Vorahk1Panrahk2

Since the nature of my work means I have way too much free time, I decided to participate in some random blog's 2017 book challenge, because why not? The way the challenge works is that there are 50 or so categories, and during the year you have to read books that fit in each of the categories. The rules don't say that reading one book can satisfy multiple categories, but it doesn't really say it can't either. So I did the challenge that way. So how did I do? Got everything except three. The nature of where I was made it reeeaallly hard to find used book sales, or finding books on a trip. I didn't read a book recommended by an author I loved because I just didn't get around to it. But, anyway, here's V1P2's 2017 in books: (Authors not included because I didn't record that information initially and I don't feel like going back and putting it in.) Requirement- Book A book recommended by a librarian- How to Ditch Your Fairy A book that's been on your TBR list for way too long- Frankenstein A book of letters- Dear Mr. Henshaw An audiobook- Dear Mr. Henshaw A book by a non-white author- Native Son A book with one of the four seasons in the title- The Tears of Autumn A book that is a story within a story- Frankenstein A book with multiple authors- You Might Be a Zombie An espionage thriller- The Tears of Autumn A book with a cat on the cover- The Carnivorous Carnival A book by an author who uses a pseudonym- The Bad Beginning A bestseller from a genre you don't normally read- The Lightning Thief A book by or about a person who has a disability- A Mango-Shaped Space A book involving travel- Murder on the Orient Express A book with a subtitle- You Might Be a Zombie: Shocking but Utterly True Facts A book that's published in 2017- New Orleans Vampires A book involving a mythical creature- Pegasus A book you've read before that never fails to make you smile- Go the *cough* to Sleep A book about food- The Monday Night Cooking School A book with career advice- Thinking in Pictures A book from a nonhuman perspective- Diaspora A steampunk novel- Boneshaker A book with a red spine- The Ersatz Elevator A book set in the wilderness- The Slippery Slope A book you loved as a child- The Bad Beginning A book by an author from a country you've never visited- Diaspora A book with a title that's a character's name- The Count of Monte Cristo A novel set during wartime- The Tears of Autumn A book with an unreliable narrator- The Haunting of Hill House A book with pictures- Fantastic Mr. Fox A book where the main character is a different ethnicity than you- Native Son A book about an interesting woman- Thinking in Pictures A book set in two time periods- The Covenant A book with a month or day of the week in the title- The Monday Night Cooking School A book set in a hotel- The Penultimate Peril A book written by someone you admire- Thinking in Pictures A book that's becoming a movie in 2017- Murder on the Orient Express A book surrounding a holiday other than Christmas- A Hallowe'en Party The first book in a series you haven't read before- Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge Series #1) A book you bought on a trip- The following were "bonus" categories, not required but I wanted to read these categories anyway: A book recommended by an author you love- A bestseller from 2016- Me Before You A book with a family member term in the title- Native Son A book that takes place over a character's lifespan- Frankenstein A book about an immigrant or refugee- The Covenant A book from a genre/subgenre that you've never heard of- Perdido Street Station A book with an eccentric character- The Grim Grotto A book that's more than 800 pages- Pillars of the Earth A book you got from a used book sale- A book that's been mentioned in another book- Native Son A book about a difficult topic- Thinking in Pictures A book based on mythology- The Lightning Thief A lot of these books were read for the first time. Some of them were surprising, like Perdido Street Station which is an incredibly weird science fiction book that has no right to make as much sense as it does. I got to revisit old favorites like "A Series of Unfortunate Events," found some new favorites like How to Ditch Your Fairy, and read some books that I'd like to promptly forget I read like Me Before You. And I finally read Frankenstein, which was a really, really good book. Next week I get to jump on the 2018 list, which I hopefully do better at completing.

I could have sworn I've seen that quote associated with Quentin Tarantino.... but its Tarantino so he probably stole that too.

In the (paraphrased) words of my girlfriend who got really mad at me after I told her something about The Last Jedi that I didn't think was a spoiler: "If I chose to avoid it, it's a spoiler." Words I have since chosen to live by.

It was really hard to be optimistic on Wednesday when I made that blog entry. The fire was huge, the area had doubled overnight, strong winds were expected to pick up again. And after posting that entry, the area where my girlfriend lives was advised to evacuate. But hey decided to stay until until it was mandatory, which fortunately never came, and as of now even the recommended evac has been lifted. Since then, things have been optimistic. As of now most of the larger fires seem to be at least 50% contained, which does not mean half way out. They just have preventative lines drawn around them using whatever techniques fire fighters use (or at least, that's how I am interpreting this). If the winds pick up strongly again the fires could get over the containment lines, but so far it doesn't look like those will come. Though many people have been allowed to return to their homes, and some shelters have closed due to lack of necessity, no one is out of the woods yet. I don't know what the plan is to put out the fires, but it might be a while before they are 100% out. That said, the amount of help California is receiving is incredible. Apparently there are over 10,000 fire fighters working, and as of yesterday (I think) there were fire fighters from 17 additional states (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, New York, Minnesota, Florida, South Caroline, Alaska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Indiana) and Australia helping out. Australia! Together they contributed 266 fire engines, 79 fire crews, and 56 other personnel. I am very grateful for the support that they have shown and for the work that they all are doing. If I weren't on the other side of the world I would sit outside the local fire station and cook pancakes all morning for them. My girlfriend works right next to it and will be dropping off a few batches of homemade brownies. So while the battle is far from over, things are looking up, and I'm hoping they keep looking that way.

This isn't the first comment I've read from a fan of the first film expressing disappoint over the trailer. I have chosen to avoid the trailer to go into the movie with fresh eyes so I'm not seeing what ya'll are seeing, but I hope you're all wrong, or that this trailer isn't representative of the film.

There are a lot of fires in northern California right now, but the one I’m paying attention to is being labelled the Atlas Fire (for whatever reason, I don’t know). Firefighters have been battling them all week, but the dry conditions and winds (which are expecting to pick up again) have been making it difficult. The winds are making it especially dangerous. I continue to hope for the best, but it’s a really big fire. Every hour it’s getting closer and closer to my girlfriend’s family’s home, and at this point they are just waiting for the evacuation order, getting all their things together for when that becomes necessary. My parent’s home is farther away, but not that far. My dad seems to be playing it cool when I talk to him, but I know he’s concerned. He doesn’t brush things off like this. My vacation has long since ended and I am back on the other side of the hemisphere, perfectly safe from this, but frustrated that I can’t be there to help my girlfriend or her family. Or my family if that’s what it comes down to. Having to watch from the sidelines really sucks. There are over 1,000 firefighters battling these flames, and more are coming to help out from places nearby. Currently the Atlas fire is 3% contained, which is better than 0% I guess. And that's only one of the I don't know how many blazes. I wish the best of luck to these brave people. I know they are doing everything they can. Thoughts and prayers are going out to everyone who has been affected, whether they’ve lost a business, home, or family member. I will continue to hope for the best.

Man those little screens, while I appreciate the idea, are so annoying. I couldn't do anything on my flight because just breathing on the touchscreen would 'press' random buttons. Just like my work phone. I can't wait for the issues in this technology to be worked out.

I confess that I'm not suuuuper invested in whoever directs episode 9. I'm just... not invested in Star Wars. But after Safety Not Guaranteed I want to see Trevorrow get more opportunities to make small, original, non franchise films. Yeah Book of Henry was just critically slammed but I still want to see it to form my own opinion. Assuming all goes according to plan, I'll be here to watch The Post for my Christmas vacation, which is great because not all American films make it over to my (er, "my") country's Cinemark and Spielberg is one of the few directors whose work I want to make the extra effort to see in theaters. Yeah, of all the projects he's been talking about its kinda odd that he signed on to do The Post out of nowhere. Good for him for picking out the projects that speak to him and inspire him. I'm just gonna say that I really really really really need that Montezuma movie he's talked about in the past. Make that one after Indy please k thanks goodbye.

He can. Other examples of close proximity films from him are The Post (Dec. 2017)/ Ready Player One (Summer 2018), Amistad (Dec. 1997)/Saving Private Ryan (July 1998), BFG (June 2016)/Bridge of Spies (Dec. 2015), War Horse/Tintin, both second half of 2011. War Horse was filmed while the animators did their thing on Tintin. Saving Private Ryan started filming about two months after Amistad wrapped. The question is would he really want to? Especially since he wants to film The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. The only reason we aren't getting that this year is because of casting issues. If Spielberg has found the right person, he may very well want to squeeze that in Before Indy. It doesn't matter because I suspect Lucasfilm won't ask him. I'm sure they already have someone in mind and already started talking to them. And we will find out who that is shortly. Judging from internet reactions I'm probably one of the few people sad that Trevorrow is no longer on the film, and hoping that Lucasfilm finds an inspired choice to pick up where he left off.

Now that's a Star Wars movie I'd like to see. But he needs to do Indiana Jones 5 first because that franchise is just better.[/unpopular opinions]

Living away from your loved ones and having limited communications with them can take a huge toll on you. So can going months with hardly a good night's sleep, ridiculous heat, and speaking a language you aren't comfortable with. So after almost a year abroad I am taking my first vacation back home, about a week and a half. And man oh man has it been a wonderful experience so far. In addition to just spending basic quality time with my family and girlfriend, I've been eating all the food I've missed (good homemade soup! good breakfasts!), and taken some outings I went to San Francisco comic con with my girlfriend the other day and saw Cary Elwes and Renne O'Conner, and left with a Rapunzel print that I'd like to get on my wall. I enjoyed the convention, though I was really disappointed that so many of the vendors at the event were, lets be blunt here, scalpers. I don't know enough about the Pop Vinyl market to tell you if those prices were reasonable, but I do know that there's no reason whatsoever to be selling LEGO blind bag minifigures for $8.00 a bag. Disgusting. I'm also catching up on movies! Or trying. Watched Assassin's Creed, Moana, and Wind River, and am hoping to watch Alien: Covenant and Arrival before leaving. And I am going to see the theatrical re-release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind today so that should be fun. Basically, I'm trying to jam pack my schedule with everything, though I already know I'm not going to succeed. I won't go to all the restaurants I want to go to, I probably won't get to go hiking (we are experiencing a heat wave with temperatures up to 110-111 and no one wants to hike in that), and I won't get to see all the people I want to see. Still, I think I am getting all the possible potential out of this break. I will be coming home again for Christmas, and from a mental standpoint it will help me get through the next few months knowing another vacation is coming up soon and not 11 1/2 months from now.

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. I guess I enjoyed it, though the significance of the title doesn't really kick in until too late in the book, in my opinion.

If you missed something, I did too. Although, that's not difficult. I currently live under a pop culture rock.

In between work, travel (for work), reading mountains of books and watching whatever movie I happen to be able to get my eyes on (the last was Hannah Montana- don't judge), I decided that I wanted a selection of video games for entertainment, because I'm not always in the mood for reading or watching movies, especially when I can't sleep at night and I end up staying up till 1 am or later. My computer does come with a solitaire collection and Candy Crush for free, but there are only so many cards you can flip and candies you can crush before you want something more stimulating. So I took advantage of the recent Steam sale and loaded up with: - Age of Empires 2 (w/all current expansions) - Age of Empires 3 (w/all current expansions) - Assassin's Creed 3/4/Rogue (standard versions) (All for PC) I've been a fan of the Empires games for years, but I've never played any Assassin's Creed. I've had my eye on the games for years, though. Despite being fantasy/science fiction, the historical environments (and your ability to explore them!) really seemed appealing. I went with 3-Rogue 1.) because I didn't want to buy everything and 2.) I liked the idea of exploring a Colonial Americas environment over the other settings. If I find I like the games, I'll look at purchasing more during next year's sale. I've gotten a few hours of playtime in, and I'm intrigued. Fortunately for me, the developers designed this game in mind with the idea that there are people like me who might not play the first two and opened it with a basic voiceover explaining what's happened so far. There are two groups, Assassins and Templars, and they spent centuries vying for control over artifacts from a previous earthen civilization that was wiped out and the same event is looking to wipe out humans again. Protagonist went into this cool machine to relive his past, gained experience, is back for round three. There was something about an Apple of Eden and a temple, too, but I'm just rolling with it. I think I get the gist. After a short intro, we get transported to England (though we quickly set sail for America) where we proceed to play missions that both add a bit of story and help the player get used to the controls and type of things we will be asked to do in this game. Climbing, interactions, following, a little bit of combat, some free running. It was a bit of a slow start, and honestly at this point I still feel like I'm waiting for things to gear up a bit, but there seems to be a huge learning curve here with regards to the controls so the slow start is probably good. I also like that, for the most part, we're given the ability to explore right away since I find that's the best way to learn the controls. But even then its still difficult. I couldn't figure out how to stealthily kill people when I wanted to, but had no problems doing it accidentally while walking around, and then proceeding to get into fights I couldn't figure out how to win. The whole stealth thing is new to me, too, and I feel like there's a lot the game hasn't taught me yet. The manual talks about a notoriety meter, for example, but I can't figure out what that's talking about. (* For reference, I am on currently on the mission where you have to free the prisoners from the camp while disguised as British soldiers.) What I'm hoping from this game as I play it is that I get the opportunity to explore more regions outside of Boston, perhaps in other colonies, villages, or North American wilderness. Not that there isn't enough to do in Boston, I just really like exploring and doing sidequests and finding all the bonus things. I'm also hoping that we get some explanation on why the present day segments are even in these games. I realize this is an ignorant opinion given that I'm starting with the fifth official installment and am only a few hours into it and have very little knowledge of the background lore, but I just don't understand why the present is important beyond being a cool science fiction concept. So far this game seems like it could have easily been constrained to the past and been basically the same. Templars vs. Assassins competing for relics or ancient artifacts still sounds great to me. So far I'm intrigued, though. Looking forward to where the story goes and how the gameplay works out... while being worried about my poor computer's ability to handle the graphics. It's fine right now, but we'll see. In other unrelated quick recent events, I lost my debit card and ID. Got the debit card replaced so now I can finally get money to pay rent (and buy food, food is important), but the ID will take a lot longer to replace. BUT on the bright side I have my first vacation coming up in a few weeks and I'll finally be able to see all the important people I haven't been able to see for the past almost year. Am excited. Am very excited.

You really gotta. I can't tell you how it compares to the movie, but for a sci fi buff like yourself its a must read. While you're at it I recommend you check out the rest of the stories in the collection that it appears in. I didn't love all of them but several really stuck with me. And it's a fairly fast read.

Man I still haven't seen all the 2016 films I want to in order to make my list. I'll probably be making it next summer. Forget about 2017. Also dug Zootopia and really want to see Midnight Special. And Loving. And anything else Jeff Nichols makes. I fell in love with Chiang's "The Story of Your Life" and am very, very eagerly anticipating watching Arrival. I used to believe that a movie could be "objectively alright." I don't know if I believe that anymore. Art is so subjective that I don't know if any movie can be objectively anything.

I have only seen one of these movies so I can't have an informed opinion, but the VFX in 'Jungle Book' was pretty great so that gets my vote.

And it's only gonna get hotter. Hi, BZP. Have half decent internet for a few hours. Just browsing and checking in to say hi. Making sure the place hasn't burned down. At some point in the nearish future I'll write a real blog entry but for now there's lots of things to do now that I can use internet on a laptop. Carry on.

I wrote up a nice entry yesterday before I left, but was unable to post it due to errors. As such, we're skipping the "I'm leaving" and going straight to a quick "I'm here." I'm blogging this now because I'm not sure if that will be possible tomorrow? The Internet situation is up in the air. I'd say expect less activity from me, but I'm pretty inactive to begin with so no one will notice or care. First day was interesting. I'm intimidated by the fact that I'll need to learn two languages, but I think I'll make it work. I don't have a choice if I want to eat. I'm sure I'll blog again soonish. But until then, see you later, BZP Blogs!

... Kind of an aggressive response, no? He watched a music video, was surprised, and blogged about his surprise. On his own blog. If he wants to do that he's perfectly allowed to.

I've had a MacBook Pro since I graduated High School just over seven years ago. It has served me very, very well, and for the most part it is still a functional laptop. However, recently it's been having issues where it will not work unless it's plugged in, and sometimes even then it will just turn off. No, replacing the battery did not help. And it's waaaay out of warranty and too old for Apple to even bother trying to fix it. This isn't necessarily an issue, except that starting next week I will be in a different country, for two year's time, and in a location where electricity can be a bit sketchy. And since I'll be doing both work work and school work, a laptop seems like a pretty necessary tool. I'm a Mac guy, let's just get that out of the way. But I didn't want to bring a brand new Mac since the chances of those getting stolen are pretty high. And I just needed a basic functioning laptop with a decent hard drive. So I got an Asus X540. It's a bit of an overkill with it's 500GB hard drive, but I needed something with more than what a little netbook could offer me, and it was the only one I could find that was in my budget. From what I understand it should be able to decently run the GIS software I may (or may not) need. I'm used to Macs so finding my way around a PC is a bit of a learning curve, but I'm figuring it out so far. Once I get back in two years I'll probably start shopping around for a nicer Mac (if I even have the funds for it), but this one will do in the meantime. And even after the two years it should still function nice as a backup computer. With more research I probably could have found something better, but for what ended up being a fairly last minute thing I'm satisfied.

I listened to the Lincoln score almost every day at work for a good stretch. It's wonderful. My preference for prequel music considering the whole movie is Episode III, but "Across the Stars" from Episode II is my favorite piece of music to come out of the saga. I am still holding out hope that we'll get the extended scores for Episodes II and III the way we did for Episode I and the OT.

I wanted to see this movie before leaving, but unfortunatly other priorities got in the way. i will see it eventually... but not for a while.

The trailers didn't strike me as lighthearted, but rather a more action heavy version of the original. Sure there's Chris Pratt mouthing off jokes the way Chris Pratt does, but doesn't the original have its share of levity as well? I've seen it before, but it's been a very long time and I don't really remember. I am not entirely opposed to remakes. The Coen Brothers' True Grit is far superior to the 1969 version. Ben-Hur (1959) is a remake often listed among the greatest films of all time. Magnificent Seven, the original, is a remake. A very indirect remake, but a remake nonetheless. So that's not a complete turn off for me. I am inclined to judge it on its own merits. Maybe one day I will watch it. I'm sure I will since I love westerns, but it won't be any time soon.

I love almost everything John Williams has done (that I've heard), but this score did nothing for me. Absolutely nothing. The scene with the X-Wings skimming the water was painful because the music was so lifeless. I couldn't even listen to the score on it's own aftward because it was just... bland. My least favorite Williams score since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and probably my least favorite out of everything I've heard from him. I thought for sure that the music was the one thing about this movie that was guarenteed to be good, but even that fell short for me. I will admit upfront that I know very little about music. So maybe there's some secret genius in this score that goes over my head. I just found it totally bland. He recently scored Lincoln. I loved it. Thought it was one of his better scores in a long time.