Caught In The Whirlwind
Archive for December, 2010
Book 40: Dead Beat (Dresden Files #7)
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Author: Jim Butcher
Genre: Fantasy (Urban)
Pages: 424
Summary
Harry Dresden, Wizard for hire has found himself dealing with a lot of changes in his personal life over the past few months. But what hasn’t changed is his ability to get himself into large amounts of trouble while dealing with the supernatural elements that inhabit Chicago. This time; Necromancers.
Notes
Wow, I’m flying through books here. Ever since I got my new kindle I’ve been reading like a maniac. 2.5 books finished since Christmas.
This is by far my favorite of the dresden files books. It’s the best put together, with even little things like a polka suit becoming tremendously important by the end of the book. Butters, the medical examiner, has also vaulted upwards in my rankings of Dresden sidekick characters.
I try not to spoil in these notes sections so I’ll just say that the climax of this book has one of the most awesome fight sequences I’ve ever read. It’s so absurd in the way that the Dresden books can be absurd but it is just so…Dresden that it just seems to make sense.
Dresden’s internal struggle with a force that promises to offer him great power to help those around him in his greatest hour of need but with a price that he knows will be too great in the future takes center stage here as well and really helps to define Harry’s character.
The more I read of this series, the more drawn in I get.
Next Book
I’m reading the next book in the Dresden Files, Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. I may not be able to get this done before the new year, so I think my final 50 in 365 challenge result is going to be 40.
Book 39: Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire #6)
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Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Not so historical fantasy
Pages: 274
Summary
The 6th book of the Temeraire series finds Laurence and Temeraire in Australia, due to their previous actions in the series. They’re charged with helping to set up a new colony there and have been provided with three dragon eggs to kickstart a covert in the colony. But one of the dragon eggs gets stolen while they are away from the main colony scouting locations for their covert. Wackiness ensues.
Notes
This is by far my least favorite book in the series. The interesting political wranglings and moral choices of past installments have been left largely behind. It started off ok, with Laurence trying to convince the disposed colony leader and the rebel factions that have taken over the colony when they arrived of his usefulness to the war effort in hopes of a pardon. But this is nearly abandoned for about 75% of the book after one of the eggs is stolen.
The large majority of this book is them traveling across the barren Australian outback, from water hole to water hole, dealing with the bunyip’s that use them to attract easy prey. The story kicks up a bit once they finally find the egg, but it doesn’t make up for the long slog to get there.
The writing was quality as always, but serious pacing issues mar this book. I’m hoping the remainder of the series, still forthcoming, shares more in common with the earlier books in the series.
Next Book
Caught up on one series, I’m going back to the Dresden Files, reading Dead Beat by Jim Butcher.
Book 38: Blood Rites (Dresden Files #6)
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Author: Jim Butcher
Genre: Fantasy (Urban)
Pages: 372
Summary
Harry Dresden, professional wizard, does a lot of different things. And he starts this book out by rescuing a group of puppies from a demon. This launches him (somehow) back into the war between the White Council and the vampires that he provoked so many books ago, suffering an attack from a black court and engaged by Thomas of the white court to help out a friend of his as payment for the many favors he’s been given in the past.
Notes
This is the book in the series I’ve been waiting for when we finally get more details about Dresden’s family, specifically his mother.
It’s well written and in the upper half of the series that I’ve read so far as far as quality. I like the character progression a lot in these books. It’s slow, and subtle but it’s realistic and I find myself getting drawn into Harry’s character the more books I read in the series.
Next Book
I’m popping back over to the Temeraire series with the last book written so far, Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik, just to finish that series out. Then I’ll probably jump back to Dresden.
Christmas Report
0512 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
Back at work, sadly, after an action packed christmas weekend. I figured I’d post a quick update as to the goings on.
I left work at 2 on wednsday and spent the time relaxing and winding down. Not too much to report there that’s terribly interesting.
Christmas Eve I wandered over to my parents house to help prepare for all of the food items my mom was making for the family gathering later that day. Once that was done around noonish, it was mostly relaxing until my sister got finished with work and came over for the opening of the presents.
You know you’re getting older when getting clothes on Christmas is actually a good thing. This year shall be known as the year of the sock (which is good because I needed more socks). My parents got my sister and her husband a new vacuum cleaner and individually wrapped a lot of the attachments and various bits and pieces of it. And my sister got my mom a game of quit-opoly which is a quilt themed monopoly type game. It came damaged so my sister wrapped each individual part in a seperate pacakge. So they both did it to each other.
As for me, I’m sporting the new 6″ kindle and a Razer Naga mouse. Along with an x-rite i1 display lt for color calibrating my monitors which is really handy, although I haven’t used it on my main LCD yet.
After the present opening we had a little downtime before the rest of the family arrived. My grandma and grandpa were there, as well as one of my aunts and uncles and a cousin which is about as many people as we could fit in my parents house. We ate, played some games (apples to apples) before my sister and grandma and grandpa left when we switched over to a couple of games of pitch.
Christmas day I went back over to my parents to hang out a bit more. Got to watch the mandatory showing of A Christmas Story in two parts because I came in on the middle of the first showing. After which we played some quilt-opoly (my dad won) and hung out some more.
Sunday I went with my roommates to see a couple of houses that they were looking at. The first one we saw (well the second, the first first one was delayed since their selling agent never actually told them we were coming, so they had to clean up and clear out for a little while) was a ranch type house but the bedrooms were tiny which killed it entirely from considering.
Back to the first house in Oneida and it was really nice. The downstairs was really well set up and the kitchen was probably the best laid out kitchen of all the houses they’ve looked at. Nice big bedrooms, big back yard, only small problem was the neighborhood was a bit less than ideal (neighbors were a bit close) but not insurmountable.
Then we went off to a house in Sherrill which was really nice looking but a little too big for them and the taxes were pretty high which would make the financials a little rocky. They decided after talking about it for a bit to go back to their agent’s office and put in an offer on the house in Oneida. So hopefully that goes well. They’ve got until Tuesday night at 5pm to respond to the offer, so we shall see.
And now…back to work.
Book 37: Victory Of Eagles (Temeraire #5)
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Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Historical (Getting less so) Fantasy
Pages: 352
Summary
Napoleon has invaded england. Laurence and Temeraire deal with the consequences of their actions in book #4. If I say anything else I’m going to spoil the crap out of the last book so I won’t.
Notes
Note: there will be potential minor spoilers of book 4 in this notes section.
This is probably my favorite book of the series so far. It’s overarching theme is consequences. The direct consequences of his actions at the end of the last book and the consequences of Napoleons invasion of England which would not have been possible had Laurence not done what he did.
A good portion of this book leaves Laurence and Temeraire separated and the point of view, for the first time in the series, is split roughly 50/50 between Laurence and Temeraire. I thought the split POV is what made this book so good. Laurence is dealing with a lot of conflicting emotions and thoughs through a lot of this and being able to examine Temeraire’s reaction to everything Laurence is feeling further increases the feeling of detachment that Laurence is experiencing.
This also served as a chance for a lot of character development regarding Temeraire who finally gets a chance to lobby for dragon reform in England and equal rights.
The end of this book wasn’t a cliffhanger thankfully, but it was very satisfying.
Next Book
I’m taking a Temeraire break after such a long string of these books and hopping back over to the Dresden Files for a spell, reading Blood Rites by Jim Butcher, Book 6 of The Dresden Files.
Christmas: Begin!
0519 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
For a lot of different reasons this year I haven’t been really feeling too christmasy. Too many stressful things going on inside the family and with friends to really feel like it’s coming around. But it finally hit at the end of last week and I listened to my traditional first run through in it’s entirety of Trans Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Eve And Other Stories which I’ve been doing for years now. So things are still stressful and all that but I’m not feeling as blargh about it all. At least for a little while.
Yesterday I went over to the christmas party on my dad’s side of the family which was good again this year. Very few cases of “who the heck is that person?!?” and I spent most of the party (probably tragically) sitting near the desert table with my immediate family, talking with my aunt who’s house was hosting the party and whoever else happened to wander on by. The older I get the more I appreciate seeing family who I haven’t seen in forever. A lot of those people I only see around christmas time. So it’s nice catching up and chatting.
All of my christmas shopping is done this year, and I’m just waiting for 3 boxes from amazon to arrive on tuesday before I have everything assembled.
I’m taking off work at 2pm on Wednesday and I took thursday off for the heck of it. Friday I’ll be going over to my parents house all day to help prep for the party that’s going to happen over there in the evening for my mom’s side of the family. Officially designated the “people without little kids” party because my parents house isn’t terribly child-proofed. My mom’s side of the family’s traditional christmas gathering at my grandma’s house splintered apart a few years ago since they were getting too old to handle all the running around and prep work involved in a party. So we moved the main gathering to the summer and there’s a bunch of different smaller parties going on around christmas. So my parents will be hosting the people who don’t have small children (my grandparents and a few others plus my immediate family) which I’m looking forward to.
Not sure what’s going on Christmas day yet, but usually I end up at my parents for a while. Not sure if that’ll happen this year or not yet.
Book 36: Empire of Ivory (Temeraire #4)
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Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 416
Summary
Laurence and Temeraire finally return home to england where they discover that the illness they experienced when leaving on their voyage in the second book was much more than a common cold. Temeraire, immune for some reason to the virus, sets off with his former formation back to the south tip of Africa in hopes of finding a cure.
Notes
This book is less about the conflict between England and France and more an examination of the evils of the slave trade and it’s effect on the native population of Africa. I found the change to be a refreshing change from the war having the primary focus. I found the storyline of the illness compelling as well.
It suffers not at all from the previous book’s inclination towards unbelievably bad luck in ending up in one prison after another and instead presents a compelling story, depicting the native tribes of africa in a way which challenged the conception that they were backwards savages.
And Laurence has a very important character moment in this book. He’s the type of person who puts his honor above all else and as a military officer for life, respects the chain of command and his orders, putting his personal beliefs aside. But at the end of this book he’s presented with a situation that causes him to weigh the good of his country against the good of the larger population of Europe and the world. This moment is the keystone that makes the entire book work, and shows why Laurence is a compelling main character.
The book is filled with moments where you’re presented with situations and say “something isn’t quite right here.” and brings up by proxy many of the issues that we’re still working through to this day regarding race and human rights. I would describe it as thought provoking.
And the cliffhanger ending. Argh! I’m glad the next book is out already. Otherwise I’d be going crazy right now.
This series is turning out great so far. Highly recommended if you’re into fantasy or dragons. Or don’t mind mixing your dragons with real world events. I can’t wait to read what’s going on next. Which leads me to…
Next Book
I’ll be taking on Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik, the next book in the Temeraire series
Book 35: Black Powder War (Temeraire #3)
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Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Pages: 400
Summary
The third book in the wonderful (In my opinion of course) Temeraire series. Temeraire and Laurence return from *mumblemumble* on orders to collect a fire breathing dragon egg (the first one that England will have) from the Turks. But the plan goes awry when they arrive to find the deal has fallen apart under mysterious circumstances.
Notes
Out of the three books in the series this book, to me, seemed to be the least interesting. As much as book #2 was a travel log, so was this one, but instead of straight on through with the promise of character development at the end, things stay largely static here.
Temeraire and crew stumble from one prison to another in their attempts at getting home, to the point where towards the end I was thinking “Again?”
Even though I sound down on the book, it was still an good read, only paling a bit in comparison to the other two books in the series. The interplay between the dragons and Temeraire’s innocence and desire for equal rights for dragons produced some great dialog. My beef is just with the slightly stale story. The new dragon introduced here makes the whole journey worthwhile. And I hope she continues to play a prominent role in future books.
Next Book
I’m continuing onwards with the Temeraire series, reading Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik.
Challenges
2530 days
by Jason
in Weekly Photo Challenge
I was commenting on my friend Mauraea’s blog (http://fromthesidekick.wordpress.com/) about how I want to try to get away from just posting every day “and so I had breakfast and then read the paper for a little while” sorts of blog posts and she suggested that we both get into a weekly photography challenge thing together.
And since I can’t do anything without having a challenge to do it seemingly, I’m in. So starting 12/29 I’ll be following along weekly with shutterboo.com’s weekly photo challenge.
Heading back in time for a little bit, the one huge thing I miss about Vox is the Question of the Day and it’s long lost sibling the Vox Hunt. That little prompt, back before they became advertising shills for HP products really kept me interested and posting about stuff that wasn’t just “what are you doing” sorts of things. Vox Hunt especially, having a weekly target to take a photo of was really fun.
And I’m hoping this will channel some of that energy back, along with giving me an excuse to really keep going at my photography hobby and keep improving my skills. So I’m excited to get this going..
Signs
0531 days
by Jason
in Uncategorized
I’ve been working today on getting my final assignment for my photography course done and I thought I’d share a couple of my final images. The assignment this time was signs. In a nutshell, finding interesting signs or interesting ways to photograph signs. The assignment also had to be done in duotone which is a technique that uses 2 colors of inks to create the final product. So these images are going to look a little different.
So..here we go then:
I liked how the angles of everything in this one pay off against each other. It also ends up lookings like something out of a video game, like Team Fortress 2-ish. I took this one at work, where we’ve got a big battery thingy in the back room. Hence the high voltage and the chain link fence.
And the other one I was working on today. I took this in Boston, where we happend upon a Shell station with a pretty interesting/unique looking sign. I took the colors all post-apocolyptic because the subject was more industrial and the sickly green kinda goes along with what our dependance on fossil fuels is doing to the environment and all that. I also took some of the gigantic Citgo sign (the one that’s visible over the fence at Fenway Park) but we were a little far away and it ended up turning into a skyline shot which I haven’t done any post-processing on yet.
Still need one more sign, but I’m hoping to grab that tomorrow and finish up the assignment by friday’s due date.
Speaking of which, I’m also submitting my final portfolio images too since the class is pretty much over with and I had to get some prints. I ended up settling on using a service called WHCC and they’ve been really great to work with so far. When you set up an account they make you get 5 free sample prints to make sure your monitor settings and their printers are acccurate. I had those 8×10 prints sitting on my desk today at work and my bosses wandered by and wanted to know if I had taken up a new hobby. Hopefully it’ll be a little more than a hobby someday. Everybody who ended up looking at them seemed impressed. So that was unexpectedly cool.
So this is the last assignment in this course. I mentioned (or not) that I’m going to be taking General Drawing next semester. I’m simultaneously looking forward to and dreading that course. I’ve wanted to see if I could improve my drawing skills for the longest time now, but…I’m pretty awful at it to start with so it’s going to be a bit of an uphill climb. I hope I can learn a little more though. This class feels a little more intimidating because I’m roommates with Wassy now who is EXTREMELY talented in the drawing department. Last time I took a drawing course I didn’t know her that well. We’ll see how it goes! Half of it is perspective drawing which I can do pretty well. Second half is more still life things which…I’m not so good at.
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