The Ramblings of Rev. Karl

Book reviews

2009-07-14T20:50:55Z

Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama - Finally got around to reading this, it's an excellent book. It is an autobiographical telling of Obama's search for his roots. It does have some political and racial commentary, but that's not really the focus. I did find the politics interesting as he was talking about Chicago during a time when I was politically active in the same area, it's been a while since I heard anyone mention Vrdolyak (who somehow still isn't in jail). The racial stuff will make more sense if you read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" first, as Obama references it several times (I'd recommend it anyway if you want even a basic understanding of racial politics in this country). But where the book really shines is where Obama is talking about his own background and especially recounting his trip to Africa. I think wanting to know where you come from is pretty universal, and I'm a little envious that when Obama goes looking for his roots that he actually finds them.

Serenity by Keith R. A. DeCandido - The novelization of the movie; it's been a long time since I've read a book this bad. Really it's just a prose scene by scene description of the movie. Usually a novelization is an opportunity to offer a little more depth than the movie, but not here, just watch the movie instead, the actors performances convey more meaning.

Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, and From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris - Doing some catch up on the Sookie Stackhouse books, I read 1-4 several years ago and here are 6-8, somehow I skipped 5. All are fun reads, I think Harris does a good job of keeping the series interesting. From Dead to Worse wraps up nearly all the plots lines so I'm curious where the next book goes. I might have to actually watch some of "True Blood" now.

Bone by Jeff Smith - Graphic novel, I read most of these back when kolyada and I were together and didn't keep up with them after she left. When I saw there was an all-in-one collection I treated myself and finally finished the series. It's fun stuff, epic fantasy with a high dosage of humour and the art is fantastic.

The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint - I almost always love his stuff and this is no exception. It's a bit of a departure as it's not set in Newford and there isn't a faerie to be found - it's about a girl that dies and finds herself somewhere unexpected. I don't want to say too much because it is a mystery, but it's an excellent read.

Kiva

2009-07-13T01:46:48Z

I want to take a moment to pimp out the Kiva reunion concert coming up August 8th in Silver Spring, MD. Details at http://www.kivasong.com/schedule/current.html. The concert promises to be awesome with Amikaeyla and Jaqui MacMillan joining them along with many past members including Lynn Cunningham who some of you might know better from the Pyrates Royale.

that time of year again

2009-06-30T15:31:07Z

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2009.htm

LJAB

2009-06-24T18:48:21Z

Just a quick notice that the LJ Advisory Board elections are currently going on, so GO VOTE. Personally I'm rooting for webqatch, you can find all of the candidates statements here.

kmusser @ 2009-06-22T18:57:00

2009-06-22T22:59:45Z

I am safe and sound, the Metro crash is on my regular commute route, but I had driven in today rather than train.

Games

2009-05-29T12:59:01Z

I finally got around to cataloging my RPGs - the list can be found here, almost the entire list (excepting the original D&D and some of the oddball games) is available for sale or trade, so if you see something you'd like make me an offer. As a reminder I do have board games available as well (to see the full collection uncheck the filters: trade=yes). I also have more Battletech stuff that didn't really go on either the BGG or RPG list that I'd happily get rid of.

kmusser @ 2009-05-21T13:08:00

2009-05-21T17:08:11Z

Morena Baccarin can be my Visitor any day.

new floors

2009-05-16T17:51:50Z

Now with photographic evidence thanks to radiant_one

http://pics.livejournal.com/kmusser/gallery/0004467c

GCOM Games Days

2009-05-04T19:07:27Z

Games played:
Bombay, Can't Stop, Dominion (11 times at least, twice with the Seaside expansion), Hamlet, Imperial (Asia map variant), Keltis (twice), Kreta, Lokomotive Werks, Mr. Jack, Nexus Ops, Poison, Race for the Galaxy (twice), Saboteur, Small World (twice), Ticket to Ride, Tin Lizzies, Web of Power

Dominion clearly the "hot" game of the con, usually a 1/2 dozen games of it going on at a time. Seaside is the 2nd expansion in the pipeline after Intrigue. Recommended for those that like CCGs but don't like the CCG investment (for me it makes me miss playing my CCGs).

On the new releases played: Small World is a fantasy themed version of Vinci. I was already a big fan of Vinci so it's no surprised that I liked this one, plus it fixes Vinci's endgame problems. Added to the want list. Bombay is a quick pick-up and deliver type of board game, might be worth it for the cute plastic elephants alone.

New to me games: Lokomotive Werks is a kinda interesting game trying to balance supply and demand, like many Winsome Game releases left me kinda meh - they often make for better simulations than games. Nexus Ops is a kind of game I don't usually play, a sci-fi themed war game from Hasbro, complete with plastic figures and using the Axis & Allies combat system, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, unlike similar games it is pretty fast-paced. Saboteur is a cute sort-of cooperative card game with a dwarves digging for gold theme, players are essentially on two teams, but you don't get to know who is on your team, also nice as it can handle large numbers of players.

Development of Tin Lizzies is going well, played with 4 and all enjoyed it, I still need to test it with larger numbers of players. Overall I'm pretty happy with the mechanics, though it could still use some way to trim down the playing time a bit, I might just chop a turn or two off. I also need to redo the graphic elements, but I don't know when I'm going to find time to do that.

Update

2009-05-04T18:01:17Z

First a LJ-related comment. My work has done something to make LJ somewhat dysfunctional, I don't know what it could be as other sites work fine, and LJ still works fine from my home computer - but at work LJ pages take a good 10 minutes or so to load or refresh. So, I haven't been posting or commenting as much as I used to, but I am still reading what you fine people are writing (except for the twitters - I skip those).

So anyway, currently our lives are being consumed by adventures in flooring. We're ripping up the carpet and replacing it with wood. When the estimator came out we got the pleasant surprise that parts of the house already have hardwood, so we're getting that refinished and the parts that don't will get new (why a house that only had one previous owner has 3 different types of floors, and then covered them up with carpet, remains a puzzle). I picked up the wood the weekend before last and the installers are due to arrive on Thursday. Meanwhile we've been busy trying to clear our crap so that they'll actually be able to get to the floor. The poor kitty is already traumatized, probably convinced that we're moving. Once they're done we'll have the fun task of putting it all back which will probably takes us the rest of the month.

This past weekend I had a fun diversion with Games Club of Maryland's Games Days, games played will get their own post following.

Plans for next month include Free Spirit - I hope to see many of you there. I don't have any official duties this year so plan on spending most of my time relaxing (though if any FSG staff reading this are still short-handing in their dept. I could probably be talked into helping).

I'm also hoping to make to Celtic Fling due to their drool worthy musical lineup. Any one else I know going?

Beltane

2009-05-01T05:14:37Z

Happy Beltane to all. Celebrate appropriately.

kmusser @ 2009-04-27T19:07:00

2009-04-27T23:08:57Z

For the record, I don't appreciate skipping spring.

kmusser @ 2009-04-17T16:21:00

2009-04-17T20:23:25Z

For my fellow Gaiman fanatics, he's doing an event over on the Eastern Shore, Monday the 27th. But that's sold out you say? They've moved it to a larger venue.

Gaming reminders

2009-04-15T13:52:36Z

Games Club of Maryland's Games Days are coming up at the end of the month, a great little convention, details at http://gamedays.gamesclubofmd.org/

There is also a new gaming con this weekend, their site (http://www.freewebs.com/gamecon2009/) seems to be down at the moment, but I believe that they are more RPG oriented than GCOM events are, and it's at the Clarion Hotel in Aberdeen, MD this Friday and Saturday. I can't make it, but if you can, go check them out.

For our regular Brunswick sessions I am not hosting one this month, but will be back at Beans on May 16th.

book update

2009-03-21T01:35:33Z

With the Hugo nominations going out I guess it's time to make a books update.

The Geographer's Library by Jan Fasman - A book I picked up for the Idrisi connection, an enjoyable read - sort of in the vein of DaVinci code with modern folks uncovering an ancient conspiracy sort of plot, the book alternates between modern day and medieval times. Still doesn't hold a candle to Foucault's Pendulum.

Territory by Emma Bull - One of my favorite kinds of books are fantasy set in unusual time periods; in this book it's the wild west and Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp are magic users, great stuff, as usual with Bull it is very well done, highly recommended.

Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis - Non-fiction! Picked up on the Philadelphia trip, not exactly fictionalized, but told as a series of short stories which highlight the character and personality of our founding fathers. Very well done, not dry at all, recommended to anyone interested in early U.S. history (or who needs to play one of them in a LARP).

Anathem by Neal Stephenson - A Hugo nominee! This is a very large book, also a very strange book. Stephenson does a lot of playing around with language making the world the book is set in different but not totally unfamiliar to ours. In it scientists are secluded in monestary like settings and the book includes quite a bit of talk about scientific theory which might be a turn off for some folks. I found it fascinating if a bit slow paced in places.

Watchmen by Alan Moore - A re-read as I read it when it first came out but couldn't remember many of the details and wanted to refresh myself before watching the movie. I don't what to spoil anything, but it is a most excellent book which I highly recommend.

The Birth of America by William Polk - more colonial history, Polk tries to draw more from non-English sources in his telling then most American history books do, it still reads kind of like a textbook though, somewhat dry but good info for anyone interested in the period.

snow

2009-03-02T13:40:41Z

Finally got my snow :-) Commute in wasn't too bad, drove in, took maybe 1/2 hour longer than usual. If you're not good at driving in the snow stay home, roads were pretty sucky and the crazy shit that DC area drivers do make them more dangerous than they otherwise would be.

Prezcon report

2009-03-02T01:36:56Z

Back from my first Prezcon. Not really my type of con as the tournament to open gaming ratio was way too high (being a pain in the ass to get into a game is not a good thing in a gaming convention IMHO), but there were lots of familiar faces and many games were indeed played and so fun was had - and I managed to score my first tournament win :-) I also really liked the hotel (Charlottesville Doubletree), they ran a nicer than average food concession just for the con, and I was regretting I didn't bring my bathing suit to take advantage of the jacuzzi. I also was successful in unloading 30 games at the auction - spent a good chunk of Saturday watching the auction which definitely helps in seeing what sort of games go over well at those.

The final games played tally: Burg Appenzell (twice, only game new to me, wins for being one of the cutest games I've seen - also it's about cheese!), Dos de Mayo (twice), Dominion (4 times at least), Hive, Imperial (twice, placed 2nd in the tournament), Pandemic (3 times), Poison (twice), Ra, Race for the Galaxy (5 times at least, qualified for semi-finals but it conflicted with Union Pacific), Shear Panic, Snow Tails (3 times), St. Petersburg, Thurn & Taxis, Tin Lizzies (got in two playtest games, both with only 2 players, went well, but really needs to be tested with 5-6 players), and Union Pacific (4 times, won the tournament!).

movie meme

2009-02-25T20:20:37Z

Oscar best picture nominees with the ones I've seen bolded.

1980. Ordinary People, Coal Miner's Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, Tess
1981. Chariots of Fire, Reds, Atlantic City, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982. Gandhi, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Missing, Tootsie, The Verdict
1983. Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill, The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies
1984. Amadeus, The Killing Fields, A Passage to India, Places in the Heart, A Soldier's Story
1985. Out of Africa, The Color Purple, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prizzi's Honor, Witness
1986. Platoon, Children of a Lesser God, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room with a View
1987. The Last Emperor, Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck
1988. Rain Man, The Accidental Tourist, Dangerous Liaisons, Mississippi Burning, Working Girl
1989. Driving Miss Daisy, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poets Society, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot
1990. Dances with Wolves, Awakenings, Ghost, The Godfather Part III
1991. The Silence of the Lambs, Beauty and the Beast, Bugsy, JFK, The Prince of Tides
1992. Unforgiven, The Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Howards End, Scent of a Woman
1993. Schindler's List, The Fugitive, In the Name of the Father, The Piano, The Remains of the Day
1994. Forrest Gump, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption
1995. Braveheart, Apollo 13, Babe, Il Postino (The Postman), Sense and Sensibility
1996. The English Patient, Fargo, Jerry Maguire, Secrets & Lies, Shine
1997. Titanic, As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential
1998. Shakespeare in Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella), Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line
1999. American Beauty, The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider, The Sixth Sense
2000. Gladiator, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, Traffic
2001. A Beautiful Mind, Gosford Park, In the Bedroom, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge
2002. Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist
2003. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Mystic River, Seabiscuit
2004. Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, Sideways
2005. Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich
2006. The Departed, Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen
2007. No Country for Old Men, Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood
2008. Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader

I only bolded the ones I was sure about, there were many that I really couldn't remember whether I've seen or not.

Virgin Islands

2009-02-23T14:49:43Z

radiant_one posted pictures here.

Gaming

2009-02-20T23:47:17Z

This weekend: Saturday in Brunswick; Sunday in Chantilly.

Next weekend: Prezcon in Charlottesville.

Virgin Islands recap

2009-02-20T22:43:46Z

A brief recap of my lovely weekend in the Virgin Islands with radiant_one. Her brother let us stay in his condo and borrow the car, making the vacation affordable. Google map here

Thursday we take an afternoon flight out from BWI, flights are uneventful, though the first leg is a little late so we don’t have time for dinner doing the layover in Miami as planned. Arrive into St. Thomas at night and are greeting by rain and free rum! Successfully find the car and fortunately the rain soon stops. The condo is a few miles away – driving here reminds me of Wales, little twisty roads and driving to the left. A few wrong turns, but the condo is found and then up the rather intimidating driveway (easily twice as steep as mine). We manage to cobble together a late night meal from food that’s been left here and then collapse.

Friday we wake up and actually get to see the absolutely gorgeous view from this place. Really there’s no reason to leave the front porch – ever (provided you can find pizza delivery here). But leave it we do, mainly due to the lack of food, which means going down the driveway of doom, feels sort of like driving off a cliff – and into Red Hook, after a little trouble finding parking, we find a place to have lunch and I have a scrumptious dreamsicle drink. Then we drive over to Sapphire Beach to get some beach time in. Later we stop at the grocery to stock up from the weekend and have a quiet dinner and evening in including margaritas and looking at the stars.

Saturday a good chunk of the day is spent at Coral World, a rather nice aquarium, I especially like the sea turtles, stingrays (which they let people pet and feed), and sea lion (even though it was scared away by a noisy child). We also drive around the island a bit just to take in the views and get some nice ones at a scenic overlook called Drake’s Seat. Mountaintop proves disappointing as they’re closed (no banana daiquiris for us) and no view from the top, but the drive back down gets some nice views overlooking Charlotte Amalie. We have a very tasty Valentine’s day dinner and finally back to the condo.

Sunday is for island hopping. We pick up the car ferry over to St. John. Most of St. John is part of the Virgin Islands National Park, so it’s a lot less developed than St. Thomas. The ferry itself is kind of fun, though I’m glad I have my motion sickness patches. Upon arriving our first stop is the park’s visitor center to pick up maps, which we have to drive in circles a few times to find – Cruz Bay is a cute looking town but we don’t spend much time there. We drive towards the other side of the island taking brief stops to peek at the beaches on the way. They all look absolutely stunning. Our initial target is the Annaberg sugar mill ruins to get some history in, the ruins are pretty impressive and their located on a hill which has an amazing view looking out towards the British Virgin Islands. From there we continue on to Coral Beach, the small hippyish town on the east end of the island – carefully dodging goats and chickens. Lunch is had, our table maybe 2 feet from the ocean, and includes some delicious crab bisque. We also pick up some cheap sandals for Michele, the better to go walking around in water that has critters in it. The afternoon is spent in the water. We return to an area near Annaberg where shoals extend far out into the bay. The water is only a few inches deep and we wade out looking for critters – there aren’t many, just a few urchins, is really cool though to stand out in the middle of the bay is such shallow water. Also have a lovely view of Tortola. After that we stop at Maho beach as it appeared to be the calmest and least crowded of the beaches we passed earlier. This proves to be one of the highlights of the trip. The sand is like walking on silk, I’ve never felt anything like it. The water is warm and his many little fishies in it which are fun to watch; also good eating for the pelicans that go whooshing by. We even spot some stingrays in the wild! Eventually we have to go if we’re going to make the ferry back to St. Thomas. Once we’re back we have dinner at an Irish pub in Red Hook, food is ok, but the service and atmosphere not so great.

Monday is fairly uneventful, we sleep in and spend the morning doing laundry and cleaning up the condo. We take our last trip down the driveway and on into town for lunch. How can we resist a place called Wikked? It proves to be fairly yummy. Our flight to Miami proves uneventful, but the last leg is very late (at least we have time for dinner this time). I finally make it home in the wee hours of the morning. All in all a most excellent trip.

update

2009-02-11T15:58:02Z

Last weekend I got to go see the new Coraline movie and thought it was most excellent. I loved the book and thought the movie successfully captured the spirit and was wonderfully creepy. I didn't mind the changes from the book and would recommend both :-)

Yesterday I saw Avenue Q at the Warner theater which is there until the 15th - it was also most excellent. I'd heard most of the music but never seen the play, I laughed my ass off. Among the humor I think there is a lesson there to enjoy life as it comes and that not everything has to be perfect - also, invest in porn.

This weekend I'll be on St. Thomas, busy sitting on a beach in the sun, drinking rum. Enjoy your snow :-)

P.S. LJ valentine's can be found at valentines_09, hope everyone has a happy Valentine's Day.

Australian fires

2009-02-10T02:14:13Z

Disasters are all the more personal when it's somewhere you've been - I'm pretty sure we've been to the corner pictured here. Marysville was a very cute, hippyish town when we visited - now not so much. I tried to see if there was any news of nice little Pagan mart there but haven't found anything, pinged the one person listed on Witchvox. Meanwhile drjon posted more useful links for news and donations and the relevant Red Cross page is here. I hope the people we met down there are ok.

Superbowl

2009-02-04T13:46:09Z

So I had no interest in the Superbowl, but thanks to auror I know it spawned a way cool map - map lovers check it out.

Prezcon

2009-02-03T20:56:02Z

Taking a moment to pimp out Prezcon since I'm actually going this year - It's a gaming convention in Charlottesville, Feb. 25 - Mar. 1, I've never been before so can't tell you much about it, but presumably there will be lots of gaming goodness. Much of the gaming is tournament format which I don't usually like, but hopefully there will be plenty of open gaming as well - also hoping to unload a bunch of my games at their auction. If anyone else is going and wants to car pool down there let me know.