Boomer @ 8 Months

Boomer turns 8 months old in 26 minutes and he is more adorable than ever. Major milestones for his parents' sanity is that he now naps in his crib regularly, is happy sitting on the floor playing with toys for 10-20 minutes at a time, and usually sleeps through the night with no problems. He's inherited the late-night gene from me, as he's usually not ready for bed until almost 10 p.m., which means he often stays up later than his grandparents! But he sleeps in until 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning, so it's a pretty good trade-off as far I'm concerned. He's also a champion eater, and so far we haven't found any foods he won't go for. Although he's not crawling yet--the poor kid hates to be on his stomach--he stands up really well with something to lean on, and I wouldn't be surprised if he learns to walk before he learns to crawl. My happiest moments as a dad are how excited he is to see me when I get home from work, and how I have all sorts of ways to make him laugh. Here's a couple of good photos where you can see him hanging out with his old man and another where he's diligently at work trying to figure out which monkey is his.

What I Read (2011)

First up, this constitutes my 1000th post! More on that in a future post . . .

Second, here's what I read in 2011.

Jan. 2011 Elizabeth George, A Great Deliverance "Great characters & dialogue, as Lynley & Havers investigate a murder in a rural village. Grim as hell ending." [When I was a teenager, I had several of these mysteries and really liked them, but got really annoyed for some reason when one of the books was set out of the timeline with the others--I've been carrying them around for almost a couple of decades now, and thought I owed them a re-read, and I'm glad I did]

Jan. 2011 Marie Laberge, Sans rien ni personne "'Cold case' mystery novel about murdering midwife. Very talky & boring, with biggest twist mostly foreseeable."

Jan. 15 2011 Elizabeth George, Payment in Blood "Disappointing . . . felt like a first novel, dialogue too stagey, first 1/2 too much Agatha Christie."

Jan. 23, 2011 Michael Stackpole, Isard's Revenge "Last of the X-Wing novels, and probably a good thing."

Jan. 27, 2011 Jane Austen Northanger Abbey "A fun, light romance with a great parody of gothic literary tropes."

Jan. 30, 2011 James Joyce Ulysses "The most infuriating, annoying book I've ever read. But then somehow it starts to make sense." [Actually finishing Ulysses is a badge of honor as far I'm concerned, but at what cost! Oh, what cost!]

Feb. 7, 2011 John Marsden Lettres de l'intérieur "Letters between two teen girls, one incarcerated. Realistic, touching, thought-provoking end." [and sad too, once one reaches the natural conclusions at the end]

Feb. 10, 2011 James P. Othmer, The Futurist "What a great, compulsively readable novel. Cynical, idealistic, perfect evocation of globalization and its discontents."

Feb. 11, 2011 Steven Waldman Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America "A persuasive, balanced, and cogent discussion of the religious beliefs of the 'founding fathers.'"

Feb. 13, 2011 Orson Scott Card Ender's Game "An amazing, extraordinary book--one of the best I've read in years. The 20th anniversary audio book is a quality production." [this one, and its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, have really stayed with me, and to my mind exemplify, along with Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain, the heights to which a much-derided genre like SF can achieve in exploring the nature of humanity]

Mar. 1, 2011 Otis A. Kline, The Swordsman of Mars "Better than Moorcock's homages, interesting twists. Generic protagonist."

Mar. 12, 2011 Shae Davidson The Gathering Storm "Call of Cthulhu monograph about the Great Depression. Mostly scenarios, but worthwhile."

Mar. 14, 2011 Elizabeth George Well-Schooled in Murder "Good stuff, a big improvement over Payment in Blood. Interesting depiction of prep-school mores."

Mar. 15, 2011 Robert Jordan The Path of Daggers "Solid 8th book. Some good action scenes as Rand fights the Seanchan"

Mar. 17, 2011 Michael Reeves Street of Shadows "Second book in the 'Coruscant Nights' trilogy. Captain Typho is suddenly madly in love with Padme, and gets his dumb ass killed trying to kill Vader."

Mar. 20, 2011 Tim Wiseman Tatters of the King "A Call of Cthulhu campaign featuring 'The King in Yellow.' Purist, RP-heavy campaign. Has some structural problems in terms of adventure hooks and clues, but also some great imagery and themes."

Mar. 26, 2011 Elizabeth George A Suitable Vengeance "A prequel Inspector Lynley book. Dialogue unrealistically introspective, heartfelt, and cogent."

Mar. 30, 2011 Michael Brooks 13 Things That Don't Make Sense "An interesting and understandable discussion of 13 scientific anomalies such as dark matter, cold fusion, homeopathy, and free will."

Apr. 10, 2011 Charles Dickens Oliver Twist "Great characters, but a plot that is all over the place."

Apr. 13, 2011 Nancy Holder Blood & Fog "Buffy book with Jack the Ripper as demon tied to evil faerie lore. Some good characterization, but plot didn't hold interest."

Apr. 25, 2011 Constance Backhouse Carnal Crimes: Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900-1975 "Case studies--revealing, if not comprehensive."

May 2011 Philip José Farmer To Your Scattered Bodies Go "The first book in Farmer's famous Riverworld series, featuring Richard Burton awakening on a strange world with millions of others. Fascinating premise, average execution."

May 2011 Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl "A really fun, original story about a boy criminal mastermind and his intrusion on the Faerie realms. Surprisingly excellent action scenes."

May 2011 N.D. Wilson 100 Cupboards "Well-plotted story, first in a series, about a house with 100 portals to other places. Comes with cool map."

May 2011 Elizabeth George For the Sake of Elena "Deaf university student murdered. Very well done, but I'm not sure if the end of Chapter 1 cheats considering later events."

May 2011 Dean Koontz Darkfall "Average horror novel about evil voodoo priest sending monsters after people."

May 2011 Brian Hayes Doctor Who and the Curse of Peladon "Average adaptation of T.V. episodes."

May 2011 A. Lee Martinez Monster "A really funny urban fantasy about a monster-catcher and the impending end of the universe. Should buy more by this author."

May 2011 Gregory Levey Shut Up, I'm Talking and Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government "At times laugh-out-loud funny book about NY law student stumbling onto important position. Very readable."

June 6, 2011 Elizabeth George Missing Joseph "I read the first 200 pages of this during my wife's delivery of our first son. About average for a George novel, and not enough Havers."

June 12, 2011 Diane Duane Omnitopia Dawn "Interesting story about massive multiplayer RPG and attempted invasion by computer hackers. Needs characters less black & white, good & evil."

June 12, 2011 J.K. Rowling Harry Potter et L'Ordre Du Phénix "1,000 page story, as Dumbledore loses Hogwarts to a great villain, Delores Umbrage. Another strong entry." [reading the Harry Potter books in French has been really enjoyable, as I already have a good conception of the characters and plot]

June 17, 2011 Carrie Vaughn Kitty and the Midnight Hour "Werewolf becomes host of late-night supernatural radio talk show. Solid, some originality, worth reading more."

June 29, 2011 Noah Feldman Divided by God "Readable, concise history of church-state relations in America. Good elucidation of conflict between 'legal secularists' and 'values evangelicals.' Proposed solution unconvincing."

June 30, 2011 M.K. Hobson The Native Star "Magic & technology intermingled in 19th century America. Interesting conception of magic and solid story. A bit sappy at the end."

July 1, 2011 Richard A. Muller The Instant Physicist "Short, fun explanation of some counter-intuitive physics principles, primarily focussed on radiation and energy sources."

July 6, 2011 Stiegg Larson The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest "Less a thriller, and no mystery, but still interesting in spots."

July 16, 2011 Michael Capuzzo The Murder Room "Nonfiction story of the Vidocq Society, a club devoted to solving cold cases. Oddly structured and unpersuasive." [I think what irked me about this virtual hagiography of the Vidocq Society and its leading members is that one has to read between the lines before realizing that the club has only really helped solve one murder in its decades-long existence]

July 22, 2011 Jude Watson A Tangled Web "Fifth book in the Last of the Jedi series, as Ferus comes under the employ of Palpatine to save his friends. Large cast of characters hard to keep track of."

July 23, 2011 James Ellroy Le Dahlia Noir "Slow start, average mystery with interesting portrayal of 1940s L.A. policing."

Sep. 2011 E.C. Bentley Trent's Last Case "Interesting deconstruction of the mystery novel, showing how same set of facts can be manipulated by author to create myriad 'solutions.'"

Sep. 2011 Jeff Kinney Journal d'un dégonflé "Hilarious fictional novel of school child, must get more in the series."

Sep. 2011 Charlaine Harris Gravesight "First book in a new series about woman who can sense location of corpses. Well-written with solid characterization. Somewhat rushed ending."

Sep. 2011 Gary Gygax Death in Delhi "Last of the Setne Inhetep novels. Good characters, but plot still needs work and more of a sense of danger for main characters."

Sep. 2011 Kat Richardson Greywalker "Private investigator who can see ghosts. Interesting premise but muddled world mixes vampires and witches into the brew."

Sep. 2011 Jeffrey Toobin The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court "Very readable portrayal of Court politics, individual personalities, and the confirmation process."

Sep. 2011 David Whitaker Doctor Who and the Crusaders "The First Doctor and companions get mixed up with Richard and Saladin. Actually pretty good and entertaining."

Sep. 17, 2011 A. Merritt The Ship of Ishtar "Original, interesting, about man pulled aboard ancient ship locked in battle between gods of love and death."

Sep. 2011 Mica Ostow & Steven Brezenoff The Quotable Slayer "Serviceable collection of Buffy quotes."

Sep. 28, 2011 Elizabeth George Playing for the Ashes "Inspector Lynley mystery involving murder of famous cricketeer. Unconvincing motive, but good subplot involving animal liberation force."

Oct. 11, 2011 Orson Scott Card Speaker for the Dead "Sequel to Ender's Game. Murder of xenographers by ostensibly peaceful aliens requires investigation. Great idea of role for Speaker of the Dead."

Oct. 19, 2011 Jak Koke The Edge of Chaos "Forgotten Realms novel set near the Plaguewrought Lands, a dangerous area of wild magic. Entertaining."

Oct. 2011 Scott Martelle The Fear Within: Spies, Commies, and American Democracy on Trial "A very readable overview of the Dennis Smith Act trial that led to the Communist Party's American leadership being imprisoned."

Nov. 3, 2011 René Barjavel La nuit des temps "Interesting and original SF novel. A polar expedition finds two people of an ancient advanced civilization frozen in suspended animation for 900,000 years."

Nov. 2011 Kate Novak & Jeff Grubbs Azure Bonds "Great Forgotten Realms novel with intriguing central mystery. Warrior wakes up with strange, mystical tattoos--who put them there and why?"

Nov. 2011 Various The Halls of Stormweather "Collection of 7 short stories by various authors featuring different members of the Uskreven family in Sembia. Enjoyable throughout."

Nov. 2011 Ray Garton Resurrecting Ravana "Buffy novel featuring Ethan Rayne trying to summon Hindu god Ravana. Competent."

Nov. 2011 Christopher Hitchens Thomas Jefferson: Author of America "Crisp, very readable short bio of Jefferson, with trenchant criticism of past scholarship on Sally Hemmings."

Dec. 10, 2011 Elizabeth George In the Presence of the Enemy "The best George novel I've read yet. A great mystery, a thrilling conclusion, great characters. Excellent & memorable."

Dec. 2011 C.W. Mevius Couching Tiger, Hidden Toddler: A Zen Guide for New Dads "A slim, sometimes humorous book that does contain some good advice."

Dec. 2011 Gamma World Core Rulebook "A fun, light-hearted post-apocalyptic game with some interesting tweaks on d20 rules."

Dec. 2011 Plate The Trial & Death of Socrates "Collects Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. Apology has relevance to charges of corrupting youth and introducing new gods."

Dec. 2011 Gregory Lang Why a Son Needs a Dad "Skimpy book with photos and statements, mostly banal."

Dec. 23, 2011 Kevin J. Anderson The Jedi Academy Trilogy "Excellent trio of novels, detailing Luke's rebuilding of the Jedi Academy, the destruction of the Sun Crusher, and more. Great dialogue & characterization."

Dec. 31, 2011 Jude Watson Return of the Dark Side "Sixth book in The Last of the Jedi series, plot continues to surprise, not 'kiddie' at all."

Dec. 31, 2011 Fluke, Levine, Meier The Gingerbread Cookie Murders "Three short novels with different characters by different authors, recipes (!) interspersed throughout. Fluke's prose is embarrassingly bad, but the other two are solid reads."

NFL 2011 Playoffs Round 3 Round-Up

Billy Cundiff's missed chip shot field goal cheated me out of a win that would have locked up second place in the picks competition. What are the odds that after 267 games The Wife and I would be tied with only the Super Bowl left? Well, I'm in it to win it! (not "win it" per se, since Steve's already done that, but "I'm in it to not lose it!" doesn't have the same ring to it . . .)

Giants @ 49ers

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The Wife: Giants

Me: Giants

Steve: Giants

WINNER: Giants (when offenses and defenses are so evenly matched, special teams is going to make the difference . . .)

Ravens @ Patriots

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The Wife: Patriots

Me: Ravens

Steve: Patriots

WINNER: Patriots (man, I got ROBBED here!)

THIS WEEK

The Wife: 2-0

Me: 1-1

Steve: 2-0

CUMULATIVE

The Wife: 159-110

Me: 159-110

Steve: 172-97

NFL 2011 Division Champion Predictions in Retrospect

It's always fun to look back at predictions made months previously to see just how right . . . and just how wrong everyone was about who would end up winning each division in the NFL. In my original post on the 2011 season, I made my own predictions and then listed the predictions of Lindy's, Football Outsiders, and the clear winner of the regular-season weekly predictions, Prognosticatin' Steve. As in the year prior, the goal of our little experiment is to see whether my amateurish efforts are any worse than the big glossy magazines with their paid staffs. Remember, the chances of correctly picking a division winner by random chance is 25% (which is what me and two different magazines ended up with on our picks last year), so anything better than that will, for our purposes, be considered a success. Here we go!

AFC EAST

Lindy's: New England

Football Outsiders: New England

Steve: New England

My Pick: New England ("someday we will look back at this decade's Patriots with amazement")

ACTUAL WINNER: New England (a safe bet, and everyone starts out well)

AFC WEST

Lindy's: San Diego

Football Outsiders: San Diego

Steve: San Diego ("talk about a bad division")

My Pick: Denver ("my one surprise team to add a little flavour to these proceedings")

ACTUAL WINNER: Denver (I would feel smarter about this upset success, but I didn't foresee Tebow playing at all; I assumed Kyle Orton would have played well for a mediocre team in a mediocre division)

AFC NORTH

Lindy's: Baltimore

Football Outsiders: Pittsburgh

Steve: Pittsburgh

My Pick: Pittsburgh ("Big Ben just gets it done . . .")

ACTUAL WINNER: Baltimore (that Week One blowout really set things in motion for the Ravens, and they followed through . . .)

AFC SOUTH

Lindy's: Indianapolis

Football Outsiders: Houston

Steve: Indianapolis ("despite Manning's issues")

My Pick: Houston ("if the defense can keep teams under thirty points, the Texans win with 31")

ACTUAL WINNER: Houston (Steve, as good as your picks were during the regular season, your one constant blind-spot was the Manning-less Colts!)

NFC EAST

Lindy's: Philadelphia

Football Outsiders: Philadelphia

Steve: Philadelphia

My Pick: Dallas ("they get things figured out this year and pure talent shines through")

ACTUAL WINNER: New York (we all missed the boat on this one, though a Cowboys victory in Week 17 would have swung things my way . . .)

NFC WEST

Lindy's: St. Louis

Football Outsiders: San Francisco

Steve: "The division implodes from sucking too much . . . or St. Louis for purposes of this prediction"

My Pick: Arizona ("Kolb gets this team rolling in a weak division")

ACTUAL WINNER: San Francisco (Football Outsiders' heavy-duty statistical analysis came through for this one, as I never foresaw SF winning more than 7-8 games)

NFC NORTH

Lindy's: Green Bay

Football Outsiders: Green Bay

Steve: Green Bay ("though Det will be good too")

My Pick: Green Bay ("Bears regress, Lions closing, Vikings at a standstill, leaving Packers on top")

ACTUAL WINNER: Green Bay (another unanimous pick and unanimous success)

NFC SOUTH

Lindy's: New Orleans

Football Outsiders: Atlanta

Steve: New Orleans

My Pick: New Orleans ("a coin flip with Atlanta . . .")

ACTUAL WINNER: New Orleans (everyone gets this right except for Football Outsiders--methinks they need to tinker with those algorithms)

Alright, now we can tally up the big winners and even bigger losers (though actually, everyone did pretty good):

OVERALL

Lindy's: 4/8 (50%) (pretty good results, especially for being the only one to pick Baltimore in the AFC North)

Football Outsiders: 4/8 (50%) (also good, with bonus points for being the only one to foresee SF's rise in the NFC West)

Steve: 3/8 (37.5%) (still better than random chance, though worst of the four pickers here; tempted to subtract points for picking Indianapolis and St. Louis, teams that went a combined 4-28 on the year ;)

Me: 5/8 (62.5%) (a big pat on my own back for Denver)

Thus, I am left with only one conclusion: Where my job at, Lindy's and Pro Football Outsiders?!?!

As a footnote, Lindy's and I made Super Bowl picks, neither of which can come completely true. Lindy's went with Ravens defeating Eagles, I went with Patriots defeating Cowboys.

See you again in August!

The Cat (1972) [COMICS]

Marvel's short-lived 1972 series The Cat holds an interesting place in comics history, as it was one of the company's interesting, well-intentioned, and perhaps naive attempts to combine standard super-hero stories for a largely male audience with the women's liberation movement.*

Written by Linda Fite, the first issue of The Cat tells how Greer Nelson, the young widow of a macho, controlling cop killed in the line of duty, becomes the lab assistant for the brilliant Dr. Tumolo. Tumolo is working on an experimental device to help bring women to their full physical and mental potential, but the university is unwilling to give her enough funding to continue the project. She brings in an outside investor named Mal Donaldbain, but Donaldbain secretly oversees the construction of another copy of the device, planning to use it to create an army of amazons to run a new chain of health emporiums all over the world, which he can then use to help . . . I'm not sure--conquer the world or something? This part of the comic didn't make much sense.

But anyway, Greer undergoes Tumolo's experimental process and gains somewhat vague super-powers: impressive athletic ability, increased intelligence, and a new "women's intuition" sixth sense. Later, Dr. Tumolo stumbles upon Donaldbain's nefarious plan and he (apparently) has her murdered. Dressed in the guise of The Cat (complete with climbing claws), Greer confronts Mal and takes advantage of his phobia of being touched, driving the man to suicide by gunshot! A surprisingly dark ending, and not the sort of thing I associate with early 1970s Marvel super-hero comics. In an epilogue, Greer does feel torn about what she's done. Except for the ludicrous motive of the villain and the somewhat hackneyed origin story, it's actually a pretty decent comic.

In the second issue of The Cat, Greer visits the surprisingly still-alive but unconscious Dr. Tumolo at the hospital. Somehow, Greer's "women's intuition" super-power allows her to psychically communicate with Tumolo and learn that Tumolo's supposed "nephew" also visiting her is actually a fake! It turns out, actually, that he's an agent for mildly-obscure super-villain and frequent Daredevil foe, The Owl. The Owl sends henchmen to kidnap Tumolo for the purpose of draining her intelligence and memories into an artificial databank of the world's greatest minds that only he can access. Aren't comics fun! As The Cat, Greer rescues Tumolo, but not before The Owl drains the poor doc's memories and then escapes.

The third issue takes place weeks later, with Tumolo a virtual vegetable from having her mind drained. Greer's women's intuition power allows her to detect strange sonar signals. Investigating further, she discovers a massive underwater dome she believes is being operated by the Navy. The villainous Commander Kraken attacks and tries to take over the dome, but Greer and the dome's crewmen fight him off. Later, after Greer leaves, it is revealed that the inhabitants of the dome aren't Naval personnel at all--but space aliens! Yes, I could gave been reading Shakespeare instead of this, but Shakespeare didn't include enough space aliens and Commander Krakens in his work to make it worth my while.

Due to scheduling conflicts of some sort of another, the fourth and final issue of The Cat combines a shorter-than normal Greer story with a reprint back-up featuring the X-Men's Ms. Marvel. In the main feature, Greer is having an afternoon out with an old high school friend named Sally when the two stop for lunch in a tavern. Greer rebuffs a lecherous patron who accosts them, but it turns out that lech is actually the Man-Bull! They have a very truncated fight at a stockyard, in which the Man-Bull is quickly knocked unconscious. The end.

There's no acknowledgements in the letters' page that this would be the final installment of The Cat--indeed, it even talks about what will happen "next ish." Wikipedia says a fifth issue was drawn but never released.

A somewhat pathetic ending, then, for a series that tried to accomplish something good. Linda Fite successfully managed to outfit The Cat with standard super-hero tropes (costumed adversaries, outlandish plots, etc.) while at the same time imbuing the title character with a feminist outlook on life that avoided the shrewish caricatures many male writers had portrayed feminists in the past (and would continue to do so in the future). Unfortunately, mainstream comics have simply not had much success with female headliners, much less female headliners that don't walk around in skimpy costumes and anatomically-impossible large bosoms. As for the fictional Greer Nelson, she's had an interesting history--two years after The Cat ended, Tony Isabella transformed her into Tigra, while another copy of her cat suit was found and donned by Patsy Walker, who assumed the identity Hellcat.

* As a sign of the times, the back cover of the first issue of The Cat is an advertisement for LaSalle Extension University, a home-correspondence course school. In a big list of programs available, there is a smaller list titled "Careers for Women", including, among other things, Dental Office Assistant, Interior Decorating, Secretarial, and Stenotype--absent are presumed male-only fields like Business Management, Law, and Diesel Mechanics.

NFL 2011 Playoffs Round 3 Predictions

Championship weekend!

Giants @ 49ers

-----------------

The Wife: Giants

Me: Giants (a really tough pick here!)

Steve: Giants ("San Francisco has had a great year, and their defense is very good, however Smith and the offense have yet to prove they can hold up their end to me despite the shootout against the Saints.")

Ravens @ Patriots

----------------

The Wife: Patriots

Me: Ravens (another tough pick, but I'm theorizing the Ravens aren't going to be intimidated by Brady as they've shut him down before)

Steve: Patriots ("Baltimore's D just can't stop the NE offense enough for the Ravens offense to keep up...")

NFL Playoffs Round 2 Round-Up

Yes, I picked against the 15-1 Green Bay Packers--and it paid off! I now have a one game lead over The Wife heading into Championship weekend . . .

Saints @ 49ers

------------------

The Wife: Saints

Me: Saints

Steve: Saints

WINNER: 49ers (I'm prepared to say that's the most exciting ending I've ever seen in a playoff game; there were probably four times I thought to myself 'Well, this game's over--no way they can come back from *that*' and then each team kept on doing it . . .)

Broncos @ Patriots

-------------------------

The Wife: Broncos

Me: Broncos

Steve: Patriots

WINNER: Patriots

Texans @ Ravens

---------------------

The Wife: Ravens

Me: Ravens

Steve: Ravens

WINNER: Ravens

Giants @ Packers

--------------------

The Wife: Packers

Me: Giants

Steve: Packers

WINNER: Giants (a perfect example that even the best NFL QBs can wilt under quick pressure up the middle by a strong pass-rushing D-line)

THIS WEEK

The Wife: 1-3

Me: 2-2

Steve: 2-2

CUMULATIVE

The Wife: 157-110

Me: 158-109

Steve: 170-97