Joe Xavier’s Neighborhood

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me ...

12 ships to plunder,

11 cannons firing,

10 crewmen leaping,

9 sharks a' swimming,

8 rum-filled bottles,

7 lusty wenches,

6 jolly rogers,

5 gold doubloons,

4 eye patches,

3 earrings,

2 wooden legs

and a parrot for my shoulder - Arrr!

Towards something more seasonal.

It took:

30000 plus lights
130 extension cords
Over 8000 feet of control cable
Programming time: don't ask.

Most of the neighborhood used LED lights this year, so they are using 1/10th of the power as last year.

What do you get when you mix a Christmas Light show with Guitar Hero? Christmas Light Hero!

Song is "Cliffs of Dover" by the incredible Eric Johnson.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Patricia Brennan from Yale University is trying to encourage male Muscovy ducks to launch their ballistic penises into test tubes.

And not just for singing, either!

Dan O'Bannon was a wonderful screen writer. Best remembered for Alien, my personal favourite remains Dark Star. Moody, funny and owing much to American film and comic history, O'Bannon is credited with acting (as Pinback), screenwriting and editting on the original short, and the extended John Carpenter effort.

For your viewing pleasure, and as a memorial to a great artist, here is the trailer for Dark Star.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary - Rubbish, really. But I finished it anyway, cos it was not badly written. Just poorly plotted with mediocre characterization that somehow left me still wanting to know how it all ended. I suppose that really makes it a successful book.

Review from eZine: (cos I am feeling lazy today)

The story line was very well done, and the characters were interesting, although fairly predictable. I believe Raymond tries to have the same writing style as Dan Brown, but in my humble opinion, he doesn't do as good a job as Dan.

The worst thing about The Sanctuary is that it takes a long, long time to get to the point. There are an inordinate amount of chase scenes and shoot-outs, which ruined it for me a little bit. I don't mind a bit of violence, but when one man can out shoot 6, I find it a tad ridiculous. When they can out shoot that many people more than once, it becomes even more ridiculous.

When I first started reading the book, I thought that it was going to be just another book about chasing a mysterious elic of unusual, Godlike power. While in some sense, that is what this book is about, it is deeper than that.

If you like historical fiction that's jam packed with car chases, diabolical villains, shoot-outs and action, then you can do worse than buying The Sanctuary

Just a Geek: Unflinchingly honest tales of the search for life, love, and fulfillment beyond the Starship Enterprise

Wil Wheaton

Just a Geek - Just buy it and read it. You will thank me. Whether you are a Star Trek fan, even of the sub-genre Let's all hate on Wesley ilk, or like insights into another person's life, you will love this. I will buy you a drink if you don't!  I am hoping for an e-reader for Christmas, so I can get more of his writings on pdf.

Publisher Comments from Powell's Books:

Wil Wheaton has never been one to take the conventional path to success. Despite early stardom through his childhood role in the motion picture Stand By Me, and growing up on television as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wil left Hollywood in pursuit of happiness, purpose, and a viable means of paying the bills. In the oddest of places, Topeka, Kansas, Wil discovered that despite his claims to fame, he was at heart Just a Geek.

In this, his newest book, Wil shares his deeply personal and difficult journey to find himself. You'll understand the rigors, and joys, of Wil's rediscovering of himself, as he comes to terms with what it means to be famous, or, ironically, famous for once having been famous. Writing with honesty and disarming humanity, Wil touches on the frustrations associated with his acting career, his inability to distance himself from Ensign Crusher in the public's eyes, the launch of his incredibly successful web site, wilwheaton.net, and the joy he's found in writing. Through all of this, Wil shares the ups and downs he encountered along the journey, along with the support and love he discovered from his friends and family.

The stories in Just a Geek include:

• Wil's plunge from teen star to struggling actor
• Discovering the joys of HTML, blogging, Linux, and web design
• The struggle between Wesley Crusher, Starfleet ensign, and Wil Wheaton, author and blogger
• Gut-wrenching reactions to the 9-11 disaster
• Moving tales of Wil's relationships with his wife, step-children, and extended family
• The transition from a B-list actor to an A-list author

Wil Wheaton — celebrity, blogger, and geek — writes for the geek in all of us. Engaging, witty, and pleasantly self-deprecating, Just a Geek will surprise you and make you laugh.

Strange Angels and Betrayals - I enjoyed Angels more than Betrayals initially. Dru came across as a stronger female character in the first book, though by the end of Betrayals she was once more kick-ass wild. Love her. Waiting impatiently for more in the series.

From Powell's Books:

Angels:  Dru has always known about the poltergeists, vampires and werwulfen that inhabit the Real World since her father has traveled the country battling them, often with Dru's help. But when he is killed after they move to the Dakotas - and is sent back as a zombie to kill her - Dru digs deeper into her history, trying to find out who murdered her mother and who is after her.   Graves, an orphan, joins up with her, and Dru is able to get some answers from Christophe, a djamphir (part human, part vampire).

Betrayals:   Poor Dru Anderson. Her parents are long gone, her best friend is a werewolf, and she has just learned that the blood flowing through her veins is not entirely human. (So what else is new?)

Now Dru is stuck at a secret New England Schola for other teens like her, and there's a big problem she is the only girl in the place. A school full of cute boys wouldn't be so bad, but Dru's killer instinct says that one of them wants her dead. And with all eyes on her, discovering a traitor within the Order could mean a lot more than social suicide. . .

Can Dru survive long enough to find out who has betrayed her trust and maybe even her heart?

That's Another Story: The Autobiography

That's Another Story - Autobiography of a working class girl who made it as one of the best actresses of my generation. Well written, funny and intimate.

From Powell's Books:   

Julie Walters has been delighting audiences on screen and on stage for more than 25 years, and has been described as Britain's most popular actress and comedienne. Now she tells us her own story, in her own words.

She was born in 1950s Birmingham, daughter of an austere Irish Catholic mother, and was sent to school in a convent. She wanted to be an actress from a young age, but to appease her mother she first went into nursing--that didn't last for long, and she soon joined Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. West End success followed, and she quickly replicated her success on film, earning an Academy Award nomination for her role in Educating Rita. Julie's collaborations with her close friend Victoria Wood have given audiences many unforgettable characters, and she's recently charmed a new generation of fans playing Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter films, alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia , co-starring with Helen Mirren in Calendar Girls, and co-starring in Billy Elliot.

A natural writer with an instinctive sense of timing, Julie's memoir is warm, moving, painfully felt, fiercely intelligent--and totally entertaining.

Freak the Mighty Puzzle Pack (Print Copy)

Mary B. Collins

Freak the Mighty  - The story of Kicker and Freak, and their summer together. One of the best books I have read this year.

The Brief but Excellent Synopsis from Powell's Books:

Two boys--a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant and a tiny genius in leg braces--forge a unique friendship when they pair up to create one formidable human force. Basis for the film "The Mighty." Named as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Summary:

So, out of all these books, I would wholeheartedly recommend Geek and Freak. Angels and Betrayals are good for those who like the genre (for most of Betrayals I just wanted to shake Dru to wake her up!) and the Walter's biography is good too. But skip Sanctuary - it really is not worth your time!