Whispers of the Muse

Little Brother & Independence Day

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:38:04 -0600

Cory Doctorow

So,I've been meaning to post about this book for awhile, but the Fourth of July seems like the perfect opportunity to finally go for it, given the central commentary Little Brother makes about our country's conflicting obsessions with freedom and security. I don't say this lightly, but this is a book that everyone should pick up and read as a primer on current technologies, considerations of the predicted evolutions of "The War on Terror", and just as an entertaining story to boot.

In near-future San Francisco, Marcus Yallow and some of his friends get hauled in by the Department of Homeland Security for being at the wrong place and the wrong time when a terrorist attack destroys a bridge. Though not guilty of the terrorist attack, Marcus's interest in technology and cryptography makes him a primary suspect, which leads to harsh "questioning" by his captors. After he his finally released, he decides to turn the tables on the paranoid police state crackdown of his hometown by creating a stealth network, which ultimately propels the plot to an inevitable confrontation between the forces of security and the forces of privacy.

This is Orwell's 1984 for the next generation (as is obvious by the allusion in the title). Like its predecessor, Little Brother raises troubling questions about a government gone too far, which ultimately feels familiar to any modern American. If you're looking to do something really patriotic this Independence Day, it might be worth putting down the sparkler for a moment and picking up a copy of this book, even if only for future insight into the complicated times in which we all live now.

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There's A Reason They Call Them The HARD-y Boys

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:33:01 -0600

The Hooded Hawk Mystery (Hardy Boys, Book 34)

Franklin W. Dixon

As I was going through my shelf of mending materials earlier this week at the library, I came across an unexpected find. You see, one of the books awaiting my attention was an older Hardy Boys mystery titled The Hooded Hawk Mystery. Even in my childhood, I'd never ever read a Hardy Boys mystery (though I went through most of the Boxcar Children), so I've never really looked at one closely. After opening this book, however, maybe I should have been aware of this smut sooner.

As I turned to the part of the book where the page was ripped out (and hence on my mending shelf), I scanned the chapter title. And I did a double-take. I had no idea that the Hardy Boys had such a smutty mind. Parents are worried about Grand Theft Auto while pushing books with chapter titles like these onto their children? Truly, this is a messed up world that we live in.

Don't believe me? Here's the offending page, as dutiful recorded for the ages. (And yes, I know that the word can also mean "a mistake or blunder", but you have to admit it's a pretty funny way to title a chapter taken in our modern context.)

A Hardy Boys Chapter Title

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Frak, When Do We Get More Battlestar?

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:44:06 -0600

Battlestar Galactica - Season Three

L and I just finished caught the most recent Battlestar Galactica episode, "Revelations", over at my favorite TV-on-the-Internet website, Hulu.com. This was the last episode created before the Writer's Strike started, meaning we won't be getting any new Battlestar Galactica until 2009 at the earliest.

Just what the frak do they expect us to do? Do any other TV shows really compare with the awesomeness that is the new Battlestar Galactica? Maybe we'll take Anthony up on his offer to rewatch the Terminator movies, which might inspire us to watch the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I still have to get L through the last two seasons of Six Feet Under, but I don't think that will take us long. (And there's still season five of Babylon 5, but it's tough to watch since it pales in comparison to the rest of the seasons of that great scifi epic.)

So, any suggestions on TV shows we might try watching? We tend to prefer serial-type shows, rather than episodic ones, as we prefer our storylines to be long and complicated, but I'm game for any suggestions. I guess what I'm saying is: has anyone seen anything good lately?

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No, I Don't Want to Buy an Edge Card!

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:04:43 -0600

Spore: Displacer Beast

L and I hit the Mall yesterday to do a little shopping. While she was busy getting some cute shirts, I trekked over to GameStop to hit up their video games. Normally I avoid GameStop (and all their other differently named franchises) like the plague, since I hate constantly being asked to purchase their customer loyalty card and to pre-order games I have no interest in, but this time I was a man on a mission. I'd noticed on Cheap Ass Gamer that they were offering a $10 trade-in bonus for trading in two games, which meant I could get rid of two subpar games and pick up a case for my PSP and maybe even a little extra.

After turning down their customer loyalty card half-a-dozen times and refusing to pre-order any games, I jettisoned Ass Defect (aka Mass Effect) and Wii Play to pick up a simple GameStop-branded PSP case and the full version of the Spore Creature Creator. You see, L and I had played around with the Spore Creature Creator demo a little last week and we'd had a great time making freaky creatures with the limited number of parts, so we were itching to try the whole enchilada.

L tooled around with the full version we purchased last night, cranking out a dragon-gryphon-creature and a fugly goblin. I gave it a spin this morning and tried my hand at spinning out one of my favorite iconic D&D creatures, a displacer beast. The tools are amazingly versatile and I can't wait to see what else our careless hands will wrought.

Spore: Displacer Beast

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Revivify

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:47:47 -0600

Yeesh, no new blog posts since April? And I'm getting shown up by the Pants of all people? What is this world coming to?

It is high time to kick this collection of ramblings back into gear! It's not like I don't have things to go on and on about, like:

books I've been reading and enjoying, like Silverwing and Little Brother
games I've been playing the crud out of, like The World Ends With You
early impressions of my early birthday gift to myself, a God of War PSP bundle
reflections on the D&D 4E (Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition) and new campaign ideas
thoughts about future plans, like more web developing at the library and other careers I'm thinking about
how dog-sitting for two weeks can make anyone crazy (or crazier)

So with this list now firmly implanted in the tubes of the Internet, I am committing to blogging about all of these things and more in the days ahead! I'm getting my rain dance on, because this drought of blog posts is officially over!

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Change

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:53:29 -0600

"There must be some way out of here,"
said the joker to the thief.
"There's too much confusion.
I can't get no relief."
--"All Along the Watchtower", Bob Dylan

I had an epiphany driving home from work yesterday; a realization that had long been brewing in my mind but finally percolated to conscious thought. It's time for me to step away from the library profession and walk a different road.

There are many things I love about working in libraries: finding answers to tricky questions, helping others find what they need even if they don't know what that is, and much more. I've also met a great many awesome people while working in libraries, as well as made some close, trusted friends, and hell, even found my wife.

But the thing is, right now, I'm pretty sure I'll never be completely satisfied long-term working in libraries. I've slowly discovered that I need a career that is constantly challenging me intellectually or at least keeping me on my toes. That doesn't happen often enough in the field I am now (or at least not in the way I need) and I don't expect it would change much even if I stick with it.

I don't yet know where I'll look to next, as I have some soul-searching to do first, but there are plenty of possibilities. And that thought alone gives me the courage to start anew.

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Create A Dragon

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:30:34 -0700

Create A Dragon

So, since I've been slacking and haven't posted anything for February yet, today you get a link to a nifty little Flash application on DeviantArt. Now, you too can Create A Dragon! (If only we had a library-card-on-demand printer at work, we could have a "Create A Library Card" Flash application on our website that would let folks design their own custom cards. Wouldn't that be cool?)

Here's the cute little dragon I whipped up in a few minutes. Why not make one of your own and post it to your own Vox? (Or if you prefer canines, this artist has a Create A Wolf application too!)

Cute Snow Dragon

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2007 Game of the Year: Revenant Wings

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:30:38 -0700

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

I've been meaning to get around to this post for awhile now, so you'll just have to forgive me that I'm announcing my own personal video game of the year for last year a few weeks late.

The year two-thousand-and-seven was an amazing year for gaming. I've posted about many of my favorite games this year, including Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, The Legends of Zelda and Spyro: Phantom Night, Pokemon Diamond, and Wario Ware: Twisted! I also didn't post about some game I really enjoyed, like Super Paper Mario and Halo 3.

But although all those games rocked my socks, my personal pick for video game of the year can go to only one game: Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the Nintendo DS. My wife gave it to me in the middle of December as an early Christmas present and as soon as she did, I was hooked. Although it's both a sequel to a game I hadn't ever played AND in a series that I swore off after terminal frustration with random battles, this game captivated me completely.

Revenant Wings Wallpaper

What's not to love? The art and visual design of the game is gorgeous (with cute, retro sprites for the characters you control); the music is amazing for a portable game, the story has surprising twists and turns (and was far more compelling to me than the much-lauded Mass Effect, which I consider to be an Ass Defect); and the gameplay, though repetitive, was fun throughout (the difficulty did vary widely throughout the game, as the final missions were insanely tough, but even that didn't damper my spirits). Honestly, I can't think of a better game I've played in a long, long while. My highest praise is that I'm looking forward to playing through it again soon and I never ever play through games twice.

But now I'm curious, my video game playing friends, as to what your personal Game of the Year would be? I know that L's involves assassination, and the Pants might go with one that involves rocketing around as a slime, but I'd love to see a blog post or two about them. What game of 2007, in your opinion, was super special awesome?

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Picture Perfect

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:47:17 -0700

Kodak EasyShare C613

Users of the Internets, fear me (and my wife). For, with many thanks to my mother-in-law, L and I are now armed with a... digital camera! And we shall proceed to clog your tubes with the many frightening photos. This is only a small preview of the terrible digitized wrath that is to come.

But if you aren't afraid yet, you should be. For, L and I will soon unleash our greatest weapon of doom upon the hapless citizenry of the world. Prepare yourself, if you can, for... LOLBILBOZ:

i iz so ashamed

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Reflecting on Northern Lights

nobody@vox.com(Dylan) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:49:00 -0700

His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass

A whole troop of folks (including L, Kris, Anna, Erin, Julie, Melody and Anthony) trekked over to the downtown Edwards 9 to see The Golden Compass on opening weekend. Somehow, I was expecting that the theater would be as packed as it usually is for blockbuster fantasy releases like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but it seemed less than half-full when the movie started. Perhaps that's because of the nature of Boise (unfounded or not, some mainstream religions have made themselves into an enemy of this film) or that we hit an early afternoon matinée.

Whatever, the reason was that people weren't showing up in droves to see this movie, they were really, really missing out. It's been a few years since I listened to the amazing audiobook production of the series (His Dark Materials), but I was not disappointed by this adaptation. The acting was phenomenal and the special effects were beyond impressive -- I'm still not sure how they pulled off all those deamons as well as they did. The movie suffered a little for an incredibly rushed storyline (but at least it didn't bog down) and some of the music was simply atrocious in a movie of this caliber.

I'm eager to see how the second and third books are rendered into films and I can't wait to see how they'll deal with some of the more challenging issues that crop up further into the series. I'm also looking forward to rereading (or perhaps re-listening to) the books, to see how they really measure up with their movie counterparts.

Speaking of the movies, have you all seen The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer? I haven't read the books for that series yet, but it looks like fun. Plus, a gryphon! (What more do I need in a movie? I mean, I suffered through Narnia for just a few gryphon cameos, proving that I will watch just about anything for some sweet, sweet gryphon action.)

The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer #2

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