There's a stretch of Brookfield Road that's a bit dangerous. It's one lane each way, woods on either side so it's a bit cramped, and there's a steep hill involved. Despite it being dangerous, it's also a bit fun. My stomach drops out on it like it does when I ride a roller coaster. Going downhill is an exercise in careful driving and it's impossible to keep to the speed limit without tromping down on the brake.
Tonight I was on that stretch of road while heading for the Compound. I was gently braking as normal to keep the car under control. A car was heading uphill, causing our headlights to duel and cast glare all over. As our cars went to pass each other, a deer darted between our cars, crossing the road.
Is this what young deer do on Halloween? Sit in the bushes, smoke deer cigarettes, and wait for cars to cross on a nearby road so they can tell their buddies 'Watch this guys!' and run? I could believe it if true.
My light braking became more intense. With an oncoming car, I had nowhere to swerve to, only braking to save the day. I bumped the deer on it's back hip as I came to a halt. It scurried away. After a moment, I drove on.
It doesn't look too bad. The hood has a bit of a bump in it but, if that's the worst of it, I made out okay. There's also some deer hair stuck in my hood as well. Tomorrow I'll have another look at it in the daylight and see how it looks, as well to see if the car's leaking anything. Hoping for the best.
It's a good story, but not as fascinating as the one my buddy Kevin has told. Years ago while driving from Madison to Milwaukee, the car ahead of him on the freeway smacked into a deer. The legs of said deer detached themselves from the rest of the deer and flew back towards Kevin's car like hoof tipped missiles. He changed lanes to avoid them and punched it to get away.
Hopefully it wasn't late night trick or treaters dressed as a deer. If it was, it would serve them right.
31 October 2009
30 October 2009
'And Another Thing...' Review
Stories get continued until they don't. It's like the joke they made on Simpsons ages ago: the show continues until it is no longer profitable. I'm paraphrasing the line to make it fit better, no need to correct my verbiage in the quote. It's funny because it's true. We get sequels to movies because someone somewhere believes that the already familiar characters will draw more people to the theatre than new characters in an interesting new environment. Maybe it'll be nostalgia that'll bring in the folks or wanting to see an old familiar character with new special effects. Maybe we'll just remake/restart a previously popular franchise and see if there's still some money left in it. It happens all the time.
For most of these stories, there's no one person to look to as creator. That happens more in music. Maybe your favorite band breaks up and you hope they'll reform some day and then one of the band dies and you know they could reform, but it won't be the same. For movies you don't often get a singular vision like that. Directors are important to the process but so are actors sometimes and sometimes producers and sometimes writers. Who is most responsible for a movie character you like? The casting director? The director? The writer? The actor? All of them? The lines can blur.
With a book, there tends to be a more singular vision. There's an editor that may well be a useful influence but a book is generally one person's view of a world, whether their own or not. It's much more difficult for someone to take over that singular view and replicate it as there own. If you add into that a particularly singular view of Life, the Universe, and Everything then it becomes an even dicier effort to take over that view.
Yet, someone somewhere said 'Let's try for another Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book even though Douglas Adams is dead'. Someone else decided there could be money in it and, hey look!, I've got this book sitting next to me now, all read and everything. Eoin Colfer, writer of the Artemis Fowl series that I am in no way familiar with apart from knowing it exists, had the task of continuing the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, and Zaphod Beeblebrox. My original intent was to re-read the original five books in the trilogy before reading this one, to see how well the new book fits in. Instead the new book arrived and I plunged in immediately out of curiosity.
Is it funny? Yes, funny enough. It's full of wit, silliness, and oddly named characters who don't need to appear in the story itself, just as asides.
Does it... feel like a Hitchhiker's book? This is a trickier question to answer but I'm going to say No, it doesn't.
Under these circumstances 'No' is always the easier answer to give. 'No, of course not,' is an easy response to questions like 'Are Muppet productions post-Jim Henson like the ones with him around?' I still find joy in new Muppet productions and some are quite good. Many miss the combination of weirdness and character and emotion than the 'original' productions have, even if some of our reaction to them is knowing that the major component in their creation is missing and, therefore, they are different to what we saw before now. It doesn't necessarily mean that the characters are useless without the Jim Henson component; it just means that things will change and might be differently good.
That's part of why I'm saying this book isn't necessarily bad but I had a hard time agreeing that it was a good continuation of the series: I kept feeling the absence of Douglas Adams. Now, before you go 'So it's all in your head then, is it?' I'll respond with 'There's a reason, in the book, that I feel this way.'
Arthur Dent is missing for most of the book.
By 'missing' I don't mean 'lost as part of the story and the rest must find him' or 'isn't written properly so it's like he's not there' or anything like that. There are long sections of the book where Arthur doesn't appear at all. He's not important to the story. This is hard for me to take because, while I'll not argue much about the different versions of the story in different media, one thing is for certain: Arthur Dent is the main character. He's the character you play as in the text adventure for Zark's sake. Without Arthur anchoring the story, the book becomes a collection of silly named characters and odd asides, all entertaining, but missing the point. Who is the main character? Zaphod. It gives me the impression that Eoin said to himself 'I love these books but I can't write Arthur in too much and have it remain funny so I'll focus on this idiot character to keep things silly'.
I believe this was done with good intentions. It is a funny book. It is an entertaining book. It just didn't come together for me. My recommendation is to wait until you find it on sale for $5 somewhere and give it a try then. I paid more than that and I honestly don't think it was worth it. It's fun but it's not 'right'.
For most of these stories, there's no one person to look to as creator. That happens more in music. Maybe your favorite band breaks up and you hope they'll reform some day and then one of the band dies and you know they could reform, but it won't be the same. For movies you don't often get a singular vision like that. Directors are important to the process but so are actors sometimes and sometimes producers and sometimes writers. Who is most responsible for a movie character you like? The casting director? The director? The writer? The actor? All of them? The lines can blur.
With a book, there tends to be a more singular vision. There's an editor that may well be a useful influence but a book is generally one person's view of a world, whether their own or not. It's much more difficult for someone to take over that singular view and replicate it as there own. If you add into that a particularly singular view of Life, the Universe, and Everything then it becomes an even dicier effort to take over that view.
Yet, someone somewhere said 'Let's try for another Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book even though Douglas Adams is dead'. Someone else decided there could be money in it and, hey look!, I've got this book sitting next to me now, all read and everything. Eoin Colfer, writer of the Artemis Fowl series that I am in no way familiar with apart from knowing it exists, had the task of continuing the adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Trillian, and Zaphod Beeblebrox. My original intent was to re-read the original five books in the trilogy before reading this one, to see how well the new book fits in. Instead the new book arrived and I plunged in immediately out of curiosity.
Is it funny? Yes, funny enough. It's full of wit, silliness, and oddly named characters who don't need to appear in the story itself, just as asides.
Does it... feel like a Hitchhiker's book? This is a trickier question to answer but I'm going to say No, it doesn't.
Under these circumstances 'No' is always the easier answer to give. 'No, of course not,' is an easy response to questions like 'Are Muppet productions post-Jim Henson like the ones with him around?' I still find joy in new Muppet productions and some are quite good. Many miss the combination of weirdness and character and emotion than the 'original' productions have, even if some of our reaction to them is knowing that the major component in their creation is missing and, therefore, they are different to what we saw before now. It doesn't necessarily mean that the characters are useless without the Jim Henson component; it just means that things will change and might be differently good.
That's part of why I'm saying this book isn't necessarily bad but I had a hard time agreeing that it was a good continuation of the series: I kept feeling the absence of Douglas Adams. Now, before you go 'So it's all in your head then, is it?' I'll respond with 'There's a reason, in the book, that I feel this way.'
Arthur Dent is missing for most of the book.
By 'missing' I don't mean 'lost as part of the story and the rest must find him' or 'isn't written properly so it's like he's not there' or anything like that. There are long sections of the book where Arthur doesn't appear at all. He's not important to the story. This is hard for me to take because, while I'll not argue much about the different versions of the story in different media, one thing is for certain: Arthur Dent is the main character. He's the character you play as in the text adventure for Zark's sake. Without Arthur anchoring the story, the book becomes a collection of silly named characters and odd asides, all entertaining, but missing the point. Who is the main character? Zaphod. It gives me the impression that Eoin said to himself 'I love these books but I can't write Arthur in too much and have it remain funny so I'll focus on this idiot character to keep things silly'.
I believe this was done with good intentions. It is a funny book. It is an entertaining book. It just didn't come together for me. My recommendation is to wait until you find it on sale for $5 somewhere and give it a try then. I paid more than that and I honestly don't think it was worth it. It's fun but it's not 'right'.
29 October 2009
Rambling about the elderly, tires, and shoes
Yesterday I'm in Target wandering about in the electronics section. There's something about being out in the middle of the day and that something is elderly people. I have nothing against the elderly and am happy to see people of advancing age still be somewhat functional. I do ask that they try to stay out of my way when I'm in a hurry. Beyond that, we're cool.
One of the disadvantages of age is generally poor hearing. One of the advantages is not giving a care and, to be honest, that's the thing that makes me look forward to being old or hoping I make it that far anyway. This probably explains why they get in my way when I'm in a hurry. Hmm.
Anyway, there was this older couple wandering about the electronics section as well. They were irritating me and I made sure I wasn't in the same aisle as them. It's not that I didn't want to be helpful to them, it's just that I ascertained that they weren't going to ask me any questions; they were just going to be loudly ignorant. My friends that work at certain stores see it every year about this time: people in the store for the first time since the year before looking for something for little Johnny, have no clue what Johnny wants, and wander around the action figure aisles trying to figure out what a 'Spider-Man' is. These are clueless people and, unfortunately, most of them are not good-natured but ignorant, they're just ignorant and annoying. I'm not sure what the older couple I saw and heard yesterday was: ignorant or ignorant and annoying.
I know they were at least ignorant because I heard this statement: 'Blu-ray. Whatever that is.'
Now, do I expect the elderly to be up to date on home theatre standards? No, not at all. It did sound funny to hear. I wandered off quickly because I wasn't sure I could stand another gem like that.
I was in Target to kill time while my car was getting new tires at the nearby Fleet Farm. I think most drivers don't think much about their tires unless there's a problem. You just drive to where you're headed and back home. Now, I knew my tires were getting old so they were on my mind to some degree. My dad had a look at them the other day and said 'You know how I said you needed new tires last winter and you didn't get them? Yeah well, you need them now. Like, right now.'
Once you have new tires on your car, its like getting new shoes: you suddenly realize how bad the old ones were. I haven't traveled that far yet but the car seems to ride smoother, the handling is better, I'm hoping for better gas mileage, it just feels right. I am glad I took care of it despite it not being cheap to do.
It also made me aware that I need new shoes. New insoles anyway. Walking to and from Target made my feet hurt. Not good.
One of the disadvantages of age is generally poor hearing. One of the advantages is not giving a care and, to be honest, that's the thing that makes me look forward to being old or hoping I make it that far anyway. This probably explains why they get in my way when I'm in a hurry. Hmm.
Anyway, there was this older couple wandering about the electronics section as well. They were irritating me and I made sure I wasn't in the same aisle as them. It's not that I didn't want to be helpful to them, it's just that I ascertained that they weren't going to ask me any questions; they were just going to be loudly ignorant. My friends that work at certain stores see it every year about this time: people in the store for the first time since the year before looking for something for little Johnny, have no clue what Johnny wants, and wander around the action figure aisles trying to figure out what a 'Spider-Man' is. These are clueless people and, unfortunately, most of them are not good-natured but ignorant, they're just ignorant and annoying. I'm not sure what the older couple I saw and heard yesterday was: ignorant or ignorant and annoying.
I know they were at least ignorant because I heard this statement: 'Blu-ray. Whatever that is.'
Now, do I expect the elderly to be up to date on home theatre standards? No, not at all. It did sound funny to hear. I wandered off quickly because I wasn't sure I could stand another gem like that.
I was in Target to kill time while my car was getting new tires at the nearby Fleet Farm. I think most drivers don't think much about their tires unless there's a problem. You just drive to where you're headed and back home. Now, I knew my tires were getting old so they were on my mind to some degree. My dad had a look at them the other day and said 'You know how I said you needed new tires last winter and you didn't get them? Yeah well, you need them now. Like, right now.'
Once you have new tires on your car, its like getting new shoes: you suddenly realize how bad the old ones were. I haven't traveled that far yet but the car seems to ride smoother, the handling is better, I'm hoping for better gas mileage, it just feels right. I am glad I took care of it despite it not being cheap to do.
It also made me aware that I need new shoes. New insoles anyway. Walking to and from Target made my feet hurt. Not good.
26 October 2009
Music for Monday
On and off of late I've had people increasingly asking me about what I listen to, or impressed by the size of my music library (about 250GB and always growing), or just expressing boredom with what they're listening to and looking for something new. It occurred to me to try something new, to try highlighting some of the things I like and that others might as well. I've no idea if this will work or not. The goal at this point is to mention a song, album, or band I like and provide a legal link to a sample. Officially I'm all about legal samples.
Since I needed to pick something to start with, I'm starting with Blur's 'The Great Escape' album. Check out some streaming audio: http://www.last.fm/music/Blur/The+Great+Escape
Now, you might be going 'Blur...Blur... why do I know that name?' You might be remembering 'Song 2', which is on every sports compilation since it was made; you know, the 'woo-hoo!' song? Lead singer Damon is also the lead singer for the Gorillaz.
Why do I like this album in particular? The songs don't all sound the same from one to the next. There's an range of styles, an experimentation going on, yet, there's a familiar quality to the sound, making it more accessible. The album varies between slow songs, fast songs, silly sounding songs, serious pondering songs, simple good-natured guitar rockers, string lead swooping orchestration, electro-pop. The lyrics are biting, sounding sweet, but have an edge the more you listen to them.
Cheerful sounding 'Country House' with its silly, Benny Hill like video, tells a story of a rich man in a comfortable house that can't understand why he's not happy. 'Charmless Man' tells the story of a stuck-up fella, the rich privileged type, explaining how irritating and fake the man and his friends are in their actions. The energetic music, combined with the 'na, na, na, na' chorus, gives the song the sound of a schoolkid's revenge.
There are quieter songs as well. 'Best Days' sounds like nostalgia for now, or at least the now of when the album was released. People would laugh at you if you said these were the best days of your life, the song notes, seeming to ask if you might be right. Is that good or bad? I'm still not sure I know what 'The Universal' is all about. I love the orchestration and get distracted by the 'A Clockwork Orange' styling of the video.
Is it the greatest album ever? No but it's my favorite Blur album to date. It hails from the age when I would still listen to albums beginning to end. It was the sort of album where I didn't have to skip boring songs because there weren't any.
That's just my opinion. Listen and see what you think.
Since I needed to pick something to start with, I'm starting with Blur's 'The Great Escape' album. Check out some streaming audio: http://www.last.fm/music/Blur/The+Great+Escape
Now, you might be going 'Blur...Blur... why do I know that name?' You might be remembering 'Song 2', which is on every sports compilation since it was made; you know, the 'woo-hoo!' song? Lead singer Damon is also the lead singer for the Gorillaz.
Why do I like this album in particular? The songs don't all sound the same from one to the next. There's an range of styles, an experimentation going on, yet, there's a familiar quality to the sound, making it more accessible. The album varies between slow songs, fast songs, silly sounding songs, serious pondering songs, simple good-natured guitar rockers, string lead swooping orchestration, electro-pop. The lyrics are biting, sounding sweet, but have an edge the more you listen to them.
Cheerful sounding 'Country House' with its silly, Benny Hill like video, tells a story of a rich man in a comfortable house that can't understand why he's not happy. 'Charmless Man' tells the story of a stuck-up fella, the rich privileged type, explaining how irritating and fake the man and his friends are in their actions. The energetic music, combined with the 'na, na, na, na' chorus, gives the song the sound of a schoolkid's revenge.
There are quieter songs as well. 'Best Days' sounds like nostalgia for now, or at least the now of when the album was released. People would laugh at you if you said these were the best days of your life, the song notes, seeming to ask if you might be right. Is that good or bad? I'm still not sure I know what 'The Universal' is all about. I love the orchestration and get distracted by the 'A Clockwork Orange' styling of the video.
Is it the greatest album ever? No but it's my favorite Blur album to date. It hails from the age when I would still listen to albums beginning to end. It was the sort of album where I didn't have to skip boring songs because there weren't any.
That's just my opinion. Listen and see what you think.
25 October 2009
Dr Howard, Dr Fine, Dr Howard
Got a different dresser today and spent most of the last few hours getting it in place and then filling it with t-shirts. Holy Hannah I've got a lot of t-shirts. There's t-shirts I keep as mementos of specific situations, t-shirts from concerts, t-shirts from wrestling, t-shirts I keep around to paint in, t-shirts for wearing around the house, t-shirts for normal wearing around, and t-shirts for 'special' occasions. No I do not have one of those tuxedo t-shirts but that would be cool.
Nor do I have any Three Stooges t-shirts oddly enough. I picked that line as the title because I've been watching Weird Al Yankovic music videos and that line is used as a reference at the beginning of 'Like a Surgeon'. Weird Al turned 50 the other day. For some reason that seems, well, weird. Not that Al shouldn't still be around or still shouldn't be full of fun, I think it's more of a 'if he's getting older, then I am too' sort of thing. I'm not sure I like that. Or do I not care? I don't remember.
Forgetful, eh? Must be getting old.
Nor do I have any Three Stooges t-shirts oddly enough. I picked that line as the title because I've been watching Weird Al Yankovic music videos and that line is used as a reference at the beginning of 'Like a Surgeon'. Weird Al turned 50 the other day. For some reason that seems, well, weird. Not that Al shouldn't still be around or still shouldn't be full of fun, I think it's more of a 'if he's getting older, then I am too' sort of thing. I'm not sure I like that. Or do I not care? I don't remember.
Forgetful, eh? Must be getting old.
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