In about two weeks Scott Pilgrim vs the World will be in theaters. This is grand news indeed. If you've not read the graphic novels you really should. All six are out now, so the story is complete. I've seen book 6, but have to wait my turn to read it. (Accursed hold list!) I'm hoping to get it before the movie comes out, but we shall see. I'm biding my time reading the first five over again. The story follows Scott as he starts dating Ramona Flowers only to find out that he has to defeat her seven evil exes in order to continue dating her. The movie is being directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) so it will, of course, be brilliant. If there's a guy more capable of grasping the source material than Wright, I'd like to meet him.
I've managed to finish off the second books in both the Skulduggery Pleasant and Last Apprentice series. They were also quite enjoyable. Playing with Fire (the second Skulduggery book) was once again hilarious and thrilling while The Curse of the Bane was still somewhat spooky and mysterious. I'm going to have to read more. This may present a problem...
The Courtyard is Alan Moore's take on Cthulhu. It's disturbing and gritty and not really for the faint of heart. Kind of like Cthulhu. (The best Cthulhu news I've heard? Guillermo Del Toro is going to make At the Mountains of Madness with James Cameron producing. This will be an absolutely awesome movie. Much like Wright's suitability for Scott Pilgrim, Del Toro is a match for Cthulhu.)
Lovely wife and I are currently watching the first season of The Mentalist. It's fun. Simon Baker is an absolute joy to watch as Patrick Jane, the ever observant consultant for the CBI. Where Psych goes almost strictly for comedy with serious moments, The Mentalist goes for drama with moments of humor. If you've not seen it, it's worth checking out.
And as a closing piece of advice, never give your spouse and kids a chance to practice at PitchCar. When it comes time to actually play, they will kill you.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Oregon and back...agon
As you can see from the lovely picture accompanying the post here family del 'd' recently returned from a vacation. Celebrating lovely wife's Father's 70th birthday we went to Depoe Bay in Oregon with her side of the family. And it was wonderful. I'm pretty sure I could settle down in Oregon on the coast. We stayed at the Worldmark resort in Depoe Bay courtesy of lovely wife's sister and had a lovely 3rd floor room looking out over the ocean. I will attempt to get some more pictures up soon, but for now you can look at the Yaquina Lighthouse that was down in Newport.
We played on the beach, flew a kite, visited the lighthouse and an aquarium and enjoyed lots of other coastal town activities. We saw seals, starfish, crabs, anemones, and other assorted critters. The temperature was a lovely 60-ish degrees. It was great.
We went out on a boat in an attempt to see a whale, but ended up discovering that lovely wife and M are more prone to get seasick. McK, G and myself had a grand old time in spite of the waves and wind and I still think it would be great to learn to sail. I really need a sailboat... Alas the weather (some fog and lots of wind) prevented us from seeing a whale, but the boat ride was fun (if you weren't lovely wife or M).
We enjoyed lots of local cuisine (taffy! Tillamook ice cream! Crab Legs!) and just generally did our best to relax and unwind and enjoy some time together. If you're looking to get away for a bit I can certainly recommend the Oregon coast.
On the way back we stopped off at Crater Lake and marveled at the startlingly blue water. Not so much the return to typical summer temperatures, but the lake itself was quite pretty.
I've also read far too many books recently. I shall try to recap them here.
Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice Book 1) by Joseph Delaney is pretty darn good. And also creepy. I look forward to reading more of this series. It follows Tom, the 7th son of a 7th son as he is apprenticed to the Spook - the guy responsible for dealing with all the supernatural problems the towns in the area face. Witches, boggarts and the like. It's a quick read that you don't want to put down that has some really nice atmosphere. McK claims to not have found it that creepy. I think she's putting on a brave face.
The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade recounts the 11 1/2 year history behind the popular webcomic. If you're a follower of the strip you'll recognize some of the stories, but there's plenty of material here that's worth revisiting. They cover everything from the strip itself to the creation of Child's Play, the charity and PAX, the premiere convention for the gaming public. Jerry and Mike are a couple of pretty amazing guys and it's fun to read about all the things that have happened. If you're not a fan, but someone you know is, the book will give you some insight into just what they find so fascinating.
The Ark, by Boyd Morrison was a decent summer popcorn book. And then I realized I was reading Clive Cussler. Two male action heroes with witty banter? Check. Beautiful woman tied to current mystery for predominant male hero to fall in love with? Check. Lots of vehicles? Check. Wacky vehicle chase scene? Check. Alternate take on historical artifact? Check. End of the world scenario that our heroes must stop with seconds to spare? Check. So yeah, it's really Clive Cussler in disguise, but it's still fun.
Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy is another series that I look forward to reading. We listened to the audiobook version of this and I can wholeheartedly recommend that. The story is an absolute riot and full of lots of action and suspense. Stephanie is 12 years old when her uncle passes away. At the funeral she meets Skulduggery, who she later discovers is a fire wielding, magic using skeleton. They then go on adventures to save the world. It's great. Go read it now. The entire family (with the possible exception of G who was probably a little to young for the whole audiobook spanning multiple cds thing) loved it.
So yeah, lots has happened since I last rambled on. But things should settle back to normal now. And I will settle for missing the ocean...
We played on the beach, flew a kite, visited the lighthouse and an aquarium and enjoyed lots of other coastal town activities. We saw seals, starfish, crabs, anemones, and other assorted critters. The temperature was a lovely 60-ish degrees. It was great.
We went out on a boat in an attempt to see a whale, but ended up discovering that lovely wife and M are more prone to get seasick. McK, G and myself had a grand old time in spite of the waves and wind and I still think it would be great to learn to sail. I really need a sailboat... Alas the weather (some fog and lots of wind) prevented us from seeing a whale, but the boat ride was fun (if you weren't lovely wife or M).
We enjoyed lots of local cuisine (taffy! Tillamook ice cream! Crab Legs!) and just generally did our best to relax and unwind and enjoy some time together. If you're looking to get away for a bit I can certainly recommend the Oregon coast.
On the way back we stopped off at Crater Lake and marveled at the startlingly blue water. Not so much the return to typical summer temperatures, but the lake itself was quite pretty.
I've also read far too many books recently. I shall try to recap them here.
Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice Book 1) by Joseph Delaney is pretty darn good. And also creepy. I look forward to reading more of this series. It follows Tom, the 7th son of a 7th son as he is apprenticed to the Spook - the guy responsible for dealing with all the supernatural problems the towns in the area face. Witches, boggarts and the like. It's a quick read that you don't want to put down that has some really nice atmosphere. McK claims to not have found it that creepy. I think she's putting on a brave face.
The Splendid Magic of Penny Arcade recounts the 11 1/2 year history behind the popular webcomic. If you're a follower of the strip you'll recognize some of the stories, but there's plenty of material here that's worth revisiting. They cover everything from the strip itself to the creation of Child's Play, the charity and PAX, the premiere convention for the gaming public. Jerry and Mike are a couple of pretty amazing guys and it's fun to read about all the things that have happened. If you're not a fan, but someone you know is, the book will give you some insight into just what they find so fascinating.
The Ark, by Boyd Morrison was a decent summer popcorn book. And then I realized I was reading Clive Cussler. Two male action heroes with witty banter? Check. Beautiful woman tied to current mystery for predominant male hero to fall in love with? Check. Lots of vehicles? Check. Wacky vehicle chase scene? Check. Alternate take on historical artifact? Check. End of the world scenario that our heroes must stop with seconds to spare? Check. So yeah, it's really Clive Cussler in disguise, but it's still fun.
Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy is another series that I look forward to reading. We listened to the audiobook version of this and I can wholeheartedly recommend that. The story is an absolute riot and full of lots of action and suspense. Stephanie is 12 years old when her uncle passes away. At the funeral she meets Skulduggery, who she later discovers is a fire wielding, magic using skeleton. They then go on adventures to save the world. It's great. Go read it now. The entire family (with the possible exception of G who was probably a little to young for the whole audiobook spanning multiple cds thing) loved it.
So yeah, lots has happened since I last rambled on. But things should settle back to normal now. And I will settle for missing the ocean...
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Cloning around
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro ends about as well as it can. I first heard about the book a few weeks back when a trailer for the movie showed up. I didn't watch the trailer (which was probably wise prior to reading the book) but decided it sounded a little interesting. I'd heard of the author before, but not read anything by him. So I picked it up. The book follows Ruth, Tommy and Kathy as they grow up, first in a boarding school type location and then as they venture into the world after school. Or as much of it as they're allowed to see. I won't go into specifics about the plot as some of the impact comes from following the story, but it is interesting. It's told from a reminiscing/memoir point of view and is mostly slice of life with a sci-fi edge to it. And a rather sharp one at that. It's not terribly surprising there' s a movie in the works and that the book is gaining some attention again considering the topics it tackles. It's definitely interesting and well written. (And a little depressing.)
Other than that, life continues in casa del 'd'. The weather has been wonderfully cool for July. I approve of this oddball summer we're having. It's certainly hot enough during the day, but the evenings have been actually pleasant.
I contemplated rambling a little bit about video games. Mostly as I was thinking about consoles and the sorts of games you tend to buy for them. Everybody needs a good racer and a fighting game and so on. But really, there's not a lot of topic there. At least that hasn't been covered better elsewhere. So no ramblings for you. Just go buy a racing game and a fighter and a platformer or two. Maybe a party game.
Oh hey, remember that last line thing? Here's one without any commentary: Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini, "They were now on Liquidia's short list, and the man known in Tijuana as the Mexecutioner had a very long memory." Ok, the only comment I have is Mexecutioner? Really? I suspect the author had one too many of his last name. You know what the best name for an assassin would be? Mexecutioner. Because he's from Mexico. And he executes people. I love you man! <sigh>
Other than that, life continues in casa del 'd'. The weather has been wonderfully cool for July. I approve of this oddball summer we're having. It's certainly hot enough during the day, but the evenings have been actually pleasant.
I contemplated rambling a little bit about video games. Mostly as I was thinking about consoles and the sorts of games you tend to buy for them. Everybody needs a good racer and a fighting game and so on. But really, there's not a lot of topic there. At least that hasn't been covered better elsewhere. So no ramblings for you. Just go buy a racing game and a fighter and a platformer or two. Maybe a party game.
Oh hey, remember that last line thing? Here's one without any commentary: Guardian of Lies by Steve Martini, "They were now on Liquidia's short list, and the man known in Tijuana as the Mexecutioner had a very long memory." Ok, the only comment I have is Mexecutioner? Really? I suspect the author had one too many of his last name. You know what the best name for an assassin would be? Mexecutioner. Because he's from Mexico. And he executes people. I love you man! <sigh>
Thursday, July 01, 2010
And so it goes
It seems like that's a line from Kurt Vonnegut. (The title that is) It seems to fit things in casa del 'd' at the moment. Hmm.
I've been reading The Name of the Wind again in the evenings. Such a good book. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good the second time through (especially as I only read it a few months back), but nope, still excellent.
We picked up a couple little games in preparation for some family time. Qwirkle Cubes takes the gameplay from Qwirkle and mixes it up by turning the tiles into dice. So you're still trying to complete lines of 6 (either same color different shape or same shape different color) but at the beginning of your turn you can opt to roll any of the dice that are in your hand. It makes things a little more interesting. Also you can see what your opponents have at any time so there's a little more strategy to what you might place.
Forbidden Island is a co-operative game that has you trying to collect 4 treasures from a rapidly sinking island. Each player has an ability that lets them break the rules in a specific way as you work together to try and keep the island from sinking before you get the goods and get away. It's by the guy that created Pandemic which is a pretty well known co-op game. This one is a little simpler and meant for families. It's also much cheaper - priced around $15. It plays 2-4 people and lovely wife and I found it pretty fun.
We've still been having some fun throwing the frisbee around and taking some walks around the neighborhood. They built a pretty nice biking/walking path close by that we like. I've not been real good about exercising lately, so we try and get out for a walk in the evening to at least pretend.
And that's about it. The kids still live at the pool (when we let them) or terrorize the neighborhood. I guess we'll try to blow some stuff up this weekend and celebrate the holiday. Too bad we can't get any real fireworks...
I've been reading The Name of the Wind again in the evenings. Such a good book. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as good the second time through (especially as I only read it a few months back), but nope, still excellent.
We picked up a couple little games in preparation for some family time. Qwirkle Cubes takes the gameplay from Qwirkle and mixes it up by turning the tiles into dice. So you're still trying to complete lines of 6 (either same color different shape or same shape different color) but at the beginning of your turn you can opt to roll any of the dice that are in your hand. It makes things a little more interesting. Also you can see what your opponents have at any time so there's a little more strategy to what you might place.
Forbidden Island is a co-operative game that has you trying to collect 4 treasures from a rapidly sinking island. Each player has an ability that lets them break the rules in a specific way as you work together to try and keep the island from sinking before you get the goods and get away. It's by the guy that created Pandemic which is a pretty well known co-op game. This one is a little simpler and meant for families. It's also much cheaper - priced around $15. It plays 2-4 people and lovely wife and I found it pretty fun.
We've still been having some fun throwing the frisbee around and taking some walks around the neighborhood. They built a pretty nice biking/walking path close by that we like. I've not been real good about exercising lately, so we try and get out for a walk in the evening to at least pretend.
And that's about it. The kids still live at the pool (when we let them) or terrorize the neighborhood. I guess we'll try to blow some stuff up this weekend and celebrate the holiday. Too bad we can't get any real fireworks...
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Quick thoughts
I finished reading Fat Vampire by Adam Rex. Doug is 15 and overweight and now undead. Forever 15 and overweight and trying to sort out this whole undead thing. The initial parts of this book are hilarious. The rest moderately so. Lovely wife liked about the first 2/3s. I enjoyed it pretty much up until the end. The end is a little odd, it's true. But there was some decent humor. I suspect the biggest problem is the fact that the book kind of wanders. It is a coming of age tale of sorts, so I suppose that's somewhat understandable, but not really to the extent found in the book. I'd say it's worth reading for humor, but not necessarily the story. Although it's not bad. (Although the Google? Really?)
G and I have started playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and it's quite good. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. It's a touch more challenging, but there's a lot of fun to be had. If you haven't played the first one, I think I'd recommend starting with it. There are a couple things the new one does better (especially related to having a 2nd player) but you'll probably find the learning curve a little less steep.
And that's really all I feel like going on about right now. I will mention very briefly in passing that Cypher and Red Rock West were both pretty interesting little movies. One's a sci-fi espionage flick and the other is a noir-ish mistaken identity flick.
G and I have started playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 and it's quite good. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. It's a touch more challenging, but there's a lot of fun to be had. If you haven't played the first one, I think I'd recommend starting with it. There are a couple things the new one does better (especially related to having a 2nd player) but you'll probably find the learning curve a little less steep.
And that's really all I feel like going on about right now. I will mention very briefly in passing that Cypher and Red Rock West were both pretty interesting little movies. One's a sci-fi espionage flick and the other is a noir-ish mistaken identity flick.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Dresden, Dice, Dads, dis and dat
Storm Front by Jim Butcher is the first Dresden Files book. And it's a fun little read. Fantasy noir is probably the best way to describe it. Think detective story by the way of Raymond Chandler and wizard by the way of ... hmm. Butcher I guess. Some of it is the noir aspects, but the wizards in Buther's book are definitely their own little breed. If you liked the series that ran on SciFi (back before it became Syfy) it's definitely worth looking into. Book and show are similar, yet different. Slight tweaks on characters and relationships and so on. The story itself serves mostly as an introduction to Harry's world, but contains a decent enough mystery at the heart of it as well. Someone is leaving corpses with their hearts burst out of their chests. The Chicago PD is a little at a loss and Harry gets called in. Plus he has an actual client. Of the dame in distress variety (see? Chandler all the way).
Cthulhu Dice was fun because of the die. That and it's a little fun to steal your buddy's sanity. Zombie Dice is fun because it's a little more of a game. It's basically Pass the Pigs as seen through the eyes of a zombie. You pick three dice at random and roll them. Brains are points, footsteps are fleeing victims and shotgun blasts hurt. Assuming you don't roll all three blasts, you can choose to pick up the footsteps, add more dice to total three, and roll again. If you get three blasts before you choose to quit you lose all the brains you rolled. First to 13 brains wins. It's fun.
Father's Day draws near. We just had a chance to see Dad, so that was good. I certainly appreciate all the help Dad gives us. It was also nice to just give him a chance to relax this last time with no projects waiting for him. Next time though...
E3 is just about wrapped up and Nintendo has once again managed to convince me it needs more of my money. There are some pretty cool games coming up (Kirby Epic Yarn, Metroid Other M, Epic Mickey, Zelda, the list goes on) but the really cool bit was the 3DS. Handheld 3D device that doesn't require glasses? I'm pretty sure we won't miss just one of the kids... So yeah, it's officially on the list of things the ol' letter 'd' needs.
Cthulhu Dice was fun because of the die. That and it's a little fun to steal your buddy's sanity. Zombie Dice is fun because it's a little more of a game. It's basically Pass the Pigs as seen through the eyes of a zombie. You pick three dice at random and roll them. Brains are points, footsteps are fleeing victims and shotgun blasts hurt. Assuming you don't roll all three blasts, you can choose to pick up the footsteps, add more dice to total three, and roll again. If you get three blasts before you choose to quit you lose all the brains you rolled. First to 13 brains wins. It's fun.
Father's Day draws near. We just had a chance to see Dad, so that was good. I certainly appreciate all the help Dad gives us. It was also nice to just give him a chance to relax this last time with no projects waiting for him. Next time though...
E3 is just about wrapped up and Nintendo has once again managed to convince me it needs more of my money. There are some pretty cool games coming up (Kirby Epic Yarn, Metroid Other M, Epic Mickey, Zelda, the list goes on) but the really cool bit was the 3DS. Handheld 3D device that doesn't require glasses? I'm pretty sure we won't miss just one of the kids... So yeah, it's officially on the list of things the ol' letter 'd' needs.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
In which I try to recap lots of things badly
So. I suppose a lot has happened since last I posted anything of any note. We have had several family members visit and depart, watched some shows, read some books, played some games, gone on a hike, eaten out at far too many restaurants - the list goes on. I'll try to keep this to the highlights.
We had a grand time with Dad while he was here. We managed to let him have some fun this time and didn't force him to fix anything or work on any projects. Instead we went on the aforementioned hike (very short) to a local waterfall and a few other places of interest. We checked out the new Dinosaur museum down by BYU as well. It was a little trippy heading back to the old stomping grounds. I haven't been there for a while and it was interesting to see how things had changed. The museum was nice for a small free place. They had some pretty neat completed skeletons.
We also tried our hand at frisbee golf. And promptly lost the driver frisbee on the 2nd hole. The course itself was not exactly the most amazing thing, unless you like lots of overgrown weeds and a bmx park in the middle... So very strange. I am still intrigued by this concept of frisbee golf though, we may have to see if we can find another course.
Prince of Persia the film was a pretty good time. I rather liked it. It had the same subtle humor from the video game series and some of the same stunts. Lovely wife would have liked some more acrobatics and I would have liked a castle with some saw blades in the walls and spike traps, but for the most part it was good summer fun.
Avatar was surprisingly not bad. I almost regret not seeing it in 3D. If only so I'd have something to compare all the lousy 3D that's out now to. The story certainly didn't tread any new ground (Pocahontas says hi), but the effects were pretty good and it's certainly a solid enough story regardless of originality.
Dad picked up 10 Days in Asia while he was out here. It's basically Racko with geography. Certainly interesting along with frustrating. We had fun playing that and introducing Dad to Pitchcar and a couple others. Didn't get a chance to show him Galaxy Trucker or Tobago this go round. Next time.
I picked up Cthulhu Dice mostly for the die. The game itself is pretty quick and alright as a filler, but the die is cool. I have insidious plans to create my own little game using the die. And possibly the counters. Mwa ha ha ha ha.
Lovely wife's cousin was in town and we had a fun visit with her as well. And I discovered that fried pickles from Texas Roadhouse are awesome. I don't care how awful they are for you I love them. I will have to find a recipe. (Speaking of recipes Dad made us a real nice spicy Eggplant Parmesan. So good.)
Books. Yikes. I suppose if nothing else I should mention that I finished off Rick Riordan's newest, The Red Pyramid. This time he's tackling Egyptian mythology instead of Greek. It's fun. Not quite up there with the Percy Jackson stuff, but fun. I think part of it is that I'm not sure I'm quite as interested in the overarching storyline in the Red Pyramid like I was in the Percy Jackson stuff. The minute to minute plot details are fun though. And it's really nice to see a lesser known mythology get the spotlight.
Other things have certainly happened. Kids are out of school causing mischief. The girls have had one Day Camp set of adventures already and some more are coming up. I'm pretty sure they plan on trying to live at the pool as well. McK decided that bikes are for crashing and got some pretty good road rash...
At any rate, better wind this up. Congrats go out to little sis on the news that it's a boy. Although her naming choices still leave a lot to be desired...
We had a grand time with Dad while he was here. We managed to let him have some fun this time and didn't force him to fix anything or work on any projects. Instead we went on the aforementioned hike (very short) to a local waterfall and a few other places of interest. We checked out the new Dinosaur museum down by BYU as well. It was a little trippy heading back to the old stomping grounds. I haven't been there for a while and it was interesting to see how things had changed. The museum was nice for a small free place. They had some pretty neat completed skeletons.
We also tried our hand at frisbee golf. And promptly lost the driver frisbee on the 2nd hole. The course itself was not exactly the most amazing thing, unless you like lots of overgrown weeds and a bmx park in the middle... So very strange. I am still intrigued by this concept of frisbee golf though, we may have to see if we can find another course.
Prince of Persia the film was a pretty good time. I rather liked it. It had the same subtle humor from the video game series and some of the same stunts. Lovely wife would have liked some more acrobatics and I would have liked a castle with some saw blades in the walls and spike traps, but for the most part it was good summer fun.
Avatar was surprisingly not bad. I almost regret not seeing it in 3D. If only so I'd have something to compare all the lousy 3D that's out now to. The story certainly didn't tread any new ground (Pocahontas says hi), but the effects were pretty good and it's certainly a solid enough story regardless of originality.
Dad picked up 10 Days in Asia while he was out here. It's basically Racko with geography. Certainly interesting along with frustrating. We had fun playing that and introducing Dad to Pitchcar and a couple others. Didn't get a chance to show him Galaxy Trucker or Tobago this go round. Next time.
I picked up Cthulhu Dice mostly for the die. The game itself is pretty quick and alright as a filler, but the die is cool. I have insidious plans to create my own little game using the die. And possibly the counters. Mwa ha ha ha ha.
Lovely wife's cousin was in town and we had a fun visit with her as well. And I discovered that fried pickles from Texas Roadhouse are awesome. I don't care how awful they are for you I love them. I will have to find a recipe. (Speaking of recipes Dad made us a real nice spicy Eggplant Parmesan. So good.)
Books. Yikes. I suppose if nothing else I should mention that I finished off Rick Riordan's newest, The Red Pyramid. This time he's tackling Egyptian mythology instead of Greek. It's fun. Not quite up there with the Percy Jackson stuff, but fun. I think part of it is that I'm not sure I'm quite as interested in the overarching storyline in the Red Pyramid like I was in the Percy Jackson stuff. The minute to minute plot details are fun though. And it's really nice to see a lesser known mythology get the spotlight.
Other things have certainly happened. Kids are out of school causing mischief. The girls have had one Day Camp set of adventures already and some more are coming up. I'm pretty sure they plan on trying to live at the pool as well. McK decided that bikes are for crashing and got some pretty good road rash...
At any rate, better wind this up. Congrats go out to little sis on the news that it's a boy. Although her naming choices still leave a lot to be desired...
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
In which there are some words one after the other
I finished reading The Devil's Trill by Gerald Elias. It was a fun little mystery set in the classical music world.
I'm currently devouring The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. It's his new series in which he tackles Egyptian mythology. It's pretty good as well. I really like his stuff.
Lovely wife and I have just about finished up season one of The Dresden Files. I remember watching it back when it was on tv. I'm about to start reading some of the books and decided to watch the one season they made of this all those years ago. It's a little better than I remembered. I suspect mostly because we're watching it on DVD. That seems to make tv so much better.
Lovely wife caught the series finale of Lost the other night. I watched some of it with her. We saw the first season on DVD with the letter 'r'. But then the two of them decided to just watch it as it was broadcast instead of continuing the lovely watch it on DVD tradition. So I didn't keep up. So from a completely not really following the series situation I found the ending ok. Parts of it made some sense and the rest was lost (heh) behind who is that and why does this matter. I didn't bother lovely wife with too many of those questions. Mostly I played Picross 3D and Etrian Odyssey II. They seemed far more entertaining. And possibly more rewarding. I do give them props for trying to tell an actual story across a few seasons though. That's a lesson I wish more tv shows would learn.
So. Vacation time awaits. I will have a lovely week off. Papa del 'd' will be arriving tres soon and we will probably get roped into far too much yard work. Personally I'm hoping for an afternoon watching Prince of Persia and some relaxing. I suspect I won't be so lucky. Alas. Try not to blow up the internet while I'm gone 'k? Thx. Bye.
I'm currently devouring The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. It's his new series in which he tackles Egyptian mythology. It's pretty good as well. I really like his stuff.
Lovely wife and I have just about finished up season one of The Dresden Files. I remember watching it back when it was on tv. I'm about to start reading some of the books and decided to watch the one season they made of this all those years ago. It's a little better than I remembered. I suspect mostly because we're watching it on DVD. That seems to make tv so much better.
Lovely wife caught the series finale of Lost the other night. I watched some of it with her. We saw the first season on DVD with the letter 'r'. But then the two of them decided to just watch it as it was broadcast instead of continuing the lovely watch it on DVD tradition. So I didn't keep up. So from a completely not really following the series situation I found the ending ok. Parts of it made some sense and the rest was lost (heh) behind who is that and why does this matter. I didn't bother lovely wife with too many of those questions. Mostly I played Picross 3D and Etrian Odyssey II. They seemed far more entertaining. And possibly more rewarding. I do give them props for trying to tell an actual story across a few seasons though. That's a lesson I wish more tv shows would learn.
So. Vacation time awaits. I will have a lovely week off. Papa del 'd' will be arriving tres soon and we will probably get roped into far too much yard work. Personally I'm hoping for an afternoon watching Prince of Persia and some relaxing. I suspect I won't be so lucky. Alas. Try not to blow up the internet while I'm gone 'k? Thx. Bye.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Insert catchy title here
We finished up the 2 seasons of Survivors that exist. It really was The Walking Dead with no zombies. So very strange. Apparently the show got canned before season 3. I'm not sure if they knew in time or they really planned season 2 to end where it did, but the managed to mostly tie off quite a bit. No looming cliffhangers of any real concern. Well, maybe one, but not really. The characters were only occasionally stupid for the sake of the plot, so that's something. If you run across it, it's worth watching. I think the thing that I liked the best was that they seemed pretty good at showing both sides of a situation. You may not always like the people involved, but you're almost always allowed a chance to see how things are from their perspective.
G has finished preschool. And will probably be pretty bored in kindergarten provided he doesn't forget everything over the summer. They did a really great job teaching letters, sounds, numbers and so on. He was even doing some limited reading by the end of the year. He decided he wanted a copy of Pokemon Monopoly as a reward for finishing. And then promptly kicked lovely wife's butt at it. It was a little amusing.
We picked up a new mower as I was pretty fed up with the old one. It was getting harder and harder to start and I was tired of the lack of self propulsion. So we snagged a self propelled key start mower. It's pretty glorious. While I will never love mowing the lawn, I will now probably not hate it. That key start is an absolutely brilliant feature.
And that's about it. A pretty quiet week. Things will get fun soon though as we have family coming to visit and I will get a week off. Ahhh vacation!
G has finished preschool. And will probably be pretty bored in kindergarten provided he doesn't forget everything over the summer. They did a really great job teaching letters, sounds, numbers and so on. He was even doing some limited reading by the end of the year. He decided he wanted a copy of Pokemon Monopoly as a reward for finishing. And then promptly kicked lovely wife's butt at it. It was a little amusing.
We picked up a new mower as I was pretty fed up with the old one. It was getting harder and harder to start and I was tired of the lack of self propulsion. So we snagged a self propelled key start mower. It's pretty glorious. While I will never love mowing the lawn, I will now probably not hate it. That key start is an absolutely brilliant feature.
And that's about it. A pretty quiet week. Things will get fun soon though as we have family coming to visit and I will get a week off. Ahhh vacation!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
In which I lose several hours
So the death of the local video store is pretty much upon us. Redbox and Netflix have just about done them in I suspect. The latest victim is Hollywood Video and the attached GameCrazy stores. They are no more. Which meant liquidation sales. You have to be a little careful with liquidation sales, the "deals" aren't always that. You need to know going in what certain things are worth and then what you're willing to spend. We managed to find a few deals (mostly on video games from the GameCrazy) and there was much rejoicing.
We now have a copy of Kororinpa on the Wii. It's a fun little dexterity sort of game similar to the Monkey Ball series where you tilt the world around a marble in an effort to get it through the level. Good fun. There are lots of little twists in level design and plenty of different marbles/balls to play with. They all react a little differently and depending on your skill and what you're trying to accomplish you'll want to mess around with which one you're using.
I also snagged a copy of Shiren the Wanderer for the Wii. That's right, the game that drove me crazy on the DS has a Wii version. I'm sure it will drive me just as crazy. My initial report is that honestly the game is better for portable systems. Mostly because I can then play it as much as I want without monopolizing the TV. The graphics are certainly prettier. And it's more Shiren. Mwa ha ha ha MORE!
Sorry.
I also managed a copy of Etrian Odyssey II for the DS. This is currently scratching the dungeon crawler itch that completing the initial quest in Shiren left open. It's a little bit fiendish. But compelling. Well, if you like dungeon crawlers. Which I do.
Lovely wife got a copy of Picross 3D for the DS for Mother's Day. Don't know what Picross is? Go knock yourself out. It's much better than Sudoku. It might be her gift, but we're waging quite the battle over who's going to finish what puzzle first. I actually like the 3D version a touch better than the old 2D game. Just a touch though. At least while the difficulty level is low. Heh. It's really hard to put down.
We picked up a couple movies as well, but whatever.
Currently we're watching Survivors a BBC drama from, I dunno, a couple years ago or something. They keep advertising it during the new season of Dr Who. I thought it looked interesting so we're giving it a go. It's not bad. Plague wipes out most of the population and you follow the survivors (see what they did there?) as they, well, try to survive. Honestly this show reminds me a lot of the zombie comic series The Walking Dead. Only without the zombies. I suppose it's because apocalyptic fiction follows some basic tenets, but there's definitely some deja vu there. It's interesting to watch. And there are some absolutely gorgeous scenery shots. I'm not quite sure what they're doing to the colors and so on, but it actually makes me want to visit Scotland again. I remember similar vistas to what you get to see in the show.
I suppose I should also point out that McK seems to think she's a year older now. We're one step away from a teenager. In other words we're doomed. She had a grand time skating around with her friends at the roller rink. And there were some presents or something.
It was also Mother's Day. Lovely wife was suitably pampered (although mostly by me, I'm not sure where the kids were, playing Kororinpa most likely). My sisters have very nice bits written up about our own Mom. I don't really have anything to add except she is indeed missed. She's been in my thoughts lately and there are things I would really have loved to have seen her be a part of. (I suspect she'd get a real kick out of Picross) Thanks Mom.
So there you go. A glimpse into the insanity of Casa del 'd' recently. Poor souls.
We now have a copy of Kororinpa on the Wii. It's a fun little dexterity sort of game similar to the Monkey Ball series where you tilt the world around a marble in an effort to get it through the level. Good fun. There are lots of little twists in level design and plenty of different marbles/balls to play with. They all react a little differently and depending on your skill and what you're trying to accomplish you'll want to mess around with which one you're using.
I also snagged a copy of Shiren the Wanderer for the Wii. That's right, the game that drove me crazy on the DS has a Wii version. I'm sure it will drive me just as crazy. My initial report is that honestly the game is better for portable systems. Mostly because I can then play it as much as I want without monopolizing the TV. The graphics are certainly prettier. And it's more Shiren. Mwa ha ha ha MORE!
Sorry.
I also managed a copy of Etrian Odyssey II for the DS. This is currently scratching the dungeon crawler itch that completing the initial quest in Shiren left open. It's a little bit fiendish. But compelling. Well, if you like dungeon crawlers. Which I do.
Lovely wife got a copy of Picross 3D for the DS for Mother's Day. Don't know what Picross is? Go knock yourself out. It's much better than Sudoku. It might be her gift, but we're waging quite the battle over who's going to finish what puzzle first. I actually like the 3D version a touch better than the old 2D game. Just a touch though. At least while the difficulty level is low. Heh. It's really hard to put down.
We picked up a couple movies as well, but whatever.
Currently we're watching Survivors a BBC drama from, I dunno, a couple years ago or something. They keep advertising it during the new season of Dr Who. I thought it looked interesting so we're giving it a go. It's not bad. Plague wipes out most of the population and you follow the survivors (see what they did there?) as they, well, try to survive. Honestly this show reminds me a lot of the zombie comic series The Walking Dead. Only without the zombies. I suppose it's because apocalyptic fiction follows some basic tenets, but there's definitely some deja vu there. It's interesting to watch. And there are some absolutely gorgeous scenery shots. I'm not quite sure what they're doing to the colors and so on, but it actually makes me want to visit Scotland again. I remember similar vistas to what you get to see in the show.
I suppose I should also point out that McK seems to think she's a year older now. We're one step away from a teenager. In other words we're doomed. She had a grand time skating around with her friends at the roller rink. And there were some presents or something.
It was also Mother's Day. Lovely wife was suitably pampered (although mostly by me, I'm not sure where the kids were, playing Kororinpa most likely). My sisters have very nice bits written up about our own Mom. I don't really have anything to add except she is indeed missed. She's been in my thoughts lately and there are things I would really have loved to have seen her be a part of. (I suspect she'd get a real kick out of Picross) Thanks Mom.
So there you go. A glimpse into the insanity of Casa del 'd' recently. Poor souls.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
The post of the beast
Blogger tells me that this is my 666th post. In keeping with this nefarious theme I will regale you with tales of a dog movie. Dogs. Bleh. Evil creatures. Well, ok not really so much evil as dumb. Which if you believe Spaceballs actually makes them good, because Good is Dumb per Dark Helmet.
Anyway.
We recently watched Hachi: A Dog's Tale and it was quite good, if quite sad. It's a re-locating of a famous Japanese story about Hachiko, the faithful Akita dog. The quick version goes like this: professor has dog. Dog loves professor. Dog waits for professor to come home at train station every day. Professor dies of heart attack one day while at work. Dog proceeds to wait 10 years for professor to come home until it passes away due to old age. Town builds statue to memorialize dog and as symbol of love and loyalty.
The movie hits pretty much all of those points in a nice fashion. This is a quiet, simple movie and in some ways is all the more heart-breaking for it. And I'd really like to know how they trained the dogs to walk so pathetically at the end of the movie. There are a couple shots where you can just feel how old the dog is by that point. So if you need a good cry or like dogs or whatever I can recommend Hachi.
I also finished reading Haze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. I don't really have much to say about it except that it's a relatively solid sci-fi piece. Not amazing, but not bad either.
And I think that will pretty much wrap things up. We have learned a valuable lesson when it comes to planting our garden. (Wait till after Mother's Day or you'll have to buy more plants and start again) And one of the kids seems to think there's a birthday coming up. Strange.
Anyway.
We recently watched Hachi: A Dog's Tale and it was quite good, if quite sad. It's a re-locating of a famous Japanese story about Hachiko, the faithful Akita dog. The quick version goes like this: professor has dog. Dog loves professor. Dog waits for professor to come home at train station every day. Professor dies of heart attack one day while at work. Dog proceeds to wait 10 years for professor to come home until it passes away due to old age. Town builds statue to memorialize dog and as symbol of love and loyalty.
The movie hits pretty much all of those points in a nice fashion. This is a quiet, simple movie and in some ways is all the more heart-breaking for it. And I'd really like to know how they trained the dogs to walk so pathetically at the end of the movie. There are a couple shots where you can just feel how old the dog is by that point. So if you need a good cry or like dogs or whatever I can recommend Hachi.
I also finished reading Haze by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. I don't really have much to say about it except that it's a relatively solid sci-fi piece. Not amazing, but not bad either.
And I think that will pretty much wrap things up. We have learned a valuable lesson when it comes to planting our garden. (Wait till after Mother's Day or you'll have to buy more plants and start again) And one of the kids seems to think there's a birthday coming up. Strange.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
In which the Wind is Named and other things happen
I finished Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind and it's absolutely brilliant. Without a doubt one of the best books I've read in some time. It's a fantasy novel in which you learn the life story of Kvothe, also known as the Kingkiller. (That's the trilogy name - the Kingkiller Chronicles) This first volume relates his early years with his family, the tragedy that befalls them and the beginning of his schooling. I couldn't put it down and yet didn't want to finish at the same time. I wanted more time with Kvothe and his world. There's magic, music, adventure, humor, tragedy... I could go on. Really, really great. As I mentioned previously I plan on acquiring my own copy to keep.
The next book in the series, A Wise Man's Fear, was recently announced for a March 2011 publication. I can't wait. I certainly wish it was closer, but it sounds like it will be worth the wait.
We recently went through the Bourne trilogy of movies in order to enjoy them on the new TV. I really like the new TV. It makes movie viewing so much nicer. And I still really enjoy the Bourne films. They're great. I miss good action films. I can't really think of anything like them that's come out recently. The new Bond stuff hits that same spot, but it sounds like a new one is pretty distant.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii has finally been vanquished. Well, about as much as it's going to get vanquished. Completing the 8 main worlds opens up a 9th world, but to actually play any of the levels you have to have all the star coins from each of the levels in worlds 1-8. There are three of those bad boys in each level. And typically 10 or so levels per world. And while we've certainly gotten a good chunk of them while just playing through the game I'm not convinced it's worth it to get the remaining coins. We did manage to open the first level for world 9, but that's it.
This is actually an aspect of videogames that needs to go the way of the dodo in my opinion. If you're going to go to the trouble of creating the content, let people play it. I certainly understand rewarding someone for something they've accomplished but hiding and entire world's worth of content behind an extremely annoying collection quest is just brutal. Bad Nintendo! No cookie for you. Other than that the game was pretty brilliant. If you like yelling at each other a lot as you play. I will not count the number of times that I made G or lovely wife cry. But really it was their own fault. Do not stand between me and the power up and do NOT jump on my head plunging me to my death. I don't like it.
Here's to hoping that the snow doesn't kill off our garden. Fortunately we haven't planted some of the tender stuff, but it was a close thing. Apparently the old rule of thumb to wait until after Mother's Day is good advice.
The next book in the series, A Wise Man's Fear, was recently announced for a March 2011 publication. I can't wait. I certainly wish it was closer, but it sounds like it will be worth the wait.
We recently went through the Bourne trilogy of movies in order to enjoy them on the new TV. I really like the new TV. It makes movie viewing so much nicer. And I still really enjoy the Bourne films. They're great. I miss good action films. I can't really think of anything like them that's come out recently. The new Bond stuff hits that same spot, but it sounds like a new one is pretty distant.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii has finally been vanquished. Well, about as much as it's going to get vanquished. Completing the 8 main worlds opens up a 9th world, but to actually play any of the levels you have to have all the star coins from each of the levels in worlds 1-8. There are three of those bad boys in each level. And typically 10 or so levels per world. And while we've certainly gotten a good chunk of them while just playing through the game I'm not convinced it's worth it to get the remaining coins. We did manage to open the first level for world 9, but that's it.
This is actually an aspect of videogames that needs to go the way of the dodo in my opinion. If you're going to go to the trouble of creating the content, let people play it. I certainly understand rewarding someone for something they've accomplished but hiding and entire world's worth of content behind an extremely annoying collection quest is just brutal. Bad Nintendo! No cookie for you. Other than that the game was pretty brilliant. If you like yelling at each other a lot as you play. I will not count the number of times that I made G or lovely wife cry. But really it was their own fault. Do not stand between me and the power up and do NOT jump on my head plunging me to my death. I don't like it.
Here's to hoping that the snow doesn't kill off our garden. Fortunately we haven't planted some of the tender stuff, but it was a close thing. Apparently the old rule of thumb to wait until after Mother's Day is good advice.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Owly and some other stuff
I heard about Owly a year or so ago. And then forgot about it for a bit as I figured it would initially appeal to G and he wasn't quite ready for picture storybooks at the time. The other day I saw an ALA poster featuring the character and decided it was certainly time to check it out. And I'm glad I did.
Owly is (wait for it) an owl that lives in the forest and pretty much wants to be friends with everyone. Due to his owlish nature and the fact that most of the creatures he wants to befriend are lower on the food chain, this is usually a problem. But as is the case with most stories of this nature, perseverance and kindness pay off. The books are graphic novel in size and shape, but there are (almost) no words. When characters talk, you get the word bubbles, but the words are replaced with pictures. It's an ingenious way to tell a story for just about anyone. The art is great and the stories are often moving in spite of their simplistic nature. G and I both quickly devoured all five of the books I brought home. I haven't quizzed him on the contents yet to see just what he picked up, but he certainly seemed to enjoy reading through them. I recommend giving them a go regardless of how old you are, there's something here for everyone. Owly rocks.
Casa del 'd' is currently making its way through the old Nadia Secret of Blue Water anime series as well. It's not bad. And not really that dated either. It's an earlier series, but the art is still quite nice and the story holds up. Probably at least partially as it's based somewhat on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Follow Nadia and Jean as they have adventures above and below the waves on their quest to discover the nature of the Blue Water - the gem Nadia wears.
And I must point out that I have managed to make it to the end of the initial quest in Shiren the Wanderer. Oh yes, I battled my way through all 30 levels ultimately freeing the Golden Condor. It was glorious. Of course, that just opens up the 100(?!) level dungeon that is your reward for taking on the initial task. I haven't ventured forth to see it yet. Shiren needs to rest up a bit from all those mindless deaths. It only took a Master Sword +16 and a decent shield and armband to do it too!
Other than that, life continues here at casa del 'd'. The weather is currently in that constant state of flux that marks the winter/spring border so it might be rain, it might be sunny, it might be snow. And we're about to start planting our squarefoot garden. Yay vegetables! Very excited. More beans, more peas, more tomatoes and peppers!
Owly is (wait for it) an owl that lives in the forest and pretty much wants to be friends with everyone. Due to his owlish nature and the fact that most of the creatures he wants to befriend are lower on the food chain, this is usually a problem. But as is the case with most stories of this nature, perseverance and kindness pay off. The books are graphic novel in size and shape, but there are (almost) no words. When characters talk, you get the word bubbles, but the words are replaced with pictures. It's an ingenious way to tell a story for just about anyone. The art is great and the stories are often moving in spite of their simplistic nature. G and I both quickly devoured all five of the books I brought home. I haven't quizzed him on the contents yet to see just what he picked up, but he certainly seemed to enjoy reading through them. I recommend giving them a go regardless of how old you are, there's something here for everyone. Owly rocks.
Casa del 'd' is currently making its way through the old Nadia Secret of Blue Water anime series as well. It's not bad. And not really that dated either. It's an earlier series, but the art is still quite nice and the story holds up. Probably at least partially as it's based somewhat on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Follow Nadia and Jean as they have adventures above and below the waves on their quest to discover the nature of the Blue Water - the gem Nadia wears.
And I must point out that I have managed to make it to the end of the initial quest in Shiren the Wanderer. Oh yes, I battled my way through all 30 levels ultimately freeing the Golden Condor. It was glorious. Of course, that just opens up the 100(?!) level dungeon that is your reward for taking on the initial task. I haven't ventured forth to see it yet. Shiren needs to rest up a bit from all those mindless deaths. It only took a Master Sword +16 and a decent shield and armband to do it too!
Other than that, life continues here at casa del 'd'. The weather is currently in that constant state of flux that marks the winter/spring border so it might be rain, it might be sunny, it might be snow. And we're about to start planting our squarefoot garden. Yay vegetables! Very excited. More beans, more peas, more tomatoes and peppers!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Your regularly scheduled post
First order of business: Mu Shu Pork and Bang Bang Shrimp were both cooked and consumed last week. And they were both good. The Mu Shu Pork was a little on the time intensive side to prepare, but was rather tasty. The shrimp was certainly easier to prepare but was slightly less tasty. Which is a little odd as I tend to like spicy things. Not that they were that spicy. We did manage to avoid one mishap when lovely wife accidentally picked up cooked shrimp instead of raw. I suspect it's not wise to fry already cooked shrimp. So yes, new recipes and mostly a success. Yay!
And now for a brief tangent. Working at a Library is a bit of a fascinating thing. Mostly as I am an avid reader and now I have a reading list that I will never ever ever finish. But working here has mostly sated my purchase new book urge. Partially due to advance reader copies and partially because pretty much anything I might want to read is readily available. I might have to wait some, but it will be available. So I don't go out of my way to purchase things unless it's an author I especially like or a book I really like.
I am currently reading such a book. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is quite simply one of the best books I've read in recent memory. And I've read a lot. I won't go into much detail as I've not yet finished it, but if you like fantasy books you really must track this one down. Absolutely brilliant. I don't want to finish reading this one because then it will be over. I suspect I'll have to track down my own copy of this one.
Oh and I must also plug Mouse Guard again. It really is quite good.
We've been catching random episodes of Castle lately. It's nice in a Nathan Fillion fix sort of way, but the show itself is a little silly. Of the handful of episodes I've seen they telegraphed the ending within the first few minutes twice. I don't consider myself that good a mystery sleuth so I'm guessing these plots are pretty see through. But it does have Nathan Fillion. And the lady from the third Librarian movie. So I guess that's something.
Now off with you, I've a book to finish.
And now for a brief tangent. Working at a Library is a bit of a fascinating thing. Mostly as I am an avid reader and now I have a reading list that I will never ever ever finish. But working here has mostly sated my purchase new book urge. Partially due to advance reader copies and partially because pretty much anything I might want to read is readily available. I might have to wait some, but it will be available. So I don't go out of my way to purchase things unless it's an author I especially like or a book I really like.
I am currently reading such a book. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is quite simply one of the best books I've read in recent memory. And I've read a lot. I won't go into much detail as I've not yet finished it, but if you like fantasy books you really must track this one down. Absolutely brilliant. I don't want to finish reading this one because then it will be over. I suspect I'll have to track down my own copy of this one.
Oh and I must also plug Mouse Guard again. It really is quite good.
We've been catching random episodes of Castle lately. It's nice in a Nathan Fillion fix sort of way, but the show itself is a little silly. Of the handful of episodes I've seen they telegraphed the ending within the first few minutes twice. I don't consider myself that good a mystery sleuth so I'm guessing these plots are pretty see through. But it does have Nathan Fillion. And the lady from the third Librarian movie. So I guess that's something.
Now off with you, I've a book to finish.
Something something Favorite Niece something Happy Birthday
It has been pointed out that I forgot to point out that Favorite Niece has also survived a trip around the sun. So consider it pointed out. It's actually far more interesting to point out that said niece has also finished a book recently. She's taken to carrying around The Last Song as well apparently. So happy birthday favorite niece!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
In which I very quickly wish little sis a Happy Birthday
No really, I think the subject line says it all.
Happy Birthday little sis!
Happy Birthday little sis!
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Of Mice, Devils and Song (oh and something about a Moon)
So it was a bit of a long weekend last week and that was good. Ol' letter 'r' got hitched and lovely wife and I attended the wedding. It was a wedding very nice.
We managed to plow through the first half season (13 episodes) of Glee. Mostly because it's very funny and the music is quite good. Jane Lynch is an absolute riot (and that's how 'd' sees it) and the rest of the cast aren't slouches either. Which isn't to say the show doesn't have flaws, but that it is enjoyable. One of the things that irks me are a couple of the stereotypes that get further reinforcement. I actually like the relationship Kurt (the requisite gay kid for the Glee club) has with his Dad. The Dad isn't thrilled but he is supportive. There have been some truly nice moments between the two of them. Which is why it irks me that in order to have the evil parent or what have you, they turn the religious parents into the intolerant jerks who can't handle their daughter's pregnancy. I get they wanted drama, or it's Hollywood coloring the lens or whatever, it's just annoying. I'm also not a fan of Shoe's flirtation with Emma. I like Emma and I think they actually would make a cute couple, but for a guy that theoretically is in love with his wife for a good chunk of that first season, he certainly behaves badly. And he even says as much in one of the episodes before continuing said behavior. But it is a lot of fun to watch. There's plenty of great humor and the singing ain't bad either.
I finished Horns by Joe Hill. I've liked just about everything he's written. He is very obviously Stephen King's son, but his voice is his own and he tells some great tales. This one isn't quite as strong as Heart Shaped Box, but it is fascinating. Ig wakes up one morning in a drunken haze with horns growing out of his head. And a couple new abilities that cause people to tell him their secret horrible desires. And he can often cause them to act on those desires. Mostly he's interested in finding out who killed his old girlfriend, but things get in the way. The book certainly has some horrible moments related to Ig's newfound abilities, but the story actually spends a lot more time focusing on events that lead up to all the misery. So in some ways the book is a bit of a cheat - you want to see what's happening now, but you get what was happening then. It's all pretty interesting, but the mostly inevitable conclusion isn't completely satisfying. I still look forward to just about anything Joe Hill wants to write though.
There are currently two Mouse Guard collections available - Fall 1152 and Winter 1152 they are both quite good. David Petersen weaves quite the thrillingtail tale. As lovely wife put it, who knew mice led such exciting lives? There's political intrigue, derring do, heartbreak and so on and so forth. Think of it as that spiel from The Princess Bride but with mice. (There's no tongue in cheek humor in Mouse Guard though, it's pretty straightforward fantasy action.) And the books are quite beautiful too. So please do track this series down and give it a go. You won't be disappointed. I just might have to snag the RPG based on the series, I've heard very good things about it. And hey, who doesn't want to be a mouseketeer?
I've taken a bit of a break from killing Shiren off to play some Pokemon: Soul Silver. It's actually quite good. And I certainly don't have a gotta catch'em all attitude. Nope not at all. The Pokewalker is also pretty cool and has allowed G the chance to help level up my Pokemons. (Let me show you them!) He gets to run around with the little pokeball device and I get powered up pokemon and items. It's good to be the Dad. Now I just need to stop killing off Shiren... I'm going to have to spend some time building up a new sword I think.
Oh, I probably haven't talked about the fact that I actually saw New Moon have I? Well. (Really what do you people expect?) Honestly about the best thing that I can say about it is that Eclipse might actually have a chance of being good. New Moon certainly had a better budget than Twilight, but honestly I'm not convinced it was a better movie. Mostly it was boring. The first half is just horrible. Things got a little more interesting in the second half, but that's like saying the grass grew a little faster when I watered it. I honestly believe that Bella and Edward deserve each other - they're both horrible examples of humanity/undead monstrosities. And anybody that ever thought Jacob had a shot needs to have their head examined. Although he is about the best actor/character in this motorcycle wreck of a show.
And I think that will do. The kids have had the week off and so far it looks like lovely wife might actually survive. Made of pretty stern stuff that lovely wife. I'd have killed them all that first day. Buried them in the squarefoot garden. She did manage to get a little manual labor out of them so that's a plus. Stay tuned next week when you learn if we can make Bang Bang Shrimp and Mu Shu Pork. Mu shu!
We managed to plow through the first half season (13 episodes) of Glee. Mostly because it's very funny and the music is quite good. Jane Lynch is an absolute riot (and that's how 'd' sees it) and the rest of the cast aren't slouches either. Which isn't to say the show doesn't have flaws, but that it is enjoyable. One of the things that irks me are a couple of the stereotypes that get further reinforcement. I actually like the relationship Kurt (the requisite gay kid for the Glee club) has with his Dad. The Dad isn't thrilled but he is supportive. There have been some truly nice moments between the two of them. Which is why it irks me that in order to have the evil parent or what have you, they turn the religious parents into the intolerant jerks who can't handle their daughter's pregnancy. I get they wanted drama, or it's Hollywood coloring the lens or whatever, it's just annoying. I'm also not a fan of Shoe's flirtation with Emma. I like Emma and I think they actually would make a cute couple, but for a guy that theoretically is in love with his wife for a good chunk of that first season, he certainly behaves badly. And he even says as much in one of the episodes before continuing said behavior. But it is a lot of fun to watch. There's plenty of great humor and the singing ain't bad either.
I finished Horns by Joe Hill. I've liked just about everything he's written. He is very obviously Stephen King's son, but his voice is his own and he tells some great tales. This one isn't quite as strong as Heart Shaped Box, but it is fascinating. Ig wakes up one morning in a drunken haze with horns growing out of his head. And a couple new abilities that cause people to tell him their secret horrible desires. And he can often cause them to act on those desires. Mostly he's interested in finding out who killed his old girlfriend, but things get in the way. The book certainly has some horrible moments related to Ig's newfound abilities, but the story actually spends a lot more time focusing on events that lead up to all the misery. So in some ways the book is a bit of a cheat - you want to see what's happening now, but you get what was happening then. It's all pretty interesting, but the mostly inevitable conclusion isn't completely satisfying. I still look forward to just about anything Joe Hill wants to write though.
There are currently two Mouse Guard collections available - Fall 1152 and Winter 1152 they are both quite good. David Petersen weaves quite the thrilling
I've taken a bit of a break from killing Shiren off to play some Pokemon: Soul Silver. It's actually quite good. And I certainly don't have a gotta catch'em all attitude. Nope not at all. The Pokewalker is also pretty cool and has allowed G the chance to help level up my Pokemons. (Let me show you them!) He gets to run around with the little pokeball device and I get powered up pokemon and items. It's good to be the Dad. Now I just need to stop killing off Shiren... I'm going to have to spend some time building up a new sword I think.
Oh, I probably haven't talked about the fact that I actually saw New Moon have I? Well. (Really what do you people expect?) Honestly about the best thing that I can say about it is that Eclipse might actually have a chance of being good. New Moon certainly had a better budget than Twilight, but honestly I'm not convinced it was a better movie. Mostly it was boring. The first half is just horrible. Things got a little more interesting in the second half, but that's like saying the grass grew a little faster when I watered it. I honestly believe that Bella and Edward deserve each other - they're both horrible examples of humanity/undead monstrosities. And anybody that ever thought Jacob had a shot needs to have their head examined. Although he is about the best actor/character in this motorcycle wreck of a show.
And I think that will do. The kids have had the week off and so far it looks like lovely wife might actually survive. Made of pretty stern stuff that lovely wife. I'd have killed them all that first day. Buried them in the squarefoot garden. She did manage to get a little manual labor out of them so that's a plus. Stay tuned next week when you learn if we can make Bang Bang Shrimp and Mu Shu Pork. Mu shu!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)