Getting ready to go out of town for vacation where I may or may not get some reading done depending on what activities take place (and how long I'm stuck in airports), but what I've recently read includes...

Goblin War by Jim C. Hines
Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs
Spindrift by Allen Steele
Red Lightning by John Varley
Chronospace by Allen Steele
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

They've just opened up a new patient tower at the hospital I work at and I've noticed security in the new areas is a little tighter than the rest of the hospital. You have to badge in and out of areas I wouldn't have thought were very high security/risk areas...but whatever. As a pharmacist there really aren't very many off limit areas as almost every department uses medications in some way or another. Then yesterday I came in to work and saw this at the entrance.



I'm not sure but it looks like a HAL 9000 to me. Maybe an earlier generation. Regardless I'm finding out where this thing's central core is just in case.

A whole bunch of people in the group of friends I hang around with have birthdays in August so each year we do a big bash to celebrate everybody at the same time. This year the theme was "Vikings". We roasted a pig and bunnies, had archery and fighting competitions and there was much alcohol present. Several people including me contributed birthday cakes and in keeping with the theme I made a Mjolnir cake.

I took a 9x9 cake, cut it in half, stacked it, frosted it, stuck a handle in it (wood grain contact paper over a paper towel tube) and food color sprayed it grey. Turned out pretty well I thought. Most everyone recognized what I was going for and a few of my fellow geeks even contributed the name of Thor's hammer. Smart bunch of geeks I hang around with. The rice crispy rune stones I made were also a big hit.



Mmmmm, that's tasty Mjolnir...

Never been a big horror movie fan. I'd rather watch a cheap scifi movie *waves at Scifi Channel* than a cheap horror movie (or an expensive one) any day of the week. Still, there were other reasons for me to attend this weekend's horror film convention here in Louisville. While they brought in many horror film related guests (I think they had like three different Jasons from the Friday the 13th series), they also had some scifi and pop culture guests. Really I was there to see, chat with and get autographs from Mick Foley and Al Snow but I also found some time to meet Melody Anderson (Dale from the Flash Gordon movie) and fantasy artist Ken Kelly. I was especially pleased to meet Mr Kelly as I was fascinated by his wonderful covers for the Horseclans novels I read as a teenager. When it was all over with I think Mrs Jedimika and I only spent about 60-90 minutes at the con (it was at a hotel just up the road from us) since there wasn't that much else I wanted to see. Still, if I was a horror fan this really would have been a top notch show to attend and it is definitely on my con radar for next year.

Caught The Clone Wars animated movie last night with the wife and some fellow Star Wars enthusiasts. I didn't really have high expectations so I really wasn't disappointed. The story was pretty weak and I wonder how they're going to work Ahsoka into continuity but I thought they animated her well and gave her very expressive anime type eyes. The animation style was pretty hit and miss. It seemed some characters got more attention and looked more believable than others. The clone troopers looked particularly good, with lots of texture and shading given to their armor. I'll probably get used to the style eventually. The music kind of caught my ear. It wasn't what we were used to...some pieces almost had a world rhythm/Battlestar Galactica drum beat to them, pretty interesting. I guess if you want to measure the success of this movie you really need to see what the kids thought because this is pretty obviously geared towards them much in the way Lucas made kid fare such as the Ewok TV movies and cartoons (along with Droids) following Return of the Jedi. The kids I spoke with last night all seemed to really enjoy it. Was I going around polling youngsters? No, I was dressed in my best attempt at a Clone Wars Obi-Wan and so garnered a lot of attention. Of course most the kids were more interested in my Master Replicas lightsaber than in my costuming skills I think but a lot of the adults seemed to appreciate my dedication. I wonder if this will be the movie that finally knocks Batman from it's #1 perch.

Recently read...

Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Batista Unleashed by Dave Batista
The Man With The Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines
Make Room!Make Room! by Harry Harrison
Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Star Wars:The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss

Even though I didn't get to go to SDCC I can still talk about it and I can't talk about it without mentioning the gift arr_mateys brought back for me (thanks!!!). A signed/personalized Adam Hughes poster print of "The Women of DC Comics". They had to make the poster extra large to contain all the awesome.



Can you name all the ladies?

Other sites have given their favorite SDCC costumes. I didn't get to go but thanks to the power of the internet I can still enjoy everyones' costumes and pick my favorites as well. Photos by Eurobeat King because they take like 4 figures of photos each day...pretty comprehensive...all pics are not posted yet even a week later but I can pretty safely say these are my winners. I can always put up an addendum for a Sunday or costume contest photo that I liked more than these.

It looks like there were lots of great individual costumes, with lots of great craftsmanship, and lots of originality. There were also some great group costumes. Originality is big with me. Lots of things look fantastic but if I've seen them before (Master Chief, Cowboy Bebop, Bleach, Avatar, Spartans from 300), it doesn't have as much impact on me as something I haven't seen before that really makes me go wow and take a second or third look.

( Photos of the winners under the cut )

I've talked before about my frustrations with Smallville and how they manage to suck me in and then disappointment me. Up until now I wasn't trilled about the upcoming season (Doomsday is a bartender?) but turns out they found the right button to push. Looks like they may have an appearance by the Legion of Superheroes this year. Sigh...I have such high hopes...but I'm sure they'll find some way to muck it up. Still, they managed to get me to tune in again (at least for that episode).

Saw the Dark Knight the other night and needed a little time to process it. I'm having mixed feelings about it. It was a great movie like everyone says but it was too dark for me. Also, I like superhero movies (if done well) but I've never been fond of crime/mob/cop movies and Dark Knight is this first and a superhero movie second. This movie was not fun and I left feeling down and emotionally wiped. I suppose I was engaged and entertained but not in the same way I was by say Iron Man. There was no wish fulfillment for lack of a better word...after seeing this movie I didn't want to be Batman.

( Spoilers under the cut )

I went Tuesday night and there were still a lot of showtimes (especially the IMAX) that were selling out. When I passed by the theater again yesterday and today the parking lot was still more full that I've seen it on a week day for a long time. This movie is going to break even more records this week.

Finally got a Wii last week. I wasn't desperate to get one but I always kept an eye open when walking through the electronics department of the local department stores. Part of the reason I wasn't fanatical about getting one is there weren't too many games for it I was interested in. I'm not a hard core gamer by any means but if I'm going to take the time away from my other geeky hobbies to play a game it needs to be something special. I think I've found a couple of games coming out that may be worth my time. Star Wars of course has The Force Unleashed coming out which should be lots of fun with a Wii-mote, but they're also working on (what appears to be) a strictly lightsaber fighting game that's a tie in to the upcoming Clone Wars movie and television series: Star Wars the Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels. Then there is what I think will be a guilty pleasure...Onechanbara. This import game will also use the Wii-mote for sword slashing combat. Except instead of Jedi it's chicks in bikinis fighting zombies. What's not to love about that? I'll be getting that on day one.

Like Superman II, X-Men II and Spider-Man II (and probably Batman Dark Knight), Hellboy II The Golden Army is a sequel that is better than the original. It has a better story, better production values (not that the first was bad), more humor, and more butt kicking. Like Robert Downey Jr WAS Tony Stark, Ron Perlman IS Hellboy. Hellboy is a man's man...err...demon. He drinks beer in the shower, is shacking up with his hot (pun intended) girlfriend, his job is kicking monster butt (best job ever), he's not intimidated by his boss, he shoots big guns and he loves cats. I think I have a little of a man crush on him.

( Movie spoilers under the cut )

Some parts of the story get a little tired, like the friction between Hellboy and his new boss, and I could see the ending coming from a mile away, but Hellboy II had so many great moments (like Barry Manilow) they more than make up for any weak spots. This movie will be getting a second viewing from me, if only to see all the imaginative, fantastic creatures in the background I may have missed.