The Last Colony

The Last Colony by John Scalzi is the third in the series preceded by Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. In this novel Scalzi completes the shift from space opera action to political intrigue that he started in the second offering in the series. Fans of the series should be satisfied with the ending but I couldn't help but wish that it was a bit longer as some of the other characters and situations could have used some fleshing out. In the epilogue Scalzi mentions that this will be his last novel with John Perry and Jane Sagan as the lead characters but he is planning on revisiting the universe he created so I may get my wish.

Back from Atikokan

Kate and Anna got back from Atikokan today where they were visiting Grandma and Papa. Follow this link to be taken to the photo album for the trip.

The Internet Crash of 2007

From the incredibly sarcastic news source, The Onion.

Create a Simpson's Avatar

Over at The Simpson Movie website you can create your own Simpson's avatar by following a link at the top of the page. You can see my handy work to your left.

Even more interesting is the Simpsonize Me site where you can upload a photo of yourself and have it generate your Simpsons character likeness. I've been trying for awhile now to get it to work on one of my photos but the site is being hammered by traffic so your mileage may vary.

My ultimate goal is a family portrait of Kate, Anna and I.

I Get to Review Fantasy & Science Fiction's September 2007 Issue

I was reading Boing, Boing! today and I ran across this link:

Free copies of Fantasy and Science Fiction for bloggers

Which immediately intrigued me as that link contains four of my favorite words.

The first forty bloggers to respond to the editor at F&SF would receive a free copy of their September 2007 issue to blog about. I was lucky enough to get my request in early and I have been selected to blog about the issue.

This gets me one step closer to my ultimate goal of getting paid to criticize the work of others.

Updated 2007/07/18: F&SF Giveaway Promotion is Over

Doctor Who: Season 3

WARNING There may be spoilers in the following post so if you haven't watched all of the third season of the re-launched Doctor Who then you should skip reading this.

I had myself a Who-athon this weekend and completed watching all thirteen episodes of Doctor Who Season 3. I had originally planned to watch only one or two episodes a night to savor them but they were so good I powered through them in a day and a half. I blame it all on one remark, You are not alone that the Face of Boe makes to the Doctor at the end of the third episode Gridlocked. The ramifications of that line kept me watching and watching.

I was bowled over by the character Martha Jones who is played by Freema Agyeman. I really liked that the Doctor has a companion who is smart and educated.

Overall season 3 was a very strong season. The stand out episode for me was Blink! The amazing thing about Blink is that the Doctor and Martha don't have much screen time at all. It all centers around a young woman named Sally Sparrow, played by Carey Mulligan, who is investigating multiple disappearances at an abandoned house. It really is a wonderfully scripted episode and incredibly creepy. I will never look at weeping angel status the same way ever again.

One thing I was disappointed in was the two parter that has the return of the Daleks. I would have liked it they took a whole season off from the Daleks as it is getting a bit stale for them to be completely obliterated only to show up again and again.

However, the final three parter that re-introduces a major villain was written beautifully. Hopefully they will find a plausible way to bring him back again.

Updated 2007/07/16: For those of us in Canada we can watch the episodes on-line for a month after they were broadcast on the CBC. Currently, episodes one through three are available.

Plastic Man: On the Lam

I originally heard about this book from Cory Doctorow on his blog Boing, Boing.

Kyle Baker re-imagines Plastic Man by way of MAD, Eisner and Animaniacs

I was intrigued by Cory's article so I did a quick check with the Ottawa Public Library to see if they had the book. They did and two days later it was in my grubby hands.

Up until this point my only experience with Plastic Man was Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. I don't remember liking very much but it was on right after the Super Friends so it had a great lead in.

The first thing I got a chuckle out of was that the cover of the book is plastic and not paper. And the laughs didn't stop coming. In fact I couldn't put the book down until I was finished.

This book is a definitely a fun read but the part that really strikes a cords with me is how Baker handles Plastic Man's internal dialog. Right from the start you can tell that he's not all there in the head.

When you think about it why would he be? The guy is made out of plastic and he can stretch himself into various shapes. I think if anyone of us was put into the same situation we'd have a hard time dealing with it. In Plastic Man's case you can see he is using humour as a defense mechanism, much to the delight of the audience.