Reviews

Just Some Books I Recently Read

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I listen to audiobooks whenever I’m doing something that doesn’t require inner monologue. It took me a while to realize why I could listen to audiobooks while doing some things but not others. And I think it’s inner monologue. If I’m doing dishes, mowing, driving, walking, fishing, cleaning… anything like that; I can listen to an audiobook. If I’m prepping for teaching, it requires me to think through things, and so I can’t listen to audiobooks. Anyway, there’s often several hours a day, especially in the evenings, where I can listen/read books. So I do. Here are some books I’ve recently read:

Riyria Revelations

This is a trilogy about 2 friends, who have mysterious pasts and are really good at surviving. They are thieves, but also the protagonists. If I had to compare them to something, it would be the two guys from The Road to El Dorado. They’re funny, and the 3 books are a complete story with a satisfying completion. I’m not normally surprised by book plots, and while I did figure out where the story was going — there was at least one pivotal aspect of the plot that was a total surprise to me. I highly recommend Riyria Revelations, but be sure to read all 3 books.

Starship Mage

This is a rather long series, and while there might still be more books featuring the main protagonist (Damian Montgomery), the bulk of his story has been written. PLUS, the first 5 books (as of the time of this writing) are free on Audible! You just need an account. I’ve read the 14 books in the series that are written to date, and didn’t regret reading any of them. It’s a cool mix of science fiction and magic. The premise sounded kinda cheesy to me at first, but somehow it just works. I know 14 books is quite a commitment, but they’re not terribly long, and are quick reads.

The first book was written in small pieces, or some sort of writing experiment. It’s called, The Starship Mage Omnibus — but it’s just a single book. Again, no regrets reading this series. It was fun, and reminded me (but was also very different) of the Miles Vorkosigan books.

Alien Clay & Service Model

These are two standalone novels by Adrian Tchaikovsky. His insight into alien minds is always fascinating, and these are two very different examples of his prowess. He’s an author who has really come into his own, and I always love his books. Series like Children of Time and The Final Architecture are both profound world building masteries, each drastically different and yet equally as interesting. The two standalone novels create unique universes too, each story being complete and not “leaving the door open” for sequels, or at least not baiting the hook with a cliffhanger.

Seriously any of the books mentioned are a great place to start. If you’re a science fiction fan who has a penchant for alien minds, you’ll love Adrian’s work. I sure do.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

This is just a fun series. I guess these LitRPG-based storylines are a “thing” — but I’ve never heard of them before. DCC was recently purchased by a publisher, and so the first 6 books are being republished, even though they’re not really new. The audiobooks are done really well, and while I can’t wait for book 7 to come out, book 6 didn’t end with an anger-inducing cliffhanger.

Convergence Series

Craig Alanson’s writing combined with R. C. Bray’s narrating is a combo that just works. I’m a HUGE fan of the ExForce series featuring that combo, but Craig’s newest series, “Convergence” is just as good while being very different. While ExForce has an alien AI beer can as a fun character, Convergence has a wonderful talking dog. This series is currently underway, and feels like there are quite a few more books to go, but the first 4 books are complete and worth binging now.

What About You?

Have you read any books or series of books that struck your fancy? Let me know! I’m always looking for new books, especially if they are available as audiobooks with good narration. (And yes, there are TONS of other books I’ve read over the past year or so. If you want to more more, let me know!)

The Martian Movie (A Quick Review)

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The MartianMost people who follow me on Twitter or Facebook (or know me in meatspace) are familiar with my excitement regarding, “The Martian” book and movie. I still think it’s my favorite book of all time. And that’s saying something. So how did the movie compare? Surprisingly well, and not surprisingly, it was less awesome than the book.

The casting was probably the best part of the movie adaptation. Matt Damon is an incredible actor, and his personality is perfect for the main character. The other characters are well cast too, but Damon really did Mark Watney (the main character) justice. The science, which was extremely accurate in the book, was a bit on the loosey-goosey side in the movie. This was normally not a big deal, but at least one scene left me slack-jawed and eye-rolling.

Even though the movie was 2 hours and 21 minutes long, there was a LOT left out. Like, a lot lot. Lot.

Really, a lot. 🙂 I’m actually waiting to hear from folks who haven’t read the book to know if the movie had continuity. For me, the parts left out were automatically filled in mentally. Thankfully, the parts that were in the movie were very close to the book. I hope the movie makes sense to folks who didn’t read the book. I also hope there’s enough in the movie to make people fall in love with the story.

There were actually a few of the minor changes that I preferred over the book. Without adding spoilers, the ketchup scene and the ending space scene were awesome differences from the book. Will the changes, the focus on action over science, and the incredible acting make The Martian as popular as I hope? Probably not. It will be awesome if I’m wrong, but I worry it won’t inspire the passion for space exploration that I imagine. I’m not sure anything can quite inspire the passion we had in the 60s, but gosh I hope something does!

Lastly, two things: the 3D is very subtle and quite well done. If you don’t see it in 3D, you’re not missing anything important, but at the same time, the 3D does a good job of immersing you into the world as opposed to being gimmicky. Also, while the book has profanity out the wazoo, the movie is PG-13, and has very limited swearing. There are 2 F-bombs, which I think is the legal limit for PG-13 rating. There are some other cuss words, but it’s not obnoxious.

tl;dr version: GO SEE THIS MOVIE AND READ THIS BOOK. (but not at the same time)

The New Ride

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My beloved 1994 Chevy S-10 unfortunately drives very much like a 1994 pickup truck with 200K miles on it. Don’t get me wrong, I love my truck. The thing is, now that we’re in the city, when I commute to work in the morning it feels very much like I’m going to die at any moment. My truck shimmies, it rocks, it skids, and its safety features are pretty much non-existent. I’ve almost rear ended several vehicles because old Betsy just doesn’t stop like she used to. So, it’s time to get a new vehicle. And I LOVE my new vehicle.

Pictured here is my new 2013 Dodge Dart SXT/Rallye Sedan. The cool blue color is nice, but honestly is just a bonus, as the stuff inside is really what I was worried about. Here’s a quick rundown of the specs:

  • 1.4L Turbocharged, 16 valve, 4 cylinder engine
  • 6 speed manual transmission
  • 17″ Aluminum wheels
  • Eleventy hundred airbags (estimate)

The 1.4L engine with the multi-air turbocharger makes for interesting driving. I’ve never driven a car with a turbocharger (it actually still sounds like something fake to me), but it takes a little getting used to. The “turbo” kicks in when the car reaches a certain RPM, so with gentle driving it’s rarely engaged. Give it a little gas, however, and you REALLY notice the difference. It makes for a very VERY fun drive. 6 gears is a lot to shift through, but even that I’m getting used to.

Here is a photo of the inside. Doesn’t that look fun?

Along with the drive train, the technology was something I was very concerned about. I’m going to have this car for 10+ years, so it has to be worthy of such a long relationship. Along with the 8.4″ UConnect touchscreen entertainment panel (pictured above), I insisted on having Bluetooth connectivity. If I’m going to be driving 90MPH 70MPH on the way to work, I can’t be fiddling with my phone. So, the Dart has handsfree built in. It also has Bluetooth audio streaming, which is really cool — but in practice it’s a little underwhelming, because it lacks tools like fast forward and such. Still, in a pinch it’s pretty neat.

While it wasn’t a feature I was really concerned about one way or another, my car does have Sirius Radio with a year of service included. It turns out this is actually kinda nice, and while the stations aren’t really up my alley, a few are nice. For the most part, however, when I commute to and from work, I listen to audiobooks. At first I did this by connecting my phone to the car via USB (cool feature), but now I actually just loaded up an SD Card with a bunch of audiobooks, and leave it plugged into my car. It remembers where it left off, even if I remove the card and put it back in later. Oh, my car has an SD Slot, did I mention that? 🙂

At the end of the day, this $22,000 car is a big investment. I feel so much safer driving to work now, however, so I think it’s worth it. And at 39MPG on the highway, it will practically pay for itself. In about 300 years or so. 😀

Shawn’s Super Quick Netflix Wii-view

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Got my disk in the mail, and thought I’d stop home at lunch to try it out. Here are my thoughts, shot out into quick bullets:

  • The interface is the best Netflix interface I’ve used yet. It’s easy to navigate your queue, similar titles, recent additions to the streaming library, etc.
  • Activating your Wii is painless, and done online. (Like the PS3 and Roku) No need to try typing your email address and password into the Wii.
  • For those of you that have a hacked Wii with a USB drive for storing games — good news, the Netflix disk rips quickly, and runs from USB with no problems whatsoever.

So basically, I have a Netflix disk for a Wii if anyone wants to use it. AND, I suspect you’ll be able to download the Netflix Wii ISO from nefarious sites everywhere shortly. Heck, if you twist my arm I might rip it myself. (But I’ll never admit it online, because that would be RONG. 🙂 )

And now? Back to work… ttfn

UPDATE: Wow, look, a fancy download link for a WiiNetflix.iso file. I’m not claiming to be responsible, but, um… Yeah. You can trust the link. 🙂

UPDATE THE SECOND: Yes, it’s only 37MB compressed. It expands to 4.7GB. Also, contrary to popular belief, I’m not a douche. 😉

UPDATE THE LAST: You don’t need an ISO file anymore, there is a Netflix channel. If you need to install the new shopping channel so you can download Netflix, but don’t want to update your system, check out THIS LINK. Cheers!

Review: 2006 Layer Cake Primitivo

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If I had to choose between cake or death, I'd choose this. But I probably wouldn't choose it over actual cake...I’m not a wine pro by any stretch of the imagination, but this wine was something I just had to review. It’s weird.

The back of the bottle explains the name, “Layer Cake” by saying good wine should be like a layer cake. There should be a layer of chocolate, a layer of fruit, and a layer of spices. I liked the imagery, so bought the bottle. (Plus, the guy at the wine store said he liked it.)

Here’s my take. My metaphors may not be as colorful as Gary Vaynerchuk’s, but I’ll do my best:

The wine has nice color. It’s a Zinfandel, and has the deep color you’d expect to see. It’s fun on the nose. Not literally of course, but smelling it. It has a really powerful overripe fruit smell. It’s almost like fresh red licorice. It’s not like the dried out stuff, but that powerful almost chemical smell of fresh red licorice. It smells intriguing.

The taste is a bit startling. Now, I know you’d think if there’s a picture of cake on the bottle, I should expect it to be sweet. Honestly though, this Zinfandel is hard to place on the sweetness scale. I did not expect a dessert wine, but it’s definitely sweet. Sadly, not quite as sweet as a dessert wine would be. To me it’s tough to fit it anywhere.

As far as flavor (mid-palette I guess is the proper term), it’s fairly fruity, but there’s not much to write home about. I thought there would be more tannins based on how deep red it is, but really it’s a pretty simple wine. You can swish it as much as you want, and you’re not gonna get that much out of it. It doesn’t taste bad, it’s just not as exciting as I thought it would be based on the smell.

The finish, or as us hicks call it, “aftertaste” isn’t really great. My first thought was to describe it as though the wine was crapping in my mouth on the way down. The only lingering flavor is a weird bitter taste that just won’t go away. I’m normally a big fan of lingering flavor in wine — but I wish this one would stop. Please.

So while I have no idea how I’d rate it, I can tell you it’s not worth the $17.99 I paid for the bottle. It’s not bad enough I’ll dump it out, but I won’t buy it again. I also wanted to comment on the screw top. First off, I’m not a zealot. I have no problem with screw tops, rubber corks, or cork corks. I’ve had crappy varieties of all 3. In fact, some of the worst wine I’ve had has been under an actual cork. I’m fine with screw tops, I really am. The only thing I miss with them is the uncorking process, which I actually rather enjoy.

So there ya go. Layer Cake… Not so great actually, but better than no wine at all. If semi-sweet wine is your thing however, you might actually like this wine. If you find it on sale, pick some up. 🙂

Nearly Free Speech

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A friend of mine suggested I try hosting with www.nearlyfreespeech.net — because instead of a set monthly rate, they charge you based on usage. Low traffic sites (like mine) would cost very little to maintain. About that time, I was starting a private website, so I gave it a go. As it turns out, I’m quite happy.

Don’t get me wrong, about the same time I signed up, Nearly Free Speech had some MAJOR routing and DNS issues. My site was offline or horribly slow for over a week. Then, they had a major MySQL crash, and my site was offline for another half a day. Since that time, several months ago, it’s been great. I’m OK with a company having problems as long as they fix it, and communicate the problem with their clients. NFS did both.

Plus, they’re DIRT CHEAP!!! I started the account with about $10 in the “bank”, and only today did I feel a need to add more money. Not because it was low, but because I am adding another website to the account and I want to make sure it’s “spike proof”. See, if a website gets Dugg or Slashdotted, their servers happily scale for you — but you pay for the bandwidth such a spike generates. It seems very fair to me.

So if you’ve been looking for a really inexpensive way to reliably host a website, especially if it doesn’t get much traffic or store much data — Nearly Free Speech might be a good choice. I’m happy with it. When my hosting package is done here at GoDaddy, I’ll be switching this site over too.