Bryce Moore's Blog, page 218

Woodstacking: The Game!

It’s that time of year again, when summer’s on the way out and we really need to start worrying about how in the world we’re going to stay warm over the winter. Hard to believe that this is the eighth time we’ve done this routine already. I remember first coming to Maine and hearing about how people use cord wood for heating their houses. I had a wood stove, and I wanted to give it a shot. I think we ordered four cords of wood, and I was just stunned when it all showed up. It took so long to stack it all! Or so it seemed at the time.

These days? We had two cord stacked in less than two hours.

Of course, there’s a lot of things I realize we were doing wrong back when we did it the first time. For one thing, we were going for free-standing wood stacks back then. I’ve since realized it’s much easier to just stack the wood in one big continuous stack that relies on an existing structure for support. The front porch, for example. Also, we didn’t use a wheelbarrow or anything to transport the wood from one spot to another. Plus, Denisa was pregnant that first time–and I didn’t have a helpful 10 and 6 year old to pitch in, too.

Then again, after stacking with the kids for a bit on Saturday morning, I began to wonder just how much help they were actually providing. There always seemed to be something in someone’s eye, or the need to take a break for a bit, or the sudden urge to go check the mailbox. Our method was much better than 7 years ago–we have a lawn cart that can move about 35 pieces of wood per load–but getting the pieces actually into or out of the cart was proving troublesome.

That’s when inspiration hit me. Mary Poppins can go on all she wants about spoonfuls of sugar and that tripe. In my experience, what really motivates me is a good old fashioned competition. Going on the assumption that my kids might fall for the same trap, I announced that we would see how many pieces of wood everyone could put in the cart each time. TRC and DC seemed interested in the challenge. The first time? DC did 4, TRC did 6, Denisa did 10, and I did 18.

I celebrated my victory. Loudly.

“That wasn’t fair!” TRC objected. “You were the closest to the cart. I could do more if I were closer.”

I shrugged and agreed to let him pick his spot next time.

We were done in under a half hour from then. TRC went from 6 or 7 pieces a trip to 16 or 17. DC was putting in 12 or 13 easily–sometimes more. They were excited and motivated. (Perhaps a bit too motivated. They started throwing wood, hitting each other in the process. When I announced that there would be penalties for injuries, some tears were shed, and accusations hurled both ways. We got over that.)

Anyway–just interesting to see how easy it was to transition from complaints about things being too hard to complaints about how I wasn’t letting them work as hard as they wanted to. My what a difference a mind shift can make.

Guardians of the Galaxy

There are still a few movies that make me want to get to a theater and watch them as soon as I can. Judging from the trailers, the buzz, and my respect for the Marvel franchises so far, Guardians of the Galaxy was one of those movies. So I went to see it opening day. My expectations were pretty high. I wanted a slew of great laughs, eye-popping action, awesome effects, and just a general great time.

The movie delivered that and more. I had an absolute blast from start to finish. It might be my favorite Marvel movie to date.

Disney and Marvel did a great job setting the stage for the film, explaining ahead of time to audiences what they could expect. Check out the first full trailer:

So you’re going to have action and laughs, set in space. But one of the things I loved the most about this movie was how it gave me something different than what I expected. I already said what I planned to get from the movie. But I thought all of that was going to be presented in a typical superhero shell. You know what I mean: the heroes are called together to fight an unstoppable force. Judging from the trailer, I expected they’d be contacted by the authorities and told they’d have their records wiped clean if they did something in return.

This is not that sort of movie.

I don’t want to say what it is, but that alone should get a big round of applause.

Other things I wasn’t expecting? The awesome soundtrack, and the way they managed to weave the soundtrack into the plot itself. This is practically a musical in some places. (Well, that’s a bit of a stretch, but still–I was impressed how big of an impact those rock songs had on the film.)

What gets me is how all the articles talking about how successful the movie was over the weekend are surprised–saying things like “The current iteration of the team has only been around since 2008, and they don’t have anywhere near the built-in recognition of Thor or Captain America.” What they all seem to be forgetting is that Marvel’s “big name” superheroes don’t even belong to Marvel for movies. Spiderman? X-Men? Not theirs to do anything with.

Does anyone else remember what reviews said about Iron Man back when it debuted? I don’t have time to track them down, but I remember many being skeptical that Marvel would be able to do anything with Iron Man, saying he was too obscure a character, and that audiences wouldn’t show up for him.

How have they not figured it out in the intervening years? You can have an A-list superhero and a D-list plot, and it’s all going nowhere. People don’t show up to Marvel movies because they know the characters. They show up because they know they’re going to get an awesome movie. With Marvel (for now, at least), awesome comes first, and superheroes come second.

And that’s just how it should be.

Anyway. Really fun film, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it already. I might have to go watch it in the theaters again while I can. I enjoyed it that much. 9/10. Check it out.

A Real Pain in the Neck

So remember my little post about life in a dorm from a few days ago? I do. Because although I only spent one evening in that dorm, I’ve taken with me a little memento that just keeps on chugging: my older body is apparently not quite up to the same feats of strength my 18 year old body was capable of back in the day.

I’ve had a sharp pain in the middle of my neck since that dorm stay.

Whenever I tell Denisa about these aches and pains, she always wants to do something about it. Heating pad? Ice pack? “No,” I say and shake my head. “All I really want to do is complain.”

I mean, it’s not like I’ve done nothing to fix the problem. I took two ibuprofen. It’s not my fault those ibuprofen did practically nothing to fix the problem. Right? Right!

It’s an interesting situation (for me, at least), especially when seen in light of this video:

The stereotype I’ve always heard promoted is that men love to solve problems, but women just love to talk about problems. Men want to jump to a solution as soon as possible. I think that’s just seeing half of the situation. Men are (often) trained to “man up”–soldier through pain or trials. They might make observations about them (Have I mentioned that my neck is killing me?), but when it comes to actually doing something about that pain, they don’t want to admit they need to do anything about it. (Okay, not “they”. “I” I don’t want to admit I need to do anything. It’s the same with my back problems. I really just want to complain my back aches.)

Let’s talk about asking for directions, too. Women stereotypically jump straight to a solution, where men (stereotypically) would rather drive around lost for an extra half hour.

In many ways, I feel like stereotypes are nothing more than one big confirmation bias. We hear a snippet or factoid or stereotype, and then every time something comes up that’s in line with that snippet, it reinforces the stereotype. Meanwhile, we completely ignore the evidence that doesn’t support it. As with most things in life, the solution can be found in Muppets Take Manhattan.

Deep, isn’t it. Peoples is peoples, people. Peoples is peoples.

But really, all of this commentary is nothing more than padding. This post’s purpose is simple. Elegant.

I just wanted to complain. Because my neck hurts.

Have a nice weekend, all!

Bryce Dreams of Writing

I’m on a movie blog post kick lately–what can I say? Part of it is due to the fact that I’ve seen a series of great movies. Last night’s was Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a documentary about a Japanese sushi chef. Now, if you know me, you know that sushi and I don’t get along. So why in the world would I watch a documentary about sushi?

Because I’m always open to learning about new things. Plus, I’d heard good things about this movie, and I wanted to give it a shot.

It’s an interesting documentary–very well done, but very contemplative. And I’m sure if I were a person who liked sushi, it would be mouth watering. I, however, am not, and so the beautiful fresh raw fish and octopus didn’t leave me with any cravings other than a reminder that I don’t like sushi.

Still, a very good documentary. 7.5/10

One of the most fascinating things about it was watching how this man had devoted his whole life to sushi–to mastering basic principles that many people wouldn’t think twice about. He’s not just about making the sushi. He takes care in how it’s presented. In what fish he buys. In who evaluates those fish. In how the rice is made–what kind of rice, and where it’s grown and who grows it. This is a man who used to massage his octopus for 30 minutes before serving, but he’s upped that to 45 minutes because he thinks it tastes much better.

That’s the sort of attention to detail we’re talking about.

Of course, throughout it all he’s talking about how devotion to work should come before everything else. Sushi came before his family, his personal life, his vacations. He’s 85 years old, and every day continues to be all about sushi.

It’s something I definitely have no desire to emulate. I work hard, and I care about my work, but I care about my family more. If I ever have to make a choice between what helps my family and what helps my career, my family will come first. The same goes for my writing. I’m passionate about it, but not to the expense of all else. Which might explain why I don’t see the kind of success I might see if I approached it differently.

And you know what? I’m okay with that.

In any case, I recommend watching the film, if only to make you think about the same sorts of judgement calls you have to make in your life. Also, to consider what sort of effort and practice true mastery of a craft takes. That’s something that can be applied to anything you’re doing, and this movie has it in spades.

Already seen it? Let me know what you thought!

Movie Review: The History of Future Folk

One of my favorite Netflix experiences is when I come across a movie the service says I’ll love, but which is fairly obscure. It’s funny–a lot of the time it takes a fair bit of convincing for me to watch those movies, even with the great recommendation. I just have a hard time believing I’m really going to like it as much as it says I’m going to. Such was the case with The History of Future Folk. I mean, take a look at that picture. Who in their right mind would actually like this movie? I was so worried that it would just be an hour and a half of painful that it took me a long time before I finally decided to actually give it a shot.

It was late, I was stuck in a dorm–what did I have to lose?

I loved this movie. Loved loved loved loved. Loved it so much I came home the next day and had Denisa watch it with me, and I still loved it the second time. Sometimes there are movies that are tailor made for you–movies that just connect with you. It’s tee ball, watching and enjoying those films. In this case, you’ve got a movie about aliens who come to destroy the earth, only to discover we’ve got this thing called “music” that they love, and so they decide to start a band, instead.

How could I not love this?

Try a preview for a slice of this awesome:

What exactly made this movie so great for me? For one thing, it stars the actual musicians, and so it features them actually playing their songs. But it’s not just some mockumentary thrown together at the last minute. It’s got real production value. It’s well written, well acted, well executed.

More people need to watch this movie. Now.

Or am I late to the Future Folk party? Anyone else out there seen it? Can I get an amen?

10/10. No, it’s not going to change your life, but I couldn’t find a thing wrong with it. Not all perfect movies need to be Important Cinema.

Hondo!

Living in a Dorm

I’m out here in Machias for a library director retreat, and I’m staying in a dorm for the first time in quite some time. I can’t help but think back on my previous dorm experiences. And what’s the point in taking a trip down memory lane if I don’t drag the rest of you along with me?

My first dorm was at CTY–Center for Talented Youth. Basically a summer camp for smart kids, where I went for two summers and learned Greek and Latin. Because that’s how we future librarians roll when we’re 14, yo. I was in a hall with a bunch of other guys, and we stayed up far too late playing made up card games and trading stories. Good times at Franklin and Marshall College.

Fast forward to my first year at BYU, where I lived in DT. Really, that year was one of the easiest of my life in many ways. I’d just gotten through with my senior year of high school, where I was crazy busy the whole time, and suddenly I found myself in a place where I had almost no chores, no job, and only five classes to worry about–almost all of them General Ed. I was in marching band, which took up a bit of time, but for the most part, it was just kicking back and playing games with friends–most of whom lived on my dorm floor. We’d go to the basement and watch March Madness all day. Play video games in our rooms. Eat a tremendous amount of pizza.

Living the dream.

So I have quite fond memories of dorms. Of course, the first semester after my mission, I was back in DT, and the experience was very different. I was there in the place where I’d had so many friends–and all of them were gone. It was a very Les Mis “Empty Chairs” sort of a feeling, and I spent a fair bit of time feeling sorry for myself. Then again, I also had a minifridge where I’d keep a gallon of chocolate milk on tap at all times.

It’s hard to feel too sad for yourself when you have all the chocolate milk you can drink. Just sayin’.

How are things staying in a dorm for this conference?

Much. Much. MUCH. Quieter than when I was in college. It helps, of course, that there aren’t any–you know–college students actually staying here. I remember my first year was the year I learned how to sleep with ear plugs in comfort, because it would be 2am, and I’d want to be going to bed, but people were still yelling and carousing across my floor.

Librarians don’t yell and carouse much, it appears. Not even at 2am.

The room is smaller and more cell like than recalled. But I have internet and Netflix, so the entertainment in the late evenings is automagically taken care of.

All told, I can’t say I miss the dorm life. Good memories, but nothing that I’m in any rush to live through again.

What about you? Ever live in the dorms? Have a good time doing it, or was it all awful? Do share.

Movie Review: The Intouchables

Last night, I asked Denisa what she wanted to watch. After a bit of thought, she said, “I’d like a nice French movie. Like Amelie or Romantics Anonymous.” I looked over the offerings of Netflix, and decided it was time to bring out The Intouchables. It’s been a movie that’s been in my queue for quite some time, just waiting for the right chance. I’m not always in a French sort of a mood, so the stars had to align just right.

The premise is fairly straightforward: a quadriplegic hires a street-wise vagrant to be his personal caretaker, and the two help each other see new sides of life. It sounds like it could be all ooey gooey, but it’s really quite light and sweet, in no small part to the acting performances of both of the leads. Omar Sy (who plays the vagrant) is just so likable–it’s infectious.

Sometimes French movies really irritate me. So many of them are able to take the simplest of stories and just tell them so well. Speaking with my creative hat on, that’s not something that’s easy to do–at least not for me.

Is this a French movie for you? Well, it’s R-rated for some language and a bit of drug use, so that might knock you out of the running, potentially. But if you’re looking for something light, sweet, and funny–a genuinely good buddy film that isn’t a romantic comedy, isn’t a drama, isn’t any one thing in particular, then this is a film you shouldn’t pass up. Just an excellent example of good people doing good things, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10–maybe even a 9.5. It’s that good. It’s currently the #37 movie on IMDB, and it came out in 2011, so it’s had time to drop some in the rankings, if it was going to drop.

And no. I’m not sure what the title means.

In any case, I’m in Machias today for a library director retreat, so I’d better get on with it. Keep the internet safe for me in the meantime. I’ll check in tomorrow when I come up for air. Toodles!

Family Dungeons and Dragons

I’ve been following the new update of DnD to the 5.0 rules set. (Yes. Because I’m a geek. If you haven’t figured that out by now, you don’t know me very well.) And I saw they’d released a new starter set for players new to the game. $12? Sure, why not. These days, a lot of our “family activities” consist of sitting down and watching Netflix. With DC getting older, TRC already up for pretty much anything, and Denisa open to at least try new games, I thought we might actually have enough people to run a campaign.

So I bought the set.

It came yesterday, and the kids were excited right away. I’d done a bit of basic roleplaying with them in the past, and they really enjoy the storytelling aspects of it, so they had an idea what they were getting into. Denisa did not, but she was being a good sport. (It helps that she’s been wanting to get the family away from the television.)

First up, I had each kid choose a character from the premade ones the set supplies. TRC went straight for the halfling rogue. DC wanted me to describe what the others did: two fighters (both human), a dwarf cleric, and an elf wizard. Once she found out elves were mystical, gorgeous, and came from beautiful places, it took all of 2 seconds for her to decide she wanted to be an elf wizard. Denisa liked the idea of being the healer more than being a fighter, so she went with the dwarf. Because the campaign they provide is designed for 4-5 adventurers, I decided I would take on the role of one of the fighters, but I made him a surly mute, so it’s not like there’s much he needs to do to add to the adventure (and I could use him to provide hints now and then when the party got stuck).

To encourage them to get into their characters some, I had them pick names. TRC chose Eldon, DC went with Mella, and Denisa picked Eldeth. (Having two characters that start with Eld-? A bit confusing, but I rolled with it.) They learned a bit about their characters and what the set up of the story was (four adventurers hired to escort a wagon from one town to another). And then we started to play.

Overall, I think the session went well. TRC found out early  on that DC’s character could speak Draconic, and he was far too interested in Draconic from then on to be much good as a rogue. He was deeply involved in discussions of the finer points of the language while he was supposed to be scouting, and it was only through extreme luck he managed to avoid stepping right in the middle of two traps laid for the party. His other high point was when, in the middle of battle, he started rummaging through his pack to see what other stuff might be in there. (Actually, he role plays a halfling pretty darn well, when you think about it.)

DC was all about action. When the party was attacked by goblins, she single-handedly stepped in and melted one into a puddle with Burning Hands, and then proceeded to blast the other to death with some well-placed Magic Missiles, blowing all her big spells as soon as she could cast them. It worked–she had time to recover and regain her spells for later, and she only suffered an arrow through her left arm for her troubles. Denisa, meanwhile, buried a throwing axe in the middle of goblin’s forehead before curing herself of an almost mortal arrow to the stomach. TRC looked up from his pack, saw there was an actual battle going on, and finished off the last goblin with ease. Denisa patched up the wounds and got everyone back in fighting form, and then the party promptly decided to ignore anything interesting in the battle scene and head off on their original mission of delivering the cart.

My character provided a few necessary nudges to convince the rest that maybe they should find out where the goblins were coming from.

There was a lot of laughter, some good jokes, some near escapes, and some good role playing. It would have gone smoother if I had a clue what I was doing as a DM. (A few times I had to interrupt the flow of the game to remind myself how exactly battle worked, but that should get easier as I get practice with it.) My favorite part of the evening was when DC started scolding TRC for not paying attention to the road and for being a bad rogue in general.

I think we’ll do this again sometime soon. For now, my focus is on having everyone participate in the story, while keeping rules to a minimum. I plan to introduce the actual rules to the people who care about them (TRC) as we go along, bit by bit. We’ll see how it goes.

Oh Email, How Do I Loathe Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

I remember when I was growing up, I’d hear my mom talk about how much she hated mail every day when it came in. I didn’t understand it. I  loved getting mail. The mailbox was this little slice of awesome that sometimes delivered super exciting things to me. How could anyone hate that? Getting the mail was a high point of each day. A Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment when you never knew what golden ticket might await you.

I still don’t hate mail. I don’t particularly look forward to it, but just because there’s rarely anything there to excite or terrify me.

But my inbox–that’s another story.

I hate my inbox for the same reason my mom hated the mailbox. It’s the gateway from hell, where a never ending flood of information and Stuff I Have to Do Something About pours in, all of it demanding attention and decisions. My inbox is filling up all the time. It doesn’t help that I have two of them–one for work and one for personal stuff. And the things just won’t stay empty.

I’ll work and slave to get to “inbox(0)” status. The moment I reach it, I turn away for one second–ONE SECOND–and that lousy thing has like 15 new messages waiting for me.

They’re seldom good messages, is the thing. I mean, now and then I’ll get fan mail telling me how much someone loved my book, and that’s just plain lovely. 100% great. But just like getting a tax return check in the mail doesn’t make the flood of other stuff any better, that fan mail doesn’t offset all the rest of it: ads, updates, listservs, church emails, school emails, scheduling conflicts, questions, requests.

I hates it. Hates it with a burning passion reserved by most people for post offices or DMVs or hobbitses.

But you know what’s the worst thing about it? I can’t look away. I hate my email, and yet I’m addicted to checking it. Because what if something awesome just showed up in there? What if I sold a book? What if a Nigerian Prince just left me a buhzillion dollars?

How sick is that? I know there’s hardly ever going to be anything good, and yet I keep going back every fifteen minutes or so.

At least with an actual mailbox, my mom knew she was just getting mail once a day. Now we have mail that comes 24/7, always ready to screw up your day with some awful news. (Note: I haven’t received any awful news today. Yet.)

Remember when getting email was all Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan? These days it’s all Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

‘Nuff said.

When Cheating isn’t Cheating: Final Fantasy, Minecraft, and Life

The original Final Fantasy for the NES was and continues to be one of the highlights of my video gaming existence. Not because the game was so awesome (though it was!), but because of the experience I had playing it. It was brand new, and the family rule at the time was no video game systems in the house. At all. However, the family had also just bought a conversion van–one of those cool ones with mood lights and a back seat that converted to a bed.

And a built-in TV, VCR, and (wait for it) Nintendo Entertainment System.

So whenever we went on a drive, us kids could sit in the back and play video games. Talk about living large. We played Mario and Duck Hunt at first, of course. Games that came with the system. But soon thereafter, we got our paws on Final Fantasy. I could regale you with the hours and hours we spent on that game. Playing through all the levels. Beating the bosses. True, only one person could use the controller at a time, but it was a shared experience as we discussed how best to beat the next challenge. (Of course, just because it was hours and hours in my memory doesn’t mean it actually took us that long. I wonder now how long we were literally playing the game–how many weeks it actually took us to beat it. Time goes slower when you’re a kid, after all.)

I have a copy of Final Fantasy for my iPhone. I’ve played it some, and I still love it. But while I’ve been playing, I’ve noticed something important:

It’s not as much fun when I can’t cheat.

I don’t mean cheat cheat. I wouldn’t do that. But back when we were playing the game the first time, we had the game guide open right next to us. So when we met a new boss, we’d consult the Nintendo Power guide to find out the weaknesses and the keys to conquering it. We had the inside scoop, always. And it didn’t matter–we still had fun. So as an adult now, I didn’t want to cheat. I wanted to beat the game the right way. No guides allowed.

But it isn’t the same.

The game wasn’t fun because it was impossible to figure out where to go next, or because you had to use trial and error eighty-five times to figure out how to beat the boss. It was fun because it was a shared storytelling experience. Not like a book, not like a movie–we got to participate in the action and feel like we were having an effect on the story. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure, but cooler. More than that, it was a chance to feel special. To go to school and talk over strategy with friends. To feel like you’re finding a secret, even if the secret is right there in black and white in your guide book for everyone else to find, too.

It didn’t matter.

And when I look at TRC these days and his obsession for Minecraft, it suddenly makes sense to me. He’s tapping into that same special feeling you get of secret knowledge. Discovery and exploration. He plays Minecraft and consults online guides for tips and tricks. He knows it inside and out. Does it matter that he isn’t finding it all out on his own? Not a whit. Why would it? Because when you’re that age, you’re still young enough not to care that your “unique” experience isn’t actually unique. That it’s the same experience everyone else is having. No–you just enjoy it and don’t ask questions.

This also explains why for many people, spoilers don’t hurt a book or movie–they make it better.

So I’ve given up trying to beat the original Final Fantasy without the guide. It’s a different experience, and it’s one I don’t like as much as the one that involves cheating and using the hints feature. Which is something I think can be extended to more than just video games.

Don’t feel bad for enjoying something the way you like to enjoy it. There’s no right or wrong way to have a fun time (staying within certain legal and moral codes, of course . . .) If you love going to Disney World just to people watch and eat food and skip all the rides, great. If you like to read the end of a book before the beginning, go for it. If you play World of Warcraft and do nothing but game the auction house, more power to you.

It’s fun people. As long as you’re having a good time, then that’s all that matters.