Thursday, October 24, 2013

J. R. R. Tolkien, Part one - The Hobbit

As I talked about in my post Books That Captivated My Youth though I grew up reading Sci-Fi the past 25+ years or so have been dominated by Fantasy, or Faerie (Fairy) stories especially the sub-genre Epic Fantasy.


I would like to talk specifically about one author who almost single-handed brought me wide-eyed and fascinated into the world of fantastic fiction.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Field Notes Notebooks

I have been using Field Notes notebooks for years now. I purchased my first set in 2010. It was the Balsam Fir set and the State Fair Edition (Michigan). These are the perfect notebook. Small, tough, classic. I have not used a paper product from anyone else since that first purchase and I don't know that I ever will. They are that good.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

The Books That Captivated My Youth…

Most of the books I read nowadays are epic fantasy. There is nothing I like more than to start a series where the books are 700 to 1000 pages long and there will be 10 or so books in the series. (Think Brandon Sanderson or Robert Jordan) It wasn't always like that though, when I was much younger science fiction was all I read.

As I believe I have mentioned before most of my childhood is lost to my memory, this includes a number of the books that I read. Some titles, however, stick in my mind and they left a lasting impression and I can still remember the stories to this day.

The earliest books that I can actually remember reading were written by Isaac Asimov and they were part of the Lucky Starr series. I still have all of these books in paperback in my library. These books would compare most effectively to the Tom Swift (third series) books which I also remember reading though I liked Lucky Starr more. I first read these when I was 8 or 9, but I have re-read them many times since then and they stand up really well. This is not something I can say about Tom Swift (any of the five separate series).

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Space, The final frontier...


In my last post, I talked about Star Trek: Enterprise and why I was drawn to that show more than others. I explained it was mostly because of the plots revolving around exploration and discovery. That got me thinking about why Enterprise interested me so much and why the more action-oriented series (DS9 and Voyager, as well as the new movies) do not interest me.

I came to the conclusion that it's because real space is something that fills me with wonder. I mean how can you look up into the sky, even in a light-soaked city like I live in, and not be awed?

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A trek into the Treks: Star Trek: Enterprise

Being the geek that I am it could only have been a matter of time before I posted about Star Trek. Since I started my second re-watch of Enterprise yesterday I thought this would be a good time to talk about it.
I want to start by explaining my history with Star Trek and where Enterprise fits into it.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Best Movies of All Time. The List.

Posting Monday about WarGames and how it's my favorite movie of all time got me thinking. What would be my top ten movies of all time? So I compiled a list and I will share it with you here.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

WarGames 30th Anniversary

I had written this post yesterday but scheduled the publishing incorrectly, so here it is today instead.

Today is June 3rd, 2013. 30 years ago on June 3rd, 1983 a movie was released that would strike a chord with me that would never stop resonating.

WarGames is my favorite movie of all time. I watch it on average once a week and never get tired of it. Sure some of it is nostalgia since it's a movie about a teenage hacker in 1982 when I was also a teenage hacker. The whole movie just screams the '80s and let's face it everyone has a soft spot for the decade they grew up in.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Youthful ruminations...

I had planned to write another rant about the decreasingly excellent service available locally, but I decided that I really didn't want this site to turn into a complaint/rant fest. The next time I experience bad customer service I might return to this topic but for today I thought I would take a look back instead.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Weekend Mornings...

Let me start by saying how much I love my family. They are the reason I live, the reason I get up every morning and go to work, and the reason I come back home at night. I can't imagine my life without them. That said though weekend mornings are a time I wouldn't trade for anything.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Games, bringing families together since, well forever...

There seems to be a resurgence in board and card gaming. (Hereafter referred to as tabletop gaming.) I think that's a great thing.