Book Review: Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh

God this was a long one.

I've had this book for about two years now and have started reading it probably 4 or 5 times already. The problem is the book is rather large, and the beginning of the book is just boring. You are thrown into a complex world with some cursory explanations and little back story (despite having read the prequel DownBelow Station) and expected to jump into these intricate details and characters very quickly. However, once I finally sucked it up and got past the first 100 pages, I was completely hooked.

This book provides a universe that is incredibly complex yet well defined and not difficult to understand, and as the cover says, is reminiscent in its scope to that of Dune. The characters are so deep I often found myself surprised by how Cherryh seemed to let the characters make their own decisions, rather than having them fall into the boundaries she had created in what she had shared with the reader. The characters themselves were also very easy to identify with and understand as she gave the reader real insight into many of the primary characters' innermost thoughts and motivations. The emotions felt were also very palpable. You can almost touch the paranoia felt by both Grant and Justin throughout the novel.

This book also somewhat provided some in-depth looks into what drives human behavior. Much of the fictitious research in this book was dealing with value sets and the actions derived through them. If applied in someway to ourselves, you can really get some insights into what drives our behavior. It also delved heavily into our influence over others and how we deliver our words and body language and what can be shown through any of this. In reading the novel, one constantly had to pay attention to the language used between characters in the dialogue to draw out the true meanings of what was being said.

In summary, once you get over the initial hump, this book really does suck you in, but is also quite a time investment due to its length; therefore, I would only suggest it if you have quite a bit of time to devote to it.

Overall: 8.5/10

Restaurant Review: Proof on Main, Louisville, KY

Found myself traveling in Kentucky with my father for a business meeting last night to a dinner at the much lauded Proof on Main in Louisville. Entering the restaurant, I quickly learned it was more than that as it is not only a restaurant, but also a hotel and an art museum. It had one of the best atmospheres I've been to in quite awhile. Most of the art was extremely eclectic and modern which was put together in a perfectly ostentatious but tasteful combination (follow this link to see more LINK).

After a quick viewing of art, I was then treated to what has been voted one of the top bathrooms in America. When at the urinal, you are faced with what appears to be a window with a waterfall overrunning it; therefore you can see as individuals walk by and try to look in the opaque other side, wondering what it is. This also allows you to bring back the child in you and try to piss on everyone who walks by.

Then it came to dinner. As expected, the bourbon selection was incredible. Ordered myself a Basil Hayden's and got started. The wine list was equally spectacular, which we took advantage of in a great shiraz and an excellent pinot. We began with both the Roasted Bison Marrow Bones as well as the Octopus Bagna Cauda. The Molly Dooker Shiraz was absolutely perfect when paired with the bone marrow on toast with the apple pear mustard. The fat of the bone marrow coated your tongue in beefy deliciousness which is perfectly complemented by hard hitting fruit forward punch of the Molly Dooker. My personal preference, however, had to be the Octopus, and I normally and not an octopus guy (bagna cauda epicurious definition here.)

That night they were serving a seared scallop special with spaghetti squash and caper berries, which I had never had before but thoroughly enjoyed, and found it to be incredible. Our other dinner members had grilled beef skirt steak, simmered lamb shank, and a country ham wrapped pork chop which may have been one of the most ridiculous but delicious dishes I have recently experienced. Overall, all the food was incredible. The wait wasn't long, the wait staff was casual, but incredibly knowledgeable and more than willing to offer their advice to the diner stuck between two dishes.

Overall, this was one of the best restaurants I have been to in a long time, if not ever. The food, atmosphere, and liquor/wine selection was absolutely phenomenal. If you ever find yourself to be anywhere near Louisville, Kentucky I strongly recommend you check this place out. However, be prepared to spend a pretty penny if you wish to experience all the deliciousness Proof on Main has to offer.

Final Score: 10/10

Great Article About the Elder Scrolls Series

http://www.thebigpixels.com/musings/2010/12/12/i-will-not-play-the-elder-scrolls-v-why-morrowind-is-better.html 

Just about sums up my opinions on the two games as well and sheds some light on why I devoted hours upon hours of my teenage life to Morrowind while borrowing Oblivion and returning it in the same day.

Movie Review: Tron Legacy 3D

I have been avoiding 3D movies since they initially started in theaters and never really saw the whole point behind the 3D excitement. Why do I want to wear goofy glasses in the theater to have fake shit fly at my face while I'm trying to watch a movie. I just don't understand the whole deal.

Anyway, I decided it was time to finally pop the 3D movie cherry and go see Tron 3D. The movie looked to promise huge 3D landscapes and the whole "Grid" city for incredible effects amd combined with what looked to seriously legitimate Tron light cycle battles.

Lets start off with the good. The special effects tied to any sort of combat or battle scene were excellent. In order to initiate the light cycles, they had what looked to be a baton of sort which would be pulled apart and out of this, through a transformers-like growth, would come the light cycle. This animation was pretty incredible, and the effects with the battles were also insane. I was eager to see how these portions would turn out and I was really impressed.

Outside of this, the rest of the movie was quite a let down. Typical rebellious rich kid who is spurning his father's legacy, has all the cool tech toys and fast motorcycles. Not much real development here on the Sam Flynn front, or any real front for that matter. Jeff Bridges as Flynn also wasn't real impressive, I saw him in True Grit a few weeks ago and despite my general feeling that the movie was boring, I was impressed by his acting. He was funny a few times with his west coast surfer-ish lingo, but it got old and didn't really seem to fit him very well.

I was also significantly disappointed with the creativity in the design of "The Grid" world and the ships and planes. A few of the designs here were reminiscent of current popular video games. For example, the ship that Clu attempts to fly into the portal was a close reminder of Mass Effect. I felt like they could have gone so far in this, but the effort seemed lackluster. Also, the world itself just seemed to be a normal city with the typical Tron light scheme attached and some post-apocalyptic rocky exterior region. For all his talk in the movie of how the Grid was revolutionary, it was nothing special to me.

I also felt as if not much really happened. His son arrives, does some battles, finds his dad, does some more, they attempt to escape and done. It just overall wasn't an extremely compelling or engaging story line.

Despite all this, one thing bothered me the most. In the beginning scenes before Sam entered into the digital world, he was in his apartment and pulled out a beer and guess what it was.

Coors Original Banquet. Seriously?? Who the hell drinks this stuff anyway. I've had it a few times and its garbage. A Times article said the placement was because the gold color of the can fit with the scene, but that's total BS. Who gives the damn what color the can is, a 27 year old male is not going to be drinking that trash, especially one who owns the majority shares of major corporation. O, but he's rebelling and crap, well then put a goddamn PBR in his hand and it would have made waaaaaay more sense.

Anyway, overall the movie was boring, the 3D effects outside the combat scenes were unimpressive, characters weren't really developed and I was left with a completely underwhelming feeling from what could/should have been a movie which just assaulted and overwhelmed you with its incredible effects.

Final Score: 4.5/10

TV Show Review: Sons of Anarchy Season One

I was initially intrigued by this show when it began, and had usually had success with the FX original series, ie Nip/Tuck, The Shield, and of course, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but never made it around to watching this show. After about a year of my brother telling me to watch it repeatedly, he finally sat me down 2 nights ago and had me watch the first two episodes of the first season. Let me just preface this review by extrapolating upon that time frame. Two nights Thirteen Episodes. If I hadn't life to attend to or could stay awake past 6am, this most likely would have been finished in one night.

The show overall walks the line perfectly between family drama (which I am a sucker for, enjoying shows such as Six Feet Under) and kick-ass biker show. The characters are hard-hearted enough, but still show through their humane sides to make them believable characters. This show could easily have made a bunch of unrealistic, constantly in kick ass mode bikers, but luckily stayed away from that, except for Tig of course who is some kind of messed up. This line was walked particularly well through Jax's story line as he combats his loyalty to Clay and the Club with what he is reading from his father.

Now that I've made this show seem like some kind of touchy-feely we <3 each other biker family drama, let me tell you this show has some of the most violent and insane sequences. The one that sticks out the most would have to be Episode 5: Giving Back when Kyle Hobart, played by Brian Van Holt, is offered knife or fire to remove his SoA tattoo he was supposed to have had black out after being excommunicated from the Club. Fucked up as this sequence is, it shows the extent to which men will go to enforce the rules of their club and their loyalty to those rules, setting precedent for later events. There is also plenty of ass kicking, guns, shooting, etc, enough to make any action show junkie enjoy this show.

 Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this first season and will quickly be immersing myself into season two. I have my worries, but I think the impending conflict between Jax and Clay will hopefully come to a head in the next season.

Final Score: 9.5/10

Book Review: The Drawing of the Three: Dark Tower Book II

I know I'm a little late to the plate here on this series, but I've been reading through a ton of books lately and have just struggled through book after book of mediocrity. I'm not sure if it the fact that I'm a compulsive book buyer and will purchase a book simply by how appealing the cover seems (insert pun here) or if nothing that great has come out recently or if I'm simply a spoiled reader who has had too much of the good stuff, regardless I decided to dive into this series a few months ago. I'm a relatively avid reader and hate putting a book down after I've started it which is exactly what I struggled with in The Gunslinger, the first installment of King's Dark Tower epic.

Here, King threw you into a world with no explanations, no rules, no introduction, not even a back cover with some guidance. It took a few tries, but I finally got through it and had almost no idea what happened.

It was with this that I delved into Book II: Drawing of the Three.

It was instantly obvious to me that King had matured some since writing The Gunslinger. Things began to make sense, the plot began to connect, and despite the roller coaster the book takes you through, it all made sense (in a Sci Fi, Stephen King sort of way). Much of what happened in the first book was brought into focus and the reader began to really see into Roland the Gunslinger. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he is a bad ass, and I wish to hell he could be played by a young Clint Eastwood in the upcoming movie series/tv series that is coming out I believe this year. Anyways, we finally begin to understand Roland and are introduced to Eddie and Odetta. Personally, I was attracted to neither character off the bat, and though Eddie was quite the piece of shit and particularly annoying. King however maneuvers around this with both characters leaving the reader rooting for the success of these "Three" into the future installments.

I especially enjoyed King's interpretation of his characters reactions to their minds being invaded by Roland. I struggled to put the book down as he recounted Roland's entrance into Eddie's mind. Personally, I would probably have reacted quite different, but regardless, I found his telling of it riveting.

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than any other book I have read in the past few months, which included John Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor, Andy Remic's BioHell and Kell's Legend, as well as a few others.


Final Score: 9/10

what am i supposed to do here....

Blogging has been something that has been going on for years now, and I've always dabbled in the possibility in creating one, but always wondered, what's the point. Therefore, I decided to avoid that question entirely and simply use this as a space for my opinion on the stuff that is relevant in my life, regardless of how it applies to anyone else.

Largely, this will be my thought on the stuff I find interesting. Books, movies, current events, and the random video game or other media source thrown in.

Hope you enjoy.