Stay tuned for some new reviews and some other stuff.

Hi folks. I have been reading through some stuff that I'm going to review here real soon. I've finished up Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded by John Scalzi and The Hot Shoe Diaries by Joe McNally. I'm almost finished with Anathem by Neil Stephenson but this book is a bear to read...a fantastic book but hard to read. I really need to concentrate to get through this one. I'll have reviews of all of this posted soon plus a review of my Kindle 2 that I got recently.

I also signed up for a photography workshop next Monday. It will be my first photography workshop and I'm really excited about it. I'll post a write-up of that experience next week along with (hopefully) some cool pictures from the shoot.

Ffej out!

Book Review - Next

Hi Y'all. Here's a quick review of Next by Michael Crichton. I finished reading it last weekend but haven't had time to post a review. Overall it was a quick and fun read and even though it was fiction, it adds fuel to my distrust for people using DNA and the legal system. For those who don't know I have this deep seeded and irrational fear that I'm going to be cloned and my clones will be used for evil government doings. Like I said, irrational. Anyway, Next takes on some of today's headlines with different companies trademarking/copyrighting parts of the human genome as well has people's rights to their own DNA. It is a pretty good read mixed with actual and made up news articles about genetic research so it is a bit educational as well as entertaining. A few things that bother me about the book are a) a few chapters with a couple of story threads that never fully develop or conclude and b) typical to a Crichton book, is that it reads like a screenplay. I think Michael Crichton writes everything today with the big screen in mind. Unfortunate since he can tell a good story and shouldn't have to sacrifice the structure of a book to fit to a different medium. That's why Hollywood has screenwriters who adapt novels to the big screen. Anyway, it was a good read and if you are into current events/ "science" fiction, you will enjoy it. Thanks to KT for loaning me the book!

Catching a mouse with a Camera?

Just a quickie here. I just read something on the Strobist site about catching mice with cameras. I want to try to do this with some other things, like birds at my bird feeder, deer in the flower beds and maybe that mouse in my shed. More stuff on the todo list when the weather gets warmer.

-Ffej out!

Book Review - World War Z

Hi folks. Just finished up World War Z by Max Brooks. Overall I was very surprised at how good this book is. I was expecting a book written for teenage boys with lots of gore and shock value that all 16-year-olds love. What I got was a very intelligent book whose premise is how will the world react and change during and after a world-wide zombie epidemic. The style of the book is intriguing too. It is written like an NPR interview. The "author", the main character, travels the world and interviews folks who had played a small or large part of the zombie war from the very beginning to the end. World War Z takes the reader to places like China, Russia, Cuba, Hawaii, South Africa, just to name a few places to meet these characters. All of these people happen to have been in places where the major events of the World War took place and give there perspective on those events. Brooks takes care to give all of these interviewees a sense of character, purpose and tries, altough he comes up short in places, to make these people representative of their countries and cultures. My favorite part was the whole what-if nature of the book. What would happen if the dead came to life? What would people do? What would governments do? Brooks answers all of these questions himself although I kept asking myself what would happen? What would I do? Would I survive or would I freak out? This book must have been a blast to write because it was a blast to read. I highly recommend this book if you like zombies, survival horror, apocolyptic-the-end-is-nigh stuff.

Now, what to read next? Neal Stephenson's Anathem, Upgrade Your Life, John Scalzi's Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, or Michael Crichton's Next.

Book Review - The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

Just finished up reading The Name of the Wind - The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One by Patrick Rothfuss. I got this book on a recommendation and I didn't read this with too high of an expectation as this is a new author starting a new series. New authors have been hit or miss with me but Patrick Rothfuss provide a very entertaining novel in his first effort. I didn't know what to expect but what I got was a touch of influence from a whole bunch of authors I really enjoy. The whole wizard-in-the-making-but-did-not-know-it side of the story reeks of David Eddings and Terry Brooks, not that it is a bad thing but that thread is in here. I read A LOT of J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter series in here as well. The main character, Kvothe, winds up in the Arcanum University (a grown-up version of Hogwarts) and struggles in his first year there and even ends up with an arch-rival (can you say Malfoy). Even though this book reads as an homage to these other great fantasy authors, Rothfuss maintains a sense of identity enough to make the story his own. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to the next installment this summer. This was a great and fun way to start 2009. Now I'm off to read World War Z. Till next time.

2008 Video Game(s) of the Year - Part 2

Here we go, my final say on what was video games in 2008. The big finale. Where I get to say what I liked best in video gaming in 2008. Now mind you, this is just my opinion, more specifically, the games where I had the most fun. Without further ado:

2008 Role-Playing Game of the Year
Fallout 3 - I had a ton of fun playing this game. I was a little nervous that Bethesda wouldn't get the feel of the Fallout universe right but I'll be damned if they didn't nail it. There is a special balance between the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world and the campy humor that is Fallout and these guys were spot on. The new first person perspective and the V.A.T.S system was a welcome addition to the game. I played the game Wasteland in 1988 and fell in love with the apocalyptic atmosphere that game had. Then came Fallout which, while not a sequel to Wasteland, was definitely a spiritual successor to the game. I played that to death as well. Fallout 2 was more of the same and sadly, the series faded after Brotherhood of Steel. I was so psyched that the series got revived and was very happy with Fallout 3. I hope it wasn't nostalgia that influenced this decision but it doesn't matter. I had a ton of fun with Fallout 3.

2008 Shooter of the Year
Left 4 Dead - This is the game that has prevented me from posting this already. I am always down with some zombie killing action but doing it with friends makes it all that more fun. The frantic action of going through a "movie" in 4-player co-op game is a ton of fun but I had the most fun playing versus mode as a special infected zombie. Being able to set a trap with all of your zombie friends for the survivors and incapacitate them all at once is wickedly satisfying. Choosing the Boomer zombie and barfing on all 4 survivors and sending hordes of frenzied infected is awesome. Going through the campaign as a survivor and reading the notes other survivors left behind is a nice touch too. "No zombie is safe from Chicago Ted". A close runner up is Call of Duty - World at War. The only thing that kept that out of contention is the map glitches in multi-player and the insufferable "n00b tube" spamming on Hardcore Search & Destroy missions.

2008 Arcade Game of the Year - Penny Arcade - On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode 1- I didn't play too many arcade titles this year but I had a lot of fun with the offering from the guys at Penny Arcade. The game play, story and humor were just right. Cannot wait to get my hands on Episode 2.

2008 Party Game of the Year - Rock Band 2 - Any game that I can get my wife to play deserves special mention. This game is so much fun to play with a bunch of people who aren't too self concious and just want to let loose. WE need to play more of this in 2009.

2008 Sports Game of the Year - Tiger Woods 09 - Believe it or not, this was the hardest category for me to pick this year. UEFA 2008 and Burnout Paradise were solid games but TW 09 edged them out with a solid return from TW 08. Everything is better in TW 09 except for the announcers. EA, bring back Gary McCord and David Feherty. They cracked me up even if the youth of today doesn't get their schtick.

2008 Action Game of the Year - LEGO Batman - This is the first LEGO game that I ever played and I was addicted to it immediately. This was a nice balance of action, puzzle solving and collecting followed up with a nice touch of humor too. I even went out and bought LEGO Star Wars - The Complete Saga because of this and will get LEGO Indiana Jones too.

2008 Biggest Disappointment of the Year - Brother's in Arms - Hell's Highway - I was sooo looking forward to this game since I loved the original XBOX's Road to Hill 351. Sadly, this game looked and acted like a last gen game not a current gen game. I wish they had more time to polish it up and produce a better product since the game-play concept is great.

2008 Biggest Surprise of the Year - LEGO Batman - I chose this because I thought that I would hate a LEGO game and that it would be too cutesy but I was surprised. I had a ton of fun with this game, so much so that I went out and grabbed all 1000 achievement points.

2008 Game of the Year - Fallout 3 - For reasons stated above, I had more fun and got more immersed in this game than any other. GTAIV missed the cut because I found myself getting bored and frustrated with the game after a few weeks of playing. The magic just wore off. Not so for Fallout 3. I am planning on going back into that world and do more exploring and also play the new DLC due out soon.

Thanks for reading and I will try to start doing game reviews on a regular basis as I get them and play them. Cheers! JEff

New Favorite Quote

"When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied, "Only stand out of my light." Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light."--John W. Gardner