Star Trek

You know, I catch a lot of flack for being a Star Trek fan. First of all there are the Star Wars fans who just can't see anything of value beyond the Star Wars universe. Then there is the people who just hate Star Trek, and for almost no reason just hate everything about it, or at least dislike it a whole lot. Then there's the Trekkies. Did that surprise you? I like Star Trek, but I'm not a fanatic of it. I would never argue with some Jedi wannabe over which franchise is better, it's not worth it. However, to hear some of the people I've talked to about Star Trek, it would be throwing the baby out with the bath water if you just dismissed it completely.

What is ST good for? It's definitely good for some not overly complicated compartmentalized science fiction stories that are over in 53 minutes. For me, this is really good. I don't always get a ton of time to devote to a movie or a book or a TV series, and Star Trek is written in a way that almost every episode is autonomous and if you haven't seen it for a while, it doesn't matter. This was probably most true with TOS, and least true with DS9, but even in DS9, it was still true over 90% of the time.

There's also a ton of books written for this franchise. There have got to be about 300 books written and they are still writing them. I'm all for this, except for William Shatner. He's writing books where Kirk is back from the dead, and working with the whole TNG crew, and some of the VOY crew. To me it's just a feeble attempt to keep the past alive, and see if he can milk Kirk just a little bit more. Plus, now there are two Spocks helping Kirk . I do however enjoy reading the books, and aside from a few series (New Earth being one of the best) they are easy short reads, good for an in-between book.

Someone almost always asks me who my favorite character is, and instead of being annoyed at this, I'll just say that I was always intrigued by Riker and by Kira. I think they are some of the most interesting characters, but Jolene Blalock is the hottest. However, I kinda stick by just saying DS9 and TNG are my favorite series, followed closely by ENT. I don't know if I just couldn't get into VOY all that well, or maybe it was just to 90's-ish. Whatever, I'm one of the rare fans of DS9 out there, so :P

So take that for what it's worth, and in the mean time, have a wonderful New Year!

The Shannara book series

Where to start. It's been a long long time, but when I remember back to when I got into reading Sci-Fi, the first two books I read were The Sword of Shannara and Ogre, Ogre. I remember my friend Ken kinda trying to get me into Westerns, but um, lets just say no. However, I knew I'd be interested in some Sci-Fi, I started. My bud William had The Sword of Shannara, and was showing it to me one day in church, and I read a chapter or two of it during the service. He was still reading it too, so I had to wait for it, but while I was waiting for it, I was at the old Sunshine Thrift store for some reason, and I was looking though the books, and the only Sci-Fi I could find was this book called Ogre, Ogre. I bought that and read it during the interim of waiting for The Sword of Shanarra, and by the end of these two books I was hooked, and have been addicted to reading ever since.

When I started reading this series, it was a trilogy. Currently if my count is correct, there are 20 of these books. I've been reading this series since the late 80's, and actually having to wait for each book of the Talisman series was awful. Since then, I've seriously branched out and waiting a year for a book doesn't bother me at all anymore. It's also good to note that the most interesting love story in my opinion happened in this series, between Par Ohmsford and Damson Rhee.

The original series, or at least the first book really has a great potential for a movie, so that's why they are making one. A younger Owen Wilson would make a great Shea if he could keep serious for a while. I'm torn whether or not Oded Fehr is tall enough to pull off Allanon, but other than that, he would be great. I know this one sounds strange, but Seth Rogan as Flick is something that popped immediatley to mind. I'm sure I could come up with the rest of the cast if needed, but pressing on.

The books are an involved read, where you need to pay attention to really get everything out of it, but that's what makes it all the more special. Also, most of the stories come out in trilogies, which I like. One book is never really enough. Also, over the last 10 years or so, the Shannara series has been going into prequel mode, tying in the established magical world of the Sword with today's Earth. I haven't got to all these books quite yet, and have some reading to catch up on, but I'm going to wait until I have all the books to do it. Of course there's the library.

Dungeon Crawler Video Games

I've got a rule. Between Christmas and New Years, I play video games as much as I want, and it normally means that I am thoroughly sick of them until the next holiday comes around. Yes I admit it, I'm not the Uber-gamer that some people are, and I do get sick of video games once in a while, but at the same time I need my mindless video game time every once in a while.

My favorite kinds of games are the dungeon crawlers where I can just run around and hack and slash. It's a great stress relief. I just get a kick out of busting skulls once in a while, evil undead skulls. It's amazing just how relaxing this can actually be. You definitely achieve a sort of transcendence where everything you are thinking about gains a lot of clarity and your perception is heightened.

Some of the better games that I've played recently have been the D&D or EQ games for the PS2. The whole Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance gamies and the Everquest Champions games are all really good games that have a lot of replay value, if not for the story, for the mindless violence. Strangely enough, the Justice League games and the X-Men Legends games have the same kind of effect for me. Granted these are not the same type of games, but they have the same feel. The Bard's Tale is the only other game I can think of of this style that isn't a superhero game. I think Ultimate Alliance is also the same kind of game, but I haven't played it yet, so who knows.

Patty Melts

Carmelized Onions + Burger Pattie Cooked Medium + Melted Cheese + Greasy Rye Bread = Yum!

Merry Christmas tomorrow!

Summer Bowling

Alright, I'm not sure why I chose the dead of winter to blog about something I like to do in the summer, but there is definitely something cool about bowling in the summer. It isn't like the winter. Everyone bowls in the winter. The alley is packed, and there are tons of obnoxious drunks there who are on 17 leagues, and really only work to be able to afford their league dues and cheap beer.

See the thing is I don't really care to wade through all the empties an unconscious people just to throw a ball into some pins. I'd much rather wait until the summer and practically have the bowling alley to myself.

I took one trip up to my alley to test out my new shoes in the middle of July, and it was about 95 degrees outside, and I thought I was about to die, when I walked through the doors, and was hit by that chill of 65 degree alley breeze wafting through the door. Ah, paradise. I walked up to the counter with my shoes, my ball, a coupon for a free game, and a winning smile. As I wait for the guy to ring up a couple extra frames for me for $1.50 each, I notice that of all 40 lanes, there are 2 in use. I ask for some lanes on the other side of the alley, which happens to be right by the snack counter, so I grab a pop and head over to play. As I'm lacing up my shoes, and putting my keys in my street shoes (cause, that's where they go when I'm bowling, duh) I notice one of the other two lanes is finishing, so it's me and one other group playing, with about 32 empty lanes between us. So I get up, and bowl a pretty mediocre game and realize that I'm actually feeling pretty good. I go ahead and bowl through all three games, and about half way through the second game, the only other people in the place leave too. Now it's just me alone, playing much like a bowling championship in every way other than how many pins are being knocked down. I played a game and a half and was finished before anyone else even came in. To quote the immortal words of both Bill and Ted, "Excellent".

Now I guess you might think I'm a bit of a loner if you read through that story. It's not really true. I really like spending time with people. It's just I also value my personal time as well as efficient air cooling. I don't bowl for the social interaction of it though. I bowl for the fun. I also like bowling with some of my best friends too, but they all live 60 miles away, and sometimes it's hard to justify an hour in the car to bowl a few hours.

On a side note, I've started amassing a collection of bowling balls. I've got a nice blue one that I really like, and I just picked up a black one with red swirls through it that looks pretty cool too. I had a few other ones too, but I just end up selling them in a garage sale, or giving them away.

Diet Mountain Dew

Here we are nearing the end of the year, and I'm sitting here drinking some Dew thinking about the end of the year, and the Christmas season and everything. I've got two weeks off and I'm going to spend some of the time (when I'm not at some Christmas function) playing video games. The thing is my yearly venture into the world of the gamer is always made better by the application of Mountain Dew. Actually everything is made better by the application of Mountain Dew.

Dew makes things better. The difference Dew makes at work is amazing. The days when I'm too cheap or too busy to go out and pick myself up a couple of 2-liter's, work just drags on and I'm barely awake and I know I'm not functioning nearly as well as I could. When I've had a glass of that sweet nectar not only do I approach a state of consciousness, I start talking faster, I'm nicer and work ends much quicker. This happens at Band Practice too, however the Dew makes me belligerent to the leader, so hey that's an added bonus.

One thing to remember about the Dew is if you really like Mountain Dew, never switch to the Diet Dew, because when you do you will never go back. The first case tastes weird, the second case is OK, and the third one is great, but the regular stuff tastes funny now. The biggest problem there is with this is while there are very few restaurants that serve Mountain Dew, there are almost no restaurants that server the Diet Dew, and that is the suck.

Antiques Roadshow

Alright, the Roadshow is not really in the same category with what I normally blog about, but there's something really cool about it. There's just three things that are cool about it. I'll start with the first one, cause it effects me.

First of all the Roadshow gives me a good idea as to what antique might just be valuable. This being said, I certainly keep my eye out at garage sales or flea markets or similar stuff.

The second thing is watching people who thing they have something really valuable being told that the item is worthless. I think I've actually seen someone throw a worthless treasure away at the end of the show before. That's priceless.

The final thing is when someone brings in what they think might be worth a few hundred dollars, and are shocked to find out that their door stop is an ancient one of a kind treasure that is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm just waiting for someone to either have a heart attack or for it to be brown trouser time for one of these people. That would be great.

Childhood's End

To me, this book is the highpoint for Clarke. I'm not saying that some of the other stuff wasn't great, because it was. All I'm saying is that this is an awesome piece of work that hits all the coolness buttons. It's a little campy, it explores the last man on Earth scenario in a totally new way, it's extremely anachronistic and deals with everything from science to the occult. I like campy and unintentional anachronisms don't bug me, I kinda think they lend a nostalgic feel to the work.

I really don't want to get too much into the story as there are some good twists that I don't want to reveal. Let's just say that Jan is a cool character, but the children are what's cool. The last third of the book is great. The trip to Carina is interesting, but the last few chapters is where Jan shines. I also like the overlord's names.

I really like the whole book. Pick this one up when you can.

Thai Fried Rice

Food, more posts about food. I probably shouldn't post about food while I'm hungry, I probably sound like I'm desperate for a snack. Oh well.

You know, I've often thought I should have been born somewhere in Asia as I like just about every type of Asian cuisine, but I guess you can't have everything. However, I do consider myself fortunate to be born in a very diverse city. There is just a ton of ethnic restaurants in the Metro Detroit area, and I like them all. Within just a few miles of my house, there are something like a dozen Chinese restaurants, a couple Korean restaurants, a Japanese steakhouse, three or four Thai joints, four Vietnamese restaurants and even one Laotian place. That's a lot of Asian food, and me likey!

Just a couple of things about Thai food though. First of all, just about everything can be eaten spicy. That's cool with me, but I have a problem with a dish when all you taste is spicy. The heat factor of a dish should complement a dish, not be the only discernible flavor. So I generally stay at about medium heat for most dishes, because whenever I've ordered hot, it was to the determent to the overall flavor of the dish.

This said, there's nothing much I like more than going to a Thai place and sitting down for some fried rice. First off, the meal begins with some soup. Normally the soup is either hot and sour soup, or sizzling rice. At most places, you also get some shrimp chips, and these will dissolve in the soup in a most gratifying way. It's a good time to mention that if you have a cold, there is no better cure than a bowl of Thai soup.

The soup is just about the right amount of time for your food to reach you, so it hardly seems like you are waiting. Then comes a large portion of excellent tasting fried rice. Now I'm a little jaded by the house fried rice at Bangkok 96 (Dearborn, MI). It has chicken and shrimp, with carrots, snow peas, broccoli, onions, and cashews. This might just be my favorite dish of all time.

eBay

I guess this one goes along with the whole garage sale thing, but I really enjoy eBay, at least the sales aspect of it. As I sit here playing an internet game and trying to write about this, while I really should be working, I think about all the stuff I've bought and sold on eBay. Ah, it's been a good time.

I think 2007 was a good year for me. I think I sold about $2,000 in 07. There was a lot of shipping involved, but since you can ship online, that got a lot easier to do. Not having to hit the post office is great, and I bought a scale just so I didn't have to worry about screwing up shipping.

I've bought very few items on eBay, not because there aren't great things out there, but because I'm a cheapskate. I've sold tons of stuff though. I think the heyday of when you could sell practically anything is gone, but that doesn't mean that there isn't any potential out there. Back in the 90's when it was new, it seemed that everything sold. as long as you weren't a jerk pricing. Now however, it is common to see only one out of ten listings end without any winning bids. Seems that for most things, there is more supply than demand.

This brings up a kinda negative point of eBay, but there is definitely a silver lining to it. The problem is that collectibles have lost some of their value because all of a sudden you have a global supply for a local demand. I had a hockey card that was worth $40 in 1994 when I pulled it out of a $2.50 pack. It went up to about $50 in the next few years, and should have been a valuable card today. I just ran a search and that same card is now priced anywhere between $1 and $10 and doesn't sell a lot. The thing is the card became available, and of course if there were 10 on eBay all listed for $40, someone decided to undercut the competition and list for $35, and set a new standard that someone decided to undercut and list for $30. Eventually collectors slowed their buying so that they could get a deal. This means that the real value of their collectibles kept going down because demand was artificially lowered, and this happened, the collectible market collapsed. I think this happened about 4 years ago, but it started about 10 years ago. I don't care what you were into, Sports cards, comic books, Beanie Babies, coins, stamps, depression glass or whatever, if all of a sudden there is a supply explosion, demand is going to go down causing cost reduction. I guess what I'm saying is if "video killed the radio star", eBay killed the collectible market.

That silver lining is that if you are trying to sell a collectible, and you aren't hung up about the value that price guides put on your collectible, you can probably get a fair price for your item if it's in good shape.

Renaissance Festivals

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet. I know that a lot of people think that Renaissance Festivals are nerdy and yeah they are a bit, but they are also a lot of fun. Just about the only problem I have with them really is the people who get totally into character, and give you a really hard time about it. I'm not talking about the people who get paid to get dressed up and screw with people or people who just get dressed up cause they think it's fun. I'm talking about the people who harass people because they literally don't have anything better to do and take their "role playing" way to seriously. Other than that, most people are really kinda fun and are just there to have a good time.

I tell you what, the artisans are kinda cool, and the stuff they are selling is most of the time really neat. I stock up on incense every time I go and end up buying at least one thing I just don't need. I've also got an awesome collection of crockery mugs from these things.

Beni Hana Lunch Boat

I like food. Always have, always will. The problem with this is that most of the tasty food is not good for you, and the really healthy food is either bland or disgusting. Really healthy food is also expensive and I'm a cheapskate and I'm more about money in my pocket than health food in my stomach.

The Japanese have found a nice way to marry a love of cheapness and tasty, and they call it sushi. Now sushi can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be for it to be good. As a matter of fact there's a fruit market around the corner from where I used to work that would sell good California rolls for six dollars a pound. But that's not what this is about.

Most of the time, lunch leaves me feeling flat. Either the food is so greasy I feel like dying, or I've eaten too much and feel like dying, or I go somewhere where they expect me to be full on like half an ounce of food or something, and then I'm hungry and my blood sugar bottoms out and I feel like dying. As you can see, lunch is a perilous journey for someone like me. To be honest there is only one restaurant where if I order lunch I feel good after I've eaten it. That's Beni Hana.

Now Beni Hana is actually a little on the expensive side if you order sit around the hibachi and let one of the chefs grill you up something, but if you hit the sushi bar, it's not too bad. My favorite thing to order there is the lunch boat. To start it comes with a small cup of miso (bean) soup. The onion soup is better, but miso is good too. Then I order it with all California roll instead of the mix of that and Sashimi, which doesn't really sound appetizing. It comes with a bowl of rice, several kinds of tempura, a small cucumber salad (which I normally skip too), a portion of teryaki chicken and half an orange. Really it's a well balanced meal, and by the time I'm ready to walk out the door, I feel good, not like dying. Not dying is a good thing, at least as far as I've been able to figure it.

Magic Kingdom For Sale - Sold!

Alright, I know that Terry Brook's biggest work is definitely the Shannara series, and that the Genesis trilogy has bridged the Word series with the rest of the Shannara series. As of right now there are twenty Shannara books and the Magic Kingdom series only has a quarter of that, but it's a nice if somewhat whimsical series.

I've read three and a half of these books. I own the first three and the fifth, and as soon as I find a copy of the Tangle Box at the used book store, I'm going to pick it up and finish the series. I guess I'm just cheap. Actually I borrowed this from the library while I lived in Tennessee in late 1995 and got through about half of it and just haven't got back around to it. Now isn't that procrastination at it's best? Thirteen years I've been meaning to get back to this, and one day I will.

The whole story revolves around a guy named Ben Holiday who's lost his wife and decides to check out from reality. He finds a catalog in the mail that was sent to his wife that lists a magical kingdom for sale for $1 million. He thinks it's a joke, but he decides to go for it anyway, and to his surprise it's true. There's good guys, wizards, a dragon, a witch, and hot green chicks. Gotta love that.

The first book is about Ben becoming the king of Landover, while the second and third books revolve around the other characters. I haven't read enough of the forth book or any of the fifth book, so no telling what they are about, but it still has got green chicks.

Black Adder

Alright, I have to admit, this is a new interest for me. In the past when I would say to my friends that I liked British television, they would inevitably reference either Benny Hill or Mr. Bean. I shudder to think that all of British TV has been reduced to Benny Hill or Mr. Bean. I guess those shows are alright for anyone who likes them, but they are just not for me. I understand the humor, but I'm just not a fan of it.

However, British Telly is really so much more than that. Are You Being Served is better than either Benny Hill or Mr. Bean, and so are shows like Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers and Monty Python just to name a few. There are also shows like Britain's Got Talent and Cash in the Attic that while not humorous, are equally entertaining.

The problem is that British TV works differently from American TV. It's government run and supported by licensing to start with, and on top of that shows have to apply for money, kinda like a grant to produce and air. Where there are benefits to this like no commercials, there are also some problems. Short series (not season) is one that immediately comes to mind. Also ratings may not reflect what is made or what is not. So a short good show that lasts maybe six episodes might be cancelled where in an American market, it would be a hit. Of course then you also have things like Dr. Who that runs for 42 years, and just doesn't show a sign of slowing at all. Funny world.

I said that to say this. Blackadder is a set of 6 episode series that really hasn't got much play in America. It's one of those things that is less known than Benny Hill, Are You Being Served, or Monty Python, but dang it if it's not hilarious. I'll go on record now saying that yeah, maybe it didn't hit its stride until the second series, or at least until the end of the first season, but taken in it's entirety, it is a gold mine.

Blackadder is a person. In the first series, Edmond Blackadder is the second son of the King. He's also a bumbling idiot. His faithful companion's name is Baldric, who although also stupid has a good heart. Edmond wants to be king and goes about conniving and scheming to try to accomplish this goal, but is too much of a jelly brain to pull it off.

The second series is set during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the Edmond and Baldric are the descendants of the originals. I think the second series really shines and some of the humor really is top notch. The episode with Blackadder's priestly relatives is just hilarious.

The third series is set at the end of the 18th century, and Edmond is the servant of the Prince of Wales, who is played by Hugh Laurie. Hugh Laurie absolutely makes this series and the next one too. Rowan Atkinson is great in this whole series too, but Laurie really shines.

The fourth series is set during World War I and Edmond and Baldric are both soldiers of the line. I'm torn as to whether this is the best series or whether the second is. I lean toward the second, but this one is at least a very close second. Laurie is good in this one too.

One really funny part is that everyone seems to end up dead at the end of each series. Did I mention that Laurie is really funny?

Leftover Turkey

Happy Black Friday everyone. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Just wanted to say that there really is nothing like leftover turkey to brighten a black day. While some people are out shopping today I would suggest that you take some time out and enjoy the turkey goodness. Sit back in your underwear, or pajamas if you're too much of a prude :P, and enjoy your well earned leftovers in the way that God intended, with stuffing and mashed potatoes!

Now there's this thing called tryptophan that is an amino acid makes you sleepy. Now turkey doesn't have more tryptophan than other foods, egg whites have 4 times as much, but when are you every going to eat a full pound of egg whites?

Now there's turkey sandwiches, turkey ziti, turkey noodle soup, and um, turkey salad, left over stuffing, ah with um gravy and turkey on top and zzzzzzz.

Smallville

I didn't get into Smallville until sometime in the fifth season. I saw an episode or two from the first season when it was on, but most of what I remember about that was thinking that I might have to pick up Smallville when it came out on DVD. So about 3 years ago I dropped the cash to pick up the first season on Half.com, and sat down and started watching. Well, I got hooked, and had seasons 2, 3 and 4 on their way, and my wife and I checked out for about a month every night watching these. Since then I've picked up season 5 & 6 and will probably pick up season 7 this winter, and in the mean time, I'm watching season 8 on the CW, and it suprisingly doesn't suck.

One thing that does happen way to often is I have to explain something to my wife. I don't know how I became the defacto Superman expert, but I fill that roll explaining things from the entire Superman universe when it either pops up as a plot device or is alluded to. The thing is sometimes this isn't always completely obvious. A good example of that is using Plastique as a character, even though she's more of a Captain Atom character. Mikhail Mxyzptlk is another good example, because other than his name doesn't really resemble Mr. Mxyzptlk at all. Also in the season one episode "Drone", Sasha Woodman is obviously at least based on the Queen Bee if not just the Smallville version of it. This season I've had to explain Maxima, Plastique, Doomsday and Mercy (Tess Mercer). Mercy actually had me thrown for a bit because I just didn't see her fitting into Mercy Graves spot in the Superman universe, I thought the driver that capped Patricia Swann was going to evolve into the Mercy Graves character. Oh well, can't always be right. I'm going to make my wife watch the animated film Superman: Doomsday as that will explain Doomsday and Mercy way better than I ever could.

Even though I like the obscure references to things in the Superman universe, I like Smallville overall too. Sure some of the things that happen in Smallville are very by the formula, but when they started adding story arcs in the third season, it opened up some stories that were really good. Now I'm not going to say that every large story arc was good (cough Margaret Isobel Thoreaux) and some of the stand alone episodes were almost pathetic (cough Thirst), but some of the story arcs like the Oliver Queen arc, or Chloe dead/Lois intro arc, the 33.1 arc, or the Alicia Baker arc (perhaps my favorite).

Another piece of this show I really like is the guest stars, especially the ones with a superhero background, like Dean Cain and Linda Carter. Some of the other cool guests are Tom Wopat (God forgive him for his 80's afro) and Jane Seymour, who incidentally is still the hottest Bond girl to date. Of course you can't forget some of the great cast of this show either. So far John Schneider and Allison Mack have been my favorite cast members though I'm coming around to Erica Durance and Cassidy Freeman. My favorite characters are Lex Luthor, Chloe Sullivan and Oliver Queen.

The whole show is a good mix of characters and story lines and has a lot to offer a wide variety of fans. I wish they had done something like an idea I had though for the beginning of season 8. They are in the midst of repackaging the show, moving it to Metropolis, moving away from the Lana and Lex characters, focusing on Lois, adding characters and just changing the whole formula. Why couldn't they have renamed the thing too? Change the name from Smallville to Metropolis, change the intro, the song (somebody save me!) and did a full overhaul. I think it would have changed the question of "How long can Smallville last?" to "What are they going to do with Metropolis?" It would have been a spin-off sure, but it would have been progress because eventually Superman has to leave Smallville.

Oh well, I've said my piece. Doing a little fan service with the Chloe picture.

Garage Sales

I like having them, I like going to them. Garage Sales are awesome. I've made money at garage sales, both buying and selling. So far my best garage sale so far has netted me just over $600. I've also bought things that I've later sold on eBay, and done really good on that.

Probably the best single deal I've made buying at a garage sale and selling on eBay was a almost perfect copy of the 1981 Milton Bradley boardgame Dark Tower. I saw this at a sale for $10, and I originally thought, wow, that's a lot. Then I looked it up on eBay, and immediately went back and bought it. When I got it home, it had all the parts for the game, except for the 2 extra pegs (needed 40 to play but originally came with 42 just in case) and one of the 7 segment displays had one segment that didn't light up. I very specifically listed all this on the listing, and still sold the game for $137.50. That's 1275% profit, so that's not too bad.

I also bought a back-lit wall clock that looked like it belonged in a 60's diner. It was obviously a Pepsi promotional clock. The guy wanted $5.00 for it, and I said I really liked it. The only thing was is that it wouldn't light up. The guy apologized for this and told me I could just have it. So I took it and when I got it home I opened it up and there was a very simple wiring harness that had been unplugged. I plugged it in, and it worked great. Ended up selling that for $70.

What's I've recently done is buy some books that I knew I could sell online. I've bought about $100 worth of books and so far have sold some of them for about $400. Sure it's only 300% so far, but still that's a workable business model.

I also really like having garage sales and wheeling and dealing. For some reason I'm good at it too. It's really just a matter of knowing which people want to spend their money. Getting people to give you their money is easy as long as you don't get flustered. If people are wheeling and dealing with you, and are asking you to come down on something, that means they want to give you their money. It's easy to sell to people like these. It's surprising how people don't recognize that these people want to buy. I guess that's because the normal person thinks that it's a good idea to sell the stock they own at all time lows and put their money in precious metals at all time highs because it's "safe". That's actually what I call "dumb". Guess I'm just weird.

Superheroe Movies

I'd like to make a point with this post that has been needed ever since Marvel started making superhero movies. Superhero is its own separate genre. I like science fiction a lot. I like fantasy fiction too, more to read, less to write or watch. However many people used to lump fantasy fiction into science fiction for some reason. There's really not a great reason for doing this in my opinion, but it happened never the less. My local used bookstore does this too, and I don't mind when it comes to what books I can buy with my credit there. But they lump horror into it too, and horror is a separate genre and most people won't disagree with that. If you think about it, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars don't belong in the same genre either, even though there may be similarities in the storyline. Just as this is true of sci-fi, fantasy and horror, it is true for superhero fiction.

Superhero fiction has come a long way since the breakout 2000 movie X-men. This launched the new renaissance of movies that doesn't show any sign of slowing. From the successes of Spiderman and Batman to the less than spectacular Elektra or Punisher, there certainly have been more superhero movies over the last decade than at any other time in the past. Because of the popular nature of these movies, even the ones with less than sparkling reviews, the whole superhero genre has had a considerable resurgence.

Now I'm not totally limiting my superhero post to the movies, but that is definitely where the superhero genre is moving to. There is of course Smallville, which I'll post about separately soon. This has been such an improvement over some of the crummy superhero cartoons from decades past. Of course I'm not talking about Justice League or Justice League Unlimited. Those rock. And I will officially go on record saying that the Joker from the Justice League Franchise is the best Joker ever. Lois Lane from JLU is really awesome too, and even though I'm starting to come around to Erica Durance, the JLU Lois Lane is the best Lois too. Most of the other animated stuff sucked though, except for maybe the animated movies, the Avengers and Doomsday.

I think some other movies kinda fit into this genre even though they might not be obvious. Mystery Men and Ultraviolet obviously fit into this genre, but I think the Laura Croft and Indiana Jones movies also fit into this genre too, though not perfectly.

Fried Green Beans

While doing a little research on this, I actually came across another dish I've never heard of before: deep fried green beans which look like green french fries. I'm not talking about this, what I'm talking about is panfried green beans.

Pan fried green beans are something that I got introduced to by my mother-in-law. I think what she made originated as a southern dish that was probably intended as a use for leftover green beans. She would take some onion and saute it in a iron skillet with some butter and olive oil. After the onions had started to caramelize, she would add the green beans (which were french cut if I remember) and let them fry just until some of the green beans were just starting to brown. That rocked.

The year later at Thanksgiving she replaced the green bean casserole with this same dish, except that she had added toasted almond shavings to the whole dish. It made it slightly sweet and added a crunch that really enhanced the flavor. The onions and almonds both were sweet, the onions and green beans were both salty and savory, and together just made a great side dish. I'm sure you could find a good recipe online if you wanted to try this. I'd recommend replacing your next green bean casserole with this as green bean casserole is so 90's.

The Three Stooges

I understand that the Three Stooges are primarily a guy thing. If you find a Three Stooges girl, marry her. If you can't swing that, sorry man, that's a huge loss and I feel for you. Maybe at least you can help hook her up with one of your friends. I've got a lot of respect for a dedicated wingman. But I digress.

The Stooges have an interesting and varied history, which is well documented by the way and doesn't need to be repeated here, but let me tell you what, these guys are great. I'll tell you right now that although some people think that the Stooges are violent, this is just not the case. This kind of slapstick humor is a great release of pent up frustration for just about anyone. These guys almost singlehandedly fixed all of the social issues of the first half of the twentieth century. I can't think of any specific examples right now, but just imagine how bereft of color and joy the world would be if not for this group of men.

First of all, there weren't three stooges, there were 7 and almost 8. You know Moe, Larry and Curly, and a lot of you will remember Shemp, but it takes a real connoisseur to remember Joe Besser, Curly-Joe DeRita, and Joe Palma. Emil Sitka was also brought on, but never made it into a film. Moe is my favorite, hey he had to be someone's favorite. The real wuss of the bunch was Joe Besser because he specifically had it written into his contract that he was not to be hit. This was a Stooge who didn't understand the Stooges. Sad really.

One of the things I really liked about these guys is that they were concerned about children and were generous with them. They did some charity work with children's hospitals and such.

BTW, I'm back home now. It was a good trip, but I'm glad to be back.

Garlic at Arabic Restaurants

Alrighty then. I've been trying to find a picture or a name of what I'm talking about, and there just doesn't seem to be one. The closest name I could find of what I might be talking about it Toom, which is just Arabic for garlic or garlic sauce.

Whatever you call it, garlic is this killer white sauce that is served with pita bread as an appetizer at some of the Arabic/Lebanese/Middle Eastern restaurants that I have been to. The cool thing is it's good on just about everything, and you can always order more. There's a restaurant not too far from my house that serves the stuff with pita to go. That is the PERFECT movie snack. So I guess that picking some of this for yourself on your next movie night is my little tip for the day.

BTW, I'm in Chicago today. If you look at Navy Pier, you'll see me.

Nova

You might want to call this one an aftershock from Science Theme Week and the PBS post. Nova has been on PBS for like 300 years or so, but it's still totally awesome, at least most of the time. It's a show about history or science or just about anything that fills my need for interesting diversion.

Just recently watched an episode about arctic dinosaurs that I saw a bit of that suggesting that there was paleontological proof dinosaurs were much more adaptable to temperature than is conventionally though. There was also something about differing opinions regarding whether or not dinosaurs were coldblooded in the same manner that contemporary reptiles are. You actually have to think to get it.

Also there was another show that explored the Inca rebellion in the New World using forensic analysis on some remains found on an old battleground. Another cool one explored the history of the exploration of Absolute Zero. A few years ago there was also a show about the recreation of a historic Roman bath. That one was absolutely awesome, but might have been better viewed from a jacuzzi (see previous post).

BTW, in Nashville today. One more stop in my tour of the midwest.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is what got me into Adult Swim, or more correctly, when Adult Swim first came on, I did like one show, and that was Space Ghost Coast to Coast. I enjoy a bit of absurdity in my comedy, and SGC2C takes it to an extreme. Like Willy Wonka said, "A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

Space Ghost was a Hanna Barbarra cartoon from the 60's that didn't have an extremely long run, but it was alright. I think I watched it in reruns as a kid a couple times. Adult Swim took the characters from the Space Ghost franchise and put them in the setting of a talk show. Normally I would think this was just plain stupid, but they actually made it work, primarily by not focusing too hard on having guests. Sure they have them, but they don't try to get anywhere with them in particular, or they just make fun of them, like Bjork. Haha, Bjork.

The interaction between Space Ghost, Moltar, Zorak and occasionally Brak is priceless. Some of the best writing is definitely Moltar though, who is generally just a bit annoyed with everything that is going on, and seems to be the only one who isn't a complete idiot. It's all good.

BTW, I'm in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee today looking at the Smokey Mountains. Yeah!

YouTube

YouTube is starting to grow on me now. Sure it's been a cool place for funny videos and for people to fool around on leaving seconds long videos about nothing or videos that you would swear a epileptic wombat shot with a camera from the 1930's. There was just something about it that always seemed to me to be an underachievement for the site. I always thought they could do so much more. And now they are starting to.

Sure you can still find pirated episodes of shows you really like, but YouTube just got into full length sponsored episodes. I've been watching some of the initial Star Trek TOS eps, and the quality is pretty good. I especially like the turn lights down and theater view.

YouTube allows you to become a cewebrity if you want, or to just pass on that funny video that used to have to be copied PC to PC. I remember one of those that took 4 floppy disks just to copy back in the day, and you actually had to join the file later, and it was only 25 seconds long. Go fig.

On a totally off topic note, I'm on the road today, on a vacation. More updates of where I am am later.

Buffalo Meat

Dead cow flesh is just so 90's. Dead buffalo flesh is where it's at. I'm for all the bits of buffalo that aren't in this picture. Take away the snout, horns, eyes and hooves and it's all good man. Plus you can use the skin for clothing. Indians knew that these puppies were all that and a leather bag of meat.

Seriously though, as meat goes this is just about the best out there. The taste isn't gamy and the fat content is less than that of either chicken or turkey. It's like the healthy beef, and you can seriously call steak a health food now. How cool is that.

I don't think I have to go on about the coolness of steak. Mmmm, dead buffalo flesh.

Massage

I have a bad shoulder which I think I injured playing football in high school in my sophomore year. A guy landed on my right shoulder and I was kinda crushed between that guy and the ground. My left shoulder definitely took the brunt of the impact. For a couple of years I didn't really have any pain but there must have been some lingering damage as there is definitely pain there now, and there has been for almost a decade.

I take a couple Tylenol once in a while if the pain gets too bad, which doesn't happen much, but occasionally, and actually sitting here writing now is one of those times, the pain builds and builds and even when it gets better, it doesn't get all the way better, and the next time the pain is worse because it starts with pain that's already there and I have an amazing amount of pain for days on end that I don't get relief from even when I'm asleep, and the only thing that relieves any of it at all is a massage. Wow, a 102 word sentence to express that my shoulder bothers me sometimes. To be honest, I noticed the length of that sentence about 1/3 of the way through and decided to just let it go to see where it ended up. Pretty proud of that myself, but let's get back on topic.

So now for me I don't just like massage, I actually need a massage from time to time. Now as a connoisseur let me say that not all massage is created equal. A good massage is more than just rubbing a muscle or flexing a tired joint, the whole point of it is relief. If you don't feel better after a massage, it wasn't. I've had a few people people rub my shoulders who should honestly be deprived of the use of their hands for the rest of their lives for what they did to me in the name of massage.

I've got a shiatsu machine that only does one motion, but if my shoulder gets really bound up, nothing works it out like an hour on the machine. I think my record is about 3 hours loosening, and I felt better for the better part of a year. Shiatsu is actually a form of reflexology, which I've heard of but don't really know too much about other than it does work and makes me feel good.

Mythbusters

This has got to be the best show on cable right now. Discovery Channel, you did something right. Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage are the hosts of Mythbusters, and they have been joined by Kari Byron, Tory Belleci, Scottie Chapman, and Grant Imahara (Depending on the season). This cast test urban legends and myths and render a judgement on whether or not the myth is plausible or not. Now insert coolness, they test lots of sciency things and often blow stuff up.

The coolness of this show is hard to explain in words, but I'll try. They do stuff that every guy would think is awesome to do. Of course they preface each of their shows with a warning not to try anything at home, but you know people do. I prefer to live vicariously through these guys and just watch it on TV.

I gotta imagine that being Adam Savage is just like dressing up for Halloween when you were a kid, and Jamie acts like he's about a week away from telling Adam to get off his lawn. These guys made a guest appearance on CSI last year too. There's just some quality about these guys that exudes cool

Well that wraps it up for Science Week. As an added bit of fan service, I give you Kari Byron:

Bad Astronomy

One of my "Everyday Heroes" has got to be Phil Plait. The Bad Astronomer is one of the cewebrities that is just cool. I got turned onto his site when searching about a movie online and his review came up. I read through his review where he went on to elaborate on where the movie got the science right, and where it got it wrong. Needless to say, it was really enjoyable.

So I started searching his site and found his articles debunking the "polar shift" and defending the Moon landing. This was fortuitous as one of my friends had really become convinced of the "polar shift" after reading the mumbo-jumbo about it on the internet. I used the references on Plait's site to scare the bejeebers out of him. Had him convinced that his life was coming to an end in June 2004 if I remember right. Haha.

I liked the Moon landing article, and learned a bit about the physics of the Moon that I didn't know before I read it. Lots of stuff that you just take for granted on Earth, but just don't happen in an environment with no atmosphere. Definitely playing fan service to my nerd gene.

Plait's blog is now featured in Discover Magazine and it quite informative and entertaining. Here's the best part about the man. If he's wrong about something, he admits it! Amazing. It's just nice to actually see someone who isn't so bound by their ego that you know you can trust what they say, and if they are wrong, they are willing to be corrected. Honestly, I really admire this characteristic in Mr. Plait. Just wish everyone was as honest with themselves and their readers.

The Solar System

I am an astronomy geek. However, where a lot of these awesome people spend time at night stargazing, I'm not that kind of astronomy geek. Instead for me it's all about planets. Ever since I was a kid, I remember being fascinated with other planets. I'm sure some of it was because I was born a year before the Voyager launch, so on occasion I heard about what Voyager I & II were doing during my formative years. Clear pictures of the gas giants became available right at the time that my interest was peaked, and I've been hooked ever since.

The gas giants are beautiful, and really cool. The rock inner planets are total awesomeness; Mars is just totally cool. Venus and Mercury are wicked hot. It's cool just how often Mars shows up in 50's and 60's science fiction, and just how totally off base the writers were about it. The same thing goes for Venus too, but not as many writers were willing to give it a chance, but those who did pictured it as a steamy jungle. Steamy indeed.

Moons have been good source material too. Callisto and Titan have both been the focus of good books that I have read. I think I've even read a series that revolves around Amelthea (Look it up). But still, the recent planetary coolness has been about two things: Dwarf and Extrasolar Planets.

Extrasolar planets are cool, but since direct observation is still a long way away, this isn't as cool as it could be yet. Dwarf Planets on the other hand are really cool. Looking for Dwarf Planets is kinda a new frontier in astronomy. Newly discovered objects like Sedna, Quaoar, Varuna, Ixion and Orcus might soon join the new classification of Dwarf planets, like Eris, Pluto, Ceres, Makemake and Haumea. Makemake and Haumea were just added to the official list of Dwarf planets this year and there remains a little controversy dealing with the friction between the IAU (International Astronomers Union) and everyday people about what should be or shouldn't be a planet. Everybody feels sorry for Pluto though.

This picture today is an artists rendition of Eris and Dysnomia. I'm sure more observation will be forthcoming, and we will be hearing about new candidates and official additions that will make this an interesting subject for years to come.

Oh, BTW, kinda making this a Science Theme Week. Planning another theme week some time in the future, so you can look forward to it.

Weird Al

There's something about liking Weird Al that makes it feel like a guilty pleasure. He's arguably the biggest comedic musician that's out there or has ever been out there. Not only is he funny, but he can actually sing. Imagine that, a singer who is able to sing. That's just so counter-culture (cough Macy Gray).

Weird Al is primarily know for spoofing popular artists. Songs like Fat, Eat It, Amish Paradise, Another One Rides the Bus, White and Nerdy and a host of other parody songs have made fun of some serious artists songs. Incidentally, this has also proved that some serious artists may be just a little too serious about their material (cough Coolio, cough Eminem).

Here's the thing though, I think some of his original songs are actually the best. Perhaps my favorite is Good Old Days.
"Do you remember sweet Michelle, she was my high school romance,
She was fun to talk to and nice to smell, so I took her to the homecoming dance,
Then I tied her to a chair and I shaved off all her hair, and I left her in the desert all alone,
Well sometimes in my dreams, I can still hear the screams, oh I wonder if she ever made it home,"
Nice rhyme scheme BTW.

His movie was kinda funny too. It featured Michael Richards before he became a racist. The movie overall is just a bit better than alright, but some of the scenes are sheer comedy gold, so it's really one of those movies that you need to watch at least once, and should be on your own personal "gotta see guy movie list". Drinking from the fire hose and the Wheel of Fish spring to mind almost immediately. Oh yeah, and teaching poodles to fly on Raul's Wild Kingdom.

We don't need no stinking badgers!

Green Lantern

It's understandable that superhero fans are generally divided along the Marvel vs. DC lines when it comes to which style of superhero is their favorite. DC creates some of these archetype characters that stand out as paragons of virtue that reside somewhere above the rest of us. Marvel uses a different approach creating heroes that are have problems that real people have. In a way you could say that DC creates heroes that exemplify what the word hero has come to mean, and Marvel creates heroes that are you can relate to. That being said, I generally gravitate to Marvel for storylines that I can get into, but sometimes you need a hero that is just above everything else, so some of my favorite heroes are DC.

Now when it comes to DC Superheroes, there are three main characters that people think of: Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman. It's obvious that Superman gets top billing here, and that's OK. Superman is very cool. I'm definitely a Superman fan, and have become more of one in the last few years than I've ever been too, but at the same time, Superman also singlehandedly brought about the demise of comic book collecting with the fiasco that went on with the "Death of Superman" comic book. That was the moment that comic book collecting was no longer fun. Superman is still cool though, because it was really the heads of DC and comic book dealers that screwed everything over.

Now, alot of work has been done on the mythos of all three of these characters, but that doesn't mean that the same amount of work and dedication hasn't gone into another character, and in the case of Green Lantern, it has.

GL is absolutely my favorite superhero. Now for anyone who doens't know, I'm talking about Hal Jordan. Since there are more than one GL, this does become just a bit more complicated. John Stewart and Kyle Rayner are both cool, Guy Gardner is a douche, Alan Scott is alright and some of the alien GL's like Katma Tui and Kilowog are just down right cool. Still, there will just never be another person who personifies Green Lantern like Hal Jordan.

I've heard that the new GL movie just got it's final green light (no pun intended) and that there is actually a possibility of David Boreanaz being cast as Hal. That would be awesome, though honestly Boreanaz would make an awesome Sinestro too.

Back to the comic. The whole mythos of GL kinda stands alone in the fact that it's all about the ring, a scientific device and that the majority of the villains are alien, so you actually have to suspend your disbelief just a bit less than most other comics. The Guardians are kinda cool too, but the corps are what makes the series. There are thousands of GL's, or at least there were before Hal killed tons of them. Several of them show up in the comics and in the animated series too, so yeah!

Hal has also a couple other personas associated with him. Parralax and Spectre both come to mind. Kyle also becomes Ion, but he's been replaced by someone else. Let's just say that it's complicated and leave it at that.

The only thing I never understood is why Abin Sur crashed a spaceship, when no other GL really used a spaceship that I can remember.

Here's hoping for a great movie, and more quality stories about GL.

Pygmy Goats

Alright, I know that this one is kinda strange, but hear me out. I already stated that I'm definitely a pets person. I'm also someone who doesn't mind pets that aren't really all that cuddly. Point in case, the reptiles that I have already written about. I don't feel the need to snuggle with any of my snakes.

Goats do have the potential for the whole cuddly thing, I guess but still I'm not the kind of person to deny the nature of a pet. Goats are meant to be outside animals, and honestly they require large amounts of land to be honestly happy. They aren't meant to be housed indoors, though I've heard stories of exactly this happening. I'm cool with an animal that needs a pasture to be happy.

The truth my house is not set up for a goat right now, so that's why I don't have one. Eventually we plan to move out to a small farm, and it probably won't be long until I own a goat or two to help keep the lawns at bay. I mean seriously, the thought of just not having to mow is definitely nice. Some might get a sheep or two to do the job, but I'd rather stick with goats.

Why pygmy goats though? I'm sure some of this is just purely a matter of taste, but pygmies are hardly little beasts, and I'd be able to up my goat to acre ratio just a bit. As a matter of fact, it would only take maybe 5-7 acres to supply a small herd, and if the herd ever outgrew the pasture, you could always sell one of the goats off.

I guess the thought of having a farm, and not having to mow both fit together as goat in my mind. Don't try to get any deeper than that, and I think we'll all be just fine.

PBS

I like PBS. It's probably the only station that I really like. Since PBS is viewer supported, the shows are commercial free, and are surprisingly high brow. It's really a pleasant break from the normal viewing choices.

Some of the original programs are excellent. Antiques Roadshow, History's Detectives and Nova come to mind fairly quickly. Nature, Masterpiece Theather and some show about the cities classical composers lived in also come to mind. They also have great specials.

Here's what's cool. Since the emergence of DTV, I get 3 PBS stations. The first two are a simulcast about 1/2 of the time, and about 1/4 of the time, they are the same shows, but on a different day or at a different time. But it also means that we get about 1/4 new programming. Also, there's the Create station. Now I'm not really a cooking show fan, but I do like the travel shows, and the BBQ show makes me hungry every time I see it. How you can eat mint flavored barbeque sauce, I'll never know.

Finally, during the fund raising campaigns, the normal broadcast schedule gets prempted for a pledge drive that is full of specials. I listen to the Celtic Thunder concert every time it's on. The Celtic Woman concert is good too. There's also a bunch of crackpots that are either espousing a new form of philosophy or financial wisdom. Those are very humorous, though they are genuinely not intended to be.

So get into Public Broadcasting, you'll be glad you did.

Jacuzzi's

Who doesn't like jacuzzi's? Spa's are awesome. You know, I've got the sun room, and I think next fall, a jacuzzi is going to be one of my major purchases. Don't want one that's huge, just one that's big enough for two people to enjoy without any hassles.

Sitting back in a jacuzzi has got to be one of the most relaxing experiences that there is. Letting your muscles relax after a long day's work. The intimacy of just being with someone in a setting where you don't have to have a huge conversation. Cool nights and warm waters are definitely a joy.

I do wonder about one thing though. Jacuzzi water is maintained by adding the chemical bromine. Pool owners use chlorine for the same effect, but one of the bottles of bromine that I saw at the store said you shouldn't mix bromine and chlorine, as they can explode! But as I stood there in the pool aisle of my local Meijers, I thought what if was in a jacuzzi just before I got into a pool. Whenever I do that, my skin tingles. Is that mini explosions happening on my skin?

Hey, there's just not much more to say about them. Go take a dip if you get a chance.

The Pip 'n' Flinx Series

The first book I picked up in this series was Tar-Aiym Krang and I got it because the cover looked so campy. The artwork was 70's retro and was completely inviting. It was kinda like finding a completely authentic 50's style diner somewhere and you stop to eat, not because you expect great food, but because it is a unique experience to eat in a diner. Same thing here, or so I thought. I bought the book cause it looked uniquely campy, and thought it might be the same inside. What I found however was what turned into one of my favorite series.

The Humanx series is about a future where humanity has teamed up with the Thranx in order to colonize the galaxy. The Thranx are an insectiod race that is very different from humanity, but that holds some very similar beliefs and that makes them compatible. The Humanx element to the Pip 'n' Flinx books however are a bit downplayed. It's not the story, it's just there. The Humanx was so popular at one time, it precipitated it's own expansion book in GURPS (if you don't know, google it).

There's alot going on this this series, but pretty much Flinx is an adopted orphan who is trying to learn about his parents and finds himself in some pretty amazing situations. As is the case with alot of the books I mention, I dont' want to give away too much, as it can ruin a book for someone, but this whole series is worth picking up. Also to note, the books are separate enough that the fact that I read them out of order, as I found them at my local used book store didn't mean that I missed out on much. They do follow a chronology, but the separate books are good as stand alone novels too.

Captain Kirk

Nuff Said.

Disc Golf

Disc golf or frisbee golf is like, well I don't know what it's like but it's cool whatever it's like. There is one thing about disc golf that you need to be aware of if you are going to take it up; there are some people out there that take it way to seriously. I haven't done too much disc golfing yet, but already I've run into many of these people. If you run into a hardcore disc golfer you need to remember that this person has probably sacrificed to be as hardcore as they are. Sacrificed things like a social life, regular grooming and hygiene, the ability to use complete sentences, any sense of fashion, the list goes on and on. I mean the differences between hardcore surfers and hardcore disc golfers is pretty much that surfers are cool and women want to associate with them.

Moving on, the reasons that I like disc golf are that it's cheap, it's easy, and it's fun. I know that sounds like a formula for a great date, but hey, part of disc golf is that it's like regular golf's less high-maintenance sister. Sure you don't have quite the prestige of someone who spends three hours whacking a ball around a meadow with a rod trying to stick it in a hole wearing brown plaid knickerbockers, an argyle sweater vest, and a blue beret with a red poof on the top. I mean seriously, are we sportsmen or blind Bask separatists?

Disc golf is laid back. The wardrobe of choice is bound to include a t-shirt and comfortable shoes. I mean, who really thought of dress shoes with spikes on the bottom? Disc golf does not require special skills, "Excuse me my good man, your shot's got quite a hook there. You're gripping the shaft to tightly and remember to keep you eye on your ball." You just throw a freaking Frisbee in the general direction of the hole.

Whatever, just enjoy yourself playing a game without any of the annoying sexual euphemisms.

Oh, and as a special shout out to my one loyal reader, Hi Larry!

The Drizzt Do'Urden Series

Now I'm going to be honest and say that I haven't read all these books yet. Actually I've found myself having a kind of remorse when finishing a series and knowing that it won't be added to. As long as there is a book I haven't read, I kinda feel that a series isn't ever over which I guess is a form of denial. Hey, denial can be good in some cases.

Alright, not all of my friends have ever liked Dungeons & Dragons, and while as a role playing game experience it's not bad, as a setting or backdrop for a story, I think it's excellent. Also, it occurs in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting which is the most popular D&D campaign setting that there is. Some will argue that their favorite is another one, or that Greyhawk is the original Gary Gygax setting, but where other settings always seemed to be a generic fantasy setting, the Forgotten Realms setting was always a step above, almost a work of art.

Now, other stories have been written in this setting, and some are good, some are not, and a few are great. The Drizzt Do'Urden Series is a great story. Drizzt is a drow, a dark elf (which just about every other fantasy franchise has ripped off) and while the overall race of drow are evil, Drizzt stands out as good. During the early books, Drizzt pretty much stands alone as a good man, and all it really ends doing is getting him cast out of Drow society. The first books go over the time that Drizzt spent in Menzobaranzan, the Drow underground city. Eventually he leaves, comes to the surface, and is befriended by an old blind ranger, and that is where Drizzt's life starts to improve.

Eventually he moves to the north, and he gains his first really friends, Bruenor, Catti-brie, Regis and Wulfgar. There is a certain echo of AD&D in this story, but it only serves as a backdrop for a great writer, R. A. Salvatore. I've finished 11 of the books, I think, and what happens is that the story progresses through Drizzt's life it just keeps getting better and better. You really build a familiarity with the characters, and they start to come alive; high praise indeed for a writer.

There's enough of Drizzt's drow past that surfaces to add to the story without taking away from it. Life is also not totally a bed of roses, and tradegies happen to Drizzt and his friends. The story isn't a by the numbers formula, it's filled with diversity, anguish and joy in equal measure, and it isn't at all soap operaish. You can read the tenth book and it's not just the same story, or a rehashing of the same basic plot devices. The characters of this series are adventurers, and they go where adventure takes them.

I'd start this series at the beginning. It's not that you can't pick it up anywhere, you can, but the author doesn't re-invent the whole back story every book like some authors do, so in some of the later books it's just assumed that you know what's going on, and how the characters, both our heroes and the recurring villians, feel about it. There are several collections of these books that are bound together, and those might just be the way to pick these up for your personal collection.

Full Metal Panic

Normally anime follows some predictable formulas. The thing that this anime does well is that it combines two of them into one finished product. Full Metal Panic joins the Mecha genre with the Japanese high school genre, and actually does it pretty well. There have also been a couple of spin off animes that are also really good.

Actually, that's one of the things that I really like about anime, when it's over, it's over. The production teams for some of these stories sometimes stay on and make spin-offs, but the one thing that doesn't happen is a never ending progression of sequels that are just a pathetic attempt to cash in on a franchise. I'm not saying you don't run into sequels, you do, but when you do the same quality goes into them as it did in the original work. There's also something about the spin-offs that are just great. Some have the same characters, just in a different setting, or where a part of the story line has been changed. FUMOFFU is a great example of this, but more on that later.

I won't go into the whole story, but the general premise is that Chidori is a high school student that is being targeted by a mecha-using para-military group, AKA the bad guys, for kidnapping. Another mecha-using para-military group, AKA the good guys, have sent Sagura as an undercover student in the same school to protect her. Here's the thing, Sagura isn't 100% military, he's 1,000,000% military, and is always blowing stuff up or shooting stuff. This however is a great thing if you are a fan of things being blown up or getting shot. Sagura is a freaking nut.

Fumoffu is a spin off of this anime, but two things are different. The storyline centers on the high school and what happens to the students. The other change is a new type of mecha that is a bonta-kun (google it). It's kinda like finding out that the army's new armored division will all be dressing Big Bird. It's actually really funny, and not as stupid as it probably sound.

Sagura's peers in his military group are all a bunch of wack jobs and they play various parts in the whole story. Actually all the ancillary characters seem to slide in and out of the picture when necessary, although the action centers on Sagura and Chidori. Oh, did I mention that this is a romance comedy too? Track this one down and watch it.

Sluggy Freelance

Alright, I understand that not everyone has the time to read through 11 years of nifty comics, but if you do, this comic is worth sitting down to read.

The comic centers around several interesting characters each with years of development which can make it a little difficult to pick the story up anywhere other than at the beginning, or at least the beginning of a story arc. Torg, the main character, is also named after Torgo, the evil man-beast from Manos: The Hands of Fate. If you know MST3K well, you know Torgo. There are also reoccuring appearances from some other minor characters including Santa Claus, as well as a cast of supporting characters for just about every story arc.

There are several long story arcs, some of which span months and each of these arcs fit well into the overall story line, which pretty much rotate around Torg, Riff, Zoe & Gwen, the four main characters. They are all non-attached twenty-somethings to whom very strange things happen.

One of the best facets of this comic is the spoofing that it does. Some of the storylines are original, but most of them are outright spoofs. Some of the works that have been spoofed include: Harry Potter, World of Warcraft, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek.

Tranzor Z

Tranzor Z was my introduction to anime. I remember someone much later telling me that anime was quality animation and that there was a lot more attention to detail, and that American animators weren't as dedicated as their Japanese counterparts. Well, I can honestly say that Tranzor Z might just disprove that theory.

I'm not bashing Tranzor Z at all. I remember watching this cartoon on Sunday morning. There's a huge nostalgia factor for this to me. To be honest, it was on when I was probably 6 or 7 and for the longest time I couldn't remember what the show was called. Then, a bunch of guys were talking about old 80's cartoons, and they started on the memorable ones like G.I Joe, Thundercats, Transformers, He-Man and Voltron. Then they started bringing up ones I hadn't heard about in years, like Silverhawks, Turbo Teen, Visionaires and Gobots. So I asked them if they remembered a cartoon where there was a giant robot controlled by a kid in a hovercraft, and sure enough they knew it.

That was a couple of years ago, and I've looked up some of the stuff since then, and Tranzor Z has some of the same feel as some of the giant monster movies that came out of Japan about the same time. I don't know much about the diakaiju genre, but I do remember liking the Godzilla movies that were shown as the Saturday afternoon movie.

I added the second picture to show that way back in the 70's, when this actually was released in Japan as Manzinger Z, the Japanese were still putting a lot of fan service in their cartoons. It was also funny how the female robots were armed (if you're interested, look it up). Regardless, even though my memories of this cartoon doesn't totally match up with reality, it really was still a cool cartoon, and if it came on today, I'd have to watch it.

Leopard Geckos

Alright, I've already said that I was a pet person, and I have several different types of pets. I'm really starting to prefer reptiles, much because they are not the kind of pets that are hounding you every minute of the day, like my dog.

There is a strange correlation of price and maintenance for some of these animals. It seems to me that the cheapest reptiles actually cost more because of maintenance than do more expensive reptiles. There are some exceptions to this, and of course I'm not talking about the most expensive animals, as they can range into the thousands for rare varieties.

There is a safe middle ground, and if you're willing to pay a little more up front. That is the Leopard Gecko. They don't cost too much, and are much easier to maintain that some reptiles that require very specific habitat requirements. They are also very docile, and do not get very large. They are insectivores, so you need to have a constant supply of insects for them, but this is just as simple as hitting the pet store and buying crickets when you need them. They are fairly clean too, and their cage maintenance is pretty simple. Over all, a very cool, and low maintenance pet.

The Rendezvous with Rama Series

Alright, my first Arthur C. Clarke posting. The entire Rama series is four books long. The first book, Rendevzous with Rama, was written in the 70's and the sequel trilogy (Rama II, The Garden of Rama, & Rama Revealed) was written about two decades later. Arthur C. Clarke co-authored the sequel trilogy with Gentry Lee.

The first book is about an forty kilometer long cylindrical spaceship that passes through the Solar System. Mankind has taken to space and the crew of the nearest ship is ordered to investigate the huge ship. They "rendezvous" with "Rama" (the name given the ship) and the book is pretty much about the humans exploring the ship. The storyline is actually pretty simple, and the book is really geared to be technology driven.

The sequel trilogy is much more character driven. The main character of the series is Nicole de Jardins Wakefield and the story picks up her life in her early thirties and explores her life. The characters of this series really come to life, and this is the kind of book that you can sit and re-read and enjoy again, like you are visiting friends you haven't seen in a while.

The story of the sequel trilogy starts with the return of the Rama craft 70 years after it was last in the Solar System. A team of scientists are sent to the ship to try to determine it's purpose. There's a lot of interaction and conflict between the different scientists, military personnel and obligatory reporters on the trip.

In the third and fourth books, the ship travels on to Sirius, back to Earth and on to Tau Ceti. I can't go into too much story here because somehow it will be a spoiler, I'll just say that there are aliens.

I just found out too that Gentry Lee wrote two other books set in this same universe, and now I'm going to have to look into them. Also, Morgan Freeman has signed on to do a big screen interpretation of the first book, but it is still in an announced status, and no news has been released since February.

Robotech vs. Macross

Alright, I know, I'm going back to the 80's again with today's post, but it's not totaly a product of me being nostalgic. Instead, it's the fact that some of this stuff has become availble on DVD over the last few years, and I'm have been rediscovering over the past couple years.

First of all, Robotech is the American version of Macross, sorta. Robotech is the artifical stitching together of three mecha (big robots) cartoons together because the American producers wanted a series that would be run daily instead of weekly. So the producers strung Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Calvary Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada together and revoiced them in ways to make the story fit the animation, sorta. Actually, everything after the first series sorta blew, including all the sequels.

Macross started with the same Super Dimension Fortress Macross, but instead of trying to lace three unconnected series together, Macross is actually a good series with continuity and sequels that don't suck. Macross is the Japanese progression of SDF Macross, where Robotech is the American version. Macross is much better than Robotech.

Geek crisis aside, Macross is kinda one of those guilty pleasures. One of the things that I like about some early anime is the assumption that the Japanese know what kind of music seems futuristic. I don't know if Disco will be the ultimate form of music in the universe or not, but the production teams dealing with almost all 80's animes sure seem to believe it. There's also a version of techno-disco out there that is like nothing else I've ever heard. In the 90's they started getting away from this forward thinking and started coming up with some really good music, and the tradition continues today.

Back to Macross, the story is cool, and progresses into sequel series, OVA's and a movie or two. It is a good, if complicated series, and well worth watching.

Sealab 2021

Normally I'm not really a big Adult Swim fan. There's gotta be some head writer over at the Cartoon Network that is totally convinced that the words annoying and funny are interchangeable. It's not that I don't get the jokes, I do, but to borrow from the wisdom of Zorak on Space Ghost Coast to Coast (incidentally another Adult Swim production) it's just that the jokes aren't worth getting. Get it?

There is an exception to every rule, or so they say, and that exception is Sealab 2021. The animation for Sealab 2021 was copied off a 70's Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Sealab 2020 and was re-edited and re-voiced. The real difference between Sealab 2021 and most of the other shows on Adult Swim is that Sealab 2021 is funny.

Enough about that, the cartoon is 15 minutes long, and the characters are all scientists in an underwater laboratory. Captain Murphy is an idiot, but is one of the most enjoyable characters on the show. He's constantly doing stupid things and getting the lab blown up and is just plain nuts. Actually, all the characters have these serious mental flaws that would keep a flock of psychiatrists solvent for all of eternity. I was going to say that there was one straight character, but I'd be wrong if I did, so I won't.

After about a season, there was more original animation as it just wasn't possible to keep re-editing and re-voicing the same clips without someone noticing. At the end of Season 3, the voice actor who did Captain Murphy died, so Murphy was replaced with Captain Shanks. The episodes in the last couple of seasons were some of the best, though I think most people would have liked it better if Captain Murphy had still been around, and the series might have made it into a 6th season if he had still been around.