Were my 2010 NFL Predictions Any Good? (SPOILER: No They Were Not)

Back in August, I posted about some magazines' predictions on who would win each division in the 2010 NFL season. I also posted my own predictions, on the theory that "[i]n several months we'll see whether or not the big-time magazines should have drafted me[.]" But in order to "have a little fun and distinguish my picks" I stated that I was "gambling big in the AFC West and NFC East and (even bigger) in the NFC West." So let's see how everybody did.

AFC EAST

Sporting News: Jets

Pro Football Weekly: Patriots

Jhaeman: Patriots

Actual Winner: Patriots

Bill Belichick continues to impress. Year after year the Pats dominate the league, even with turnover in personnel and his coaching assistants becoming head coaches elsewhere. If only Belichick was the Browns head coach. Oh wait, he was.

AFC NORTH

Sporting News: Ravens

Pro Football Weekly: Ravens

Jhaeman: Steelers

Actual Winner: Steelers

Right now I look pretty smart. Don't worry, it won't last.

AFC SOUTH

Sporting News: Colts

Pro Football Weekly: Colts

Jhaeman: Titans

Actual Winner: Colts

There was a point about half-way through the season where the Colts were playing dismally and the Titans were 5-2, and then the Titans imploded and Payton Manning got his act together.

AFC WEST

Sporting News: Chargers

Pro Football Weekly: Chargers

Jhaeman: Raiders

Actual Winner: Chiefs

Nobody got this one right. I picked the Raiders on the thought that Jason Campbell would improve their passing game, which was kinda true, but not enough to overcome the surprising Chiefs. The Sporting News should get some credit for predicting the Chiefs would go 9-7, only one game off the 10-6 they actually posted.

NFC EAST

Sporting News: Cowboys

Pro Football Weekly: Cowboys

Jhaeman: Redskins

Actual Winner: Eagles

Well, we all whiffed on this one. I for one completely failed to foresee the Donovan McNabb/Mike Shanahan conflict.

NFC NORTH

Sporting News: Vikings

Pro Football Weekly: Packers

Jhaeman: Packers

Actual Winner: Bears

Even though they won the division and have a first-round bye, I still don't think the Bears are very good. I'm stubborn that way.

NFC SOUTH

Sporting News: Falcons

Pro Football Weekly: Saints

Jhaeman: Saints

Actual Winner: Falcons

The NFC South put it together in 2010, with the Falcons, Saints, and Buccaneers all winning at least 10 games each.

NFC WEST

Sporting News: 49ers

Pro Football Weekly: 49ers

Jhaeman: Rams

Actual Winner: Seahawks

I was *this* close to having my biggest longshot prediction pay off.

THE TALLY

As I noted back in August, there are four teams in each division so "pure random chance would result in about a 25% success rate" in picking teams. Let's see how everyone did.

Sporting News: 2/8 (Colts, Falcons): 25%

Pro Football Weekly: 2/8 (Patriots, Colts): 25%

Jhaeman: 2/8 (Patriots, Steelers): 25%

THE BOTTOM LINE: Nobody knows anything. But I know just as little as professional sportswriters do.

MISCELLANEOUS: For Super Bowl predictions, the Sporting News picked the Jets beating the Cowboys, Pro Football Weekly picked the Packers beating the Colts, and I picked the Titans playing the Packers. PFW still has a chance for validation.

Browns 2010 Year in Review

First, let's put the Browns 41-9 thumping by the Steelers in the final game of the season to one side. It was an ugly loss that was unrepresentative of the season and is inconvenient for my purposes. Thank you.

Second, despite having the same 5-11 record as in 2009, the 2010 Browns were much improved. They beat last year's Super Bowl winners (the Saints) and this year's Super Bowl favorites (the Patriots). They lost a hell of a lot of close games: by 3 to the Bucs, by 2 to the Chiefs, by 7 to the Ravens, by 6 to the Jets, by 4 to the Jaguars, by 7 to the Bills, and by 2 to the Bengals. The Browns had a lot of trouble closing out games that they were leading in during the second half, but they played hard, kept games within reach, and surprised some people. A far cry from 2009's Derek Anderson/Brady Quinn debacle!

Third, I predict the Browns will be at least 8-8 in 2011. In Peyton Hillis, they found a running back that puts fear into the hearts of opposing defenses (even if he did seem to wear down near the end of the season). In Colt McCoy, they found a surprisingly good quarterback who shows a lot of potential to keep drives alive. In other words, they finally found an identity on offense. Their draft picks from last season were solid and they'll get high draft picks again this year. And perhaps most importantly, their schedule is much kinder to them: they play each team in the weak NFC West and each team in the up-and-down AFC South.

Fourth, the Browns aren't tough enough to play a conservative, run-heavy, strong-defense style, nor do they have enough talent at the skill positions to play a pass-happy run and gun style. Mangini seemed to want to match the Steelers and Ravens physicality and the team made some strides in that direction, but still ended up far short. Then again, with Holmgren or his hand-picked favorite at head coach, I have no idea what sort of offense will be installed.

Fifth, I'm putting this sentence introducing my miscellaneous points in bold in order to be consistent with the rest of this post.

* Josh Cribbs is a great player, and was injured for much of 2010. However, special teams super-stars are not a reliable source of points and the frequently heard "get your best players the ball however you can" has never produced a lot as far as Cribbs is concerned. He's a nice asset, but the Browns need a lot more than Cribbs if they want to be successful.

* Points-wise, despite Hillis and McCoy, the Browns offense really sucked in 2010. They scored 14 points or less in eight games. Only twice did they score 24 points or more. Conservative, ball-control offenses are good if you have a great defense and can avoid making mistakes, but the Browns just aren't there yet.

* My favorite play of the season was Browns punter Reggie Hodges' fake, which led to a 68-yard scamper in the big victory over the Saints. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea of the Saints' defensive line. You should've heard me jumping up and down shouting, in complete disbelief and joy. Here it is on YouTube.

* Finally, the picture is of the massive, pizza-sized cookie The Wife got me for my birthday. Isn't she brilliant?

Guest Post: Series Review of "Alias"

Guest Post: Series Review “Alias”

The Wife here, with another Guest Post to please our Resident Blogger.

In my previous post, I mentioned the joy I take in re-watching various programs. Lately, I have been thinking of doing a re-watch of the TV series “Alias”, of which I was a huge fan. Be warned, the review below contains SPOILERS.

For those not in the know, this was a J.J. Abrams series about a young woman named Sydney who is working undercover for what she believes is a covert branch of the CIA. What she learns, after the murder of her fiancé, is that she is working for the bad guys. She turns double-agent for the real CIA and sets out to put things right.

As with many programs that I enjoy, I didn’t start out with the series from the very beginning. I actually started watching at the beginning of Season 2. I think I had heard that Sydney was going to see her presumed dead mother for the first time and I decided to tune in. I was quickly hooked.

The series had attractive people, great special effects, solid humour, lots of action and some romance. I am a girly girl. I love romance. HOWEVER – I hate “romance shows”. I could never get into Abram’s previous show “Felicity”, because I loathed the back and forth “which guy this week” drama. This is odd, considering my love of soap operas, but I like my romance in the midst of something else – mob drama, sci-fi, etc. I mean, I watched the X-Files mostly for the love story…but would have been really bored without the aliens and monsters.

Alias definitely had its faults. The show’s Mythology seemed to run away from it. Plus, Sydney was the weepiest spy I have ever seen. Girl cried at the drop of a freaking hat. Not that she didn’t have some pretty messed up sh*t happen to her, but you’d think she could at least hold it in on missions. And, the show didn’t seem to know what to do with her “regular” best friends Will and Francie as the show progressed.

The pluses, however, definitely outweighed the minuses. The stunts were amazing and the supporting cast was truly phenomenal. Dixon, Marshall, Weiss, etc were great characters and their relationships with Sydney and the others were believable. Terry O’Quinn of Lost fame played my favourite of Sydney’s CIA bosses and there were some great recurring villains/antagonists. (Anna Espinosa, Sark and one of my favourites “Creepy Asian Dentist”).

Three actors/characters made the show truly great, in my opinion.

1. Ron Rifkin as Arvin Sloan. The man you had to love to hate. He managed to be demented, cultured, loving, creepy and awesome at the same time. Much like Lena Olin as Irina Derevko, Rifkin created a character that you could never pin down. Was he evil? Probably. Did he care about Sydney and Jack? Definitely. Should you trust him? Long-term, no way, but short-term….hmmm…it depends.
2. Lena Olin as Irina Derevko/Laura Bristow. Ahh, Spy Mommy. Lena Olin is gorgeous and kick-ass in this role. Much like Sloane, you can never truly pin down her motivations. She definitely seems to love her family – but her obsession with Rambaldi (myth arc alert!) and his “artifacts” often pits them on the opposite sides. Still – her chemistry with Victor Garber as Jack Bristow? A thing of freaking beauty.
3. Victor Garber as Jack Bristow, aka Spy Daddy. The highlight of the show, at least for me. Garber brought a level of intensity and coolness to his character that made it clear that he was a professional – but his weakness was his love for his baby girl. The way that love came out – in moments and hints, was lovely to watch. Jack Bristow was the man – and the audience knew it. We knew why Sloan admired him, we knew why others feared him, why Irina couldn’t “quit” him – and of course, why Sydney loved him.

In reflecting on the series as whole, I’ve come to see Alias not as Sydney’s story alone, or even the story of her love affair with Vaughn – but the story of a father and daughter finding their way back to each other. At the beginning of the series, Sydney and Jack rarely speak and are in a period of estrangement. Throughout the run of the show, Sydney slowly comes to understand that her father really did put her first in his life – despite the many hardships it cost him. They slowly develop a new relationship and discover each other as adults. By the time of the final season, when Sydney is pregnant and alone, it seems natural to watch Jack play the expectant Grandpa – helping Sydney build a crib and being there to hold her hand when she goes into labour.

If I could change one thing about Alias, it would be that fifth and final season. As I understand it, the episode order was unexpectedly cut, forcing the producers to short-circuit their plans to complete the run of the series. That shows in the writing and delivery of that last half-season. Sloan turning on Nadia, Irina’s final decisions, etc, all felt rushed and somehow off-kilter – as though part of the story was missing. I still regret that – but it doesn’t stop me from fondly remembering Alias as a whole.

To that end, some of my favourite scenes/line from Spy-Barbie’s Many Adventures:

1. “Francie doesn’t eat coffee ice-cream”. Followed by the greatest girl-fight ever.
2. Discussing the imposter who is posing as Sloan: “We’ve been calling him the ‘Sloan-Clone.’ Or ‘Arvin Clone.’ Or the ‘Rolling Sloans.’”
3. Sydney realizes at the end of Season 1 just who is standing in front of her. “Mom?”
4. Jack’s beard, at the beginning of Season 3. That thing was CRAZY!
5. Jack and Irina falling into bed together in Season 2. Sex-ay!
6. Irina, announcing that she (Irina) would not be the one injecting her evil sister Elena with the crazy red-eye virus. She points at Jack: “I’m going to let him do it – and he really doesn’t like you.” And Jack’s response: “I’m trying to have more fun.”
7. The Spy Family, including Vaughn and Spy-Skipper (Nadia), jumping out of a plane at the end of Season 4. You’ve got to love family time.
8. Almost any scene with Marshall.
9. Jack gets an old friend, played by Richard Roundtree of Shaft fame, to join he, Sloan and Vaughn in rescuing Sydney. Love the line Roundtree’s character throws back at him. “Look who’s getting the band back together.”
10. And ultimately, who could forget Will’s awesome line after he is tortured by Creepy Asian dentist and manages to stab the villain in the neck with the syringe he’d been threatened with only moments before. “One in five you little b*tch!”

Dungeon Crawl Classics # 45: "Malice of the Medusa" (Part 2)

See here for Part One

Our second session of the module was definitely more entertaining than the first. All five characters from the first session returned, and there was also a new character, a cleric. In order to introduce the new character, I went with the classic "the party stumbles upon a hero being attacked and decides to help him" routine. Because the group was in a snake-filled valley called "The River of Venom", I chose the weakest monster on the random encounter list: a "Tiny Viper" that had only two hit points.

And it was the toughest encounter of the session!

The viper latched on to the cleric and started draining hit points every turn, while the cleric and the other PCs just couldn't hit the damned thing (it had a decently high AC of 17). Between the fangs, poison, and accidental hits from the other characters, the cleric ended up being knocked down to negative one before someone finally hit killed the snake.

A two hit point snake!

Anyway, things went more smoothly after that. The PCs encounterd the first sizable dungeon in the module, an ancient tomb containing the sarcophagus of an ancient ruler named Shishak. To get into the tomb, the PCs used some clever magic to trick a group of evil cultists into thinking bad omens from the tomb had risen up against them. Inside, various undead creatures were soundly returned to their graves. The only problem in the dungeon was something I think is a real flaw in the module. The PCs come to a (fake) sarcophagus that contains a riddle written on it, and only by solving the riddle will a secret door open that leads to the real sarcophagus that contains the magic staff they're looking for. Here's the riddle:

"Here lies Shishak, before whom serpents in the fold quiver. His glory be unto the wise . . . but to the simple goes but everlasting damnation. No sooner spoken than broken."

Think about it for a minute before reading on.

....

....

So the players quickly hit upon the idea of trying to figure out what could be broken once spoken, and came up with an answer of "silence." They tried saying "silence", being silent, and more, but the correct way to solve the riddle according to the module is to cast the spell Silence on the sarcophagus. This would be a pretty damned hard riddle as it is, but it's even worse because none of the characters happened to have the spell Silence. And in Pathfinder (and D&D 3.5), Silence is a second level spell so no first-level characters could have had the spell to begin with, and even higher-level characters might not have the spell on their spell lists.

Fortunately, the PCs made (by taking 20) the absurdly high DC 30 check to notice the secret door and used the brute force method to break it down and find the real sarcophagus.

Anyway, a good time was had by all and hopefully sometime soon we'll manage to get together for Chapter 4: "Scorpion Rock."

A Momentous Event

Today is my birthday, an event celebrated with fireworks all over the world (though for some reason the Chinese celebrate it a few weeks later, something I should ask them about sometime). Even more exciting, in a few hours I'll find out whether Boomer is a boy or a girl. Boomer, for those of you just coming into the loop, is the nickname The Wife and I have given to the heir to throne of House Patrick; i.e., our first child. Today, ultrasound willing, we'll know whether to buy the child a blue "Daddy's Little Linebacker" jumper or a pink "Daddy's Little Linebacker" jumper. (Wife's Sister & Wife's Sister's Husband have already ordered tiny Cleveland Browns socks, which are going to be awesome!). And come May, little Boomer will have preferred access to the treasures of a lifetime's hard work: a pretty impressive collection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer memorabelia, an eclectic assortment of post-1987 comic books, and the movie Barb Wire on DVD.

In all seriousness, I've found impending fatherhood an exciting if occasionally frightful experience. I think of the last three years following our return to Toronto from Windsor as my "dissertation years". I've accomplished a lot over that period, including finishing the aforementioned dissertation, getting married, putting together a pretty nice gift for a perfect stranger, learning to read French, directing a long role-playing campaign (admittedly an "accomplishment" only to the eyes of a particular segment of the public), etc. My only real anxiety is that the gamble of leaving a secure position as a professor at Detroit Mercy in the hopes that a Ph.D. would lead to a better spot elsewhere hasn't yet paid off, which sometimes makes me think I should have stayed (though on the other hand, as much as I feel sorry for it, Windsor is Windsor, and I can't really blame myself for taking the chance to get back to Toronto!). Unless the job-gods are especially kind, this means we'll be moving to Kingston for the duration of The Wife's mat-leave, which will be quite a transition in itself. Between grading papers for the class I'm T.A.ing, putting the finishing touches on the dissertation and getting ready for the defense, leading Harbingers to the decayed village of Dunwich, packing and moving, and getting ready for Boomer, the next few months are likely to be kinda crazy!

But no matter how busy life gets, there's consolation in the fact that I'll always have Barb Wire on DVD.

What I Read (2010)

Isn't this exciting!?!?

What I Read (2010)

Jan. 12, 2010 Death on Naboo by Jude Watson. "Ferus Olin tries desperately to keep Inquisitor Malorum from discovering the truth about Padme's children."

Jan. 21, 2010 Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe. "Collection of Poe's most famous stories. I especially like the detective ones, definitely the forebear to Sherlock Holmes."

Jan. 22, 2010 The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell. "Torchwood novel featuring Bilis Manger--plot contains neighbourhood Jack can't get into. Bit unclear but good."

Feb. 10, 2010 Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan. "The sixth W of T book--a bit slow in places, but an amazing ending when Rand makes the Aes Sedai kneel before him."

Feb. 12, 2010 Star Wars: The Clone Wars by Karen Traviss. "Novelization of the animated movie. Traviss always delivers surprising insight into the motivations of the characters and themes."

Feb. 17, 2010 Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu by J.K. Rowling. "Long but very good book as Harry participates in the Tri-Wizard tournament."

Feb. 20, 2010 Into the Silence by Sarah Pinborough. "Solid Torchwood book, as alien cuts out vocal cords."

Mar. 2, 2010 L'enfant des Ombres by Moka. "Beautiful cover, but story just doesn't connect."

Mar. 10, 2010 Oz: Into the Wild by Christopher Golden. "A very good Buffy book, as Oz travels to Tibet to find a cure. Interesting & original situations."

Mar. 13, 2010 Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning. "A nice bridge, as Leia finds all kinds of links to Anakin from Episode I & II."

Mar. 24, 2010 Les Club des Veufs Noirs by Isaac Asimov. "A nice, light collection of short mysteries, each set in a men's supper club."

Mar. 2010 Risk Assessment by James Goss. "Torchwood novel that introduces a great new character in Assessor Agnes Havisham."

Mar. 2010 The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft edited by S.T. Joshi. "My favorite is 'The Rats in the Walls.' The others didn't work for me as much. The annotations don't really add much."

Apr. 2, 2010 Emma by Jane Austen. "Emma is a very poor matchmaker, who keeps getting the wrong idea about couples' romantic intentions. A couple of well-drawn characters, but dull in spots."

Apr. 5, 2010 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. "A very readable and thought-provoking novel, much better than the movie."

Apr. 4, 2010 No Prisoners by Karen Traviss. "An intelligence agent gets trapped behind enemy lines and must be rescued. Great insight into 'attachment' and other ambiguities. Plot shaky."

Apr. 10, 2010 The Call of Cthulhu Role-Playing Game (Sixth Edition) by various. "Sixth edition of Chaosium's famous RPG. The rules aren't always elegant and there's some odd stuff, but I can't wait to play."

Apr. 20, 2010 The Hound of the Baskervilles & The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle. "Two of Doyle's short novels in the Worth Literary Press edition. The "Sign" ends with a great, thrilling boat chase."

Apr. 20, 2010 The Undertaker's Gift by Trevor Baxendale. "Torchwood novel, starting to get formulaic."

Apr. 26, 2010 Return to Dunwich by Keith Herber. "RPG setting book for Dunwich, a decayed Mass. town. Very detailed, though hard to picture stories."

Apr. 27, 2010 SAS À Istanbul by Gerard de Villiers. "Cold war spy novel with main character "SAS" Malko, set in Turkey as Russkies have dug tunnel under Bosporus Strait. Good."

Apr. 27, 2010 New Spring: The Novel by Robert Jordan. "Prequel to the Wheel of Time, telling how Moraine and Siuan got raised to Aes Sedai and how Lan became a Warder. Great book."

May 2010 Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn. "First book in the Thrawn trilogy--I love the opponent, epic in scope, first appearance of a lot of SW mainstays."

May 7, 2010 Consequences by Various. "Collection of five Torchwood short stories, with some loose connections. Pretty entertaining on the whole."

May 11, 2010 The English Opium-Eater by Robert Morrison. "Biography of Thomas de Quincey, Victorian-era magazine writer and "man of letters" who was famously addicted to opium. A bit boring, really."

May 12, 2010 City of the Beast by Michael Moorcock. "Kane takes a matter transmitter to Old Mars and ends up fighting blue giants to save a princess. Straight-forward, old school fantasy fun."

May 21, 2010 Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth by Karen Miller. "Anakin & Obi-Wan try to stop a bio-terror facility. Average and disappointing compared to Wild Space."

May 24, 2010 1920s Investigator's Companion by Keith Herber, et al. "New occupations & background for Call of Cthulhu. Overall a very useful book."

[DIGRESSION: In my handwritten book log, I wrote the year as "2009" for this and a few surrounding books, which just now caused a moment of panic that I'd been transcribing a log already transcribed. If anyone has the necessary device or super-power, please travel back in time and slap me upside the head.]

May 27, 2010 How I Survived My Summer Vacation by Various. "Nice collection of Buffy stories set in between Season 1 & 2. Wish they had done this every year."

June 2010 Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde. "Sequel to The Eyre Affaire, as the time cops steal Thursday's husband. Good fun."

June 2010 Lord of the Spiders by Michael Moorcock. "The second Kane of Old Mars book, as Kane gets involved in a blue giant civil war. Fast moving."

June 2010 The Paperback Book by Rick Mercer. "Not as funny as hoped."

[DIGRESSION: Some people say Rick Mercer is the Canadian Jon Stewart. These people have been paid to do so by Rick Mercer.]

June 2010 Bad Twin by Gary Troup. "Lost tie-in novel, really quite good hardboiled detective story w/ good vs. evil theme that resonates."

June 13, 2010 Passages by Connie Willis. "A book about researchers looking into near-death experiences. It has a great, intriguing beginning and some good ideas, but needs an editor and more characterization."

June 17, 2010 Missing: Coup de Foudre by Meg Cabot. "First in the series. I like the character of Jess Mastriani, and the plot is interesting."

June 2010 Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. "Book 2--good but for some reason this trilogy hasn't been as gripping as I'd expected."

June 2010 The Anubis Murders by Gary Gygax. "Interesting characters, but fails as a mystery."

July 5, 2010 Baltimore by Mignola & Golden. "A great story, dark and moody, rich in atmosphere and terse in plot and dialogue."

[DIGRESSION: I believe I've mentioned in the past that I normally read books in the order I receive them, according to a strict queue on a shelf of unread books. According to the inscription, I was given Baltimore in December of 2007, which indicates that anyone who gave me a new book today should expect me to finish it sometime in July of 2013. However, The Wife, sua sponte, claims authority to insert books at any point in the queue, which sometimes creates discrepancies.]

July 2010 The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. "Not bad, just kind of flat and over-long."

July 2010 Clone Wars Gambit: Siege by Karen Miller. "Doesn't seem to grasp the awesome scale of total war on a galactic level."

July 2010 The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King. "Good depiction of Holmes, poor resolution to mystery."

July 15, 2010 Blasphemy: Art That Offends by S. Brent Plate "A great book with full-color photos and an insightful essay."

July 2010 Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. "Contains both of Carroll's stories (I find the first more charming), along with beautiful full-color illustrations and good essays."

July 2010 A Monstrous Regiment of Women by Laurie R. King. "Second Mary Russell book, interesting social gospel character--still not a great mystery."

July 2010 Northwest of Earth by C.L. Moore "Complete collection of pulp S.F. stories, which are extraordinarily evocative but also repetitive."

July 2010 The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stiegg Larson. "A solid, intriguing mystery, great protagonists, and a hard edge make for a great thriller."

July 2010 Tarmac by Nicolas Dickner. "Interesting, original plot re: family of failed predictors of apocalypse."

Aug. 11, 2010 A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King "Interesting theological angle, and good characterization, but still fails as a mystery."

Aug. 2010 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr "Better than I expected. Faeries torment unsuspecting mortals, but protagonist can see them."

Aug. 18, 2010 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. "Memoir of raising little brother after both parents die. Extremely self-referential, but for the most part interesting."

Aug. 2010 The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. "Interesting to see what all the fuss is about. Heavy on magical realism."

Sep. 5, 2010 The Moor by Laurie R. King. "Great atmosphere and character in Lord Saban Baring-Gould, but slow moving plot."

Sep. 2010 Le Mysterieux Destin de Timothy Hunter: Initiation by Carla Jablonski. "Tim Hunter learns of his potential to be world's most powerful wizard. I really liked portrayal of Zatanna."

Sep. 8, 2010 Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan. "The Bowl of Winds is found. Good mix of characters and storylines."

Sep. 2010 Masters of the Pit by Michael Moorcock. "Very workmanlike Mars book, out of ideas for cardboard characters."

Sep. 2010 The Last Command by Timothy Zahn. "Strong, exciting end to trilogy."

Sep. 22, 2010 Persuasion by Jane Austen. "Fairly boring as heroine finally decides to hook up with sailor ex."

Oct. 2010 Ranters Run Amok by Leonard Levy. "Odd collection of essays."

Oct. 2010 Is Critique Secular? Blasphemy, Injury, and Free Speech by Talal Asad, et al. "Big on lit-theory and post-modernism, heavy on jargon and light on substance."

Oct. 6, 2010 Secrets of New Orleans by Fred Van Lente. "Cthulhu sourcebook. Fine, but a bit dry."

Oct. 2010 Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner. "Very standard, unremarkable sword-and-sorcery tales."

Oct. 20, 2010 More Annotated H.P. Lovecraft by Joshi & Cannon (eds.). Some great stories here, including 'The Call of Cthulhu', 'Cool Air', and 'Pickman's Model.'"

Oct. 21, 2010 Shadows of Yog-Sothoth by Sandy Petersen, et al. The first Call of Cthulhu RPG campaign, involves a global adventure to stop the rise and awakening of Cthulhu. Ludicrously difficult."

Nov. 2010 Jedi Twilight by Michael Reeves. "Set on Coruscant shortly after Order 66, one of the few remaining Jedi is hunted by Vader. Pretty good."

Nov. 14, 2010 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. "A great piece of gothic literature, with memorable characters, moody settings, and a very readable plot."

Nov. 17, 2010 Recognizing Religion in a Secular Society by Douglas Farrow (ed.). "Collection of essays on religion and the state. Most argue for a gov't less hostile towards religion."

Nov. 22, 2010 The Sarmarkand Solution by Gary Gygax. "Third book with quasi-Egyptian detective. Good characters and interesting setting, but shaky as a mystery."

Nov. 23, 2010 Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino. "Character studies of Japanese high school girls who become middle-aged prostitutes. Odd but okay."

Nov. 24, 2010 At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman. "A very readable collection of short essays on a wide variety of topics. The one on night owls should be circulated."

Nov. 25, 2010 The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton. Story of a bookmobile via camel in rural Kenya. Nice balance between Western & indigenous values, surprising but satisfying ending.

Nov. 27, 2010 The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde. "Third of the Thursday Next books, as she enters the realm of books and works as a stock character. Original and compulsorily readable."

Dec. 1, 2010 Tales of the Slayer Volume 2 by Various. "Another strong collection of stories on Slayers throughout history. Great Buffy time-travel story too."

Dec. 2010 The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stiegg Larson. "Second in the trilogy, the book in this case is far better than the movie."

Dec. 31, 2010 Nano Comes to Clifford Falls and Other Stories by Nancy Kress. "Collection of SF stories. 'Shiva in Shadows' and 'Mirror Image' are amazing, memorable stories."

Guest Post: The Mind of a Re-Reader

The Wife, here. Our resident blogger, whose fantasy football team outscored mine over the course of the season, is owed one blog post of his choice. The selected topic: Why I love to re-read and re-watch.

As long as I’ve known him, Husband has found the fact that I enjoy reading/watching the same things repeatedly to be a bit of an anomaly. Not that he never has a repeat viewing, but he prefers a significant chunk of time to pass before he is willing to go over the same territory again. Not so with me.

I have always had this habit. I come by it honestly – my father is the exact same way, although to a much greater extreme. We used to tease him that the only movies he watched were Twister, Independence Day and Moonstruck. On the reading side, he pretty much sticks with Lord of the Rings and the David Eddings “Belgariad/Mallorean” books.

You can get him to read/watch something new, but it often involves both cajoling and forcing him to sit down and give something a try.

I do read and watch new things. However, often when I am grabbing a book, it is to relax. My work is intense and takes a good deal of concentration. When I want to chill with a book, I often find myself reaching for something familiar – because I know exactly what “mood” it is going to invoke. Looking for something sweet and domestic with hints of sadness? Grab “Little Women”. Seeking a laugh? Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. The list goes on.

Part of what appeals to me, is that I know what is going to happen. I like to tell myself that I like surprises, but really, I am a frequent reader of spoilers. When I re-read/re-watch, I am prepared for what is coming. If I don’t want to see it/read it – it is easy enough to skip.

I also find that re-reading/re-watching gives me a deeper level of connection with a story. I tend to read quite quickly, so when I review something gain, I often pick up nuances that I missed the first time through, or I’m able to appreciate the way that the author or director laid the tracks for something that wouldn’t have been apparent on first review.

The irony of this, is that (also thanks to my Dad) I have a phenomenal memory for things that I have read/watched. Ironic because I, who seldom forget something I’ve seen or watched will re-read/re-watch over and over – while Husband, who rarely does so, often cannot recall specific details.

Dad was/is forever asking “who sang that” or “whose voice is that” and both I and Younger Sister have reams of useless trivia stuffed in our heads. Useless unless one is playing Trivial Pursuit, I should say. NEVER bet against me on the “Entertainment” squares. (Unless its music –that really isn’t my bag).

Classic example: Over the Christmas holidays, I played Trivial Pursuit with Husband, Younger Sister and Brother-In-Law. Sister was stumped on a question about A Christmas Carol (it was a bit of a trick question). To help her out, I advised her to “watch Muppet Christmas Carol in your head and you’ll figure out the answer” – which she did in about 30 seconds. Brother-In-Law declared us “weird” and he’s probably right.

Thinking about it, I guess it really all does come back to family. My parents, sister and I love nothing more than to quote at one another from our favourite TV shows/movies, etc. We can literally sit for an hour and quote back and forth from Monty Python, classic Musicals, the Simpsons, Friends, etc, etc.

Perhaps this is why Husband jokes that for Christmas/Birthdays/Anniversaries he is only going to buy me things that I already have. 