S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 23

Movie Databases

Today is Veterans' Day, to honor those who have served our country.
Now on with the show:
We all know (or at least should know) about the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). I've used it since the early 1990s for learning about movies and television shows. It was bought by Amazon in 1998 (for $55 million) and has only gotten better (except for all the ads).

The IMDb is great for figuring out who actors are and learning more about movies. I'll be watching a movie and an actor will look familiar, so using the IMDb I can figure out where I've seen them before.

But there are more movie databases out there than IMDb to enhance your viewing pleasure.

For example, there's the Internet Movie Car Database (IMCDb).  I like cars (obviously) so when I see a car I don't recognize in a movie, or I'm curious about, I consult the IMCDb. It works a lot like the IMDb does for actors, except for cars. It's fun to learn about cars I don't recognize (which aren't a lot).

Then there's the Internet Movie Plane Database (IMPDb). This works more like a wiki than a database. But you can still find the movie you're looking for and the plane you're interested in. I am, of course, interested in airplanes, so I find this database useful to identify planes I don't recognize.

Finally, there's the Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDb). It, too, is more like a wiki than a database. I used it recently to determine what shotgun Arnold Schwarzenegger was firing in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It was a modified Winchester 1887. It's the only lever-action shotgun I've ever seen.

There's even an Internet Movie Boat Database (IMBDb) but it's not very comprehensive and again, is more like a Wiki than a database.

These last databases someone must be pouring their heart and soul into to keep running. And I appreciate their efforts. 

Do you know of any other movie databases. Have you used any of these? Let me know in the comments below.

Huskies are 4-5

Last week, the University or Oregon Nike Ducks beat the University of Colorado Buffaloes 52-29. That would be classified as a "Blow out."

This week, the University of Washington Huskies played the Oregon Nike Ducks in Husky Stadium in the rain. The Ducks won by 26-16. That is not a blow out.

The game started on hopeful note, as a Husky interception was ran back to about the 4 yard line and that let to a Husky touchdown. The Dawgs were in the lead against the #4 team in the nation.

Later, an amazing punt put the Ducks on the one-yard line. Their running back was tackled in the end zone, making it a safety and two more points for the Huskies. The score was 0-9. At halftime, the score was 10-9. I was cautiously optimistic.

But the Ducks got better while the Huskies got worse. A wet ball didn't help Husky quarterback Dylan Morris connect with his receivers, and he as a hard time doing that anyway. The Huskies did managed another touchdown, but the Ducks won the game. A punt snap that went over the head of the punter and out the end of the end zone, resulting in a safety, didn't help.

So the Ducks will probably still be #4 when the CFP rankings come out on Tuesday. In fact, because #2 Michigan State lost to Perdue, the Ducks might move up! I hate the Ducks.

The Huskies still need to win two more games to be bowl eligible. They have three regular season games left.

Next week, the Arizona State Sun Devils travel to Husky Stadium. ASU is 6-3 so far so they are beatable. That game is at 4pm on FS1.

The week after that, on the 20th, the Huskies play Colorado in Boulder. And then on November 25th, they play the Apple Cup cross-state rivalry game against the WSU Cougars in Husky Stadium.

Just Pass Me

When I'm passing someone on the interstate who is going just a little bit slower than I, I speed up a bit to get around them. I don't like tying up a lane and being beside someone for a long time. The speed limit in most of Washington on interstates is 70 mph. I'll speed up to around 80 to get past someone quickly. I know I'm risking a ticket, but I believe this is safer than creeping by someone. If they make a mistake while I'm passing them, we're both going to be in trouble.

However, some folks don't feel that way apparently. For some reason, people will pull up on me when I'm in the right lane, and sit there off my rear left fender. I don't understand why and it's particularly annoying at night with their headlights reflecting in my outside mirror. I've been known to slow down in the hopes they'll go around me. But sometimes they just slowly pass me. It makes me nervous because if they make a mistake, we're both going to be in trouble.

Sometimes I wonder if I unknowingly wander in my lane (I've seen people do this) making drivers nervous to pass me. But not everyone hovers behind me. So I think it's the individual drivers, not me.

The lesson here is, if you're passing someone on the interstate, get off the cruise control and pass the person, don't creep around them. Same for big trucks. But that could be a whole 'nother blog entry.

Huskies are 4-4

Last night the University of Washington Huskies played the Stanford Cardinal (it's a color) at Stanford's home field and won. That is the first time since 2007 the Huskies have won at Stanford.

For the first half it was a defensive battle as each team only scored field goals. They would do fine once they got to the red zone, then they ran out of Gatorade or something and never make a touch down. Going into the half, the score was 9-3 Huskies. 

In the second half, both teams played better, but UW Quarterback Dylan Morris couldn't seem to hit the wide side of a receiver for most of the game. Still, the only score in the third quarter was a Husky field goal. 

In the fourth quarter, the Cardinal got a touchdown and a field goal to put them up by one point (13 to 12). The Huskies answered, though, and Morris managed to connect with Sean McGrew in the end zone in the last moments of the game for a touchdown. Then they got the two point conversion making the score 20 to 13, meaning Stanford could only tie it with a touchdown and a PAT. But that became moot with a Husky interception in the last moments of the game.

This brought the Huskies to 4-4 on the season and 3-2 in conference. And maybe upped their confidence. 

Now, in NCAA Division I FBS football you have to win six games to be "bowl eligible." They say "eligible" because it's possible you could still win six games and not get to go to a bowl game. But I've never heard that happening. Since most teams play 12 regular season games, six games means you're record is .500. Yes, it's too easy to get into a bowl game and there are too damn many bowl games.

For the Huskies to be bowl eligible they have to win two more games. Next week they play the hated Oregon Nike Ducks at Husky Stadium. But the Ducks are good so they will be very hard to beat. However, Stanford beat them this year, and the Huskies beat Stanford, so you never know. That game is at 4:30 PM on ABC. The Ducks are 7-1.

Of their remaining schedule, they play Arizona State (at Husky Stadium), The Sun Devils are 5-3 on the season.  So another tough team but still beatable.

Then they play Colorado (2-6) in Boulder, so that's a winnable game.

Then comes the Apple Cup at Husky Stadium against the 5-4 Cougars of Washington State. The Apple Cup is always a wild time and making predictions is dangerous. 

But the Huskies might make bowl eligibility this year.

And to think, in 2016, we were in the CFP at #4 in the nation.

First Person versus Third Person Narrative.

I belong to a lot of book groups on Facebook, mostly to promote my books. In one group, someone asked what was better to write in: first person or third person. And that got me thinking. Which is better? Or are they the same?

Of my thirteen published novels, all but two are in first person. Of my three current WIPs, one is in first person and two are in third person.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

In first person, you're deep in the head of your narrator. So you (and your reader) are seeing the world and the story from his/hers/its/zers/etc. perspective. The narrator can comment on the situations and you know their reactions to things. I find writing in first person more fun than third person. The disadvantage is, you only get one person's perspective, the narrator's. If you want to know what someone else is thinking, they have to say it to your narrator. All the action of the book has to take place in front of and involving the narrator. And you can't kill your main character (unless they aren't the narrator). In my novel Book of Death, I did kill my first-person narrator. No spoilers about how I got out of that.

In third person you can write each scene in someone else's head. You can kill whomever you wish. You can have scenes wherever you wish. They could be lightyears and hundreds of years apart. You can see the world though more than one character's eyes (but not in the same scene, please). It's not as intimate as first person. But it's more versatile. You have to be careful not to "head hop" (tell the story from different points of view in one scene) or have one character know something they shouldn't that another character does know.

So which to use? Depends on what you want to write. 

How do you write? First or third person? Which do you prefer to read. Let me know in the comments below.

My first-person narrated books are:

Adept Series (urban fantasy):

Hammer of Thor

Agent of Artifice

Book of Death

Gods of Strife

The Terror of Tombstone

Treasures of Space Series (science fiction):

Treasure of the Black Hole

Treasure of the Pirate Planet

Treasure of the Rogue Moon

Chumba of the Intelligence Corps Series (science fiction):

Smugglers of Mars

The Three Species War

The Urlotian Spheres

My third person narrative books are (all science fiction):

Rock Killer

Forces

The Huskies are 3-4

 Last night (yes, on a Friday night), the University of Washington Huskies played the University of Arizona Wildcats in Tucson Arizona. More about that in a moment.

Last week the Huskies played UCLA at home. And they looked pretty good, better then they have lately. But they still lost 17-24. I would have blogged about that last week, but I was visiting my grandson and what would you rather do, spend time with your grandchild or write a blog post.

Going into last nights game against Arizona, I thought the Huskies had a chance to win. After all, the Wildcats have lost 18 games in a row. Last time they won was in 2019. They were 0-6 entering this game.

But the Huskies looked awful through the first half of the game. Quarterback Dylan Morris couldn't connect with his receivers and our running game was going nowhere. Meanwhile, Arizona was actually scoring points. At halftime, the score was 0-13 with Arizona in the lead.

Even at the end of the third quarter, the Huskies were trailing 7-16. Then something changed. Morris was hitting his targets. The running game was making yards. And by the end of the game, the Huskies were ahead, 21-16. 

If we had played like we did against UCLA, this game would have been a blowout for the Huskies. But they really didn't start to play until the 4th quarter.

I'm just glad they won.

Going forward things aren't great. Next week we play Stanford at Palo Alto. Stanford is 3-4 and has a bye this week. That's going to be a tough game. Then we play Oregon at home but Oregon is the best team in the Pac-12 right now. Then we play Arizona State at home but ASU is on in second place in the Pac-12 South. So a tough game and then two very tough games. 

I guess this is a rebuilding year. Maybe next year will be better. Maybe.

Video Game Comes to Life

Back in the early 1990s, I played one of the first (if not the first) games in the Need for Speed franchise on my 286 PC. By today's standards, it was... awful. But, hey, it's what we had.

There were three things from that game I wished were in real life: no consequence speeding tickets and crashes, and the game had a map that showed you where police were. If you didn't slow down in time, you could still get a ticket.

Well, I realized recently, one of those things has come to real life. Google maps will display on your route where people have reported police on the road. It works fairly well. On a recent trip to Spokane (where people were passing me constantly as I went 5 mph over the speed limit), no cops were reported and I didn't see any. On a trip to Seattle, Interstate 90 was like an autobahn.

Now, I don't trust this map well enough to speed as brazenly as some others do. Just my luck, I'd be dong 80 mph and a cop would show up that isn't on the map. And I'd get a ticket. And, unlike the game, those have consequences. And in Washington State, speeding tickets are expensive.

Do you use Google Maps to find police? Has it worked for you? Let me know in the comments below.

COVID Booster Shot

A week ago Wednesday, I had my third COVID shot, the so-called "booster." That was just over six months since I had my second COVID shot. I had the Pfizer shots.

I discussed with my doctor if I should have this booster shot. I'm not over 65 but I do have health issues that qualify me for the third shot. He said I should have it.

I made an appointment through my county health district website to have the shot at a Walgreens. When I got there, I discovered having an appointment meant nothing. When I told them I had an appointment at 10am, they said, "Get in the line." There were five people ahead of me who apparently didn't have appointments.  I finally got my shot about 10:30 and then had to wait 15 minutes (I waited about 13 minutes). I got in before some of the people in line in front of me because I had my paperwork all finished and ready to go. I expected to have my shot shortly after 10 and be out of there by around 10:15. I was there for 45 minutes. Thank God they had a public bathroom. 

I felt fine except for soreness at the injection site which is common with any inoculation. But almost exactly 24 hours after getting the shot, I felt nauseated and had a mild headache. I was still able to eat and never vomited. Those were the only side effects I had.

I'm just hoping in six months I don't need another "booster." Or is COVID going to be like the flu and you need an annual shot for it.

How do you feel about the booster shot? Did you or would you get one if you're eligible? Let me know in the comments below.

What Could Have Been

I was channel surfing a while back when I came across the beginning of Guardians of the Galaxy. I watched it until the first commercial break. But, because I have Disney+, I decided a few days later to watch it in 4K UHD with Dolby Atmos sound and no commercials.. So I did and thoroughly enjoyed it. Because it was the second time I watched it, I understood it better. There's a lot going on in these movies and a second viewing helps.

And then I watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II a few days later, again on Disney+.  And I enjoyed it more than the first movie. I'm thinking of watching End Game and Infinity Wars next (in the right order, I don't remember right now which came first).

And I thought, "This goes to show how good the Star Wars sequels could have been." That is if they'd been in the hands of someone such as James Gunn instead of J.J. Abrams. (I guess Gunn has been fired for "offensive" tweets. Let's hope GotG III is still just as good.) 

The GotG movies are visually intense: there's a lot going on the screen. But they are still fun and well made and just overall enjoyable. Yes, Star Wars is a different type of movie. But the sequels could have been so much better. 

It sort of breaks my heart. I hated hating the sequels.

Maybe Disney should turn the Star Wars movies over to Marvel Studios.

How do you feel about Guardians of the Galaxy? How do you feel about the Star Wars sequels. Let me know in the comments below.

The above photo is being used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act: fair usage.

Huskies are 2-3

For as long as I can remember (or paid attention) the Oregon State University Beavers have been the doormat of the Pac-12 conference. They were a team you played and beat before going on to the tough teams in the conference. So when I heard that last week, OSU beat USC (one of the tough teams) in Los Angeles by a score of 45-27, I started to worry about beating the Beavers this week. 

And I was right to worry. The Beavers came into the game with the top offense is the Pac-12. 

Then the game started. The University of Washington Huskies got the ball first, and marched down the field to make a touchdown. Apparently, OSU's defense wasn't as good as its offense.

But then the game got down to a grind. The Husky defense was able to hold the Beavers to only 27 points. But the Beavers held the Huskies to 24 points. And the Huskies lost to the Beavers for the first time in eight years. 

At least it wasn't a blow out and it was a tight, exciting game that was often tied. OSU ran the ball a lot and Washington had trouble stopping their running game. The game ended on a tie-breaking field goal by the Beavers. 

And what is surprising and a bit ironic is that the former doormat of the conference is now in sole possession of the number one spot on the Pac-12 North as the only team unbeaten in conference. That's because Oregon was taken down in an upset by Stanford in overtime.

Next week the Dawgs have a bye, giving them two weeks to prepare to face UCLA. The time and channel are to be announced.