Blogs & Other Websites That I Read

I thought I would just go over a few places on the web that I check out often. I'll start with the blogs:

Bright Lights Lots of Thoughts - This blog is written by my wife, Yvonne. We've been married for 8 months now. She is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind on most anything. She has some interesting opinions on lots of topics. She mostly uses the blog to talk about whatever comes to mind, but there are also a few posts about the stupid crap that my ex-wife has been pulling lately.

The Wizard of Speed and Time - This blog is penned by my younger brother, Peter. He is a lawyer living with his family in the burbs of Chicago. Many posts about odd news stories or pictures, or the quick blurb about his kids. Go congratulate him on his first win as a lawyer.

Ohh A Penny! - This blog is written by my older brother, Paul. Mainly posts about music, or trips, or whatever else comes to mind. Quite an interesting read.

King of Diamonds and Gower Street - Both of these blogs are authored by Jay Fout. He is a Episcopal Priest that lives across the lake in Saint Joseph, Michigan. I went to high school with Jay and he is a good friend of both me and Pete. From what I've read, King of Diamonds is more personal stuff and very light-weight. Gower Street tends to lean towards religious or political topics or other such concepts. While I tend to not be overly political or religious, it makes for very interesting reading.

Other websites that I periodically check out:

Gamespot - Gamespot is (in my opinion) the best website that deals with console or computer games and gaming products. My family has a PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, Gameboys and a PC and all the kids, except for David, love to play games. This site has it all: Reviews, Previews, FAQs, Walkthroughs, Ratings, etc. And it's free!

Tom's Hardware Guide - Since I'm a computer geek at heart, this site is great for reading up on the latest gadgets for PCs. They also have a review section and lots of other good info about what's out there.

NewEgg - The best site to purchase computer parts, software, etc. online. Excellent prices, huge selection and good shipping. An excellent site.

Wizkids - My wife and I have been playing Wizkids games since 2002. We play every Sunday at Astro City Comics and Games near Chicago. Collectible miniatures games. Both of us play MechWarrior, Mage Knight, & Pirates.

Ebay - Both my wife and I buy and sell on Ebay. Check out sellers bluelark or magicalsprite to see if we have anything you might be interested in.

Let me know if you have some good sites to check out. Thanks.

Summer Changes

Well, summer break is almost here for all the school kids. To me and my wife it's not much of a break. No more school means that all 4 kids are home with Yvonne all day now. No 3 hour breaks for the next 3 months or so. For me, it means I don't have to get up to put the kids on the bus. That's actually a disadvantage since without that reason to get up, I tend to hit the snooze button more. That makes me late to work. No fun at all.

The kids will like it. They can stay up a little later. They won't have the alarm waking them up in the morning. Plus, now David is sleeping in the same room as they are. They seem to like that so far.

I'm guessing there isn't much change for people who don't have school-age kids. There wasn't much difference when I didn't have any kids that lived with me. That's all different now.

Star Wars Episode 3 Review (SPOILER ALERT)

As reported last week, Yvonne, Tony, & I went to see the new Star Wars movie on Friday. I bought the tickets on the internet on Wednesday so we had no lines to wait in for that. We got there 45 mins before the movie started so the line into the theater wasn't bad. It was much longer when the theater opened 25 mins before the movie. We had excellent seats 3 rows up from the floor (stadium seating) and right in the middle. The theater was crowded, but not bad. Gurnee Cinema had excellent sound and picture and we had no problems with any people or the theater at all.

Do not continue reading if you haven't seen the movie and don't want any movie info spoiled!

I liked the movie. The ship battle at the beginning was excellent, though I would have liked it to be longer. You see what the jedi are doing, but the clone ships were almost thrown in as an afterthought. The comic relief with R2 was damn funny. The audience was cracking up with that. The lightsaber battle with Dooku was excellent but I do have a hard time suspending my belief that an 80 year old actor can do the acrobatic, flipping moves that Dooku does. I would have liked it better if he fought more like Obi-Wan did in Episode 4. The part where Anakin lops off Dooku's head was great. He seemed very conflicted, esp with Palpatine egging him on. This first scene with General Grievous was excellent. He takes the "Bad Guy commander who doesn't give a shit about his subordinates" role to heart. It was excellent. I liked his getaway as well.

Now, the middle of the movie was both good and bad. It was a lot of story and not a lot of action. Now, that is good in some ways and bad in others. The story is an important part of the whole movie, but the acting could have been improved. Some people did a rather good job: Palpatine, Obi-Wan (getting much better), Jar Jar (only one line, that's excellent). I thought Anakin in the story parts could have used some acting help. He still seemed very wooden. i know he's supposed to be dark, brooding, moody. However, it just wasn't doing it for me. Once he did turn to the dark side, his acting greatly improved. I think he played Darth Vader excellently.

The 4 battles at the end were great. Obi-Wan vs. Grievous was fantastic. An excellent example of a good computer-generated character. I was worried about how good Grievous would be portrayed but he fit right in. Palpatine vs. Mace was excellent. Anakin jumping in to help finish off Mace was fitting. A good scene indeed. I had the same problem with Yoda vs. Palpatine that I did with Dooku. Too old to be jumping around like that. I liked the Emperor in Episode 6 where he just sat in his chair, cackled evil-ly, and shot lightning at Luke. Finally, the Anakin Vs. Obi-Wan fight was fantastic. Pretty much what I expected.

Overall, I liked the movie. It is an excellent tie in for the two series. While not perfect, it didn't suck either. In my list of favorite Star Wars movies, it goes right in the middle. Better than any other prequel, not as good as the first three.

Missing Midnight Madness

Tomorrow is the release of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Tonight at Gurnee Cinema (among other places) they are having a midnight showing of the movie. I've gone to the midnight showings of Eps 1 & Eps 2 and they were a blast. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss the midnight showing of Eps 3. Instead, my wife and my oldest son will go see it on Friday.

Now, Tony and I have already read the book so we pretty much know what's going to be in the movie, but my wife has not. She's been trying to stay away from spoilers so she can see it with much info beforehand. I've been reading reviews and such online and it seems like this one can be an excellent comeback from the letdowns that were eps 1 and 2. Now, I'm not saying that 1 & 2 were totally bad movies, but they just didn't have that Star Wars feeling that 4-6 had. Maybe that because of the better graphics. Maybe because of the different actors. Maybe because I'm older now. Who knows. I'm keeping my hopes up for this one to be an excellent ending to a legacy.

Wacky Web Stuff

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Ingredients: 1 part friendliness 1 part humour 1 part energy

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add wisdom to taste! Do not overindulge!

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Personality cocktail
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bluelark68 is a radioactive squirrel!!

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This last one is a bit spooky!

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Where are you on the highway of life?

From Go-Quiz.com

EA have something against the Patriots?

Go check out this article on Gamespot about McNabb getting the cover to the next version of Madden Football.

Now, as many people who know me knows, I play video games. One of my favorites is Madden NFL Football from EA Sports. I've been playing that game since the first version of it on Sega Genesis long ago. This article talks about Donovan McNabb getting the cover. That's cool, since Donovan is an excellent quarterback.

My only issue, is where are the Patriots? They have won 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls. But no New England player has gotten the cover yet? I don't get it. EA started putting players on the cover for the 2001 version. Here is a list of who they have put on there:

2006 - Donovan McNabb, QB, Eagles (Lost Super Bowl)
2005 - Ray Lewis, Ravens (not in Super Bowl)
2004 - Michael Vick, Falcons (not in Super Bowl)
2003 - Marshal Faulk, Rams (Lost Super Bowl)
2002 - Daunte Cullpepper, Vikings (Not in Super Bowl)
2001 - Eddie George, Titans (Lost Super Bowl)

Upon looking at this list, maybe they just have a problem with Super Bowl winners. Three players that lost the Super Bowl and three players that weren't in the Super Bowl. Huh?

Ipod Users Going Deaf? What?

Now, I'm not the Young brother that typically reads the Scotsman, but check out this article on Ipod and other MP3 players.

Now, I can certainly understand why you shouldn't listen to loud music for a long period of time. They say that any MP3 player can cause damage if set too loud, etc. This is all common-sense stuff here. What I don't understand is why they have to specifically point out the Ipod. They don't specify any other brand of MP3 player. Why not?

Two Weeks Until Star Wars

Well, in two weeks the saga will finally be finished. I've seen every Star Wars movie in the theaters multiple times and I'm sure I'll see this one as well. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll make it to the midnight show to see the first showing, since that isn't very easy to do with you have a bunch of kids living with you. Sixteen-month old son is not good with late night movies. That's ok. I'll probably end up taking my 14 year old son to see it instead. He's been counting down the days until it comes out.

I've been reading reviews of it done by Star Wars people and the response seems to be pretty good. Tony and I have finished reading the book and he's looking forward to discussing it. However, we haven't had a good oportunity to do that since other people are around that don't want to know the story yet. I'm sure we'll find time soon.

After I see the movie, I'll probably put up a review.

Go check out my wife's blog

Yvonne just changed the design of her blog. It's pretty sweet. Go check it out at http://magicalsprite.blogspot.com.