I fished the book and watched the movie. I really enjoyed the book and have started Ender's Shadow. I'm enjoying that as well so far.

That said, I really didn't think too highly of the movie but not because it was particularly bad or anything. I feel like they did a good job with what they had but that there just wasn't enough time to get into the details they needed. It's obviously difficult to condense the contents of a novel into a feature length film and some are more successful than others. In this case, they just weren't able to get enough content in to really give the feeling of the pressure put on Ender to push him right to the edge of his abilities.

They basically touched on each of the scenarios he went through to get to the end but without the serious conflicts faced in each. Without that, it all just seemed too straight forward.

I don't know whether it should have been split into multiple films or whether it just can't be filmed at all. I guess it just is what it is.

I finally finished reading the latest Game of Thrones novel so I'm back to the classics for my reading enjoyment.

I'm not sure how much of a "classic" this really is, as it came out in the 70's, but I'm now reading Ender's Game in anticipation of watching the movie when I'm done.

So far so good!

I'm only a few days into it, but it's gripping and surprisingly current. Knowing that it was written around the days of Pong, I'm impressed at the visions of technology that are so relevant today.

I mean, their desks seem to be 3D iPads and the interactivity of the video games fits right into the modern day.

I just finished watching Thor: The Dark World. I'm very confused and have no idea what the hell just happened.

This is somewhat amusing.  I was browsing a site and came across a link that brought me to a site called HowLifeWorks.com

It didn't take long to realize that the whole thing seemed kinda fishy, so I clicked around a little to get a sense of the place and then did a search to get an idea of whether the whole thing is just a big scam.

Well, by all accounts it is.  It's basically set up to look like a news site of sorts, but it's all a ruse to get you to buy stuff from their advertisers.  If you pay close attention, they actually suggest you go and do your own actual research elsewhere.  🙂

None of this is the funny part though.  What's amusing is that one of the sites I found describing how the whole thing works appears to be under a subpoena to disclose information about people on the Internet that posted their opinions about the site.  And further to that, the actual lawyer posted in the comments, appearing by all accounts to be trying to frighten people off from posting reviews.

Here's the review:
http://www.reviewopedia.com/howlifeworks-com-reviews

Note the legal notice posted there.  

And here's the subpoena:

http://www.kbg-law.com/Subpoena.pdf

I mean…  I know that companies value their reputations and all, but are people actually paying lawyers to prevent people from exposing what's essentially a giant scam?

So there you have it.  The world has disappointed me.

I'm not really going to go into much detail here as it's not really necessary. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells, is a quick read and well worth the time.

Just like War of the Worlds, it's held up quite well over the years and I recommend it.

So that's that.

Now, I was going to continue on with The Invisible Man, but I think I'm going to dig into George R. R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons. I just got a copy and have been looking forward to it for quite a while.

It's a big one, so I probably won't have much to report on for quite some time.

Last week I finished reading War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. In stark contrast to the last classic I read, Journey to the Center of the Earth, this one comes very highly recommended!

They whole thing has held up quite well over time and was riveting from beginning to end. I came away extremely impressed. Heck, I even had a tear in my eye as it ended.

I liked it enough that I've immediately started The Time Machine and, after just the first couple chapters, I have high hopes for this one as well.

The short version: Don't bother with it.

After really enjoying 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, I went for some more Jules Verne and just finished with Journey to the Center of the Earth. I'm betting it was far more intriguing back when it was written, and I tried to keep that in context while reading it, but I just couldn't get there.

Even trying to imagine knowing nothing at all about how the Earth is made up and so leaving it to the book to carry me along on the adventure, there was just too much of it that had me asking questions to try and explain away much of the ridiculousness of the whole thing.

In the end, it was just too much.

This is a picture of my favourite tooth. I’ve spent a lot over the years to try to keep it in my head, but sadly, it would appear to be not long for this world. 🙁

I haven’t yet made an appointment to figure out what needs to be done with it, but it’s only a matter of time. Meanwhile… here’s the tooth version of a horrible sports injury.

Poor tooth. I’m gonna miss it when it’s gone.

Ok… I know what you're thinking…

But bear with me for a moment. This morning I saw a story on CP24 about a vice-principal in Peel Region dressing up as Mr. T for Halloween, blackface and all. Now he's facing disciplinary hearings and all that.

Because, you know, blackface is wrong.

But here's the thing… I'm not sure whether everyone's completely lost track of WHY blackface is wrong and whether ALL instances of using makeup to become a coloured person (Robert Downey Jr. notwithstanding) is, by definition, wrong.

In an interview with one of the high school students, the reaction was, to paraphrase "Well… as a costume it wasn't bad but I think it's wrong to paint your face to be a different race".

The poor kid seemed to know it was WRONG but didn't seem to actually be offended by it or have any idea WHY it might be wrong. It just was.

In his eyes, dressing up as a different race is just wrong, but that's not right. I can dress up as Cheech Marin for Halloween and nobody is going to reprimand me for pretending to be Latino. Asians aren't gonna be pissed if I dress up as Bruce Lee.

So what's so wrong about dressing up as Mr. T?? Mr. T is badass. Mr. T is a good role model. Mr. T is not a negative black stereotype. So what's wrong with dressing up like Mr. T?

My argument is that NOTHING is wrong with dressing up like Mr. T. Does this mean that I condone blackface? No. I just think people have lost track of what the heck "blackface" really is.

If you paint your face black to perpetuate negative stereotypes like a travelling minstrel show, then THAT'S RACIST!!

But Mr. T? This is not the same thing!!! So what's it gonna take to get society to understand this?

People should learn some history.

I’m Tweeting rather randomly this week. Follow me at @WildWeaselGT if you do that sort of thing.