Booked

Since being promoted to the position of Technical Team Lead in March I haven't been reading as much as I used to. I've been finding other things to do with my downtime at work, and therefore haven't had anything to read at work in quite some time. I have been reading when I've been able at home, completing Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as well as The Time Machine before starting on Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea -- The edition I read was a wonderful hardbound edition featuring engravings by "Hildebrand". I'm glad I finally read it, but Verne gets so bogged down in the details that the plot suffers. I thought I was going to need a textbook on marine biology. The story is mostly a "man against man" plot with some "man against nature" subplots, but they're all a bit weak, and even Verne's sense of adventure and his typical perpetual forward motion of the story can't help. My favorite Verne novel remains Around the World in 80 Days.

The Time Machine -- Again, I'm glad I finally read it. I was surprised by how short it is, included as part of a beautiful hardbound omnibus of several of Wells books published by State Street Press and taking less than 100 pages. Wells spends a lot of time on the story about the Morlocks and the Eloi (indeed, the name "Eloi" is evocative of "Elohim") and seems to dwell on the future a lot without spending any time in the past. Wells could have been making a commentary on society and civilization. I'll reserve some judgment on the work until I've read more of Wells' work.

Uncle Tom's Cabin -- I haven't completed the edition published by Readers Digest. So far the story is a bit bogged down by the extensive use of heavy dialect, especially among the black slaves. I can see why it has often been called propaganda -- the book is full of biased words and editorial commentary. Final judgment will be reserved until I've finished it, though.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: REO Speedwagon: "Music Man"

Endangered

Scientific American brings us this slideshow of some of the most endangered species on the planet.

Mood: Sad
Music: Styx: "Lady"

I See What You Did There

Even Slate is getting in on the lolcat action.

Mood: Amused
Music: Uriah Heep: "Lady In Black"

KISS

Gene Simmons of KISS fame opines on the war in Iraq, Hollywood, and racial profiling. It's an interesting read.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band: "Slow Ride"

LOL!!!1!!

This may be one of the funniest Fark threads ever.

Mood: Amused
Music: Squeeze: "Tempted"

FSM

Chris Doyle of Reasonably Clever presents the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster rendered in LEGO.

Mood: Amused
Music: The Yardbirds: "Too Much Monkey Business"

Nice Ass!

Jon Katz (not Dr. Katz) of Slate opines on why he owns donkeys. It's an interesting read.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Deep Purple: "Hard Lovin' Man"

Spidey

Saturday night Maryanne and I went to see Spider-Man 3 at the IMAX. While none of the Spider-Man movies have been 100% faithful to the comics, they have been accurate enough, I think, for most comic book geeks while still being able to tell a story within the constraints of a feature film. There's enough action to keep someone like myself interested, and enough of the human element in the drama to keep someone like Maryanne interested. And thus, like the previous movies, we both enjoyed it. It featured some wonderful casting, including the addition of Bruce Campbell as a maitre d'. Lest I give away any spoilers in my thoughts on the movie, details are in the Full Post.

Spider-Man 3 took on both the Venom and Sandman stories, and despite being shortened to fit into the film, I thought a fair job was done with them. Eddie Brock was portrayed in a slightly different way than in the comics, but I thought it worked well for the movie, and Topher Grace did a good job. There wasn't enough time spent with the related Gwen Stacy storyline compared to what's present in the comics, and I think spending a little more time with it could have made Eddie's need for vengeance a little stronger. The Sandman plot, with Thomas Haden Church in the role of Flint Marko, was convincing, though, and contained that human element that helped set Marvel apart from D.C. in the '60s.

I was a little disappointed in the Harry Osborn plot, though. His drive for revenge was believable. However, his butler's revelation of the truth of Norman Osborn's demise smacked of deus ex machina, and Harry's resulting forgiveness of Peter and helping of Peter was a little cheesy. While Harry's sacrificial death to save Peter was brilliantly foreshadowed, I found it disappointing because we'll never see any further story lines involving Peter's friendship with Harry.

The symbiont story line was handled well, including the introduction of Dr. Connors and the nearly verbatim church bell tower scene where Peter finally rids himself of the symbiont only to have it take over Eddie Brock and turn him into Venom. This, too, was brilliantly foreshadowed earlier in the film.

Maryanne and I both wondered if another film will be made. There are plenty of villains left that a fourth installment wouldn't be out of the question, but I think it behooves Sony/Columbia to make sure they get the same cast back if they want to continue the franchise.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Free: "All Right Now"

Cherry

Last weekend we went up to Door County to see my mom and grandmother and celebrate Mothers Day with them. We left early Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon, but as brief as it was we managed to pack a lot into a short time.

We took a lot of pictures. It turned out that the warm spring had had its effects up there, as well. While the early spring flowers were mostly done, and the apple trees weren't quite in full bloom yet, the cherry trees had gone berserk.

May 2007

Mood: Pensive
Music: Steely Dan: "Reelin' In the Years"

Huzzah!

Last week I did a Google Image Search for the word "huzzah." One of the hits was this, which I find amusing just for the clipart alone.

Mood: Amused
Music: Muddy Waters: "Don't Go No Further"

"I Know"

I'm really not sure if you'd be really cool or really geeky (or really cool among geeks?) if you managed to insert one of these Han Solo quotes into everyday conversation.

Mood: Amused
Music: The Yardbirds: "Boom Boom"

Old-Fashioned

Maryanne bought me a sundae from Culver's last night to make up for giving away my birthday cake. Thank you, Maryanne!

I'm sure there's many people out there who have heard of cyberpunk, including myself. However, I didn't learn about the term steampunk until recently, when I saw this.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: Led Zeppelin: "Moby Dick"

im in ur language

A somewhat academic analysis of the Internet phenomenon of image macros, particularly "lolcats."

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Judas Priest: "Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)"

Birthday

Last Friday Maryanne left for Colorado, to visit my sister and her husband who are expecting their first child at the end of August. She had a nice visit, though short, and returned on Sunday.

Her parents came Sunday evening, bringing supper with them, so that she and I wouldn't have to worry about preparing anything. Also, I'm sure, so that they could see Sarah. They brought a cake with them for dessert, not only just to have dessert, but also in early celebration of my upcoming birthday.

The cake was good. Dense but not heavy chocolate cake with chocolate icing, sold as "Swiss cake." After a long day at work yesterday I was looking forward to having a slice after dinner last night.

When I got home last night Maryanne's parents were there, and left shortly thereafter. It was almost eight o'clock, so I decided to wait until after we put Sarah to bed to have something to eat. In preparation for this, Maryanne announced she had given the rest of the cake back to her parents, to keep temptation out of the house.

"So I don't get any more cake?" says I, admittedly irritably.

She apologized, saying she was sorry, and stated she didn't know I wanted any more, or that I'd be bothered by her giving it away.

Of course she didn't know. I had not been consulted on this decision. I should have, especially since this cake had ostensibly been for my upcoming birthday.

It was gone now. No more cake for me. So I had a beer instead, Leinie's Berry Weiss.

Maryanne had offered to take me anywhere I wanted to go for my birthday. I think perhaps Fat Jack's is in order.

Happy Birthday to me.

Mood: Pensive
Music: Golden Earring: "Radar Love"

The Burning Goat

I'm sure everyone remembers word problems. From grade school through college, anyone who's ever studied math probably had to deal with one at one time or another. Some people hated them (usually students) and others loved them (usually teachers). The fact is, they're a great way to find out if students understand the math they've learned and can apply it to problem solving.

Now, the average geek will simply attack a word problem and solve it. The bored geek will do this.

Mood: Amused
Music: Harry Chapin: "Cat's In the Cradle"

"Kick in the Pants"

Even The Washington Post is getting in on the action regarding that lawyer and his frivolous lawsuit, in the form of this editorial.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Eagles: "Already Gone"

Roleplaying Grant

Where was this when I was in college?

Mood: Pensive
Music: The Steve Miller Band: "The Joker"

Political Censorship

The Wall Street Journal offered an interesting op/ed piece on the bane of political correctness, and just how out of hand it's gotten. Political correctness should have been equal to good taste, but now it's tantamount to censorship.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Who: "I Can See for Miles"

Suits

Things are heating up for that lawyer I posted about. Check this out.

Mood: Intrigued
Music: Rare Earth: "Here Comes the Night"

May Day!

It's May 1st.

The first of May, the first of May
Outdoor...

You know the rest.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Kinks: "'Til the End of the Day"