Easter 2007 (i)

There was lotsa picture-taking.

Easter 2007 (j)

Then it was time to hide the Easter eggs for the kids.

Easter 2007 (k)

And finding them all was quite the challenge.

Easter 2007 (l)

Finally, it was time for noshing...

Easter 2007 (m)

... socializing...

Easter 2007 (n)

... and last but not least, just plain old relaxing. Happy Easter to everyone who came over to celebrate!

2007 Phoenix Pride Parade

Yesterday was the 11th Annual Phoenix Pride Parade. It was the second year in a row that we made it. As usual, the interaction was great. Here's Liz with one of the entrants. No, that isn't me.

A separate blog with more pics of the parade to follow, as soon as I pare down the 200+ photos to a reasonable level.

So long, Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (11/11/22 - 04/11/07}

I first got acquainted with Kurt Vonnegut when I read "Breakfast of Champions" in High School. I didn't know anything about him or his works. But I did know that BoC was a short book, easy reading, and some of the pages had drawings on them, a few of which were even suggestive. In other words, it was a perfect way to fulfill a book report requirement. Indeed, I can only think of one better novel for a slacker's book report - "Flowers For Algernon".

I remember being mostly confused by BoC, but it served its purpose. Several decades would pass before I came to appreciate his writing, his politics, and his personal convictions.

Rest In Peace, Kurt. The world will be a bit emptier without you.

WoT Odds : Rand al'Thor

- Character -

The main cheese of the Wheel of Time, so we might as well get our prediction for him done. He's also known as The Dragon Reborn, Shadowkiller, Coramoor, Car'a'carn, and a host of other honorifics.

- Chances of Surviving Tarmon Gai'don -

Define "surviving".

- Why He Won't Survive -

Min prophecied it.

- Why He'll Survive -

The Aelfinn prophecied it.

- If I Was Writing WoT, Rand Would... -

What does the Dragon Reborn do, once there is no longer a need for the Dragon Reborn? He's conquered a slew of kingdoms, yet doesn't show a bit of desire to actually do any ruling. He's going insane, and he's dangerously powerful. There's only one place for him, and it's the... WWF! Oops, sorry, World Wildlife Federation, I gues its the WWE now. Professional Wrestling hasn't had a star that could draw fans since Hulk Hogan got old. bald, and stopped taking steroids. Rand is a godsend. Want him to be a "good guy" this month, a "bad guy" next month, and a "psycho guy" the month after that? Rand's the man. And think of the pyrotechnics he can do. Yeah, the stub of a left-hand can be a problem, but we'll put some sort of bionic replacement on there. Maybe a mechnical claw. I can't wait to see him in a "No Holds Barred" match. ;-)

WoT Odds : Nynaeve al'Meara

- Character -

Originally, a village wisdom (healer) in Two Rivers, and a childhood friend of Rand, Perrin, and Mat. Now an Aes Sedai (in Egwene's camp), wife of Lan Mandragoran, and currently traveling with Rand.

- Chances of surviving Tarmon Gai'don (*) -

95%

(*) Sounds a lot like 'Armageddon', doesn't it?

- Why She'll Survive -

Well, Min has foretold that Rand has to die in order to then live, so who do you think is going to heal The Dragon Reborn other than the most powerful healer in the land?

- Why She Won't Survive -

There's that touchy situation of being married to a man (king, actually), who's also bonded to Moiraine, and it is pretty obvious that Moiraine is going to be making a comeback in Book 12. Sounds like someone "has to go" in this triangle.

- If I Was Writing WoT, Nynaeve Would... -

... ditch Lan and start up a Healing Pyramid Scheme in the good old "Amway" business plan. Hire on other Healers (train them if necessary), and tell them to charge for their services. The "hirer" gets 10% of the profits. The "hiree" can in turn get enlist/train other Healers, but has to give 10% of her overall income to her "Hirer". Eventually, Nynaeve gets filthy rich, buys the throne of Malkier, and graciously offers to let Lan come back as her "consort". :-)

Wheel of Time : Knife of Dreams

Knife Of Dreams (Book 11 of "The Wheel of Time")

Rating : B+

I've been a fan of Robert Jordan's WoT series since I wandered into the local Walden's Bookstore years ago and found them handing out *FREE* copies of the first half of Book One. Smart marketing there.
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Now, 11 books and nearly 10,000 pages later (which Jason tells me works out to and estimated 2½ million words), I'm still hooked on it.
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KoD is, as always, a superb narrative of the various characters in Robert Jordan's world. If there is a criticism, it is the usual one - you can tear out the first half of the book and not miss any plot-advancement. Elayne's been trying to win the Lion Throne of Andor for a couple books now; she still is. Mat's been trying to figure out women (specifically, Tuon) for two books; he still is. Perrin has been planning how to rescue his wife Faile for three books at least; he still is. About the only "progress" to the story in the first half of KoD is following Egwene as she sets about to undermine Elaida in the White Tower, all while being spanked thrice daily in an attempt to rehabilitate her.
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But if the first half drags with regards to the overall plot, the second half more than makes up for it. All of the above sub-plots are resolved (except for Egwene/Elaida); and Rand withstands yet another attack of 10-gazillion trollocs (how DO they always seem to know where he is?), only to lose his left hand in an encounter with Semirhage. To boot, there is reason to believe Moiraine will make an encore appearance in the next Book.
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Speaking of which, we are promised by Robert Jordan that the next book (tentatively titled "A Memory of Light") will finish the saga, even if it takes 1500 pages. Alas, RJ has some very serious health problems at present (see the Wikipedia entry on him for details), which makes the slated release date (early 2009) for aMoL quite problematic. It has long been my fear that RJ might "pull a Tolkien" and shuffle off this mortal coil before finishing WoT.
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So we'll give KoD a "B+" rating, taking off points mostly for the plot-dragging over its first half. It's still an excellent book.
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In light of Robert Jordan's health problems, and the fact that aMoL won't be released until 2009 at the earliest, it seems appropriate to start taking odds whether the various WoT characters will or won't be still alive come the end of Book 12. I'll periodically post these individuals/odds, along with how *I* would resolve each character's fate, if I were Robert Jordan. However, do not expect my answers to be overly reverent. ;-)

Within Temptation - The Heart Of Everything

Within Temptation : The Heart Of Everything

Rating : ***** *** (out of 10*)

Another very fine effort from the Dutch Symphonic Metal band, Within Temptation. What you think of it will depend a lot on what you think of their last two CD's - Mother Earth and The Silent Force.

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THoE harkens back to early WT stuff. It's more "hard rock" and less symphonic - and even less Metallic - than TSF and ME. So is this a "regression" or a "return to our core values"? The answer is in the ear of the beholder.

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WT has finally signed with an American distributor, so we may at last be able to find their CD's and videos in the record stores. And it is rumored that they will be doing a US tour with Lacuna Coil later this year. If so, I'm sooo there, even if I have to fly over to Los Angeles.

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The only drawback to this album is the song-order. The first three tracks are quite "rock-ish" and take some getting used to. You don't get much symphonic metal until Track 4 (Our Solemn Hour), but from there through Track 10 (The Truth Beneath The Rose), it's classic WT. The final track, Forgiven, is a mellow ballad that feels a bit out of place on a WT album.

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One gets the feeling that this CD's raison d'être is to break into the American Metal market. If so, it's a good effort. Move over, Evanescence. Its time the US gets treated to some superb European Metal.

4 Years

Happy Anniversary, Dubnutz. You jerk.

Mashed Metaphors & Smooshed Similes

From MSNBC.com on March 14th. Norman Ornstein, political expert at American Enterprise Institute, on the congressional investigation into the recent firings of seven US attorneys...

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"Some of it is like peeling back layers of an onion. It may lead in other directions".

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Uh, Norman. Don't give up your day job to become a writer.

Phoenix (Gay) Pride Parade - 2007

The Phoenix Gay Pride Parade will be held on Saturday, 14 April, 2007. Parade starts @ 11:00 AM, and goes up 3rd St. For more details, visit the Arizona Pride website at :

www.azpride.org

We went last year for the first time. It was a blast, despite Liz getting all the beads and invitations to gay bars. You're virtually guaranteed a curbside seat, which means it's a great photo-op. Also, it is a good lesson in cultural diversity. The crowd was 90% gay, so we got to see how it feels to be in the minority for a change.

Taylor Dayne and En Vogue are scheduled to play at the festival, which runs Sat. & Sun. and commences right after the Saturday morning parade. I don't know the show times for TD and EV.

Last year, we only made it to the parade. Perhaps this year, we'll expand our cultural awareness even more by going to the festival.

Hello 90°F

Contrary to popular belief, Phoenix does indeed have four seasons. This year, Spring was from 11:15 AM to 4:45 PM last Tuesday.

T5CE - #1 : Pink Floyd (09/17/72)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #1

Pink Floyd - Big Surf - 17 September 1972

Anyone who has ever seen a Pink Floyd concert will surely include them somewhere in their top 5 concerts. For me, this was the best concert ever, although its probably a tie with the Springsteen concert listed below.

This was the first of three times that I've seen PF. See the Elton John listing below for comments about Big Surf.

The circumstances were similar to Bruce. PF's most-recent album was Meddle, which recieved extensive local air-play by KDKB. But nationwide, the Boys of Floyd were still relatively unknown. That would change in another year or so, when Dark Side Of The Moon came out.

So once again, we have a crowd of 5,000-10,000 or so. 99% of which are psychedelicized and partaking of the sacred weed. Camped out on the beach of Big Surf, coming on, grooving in cosmic unity, and listening to Pink Floyd. Who did mostly stuff from Meddle of course, but IIRC, they also played some tracks from the upcoming DSoTM.

HIGHLIGHT : Their closing number was 'Echoes' from Meddle. And just as they got to the really spacy part of the song, wouldn't you know it - a storm blows in. Talk about cosmic timing.

I still can see David Gilmour's waist-length hair blowing at a 45 degree angle as the front hit. And 10,000 hippies sighed a collective "Ooooooo" in contented amazement, and swore this was a sign from God that Pink Floyd was the best band ever. The storm kept coming, the song kept getting spacier, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better....

....the first drops of rain hit. And Pink Floyd packed up their guitars and announced that the concert was over.

And 10,000 hippies howled their protest for PF ruining their best psychedelic trip ever.

And, in a scene hauntingly similar to the "Danny O'Keefe incident detailed below, PF came back on-stage to explain things. And it went something like this...

"Look, mates. Its raining! We play electric guitars up here. If we stand out in the rain, we're gonna get electrocuted. 'Echoes' was the last song of the evening, so you haven't missed much of the concert anyway."

I suppose that's perfectly logical to a crowd not under the influence of chemicals, but we of course felt that it was quite okay for Pink Floyd to sacrifice their lives, as long as they finished the bloody song!

Alas, PF was adamant in their desire to go on living, and thus ended the concert. Still, that perfect synchronization of weather effects with the song Echoes can never be repeated.

LOWLIGHT : Well, not the incompleted finale. But there was this couple, obviously wasted, who kept wandering through the crowd, screaming, "Reds! 'Ludes! Anybody got some Reds? Anyone got any kind of downers?" At the top of their lungs. IIRC (and I wasn't in a particularly good state to remember correctly), someone finally gave them something halfway thru the concert just to shut them up. Still, the incident somwhow fit nicely into the cosmic harmony of the concert.

T5CE : Bruce Springsteen (27 July 1974)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #2

Bruce Springsteen - Celebrity Theater - 07/27/74

Thanks to Google and the Internet, the exact date for this concert can be tracked down.

The concert took place more than a year before Bossamania hit the USA with the release of the album Born To Run. Springsteen had released two awesome albums so far - Greetings From Asbury Park and The Wild, The Innocent, & The East Street Shuffle. But he was largely unknown. Except in four cities - Philadelphia, Cleveland, (I forget the third), and Phoenix.

Phoenix was gaga over him, thanks largely to KDKB giving heavy play-time to those two albums. Originally, only one concert was scheduled for 27 July, but it sold out quickly, and a second one was added - on the same night. When's the last time you heard of a rock group doing two shows on the same night?

For those of you unfamiliar with Celebrity Theater, it is a small venue - maybe a couple thousand seats max. The stage is in the middle, and slowly rotates, which means every seat in the house is a great seat, although everyone at some time is looking at the back of the band.

The audience was stoked, stoned, and ready to rock. Bruce had his classic "East Street Band" line-up, including Clarence Clemons (sp?) on sax. And what a show it was! Solid, steaming rock-&-roll for two hours. I was at the early show, and to this day, I don't see how BS&tESB managed to have enuf energy for a second concert.

HIGHLIGHT : The opening number that night was the 60's rock/Motown classic - "And The (S)he Kissed Me". Its never appeared on any Springsteen album, but it left the whole audience with their jaws on the floor, and the band had us eating out of the palms of their hands for the rest of the night.

LOWLIGHT : The opening act was a folk singer named Danny O'Keefe, who did a 45 minute set of his songs, solo, and on acoustic guitar. I'm sure Mr. O'Keefe is a fine act, but the crowd was ready to party, not sink into reflective meditation on some thought-provoking lyrics.

We booed each song, and screamed for Bruce! About halfway thru the set, O'Keefe put down his guitar, took the mike, and said something like this :

"Look. I am being paid by Bruce Springsteen to do a 45 minute set of music. I am contractually-bound to do so, and indeed I will do so, whether you are booing me or not. All the screaming in the world won't bring Bruce out here one second earlier. Now you can boo if you like, but I am going to play my scheduled set anyway".

Of course, we booed that too. Now, 23 years later, I have to issue an apology to Danny O'Keefe for our inhospitable actions that night. Maybe I'll pick up a used Danny O'Keefe LP at Rockaway Records (now called 'The Rock Zone') as penance.

T5CE - #3 : Beat Farmers (ca 1990)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #3

The Beat Farmers - ca. 1990 (downtown Tempe)

The Beat Farmers were a San Diego-based band that gained considerable popularity in the SouthWest, but not much beyond that. They combined good Springsteen-esque rock-&-roll with a country-&-western flavor. They have an entry in Wikipedia, so refer there for a better history of them.

I first crossed paths with the BF's when a friend gave me a copy of the 1987 album pictured above, "The Pursuit of Happiness". It is awesome from beginning to end. "Viking Lullabies" is also a fantastic album, and if you want to get a feel for a BF concert, pick up "Live, Loud, and Plowed". All are available at Amazon.

We got to see them somewhere around 1990. They played outside, in downtown Tempe. If there was an admission fee, it was cheap - maybe $10 or so. For that price, we took 8-year-old Jason along. This may have been his first concert.

The heart & soul of the BF was Country Dick Montana, who played the drums and was one of the three lead singers in the band. You haven't heard Kenny Rogers' "Lucille" done full justice until you hear CDM's version (which can be found on the LL&P album).

HIGHLIGHTS : Any and all songs where Country Dick was the lead singer.
Also, in the middle of one of his songs (and he usually left his drums and came to the front of the stage when he sang lead vocals), Country Dick apparently got thirsty, so he hopped on the shoulders of someone in the front-row if the audience, who piggy-backed him over to the concession stand and bought him a beer. Meanwhile, the rest of the band just kept playing the song melody, and waited for him to get back, beer-in-hand, and still on piggy-back, to finish the vocals.

LOWLIGHTS : None at the concert. But on 08 November, 1995, Country Dick Montana died (onstage) of a massive heart attack at the age of 40, bringing to an end one of the best obscure rock-&-roll bands of all times.

T5CE - #4 : Elton John (1974)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #4
Elton John - 1974 (Big Surf)

Big Surf is a wave-making water park in Tempe. Water slides, swimming, tanning, and surfing (naturally) during the day. Not much to do at night though, so they hold concerts there. No seating; you just pay a given price, bring your towel and sit on the ersatz 'sandy beach' wherever you fnd an open spot.

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Goodbye Yellow Brick Road came out in October 1973, so this concert must've been in the spring or fall of 1974. GYBR was probably Elton's most ambitious album ever - a variety of musical styles (prog, reggae, R&B, and of course, rock-&-roll!), and not a dull stretch at all throughout the double-LP.

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I was impressed (but not surprised) by Elton's piano skills. And his band totally rocked that night. Davey Johnstone (lead guitar) is awesome. I doubt Elton John concerts in 2007 would be as good. I'm thinking it would be mostly "see Elton tickle the ivories" and not much else. After GYBR, he put out one more great LP (Madman Across The Water); after that, it was mostly just sappy love songs.

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But back to the concert at Big Surf. This is 1974, so we're talking 10,000 hippies. all stoned out of their gourds, passing doobies around, sitting on a beach at night, without a bad seat in the house to see Elton and company. Can it get any better than that?

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HIGHLIGHT : The band's encore song - Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting. About a 15-minute version (or so it seemed) of the band cutting loose a la Bruce Springsteen.

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LOWLIGHT : Hmmm. Can't think of anything. Sand in the joints, maybe?

T5CE - #5 : Meat Loaf (1994)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #5

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell 2 - (1994)

A high-energy performance from a guy who is just as good live as he is in his MTV videos. Not a lot of pyrotechnics; just good rock & roll, Jim Steinman lyrics, and of course Meat Loaf singing his lungs out.

BOOH2 came out in 1993, so we probably saw him in 1994. I'm not sure where we saw him, but it was downtown Phoenix somewhere. Maybe AWA, maybe not. Cheap Trick was the opening act, which is ironic because, according to Wikipedia, Meat Loaf opened for them in the early 70's. Mr. Loaf did almost everything from the BOOH1 and BOOH2 albums.

HIGHLIGHTS : Paradise By The Dashboard Light, naturally. But also - a brief speech by Meat Loaf. After introducing all the members of the band, he then said to the audience "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for being here tonight!"

You see, BOOH2 was his amazing comeback album. And if you read about his "lows" in between BOOH1 and BOOH2, you'll know how grateful he was for being back on the concert circuit again. The thanks were genuine. Now just try to imagine Mick Jagger ever saying something like that.

LOWLIGHTS : Cheap Trick was basically hawking their new album (Woke Up With A Monster), and that album sucks. Also, Jason's friend who went with us *free* (cuz we bought a ticket for someone else who then cancelled out on us), had this annoying habit of shrieking at the top of his lungs when no one else was shouting/cheering/clapping. I think he just wanted to hear himself in the big arena, but of course those around us were giving him dirty looks.

BOTTOM LINE : An awesome concert! And if he comes to Phoenix on his 2007 tour, we'll be there.

Getting LP's at an auction is like...

LP's from an auction are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Today I "won" 300 LP's at the city auction. Six big cases of unseen vinyl. I outbid several other vinyl aficiendos (sp?) who were probably Used Record Stores. I won't give the $$$ I spent, except to say it came out to about 30 cents per disc.

The other time I got vinyl thru an auction (about 15 months ago), I got about 120 LP's. About half were rock-&-roll, and about 75% were in too bad of shape to play on the turntable.

This time, only about 5% of the LP's are unplayable. But there's no R&R. Just a bunch of (mostly) 50's/60's "easy listening" stuff - the kind my Dad used to have. "Artists" like Jackie Gleason, Benny Goodman, Englebert Humperdink, etc. And a host of unknowns of the same ilk.

Here's one example :

References to Bridie Gallagher can be found on Google, but she doesn't even rate a listing in Wikipedia. She's an Irish singer from the 1950's. About as exciting as the Lennon Sisters, singing "traditional" (for that time) Irish melodies. But without an Irish accent, fake or otherwise.

My dad would love this album. I prefer U2. But I'll listen to a bunch of these (and scan and post their album covers here), just so Liz won't yell at me for wasting money. Oh yeah, the six big cartons of LP's are cluttering up half the floor in the computer room. It won't be long before I'm given an ultimatum about that.

Economically, the most fascinating portion of this lot was about 30 old 78's. Alas, my turntable doesn't play that speed. So I think I may post those to eBay to see what kind of $$ they fetch. Gotta recoup some of my outlay.

Anyone interested in owning this fine LP, Bridie Gallagher - Moonlight in Mayo (circa 1958), drop me a line. Soon. Otherwise, it has a life expectancy of a kitten at the city pound. If no one picks it up in 72 hours, it'll be put to sleep.

The Kingston Trio - in Concert

I've been a Kingston Trio fanatic for a long time, and last weekend, we finally got to see them in concert. It was in a small venue (Chandler Center For The Arts), which meant there were no bad seats.

Alas, none of the original members are with the group anymore, so this is a second-generation line-up. One of the originals, Dave Shane, lives here in the valley, and made a guest appearance to sing two songs, including Tom Dooley. But his health is frail (we'll cut him some slack, since he's in his 70's), and after the second song, he headed back off-stage for some needed oxygen.

They sang all the hits (except The Reverend Mr. Black), and gave us 2 hours of music for $4o/ticket, so one can't complain. And I snagged a CD/DVD for $20.

All in all, a good concert, although I wouldn't put it in my "Top 5 Concerts Ever". Which seems like a good topic for another post, so start thinking about your own T5CE.

Rock & Roll Half-Marathon

For the third year in a row, Liz ran (power-walked, actually) in the PF Chang's Rock & Roll Half-Marathon. This year, that meant rolling out of bed at 4:30 AM on a Saturday morning, to be at ASU @ 6:30, to catch the shuttle and be in downtown Phoenix by 7:30.

This year, it just so happened that Phoenix was having some of its coldest weather in 10 years. So Liz and Michele got to freeze their socks off from 7:30 until 10:00, which was when their "corral" finally started the race.

Despite the chill, they managed to do the 13.1 miles in a personal-best time. to wit :

2005 : 3 hours, 36 minutes

2006 : 3 hours, 44 minutes

2007 : 3 hours, 31 minutes

The pics (above) come gratis from the race organizers, but they're small and lo-res. So my apologies if they don't enlarge nicely. Liz is undecided whether or not to do this again next January, but I'm betting she ends up doing it.

A Wheel of Time note

According to Wikipedia (which we all know is never wrong), by the time I finish The Knife of Dreams; Book 11 of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, I will have read a total of 9,685 pages (all paperback). Don't even ask how many words that is. But there is good news. Again according to Wikipedia, this marathon series will end with Book 12, even if (according to the author himself) it take 1000-1500 pages. Note to Robert Jordan : Good-flippin'-luck, dude. You have enough loose ends floating around in the first 10 books to start your own lint-ball.

TWIR - 1812 Rivers Of War (by Eric Flint)

This Week I Read : 1812 Rivers of War (by Eric Flint)

Rating : B-

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Eric Flint has a bunch of "Alternate History" books out, the majority of which deal with a 20th-century West Virginia town transported back in time to 1632 Germany. 1812RoW is the first in a second AH series, this one dealing with how a minor change in a battle (Sam Houston receiving a small wound instead of a major one) alters the rest of the War of 1812.

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The only problem is - not much history is changed. Yeah, Sam Houston becomes the hero of the battles of Washington DC and New Orleans, but the outcomes remain the same. So if you're looking for some tangential history line, you're going to be sorely disappointed. True, this book serves mostly as a set-up for the second book in this series - where Arkansas becomes a free territory right after the end of the war - where blacks and Indians can live on their own terms. But 535 pages of non-alternate history is a lot to read just for a set-up.

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OTOH, is you read this book as a historical novel, then its quite good. Most people's knowledge of the War of 1812 can be distilled down to four vague facts :

1.) It started cuz the British kept stealing our navy men.

2.) John Paul Jones said something about not giving up the ship.

3.) Two years into the war, the British burned Washington D.C. (normally, this means "game over; we win!". but for some reason, they decided to play on.)

4.) We won the Battle of New Orleans, which is important because without that Johnny Horton would've had one less hit song. (Everybody sing now - "In 1814, we took a little trip...")

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This book does a great job of fleshing out the details of the war - particularly how the roles of the Indians (Choctaw, Chickashaw, Creek, and Cherokee) and Blacks (both slaves and freedmen) interplayed with the British, American (and to a lesser degree the French and Spanish) sides. So if you like History, then by all means get this book. But if you want to read some Alternate History, then pick up his novel "1632" (which is on my bookcase waiting in line to be read), or wait for "1824 The Arkansas War" - which is out in hardback, but who wants to shell out 4x the $$$ instead of waiting for the paperback? As for me, I'm now starting into Robert Jordan's "Knife of Dreams" - Book 11 in the Wheel of Time series. I'll have 837 pages to see whether the plot advances one iota, something that hasn't happened in 4 or 5 volumes.

TWIP - Heroes of Might & Magic 5

This Week I'm Playing : Heroes of Might & Magic 5 (HOMM5) First let me say I'm addicted to HOMM3. A fabulous game in its own right, then made "best-ever" by a random map generator that means you never need to play the same scenario twice. I've been playing HOMM3 for years, even keeping an outdated PC with Windoze-95 on it just for this game. Alas, HOMM4 was somewhat of a flop, and the HOMM team went out of business. Now, years later, Ubisoft has resurrected the series.

What's to Like

The 3D graphics are stunning. There are dozens of new and re-done creatures to learn to use. And new spells and new artifacts. There's even a random map generator, abeit that comes in a separate Expansion Pack add-on for an extra $40. I haven't installed the RMP yet, so stay tuned.

What's Not To Like

First, all that 3D generating slows the game play to a crawl. Those graphics may be stunning, but I'd trade some of the detail (do we really need to see every leaf in the trees?) for a speedier game. Loading previously-saved games especially bogs down the old PC. Second, the PC requirements are steep. Pentium-4 at the minimum. For a turn-based game?? Gimme a break. Third, there's a paucity of individual scenarios to do. Maybe 6 total for the single-player mode. And forget about choosing what race you want to be; you'll be whatever Ubisoft decides. What is it about the maxim "Less razzle-dazzle graphics; more and better game-play" that's so difficult for game-programmers to comprehend? Fourth, there's no manual for the game. After a week of playing HOMM5, I still can't tell you how many races there are and/or give you a complete list of the spells. But I'm betting that, for yet another $40, there's an HOMM5 how-to book at Best Buy. Finally, the anti-crack device sucks big time. Basically, the installation scans your PC for virtual drives, and if it finds one (even if its unrelated to HOMM5), it refuses to load the game. Yeah, yeah, Ubisoft. I know you think this will discourage people loading cracked versions. But I think instead, its going to encourage them to find the cracked version, so they can keep their virtual drives.

Final Verdict

TBD. So far it's holding my interest. But we'll see whether the bad lagging eventually drives me back to playing HOMM3. I have a feeling I'll be installing the expansion pack shortly.

This week I read...

Rating : C+

I'm way behind on my James Patterson reading. His best efforts involve serial killers and the homicide detective Alex Cross. Unfortunately, Black Market has neither. Wall Street gets blown up, and we spend most of the first half of the book going on wild goose chases. Finally, the story begins to move, and there are a couple nice Dan Brown-esque twists in the latter stages. Still, one yearns for a deranged psychotic killer to show up and slash someone to pieces - anyone - just to spice things up. What is eerie about this book, however, is the way it foreshadows September 11. Black Market first came out in 1986, and if you substitute the Twin Towers for Wall Street, you get a scenario with uncanny similarities. Perhaps in 500 years, someone will decide that Patterson was a 20th-Century Nostredamus. All-in-all, it's a decent story, but its never gonna be your favorite Patterson book.

More Xmas 2006 Pics (a)

A couple more Xmas pics to close out 2006. I'm not saying our three dogs are spoiled rotten, but they each have their own Christmas stocking. Alas, the concept of "each dog opens his own stocking" is lost upon them.

More Xmas 2006 Pics (b)

Jason, Whitney, and Preacher came over and opened presents with us on Christmas morning.

More Xmas 2006 Pics (c)

A nice photo of Jason and Preacher. Preacher is a huge pit/lab mix, but he's a lover, not a fighter. He wandered in to the towing company a year ago, bedraggled and cut up from apparently coming out on the losing end of a dogfight. He thinks his new life with Jason and Whitney is much better.

Christmas at the Ludwigs -2006 (a)

2006 Christmas Day festivities at our house. 14 people and four dogs. The kids were extremely well-behaved the entire day. The dogs were reasonably well-behaved, except for Huxley and Jynx who got into a rip-roaring fight while opening their gifts, leaving a gash in Liz's arm.

Christmas at the Ludwigs -2006 (b)

Many thanks to everyone who came. Special kudos to all the cooks; the food was excellent! Lots more pics available. If I get ambitious, I'll post them on a stand-alone blog; but don't hold your breath. BTW, in the above pic, Bill is NOT poking his eyes out on the candles in the centerpiece. :-)

This week I read...

Rating : B- . A sequel in a prequel to Frank Herbert's "Dune" Trilogy. Written by his son Brian, and Kevin Anderson. Tell me, how do two authors write one story? Does one of them write the nouns, and the other one the verbs? Methinks Brian Herbert is here mostly so the family name is on the cover. As in any prequel, the main raison d'etre for this book is to line up everything for the original Dune episode. But the basic plot is the overused "humans versus machines" line. Gee, where have we seen that before? Terminator, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and so on. Is it now politically incorrect to slay any living beings? Can't anyone come up with a storyline that doesn't involve the evils of Artificial Intelligence? Literature-wise, this is "Dune Lite". Which is not necessarily a bad thing. "Dune" was an awesome book, but "Dune Messiah" and "Children Of Dune" were each a new level of tediousness and obscurity compared to their predecessors. Reading "CoD" was (for me at least) more of a labor than a pleasure. This decline in quality seems to be inherent in Trilogies. "Clan of the Cave Bear" is a masterpiece, interweaving a captivating storyline with a bunch of great archaeology. But its sequels go downhill quickly. "Valley of Horses" slowed to a crawl, and "The Mammoth Hunters" is nothing more than a 600-page Harlequin Romance set in caveman times. Pee-Yoo! And don't even get me started about Robert Jordan's "Dragon Reborn" series. We're on what, Book 11 now? And the plot hasn't progressed one bit since about Book 5. (But I will still buy and read the newest one - out just in time for Christmas). But back to Dune Battle of Corrin. Overall, it keeps one's interest despite the trite storyline. Papa Herbert's chapter-beginning quotes are better (and of course, more esoteric), but at least there's less mysticism and more action in DBoC. And none of the characters (including the Bots) are the essence of pure evil and/or pure good. So we'll give it a B-, and go dust-off and re-read Dune.

Tribute To John Bolton

The promised song. Dedicated to that paragon of diplomacy and tact, and to be sung to the tune of "(The Wreck of) The Sloop John B", Beach Boys-style. "Oh I am the dupe John B, The preznit appointed me, Around UN Plaza I did roam; Spewing my spite, Prepared for a fight, (oh yeah) But I feel I screwed up, I wanna go home. So hoist up old John B's rear, See how the people all jeer, Call me a loser and more, let me go home; I wanna go home, Why don't you let me go home (oh yeah), I feel I screwed up, I wanna go home. All the UN, they hate my guts, They think I'm an ignorant putz, Cuz I wanna pack up their bags and send them all home; Dubya, I tried, Please don't cast me aside, (oh no) I feel I screwed up, I wanna go home. So hoist up old John B's rear, See how the people all jeer, Call me a butt-hole and more, let me go home; I wanna go home, Why don't you let me go home (oh yeah), I feel I screwed up, I wanna go home. Well the Congress got in a funk, They said the preznit's strategy stunk, Cuz he gave me the job after all of them had gone home; Senator Reid, He says I'll never succeed (oh no), I feel I screwed up, I wanna go home. So hoist up old John B's rear, See how the people all cheer, Call me a whack-job and more, let me go home; I wanna go home, Why don't you let me go home (oh yeah) This is the worst trip I've ever been on. (Repeat chorus)

UN Reaction

How the UN felt about my song to John Bolton...

Christmas Preparations (01)

Decorating for Christmas is divided 50:50 at our house. Liz spends 50 hours (literally) making sure that every square foot of the house (plus the back porch) has some sort of holiday decor. And I spend 50 minutes putting up a couple strands of lights outside on the front of the house, in "minimalist" fashion. The weeklong (for Liz) ritual ends with the putting up of the Christmas tree. Jason comes over and helps her decorate it. And Jynx stays out of the way (kinda) by staking out his territory under the tree.

Christmas Preparations (02)

And Honeybee and Huxley provide moral support by watching the tree-decorating from the nearby rocking chair.

Bye Bye Bolton...

Another bozo leaves the Dubnutz regime. John Bolton stands out as a shining pile of sh*t even among all the other turd blossoms (Rove, Cheney, Wolfowicz, etc.). Dubnutz sent this idiot to the UN by means of some crafty maneuvering, knowing that even the Republican congress had serious misgivings about him. Now, with the Democrats coming to power in January, there's no chance at all that Bolton will ever get approved. We'll dedicate a song to this right-wing nut job. I'll post it shortly; I've still got a couple rhyming schemes to smooth out. The song I'm tweaking is... well, it should be obvious. Let's just say its a tune that both the Beach Boys and The Kingston Trio covered. Bye bye, Bolton. You won't be missed.

Culture Weekend

Most of the time, when I come into contact with culture, I treat it with penicillin until it goes away. But this past weekend, we actually (and willfully) went to see a play - a musical no less - at the Orpheum Theater. It was quite good. Of course, it helped that we had killer seats (Thanks, John & Jeri!) - 2nd Row, Center Stage. I could've spit into the orchestra pit, but Liz told me not to. No photography was allowed, so the above playbill cover will have to do. I won't rate it, because I'm prejudiced against musicals in general; to the point of where I sometimes embarrass Jason & Liz. This coming Friday, we're going to see André Rieu. More culture. Stay tuned.