Quick book review: Jennifer Government

I finished Jennifer Government this weekend. And even though the dreaded 10-point review scale is a tool of the unintelligent and creatively bereft, I give it a 7 out of 10. Overall, it held within its pages a wonderful, intricately-woven story that had a fantastic premise, but there were a few niggling plot details and character motivations (or lack thereof) that kept this story from hitting perfection.

Towards the end, author Max Barry needed to get some characters to perform certain activities in order to bring about a completion of certain key events in the storyline. It felt as though Barry decided against giving these characters a believable reason to perform these activities, and instead simply forced them to do it, against their written nature. It felt a bit jarring in those instances to have a character say something or act in a way that was completely contrary to the way they had been speaking and acting up to that point in the story. However, I have to admit, those few instances did not keep me from enjoying the overall story, nor did they pull my interest away from the fates of the main characters in the novel.

The premise itself is a masterpiece of future woe, and the idea of a world controlled by corporate entities truly filled me with more dread than the inevitability of a nuclear holocaust, catastrophic global apocalypse, or other-worldly carnage and destruction. It was immense and powerful, and was truly a story worth reading if only for the reassertion it offered me in the vile, self-serving nature of corporations.

Onward to Old Man’s War by John Scalzi!

Obama gaining more ground

obama.jpgLooks like my man Barack Obama is doing very well for himself in New Hampshire. Kos is predicting a win. With a resounding victory in Iowa, a follow-up in New Hampshire will put him on very solid footing for the rest of the Democratic nomination campaign cycle. And then, it’s a harsh fight against whoever wins the Republican nomination.

I’m feeling very confident at this point that in just under a year’s time, we’ll all collectively be getting used to saying “President Obama”. At least, I’m really hoping that’s the case.

Guilty pleasure of the weekend

american_gladiators_snes.jpgAmerican Gladiators. I’m willing to bet this show earns some pretty substantial viewership ratings tonight. Nostalgia sells, and this show is such sweet, merciless, wonderful nostalgia. Production values are high, cheese factor is through the roof, and the Hulkster is aging well. There is no way this show won’t survive a full season. No way at all.

2008 Resolution: same as last year

2008-suck-less.pngMy New Year’s resolution last year was to get something submitted for publishing before December 31st. I failed at that goal. This year, my resolution is the same: I shall submit something for publishing before December 31st, 2008. However, this year, I have a couple of good options.

First of all, thanks to NaNoWriMo I have a novel that is 80% complete (17% complete, if you figure in all the rewriting that needs to be done). I can work on that and attempt to get it published. However, since I’ve had the time to allow the novel to cool a bit since completing my word goal November 30th, my feelings on the novel itself have cooled, as well. I don’t cozy up to the general concept I crafted in Seventeen Lies as much as I did prior to starting the novel. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think I do well at long form fiction. Maybe I need to work my way up to novels. Or at least, that’s what I’m attempting to convince myself at this point.

I’m also looking at a couple of other potential projects on my plate. I think I work better with shorter length fiction, and I have a few examples nicely packed within my Human Vacation collection that I can spruce up and submit to a magazine this year. I could also work on my children’s book, Team Bottlerocket. I came up with some more excellent ideas for that project this past year, and I love the concept so much, I find myself thinking about it now and again.

Oh, and I’m also planning to participate in Ficlets a lot more in the coming months, as well.

So, in 2008, the sky is the limit. I’m giving myself a hard deadline of December 19th (the last true Friday of December, right before the holidays) to get something submitted somewhere.

And then, we’ll see what my New Year’s resolution is in 2009.

My first caucus

I don’t usually talk about politics around Nerdflood, but now seems like a good time to start. Last night, I participated in my first ever caucus, and I have to say, I am fairly pleased with how the process works.

There are some detractors who think that the Democratic party caucus process is “undemocratic”. I have to say, you need to experience it to understand what it truly means.

Since I live in a small town, I got to caucus in our school commons area with about 150 other people. And these weren’t just any random people off the street — these were my friends and neighbors. People I see at the grocery store, people I see at church. My son’s teachers and principals, the crazy lady at the post office. They were all there, together, and I got to just talk politics with everyone for an hour. I heard passionate viewpoints about candidates from people I had seen around town and never bothered to talk to. I attempted to coax our church’s sound technician into betraying Hillary to join our Obama camp. He did the same. There was an insanely high number of voting-age high schoolers attending. An Edwards supporter that knew my dad came over and introduced himself and talked about unions (my dad is a Republican scab that works for the county roads department). It was amazing to hear everyone’s opinion and get to understand so many differing viewpoints.

Our caucus only lasted a little over an hour, and we ended up being able to send two delegates for Obama. All in all, I feel it was an hour well spent, and I would do it again. If only for the opportunity to crawl out of my shell with my fellow citizens and talk about politics for a little while. The process reminded me of what Democrats represent: standing together with your friends and neighbors and socially debating issues of importance. Who wants to walk into a room and do nothing more than check a box on a piece of paper? Where’s the interaction? The discussion? The debate? The social relevance? I consider the ideal Democratic viewpoint to be essentially socialism without the crushing economic woes. And I wasn’t disappointed in the least by my experience last night.

More tubes, please

Caleb got tubes inserted into his ears this morning for the third time in his short life. Here he is just before leaving me to have some strange doctor shove pieces of plastic into his eardrums. The kid’s a trooper, I have to give him credit. He came out of the surgery fantastically, with only the merest hint of wooziness. He’s at home now, sleeping it all off, hopefully not feeling too much residual pain.

He looks good in blue.

Merry (day after) Christmas!

I’m back at work today after a truly excellent four-day weekend filled with Christmas-y goodness. I received Zack & Wiki and Super Mario Galaxy (amongst other fine consumable materials), so my gaming days are for the most part booked for a while. I’m still tossing around the idea of picking up Battalion Wars 2 since I didn’t get it as a gift, but I’m not so sure it will be worth the investment. And by ‘investment’, I don’t mean money, but rather time. I’ll also be able to pick up some new books on the way home from work today, and my sparse reading stack will be thankful for the additions, I’m sure.

I’m going to start the blogging again in full stride after the holidays are over (ie, after the new year). I’m sure you have missed my daily dose of wordage, as my traffic stats presume to inform me. Enjoy the snow falling in the meantime! I’m afraid it disappears after January 2nd. I wish I could say the same for the real stuff.

A brief interruption: Child’s Play

I’m pushing aside the rest from words for a bit to remind everyone (or inform those that are completely unaware) of the Child’s Play Charity that is currently underway. I’m especially excited for this year because a new location has been added: the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. That link takes you directly to their Amazon.com wish list, and after a quick perusal, it appears as though the hospital is still severely lacking in many of the things they have requested. Here’s your chance! Take a moment to check over the list, and then pick something up for a needy kid that might have to spend Christmas morning connected to a machine in a sterile hospital room. You will definitely be glad you did it.