Monthly Archive for February, 2006

Moved

Published
by
Andy
on 2/27/2006
in Log
. 3 Comments

move

This move was a million times more reasonable than our last move. It was probably less than a mile altogether. But still, even moving to the house next door requires ripping all of your shit out of its happy little cubby hole and taking it outside and into another place. Needless to say, we’ve got boxes upon boxes piled up, furniture out of place, and plenty of arrangement decisions to be made. Nevertheless, the new house we’re renting is fairly awesome. I haven’t taken any pictures yet, because things are still kind of a mess. But they’re coming. I promise.

Oh, and if you stand on your tippy toes in our front yard, we have a mountain view. That is until the neighbors’ trees fill in.

Some stuff

Published
by
Andy
on 2/23/2006
in Log
. 0 Comments

OK, I know it’s been a while, but honestly I haven’t had much to write about in the last week or so.

I’m still reading Cat’s Cradle, but since I was a couple of weeks ahead of my 26 Books schedule, I decided to allow other things to briefly distract my attention. The most obvious of which is moving.

That’s right, Michelle and I finally found a nice 2-bedroom house to occupy. We’ve spent the last week or so cleaning and painting some of the rooms there. It’s really amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a room. I haven’t really taken any proper pictures of the house yet, but rest assured as soon as I do, I’ll post them up here. We’re officially officially moving on Saturday, which I’m sure is going to be a very long day. But like I said, I’ll keep you as informed as possible.

I’ve also been reading more of the series Y: The Last Man that a friend directed me to in digital format. The series is truly amazing. High-quality serialized fiction. Plus enough quirky sub-pop culture references to make me smile. There are about 50 issues in the series, and I’m a little over halfway caught up. They’re still publishing, though, so maybe when I catch up I’ll start buying the new issues. If you like comics, but like me don’t really have the taste for spandex-clad superheroes, then Y is for you.

I’ve also found that the Gamecube is at a good place in its lifecycle, because a lot of really good games can be had for cheap. For instance, I picked up The Two Towers and The Return of the King games, both of which have provided many hours of thumb-numbing action. I also picked up The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, I’ve realized I need to pick up a few of the other titles in that series that I’ve missed over the years. There are a few other games on my wish list, and I’ll let you know about those when I get them.

Since the Olympics have been on, there’s been little good television to be had. Michelle and I have been following the Masterpiece Theatre presentation of Charles Dickens’ “Bleak House”, which has been very enjoyable. There’s also been some good NOVA episodes and some Monty Python best of specials that have been fantastic.

In other words, the world has conspired to distract me from writing. No worries, though. It’s just a phase.

Y: The Last Man, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughn et al.

Published
by
Andy
on 2/12/2006
in Reviews
. 1 Comment

Y: The Last Man Vol. 1: Unmanned

As for comic books, I usually don’t enjoy the ones about costumed superheroes battling costumed supervillains. You would pretty much think that I therefore don’t really like comic books. That’s not the case. I love comic books. The Hellboy series is one of my favorites, and there are a couple of costumed superheroes in those books. But anyway, back to Y: The Last Man.

Because I could give a crap about the new X-Men or Spider-man books, I don’t read Wizard or any of those other industry mags. I have to hear about things through word-of-mouth. Which is how I heard about Y: The Last Man. And I must say, I’m impressed. The first volume truly made me want to seek out the other 6 or so books in the series, and they’ve been added to my wishlist already. The story is this: A mysterious plague has suddenly and nastily wiped out every creature on the face of the Earth who has a Y chromosome, except for our protagonist Yorick and his companion monkey, Ampersand. So woman has inherited the Earth. The Secretary of Agriculture is the new President of the United States, since everyone else in the line of succession was, of course, male. Not that the government is exerting much control; An angry gang of women who call themselves the Amazons has received word that a man yet lives, and they decide to finish the job that Mother Nature started. These women are hard core. The burn off one of their breasts. Something about being better able to use a bow and arrow. Anyway…

Yorick is going along with the government’s wishes to assist some scientist with research that will help save the human race. But all Yorick really wants to do is find his girlfriend, who was vacationing in the Australian outback when the plague struck.

My one complaint about this book was that it was way too short. I finished it in a couple of hours and I feel like I’ve traveled only a few degrees up the story arch. But that’s OK. That’s what good serialized fiction is supposed to do.

UPDATE: I’ve also acquired and read the rest of the series up to issue #41, and I just bought #42. So this will hopefully be an ongoing read for me.

Next book, “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut

[This article is part of the 26 Books project I’m doing this year.]

Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden

Published
by
Andy
on 2/11/2006
in Reviews
. 1 Comment

Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw

Pablo Escobar was a very bad man.

That’s the thesis of Mark Bowden’s “Killing Pablo,” an exploration of the man and the international effort to bring him to justice. Escobar was the most infamous druglord/gangster/outlaw in the world. He was listed on Forbes list of richest people in the world all through the ’80s. He made billions selling cocaine to rich American yuppies. But he also yearned for something more. He saw himself as a revolutionary, Che Guavera-type, a man of the people if you will. He spent much of the money he made building public soccer fields and housing projects in his home city of Medellín. And the people in that part of the country loved him. But he was hardly an altruist. His policy of plata o plomo, or “silver or lead,” resulted in the deaths of thousands of people over his career. If you were in a position to bring the hammer down in Colombia in the ’80s, you either took a bribe or took a bullet from Pablo. He controlled the small South American country.

Continue reading ‘Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden’

Ultimate console system

Published
by
Andy
on 2/8/2006
in Notes and Observations
. 3 Comments

Is this the ultimate gaming system? Probably not. But it must have taken some serious work.