So. I watched the Twilight trailer. Not only am I not the demographic for this movie, I'm sad there is a demographic for this movie. If that dialogue were any more stilted they'd need circus performers for actors. The Pain! Make it go away. And who cast these people? And then attempted to do hair and makeup? I'd think it was the aforementioned circus troop, except they'd probably do a better job. Just wow...
Finished reading Blindness. Didn't really care for it. There were some interesting ideas that were pretty much invalidated by some bizarre who are these people choices. I don't think real people would react in those ways and it really derailed a lot of the story. Which is too bad as it was a pretty interesting idea. The writing style was mostly ok, although it did make things a little hard to follow. So yeah, move along, nothing to see. Heh.
Flipping through a book on Coin Tricks at the moment. Think I'll try and learn some. I miss magic. It's fun to have a couple tricks to show off on occasion. I still remember a card trick or two from when I was younger. They come in handy once in a while.
Also going to try and tackle Ring by Koji Suzuki. Book they based the movies on. I liked the movies. Both versions actually. They work a little differently, but are both effective. Halloween is far too soon...
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Defending Food
Finished reading In Defense of Food the other day. It's the sequel to Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. Another worthwhile read, and in some ways a slightly better one. This time round he focuses on what we should eat and in some cases how. The most useful section is probably the last third, but the entire book is fascinating.
Here are a couple eating rules to live by:
Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients.
Don't eat anything with ingredients you can't pronounce.
Don't eat anything with an ingredient you don't recognize.
Shop around the periphery of the supermarket.
Don't eat anything that doesn't spoil (i.e. Twinkies).
Like I said, it's an interesting book.
The horror movie viewing has been continuing. We took in The Last Winter the other day. Probably the first Eco horror movie I've seen. The planet is angry. This one was fun in that it's another case where they build up the psychological tension as opposed to going for the gore or the cheap thrill. Those really are the best kinds of horror movies. The plot is a little all over the place and the ending is rather abrupt, but it was an interesting movie.
Honestly it's hard to tell what we've seen and done recently. The one drawback to working at the Library is that they have a pretty impressive collection. And I've had a lot of things show up that I'd put on hold lately. So we're a little swamped. A couple Westerns, some Horror, a WWII flick, I can't even remember what else. And that doesn't take into account the TV show, or actual broadcast TV. (Just a note, I really prefer TV on DVD. No commercials and your own viewing schedule FTW.)
Wil Wheaton's blog has been pretty interesting of late.
Hmm, what else. Birthday alley is in full swing. A couple of in-law birthdays over the course of this week and a couple weeks out. G's birthday is soon. Christmas. Ah the expensive time of year.
Well, this has been a decent catch up post. Maybe I'll do this over the weekend... And maybe next time I can find something interesting to talk about... Probably not.
Here are a couple eating rules to live by:
Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients.
Don't eat anything with ingredients you can't pronounce.
Don't eat anything with an ingredient you don't recognize.
Shop around the periphery of the supermarket.
Don't eat anything that doesn't spoil (i.e. Twinkies).
Like I said, it's an interesting book.
The horror movie viewing has been continuing. We took in The Last Winter the other day. Probably the first Eco horror movie I've seen. The planet is angry. This one was fun in that it's another case where they build up the psychological tension as opposed to going for the gore or the cheap thrill. Those really are the best kinds of horror movies. The plot is a little all over the place and the ending is rather abrupt, but it was an interesting movie.
Honestly it's hard to tell what we've seen and done recently. The one drawback to working at the Library is that they have a pretty impressive collection. And I've had a lot of things show up that I'd put on hold lately. So we're a little swamped. A couple Westerns, some Horror, a WWII flick, I can't even remember what else. And that doesn't take into account the TV show, or actual broadcast TV. (Just a note, I really prefer TV on DVD. No commercials and your own viewing schedule FTW.)
Wil Wheaton's blog has been pretty interesting of late.
Hmm, what else. Birthday alley is in full swing. A couple of in-law birthdays over the course of this week and a couple weeks out. G's birthday is soon. Christmas. Ah the expensive time of year.
Well, this has been a decent catch up post. Maybe I'll do this over the weekend... And maybe next time I can find something interesting to talk about... Probably not.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Trying to gather my thoughts
And failing miserably.
First, The Orphanage is great. It's a nice horror film that uses atmosphere and characterization to really great effect. If you're looking for a good scary movie for Halloween, don't let the subtitles scare you. Watch this one.
Second, this makes me hungry.
Third, this is an interesting political diversion. See which candidate matches your priorities. Needs more questions, but it's interesting to play with.
We've managed to catch up some on horror movie viewing. Season 2 of Dexter is fun so far.
I'm still reading Blindness. It's a rather disturbing little civilization falls apart story.
Again with the one sentence paragraphs. Oh well, my brain really isn't capable of stringing together complex thoughts at the moment.
I ended up giving the Girl Scouts the Library tour this morning. There was a mixup in the Children's Department and I guess they had them scheduled earlier. Since I had stopped by to say hi to the girls, I ended up giving them the tour. McK and M seemed to enjoy themselves.
Sounds like we might be getting a piano from lovely wife's Mom. She can't use it any more and she's wanting to make some space in her apartment, so we may snag it. That will be nice. I like pianos. Although I've completely forgotten how to play...
Celebrated lovely wife's birthday this past week. Party went fine. Games were played, brownies were eaten, Republicans were mocked. All in all a success I'd say.
So yeah. That's about all I've got.
First, The Orphanage is great. It's a nice horror film that uses atmosphere and characterization to really great effect. If you're looking for a good scary movie for Halloween, don't let the subtitles scare you. Watch this one.
Second, this makes me hungry.
Third, this is an interesting political diversion. See which candidate matches your priorities. Needs more questions, but it's interesting to play with.
We've managed to catch up some on horror movie viewing. Season 2 of Dexter is fun so far.
I'm still reading Blindness. It's a rather disturbing little civilization falls apart story.
Again with the one sentence paragraphs. Oh well, my brain really isn't capable of stringing together complex thoughts at the moment.
I ended up giving the Girl Scouts the Library tour this morning. There was a mixup in the Children's Department and I guess they had them scheduled earlier. Since I had stopped by to say hi to the girls, I ended up giving them the tour. McK and M seemed to enjoy themselves.
Sounds like we might be getting a piano from lovely wife's Mom. She can't use it any more and she's wanting to make some space in her apartment, so we may snag it. That will be nice. I like pianos. Although I've completely forgotten how to play...
Celebrated lovely wife's birthday this past week. Party went fine. Games were played, brownies were eaten, Republicans were mocked. All in all a success I'd say.
So yeah. That's about all I've got.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Around the net
Stealing a title from G4 and a concept from every other blog on the planet. Have some links:
For my sisters: Shannon Hale's blog. Recently she's been talking about an author's responsibility for the moral a reader gets from their work. I disagree with a couple of her points, possibly on technicalities, but qualifies as interesting.
Engineer humor. This one's for you Dad. Heh. I need me one of them.
Sci-fi. Death scenes. Countdown list. You know you want to click.
Fake Twitter feeds anyone? I'ma gonna check out Bad Horse for sure.
100 skills you should know. If you're a guy. Or something. I dunno, I stopped reading.
Need to put the kids to bed. Clean up when you're done with the internet. It's a mess. Links everywhere. Kids these days...
For my sisters: Shannon Hale's blog. Recently she's been talking about an author's responsibility for the moral a reader gets from their work. I disagree with a couple of her points, possibly on technicalities, but qualifies as interesting.
Engineer humor. This one's for you Dad. Heh. I need me one of them.
Sci-fi. Death scenes. Countdown list. You know you want to click.
Fake Twitter feeds anyone? I'ma gonna check out Bad Horse for sure.
100 skills you should know. If you're a guy. Or something. I dunno, I stopped reading.
Need to put the kids to bed. Clean up when you're done with the internet. It's a mess. Links everywhere. Kids these days...
Monday, October 06, 2008
Some thoughts on writing and other fish in the sea
I've started reading Blindness by José Saramago (it's currently a film starring Julianne Moore and some other people). This has caused me to think a little bit about writing styles, partially as the book has been translated from Portuguese (I believe) and partially as there are some interesting stylistic choices. The book is, in a lot of ways, mostly dialogue but it uses its own method to convey the conversations. There are no quotation marks, no paragraphs breaks, no he said/she saids. Changes in speaker/thought are separated by commas within the same sentence.
This produces, for me, a strange - almost noisy - quick-paced rhythm in my reading. It's very different. Coupled with either an artifact of the translation process or a strange word style, reading Blindness is a cross between an interesting experience and a somewhat painful one. It's like there's a hum in the background due to the way the words flow and the effort required to keep track of what's going on.
Writers have been playing with style forever. Joyce and stream of consciousness narrative, ee cummings and the birth of texting, Danielewski and games with narrators and footnotes. Things that either make English teachers jump for joy or cry bitter, bitter tears. Personally I find it interesting if occasionally eye-rolling worthy. Not every experiment is a grand success. It will be interesting to see if I stick with Blindness. I certainly find the story interesting, it's just a question of whether the style gets in the way of that or really does help. And ultimately, again for me, that's what makes any of these experiments successes or failures. Does the style choice help the story or get in the way of it. Terribly conclusive I know.
Have caught a couple horror movies to usher in October. Part of something truly awful (and thus great) called Madman. A nice 80's slasher called The Burning (featuring a young Jason Alexander of all things). I think we may have to throw April Fool's Day into the mix for nostalgia's sake. And I might just have to venture forth into The Shining territory again. Here be dragons.
Paprika proves that Satoshi Kon is an Artist. (And yes, please to note the capital A) I liked the film for a few reasons, but boy is it out there. Apparently it's based on a novel. See previous commentary on writing styles. It was like a cross between Dreamscape and an artsy foreign flick. Oh wait. It was a cross between Dreamscape and an artsy foreign flick. Convenient.
Saw a bit of Drunken Master as well. It was funny. I miss good Jackie Chan movies.
Oh and here's the Geek Alphabet. Just sayin'.
This produces, for me, a strange - almost noisy - quick-paced rhythm in my reading. It's very different. Coupled with either an artifact of the translation process or a strange word style, reading Blindness is a cross between an interesting experience and a somewhat painful one. It's like there's a hum in the background due to the way the words flow and the effort required to keep track of what's going on.
Writers have been playing with style forever. Joyce and stream of consciousness narrative, ee cummings and the birth of texting, Danielewski and games with narrators and footnotes. Things that either make English teachers jump for joy or cry bitter, bitter tears. Personally I find it interesting if occasionally eye-rolling worthy. Not every experiment is a grand success. It will be interesting to see if I stick with Blindness. I certainly find the story interesting, it's just a question of whether the style gets in the way of that or really does help. And ultimately, again for me, that's what makes any of these experiments successes or failures. Does the style choice help the story or get in the way of it. Terribly conclusive I know.
Have caught a couple horror movies to usher in October. Part of something truly awful (and thus great) called Madman. A nice 80's slasher called The Burning (featuring a young Jason Alexander of all things). I think we may have to throw April Fool's Day into the mix for nostalgia's sake. And I might just have to venture forth into The Shining territory again. Here be dragons.
Paprika proves that Satoshi Kon is an Artist. (And yes, please to note the capital A) I liked the film for a few reasons, but boy is it out there. Apparently it's based on a novel. See previous commentary on writing styles. It was like a cross between Dreamscape and an artsy foreign flick. Oh wait. It was a cross between Dreamscape and an artsy foreign flick. Convenient.
Saw a bit of Drunken Master as well. It was funny. I miss good Jackie Chan movies.
Oh and here's the Geek Alphabet. Just sayin'.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
October
I'm strangely drawn to this site. Mostly as I can build a playlist of just about anything. The Pillows! Jonathan Coulton! Weird Al! Go nuts internet. And seriously, listen to The Pillows. Don't let the Japanese scare you. Serious rock.
Speaking of serious rock, AC/DC track pack coming up for Rock Band 2. Thunderstruck. The only real problem is that nobody sounds like the lead singer of AC/DC. But the drums and guitar...
Fringe is slowly growing on me. It does scratch that X Files itch.
Run Fatboy Run was Simon Pegg goodness. And sweet. And funny. I should really say something else so my paragraphs are longer than a sentence. Simon Pegg is my Hollywood best friend. We would hang out if we knew each other. Totally. And much hilarity would ensue.
I may have to go watch The Graveyard Book as my copy is probably sitting in a box at the Library. I wants it.
Oh right, October. While not my favorite month this does mark the beginning of my favorite time of year. September just pretends. October typically delivers. Plus I can force my horror movie tastes on poor wife as, hey, October. And scary games and scary books and scary candy. Really. Have you seen how much HFCS is in that stuff? And you want to know what they say about it you stupid corn industry commercials? How about you can't eat it in moderation because it's in EVERYTHING?! How about it's so evil it convinces your body that you're not full. It's totally ok to eat more. How about there's no way it's a "natural" substance considering the amount of technical wizardry needed to produce it (which I'm pretty sure you don't allow anyone to see...) Sorry. Soapbox put away.
But yes, October is nice. Cooler temperatures start to be the norm and there's a nice shift to fall sensibility.
Speaking of serious rock, AC/DC track pack coming up for Rock Band 2. Thunderstruck. The only real problem is that nobody sounds like the lead singer of AC/DC. But the drums and guitar...
Fringe is slowly growing on me. It does scratch that X Files itch.
Run Fatboy Run was Simon Pegg goodness. And sweet. And funny. I should really say something else so my paragraphs are longer than a sentence. Simon Pegg is my Hollywood best friend. We would hang out if we knew each other. Totally. And much hilarity would ensue.
I may have to go watch The Graveyard Book as my copy is probably sitting in a box at the Library. I wants it.
Oh right, October. While not my favorite month this does mark the beginning of my favorite time of year. September just pretends. October typically delivers. Plus I can force my horror movie tastes on poor wife as, hey, October. And scary games and scary books and scary candy. Really. Have you seen how much HFCS is in that stuff? And you want to know what they say about it you stupid corn industry commercials? How about you can't eat it in moderation because it's in EVERYTHING?! How about it's so evil it convinces your body that you're not full. It's totally ok to eat more. How about there's no way it's a "natural" substance considering the amount of technical wizardry needed to produce it (which I'm pretty sure you don't allow anyone to see...) Sorry. Soapbox put away.
But yes, October is nice. Cooler temperatures start to be the norm and there's a nice shift to fall sensibility.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Mmmm burger
Tonight's How I Met Your Mother was pure distilled truth. And funny. Alas, I don't know that I can claim to have such a burger place in my memory banks, but burgers are serious business and there is nothing more vital than the best burger. One day, it will be my cheeseburger. One day.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Killing time
The lovely wife is trying to kill a few brain cells watching Smallville. I suspect she'll kill more than a few. So in my own attempt to kill a few brain cells I've turn to the intarwebs and you lot. I'm pretty sure the wife will lose more brain cells, but it will be close.
Alas, the series of tubes isn't really humming today. I suppose there are a few distractions. I'm listening the ambient music mix from Magnatune and I poked around over at Whatever. Both of moderate interest.
Grilled up some brats for dinner. Have recently run across a few different interesting recipes. One of my coworkers pointed me to a deep chocolate pound cake recipe in the latest issue of Bon Appetit (I think). It sounds delightful. I'm not sure why I've run across a couple different chocolate cake recipes lately, but yum. And then there was the Hellfire Steak recipe in some grilling book or other. I forget the title. How to Grill or something like that.
Caught the last 10 minutes of The Wedding Singer. Billy Idol makes that movie. I want to listen to the soundtracks now...
Sounds like favorite niece is recovering from Appendicide. Have I mentioned lately that I love favorite niece? I'm pretty sure that the AMA will soon adopt the term Appendicide. And if they don't they should. (And on a slightly related note, apparently you have to have your head shaved for Appendicide. At least according to slightly evil little sister to aforementioned niece. Heh.)
Well, that's all I've got for now. Oh so thrilling. I shall go poke around the wilds of the internets and maybe something will strike my interest.
Alas, the series of tubes isn't really humming today. I suppose there are a few distractions. I'm listening the ambient music mix from Magnatune and I poked around over at Whatever. Both of moderate interest.
Grilled up some brats for dinner. Have recently run across a few different interesting recipes. One of my coworkers pointed me to a deep chocolate pound cake recipe in the latest issue of Bon Appetit (I think). It sounds delightful. I'm not sure why I've run across a couple different chocolate cake recipes lately, but yum. And then there was the Hellfire Steak recipe in some grilling book or other. I forget the title. How to Grill or something like that.
Caught the last 10 minutes of The Wedding Singer. Billy Idol makes that movie. I want to listen to the soundtracks now...
Sounds like favorite niece is recovering from Appendicide. Have I mentioned lately that I love favorite niece? I'm pretty sure that the AMA will soon adopt the term Appendicide. And if they don't they should. (And on a slightly related note, apparently you have to have your head shaved for Appendicide. At least according to slightly evil little sister to aforementioned niece. Heh.)
Well, that's all I've got for now. Oh so thrilling. I shall go poke around the wilds of the internets and maybe something will strike my interest.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Inspired by true events
Ran across this on the internets today and thought that it was only so so. So I feel compelled to try and come up with my own list of geek wife trials. I am sure this will fail horribly.
1. Realizing that there are too many days celebrated in Geek Culture. (Talk like a Pirate Day? Pi day? Who makes these things up?)
2. That sinking feeling that comes from the knowledge that the tech gadget he just came home with will be replaced by a shinier version we just have to have exactly 2 seconds after he left the store with the now horribly out of date item.
3. Comic book movies. Except for Spiderman. He can wrap me in his web any day.
4. Why are there dice with more than 6 sides? And why do we have so many of them? And why do I know that there are 4 Editions of Dungeons and Dragons?
5. Why am I sacrificing valuable closet space to board games? I could have shoes. Or storage space.
6. Children that wander around clamoring for Braaaains. Ok, that's pretty funny. But the fact that my 4 year old knows more about zombies than your average human being is stretching things a little bit.
7. Plastic instruments. I don't care if the game is fun and I have a good time playing it. I want my house back and I'm not running a plastic garage band. And don't get me started on the bongos.
8. Why does my favorite t-shirt have a robot dressed as a green dog on it? And why do I suddenly crave tacos? Or cheese?
9. What do Tina Fey and Felicia Day have that I don't? And why do I know what the Evil League of Evil is?
10. Why are the kids reading books that did not originate in this country? And watching TV shows also not from this country? Any future therapy bills are so coming out of his toy budget. And I don't want to talk about the toy budget.
Eh. Needs a little work. And some wasabi. But it's a start. Celebrated the letter r's birthday a little early the other day and gave him Yestisburg. You know, Gettysburg with Yetis. In a card game. It was fun. And the instruction booklet was hilarious. I may also have to try my hand at letters sent from Yetisburg.
And how about that Eureka season finale? That was a bit of a downer for a cliffhanger. I'm a little on the glad side that Psych, Burn Notice and Eureka are taking breaks, but I am certainly interested in picking them back up again. I kind of like this short season twice thing. And I like the PI on House (and Felicia Day was on as well...).
1. Realizing that there are too many days celebrated in Geek Culture. (Talk like a Pirate Day? Pi day? Who makes these things up?)
2. That sinking feeling that comes from the knowledge that the tech gadget he just came home with will be replaced by a shinier version we just have to have exactly 2 seconds after he left the store with the now horribly out of date item.
3. Comic book movies. Except for Spiderman. He can wrap me in his web any day.
4. Why are there dice with more than 6 sides? And why do we have so many of them? And why do I know that there are 4 Editions of Dungeons and Dragons?
5. Why am I sacrificing valuable closet space to board games? I could have shoes. Or storage space.
6. Children that wander around clamoring for Braaaains. Ok, that's pretty funny. But the fact that my 4 year old knows more about zombies than your average human being is stretching things a little bit.
7. Plastic instruments. I don't care if the game is fun and I have a good time playing it. I want my house back and I'm not running a plastic garage band. And don't get me started on the bongos.
8. Why does my favorite t-shirt have a robot dressed as a green dog on it? And why do I suddenly crave tacos? Or cheese?
9. What do Tina Fey and Felicia Day have that I don't? And why do I know what the Evil League of Evil is?
10. Why are the kids reading books that did not originate in this country? And watching TV shows also not from this country? Any future therapy bills are so coming out of his toy budget. And I don't want to talk about the toy budget.
Eh. Needs a little work. And some wasabi. But it's a start. Celebrated the letter r's birthday a little early the other day and gave him Yestisburg. You know, Gettysburg with Yetis. In a card game. It was fun. And the instruction booklet was hilarious. I may also have to try my hand at letters sent from Yetisburg.
And how about that Eureka season finale? That was a bit of a downer for a cliffhanger. I'm a little on the glad side that Psych, Burn Notice and Eureka are taking breaks, but I am certainly interested in picking them back up again. I kind of like this short season twice thing. And I like the PI on House (and Felicia Day was on as well...).
Monday, September 22, 2008
Couple of books
Finished Soon I will be Invincible and it was great. Fun superhero story that hits all the right notes. It touches on most of the clichés found in superhero stories and tweaks them just enough that it's a fresh read. Plus it leaves you wanting to know what happens next time. It is a little frustrating in that it's so much easier to make compelling villains. You always find yourself rooting for the bad guy that never wins. There are a couple decent good guys in the story, but it also touches on just how boring they can be or how they're really not that different from the bad guys. That's actually one of the more fascinating aspects to superhero stories - how the heroes and villains are really two sides of the same coin and all it really takes is a shift in lighting to make them switch sides.
Also finished Only Revolutions (Only Revolutions? Only Revolutions? Maybe Only Revolutions? Ok enough Danielewski nods for now.) The fact that I finished it about a week or so ago and haven't said anything is its own sort of commentary. Whether it's about my blogging or the story I leave to you. It was certainly interesting. And it grew on me, but it was no House of Leaves. I did find it a truly mindbending piece of fiction. Danielewski is either brilliant or someone with far too much time on their hands. Quite possibly both. Rest assured you don't really need to check this one out.
I'm looking forward to Neil Gaiman's new one, The Graveyard Book. Soon...
Well, must go, kids are clamoring to go play Rock Band at the neighbors. I will not comment on where I fit in that spectrum.
Also finished Only Revolutions (Only Revolutions? Only Revolutions? Maybe Only Revolutions? Ok enough Danielewski nods for now.) The fact that I finished it about a week or so ago and haven't said anything is its own sort of commentary. Whether it's about my blogging or the story I leave to you. It was certainly interesting. And it grew on me, but it was no House of Leaves. I did find it a truly mindbending piece of fiction. Danielewski is either brilliant or someone with far too much time on their hands. Quite possibly both. Rest assured you don't really need to check this one out.
I'm looking forward to Neil Gaiman's new one, The Graveyard Book. Soon...
Well, must go, kids are clamoring to go play Rock Band at the neighbors. I will not comment on where I fit in that spectrum.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Notes about nothing
I've been meaning to jot some random stuff down for a couple days now, but not really had time. So go play with Wordle. It will probably be more interesting.
We've been watching the HBO series John Adams that was based on the book by McCullough. It's been pretty interesting. The Revolutionary War has been somewhat fascinating to me of late. I read 1776 a while back and this has been another interesting look at that time period. It's definitely pretty amazing that this country ever got started when you look at how things were. The Civil War is also pretty interesting. I may have to watch Gettysburg. I read the book that one was based on and remember finding it compelling as well.
We watched most of the first season of Case Closed, but ran out of time to finish the last handful of episodes. Need to check it out again. Fun little anime series involving mysteries. It makes me want to read more of the Kindaichi Case Files. Fortunately the Library has a bunch of those as well, so once I finish Death Note that's probably next. Speaking of which, I'm almost through that series. It's definitely been interesting. Strange little series that it is.
Played some Lost Cities (it'll pop up on the right there at some point) with McK the other day. She still needs some work as a gamer. We'll get her whipped into shape. Hone those tactical skills.
Just as a note, G's favorite color is T Rex.
And apparently M is going to be a writer. They were evaluating reading skills the other day and she felt compelled to tell her teacher what should happen in the sequel to the book they were using for the test. Her teacher apparently has never had that happen before.
Caught the new trailer for Quantum of Solace, the new Bond flick. Daniel Craig is still the man. Looks really good. I really like the reboot of that series. It's better a little more grounded in reality. The characters are a little grittier, not quite so cartoonish. Good stuff.
We get a lot of cooking magazines at the Library. I have snagged a few recipes of late. Will let you know if there are any good ones. There's a really yummy sounding chili recipe. And a curry recipe and one for asparagus and another for mushroom soup and... mmm recipes. Oh and Bake or Break has a delightful looking chocolate cake recipe up at the moment.
We've been watching the HBO series John Adams that was based on the book by McCullough. It's been pretty interesting. The Revolutionary War has been somewhat fascinating to me of late. I read 1776 a while back and this has been another interesting look at that time period. It's definitely pretty amazing that this country ever got started when you look at how things were. The Civil War is also pretty interesting. I may have to watch Gettysburg. I read the book that one was based on and remember finding it compelling as well.
We watched most of the first season of Case Closed, but ran out of time to finish the last handful of episodes. Need to check it out again. Fun little anime series involving mysteries. It makes me want to read more of the Kindaichi Case Files. Fortunately the Library has a bunch of those as well, so once I finish Death Note that's probably next. Speaking of which, I'm almost through that series. It's definitely been interesting. Strange little series that it is.
Played some Lost Cities (it'll pop up on the right there at some point) with McK the other day. She still needs some work as a gamer. We'll get her whipped into shape. Hone those tactical skills.
Just as a note, G's favorite color is T Rex.
And apparently M is going to be a writer. They were evaluating reading skills the other day and she felt compelled to tell her teacher what should happen in the sequel to the book they were using for the test. Her teacher apparently has never had that happen before.
Caught the new trailer for Quantum of Solace, the new Bond flick. Daniel Craig is still the man. Looks really good. I really like the reboot of that series. It's better a little more grounded in reality. The characters are a little grittier, not quite so cartoonish. Good stuff.
We get a lot of cooking magazines at the Library. I have snagged a few recipes of late. Will let you know if there are any good ones. There's a really yummy sounding chili recipe. And a curry recipe and one for asparagus and another for mushroom soup and... mmm recipes. Oh and Bake or Break has a delightful looking chocolate cake recipe up at the moment.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
In which I talk a little bit about gaming
I still have memories of receiving the original Basic Dungeons and Dragons set when I was younger. My Uncle had gotten it for me for Christmas. He was in the Navy at the time and would stop by every so often when he had leave. I was so excited about the prospect of battling a Dragon that I made him insert one into the adventure we were playing. Never mind that I was a lowly level 1 magic user that could barely cast magic missile. I wanted to battle a dragon. So he humored me and then mercilessly killed my character. It was great. I spent a few years with that game, definitely good times.
You may have noticed that I mentioned recently that the new 4th Edition was out. It has been years since I've rolled the old polyhedral dice and I felt like checking it out. I enjoyed the initial adventure they put out for the launch. I convinced the letter 'r' (there really wasn't much convincing involved) that we should give it a go here. So we set up shop, dragged the wife and McK into the room and handed them some of the pre-made characters and then proceeded to run through the adventure. We finished it up the other day. A good time was had by all (with a decent amount of skepticism from my wife). I doubt we'll roll up characters any time soon, but it was an interesting experience. And who knows, I suspect another dip in the role-playing pool is a possibility.
Gaming is one of those things that I spend a fair amount of time doing, but not a lot of time thinking about. Well, not the behind the scenes, nitty gritty aspects anyway. There are a lots of types of gaming: role-playing (D&D, Rock Band, lots of things fit), board (Blue Moon City, Catan), video (Boom Blox, Mariokart), card (Gang of Four, Canasta), the list goes on (and already that's a pretty bad set of examples, it doesn't really take into account genres or how any of those can fit in multiple places). I enjoy aspects of role-playing games but it's probably not my favorite. Honestly it's a toss up between board and video games. My current favorite board game is probably Blue Moon City. It ostensibly has a story (you're rebuilding the city you destroyed in Blue Moon), but the main draw is the mechanic. Using the cards in various combinations to earn the pieces you need to win the game.
As my family and friends can attest, I typically don't like losing. Bad habit, yeah yeah, blah blah. I don't like losing even more when it's a factor of random luck. If I understand why I'm losing, I'll grouse about it, but hopefully next time a new strategy will prove more effective. When it comes to Blue Moon City, for some reason I don't mind losing as much. Typically games are pretty close and that might have something to do with it. It might just be that it's a more fun game. There are a couple other games that we own that I suspect I'd like as well, but it's difficult to tell. Arkham Horror is the best example. It's co-operative, got an HP Lovecraft theme, and possibly a lot of fun. Can't find anyone willing to give it a go.
For one thing it's very long. Also very fiddly (this is a technical term, if you play games you get it, if not, go hang around BGG). The fiddly-ness could probably be overlooked (or gotten used to or what not), but the time factor is a bit of a problem. How often can we seriously get a 3-4 hour block to run through a game. Yeah, it's long. But HP Lovecraft. And bits!
As for video games, again, for a not so strange reason if you know me, I tend to lean towards the survival horror games. Or puzzle games. Both are good. Games that make you think a bit. And possibly want the lights on. I'm rambling a bit now, so I probably ought to wrap this up. I think the point I set out to make is that it's interesting to see the kids start to develop these interests. As mentioned I got my start pretty early and the kids are no different. It was fun to see McK stretch her brain a bit as a wizard trying to rescue a couple kids. She came up with some interesting solutions to some of the problems the group faced. G is rapidly becoming a platformer fiend. M is pretty fascinated by card games and a couple board games.
There are certainly a lot of benefits that come from all sorts of gaming. Problem solving, social skills, a desire to crush your opponents and leave them silently weeping in the corner, err sportsmanship. It's fun to watch the kids pick up those skills. And soon the family can take on the Old Ones and save the poor town of Arkham...
You may have noticed that I mentioned recently that the new 4th Edition was out. It has been years since I've rolled the old polyhedral dice and I felt like checking it out. I enjoyed the initial adventure they put out for the launch. I convinced the letter 'r' (there really wasn't much convincing involved) that we should give it a go here. So we set up shop, dragged the wife and McK into the room and handed them some of the pre-made characters and then proceeded to run through the adventure. We finished it up the other day. A good time was had by all (with a decent amount of skepticism from my wife). I doubt we'll roll up characters any time soon, but it was an interesting experience. And who knows, I suspect another dip in the role-playing pool is a possibility.
Gaming is one of those things that I spend a fair amount of time doing, but not a lot of time thinking about. Well, not the behind the scenes, nitty gritty aspects anyway. There are a lots of types of gaming: role-playing (D&D, Rock Band, lots of things fit), board (Blue Moon City, Catan), video (Boom Blox, Mariokart), card (Gang of Four, Canasta), the list goes on (and already that's a pretty bad set of examples, it doesn't really take into account genres or how any of those can fit in multiple places). I enjoy aspects of role-playing games but it's probably not my favorite. Honestly it's a toss up between board and video games. My current favorite board game is probably Blue Moon City. It ostensibly has a story (you're rebuilding the city you destroyed in Blue Moon), but the main draw is the mechanic. Using the cards in various combinations to earn the pieces you need to win the game.
As my family and friends can attest, I typically don't like losing. Bad habit, yeah yeah, blah blah. I don't like losing even more when it's a factor of random luck. If I understand why I'm losing, I'll grouse about it, but hopefully next time a new strategy will prove more effective. When it comes to Blue Moon City, for some reason I don't mind losing as much. Typically games are pretty close and that might have something to do with it. It might just be that it's a more fun game. There are a couple other games that we own that I suspect I'd like as well, but it's difficult to tell. Arkham Horror is the best example. It's co-operative, got an HP Lovecraft theme, and possibly a lot of fun. Can't find anyone willing to give it a go.
For one thing it's very long. Also very fiddly (this is a technical term, if you play games you get it, if not, go hang around BGG). The fiddly-ness could probably be overlooked (or gotten used to or what not), but the time factor is a bit of a problem. How often can we seriously get a 3-4 hour block to run through a game. Yeah, it's long. But HP Lovecraft. And bits!
As for video games, again, for a not so strange reason if you know me, I tend to lean towards the survival horror games. Or puzzle games. Both are good. Games that make you think a bit. And possibly want the lights on. I'm rambling a bit now, so I probably ought to wrap this up. I think the point I set out to make is that it's interesting to see the kids start to develop these interests. As mentioned I got my start pretty early and the kids are no different. It was fun to see McK stretch her brain a bit as a wizard trying to rescue a couple kids. She came up with some interesting solutions to some of the problems the group faced. G is rapidly becoming a platformer fiend. M is pretty fascinated by card games and a couple board games.
There are certainly a lot of benefits that come from all sorts of gaming. Problem solving, social skills, a desire to crush your opponents and leave them silently weeping in the corner, err sportsmanship. It's fun to watch the kids pick up those skills. And soon the family can take on the Old Ones and save the poor town of Arkham...
Friday, September 05, 2008
The one in which little sister one bangs her head against her keyboard
It's really her own fault you know? Anyway, on with the show:
WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In a crossfire hurricane
FAVORITE COLOR? The Colour Out of Space
FAVORITE CITY? Post Apocalyptic London (zombie outbreak preferrably)
TWO PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT? The Dreamlands, The House on Ash Tree Lane
FAVORITE ANIMAL? Def Leppard's
PAST LOVE? I'm pretty sure Elise McKenna and I had a thing going on
FIRST JOB? Annoying my little sisters
WHAT IS YOUR JOB NOW? See First Job, it never ends
WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO? I'd ask myself but the Grandfather Paradox prevents me
THINGS I HAVE TO DO TODAY? Stop myself from going back in time and becoming my own Grandfather
THREE THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME?
1. I am not left handed
2. You killed my father, prepare to die
3. I hear being the Dread Pirate Roberts is a nice gig
FOUR MOVIES/TV SHOWS I LOVE
1. Bourne Trilogy/Firefly
2. Horror Movies of all shapes and sizes/House (I'm sure you have not picked up on any of the sarcasm appreciation)
3. Kung Fu Hustle/Psych
4. The Fifth Element/Burn Notice
FOUR BOOKS I LOVE?
1. The Necronomicon
2. The King in Yellow (Here, you can borrow my copy)
3. That one that explains what Men Know about Women and is blank, oh yeah, that's a riot
4. The Book of Stupid Questions (I'm pretty sure most of these were taken from there)
FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD?
1. Tormentor of Souls (i.e. Big Brother)
2. Finder of Lost Children
3. Wheelman
4. Drummer for Spinal Tap (there's a reason this is the last one listed)
FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. The Second Circle of Hell aka Kansas
2. Arkham (Massachusetts, not Asylum, although come to think of it...)
3. Denial
4. Scotland, aka God's Country - if it's not Scottish, it's crap
FIVE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS?
1. Haggis (where do you get your daily allotment of innards?)
2. Soylent Green (it's people y'know?)
3. Melange
4. Ambrosia
5. Braaaains
A: ATTACHED OR SINGLE? This is not that kind of blog
B: BEST FRIEND? Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend, inside of a dog it's too dark to read
C: CAKE OR PIE? Brownies
D: DAY OF CHOICE? The day Dread Cthulhu Rises
E: ESSENTIAL ITEM? Sonic Screwdriver
F: FAVORITE COLOR? Deja vu
G: GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Braaains. Oh wait, I did that joke already...
H: HOMETOWN? Doomed to wander the world righting wrongs
I: INDULGENCE? Mocking lists designed to let people know the real you
J: JANUARY OR JULY? January because it's cold like the stare I use on unsuspecting mortals like you
K: KIDS? Make good paperwights. With a little duct tape.
L: LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? A good knife in the back
M: MARRIAGE DATE? Isn't your wedding day a little late to start dating?
N: NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? Before or after I hid the bodies?
O: ORANGES OR APPLES? *processing error* could not compare
P: PHOBIAS? Those things I take great pleasure in creating in my children, family, friends, well everyone really
Q: QUOTES?
"Yes, have some"
"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women"
"I say we call it your grave"
I really could go on...
R: REASON TO SMILE? See quote number two. Oh and when a plan comes together.
S: SEASON OF CHOICE? Tabasco
T: TAG SEVEN PEEPS!! Why would I try to play a children's game with a small animal made out of sugar?
U: UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? My name, I always leave town before giving it.
V: VEGETABLE? I prefer the term differently abled.
W: WORST HABIT? Filling out these "lists"
X: X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? I don't think either of those make very good superpowers
Y: YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Braai, wait, seriously? Again?
Z: ZODIAC SIGN? The one he used in that third letter to the cops - second line, fifth character, yeah that was a good one.
WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In a crossfire hurricane
FAVORITE COLOR? The Colour Out of Space
FAVORITE CITY? Post Apocalyptic London (zombie outbreak preferrably)
TWO PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO VISIT? The Dreamlands, The House on Ash Tree Lane
FAVORITE ANIMAL? Def Leppard's
PAST LOVE? I'm pretty sure Elise McKenna and I had a thing going on
FIRST JOB? Annoying my little sisters
WHAT IS YOUR JOB NOW? See First Job, it never ends
WHAT WAS I DOING 10 YEARS AGO? I'd ask myself but the Grandfather Paradox prevents me
THINGS I HAVE TO DO TODAY? Stop myself from going back in time and becoming my own Grandfather
THREE THINGS YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME?
1. I am not left handed
2. You killed my father, prepare to die
3. I hear being the Dread Pirate Roberts is a nice gig
FOUR MOVIES/TV SHOWS I LOVE
1. Bourne Trilogy/Firefly
2. Horror Movies of all shapes and sizes/House (I'm sure you have not picked up on any of the sarcasm appreciation)
3. Kung Fu Hustle/Psych
4. The Fifth Element/Burn Notice
FOUR BOOKS I LOVE?
1. The Necronomicon
2. The King in Yellow (Here, you can borrow my copy)
3. That one that explains what Men Know about Women and is blank, oh yeah, that's a riot
4. The Book of Stupid Questions (I'm pretty sure most of these were taken from there)
FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD?
1. Tormentor of Souls (i.e. Big Brother)
2. Finder of Lost Children
3. Wheelman
4. Drummer for Spinal Tap (there's a reason this is the last one listed)
FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. The Second Circle of Hell aka Kansas
2. Arkham (Massachusetts, not Asylum, although come to think of it...)
3. Denial
4. Scotland, aka God's Country - if it's not Scottish, it's crap
FIVE OF MY FAVORITE FOODS?
1. Haggis (where do you get your daily allotment of innards?)
2. Soylent Green (it's people y'know?)
3. Melange
4. Ambrosia
5. Braaaains
A: ATTACHED OR SINGLE? This is not that kind of blog
B: BEST FRIEND? Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend, inside of a dog it's too dark to read
C: CAKE OR PIE? Brownies
D: DAY OF CHOICE? The day Dread Cthulhu Rises
E: ESSENTIAL ITEM? Sonic Screwdriver
F: FAVORITE COLOR? Deja vu
G: GUMMY BEARS OR WORMS? Braaains. Oh wait, I did that joke already...
H: HOMETOWN? Doomed to wander the world righting wrongs
I: INDULGENCE? Mocking lists designed to let people know the real you
J: JANUARY OR JULY? January because it's cold like the stare I use on unsuspecting mortals like you
K: KIDS? Make good paperwights. With a little duct tape.
L: LIFE ISN'T COMPLETE WITHOUT? A good knife in the back
M: MARRIAGE DATE? Isn't your wedding day a little late to start dating?
N: NUMBER OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS? Before or after I hid the bodies?
O: ORANGES OR APPLES? *processing error* could not compare
P: PHOBIAS? Those things I take great pleasure in creating in my children, family, friends, well everyone really
Q: QUOTES?
"Yes, have some"
"To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women"
"I say we call it your grave"
I really could go on...
R: REASON TO SMILE? See quote number two. Oh and when a plan comes together.
S: SEASON OF CHOICE? Tabasco
T: TAG SEVEN PEEPS!! Why would I try to play a children's game with a small animal made out of sugar?
U: UNKNOWN FACT ABOUT ME? My name, I always leave town before giving it.
V: VEGETABLE? I prefer the term differently abled.
W: WORST HABIT? Filling out these "lists"
X: X-RAY OR ULTRASOUND? I don't think either of those make very good superpowers
Y: YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Braai, wait, seriously? Again?
Z: ZODIAC SIGN? The one he used in that third letter to the cops - second line, fifth character, yeah that was a good one.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Quick catch up
So we enjoyed a little "staycation" over the lovely 3 day weekend. Borrowed Rock Band from the neighbors, watched a couple flicks, grilled some burgers, and had a thoroughly wonderful bbq over at the letter r's. I love me some bbq...
At any rate, Rock Band is quite fun. Especially when playing drums. The drums are definitely my favorite instrument in the game. Possibly because they're the most realistic, probably because they're just a heckuva lot of fun to bang around on. Kids and wife all had a good time getting into the band groove.
Still consuming books. Death Note is the latest graphic novel series. It's wonderfully warped. Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi is also terribly enjoyable. Still working through Only Revolutions and starting Soon I Will be Invincible. (Which if you like superhero type stories and humor I can already recommend. It's pretty good.)
Brick is a great little film noir piece. Raymond Chandler meets Humphrey Bogart as played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The upcoming Brothers Bloom is by the same director and looks promising as well.
Seems like I had some other random things to ramble on about but I am tired. You get nothing. Go follow Stephen Colbert on Twitter or something.
At any rate, Rock Band is quite fun. Especially when playing drums. The drums are definitely my favorite instrument in the game. Possibly because they're the most realistic, probably because they're just a heckuva lot of fun to bang around on. Kids and wife all had a good time getting into the band groove.
Still consuming books. Death Note is the latest graphic novel series. It's wonderfully warped. Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi is also terribly enjoyable. Still working through Only Revolutions and starting Soon I Will be Invincible. (Which if you like superhero type stories and humor I can already recommend. It's pretty good.)
Brick is a great little film noir piece. Raymond Chandler meets Humphrey Bogart as played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The upcoming Brothers Bloom is by the same director and looks promising as well.
Seems like I had some other random things to ramble on about but I am tired. You get nothing. Go follow Stephen Colbert on Twitter or something.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Rolling a few things up
So, first Google Labs. Based on a couple recommendations in the comments, I checked out Page Creator (Google Sites now) and Google Mars. Upon arriving home the Dashboard Widget will get a glance as well. Google Sites seems like a nice way to muck about with web page development. I didn't dive in real deep, but a lot of the basics were present. I do wonder if you can play around with templates as far as site backgrounds go. Something to look into. Also I wonder just what sorts of things they'll let you get up to as far as storage is concerned on the free version. But still, definitely something to look into. The Mars page was pretty interesting as well. I wonder if Marvin is there somewhere... Again, I really do wonder just when Google will take over the world.
And in Web 2.0 award news, I thought I'd ramble on a little bit about Twitter and Pandora. I've used both for a while now and it was nice to see them get some recognition (although I may have to break down and check out this LastFM place that won). Twitter is micro blogging. You'll either like it or hate it. It's very much about the minutiae of people's lives. So if you have a voyeuristic streak you'll fit right in. (I still think the Library could do with some sort of Twitter feed. But that's just me.)
Pandora lets you set up radio stations based around artists/songs. Plunk in someone you like they'll play a song that you can then rate (more like this, not like this). Then they crossref it with other artists and soon you find yourself listening to someone you've never heard of, but stand a good chance of liking. And you can save the stations and make new ones and. Well, if you like music, this is a pretty nifty place to kill some time.
And in Web 2.0 award news, I thought I'd ramble on a little bit about Twitter and Pandora. I've used both for a while now and it was nice to see them get some recognition (although I may have to break down and check out this LastFM place that won). Twitter is micro blogging. You'll either like it or hate it. It's very much about the minutiae of people's lives. So if you have a voyeuristic streak you'll fit right in. (I still think the Library could do with some sort of Twitter feed. But that's just me.)
Pandora lets you set up radio stations based around artists/songs. Plunk in someone you like they'll play a song that you can then rate (more like this, not like this). Then they crossref it with other artists and soon you find yourself listening to someone you've never heard of, but stand a good chance of liking. And you can save the stations and make new ones and. Well, if you like music, this is a pretty nifty place to kill some time.
Web Office
So, today I look at some web based MS Office type replacements. Things like Google Docs. (Remember that earlier discussion about computers running Google OS? This is where that starts.) Honestly I've not really played around with Google Docs much, so this was a nice opportunity. I also looked at a couple competing options. Zoho took a few moments to cooperate, but once it did proved nice as well. Google Docs is a little more clean interface-wise, but Zoho has a nice set of features and I could see using either one in a pinch. Especially as they are web based. Nice bonus. I took a quick peek at ThinkFree, but didn't feel like signing up. So I will just have to guess that it's another similar option.
As for Calendar type options I looked at 30 Boxes, but the shout out is going to go to Remember the Milk my personal favorite. I ran across this online to do manager while reading Upgrade Your Life. It's terribly useful. I don't play with all the features it has (cell phone options and so on), but I do like it. If I used the Google Calendar I could even get them to play together. Nice.
So, yeah, it's pretty amazing what's cropping up in the world of Office replacements. Go take a look.
Update: Posting this thing to my blog was a little on the odd side. It first tried to post to a blog that I'm pretty sure I don't run, so if this post exists twice elsewhere, sorry. Also no title went along for the ride. Small annoyances to be sure (and the ID thing should be sorted now for the future) but still, silliness that should be ironed out.
As for Calendar type options I looked at 30 Boxes, but the shout out is going to go to Remember the Milk my personal favorite. I ran across this online to do manager while reading Upgrade Your Life. It's terribly useful. I don't play with all the features it has (cell phone options and so on), but I do like it. If I used the Google Calendar I could even get them to play together. Nice.
So, yeah, it's pretty amazing what's cropping up in the world of Office replacements. Go take a look.
Update: Posting this thing to my blog was a little on the odd side. It first tried to post to a blog that I'm pretty sure I don't run, so if this post exists twice elsewhere, sorry. Also no title went along for the ride. Small annoyances to be sure (and the ID thing should be sorted now for the future) but still, silliness that should be ironed out.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Weapons of Mass Instruction
Search Engines (or how I learned that there was more to life than Google). Apparently people still make these things. I remember the early days of the internet (Webcrawler) and some of the search engines that you'd find. They were somewhat helpful. Today they're a little more helpful, partially due to the amount of information out there - it's easier to find somethings when there's a lot of it. The problem stems from the fact that you find a lot of it. Search engines are one of those things that people probably thought would doom libraries. And while I suspect we don't get a lot of phone calls or people coming in asking for random facts any more, oddly enough, libraries still around. Go figure.
So, yes, sorry for the distraction. Search Engines. I played around with the following:
Exalead
Clusty
KartOO
and Yahoo (you know, as a control, it's been around a while)
I will state at the beginning, if you want to see a pretty search engine, go play with KartOO. That's one nifty graphical interface. It would have killed my poor old 14.4 modem back in the day.
So I searched on Empire State Building. Andoddly enough surprising no one, the results were pretty similar. See, if they don't take you to pretty similar, important places first, they won't really be considered a very effective search engine. The differences really come in how they present the info and the ways they offer to help your search. Exalead gives you the sponsored sites first, followed by the official site, but does offer pretty little thumbnails. They also offer some nice ways to narrow your search in the sidebar. Clusty led off with the official site and then offered cluster results on the sidebar. Somewhat interesting to click around on.
KartOO, as mentioned, has an eye-catching graphical representation of the results. Strangely the official site is off on it's lonesome, but it does have a larger graphic. It looks like they roughly map out how some of the sites interact with each other as well and that drives some of the site placement. Nifty. And our control - Yahoo - has your sponsored sites, some image results and then oh yeah, the official site.
See, there's one of the problems with search engines right there. You can now pay to get your site ranked higher. Sneaky. Not necessarily helpful either. It was actually pretty interesting to see what people are doing in the realm of search engines. Google (and Yahoo) is so ubiquitous that it can seem like there aren't other options. The new ones try to sneak in with the bells and whistles, the little touches they offer (thumbnails, sidebars that help you narrow results and so on) to help you in your searching. Searching for a song? Here, let's give you an embedded player that contains a snippet of the song in question. Shiny paint. Again, while they may try to set themselves apart on the outside, if they don't have a decent engine (heh) under the hood the results they offer won't be as useful as the big guys. And they will die a Darwinian internet death. Which means they'll show up in Google cache. Poor souls. Nothing really dies on the internet...
So, yes, sorry for the distraction. Search Engines. I played around with the following:
Exalead
Clusty
KartOO
and Yahoo (you know, as a control, it's been around a while)
I will state at the beginning, if you want to see a pretty search engine, go play with KartOO. That's one nifty graphical interface. It would have killed my poor old 14.4 modem back in the day.
So I searched on Empire State Building. And
KartOO, as mentioned, has an eye-catching graphical representation of the results. Strangely the official site is off on it's lonesome, but it does have a larger graphic. It looks like they roughly map out how some of the sites interact with each other as well and that drives some of the site placement. Nifty. And our control - Yahoo - has your sponsored sites, some image results and then oh yeah, the official site.
See, there's one of the problems with search engines right there. You can now pay to get your site ranked higher. Sneaky. Not necessarily helpful either. It was actually pretty interesting to see what people are doing in the realm of search engines. Google (and Yahoo) is so ubiquitous that it can seem like there aren't other options. The new ones try to sneak in with the bells and whistles, the little touches they offer (thumbnails, sidebars that help you narrow results and so on) to help you in your searching. Searching for a song? Here, let's give you an embedded player that contains a snippet of the song in question. Shiny paint. Again, while they may try to set themselves apart on the outside, if they don't have a decent engine (heh) under the hood the results they offer won't be as useful as the big guys. And they will die a Darwinian internet death. Which means they'll show up in Google cache. Poor souls. Nothing really dies on the internet...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Library 2.0 - we can rebuild it
Today's post is meant to focus on the concept of Library 2.0 - the Library re-envisioned through the lens of Web 2.0 type functionality. (You know, those things I've been posting about of late.) We looked at a brief series of articles as well as the Wikipedia entry, which I've linked to for simplicity's sake.
For the most part I agree that a lot of the Web 2.0 functionality isn't really a new idea for libraries. It may involve a new way of doing something (hey, rotate those crops instead of planting the same thing year after year, it works better!), but the ultimate goals are still the same. Connecting with the community you're a part of. Serving the public and providing access to all sorts of information. The web presence of a Library will (and should) grow thus enabling people to access things on their own schedules. Use of tools like wikis and RSS to push information or aggregate content. It's certainly an interesting new place.
Which doesn't mean that the physical Library will go anywhere. I still don't see books and movies going anywhere soon. I know companies like Microsoft would love for digital distribution to be the norm and the accepted way of doing things, but there's a lot that would have to happen first and you'd need a pretty big generational shift. Music is certainly a look at where things might go. Digital music is a pretty strong force, but it hasn't completely killed off the CD yet. And that's to say nothing of things people create as far as mixes and so on. It's not all swapped electronically. People will still want a place they can go. A place where information can be used and collected.
It's an interesting question. And one that can only be answered through time. But here's to keeping up and seeing what new ways we can interact with the people we serve.
For the most part I agree that a lot of the Web 2.0 functionality isn't really a new idea for libraries. It may involve a new way of doing something (hey, rotate those crops instead of planting the same thing year after year, it works better!), but the ultimate goals are still the same. Connecting with the community you're a part of. Serving the public and providing access to all sorts of information. The web presence of a Library will (and should) grow thus enabling people to access things on their own schedules. Use of tools like wikis and RSS to push information or aggregate content. It's certainly an interesting new place.
Which doesn't mean that the physical Library will go anywhere. I still don't see books and movies going anywhere soon. I know companies like Microsoft would love for digital distribution to be the norm and the accepted way of doing things, but there's a lot that would have to happen first and you'd need a pretty big generational shift. Music is certainly a look at where things might go. Digital music is a pretty strong force, but it hasn't completely killed off the CD yet. And that's to say nothing of things people create as far as mixes and so on. It's not all swapped electronically. People will still want a place they can go. A place where information can be used and collected.
It's an interesting question. And one that can only be answered through time. But here's to keeping up and seeing what new ways we can interact with the people we serve.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
I'm the map
First:
create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide
Now. This is a rough guess. I may have been through a touch more of the East Coast than I have represented there. If I had opted for the country version, you'd have gotten Canada, Scotland and England. We lived a few places while growing up (2 siblings and the three of us born in different states) and we visited a few places. My folks are certainly more traveled than I am. They also know far more people than I do and have kept in much better contact. Still an interesting exercise.
create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide
Now. This is a rough guess. I may have been through a touch more of the East Coast than I have represented there. If I had opted for the country version, you'd have gotten Canada, Scotland and England. We lived a few places while growing up (2 siblings and the three of us born in different states) and we visited a few places. My folks are certainly more traveled than I am. They also know far more people than I do and have kept in much better contact. Still an interesting exercise.
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