100 Books In A Year, Updated

10.. The Templar Legacy by Raymond Khoury. Why do I continue reading these things? Pretty lightweight stuff--good for the beach, but not much else.

11. Wit'ch War by James Rollin--er, some other pseudonym. See above. And yet I continue torturing myself by continuing on to Wit'ch Gate. *sigh*

12. X-Men: The End by Chris Claremont and a bunch of other artists. Great beginning, great middle, lousy ending.

13. Marvels by Wade and Ross. Not quite as good as Kingdom Come, but enjoyable nonetheless. I was disappointed when it just ended.

14. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Somehow, not as good as the first book. Of course, I devoured it in three days, but maybe the long wait gave it "Middle Book Syndrome"?

100 Books In A Year, Updated

4. Wit'ch Fire (The Banned and The Banished, Book 1) by James Clemens. After getting past the annoying use of "'" (wit'ch, og're, etc) it's actually not a bad book. Nothing to get excited about, though.

5. The ABC Murders, by Agatha Christie. Hercule Poirot, always enjoyable.

6. Ghost Country, by Patrick Lee. Halfway through I realized this was part of a series, but it didn't matter. Enjoyable escapist reading, but I kept thinking of Portal while reading it.

7. White Corridor, by Christopher Fowler. More PCU goodness!

8. Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, by Geoff Johns. I've always been a fan of the Legion ever since my friend Benjor introduced me to them via The Great Darkness Saga. Which reminds me--I need to get that one too!

9. Titans: Old Friends, by Judd Winick. Not bad. Only bought this because my daughters are huge fans. Then I find out there's some lovin' going on between Nightwing and Starfire, so whoops! Time to get Teen Titans Go! instead.

Lego Minifigures, Series 3

I'm a sucker for collecting things. I fell into the Super Hero Squad trap. I collect Marvel Superhero Mighty Beanz. For a time I was collecting JLU minifigures.

One day I was at Target and saw these Lego minifigures (series 3) in the Valentine's Day aisle. I had already bought two series 2 just for kicks, so I said what the heck and bought one pack.

I got the baseball guy which was cool. The kids saw it and were hooked. Of course, this gave me the perfect excuse to start buying new ones. So far I have the following:

1. Fisherman
2. Pilot
4. Samurai (x2)
5. Snowboarder
7. Sumo Wrestler
11. Racecar Driver (x2)
13. Alien
16. Baseball Player

I've been going crazy looking for the Elf just because he looks a bit like my Dragon Age character. Anyone want to trade?

100 Books In A Year, Updated

3. Odd and The Frost Giants, Neil Gaiman. Found this at a Big Lots for three bucks (hardcover!). Cute short story, not quite on par with his other works, but enjoyable nonetheless.

100 Books In A Year, Updated

1. The Book of Lost Things
2. The Steampunk Trilogy, by Paul di Filippo. Three short stories. First one was good (Victoria), but the next two I struggled to get through. Then again, I struggled through Neal Stephenson's work as well (I never got through the first book of The Baroque Cycle, for one thing), so maybe steam/cyberpunk isn't quite for me.

Hmm, two books in a month. At this pace, I'll never make it to 100 books.

The Cape

Summer Glau couldn't save this. I fell asleep halfway through, but managed to wake up to see River's talents being wasted. Seems like TV just doesn't know what to do with superheroes; they should just leave them to animation (like Avengers and Young Justice).

Blue Horseshoes

So the Colts lose. I was kind of expecting it, but it still hurt a bit. Especially since Caldwell apparently didn't remember the Jacksonville game when he called a timeout, allowing the Jags to gather themselves and score the winning field goal. Geez.

Now Manning wastes another year. It's interesting to speculate as to what Manning plans to do, as he still hasn't signed a new deal. Does he...

1. Demand they get a new coach? Preferably someone with a defense-first philosophy? OR
2. Sign with a new team? It'll have to be a high-profile team built to win NOW. Which could potentially mean...

Peyton Manning, Dallas Cowboys.

(probably not, but it's an interesting thought).

SEATTLE!

Once More, With Feeling

Gosh, it's been three years since I last posted. I realize blogging isn't that popular anymore (replaced by tweeting), but hey. I really just want a place to keep track of the books I've read, the toys I'm obsessively collecting, and the movies I've watched.

(Happy New Year, by the way).

That said, here are the "firsts!" I've done so far this year:

First Book Read: The Book Of Lost Things, by John Connolly. Kinda like a nastier version of Into the Woods. I think Connolly's a pretty good writer--some passages were pretty striking:

"Newspaper stories were like newly caught fish, worth of attention only for as long as they remained fresh, which was not very long at all"

while others are hilarious (Comrade Brother Number One and everyone else). Good stuff, and a recommended read.

First Movie Watched: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I'll stick to Fantasia, thank you very much.

First Toys Bought: Action League, DC's answer to Marvel's Super Hero Squad. The four sets include:

• Superman and Bizarro
• Flash and Boomerang
• Firestorm and Deathstorm
• Green Lantern and White Lantern Sinestro

GL and Sinestro were pretty badass.

Monsters vs Aliens

Hi, I'm Bob."

Looking forward to this movie. With House, Jack Bauer, Elle Woods and Colbert, how can you go wrong? (famous last words...)

Rotten Tomatoes Best Animated Films

Here's an interesting take on the 50 Best Animated Films of all time. But really...Snow White #2? Really? With that grating little-girl voice that Snow White has? And don't get me started on her singing! I can't really argue with #1, although I think some of Pixar's later efforts are better.

My own personal top ten:

1. Spirited Away (#13) - an amazing ride through traditional Japanese folklore, subtly providing life lessons for both kids and adults. I must've watched this about a dozen times.
2. The Incredibles (#11) - superheroes! Pixar! What can possibly go wrong? It also helps that one of my former co-workers looks like Edna Mode, and is married to someone who looks like Mr. Incredible.
3. Flight of Dragons (not in the list) - why can't they put this on DVD?
4. Transformers: The Movie (not in the list) - what thirtysomething geek can't quote at least one line from this movie? Heck, Dirk Diggler knew "The Touch".
5. Howl's Moving Castle (#41) - another Miyazaki film. Dude's a genius.
6. Finding Nemo (#6) - I love the ocean and all the creatures that reside in it. Also, as a dad, this movie always makes me tear up *sniff*
7. Lilo and Stitch (#42) - some people probably don't like Stitch and find Lilo annoying. I don't; I find the titular characters extremely funny. I'm probably in the minority.
8. Sleeping Beauty (#45)- probably the best of the "classic" Walt Disney. It's a bit annoying though how they keep re-releasing it as a super-duper-deluxe-edition. Enough already!
9. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (#18) - stop-motion animation at its best. The Wrong Trousers was better, with the malevolent penguin, but this was still quite entertaining its own way.
10. Akira (#35)- yeah, it's a bit overrated. But the storyline is pretty cool, and is quite the cautionary tale.

A bit hard to whittle it down, and some I can interchange (Toy Story, The Iron Giant, Kung-Fu Panda). Heck, I'll probably have a different list tomorrow.

Wii Fit!

So after months of giving up on ever getting a Wii Fit until the girls began dating, I managed to find one at Target. I actually saw the Wii Fit in the display case on Friday, but the salesperson refused to sell to me, telling me to come back on Sunday. Well, Sunday came, and I woke up late. I went to Target, thinking it was impossible to find one there; fortunately, I was successful. I was probably the fifth person there, and managed to snag one. Hooray!

What did irk me was the fact that there must have been six or seven people there, all related, buying a Wii and/or a Wii Fit to later sell for profit. Must have been frustrating for the manager, as it was a way to circumvent the "one unit per customer to prevent eBaying" rule. Oh well.

I think Nintendo's beginning to produce a bit more of the Wii Fit, in anticipation of the holidays. So keep hanging around Targets if you want to get one!

Sinfest on the US Elections

Linkie: Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Sometimes I'm really impressed by Tatsuya Ishida's work; he can gently poke fun at everyone--Christians, athiests, politicos--without really insulting anyone. Here he's in fine form--he sure does give that whole "lipstick on a pig" farce a new meaning, huh?

Stupid Girl (redux)

We were watching the season premiere of Sarah Connor Chronicles today and heard someone who sounded suspiciously like Shirley Manson singing over the action in the opening sequence.

Sure enough, it was her. Not only that, she now has an important role in the series! Huh.

Unfortunately, age has taken its toll, so she's not quite as attractive as she was during her Queer/Stupid Girl/Only Happy When It Rains days. In fact, her face looked a little bit...stretched. Her acting skills also left a bit to be desired--she was a bit wooden, a bit...robotic, if you will. Right now she's the weak link in an excellent ensemble cast.

Maybe she'll improve, though. After all, Lena Headey was pretty bad in the first couple of episodes too, but she gradually grew into her role.

Oh, and Summer Glau still rocks, and is strangely hot, despite the forehead.

ABBA Twins, Part 1

Somehow, the girls have become huge fans of ABBA, after watching the movie "Mamma Mia!". We can't go anywhere now without them requesting that we play the CD. Here's a clip of them singing the title song.

Of Phelps and Tinfoil Hats

Phelps finally won his eighth gold today, but everyone's still talking about the seventh race. One person has even gone so far as to create a website called 001ofasecond.com to decry the "Phelps Conspiracy". As with most tinfoil wearing denizens, he cherry picks his evidence. That leading photo? Taken from the fourth photo in SI's "Frame By Frame" sequence. What he conveniently left out was the fifth photo...oh, and don't forget the sixth photo, a blowup of Cavic's hands not quite touching the pads.

I personally think Phelps won...because of his freakish wingspan. But that's just one man's humble opinion. I'm certainly not going to go and create a website to proclaim it. No, I'll just blog about it! =P

Yet Another Dark Knight Review

A lot of times you get so worked up about a movie, only to find that it doesn't quite live up to the hype. Generally, I try to avoid reading about a movie I'm interested in, because I'm worried about being disappointed, but in this case, you couldn't avoid stories about how great this movie was.

Unfortunately, I wound up being disappointed. Just a wee bit, but disappointed, nonetheless.

Oh, it was a good movie, don't get me wrong; Calai was right, Ledger's performance was so utterly convincing that you forget that he actually did something as silly as First Knight. Ledger's Joker was funny, creepy, frightening...everything Nicholson's version wasn't. I also loved how he was prepared for everything and how Batman wasn't (thus turning the Internet meme on its head); heck, I found myself applauding how successful his plans were; if he wasn't truly and utterly amoral, I may have rooted for him to actually win over the dour and brooding Batman. I especially loved how he had a different story about how he got his scars, depending on who he was accosting at that point.

So what was the problem? I wasn't completely drawn into the movie. Part of it was my fault; I was bothered by Batman's raspy voice for one thing (get a cough drop already!), but this was due to the fact that several people had already pointed this one out. Another thing that jarred me was Richard Alpert playing the mayor--I kept thinking he needed to go back to the Island. Consequently, I saw Christian Bale playing Batman instead of seeing Batman. I saw Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhaal instead of Two Face, Lucius Fox and Rachel Dawes. Fortunately, Ledger, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine disappeared into their roles, so it wasn't a complete loss. Then there was the running time. It dragged in a couple of places, causing me to wonder when it was going to end, which is typically a bad sign for a movie.

It wouldn't be difficult for me to say that Ledger saved this movie. Without him, this would've been Just Another Superhero Movie, despite it being Batman; I actually liked Iron Man
better.

As for the third film? Well, if they could bring The Dark Knight Returns (Batman vs Superman!) or Knightfall (Azrael!) to the big screen, I would be a very happy man. It'll be hard to top Ledger's performance, though.

(oh, and that wasn't Kingpin, Calai. Kingpin is from Daredevil; I think they just wanted the image of a big, menacing figure with a conscience)

Angus Young Would Be Proud

I'm glad that I don't have to wear a tie to work. I never understood the reasoning behind it anyway--sure, it might be good for lawyers and power brokers, but for a programmer or a DBA? What's the point?

Anyway, seems like times, they are a-changin'...wearing shorts to work? With a coat and tie to boot? Wha? Heck, the last time I wore a tie and shorts to work, it was for Halloween.

Sure, it looks good on some guys, but it would be horrifying to look at on others.

Please, no!

Earthquake!

Experienced a pretty big (5.4) earthquake here at work, with the epicenter around 15 miles from where I live (!). Whole building was shaking, and I could see the glass windows appear to be bowing outwards. Scary sight.

Had to do the duck and cover thing (heh) underneath my desk. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, and the kids are okay. Unfortunately, my Marvel Super Squad figures fell off the bookshelf, but they're PVC anyway.

Bad news is that we've had around 35 aftershocks in and around the original epicenter. Hopefully there's not a bigger one coming around...

Incredible Machines

Remember The Incredible Machine? This was a PC game way back when where you had to use different objects (cannons, gears, what-have-you) to guide a ball to its goal. Fascinating game, but one I haven't really kept up with too much.

Now there's a new web game called Fantastic Contraption (*winkwinknudge*) which is pretty much the same concept: guide an object to its goal. A slight variation to the concept is that you really only have a set of three gears and two connectors to accomplish your task--build a contraption (be it a catapult, a series of levers, or a tank) to get an object to its goal. Having a good grasp of physics is a BIG plus.

Unfortunately, I nearly failed physics, so I solved most of the levels using brute force. If you're a bit better at it than I am, though, you'll probably have an easier time of it. The game's quite addicting, but can get frustrating at times.