Month: June 2005

… or at least a lifestyle that requires more than one planetary body to survive on. Man, Galactus has nothing on me. Anyone know if he’s got a spare Herald he can loan out that’ll find some planets for me to devour?

CATEGORY ACRES
FOOD 4.2
MOBILITY 0.7
SHELTER 4.2
GOODS/SERVICES 4.4
TOTAL FOOTPRINT 14

IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON.

WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.

IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 3.1 PLANETS.

Take the test yourself and see how much of a consumer you are…

Enjoy

Heh…

There are days when technology amazes me.

Today’s amazement stems from GoogleEarth, a brand new 3-D Look at mapping the planet. And wow is it ever accurate.

Remember… Big Brother is watching you.

Woo!

My Green Card came today. I guess I have no excuse to continue being a lazy arse bum. Damn them damn Dirty Apes

Anyways. Off to look at the classifieds I guess.

Ciao for Now

Just a brief miscellany today consisting of a few random links to help you all amuse yourselves to some degree.

First up… who knew that Tom Cruise is a Dark Lord of The Sith and that he recently took out Jedi Master Oprah… (Okay, the last bit of that sentence is just wrong on so many levels. *shudder* at ever being Oprah’s Padawan.)

Next up in the whack-ass United States of ‘Mericky (which is a perfectly plausible pronounciation of America if you’re from Belfast, trust me on this one.) Apparently an elementary school kid got suspended from class for pledging his allegiance to The United Federation Of Planets. I’ve got the Defiant and Enterprise on Stand-by in case the situation turns ugly.

And, perhaps the aforementioned suspension is the explanation as to why Captain Picard went Mad.

In the fun but totally useless to modern society category, we have the Expiration Dates of some common household items. I knew honey was immortal, but it’s scary that mayonaise almost is as well.

Here’s a cute one for all of us who were once innocent kids (yes, I was innocent for at least 5 consecutive minutes during my early childhood… honest!) and had odd beliefs and perceptions about the world around us.

And finally, the ultimate in geek-chic. How many of you would love to have A Rotary Cell Phone.

That’s all for now. I’m sure I’ll cull a few more weird ones from the pool today in my travels. If I do, you’ll be the first to know.

Dammit… I miss Dr. Who.

I forgot to do this yesterday so forgive this addendum for being a little late.

I’m going to add another question to the list because I feel it needs it. Well, the current question #5 ends up being moved to #6 and this new question takes it’s place as it creates a much more logical flow to the questions this way. Yeah, yeah. I know the editor in me needs to shut up and stop making things difficult.

Anyways, here we go:

5 (revised). Is there a book, or books, that you haven’t yet read, that you’d really like to?

There’s always something new on the horizon to read. Right now, I plan on finishing “Inkheart” and by then the new George R. R. Martin novel “A Feast For Crows” should be out so I’ll carry on with that. Then there’s the new Harry Potter book in July and also it looks like another collection of stories set in the world of Garth Nix’s “Abhorsen Trilogy” is coming out shortly. I hear tell that Robert Jordan’s penultimate (here’s hoping) Wheel of Time novel, “Knife of Dreams” is out in October and that will be a relief to be one step closer to the end of that series. I like it but it’s just too damn long and convoluted these days. Once it’s all out I may attempt a full re-read of the series to see how it actually reads straight through. It could be interesting… then again I don’t know how I’ll be able to get past that bloody 20 page epic walk from Baerlon to Caemlyn from the first novel again *shudder*.

One novel that I keep meaning to read but haven’t got around to it yet is “The Rule of Four” by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason. It’s a novel of historical fiction in a similar vein to Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” but from what I’ve heard makes the latter look like a Dick and Jane primer. I’ll read it and let you know how it fares. I also have an urge to read the Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake comprised of “Titus Groan”, “Gormenghast”, and “Titus Alone” as well as a lot of G.K. Chesterton’s work, especially “The Man Who Was Thursday”, as I know he is/was a great influence on Neil Gaiman’s work and I always like seeing where things begin.

6. Spread the virus to some more deserving Bloggers…
(Apologies if you have been previously tagged)
I plan on infecting my wife with this virus as well as my friend, Felicia. I will also infect my friends Jon(Truth) and Tom(Fool) if and when they get off their arses and create useful blogs that I can comment in without issue.

Hrrm. I’ve apparently been Book Tagged by my twit of a friend named Shane. To quote the Black Knight “Right. I’ll do you for that!”

Guess that means I should stop surfing porn and trundle along like a good-natured sheep and answer ze questions.

1. How many books do you own?

At a guess, as all of my books are currently in boxes somewhere awaiting delivery to my current abode, I’ll ballpark it at close to 900 if not more. Divided roughly into about 100 Hardcovers, 400 or so paperbacks and the rest as RPG gaming manuals (assorted HC and SC alike). Most of my books are of the Fantasy genre, but I also have a small collection of Science Fiction authors as well as a smattering of great literary works. If we include my comic collection, because that is still an extremely valid form of literature (despite what some may think), then the collection jumps to near 2500 items. (surprising that even after being part owner in a comic store, my collection is so small).

2. What is the latest book you bought?

The last book which I was given was “Inkheart” by Cornelia Funke. The last books that I paid money for were “The Last of The Sun” by Guy Gavriel Kay, “Sabriel”, “Lirael”, and “Abhorsen” by Garth Nix. And the last book I pilfered was “Teachings of Buddha” from a hotel room in Maui. Yeah, I’m well aware I’ve got a fairly large part of some karmic hell reserved for me for that one… It’s not the first of my transgressions. It won’t be the last.

3. What is the last book you read?

Everything in the previous question except “Inkheart” which I’ve just started and “Teachings of Buddha” which I read ages ago. To quote an oft heard adage

Some books should be tasted
some devoured,
but only a few
should be chewed and digested thoroughly

4. Which 5 books mean a lot to you?

In no particular order…

Because he was (is) the quintessential master of his field and an all around interesting guy whose life touched many others, I’m going to go with “The Tao of Jeet Kune Do” by Bruce Lee. It isn’t just a martial arts handbook but also is a philosophical guidebook to personal growth and inner wisdom. And no one should allow that part of themselves to wither. Be like water… truer words have yet to be spoken.

While we’re on a Zen philosophy trend, I’m going to throw out the aforementioned “Teachings of Buddha” as another influential book in my life because although I’m not a deeply spiritual guy, alternate philosophies appeal to me and the Eastern ones moreso than most. There is nothing more noble than to strive to better oneself, whichever path you take.

I suspect a lot of you are thinking that I’ll say “The Lord of The Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien as one of my big influences. After all, what young child with an overactive imagination and an appetite for books wouldn’t list it at some point; and you’d be correct… if this was a Top Ten list. As it is only a Top Five list though, I’m going to have to go with “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis, a contemporary of Tolkien, as a bigger influence on me during my formative years. Narnia is what taught me to imagine, to puzzle, to think outside the scope of my early school texts. From there I moved on to greater works and more stories. For that I will be ever grateful to Tumnus the faun, the White Witch, The Pevensies (Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy), Prince Caspian and Reepicheep, the Dufflepuds and of course… Aslan. Further in, and higher up…

Hrrrm. I can’t honestly pick just one title by Neil Gaiman as an influence as doing so seems so unfair to all the others. Therefore I shall pick the collective works of Neil Gaiman as an influence because they have all influenced me in some great form or fashion. From “The Sandman” where I learned to dream on a scale never before imagined, to “Stardust” which reminded me of my journeys in Narnia, to “American Gods” where I learned that all things are fallible… even gods. The list goes on and on with each new work and each new word.

And finally, the “Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set”(The old red box with the Jeff Easley red dragon on the cover) by Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and various others for teaching me how to make my dreams, visions and nightmares take on a more solid form. They were who taught me that by binding your fantasies within rules and cryptic guidelines, you make them stronger and more tangible. They become worlds unto themselves where many stories are born, live and grow old. Nothing ever dies though, dreams never do.

5. Spread the virus to some more deserving Bloggers…
(Apologies if you have been previously tagged)
I plan on infecting my wife with this virus as well as my friend, Felicia. I will also infect my friends Jon(Truth) and Tom(Fool) if and when they get off their arses and create useful blogs that I can comment in without issue.

I still haven’t seen Sith yet, but in all honesty I’m not too worried. I know how it ends. Whiney ass is whiney, Gets his wife knocked up, Wife spawns two fairly whiney ass kids and dies, Whiney Sr. goes bad. The end. There are numerous fights using glowing broom handles interspersed throughout the aforementioned action… but no one ever cares about those.

/cynicism

Anyways, I stumbled across these two amusing links.

The First Just proves that the Marketing and Memorobilia guys at Lucas are completely off their twigs.

The Second tells us that if you watch the whole Star Wars Sextology for the first time through the eyes of a seven year old, you discover that R2 is the main character.

Well, at least it wasn’t Jar-Jar…

Well as I am still waiting for my get out of jail free card to arrive my only options around here recently have been to clean house and to read. Strangely I’ve done more of the former than the latter, but that’s probably because all my books are currently in hibernation in Greater Canuckia. Nevertheless I thought I’d take the time to blather on mindlessly about a few good books I’ve read recently.

The most recent thing I chewed through was Guy Gavriel Kay’s latest work The Last Light of the Sun. It’s a good book that deals with the historical fantasy that Kay is reknowned for. This time around he presents us with his alternate versions of Norse, Anglo-saxon and Welsh cultures around the time around of Alfred (the Great) of Wessex’s reign in England. It’s set roughly 300 years after the books of the Sarantine Mosaic series and in the same world as The Lions of Al-Rassan. It’s a good book and while I’ve had trouble chewing through the second half of the mosaic (I’ve read Sailing to Sarantium 3 times but can only get about a quarter of the way through Lord of Emperors before getting distracted) I found that I had no trouble at all immersing myself in the culture and story presented here. If you’re at all interested in speculative historical fiction depicting northern Europe then read away and enjoy.

The other thing I’ve read recently was the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix. Comprised of three books: Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen, the trilogy deals with a family of necromancers whose job is to make sure the Dead stay dead.

It’s a fun series that has some very interesting ideas about the realm of Death, the Dead and their interaction with the Living. The books do have a slight Young adult feel to them which is interesting in itself due to the subject matter but that shouldn’t stop you from trying them. They’re different and interesting and that’s what really matters. Besides… the covers look cool and in all honesty, if they hadn’t been so spiffy and eye-catching in their simplicity, I honestly would have probably passed them over.

And finally, I’m about to start Inkheart by Cornelia Funke which looks fairly interesting. I’ll let you know how it goes. It is a delayed Christmas present that’s been in storage here along with a veritable mountain of Harry Potter Lego.

Hrrrm. It seems like I’m about to go on a YA fiction bender here as I’m also interested in getting the Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer and now that I’ve seen Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events on DVD, I am interested in seeing how true to the original novels it is/was. (I was interested in them before, but they were never super high on the “BUY ME NOW” reading list… they’re still not high up there but they’re on the “Eventually” list). And then come mid-July I’ll have my grubby little hands on the latest Harry Potter book (Canuckian version with U’s galore), which I’m sure will be fun.

Sadly though, I’m sure it will continue to fuel the ever so creepy genre known as Slash-Fic. Somewhere, someone is cackling madly while typing about Sam’s lustful thoughts about Frodo’s furry feet, or Ron and Draco’s secret tryst in Greenhouse #3, or Kirk riding Spo… errr. I’ll just stop now.

Anyways, now that I’m done cleaning and blathering about books, I think I’m going to go and build some of this Mountain of Harry Potter Lego that is mine… ALL MINE. Muwhahahahahah!!! (Just an FYI. If/when I ever have kids, no I’m not sharing. They’ll have to get their own damn Lego).

Good news to all faithful George R.R. Martin fans. It looks like the old coot has finally finished A Feast for Crows which is the next novel in his Song of Ice and Fire Series. According to the little snippet he posted on his website, it looks like the book was becoming mammoth in proportions and rather than split it into two half novels, each dealing with partial stories of all the characters, he (and his publisher) have decided to split it into two whole novels that will cover two seperate groups of the main characters that are split up across the world.

From his website

The focus in FEAST will be on Westeros, King’s Landing, the riverlands, Dorne, and the Iron Islands. More than that I won’t say.

Meanwhile, all the characters and stories removed from FEAST are moving right into A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, which will focus on events in the east and north.

*jumps up and down and waits impatiently* Hey… what the hell else am I going to do while I wait for my green card? Anyways, I gotta go as the migrant worker express truck is waiting for me. 😛