The Wandering Scribe

So I was reading through the BBC News website and I came across an article about how a Blogger has managed to get herself a book deal with Harper Collins. The blog in question is called The Wandering Scribe and it is written by a woman who has been homeless for the past nine months, spending that time living in her car in a woodland. She has been using the free computers at the local library to write her blog (ostensibly whilst there to search for jobs).

Initially I thought "well done", good on her you know? She has after all just moved into a rented home and is getting herself back on her feet again. And then I took a read through the blog, starting at the very beginning like her front page suggests. In the comments for the very first post, she mentions how great it would be, if a publisher discovered her blog. Call me cynical (and plenty have done just that), but this strikes me as yet another case of someone putting themself in a situation in order to milk it for all it's worth, not unlike the morons who are dredged up to frequent every incarnation of the Big Brother house.

Reading further through the blog, it becomes blatantly obvious that this woman (Anya is her name), is doing just that. She gets numerous offers of help, and plenty of good advice and ignores all of it. If she truly wanted out of homelessness she could have done that months back. Andy Warhol and his prediction of everyone getting 15 minutes of fame has a lot to answer for!

A Day At The Movies

So I woke up late today, very late, like 2pm late! I'm not sure what caused me to sleep in so late, I went to bed at my normal time (approx 1am). I didn't feel any more tired than usual, but for some reason, my body decided that it needed something like 13 hours worth of sleep last night. Go figure! Anyway, getting back on topic, I got up, had a shower, got dressed and didn't have a clue what to do. No-one was online to talk too, I didn't feel like playing any games and so after a few minutes of pacing about the house and munching grapes (I had a tub of mixed seedless grapes in the fridge) I decided to head out for a walk.

The walk took me briefly to Krackers Games Shop where I popped in and flicked through the latest issue of Dungeon magazine before putting it back in my bag (I'll buy it on Friday most likely). At least one adventure in there that I'm likely to run at some point, so that will be money well spent. Still, it being a really nice day, I'd decided to walk down to the Riverside Park and didn't want to take a magazine with me. Setting off, I stopped by Britannia to withdraw some cash from the machine, and then into Subway to grab a sandwich. Special of the Day was the Meatball Marinara (my favourite), so I got one of those and set off towards the river, munching on the way.

By the time I'd reached Firepool Weir the sandwich had been devoured and with shades on, I strolled alongside the River Tone towards the Park. The River flows through a long linear stretch of undeveloped land that is officially called The Children's Wood. I call it Linear Park myself, as, well... it really isn't very woodlike, but it sure is linear. Sure there are trees, here and there, but they are very well spaced out and to me, woodland is trees close together. There is a proper pathway laid out down the left bank of the Tone, but this time I walked down the right side. I usually stick to the pathway but as it was warm and it has been for a few days, I figured the right bank wouldn't be a quagmire and I figured correct.

It was a nice walk, the high point being sighting a Heron stood on one of the rocks in the middle of the river, motionless, watching the water rush past its vantage point. I stood and watched it for a few minutes, but to my disapointment I didn't get to see it catch any fish. Saw the blur of colour from a Kingfisher too, but again I missed seeing it catch anything. I got to the Riverside Park and went to the cinema, as I had been meaning to see the new X-Men movie. By pure chance I arrived 4 minutes before a showing was due to start. Cue frenzied buying of ticket, grabbing a bottle of Lime & Apple drink and dashing into screen 5... whereupon I realised that I still had my shades on, when I found out that I couldn't see anything, including my ticket! A quick swap of glasses and I found a seat. It wasn't the seat I had paid for, but this one was luxury and unoccupied and I figured "what the hell!".

I enjoyed the film, it is a little rough around the edges in parts and some bits really got me wondering just what kind of crack the characters were on (for example, the idea to put high powered mutant prisoners in a mobile prison convoy just stuck me as really dumb, and the folly of that idea is very swiftly proven when Magneto, without any difficulty at all, annihilates the convoy in stunning style). Wolverine, as good a character as he is, gets too much screen time for my liking, and other characters (such as Shadowcat, Colossus and especially Rogue) get far too little. I didn't think I'd like Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, but I did, on the other hand Famke Jansen is wasted as Phoenix as she basically spends a lot of time stood around doing very little and saying less.

I came out of the movie feeling good (the ending made me smile) and feeling a bit peckish I headed to McDonalds, buying a burger and a McFlurry (I love those things, this was the Yorkie variety which I'd not tried before) and I walked back to the cinema and sat in the foyer to eat them. There I saw that there was a showing of Mission: Impossible III at 6:30pm and having money to spend and nothing better to spend it on, I decided to stick around and watch another movie.

MI3 is an insane movie, but a very fun film. I came out of that feeling like my body was mainlining adrenaline. I honestly felt like I could have run the mile and half back to the town centre. so many edge of seat moments and all handled so well. The film looks beautiful and is very well written. A definate return to form, from the crap that was MI2, and here's hoping for another such movie in what is becoming a nice little franchise for Tom Cruise.

The walk back to town was quiet, the town centre dead as England were playing Hungary in a football match. I got home and sat down at my PC to messages waiting for a few friends. It wasn't until Gareth got home a few minutes ago though, that he pointed out that I'd missed Matt Cheetham's birthday. I was meant to be at the Coal Orchard pub for 8pm and had completely forgotten about it. Matt, if you're reading this, I'm really sorry mate! I hope you had a good evening, because I know I've had a great day.

Inspiration, Where Art Thou?

So I've not been writing much of late. This isn't due to some bout of laziness on my part, more a lack of inspiration. I love to write, but I do need something to write about after all. The past few weeks have been distinctly average really, nothing remarkable or interesting to write about. I've not been annoyed much, amused much or really done much in that time to warrant commentary. In short, it's been a dull time.

I could of course have just posted song lyrics, but I try to limit myself to not posting too many of those. I have a book I finished reading yesterday to review, so I'll likely get around to do doing that later today after work. I've not really watched anything either, save for Doctor Who on Saturdays and the finale of Star Trek Voyager on video earlier this week (I had a hankering to watch something with the Borg in it that wasn't First Contact).

I'm sure something worth writing about will come along sooner or later... hopefully sooner.

Some Dreams Come True

I like this song, it has an easy kind of energy that accompanies it. A laid back sort of rock. I'm not sure how to better describe it than that. It is far more the tune than the lyrics that I like this song for, though this being a Bangles track the lyrics are pretty good too. Without further ado, here are the lyrics.

Some Dreams Come True by The Bangles

I've seen the shadows fall
Colors that fade on my wall
Dressed up nowhere to go
It's all in my mind, I know.

But it's alright now
We're on our way.

Lay me down in the moonlight
So close to you (so close to you)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true.

Lips move but not a sound
When the words fall to the ground
Ooh, eyes watch but seldom see
The possibilities.

But it's alright now
We're on our way.

Lay me down in the moonlight
So close to you (so close to you)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true
When we're together
There's nothing we can't do (nothing we can't do)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true.

Moving in circles that we create
Seeing whatever we choose
Hear only voices that call your name.

And it's alright now
We're on our way.

Lay me down in the moonlight
So close to you (so close to you)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true
When we're together
There's nothing we can't do (nothing we can't do)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true.

Lay me down in the moonlight
So close to you (so close to you)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true
When we're together
There's nothing we can't do (nothing we can't do)
Maybe we're just dreamers
Some dreams come true.

Resurrection: A Book Review

So finally on to the last novel in this series. Resurrection by Paul S. Kemp is a Forgotten Realms novel and the sixth book in the six part War of the Spider Queen saga. Following on from the end of Annihilation with maybe a day having passed in the interim, this book begins with us meeting a new character, the ultroloth Inthracis. I can't really describe what an ultroloth is, so I'll let this picture do the description for me (the ultroloth is the one with the sword). Suffice to say that they are very powerful outer-planer creatures. Inthracis finds himself playing host to Vhaeraun, Lolth's son who wishes his mother dead. To this end he coerces Inthracis to send an army to the new Demonweb Pits to kill Quenthel, Danifae and Hallistra.

The wind that blow through the lower planes carry the word Yor'thae on them. In the High language of the drow, it means Chosen One. One of the three priestesses is this One, and Lolth is calling her to come and join with her goddess. Should the Yor'thae fail to arrive, Lolth's rebirth will be stillborn and the goddess will perish, which is exactly what Vhaeraun wants to see happen. Unfortunately he cannot enter the new Demonweb Pits as his mother has sealed them against entry by any divine being, so he must resort to using the ultroloth's mercenary army.

After that interlude we catch up with Halisstra and the two priestesses of Eilistraee who are accompanying her (Uluyara and Feliane) on her mission to kill Lolth. They are pursuing Quenthel and company who they hope will lead them to the goddess herself. Neither group though is prepared for the dangers of the new Pits, and they get caught in the midst of the Teeming!

The Teeming is one of the most brutal scenes I have ever read about. Picture a vast plain, pockmarked with entrances to caves and holes. Then picture as the dawn comes up and bathes the land, thousands upon thousands of spiders of all shapes and sizes (up to and including ones the size of houses!) crawling out of these holes... and then turning on one another with utter ferocity. The strong survive, the weak perish and are food. And now imagine walking across that plain when this happens! That is the Teeming!

While Quenthel, Pharaun, Jeggred, Danifae, Halisstra, Uluyara and Feliane fight a seemingly unending horde of foes who view them as much as food and prey as the other spiders around, back in Menzoberranzan Gromph awakens amidst the destruction in the Bazaar that the battle bewteen himself and the lich Dyrr wreaked. Dyrr has been destroyed, but a lich is not so easily defeated. Gromph knows full well that the lich's phylactery (an item that his soul is bonded too) will regenerate the lich in under three score hours. In that time, he has to find the phylactery and break into House Agrach Dyrr (which has been under siege since their treachery in book 3 of the series!) to destroy it.

While the happenings in the Demonweb Pits are good reading (especially the battle between the drow and the ultroloths army!), the parts of the book I found myself enjoying most were those spent with Gromph on his infiltration of House Agrach Dyrr. Mr. Kemp managed to convey a very real sense of both the danger and the thrill of sneaking about a house full of Gromph's enemies unseen, searching for an item that is also being hunted by those of the renegade house themselves.

I am annoyed though at the ending to this book, which after 5 books of complete turmoil and chaos, pretty much just re-establishes the status quo from before the series. The Yor'thae reaches Lolth but that doesn't seem to realy do anything. My favourite character gets killed in a completely pointless way (though the ending does leave an opening for his return), and my least favourite character survives (albeit in a changed form) and will be featuring in a trilogy of her own, the first book of which is out in February 2007.

All in all I'm going to award this book 3/5. The good parts are really good, but this book more than the others before it has to carry the can for failing to really change anything. Six books came to 2225 pages in total. I find it profoundly disappointing that 6 superb authors with that kind of page count to work with, couldn't do more than have a goddess change address; which is pretty much what this series outcome amounts too.

Size Matters

Well it does if, like me, you are a geek. The size I'm referring too is that of starships from various tv shows and movies. I've lost count of the amount of discussions I've had over the years of which ships are bigger/more powerful than others from a different series. So amen to the creator of this site then, who has likely endured many such chats and decided to do something about it.

What he has done is to find the official listed sizes of ships from shows like: Babylon 5, Star Trek, Farscape, Firefly and Lexx; as well as movies like: Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Aliens, Independence Day, and War Of The Worlds (old version, not the Tom Cruise version). He has then pasted pictures of these on pages, using the same size scale for each, so the pictures are shown at sizes relative to each other.

Very interesting (to a geek anyway) to be able to see easily just how massive some of these ships are. The scale goes up to and above the Death Star, showing at the extreme end of the range absolutely massive creations such as the Ringworld (from Larry Niven's novels) and a Dyson Sphere. There are a few notable omissions that I noticed such as: Red Dwarf, a Cylon Basestar (from Battlestar Galactica), Prometheus and Daedalus class battlecruisers (from Stargate SG-1/Atlantis), Wraith Hive Ship (from Stargate Atlantis).

It is nice too from the point of view of a Babylon 5 fan like myself, to see just how badly the B5 ships piss all over the crappy Star Trek ones! The USS Enterprise NCC1701-E (a Sovereign class cruiser) is the biggest ship the Federation has ever built... it would get eaten alive by an Earth Alliance Omega Destroyer and that's not even the meanest ship the EA can field! Of course saying that, a Super Star Destroyer would take anything in a fight!

Eurovision 2006

I think it is the closet masochist in me that enjoys the Eurovision Song Contest each year. The biggest talent contest in the world is a real pot pourri of musical styles. This year was no exception but I can honestly say that I am surprised by who won. Typically the contest is usually always won by either a ballad, a very upbeat pop tune or a crap tune that has an amazing dance number to go with it.

This years winners though are Lordi, a Finnish rock band who dress up as monsters that are a cross between Klingons and Orcs! And their song Hard Rock Hallelujah is actually good! Still, watching Eurovision is only fun with Terry Wogans dry witty commentary and having someone to talk too about the contest (and have a laugh with at the expense of some acts). As Tony hates the contest and didn't want to watch it in his lounge upstairs, he set it up so I could watch it on my PC. So my partner in snarky commentary this evening, has been my ex-girlfriend, the lovely Dana James-Parsons, via MSN Messenger.

It's been fun chatting and enjoying some songs, cringing at others. The United Kingdom only got 25 points, mainly due to geographical voting by many countries (especially the eastern european & baltic states). Dana mentioned at one point when the voting was about halfway through, that we seem to be the only country that actually plays fair and votes for the best song, rather than the ones sung by your neighbours. I guess that this is a case of the letter of the rules defeating the spirit of the rules.

A Little Knight

I've made a small change to this site today, in that I have changed the look of the webcounter. It was created as a dragon breathing fire because I wanted a dragon on the page. Unfortunately, as time went by (and the number of page hits rose), the stream of fire got longer and longer and started to intrude on the text in the main column. Which looked really bad in my opinion, so I've changed it.

The new counter has a little knight in armour defending it, and the actual numbers are a bit bigger and clearer too. All in all I think it looks better than the old counter did, especially as it fits into the side column properly.

A New Direction

A couple nights ago I spent a good chunk of the evening sat on the floor of my bedroom. Tony was bust trying to get my computer to work again, after I installed a beta piece of software that it really didn't like. The PC is a bit tempermental now, but seems to be working. I was sat on the floor though, because I needed to search through a stack of magazines.

See, I've been running my Rise of the Snakemen D&D game on Friday nights for nearly 2 years now, and in that time the player's characters have gone from 3rd to 13th level. By the time they finish storming their way through the mountain fortress they are assaulting at the moment, they will likely reach 14th and maybe even 15th level. That will complete Chapter 5 of the campaign. Now when I devised the campaign I intended for it to have many more chapters after that point. However, I failed to take into account just how much time prepping for a session can take once the characters reach double digit levels.

I no longer have the time to spend hours and hours writing up villains and plotting scenarios and the like. So, as a result Chapter Five will be the final chapter of the campaign. I actually created the campaign with a built-in cut off point at this stage anyway, just in case I would need a rest. Frankly I'm still kinda stunned that my game has gone on this long, considering that I wrote it myself. No other campaign that I've written has ever lasted past a couple months of play. As much as I'd like to continue it, it just isn't feasible.

My plan was to start a new game over, one using pre-written adventures which would hugely reduce the prep time, to basically me just reading through the relevant section of the adventure for that night at some point during the week prior to the game. My players though had another suggestion. Some of them have been playing the same characters now for the duration of the campaign (Gareth, Phil and Matt) whil the others (Tony and Alastair) have created new characters after their starting character was slain. For the record, Matt's character has died 5 times now, they just keep bringing him back to life! Understandbly they have grown very attached to these characters and want to continue their adventures.

Now finding adventures for 1st level characters is easy. Since most campaigns start at 1st level (and most finish by 10th level) it stands to reason that there are a LOT more low level adventures than high level ones, because there is a much higher demand for them. My players though once they finish kicking seven shades of shit out of the snakemen in that fortress will be 14th-15th level approximately. Which brings me back to sitting on the floor with a stack of magazines. In this case, Dungeon Magazine, which is a monthly publication that has several columns and such, but the bulk of the magazine is taken up by 3 full length adventures. One low level (Levels 1-5), One Mid level (Levels 6-11) and one High level (Levels 12+). I get this every month and have done for several years now, so I had a big pile of these issues to work my through.

I needed to go through each issue, as not every adventure would be suited to my group, usually because of where they are set (ie I'd have a hard time getting my group into the middle of a desert). Still after looking through more than 4 years worth of issues and making notes of what adventures might be suitable. I finished with a list of about 20 adventures in all. Of those there are 5 adventures that strike me as being the best of the bunch, though I'm not sure whether I'm going to be able to use all of them, I think I'll likely just use 3.

I'm glad my players suggested having further adventures with their characters, just without the overarcing plot thread of a campaign, as I'm really looking forward to running the adventures that I have picked. I think my players will get a blast out of fighting such iconic D&D foes as: Dragons (they've killed a few of these already and have a bit of a rep as Dragonslayers by now), Drow (dark elves make superb baddies!), Demons (nuff said) and possibly Vampires too! Plus I'm sure I can work out a way to make use of a couple classic D&D villains too. All of which will entertain them, whilst not eating up my free time.

Annihilation: A Book Review

Annihilation by Phillip Athans is a Forgotten Realms novel and the fifth book in the six part War of the Spider Queen saga. The book's storyline continues from the end of Extinction with perhaps a couple days having passed in the gap between the novels. The novel opens in Menzoberranzan where Gromph Baenre is busy fixing himself. Having accidentally blinded himself in the previous book and without the healing magics of Lolth's priestesses to call upon, he is forced to resort to a far more grisly alternative. In a fairly gruesome opening chapter, he has his rat familiar chew out his own ruined eyeballs and then uses magic to replace them with a pair of eyes taken from a captive drow male from the traitor house of Agrach Dyrr.

Pharaun meanwhile is busily summoning in lesser demons as food for the Ship of Chaos, it needing to be powered up by sacrifice. As this process is going to take several days, Valas and Danifae head off to a nearby drow city to buy supplies, not knowing how long the voyage to the Abyss is going to take, nor how long they will be there.

Having passed the tests set to her, Halisstra is now in possession of the awesome Crescent Blade, a weapon capable of killing anything... even a goddess. To that end Eilistraee wishes her to go to the Abyss and slay Lolth herself, to deliver the drow race from her tyranny. Ryld though is increasingly realising that other than Halisstra he has nothing to keep him on the surface and he is missing his life back in Menzoberranzan.

Slipping away from Valas once they arrive in the city of Sschindylryn, Danifae makes her way to the home of an old retainer of her family, a wizard by the name of Zinnirit, who she coerces into freeing her of the Binding magic that links her to Halisstra. With that gone, she sets about a fairly convoluted scheme of revenge on her former Mistress, seperating Halisstra from Ryld and setting Jeggred on the warrior. The draegloth has increasingly been looking to Danifae for leadership, Quenthel listening more and more to the whispered words of the five minor demons bound into her whip of vipers.

Jeggred and Ryld's battle is well written and exciting to read though I'll admit I was disapointed in the outcome. Still that is made up by the amazing battle that takes place in Menzoberranzan when Gromph Baenre faces off against the lichdrow Dyrr. A battle between rival wizards is always fun to read, but these two are both extremely powerful spellcasters and possessed of a dry wit, trading insults, observations, taunts and barbs as often as they trade lethal magics. Gromph is assisted in this by a telepathic connection to a couple other wizards of his house, whilst Dyrr receives unexpected aid from the shadowy assassin Nimor Imphreazl (the architect of the combined force besieging the city), giving Gromph two powerful foes to deal with. No easy task even for an archmage!

Sailing a Ship of Chaos is something that Pharaun has no actual idea how to do. Luckily for him, Aliisza has been spying on the party for some time and she is very fond of the wizard. Staying invisible to the others, she advises him as to how to control and steer the ship and how to navigate a course to another dimension. With everyone aboard he guides the ship through realities to the Abyss itself.

There is a lot going on in this book. Most of what I've just described takes place in the first half to two thirds of the novel. By the end of the book, Lolth has returned, her power blasting out through the planes of reality and empowering her priestesses everywhere in a fantastic series of scenes that really grabbed my imagination and dramatically turns the tide of the siege of Menzoberranzan. Forewarned by Aliisza, Kaanyr's Scourged Legion withdraws from the siege, as does Nimor, realising that the window of opportunity to topple the city has been lost.

I'm going to award this book 4/5 as while some parts of it are truly stunning to read and fantastic entertinament, other parts (mostly involving Halisstra) are really quite dull. Her conversion to Eilistraee never comes across as convincing and seems to be to be a poorly thought out subplot that should have been cut out. I think the book would have been a lot better if the page space devoted to her exploits had been used on other characters instead.

Extinction: A Book Review

I should really get back into the habit of writing these reviews on the day that I finish the book in question. Anyway, on with this write up. Extinction by Lisa Smedman is a Forgotten Realms novel, and the fourth book in the six part War of the Spider Queen saga. It follows on directly from the end of Condemnation with only a day or two having passed in the interim period between the end of that novel and the start of this one.

The opening finds Quenthel, Jeggred, Ryld, Valas, Pharaun, Halisstra and Danifae deep in the forest of Cormanthor searching for a way to get back down into the Underdark. Almost all of the party are distracted to one extent or another, by what they saw in the Abyss and what it meant. Quenthel is determined to return to the Abyss and find where Lolth has gone too. Jeggred, obidient as ever is her faithful bodyguard, but is becoming increasingly short tempered, the quest beginning to gnaw at his self control. Pharaun wants to end up on the winning side but doesn't want to have to choose a side until he has no other choice. Halisstra's faith is shaken to the core, both by Lolth's absence and by the last words a stranger she murdered said to her. Ryld is distracted by thoughts of Halisstra, while Danifae schemes to get herself free of the Binding that ties her fate to Halisstra. The only one who seems unaffected is Valas Hune, as the mercenary seems content to follow orders and do what he is good at.

Summoning a demon (and playing a nice trick on it), Pharaun learns of a vessel called a Ship of Chaos that got stranded on Faerun years back. The ship is capable of "sailing" between worlds and dimensions... if they can find it, find out how to operate it and feed it! From the demon the party learn that the ships last known location was near the Aboleth (big slimy tentacled fish-like genius monsters) city of Zanhoriloch. With Valas leading the way, they set out for the city through the tunnels and caves under the surface... all but Halisstra and Ryld that is, who leave the group in secret to be together on the surface.

Meanwhile things are going poorly for Menzoberranzan. With the Duergar and the Scourged Legion laying siege to the city, House Agrach Dyrr having betrayed the city to side with the invaders and the Archmage Gromph Baenre missing, things look bleak as the city is attacked from within and without. Still Gromph is a powerful wizard and powerful wizards do not go down easily. Nor do they take well to being imprisoned and it is not long before he figures out a way to escape the magical cell that the lich Dyrr cast him into. Once free he lends his considerable power to the defence of the city, whilst preparing for a re-match with the lich.

Halisstra and Ryld encounter a group of priestesses sworn to serve Eilistraee (Goddess of Dance), who while initially hostile to the pair, are more accepting when Halisstra mentions Seyll (the woman who she murdered) whose last words were to tell the drow that she had hope for her still. Troubled and moved by her words, Halisstra seeks to learn more about Eilistraee. Ryld for his part, is struggling to adapt to the strange above ground world, but despite himself, he is smitten with Halisstra and so he accompanies her (even when she tells him not too) as she is put through tests to judge her worthiness to serve a new goddess, one that Ryld doesn't really understand.

Reaching Zanhoriloch, Valas scouts ahead and undergoes a truly horrifying transformation at the hands of the alien Aboleth creatures, the attempt to talk to them then falling to Pharaun and Danifae. What follows is a couple chapters of outright skullduggery and brilliantly written intrigue as Pharaun, Danifae and Quenthel play a game of oneupmanship. It is also in parts very funny (particularly Pharaun's snappy style of chat).

Lisa Smedman has come a long way from the games designer she used to be. Back when she was writing adventure modules for the Ravenloft D&D setting, they often got poor reviews. Writing novels though seems far more suited to her strengths, as this is a great book and I've read other novels by her and liked them also. I'm going to give this book 4/5 though, because while it is as well written as the three novels before it (all of which got 5/5 from me), the whole storyline with Halisstra and Ryld just failed to capture my interest. I was always keen to get through those parts of the book and get back to the main group, or Menzoberranzan, or see what Aliisza and Kaanyr were up too etc.

Why You Wanna Break My Heart?

Up until a few weeks ago I didn't even know that this song existed. It has been years since I last watched the movie Wayne's World. I knew that the actress Tia Carrere sang an awesome cover of the song Ballroom Blitz in that, and I posted the lyrics and my thoughts a while back (click on the song name to be taken to that post). I didn't know that she had sung a second song though, until I was looking through movie soundtracks on the cheap mp3 download site I found: allofmp3.com.

Considering how much I love her rendition of Ballroom Blitz, I had to check out what this song was like. Wow am I ever glad that I did. This girl should seriously consider doing an album, I'd buy it in a heartbeat if she did! If you can find a copy of this song to download, do so, because if you like the songs that I post the lyrics for here, trust me when I say that you'll love this one!

Why You Wanna Break My Heart? by Tia Carrere

Sometimes, we get lost in the night
Sometimes, we get lost in our lives
But I, I didn't wanna lose you
Maybe it's not in the cards
Why'd you let me down so hard
When all I ever wanted was to love you

Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart

Sometimes, what seems wrong seems so right
Sometimes, when we shouldn't, we might
But all I ever wanted was you
To think of when I held you last
Our love, could you forget so fast
There's a little bit of you in everything that I'm doin'

Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart

Well, I wanna tell you about me (tell you about me)
I ask you to stay, but still, you flee (aaaaah)
Well, I may look lonely and blue
But I've been here, waiting for you
And I want an answer or two

Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart

Why you wanna break my heart, oooh
Why you wanna break my heart

Taunton Tour: Krackers Games Shop

So on with the tour of my town again. This shop is about a 3 minute walk from my front door these days in the quiet "street" that is Bath Place. Oddly enough, now that I live closer to it than I ever have before, I actually visit it less often than I used too. Back in my college days it was a rare day that went by without me finding myself in the shop.

I've been a frequent customer at this shop for the past 18 years roughly. In all that time the store really hasn't changed all that much. Ohh sure stuff has moved around inside the shop (I've lost count of how many times the counter has shifted position) and the roleplaying games have moved from where they used to be just inside the door to the back of the shop, their old place now taken by comic books and graphic novels, but by and large the store has remained very much the same.

I'd say the biggest change is that the old arcade games have gone. There used to be anything up to a half dozen arcade games in the back half of the store when I first started visiting it. Many a visit into town as a teenager would be spent slotting £1 coins in the big four player game they always had one off (especially the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game or the X-Men one). Ahh memories!

It was a friend called Ashley Waters who got me started on RPG's though, introducing me to Dungeons & Dragons, a hobby that still holds my interest nearly 2 decades later. I shudder to think how much money I've spent on that game over the years. I'm a lot more picky in what I buy nowadays though. As Krackers was the only store that sold the game books back then (and for the most part still is the only store that does), it immediately became one of my favourite places in Taunton.

I've been a customer long enough now that I'm well known there. There is something comforting in that. I think the theme tune to the old TV show Cheers says it best when it describes "a place where everybody knows your name". That is exactly what Krackers is to me. I've known Tony Peach (who owns the store) longer than any of my current circle of friends. I went to school (albeit briefly) with Jason who works there. I actually miss Herman who used to work there, a friendly (if gruff) Turk. I've worked in this store before now, both on work experience and helping out for a day here and there, usually when a massive delivery arrives.

The photo above doesn't really do the shop justice. Inside it is floored in red carpet, with shelves that groan under the weight of action figures, movie memorabilia, comics, miniatures, books and card games. There is another store in the nearby city of Exeter (though I have heard that it is being closed soon) which I have visited a couple times but it doesn't hold the attraction of this one.

An Early Start To The Day

I had a headache when I got home from work yesterday so not long after getting in, I decided to take a Nurofen and take a nap whilst the pill sorted my head out. Only I forgot to set my alarm clock. I'm not one of these people who sleeps lightly. When I sleep, I'm dead to the world. So I didn't nap, I snoozed. I think I went to bed at about 6:30pm. I can't be sure but I think it was around then. I meant to set the alarm clock for 9pm. As it was, I woke up at about 3am and then couldn't get back to sleep.

I made myself a pint of squash (mouth felt like old carpet. Dehydration is not pleasant) and sat down at my computer. Spent the next couple hours talking and roleplaying with my ex-girlfriend Dana in the new chatroom she frequents. It was fun and I'll likely do it again soon. When she logged off to get some sleep (she lives in Britain but keeps weird hours) I went and made myself a big bowl of cereal.

I'm not a big cereal eater, but I like to have some in the house for when I do get the craving for some. Usually this will be Alpen Muesli (the no added sugar variety), but currently it is Kelloggs Crunchy Nut Clusters with chocolate curls, because it is a VERY nice cereal and because the boxes of it are on Buy One Get One Free at work. So I've been sat in my window watching the town wake up and hurry to work whilst listening to The Bangles songs which I have on random play. I have today and tomorrow off, so it's been nice to see people walking and driving by, knowing that I don't have to head out and join them.

I've also been watching the three ducks who chose to sleep on the lawn under one of the trees across the road last night. It's been fun watching them wake up, stretch, do a hellish amount of preening and strutting and then saunter off towards the pond in the grounds of County Hall. They haven't gotten there yet though, they stopped at a large puddle in the Courthouse car park to drink, splash about and preen some more (must want to look their best I guess).

Not sure what I'm going to do with myself all day now that I've woken up so early though. Normally on a day off I'll sleep in till much later. Still if nothing better presents itself I'll just drink the contents of my mini fridge (3 pint cans of Carling lager) whilst watching movies.

Summer Movie Season

After a few months of there being nothing on at the cinema that I wanted to see, the summer season has just begun. I love this time of year for movies solely. Can't stand the insects and the constant sunshine. I'd happily hibernate through the whole summer (assuming I could get to sleep and not just sweat) but then I'd miss the summer movie season, when the studios debut their big blockbusters.

As with every year, this year has a various mixed bunch largely consisting of sequels and remakes, with the occasional original idea tossed in seemingly for good measure. I got the season's watching off to a gory start with a watching of Slither on Thursday night. A horror/comedy pastiche of elements from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Night of the Living Dead (with a shot near the start of the film that is a definate homage to the Evil Dead films), Slither is at times hilarious, at others disgusting. I loved it.

These then are the major films I am planning to head to the Odeon to watch on the big screen in the next few months. There may well be others that I go and watch on an impulse (or because of a trailer that grabs my attention), but I'll almost certainly be there opening weekend for every one of the following:

Superman Returns
X-Men 3: The Last Stand
Over The Hedge
Poseidon
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

All in all a fairly short list. I might go and see The Omen 666 too. I've never been that great a fan of the original trilogy though, but the trailer for it does look interesting. Mission Impossible 3 might also get a look, though the second one was fucking terrible, so I'm a bit leary of paying for a cinema seat to see that one.

Incidentally clicking on the names of those movies above will start a download of that film's best trailer in Quicktime format, don't say I never treat you! Later on in the year both Eragon ( a movie about dragon riders apparently) and Casino Royale (James Bond Movie #21) have my interest, but for now there is the summer to get through.

Condemnation: A Book Review

Condemnation by Richard Baker, is a Forgotten Realms novel and the third part of the War of the Spider Queen saga. It continues almost exactly where Insurrection left off, only a few hours having passed in the time between the end of the previous book and the start of this one. The books beginning finds Halisstra, Danifae, Quenthel, Jeggred, Pharaun, Ryld and Valas taking shelter in a ruined city deep inside the borders of an unknown desert. It is night and the drow, for all their being used to living in the caves and tunnels of the Underdark, are both awed by the sight of the night sky above them and scared of it at the same time. The world they come from after all, has a roof! Too the desert at night is far colder than anything they are used too.

With Ched Nasad in ruins, Halisstra no longer has a home, indeed all she owns is what she is wearing, as well as her battle captive Danifae. The group are unsure now what to do. With Lolth's silence extending not just to other cities of the Drow, but to other races as well, the thought occurs to them that their goddess might be dead. Quenthel of course will hear none of this, but even she is confused and though she won't admit it, afraid. Pharaun suggests that rather than return to Menzoberranzan empty handed, they instead seek out another source of information. If they cannot find what has become of Lolth, perhaps another God can. In particular Vhaeraun, a male drow god and Lolth's own son.

To suggest such a thing is heresy, but Pharaun is powerfully persuasive and Quenthel is eventually swayed to his argument when Valas mentions knowing a priest of the God, one who owes him a favour. After a few battles with the denizens of the ruins, the group set off via a short cut... a trip through the Plane of Shadows, to another place below ground, a trade enclave called Mantol-Derith. From there they proceed across a vast underground lake to Gracklstugh, the City of Blades. Gracklstugh is primarily a Duergar (gray dwarf) city and as such the Drow are immediately cautious, not knowing whether the destruction of Ched Nasad by the Duergar mercenaries, was ordered by the ruler of the smoky metropolis.

Far more worrying though is the discovery Ryld and Valas make, when they spy out a nearby cavern in which a huge supply train is being assembled. Considering Menzoberranzan is the nearest major city to Gracklstugh and knowledge of Lolth's silence (and thusly the cities weakness without the magic of its priestesses) has reached the ears of the grey dwarves, the target for the army that the supplies are being readied for is obvious. Barely managing to flee with their lives, the group escape into a warren of tunnels known as the Labyrinth (which is predictably infested with Minotaurs), in the search for a drow tribe known as the Jaelre, the priest that Valas knows being one of them.

To say that there is a lot going on in this book would be to sell it very short and yet it never feels rushed. Everything above happens in the first half of the book, from there the story goes across half a continent to the great forest of Cormanthor, the ruined city of Myth Drannor and to the hellish wastes of Lolth's Demonweb Pits in the Abyss itself! Mr. Baker weaves a thrilling tale of a truly epic quest borne of desperation. Where before the quest was one of curiosity, now it becomes imperative that the drow find their goddess, as Menzoberranzan comes under siege from two armies (as Kaanyr Vhok's Scourged Legion joins the fight on the side of the Duergar army) and has to face a foe from within also.

As with the first two volumes of this six part saga, I'm awarding this novel 5/5, top marks for a brilliantly written book. I'm glad I waited until all 6 books were in paperback to read them, because waiting 6 months between installments of this series would have been agony! As it is I finished reading the fourth book today (I'm late writing this review) and have already begun the fifth!

Fun In The Sun

I've been enjoying myself today. I've had the day off work and went for lunch at Henry's Pub with Gareth, where I met my mates Dan Shapter as well as the Adams brothers, Derek and Richard. It was a good lunch and afterwards once the food and drink had gone down, the five of us set off to help Derek find a suitcase for the holiday that the three of them are going on next week to Cyprus. After a quick look in Debenhams which proved fruitless, he found what he was looking for in a small shop in St. James Street which sold nothing but luggage!

Taking that and their shopping back to Rich & Derek's flat, we lounged there for a while as we chatted. We were debating going and hanging out in a park and what we would do when we got there. Dan wanted to pick up a Aerobee (some kind of advanced Frisbee I guess) from Toymaster on the way to Vivary Park. I think it was Rich though, who suggested Crazy Golf. I didn't even know there was a Crazy Golf course in Taunton, but all of us were keen to give it a go, so off we went.

We went via Iceland, picking up cold drinks on the way. None of us knew how much a round of Crazy Golf was going to cost us, but I think we were all impressed with the low fee of just £2.20 for an adult (plus a 20p charge for a pencil to write our scores with). I love Crazy Golf, I've played it loads of times and maybe nostalgia is clouding my memory of past games, but I could swear I used to be a lot better at playing it than I was today. Here are the scores after 18 holes:

1. Dan Shapter: 44
2. Richard Adams: 58
3. Derek Adams: 59
4. Gareth Gillingham: 61
5. Robert Langford: 83

As you can see, it really wasn't my day! Gareth though managed two holes in one (which impressed us, especially getting one on the 17th), though that didn't stop him from winding up in 4th place. It was a fun way to kill an hour or so and at that price, I'll definately be playing again soon.