Heading to Eurodisney!

In little more than 12 hours I will be on a plane heading to Newark, NJ.  But wait, there's more.  A few hours after arriving there, and hopefully a few slices of delicious NY pizza later, we will be on another plane heading to Berlin, Germany.  The wife and I will spend 3 nights in Berlin and then hop on a train and meet my dad in Munich.  In Munich we will partake in the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest in grand style.  The next morning, probably way too early, too, we will board another train and make our way to Brussels, Belgium.  3 nights in Belgium in which we plan to visit the beautiful 14th century village of Brugge as well as the diamond capital of the world, Antwerp.  The old lady keeps envisioning the sack of diamonds she is going to come home with in celebration of our 10th anniversary.  We'll see.  Pictures and stories to follow when I return.

Altered Carbon

There has been a series of books that has caught my eye for some time now written by Richard K Morgan and set in the reasonably far future... say about 500 years or so.  The first book in the series is called Altered Carbon and it was more than good enough to convince me that I need to read the rest.  Now when I say this is a series, that is a bit of a misnomer, as Altered Carbon is a completely stand alone novel.  They are a series because they each feature the same protagonist, Takeshi Kovacs.  

In this distant future, death is an almost meaningless event as humans are now fitted with a device called a cortical stack that acts as a black box for the consciousness.  If you are killed, this device is removed and 'resleeved' into another body.  The only real way to truly die is to have this cortical stack get irrevocably damaged.  And even with that, there are still ways to cheat death if you have enough money to afford off-site back-ups of your 'stack'.

Richard K Morgan has presented a fascinating world.  One which in many way feels much like our own, yet in others is completely alien.  He manages to meld a wholly believable far future world around a story that would be right at home in a noir detective book.  The plot revolves around a murder victim who has hired Takeshi Kovacs to find out why he was murdered and by whom. This investigation of course opens up an entire anthill with multiple parties involved for various reasons of their own. 

This is a phenomenal opening book to a series.  Anyone interested in sci-fi / cyberpunk should definitely do themselves a favor and check it out.  There are similarities to William Gibson's Neuromancer, but with a more up to date feel to it.  Alongside Neuromancer, there is certainly a brushstroke or two of Blade Runner wafting around. Some bang-up action sequences along with vivid sex scenes will keep the reader on their toes wondering what's 

coming next.  I would personally give it a solid 4 1/2 stars if I were a professional reviewer.. but since I am not, I'll stick with 2 thumbs up instead!

Blame SyFy for the slow start around here

When I finally decided to come out of blogging retirement, I did so with the intent to post at a fairly consistent pace.  Unfortunately that pace has been consistently infrequent.  There are reasons for that.  I have recently gotten myself hooked on multiple TV series that I have been devouring at a feverish pace, mostly aired by the SyFy Channel.  I really hate typing SyFy.  That fact that a well established cable television station with a meaningful name decides to change it to the Hooked-on-Phonics spelling galls me.  Anyway, I digress.

Sanctuary is the first show I got wrapped up in.  One of the main draws for me was the fact that it starred Amanda Tapping of Stargate SG1 fame.  Sanctuary is now getting set to begin season 3 and for good reason... it's a fun sci-fi show.  The basic premise is that there are creatures and all manner of odd things out there in the world that the majority of humans don't know about.  These creatures are tracked down and brought to the Sanctuary for safekeeping.  Sometimes it is because they are too dangerous to be left out in the wild, and other times it is because it is too dangerous for them to be discovered by humans not in the know.  A nice mix of stand alone episode alongside full season spanning story arcs keeps things fresh.

I've been a sucker for Eureka ever since the day it aired, and considering it is currently airing season 4, so have many others.  Eureka is another SyFy Channel show about a secret town called Eureka that is home to the smartest scientist in the country.  Every episode generally revolves around some scientists invention going haywire and threatening to destroy the town or the world.. you get the idea.   The trick is, the show doesn't take itself seriously.  I would say it's 1/2 comedy and 1/2 a sci-fi show.  And that equals 2 parts awesome in my book.

While getting caught up on Eureka, they had a crossover episode where a character from another SyFy series guest starred.  Thus I finally decided to see what all the fuss was about a show called Warehouse 13.  This show is about a massive warehouse hidden in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota that is used to store all manner of mysterious and powerful artifacts.  If you are thinking about that warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones, you have a good grasp of the situation.  The idea is these agents track down strange occurrences that usually revolve around an artifact being used.  Once it is acquired, it is brought back to the warehouse for safekeeping.  Another overall fun show with a good blend of comedy, action, etc.

The really interesting thing I have noted while watching 3 SyFy series back to back is the amount of retreading that station does with actors.  For example, Warehouse 13 has featured at least 4 prominent actors from Eureka as guest stars in just a season and a half.  Sanctuary has pulled actors from Stargate SG1 and Atlantis as well as other SyFy shows.  Part of me thinks that's cool to see these people play a different role, and often use a subtle line paying homage to the fans of their core show.  But then another part of me wonders how tightly SyFy holds these actors under their contracts.  But that's a discussion for another time.

After getting caught up on all the SyFy Channel shows, I was somewhat dazed and in need of more of a sci-fi fix.  So this week I started watching the first season of the new V series.  I have very fond memories of the V mini-series from the mid-80's and was very excited to see news that a revival was in the works.  Then it aired and I didn't bother watching it at all.  Until now.  It's definitely different than the mini-series.  But many of the core aspects are intact and it has been updated to reflect modern issues.  All in all, I have found it to be quite a good show and I am looking forward to season 2 kicking off soon.

And lastly, been reading a number of books recently.  I am currently reading 2 books at once, which is most certainly a talent I didn't think I had.  I'll be doing some posts on a few of those here in the near future.  For now, though, that should get everyone back up to speed with my lack of frequency.

Until next time...

Stone Smoked Porter

I stopped by the liquor store tonight after work and picked up 5 different bottles of beer, 3 of them from Stone Brewing in Escondido, CA. The odd thing is one of them I had never tried before.  Why is that odd?  Stone is almost certainly my favorite brewery in the US and has been for sometime.  Well somehow I managed to continually pass over the opportunity to try out the Stone Smoked Porter.

Now to add to the unusual aspect of this.  We are in the height of the dog days of summer.  It has been averaging 90+ degrees for seemingly weeks now with really no relief in sight.  I can't imagine what prompted me to want a smoked porter today.  A style I would typically say is much more suited for the cooler months of the year.  But not only did I want one, I picked up a bottle of Stone Russian Imperial Stout as well.  Anyway, back on track.  This Stone Smoked Porter is good.  Really good in fact.  I can emphatically state I do not care for smoked beers.  I would even state I find them somewhat obnoxious, but to each his own.

Stone manages to give a hint of smoke but doesn't feel the need to club you over the head with it.  The beer has a nice blend of roasted malt mated too a subtle toffee like sweetness.  And in the end the smoke flavor just eases in and leaves a pleasant dry crispness just in time to remind you to take another sip.  Anyone that enjoys dark beers like porters or stouts should definitely give this beer a try.  It comes in a 22oz bomber and was only $5 at my local store.  That can't be beat!

It has to begin somewhere

And so begins my 3rd attempt at a blog.  The first was mainly a place to rant and rave and post random things that amused me at the time.  The second was a much more serious affair that was 90% devoted to writing about beer and the brewing industry.  Unfortunately I found that took the fun out of the experience for me.  It got tiresome to look in the fridge and start reaching for some new eclectic beer I had never tried and have to stop myself because I just wouldn't be in the mood to write a review on it.  It eventually died a slow silent death.

So now begins blog 3.0.  I want to use this as a forum to write about things I have found that I enjoy, whether it be a book, movie, game, beer, etc.   I have also been dabbling in some creative writing and may from time to time share some of that here as well.