David Lubar's Blog, page 37

Snow way

I lost my Direct TV signal during the snow storm. So I went out and threw snowballs at my satellite dish until I knocked off the coating of snow. Signal restored. Just call me Mr. Fixit. (Or Mr. SoreShoulder.)

Pro-crust-ean bliss

I am frequently reminded that I have the best wife in the world. Yesterday, she was making beef stew. While this in itself is wonderful, the story gets better. While the stew simmered in a crock pot, my wife went out to lunch at Panera with a friend. When she returned, she flashed me a smile and said, "I brought you something to have with dinner." She reached into a bag and pulled out a bread bowl. Yup -- my own crusty round loaf of happiness, just waiting to be hollowed out and filled ...

Avatarred and Feathered

Wow -- the Avatar video game is getting trashed by reviewers. Of course, that doesn't tell us anything about the movie. Movies tend to spawn bad games. I think that happens because games need a lot more time to tweak than movies. Playability is much more slippery than watchability. (I worked for a company that sunk a big chunk of its assets into a game based on the movie TOYS. Not TOY STORY, sadly, but TOYS. Of course, the same company, in an earlier incarnation, had come out with bot...

I got Jak

Backstory -- I was thrilled when I heard there'd be a 4th Jak and Daxter game, Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, for the Play Station 2. The second in the series was one of my all-time favorite PS2 games. Sadly, the new game pretty much fails in a number of ways. Basically, it seems they wrote the game for the Play Station Portable, and just dropped it, pretty much unchanged, onto the PS2. (The PS2 has much better potential controls for a game since it has two joysticks, one of which is o...

I am thankful

Things I am thankful for...

I didn't have to go with my wife and daughter to watch New Moon.

Hmmm. Let's see. Everything else sort of pales in comparison with that.

NaWaNOtH or whatever

The mountain of crap that covers my desk during traveling season had grown into an entire range. I'm surrounded by piles of books, papers, and things. My goal is to find the surface of my desk before the start of the spring traveling season. But it feels good to be home. I have one visit in December, but other than that I'm home until February. And I'm a day away from my favorite writing tradition. Let me explain.

Back in November, 1994, when I was working as a game designer, I got an id...

NiCTatE

Okay, I'm not winking at anyone. I just think NCTE is striving to become part of a full word. (eNChanTEd? NiCoTiNe?) I had an amazing time in Philly. I ran into all sorts of fun people -- Gordon Korman, Jo Knowles, Lisa Yee, David Levithan, Chris Crutcher, among others. I saw Laurie Halse Anderson and Jane Yolen from a distance as they signed for humongous lines of fans. (I love seeing long lines for people I like.) Best part -- my daughter attended. Bester part -- we were just about...

Puss in Bootstraps

IBM has developed a super computer that is smarter than a cat.
Apparently, it is able to slink outside the box.

[Edited to add:] It doesn't come with a mouse.

It's almost time for Nawanoth

Oohhh... Nawanoth is almost here. I'll explain next week. As for now, I'm down to one more week of speaking and travel. NJ schools today and tomorrow, then down to Philly for NCTE, followed by two days at a local school next Monday and Tuesday. After that, I get to stay home and write books. Or maybe I'll just blog.

Stuff

I was amused, this morning, to hear someone on the radio say, "If you Google the name 'Johnny Cash' on some sort of search engine, you'll be amazed at how many people cover his songs." I was amazed that you can Google something on Alta Vista or Lycos.

I was annoyed the other day by an email from Continental Airlines. They informed me I need to update my online profile to make sure it contains my name as it appears on my ID. So I clicked the link they sent. I don't mind adding my middle ini...