Wow, it's been awhile

I need to post more often. Any way I saw rent the movie and Avenue Q in NYC this weekend. Both are highly recommended.

A Clash of Kings

"Bad enough when the dead come walking, now the Old Bear wants them talking as well? No good will come of that, I'll warrant. And who's to say the bones wouldn't lie? Why should death make a man truthful, or even clever? The dead are likely dull fellows, full of tedious complaints - the ground's too cold, my gravestone should be larger, why does he get more worms than I do ..."
- Dolorous Edd, A Clash of Kings

GMaps

http://maps.google.com/

Google's new mapping tool. What's cool and different about it is the ablity to get sat photo's for the address you search for and the abilty to put in a place name and have it find it. Click on Ohio zoom in to about the fifth zoom level and search for sandy valley high school ( the High School I attended ) then click Satellite. I think it's pretty cool although a little freaky. BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING ME!!!! ;)

Great Guitars

Seagull
Fender

I own this, which I love. It's got a great bluesly/bluegrass olde timey feel and sound. The setup from the factory was great. The action was a tad higher than I like but I don't except a custom setup from the factory. ( Um... damn you mean that they can't predict the future!?!? what the hell am I paying them for?! Oh yeah to make a good guitar that can be later adjusted.) The Frets and fingerboard were very well done. TO BE CONTINUED....

Gmail Goes Public

http://slashdot.org/articles/05/03/15/1845250.shtml?tid=217

GMail looks to be a better web based email option, 1gb storage, threaded views, and google's great search. I'm sold.

A Song Of Fire And Ice

Bran thought about it. “Can a man still be brave if he’s afraid?”

“That is the only time a man can be brave,” his father told him. “Do you understand why I did it?”

“He was a wildling,” Bran said. “They carry off women and sell them to the Others.”

His lord father smiled. “Old Nan has been telling you stories again. In truth, the man was an oathbreaker, a deserter from the Night’s Watch. No man is more dangerous. The deserter knows his life is forfeit if he is taken, so he will not flinch from any crime, no matter how vile. But you mistake me. The question was not why the man had to die, but why I must do it.”

Bran had no answer for that. “King Robert has a headsman,” he said, uncertainly.

“He does,” his father admitted. “As did the Targaryen kings before him. Yet our way is the older way. The blood of the First Men still flows in the veins of the Starks, and we hold to the belief that the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man’s life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.

“One day, Bran, you will be Robb’s bannerman, holding a keep of your own for your brother and your king, and justice will fall to you. When that day comes, you must take no pleasure in the task, but neither must you look away. A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is.”

-- From A Game of Thrones By George R.R. Martin

Links

I'll post some of my favorite links on this page:

Fly Anglers Online
A Song of Ice and Fire Message Board
Fender Guitars
Seagull Guitars

What's taters?

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/taters.php

Kind of funny but kind of annoying also. Not sure why I think it's funny.

Eat an Animal day!

International Eat an animal for PETA

It's March 15th.

House Buying Sucks

Buying a house sucks, more later...

I hate the whole going through a realtor setup. It takes days just for the littlest thing to go from buyer to seller and back again. But really this is just me liking the buying process for say guitars better. I go into a store look for the one I want. I play and test it out. If I like it then I talk directly to the seller about the price. Even buying a car is a better experience IMHO.

The biggest issue I have is that people want a palace price for a hut value. I mean really. Some the houses we have viewed for $100,000 and over were absolute dumps for the money wanted. Magnolia, Ohio is not exactly a high rent area either. Damn I sound like I'm getting old and cheap. I don't mind paying for something but I want it to be at least nice if I do. blah enough ranting for now...

A Song of Ice and Fire

"Never forget who you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you."
(Tyrion to Jon, GoT) -- George R.R. Martin

A Song of Ice and Fire

Bran: Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?
Eddard: That is the only time a man can be brave.

-- From A Game of Thrones By George R.R. Martin

One of the best books, if not the best, I have ever read.

Show Review: Thoroughly Modern Millie

Katie and I saw the show at EJ Thomas Hall. Which is a part of the U of Akron. It was a Friday night show.
Thanks in large part to Gwen, I have become much more interested in the theater. Hopefully this is the first of many great shows we shall see at EJ Thomas. I should say that though I have seen some shows on broadway ( Rent, Cabaret, Lion King ) and the shows that Gwen is/has been/will be in, I have not seen or been around theater much at all, so my opinion may not be the most well informed.
Since I am very much a new comer to the world of musical theater I don't really feel that I can totally commit on how good in a technical sense the performers were. The only negative thing that really stuck out in my mind about the play was the male lead characters singing voice. It sounded a little weak and it seemed that he slid in to a lot of notes which were not intended to be slid into. Then again I'm not a singing and was hearing the music for the first time so could be totally wrong. I also thought that he did an excellent job with the acting. The female lead ( the Character of Millie ) was great as well as the rest of the cast. I very much enjoyed the villain and the comedic side of the play.
My favorite parts were the excellent dancing and the 1920's era jazz. Overall Katie and very much enjoyed the show. Thoroughly Modern Millie Tour and original Broadway Play

Book Review: Redcoat

Redcoat - Bernard Cornwell

I just finished this book today at lunch. I very much enjoyed it. It was something a bit different from Cornwell, in that this isn't a story about the lone badass officer, who rose up from the ranks to take on the whole of the French army. I love the Sharpe/Grail Quest books but they are very formulaic, which Cornwell himself has admitted. What makes those books great is not the unique plot but rather the attention to detail, the great sense of adventure, and the feeling you get that you right there staring down the rifle sights with Sharpe.
Redcoat on the other hand has less adventure and more character to it. Sam is a great character, tough yet not a superhuman, intelligent yet not a genius, loyal, loving and a overall good guy. Captain Vane is a great grey character, misguided yet believable. There is a pure evil type, but it works as a good counter point to the grey characters as someone to cheer against.
The plot moves well and has some unexpected turns that I enjoyed. The history is pretty much right on. I only say pretty much as he does change some of the events of the revolution around in order to fit the story but the characters/events very much match the descriptions that I have read. He details the changes made at the end of the book in his historical notes page.
If the time period and lessening of adventure don't brother the reader then I feel that this is a good read. World changing? Of course not. Entertaining? I sure was.

A qoute I like from the time period:
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.
--George Washington

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!

This is my blog. Well duh, right? I'm the one writing this post not you. Anyway this will be a spot for me to keep an online journal, write various story ideas, maybe post music I'll record, post artwork, quotes I like or dislike, review movies/books/music/shows etc.. In general just a place to express myself about my life and important things in it.


"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!" -- William Shakespeare From Julius Caesar (III, ii, 78-79)