Bryce Moore's Blog, page 299

Movie Review: Source Code--See it now!

The movie Denisa and I went to see last night was Source Code, a slick sci-fi movie that seems (to me, at least) to have been flying under the radar. It's got a 7.8 on IMDB, a 90% fresh rating on Rottentomatoes, has Jake Gyllenhaal starring, and is directed by the same guy who did the fantastic Moon. And yet I haven't been hearing any buzz about it at all--or at least no buzz that penetrated my cocoon enough to register. I mean, Hop made 12.2 million last weekend, and this movie only made 5?



That's a pity.



You should go watch this movie, if you're a sci-fi fan. Is it the Best Movie Ever? Well, no. It bites off a bit more than it can chew, in my opinion. It's got 3/4 of a fantastic movie, and 1/4 of a really good movie. If that 1/4 had started the film, or been the second or third quarter, it wouldn't have mattered as much. But it's the last 1/4, which is unfortunate. Still, it's not insurmountable, and it by no means is a deal breaker. This is a solid three star movie in my book, and it's worthy of your cold hard cash.



One reason it's probably not gaining any traction is that it's one of those "You need to see it to know what it's about" sort of things. There are twists and turns to the plot, and you don't want to be spoiled going into it. So I won't tell you about those things. Another reason is that I think it has an awful title. Source code? The thing sounds boring as something named "Users Manual." It's generic, and it lacks anything to set it apart.



One warning: the climax has the biggest flaw for the film, and it's the reason the movie didn't make it to 3.5 stars or higher for me. It peaks a bit too soon, and then you're left with 15 minutes of long denouement, which felt really out of place for me in this genre.



Why should you see it? It's smart sci-fi. It's demanding and intriguing. It's well acted. It's unpredictable. It's just a fun movie.



One interesting tidbit if you're a Quantum Leap fan: the voice of the father is Scott Bakula. There are very clear Quantum Leap parallels in this movie--yet another reason why it's a shame it's not getting better play.



Already seen it? Disagree with me? Speak up!

10 Years: A Look Back at Eloping

Ten years ago today, I eloped.



It wasn't like you see in the movies. It's not like Denisa and I looked at each other that morning and said, "What the hey--let's get married." We didn't wake up next to each other after an all-nighter and find out we'd been married in some sort of drunken stupor. Las Vegas wasn't involved. (Although we did consider getting married in Las Vegas, just so we could say we did. It was a longer drive, though. And not as cool as Manti.)



No--our elopement was much different. We planned it out months in advance. When you live in a marriage-hungry place like Provo, Utah, it's quite difficult to elope properly. For one thing, you've got all these friends who are constantly roaming the streets. Have you ever tried to hunt for an apartment without running into anyone you know? We had to live somewhere once we were married, after all. There were two or three very nice apartments we had to just walk on by instead of checking them out, because we saw someone we knew already looking.



We didn't tell anyone we were engaged, although I did let my family know ahead of time that when I got married, they wouldn't be there. It wasn't the easiest conversation I'd had with everyone in my family, but they were all understanding well in advance of when I finally eloped. Actually, quite a few of them had a pool going as to when I'd actually do it. I forget who won.



Of course, all secrets have a way of bubbling to the surface. The night before the big day, I came home with a rented tux, and my roommates looked at it in confusion. "Going to a wedding?" "Yup," I said. "Whose?" "Mine."



Their expressions were worth it.



We'd chosen to get married in the Manti Temple for a couple of reasons: first of all, my ancestors helped build it. Second of all, it was on the way to Bryce Canyon and Zions, where we'd chosen to honeymoon. (Our other choice had been Yellowstone, in which case we'd have chosen a different temple, but again--it was too far of a drive.) I called my family from the gas station just outside of Manti. (I didn't have a cell phone yet.)



We'd arranged for a photographer (we have lots of pictures--all of them just of us.) He was Denisa's boss at the BYU Bookstore where she worked at the time, and he bought us a photo frame engraved with a picture of the temple and our names and the date. While he was standing in line to order it, he turned to the girl behind him and asked her how she'd spell Bryce (he realized too late he hadn't asked). She knew just how to spell my name--she was my sister in law's sister, and I'd even been on a date or two with her. (But hey, I'd been on a date with lots of girls at BYU. (-:  )  So of course she tells him, then gets on the phone with her sister, who gets on the phone with her husband, my brother.



Like I said, secrets bubble.



But in any case, it was all too late and we were too far away for anyone to make it to the temple in time to be there for the ceremony. (I eloped for many reasons. I won't go into them here.) The ceremony was great. I remember when we'd driven down to Manti ahead of time to meet with the Temple workers and plan things out, they'd been quite confused. Mormon weddings typically happen in temples, where only faithful adult church members can attend. You'll get something like 20-40 people at the ceremony. There's a temple sealer (we believe marriages performed in a temple last not just til death do you part--you're "sealed" together for time and eternity) who you can choose. There are two witnesses, who you also choose. We asked to be married in the tower. They told us that would be really hard on our grandparents, who would have a hard time with the stairs. They couldn't quite understand that it was just going to be the two of us. They asked us who we wanted as witnesses and a sealer. We said whoever the temple had on hand that time. (They ended up being very nice older gentlemen. One of the witnesses fell asleep in the middle of the ceremony.)



Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. Both the eloping and the marriage. Eloping was easy as pie. There was no pressure, and either one of us could have backed out at any time if it's something we had any doubts about. I think sometimes people have real reservations about getting married, but they go through with it because by then, so much has been planned and they'd be afraid of letting too many people down. We got married because we wanted to, plain and simple. There were no big elaborate receptions to plan. No crazy wedding breakfasts and who sits where. No big expenses. (Denisa bought her dress at the BYU Bookstore. She got a good discount as an employee. She made her veil.)



Of course, as a parent, I can see how disappointing it could be to have your child have such a momentous occasion that you can't be there for, but in the end, marriage is something that should be all about the husband and wife--no one else. I really liked being able to focus on that that day, and not having to worry about what anyone else was thinking or doing or where I had to be.



And as for the marriage, it was flat out the best decision I've ever made in my life. I was terrified of marriage, ahead of time. My parents divorced when I was about 6, and I was so worried I'd end up doing the same. I really didn't want to put my kids and myself through that. I had a girl in mind who I thought would be perfect. We were great friends, and had been for years. But I wanted to be sure I was making the right decision. Being the goal-oriented lad that I am, I set a goal to date 30 girls in one semester. I got to 16, and things were going fine. Each girl was nice, but in the end I didn't see any reason to change me from my course. Then came 17.



I asked Denisa on a date mainly because my main date had fallen through. We went on a double date with my sister and a guy I set her up with. That date was so different than any of the others I'd been on. Before it, I was mainly just happy to be bragging that I was going on a date with a girl from a foreign country. After it, I couldn't get her out of my head. I remember getting home at 2 in the morning (my car had gotten a flat on the way home--fun) and talking to my roommate Juan for about another 2 hours. All my certainty about who I wanted to marry had flown out the window in the space of a few hours.



The only thing I can compare it to is fishing. (Romantic, I know.) When you've been fishing for a while, you start imagining there might be a fish on the end of your line, mainly because you're bored and you want there to be one. So you reel it in, only to discover you've got nothing. But when an actual real live fish is there, it's jerking and tugging and moving all over the place. There is no doubt.



I had a real live fish.



Less than two months later, I proposed. I'd always sworn that would never be me. I wouldn't be the guy proposing to a girl he'd known less than a few months. (Denisa and I met at the beginning of the semester, in our German Phonetics class. Our first date was November 4.) No--I would have to know the girl for at least a year, preferably more. How else could I be certain I was making the right choice? But all that flew out the window. When you've got a real live fish hooked, you reel now--not a year from now.



I didn't propose by getting down on my knee and having a ring or anything. No--we were just sitting, talking, and I looked at her and suddenly found myself blurting out, "I think I'm going to marry you." After that, it was just an assumption on both our parts.



Anyway. I wasn't planning on writing a novel today. We're going tree shopping and then on a date this evening. But Denisa had to bake some bread, and so I had a bit of time and figured this would be interesting for you all to read. Hopefully I was right. I'll just add this: When I look back on these 10 years, it's crazy insane. I can't believe how much we've done together. I can't believe how much fun I've had. Sure, there have been difficult times, but those times were made that much easier by being married to the best friend I've ever had. We still do practically everything together, and I hope that never changes.



Thanks for 10 wonderful years, Denisa. [Insert more mushy gushing here. I try to avoid public mushy gushing when possible. I make exceptions every 5 or 10 years or so.]



For more photos, check out my Facebook album.

Movie Review: Rio (or, Wannabe Pixar)

TRC's birthday is coming up, and as part of the celebration, we went to the movies yesterday. His choice? Rio. For those of you who don't know, it's a movie about a blue bird raised in comfy captivity who goes back to Brazil and has exciting adventures. It's made by the same people that brought you Ice Age and its successors.



So what did I think?



I thought that the movie was trying too hard to be like Pixar. We all know the Pixar formula by now. Make something that's funny throughout, with interesting characters you can connect with, and then make it have heart. Make it matter. And because of the incredible run Pixar's been having, it seems at times like that formula is just so easy to pull off. That clearly seems to be what Rio thought. Because instead of trying to just bust out all the laughs they could, they kept trying to make the movie have heart and real meaning. And they fell short on many of those attempts.



It's not a bad movie. I'd probably give it three stars. But it's got four star aspirations, without having four star material. Does that make sense? And that really dragged down pieces of the film for me. I kept seeing them try to Pixar things up, and all that made me do was see how they couldn't pull it off. It's like watching a weight lifter struggle with lifting something about 20 pounds above his maximum limit. There's lots of straining involved, and you just feel uncomfortable after a while--as if you could *will* them to success, just so you could stop seeing all that wasted effort.



So how does it fail? First off, it doesn't quite manage to pull of the memorable characters bit. A lot of the smaller characters really get short changed, and they end up being basic stereotypes that just aren't that memorable. They all blend together quite a bit, and you're left not really remembering who was who and who did what.



The other big way it fails is in its blend of humor and heart. The problem is that the humor they go for is usually pretty basic: lots of rump shaking and some poop jokes. And that's fine, if that's what you're going for--but trying to blend that with a feel good message just feels out of place. There's a climax with main characters dressed in skimpy clothes for Carnival, and it's just harder to feel for these characters when they look so screwy (and it was so predictable anyway). Imagine Toy Story 3, but with Woody dressed in a bikini. Not quite the same gravitas.



Still, I feel bad--I don't mean to put the movie down this much. It was fun. Three stars, remember? But a guy's gotta have something to blog about, and the thing that kept going through my head over and over was this blog post while I was watching the film. Sorry, Rio--just keepin' it real.

Season Two Doldrums: Why So Many Great TV Shows Get Lost

I remember back when Lost was on the air, some of my friends had gotten hooked on Season One, but then got disgusted with Season Two and jumped ship, complaining that the characters no longer felt like they were real people--that they were more like pawns in the hands of the show's creators. That conversation has stuck with me since then, and as I've watched television shows developing in the years since, I think I've seen a pattern developing:



Crappy Season Twos.



In addition to Lost, I've personally seen this pop up in various other series: Angel and Heroes come to mind. Veronica Mars suffered from it somewhat. 24 sort of puttered through some of its later seasons, as did Alias. Buffy had consistent issues with the beginnings of its first three seasons or so. Battlestar Galactica had some bumps toward the front half of season two, as well.



Why is this, you ask?



I have an answer. A theory, at least. It seems to me that television series as we know them are evolving into Something Else. It started with shows like Twin Peaks and the X-Files. Shows that demanded a lot from their viewers. Shows that expected viewers to obsess about them. To follow hints and clues down a rabbit hole of trivia and theories. Buffy and Angel built on this, Alias branched out into other genres--you get the trend. Whereas in the past you had tv shows that were fairly stable (think of MASH or the many Star Treks, for example)--shows where the main characters remained fairly constant, with the main conflict of the show stemming from what adventures those characters fell into next. It's like most of the James Bond movies. Bond never really changes (except the actor playing him). He's suave, collected, full of one liners--he's Bond.



Until Daniel Craig, where suddenly James Bond has a plot arc. He grows. He changes. Do you see the difference? That's what's happening to tv shows. I'm not saying the old style of shows don't exist anymore. You've got plenty of sitcoms full of that style, and you always have Law & Order, CSI and the like. But there's a new niche in town, and it's closer to a really long mini-series than it is to a standard tv show.



But this style of show is still a work in progress. Creators haven't quite figured out how they work just yet, and so often times they have some really rough edges. I'd say it's because this new style of show has three very different stages in its life. Stages that each have their own pitfalls. To me, they seem like the three pieces of a standard fantasy trilogy.



In Book One, you set the stage. You provide interesting characters and conflicts. You establish how the world works, and what makes it unique. This is the Season One of most of these shows. (Sometimes it bleeds into Season Two a tad.) For the most part, these shows do really well with Season One, because that's how they came into existence in the first place: they had a great hook. They knew how to start and capture audiences.



But then comes Book Two. The second part of any trilogy is a tricky beast. You've got to sustain the tension and make it bridge to Book Three without making Book Two seem lame and drawn out. Authors these days know how to do that, but tv shows are different. In books, authors can introduce new characters. They can drastically change the setting, explore new main leads--do all sorts of things to keep it interesting. That's now how it works in a typical tv show, however. You've established who the main characters are. They're all paid by actors who have contracts. You can't abandon your leads. You don't have enough money to start paying brand new actors to get major roles (typically). So all your conflict has to come from the pieces already in play.



This means you have to start mixing things up. Make some characters start doing different things. Have them show that they weren't all they seemed to be in Season One. If your audience really liked how things were in Season One, they can start to feel betrayed by Season Two. Characters you loved are suddenly doing things you hate, and that's a hard pill to swallow--especially when you're forced by the nature of the show to wait for a week to see new content each time. It can kill a series. What's worse, is that by the nature of tv up to now, shows never knew how long their Book Two would last. It might be for a season, it might be for five seasons. You have to somehow keep changing things up without alienating your audience, but also without becoming boring. Good luck with that.



And then of course there's the end. Most people can do a Book Three: the grand finale. You've been building up to a climax, but it's different with television. For one thing, who knows if you ever get your Book Three. You could get canceled (Firefly). You could get the ax midseason. You never know. And even if you do get your shot, you have an audience that has invested *years* into your product. They have very firm ideas of how it should finish. If you don't meet those expectations--or better yet, exceed them--then you'll be accused of ruining everything.



No pressure.



And even if you have everything planned out ahead of time--your whole show's arc ready to go--who knows what the audience's reaction will do to that. Maybe you suddenly discover an actor who's doing great, and everyone wants him to be the new lead, or at least play a main role (ala Ben in Lost). And now you have to accommodate that, which might ruin all your carefully laid plans.



This "new beast" is one of the reasons I think you've seen show creators start turning to fantasy for inspiration. Game of Thrones. True Blood. Prepackaged, multi-arc stories ready and rearing to be adapted to the small screen, if you can weather the ups and downs.



Anyway. I've gone on about this enough. What do you have to say about it? Am I right? Way off base? In either case, I'll be interested to see where television heads next. I've been loving the new style of show, and I look forward to seeing how it further evolves.

Smelting for Fun and . . . Not Really Profit

TRC and I went out last night with a friend to go smelting. I know most of you read that sentence and assumed we started heating up ore in the hopes of extracting metals, and you're wondering what in the world I was thinking, getting my son close to so much hot molten metal. Well, no fear. We were fishing with a net, not melting ore.



Smelts are tiny fish, a couple of inches long. In early spring, they swim in schools upstream to spawn. If you stand with a net and shine a flashlight or headlamp into the water, you can see them swim by and swoop 'em up. Your catch size is limited by the quart--2 quarts of smelt per person. That's a lot of smelt, in case you were wondering. We came home last night with maybe a quart, and it still took forever to clean them all. (Cleaning them involves cutting off the heads and then squeezing the body like a tube of toothpaste to get out the guts. It's fast, but when you've got to do it 200 times, it can get a tad tiresome.) Supposedly the best way to eat them is to bread them and fry them up, tails and all. Denisa's going to try that.



TRC and I really enjoyed ourselves. The smelt didn't start coming in earnest until about 9 or 9:30, and since it was about 40 degrees out by 10:30, I had to take my helper home. (Too bad--it sounds like the smelt really started running twenty minutes after I left. Maybe they didn't like how I smelled.) There were a few other people by us--you smelt on the shore with a long pole with a net at the end, or in the pond if you've got waders (then you use a really big net that you set on the pond floor and lift up when the smelt come by). About 9, a group came along that was pretty drunk and obnoxious. I didn't like that part too much, but them's the breaks.



Basically, it was a great chance to be outside with a friend and my son, enjoying some non-freezing weather and experiencing something new. I'd like to do it again. TRC had a blast--he used the net all on his own to bag a few smelt, and he thought it was fun to have a headlamp on and be able to check out the brook. Not to mention the fact that there was lots of mud for him to squish through in his boots.



So . . . smelting. Assuming Denisa likes to eat them, I think I've found a new yearly tradition (smelt season only lasts a few weeks). That fishing license I bought back in January keeps coming in handy. :-)

Google-Fu: Tips for Searching Google like a Librarian

(I'm double dipping today, using the same post for my Library Blog and my personal blog. Because it's That's Sort of a Day.) I had the pleasure to attend the Maine Academic Library Day this past Friday at Colby College. The keynote speaker was Daniel M. Russell, a Google exec in charge of search quality and user happiness. (Can I just say that Google has some pretty cool titles? 'Cause they do.) Anyway, I've sat through my fair share of keynotes over the years, and this one really stood out from the crowd. He went over all sorts of tips and tricks for getting the most out of your Googling. I will say that most of what he went over was review for me, but it was a really healthy review. (In looking over his web site, he had a post on the Einstellung Effect which I thought was fantastic. So many times as a researcher, it's too easy to get used to using one tool. When  you get really good with a hammer, everything you look at starts looking like a nail. Got a board that needs trimming? Just beat the heck out of it, and eventually it'll be the right length. Get the picture? Being reminded from time to time about the various research tools available to you can be really beneficial.)



Anyway.





Another cool thing I discovered--remember that post I did last week on agoogleaday? Dan was one of the people who set that in motion and got it running. It's not often I do a blog post about something cool online, and then I meet one of the people who contributed directly to that cool thing. Dan was nice enough to leave us with some links to training materials Google uses to teach people how to search more effectively, and since I'm a nice guy, I'm here to share those links with you.





First, a disclaimer. A lot of you are no doubt rolling your eyes, offended that anyone might think you don't know how to do something as simple as *use Google*. But you know what? I'm willing to bet you don't. I don't mean to be offensive, but if I learned a thing or two from this, I'm willing to bet good money you will, too. And don't skip the easy stuff. Don't rush off to "Advanced Lessons," assuming you're good to go on all the basics. One of Dan's points was that there are many basic tricks that the vast majority of people don't know about. For example, to find something on a web page, you can just hit Control + F, which brings up a "find" window in your browser. According to Google's studies, 90% of users don't know they can do that, so when they go to a search result, they end up scanning the page, looking for the word they searched for.





So don't be in a rush. You probably use Google every day. Taking a bit of time to learn how to use it wisely is time well spent. Okay? Here are the links, direct from Dan and endorsed by yours truly:





9 lessons for teaching search: http://www.google.com/educators/p_websearch.html



Google site with a LOT more materials for teaching search skills: https://sites.google.com/site/gwebsearcheducation/ )



Webinars: https://sites.google.com/site/gwebsearcheducation/webinars



And... you can sign up to get intermittent email about teaching

search: http://groups.google.com/group/google-search-education-k-12/subscribe



(And Dan, since I know you have a Google Alert set up on your name, and I'm betting you might end up reading this, can I just say thanks for the great presentation? Really made the day worthwhile for me.)

What am I Doing this Patriot's Day?

It's Patriot's Day today in Maine, which means I don't have to go to work. Why do we celebrate this holiday? To commemorate the battles of Lexington and Concord. So first off, thanks to the British, for making this holiday possible. I suppose to celebrate, I really ought to be joining the Tea Party or something, but I think I'll pass this year.



Instead, I'm going on a hike. To a waterfall somewhere. And maybe have a cookout.



I'd get a bunch of stuff done around the house, but I had the bright idea of starting a stone wall on Saturday. Denisa and I got a fair bit of it done, and then my back reminded me that it's really not into lifting heavy rocks for long periods of time. Mustn't make the back angry. So no big chores today.



I need to get some writing done, but I have no idea what I'll write. I suppose I'll work some on Tarnhelm, since the Q&A is done, the next edit for Vodnik isn't here yet, and I have no idea what else I'd write about.



This was a fascinating blog post, I know. Basically, just a long way of saying "Have fun working today, suckers. I've got the day off."



:-)

How Did You Become a Writer?

I'm still working my way through the Q&A my publisher has provided me with, so I thought I'd share another answer today. How I became a writer:



I first tried writing a book when I was in third grade. It was a time-travel fantasy, and I was really proud of it at the time. (I still have a copy, actually—I even posted it to my website, just for fun.) I've loved to read since I was little, although writing was sometimes a bit rockier. (In fact, my eighth grade English teacher encouraged me to gravitate more toward math or science, since he didn't think I was up to the task of taking advanced English. That might be one of the reasons I ended up heading deeper into the subject—I've always loved a challenge.)



I wrote some attempts at novels in high school, but I never had the stamina to keep at it for very long. Writing a book is a long process, and you need to really be dedicated to it. There are times when it's very difficult work, and if you give up, you'll never get very far. But if you can push through those difficult times, it can be a blast.



When I got to college, I decided I wanted to be more serious about writing. I signed up for a creative writing class taught by Dave Wolverton. I really enjoyed it—loved hearing Dave talk about the experiences he'd had as a successful fantasy author. (That same class had several other students who went on to become professional authors, including Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells.) However, as much as I loved it, I ended up getting a B+ in the class. I know it sounds silly looking back at it, but at the time, I took that as a sign that creative writing wasn't for me. I felt like I didn't have enough talent to succeed, so I gave up. I put away my books and focused on studying literature instead of writing it.



That was the plan, at least. The problem was I couldn't stay away. I just had to keep writing.



A year later, I took another creative writing class—this one focused on general literature, not science fiction and fantasy. I liked it, but my short stories all ended up being really depressing. I'd write about divorces or life crises. I loved writing, but I didn't love the end result. When I took a Writing for Young Readers class from Louise Plummer, all of that changed. Suddenly I was enjoying what I was writing: a novel about a teenage girl who gets sucked into an alternate world full of talking keys, rumor magic and evil machinations. My writing wasn't great, but Louise kept encouraging me, and I kept at it.



When I started my English Masters program at Brigham Young University, Brandon Sanderson entered the program at the same time. He and I both taught Freshman Composition, and I mentioned in passing to him that I was writing fantasy books. At the time, he had just signed a contract for Elantris to be published in a year and a half or so. He was looking for writing group members, and he invited me to join. Suddenly, I was around other people who were serious about their writing. Brandon writes like a machine—he cranks out words and approaches it like a business. We're talking millions of words. Still a fan of a challenge, I followed his example—not managing millions of words (I was still writing young adult fantasy, after all—not epic), but finishing six novels. I would write 1,000 words a day, every day. It was excellent training, and I've been doing it ever since.



How about you. How did you become a writer? (Or how did you choose your career, if you're not a writer?) Do share!

I'm Thinkin' Arby's

[image error] The last time I ate at Arby's--that I can recall--I was in Utah on summer vacation, hanging out with my cousins. At the time, Arby's seemed ideal. Lots of meat, low price, and cool curly fries. I think I got something like 4 sandwiches and ate them all, and I enjoyed the fries. Mission successful.



Of course, that was something like fourteen years ago, so apparently the mission wasn't *that* successful, at least from an Arby's marketing standpoint. But still, I remembered two basic things: roast beef and curly fries. So when I was out and about on the road yesterday, and my boss and I couldn't find anywhere else to eat, I decided to give Arby's another shot.



Big mistake.



I had a medium something or other--whatever their standard sandwich is. It arrived looking vaguely pancake-ular, with two squished, soggy pieces of bread bookending a big mound o' roast beef, topped with globs of what supposedly was melted "cheese" at some point in its life, with a bit of what I hope was barbecue sauce splatted haphazardly through the rest of the thing. I should have looked at it a bit longer, since that sandwich was going to be with me for the next twenty hours of my life or so. I finished eating it, and it felt like my stomach was heavy enough to anchor a small boat.



The curly fries were okay.



In any case, I have no idea how this store is still open. The only reason I would *ever* want to "think Arby's" was to use the store's names in creative similes that would inevitably end up as foul and rancid as Arby's cheese sauce.



Next time, I think I'll just go hungry.



Thanks, Arby's!

So Long, Angel. Hello, Starbuck! Battlestar Galactica Begins

Denisa and I have put Angel into cold storage for the time being, moving on to something less broody. I'd heard wonderful things about Battlestar Galactica, and it's on streaming in HD through Netflix, so I figured we'd give it a shot. Denisa did have to be persuaded some that she wanted to watch it, but I had to do some persuading back with Buffy at the beginning, too. I'm a good persuader. We're eight episodes in now, and loving it. In fact, the two parter focused on Starbuck--her getting stranded on that moon and her coming clean with her involvement in her fiancee's death--was some of the best television I've watched in a long time. Really well done. If the whole series can keep that up, I'll be ecstatic. If it can keep even half of it up, I'll still be very pleased. Fans of the show--what can I expect ahead? (NO SPOILERS, PLEASE!!!)



When I was in Utah this past summer, I had the chance to play the board game version of the TV show (linked from the picture above). I really enjoyed it, and I've been even more surprised to find out how well the board game captures the feel of the show. (For those of you who don't know, the premise of BSG is that robotic cyborgs have all but destroyed humanity. They look and feel human, and they're hell-bent on finishing their master plan, whatever that is. Humanity's reduced to a small fleet running for its lives. Some members of that small fleet are cyborgs. They know that, but they have no idea who is and who isn't. Very paranoid, and full of cool.) Anyway, I'm liking the board game even more in retrospect. I might have to go and purchase it, if I can find three or four local people willing to learn the rules and play it. It's definitely on the more extreme end of the board game rule spectrum, although I was playing it with expansions added already. Actually, if you all could just go ahead and buy that game for me, that would be great. Click the ad, buy it from Amazon, send it to me. :-)  I wonder if I could ever get to the point where I review things that people send me for free. That would be awesome.



In any case, that's all the time I have for today. I'm off to a meeting in Portland.