One More Point for Kennedy

The space center, that is. They've designed a shuttle launch experience simulation, minus, of course, the multiple Gs of force.. and unfortunately the actual fact of being in space, but one can't ask for everything. *sigh* Some day...

Anyway, it's been checked out and deemed good by actual former astronauts. So in case I didn't have enough reason already, if anyone's up for a trip some day, let me know!

Do You Really Want to Know?

My prince charming is still in a pond somewhere. But I saw his picture on a pair of socks. It was very cute.

Mapquest just placed Pflugerville, TX, somewhere off the coast of Nigeria.

This is how I'm dressing for work tonight:

Because I heard a rumor that Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome

came by looking for me again. But I think I'll have him beat; I'll be taller, darker, handsomer, and better hidden.

I tried a type of Mexican candy last night. It was a mango flavored sucker coated with chili. I didn't dislike it. I can't decide whether I liked it, but I didn't dislike it. It was just very, very different. Not as different as eating sausages wrapped in tortillas instead of sausage buns; I don't think I'll get over that one. But that might have something to do with having been stuck eating a wheat tortilla.

I no longer have to worry about being tempted by the final Harry Potter book sitting around BigEvilSuperStore's stock room before it's release date. This is on account of my not being there anywhere near the release date. Unless they start shipping us the books by June 5th. Because I'm leaving work then.

I recently discovered there's a song Martina McBride sings that I don't absolutely love. I heard it on the radio many times, and it was a song about God, and I said, "That's an OK song, but it has bad theology." Then I finally heard it announced on the radio once, and I said, "Martina McBride isn't allowed to sing a song that I don't love. World, what are you doing? You are all out to get me." And the world said, "We know your weaknesses, and we are evil." And I said, "That's not fair!" And the world said, "Muahahahaha." And I didn't understand it, so I went to bed.

Six Books, Because.. Why Not?

***** - these are stars. Can't you tell? It means I can't do half stars, but I'm okay with that. Oh. And I think the ratings are out of five. Three being average and all that. One being I couldn't even stand to finish the book and I'll never touch it again in my life unless forced, and maybe not even then. There's a fairly big jump between one and two, because I created the system, and I said so.

**** Hyperion, by Dan Simmons - I'm impressed by this guy's writing ability. This book (I haven't caught up on the series yet) is, in part, written as a bunch of stories told by various pilgrims (not like the Canterbury Tales, really!) about their past. The answer to the pilgrimage they're on lies in the connection between their histories. Simmons successfully tells each of the stories in the character's own voice; of course, this has the downside that if you don't care for a particular character's storytelling ability, that portion of the book is going to be less interesting, and I found myself wanting to only skim particular stories in order to get on with something more interesting. However, the puzzle he presents is intriguing (if unanswered at the end; I haven't read far enough to do more than assume he finishes this in the sequel), enough so that I did my best to immediately find the second book to know the answer. Not recommended for anyone with both a vivid imagination and much squeamishness about blood; there are some.. interesting.. death scenes.

****1/2 Stardust, by Neil Gaiman - A fun mixing of fairy tales, but that's only an aspect of the world and side characters within the book, not the story itself. This one I could recommend to almost anyone as a quick, fun read. I've apparently increased my ability to pick up on foreshadowing somewhere along the line, because as with a number of other books I've read in the past half year, I was able to guess the ending while only about half way through the book.. though not the minor details, and I didn't guess how it would get there, only the final result. I actually found a certain aspect of the ending to be mildly disappointing.. but not enough to stop me from recommending the book, or being willing to read it again myself at some point in the future.

**1/2 The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper - Nope, never got to this one before. Apparently there is a book that comes before this one in the series. The particular printing of the book I read did not make that clear (and I looked; I knew it was a series), so I haven't read it. I've only read this one. At some point I will get around to reading the others in the series (I imagine it says something that I'm not rushing out for them), and I do intend to see the movie, but I wouldn't number this among the top books I've ever read. The premise is promising, but the story could have been handled better.. and speaking of foreshadowing, this one failed by way of promising more than it delivered. At certain points I was lead to expect more than what actually happened. In general, I appreciate when I'm wrong at my guesses (after all, I don't really want to guess the entire story ahead of time, unless, perhaps, it's a mystery novel), but I want to be wrong because the author went somewhere brilliant and unexpected, not because the author simply failed to deliver. I have one other complaint I'm going to voice about this book, which would stop me from recommending it to anyone young enough (or otherwise unable) to not entirely grasp the difference between fiction and reality. Most fantasy stories just don't mention faith/church at all. I'm okay with that. This one does, and at one point makes a fairly clear statement that the particular magic in the book is older and stronger than God, or, in other words, implies that God isn't actually real and Creator. I don't mind novels that simply don't bring up the issue, and I don't mind those that specifically do, either; but I dislike this treatment of it.

***** Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny - Hey, it's another series! I read this book (the first one) when I was much, much younger, but recently picked up the series again and am now in the midst of book eight. In other words, I really like these. They're just strange enough for me to fully appreciate them yet not, I think, to scare off anyone who dislikes randomness; they're not nearly as strange in the manner of, say, Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett. Everything in these books, though they left me unable to even chance guessing what would come next (and I like that, I really really like that), still makes perfect sense once you're familiar with the world. It also, as you get further into the series, keeps re-examining what you know of the story so far as bit by bit the intentions of other people, and their parts in things, come to light.. the best I can think of to compare it to is the movie Hero. In all of the first seven books, there was only one point when I really became suspicious about something; and that character was so blatantly more than he seemed that it might be the only fault I find with any of the first seven books in that none of the other characters seemed to have a clue. And even that can potentially be explained away... Okay, so Zelazny also has a bit too much fun with certain transitions that, by the end of seven books, get to be a tiny bit on the excessive side in their descriptions. But as thrilled as I am with the rest of the series, I'm not going to fault him too highly for that. Actually, this may be something that my friend at A Theme of the Creator's Music would enjoy.. perhaps I have another book to start pushing. ;-)

*** Redwall, by Brian Jacques - Another series. How'd you guess? Oh, that's right; every person in the world except myself read this book 15-20 years ago, or when they turned 10, whichever came second. Me, I waited until now and age 23.. but after the results of the first time I recommended it without reading it, I figured I should get around to it so as not to make the same mistake again. My conclusion? The results of my first recommendation don't surprise me at all, and had I read it before, I never would have added it to that particular recommendation list. Now I feel bad. It's not that it's necessarily a bad book; the writing isn't brilliant, but it's okay, especially when keeping in mind that this is considered a children's book. When I was around ten I most likely would have greatly enjoyed this - it's only my adult self going "uh, that characterization is bad.. and that writing.. and, uh, this doesn't make sense.. and..." Which isn't to say that I'm flat out recommending this for all kids (wait, I covered that already). This book contains one of the most evil characters I have ever seen specifically, carefully developed and described in any book with the except of the Screwtape Letters, and I was nearly as disturbed by this character as I was by the demon. Simply as the underdeveloped enemy this wouldn't be so bad, but this particular evil character was given much better development than the hero of the story, and was therefore that much easier to attempt to identify with, and yet, there was not a single speck of good anywhere within him... There's also another character named after the devil, but he's not nearly as developed, he just shows up now and again. Not that he helps matters. The hero of the story is fairly inconsistently written, and will easily go from out and out wanting nothing more than to defend his home to, suddenly, relaxing and describing in detail how much he enjoys this stream he's about to fall asleep by even while he knows his home is being attacked. I prefer to consider the writing inconsistent than the character insane. I still think I would have greatly enjoyed it at 10, though other books I read at the time were much better (some were much worse, too); but in the future, I'm going to be much more careful who I hand this to.

*** Iceworld, by Hal Clement - I'm giving this book a lot of leeway because of the fact that it has a copyright in 1953. The situation of the world around that year figures a great deal into the way the story develops, and certain SF ideas had not become quite as common yet. Even so, the only (now, 2007) extremely overdone plot twist he uses is finished by the end of the first chapter and we can get on with the rest of the story. And it's a good story. There is one thing which stopped it from holding more of my interest (and a higher rating); there are two sets of characters whose viewpoints are used, one a group of aliens, the other a group of human beings. The alien viewpoint occupies the majority of the book, and yet they way they are written isn't sufficient for me to easily identify with them. When Clement stays with them for a long period of time, the events that are going on and discoveries that are being made only halfway keep my interest, and I'm anxious to get back with the human beings again.. I care a lot more about what happens with them, despite the fact that the main story is what's going on in the alien world. I find the book equally interesting just for the historical significance (yes, I said that); as much of a history person as I am (heh..*cough*), having read this book will give me much more insight into what life in the early 1950s was like than reading a history book or attending a class ever would.

Spiderman 3

Despite the various reviews I've heard that simply rated it as a good comic book character movie or similar, I'm going to ignore the separation between such superhero movies and others and say flat out that I really, really liked this movie. Much more that Spiderman 1 and 2 (which I did like, but would not have been nearly as willing to immediately sit through again). I'd happy go see this again any time while it's still in theaters. Tomorrow, over the weekend, when I'm home and it's.. well.. it probably won't be in the cheapsies by then. Hmm. And no, I didn't watch it twice today, but I would have.

In no particular order, various comments I have (with no regard whatsoever for possible spoilers; be warned.. also no regard for the fact that this was a comic first, since, sadly, I never read them and had only a vague idea what was supposed to happen anyway). Highlight to read, since, y'know.. spoilers:

The graphics were really a bit disorienting at times. I thought I was going to get dizzy. Especially the first fight, which left me rather confused as to who had been hit and who hadn't been hit and who tried to hit and which of the people was where and when and moving which direction anyway. I have to say, aside from my confusion, they were certainly nice though. Not just any movie can make me dizzy and disoriented.

While I acknowledge the general idea that once Peter is no longer the struggling boy he was so that we can identify with his human troubles, and instead at the beginning of the movie seems to have everything, and this makes it harder to identify with him, I have no such problem. I can completely identify with having struggled and struggled and struggled and suddenly, for a while, experiencing the happiness as everything seems to go right. Minus the ability to form my own webs. And I don't think I've ever messed things up again by kissing the wrong girl. Actually, scratch that.. I know I haven't.

It's interesting to note that every time that Peter and MJ have problems, it involves them not talking to each other. Peter won't shut up and listen to what she wants to tell him. She won't answer his phone calls when he wants to make up. He feels awful because she won't answer. She finds someone else to talk to because he won't pay attention to her. They're entirely lacking that communication which is necessary for a good relationship. In fact, if they'd bothered communicating, she wouldn't have wound up kissing that other guy. And what's with that, anyway? Does every single romance described in a movie, book, or other medium, anywhere, have to have a scene where one of the characters goes "oops, I'm having a good time with my not-boyfriend, and now we're sitting down together somewhere.. might as well kiss him." Is there some law I missed? On the other hand, Peter doesn't even have that law to excuse his non-girlfriend kiss. Maybe he thought it was like theather; someone should have told him it wasn't in the script.

The church thing.. yeah, that was interesting. I think the guy needs a few catechism lessons.

Peter coming out of that store in a black suit and dancing was, I think, one of the most amusing parts of the movie. It had nothing to do with the movie itself. It had to do with the fact that he reminded me, at that particular moment, of someone I know... The guilty party shall remain nameless, but if anyone who knows him also saw a resemblance, then perhaps my amusement is sufficiently explained.

The redemption/forgiveness theme in the movie was nice, especially the different aspects and situations. I'm disappointed that it took Peter physically harming MJ before he realized something was wrong and rejected his.. companion.. but at least, at that point, he realized something was wrong. And after he did that for himself, he went back (I'm thinking Plato's cave.. yes, I was educated at Ave..) and did what he could to help everyone else, saving them more than just Spiderman's usual physical saving of lives. There was a full range of everything from his aunt knowing immediately that vengance was not a good idea up through Eddie (that was his name, right?) who consciously rejected salvation and chose to destroy himself by returning to the symbiotic alien thing and embracing his aggression and hate.

Harry never impressed me one way or the other in the previous movies. But I like him in this one. I always thought, and still think, that it's a bit drastic for him to go from caring deeply for his friends to wanting only revenge on Peter and being willing to hurt MJ in the process, but it makes the redeption aspect a lot clearer. It was nice to see him as himself in the beginning, and again in the final fight, after he was given (and made) his choice. I didn't want that particular ending for him, but now that I think about it, it represents the fullest turn around possible - not only did he relent enough to grant Peter's request and help, but he returned fully to himself, as he was lying in the hospital in the beginning, telling the nurse exactly how much Peter and MJ meant to him. That was his moment, and he passed with flying colors.

Speaking of Harry, I liked his words at the end too. Easily dismissing the wrongs that had been done to him because, once it came down to the end, "none of that matters." They were best friends. And even everything that had happened in the meantime, which is a lot more than most people will ever have to deal with, could not completely break that relationship once they overcame their obstacles and were together again. That's.. just.. really cool.

I agree with those who have said they would have liked more screentime for Venom, but at the same time, I have nothing particular against Sandman. As I mentioned, I never did read the comics, so I have nothing particular to compare them to except themselves in the movie, and within the movies Sandman had more history (that or I'm forgetting something, which I can't rule out, since me-time it's about 4-5am). Plus, he adds to my running redeption/forgiveness comentary, which thrills the theology/psychology nut within me. And his motives for villiany seemed so much more realistic than Harry's. Not that I have no interest in an alien life form, but to develop that one to my satisfaction they would have needed the whole movie devoted to it, while Sandman and Harry worked well enough for me as they were.

The ending was a bit bothersome, as I was surprised when it ended a few minutes later than I thought it was going to while watching, It just seemed so much like a brilliant ending. And then they go on and do a not brilliant ending, and then a fairly decent real ending, but if I have any complaints, it's the multiple endings. That even bothered me in LotR, something there wouldn't have been nearly as much problem with if they'd done it right and included the bit with the Shire.. hmm, 'scuse me, wrong rant. Or wrong movie.

That, I think, ends my comments... Did I mention that I really like this movie?

An Important Event

I would like to extend a special congratulations to my brother and his girlfriend fiance. The important date will be occuring approximately one year from now, May or early June.

Yay little brother!

(And for the curious who notice the posting time and were with me Sunday evening, and possibly noticed my rather unawake state of existance; yes, I did indeed successfully if surprisingly make it home okay, and did indeed stay up until almost 3am drinking, chatting, and cooking a turkey with houseguests. It eludes me how I'm awake to write this at the moment (it's been over 30 hours since I slept, not counting about fifteen or twenty minutes during the second episode of Firefly). But it seemed an important enough announcement to stay awake and make. Again, to the happy couple, congratulations! ..and with that, I'm off to bed.

Mother's Day

Mary, on this day when we honor all mothers, we turn to you. We thank the Lord whom you serve for the great gift of motherhood. Never has it been known that anyone who sought your intercession was left unaided by grace. Dear Mother, thank you for your “Yes” to the invitation of the angel which brought heaven to earth and changed human history. You opened yourself to God’s word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Dear mother, intercede for all of our mothers. Ask your Divine Son to give them the grace of surrendered love so that they could join with you in giving their own “Fiat.” May they find daily strength to say yes to the call to the sacrificial love- the very heart of the vocation of motherhood. May their love and witness be a source of great inspiration for all of us called to follow your Son.

On this Mothers day, Mother of the Word Incarnate, pray for us who have recourse to you…

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

(found on http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?s=31)

Wishing a happy Mother's Day to all mothers that I know, especially those whom I love as family, and most especially to my own mother and grandmothers.

I Get to Travel!

The Big Evil Corporation of Doom (hey, there's a new title!) has done something right (besides the free dinners), and approved my vacation. They're giving me part of my soul back for an entire two weeks in June! So I'll be going home on June 8th, and coming home again on June.. 24th, maybe. 23rd. Something like that. And somewhere in there I'll probably also go home. To another home or two. Y'know, just so I don't confuse anyone. I'll also hopefully go to Mackinac Island, though this is still is the speculation stage and needs much encouragement from me.

I feel like I ought to have something more substantial in this post, but I also feel exhausted and am already sitting on my bed. I think you can guess which wins without needing to read the part of the post I didn't write. Right?

My Previous Night's Activities

I would just like to mention that I'm now the proud owner of Full Metal Alchemist episodes 9-20. I'm no longer stuck at episode 8! And yes, I'm willing to make this a communal set if anyone wants to borrow.. or, better yet, come watch them with me. I've got the first 8 already, I'm willing to sit through them again. (I suppose that really just extends to the people within.. Texas. Though far be it for me to discourage traveling.) It's so nice of random strangers to sell nice DVDs like this cheaply.

Fridays at BigEvilSuperStore have now become a lot more interesting. I may go in disguise next week; I hear they sell some nice masks over in, say, Italy... But they fed us pizza last night, which makes the third week in a row that I've had free food, so I think I'll keep going back. For now.

Acoustic Solar Concerts, $1,000,000

I know at least one person who ought to appreciate this: our sun makes music. It's not a new idea, and even if we could get seats to the concert we wouldn't be able to hear it (now there's an idea for an alien race with different hearing frequency though..), but it's neat to see an instance of proof. Basically (in case anyone in really as interested as I am) small flares on the sun's surface disturb magnetic loops in a manner similar to, so the article claims, plucking a guitar string. The article goes into more detail than I've bothered here.

I'm going to keep those concert-going alients in mind, though... I like the picture of large arenas set up around a star. I wonder how expensive the tickets would be.