UK is Struggling

We received our tickets to Wicked for January, and Ellice is really excited. Other than that, not much is going on. We have our first Dr. Appointment in a couple of weeks. I'm forbidden from playing Volleyball until Spring, and I'm really struggling with that.

Star Wars is going well; we're having fun playing. There have been a few near-death experiences, but the crew is getting the feeling of high adventure.

UK's basketball team was stunned Friday by a hot shooting VMI team in a track meet-103-111. Poor defense and a surprising lack of effort was the reason. They tried to rely on their length and athletic ability instead of hustle. And they got the expected result. Hopefully, this highly regarded team can get it together. Tuesday they face #1 North Carolina, so we are likely going to start the season 0-2.

The Football team started out the first half against Vanderbilt with only 15 yards of offense. Needless to say, they lost, 24-31. The sluggish wildcats had a chance late, but another interception from freshman QB Randall Cobb cost the wildcats their chance at tying the game.

Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks

This is the second installment of the Shannara series set some 30 or 40 years after Sword of Shannara. Wow, fantasy literature at its best. I loved this book. There was a much smaller party than the Sword, but Wil Ohmsford and Amberle have a fine adventure. Basically, the Ellcrys, a great mystical elven tree that keeps the demon hordes trapped in a parallel dimension is dying, and the pair have to prepare the next Ellcrys by bathing its seed in the Bloodfire. Meanwhile, Allanon the druid and the elven prince Ander Ellesedil have to hold off the ancient enemies in massive engagements.

I predicted the main twist in the book, but it was still way cool. Allanon delivers in his fight against the great evil demon the Dagda Mor. I just can't recommend this book enough to lovers of fantasy. They plan to make this one a movie, so get out there and read this one before the film comes out! ****

Quantum of Solace
The second Daniel Craig version of James Bond. We saw this one at Movie Tavern and the poor service was due to their being understaffed. We were both so hungry and frustrated that our opinion of the movie may have been affected. That being said, here's what we thought:
Action-packed but a bit too fast paced. We both lost track of the plot and who were good guys and bad. And we both dislike the trend in recent years of "shaky cam" featured in the Bourne movies. For some reason, this generation of directors think that the quick shaky cam is a good way to increase intensity. All it does is make me nauseous and I can't tell what is going on. But the story, from what we could tell was good, but it felt like a the second movie in a trilogy. We were expecting more after the amazing Casino Royale. This will probably be a better movie when we see it on DVD in our comfortable home. ***