Super Bowl and Ice Brawls

This has been a pretty insane couple of weeks in sports. I'll just try and touch on some things.

Let us begin with the Super Bowl. That was a pretty awsome game. It threatened to be a blow out at first, then the Steelers got on track. In fact it ended up being a really close game. Aaron Rogers was absolutely out of his mind. Everyone has said that all week, but it's probably worth reiterating all the passes dropped by his receivers. Because of that, it was the Packers defense that really won that game. In a way, the last drive by the Steelers really represented that, because by stopping the Steelers, the Packers defense really did win that game. And even though I was rooting for the Steelers, if they had won, it would have been a steal. The Packers were definitely the better team that day.

Now, on to hockey. This has been a nutty week with a lot of fisticuffs. In particular, fisticuffs involving my boys, the Pittsburgh Penguins. A week and a half ago they met the islanders and it was a pretty rough game with a lot of fights. The feature match up being Brent Johnson and his one punch on Rick Dipietro that broke his face. Later in the week Boston and Montreal one upped that game with an 8-6 shootout that also happened to be a slugfest. Almost 200 penalty minutes  assessed, lauded as one of the most entertaining regular season hockey games in years. Then came Friday. The rematch of the Pens and Isles. The Islanders even brought up a goon from Bridgeport to show they meant business.

So began the grudge match. I have to say I can't remember the last time the Pens played that poorly. I could blame it on the injuries and the fact that half of our forward line up was AHLers, but I won't. The Pens have done well otherwise without Malkin and Crosby including a win against LA the previous night. So no excuses, it was a terrible showing against a terrible team.

On the scoreboard, the game was over early. The rest of the game was just plain ugly. This basically put all the fighting earlier in the week to shame. I'm won't go over each fight, in detail but Haily, the goon from Bridgeport, not only got a Gordy Howe hat trick but went on a rampage against Brent Johnson. Johnson dropped his helmet and gloves ready to fight, but then Goddard stepped in and it got all messy. By the end of the game every hit resulted in a fight. Soon they were just kicking guys out of the game. For the last 3 minutes there were only 2 guys on the Pens bench and 4 on the Isles. I've never seen anything like it.

So how do I feel about it? Well, I gotta say  this kind of fighting and the whole feeling of a grudge match is pretty exciting. But, if it happened all the time, it would probably get boring after a while. The league is cracking down, there were three long suspensions handed out after Friday's game. It's probably for the better. Still, a pretty exciting week in hockey. I'm glad I was able to catch some of it. Really, my main worry is Crosby coming back and that hopefully Malkin's injury won't ruin him. Our defense is solid, but, as was shown on friday, without a lot of help up front it can be real difficult to win games. Hopefully, Friday's events can be put in the past and regarded as a mere fluke.

And that is it, I will be back soon with some reflection on Mirrordin Besieged and some other fun Magic topics.

Wizard's First Rule Review

So I'm a little behind, monday's supposed to be sports, but honestly not that much interesting went on this weekend. I'm not big on college basketball, especially when it isn't March, and well, I'm not from LA so I don't think it's a huge deal that the Celtics gave the Lakers a woopin'. All star games/pro bowls are fun, but not worth talking about, though Zdeno Chara's 105.9mph clapper is pretty impressive.

So, today will take what Wednesday's theme was supposed to be, entertainment. I will give a review of a book that probably every fantasy fan but me has already read, but, got to get around to it sometime, right?

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind impressed me in many ways, but was by no means a perfect book. He can get you hooked and turning the pages, though sometimes his writing is a little sloppy. I will admit, at the same time I was reading this, I have been reading Francine Prose's "Who to Read Like a Writer," so maybe I have been more critical of this book than I would have been, though some things are hard not to notice.

I will begin with the characters and story. It does not depart much from Lord of the Rings tropes, but manages to stand out in its own right. Essentially a strong headed intelligent kid who does not want to be bothered gets roped into all these entangled plots he wants no part of and goes on an adventure. He is accompanied  by a beautiful woman he can't have, a crazy old wizard who is always hungry and a hulking veteran soldier. Essentially all the characters are pretty stock, but each has a little twist on them to make them just interesting enough.

The story itself is also very stock, but just like the characters, Goodkind throws some real interesting twists in there to keep you interested. He seems to focus a lot on the themes of truth and perception and truth versus perception, which at sometimes seems really awkward, but at others is very interesting. There are some cool instances about seeing through have truths and such, though I feel like some of the sections are awkwardly worked around a point Goodkind wants to make. Some will like this aspect more than others.

Now, the writing style is the last thing I'd like to talk about. It is an 820 page book, so there are a lot of words in there and maybe I'm being harsh, but the writing quality is really inconsistent. The opening paragraph is done masterfully. It starts small and oozes its way out, slowly moving back to show you the full picture. Most of his first sentences for chapters are very attention grabbing. There are other sections, however, that are written awkwardly or just drag. There is a lot of unnecessary description (a common problem in fantasy writing) and sometimes he will add a sentence or detail that not only does not add to the story or scene, but is completely random. There is literally a scene where the main character is focused real hard on doing something and there is this random sentence, "A chicken stood watching." Now, we could debate all day the significance and symbolism of a chicken standing their watching and how long Goodkind took to make the decision to put that sentence there. I don't think he put any time, he just wanted to describe the scene, and the detail just seems extraneous. This is not the only example, but it is the one I remember most.

I will say this the book is an enjoyable read and he is very deft with his plot lines. Everything is accounted for, even though its very complicated, and tied together neatly at the end. I don't want to spoil any more, but I will just say he does an excellent job of keeping the plot focused. By the end it is very hard to set the book down because of the way he's set everything up and all the little seeds he plants along the way start to take fruit.

Any way, that is my review for today. Tomorrow I'll be back with some game stuff.

Gamer Tuesdays

So, with my new theme days, Tuesdays will be gamer Tuesdays. I will discuss video games, board games, computer games and Magic: The Gathering.

For christmas, a very good friend of mine bought me Starcraft II. I was going to wait longer, until the price went down significantly, to pick it up. I have to say, I am quite happy to have it. I have not played it much, but I will surely write more about it in subsequent weeks.

Today, I'll talk mostly about Mirrorden Besieged, because it has been mostly spoiled. Only four cards have not been spoiled yet. Immediately my favorite card is probably Thrun, The Last Troll. It puts the hurting on control and that stupid 100 dollar card (Jace, The Mind Sculpter, if you weren't aware). The only problem with this card is it is going to make Valakut Ramp better, and that is my least favorite deck in standard. It is pure boredom. It's strategy can be simply stated as: Do nothing, followed by, play Primeval Titan and win. At least with Blue Black games are really interesting. In fact, even though it was 6/8's of the World's top 8, all those matches were really exciting to watch. Especially Paolo vs. Matignon, that was some epic Magic.

Well, enough bitching about the standard metagame... or maybe not. I don't think enough of these cards are good enough to change the meta game. If we're lucky there will be an artifact deck. There's a lot more infect now, but still nothing to actually make an infect deck with. What is more likely is, what happened with Scars, will be the same as with Besieged, some cards will be used in already prominent decks, but there won't be any significant changes to the metagame. I will say, I am very much looking forward to drafting Besieged, Besieged, Scars, it looks to be pretty damn interesting.

Alright, that's it for today. Next week, I hope to get some more Master's Addition drafts under my belt, so maybe I'll be able to talk about that. So far it's been a strange and tough set to draft. I'll be back tomorrow with "Entertainment Wednesday"

Sports Mondays! Review of NFC championships and NHL allstar break is coming up!

So, with my new style, Mondays will be sports days on the blog. I'm just gonna jump around today, a lot is going on and I'm not paying real close attention, but, I do love sports.

First off, I don't care how you feel about Jay Cutler's attitude, but he's one tough dude. He tried to go back out in that game with that knee injury and it was clear that if he forced himself to play, it would have been bad news. Even if you think every athlete should play in the playoffs even if they're falling apart, if they're not going to help their team, then they should probably sit out. This would be the case with Cutler. Besides, some injuries effect players more than others. Knee injuries are terrible.

Otherwise, it seemed like both games followed similar formulas. The favored teams got out to strong starts and then held off comebacks. I did not see all of the Bears game, but that third string quarter back did an excellent job. That kid has a bright future. As far as the Jets go, they arrived to the game late. About 2 hours late. What a terrible first half, there's not much more to say. Well, maybe that Ben Roethlisberger, no matter what your opinions of his personal life, is easily the most clutch quarterback in the league. It's almost like he plays better when the play breaks down and all turns to chaos.

Alright, that's it for football, I'll make an uneducated pick for the Super Bowl next week.

Now, hockey's All Star weekend is coming up. I will admit, I love how gimmicky it is. The "draft" reminiscent of picking teams on the playground or out on the pond, is a pretty awsome touch. Plus the skills competition is pretty fun. Though, like most gimmicks, it's one of those things where its mostly just fun to watch it every couple of years. But, since we missed it last year for the olympics, this should be a pretty fun one to watch. Though it's a shame there'll be no Sid. He always seems to get injured this time of year.

That's it for today, I'll do more in depth stuff in the future and probably more looks into specific hockey teams and players and how they're doing. For now I'm out.

New Blog Plan, plus, you probably already know this, but The Sword rules.

So I have a new plan for my blog, to keep me posting more often. I will give myself a couple flexible topics to talk about each week and try and keep up with them. I have decided that tuesday will be entertainment day. On tuesdays I will discuss music, art, books, movies, plays, operas, you name it.


My first line of business will be to talk about a band I should have discovered a long time ago. Many of my friends have listened to them for years, but I have only recently discovered The Sword. If you are like me and have been living under a rock, The Sword is a metal band from Austin Texas. Their style is classic in every way.

Their four man arrangement, guitar/vocalist, guitarist, bassist, drummer is classic. Their music echoes the classic styles of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Their riffs are classic and once you hear their album Warp Riders your first thought could easily be, this album is an instant classic. The "classic-ness" of this band goes above and beyond the retro style. The song structure, performance and energy are all superlative.

If you have a hankering for a sweet riff, look no further than The Sword. Warp Riders is filled to the brim with awsome riffage. Some are quick and energetic, some are sludgy and powerful, others are just melodic and catchy, but you are guaranteed to find yourself humming them when you're in the shower. They also have the impressive ability to take a riff and really develop it as the song goes, much in the way Iron Maiden is famous for.

The vocals are very reminiscent of Ozzy's early work with Black Sabbath. J.D. Cronise offers a hollow but powerful sound with a strong blues influence. On top of that, his lyrics are just fun. Warp Riders, for example, has a classic sci fi theme to it and the lyrics really just make you excited about space travel, witches and lawless lands. The best part of Cronise's lyrics is that they have a mythic quality to them. They talk of epic scenarios with a sense of both familiarity and folklore, all of it adding together to form an awsome listening experience. In other words: you probably already know this, but The Sword rules.

Review: Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Well let me say one thing, if nothing else, Robert Jordan loves the set up. Once again the pace has been a dead crawl for at least 3/4's of the book. Actually in this book its at a pretty steady but slow pace until the last 100 pages really. And this is a loooong book. However, I do like how things happen at the slow pace. Lots of great Forsaken drama going on in this one. There's more character development and chatter at the differences between men and women. There's the battle for power in Rand Al'Thor's head between him and the mad Lews Therin. And there are some other fairly interesting developments that I do not want to spoil.

But by the time you get to the oh, I don't know 800th page, you start to wonder, is this the book where no big huge thing happens at the end? Which is pretty much how all the books have been, though the first 3 had a lot more going on during the bulk of the book then the second 3. But, no disappointment once again Robert Jordan hits you with some pretty nutty occurrences. I won't go into detail, but know that crazy shit happens at the end.

So, just to talk a little about Robert Jordan's writing style, I'd like to bring up his pacing. This is one of the things that has bothered so many people who have read his books. This is the reason many people I know have never made it to the end of the series. I guess the issue is, that to call the climax of Robert Jordan's books a crescendo I think would not be correct. Instead they're more like an abrupt accelerando or tempo change. And the worst part is, by the way the books are written through the beginning, they make you think that it will go on at that pace for the rest of the series. Which is why I understand discouragement. At the same time, for me, the occurrences at the ends of the books are quite jarring. This may have been his intention, but at the same time it almost feels more like he was biding his time. Surely you don't want the important things to happen too quickly, but at the same time, you wonder why there's only one in each book. I guess I'm coming to the question "of are all the books necessary?"

Dangerous grounds surely. And it is his series not mine. Like I said, it may very well have been his intention. And I also admitted to enjoying much of the slow parts, even if some just seem like milling around. They do set up a lot of things and offer flavor and context. But the pacing manages to throw me off every damn time. Anyway, on to the next one "A Crown of Swords." We'll see how this one unfolds.

Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

This is the story of an evil curse and one man's quest to defeat it through love. This is the story of a family of Dominicans and their immigration to the US. This is the story an obese uber nerd. There's a hundred ways I could summarize this book, and they all happen simultaneously. Couple this with writing that is at times deep like poetry but always fast paced and keeping you turning the pages. The book is epic, the scope impressive, this all coming from a guy who loves multi-volume 900 page fantasy epics.

The language in the book is striking. It is told in a conversational manner but mixes in Spanish expressions (if you don't speak Spanish, you can still get the gist or even figure out what the expressions mean. Junot Diaz is a master of this). Also every page is loaded with nerd references that will make even the slightest nerd go "what! no way Jose!" The book really almost reads too fast. Once I started it, I basically wanted to spend all my time reading it. But because of the pace, it would not be hard to finish it "by accident" in one sitting. Or at least less sittings than I'd rather have. It's a joy to read.

I knew the author was good, I had read his book of short stories Drown. The best part is, the stories of Dominicans in the US and Latin American immigration are a topic that has never really appealed to me. Or at least hadn't ever before. But in Drown I was so captured by the dudes amazing writing style. He pulls you in. When I heard that he had written the novel, and what the premise was, I knew I had to read it. Who else could basically turn a real life, legitimate fucked up Latin American dictator (Trujillo), into basically Sauron. Yeah he does this, but you won't know how until you read the book.