth breathers, who writes this nonsense?) Deep breaths.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Libraries and MySpace
So. Libraries and social networking. As much as I liked the idea of Libraries and wikis, I'm not convinced Libraries and MySpace are two great tastes that taste great together. I suspect the root of this is that I'm old enough to not "get" (and by not get I mean not want to get) MySpace. I probably fall into the crowd that would embrace Facebook a little more as it's the "grownup" version. There are types of social networking that I find amusing and fun (*cough*Twitter*cough*) and could see some Library uses for. (Create a twitter feed that highlights new books coming into the Library.) The slight draw is teens and the Library. But would teens really use a Library MySpace page? I suspect that really the only thing a Library could do is push information to teens through that site. I don't know that it would be terribly interactive - it would probably be limited to functioning simply as another information source - that teens might make use of if they're aware of it.
And I thought I'd take a moment to comment on the rant that was supplied as one look at Libraries and MySpace. I played D&D growing up and had to deal to some extent with the outcry that grew up around it. I certainly knew people who thought it was Evil (please to note the capital 'E'). While I can understand the idea that creating an atmosphere of fear around something is easy and a way to rally the troops, I'd say there are certainly valid concerns about privacy and safety. That can be dealt with by, you know, parenting. As long as there's interest and interaction between the kids and the parents a lot (if not all) of the pitfalls can be avoided.
So to sum up. No that would take too long. Simply put, jury is still out on this one.
And I thought I'd take a moment to comment on the rant that was supplied as one look at Libraries and MySpace. I played D&D growing up and had to deal to some extent with the outcry that grew up around it. I certainly knew people who thought it was Evil (please to note the capital 'E'). While I can understand the idea that creating an atmosphere of fear around something is easy and a way to rally the troops, I'd say there are certainly valid concerns about privacy and safety. That can be dealt with by, you know, parenting. As long as there's interest and interaction between the kids and the parents a lot (if not all) of the pitfalls can be avoided.
So to sum up. No that would take too long. Simply put, jury is still out on this one.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Selling out, err a note about Wikis
First things first, those of you who actually follow this blog will notice a few changes in some of the posts. Mainly they will be a little more library-centric. There is a reason for this. The SLC Public Library has a pretty cool Learning Library 2.0 program that covers a lot of the web 2.0 functionality. And a lot of the exercises involve blogging about the topic at hand. So, some of this will be old hat (or possibly things I've talked about before), but some will be new. At any rate, you'll just have to go along for the ride. That or come back in a few weeks or something. Regularly scheduled content will appear at random just like normal.
So. Wikis. The first topic in the program. I've mentioned before that I think wikis are fascinating little things. I believe I've even talked a little about the internal wiki the library has. Personally I find them to be useful little tools. As long as you keep a couple things in mind. One of the biggest strengths of the wiki is also in some ways it's biggest weakness. Wikis live or die by their user base. Since a wiki is a community created thing, if you have no community, you have no, err, thing. Content. Yes, you have no content. Also, since in most cases you can let just anyone add content you have a slight quality control issue. So while they can be a fabulous place to get information out there, you do have to be careful.
As for libraries and wikis, well personally I think it's peanut butter and chocolate. There are a whole slew of ways a library could make use of a wiki. On the back end, it's a great place to store library policies and procedures as well as document how things work. And as the function of the library changes and shifts, amazingly the wiki can keep up. On the public side you could have a wiki for book clubs, a place that your patrons could rate and/or discuss books and an online presence/community can be created. (you can take a look here and here and even over here for a couple examples of possibilities.) So, yeah, wikis = pretty cool.
Again reaching "critical mass" is probably the hardest part. Getting a good framework that people find easy to use and then encouraging them to use it. You probably need a couple teenagers.
So. Wikis. The first topic in the program. I've mentioned before that I think wikis are fascinating little things. I believe I've even talked a little about the internal wiki the library has. Personally I find them to be useful little tools. As long as you keep a couple things in mind. One of the biggest strengths of the wiki is also in some ways it's biggest weakness. Wikis live or die by their user base. Since a wiki is a community created thing, if you have no community, you have no, err, thing. Content. Yes, you have no content. Also, since in most cases you can let just anyone add content you have a slight quality control issue. So while they can be a fabulous place to get information out there, you do have to be careful.
As for libraries and wikis, well personally I think it's peanut butter and chocolate. There are a whole slew of ways a library could make use of a wiki. On the back end, it's a great place to store library policies and procedures as well as document how things work. And as the function of the library changes and shifts, amazingly the wiki can keep up. On the public side you could have a wiki for book clubs, a place that your patrons could rate and/or discuss books and an online presence/community can be created. (you can take a look here and here and even over here for a couple examples of possibilities.) So, yeah, wikis = pretty cool.
Again reaching "critical mass" is probably the hardest part. Getting a good framework that people find easy to use and then encouraging them to use it. You probably need a couple teenagers.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Firefly and Murakami
The Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker magazine has an excerpt from Haruki Murakami's new book. Alas, I forget the title, but it has to do with his life - his running and his writing. Apparently Murakami has participated in a lot of marathons. In addition to being a pretty amazing novelist. I have several books by him and I find them all fascinating for one reason or another. I knew that music was a pretty important influence in his life (there are lots of references to the Beatles as well as other musicians) but I was unaware of the running. If you run (pun only partially intended) across the excerpt it's worth your time and is pretty interesting on its own. Otherwise give one of his books a shot. I don't know that there's a good starting place for him - you'll either like him or not. But for suggestions, try Hard-boiled Wonderland at the End of the World or A Wild Sheep Chase.
So I glanced at some of the essays in that Finding Serenity book. It's really only a matter of time before we start watching that show again. I still die a little inside when I think about the fact that Fox killed it off. It was such a brilliant show. I'm going to have to be content with the box set of DVDs we have as well as the movie. I think there may be another special edition I need to pick up. I also have some of the comics and apparently Joss Whedon has consented to telling Shepherd Book's story in a comic later this year. So yay for that. If you've not given it a chance yet, go find the DVDs and watch them. Watch the TV show before the movie. It's worth it. And then watch it again. Browncoats forever. Shiny.
I finished The Omnivore's Dilemma. It was an interesting read, and yet mostly frustrating. The food industry is so screwed up and yet there doesn't seem to be an easy way to fix it. We'll have to poke around and see what options we have for local food. I know there are some farmer's markets in the bigger cities, but it would be nice to find something a little closer. We should probably spend a little more time actually preparing food. At least we're not among the group that eats out every day. I really do wonder how people can do that. I can understand once in a while, but every day? I suppose I might understand a little better if my wife worked. I have a sneaking suspicion that having both parents work contributes to that lifestyle a lot. Another benefit to not having to do that.
Played a little Gang of Four with little sister this evening. And some Incan Gold with the kids. Games are good. They're off tomorrow to splash around the water park. If I liked water parks a little more I'd be jealous. I will miss the wave pool. And the bigger lazy river. Those are my favorites. But they never run the wave pool long enough. I want it to be a wave pool, not a wait for the waves pool. If I wanted a regular pool, I'd go sit in one...
The Olympics have taken over the TV. Good thing I have cable. Little to no desire to follow that. It's good that it only comes round once every four years. Oh wait... <sigh>
Neil Gaiman's new book is due out soon-ish. Looking forward to that. I believe this one is a riff on The Jungle Book by Kipling. I may have to track down a copy and give it a whirl. Unfortunately I have other things to polish off first. My list of things to read is far too long. Oh well. At any rate, time to bid the weekend Adieu. Alas poor weekend.
So I glanced at some of the essays in that Finding Serenity book. It's really only a matter of time before we start watching that show again. I still die a little inside when I think about the fact that Fox killed it off. It was such a brilliant show. I'm going to have to be content with the box set of DVDs we have as well as the movie. I think there may be another special edition I need to pick up. I also have some of the comics and apparently Joss Whedon has consented to telling Shepherd Book's story in a comic later this year. So yay for that. If you've not given it a chance yet, go find the DVDs and watch them. Watch the TV show before the movie. It's worth it. And then watch it again. Browncoats forever. Shiny.
I finished The Omnivore's Dilemma. It was an interesting read, and yet mostly frustrating. The food industry is so screwed up and yet there doesn't seem to be an easy way to fix it. We'll have to poke around and see what options we have for local food. I know there are some farmer's markets in the bigger cities, but it would be nice to find something a little closer. We should probably spend a little more time actually preparing food. At least we're not among the group that eats out every day. I really do wonder how people can do that. I can understand once in a while, but every day? I suppose I might understand a little better if my wife worked. I have a sneaking suspicion that having both parents work contributes to that lifestyle a lot. Another benefit to not having to do that.
Played a little Gang of Four with little sister this evening. And some Incan Gold with the kids. Games are good. They're off tomorrow to splash around the water park. If I liked water parks a little more I'd be jealous. I will miss the wave pool. And the bigger lazy river. Those are my favorites. But they never run the wave pool long enough. I want it to be a wave pool, not a wait for the waves pool. If I wanted a regular pool, I'd go sit in one...
The Olympics have taken over the TV. Good thing I have cable. Little to no desire to follow that. It's good that it only comes round once every four years. Oh wait... <sigh>
Neil Gaiman's new book is due out soon-ish. Looking forward to that. I believe this one is a riff on The Jungle Book by Kipling. I may have to track down a copy and give it a whirl. Unfortunately I have other things to polish off first. My list of things to read is far too long. Oh well. At any rate, time to bid the weekend Adieu. Alas poor weekend.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
No catchy title today
Managed to throw my back out the other day. Back pain sucks (as my sister and her family can attest to).
Caught Balls of Fury last night because everyone needs a silly movie about Ping Pong and hey, Christopher Walken. It wasn't hilarious, but it was occasionally funny. Anything involving thenot so lucky cricket was pretty good. And that's really all the space that movie deserves.
M-i-L wins the Are you freaking kidding me™ award. But we'll not go into that.
Apparently this is going to be a post of allusions and half stories. Poor, poor audience. Oh well.
Read the first couple volumes of The Walking Dead which is mostly a character drama that happens to feature zombies. I'm pretty sure the guy that writes it has a copy of Max Brooks's The Zombie Survival Guide on his bookshelf as the two are rather similar. It's interesting in a doomed character sort of way.
Picked up a book of essays on Firefly that my wife is devouring. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll be watching it again soon. Heh.
Well, theoretically there are pancakes. I guess I should go investigate. And possibly consume.
Caught Balls of Fury last night because everyone needs a silly movie about Ping Pong and hey, Christopher Walken. It wasn't hilarious, but it was occasionally funny. Anything involving the
M-i-L wins the Are you freaking kidding me™ award. But we'll not go into that.
Apparently this is going to be a post of allusions and half stories. Poor, poor audience. Oh well.
Read the first couple volumes of The Walking Dead which is mostly a character drama that happens to feature zombies. I'm pretty sure the guy that writes it has a copy of Max Brooks's The Zombie Survival Guide on his bookshelf as the two are rather similar. It's interesting in a doomed character sort of way.
Picked up a book of essays on Firefly that my wife is devouring. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll be watching it again soon. Heh.
Well, theoretically there are pancakes. I guess I should go investigate. And possibly consume.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Vampires
No, I didn't suddenly read the tween series of death Twilight books. We caught 30 Days of Night, the vampire movie from last year based on a comic book. You know, it might be easier to start pointing out the movies that aren't based on comic books. At any rate. Vampires. These were in your face neck, you'll be dead vampires. No emo, pretty goth boy, oh I'm so lonely, hey want to share my undeath types here. In other words, it was great. Bloody (hello, vampires), but great. There were some nice Bram Stoker's Dracula references as well as some original ideas (the whole concept of the film - vampires attacking Alaska during the month when there's no sun - being the biggest). They had the sense of isolation pretty well captured and they had some great creepy looking vampires. 2 fangs, err, up.
Saturday was spent at the "wedding reception" (read party) for Andy and Amanda. They had Famous Dave's BBQ (yum!) and a bouncy slide. A good time was had by all. I have the slide burns to prove it. The kids had a great time and Heather and I got to relax and chat with some friends from the old job.
Finished off Kino's Journey as well. Nice thoughtful little series. Probably left as many questions unanswered as it answered, but I suspect that was part of the point. Rarely are all of life's questions answered, that whole, it's the journey, not the destination thing.
So little sister #2 gets into town soon. That will be fun. M is definitely looking forward to the Seven Peaks trip. If only we could get her to suggest some birthday gifts.
And you will notice a distinct lack of commentary on the Dr Who season finale. Mostly because, while this season was a touch better than last season in my opinion, it was only a touch. I kept waiting for an episode like Blink. I don't think there was one. Although the Library episode was close.
Saturday was spent at the "wedding reception" (read party) for Andy and Amanda. They had Famous Dave's BBQ (yum!) and a bouncy slide. A good time was had by all. I have the slide burns to prove it. The kids had a great time and Heather and I got to relax and chat with some friends from the old job.
Finished off Kino's Journey as well. Nice thoughtful little series. Probably left as many questions unanswered as it answered, but I suspect that was part of the point. Rarely are all of life's questions answered, that whole, it's the journey, not the destination thing.
So little sister #2 gets into town soon. That will be fun. M is definitely looking forward to the Seven Peaks trip. If only we could get her to suggest some birthday gifts.
And you will notice a distinct lack of commentary on the Dr Who season finale. Mostly because, while this season was a touch better than last season in my opinion, it was only a touch. I kept waiting for an episode like Blink. I don't think there was one. Although the Library episode was close.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Marching on
Read The Killing Joke the other day. Batman/Joker story written by Alan Moore (he of Watchmen - go catch the trailer - and V is for Vendetta fame (and a lot more)). It was pretty good. I've heard The Dark Knight takes some elements from it with regards to the Joker and his flexible origin.
Seems like I've read something else, but I forget what. Mostly we've been watching Keen Eddie. Truly a funny show. I'm so shocked that Fox killed it off. I mean, anything that requires a working thought process and an attention span is obviously too good for TV... Well Fox's viewership for sure. I would start to list everything they've killed that fits the bill, but it would take forever and be depressing. At least they're currently showing Bones and House.
So. Since the kids don't read this. At least I don't think they do, I can tell the Tooth Fairy story. We are the worst when it comes to letting the Tooth Fairy know she needs to visit. Middle child lost a tooth on Sunday and put it under her pillow and was excited. Monday morning comes and tooth still there, no money no nothing. M was understandably upset and voiced said upsetness to lovely (and forgetful) wife. McK managed to save the day when she explained that it was Sunday and nobody works on the Sabbath, so obviously Tooth Fairy would visit Monday night. And she did. <sigh> It sounds like she's pulled another tooth and we will need to remind the Tooth Fairy to visit again tonight...
Speaking of the Tooth Fairy, saw Hellboy 2 with the letter 'r' the other night. It was good. Not great, but good. Mostly it made me look forward to the Hobbit movie as del Toro is directing that as well. His fantasy creatures/settings are amazing. (See Pan's Labyrinth and, well, Hellboy 2 for examples.) So, while visually entertaining, Hellboy 2 really could have used a slightly better plot. There were a handful of nods to mythology that are Hellboy trademarks, but the overall story was only ok. Good in pieces, not great as a whole. But the Forest God/jumping bean was pretty amazing.
At any rate, lovely wife has tried to grill some brats. Must go see how they turned out. Because they're brats. They're yummy. They better be. They better be...
Seems like I've read something else, but I forget what. Mostly we've been watching Keen Eddie. Truly a funny show. I'm so shocked that Fox killed it off. I mean, anything that requires a working thought process and an attention span is obviously too good for TV... Well Fox's viewership for sure. I would start to list everything they've killed that fits the bill, but it would take forever and be depressing. At least they're currently showing Bones and House.
So. Since the kids don't read this. At least I don't think they do, I can tell the Tooth Fairy story. We are the worst when it comes to letting the Tooth Fairy know she needs to visit. Middle child lost a tooth on Sunday and put it under her pillow and was excited. Monday morning comes and tooth still there, no money no nothing. M was understandably upset and voiced said upsetness to lovely (and forgetful) wife. McK managed to save the day when she explained that it was Sunday and nobody works on the Sabbath, so obviously Tooth Fairy would visit Monday night. And she did. <sigh> It sounds like she's pulled another tooth and we will need to remind the Tooth Fairy to visit again tonight...
Speaking of the Tooth Fairy, saw Hellboy 2 with the letter 'r' the other night. It was good. Not great, but good. Mostly it made me look forward to the Hobbit movie as del Toro is directing that as well. His fantasy creatures/settings are amazing. (See Pan's Labyrinth and, well, Hellboy 2 for examples.) So, while visually entertaining, Hellboy 2 really could have used a slightly better plot. There were a handful of nods to mythology that are Hellboy trademarks, but the overall story was only ok. Good in pieces, not great as a whole. But the Forest God/jumping bean was pretty amazing.
At any rate, lovely wife has tried to grill some brats. Must go see how they turned out. Because they're brats. They're yummy. They better be. They better be...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The post to annoy my sisters
So. The Library has a bazillion copies of Breaking Dawn. And I read the end and Bella ends up with... Oh wait. I don't want to get fired. But I know, oh yes, I know. Mwa ha ha ha. I like the Library.
That is all.
That is all.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Weekend
Well, sort of. I have to go take the car in for an oil change this morning and lovely wife has to run her Mom around for a few errands, so it's not the relax and enjoy type weekend. But we'll get there. McK has read enough books to get a free one from Barnes and Noble. I'm not sure why we're encouraging them to add more books to the house other than the fact that I'm certainly all for reading...
We went kitchen table shopping the other day and found a nice 6-8 person table for $800. They were doing a promotion where if you spent over $400 or so you got to spin the big Wheel O' Prizes™. We managed to win No Sales Tax. Which was lovely. Anyway, the real point of this story is that they had the most beautiful bookshelf unit I've ever seen. It was probably a good 6 feet wide or more (it would easily take up a wall) and it was probably 7-8 feet high. (Again we're talking wall sized here.) It had 4 or 5 shelves across about 3 divisions and then a set of cabinets at the base. But the best part was the sliding ladder that you could move across the face when you wanted to reach something from the top. It was amazing. It was also $3000. If I had a spare $3000 it would have been mine. Oh yes, it would have been mine. As it is I think I'll have to talk to Dad or Uncle Paul. I think they need a new project...
So. Cloverfield. Let's talk Cloverfield. For what it was, I feel it worked. In a found footage, slice of life/documentary sense it was good. Which is to say that I appreciated the movie more than I liked it. I appreciate that you were strictly following a small set of people as they encountered this random monster attack. My wife wanted to know more about the monster. What was it? Where did it come from? Did it die? And so on. This movie doesn't give you that. Oh and yeah, spoilers and what not ahoy. Unread this paragraph if you don't want details about the show. As for me, I was ok with not getting some of that, but I would have liked a little more than you did get. I'm not saying they should have switched to following a scientific or military unit, there was certainly more tension in what they did, but I do like seeing a little more of the monster than you get to see. It's also pretty short, but in some ways this works to it's advantage. The initial, get to know the people segment, was timed just about perfectly - in that if they didn't introduce the monster when they did I was going to start strangling people. I've heard one of the bigger complaints is that you don't care for the main characters. And there's a little truth to that. They're mostly ordinary people with the usual faults, so yeah, kind of jerks. I liked them well enough. Part of my problem was that I kept getting the few things I'd heard about the movie and the big ARG they ran for the movie mixed up. I could swear there was a bit about the monster and the ocean at the end. But that must have been online. Also, I knew the monster was young, but that's not explained in the movie (that I remember - as my wife certainly didn't notice this fact either). Again an online fact that would have been helpful in the movie.
Spoilers still, yadda yadda, last paragraph getting too big. Which I guess brings me to my real issues with the movie. I'm not really young enough for this movie. Or part of the right crowd. This movie was made for that group of people that is part of the Youtube generation. The people that live their lives online. That will play through the ARG and dig out the clues and follow the websites and watch clips and get the whole experience. If you just watch Cloverfield, you're not getting the story. You're getting the hour and a bit in the middle. Which, again, does work for what it is, but don't get fooled into thinking it's the whole story - it isn't. So. There you go. That's Cloverfield. Cool monster that you didn't get to see enough of (and the Statue of Liberty's head bit was very cool) and a story that you're, hey, not getting enough of. Trend spotted. Oh and the shaky cam thing, while not as bad as it certainly could have been, is getting really old. I'm really tired of that.
Finished up a little more Scott Pilgrim and Hikaru no Go. Still both enjoyable. The latest Scott Pilgrim was a little better than volume 3. Not as jumpy around and there were definitely some good jokes in there. Checked out In Search of Anne of Green Gables for my wife. We'll see if she likes it. She often rolls her eyes at me when I try to get her to read or watch things, but then she gets sucked in and I get to say, "See? I know things!". That's fun. And then there's more eye rolling and it's a wonder we're not constantly dizzy.
Mom would have liked this season of Psych. I miss calling her up and saying, "Did you see it? And what about this bit? And this one?" It's pretty good. Although we need to watch last night's episode still. We had a progressive dinner with some folks in the neighborhood. It was fun and the food was good.
Well, this has rambled on long enough. The only bits you're missing out on are stories about G at the pool (and his neverending supply of energy) and umm, other stuff. I've no idea.
We went kitchen table shopping the other day and found a nice 6-8 person table for $800. They were doing a promotion where if you spent over $400 or so you got to spin the big Wheel O' Prizes™. We managed to win No Sales Tax. Which was lovely. Anyway, the real point of this story is that they had the most beautiful bookshelf unit I've ever seen. It was probably a good 6 feet wide or more (it would easily take up a wall) and it was probably 7-8 feet high. (Again we're talking wall sized here.) It had 4 or 5 shelves across about 3 divisions and then a set of cabinets at the base. But the best part was the sliding ladder that you could move across the face when you wanted to reach something from the top. It was amazing. It was also $3000. If I had a spare $3000 it would have been mine. Oh yes, it would have been mine. As it is I think I'll have to talk to Dad or Uncle Paul. I think they need a new project...
So. Cloverfield. Let's talk Cloverfield. For what it was, I feel it worked. In a found footage, slice of life/documentary sense it was good. Which is to say that I appreciated the movie more than I liked it. I appreciate that you were strictly following a small set of people as they encountered this random monster attack. My wife wanted to know more about the monster. What was it? Where did it come from? Did it die? And so on. This movie doesn't give you that. Oh and yeah, spoilers and what not ahoy. Unread this paragraph if you don't want details about the show. As for me, I was ok with not getting some of that, but I would have liked a little more than you did get. I'm not saying they should have switched to following a scientific or military unit, there was certainly more tension in what they did, but I do like seeing a little more of the monster than you get to see. It's also pretty short, but in some ways this works to it's advantage. The initial, get to know the people segment, was timed just about perfectly - in that if they didn't introduce the monster when they did I was going to start strangling people. I've heard one of the bigger complaints is that you don't care for the main characters. And there's a little truth to that. They're mostly ordinary people with the usual faults, so yeah, kind of jerks. I liked them well enough. Part of my problem was that I kept getting the few things I'd heard about the movie and the big ARG they ran for the movie mixed up. I could swear there was a bit about the monster and the ocean at the end. But that must have been online. Also, I knew the monster was young, but that's not explained in the movie (that I remember - as my wife certainly didn't notice this fact either). Again an online fact that would have been helpful in the movie.
Spoilers still, yadda yadda, last paragraph getting too big. Which I guess brings me to my real issues with the movie. I'm not really young enough for this movie. Or part of the right crowd. This movie was made for that group of people that is part of the Youtube generation. The people that live their lives online. That will play through the ARG and dig out the clues and follow the websites and watch clips and get the whole experience. If you just watch Cloverfield, you're not getting the story. You're getting the hour and a bit in the middle. Which, again, does work for what it is, but don't get fooled into thinking it's the whole story - it isn't. So. There you go. That's Cloverfield. Cool monster that you didn't get to see enough of (and the Statue of Liberty's head bit was very cool) and a story that you're, hey, not getting enough of. Trend spotted. Oh and the shaky cam thing, while not as bad as it certainly could have been, is getting really old. I'm really tired of that.
Finished up a little more Scott Pilgrim and Hikaru no Go. Still both enjoyable. The latest Scott Pilgrim was a little better than volume 3. Not as jumpy around and there were definitely some good jokes in there. Checked out In Search of Anne of Green Gables for my wife. We'll see if she likes it. She often rolls her eyes at me when I try to get her to read or watch things, but then she gets sucked in and I get to say, "See? I know things!". That's fun. And then there's more eye rolling and it's a wonder we're not constantly dizzy.
Mom would have liked this season of Psych. I miss calling her up and saying, "Did you see it? And what about this bit? And this one?" It's pretty good. Although we need to watch last night's episode still. We had a progressive dinner with some folks in the neighborhood. It was fun and the food was good.
Well, this has rambled on long enough. The only bits you're missing out on are stories about G at the pool (and his neverending supply of energy) and umm, other stuff. I've no idea.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Reading update
So, my pile of things to read is far outweighing my pile of things read - the one downside of working in a Library with far too many books. Oddly enough (well ok, not really that odd if you know me) most of what I've completed lately has been graphic novel-y in nature. Lots of Hikaru no Go volumes have been consumed. It's as good a series as I suspected it would be. And it's taken our family by storm. Wife and oldest daughter are thoroughly engrossed. And it might just get us to finally learn to play Go. I've wanted to for quite some time, but the problem is finding someone to teach us...
Let's talk about Scott Pilgrim. I've read through 3 of the 4 volumes currently released in the wild. I think the first is still my favorite. Which isn't to say the rest are bad. There's just a shift in storytelling in volumes 2 and 3 that makes them a little harder to absorb. There's a great deal of temporal shifting that takes place. So it can be a little difficult to follow. And this is compounded by the fact that a lot of the characters are similar looking. So not only do you not know when you are, but you might be confused about who you are as well. But the little jokes and asides and so on are so worth it. Punched the highlights right out of her hair indeed. Brilliant. It's certainly worth checking out.
I can't recall (and am too lazy to go check) if I've talked about the end of Y the Last Man. So I will. Maybe again. Volume 10 of the graphic novels just came out and it was Good. And Sad. But mostly Good. (Well ok, maybe mostly Sad) I am pretty sure I've said that if you only read one post apocalyptic last man on Earth story to read this one. So I won't say that again. But if you do read only one post apocalyptic last man on Earth story, well, yeah. What I said. I would really like to read the stories that they allude to, but don't actually tell. Because then I'd get to read more Y, and that would be a Good Thing. I liked visiting this world. Definitely wouldn't want to live, well most likely have died, there, but visiting was quite nice.
Reading some other things, and lots of things on the aforementioned pile to be read. We are currently watching Keen Eddie on DVD because it's hilarious and tonight I'll finally get to see Cloverfield. Because it's a giant monster movie. And giant monster movies are to be treasured. Lots of stuff in the to be watched pile as well. And I won't talk about the to be played pile...
In other random news, there is less than one month of summer left for the kids. I am pleased by this fact. It was a short summer in a lot of ways, but that's a good thing. For the parents.
New season of Psych is on and it is funny. Please to enjoy. Burn Notice also entertains. And Eureka next week. I knew there was a reason we finally caved and got cable...
Well, this has been thoroughly superficial, but covered a lot of ground. So there you go quantity over quality. It's the American Way. (You have to read that last line in a Sam the Eagle sort of voice. Go ahead, go on back and do it again, I'll wait.) Oh we're done here. Never mind. Turn the light off on your way out.
Let's talk about Scott Pilgrim. I've read through 3 of the 4 volumes currently released in the wild. I think the first is still my favorite. Which isn't to say the rest are bad. There's just a shift in storytelling in volumes 2 and 3 that makes them a little harder to absorb. There's a great deal of temporal shifting that takes place. So it can be a little difficult to follow. And this is compounded by the fact that a lot of the characters are similar looking. So not only do you not know when you are, but you might be confused about who you are as well. But the little jokes and asides and so on are so worth it. Punched the highlights right out of her hair indeed. Brilliant. It's certainly worth checking out.
I can't recall (and am too lazy to go check) if I've talked about the end of Y the Last Man. So I will. Maybe again. Volume 10 of the graphic novels just came out and it was Good. And Sad. But mostly Good. (Well ok, maybe mostly Sad) I am pretty sure I've said that if you only read one post apocalyptic last man on Earth story to read this one. So I won't say that again. But if you do read only one post apocalyptic last man on Earth story, well, yeah. What I said. I would really like to read the stories that they allude to, but don't actually tell. Because then I'd get to read more Y, and that would be a Good Thing. I liked visiting this world. Definitely wouldn't want to live, well most likely have died, there, but visiting was quite nice.
Reading some other things, and lots of things on the aforementioned pile to be read. We are currently watching Keen Eddie on DVD because it's hilarious and tonight I'll finally get to see Cloverfield. Because it's a giant monster movie. And giant monster movies are to be treasured. Lots of stuff in the to be watched pile as well. And I won't talk about the to be played pile...
In other random news, there is less than one month of summer left for the kids. I am pleased by this fact. It was a short summer in a lot of ways, but that's a good thing. For the parents.
New season of Psych is on and it is funny. Please to enjoy. Burn Notice also entertains. And Eureka next week. I knew there was a reason we finally caved and got cable...
Well, this has been thoroughly superficial, but covered a lot of ground. So there you go quantity over quality. It's the American Way. (You have to read that last line in a Sam the Eagle sort of voice. Go ahead, go on back and do it again, I'll wait.) Oh we're done here. Never mind. Turn the light off on your way out.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Dr. Horrible
If you're seeing this on Saturday, July 19th then you can still check out Dr. Horrible for free - Joss Whedon's Evil Mad Scientist musical. It's as good as it sounds. And funny too. I was unaware that Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion could sing. My wife claims to have known about Neil. I'm not quite sure I believe her, but she does pay a little more attention to these types of things than I do.
There have certainly been plenty of links to this running around. I almost didn't check it out because it was the "new big thing". I'm glad I caved, it was fun to watch. And since I waited till last night, we managed to watch all three acts right in a row. There are times that being lazy and indifferent work.
So E3 was this week. Everyone's pretty upset at Nintendo and their lack of anything that looks interesting. They're definitely catering to the new gamer crowd that they've created with the Wii. I will admit that the new Wii Sports title sounds interesting. And maybe Animal Crossing. I don't know that I care about the rest. Wii Music sounds a little too simple. I suspect the kids would love it, but I like there to be game in my music game. The one I really want is Fatal Frame 4. The first one scared the crap out of me. I'd like another scary game. Those are a blast.
Reading The Omnivore's Dilemma on K's recommendation. Boy is the food industry screwed up in this country. But I still love me a cheeseburger. Mmmm cheeseburger.
It's Carnival time here. Kids are pretty excited about that. Apparently our oldest actually rode the little ring "roller coaster" that takes you upside down. I'd have liked to see that. I'm sure she'll ride again today, so we'll see how terrified she is, but since it's old hat now, probably not as scared as she should be. ^_^
And our middle child has just about picked up all the intricacies of riding a bike. It's been a busy summer here. So many little milestones and so on.
There have certainly been plenty of links to this running around. I almost didn't check it out because it was the "new big thing". I'm glad I caved, it was fun to watch. And since I waited till last night, we managed to watch all three acts right in a row. There are times that being lazy and indifferent work.
So E3 was this week. Everyone's pretty upset at Nintendo and their lack of anything that looks interesting. They're definitely catering to the new gamer crowd that they've created with the Wii. I will admit that the new Wii Sports title sounds interesting. And maybe Animal Crossing. I don't know that I care about the rest. Wii Music sounds a little too simple. I suspect the kids would love it, but I like there to be game in my music game. The one I really want is Fatal Frame 4. The first one scared the crap out of me. I'd like another scary game. Those are a blast.
Reading The Omnivore's Dilemma on K's recommendation. Boy is the food industry screwed up in this country. But I still love me a cheeseburger. Mmmm cheeseburger.
It's Carnival time here. Kids are pretty excited about that. Apparently our oldest actually rode the little ring "roller coaster" that takes you upside down. I'd have liked to see that. I'm sure she'll ride again today, so we'll see how terrified she is, but since it's old hat now, probably not as scared as she should be. ^_^
And our middle child has just about picked up all the intricacies of riding a bike. It's been a busy summer here. So many little milestones and so on.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Stealthy crochet ninja is stealthy
So, ran across the book Creepy, Cute Crochet while at the Library a few weeks ago. Had to check it out for the crochet Cthulhu. As the crocheted Elder God was a step up in difficulty that my talented wife wasn't quite ready to tackle (and she didn't want to lose her sanity by offending said Elder God with a less than perfect rendition) she opted to start with the adorable little fellow hiding in the foliage here. Just don't let him hear you call him adorable. Ninja dude. He'll mess you up. He's got a throwing star and everything.
So, of course, everyone in the family wanted one. The soon to be Crochet Dojo of Death now has two students, but there will be more. Oh yes, there will be more. Mwa ha ha ha ha. Run for your lives puny mortals, for after the ninja, there will be zombies. And then Cthulhu himself will rise from the abyss and devour your souls with his cute, yet nefarious plots. And photos.
So, of course, everyone in the family wanted one. The soon to be Crochet Dojo of Death now has two students, but there will be more. Oh yes, there will be more. Mwa ha ha ha ha. Run for your lives puny mortals, for after the ninja, there will be zombies. And then Cthulhu himself will rise from the abyss and devour your souls with his cute, yet nefarious plots. And photos.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
New Look
We'll see how this goes. Site under new management, not responsible for old content, pardon our dust, nothing to see here, move along. Hey Look! Godzilla!
Whither the Weekend
Watched Nightwatch last night. Russian film from a few years ago. Parts horror, fantasy (of the urban sort), sci-fi. There's a lot of promise there, but it's a little on the "you must pay Attention" side of things for late on a Friday night. It also doesn't help when the copy you have is scratched six ways to Sunday and you suddenly have to switch languages halfway through so you can actually finish watching it (the Russian was on one side and the English the other). I can see why the director seems to be taking off (I believe he did the just recently released Wanted). He has some flair and some new things to bring to film. May try to track down Daywatch and see where things went.
Looks like younger sister has started a blog. Some neat photos and Kaijsa stories. This is good. I used to threaten to tell Kaijsa stories, looks like her mother will take care of it for me. Nice little template they're using too. I might have to go peek around at the newer blogger templates... We'll see.
Got the kids Pokémon toys from BK last night. There was much rejoicing from the younger set. It prints money I tell ya.
Sounds like the new Twilight book release is almost on par with Harry Potter. Not quite the same level, but close. I believe that series has sucked in a good portion of my family. Mostly the younger, female portion. I saw her new book Host at the Library a few weeks ago, but it didn't sound quite interesting enough to pick up. I'd probably almost prefer the vampires to the aliens, but the romance heavy plot would probably make me too dizzy from all the eye rolling. I will admit to liking the fact that some of her fans prefer to be called Twihards. Hee hee...
Looks like younger sister has started a blog. Some neat photos and Kaijsa stories. This is good. I used to threaten to tell Kaijsa stories, looks like her mother will take care of it for me. Nice little template they're using too. I might have to go peek around at the newer blogger templates... We'll see.
Got the kids Pokémon toys from BK last night. There was much rejoicing from the younger set. It prints money I tell ya.
Sounds like the new Twilight book release is almost on par with Harry Potter. Not quite the same level, but close. I believe that series has sucked in a good portion of my family. Mostly the younger, female portion. I saw her new book Host at the Library a few weeks ago, but it didn't sound quite interesting enough to pick up. I'd probably almost prefer the vampires to the aliens, but the romance heavy plot would probably make me too dizzy from all the eye rolling. I will admit to liking the fact that some of her fans prefer to be called Twihards. Hee hee...
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Quest for fire
BBQ grill has been set up which means honeymoon phase for grilling. So far we've done brats and burgers, up tonight are chicken shish-kabobs. I really, really love grilling. My Dad was in town over the 4th, which was great. We had a good visit and actually managed to get the baseboards put up and finally finish the new floors we got, umm, well ok, like a year ago. But he brought out a rather nice Weber grilling book with lots of tips and recipes. He also provided the new grill so, big thanks Dad. It was a tough call between gas and charcoal. We eventually settled on gas simply because it was a little more likely to get used. The learning curve on charcoal was a little daunting.
At any rate, so many things to experiment with: shrimp, steaks, more burgers, more brats, ok must go get grill warmed up... heh heh.
Saw Wall-E with Dad and the family over the weekend. Pixar has to have made some sort of deal with the Devil, their films are far too amazing for any other explanation. Possibly a pact with Cthulhu, that's rather likely as well. Basic point: Wall-E good. Go see.
Spiderwick Chronicles was also good. Although a little unsettling for our younger viewers. Lovely wife had some issues with the deviations from the book. Me not so much. Pretty good time for fantasy film fans. There are far too many movies to see and books to read and games and food and... must go rock in the corner for a moment while I contemplate overwhelming forces, err dinner. Yes. Dinner. Must go cook dinner. Fire. Meat. -insert Tim Allen/Home Improvement grunting-
At any rate, so many things to experiment with: shrimp, steaks, more burgers, more brats, ok must go get grill warmed up... heh heh.
Saw Wall-E with Dad and the family over the weekend. Pixar has to have made some sort of deal with the Devil, their films are far too amazing for any other explanation. Possibly a pact with Cthulhu, that's rather likely as well. Basic point: Wall-E good. Go see.
Spiderwick Chronicles was also good. Although a little unsettling for our younger viewers. Lovely wife had some issues with the deviations from the book. Me not so much. Pretty good time for fantasy film fans. There are far too many movies to see and books to read and games and food and... must go rock in the corner for a moment while I contemplate overwhelming forces, err dinner. Yes. Dinner. Must go cook dinner. Fire. Meat. -insert Tim Allen/Home Improvement grunting-
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Mornings
Well, it was a quiet Saturday morning until about 5 minutes ago. First G woke up and then it wasn't long before the others joined him. I'm sure the lovely H is still in bed. I'm pretty sure she'd sleep through a nuclear holocaust. Especially once the mutant cannibalistic humanoids showed up. After all, if she can sleep through the kids, what makes you think a mutant cannibalistic humanoid has a shot?
Watched Dead Alive the other night. One of Peter Jackson's earlier films (if not his first, I can never remember). Gloopy, campy zombie movie. It was pretty fun. Pre-zombie priest was my favorite character.
And in case you actually catch this early enough, it's Free RPG day! Go grab some free RPG stuff. And some polyhedral dice. Everyone needs their own d20. Or maybe a d10, I like those a lot as well. And if you have kids (and a DS) apparently there's another free Pokemon that can be picked up over at Gamestop. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll be heading over so McK can add another Pokemon to her roster.
Read Scott Pilgrim volume 2 and Y the Last Man volume 5. Both excellent in vastly different ways. 2nd volume of Scott Pilgrim wasn't quite as funny as the first, but spent a little more time filling in some of the characters. The fight with the second evil ex-boyfriend certainly had some moments though. I like all the little video game and music references that get placed in the story. Some obvious, some not so. Y the Last Man continues to ratchet up the tension. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes. If you read only one apocalyptic last man on Earth story this year... heh heh.
Dr Who season 4 is still pretty good. Last night's episode was the first of a two parter, so, cliff hanger-y. I'm still waiting for an episode as good as Blink from last season. It's a pity I really didn't like season three as I'd almost pick it up just to get that episode. If I run across it on sale, it'll probably happen. I suppose I could try to grab it off iTunes or something, but that would take a little too much voodoo to play on the TV easily.
Well off to check out Feed the Animals' Girl Talk and Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere.
Watched Dead Alive the other night. One of Peter Jackson's earlier films (if not his first, I can never remember). Gloopy, campy zombie movie. It was pretty fun. Pre-zombie priest was my favorite character.
And in case you actually catch this early enough, it's Free RPG day! Go grab some free RPG stuff. And some polyhedral dice. Everyone needs their own d20. Or maybe a d10, I like those a lot as well. And if you have kids (and a DS) apparently there's another free Pokemon that can be picked up over at Gamestop. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll be heading over so McK can add another Pokemon to her roster.
Read Scott Pilgrim volume 2 and Y the Last Man volume 5. Both excellent in vastly different ways. 2nd volume of Scott Pilgrim wasn't quite as funny as the first, but spent a little more time filling in some of the characters. The fight with the second evil ex-boyfriend certainly had some moments though. I like all the little video game and music references that get placed in the story. Some obvious, some not so. Y the Last Man continues to ratchet up the tension. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes. If you read only one apocalyptic last man on Earth story this year... heh heh.
Dr Who season 4 is still pretty good. Last night's episode was the first of a two parter, so, cliff hanger-y. I'm still waiting for an episode as good as Blink from last season. It's a pity I really didn't like season three as I'd almost pick it up just to get that episode. If I run across it on sale, it'll probably happen. I suppose I could try to grab it off iTunes or something, but that would take a little too much voodoo to play on the TV easily.
Well off to check out Feed the Animals' Girl Talk and Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
More random thoughts (now with a third less calories)
Working at the library has certainly made it easier (in some ways) to catch up on my reading. I saw an interesting article on the possibility that Google is making us stupid. Or at least unable to read long articles/novels. It dealt with how the internet is changing our brains and the way we're processing information. It was interesting, but I only skimmed it. And of course can't recall the magazine it was in. I'd hit google, oh wait...
I also suspect Google/Yahoo are poking fun at Microsoft by updating their spam filter to send anything from hotmail into said spam filter.
At any rate. Reading. Yes. Lots of graphic novels of late. Some Hikaru no Go, some Y the Last Man, did I mention Scott Pilgrim? Currently reading A Simple Plan by Scott Smith (of The Ruins most recently). Finished off Little Brother. So many books to enjoy. ^_^ Little Brother was pretty good. Rather scary in a couple places. I've not been a big fan of the way privacy rights have been heading in this country. If you wanted a look at it, this book will definitely spook you a little.
Not had a whole lot of time for gaming of late. Ticket to Ride: the Card Game is pretty interesting. It's got a nice little mechanic and yet still has some definite similarities to the board game. Metal Gear Solid 4 has come out to tie up the Solid Snake story line, but I've not got a PS3, so I'll have to wonder. For that matter I never managed to play through the 3rd one, so I actually have a fair amount of catching up to do.
Father's Day was nice. Kids got me a card and some chocolate (the above mentioned Metal Gear Solid 3 is apparently shockingly difficult to come by at the moment. Who knew?). I'm ready for summer to be over. Oh wait... Hmm.
Learned a bit about wikis today. They are rather nifty. I always wanted to learn about them, but never really had the time/opportunity. It will be cool if we can get the library wiki to take off. Could be a good knowledge base.
Well, I'd best go contemplate downloading Firefox 3...
I also suspect Google/Yahoo are poking fun at Microsoft by updating their spam filter to send anything from hotmail into said spam filter.
At any rate. Reading. Yes. Lots of graphic novels of late. Some Hikaru no Go, some Y the Last Man, did I mention Scott Pilgrim? Currently reading A Simple Plan by Scott Smith (of The Ruins most recently). Finished off Little Brother. So many books to enjoy. ^_^ Little Brother was pretty good. Rather scary in a couple places. I've not been a big fan of the way privacy rights have been heading in this country. If you wanted a look at it, this book will definitely spook you a little.
Not had a whole lot of time for gaming of late. Ticket to Ride: the Card Game is pretty interesting. It's got a nice little mechanic and yet still has some definite similarities to the board game. Metal Gear Solid 4 has come out to tie up the Solid Snake story line, but I've not got a PS3, so I'll have to wonder. For that matter I never managed to play through the 3rd one, so I actually have a fair amount of catching up to do.
Father's Day was nice. Kids got me a card and some chocolate (the above mentioned Metal Gear Solid 3 is apparently shockingly difficult to come by at the moment. Who knew?). I'm ready for summer to be over. Oh wait... Hmm.
Learned a bit about wikis today. They are rather nifty. I always wanted to learn about them, but never really had the time/opportunity. It will be cool if we can get the library wiki to take off. Could be a good knowledge base.
Well, I'd best go contemplate downloading Firefox 3...
Monday, May 26, 2008
Round up
Picked up Wii Fit. Considering exercise is a pretty foreign concept to me, it's a decent workout. Hopefully I can keep myself motivated enough to use it. It does have a few "gamer" hooks - unlock new exercises (which is somewhat frustrating as you can't really build an exercise routine until you see what all is offered), competition (with yourself and others) and so on. It's a nice little package. That I'm sure will be improved immensely in version 2.0. (And I can't believe some of the ebay prices for this thing...)
Boom Blox by Spielberg and EA is a pretty fun little game as well. And Graeme is surprisingly good at it. Admittedly when it involves knocking things down or blowing things up, it's hard to beat a 3 year old boy. The girls get a kick out of it as well. Amazing thing this Wii. ^_^
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale is a wonderful little story. I'm not horribly familiar with the original fairy tale so in a lot of ways this was pretty fresh, but it's a good story either way. Give it a go if you like fairy tales or books with good stories.
There's a lot more I should ramble on about: Scott Pilgrim, Hellboy Volume 1 (the amazing library edition), Altered Carbon, the list goes on, but I think I'll leave it at those. Which isn't to say you got the top three or so, just the ones that were topmost in my consciousness.
It's still been an interesting couple of months. The new job is sort of settling in on me. It's still very different and I'm going to have to play with things to make it actually work as something that will support the family, but there are certainly some really nice aspects to it. Still lots of family drama. And still lots of adjusting to all the changes we've been through. But we're getting there.
I've been on a salsa making kick lately. I think I'll probably stop buying store bought salsa and just make my own for a while. It's a little time consuming but the results are so worth it. Next up is home made tortilla chips and home made ramen.
Have I mentioned Upgrade Your Life, the new book by the Lifehacker editor? I picked it up and there are some nice little tricks in there. It's been rather helpful with the new job as well. I need to be a lot more organized there than I'm used to. Heh.
Boom Blox by Spielberg and EA is a pretty fun little game as well. And Graeme is surprisingly good at it. Admittedly when it involves knocking things down or blowing things up, it's hard to beat a 3 year old boy. The girls get a kick out of it as well. Amazing thing this Wii. ^_^
Goose Girl by Shannon Hale is a wonderful little story. I'm not horribly familiar with the original fairy tale so in a lot of ways this was pretty fresh, but it's a good story either way. Give it a go if you like fairy tales or books with good stories.
There's a lot more I should ramble on about: Scott Pilgrim, Hellboy Volume 1 (the amazing library edition), Altered Carbon, the list goes on, but I think I'll leave it at those. Which isn't to say you got the top three or so, just the ones that were topmost in my consciousness.
It's still been an interesting couple of months. The new job is sort of settling in on me. It's still very different and I'm going to have to play with things to make it actually work as something that will support the family, but there are certainly some really nice aspects to it. Still lots of family drama. And still lots of adjusting to all the changes we've been through. But we're getting there.
I've been on a salsa making kick lately. I think I'll probably stop buying store bought salsa and just make my own for a while. It's a little time consuming but the results are so worth it. Next up is home made tortilla chips and home made ramen.
Have I mentioned Upgrade Your Life, the new book by the Lifehacker editor? I picked it up and there are some nice little tricks in there. It's been rather helpful with the new job as well. I need to be a lot more organized there than I'm used to. Heh.
Friday, March 28, 2008
It's-a Friday
Not that I can really tell anymore. Tomorrow night is the Video Games Live concert. Pretty excited about that, it should be lots of fun. Utah Symphony, video game music, set pieces, what's not to love? A big thanks to the letter 'r' for the tickets.
Waiting on word from the library. I hate waiting.
As tired as I am of the stress we've got going on, I am at least thankful that we don't have the added health problems my sister's family is going through. Our stress may be at a nice 8 or 9, but she's managed to dial things all the way to 11.
Brawl has left the house, but not the minds of the kids. All four of us. It's a good game. Can see why it's so popular.
We've borrowed a rather large bean bag for movie night tonight. It is actually quite large, not just rather large.
Seems as if there was a story that needed to be recorded here for whatever purpose, but of course I have completely forgotten it. Oh well. The perils of getting old I guess.
Waiting on word from the library. I hate waiting.
As tired as I am of the stress we've got going on, I am at least thankful that we don't have the added health problems my sister's family is going through. Our stress may be at a nice 8 or 9, but she's managed to dial things all the way to 11.
Brawl has left the house, but not the minds of the kids. All four of us. It's a good game. Can see why it's so popular.
We've borrowed a rather large bean bag for movie night tonight. It is actually quite large, not just rather large.
Seems as if there was a story that needed to be recorded here for whatever purpose, but of course I have completely forgotten it. Oh well. The perils of getting old I guess.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter
Easter is once again here. Kids had a relatively grand morning. We managed to keep the sugar consumption fairly low so we had a grand morning as well. We did the annual Easter Egg Hunt yesterday, I suspect for the last time. The event has really outgrown the way it's been done. They get enough kids there now that they either need to resegment the age groups or they need to run it a few times. You wait for it to start for 15 minutes and then it's over in 30 seconds and if you have nice/timid kids they're lucky if they managed to grab an egg... Oh well.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (or Brother Smashers if you're our kids) has taken over. It's grown on me quite a bit. I was horrible at the Gamecube version. I seem to have figured a few things out with this one. It's just a rental at the moment, but if the kids have any say, it'll find its way here somehow.
Caught Beowulf the other night. It was alright. Nothing to write home about, but certainly ok.
Well, must go entertain the natives. Happy Easter.
Super Smash Brothers Brawl (or Brother Smashers if you're our kids) has taken over. It's grown on me quite a bit. I was horrible at the Gamecube version. I seem to have figured a few things out with this one. It's just a rental at the moment, but if the kids have any say, it'll find its way here somehow.
Caught Beowulf the other night. It was alright. Nothing to write home about, but certainly ok.
Well, must go entertain the natives. Happy Easter.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Words, words, words
Watched Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead last night. Still quite the enjoyable show. Proof that Hamlet is still quite the piece of work and that Tom Stoppard is pretty spiffy himself. Friends from way back will most likely remember drawing up rules to the game Questions after viewing that sequence a time or two too many.
Speaking of games, picked up Alhambra, it looks to be lots of fun. Will let you know once it's out of the box and been taken for a spin or two. (Did I mention that San Juan is pretty good? Nice set of training wheels for Puerto Rico while still being quite enjoyable on its own.)
Mostly treading water waiting for Wednesday. Family gets into town on Tuesday, so that will provide all of 12 hours or so of distraction. But that will most likely involve a plumbing project so it might be quite the distraction. Heh.
Lovely wife and the girls are out in the snow selling Girl Scout cookies. Am terribly glad it's them and not me. True dedication. Or something else equally cliché.
Graeme has taken to calling the girls "my girls". Are my girls back from school yet? I want to play a game with my girls. I need to get a Graeme's Girls poster made using Charlie's Angels as the template. So wrong it's right I tell ya.
Speaking of games, picked up Alhambra, it looks to be lots of fun. Will let you know once it's out of the box and been taken for a spin or two. (Did I mention that San Juan is pretty good? Nice set of training wheels for Puerto Rico while still being quite enjoyable on its own.)
Mostly treading water waiting for Wednesday. Family gets into town on Tuesday, so that will provide all of 12 hours or so of distraction. But that will most likely involve a plumbing project so it might be quite the distraction. Heh.
Lovely wife and the girls are out in the snow selling Girl Scout cookies. Am terribly glad it's them and not me. True dedication. Or something else equally cliché.
Graeme has taken to calling the girls "my girls". Are my girls back from school yet? I want to play a game with my girls. I need to get a Graeme's Girls poster made using Charlie's Angels as the template. So wrong it's right I tell ya.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
And a one and a two
Yes, two posts (ah ah ah).
I think I need to track down a copy of Alhambra. Went out to dinner the other evening with some friends (steak is yummy) and said game came up in conversation. Just after I was looking at it in the store with puppy dog eyes. A sign it is.
It's rather amazing how many little things can take up your day. I've always had respect for my better half for this sort of thing. It's gone up a fair amount these last few weeks.
I was watching the remake of Dawn of the Dead earlier. Partially because, hey zombie movie, and partially because the Reel Horror podcast covered the recent Day of the Dead remake. Vegan zombie indeed. You should track down that review if for no other reason than to hear the Stephen Hawking zombie. Really.
There are very strange cartoons on the Cartoon Network. That is all.
I believe I have succeeded in convincing Graeme that he is a dinosaur. That is also all. (While that might not be quite the feat that was turning Miranda into a zombie, this is a much more persistent change, so I think it gains a few more points.)
I think I need to track down a copy of Alhambra. Went out to dinner the other evening with some friends (steak is yummy) and said game came up in conversation. Just after I was looking at it in the store with puppy dog eyes. A sign it is.
It's rather amazing how many little things can take up your day. I've always had respect for my better half for this sort of thing. It's gone up a fair amount these last few weeks.
I was watching the remake of Dawn of the Dead earlier. Partially because, hey zombie movie, and partially because the Reel Horror podcast covered the recent Day of the Dead remake. Vegan zombie indeed. You should track down that review if for no other reason than to hear the Stephen Hawking zombie. Really.
There are very strange cartoons on the Cartoon Network. That is all.
I believe I have succeeded in convincing Graeme that he is a dinosaur. That is also all. (While that might not be quite the feat that was turning Miranda into a zombie, this is a much more persistent change, so I think it gains a few more points.)
Monday, March 10, 2008
News (not really)
Well, it's been a while again. And a lot has happened in that time.
I think I'll avoid all the messy details. Mostly I wanted to get a few words up on the ol' blog again.
Daylight Savings Time is once again playing havoc with our home life. I'm not sure why this thing is still around. It hates us it does. And we hates it. Oh yes, we hates it with the passion of a thousand burning suns.
Games have been played, movies watched, trips taken, people seen. Some of those things were good. Some not so good. But even the not so good things had their moments. We got to see lots of family over the last little while and that was pretty good.
Due to circumstances (the aforementioned and then avoided messy details) I'm currently taking a long look at things and trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up and so on. The front runner is a librarian. We'll see if that pans out. I'd really like to get out of the tech sector but I have secret fears that it's not going to let me go. We shall see.
Gee, it's hard to do this when you're out of practice. And you have no desire to dissect your personal life in front of you lot. Heh. I suppose a lot of it comes down to the realization that some of the things I used to blether on about really don't compare to the things taking up so much of my time these days. But those things aren't something I feel like putting on display at the moment. So we shall wait for time to pass and then I can get back to musing on trivialities.
We shall see.
So I suppose I should pass you along to some other sector of the internet where you can find something of interest. Try here. It should be good for a few moments worth of diversion. If not, well, this is the internet. Sink or swim.
I think I'll avoid all the messy details. Mostly I wanted to get a few words up on the ol' blog again.
Daylight Savings Time is once again playing havoc with our home life. I'm not sure why this thing is still around. It hates us it does. And we hates it. Oh yes, we hates it with the passion of a thousand burning suns.
Games have been played, movies watched, trips taken, people seen. Some of those things were good. Some not so good. But even the not so good things had their moments. We got to see lots of family over the last little while and that was pretty good.
Due to circumstances (the aforementioned and then avoided messy details) I'm currently taking a long look at things and trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up and so on. The front runner is a librarian. We'll see if that pans out. I'd really like to get out of the tech sector but I have secret fears that it's not going to let me go. We shall see.
Gee, it's hard to do this when you're out of practice. And you have no desire to dissect your personal life in front of you lot. Heh. I suppose a lot of it comes down to the realization that some of the things I used to blether on about really don't compare to the things taking up so much of my time these days. But those things aren't something I feel like putting on display at the moment. So we shall wait for time to pass and then I can get back to musing on trivialities.
We shall see.
So I suppose I should pass you along to some other sector of the internet where you can find something of interest. Try here. It should be good for a few moments worth of diversion. If not, well, this is the internet. Sink or swim.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Take a breath
Well.
Yes.
Lost Cities is brief gaming brilliance. It's a two player card game that plays quickly and yet involves some decent strategy. Can you get those last few cards played before your opponent exhausts the draw pile? Do you feel lucky punk? Well do you? Surprising amount of tension in a deceptively simple mechanic. Snag a copy.
Penny Dreadful was just that. Dreadful. That movie should have ended when the trunk was closed the second time.
Read all the Jesse Stone novels as well as the Dexter novels. All recommended. Dexter in particular.
The kids are gearing up for Halloween and then it's a dinosaur birthday for wee Graeme. Looking forward to that.
Managed a game of Arkham Horror the other day. Lost and the world was devoured. Poor world.
Yes.
Lost Cities is brief gaming brilliance. It's a two player card game that plays quickly and yet involves some decent strategy. Can you get those last few cards played before your opponent exhausts the draw pile? Do you feel lucky punk? Well do you? Surprising amount of tension in a deceptively simple mechanic. Snag a copy.
Penny Dreadful was just that. Dreadful. That movie should have ended when the trunk was closed the second time.
Read all the Jesse Stone novels as well as the Dexter novels. All recommended. Dexter in particular.
The kids are gearing up for Halloween and then it's a dinosaur birthday for wee Graeme. Looking forward to that.
Managed a game of Arkham Horror the other day. Lost and the world was devoured. Poor world.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Well hello there
This quarter's update brought to you by the number 3. As in yeah, three months. Huh. Who'da thunk?
So, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Great book. Nice ending to the series and all that. I'm sad to see it end, but what a way to go. There were some niggly bits, sure, but over all quite the ride. I'll not say too much here as it is still pretty new, but the wife and I both enjoyed it.
Ran through The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan as well. Nice little story. Makes you want to go read Greek Mythology. Speaking of which, I've managed to aquire a nice copy of Bulfinch's Mythology courtesy of some friends of ours in Colorado. Yay.
Saw the fifth HP movie. It did a good job of hitting the highlights from the book. Some good moments, some ok moments. Luna was an inspired casting choice. Absolutely perfect.
Have I mentioned that Hey! That's My Fish is a rather fun little game? Well it is. I'm looking at possibly snagging a copy of Runebound at the moment. I have a bit of a fantasy itch that I'm hoping that will scratch. Speaking at least indirectly of boardgames, Pulp Gamer is a pretty good podcast for those interested in games of the table top variety.
The latest episode of Escape Pod, Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush was quite amusing. One of the better stories in a while.
Gee, so many random things to cover, so little that actually matters. We had a lovely trip to Texas to see the folks. Got to shoot off lots of exciting fireworks. Saw the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum. That was pretty nifty. So many fun models and a hover chair/car thing to ride. Nice.
Now to go track down a copy of Behind the Mask.
So, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Great book. Nice ending to the series and all that. I'm sad to see it end, but what a way to go. There were some niggly bits, sure, but over all quite the ride. I'll not say too much here as it is still pretty new, but the wife and I both enjoyed it.
Ran through The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan as well. Nice little story. Makes you want to go read Greek Mythology. Speaking of which, I've managed to aquire a nice copy of Bulfinch's Mythology courtesy of some friends of ours in Colorado. Yay.
Saw the fifth HP movie. It did a good job of hitting the highlights from the book. Some good moments, some ok moments. Luna was an inspired casting choice. Absolutely perfect.
Have I mentioned that Hey! That's My Fish is a rather fun little game? Well it is. I'm looking at possibly snagging a copy of Runebound at the moment. I have a bit of a fantasy itch that I'm hoping that will scratch. Speaking at least indirectly of boardgames, Pulp Gamer is a pretty good podcast for those interested in games of the table top variety.
The latest episode of Escape Pod, Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush was quite amusing. One of the better stories in a while.
Gee, so many random things to cover, so little that actually matters. We had a lovely trip to Texas to see the folks. Got to shoot off lots of exciting fireworks. Saw the Star Wars exhibit at the Science Museum. That was pretty nifty. So many fun models and a hover chair/car thing to ride. Nice.
Now to go track down a copy of Behind the Mask.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Hey
Wow, it's been a while.
Saw Hot Fuzz and it was indeed enjoyable. I've no idea what else I've seen and read in the interim. Rest assured that it was great. Or it wasn't.
It's been so long I'm terribly rusty at this. Serves me right I suppose. I've run across a few new podcasts, most dealing with games of the board/card variety. Pulp Gamer and Have Games Will Travel are the notable ones. I rather enjoy Pulp Gamer.
Picked up Planet Puzzle League for the wife. She won't put it down which is a pretty good sign. And when she does I do my best to sneak off with it myself. I now see blocks that I have to shift around whenever I close my eyes. Yeah, it's a little maddening.
Anyway, must wander off. Shall attempt to update for real at some point in the not too distant future.
Saw Hot Fuzz and it was indeed enjoyable. I've no idea what else I've seen and read in the interim. Rest assured that it was great. Or it wasn't.
It's been so long I'm terribly rusty at this. Serves me right I suppose. I've run across a few new podcasts, most dealing with games of the board/card variety. Pulp Gamer and Have Games Will Travel are the notable ones. I rather enjoy Pulp Gamer.
Picked up Planet Puzzle League for the wife. She won't put it down which is a pretty good sign. And when she does I do my best to sneak off with it myself. I now see blocks that I have to shift around whenever I close my eyes. Yeah, it's a little maddening.
Anyway, must wander off. Shall attempt to update for real at some point in the not too distant future.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Friday
Managed to finish off Fragile Things. An enjoyable collection of short stories indeed. I really liked the American Gods novella, Monarch of the Glen and the poem, Instructions. Which, now that I think about it, I've probably mentioned far too many times.
It'll be on to World War Z next.
Tomorrow I'm planning on catching Hot Fuzz and I'm very excited about that. I loved Shaun of the Dead and figure this will be a fun take on the action genre.
The wife and I have become quite enamored of Ninja Warrior on G4. It's a weakness. But what can you do? Go Nagano!!!
On a slightly ninja related note, Mur Lafferty has the cover story over at The Escapist this week. Well, ok for another couple days at any rate. This might be a permanent link to the story. Go Cthuloids! And I shed a tear for the poor ninjas. They deserve their moment in the sun. Or shadows rather.
Picked up Super Paper Mario the other day. But I'm trying to be good and finish Zelda prior to starting it. Well in earnest at any rate. The initial level was quite good.
I really did have something else to mention here. Oh well. I think I'll go play some Gang of Four online. I'm dkun if you play.
It'll be on to World War Z next.
Tomorrow I'm planning on catching Hot Fuzz and I'm very excited about that. I loved Shaun of the Dead and figure this will be a fun take on the action genre.
The wife and I have become quite enamored of Ninja Warrior on G4. It's a weakness. But what can you do? Go Nagano!!!
On a slightly ninja related note, Mur Lafferty has the cover story over at The Escapist this week. Well, ok for another couple days at any rate. This might be a permanent link to the story. Go Cthuloids! And I shed a tear for the poor ninjas. They deserve their moment in the sun. Or shadows rather.
Picked up Super Paper Mario the other day. But I'm trying to be good and finish Zelda prior to starting it. Well in earnest at any rate. The initial level was quite good.
I really did have something else to mention here. Oh well. I think I'll go play some Gang of Four online. I'm dkun if you play.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Night Owl
I have no idea why I'm writing this. Other than it gives me something to do. That and I feel like I should be writing more. Got out of the habit there for quite a while.
I started thumbing through I'm Just Here for the Food 2.0. It's a fun and interesting book. It makes me want to spend money on cooking implements and then try (badly) to make interesting dishes. I like food. I even like making food (although I don't do it very often). The Food Network (and Alton Brown in particular) is rapidly becoming an overwhelming force in my life.
I managed to find a copy of Gang of Four. What a fun game. The in-laws were here recently and several nights were spent playing it. Fortunately it plays well with three people also as we rarely have four. The online version is nice as well. If nothing else I may be able to pick up some strategy there.
Well, I believe this is enough words to soothe the writing monkey on my back at the moment. While there's nothing profound here, it at least exists. And at the moment that's all that matters.
I started thumbing through I'm Just Here for the Food 2.0. It's a fun and interesting book. It makes me want to spend money on cooking implements and then try (badly) to make interesting dishes. I like food. I even like making food (although I don't do it very often). The Food Network (and Alton Brown in particular) is rapidly becoming an overwhelming force in my life.
I managed to find a copy of Gang of Four. What a fun game. The in-laws were here recently and several nights were spent playing it. Fortunately it plays well with three people also as we rarely have four. The online version is nice as well. If nothing else I may be able to pick up some strategy there.
Well, I believe this is enough words to soothe the writing monkey on my back at the moment. While there's nothing profound here, it at least exists. And at the moment that's all that matters.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Couple reviews
Gil's All Fright Diner is good. The Departed isn't. What you want something a little more in depth? Ingrates.
Gil's All Fright Diner is a nice horror/comedy book. Take a little Lovecraft and mix in, well, not quite Pratchett, but almost someone along those lines and there you go. It's a blast to read and I found myself laughing out loud at several points.
The Departed just left a lot to be desired. Jack Nicholson was great, but that's about it. Well and Mark Wahlberg (have I mentioned that Shooter was good?). I will admit that a good deal of my "less than impressed" comes from having seen Infernal Affairs. So a lot of the tension was missing due to knowledge of the plot, but I don't think Scorsese did all that great a job of ratcheting it up in the first place. I could go on about a few other dislikes, but I don't really feel like giving this movie that much attention.
I do want to see Infernal Affairs 2 and 3 though...
This Film is Not Yet Rated was interesting, but I only sort of agreed with it.
I suspect World War Z is up to bat next, although I really need to finish Fragile Things.
And I'm sad that Gunslinger Girl seems to have wrapped up its run on IFC.
So that should tide you lot over for a bit. I suspect there's plenty to cover coming up. Who knows. There might even be cute kid stories. I'm working on Graeme's zombie and Godzilla impressions.
Gil's All Fright Diner is a nice horror/comedy book. Take a little Lovecraft and mix in, well, not quite Pratchett, but almost someone along those lines and there you go. It's a blast to read and I found myself laughing out loud at several points.
The Departed just left a lot to be desired. Jack Nicholson was great, but that's about it. Well and Mark Wahlberg (have I mentioned that Shooter was good?). I will admit that a good deal of my "less than impressed" comes from having seen Infernal Affairs. So a lot of the tension was missing due to knowledge of the plot, but I don't think Scorsese did all that great a job of ratcheting it up in the first place. I could go on about a few other dislikes, but I don't really feel like giving this movie that much attention.
I do want to see Infernal Affairs 2 and 3 though...
This Film is Not Yet Rated was interesting, but I only sort of agreed with it.
I suspect World War Z is up to bat next, although I really need to finish Fragile Things.
And I'm sad that Gunslinger Girl seems to have wrapped up its run on IFC.
So that should tide you lot over for a bit. I suspect there's plenty to cover coming up. Who knows. There might even be cute kid stories. I'm working on Graeme's zombie and Godzilla impressions.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Crichton
So, I made myself finish Next by Michael Crichton. I'm not sure why I did that to myself. I used to like Crichton, his books could be counted on for some fun reading that blurred the lines between fiction and non-fiction. These days, you can still see some of the compelling writing style, but it's bogged down in far too much politics and agenda pushing. The best thing I can say about Next is that I really liked Gerard, the transgenic parrot. And honestly that's about it. I really didn't like most of the characters (and Crichton must not have either given half their fates) and there really wasn't a plot. The book was almost a series of essays. Which was certainly one of the biggest problems - far too many characters. Oh well. I'm not going to spend any more time talking about this book. It doesn't deserve it.
We picked up some Motorola phones for the house on clearance. They're very cool. That is all. (They have been named Odin and Loki for no good reason at all...)
At any rate, I may go watch Casino Royale as I snagged a copy this afternoon. I really wanted the cool poker chip Circuit City was offering but settled for the Aston Martin car Best Buy was doling out. Mostly because Best Buy was closer and I didn't know if Circuit City still had any left.
And I need to track down a copy of Gang of Four.
We picked up some Motorola phones for the house on clearance. They're very cool. That is all. (They have been named Odin and Loki for no good reason at all...)
At any rate, I may go watch Casino Royale as I snagged a copy this afternoon. I really wanted the cool poker chip Circuit City was offering but settled for the Aston Martin car Best Buy was doling out. Mostly because Best Buy was closer and I didn't know if Circuit City still had any left.
And I need to track down a copy of Gang of Four.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
500
So, somehow this is post 500. And to celebrate I'm going to do absolutely nothing. But possibly waste some words. I should be out of town right now, possibly shooting some clay pigeons and other assorted acts of random and possibly not so violence.
Alas, the office had other plans. Gotta love deadlines and high priority projects.
Anyway. I would be more bitter, but that would take a little too much effort. So I shall instead look for a silver lining and enjoy the fact that at the moment the house is terribly quiet. Well except for the sounds of me fumbling around on the keyboard. So yes. Quiet. It's a rather nice quiet at the moment. An all too rare quiet. But it will morph later into that depressing, hey where is everybody quiet. Why no, I don't miss the wife and kids at all. Why do you ask? But they left the dog. Meanies.
At any rate, I can catch up on some reading, play through some more Prince of Persia and create some Mii friends. Or something. If luck is with me I may still end up out of town, but at the moment I'm not holding my breath.
So happy 500.
Alas, the office had other plans. Gotta love deadlines and high priority projects.
Anyway. I would be more bitter, but that would take a little too much effort. So I shall instead look for a silver lining and enjoy the fact that at the moment the house is terribly quiet. Well except for the sounds of me fumbling around on the keyboard. So yes. Quiet. It's a rather nice quiet at the moment. An all too rare quiet. But it will morph later into that depressing, hey where is everybody quiet. Why no, I don't miss the wife and kids at all. Why do you ask? But they left the dog. Meanies.
At any rate, I can catch up on some reading, play through some more Prince of Persia and create some Mii friends. Or something. If luck is with me I may still end up out of town, but at the moment I'm not holding my breath.
So happy 500.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Everybody Votes
I've decided that Nintendo's online strategy has nothing to do with games. And you know what? I think they might be on to something. Every couple times that I turn the Wii on it has nothing to do with playing games. It has to do with checking the weather channel (OK, it's a couple hours old usually and more specific to SLC, but it's a guideline) or checking the headlines. I've kept up with the news more since the News Channel showed up than pretty much ever else in my life. And now we have the Everybody Votes channel. Sure it's quirky, but that's the point. It's fun. And people will vote. And vote on how they think the voting will go. And so on. Nintendo is building a sense of online community. And despite the friend code hurdles, it works.
I can send my sister photos. Especially photos that have been drawn on. I can trade trash talk with my friend over Zelda times. And I do. And that's not even getting into the whole Mii concept...
At any rate, the more time I spend with the Wii, the more impressed I become. Nintendo really does have a plan for this system and it's more than just games. And that's cool.
I can send my sister photos. Especially photos that have been drawn on. I can trade trash talk with my friend over Zelda times. And I do. And that's not even getting into the whole Mii concept...
At any rate, the more time I spend with the Wii, the more impressed I become. Nintendo really does have a plan for this system and it's more than just games. And that's cool.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Alton Brown
So we got DirecTV about a month ago. Since then AMC is my new friend and the Food Network has pretty much taken up permanent residence as the channel du jour. And the main reason for that is Alton Brown. I find his shows (particularly Good Eats) to be fascinating and funny and several other words that feature fs. I suspect I'm going to have to hunt down a few of his books. If they're anything like his shows, then they'll be interesting to read in addition to full of yummy things. He's joined my list of people that I'd love to have dinner with some time.
Daughter number one has become enamored of Iron Chef America. Partially due to the aforementioned Alton, but mostly because of the concept of the show - making foods featuring some ingredient. I remember iteration one of the show (featuring William Shatner). Glad to see it's back in a rather improved manner.
I've been reading through Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. Always fun to read things by him. This collection (so far) doesn't disappoint. I really need a poster of the piece Instructions (which I thought I had bookmarked somewhere, but I can't seem to locate, so you'll have to track it down on your own (actually it's probably lost in the archives of this blog somewhere - poor thing)).
So many movies that I want to see, so few that I'll probably get around to seeing. I am terribly saddened that Norbit was number one at the box office this weekend. Words really fail to describe. For shame America. Seriously.
And you've probably seen it (it's made its way around the internet and back a few times by now) but I've finally become enamored of xkcd. I won't pretend to understand it all the time - math and I rarely get along - but I have enough nerd cred (geek cred will only get you so far with this comic) that the rest of the time it's hilarious. So check it out. And make sure you pay attention to the image rollover text, otherwise you're missing half the fun.
At any rate, the kids are now in bed and my wife is inexplicably watching a dog show. This situation must not remain unchecked...
Daughter number one has become enamored of Iron Chef America. Partially due to the aforementioned Alton, but mostly because of the concept of the show - making foods featuring some ingredient. I remember iteration one of the show (featuring William Shatner). Glad to see it's back in a rather improved manner.
I've been reading through Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. Always fun to read things by him. This collection (so far) doesn't disappoint. I really need a poster of the piece Instructions (which I thought I had bookmarked somewhere, but I can't seem to locate, so you'll have to track it down on your own (actually it's probably lost in the archives of this blog somewhere - poor thing)).
So many movies that I want to see, so few that I'll probably get around to seeing. I am terribly saddened that Norbit was number one at the box office this weekend. Words really fail to describe. For shame America. Seriously.
And you've probably seen it (it's made its way around the internet and back a few times by now) but I've finally become enamored of xkcd. I won't pretend to understand it all the time - math and I rarely get along - but I have enough nerd cred (geek cred will only get you so far with this comic) that the rest of the time it's hilarious. So check it out. And make sure you pay attention to the image rollover text, otherwise you're missing half the fun.
At any rate, the kids are now in bed and my wife is inexplicably watching a dog show. This situation must not remain unchecked...
Friday, February 02, 2007
Pranking through the internet
Pay no attention, not a real post. Mostly an attempt to help Neil Gaiman prank Penn Jillette.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Wii!
I don't think I've really spoken about Nintendo's new console yet. Other than to mention that the girls wandered over the house to look for it on Christmas. It's quite the little system. I've had fun making Miis of The Doctor from the new Dr. Who as well as assorted family members. Zelda is Zelda, so there's not much to say there. I think the big surprise at the moment is just how fun sports games can be. You've probably heard about Wii Sports, the pack-in game. And it's true that it's a lot of fun. We enjoy us some baseball and some bowling around here. But the big winner for me is Super Swing Golf. I've always enjoyed golf games, but they get a little old (and a little frustrating) at a certain point. Super Swing Golf has managed to hold onto the fun specifically because of the Wii. Using the controller as a golf club is brilliant. I could literally play this game all day.
The kids like Rayman Raving Rabbids which is a collection of mini games that utilize the wii-mote in various ways. Some of them are indeed pretty fun, but there are certainly some frustrating bits thrown in as well.
Just about wrapped up the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. It's been fun. Looking forward to World War Z next. Ah the joys of the zombie...
The kids like Rayman Raving Rabbids which is a collection of mini games that utilize the wii-mote in various ways. Some of them are indeed pretty fun, but there are certainly some frustrating bits thrown in as well.
Just about wrapped up the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. It's been fun. Looking forward to World War Z next. Ah the joys of the zombie...
Saturday, January 13, 2007
virtual break
Have I rambled on about Ticket to Ride: Marklin yet? If not, I regret the oversight. It was the boardgame we picked up for the family this Christmas. And a rather enjoyable game it is. Apparently Days of Wonder has a design philosophy that entails simple instructions, set up and game play. Note that that does not mean simplistic - there's quite a bit of strategy involved. I will mention that the rules can be a little fuzzy, but the forums over at Days of Wonder help clarify any questions you might have.
Basically, you're claiming train routes in Germany in order to connect destinations that you've drawn. You can also send passengers over the routes you've set up. There's quite a bit of tension as every player cannot connect the same routes and as you try to link cities you may find yourself having to go the long way around. The game itself is rather pretty and the pieces are all high quality. (Although the point tokens that get placed on the cities could stand to be a bit bigger.) My wife and I have enjoyed several games against each other and it's been received pretty well by those we've introduced it to. If you like strategy board games (think Settlers of Catan and so on) then this one is a no brainer.
My wife would like me to point out that total chaos is going on in the background (which is why I chose the title I did - I was attempting to tune it out to no avail). I've no idea what we've been feeding the little monsters lately, but apparently we need to switch to moldy bread and stagnant water...
Basically, you're claiming train routes in Germany in order to connect destinations that you've drawn. You can also send passengers over the routes you've set up. There's quite a bit of tension as every player cannot connect the same routes and as you try to link cities you may find yourself having to go the long way around. The game itself is rather pretty and the pieces are all high quality. (Although the point tokens that get placed on the cities could stand to be a bit bigger.) My wife and I have enjoyed several games against each other and it's been received pretty well by those we've introduced it to. If you like strategy board games (think Settlers of Catan and so on) then this one is a no brainer.
My wife would like me to point out that total chaos is going on in the background (which is why I chose the title I did - I was attempting to tune it out to no avail). I've no idea what we've been feeding the little monsters lately, but apparently we need to switch to moldy bread and stagnant water...
Monday, January 08, 2007
new year new clutter
So we're trying out a new ISP. Things seem to be working so far. Although I really hate updating e-mail addresses. And we also acquired DirecTV. Channels... <insert Homer drooling sound here>
Anyway, consider this a test post of sorts. It took me long enough to be able to move things around.
Anyway, consider this a test post of sorts. It took me long enough to be able to move things around.
Monday, January 01, 2007
And a one, and a two
So, here we are, whole new year and all of that. We had a thoroughly enjoyable Christmas in Casa del D. The kids were sent on a scavenger hunt by Santa that culminated in the Nintendo Wii. They got quite the kick out of that. It's every bit as fun as you've heard, and I was pretty sore for those first couple days as my muscles got quite the workout from baseball and bowling and boxing and so on.
Night at the Museum was a lot of fun. The kids also got a kick out of that. We spent the hours leading up to the New Year last night watching Sci Fi channel's The Lost Room. Also an enjoyable show. Although the ending was a little weak.
Been reading some Anne Perry lately. Quite good. Reminds me a bit of Scotland.
Anyway, here's to a grand new year. Hope this finds you and yours well.
Night at the Museum was a lot of fun. The kids also got a kick out of that. We spent the hours leading up to the New Year last night watching Sci Fi channel's The Lost Room. Also an enjoyable show. Although the ending was a little weak.
Been reading some Anne Perry lately. Quite good. Reminds me a bit of Scotland.
Anyway, here's to a grand new year. Hope this finds you and yours well.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Snnrrrk
That's pretty much the sound that I make every five minutes due to the lovely sinus infection I'm sporting at the moment. And now that you have that lovely visual my work is done.
Okay, I'll stick around a bit longer. We caught Casino Royale the other day. Excellent movie. Best Bond movie in a long time and Daniel Craig rocked as much as I expected him to. Seriously. I had high expectations for this movie and it actually delivered. Nicely done Mr. Bond. Nicely done indeed.
Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest was also enjoyable. And not nearly as cliffhanger-ish as everyone said. Have they not seen Empire Strikes Back or any other middle movie of a trilogy?
I think I've read a few things lately, but I've no idea what. I'm sneakily reading the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks as it's technically a Christmas present. But who am I to let a little thing like that stop me? I'm also getting World War Z and that should be enjoyable as well. Fun stuff.
I'm pretty excited about Christmas this year. The kids are getting some fun things (the wooden train we got Graeme tops the list of things I'm excited to see them enjoy) and we managed to snag a Nintendo Wii. Camped out over night for that baby when it launched, but told my wife I'd save it for Christmas. It's killing me slowly, taunting me with its presence in the house. I really want to play some Wii Sports and some Zelda and... heh heh. Sorry about that.
Got Arkham Horror for my birthday. It's fun even though we have yet to actually finish a game. We came close once, but it grew too late. It is a pretty long game and rather difficult to win. It's been interesting playing a cooperative game though. And the Lovecraft overtones are nice. Good ol' Lovecraft. I need to snag a few books by him as well.
I managed to get John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise free from iTunes the other day. Great book. Terribly funny. And it features Jonathan Coulton, so big plus there as well. I've no idea if it's still free, but you should grab it if it is. (I'm looking at you Kit)
Well, I'm sure there's more to cover, it's been over a month after all, but I'm officially on Christmas break and hopped up on sinus meds, so no more random words for you.
Okay, I'll stick around a bit longer. We caught Casino Royale the other day. Excellent movie. Best Bond movie in a long time and Daniel Craig rocked as much as I expected him to. Seriously. I had high expectations for this movie and it actually delivered. Nicely done Mr. Bond. Nicely done indeed.
Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest was also enjoyable. And not nearly as cliffhanger-ish as everyone said. Have they not seen Empire Strikes Back or any other middle movie of a trilogy?
I think I've read a few things lately, but I've no idea what. I'm sneakily reading the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks as it's technically a Christmas present. But who am I to let a little thing like that stop me? I'm also getting World War Z and that should be enjoyable as well. Fun stuff.
I'm pretty excited about Christmas this year. The kids are getting some fun things (the wooden train we got Graeme tops the list of things I'm excited to see them enjoy) and we managed to snag a Nintendo Wii. Camped out over night for that baby when it launched, but told my wife I'd save it for Christmas. It's killing me slowly, taunting me with its presence in the house. I really want to play some Wii Sports and some Zelda and... heh heh. Sorry about that.
Got Arkham Horror for my birthday. It's fun even though we have yet to actually finish a game. We came close once, but it grew too late. It is a pretty long game and rather difficult to win. It's been interesting playing a cooperative game though. And the Lovecraft overtones are nice. Good ol' Lovecraft. I need to snag a few books by him as well.
I managed to get John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise free from iTunes the other day. Great book. Terribly funny. And it features Jonathan Coulton, so big plus there as well. I've no idea if it's still free, but you should grab it if it is. (I'm looking at you Kit)
Well, I'm sure there's more to cover, it's been over a month after all, but I'm officially on Christmas break and hopped up on sinus meds, so no more random words for you.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
*GASP*
Alright so this is technically *GASP* version two as the widget I'd been using seems to enjoy eating my posts as opposed to actually, you know, putting them online for you lot.
Normally I enjoy this time of year quite a bit. I manage to work shorter weeks due to accrued time off and I spend the time relaxing and enjoying the fall/winter. Not so much this year. We have a bear of a project going on at work and some family dramas that are interfering with my fall zen. Oh well, hopefully within a week or so at least some of that stress will no longer be a factor.
I've been reading David Sedaris and listening to essays by Mur Lafferty. Heck for that matter I've been listening to the This American Life podcast. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the essay form and this has pretty much cemented my love for it. If November has its cruel way I may even find myself popping a few homebrewed essays up here.
We seem to have been under some form of curse lately as we've attempted to see The Prestige ever since it came out. Hopefully tomorrow will remedy that problem. I've been looking forward to it for some time.
I submitted that Trout Lodge firework photo to a wallpaper site, so we'll see if it shows up over the next couple weeks.
Well, that should be enough of a breather to get me through the next few days/weeks. We'll see.
Normally I enjoy this time of year quite a bit. I manage to work shorter weeks due to accrued time off and I spend the time relaxing and enjoying the fall/winter. Not so much this year. We have a bear of a project going on at work and some family dramas that are interfering with my fall zen. Oh well, hopefully within a week or so at least some of that stress will no longer be a factor.
I've been reading David Sedaris and listening to essays by Mur Lafferty. Heck for that matter I've been listening to the This American Life podcast. I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the essay form and this has pretty much cemented my love for it. If November has its cruel way I may even find myself popping a few homebrewed essays up here.
We seem to have been under some form of curse lately as we've attempted to see The Prestige ever since it came out. Hopefully tomorrow will remedy that problem. I've been looking forward to it for some time.
I submitted that Trout Lodge firework photo to a wallpaper site, so we'll see if it shows up over the next couple weeks.
Well, that should be enough of a breather to get me through the next few days/weeks. We'll see.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
random noise
The Grudge 2 is an enjoyable flick. There's not much new there (if you've seen the original), but it still does a good job of presenting a creepy story in a disjointed fashion. That's probably the most interesting aspect - trying to figure out what's happening when and to whom. There are a couple pretty good eerie scenes, so all was worthwhile. Plus it had a trailer for The Messengers which looks incredible. Good ol' Pang Brothers.
I finished House of Leaves. Truly interesting book. Some genuine freakout moments and a narrative that is pretty unique. I certainly don't claim to understand all of it. Or probably even most of it. But it was fun to read and that counts for a lot.
Did I mention that I finally finished 1776 as well? Also a good read. It's a wonder we ever won the Revolutionary War...
Anyway, that'll do for some random bits from a life with far too much stress in it at the moment.
I finished House of Leaves. Truly interesting book. Some genuine freakout moments and a narrative that is pretty unique. I certainly don't claim to understand all of it. Or probably even most of it. But it was fun to read and that counts for a lot.
Did I mention that I finally finished 1776 as well? Also a good read. It's a wonder we ever won the Revolutionary War...
Anyway, that'll do for some random bits from a life with far too much stress in it at the moment.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Just so you know
Not quite dead, but not posting either. Currently House of Leaves by Danielewski is taking up much of my time. Strange, strange book. But pretty interesting as well. And Clint Eastwood is probably my current favorite actor/director type guy. I've been watching some of his older stuff and it's brilliant. So there.
Monday, August 21, 2006
The Descent
This is just a quick post to say that The Descent is indeed a great, tense horror flick. Even my wife enjoyed this one. It plays out in not quite three acts each focusing on slightly different aspects. You have the initial character setup (with some really nice shock and mood building segments), the initial cave sequence that is quite tense in its own right, and the final everything's gone to hell arc. And for those of us on this side of the pond, YouTube has the original British ending of the film. I'm not certain which I like better, they're both powerful in their own ways.
At any rate, go give it a gander.
At any rate, go give it a gander.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Thoughts on podcasts
So, Pseudopod has launched. Relatively decent first story. I've noticed that a lot of the podcasts I listen to tend to be rather focused: a couple short story podcasts, some roundtable type stuff on gaming/tech themes and so on. Which brings me to Geek Fu Action Grip. Geek Fu incorporates some of those things - Mur is currently wrapping up part one of her story Heaven, but it's a much more conversational podcast. It reminds me a bit of some of the tapes my friends and I used to send back and forth while I was in Scotland for a couple years.
It's rather different from the rest of the things I listen to. But in a nice change of pace sort of way. In a lot of ways it reminds me more of an audio blog than a typical podcast. But that's probably splitting hairs...
Picked up Castle Keep the other day. Fun little game. Nice amounts of strategy in a game that can be played fairly quickly. And once you get the basics they include some advanced rules that make sense and there are about 4 or so different game variations (including a solitaire option) that sound pretty good. And it was only $10. Really good value (and the pieces are very nice).
It's rather different from the rest of the things I listen to. But in a nice change of pace sort of way. In a lot of ways it reminds me more of an audio blog than a typical podcast. But that's probably splitting hairs...
Picked up Castle Keep the other day. Fun little game. Nice amounts of strategy in a game that can be played fairly quickly. And once you get the basics they include some advanced rules that make sense and there are about 4 or so different game variations (including a solitaire option) that sound pretty good. And it was only $10. Really good value (and the pieces are very nice).
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Odds and ends
Ju-on, the original Japanese film The Grudge was based on was fun to watch. Still a creepy story although it was robbed of some of the chills due to knowing the plot. There were a couple twists that didn't make it into the remake that I thought should have.
Insomnia was interesting but rather different from what I expected. It ended about as well as could be expected. Didn't realize that this was also a remake.
Caught the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly the other night. I love Clint Eastwood Westerns. High Plains Drifter is probably my favorite, but they're all good...
Snagged Michael Palin's Sahara from the library today on CD. We'll see how that is. I suspect it'll be interesting. I remember thinking Palin has a rather nice narrative voice. He apparently has a whole series of travel related books/shows.
Insomnia was interesting but rather different from what I expected. It ended about as well as could be expected. Didn't realize that this was also a remake.
Caught the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly the other night. I love Clint Eastwood Westerns. High Plains Drifter is probably my favorite, but they're all good...
Snagged Michael Palin's Sahara from the library today on CD. We'll see how that is. I suspect it'll be interesting. I remember thinking Palin has a rather nice narrative voice. He apparently has a whole series of travel related books/shows.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Quick catch up
Seems like there are a few movies that we've seen recently that I should comment on.
Caché was interesting until they decided to run the closing credits without bothering to finish the movie. I suppose I should probably mark this as spoiler-ish, but when you have to watch the interview with the director for the movie to make sense, that's a bad thing. I don't mind movies that make you think. I don't mind movies that are open ended. But Caché simply didn't have an ending. It was a mess. Which is a shame as I really liked aspects of it. This film does an excellent job of ratcheting tension. At almost the exact moment when you start to get frustrated with the way things are going, the movie delivers an absolutely shocking sequence. Truly well done and it gets you right back into the thick of things. Unfortunately it's squandered.
The Greatest Game Ever Played wants to be Searching for Bobby Fischer only for golf. It mostly succeeds. It's a nice movie and you feel good by the end and there are some nice camera shots.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was recommended by a friend and was pretty good. I was lured in by the love fern and that was admittedly my favorite bit. Matthew McConaughey is becoming a favorite actor and Kate Hudson is growing on me quite a bit as well. And boy is she starting to look like her Mom...
Which leaves us with Infernal Affairs. The more I think about this movie the more I like it. Excellent, excellent crime drama. They're remaking it here in the states as The Departed and I'm not sure why. The link takes you to the trailer and it makes me cry a little inside, which is strange. When I first heard Damon and DiCaprio I was pretty skeptical. I like Damon and figured he'd do a good job, but they didn't cast him in the part I thought they would and I still don't see DiCaprio in the undercover cop role. The rest of the cast is pretty amazing (Nicholson is an inspired choice) but it seems Scorsese just couldn't keep from monkeying with a story that worked. Infernal Affairs is a taut, tension building crime drama, also featuring an excellent cast. There are a few mistakes (mostly revolving around the female cast and their underuse or not really needing to be there in the first place) but overall a great show. Scorsese seems to think we need more characters, more plot and more sex... Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I don't suppose I have a problem with remakes in general, but I don't really think they're necessary. The only really positive thing they do is draw attention to something you might otherwise miss. Fortunately it's becoming easier to track down some of the original films. I have a sneaking suspicion that The Departed won't nearly match up to Infernal Affairs.
And finally, I have no idea what to make of this.
Caché was interesting until they decided to run the closing credits without bothering to finish the movie. I suppose I should probably mark this as spoiler-ish, but when you have to watch the interview with the director for the movie to make sense, that's a bad thing. I don't mind movies that make you think. I don't mind movies that are open ended. But Caché simply didn't have an ending. It was a mess. Which is a shame as I really liked aspects of it. This film does an excellent job of ratcheting tension. At almost the exact moment when you start to get frustrated with the way things are going, the movie delivers an absolutely shocking sequence. Truly well done and it gets you right back into the thick of things. Unfortunately it's squandered.
The Greatest Game Ever Played wants to be Searching for Bobby Fischer only for golf. It mostly succeeds. It's a nice movie and you feel good by the end and there are some nice camera shots.
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was recommended by a friend and was pretty good. I was lured in by the love fern and that was admittedly my favorite bit. Matthew McConaughey is becoming a favorite actor and Kate Hudson is growing on me quite a bit as well. And boy is she starting to look like her Mom...
Which leaves us with Infernal Affairs. The more I think about this movie the more I like it. Excellent, excellent crime drama. They're remaking it here in the states as The Departed and I'm not sure why. The link takes you to the trailer and it makes me cry a little inside, which is strange. When I first heard Damon and DiCaprio I was pretty skeptical. I like Damon and figured he'd do a good job, but they didn't cast him in the part I thought they would and I still don't see DiCaprio in the undercover cop role. The rest of the cast is pretty amazing (Nicholson is an inspired choice) but it seems Scorsese just couldn't keep from monkeying with a story that worked. Infernal Affairs is a taut, tension building crime drama, also featuring an excellent cast. There are a few mistakes (mostly revolving around the female cast and their underuse or not really needing to be there in the first place) but overall a great show. Scorsese seems to think we need more characters, more plot and more sex... Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I don't suppose I have a problem with remakes in general, but I don't really think they're necessary. The only really positive thing they do is draw attention to something you might otherwise miss. Fortunately it's becoming easier to track down some of the original films. I have a sneaking suspicion that The Departed won't nearly match up to Infernal Affairs.
And finally, I have no idea what to make of this.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
I was a . . .
Ok, so here's one of the little quirks of married life. Every so often the dreaming world decides to take a day trip to the waking world and wreak a little havoc. Initially you have odd dreams involving your new spouse and your new relationship and some facet thereof (typically fidelity or lack thereof, or some aspect of personality that was only discovered upon actually living together) and you find yourself waking up mad as all get out at him or her. It happens. At first you might take it out on them for a bit till the whole it was a dream thing kicks in and then you feel silly and have a story for later.
You don't ever completely grow out of this, but sometimes, after you've been together for a while, it gets stranger. Take last night for example. This afternoon my wife informs me that she had the oddest dream about me last night. First a little background: For those not in the know, I've been playing through Resident Evil 4 of late. I do my best to keep it away from the kids, but they occasionally get curious and I occasionally play it before they go to bed. Last night they decided to "play" RE 4 at bedtime. This mostly involved one of them saying something like, "Leon help!" and the other pretending to rescue them. When Miranda tired of the game she came downstairs and informed us that McKenna wouldn't get out of her bed. She then launched into a fairly accurate retelling of the bit of RE 4 that I'd played through that afternoon. In spite of the fact that she and her sister had been warned several times not to come downstairs. I tried to keep from laughing while my wife gave me The Look (admittedly on one of it's weaker settings).
Ok so I suspect that was at least partially responsible for the dream she had. That or watching Clerks but I'm pretty sure it was the first thing. Anyway, in this dream my friend the letter 'r' and I were playing RE 4. And oddly we had a gun controller that we used to do the shooting in the game (which was kept under the bed so as to keep it away from the kids). The letter 'r' made some comment about the fact that I was actually a pretty good shot. I then made a joke about the recent target shooting we'd done at Trout Lodge. Then we both "laughed knowingly". You know, that fake little laughter like we have a secret. At this point my wife decided to head for bed and leave us to our carnage.
Once she arrived upstairs she noticed a gun under the bed. A rifle or "AK-47" or something (she was very specific about this when telling me her dream). But this was confusing, after all weren't we already downstairs playing the game with the controller? Closer inspection revealed that the gun under the bed was a real rifle. This caused a "Confrontation". I believe at this point that the letter 'r' was no longer in the dreamscape. Instead my wife confronted me about the real gun in the house. There was a slap and some tearful exclamations about kids and loaded guns and so on. And then painful understanding. She looked at me and said (with all seriousness), "Why didn't you tell me you were a zombie hitman?!" At this point, my secret out in the open, there was more yelling and tears. "People call you up and you go and kill zombies!", "What do you mean you don't really wear glasses?!", "Your day job is just a cover!" and so on. I tried my best to console her, but she would have none of it.
It was at this moment that something woke my wife, the end of the dream, some random noise, who knows. Fortunately we've been in this territory enough that she managed to calm down before throttling me in bed for living a secret life bringing the undead back to their maker. Although she did almost wake me then to share the joke. I must admit we had a pretty good laugh about it. Of course, I'll now have to kill her in her sleep tonight for knowing too much, but sometimes that's the price you pay...
You don't ever completely grow out of this, but sometimes, after you've been together for a while, it gets stranger. Take last night for example. This afternoon my wife informs me that she had the oddest dream about me last night. First a little background: For those not in the know, I've been playing through Resident Evil 4 of late. I do my best to keep it away from the kids, but they occasionally get curious and I occasionally play it before they go to bed. Last night they decided to "play" RE 4 at bedtime. This mostly involved one of them saying something like, "Leon help!" and the other pretending to rescue them. When Miranda tired of the game she came downstairs and informed us that McKenna wouldn't get out of her bed. She then launched into a fairly accurate retelling of the bit of RE 4 that I'd played through that afternoon. In spite of the fact that she and her sister had been warned several times not to come downstairs. I tried to keep from laughing while my wife gave me The Look (admittedly on one of it's weaker settings).
Ok so I suspect that was at least partially responsible for the dream she had. That or watching Clerks but I'm pretty sure it was the first thing. Anyway, in this dream my friend the letter 'r' and I were playing RE 4. And oddly we had a gun controller that we used to do the shooting in the game (which was kept under the bed so as to keep it away from the kids). The letter 'r' made some comment about the fact that I was actually a pretty good shot. I then made a joke about the recent target shooting we'd done at Trout Lodge. Then we both "laughed knowingly". You know, that fake little laughter like we have a secret. At this point my wife decided to head for bed and leave us to our carnage.
Once she arrived upstairs she noticed a gun under the bed. A rifle or "AK-47" or something (she was very specific about this when telling me her dream). But this was confusing, after all weren't we already downstairs playing the game with the controller? Closer inspection revealed that the gun under the bed was a real rifle. This caused a "Confrontation". I believe at this point that the letter 'r' was no longer in the dreamscape. Instead my wife confronted me about the real gun in the house. There was a slap and some tearful exclamations about kids and loaded guns and so on. And then painful understanding. She looked at me and said (with all seriousness), "Why didn't you tell me you were a zombie hitman?!" At this point, my secret out in the open, there was more yelling and tears. "People call you up and you go and kill zombies!", "What do you mean you don't really wear glasses?!", "Your day job is just a cover!" and so on. I tried my best to console her, but she would have none of it.
It was at this moment that something woke my wife, the end of the dream, some random noise, who knows. Fortunately we've been in this territory enough that she managed to calm down before throttling me in bed for living a secret life bringing the undead back to their maker. Although she did almost wake me then to share the joke. I must admit we had a pretty good laugh about it. Of course, I'll now have to kill her in her sleep tonight for knowing too much, but sometimes that's the price you pay...
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Random thoughts from a tired mind
There was a really nice rain/thunder storm earlier. Although I'm not entirely convinced that one or two claps of thunder quite qualify it as a thunderstorm. But still rain = good. And a nice break from the heat we've had the past few days. Look at me all talking about the weather. Aren't I all grown up and irrelevant... Don't answer that.
Ran across another couple trailers for movies that seem quite intriguing. I believe the first was called 13 Tzameti while the other was for The Woods (featuring Bruce Campbell in a rare dramatic role!). On a completely unrelated note (except for the Bruce Campbell tie in) Brisco County Jr. and Jack of All Trades both came out on DVD today I believe. Groovy.
I'm about to wrap up the China Mieville short story collection Looking for Jake. It was quite good. Highly recommended. Now if I can just finish 1776...
Ran across another couple trailers for movies that seem quite intriguing. I believe the first was called 13 Tzameti while the other was for The Woods (featuring Bruce Campbell in a rare dramatic role!). On a completely unrelated note (except for the Bruce Campbell tie in) Brisco County Jr. and Jack of All Trades both came out on DVD today I believe. Groovy.
I'm about to wrap up the China Mieville short story collection Looking for Jake. It was quite good. Highly recommended. Now if I can just finish 1776...
Friday, July 14, 2006
Weekend Begins
Go. Watch. Become excited. Curse the fact that it's not Fall yet.
Seriously though, The Prestige is looking quite good. I'm also rooting for Danny Boyle's new flick Sunshine. And the new Pang Brothers' movie and... heh heh, well you get the idea.
I'm glad it's Friday. I'm also glad that tonight will involve a BBQ and some bratwurst. Mmmmm bratwurst. I also picked up The Matador for some weekend movie fun. Couple that with some zombie shooting and you have yourselves a Good Time.
The relatively recent Escape Pod (episode 61) was rather amusing. Mostly for incidental reasons that involved a minor plot point of the story (Ranma 1/2). The story is a bit adult in nature, but amusing nonetheless. The episode also referenced a couple other podcasts that I now feel compelled to check out. More on them as necessary.
Well at this point I'm rambling, but I felt the need to get some new text up on the page. Although I still really like that firework shot.
Seriously though, The Prestige is looking quite good. I'm also rooting for Danny Boyle's new flick Sunshine. And the new Pang Brothers' movie and... heh heh, well you get the idea.
I'm glad it's Friday. I'm also glad that tonight will involve a BBQ and some bratwurst. Mmmmm bratwurst. I also picked up The Matador for some weekend movie fun. Couple that with some zombie shooting and you have yourselves a Good Time.
The relatively recent Escape Pod (episode 61) was rather amusing. Mostly for incidental reasons that involved a minor plot point of the story (Ranma 1/2). The story is a bit adult in nature, but amusing nonetheless. The episode also referenced a couple other podcasts that I now feel compelled to check out. More on them as necessary.
Well at this point I'm rambling, but I felt the need to get some new text up on the page. Although I still really like that firework shot.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Not With a Bang
Firework
Originally uploaded by dkun.
And we're back. This was the best firework photo I managed to snap while on vacation. There are a few others over at my Flickr site, plus a couple of the lake. It was a good trip. I must admit better than I expected it to be. I got the chance to do some sailing - they had little single person sail boats that you could take out on the lake. I think I managed at least one outing a day while I was there. I've always wanted to learn to sail and this just cemented that desire. There's something great about being out on the water letting the wind push you around. (Well ok, technically you're supposed to be using the wind to go somewhere, but work with me here. Besides, since I had next to no idea what I was doing, the first description is a little more accurate.) I may have to look into getting a boat.
Trout Lodge had quite the range of activities - there was almost always something to do or somewhere to go. We did a little archery, a little .22 target shooting, some lounging around the water, hayrack ride, and so on. And the cabins were pretty nice so that was a plus.
Got to show off the great-grandkids to my grandparents. They got a kick out of that. I'm just glad we got the chance to let them see them. Not sure if we'll get another chance to do that. Plus I got to catch up with my Uncle Paul, it's been far too long since we've gotten together. Here's the Colbert D&D video as a nod to the fact that he introduced me to the game.
At any rate it's now back to the grind... Must find a way to make a living just sailing around.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
In and out
Managed to finish Zelda: Wind Waker. Fun game. The girls were suitably impressed. McKenna wanted to know when I was going to play it again. I said not for a while. I now understand why Zelda games are popular. It took me a bit to get into this one, but by the end I was a little sad to see it go. I might have to pick up the new one for the Wii.
Seems like I've seen some movies since I last posted, but I've no idea what they might have been. My wife and I did watch Clash of the Titans the other night. That movie actually holds up pretty well. I remember my Mom walking out of it with the girls, and Dad and I staying when we saw it in the theater.
Have I mentioned that Vivaldi's Four Seasons (especially the Winter section) is a truly amazing piece of music? If not, consider it mentioned. If so, consider it seconded.
I suppose I should put a photo of something cute up to distract you all for a while. But I have no cute photos so do a google image search for "cute" or something. I take absolutely no responsibility for whatever comes up from that.
At any rate, my eyes feel like they've been sanded down with large grit sandpaper so I think I'll be off.
Seems like I've seen some movies since I last posted, but I've no idea what they might have been. My wife and I did watch Clash of the Titans the other night. That movie actually holds up pretty well. I remember my Mom walking out of it with the girls, and Dad and I staying when we saw it in the theater.
Have I mentioned that Vivaldi's Four Seasons (especially the Winter section) is a truly amazing piece of music? If not, consider it mentioned. If so, consider it seconded.
I suppose I should put a photo of something cute up to distract you all for a while. But I have no cute photos so do a google image search for "cute" or something. I take absolutely no responsibility for whatever comes up from that.
At any rate, my eyes feel like they've been sanded down with large grit sandpaper so I think I'll be off.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Pulse and other odds and ends
Caught the original Japanese version of Pulse. I suspect this may be one of the few instances where the remake is better. The original was interesting and had a few good horror moments, but the pacing and length killed it. I don't mind slow movies (in fact several of my favorites tend to fall into that category), but the tension that this film tried to build was destroyed by the movie's glacial pace. Which is a shame, because as mentioned, it was actually pretty interesting. The set piece of the film with the plane was definitely worth it though. Amazing shot... Reminded me a bit of The Eye.
Wedding Crashers was also too long. I suspect Hollywood needs to be reminded that there's a time and place for the 1 1/2 hour movie. And the romantic comedy is certainly the place. Vince Vaughn was quite good though, as was Owen Wilson.
So, the bachelor days draw to a close. I suspect I got enough movie watching in...
Heard about The Horror Blog the other day. Haven't really had a chance to check it out, but it looks promising. I suspect I should give up all pretenses and turn this blog into horror movie reviews and game ramblings, but then you'd miss out on the cute kid stories. That and I'd have to convince my wife to start sitting through a lot more horror movies. Hmm...
Actually I've been meaning to post some random thoughts on horror movies again dealing with the current trend towards gore (not a good one in my opinion, in fact I'd classify gore flicks as a separate genre (or at least sub-genre) from horror movies) and the use of classical music in horror movie soundtracks (and why it works so well). But you'll have to wait for that. Maybe you can come up with your own thesis on the above topics and save me the job.
Oh, and I hate my lawn mower. It's out to get me I swear. Stupid gas leak...
Wedding Crashers was also too long. I suspect Hollywood needs to be reminded that there's a time and place for the 1 1/2 hour movie. And the romantic comedy is certainly the place. Vince Vaughn was quite good though, as was Owen Wilson.
So, the bachelor days draw to a close. I suspect I got enough movie watching in...
Heard about The Horror Blog the other day. Haven't really had a chance to check it out, but it looks promising. I suspect I should give up all pretenses and turn this blog into horror movie reviews and game ramblings, but then you'd miss out on the cute kid stories. That and I'd have to convince my wife to start sitting through a lot more horror movies. Hmm...
Actually I've been meaning to post some random thoughts on horror movies again dealing with the current trend towards gore (not a good one in my opinion, in fact I'd classify gore flicks as a separate genre (or at least sub-genre) from horror movies) and the use of classical music in horror movie soundtracks (and why it works so well). But you'll have to wait for that. Maybe you can come up with your own thesis on the above topics and save me the job.
Oh, and I hate my lawn mower. It's out to get me I swear. Stupid gas leak...
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
<Unintelligible moan>
So the Zombie Weekend O' Fun is over. All I can say is Romero is cool. Dawn of the Dead and Land of the Dead are actually pretty good films. I'm glad we tracked down the Romero version of Dawn - totally worth it. And of course, Shaun of the Dead is still terribly funny and spooky and all of that. And I managed to catch a couple more jokes this go round as I've seen some of the Romero movies now. "We're coming to get you Barbara!" Hee hee...
Geist is an intriguing little game on the Gamecube. Borrowed it from a coworker and have been enjoying it.
I've snagged Pulse and Wedding Crashers, so we'll see what they're like...
Anyway, I suspect that's enough for this quick burst of blogging goodness.
Geist is an intriguing little game on the Gamecube. Borrowed it from a coworker and have been enjoying it.
I've snagged Pulse and Wedding Crashers, so we'll see what they're like...
Anyway, I suspect that's enough for this quick burst of blogging goodness.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Weekend o' Zombies
Well, my better half is out of town with the kids for a wedding. So what better way to spend the time than zombie movies and video games? None I say.
Tonight will most likely be Dawn of the Dead (The Romero version) and tomorrow will contain Shaun of the Dead and Land of the Dead.
I caught The Tailor of Panama and Brotherhood of the Wolf over the last couple nights. The former is one of those movies that you hope never happens, but you suspect might, while the latter is an interesting flight of fancy. I really enjoyed the story in Brotherhood.
At any rate, I would apologize for not updating with any sort of regularity, but that would imply that I felt bad about it (well maybe a little) and wouldn't really put you through it again (of course I will). So I won't.
Tonight will most likely be Dawn of the Dead (The Romero version) and tomorrow will contain Shaun of the Dead and Land of the Dead.
I caught The Tailor of Panama and Brotherhood of the Wolf over the last couple nights. The former is one of those movies that you hope never happens, but you suspect might, while the latter is an interesting flight of fancy. I really enjoyed the story in Brotherhood.
At any rate, I would apologize for not updating with any sort of regularity, but that would imply that I felt bad about it (well maybe a little) and wouldn't really put you through it again (of course I will). So I won't.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
I'm not dead yet
Although I felt pretty close. The stomach flu marched through the family last week and my turn was around Wednesday. And then the house building project down the street cut through the internet cable so we had no internet from about Thursday through today. That was fun.
The girls are getting into The Legend of Zelda, the Wind Waker. I find it rather amusing personally. The game certainly picked up there for a little bit. Although I suspect vast stretches of what do I do next coming up...
Well, you'd think I'd have something to ramble on about but such isn't really the case. Picked up Vivaldi's The Four Seasons on cd the other day as well as some Yo-Yo Ma. I like the cello. And The Four Seasons ranks up there with my favorite pieces of classical music. Especially the Winter section.
The girls are getting into The Legend of Zelda, the Wind Waker. I find it rather amusing personally. The game certainly picked up there for a little bit. Although I suspect vast stretches of what do I do next coming up...
Well, you'd think I'd have something to ramble on about but such isn't really the case. Picked up Vivaldi's The Four Seasons on cd the other day as well as some Yo-Yo Ma. I like the cello. And The Four Seasons ranks up there with my favorite pieces of classical music. Especially the Winter section.
Friday, May 19, 2006
Giddiness sets in
So the company party was today. They held it at Wheeler Farm, so the kids got to milk a cow and take a tractor ride and so on. We had a bit of rain at the beginning, but then things settled down. I must admit, the rain didn't seem to bother me too much as I managed to win a 30GB iPod video. squee!
ahem
Ok, I'm better now. But yeah, totally awesome. Mom was having flashbacks to one of the old company parties we had growing up when my Dad worked at Manville. Back then it was a mini arcade cabinet style Pac Man video game. I will admit that there were probably similarities in the grins I had at either occasion...
At any rate, it was a good day.
ahem
Ok, I'm better now. But yeah, totally awesome. Mom was having flashbacks to one of the old company parties we had growing up when my Dad worked at Manville. Back then it was a mini arcade cabinet style Pac Man video game. I will admit that there were probably similarities in the grins I had at either occasion...
At any rate, it was a good day.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Incoming transmission
Ok, so it's been a while, but then again, I've been pretty busy. Dad had to leave early, so we're down to just one house guest. Then it's a week off and then the wife and kids take off for a week. Such a busy time of year.
Had a pretty good weekend although my house is not equipped to handle 17 visitors at once. If it weren't a family event I would have found some way to take off from that mass of people yearning to breathe free... Especially considering the fact that it's starting to get hot out here.
Did a few more chores around the house. Got rid of an accordion door in preparation for putting in hard floors next year. Swapped out the old flat cable from the TV antenna to the TV in favor of coax. Other odds and ends.
Anyway, nothing of real import to pass along. Had dinner at Tepanyaki last night. Had the filet mignon and shrimp. It was like meat butter. So tasty. You'd think I'd have some kid stories to pass along or something but that's not really the case.
Of course, I could start venting about Gibbs quitting NCIS last night, but then I'd get all riled up again.
Had a pretty good weekend although my house is not equipped to handle 17 visitors at once. If it weren't a family event I would have found some way to take off from that mass of people yearning to breathe free... Especially considering the fact that it's starting to get hot out here.
Did a few more chores around the house. Got rid of an accordion door in preparation for putting in hard floors next year. Swapped out the old flat cable from the TV antenna to the TV in favor of coax. Other odds and ends.
Anyway, nothing of real import to pass along. Had dinner at Tepanyaki last night. Had the filet mignon and shrimp. It was like meat butter. So tasty. You'd think I'd have some kid stories to pass along or something but that's not really the case.
Of course, I could start venting about Gibbs quitting NCIS last night, but then I'd get all riled up again.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
E3
Well, E3 is in full swing again. The big three (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo this go around) have had their press conferences. Sounds like it's a toss up between Nintendo and Microsoft as to who had the best conference. I come down on Nintendo's side as the offerings Microsoft had out really don't interest me much. Don't care about Halo 3 or a new GTA game. I am terribly excited to get my hands on the Wii though. Here's a link to some more video footage of some of the games and people playing them.
In other news, we've managed to get the flower beds cleaned up and blooming. And we now own a rather pretty fuschia plant courtesy of the in-laws. An early Father's Day gift I believe. I may try to pass a picture of it along.
And tomorrow is my Friday. Woo hoo!
In other news, we've managed to get the flower beds cleaned up and blooming. And we now own a rather pretty fuschia plant courtesy of the in-laws. An early Father's Day gift I believe. I may try to pass a picture of it along.
And tomorrow is my Friday. Woo hoo!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
The folly humor of youth
You can tell your kids are a little excited to see the grandparents when they get up shortly after 6 AM to accomplish said fact. My wife managed to get them to go back to their room for a bit and told them they couldn't come out until 7. A few minutes later they peeked out of their room and asked, "What time is it in your room?" Apparently while it was still before 7 in theirs, ours must lie on the other side of some time zone that would allow them to escape...
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Long days
Well, the arrival of family is imminent. My wife's folks this evening and then mine next week. McKenna had her party today. Took some friends to lunch and then went and saw Hoot. Cute show. Won't win any awards, but it was fun. McKenna liked the owls. One of the girls at the party liked the boy. I'll take her interest in the owls thanks...
It's been a long week. Cinco de Mayo yesterday. I got to spend most of it at work. Some higher-up decided that we needed to do an extra run of the main journals database we produce. And as my compatriot was out of town, that meant I had the joyous task of going in late to QA it. Was a truly wonderful experience let me tell you.
Today was free comic book day. The comic book shop down the road apparently closed down sometime this past year. So no free comic books for us. McKenna was rather sad about that. We picked her up a copy of Pikmin 2 for her birthday. It's a pretty fun game. I remember reading somewhere that the guy that created it was inspired by watching his garden. After playing the game a bit I can see the resemblance. It's a pretty interesting game. Cute on the surface, red in tooth and claw a couple layers down. Good ol' Mother Nature. McKenna has enjoyed ordering the Pikmin around.
Anyway, I'm sure there are other things I should go on about, but I can't think of them. So have a great weekend.
It's been a long week. Cinco de Mayo yesterday. I got to spend most of it at work. Some higher-up decided that we needed to do an extra run of the main journals database we produce. And as my compatriot was out of town, that meant I had the joyous task of going in late to QA it. Was a truly wonderful experience let me tell you.
Today was free comic book day. The comic book shop down the road apparently closed down sometime this past year. So no free comic books for us. McKenna was rather sad about that. We picked her up a copy of Pikmin 2 for her birthday. It's a pretty fun game. I remember reading somewhere that the guy that created it was inspired by watching his garden. After playing the game a bit I can see the resemblance. It's a pretty interesting game. Cute on the surface, red in tooth and claw a couple layers down. Good ol' Mother Nature. McKenna has enjoyed ordering the Pikmin around.
Anyway, I'm sure there are other things I should go on about, but I can't think of them. So have a great weekend.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Final Fantasy
So Final Fantasy VII Advent Children came out last week. This was pretty much the movie that everyone wanted Spirits Within to be. Not a lot of plot, but a lot of pretty cool fight scenes. The animation technology has improved since then as well. Definitely a pretty movie and certainly some fun bits.
As I came late to the whole console scene, I will have to admit to Final Fantasy VII as probably my first real console RPG. So there is a bit of a special place in my heart for it. McKenna watched most of the movie with us and insisted that I play the game the next day so she could see where the movie came from. That was rather amusing. My wife just rolled her eyes a lot and made sure that I knew that playing VII wasn't allowed to take over playing Tales. Gee, two different family members interested in two RPGs. I'm not entirely certain that some sort of pod person invasion hasn't taken place. That or I've walked into a Talking Heads song...
Finished off The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Great book. I believe I've become a Le Carré fan. After The Tailor of Panama I'll let you know for sure. It's just refreshing to read spy novels that don't revolve around supermen that never make mistakes.
Family coming into town over the next couple weeks. My wife's family this weekend and my folks the weekend after. It's going to be pretty busy around here.
Anyone want to come and mow my lawn for me this summer? Anyone?
As I came late to the whole console scene, I will have to admit to Final Fantasy VII as probably my first real console RPG. So there is a bit of a special place in my heart for it. McKenna watched most of the movie with us and insisted that I play the game the next day so she could see where the movie came from. That was rather amusing. My wife just rolled her eyes a lot and made sure that I knew that playing VII wasn't allowed to take over playing Tales. Gee, two different family members interested in two RPGs. I'm not entirely certain that some sort of pod person invasion hasn't taken place. That or I've walked into a Talking Heads song...
Finished off The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Great book. I believe I've become a Le Carré fan. After The Tailor of Panama I'll let you know for sure. It's just refreshing to read spy novels that don't revolve around supermen that never make mistakes.
Family coming into town over the next couple weeks. My wife's family this weekend and my folks the weekend after. It's going to be pretty busy around here.
Anyone want to come and mow my lawn for me this summer? Anyone?
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