Thanksgiving Wrap-up

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we certainly did on this end!  It has been a nice, peaceful and uneventful holiday weekend.  Thursday, we went to Jennifer’s grandparents house, the central gathering hub for her family.  Everyone showed up and had a delicious meal of pies, cakes, candies, ham, turkey, dressing … all the good stuff.  We played a couple of games and I cut out for a two-hour nap before going back for an hour or so more before things started to die down.

Then it was time to get down to business.  Jenn, Noah and I came home.  Noah went to bed and Jenn laid down for a nap. Around 11:00PM she got dressed and headed out to pick up her mom.  Yes, Black Friday was about to begin!  They were out from 11PM Thursday night until sometime around noon Friday.  Christmas shopping is done (except for what I still have to get for her.)  I’d like to have had some extra money to blow myself, as there were some outrageous deals on televisions this year.  But, if it holds to history, it’s a sign of dropping prices for the new year to come. 

Once Jenn got home, she took a little bit of a nap in the recliner and then Noah and I drug her to Cheddars for lunch and swung by Target to pick up a few things.  Browsing around, I found they had some $8.99 bluray discs of some pretty decent movies.  But, as I stated in a previous post, Sometimes, You Get What You Pay For.

Saturday, we slept in a bit, then got up and went to Logans for lunch (yes, it was a big eat-out weekend).  Afterwards, we headed to Murfreesboro and hit Stones River Mall where I let Jenn pick out a pair of shoes she’d been wanting (for Christmas, of course, just to torture her by letting her see them, try them on, then wrap them up and shove ‘em under the tree).  We also visited Toys R Us, which was bone bare in stock because they evidently hadn’t gotten a truck in after the Friday ravaging.  Barnes and Noble Bookstore and Bestbuy rounded out the night.  I picked up The Dead That Walk: Flesh-eating Stories, an anthology of short fiction about zombies by well-known and up and coming writers.  Also picked up a couple of CD’s my dear wife has been wanting as well as The Real Ghostbusters Volume One for Noah.  The old cartoon version of the Ghostbusters movie.

We came home Saturday and watched Aliens in the Attic with my mom and Johnny.  It turned out to be a little better than I thought it would be, kind of a cute little movie.

And now we’re here to Sunday.  I slept in while Jenn and Noah went to church and out to eat with her parents.  I’ve dusted, played some games, read a little on my book, invited my mom over to watch Star Trek and almost took a nap.  All-in-all, it’s been an awesome 4-day weekend.  Sadly, it’s also the last day of said weekend. 

Tomorrow, I head back to work, earning those dollars that seem to make the world go ‘round.  It’s a vicious, endless cycle.  But, in 4 more weeks, we get an entire week off for Christmas, so I’ll have plenty more time to catch up on some rest. 

Until then, let’s start working on that holiday spirit, eh?

You Make How Much?

I like how many social networking sites have the option of posting your income.  But, really, is it important to you to have other people know how much you make?  More importantly, will it affect how they deal with you, or if they even want to be your friend?

“Oh, it looks like ChemicalFawn, there, only makes $40k a year … but Dingo8muhBaby09 makes $104k a year …  I think I’ll go talk to Dingo and see what’s up.”

And what is really awkward, I suppose, is when you see someone who has decided to post their salary, and you just know they can’t possibly be making that much.

“Oh, so I  noticed you make $50k a year, eh?  Wow … guess that server job at McDonalds is really paying off.  I’m impressed, can I get a job there, too?  Wha?  They only start off at $7.00 an hour?  And you’ve been there how long?  4 months?  And  you’re making $50k?  Hmm …”

I even came across one site that asked you to enter what kind of car you drive.  Really?  Is it important for me to flaunt what type of vehicle I drive?  I realize we’re a society based on the worship of goods, but do I really want someone noticing me because of the car I put down (be it positive or negative attention).  No, I really don’t.  In fact, if someone notices me based on the posting of my income or car of choice, then they probably aren’t the type of person I’m going to socialize with very long anyways.

Sometimes, You Get What You Pay For

Target had $8.99 Bluray Disc movies as part of their Black Friday deals.  I picked up two this afternoon on a whim.  Stargate: Extended Edition and V for Vendetta.  I love both of these movies, so it isn’t like I didn’t have any other reason to pick them up, but still, I was anticipating the crisp beauty of a high definition picture.  Sadly, I was disappointed.  V for Vendetta holds up a little better, since it isn’t as old, but both movies, Stargate expecially, has grainy blacks and darker hues.  I was hoping, with Stargate being a bit of a cult classic, that they would have treated it a little better.  I know there is another anniversary edition out, somewhere, so I guess that’s what they were saving the big guns for.  Still, for $8.99, I guess it wasn’t a total loss, even if the pictures aren’t as great as they could be.

4-Day Weekend

I’m back just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday!  Today is the last work day before a 4-day weekend.  I’ve been looking forward to this for a month now!  Rest and relaxation … ahhhhh.

And, as an added bonus, I’m planning on doing some major leveling on my Death Knight.  He’s at 71 1/2 now, and by Monday he’ll be … who knows?

Anyways, we’ll see what’s going after I’ve had to time to detox my brain, and discuss the madness of Pilgrim’s Bounty on WoW, which is wrapping up this weekend AND the wonderful Christmas celebration we have to look forward to in-game and in real life.

Dear Sony

Dear Sony,

After purchasing your expensive blu-ray disc player (known simply as the PS3) about a year ago, I’ve had only one complaint about the system.  It seems that even though you touted the fact and used it as one of the many reasons to jack up the price to a god-awful amount, the built in wi-fi adapter suck major donkey parts.  Aside from jacking in directly to my broadband connection, I can’t rely on a stable (when I can get one) wireless signal via the PS3 blu-ray disc player that I payed $499 for. 

Sony, shouldn’t it be able to connect to the Sony Store every single time I attempt to?  Shoudln’t I be able to access BD Live features without having to wait forever?  Should a simple trial game download take an hour or more to download just so I can decide if I want to purchase the game or not? 

Now, being Sony (or a fanboy of such) I’m sure it’ll be blamed on my router, my connection, one of a million things Sony has nothing to do with.  But, let me assure you completely that I have no problem with any other wireless device in my house.  My laptop connects fine, as does my Zune, DS and my only video gaming console, the Xbox 360, which required a seperate adapter be purchased (and which works great, thanks).

In closing, Sony, I’d like to suggest that, if you’re going to include a feature that works only half the time, if at all, please put it in for free, don’t use it as an added excuse to create the most expensive gaming console of all time.

kthxbye,

James

Twilight by Stephenie Meyers

Her fans call her “underrated.”  Stephen King calls her “not very good.”

After picking up and reading Book One of the Twilight Saga, aptly entitled Twilight, I have to side a bit more with Stephen King.  Lemme briefly explain.

As with all ideas, Twilight has potential.  The story is about 17 year old Bella Swan moving to live with her dad in Forks, Washington.  She has a history of hating the town, but has decided it’s for the best so her mom can run off to Florida to be with her wannabe baseball boyfriend.  Bella’s dad is the Chief of Police in Forks, so he’s no stranger, and as such, Bella feels she’s in the public eye. 

I’ll veer off course here to say that a friend on Facebook pointed out how well Meyers did in relating the horrors of high school.  If you call being smart and knowing all the answers, making straight A’s, having instant friends and people of the opposite sex asking you out and flirting as soon as you walk in the room horrible, then yeah, I suppose she did a bang-up job. 

Anyways, Bella is played as the angsty emo-teen who mopes around talking about how she just doesn’t fit in.  Then she sees Edward Cullen (he’s the vampire).  He’s all goth-emo and tries to be serious and scarey because she smells like a flower, we come to find out, and evidently the smell of lavander in her blood makes him all “rawr” and stuff, creating the urge to caress her flesh and hurl trees around the forrest while sparkling to try and scare her.

I suppose the biggest problem with the novel is that the adults are treated as complete idiots.  Not by the characters, but by the author herself.  The sheriff dad is never home, he wakes up early and leaves, comes home late and watches television.  He’s off on weekends fishing or working.  Hey, how about that daughter that you only see twice a year?  Yeah, she lives with you now, how ‘bout starting to make amends for all those times you weren’t around?  Sure, it was the mothers fault, she’s the one that walked out, but still, there’s some lost moments there, buddy.

And while this is a romance novel, there’s also the underlying issue that we have a 90 year old vampire (that’s how old Edward is,) hunching all over a 17 year old girl because he can’t read her mind and loves her smell.  Guess vampires don’t believe in that old nonsense about pedophilia, but why should he?  He repeatedly tells her how he can kill her in a second and how dangerous he is, then charms her while saying she shouldn’t hang around him.  I kept waiting for him to offer her some candy and invite her back to his van to look for a lost puppy.

Oh, and the whole, “I’m dangerous, stay away … okay, nevermind, just kidding.  But I mean it, I’ll kill you if you aren’t careful,” thing … What?  He’s a vampire, folks, they have the ability to make you swoon and follow their commands.  Has it not crossed anyones mind that Bella isn’t really in love with him, it’s simply his natural powers.  He’s basically taking advantage of this young girl, and it’s okay with everyone because it’s a romance novel aimed at young girls. 

What?!  Young girls, you say?  A romance novel for young girls that deals with a 90 year old (young looking) guy threatening and rubbing all over a teenage girl?  Oh, and I won’t even touch on the subject of him stalking her – even if he did save her life, it was freakin’ stalking and you all know it!  Why, this is great literature!  Mmhmm …

Yet, oddly, I was giving the book the benefit of the doubt, and I wouldn’t have been so harsh on it.  BUT … around page 300+ something, we had to experience the baseball game.  After that, everything went to hell in a handbasket.   Meyers can’t handle action, at least not in this book.  And the fact that the town sheriff, Bella’s dad, would let his daughter just leave in the dark to wander off in a broken down old pick-up truck that he didn’t even want her driving to the neighboring town the weekend before makes NO SENSE WHAT SO EVER!!

Also, Mrs. Meyers … why, 400+ pages in, did you suddenly decide to throw a surprise into the mix by giving the sorry excuse for a bad guy an alternate story that has no warrent in our current story?  This stranger enters the baseball game, he’s a “tracker” vampire and he’s on his hunt for Bella.  Everyone runs in opposite directions.  He eventually tricks and lures Bella to point X and … what?  He has a past history with another character that has no idea?!  Wow!  And to drive that point home, it’s mentioned in maybe 2 paragraphs, then it’s done …  No more is said about it.  Whew!

But, the novel progresses and all ends well.  Why, even the shallow shells of our characters grow in all of this angst.  The vampire family who have, for years, sat alone and confined in the school cafeteria during lunch suddenly show up at the prom and dance the night away.  You know what, I’m just gonna stop right here.  I wanted to give a serious review, but I find it hard at this point in time.  I wanted to like Twilight, but the more I read, the worse I felt on the subject.  I’m sorry, Mrs. Meyers, I can’t support this travesty.

Anyways, just for the experience itself, I’d recommend giving Book One a read.  Will I dare to read Book Two?  I have no idea.  I’ll have to think about it long and hard.  Reading is reading, though, and I applaud you if you’re strong enough to pick up a book and invest the time in it, no matter the subject.  If this is your cup of tea, then stick to it and sip it slowly, enjoy the moments.  Reading is a gift, not everyone has it.

And with that, I leave you once again with an all over the roadmap review/opinion of Twilight.  Send your complaints to someone else, I don’t wanna hear ‘em. 

Amazon: Twilight – Book 1 of the Twilight Saga

As an added bonus feature, I’ll leave you with this review from Goodreads, by a gentleman named Joe.

Save your time: here’s the entirety of Twilight in 20 dialogue snippets & a wiggedy-wack intermission.

First 200 pages:
"I like you, Edward!"
"You shouldn’t! I’m dangerous!"
"I like you, Edward!"
"But I’m dangerous!"
Next 50 pages:
"I’m a vampire!"
"I like you, Edward!"
"But I’m a vampire! I’m dangerous!"
"I like you, Edward!"
Next 100 pages:
"I like you, Edward!"
"You smell good, Bella. I’m dangerous!"
"I like you, Edward!"
"Damn, you smell good."
"I like you, Edward!"
"Also, I glow in sunlight."
Next 50 pages:
A. VAMPIRE. BASEBALL. GAME.
(I wish I was kidding)
Last 100 pages:
"Help me, Edward! I’m being chased!"
"I’ll save you!"
"Help me, Edward! I’m scared!"
"I’ll save you!"
"Oh, Edward!"
"You smell good."
(One half star for lack of quality, and one half star for being unintentionally hilarious… especially page 314.

There’s a Time and a Place for Skepticism

A Christian, a Jew, and an atheist are standing in line to be executed during the French Revolution.

The christian is first, and he lays down on the guillotine. Before the executioner pulls the lever he shouts, "My god will save me!". The lever is pulled, and the blade swooshes down, stopping just short of his neck. The executioner, believing a miracle of god has occurred, figures he can’t kill this man, as so sets him free.

The Jew lays down on the guillotine. Like the christian, he shouts, "My god will save me!". The lever is pulled, the blade falls, and once again it stops just short of his neck. The executioner, again, believes god is on this man’s side, and lets him go.

Finally, the atheist lays down on the guillotine. He examines the guillotine, finds a rock in the gears, and says to the executioner, "Well here’s your problem…"

The moral? There’s a time and a place for skepticism.

 

And one more, for good luck:

Q: What is the biggest problem for an atheist?
A: No one to talk to during an orgasm.

Admission of Guilt

Yes, for any that may glance at my Twitter feed or follow me on Facebook.  It’s true.  It’s all true.  I am reading Twilight.  I finished The Sword of Shannara Saturday and all day Sunday this book was lying around, mocking me.  So, since my wife hadn’t started reading it yet, I picked it up. 

I’ll post more later.

“The Sword of Shannara” by Terry Brooks

As a new reader of the Terry Brooks Shannara universe, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I picked up the book because I was looking for a new fantasy novel, and since it was an already well established series, I figured it would give me something to read.  The first 200 to 300 pages were painful.  The pacing of the story was so slow.  Perhaps I’ve mentioned it before on a previous post, but Brooks would take 3 or 4 pages repeating the same information in describing a scene or setting, yet he would a character relate 5,000 years of knowledge in a paragraph.

Okay, so that little section above is my only real complaint about the entire novel.  I’m not here to praise Mr. Brooks, but I am here to offer my account of the book I was told not to read. 

Why was I told not to read it?  In a nutshell, it goes like this:

“It’s a complete ripoff of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.”

That’s it.  Message board users and fantasy fans proclaim this point over and over.  Brooks admits that he was heavily influenced by Tolkien and other authors of the genre, but should that be a reason to not read any novel?  There are no original ideas anymore, at least not that I’ve come across.

As far as ripping off LotR, I can only base my opinions on the movies, as I’ve never been able to sit down and read past the first few pages of the Tolkien trilogy.  Story-wise, The Sword of Shannara is your typical epic fantasy.  There is an innocent bystander thrust into a fantastical situation.  A wise and powerful wizard, warrior, thief, elves, dwarves, proud majestic kingdoms, war that threatens the entire world, etc.  Ripoff or not, I’d recommend giving The Sword of Shannara a try, if you can muddle through the first half of the book.

What makes Brooks’ world different and come alive and really capture my attention?  Sadly, it wasn’t the story itself, it was the history of the world.  The Shannara books have been out for some time now, so I’d dare say it is no spoiler to reveal that this fantasy world is actually our own Earth, many thousands of years in the future after a great nuclear holocaust.  This, in and of itself, and the fact that Brooks has been creating a new series to link this with his previous series of fantasy books such as Running with the Devil to make one large universe is something I crave in literature.  A huge universe of characters and a timeline in which their story is played out and passed along to new generations.  Yet, over all, the stories are stand-alone but intertwined. 

The book itself, involves a rag-tag band of folks on a mission to stop the Warlock Lord, a being of demonic power who ceased being human ages ago.  He has been gaining power and building an army to storm the land and create a new War of the Races in hopes of conquering the divided lands.  Lead by the mysterious druid, Allanon, the group embarks on a quest that will take them across their lands into the savage Northland.  Their goal is to reach the ancient Sword of Shannara, a powerful talisman that can only be weilded by a direct decendant of Jerle Shannara, a high elf who originally battled the Warlock Lord long ago.

The ancestory belongs to a young man known as Shea Ohmsford, raised with his Man adoptive family.  He knows nothing of his elven background, only what he’s grown up around in his small Southland village.  He and his brother, Flick, are thrust suddenly into the quest when one of the Warlock Lords evil shadow creatures, a Skull Bearer, comes searching for Shea to kill him and end the threat.  They flee their tiny home, and our adventure begins.

And while his may lead into your typical fantasy theme, I have to admit, I was thrown a curve ball or two that my little brain didn’t see coming.  That is, in fact, what kept me going through the last hundred or so pages.  The less I knew I had to read ‘til the end, the more I wanted to see how it was going to be wrapped up.  I wasn’t really disappointed, either, but as I always say, I’m easily entertained!

The entire novel seems to take place over a matter of weeks to a month or so, the passage of time isn’t really delved in to, but the pacing picks up greatly halfway through the book.  Knowing that these events take place on a future Earth kept my mind trying to find connections to locations, wondering how things got in one way or another, but I’m sure it is or will be all explained when the entire cycle is complete. 

So, does The Sword of Shannara rip off LotR?  Maybe.  But I’m not a huge LotR novel fan, so I’m not bothered by that.  Even if it did, the entire story is told in one self-contained novel, yet the Shannara universe covers many more novels and stories than that.  I would recommend any fantasy fan pick it up and give it a read, it won’t be a waste of your time just for the lore alone you’ll be exposed to.

Terry Brooks Official Site

Black Friday Countdown ‘09

I remember back in the day when the Black Friday site use to be a big underground operation.  Employees would slip camera phone shots of top secret ads and dish them out on message boards and websites of the after-Thanksgiving Day sales.  Now, it’s a big celebration that some stores, like Best Buy are even supporting.  Heck, they even have their own Twitter feed and Facebook page!

So, even though the “magic” is gone, don’t forget to check out this years The Black Friday site for fairly advanced looks at what you’ll be seeing in a week or so.

The Black Friday Website