Talisman as NaBloPoMo Ends

The night before Thanksgiving
Instead of the same
Watching old movies
We wanted a game.

OK, that's enough. I can't rhyme anything with Talisman.

Sarah & Troy had never played before, but Sherry suggested it, so we pulled the box out of my closet and played. One of the drawbacks of Talisman is that it typically takes a very long time to play. On this particular evening, though, we taught the game and finished in under 2:45.

Sherry played as the Sprite, and won. This despite the fact that Troy was the Monk (the most powerful of the original characters) and I was the Sorceress (the second-most powerful.)


Talisman was once a weekly game around our house, but that was almost two decades ago. It was fun to pull this game out again. The box contained some of the old characters that Lucas & Adam drew when they were little kids. Very nostalgic! It still has some rule problems, but it's very flavorful, and if you're playing with people who aren't taking things too seriously, it's way fun.

Ultimately, in the Crown of Command, Sherry rolled a 4, 5 or 6 nine times out of ten to force us all out of the game. (Sarah's Spy ultimately was the last to go, and she admitted defeat rather than lose her last life -- exactly as an Evil Spy would!)

.*.*.*.*.*.*. NaBloPoMo .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

And that marks the last blog entry of the 2009 NaBloPoMo. I wonder if I will do it again next year. The few extra posts tired me out, and I really doubt anyone read "Snippets and Wisps" just because I was posting every single day instead of the normal "every working day."

On the other hand (OTOH), it made me think of "Things I've Never Done" and "My Life's Soundtrack" and even "Favorite Foto Fridays," so maybe I'll get even more good ideas next year.

OTOOH -- If I'm ever going to write that novel (or that collection of connected short stories) perhaps I should participate in NaNoWriMo in November of 2010. I like my blog, but ultimately, I want to get published, and since I will keep my day job, a motivator like NaNoWriMo could be just the thing....

Ah well, I have eleven months to decide.

"How It Begins" - Wisps, Learning and the Bible

Last week I posted a wisp I called "How It Begins."

In general, I don't typically explain my writing. I figure it should stand on its own merits. However, in this case, an explanation will tie a few things together - Writing, Learning, Great Courses, Faith and the Wisp. So, here it goes....

Since early 2009, I've been hooked on listening to college professors teaching me interesting things while I'm driving to and from work. My most recent of the Great Courses is this one:

Old Testament

Course No. 653 (24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)

Taught by Amy-Jill Levine

Back in college, I took a course in the Old Testament [from Richard Simon Hanson], but of course, that was over 25 years ago. In the intervening years, I've done countless Bible studies, but I have not re-examined the book which describes the foundation of my faith from a purely academic view until listening to this lecture series.

I am not going into my reactions about the course in general today -- it would take too long, and it's off-topic. But it was this course which inspired me to write the snippet.

You see, one of the methods used to study scripture is to study it as "story." And, as Dr. Levine describes, there are some "set scenes" in the Old Testament. These "set scenes" are repeating situations that likely represented frameworks around which stories of many types were built during the age when the Old Testament was being composed. The characters would change, but the general setting was pretty much the same, and the audience of the story had a pretty clear idea where a standard story should go, based on the scene. The stories differed, then, based on how the characters reacted to the scene, and how the results differed from what was expected.

We can compare these set scenes to situations in a sit-com, for example. When we see a scene at the beginning of a TV sit-com with a cute little kid, the kid's caretaker, and a little pet (think goldfish, hamster, or the like) we pretty much know what's going to happen. The pet will come to harm (get lost, die, something) and the caretaker will have to deal with it in some sit-com subterfuge to spare the feelings of the kid.

Well, in the Old Testament, the "set scene" is a male protagonist going to a well and meeting a woman there. The typical result is that the "hero" marries as a result.

Why does this work as a "set scene?" Because, I suspect, it's simple and it was a completely reasonable way for the same thing to happen in real life -- at the time. The biblical hero going to the well was an easy thing for people to relate to, because they did it all the time. And they met people there. But the interesting things that happen are a result of the differences in the people doing the meeting.

Anyway, as I was considering this bit of biblical analysis, I was inspired to break the set scene down to a poetic essence, and put the ending on it that resonates with me. "How It Begins" is the result.

So, there you have an explanation of the twenty-nine-word wisp. And, believe it or not, it took me far less time to write the explanation than it took to write the wisp.

That's poetry.

Three Weeks To Go

Three weeks from today -- Wow.

Two weeks of vacation begins!

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Concert that night!

Leah will be home!

Christmas Can't Be Very Far Away - and by then, it will be only a week away!

Favorite Foto Friday - Red Maple

The leaves have fallen, but the image remains.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Thankful

On this Thanksgiving Day, as on every day, I am thankful for this, my family.

Things I've Never Done (TIND)

I was just thinking, that there a lots of things I've never done. That's pretty common, right? [I don't mean "thinking." {"Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason why so few engage in it." Henry Ford} I mean having a list of things you haven't done.]

[Oh, and to give credit where it's due, I came up with the idea when Mike pointed out that I don't ever say anything that's very edgy or controversial. Which is true. Should it be? Something to consider.]

And as I was thinking about this, I realized that the "Things I've Never Done" (TIND) fall into a few categories.

These are the categories:

• TIND - and I Probably Never Will
• TIND - but I Expect I Will Someday
  
• TIND - but I Will If I Can!
  

and finally

• TIND - and I Will Not Discuss [So Don't Ask]

So, having come up with the idea, I also thought "Hey, that would be a good series of blog entries." So, over the next little while, expect to see the first three. [And others are welcome to do the same! {Especially you Facebook readers. (This seems like a very "Facebook" thing to do.)}]

[NaBloPoMo has certainly pushed me to examine and stretch my topics...]

My Life's Soundtrack - Part 1 - Secular List 1

I suppose this is true for many people, but it's certainly true for me: Music is woven into my memories. In a very real way, it's a soundtrack to my life. When I hear certain songs, I think of certain people, places, events. When I see certain things, a related song immediately comes to mind.

I started jotting down songs that have special meaning in my life, preparing for a blog entry. The list got too long! So, here's the first installment. I'll focus on some secular songs this time.

Longer - Dan Fogelberg - Our friend Dave sang this song at our wedding. Though Sherry and I don't have anything we would call "our song," I think of this one.

Oh, Sherry - Steve Perry - A great video, and if I had Steve Perry's voice, I'd sing for a living, too. But it's the subject that makes it special to me. [Love you, Sherry!]

Let's Hear it for the Boy - Deniece Williams - The afternoon after Adam [my first child] was born, I heard this song as I was driving back from the hospital to our apartment in married student housing at Purdue. Yes, I had already seen Footloose, and yes, Willard learning to dance is one of the great scenes from that movie. But for me, I will always associate this song with the day of Adam's birth.

Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World -IZ - In Hawaii, on our 25th Anniversary trip, we heard this song many, many times. Of course, we've heard it other times, as well, but in my mind, it will always conjure up images of flying over the islands in a helicopter.

Very Soft Shoes - Once Upon a Mattress (Rodgers and Barer) - The Jester's Song; my song. I sang and danced; and in one memorable rehearsal, I got a huge ovation. It's one of the best memories of my high school years.

Jungle - Electric Light Orchestra - One of two songs that instantly brings me back to college; the Craig part of college. Todd, Kirk, Andy! How fun! It always makes me smile, and sometimes I just have to laugh.

Rosanna - Toto - The other college song; the Luther House part. Inimitable. Stones, Sul, Ran, Keith, Hawk, Hops - and the whole gang.

Sarah and the Music Man

Two weeks ago, we went to visit Sarah & Troy in their town. The inciting purpose of the trip was to see the high school production of "The Music Man."

Little-known fact: The Music Man was the first musical in which I ever appeared.

Lesser known fact: I can pretty much sing every lyric from that show -- at least, from the movie version starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones.

In any case, I love the show, and this was a chance to see it again, only this time! This time, it was assistant/co-directed by my very own daughter!

(The primary director is a choral director and admits he knows nothing about blocking or the rest of that "drama stuff" so that's what Sarah got to do.)

It was really fun! We had a great time. And I got to see Sarah interact (as "Mrs. K." -- which is still a little weird to me) with her students. If you know Sarah, you know she was born to be in charge. To see her working with these students -- many of them taller than she is, and that will always be the case -- and seeing the respect and admiration they have for her --- well, it just warms a father's heart.

So, Sarah, great job! I look forward to more events with you and your music man in the future.

How It Begins

He goes to the well.
She is already there.
They meet, as they must.
He draws the water.
She fills the two jars.
Their story begins.

Quotes for Today - and Always

Since I'm participating in NaBloPoMo, I decided I should make an attempt to post at least once during the month on each of the topics that are typical in my blog. And what does my blog heading say?

My most frequent topics are family, TV, movies, games and writing. But since I post every weekday when I'm not on vacation, I delve into other things too: religion, words, news items, quotes.


To this point, I have not blogged about quotes during November, so here we go.

====== Logical Consequences ====================

Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men.
Thomas Huxley

When we were raising our children, when they were quite young, Sherry took "logical consequences" very seriously. As with most conscientious parents these days, Sherry wanted to learn from the experts, and one of the key ideas from experts at that time was that children learn to stop bad behavior, and to continue good behavior, if they can experience natural consequences. In other words, rather than punish a child with a spanking or a loss of allowance or something that is entirely unrelated to the bad behavior, find a consequence that can be tied, logically, to the behavior. The child hits someone, they must spend time alone while others play together, because naturally, no one wants to spend time with someone who hits them.

Well, in the quote above, we see the value of natural consequences to all people, not just children. And, I hope, it also means that we were teaching our children to be wise -- to look ahead at consequences for actions they had only conceived, so that they can pursue the natural consequences which are beneficial and avoid the rest.

====== Science and Poetry =======

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite.
- Paul Dirac

I've blogged this one before, but it's too good not to repeat. As before I will leave it in its purity - just read and absorb.

Oh, except for one thing. To read the statement, you might assume Paul Dirac was a poet. He was, in fact, quite a scientist.

Then again, what's to keep someone from being both?

======= Life & Liberty =============

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
Thomas Jefferson

This one deserves a Short Sermon all on its own. Not today, though.

======== Learning ================

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
- Chinese Proverb

======== Trust ==================

He who does not trust enough, Will not be trusted.
Lao Tzu

I trust that's enough for today.

Favorite Foto Friday

I find that I post photos more often on Fridays than on any other day. So perhaps this should become a recurring theme. [Not a rule! I won't be bound by rules! {In my blog at least.}]

So, I will begin the tradition with this photo, taken during the 2005 trip to Yosemite National Park. We had hiked/climbed to the top of Halfdome two days before I took this photo. Leah had taken essentially the same shot earlier in the day [great eye, Leah!] but the sun was not lighting the face of Halfdome at the time, so I re-shot it.

It was a wonderful trip, and I have many more great shots from that adventure. It's hard to take a bad photograph in Yosemite. It's probably the most beautiful place I've ever been.

Weekend! Plays, Family, Guests, Football!

At the end of this weekend, I should be tired and happy.

Tonight: Dinner with sister Deb & her family, and then we get to see nephew Walter in "Romeo and Juliet!"

Tomorrow: We get to see brother-in-law Ross in "Don't Hug Me Christmas Carol" and then host some new friends for dinner [Thanks for cooking, Sherry! How can I help?]

Sunday: I'll attend another Vikings game -- with son Lucas, Dad & Mom this time. And I think I'll see brother Eric, as well!

Then home for a movie or something with Sherry.

Now that is a weekend!

Let's get to it!

[P.S. This is a bonus entry. For NaBloPoMo we are supposed to write 30 posts in 30 days, but I just had to start my "Favorite Foto Fridays" and I still wanted to exclaim about my upcoming weekend, because it promises to be so cool. So today, I do two. 31 posts in 30 days. I'm exceeding expectations, not breaking any rules!]

Games - Yes, I'm Still Playing

In my planning for what to write about NaBloPoMo, [which I clearly wasn't doing ahead of November] I decided I should make an attempt to post at least once during the month on each of the topics that are typical in my blog. And what does my blog heading say?

My most frequent topics are family, TV, movies, games and writing. But since I post every weekday when I'm not on vacation, I delve into other things too: religion, words, news items, quotes.

And have I written about games yet? No! [Well, technically, yes, but the kinds of game I wrote about was a spectator sport, not a game I actually play.] And, since I am a game player, I cannot have you thinking I have not been playing games, or thinking about them.

Yes, we've been running through Pikmin 2 again. Thank goodness Nintendo made it possible to play Gamecube games on the Wii, so I don't have to have two game systems set up at once. For reasons neither of us will probably ever be able to pin down completely, I like playing this game again and again, and Sherry likes watching me [and giving me advice, and reminding me what the plan was, and expressing appropriate appreciation if I dispatch a frog without loss of {Pikmin} life.]

By the time this entry hits the blog, it's likely I will have completed the game again, and it's looking like I might even beat my old record for the fewest "days" that Captain Olimar, Louie, and The Boss required to complete their treasure hunting and return to planet Hocotate. [Yep, it happened. We completed the game in 16 "days" on 11/18/09 - setting many personal records. What fun!]


I bought Civilization IV in March, and it's been a near-constant source of joy [and temptation] ever since. The Civilization series of games, along with the Heroes of Might and Magic games, are the kings of JOMT -- Just One More Turn. Once I start playing a game, it is hard to do anything else with my TV time than advance my civilization and [usually] conquer the misguided civilizations who share the world with me.

Well, in September, I started a game, but the barbarians were just too much, and I gave up. I decided I would put the game away for a while. I did. For a month. Then, in early October, I started a new game. It was a source of some good diversion on my trip to Japan and China, but I have not finished the game. Thus, it has been sneaking into my TV time again.

Once upon a time, Mike bought me Marvel Ultimate Alliance. [What a guy! What a friend!] I had such fun with that! I played through it on my own, but the most fun was playing it in groups. The boys and I played through it twice, and I'm pretty sure "The Dudes" and I played through twice as well. We certainly played through it once.

So, when Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 came out, I had to have it. I've recently played with the boys [all three, now that Troy is among that group] and with "The Dudes" as well. None of us have finished it yet, but we are enjoying it just as much as we did the first game. For cooperative game play, it even beats Diablo II, in my book. It's very similar, in fact, to Diablo II in format, but we're superheroes, not fantasy characters. And the advancement, though similar, is more flexible. [You can choose to remove advances from one power to shift it to a new power, if you want.] Plus, there are special powers that are only available as combinations of powers from two heroes. Quite cool! [At the moment, Lucas is playing as Gambit, Adam is Spiderman, I have moved from Captain America to Iceman to Jean Grey and now to The Thing, and Troy joined in as The Human Torch. The screen is awash with mayhem and the flash of super-powers!]


Though I haven't played it much recently, I did play some Magic: Online last month. And more importantly, I gave Troy some real Magic: the Gathering cards so that he will be able to build decks of his own for playing this holiday season [which begins very soon, since he and Sarah will be with us over Thanksgiving.]

I doubt that's even a complete list, but certainly those are the four games that have been most on the forefront of my mind lately.

V - OK, This is what I wanted

After the first episode of the remake of "V" I was not impressed. It's even fair to say I was disappointed.

But, I am not one to dismiss a sci-fi show after one viewing. Oh, no. There are far too few shows outside of the standard network "reality," "crime drama," and "sit-com" molds. When something speculative comes along, I will not abandon it lightly. I remind myself that even the best series sometimes start weakly as they establish initial characters who begin as stereotypes until writers and actors can collaborate to build someone interesting [Worf started out completely one-dimensional, for example, before becoming one of the most interesting characters in ST:tNG and ST:DS9.]

And so, we watched the second episode of "V." And I'm glad we did. I admit, part of the problem I had with the first episode was that it rigidly followed what I remembered from the original mini-series, and I was disappointed they hadn't changed things in some meaningful way. Well, by the second episode, my memory of the events in the original was fuzzy enough that I couldn't say whether the new version was the same or different. And then, Erica Evans, the character played by Elizabeth Mitchell, asserted herself as something a bit more nuanced than she had been in the first episode. Similarly, Ryan, the "Rebel Visitor in Hiding" played by Morris Chestnut, got a chance to prove his value as a character.

Last night's episode had some nice surprises, and we have one more before this mini-series (or perhaps "pre-series") wraps up. So, now I am really wishing I had some sort of Digital Video Recording technology (Tivo or the like) because I don't want to keep missing NCIS, but I have to see what they do to complete this part of "V" -- and set up for the next one.

Heroes - Winding Down

Heroes is winding down. It's time for it to be done.

I'm sad to say that, because I've said more than once that the first season of "Heroes" was the best season of TV, ever. Unfortunately, the show has lost much of the intensity from its drama, and it is not even remaining consistent with its characters, let alone its history. Sure, with comic book stories, there are allowances we have to give up in "realism," but when a story contradicts its past (excellent) story for the sake of a new chapters, what's really on display is a lack of imagination -- and that's precisely the attribute that held the story together initally.

[If you have not seen the episode entitled “Brother’s Keeper” which originally aired on November 16, 2009, be warned that there are spoilers in what follows.]

So, what am I talking about, in particular? There are quite a few things. I'll mention two.

Dr. Chandra Naresh's prior work with "Specials" One of the important points in the opening season was that no one took the elder Dr. Naresh's work seriously. He had published this book, see, but it contained no proof. Yet here in "Brother's Keeper" we find that he discovered an energy emanating from "Specials." If that is true, then why in the world was it not in his book, clearly published much later? Because the writers didn't care. Had they cared, what could they have done? Any number of things.

Naresh could have made the discovery, but had his mind wiped by someone like "The Haitian." Then his later work would have been based on memories that were trying to resurface. Could the writers still have this explanation in mind? Maybe. But if they did, they should have had Mohinder raise the question "Why wasn't this in my father's book?" in this episode. They didn't. [By the way, introducing Chandra as part of the internment camp already raises issues similar to this. This episode just compounds the problem.]

Alternatively, another character could have made the discovery. Perhaps a colleague at the internment camp. Or, even better, Mohinder could have discovered it by trying to figure out how Molly finds "Specials."

Claire and her reaction to Samuel When Claire ran into Samuel just an episode or two ago, she somehow knew not to trust him. She worked to make sure that her father would encounter Samuel, and she decided Samuel was dangerous. In "Brother's Keeper" Tracy Strauss shows up with a problem, Claire tries to help her, they do some silly "super-chick bonding" and then when Tracy says she thinks she'll go join Samuel, Claire says "Sure, go ahead." Smiling! Like there's nothing even remotely wrong with that idea. What? Unfortunately, as confused as teenagers can be, I just don't buy this reaction.

These are just two examples, but there are more. (Sylar now should remember having met Hiro in the early part of Season 1, for example.) Remaining consistent is not impossible. Surprises and twists are best when they fit the history and characters the writers have already built. If the writers aren't even trying, then let's have one big, cool ending to the show, and be done. I'll be sorry to see it go, but I would be even sorrier to stop watching because the shows go any farther down hill.

Movie Micro-Reviews: Edition 41

Another edition, since I've seen quite a few movies in the past month....

Fever Pitch	58	Pretty much exactly what you’d expect from the trailers. OK, except that the Fallon character was a lot more normal during non-Red Sox season than you might think. Anyway, predictable, but OK for a diversion.
Star Trek	90	Initially reviewed in Edition 32. A thrill-ride. By the time we were 30 minutes in, I was already convinced I want to see more of this cast in these characters. Yes, it’s a re-visioning of the characters. But it fits. It’s great fun! (On a plane from Hong Kong to Tokyo.)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine	88	Initially reviewed in Edition 32. Very fun, and since I didn’t know most of the story ahead of time, I got to be surprised. “The best X-Men movie?” Not quite. But very good. (And Blu-Ray #2 for me.)
Lion in Winter	66	Talk about dysfunctional royal families! I liked it more than I expected, to be honest, but I still didn’t follow all the intrigue or motivations. Still, very good acting, especially in the principal roles – Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close.

The Third Man and other items from the week

Offered for your consideration, articles you would have had the chance to see this week, but if you are focused solely on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the NFL, or Health Care Reform, or New Moon, you probably didn't.

The Third Man: Weird and cool.

Melatonin: I hadn't heard about this until last month, and now my friend, my doctor, and a news article all mentioned it.

Giraffes making a comeback: For some good ecological news.

Minn. Woman Brings Doula Care To Uganda Mothers: Shocking statistics about maternal mortalityin Africa in the accompanying video story. If you want to read only happy things, just read the story. If you want to realize how important the story is, watch the video.

SNL ,Taylor Swift & Peyton Manning

I did not see this when it aired, because, well, let's just say that Saturday Night Live is the reason things like YouTube were invented -- so you can see the best four minutes without sitting through the rest. But, I figured Taylor Swift might just have a good opening monologue, considering that she's pretty clever and has had some fun news items related to her over the past year.




Now I think I'll go find the Peyton Manning bit from a while back. I hear that was pretty hilarious, too.

[Um, yep! It is!]

What? NaNoWriMo too?

Well, well, well.

I mentioned National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) just a few days ago.

Wouldn't you know it? There is also a National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and guess which month it is?

November, too!

So, wanna be a writer? Pick your format and write. I guess that's the message.

Somewhere or other, someone has probably organized a "National Short Stories Month." I bet it's in November, too.

[Google tells me that people are trying -- and it might be May. Folks, there is such a thing as too much. But I guess if you already know which format suits you best....]

[Robin Lindsay commented on my NaBloPoMo blog entry and mentioned NaNoWriMo. Thanks, Robin. As is so often the case in the synchronistic world of the Internet, Robin mentioned it at about the same time I was seeing it somewhere else. Strange how that happens.]

Sesame Street Turns 40

Sesame Street Turns 40 this month! Look, if you're going to blog every day in November [and I am] and something big has a "birthday" during November [and it does] and if that something has been a big part of your life [and it has, what with it debuting when I was a kid and being a part of the lives of my children as they grew up {which they did}] then you had better blog about it!

[So I am.]

More educated people than I will write about what makes Sesame Street work at a cultural level. For me, at a personal level, what really drove its effectiveness was its humor and its characters. In particular, there are some characters that work so well together that they can always find a way to make me laugh while they are teaching me something.

The most clear example of this is the combination of Kermit and Grover.

Here's a classic:



Yes, you can see the punchline coming. But it's so well done! And, as is always the case, Kermit takes the Bud Abbott role, while Grover plays Lou Costello. Or maybe it's George and Gracie. Or perhaps Dick and Tommie. (When you think about it, don't you feel like Jim Henson and Frank Oz could have had one fantastic stand-up career together?)

For proof that they had fun doing these bits, watch "Light and Heavy." Henson can hardly keep from laughing, and Oz really sells the Grover character. Hey, what would have happened with this demonstration if Grover had not come along?





[And of course, Sesame Street, Henson and Oz are not beyond doing the same joke lesson multiple times. Ernie & Bert!]

There are plenty of other memorable parts of Sesame Street. The guy who paints numbers. The Count. I was never much of an Elmo fan (still true) but some younger kids clearly love him. And who wouldn't love Oscar, in a gotta-love-a-Grouch sort of way? And Cookie Monster? Are you kidding me?

But in the end, the best parts of Sesame Street, for me, are these comical lessons with Kermit and Grover. Cracks me up!

Last Outdoor Run of 2009?

On November 10, the temperature at 4:30 PM was 51F. In Rochester, Minnesota! And there was no wind. In Rochester, Minnesota! So, when Sherry pointed out these facts, I had to take the opportunity for one more run outside this year.

Though there are few leaves left on the trees, the air still smells like autumn, the setting sun turned the sky many beautiful shades, and I got back in before it was too dark to be seen.

And now, I will have to be satisfied with a treadmill and DVDs, until April or so.

But for one last time in 2009, it was a fine day for a run.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

P.S. I want to make it clear that Minnesota is never really like this. Ever. Not even today. If it ever were like this, people who live in other places would want to live here. Clearly, this is a barren, cold wasteland. People I met in China heard I was from Minnesota and knew one thing about my home -- it's cold. So, of course, you must read the above story as fiction. If I really went for a run, I was a crazy fanatic who doesn't mind physical exertion in freezing, blustery air. This is not the kind of place you want to live. There's no point in even considering it.

[And you Minnesotans reading this ...... Shhhhhhh!]

Review - Shadow Puppets

I've been trying to read a book each month, if I can. And, since my preferred material is novels, or collections of short stories, I have been able to keep up the pace pretty well. As I was just gone on a trip that had several long days of air travel, I was able to get two books read. I reviewed one of them last week, Ender's Shadow, and I indicated in that review that a review of Shadow Puppets would be coming soon. Here it is.

Unfortunately for me, Shadow Puppets is a sequel, but not the immediate sequel, to Ender's Shadow.

What does this mean?

Well, as a sequel to Ender's Shadow, the primary character of Shadow Puppets is Bean - the fascinating hero of that prior book. It's been several years since Ender's Shadow concluded, so Bean has grown up a bit -- he's a teenager well into puberty by now -- and he's had some character-defining experiences. Unfortunately, those experiences are told in Shadow of the Hegemon, the book between Ender's Shadow and Shadow Puppets.

I've felt like Orson Scott Card's other books in this universe have been much more self-contained. But, of course, I never tried to read them out of order. A large portion of the first half of Shadow Puppets ends up describing what has happened in the SotH book, so that characters and their motivations are better understood. I found these expositions to be slow and cumbersome. Necessary, I suppose, but they were not gripping reading, like Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow were.

And then there were some points where it really sounded like Card was just using characters to preach. One former scientist, in particular, has a view of human needs to pair up in marriage that just screamed "author's beliefs on display" while not advancing the story in a critical way.

Ultimately, I did want to finish the book. I cared enough about Bean and his friends (and unlike Ender's Shadow, this book dealt with his friends quite a lot) to see what happened, but I never felt like there was enough peril to make me worry. Further, the genius little boy from the first books was gone. We rarely got a view of what Bean was thinking, except in his conversations. Considering that the genius of Ender's Shadow lay greatly in the creation of a genius point-of-view character, Card missed the mark by putting the reader outside Bean.

I suppose I'll go back and read the intervening book sometime, despite knowing so much of the action from the recollections in this book. But then again, maybe I won't. If it's no better than this one, and I already know who lives, who dies, and so on, why bother?

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[P.S. Sherry informs me that the next book in the series {Shadow of the Giant} is really, really good. But she agrees I would probably be wasting my time reading Shadow of the Hegemon. Life's too short for mediocre books. I'll skip it.]

Plane Facts

We get to have Thanksgiving this year with all of our kids, except one. Sarah & Troy will be at our house for Thanksgiving break. Lucas & Lee will be in town. And Adam & Marisa will join us and also see Marisa's family, so that's great.

But Leah will be in New York.

I will absolutely enjoy the kids I have around.

But it won't stop me from missing the one who is absent.

I checked Expedia.com early last week, and it would cost $700 to get her a ticket to Minneapolis and back, and even then, she'd have to leave Minnesota early Saturday morning, because all the flights east on Sunday are full. And the flight would have two connections (Cleveland and Chicago). And of course, she'd still have to pay for the taxi or shuttle to-and-from JFK. So, that's not going to happen.

Though we've been on our way to being empty-nesters for a while, this is the first time we've not had Leah for a holiday. It was hard to miss Sarah for Thanksgiving last year, and it will be just as hard to miss Leah this year.

But once Thanksgiving is past, Christmas is right around the corner. Then we get to have her around for almost a month!

So, Steve, just hang on. You can make it!

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P.S. When I talked to her last, Leah knew exactly how many weeks, days and hours it would be until she arrives home for Christmas break. It made me smile [from the toes up.] And I do believe her anticipation is not solely because she'll be in the same state as her boyfriend. I think we parents & siblings have something to do with it.

Vikings Bye

So today, the Minnesota Vikings have their "bye." They don't have to play a game, since the NFL wants to stretch a 16-game season over 17 weeks to increase their revenue. Can't blame them -- they are in it to make money.

But, this leaves the Purple Faithful without a game to watch. So, what shall we do?

How about revisiting some of the excellent moments this season has given us so far this year?

No. 4 and much more

Homecoming king: Favre reigns at Lambeau

Vikings 38, Rams 10

Favre throws 6-yard TD pass, Peterson rushes for 3 TDs in Vikings win

What a Win!


Oh, we haven't won anything yet. But if you had a choice between being 7-1, or 4-3 right now, I think you would have to take 7-1.

NaBloPoMo - Like I Don't Have Enough to Do

So, last year I noticed that some of the blogs I follow decided to participate in "NaBloPoMo" which is just an amazingly silly contraction of "National Blog Posting Month." During November, participating [masochistic] bloggers promise to blog every single day of November.

I was reminded of it again on Monday, and since I had already blogged for the first two days of the month [even though I don't blog on weekends as a rule] I thought I might try it. So, it's a Saturday, and you're getting a weekend edition of "Snippets and Wisps."

I suspect I will regret the decision, but I've deluded myself into thinking it will be easier for me than for some people. Why?

1. I already have a few ideas left from the time I was recently away and unable to blog because Beijing didn't allow it.
2. This blog is decidedly un-focused. I talk about many, many different subjects. With a lack of focus comes the chance to broaden my subject matter. I mean, if you have to talk about politics every day, I'm sure you can, but it would be hard for me to do that. But if I can post photos one day, a book review the next, some movie micro-reviews the next, a short essay on the joys and heartaches of parenting inserted somewhere, well, then, I can probably imagine a blog entry per day.
3. I already post every work-day that I'm not on vacation. So NaBloPoMo just adds eight weekend days, plus Thanksgiving & the Day After. That's just 10 more. And one of those extra days is behind me. How hard can that be? [Famous last words.]
   
4. I do like to write. Y'know. Unless I have writer's block. Or I'm too busy at work. Or I have jet lag. Or I'm sick. But right now, only two of those apply, so what the heck.
   

So, we'll see if quality suffers with frequency. I have high hopes. [Delusion, I tell you.]

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P.S. I hope it's not cheating to schedule the posts in advance -- writing two or three a day for a while so I can take the weekends off when I'm traveling to see Sarah or something. If it is cheating, well, bummer.

P.P.S. It was reading Tia's blog that reminded me of NaBloPoMo, so ultimately she gets the credit if this works.

Movie Micro-Reviews: Edition 40

For anyone new to my blog, I post micro-reviews of movies I've seen. You can see all of them, by edition, by following this link. Or, you can see a complete list, sorted by my rating, or sorted alphabetically by title.

How do I assign rating numbers? Here's my latest explanation:

Ratings: A rating of 50 is just barely recommendable. In fact, between 50 & 70, I would probably recommend this movie to certain people, based on the kinds of things they like. Under 50, I would not recommend. With a rating of 70-85, I’d recommend unless you hate this “Type” of movie. With a rating of 86 or more, I think this is worth recommending, even to people who might not normally like the genre of film into which this movie falls.

You are free to disagree completely. That's your prerogative!

Stargate SG1: Children of the Gods	80	Just a revised version of the pilot – removing nudity and maybe a couple of other cosmetic changes. But it was fun to see again.
Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who	68	Very pretty – animation is so amazing these days. Fun cast. The story changed some, but it was a good time. I laughed some.
Defiance	82	A story I had not heard before from WW2. Somewhat similar to “Schindler’s List” but quite different as well. It’s great to see what some people will do to survive.
Flash of Genius	67	Some stories are well-written and well-acted and still somewhat painful to watch, because the bad things that happen hit so close to home. What would I do? Hard to say, but I think my family’s pain would motivate me more.
Cloverfield	71	This drew me in quite well, and pulled me along through the whole thing. JJ Abrams was involved, and I believe it. OK, so I don’t normally watch “monster movies” but this one was unique in my experience, and well done!
Original Sin	40	Too boring for the most part. I can’t recommend it. Not sure what messed it up. There are twists. The people are attractive. Tension was lacking, and passion. This was not “Body Heat” and it should have been. Maybe Banderas and Jolie don’t have the same skill as Hurt and Turner.

Another V

"Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November."

At this time of year, I always get the urge to watch "V for Vendetta." It's one of the reasons I own movies on DVD (and now, Blu-Ray.) When I get in the mood for a particular story, I like to dive right in. And, as I've mentioned before, there are some movies that just beg to be watched at certain times of the year.

I still have not read the original graphic novel. [Someday, I probably will. {I'm that kind of guy.} {But don't expect me to come back and update this blog post when I do. I'm not that neurotic.}] I hear there are some major differences between the source and the movie, and I like the movie's arc, messages, characters and denouement so much that I haven't wanted to risk being disappointed in the way another version might portray V, or Evey.

I'm a bit surprised at myself that I haven't ever blogged about this movie on November 5 in prior years. Oh sure, I have micro-reviewed it, and in fact my last micro-review of it was not quite so micro, but each of those micro-reviews was included in an edition that appeared shortly after the 5^th.

One of the points I've not mentioned before is this: "V for Vendetta" showed me that Natalie Portman can really act. I mean, until then I had only seen her in the newer Star Wars movies, and for some reason (I blame the director) her character(s) there were either wooden or melodramatic.

Another good point, of course, is how good Hugo Weaving had to be, to show a range of emotion with just his voice and body language. Of course, he did have a cape. You can't forget that, or diminish its importance. [Mike always says a good actor can steal any scene if he has a cape. {I first heard him say that after the first Harry Potter movie. Rickman as Snape = scene stealer} {Not that that's a bad thing.}]

Anyway, it's that time of year again. Thursdays being what they are, we might not have time to watch the movie exactly on 11/5, but it will happen soon.

[Cue the 1812 Overture.]

V: I missed NCIS for this?

I've been waiting for the new version of the "V" miniseries since I heard it was being done.

Oh sure, the original mini-series was some somewhat straight-forward. But for its time, it was a fun sci-fi/monster show. With the advances in special effects in the past 25 years, the success of various remakes in the past few years (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, etc.), and the excellent sci-fi in movies lately, I was hoping for a lot.

Last night, it finally aired. Though I have a week's worth of posts already in the queue, I had to push them back to react to it in my blog.

I'm underwhelmed. Oh, the actors they have did an OK job, and the effects are convincing, but there was not nearly enough tension. I don't know if the director was forced to put too much story in too few episodes, or if they picked the wrong music, or what, but I was not pulled in.


And, since I still don't have a digital recording device, I paid for this viewing of "V" by missing NCIS, which is essentially the only police show I watch (well, I'm trying NCIS LA now, since it fits well into the NCIS - Good Wife gap.)

Oh, I will watch the rest of "V." I think it's only four weeks long. In the end, I hope it deserves my attention.

But it needs to get better if it's going to get a positive review in totality.

Temple in Japan and other Photos from My Trip

Temple in Japan
Originally uploaded by steven_t_will

So the trip to Japan and China reaffirmed my love for our new camera. I bought it in preparation for Sarah & Troy’s wedding, since our previous camera was having major trouble focusing when shooting indoors. If all goes well, when I post this to my blog, I will have some good examples of how well the photos turn out with this Sony DSC-H20. 10X optical zoom. A flash that reaches a long way.

And you know one other thing that is a real improvement? No matter how many photos I have stored on the memory card, the camera is ready to shoot as soon as it’s on. Our older camera had a silly implementation that seemed to have to read through each file on the card before it could find a spot to put the next image. So, when we were in Hawaii and I took over 1000 shots [OK, laugh, but first of all, you should see the best ones we got from that trip – I can’t get the best ones without having some chaff to throw away. And second of all, do you know how beautiful Hawaii is? I defy anyone with a camera in his hands to refrain from capturing some of that beauty.] I’d have to suffer through almost a minute each time I turned on the camera, near the end of the trip, because the camera had to find the end of the existing images. Not this Sony! It’s smart.

So, enjoy a photo or two (or however many I put here – it’s so easy for the first photo from Flickr to be added to a blog entry, and so hard for every one after that) from our nice camera.


The Great Wall of China - Uploaded by me to Flickr


Hong Kong Skyline - Uploaded by me to Flickr


Sun near setting, in the Forbidden City in Beijing - Uploaded by me to Flickr


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This blog entry was supposed to be posted on November 3. An early version got out because I'm just not sure how to use Flickr's blogging ability to schedule a post, rather than just immediately posting it. Maybe it can't handle that, or maybe I'm not techie enough to know how. Anyway, if it feels like you already saw this in my blog, you're probably right!

Ender’s Shadow

Let’s start with one thing being clear: I believe “Ender’s Game” is one of the best books I have ever read. Period. If you can stand science fiction at all, you owe it to yourself to read this book (Tracy.) It is so well constructed, so well thought through, so well told, so well characterized – it is a work of literature.

So why mention it in a review of “Ender’s Shadow?” Because a very large percentage of the charge from the lightning-in-a-bottle that was “Ender’s Game” is present in “Ender’s Shadow.”

Somehow, author Orson Scott Card found a way to tell much of the same underlying critical story twice! That’s right. “Shadow” covers the same basic dramatic events that were the core of the action in “Game” but from a completely different viewpoint.

In “Ender’s Game” the primary character is Ender Wiggin. Relatively early in the book, after learning how Ender’s early life is special, Ender goes to Battle School. And then, well, it gets really, really good. But, importantly, while he’s there, he meets Bean.

In “Ender’s Shadow” we get Bean’s story. And, as with Ender, it starts with his unusual life before Battle School. Card has imagined an extremely interesting character in Bean. At the beginning, Bean is so unbelievably precocious, a reader might be inclined to say “this can’t happen” and give up, except that the storytelling from Bean’s point of view is so gripping. Bean is amazingly intelligent, you see. The challenge for an author with a genius hero is that the author has to try really, really hard to make the genius realistic. And that means the author has to either be a genius, or lead us so skillfully through the story that we can’t really see where the hero might have been less than a genius. Or maybe both. I think Card did both.

It has been years since I read “Ender’s Game,” and I’m kind of glad. I remembered some key elements of the story, especially near the end, but I didn’t remember the exact interactions between Ender and Bean. Well, Card wrote the book so that remembering the end of “Game” did not spoil “Shadow” – it enhanced it! And now I want to re-read “Game” to see how the scenes with Ender and Bean differ because of viewpoint.

It’s another masterpiece. It’s not quite “Ender’s Game” but if you read “Ender’s Game” you owe it to yourself to read “Ender’s Shadow.”

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P.S. Lest you think I like everything I read, I can guarantee you that my review of "Shadow Puppets" will not be as glowing. Same author, same milieu, but I'm half way through it and, well, I'll save that thought.

Japan – Efficient, Courteous, and Crazy when they Party

I want to ride Japanese airlines all the time. I mean it. They load a plane faster, with more courtesy, than I have ever experienced from an American airline. And when you reach the baggage claim area, the luggage is already being circulated on the belt, and there are actually airline staff there to help.

Then, in my dealings with the business people at the conference I attended, they were unfailingly polite, and they had smiles on their faces 99% of the time. Honestly! And the bowing? Oh, my! You’ve never felt so respected in your life until you’ve been bowed to five times when you’re being thanked at the end of your presentation, with two sets of applause. [Sure it was courteous applause, but it was applause.]

And then. And then.

And then these same reserved, polite, efficient people go out to a large restaurant, take over a dining hall, and go crazy! Did you know they play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” as a party game? They do! Did you know it can also be a drinking game? It can! Did you know that 40-somethings and 50-somethings can cheer on other 30-40-50-somethings as they engage in beer-chugging contests? They can, and they do!

If you ask me what the best part of the trip to Japan was, I won’t talk about that party. But if you ask me what the most surprising thing was? Well, that’s pretty much it.