End of January

What's happened in 2014 so far?  Well, they are coming to fix the washer, hopefully for free.  That's what GE consumer relations said anyway.  Ellice is stressed and that's no great surprise between our precarious financial situation and both of the kids going through a phase.  I'm trying to support where I can, but it isn't always enough.  I'm trying to make friends, but it takes me a long, long time to do that and this culture is decidedly different from the one I'm used to.  At any rate, here are some reviews...

The Magnificent Seven

So I knew this was based on the Seven Samurai and the story is pretty much the same.  What I didn't know was that Akiro what's-his-name based Seven Samurai on the American Western (Thank you AMC for that little tidbit.)  The movie was good and has renewed my interest in Westerns in general.  the only knock on this movie is that I can understand about 1/4 of what Yule Brenner says.  My favorite thing about this movie is Charles Bronson's relationship with the village kids.  Good old fashioned Wild West fun.  ***1/2

The Sapphire Rose: Book Three of the Elenium by David (and Leigh) Eddings

Ellice was right--I loved this series.  The knights are way, way cool especially the main character Sparhawk and his supporting cast is amazing.  This series was right in my wheelhouse and I highly recommend this series to any lover of fantasy; in fact I recommend all of David Eddings's writings.  His novels are more character than story driven, but his characters are dynamic and very interesting.  There is a comfort to his style that isn't always apparent in works by other authors in the genre.  I'm heading right into the second series of books featuring these characters, the Tamuli.  ****

The Second One in 2014

Let's get right to the reviews:

Battlefield: Los Angeles

This appeared to be a scifi alien movie, but in actuality, it's a war movie against overwhelming odds.  This very easily could have been set in WWII without missing much.  Sure, there was a little advanced tech and aliens, but you get my point.  That being said, I enjoyed it.  It was predictable, but in a comfortable way.  (Spoiler: the good guys win).  This movie got bad reviews but I didn't find it any worse than much else in the genre, in fact better than many.  ***

Star Wars: Han Solo at Star's End

Brian Daley's Han Solo trilogy is good Star Wars fun.  This is not a deep, hard-hitting novel (I would put Shatterpoint in that category), but this is one of the early Expanded Universe titles that set the stage for the Star Wars fiction that followed, and a good read.  Han displays his cleverness, his fly by the seat of his pants flair, and tries to live up to his moniker 'Solo' but ends up revealing unwavering loyalty and honor when the sabacc cards are on the table.  ***

Sherlock Holmes: His Last Bow

This is the last of Watson's recounting of Holmes's adventures and he is well established by this point as the world's leading detective.  Even the villains have heard of him by this point and the stories herein feature much of Holmes's famous disguises.  The last tale is perhaps the best featuring Holmes coming out of his retirement of studying bees to rejoin Watson on one final mission for king and country.  ****

New Year's Day 2014

Well, well, well.  2014.  A few years since we've talked last.  Anything going on?  Oh, yeah.  Jareth, my son was born.  He's two now.  Laurana is four.  And we moved to Henderson, Ky.  Anything else?  Naw.  Just some injuries, job changes, some sicknesses, lots of bills.  Normal stuff.  Still writing; nothing publishable yet but plugging away.  UK won a championship...and then went to the NIT again and lost.  Win some, lose some.They blew up the Celtics, now only Rondo is left.  Bengals have made playoffs 3 years running.  Same for the Reds.

Anyways, we'll see if I can keep this blog going awhile.  Maybe I'll reinstitute the review section.  Happy 2014!