Bryce Moore's Blog, page 302

March Madness Pool

Okay, folks. I've got a splitting headache right now, so this is going to be brief. However, I wanted to give you all as much notice in advance as I could. It's time for the yearly blog March Madness pool. That's right. You, constant reader, can try to beat me in the closest thing our civilization has to a duel these days: tournament brackets. Here's how it works. I've set up a group over on ESPN's site. You go there, register, fill out your picks and then join my group. (Name: Bryce's Ramblings. The password is "meander".) ESPN takes care of the rest, doing the math, keeping track of who's winning and how many points you can still earn. All that good stuff.



So what are we playing for? If I win, then I get the self-satisfaction of being better than everyone else who chose to challenge me. But for you, I'll sweeten the deal. You get a choice this year.



A blog entry written by yours truly, detailing how great you are.
A copy of Cavern of Babel, signed by the author. (Al Packard. I'm pretty tight with him, as you may know.)
Your name listed in the acknowledgements page of Vodnik, immortalized for all time, with the "alias" of your choice. (For example: Kevin "Hall Pass" Albert. Note--I reserve the right to veto any questionable aliases. :-)    )
Something in there has to appeal to you. So come on over. Make an entry. Enter the challenge. Last year was our best year yet. Let's see if we can get even more for this year's pool.

You have until Thursday morning before the first games tip off.

Book Review: I am Not a Serial Killer

Just realized today that I had never reviewed this book on my blog, an error I am paying for right now. You don't want to make Dan Wells angry. Have you read his stuff? Yeah. Definitely keep Dan happy. Anyway--here's the review from my Goodreads account:





I Am Not a Serial Killer (John Cleaver, #1) by Dan Wells



My rating: 5 of 5 stars





There are some books out there that are just plain creepy. Books you read, and you can't really put down, and you can't forget months after reading them. I am Not a Serial Killer is one of those books. It's the story of a young man who is obsessed with serial killers. He knows all about their typical characteristics--what sets them off. How they tick. Why is he so obsessed? Because he recognizes that he has all those characteristics himself. He's a sociopath, and he knows it. But he's a sociopath who really just wants to be good and normal. Even though he can't be. So he makes up a bunch of rules he tries to follow. Simple things, like not torturing animals. You know--the basics.



It doesn't help that John Cleaver (our protagonist) works in a mortuary for his mother. So he's around dead bodies all the time. (The first scene that introduces us to John is particularly memorable in a horrific sort of way.) I really enjoyed this book (although I wonder if "enjoy" is the right word). Dan Wells (the author) manages to create a character who is horrifying but sympathetic--not an easy feat to pull off. You find yourself rooting for this kid, not in spite of his sociopathic tendencies, but because of them. Does that make sense? His very drive to be good--even though he can't be 100% good--is what makes him such a likable character. That and the fact that he has a good sense of humor. That always helps.



The book is thrilling, full of twists and turns, but it's that character that makes it shine. If John Cleaver had been poorly executed (pardon the pun), then the whole book would have flopped. Instead, the book stands out easily in the crowd of new YA fiction constantly being churned out these days.



Do be aware going into it that this is very much in the horror/fantasy genres, so don't expect a strict crime procedural throughout the read. That said, the book is also very much a mystery, so I don't want to discuss the plot too much. Suffice it to say that it's a page turner and is making quite the name for Dan, a first time author. The second and third books in the trilogy are already out in England--the second (Mr. Monster) is out in America, and the third (I Don't Want to Kill You) is coming March 29th.







View all my reviews

Board Games on the iPad

I've been rewarding myself for finishing revision phases by getting some new board games for my iPad, and I just thought I'd take a minute to tell you all why you need to be doing this, too. (Other than so I can have more people to play against, of course.)



I love board games, but I don't get to play them as often as I'd like. When I lived in Utah, I had a fellow board game junkie who lived just a few minutes away. Better yet, he had time when I had time--a key ingredient to successful gaming. (You sure you don't want to move out to Maine, Dan? What if I try and get a guarantee that you get a fluff calling for the first year? Hymnal Coordinator? And don't feed me any garbage about Brandon and your writing group all being there in Utah still. Have them move, too.)



Anyway. Now that I'm in Maine, there are still some gamers around, but my time is significantly diminished. House projects, full time jobs, revisions--all of that gets in the way of what's really important: proving strategic superiority in life via a succession of games that involve far too many small plastic pieces and dice rolling.



Enter my iPad.



I can play asynchronously against people across the country. I can play against the computer. I can play against myself. When I want, how often I want--you name it. Better yet, the games I like are usually expensive. $50+ per game, easy. On the iPad? Less than $5. Oh yeah. So what do I have? (Warning: I'm going to get quite geeky here for a second, name dropping board games I don't expect you'll have heard of. I'd take a minute to explain them . . . but I don't have time. If you're a fellow afficianado, you should recognize all of these. If not, then go to boardgamegeek and start checking them out. Then come play against me.)





Viking Lords--A clone of BattleLore. I've just started it, but so far I'm really liking it.
CatanHD--Settlers of Catan on the iPad. I've got Seafarers, too.
Blokus
Neuroshima Hex--really good version of it
Ingenious--I haven't sprung for the HD version yet. Just have the iPhone one.
Carcassonne--Great version
Small World--Fantastic. Just wish you could play with more than 2 players.
Samurai--Good from what I've tried. I need to get into this one some more
Scrabble--For playing against the computer
Words with Friends--For playing against friends
Boggle--For playing solo and unsuccessfully trying to play against friends
Yahtzee
Conquist (Risk clone)
Life (for the kids)
Parcours.robo (RoboRally clone--the first bit's free. I haven't paid for the upgrade just yet)
Look at all that. Clearly I like this stuff more than is healthy, but if you can get beyond that, it's remarkable that there's that much great board gaming on the iPad. Add to that the fact that I can do my crosswords, reading, movie watching, music listening, internet surfing, check sports and weather, and more, all from one device? WHY DOESN'T EVERYONE IN THE WORLD HAVE ONE?

Oh yeah. They're expensive. Then again, for the price of one refurbished iPad right now ($350), I could only buy seven or less board games. If you've seen my game closet, you know I have more than seven games. Yes, most were gifts over time, but now I can try out a game ahead of time--have its tutorial teach me the rules, so I can decide if I like it or not. Then, once I'm well-versed, I can buy a physical copy and teach it to other people without having to do a bunch of page flipping and rule checking. Nice.

Oh yeah--and more games are coming all the time. Ra, Tichu, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Tikal--all here or on their way, and all less than $5. BGG has a good page describing what's out there now (http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/57139/ipad-board-games-multiplayer-and-available-now) and here's a page of what's coming:http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/63196/boardgames-on-iphoneipad-in-2011

Anyway. Time's up. Why don't you go out and get an iPad, download some of the games, and challenge me? Email me when you're ready. Already got one and want to play? Drop me a line. Between this and March Madness, it's amazing I have any life at all. (Don't comment on that, please.) :-)

The Social Network: Some Thoughts on the Film and Facebook

Okay. I finally watched it. I no longer need to feel guilty, or have people say "Why haven't you seen The Social Network." Yes, it's a fantastic film, and yes, I should have seen it earlier. Four stars, and great watching. Acting, score, cinematography, screenplay--the movie fires on all cylinders. Some observations:



First, on the King's Speech vs. Social Network debate. I don't think there's much of one. They're two different movies trying to do two different things. King's Speech is more of a feel good piece, while Social Network explores the gray area of copyright domains, business practices, morality and friendship. I enjoyed both. Social Network is the better film, though--and I tend to think that will be realized in later years.



I think one of the things I like about both of these pictures is that they're adaptations of books which are adaptations of real life. Historical events are twisted and tweaked to make for better drama, and that's just fine by me. It would be interesting to see other people take the same history and make movies that are completely different in tone. (For an example of this, compare the Cary Grant Night and Day with the Kevin Kline De-Lovely, both biopics of Cole Porter, and wildly different in tone and material.) Was Mark Zuckerburg as big of a jerk as he is on the screen in this movie? I don't care. But I already talked about that in my review of the King's Speech.



Second, I'd like to discuss ideas on Facebook for a bit. I think we're past the point where people can dismiss Facebook as a fad, just as it would be difficult for someone to argue that Google is just a passing fancy. The offerings these services give the public are now taken for granted, and even if the institutions themselves ever fall out of favor, the offerings they support likely won't. Facebook allows users to be connected in ways never before possible. It's the phone book of the future, and you only have to release your number to people you like. Ignoring Facebook is a huge faux pas if you're a business or a public figure who wants to be even more public. Denisa's Breadweaver business is successful in large part thanks to her Facebook presence. She was able to get her product and message out to a large enough group quickly, and she now uses it to handle orders and make product announcements. And it's free and easy to use. Perfect.



If you're not a business or public figure, yes, you can get by without Facebook. People get by without a lot of things, from running water to satellite television. Where Facebook falls on that scale is a personal decision, but the fact remains that it has fundamentally changed the way we interact with people. We all now have an online persona, just as we have an in-person persona, or a phone-persona. Facebook acts as a hub for me, tying together all my different online endeavors, from Twitter to my Blog, into one spot where my friends (who have decided to use Facebook, too) can see and interact with them. Gone are the days of falling out of touch with people just because you move towns or switch jobs.



And it's not just Facebook. As a whole, technology is changing how we behave and interact. We're more likely to multitask these days--to text while we're watching a movie and checking our email, all at the same time. Facebook started 7 years ago. Who knows where we'll be 7 years from now. It's scary and exciting to think that life as we know it can so fundamentally change so quickly now, but that's the nature of the beast.



What The Social Network brings to light so well is that, as much as things are changing quickly, the same desires that have driven us for thousands of years continue to drive us on an individual level. The movie almost had a feel of a modern Greek Tragedy, just without the distasteful Oedipal vibes. So while the future is a big unknown, some things can be relied on: people will continue to do mean, nasty things to each other; friendships will be made and broken--that sort of thing.



I don't know. I'm wandering pretty far afield now, and I've got to bring this post to a close. The Social Network was a great movie. Great for inspiring conversations with people who have seen it. Great for thinking about it long after it's over. And that's something The King's Speech was missing. The Social Network made it up to the next level--it wasn't just a movie. It was Art. And yet it was really entertaining. What else is there?

Adventures in the Power Outage

At 5:34 yesterday, the power went out. We'd had about a half inch of ice coat everything earlier in the day, so it wasn't exactly unexpected. It ended up being out for around 4 hours. (Our house is in a very good spot to avoid power outages--not far from the hospital and Walmart. People want their hospitals and their . . . cheap junk products. I later learned downtown had no power for almost 12 hours.) Keep in mind, this is Maine, so when the power goes out, things can get cold very quickly. (The temperature last night dipped into the single digits.) Thankfully, we have our wood stove and enough wood to last us until summer and back into fall again, if the zombie apocalypse hits us. We discovered a few things:



Kids really like blackouts. TRC and DC were pretty hyper, I think primarily because everything is so different. It's a big adventure to them, and trying to corral them isn't too easy when you can't see everything.
We need more candles. We had enough for the evening, but we're running low now. We also could use a few more hand-cranked flashlights. (Why even bother with battery-powered ones? They're always out when you need them.)
We could use some water storage. Denisa and I got to talking (there wasn't much else to do) while we were sitting there watching our wood stove, and that's probably the one area that we're weakest on when it comes to emergency preparedness. We've got a ton of flour (thanks to her bread making) and plenty of heat, but for water, we'd have to end up carting it in from the stream out back in an emergency, something neither one of us would like to do.
I don't think I'd do well as a pioneer or medieval serf. For one thing, a lot of the things I like to do require good light (reading and complex board games) or electricity (movies, computer games). That said . . .
iPads are excellent blackout tools. I had board games, books, music, movies, and a portable flashlight, everywhere I went. Hooray for Apple products. :-)
Anyway--glad we got our power back, and glad I was already done with my revising yesterday before the outage hit.

(Side note: I just watched some of the movie I linked to in the picture for this post: Frozen. It's the story of three idiots who manage to get themselves stuck on a ski lift fifty feet above the ground, with no one expected at the hill for another five days. It's supposedly a horror, and while it certainly had some elements that could have been horrific, for me the mood was ruined by how appallingly stupid the three main characters are throughout the movie. One of them isn't even bright enough to zip up her lousy coat when she gets cold. Come on, folks--I'm not talking rocket science here. Anyway--it will hardly make me afraid to go up the slopes the way Jaws made people afraid to go in the ocean, so I'll leave it at that.)

Movie Reviews: Night Train to Munich, The Palm Beach Story, and The Damned United

When I'm in work work work mode, I have to have something that relieves the pressure, at least for a bit. For me, that usually ends up being movies. (If you haven't noticed by now.) This weekend, I had the chance to watch three different movies, all of them very good and well-worth recommending. Let's start with a classic: Night Train to Munich. It stars Rex Harrison (a much much younger version of Professor Higgins, except this one is gutsy enough to go undercover as a Nazi). There's a man in Prague who knows how to make super armor for tanks. He flees the country before Hitler can get him, but his daughter's captured. I'd tell you more about it, but really, I don't think I should. This is one of those movies you ought to discover as you go. I was surprised by how twisty turny the plot was, considering it came out in 1940. (Also fascinating to see a war movie that was made and released right in the middle of the war.) Great movie, directed by the excellent Carol Reed, who also did The Third Man. Three and a half stars.



We move now to The Palm Beach Story, a film done by one of my now favorite earlier directors, Preston Sturges. You know all those romantic comedies, where the bride and groom almost don't get married, but after much hilarity, they finally meet at the altar and live happily ever after? What happens to them? Sturges explores that question in this film, definitely funny but also with quite the streak of deconstructionism running through it. Parts of it would fit in just as well today as they did then. (Other parts--the roles of African Americans, for one thing, are woefully out of date and even offensive at times, but that was a part of the film's time.) Three stars for me, maybe three and a half. I'm still a bit undecided. But it's on instant streaming, and you should check it out.



And finally we come to The Damned United, the film Tom Hooper did before The King's Speech. One of the best sports movies I've seen, particularly because it doesn't fall into many of the stereotypical sports movie tropes. Yes, you have the underdogs, and yes, you have the favorites, but the movie really isn't about underdogs beating favorites. It's about people and their relationships, which I realize as I type sounds like an awful thing to make a sports movie be about, but it works in this one. The coach of the underdogs becomes so obsessed with showing the favorites that their way of winning is wrong that he gives up all sense of human decency. I don't recall a movie recently where the protagonist is such a jerk--and yet somehow likable. Impressive to pull something like that off. Three and a half stars for sure on this one. (Although as a warning to some--you know how there was that big debate about The King's Speech and the use of the F-word and it's R/PG-13 rating? Yeah, well, let's just say nobody debated about it in this one, although all uses of the word are heavily accented, and I suppose you can just pretend they're using some other word. Like frook. That's not insulting or upsetting at all, is it? It's frooking congenial, even.)



Anyone seen any of these three? Speak up--what did you think?

Revision Update Number Four-Million-Five-Hundred-Three

Okay. Another one. No doubt you're getting kind of sick about hearing me harp on and on (and on and on) about my revision, but that's pretty much my life right now, folks. Yes, TRC finished his ski lessons yesterday, and it's actually kind of sort of warmish here in Maine for the next few days (okay--above freezing, but that counts when last night it was like 15 below), but as far as my days go, they consist of waking up, revising for an hour, going to work for eight and a half hours, then coming home and revising for another four hours or so--at least.



The tricky thing is that I'm not sure I need to be working this hard on it. The due date for this stage isn't until March 21, so I still have quite a bit of time. However, nothing's worse (in my opinion) than having to write under pressure, and if I wait to revise, there'll be plenty of pressure. My goal has been to revise 15 pages a day, which will let me be finished with the revision a week from tomorrow. That gives me one final week to read things over, tweak, make sure the changes I made make sense--that sort of thing.



So what sort of things am I adding and cutting right now? I'm cutting all the boring parts, and adding lots of excitement. :-)  Honestly, it's mainly about pacing and characterization right now. The first third has slimmed down a lot. I sliced out three chapters--chapters where not a whole lot happens--rolling what important stuff did happen into other chapters. Ideally, a chapter should accomplish multiple tasks at the same time--push multiple plot lines forward. When a chapter just gets one or two things done, it ain't pulling its weight.



Sometimes I change something that makes it so I have to add other material to support that. A character might get beat up. When other characters notice that, they react--someone might decide that character needs to be taught how to fight. The character agrees, and so suddenly there's a need for a "fight training plot" added into the book. At this point in the writing process, I know all these characters really well. I know how they think, and how they respond in different situations. I can't just force them to do whatever I want them to do--I can put some different obstacles in their way, but they still have to overcome them the way they choose. (It feels really bizarre saying that, but that's really how it feels.)



Anyway.



I'm on track. It's going well. I reread some of my big changes yesterday, and I'm pleased with them. Still, I wouldn't mind taking a few days off . . .



There'll be time enough for that after March 21. Happy weekend, all!

Brandon Davies, BYU Basketball and the Honor Code

If you follow college hoops at all, you've likely heard the story: Brandon Davies, the third highest scorer on BYU's team, was kicked off that team on Monday for honor code violations (supposedly for premarital sex with his girlfriend). Up to that point, BYU was having a fantastic season. We were ranked third in the nation, and it looked like we had a shot at being a 1 seed when March Madness begins in a few weeks.



Last night, we lost at home by 18 points to an unranked New Mexico.



Was it all because of Davies' absence? No. He was often in foul trouble when he was playing, so it's not like we'd never been on the court without him. But just look at what happened to Tiger Woods' game after all the personal troubles he had came to light. To expect a team to continue to play at the top of its game after such a big blow is unrealistic. They were bound to have issues.



How do I feel about BYU basketball right now? Prouder than ever. As much as I'd love to see BYU go to the Final Four or win the national championship, I don't believe it should do it by compromising its standards. The school has an honor code--a strict honor code. No alcohol, drugs, coffee, tea, sex, beards, long hair (for guys)--it can seem like a pretty random mish-mash of rules to an outsider. But it's a private religious institution, and it's up to them to set their rules. All those rules have some basis in Mormon theology or practice. Having gone to BYU for seven years, I know the ins and outs of it pretty darn well. And I support it. (Though no beards? That was a bummer. I stopped shaving the day I graduated from BYU, and I'm happy to say I haven't shaved since.)



It's the Honor Code. It's well known, everyone has to sign it every year, and you know what the consequences might be if you break it. BYU couldn't do anything differently than what it did once Davies told the administration what he had done. To do so would have gone against everything the university stands for. Karl Maeser, one of the founders of BYU, is famously quoted at BYU as having said this about the honor code:

"I have been asked what I mean by "word of honor." I will tell you. Place me behind prison walls—walls of stone ever so high, ever so thick, reaching ever so far into the ground—there is a possibility that in some way or another I might be able to escape; but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No, never! I'd die first."

(In fact, there's a stature of Maeser on campus, and students regularly draw a chalk circle around it as a joke, referring to this quote.) BYU takes its Honor Code very seriously. It's an inherent part of the institution, because BYU views itself as being primarily a religious school. You pray before every event (including football games). I'd often be required to sing church hymns before each class. You're not allowed to take a test in the testing center if you've got a 5 o'clock shadow even. You go to BYU knowing full well what you're getting into. If you think it's too nit picky, don't go there. (Even with all these requirements, it's a school that's very difficult to get into. I always was annoyed at people who complained about the rules too much while they were at BYU. They were taking someone else's spot--someone who really wanted to be there, rules and all.)



How do I feel about Brandon Davies right now? Extremely proud of him, too. To turn himself in after doing what most of the world these days wouldn't even bat an eye at--and then publicly being apologetic about it and accepting the consequences. That takes guts. I wonder how many basketball courts would be empty during March Madness if only virgins were allowed to play. I feel bad for Brandon that he has to go through such a public scrutiny about something that should be a private affair, but that's spilled milk at this point.



What will happen to us in the tournament? Does it really matter? We'll do what we always do--play our best, try to win, and do it according to BYU's standards. When so much of college sports these days is focused on not getting caught, to see an institution do this to itself at the height of its program . . . I find it inspiring, though I know a lot of people have been saying it's stupid.



Maybe that's why I went to BYU.

Thoughts on the iPad 2

Today Apple announced the iPad 2, available in March 11th here in the US. I've been waiting quite anxiously for the announcement, mainly because my wife's laptop battery is completely dead. A new one would cost around $80-$100 (new battery, that is--not a new laptop), but all she really uses her laptop for could be accomplished with my current iPad.



See where I'm going here?   :-)



So what extras are on the new model? For one thing, the price is the same--that's nice. It's got front and rear facing cameras, and you can buy a slick movie editor for the thing for $5. I could see me taking video of events and then editing it and posting that video online, all from the same easy to use device. It's twice as fast--graphics are nine times as fast. It's got the ability to do HDMI out, so you can hook it up to your big screen TV and stream Netflix or whatever you want in full 1080p goodness. You still have a 10 hour battery, even with all the extra features. It's 1/3 slimmer, 1.3 pounds (.2 less than iPad 1). A new operating system is coming out for it, too.



Honestly, there's not a ton of new features that blow me away. It looks like it'll be a faster device that has cameras, so it does video conferencing, etc. Of course, since I often have my iPad but don't have my camera of video camera, this could be a good thing for me. On the other hand, if I get an iPhone through Verizon and use it as my main phone, then I'll have that camera, instead. So I'm not sure if I'll end up getting one of these or not. I'll likely upgrade my current iPad to the latest OS, then see if I'm still missing the extra features. It'll help to read some reviews when they come out, too.



Of course, if I didn't already have an iPad, I'd jump all over this new one. I love mine, and I use it more than I ever thought I would. Best piece of technology I've ever bought. Period.



What do you think? Care to chime in?

In Which I Complain about How Big My Tax Return Is

I know--what idiot complains when his tax return is too big? Don't get me wrong--I'm really happy to be getting the money, and there are certainly many different ways I can use it. But where does that money come from? It doesn't come from me. I'm very careful to have them withhold practically no federal taxes from my paycheck--I'm not fond of giving the government an interest free loan each year. But I get back what little I had taken out, and then much more on top of that.



I posted about this on my Facebook account, and several of my friends spoke up, detailing how they're in a much different boat, tax-wise. They pay more than they get back, even though they're not in that different of a boat than me. (Well . . . maybe. I'm in a family of four, with a single paycheck. Some of them are families of two with two paychecks. Come to think of it . . . that's a very different situation.) Still. I don't think it's fair that I get a bunch of money from people who worked hard for it. I think the tax burden should be shouldered by all--not just the well off. We all live in this country, we all should pay for the privilege . . . Unless I know that my bags of money are coming from Paris Hilton. In which case, I'm fine with it.



What really gets me is that the tax code is so convoluted I needed to pay someone else to help me file. That's money that could have gone to the poor and needy, not some accountant or faceless corporation. We have this inordinately difficult tax code, where all sorts of laws are made to levy taxes, and then additional laws are made to let people out of paying those taxes. It makes it impossible for a layperson like myself to be able to understand any of it, so there's this industry built around it, to make lots of people money to do something that ought to be easy and straightforward.

If I knew that 10% or 15% of my paycheck was going to go to Uncle Sam, then I could count on that. At the end of the year, you add up everything you made, you subtract your expenses, and then you pay a flat tax on the result. No exemptions. Forget child credits or home mortgage waivers or whatever gobbledygook they have out there. Everybody pays it. If you only made $10 the whole year, the government gets $1 or $1.50. If you made $100 billion, it gets proportionately more. You're not penalized for getting married, you're not penalized for making more one year than another. Everybody pays.

Now I'm not saying we do away with the welfare system. That's necessary and should still exist, but it should be separate from taxes. If you make any money and you're on welfare, you still pay your taxes on that money--and then you end up getting more back in a separate paycheck to you from whatever agency doles that out. But do away with all this red tape. Streamline the whole process, and make it easy enough anyone can understand it and do it--at least for individuals.

Of course, I'm not an economist, and there are likely lots of things I'm oversimplifying here. Anyone care to set me straight? Please--discuss.