* = Yes that is a kick ass Dogman with a laser rifle on the cover of the album, SO YOU KNOW IT'S M-E-T-A-L-!
The three-day weekend came and went. You know it’s never as long as you hope it to be nor is it as short as we like to remember. I painted like a madman this weekend. Even with that sort of dedication to putting color to tiny plastic men I completed NONE of them. I just have way to many minis to paint. It’s literally going to take me an eternity to do this. One of the real reasons I want to win the lottery is so I can hire one of those painting groups in Southeast Asia to paint all my ‘figs’, ‘tis but a dream I have.
In the meantime I read like it was going out of style.
- Grave Peril (***** out of 5) by Jim Butcher – This was book three of the Dresden Files and it hit me like a punch to the gut. Granted after three books there is a bit of a pattern going on; supernatural things happen, Harry Dresden takes a beating, Dresden has an epiphany, and in the end he takes care of the problem. I know it’s formulaic, and I DON’T CARE! This book was fantastic with the supporting characters being a little different, especially Michael the ‘paladin’, a first actual foray into the dreaded Never Never, and the fundamental change in one of the pivotal relationships. I just need to find a copy of book four on the cheap. I for one am excited about Dresden going into the Never Never to fulfill his debt to his Godmother.
- Conan The Defiant (** out of 5) by Steve Perry – No, not that Steve Perry, although the way this was written I’m not so sure about this. The question I find myself wondering is WHY do I subject myself to this schlock? This is a bad sword and sorcery fantasy novel with Conan shacking up with a emasculating desert warrior woman and a gorgeous ‘zombie’ woman in a Friends With Benefits arrangement. I’m not joking. Apparently being hot makes it NOT necrophilia in Steve Perry’s Conan. Books like this are why the legacy of Conan took such a hit for so long. It’s like someone saw the two movies and thought, “I could write this”, and then tried. Oh I’ll continue reading them because they are the MST3K of novels, but it’s sad that this is what some people thought of Howard’s barbarian anti-hero.
- Surprised By Faith (** out of 5) by Dr. Don Bierle – I’m not anti-God, let’s get that straight, I am however anti-Religious establishment. I went into this reading experiment hoping to see someone use an intellectual argument, prove points with SCIENCE, and challenge my viewpoint. Well, in one chapter this book lost credibility. When you tell me that the Judaism and the Muslim religion can be discounted because they are simply books written by men who claim to talk to God as opposed to a guy named Jesus who claimed to be God who had a book written about him, you lose me. The best part is he doesn’t even defend the fact that the argument he uses to discount Judaism & the Muslim faith is the basis for this pushing his Christianity. You can’t use a bunch of quotes from other authors, graphs and charts you’ve invented, and exclamation points and tell me its SCIENCE! It’s not, it’s your faith, I respect it, but it’s not fact.
- More Than A Carpenter (** out of 5) by Josh McDowell – Much like the above book this is an “Outsider” whose been converted to God explaining just how “you to can bask in the glory of God”. I’m not a fan of people telling that just how unhappy I am or how my life is without purpose because I don’t believe in their particular interpretation of God. You can hit me with chapter after chapter bible quotes break them down, and try to explain the more incredible parts of that holy tome, and you STILL are not going to make me look at a book that I spent a semester, and two classes, breaking down in a room full of zealots. No matter how friendly a face you put on it, it’s simply an agenda I don’t subscribe to.
I’ve started the Complete El Borak, The Chaos Curse, & the absolutely sublime Baltimore as assorted pallet cleansers after Steve Perry & all the God talk. Baltimore is fantastic. Unfortunately The Chaos Curse is book five of five in the Cleric Quintet books by R.A. Salvatore, so far it’s entertaining enough for me to be intrigued about reading the other four books. As for the Complete El Borak, it’s the western tales of Robert E. Howard, so it’s basically Cowboy Conan, and it’s basically AWESOME!
I also managed to secure enough time to watch the final part of the Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest (*** ½ out of 5). It didn’t quiet have the sting of the first film, or the grit of the second, but it did tie up almost every loose end. It’s an effective ending to the trilogy as well as leaving an opening for future tales. My only real complaint is the lack of resolution between the two main characters. In the first movie there is this established relationship that is very intriguing, in the second film it is largely unresolved as the two main characters rarely directly interact, this is kept up through the majority of the third movie as well. There is a moment at the end of the film where it looks as if we might get an inkling of how this relationship will play out unfortunately it goes nowhere. So in summation the first film is fantastic. The second film reminds me of the television movie Manhunter (**** ½ out of 5), in that it’s gritty and on the lower end of the budget, but SO well acted you get enthralled, while the third movie is good, but can’t maintain the momentum of the earlier two films.
And with that…
RANDOM CRAP!
- What the hell is with all the Boise State haters on the radio? Did they not watch the same game I did last night? Listen I know it offends your Big Ten minds to know that a meager little team from the Mountain West Conference has a shot at the National Championship, BUT the reality is Boise State has been better in big games the last four years than Ohio State. Listen College Football fans; TCU, Boise State, Utah, and their ilk are here to stay. They are extremely well coached, they recruit well, but more than that they develop talent in a way that some big schools have forgotten. I’m a Boise State fan, for no other reason than to see them piss these stuck in the 70’s people off. GO BRONCOS!
- Castle Ravenloft could be on my doorstep right now. There is no justice in the world that I’m not there to scoop it up.
- On a side College Football note, Michigan beat a very good Connecticut team Saturday. I bring this up, because Michigan always has and will always be my team in the C.F.B. This coming weekend is a plethora of big time games and match-ups, but none of them get my fire going as much as Michigan Vs. Notre Dame. I can only hope that Rich Rod has Wolverines ready, because I feel like Bryan Kelley has the talent to make the hated Irish matter again.
- It’s funny, being nice costs you nothing, yet there are so many people I have to deal with on a daily basis who seem to relish in being a pain.
- I need to get caught up on Batman & Robin. I was going to do it this weekend, but so many other opportunities raised their heads. Maybe this coming weekend I’ll devote sometime to Grant Morrison and the Dark Knight Detective.
- The Slough Feg album Traveller (***** out of 5) is FANTASTIC! I never played the old RPG Traveller for which the concept album is based, but if it’s even half as engaging as the music it must be magical. As a musical double feature with their other ‘hard’ Sci-Fi inspired album, Hardworlder (**** out of 5) it really is hard to not want to set your controls for the heart of the sun.
- See what I did there? Pink Floyd reference.
- Although my stomach feels like a midget is using it for a punching bag right now I still have a massive craving for eating wings at Al Bakers until I explode.
- After a weekend of hard-core painting I’ve realized something. I can’t paint a moustache to save my soul.
- This weather makes me want to curl into a ball in a cave and hibernate.
GAH! I don’t want to be here!
“With the merging of the races
In this lost society
We will claim the Spinward Marches
We will rule the galaxy
We are free!
Though they once were our creators
Now we curse Humanity
From the race manipulations
To this dark obscurity
We'll be free!
Cast out of a world, once we owned
Lust got in the way, race dethroned
From ancient major races
To the old Genetic Wars
Came the carnivores and chasers
Now they're scattered though the stars
Near and far!
Now the secret is discovered
To our lost identity
We will infiltrate the cosmos
Our generic prophesy
We'll be free!
Cast out of a world, once we owned
Once out in the fray, we'll be cloned
It's a God-given right
So we choose to defy you
The professor was right
It's a God-given right
Ceremonial gene-splicing
Into the master race
Under a Vargr moon fires still glistening
Back on the skywalks I'm not even listening
Cronor! Mora! Firgr! Glisten!
Bouncing off the stairs in the Querion Subsector
Armed and escaping this unholy vector I'm
Human! Vargr! Wretched! Doctor!
Into my body you've brought this disease
Master of adamite discoveries
Stroinger than ever you thought I'd be
Now that you've forced me to live out your fantasies
I will deliver your test-tube and prophesy
Mutant! Hybrid! Canine! Biped!
Into your human blood, penance for all your sins
Now I'll give you a taste of your own medicine
Human! Vargr! Wretched! Doctor!
Stalking the world as this monstrosity
Mutated messenger, alien genes
Stronger than ever you thought I'd be
Of what can you accuse me?
Your anger test my patience
I did not wish this on you
Your madness is quite blatant
In all your anguish I can see you are an ideal patient
My work is not yet wasted, wait and see
My countenance disfigured
My human genes are latent
You brought this fate upon me
And all your work is wasted
In all this world I only wanted to be independent
Clearly your madness brought this curse on me
Wait and see!”
* = I think I just ask for myself, since no one reads this, BUT where does this take your imagination?
No comments:
Post a Comment