Books: The Way of Shadows

…by Brent Weeks

Sometimes you just want some good old fashioned sword-hacking, shadow-stalking, mage-fire hurling type fantasy.  Plenty of action, high-school level romance, badass villains, and , familiar archetypes…  In The Way of Shadows (Book 1 in the Night Angel trilogy),  this is precisely what you get.

The novel starts with young Azoth, an orphaned street beggar, eavesdropping on the troubles of one Durzo Blint, the best and baddest magically enhanced assassin (weeks uses the term, ‘wetboy’ – a questionable choice) in all of Cenaria.  This scene leads to Azoth’s attempt to apprentice himself to Durzo as a way out of the gutter.  Azoth has enough challenges what with scraping enough pennies together to eat and pay his guild dues to a Fagin-like outfit, and he’s watching out for his friends Jarl and Doll Girl to boot.  To make matters worse, Azoth, like all orphan heroes, is inexplicably brave, and stands up for his friends in the face of the bigger older bullying Rat.  Rat responds by buggering Jarl and cutting Doll Girl (this book pulls few punches), and Azoth seeks out Durzo in an attempt to help his friends out of their predicament and take some vengeance.

Of course Durzo agrees to take on this new apprentice, but only if Azoth can prove himself by killing Rat.  Then it’s on.

Quick Review: Transformers 2

More than meets the eye?  Yeah… depends on your definition. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has been (predictably) pummelled by the film intelligentsia in review after review.  It’s also hauled in a crapload of cash.  This leads to a couple of conclusions:

• The big Hollywood Marketing Machine w0uld not allow this movie to fail (especially amidst this summer’s weakness)
• Nobody really listens to the film critics (at least in summertime)

Simplistic?  Sure.  But the question you really have to ask yourself – what do you want out of your giant robot  FX extravaganza? What are your expectations.  Do you want character development, pithy dialogue, a plot that can stand up to more than cursory examination?  Do you want quiet moments?  Soulful expressions of affection between the Autobots and their military allies?  Well do ya, punk?

Happy 4th!

Happy Independence Day!

We’ve managed to unpack enough to have order in the kitchen, dining room, living room, and bedrooms.  That means I’ve pretty much taken the day off.  Nearly a week straight of unloading/loading and I’ve had enough.  Not the wife, though – she continues to unpack the office and various kid boxes.

So how do you celebrate your 4th of July?  For us it looks like a trip downtown to Taste of Springfield and then the fireworks show.  Assuming, that is, the weather cooperates.  Cloudy skies and showers in the forecast, and it’s been raining all day.

Also, what could be more American than watching Team America in the Gold Cup?  This is the regional tournament for Central and North America and the Carribean, which we’ve often won.  With most of the regulars on break after the Confederations Cup, it’s the chance for fringe and young players to make their mark.  And if the last few weeks’ games have shown anything it’s that Coach Stoneface needs to develop more depth (or at least become comfortable enough with our depth to actually use it).  Tune in on Fox Soccer Channel at 8 pm CST as the USA takes on Grenada; you can also watch the Gold Cup on the interwebs.

HQ Relocated

Here’s the new worldwide Headquarters of Beemsville:

Home of Beemsville

We are pretty excited about this place.  It’s about fifty (50!) years old with loads of space and coolness and potential.  Not too far from our old ‘hood, which means no major upheavals with daycare or work commutes.  Closing went off without a hitch, and we were lucky enough to get permission to move all our stuff in on Sunday.  This meant we could call upon friends and family to help us out without having to worry about trying to wrangle a mid-week move.

As moves go, this one was pretty smooth – even when accounting for the mountains and mountains of crap stuff for which we claim ownership.  The sweltering weather broke Sat. night, and Sunday was nice and breezy.  And our help was awesome.  At the peak of project relocation, we must have 16 people moving boxes and furniture!   We split into two crews:  one at the house and one at the storage unit.  Such efficiency!  And all I had to do was endure a few insults here and there and provide some pizza.  Thank you very much, to all those who came by to help!

Some more before/after pictures following the bump…

Media Bumps for Team America

Every few years, U.S. Soccer raises its profile above the ocassional blip status.  Usually that has coincided with the World Cup.  This time around, it’s the Confederations Cup.  After the horrific start to the tournament, Team America has turned the corner with two excellent games.  The last performance, the 2-0 win over Spain (the #1 team in the world and unbeaten in 35 games) was the top sports story of the day on Wednesday.

So here at Beemsville, we thought we’d do our part and feed that media monster:

Los, Timmy, and Gooch with Miss USA

Here’s Jozy Altidore on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption:

Pentagram: USA v. Spain – Confed Cup

This was a famous victory for U.S. Soccer.  The lead sports story for news services across the globe.  USA 2, Spain 0, and the Spaniards’ 35 game unbeaten streak is at an end.  Most soccer pundits would tell you that Spain wins that game 8 out of 10 times; they are #1 in the world according to FIFA after all.  But not today.

Like Alexi Lalas says, ‘that kind of performance gives me hope’.  Yeah, me too.  And this on the heels of that improbable 3-0 victory over Egypt; suddenly the sky doesn’t quite seem to be falling.  Five points to the pentagram…

Moving Day One Week Out

Today the living room and dining room resemble the great warehouse from that legendary final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark:  boxes, boxes everywhere.  We are T-minus seven days from our big move to Beemsville’s new HQ.  The house is a little more than a mile away so the move really shouldn’t be that painful.  Still, any change of domicile is a major ordeal.

The big hurdles are mostly behind us.  A follow up on inspection issues, switching over utilities, and the reams of paperwork yet remain.  Still with the wife’s exceptional packing and organizing skills, I anticipate few problems with the actual physical movement of all our stuff (but egads do we have a lot of stuff!).

This is where you come in.  You know who you are, friends and family in the Central IL area.  Save the date for next Sunday, the 28th.  Free pizza and plenty of ribald humor and jokes of questionable taste.  Plus you get to see the new place.  Come on out and help us move our stuff.  It will be glorious!

Video: Down with Shed

As promised video footage of the old carriage shed going down like the USA to Brazil 3-1*, like a Brazilian midfielder diving for free kicks, like a cheap date with questionable self-esteem…

The online video cork has officially been popped.  Expect more riveting, insightful, hilarious, and soul-touching youtubery in the near future.

*There will be no commentary on that pathetic performance…

Pentagram: Confed Cup v. Italia

You have to bring your best game against a team like Italy.  They’re the reigning world champs, after all.  The best game doesn’t include a crap red-card, lack of tactical adjustment, and anything less than total defensive commitment once you have the lead.  Thus, 3-1 Italy and the U.S. is in the hole with Thursday’s match against Brazil looming.

You did see some guts by guys like Onyewu, Donovan, Bradley, and Spector.  Jozy Altidore was tough to handle and Jonathan Bornstein looked strong on the left.  That said, just too many mistakes.  Five points to the pentagram…

Carriage Shed Must Go

I never really considered this building a garage.  For one thing, the driveway doesn’t go all the way back.  For another, you can barely fit a vehicle in there.  It’s really a carriage shed from way, way back, and has pretty much been a storage shed since we moved in.  No matter.  As part of the relocation operation, it had to go, so there was my Saturday.