Winter is Coming

Stardate 04-30-2008

Nerds of the world!!! Pay close attention. I just finished the first book in the Epic Fantasy Series, A Song of Ice and Fire. It is a seven book series. There are currently four books published, number 5 comes out this Fall, and the last two will be out probably in the next three or four years. There are three main story lines throughout the series which are: a vast Civil War between several feuding families, fighting for control of the Kingdom of Westeros, the rising threat of the Others, a race of towering Giants and demon like creatures who live beyond the great Wall of Ice which is at the end of the Northern Border of Westeros, and the journeys of Daeneryes Targaryen, the exiled daughter of the rightful king who was killed in another Civil War 15 years previously and now plans to return to Westeros and claim her rightful throne. The Series was written by George R.R. Martin. Martin has stated that he and the series were greatly influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the biggest difference between Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire is that Rings was influenced greatly by Mythology, whereas, Ice and Fire was influenced by Medieval History.

Book One, A Game of Thrones, takes place on the fictional continent of Westeros. There is also another unnamed continent to the East. The seasons on the continent of Westeros last for thousands of years. Summer is ending, and the freezing Winter is about to begin. This book was definitely not what I expected when I bought it. I was really excited to read a book full of dark magic, mythical creatures, and creative made up races of people. These items are found in book one, but I would say that it only makes up about 10% of the 700+ page book. At first I was disappointed and frustrated, but once I realized that these things were not going to be a major part of book one, I accepted the story for what it was and really began to enjoy it. Rather than a Fantasy feel, the book has more of a medieval feel. The story is full of knights, castles, sword and axe fighting, feuding, betrayal, and a touch of incest.

There are a lot of things that I really loved about this book. The fight scenes, whether they involve a couple of knights or entire armies, are told in vivid detail, are full of blood and gore, and plenty of creative strategy. The good guys don't always win. There are plenty of deaths in book one, including those of major characters. The diabolical and ruthless plotting of individuals to gain control of the Throne of Westeros is full of twists and surprises.

I'm not comparing this series to Harry Potter, but ever since that series ended, I've been craving another long fantasy book series. I'm happy that I decided to start the Song of Fire and Ice. If you are really looking to improve your Nerd Cred, I would recommend that you stop reading crap like Pride and Prejudice, and

start this series ASAP.

This Series has a huge following. Enjoy some of the Ice and Fire culture.

Fan Art

These handsome young men are engaging in the Game of Thrones Board Game/RPG

Neverwhere

Stardate 04-15-2008

I have a new love in my life and his name is Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is a pretty famous Brit who is probably most well known as a Comic Book author. He is also an author of novels, and a TV and movie producer. Most of you will know Gaiman from the movie Stardust. That movie was based off of a novel that he wrote of the same title. Though there was cruelty to magical beasts in that movie (both PETA and I were outraged), I decided that I wanted more Gaiman, so I used last month's Audible Credit and chose to listen to another of his novels, Neverwhere. Gaiman is also the narrator and does an excellent job with the various voices. I would defiantly recommend this listen to those of you out there who use Audible.

I loved Neverwhere because it is probably one of the most imaginative books I have ever read. The descriptions, metaphors, analogies, and the authors attention to detail amazed me and had me smiling throughout the entire book.

Neverwhere is about Richard Mayhew, a Scot living in London who one day finds an injured girl on the street. He decides to help her and as a result, Richard starts down a path that leads him to an alternate realm or reality called "London Below." The story follows Richard as he joins the injured girl (named Door) on her quest through London Below in her attempt to discover who killed her family and figure out why they are also trying to kill her. Their journey through London Below is full of mystery, danger, and treachery.

Throughout the book, Richard, Door and the rest of their caravan are pursued by Messrs. Croup and Vandemar who are the most diabolical, evil, and powerful of all cutthroats and assassins. They are excellent characters who add both humor and evil to the plot.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes well written fantasy full of imagination.

Happy Birthday, Female

Stardate 04-14-2008

BE' NAL, quSlIj DatIvjaj

For those of you who don't speak tlhIngan (Klingon), please allow me to translate.

Woman, Happy Birthday.

If any of you forgot to get Allison a present, here are a list of things that she really wants:
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare or Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS
2. 311 concert tickets for June 30th at USANA
3. Capt'n Eli's Root Beer Soda 12 Pack

Allison, you complete me.

Techmology: Hulu

Stardate 04-04-2008

Do you feel like your not wasting quite enough time on the internets? If so, I have the solution that will allow you to not spend minutes, but hours with our BFF, the Interweb. Hulu.com allows you to watch full length TV shows and Movies online for free. The majority of Hulu's content comes from deals that they have with Fox, NBC, and Universal. Hulu is yet to reach deals with ABC and CBS, but that is obviously one of their future goals. Another plus is that the picture quality is excellent and the shows stream without any d/l time.

Though awesome, if I had to categorize Hulu, I'd say it awesomeness is in likeness to the glory of the moon. It receives my glory of the moon award because you the viewer can choose what you want to watch, whenever you want to watch it- with very little commercial interruption (there are a few 15 second commercials here and there). In order for this technology to receive my highest level of excellence, the glory of the sun award, I would need to be able to take this same techmology, and use it on my TV. That way I can watch my shows and movies in the comfort of my living room, on my couch, with my woman massaging my feet (and taking care of the babies at the same time) and a root beer in hand.

Here are some of the shows that I'm excited for:

Kitchen Nightmares- I currently have a huge man crush and Brit chef Gordon Ramsey. I love when he talks dirty to the camera. The British version of this show is incredibly entertaining. We'll see if Fox screwed up the American version.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer- I never watched it and never really wanted to. Since watching the short lived season of Firefly a few times (Firefly can also bee seen on Hulu), I'm craving more Joss Whedon. We'll see if Buffy can deliver.

Total Recall 2070- Good news for the Cain family. They are about the biggest Total Recall fans I know. Now we can enjoy all 22 episodes of this amazing series.

Another thing I didn't like is that some of the shows and movies (mostly movies) are not full length. They are only clips. It works well for SNL, but not for everything. I was pretty pissed when I figured out that I could only watch a few clips from Day Watch, the follow up to the biggest Russian Sci-Fi epic ever, Night Watch, rather than the whole thing.

I hope that through Hulu, you can all strengthen your relationships with the Interweb.