Shannara

I finally finished all of the Shannara books I own. It took me longer than I expected because I underestimated the slow down I would have when school started. For the most part I liked all of the books in the series. It is difficult for me to choose a favorite so I will just give them ratings in the order I read them:

Sword of Shannara - 7/10
Elfstones of Shannara - 8.5/10
Wishsong of Shannara - 9/10
Scions of Shannara - 7/10
Druid of Shannara - 8.5/10
Elf Queen of Shannara - 8.5/10
The Talismans of Shannara - 8.5/10
First King of Shannara - 9/10
The Isle Witch - 9.5/10
Antrax - 8.5 /10
Morgawr - 9.5/10

So there it is. Overall I really enjoyed them, there were a few annoyances (I never want to read the word valeman again), but as a whole I enjoyed each story. I hope to get the rest of the Shannara books to finish out the series. Next I am starting the Hobbit followed by LOTR and that should close out the year.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I am not talking about my lack of posts. What I am talking about is a revelation I had the other day when I tried to put my finger on what I like about certain TV shows. I was trying to figure out why shows like (prepare for long list): Clerks the animated series, Futurama, Dilbert, Andy Barker P.I., Reaper, Office, etc. appeal to me. At first it seemed that nothing connected all these shows. They all have various styles of humor and are all shot differently, but there was one thing that linked them all together. The thing that linked them all was the lack of a laugh track. I never noticed it before now but I hate laugh tracks. I don't know if it is that I know it is fake, or if I feel insulted that they are telling me that a certain joke was funny and I should laugh. Either way I instantly like any show that does not use a laugh track.

In other news related only to me (the best kind), I started playing Trauma Center: Under the Knife, and in the time it takes to read the title a patient could die. The game is fun but a little challenging. I don't know if the game is really difficult or I am just showing of my DS newbness. I am almost done the second chapter and I have hit my second wall (a surgery that takes more than three tries).

Not much else to say, so I won't.

Ten Things I hate

Below I have finally compiled a list of ten things I hate. I should note they are in order, but the first three are so close they are basically all number 1. It was tough to narrow it down to just ten. Some of the honorable mentions include: people that clean a clean house when company comes over, people that make their beds, people that aren't rich but try to pretend to be, and people that ask me questions in the movie theater. So now that you know what didn't make the list, here are the ones that did.

I. Grammar misuse.
A. I know I do not have perfect grammar, but I do make an effort. I hate when people do not use punctuation or capitalization at all. You can see an example of this anywhere on the internet.
B. People that say 35 cent make me want to kill myself. I cannot stand when someone says “I got 35 cent in change”.
C. People need to study the commonly misused words list in most grammar books.

II. Hypocrites. This one is self explanatory. I think everyone hates hypocrites. I can't stand anyone that says one thing and acts another. Or even worse those vapid, vain, and vexatious people that do things, simply because they think everyone else does/enjoys it. An example is a certain family event (not my direct family) was capped off when someone suggested a toast. I nearly died laughing at the great joke, until I realized he was serious. I am sorry, but unless you are in a corny romantic comedy, a toast is not necessary.

III. Fair weather fans. I am a 49er fan. I think you know this if you are reading this, especially since I just said it. I have been a 49er fan forever. I am also an Oriole fan, which I have been forever. In the past ten years that has given me a total of two division championships and three wild cards, for both teams combined. And still I am the proudest fan of my teams as can be. So the one type of fan I can't stand is a fair weather fan. I know someone who was a Raven fan, until they lost to the Colts last year, then he was a colt fan. The worst kind of fair weather fan is someone that is a Yankee fan that doesn't live in New York. And you might say “but you said the 49ers were your favorite team, shouldn't it be the Ravens” to which I will say “The Ravens didn't exist when I started liking football, now go kill yourself in punishment for your ignorance.”.

IV. Humor.
A. My family’s sense of humor, for the most part, is embarrassing. For example, I was trying to mind my own business when my someone started playing a Larry “the Cable Guy” Christmas set. When I did not burst out laughing, she turned it up, stared at me, and then asked if I could hear it. Of course I could hear it, so could the neighbors and I bet they did not laugh either.
B. People that laugh obnoxiously loud at their own jokes, especially when no one else is laughing, are exceptionally annoying.
C. I really have distaste for people that constantly make jokes during a movie. I am talking about the people that make so many jokes you cannot even hear the people talking in the movie.

V. The way people argue. “Be that as it may”. I don't thinks there is a more infuriating statement someone can say when arguing with me. What the person should say is: “OK, I can't argue that expertly made point, but for the sake of my argument I am going to ignore it, not counter it.”.

VI. The way people Drive. I would go into this one, but I don't think you want to read pages of content on the way people annoy my while driving. Instead I will simply list a few words and you can guess what about them annoys me. Cell Phone, Turn Signals, Tunnel, EZ Pass, Fast Lane. I had to stop there before I got an aneurysm.

VII. People that complain about guns/items/powers in videogames. I instantly hate people that use the word noob in a serious way. So when someone says that a certain gun is a noob gun, I automatically assume they have been killed by it too many times. I am currently playing the COD4 Beta and there is a small debate in the game about the power of the M4. People claim the M4 is overpowered because of its small recoil and fully auto setting, but the gun is balanced in the game. Sure it has a higher rate of fire and more stability then the M16A4, but the M16A4 have more power and accuracy.

VIII. People who crave acknowledgment. Everyone likes to be recognized for the work they do, and to a certain extent I am fine with it. It is the people that like any recognition, for anything, no matter if they did it or not that annoy me.

IX. “Kids” movies with “Mild Language”. This is simple, Disney and Pixar and all the other people making kids movie need to cut out the curse words. Kids will learn them from other sources soon enough, trust me.

X. Helping everyone with computers. I love helping people, I just hate feeling anxious that I won't be able to. Every time someone ask me to look at their computer I have a mini panic attack. It is gratifying when I can help someone. I just wish I could do it without all the worry.

Good Things Come in Threes

So I have one more things coming to me. Yesterday two good things happened. First, I got an AP running in repeater mode. Secondly, I got into the COD4 beta.

I have been having problems connecting to the Internet in the basement where my room is. The signal in one part was strong enough for my 360 to get an OK connection, but in my room my computer was in a dead zone. A couple weeks ago I read an article online about turning a WAP54G access point into an repeater, and as luck would have it I had one literally lying around. After several failed attempts I discovered I had to use a specific security setting. With some tinkering yesterday I finally got it working. So now the repeater is sitting in the living room directly one floor above my computer passing on the signal from the router in the second floor office. I have a full signal and a smile on my face.

I also got into the beta for COD4 last night, just before 12 A.M.. I quickly downloaded the game and played it until about 3 A.M. last night. It is by far the most fun I have had on the 360 in a multi-player FPS. I really liked COD2 and 3, and I am especially glad Infinity Ward returned to make this one after taking a break during COD3. What I really like is the custom class system. This allows you to select your primary weapon, side arm, attachments and camouflage for both, and grenades. It also lets you pick three "Perks". These perks do things like let you reload faster, do more damage, take more damage, etc. My favorite setup is:

Name: Punk Buster
Primary Weapon: M16A4 with M203 attachment and woodlands camouflage.
Side Arm: M9 with Silencer.
Grenades: Stun.
Perk1: M203 attachment uses this slot.
Perk2: Stopping Power (bullets do more damage).
Perk3: Deep Impact (bullets go through tougher materials).

That's it for now. I am going to go play more COD4

Thoughts of a Wondering Mind

As I was walking from the basement to the second floor to get on the Internet, a thought occurred to me. Why doesn't the 360 have a web browser? The PS3 has one. Even the savages at Nintendo that have an irrational fear of the Internet have a browser. So why doesn't the 360? They could just add a new blade that would obviously, and tragically, run a stripped down version of IE. If I was really ambitious I guess I could jerry rig my 360 to run a browser, but should I have to?

On to another topic. Last Tuesday we played Woodlawn in a game of Softball, the last of the season. We had already lost three games to them while winning only one, so this game was to try and salvage some pride. I went 2-4 with two doubles but we lost regardless, I think mostly to the lack of three key players; Rob, Bard, and Steven. It is embarrassing to loose to them. We have much more talent but almost no one understands the fundamentals of the game. It is weird/annoying playing alongside people that didn't grow up playing baseball, but with practice I think we can beat them easily next year.

Harry Potter > 3 Hours

Having given up movie theaters a little over two years ago I am constantly tempted to break my oath every summer with some superhero or Johhny Depp movie. This time, however, it was a HP movie, and the call was almost irresistible. I was anxious to see David Yates first crack at the HP series knowing he was already signed on for HP 6. I have no problem with going to an Imax theater, with the lack of posters and trailers I see nothing wrong with them. Living in Maryland I know that the only Imax in the state is located at the Maryland Science Center. I also knew that they have never shown a feature film there, probably trying to perpetuate the snooty atmosphere that hangs over this state like a fog. Undeterred I went online and found the nearest Imax showing HP, in Harrisburg PA. With a round trip of around 3 hours and a running time of just over 2 hours, I was afraid the 5 hour commitment would yield me an unholy experience the equivalent of watching Goblet of Fire again. Luckily, my fears were unfounded.

Order of the Phoenix is, by far, my favorite book in the series and it is the longest, so I had more then a few worries about its transition to the big screen. Obviously with a book over 800 pages it is impossible to get all of the moments on screen. I think this movie comes about as close as you can in the current running time. From the very beginning it feels like a very different movie then the last four. It is difficult to describe the feeling I got from the movie. It doesn't look like a HP movie, in a good way. Order of the Phoenix is the first book where things start to get nasty, and so the movie should be darker to get that feeling across.

I also think that Yates was very smart with almost every shot. He couldn't have an entire chapter of character development like Rowling, so he had to do in seconds what she did in pages. The perfect example of this is when Harry first enters Umbridge's office. A split second before Harry comes in it shows Her adjusting one of the items on her desk to make sure everything is in place. This speaks volumes of the character to me; her need for control, perfection, and her desire to appear better than people she deems lower than herself. And the movie is filled with these little moments that tell you so much about the characters. My final thought is that this is the first movie that I felt the actors really had to act. For the first time they were given better lines, and the chance to really show emotion.

In all I loved the movie. The 3D at the end was nice, but not the best since the movie was not filmed with 3D in mind. The end result was that it just gave the movie a nice depth and made the final fight that much more enjoyable.

And So It ends

I started reading the Harry Potter series simply because there was nothing else for me to read at the time. Obviously after reading the first three books in two days, quite the accomplishment for me, I was obviously hooked. So naturally when the release of the seventh book approached I was in an almost giddy state to discover the ending. I even went as far as reserving it, which turned out to be a waste of time due the the incredible volume of books left when I arrived. I instantly began tearing into all 784 pages. Even with a video to produce, more on that later, and church, I was still able to finish it in about two days (bought around 1 p.m. on Saturday and finished around 12 p.m. Monday). And so comes my spoiler free, and short, review.

I only had to really wait one year to find out the end of the series. Even so, it seemed like an eternity. I read the first six books twice, played the OoTP game, and even listened to the soundtracks from the first four movies every time I played my 360. I was geared up to read the final installment in the series. And for the most part I wasn't disappointed. The book is not the longest of the series but somehow seems to tell the biggest story without feeling rushed or crammed in. The story is great, lots of action, great humor, and the over all feeling fits in with the other books.

Now for the criticism. I have two main problems with the book. First, there is a good number of character deaths, but only a few you care about. When I say that I mean that while some of the characters that died have been my favorite I really didn't have an emotional reaction when they died; I reacted to the deaths some time after. It just seemed to me that the manner in which some of the characters died, or how it as told, lacked the emotional impact that should obviously have been there. Second, There were parts that were described in such a way that I found myself having to go back and reread portions to make sure I fully understood them. It may just be me, but some of the really good parts read slower than they should have while I had to retrace the steps in my mind to get the correct order of events, or reread sections.

Apart from those two small problems I think it is one of the best HP books, surpassed only, in my mind, by OoTP.

Now on the the video for church. A couple weeks ago Mrs. Lyon asked me to do a video about our church for the Sword of the Lord conference. "Sure" I said, and as fast as the words left my mouth, all thought of it left my head. I didn't really start working on it until about Friday, two days before it had to be done. Because of this I was forced to work with Windows Movie Maker, which as everyone knows is an experience that can best be described as somewhere between purgatory and working with Pastor Lyon. Even with this problem I was able to finish just in time, and the end result is somewhat acceptable.

OK now for some more HP talk about what I correctly, and incorrectly predicted about the final installment. Since there is going to be spoilers I tried to make it blend in so you would have to highlight it to read the spoilers.

**********SPOILER WARNING**********

First what I was right about:

Snape is good

A Weasley would die

Harry was a Horcrux

DA would play a big role

More than two members of the OoTP would die

Now what I was wrong about:

Neither Ron, Hermione, of Harry dies (permanently)

Neither Sirius or Dumbledore come back in any way

The Deathly Hallows does not refer to Godric's Hallows

Something of Gryffyndor is not made into a Horcrux

**********SPOILER OVER**********

I Am Beginning to See a Pattern

Well it has been quite a long time since my last post, just like the last two posts. I hope that I will not be so lazy in the future but who knows, I sure don't.

As you can see on the left my reading list has a few additions. I was able to finish up the Hitchhikers series pretty easily and for the first time. I always loved the first book in the series but never made it all the way to the end for one reason or another. I am also on the Last HP book currently released, about 3 weeks ahead of schedule. To combat this I will be setting it aside or a while as I finish up the first book in the Sword of Shannara series.

I am undecided on the Shannara book yet. I went into it thinking it was a little close to Lord of the Rings. So of course while reading it I began looking for similarities. I obviously found what I was looking for, not to say it is plagiarism, but there are striking similarities. I can't say if I had not been looking for them whether I would have found them or not. All that aside I like the characters and the story is interesting enough.

In other news my best friend Matthew got married last night a little earlier than planned because he is being shipped out to Iraq in 3 weeks. Crazy. Weird. Not sure what it is yet but I will let you know.

The church website is "done" meaning the layout and most of the pages are done and uploaded. I am also finished with school this semester, which is always good.

I guess that is it for now.

So Much to Recap, So Little Patience

It has been a while since me last post, so naturally I have plenty to discuss. I guess I will start at the couples retreat and go from there.

The couples retreat went very well. I was able to finish all my video editing, but it was literally down to the wire. I was burning the final DVD the day it was going to be showed. It seemed like everyone had a great time, and from the comment cards it seemed no one had anything to really complain about.

Robert moved into the "dorm" at church, which is really just a converted Sunday School room. it kinda sucks that he moved out, but on the other hand I have the entire new basement for myself and only have to fight Trey for the 360, and he only beats me up some of the time.

Brian came to church last Wednesday for the first time in something like three years. I am bad with dates so it could have been longer. Anyway, he was my old Sunday School teacher who, for personal reasons, left the church. I was going to post a list of things that annoy me that I have been working on for a few weeks, but I was so happy to see him it is difficult for me to be so negative.

Finally in my reading I finally have a legitimate plan. I have finished Eragon and Eldest, decent stories with OK writing, and the first three books in the Harry Potter series. To finish the final three books in the HP series in time for the release of Deathly Hallows in July, I only get to read one chapter a day, four days a week. The reason it is four days a week is to make it an even one chapter a day, and so I don't have to read on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday. Since this will not be enough for me to read I will probably start to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also.

I guess that is all I have the patience to write. I will post my list of annoyances sometime in the future.

Well it's The New Year

If you haven't heard, 2007 has officially started. It makes me feel old, older than a soon to be 21 year-old should. On the plus side I get to start having a problem with alcohol in just a few short months.

The most depressing thing about the new year is resetting my books read section. I am so happy with how many books I read last year. I read 19 books last year, not counting the four or so I read for school. This year I am hoping to top it. I am currently reading the Eragon book. I am about half way through and I hope to finish tat and the other book in the series, Eldest, by about halfway through February. After that I will read the Harry Potter books again in preparation for the new book. After that I don't know, I plan to read the LOTR again as usual, but I have no plans for what I am going to read. Maybe I will read those books Lance has wanted me to for a while. I will list the books I read last year to preserve the list.

Much has happened since my last post. Matthew came up for a quick three day visit with his new girlfriend Kathleen. She seems nice, but I didn't talk to her much so it is difficult to gauge. School is starting for Trey this week, but Robert and I get a short reprieve of one week. I have gotten some work done for the couples retreat, but I still have plenty of video editing to do. Thats about all the new news for now. Following is a list of books I read this year and a rating, out of ten, for the books.

Harry Potter - 8/10 (not an average, but very close)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 7/10
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 8/10
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 8/10
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 6/10
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 9/10
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 9.5/10

The Chronicles of Narnia - 7.5/10 (not an average, but very close)
The Magician's Nephew 6/10
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 8/10
The Horse and His Boy 9/10
Prince Caspian 7/10
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 7/10
The Silver Chair 8/10
The Last Battle 9/10

The Lord of the Rings - 9.5/10 (not an average, but very close)
The Hobbit Or There and Back Again 10/10
The Fellowship of the Ring 10/10
The Two Towers 9/10
The Return of the King 9.5/10

Miscellaneous
A History of Pirates 7/10
To the Last Man 6/10