I saw a screening of Sing Street this past week. It was a perfect movie for somebody in my age group (plus or minus 5 years, probably). The events of the movie all took place in Ireland, so I couldn't exactly relate to the specific circumstances of the characters in the film, but there were a lot of things in the movie that were universal to anyone who was a teenager in the 80s - way too much denim, gigantic hair, gigantic frames, music videos taking over the world, and so much familiar music. It's a rare movie anymore that only plays music I recognize and actually appreciate - I even embarrassingly found myself singing along at a couple of points. I feel bad for those sitting near me. There was also a smattering of original music that was also really good. I was surprised at the lack of U2 music, though. What Irish band was bigger in the 80s?
I really enjoyed the story, even though it was an unlikely happy ending along the lines of a too-familiar theme: boy meets girl, boy goes the extra mile to impress girl, girl ditches boy...and then movie magic kicks in and the girl returns and boy ends up with girl. I prefer the ultimately depressing, but much more realistic story (and all too-familiar) in 500 days of Summer to this one. Happy endings never come this easy. And more often than not, don't come at all. You learn to appreciate what you get. There were a couple of distracting aspects to the movie - just about every kid in the movie, and a good many adults, smoked relentlessly and there were rampant broken families. But that could very well just be Ireland - or at least Ireland in! the 80s. I wasn't there so I have no idea.
A few photos from the film - The lovely Raphina (Lucy Boynton) and Cosmo & Co channeling their inner (and often, outer) Adam Ant, the Cure, Duran Duran, Spandeau Ballet, Depeche Mode...
I just saw (about 10 days later) the track list of the Sing Street soundtrack (which doesn't come out for a week or so) and saw an Adam Levine song listed, which surprised me because I didn't remember anything other than the band in the movie and 80's tunes being played in the film. If I have a chance to watch it again, I'll have to listen more carefully. But this video (minus the Adam-Levine-in-the-studio parts) pretty much sums up the movie's greatness.
Oh, and I'm getting lazy so if you're using a non-HTML5 compliant browser, this video probably won't play for you. And even if your browser is compliant, it's a pretty slow loader, so sit back and wait patiently...
I also saw the Superman/Batman movie last weekend. Meh. I'm not an Aflek fan (though he did look more like an older, grumpier Batman than Christian Bale could have pulled off - I'm pretty sure this film was set about 20 years after the last Batman movie's events) and the whole thing just felt like a ridiculously improbable comic book story. Lex Luthor having a full, shaggy head of hair and acting like a manic Joker-esque (Heath Ledger's Joker) was weird. I was more excited to see several of the movies in the trailers than I was the movie I was actually there to see. Especially afterward. And the Amy Adams bathtub scene with Superman was a little...out of character. At least for the Superman of old. Maybe the current batch of comic book writers have reinvented good ol' Clark and he's getting as busy as anyone else now. I freely admit to being out of touch with superhero comics.
Oh, and for the record - there is no way Batman versus Superman is a thing - Batman would never stand a chance. I don't care how smart, resourceful, gadget-laden or well-trained Bruce Wayne might be, the only thing keeping Superman from crushing him like a bug is Superman being a good guy who doesn't crush bad guys - or "good" guys coming after him - willy-nilly.
Craigslist
We've all heard about Cragslist scammers and shady dealings with both buyers and sellers on Craigslist, but I've now had experiences of my own to share. I've just replaced my mismatched bedroom furniture with a fancy new bedroom set (for the little woman's anniversary gift - the anniversary-theme for 20 years is bedroom furniture, right?) and am now attempting to unload the old stuff using Craislist. Sadly, I've received little interest in most of my stuff, and the interest I have had has been mostly either scammers feeling me out for vulnerability or scammers going all in to rip me off.
Here's the recurring scam that's I've seen several times recently. I've receive a response that's almost word-for-word the same each time in slightly-irregular English. First, I've received this response:
"Hello, i am interested in buying your [whatever the item is]. Do you still have it available? What the actual price you sell to me?
Thanks"
When I respond, I then receive a followup email that's also the same every time -
"I will pay your asking price of $[amount varies by item] and My means of payment is via cashier check. As soon as the check clear in your bank account, then I will..."
and then
"Send me the details below for the check to be mail out if the procedure is Ok by you.
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip-Code:
Cell phone:
Location of the Cemetery:
I will be waiting for your quick response
Thanks
[name varies each time]"
Suspicious, I checked into cashier's check fraud and ways to avoid being ripped off. Basically, if someone offers you a cashier's check, you need to validate the check with whatever bank it is issued from before taking it anywhere near your own bank (unless your bank happens to be the issuer - which would be convenient). If you deposit the check without verifying it first, you will be on the hook for the amount of the check plus fees if the check is bogus. So I queried each of the buyers for information about the bank the cashier's check was drawn on and assured them that as soon as I had verified their cashier's checks, the item would be theirs. Unsurprisingly, this is as far as any of my carbon-copy buyers has gone with the transactions.
Another key similarity I've seen with just about all my Craigslist transactions - almost nobody wants to pay what you're asking - even if you've priced your stuff super low to sell it quickly. It seems to be the norm for most of the buyers to offer about half of my asking price. I don't know if this is because Craigslist buyers assume you're over-inflating the price of whatever you're selling in an attempt to rip them off, or if Craigsist is just, by its nature, a haggler's paradise. But it can be infuriating when someone agrees to your price and then shows up and offers half of what they agreed to via email or on the phone, telling you it's all the money have...so pretty much to take it or leave it. And in my case, I'm generally, by this time, so tired of dealing with these people that I just want to be done with it and I've agreed. The rare transaction that has ended with no haggling has been a joyous day indeed.
I was going to talk about Dirk Gently or my awesome new 24" monitor or maybe my new Pirate Captain bedroom set....but maybe next time.
Finally, something worth mentioning! I lucked into visiting Universal Studios Hollywood on a special preview day for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (we just went because the kids had the week off and there was an offer to get an annual pass for the price of one day's admission). The Wizarding World doesn't officially open until April 7, but everything seemed to be pretty much done from what I could see. As far as I know, this preview day was the first time the general public was allowed in to look around Hogsmeade.
All the Hogsmeade shops were open (as far as I could tell - the doors that didn't open seemed to be facades). I did, of course, try a butterbeer (the non-slushy variety) and picked up some Peppermint Toads and Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Soap and Black Pepper are the worst flavors I've come across so far. It was raining the day we were there (perfect Hogwarts weather), so I also picked up a Gryffendor umbrella to keep a little bit dry in my shorts and t-shirt. I didn't try the Three Broomsticks restaurant, though it was open (we ate at Hard Rock before we knew we would be able to get into Hogsmeade).
I also didn't get to try the ride inside Hogwarts because it was experiencing technical difficulties, but I did get to walk the route through Hogwarts to see all the may displays of wonder between the exterior and the ride itself. The hours long wait to get to the end of the line (once the Wizarding World is officially open) will be filled with much to see and enjoy, at least for the first few times you go on the ride. Also, I tried the the outside roller coaster and found it to be just about my speed. The ride feels a little like an outdoor Space Mountain, though shorter.
So that's my exciting news. Now, on to the usual claptrap...
I have an older co-worker-who-shall-remain-nameless who complains about her working environment. A lot. She can't work in a sitting position for extended periods of time, she has to have special keyboard trays, mouse pads, etc for carpal tunnel. And as icing on the annoying cake, she speaks barely-intelligible, broken Engrish.
Recently, her incessant complaining led to her being given a manager's office with an adjustable desk that could be lowered for...well, whatever imaginary ailment she was suffering from. In addition to the office, she kept her cubicle full of crap (if you can call the awesome sweatshop seating in my office "cubicles"). The manager's office was a temporary solution until a co-worker retired. She then moved into his his "cubicle," which could be adjusted in height. The rub is that the new desk with the adjustable height has a much smaller work area. So she now has at least two work spaces (though she might still use the manager's office - I really don't know). I'm assuming she's going to give up the other work space at some point, but her debris is still currently spread across the space. So I decided to poke a little fun on a Friday while everybody else was teleworking.
First, I printed new name plates for all the desks but the aforementioned employee's (I'm not even going to bother calling them cubicles) with her name, followed by " Extension Cubicle" and inserted them into the name plate frame on each desk over the actual occupant's name. And then I glued an eviction notice to one of the monitors on each desk (other than her two cubes, that is).
Unfortunately, she took the following Monday off to celebrate some obscure holiday, so my joke was sort of a swing-and-a-miss. I did encourage my fellow employees to leave their eviction notices and extension cubicle name plates up for about a week. But on my next telework day, the killjoy took them all down.
I thought about trying to revisit some of the other pranks I've pulled (mostly on Dave) that were slightly more effective, but I don't feel like it. Maybe later.
This next thing isn't a prank, but I'm going to talk about it anyway...so enjoy.
My cube is now a shrine to Batman. It became a Batman shrine to compete with the Superman shrine that another co-worker setup when he moved into his cube (the text-reading-challenged co-worker mentioned in my last rant, Alex). One of his Superman items is a Batman vs Superman picture, which gave me an idea. Prior to his arrival, I didn't have a single Batman-related item in my cube and had never even thought to bring any Batman decor to work. But I thought it would be funny to answer his love for Superman with a feigned love for Batman.
But then, as I generally do, took it too far. So I now have a buttload of Batman stuff in my work space and have far outpaced his Superman acquisitions. I haven't purchases anything new other than a Batman toy for $2.00 from Barnes and Noble and too many $5.00 comic frames from Michael's to display Batman comics. All the comics were already in my collection. I even contributed (negatively, I thought) to my nemesis's cube decor with a couple of Lex Luthor comics (the anti-Superman). But that flopped. He actually liked them. I think the only thing my Batman vs Superman battle is proving to anyone is that I'm a gigantic nerd. The Star Wars calendar, Flight of the Conchords poster, and math clock on my wall don't help dispel than notion.
Xenia strikes again!
Another noteworthy thing: Xenia has released a new song called Catch Me If You Can. It's good. You should download it - legally, so Xenia gets a few cents from your 99 cent purchase.
Books
Also, here's something I neglected to share - a couple of slightly more detailed "book" reviews than the usual nonsense I've been sharing. I say "book" because they were ebooks, so they don't feel as much like real books to me.
A Vanishing Glow by Alexis Radcliff
If you're a fan of RA Salvatore's Corona books, specifically the Saga of the First King series, I suspect you'll be a fan of Alexis Radcliff's novel, A Vanishing Glow. The setting, the fictional world - it all felt so familiar (this was an impression I received very early into the book, which was strengthened as I read on). And I don't mean this to be a criticism of the writing - I'm a big fan of Salvatore's books. I really enjoyed the books in the Saga of the First King series. Despite the similarity to Salvatore's writing, I wasn't really hooked by the story until I was a couple of hundred pages in (it took a few weeks to read the first half of the book). But as the pace of the story picked up and the plot became more concrete, I found myself pulling the book up on my phone and reading whenever I had an idle minute - quickly tearing through the second half of the story. The intertwining plot elements kept me guessing about who was really pulling the strings from behind the curtain, right up to the end.
If you're unfamiliar with the Saga of the First King novels, my comparison to Salvatore probably didn't mean a thing to you. So here's an attempt to explain. A Vanishing Glow is set in a medieval European-type world, though not our own. It's very similar, but obviously not anywhere on this planet in any timeline. As in our own world, there are no dragons, hobbits, elves, dwarves, goblins or other Tolkienesque inhabitants of this fictional world. And magic isn't really present, though there's some argument for magic. The technology of this world feels an awful lot like magic (and the embracing of the technology by at least one of this world's religions), but really feels more like science than magic - especially with the steampunkish robotic body parts and other machines. Salvatore does something similar with gems that feel a lot more like magic than science in his Saga of the First King stories. A visitor from either of these worlds would likely see science in our universe and nothing more than magic.
I look forward to a sequel to provide some closure to the characters who didn't really get a "happy ending" (or any other kind of ending) in this introduction to Ghavarim.
Our Fair Eden by Harry Manners
I'm as big a fan of Dystopian fiction as the next guy. I love Steve Stirling's Emberverse novels (Dies the Fire and its many sequels), John Barnes's Daybreak novels, Steven King's stabs at the end of the world in the Dark Tower books, The Stand and Cell, Cormac McCarthy's more introspective approach to post-apocalyptic life in The Road, and even appreciate the more politically oriented writing of DW Ulsterman (Dominatus and its many spinoffs). I'll even mention a Glenn Beck I read not long ago, and really enjoyed to my surprise, The Overton Window. You could even throw Larry Niven's Lucifer's Hammer, Frank Herbert's The White Plague), and pretty much all of Isaac Asimov's books were post-apocalyptic in some way, though from a much different angle. I'm generally reluctant to start reading a series marketed as teen or children's lit, so I've never read The Hunger Games or Divergent books, but I've appreciated the movies. And who isn't a fan of The Walking Dead?
So now, having displayed my End-of-Days credentials, I present to you another recent discovery: Our Fair Eden by Harry Manners. This is one of the very few books with which I started by reading a digital version. I have several digital DW Ulsterman books on my tablet these days and only one paper version on my bookshelf (the first of his stories that I read, Dominatus), so maybe this is a trend I'll be, despite my misgivings for digital books, pursuing further in the future. Anyway, back to Our Fair Eden...
My first and last impressions of Our Fair Eden were of a smaller scale Hunger Games or Divergent (impressions made without the benefit of, as I mentioned, having read any of those books). It wasn't exactly like either of those stories, though. The story did take a fresh approach to the humanity-on-the-ropes trope - sending the survivors of global catastrophe off to one or another oasis in desolate landscapes (as I understood the story, these desolate landscapes were expected to become future lush landscapes due to a global climate in flux). But the protagonist of the story was never really adequately formed in my mind. The one characteristic that was explored was his homosexuality, which I found distasteful...but maybe that's just me. I also found many very interesting aspects of the story (the soldier-clone-guards and their soylent green diet, for one) to be underdeveloped, leaving me unsatisfied. And the story's ending was disappointing. I don't demand a happy ending with every book I read. But if there's no hope and no sense of accomplishment, I'm left wondering why the story was even worth telling in the first place? Is it just meant as nothing more than a cautionary tale?
I honestly don't know if I'd pick up a sequel.
Race Wars by DW Ulsterman
These stories are almost post-apocalyptic, but definitely with a much darker, politically-tainted scenario. This is really just another approach to tell the same stories in Dominatus, Tumultus, and the Mac Walker stories. Or really any of his stuff. Big government is plotting to turn every American against his neighbor (neighbors with different pigmentation, anyway) and take out any opposition to the plan, within the government or without. Ulstermnan's writing has improved markedly since Dominatus, so his stories have become much more readable.
It's funny how the events in these stories mix in my head with the Once Second After characters and even some of the Walking Dead events/characters. It's just a big mess of doom and gloom sloshing around in my noggin.
The Force Awakens by Alan Dean Foster
This is the only book (physical or ebook) that I've actually read since the last post. And like all the Star Wars novelizations, there were a good many confusing omissions from the film that were fleshed out. Like what happened to Poe when the tie fighter crashed on faux-Tatooine? Or what's the deal with the new death star super-weapon? And since Alan Dean Foster penned the very first Star Wars novel, his voice fits the story perfectly (unlike the horrible, barely readable mis-fit of the author's style in Aftermath).
So that's pretty much all I have to say. I say good day, sir.
Adventures in Texting...
or "the trials of driving a 17 year-old car"
You'd think that after all this time, I'd have something totally amazing to share. Surely, in all the time since I last blathered about anything, something noteworthy must have happened, right?
Sadly, no.
But something funny happened a couple of days ago. Earlier in the day, My fine young newly-minted Associate Programmer co-worker, Alex, asked me if I had a Jetta and then showed me a comic about Jettas.
That's not the funny part.
Much later in the day, I left the office and tried to start my super-sweet 1999 Jetta. No love. The battery wasn't totally dead, but it was dead enough that it wouldn't start. So I weighed my options for a jump (I had jumper cables, fortunately). I could call for road-side assistance, which would take at least a half hour to arrive, or try to find someone in the office to badger into helping me. My first two choice were either already gone for the day or not at their desks when I left, so I went with number three - the aforementioned Alex.
I sent him a text.
After this confusing exchange, nothing happened for a few minutes so I sent another text, thinking that I was playing along with his weird responses, though not really sure where he was going with it.
Still nothing for a few minutes, so I tried again...and again a few minutes later. I began to wonder if maybe just calling for road-side assistance would have been faster.
Finally, I got another response. But it was even more confusing than his earlier messages.
I was really beginning to wonder if maybe I'd misjudged Alex's mental stability. This was getting weird. But I'd already invested about 15 minutes into this nonsense, so I forged ahead!
A few minutes later, I was about ready to give up, so I made one last appeal.
But then I thought....oh, maybe he's already gone for the day (he parks on the other side of the building so could have easily left without me seeing him) and that's why he's giving me so much grief. So I checked to see if he was still there. He was. And apparently he thought I was just goading him for still being there.
But I still could't figure out why he was giving me so much grief about jumping my car. Why not just tell me no? So I tried one more time. And all was explained.
I laughed loudly. And then told him he was a goofball.
And then I laughed some more.
When my battery died again the next day, I made sure I was more clear with my request for assistance.
Books
I've also read a few books. It's been a while since I really felt like sharing why I loved the books that I really enjoyed reading. but here's the Reader's Digest versions -
The Magician's Land (Lev Grossman)
This book sat on the to-read shelf for many, many moons. And I'm not sure why - I really enjoyed the first two books in the series. And this one was no different. It was another interesting story with our old friend Quentin/Harry/Holden. The books started out with such a strong Harry Potter/Narnia/Holden Caulfield vibe that Quentin is always an amalgam of those characters in my head. And this last book brought the core characters back together. One other thing I will mention - this is, disappointingly, the final book in the series.
Oh, and one more other thing, the books have been adapted into a series by the SciFi channel (SyFy is just such a weird name, and I refuse to use it). But names have been changed, characters have been aged, and casting of most of the characters is much, much different from what I saw in my head or even how they were described in the book. But I'm still stoked to watch it.
The Long Utopia (Terry Pratchett)
These books have never felt much like Terry's books to me, but I've enjoyed them all despite this. And there's one more slated to be published soon that was apparently completed before Terry's untimely death. So I'll be looking forward to that one, too. As for the story, it's taken an odd turn, with another alien race coming onto the scene and threatening the very existence of the long Earths.
The Shepherd's Crown (Terry Pratchett)
This book is, without any doubt, a Terry Pratchett novel. And I loved every page, every sentence, every word. It's so sad that there will never been another Tiffany Aching story. Or a Commander Vimes tale. Or any updates on the misadventures of Rincewind. Tiffany is growing up, the Feegles are as entertaining as ever and Granny...well, I don't want to ruin anything if you haven't read it.
The Change (SM Stirling and a host of others)
Steve Stirling spends most of his post-change time in the Pacific northwest, or at least following the adventures of the denizens of the Pacific northwest. So it was really interesting to read about what would have happened in Southern California, Australia, Florida, New Mexico/Old Mexico, and many other places. The most recent Emberverse/Change novel actually piggy-backed off the Southern California story in this book. Not all the stories were great, but many were.
The Desert and the Blade (SM Stirling)
This is yet another sequel to the what-if-all-known-technology-ceased-to-function Change stories. Forty-something years have passed. Heroes have arisen and fallen. And (medieval-level) civilization is returning to more and more places...including the Los Angeles basin. Despite the early assertions that LA would be a wasteland of cannibals and the dead, we learn (in The Change) that people did manage to hang on in parts of LA. And though many died, others lived. And without even resorting to cannibalism. Much.
The Water Knife (Paolo Bacigalupi)
With all the drought stuff going on in California, this book felt like it could have been a pretty accurate prediction of what is to come in the desert southwest. If it is - steer clear of Arizona. And most of Nevada (unless you're loaded). A good, if quite often super-depressing, story.
Star Wars, the original trilogy (Alan Dean Foster, Donald F Glut, James Khan)
It''s funny that George Lucas is credited with writing the original book when it was written by Alan Dean Foster, who also wrote the novelization of the new Star Wars story. And all three of the originals are well worth a read - if only to show how much the original scripts changed and were melded together as they were made into films. Scenes moved from one film to another, famous lines attributed to one character were actually spoken by another...it was interesting.
Star Wars Aftermath (Chuck Wendigo)
When I read that a book was being published that bridged the events that occurred between the end of Return of the Jedi and the upcoming The Force Awakens, I was pretty stoked. I had been intentionally steering clear of any information about the new Star Wars film, but I figured the Admiral Thrawn/Mara Jade branch of the Star Wars timeline was out and Dark Empire wasn't coming to fruition either. And all the other expanded universe stuff was being discarded as if it had never been created. Sad, but that's what happens when a fictional universe doesn't belong to a single author. Splinters happen and continue to happen endlessly. Disney hasn't really improved on the model. Aftermath has shades of the Thrawn stories, but isn't nearly as well written. I suspect the author knew someone to get the gig - so much about the way he wrote it felt very un-Star Warsly.
Rogue Lawyer (John Grisham)
I skipped several John Grisham books over the past few years because I was tired of how preachy he was getting. But I picked up the last one, Gray Mountain, and despite it's underlying anti-business/big-corporations-are-bad message, really enjoyed it. Rogue Lawyer is another idealistic romp down Innocent Victim Lane, but is so engaging and has such strong characters that I couldn't help but be sucked in. It was a lot closer to The Firm than most of his other books have been. Less preaching, more action.
One Second After, (William Forstchen)
I love a good apocalyptic story. And this is a very good one. It lacks all unexplainable elements (there's no technology in this book that doesn't actually exist, no unexplainable phenomenon that causes technology to stop, no return of magic to the earth, etc.). And it could all happen. North Korea, Pakistan, Iran in the near future all have the means (if not the delivery) to bring a large part of this country to its knees. And turn otherwise well-mannered people into murderous hordes. Not zombies, just people who will kill for something to eat. Or drink. Just consider how dependent you are on clean water, electricity, and food deliveries to the local grocery. Take them away and things go bad. Fast.
Ender's Game, Ender in Exile, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind (Orson Scott Card)
I read these many years ago (not Ender in Exile, but the others). And have often thought about reading them again. They gradually made their way in from one of the many book bins in the garage to the to-read bookcase. And finally to the front of the reading list. I actually have half of Xenocide and all of Children of the Mind to read still, but I'm getting through them pretty quickly. These were all paperbacks purchased before I could afford hard cover books, so the bindings are coming unglued and some of the covers are bent and torn, but they're all still readable. And I'm enjoying them this second time through as much as I did the first time. Whether you love homos or hate them, you've gotta admit that Orson is a great writer.
I was going to mention some of the sweet loot I got for Christmas, but I doubt even Steve made it this far...so it's likely no one would ever read it. Maybe I'll feel like talking about them later. I was also going to mention my Batman vs. Superman battle at work with Alex. But...maybe next time.
The auctioning of my treasures also continues, but I don't feel like talking about any of the awesome stuff I no longer own. And it kills me just a little bit every time I package my long-stored comics and toys up and send them on to their new homes. Sadly, you can't even tell that there's any less junk where my treasures were once stored.
I have an older co-worker-who-shall-remain-nameless who complains about her working environment. A lot. She can't work in a sitting position for extended periods of time, she has to have special keyboard trays, mouse pads, etc for carpal tunnel. And as icing on the annoying cake, she speaks barely-intelligible, broken Engrish.
Another noteworthy thing: Xenia has released a new song called Catch Me If You Can. It's good. You should 
