I've finished the historical novel "The Burning Land" by Bernard Cornwell. As the 10th century ends the Saxon warrior Uhtred, oath-bound to Alfred the Great, forsakes his vows. But soon a Danish army under Haesten threatens Mercia - & Alfred's daughter, its Queen, so Uhtred's blade must sing again. It's fast moving, blood-drenched, (more or less) historically accurate adventure from a proven master. Well done.
Published writer, compulsive reader, Old School Whovian, Match Game enthusiast, NKOTB fan, data hoarder, and - surprisingly, given that list - married with four kids. Welcome to my take on life, fatherhood, entertainment, and whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
American Idol
I think the men did quite well tonight on AI. Michael Lynche won the night, although not my vote, but I was also quite impressed with Alex Lambert's voice. My picks to go home: the one-note Andrew Garcia and Todrick Hall.
Work
I'm a wee bit peeved. I was called and asked to pick up a shift at work and said yeah, sure, just let me ck the wife's schedule and I'll call you back. I called and, naturally, it had been handed over to someone else - because that 15 min delay obviously meant the diff. between the comp going bankrupt or staying solvent. $%^#@
Tres Dias
Just finished watching the Spanish language film "Before the Fall" (Tres Dias). The world has 3 days before a meterorite destroys the earth. So its a disaster movie right? Nope. Prison riots break out, & a serial killer escapes to kill the family of the man who caught him. Only the man's loser brother is left to defend the children. Think High Noon meets Armageddon meets Party of Five. Very good flick.
I'm a wee bit peeved. I was called and asked to pick up a shift at work and said yeah, sure, just let me ck the wife's schedule and I'll call you back. I called and, naturally, it had been handed over to someone else - because that 15 min delay obviously meant the diff. between the comp going bankrupt or staying solvent. $%^#@
The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
I've finished the historical novel "The Burning Land" by Bernard Cornwell. As the 10th century ends the Saxon warrior Uhtred, oath-bound to Alfred the Great, forsakes his vows. But soon a Danish army under Haesten threatens Mercia - & Alfred's daughter, its Queen, so Uhtred's blade must sing again. It's fast moving, blood-drenched, (more or less) historically accurate adventure from a proven master. Well done.
Before the Fall (Tres Dias)
Just finished watching the Spanish language film "Before the Fall" (Tres Dias). The world has 3 days before a meteorite destroys the earth. So it's a disaster movie right? Nope. Prison riots break out, & a serial killer escapes to kill the family of the man who caught him. Only the man's loser brother is left to defend the children. Think High Noon meets Armageddon meets Party of Five. Very good flick.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Facebook Feb 18h
Feb 18th: American Idol: I think the male 12 was ok, but the choice of the female dozen was nuts. They cut Shelby Dressel and kept the mediocre blonde, which was bad enough, but then they axed Angela Martin. WTH? I had her pegged as a favorite to win. I can only assume her odd & continual personal troubles (Dad killed 1st yr, 6 days in ...jail yr 2, now her Mom's missing) knocked her out of the running. My early fave to win: Casey James.
* Lost: Excellent episode, u can really feel the season picking up steam. So in alt. timeline Locke is happy; he has his woman, comes to grips w/ his paralysis, and is fufilled @ wrk - all by abandoning faith, making him a true opp. of his 'old' self. Will Jack be equally fufilled by *embracing* faith in that timeline? Yin/Yang, etc?
- & no, I don't think PsedoLocke is 'good' and Jacob 'bad'. Aside from all the direct murders (Echo, the pilot) & a dozen other pts of fact, my gut says he's a trickster - a Loki (a conscious play on Locke/Loki?). Note also he tossed away the white rock, leaving the dark one victorious on the scale.
- Who's the child? Jacob. Hmm. Nah. I vote for a superior, judicial being keeping PsuedoLocke and Jacob in line and now sallying forth to rectify matters now that everything got sh** up. Odin to Thor and Loki? God to Jesus and Satan (if you mash up Christian theology)?
- Note Kate's name wasn't on the 'list'. Deep meanng? Who cares. I vote its because she's a boring, predicatable, and amoral twit. I do wonder if Sawyer saw the child becasue he is the one, the protector, or if that would hold true for anyone on the list.
* Universal Preps Cobain Bio Pic Dislike. Dislike. Dislike. Cross was Love's tool, and I don't buy some of his 'revelations'. Plus Courtney is [bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep] and should have nothing to do with anything of Kurt. She did enough damage while he was breathing. She's a dirty, useless piece of sh**t and I despise her.
* Johnny Weir 'Loves Wearing Dead Animals,' Calls Animal Rights Activists 'Crazy Fur People' The 'activists' were using him for cheap publicity, expecting your standard "Bend over and blindly apologize as the gods of PC demand". Essentially, he told them to go F themselves. Good for him.
* The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is posting FB messages in Arabic. Odd, and a wee disturbing, to see my 'wall' decorated by 3 posts in Arabic, w/ no English translation on hand.
* NKOTB is featured on AOL's home page this morning. The article includes some pretty good 'candid' pics.
* re: Sade's new album and single: 'Soldier of Love is a very good song and I like it a lot. I also liked Donnie Osmond's song of the same name, and bought a cassette single of it in the '80's. That's irrelevant - but I figured, so is everything else I post here, so why not include it?
* Went right from work to YaYa's parent-teacher conference. It went much better than I feared, w/ her teacher heaping praise and compliments on her. Still, she rightly pointed out that YaYa, if we can speak plainly here, rarely gives more than a half-ass effort in math and anything she finds 'boring'. Time to break her of that before it gets too ingrained (sp?) in her personality.
* Aside from breaking my son's foot the day went well. I have pics from the wrestling practice, so hopefully a blog post will follow. The coach went gaga for LuLu; his eyes just sparkled. He said she was a natural, that her body instinctively reacted w/ the right moves as if trained; that right NOW she would do well in a... tourney and be near the top of the food chain in her age bracket. Wow. My LuLu, a wrestler?
* Lost: Excellent episode, u can really feel the season picking up steam. So in alt. timeline Locke is happy; he has his woman, comes to grips w/ his paralysis, and is fufilled @ wrk - all by abandoning faith, making him a true opp. of his 'old' self. Will Jack be equally fufilled by *embracing* faith in that timeline? Yin/Yang, etc?
- & no, I don't think PsedoLocke is 'good' and Jacob 'bad'. Aside from all the direct murders (Echo, the pilot) & a dozen other pts of fact, my gut says he's a trickster - a Loki (a conscious play on Locke/Loki?). Note also he tossed away the white rock, leaving the dark one victorious on the scale.
- Who's the child? Jacob. Hmm. Nah. I vote for a superior, judicial being keeping PsuedoLocke and Jacob in line and now sallying forth to rectify matters now that everything got sh** up. Odin to Thor and Loki? God to Jesus and Satan (if you mash up Christian theology)?
- Note Kate's name wasn't on the 'list'. Deep meanng? Who cares. I vote its because she's a boring, predicatable, and amoral twit. I do wonder if Sawyer saw the child becasue he is the one, the protector, or if that would hold true for anyone on the list.
* Universal Preps Cobain Bio Pic Dislike. Dislike. Dislike. Cross was Love's tool, and I don't buy some of his 'revelations'. Plus Courtney is [bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep] and should have nothing to do with anything of Kurt. She did enough damage while he was breathing. She's a dirty, useless piece of sh**t and I despise her.
* Johnny Weir 'Loves Wearing Dead Animals,' Calls Animal Rights Activists 'Crazy Fur People' The 'activists' were using him for cheap publicity, expecting your standard "Bend over and blindly apologize as the gods of PC demand". Essentially, he told them to go F themselves. Good for him.
* The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is posting FB messages in Arabic. Odd, and a wee disturbing, to see my 'wall' decorated by 3 posts in Arabic, w/ no English translation on hand.
* NKOTB is featured on AOL's home page this morning. The article includes some pretty good 'candid' pics.
* re: Sade's new album and single: 'Soldier of Love is a very good song and I like it a lot. I also liked Donnie Osmond's song of the same name, and bought a cassette single of it in the '80's. That's irrelevant - but I figured, so is everything else I post here, so why not include it?
* Went right from work to YaYa's parent-teacher conference. It went much better than I feared, w/ her teacher heaping praise and compliments on her. Still, she rightly pointed out that YaYa, if we can speak plainly here, rarely gives more than a half-ass effort in math and anything she finds 'boring'. Time to break her of that before it gets too ingrained (sp?) in her personality.
* Aside from breaking my son's foot the day went well. I have pics from the wrestling practice, so hopefully a blog post will follow. The coach went gaga for LuLu; his eyes just sparkled. He said she was a natural, that her body instinctively reacted w/ the right moves as if trained; that right NOW she would do well in a... tourney and be near the top of the food chain in her age bracket. Wow. My LuLu, a wrestler?
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
TV NIght
According to media writer Tim Cuprisin, Time Warner is taking reports of cable problems from Milwaukee to Oconomowoc. Here in my house the image keeps freezing and restarting every few seconds, but our main TV is dark. Not good on an AI and Lost night.
AI: A srong night for the women, and I much prefer the terse one hr format to the dragged out 2hr crap. Lacey saved herself this wk, and I think it's obvious Haylie has to go. 2nd elimination is harder to pick this week - maybe Katelyn for her good vocal/no personality performance?
Lost: After last weeks yawner, it was good to see Lost back on track. I'm happy Ben is a good man in the flash-sideways. Note also that on-island he rejected neoLocke/devil?'s offer & been accepted into the (good) group simply by confessing his sins. Jack's transformation has begun as well; on the Black Rock it became clear he is now a man of faith, and a believer in destiny. The lines have been drawn. It's showtime.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Horns by Joe Hill
Ignatius “Ig” Perrish isn’t having a very good year. Born the son of modest fame and privilege, and once blessed with an abundance of love and friendship, his life has collapsed around him. Merrin, his first and only love, was brutally raped and murdered, leaving Ig as the only suspect. Although never charged with her murder, his community seems convinced of his guilt - with some people going so far as to pray for his death. It’s hard to imagine how things could get worse.
That is, until the morning horns begin to grow out of his head.
That’s the premise of Horns, the second novel by Joe Hill, author of Heart Shaped Box and the short story collection 20th Century Ghosts, and the son of novelist Stephen King.
Appearing the morning after a night of drunken violence, the horns are unquestionably and frighteningly real. They inspire the worst in whoever sees them, encouraging sin and drawing out hateful thoughts unmitigated by compassion or conscience, but leaving the memory of the conversation as little more than a haze. Within a short time Ig’s status as the town pariah is confirmed, but the horns also reveal the darkest secret of all, one that hits very close to home: the name of Merrin’s true killer.
While revealing the killer early in the story removes the question of “Who dunnit?”, the novel successfully builds suspense by keeping you guessing at the motives of everyone involved. Through flashbacks, the long and ultimately doomed relationship of Merrin and Ig is revealed, culminating in that tragic night. Although the disturbingly creepy history of the killer all but screams “Danger!”, you’re left wondering if Merrin was as innocent as Ig would like to believe - or if she was hiding a secret of her own.
If there’s a noticeable flaw in Horns it’s the inconsistency of the spiritual journey that drives Ig‘s actions. He himself admits the Devil he mimics is a trickster. Yet he obligingly takes the dark confessions he inspires at face value, abandoning friends and family along the way. Likewise, he’s abandoned a belief in a conventional god, considering the brutality of Merrin’s death as justification for his action. Yet, in the end his friends and family refuse to be so easily discarded and rise to his defense. The god he resents is not so vocal, yet even in Merrin’s murder there may be proof of hidden mercy. Taken as a whole it’s a bit of a philosophical jumble, perhaps too much like real life to leave the reader satisfied.
Joe Hill is a talented and able writer, and there are snippets of prose that linger in your thoughts long after the book is closed. If there is such a thing as a sophomore slump for novelists, someone forgot to tell Hill. Horns is solid proof that he is far more than a flash in the pan, and is likely a voice of horror for years to come.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
I finished *One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich*. The blasé acceptance of the gulag as normal and "just something to bear" is as much an indictment of the Soviets as the injustice of the camp itself.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Smiley's Party
3 words to describe Smiley's bday party (in progress): pretty dang lousy.
update: It turned out OK, and Smiley was very pleased with it. Just My kids and my niece fill a room by themselves, so it didn't look empty, he loved his gifts (and we even set up and played with them) and the food was good.
Not nice Danny. Just because you think it was pretty dang lousy doesn't mean SMILEY DOES!!!!:) - Aunt Katie
I know what you mean Danny, it would have been nice if every child showed up....and I'm sure that Parker if he was older would have noticed....He is just young, Grandpa and I had a great time...at the adult party . Food was great.. - Grandma Jeanne
The kid party is done. 1 hr 55 minutes until the family party for Parker starts. I think I'm going to try and nap. Or watch the Magic-Lakers game. Either/or.
Don't take a nap Danny or Lisa ...... rumor has it the future holds the fact cupcakes will be EATEN !!! oh yeah blue frosting on a cake will be coming - Aiunt Katie
Funny! It all worked out, thank goodness I can whip a cake together like that! - LIsa
My Apple Cake Recipe. Wellll, Redbook magazine's recipie actually, but it's mine now.
Here's the apple cake recipe I've been talking about on Facebook. I've made it twice and was never 100% satisfied w/ the result (once too dry once too, er, wet), but I'd chalk that up to my tempermental oven, not a flaw in the design.
Chopped walnuts or pecans
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 large apples, peeled and sliced (I use 8 small/medium, mainly because that's what I usually have on hand)
1 tbsp bakingpowder
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs.
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup/1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup Orange Juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350 degree F
Combine apples, cinnnamon, 2 tbsp of the flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and toss.
In another bowl, combine remaining sugar and flour, baking powder, OJ, oil, vanilla, butter, eggs, salt. Beat until smooth.
Spray pan with nonstick spray and sprinkle bottom liberally with nuts. Pour in half the batter. Cover with a layer of 1/2 the apples. Spoon the remaining batter over the apples and top that with what's left of the apples. With luck you might have some left over for the kids (apples that is).
Bake 1 hr and 20 min or untl toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Chopped walnuts or pecans
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 large apples, peeled and sliced (I use 8 small/medium, mainly because that's what I usually have on hand)
1 tbsp bakingpowder
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs.
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup/1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup Orange Juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
Heat oven to 350 degree F
Combine apples, cinnnamon, 2 tbsp of the flour, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and toss.
In another bowl, combine remaining sugar and flour, baking powder, OJ, oil, vanilla, butter, eggs, salt. Beat until smooth.
Spray pan with nonstick spray and sprinkle bottom liberally with nuts. Pour in half the batter. Cover with a layer of 1/2 the apples. Spoon the remaining batter over the apples and top that with what's left of the apples. With luck you might have some left over for the kids (apples that is).
Bake 1 hr and 20 min or untl toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Today is Smiley's 5th Birthday!
Happy 5th Birthday little guy! We love you!
Smiley is a huge fan of Sprout, PBS's all-preschool TV channel; Caillou and Barney are recorded and watched endlessly around here. Another thing he likes about Sprout is their wonderful practice of announcing birthdays on air, and showing off homemade cards parents create and send in. As a surprise, Lisa made a card and sent it in last month. I know it breaches the no-names policy established here, but I can't resist showing it off.
Note: something is goofy with our scanner, and so bits of the card look to be in shadow. The original looks great. [front cover, left inside, right inside, back cover]
We still have to wait and see if his card is shown on air (we've set the DVR to take nearly the whole day of Sprout), but at the stroke of midnight a scanned copy of the card * DID * appear on the Sprout website, as they promised! Card
Again, we love you little man! It's been a pleasure being your Daddy these last five years :)
Smiley is a huge fan of Sprout, PBS's all-preschool TV channel; Caillou and Barney are recorded and watched endlessly around here. Another thing he likes about Sprout is their wonderful practice of announcing birthdays on air, and showing off homemade cards parents create and send in. As a surprise, Lisa made a card and sent it in last month. I know it breaches the no-names policy established here, but I can't resist showing it off.
Note: something is goofy with our scanner, and so bits of the card look to be in shadow. The original looks great. [front cover, left inside, right inside, back cover]
We still have to wait and see if his card is shown on air (we've set the DVR to take nearly the whole day of Sprout), but at the stroke of midnight a scanned copy of the card * DID * appear on the Sprout website, as they promised! Card
Again, we love you little man! It's been a pleasure being your Daddy these last five years :)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Our Day
I woke up at 6 am, got dressed, scraped the frost off the windshield and drove to work, ready to start at 7 . . . only to discover my shift didn't start until 10.
D'oh.
After a busy day at work I came home, chilled for a bit, then noticed we were down to only 2 kids (after my niece's bday party YaYa stayed over, Smiley is at Gma). So I packed up & burned part of my paycheck on dinner at Villa Roma. Click on that link for a review of our experience. Lu and Junie were dolls. A nice end to the day.
Happy Birthday Stacey!
Today our youngest niece (on my side) turns 9 years old. All blessings to you Stacey, and we hope you have a great birthday!
In other news, it is also the 14th anniversary of my cousin's horrific car crash (he's ok now, but still walks with a limp)
- and -
The 174th anniversary of the Fall of the Alamo. May we never forget their sacrifice.
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