The Unfinished Game – Day four in Scotland

2013-07-17 17.24.01Wednesday morning came bright and early. We’d decided to try our hand at getting to the distillery we’d gotten information about from The Whiskey Experience so we headed down to try and find the bus stop for this once an hour transport. We weren’t having much luck. By the time we thought we’d found it and it was supposed to arrive, we’d actually decided on a different plan altogether.

See, today was Jennifer’s dad’s birthday and him being a golfer and us being so close, relatively speaking, to St. Andrews, we figured a trip to the home of golf would be a little more fun. Continue reading “The Unfinished Game – Day four in Scotland” →

Reaching the heights of culture – Day three in Scotland

CityscapeOur first full day in Edinburgh started off just fine. We easily walked into town, across the Waverley Bridge and into the Old Town.  A wee bit about Edinburgh history here. Everything started with the Castle, which has been around, in one form or another, for close to 2000 years. It was built on the mound of an extinct volcano and would have been an imposing presence no matter which era you’d seen it. Had there been guidebooks back then, Roman centurions would have found it on their list of “places to avoid.” Continue reading “Reaching the heights of culture – Day three in Scotland” →

The Borderlands – Day two in Scotland

James and the Wee Red BusLeaving the hostel early enough to not only make our 9am bus tour, but to find breakfast and the place to meet our bus tour wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Not that leaving was hard, nor getting up in time (I don’t sleep late anyway, thank you, Laika) but just figuring out what to do for food and where the bus stop was accounted for a slight bit of frustration. In the end, we opted for jumping in to a local supermarket (Sainsbury, for those playing UK Location Bingo) and grabbing some eat on the go stuff and then figuring out that our tour pick-up point was actually quite near Calton Hill… and we were a little early so we decided to eat up on the hill with the view of the nearby body of water which is called the “Firth of Forth” (try saying that three times fast!). Firth means estuary and Forth is the bay which leads out to the ocean so that’s what we were looking at before heading back down and joining our group. Continue reading “The Borderlands – Day two in Scotland” →

Hop on – Day one in Scotland

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMeeting Jennifer and getting to our hostel wasn’t much of an adventure. It was fairly easy to find the bus to take us into town and then a nice gentleman, who was walking our way anyway, showed us where our hostel was. Where we were staying, the Belford Hostel, is located in an old church (and more on that later). We dropped off our bags and headed back out (It was early, so we couldn’t even check in yet) to explore the city. Jennifer had been here before so she was a font of knowledge as we walked around. Continue reading “Hop on – Day one in Scotland” →

My mother has a 46 year old son

Birthday BoysMy birthday celebration really started on Friday when I saw some friends and got some nice gifts and cards and a visit from my friend Anna from Budapest. I also saw Pacific Rim, but I slept through a good deal of it so no review just yet.

Saturday, the actual anniversary of my birth, was a blast. Continue reading “My mother has a 46 year old son” →

Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That was a good book. Not a great one, but very very good. It’s a classic Gaiman story; young people, shadowlands, ancient beings, “beating of giant wings”… all the good stuff. I listened to it, read by the author, which at times can be a tricky proposition but Gaiman is a performer and he does a great job with his own words (This is not always the case, mind you) and at just under 6 hours listening time, this isn’t a long piece of fiction. So why isn’t it great? For me, length is actually one of the factors. Continue reading “Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane” →

Review: Schooled

Schooled
Schooled by Christa Charter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Generally, I enjoyed Christa Charter’s new series starter (you can tell it’s a new series because the last line completely sets up the sequel) and her double team of detectives – Lexy and her “uncle” Mike – work well together. The mystery itself is fun and while there are no great twists and turns, it’s also not completely obvious from the outset, which is nice. Continue reading “Review: Schooled” →

Review: The Bling Ring

Not sure about this latest offering from Sofia Coppola. The story, a “ripped from the headlines” tale of suburban LA kids robbing the homes of the rich and famous in order to get their hands on lingerie and, ostensibly, to have some of the fame rub off on them, is interesting in and of itself, but Coppola’s dramatization of it is a little shallow.

Of course, therein lay my uncertainty. Coppola is a very talented filmmaker and it’s not like her to leave this story unexamined the way she does, but then, maybe that was her point – there really was nothing more to the “villains” than what you see. Maybe “The Bling Ring” really were just a group of spoiled kids, out of touch with reality and obsessed with celebrity culture to the point that they considered the people they saw on the magazines as unreal personifications of their own desires and therefore, whatever the rich and famous had should be shared equally and fairly.  Continue reading “Review: The Bling Ring” →

Separating art from artist

There is an ethical conundrum I’ve been curious about for a while. The problem is this: If I don’t agree with the politics of an artist or businessman, can I still buy their art or patronize their establishment? How do you draw the line?

For me, this first came up with Carl’s Jr, a fast food burger joint primarily in the west and southwest of America (in the east,  Hardees stores are basically the same). Carl’s Jr. was started and, until he died in 2008, owned by Carl Karcher, who was a well-known conservative and supporter of anti-gay legislation – something to which I am violently opposed.

Continue reading “Separating art from artist” →

The History of Typography, in Stop-Motion Animation – Ivan Kander – The Atlantic

The History of Typography, in Stop-Motion Animation – Ivan Kander – The Atlantic.

I’m a font geek, I admit it. Back in my design days, I was certainly guilty of over doing it and I’m sure, even now, my computer (and certainly my back up drive) is full of fonts I’ll never use but that just look cool!

This video is a must see for anyone who loves fonts, history, books, printing, design… whatever. It’s less than 6 minutes. You can thank me later.

Review: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Why did it take me so long to read this? Probably because since I was a teen, everyone who recommended it to me was a girl and I figured it was some sort of Chick-lit book about relationships and, being a guy, I wanted action and adventure. And so, from my earliest thinkings of Austen, it never quite appealed to me. Continue reading “Review: Pride and Prejudice” →

Review: This is the End

There’s a moment, about a third of the way through this film, where things are going bad but not as bad as they’ll soon get. Los Angeles is being destroyed by flames and earthquakes, many people have died (others were taken up into the sky by a blue light) and our intrepid heroes, all actors playing (what I can only hope are) parody versions of themselves, are holed up at James Franco’s house, waiting to be rescued. While this is happening, they get stoned and decide to make a sequel to Pineapple Express, a film several of the actors here had been in. It’s a bad idea, this film they come up with. And yet, it feels like this is exactly what happened when Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg came up with the premise for This is the End. This was a joke that went too far. And no one in the crew had the balls to say “Guys, maybe this isn’t as funny as we think it is.”

It’s not. It’s not even a little bit funny. Maybe if you like other Seth Rogan comedies, full of obvious dick and drug jokes and set-ups which go on longer than an SNL skit, you might enjoy this, but for me, it was like watching 107 minutes of awkward award show dialogue. For people who are paid a great deal of money to act, no one (with the possible exception of Michael Cera) actually delivered a performance.

It’s too bad, too. Because I like James Franco and Jay Baruchel. And in the hands of someone who was even a little bit clever, this had the potential of being quite funny. Instead, it’s immature and lazy. When you’re a writer, one of the first things your told is you should never take your first idea. That’s the obvious one. This is a film filled with first ideas.

Happy Lithuanian Statehood Day

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There are advantages and disadvantages to being a relatively new country with a very long history. This is Lithuania. The records go back nearly 1000 years and even the castle in my backyard was first recorded in 1361, but for all intents and purposes, the country came into being in the modern age 22 years ago, when the Russians were finally driven out and Lithuanians could, at long last, rule themselves again.

So how do you celebrate your new/old independence? You have a holiday! Or several holidays. But today is a pretty cool one. July 6th is the supposed coronation day of Mindaugas, the one and only king of Lithuania! It was 760 years ago today that he was crowned and so today, since 1992, has been Lithuanian Statehood Day, a federal holiday!

Review: Now You See Me

This is the second time I’ve seen this film and interestingly, the same problems I had with it the first time, I still have in the same way. So at least it’s consistent.

There’s an interesting thing about seeing a caper film a second time. Well, any film with a “twist” or two in it, I suppose, but caper films are known for being heavily reliant on specific plot details not being revealed until late in the game, Particularly this one, which involves magic tricks. See, watching it for the first time (and yes, I went my second time with a friend who hadn’t seen it before) you’re not expecting the surprise ending and when it comes, it hits you full in the gut. But that second (and subsequent) viewings, when you’re ready for the punch, you can usually see it coming a mile away and sometimes, that telegraphy can completely ruin the film. The Sixth Sense is like that. In recent days, due to his involvement with the Will/Jaden Smith vehicle After Earth, director M. Night Shyamalan has come to be revealed for the charlatan he is and Sixth Sense proves it. Watching that film once you know the ending is an exercise in tedium. The only reason it garnered the praise it did at the time was people weren’t expecting that hit and when it came, it sent them reeling.  Continue reading “Review: Now You See Me” →

Review: The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When you “spell” a word correctly, you are in effect casting a spell, charging these abstract, arbitrary symbols with meaning and power.

Christopher Vogler’s book is, in effect, a “Hero’s Journey” for dummies, with a screenwriting angle thrown in for good measure. He makes no bones about the fact he’s basing his research on Joseph Campbell’s work, with a touch of Jungian philosophy,, all set against a Hollywood background. This makes sense, though. As any good teacher, Vogler uses a more modern language (film) in order to teach a concept which is thousands of years old. Continue reading “Review: The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers” →