Ubalblog

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Editing the Podcast ]
I have not been reading as much lately, as I have been collapsing into bed at night and working on my report cards. But I have managed to burn through the Millenium trilogy recently. Now I have to find the movies.

Things are not going very well for Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of the author Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series. She is recovering from her horrific injuries in hospital. Her father, and one of the men who nearly killed her, is down the hall. Her other assailant, her brother is on the loose. As soon as she gets better, she will be shipped to jail and put on trial for a series of crimes. The conspiracy against her has deepened, as a secret part of SAPO moves to neutralize her and the threat she poses to their secrets.

Luckily for Salander, a small, but dedicated group of followers are working not only to free Salander, but also to have her declared a competent adult. Headed by Mikael Bloomkvist, the group uses every means necessary, legal and not, to achieve its goals. And as the Sections plot against Salander deepens, and even spreads to Bloomkvist, her supporters widen out their group to include police and SAPO itself.

The last of Larsson’s exciting Millenium trilogy comes to a heart racing, exciting ending. Like with any mystery thriller, there is a bit of deus ex machina and suspension of disbelief required, but that doesn’t spoil the fun of this book.

I really think Lisbeth Salander is going to go down as one of the most interesting female protagonists. Ever. She is a kick but, intelligent woman who takes no prisoners. She’s on my zombie fighting team as of right now.

[  Mood: Scared ]
[  Currently: Listening to the neighbourhood kids playing street hockey ]
We have all heard of the Nigerian Scam. You know, the one where a Nigerian Prince or a deposed government member of some nation you have barely heard of or someone related to one of them, is trying to get money out of the country. Or maybe they are trying to rightfully reclaim their fortune. The why doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they want you to help them. Your reward would be a cut of the millions this person was trying to shuttle out of Africa. All you needed to do was give him your bank account information.

And clearly it works, because they keep coming up with new variations every few months. And I have gotten all of them. But even I have to admit that the one below is a unique and clever.

Now you got to admit this is clever. They are clearly thinking about a new spin on the old scam, and perhaps a way to hit old victims again.

But again, it has all the earmarks of a scam.

1. It is not specifically addressed to me.

2. It uses the names of International organizations or business to gain credibility. (In this case the UN)

3. It uses ridiculous amounts of money as bait.

Caveat emailer. But these things wouldn’t work if their weren’t people out there who thought they could make a quick buck at the expense of "the man". As Mickey always said, "You can’t cheat an honest man."

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
Thanks to the Internet, I learned today

1. That I share the same birthday as Bea Arthur, Stephen Colbert, Mary Walsh and my school librarian.

2. That the guy who played Almanzo on Little House on the Prairie also was Hank Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3. That Almanzo, who used to look like this:

(Hence why I was going to marry him when I was 11 and watching reruns.)

Now looks like this:

4. Dean Butler, the actor who played Almanzo, now does cabaret. That is billed as perfect for Mother’s Day.

5. I now have no urge to marry Almanzo Wilder, and may never be able to look at the Little House Almanzo pre-pubescent dewey eyes love again.

6. Then again, maybe if I only look at this:

[  Mood: Sleepy ]
[  Currently: Watching My husband work out with our personal trainer ]

So what do you do when your sexual status is so wrapped up in your identity that you make money off it? And what do you do when those whom you think agree with you, don’t? Steven T. Seagle explores this in the first collected volume of his comic, American Virgin.

Adam Chamberlain is the twenty-one year-old who is the spokesperson for a US virginity movement. A born-again Christian, he tours the US asking teens to take the abstinence pledge. Good looking and well spoken, he has become a celebrity.

But then his fiancee Cassandra, the woman he has been saving himself for, is killed on her Peace Corps mission in Mozambique. In the midst of a crisis of faith, Adam heads to Africa with his step-sister, and family black-sheep, Cyndie. There he discovers that that Cassandra may not of been the young woman he thought she was and their relationship may have been on the rocks.

And interesting look at how a shock can shake a belief system down to the corp and cause someone to look at everything they hold dear.

Regular readers and podcast listeners will know that I am not huge fan of the Blue Boy Scout. So while I was intrigued by the premise of this book, I was also bringing a healthy dose of "yuck" to my reading. Boy, was I wrong.

Steven T. Seagle has done an amazing thing. He has written a graphic novel about Superman, without having Superman as the main character. Instead this work is a deeply personal one about the main character, Steven (most likely our author) has been offered one of the most coveted gigs in comics; writing Superman. The catch is, he doesn’t want it. In Steven’s mind, Superman is a facist, a bully and completely uninteresting. Tangled up in this is the revelation that Steven’s father has gone missing and a family secret: Steven may or may not carry the Huntington gene, the disease that killed his grandmother.

This is a brilliant book, exploring the fear of the future, while at the same time deconstructing the icon that is Superman. This is a book that should be given to all those people out there that think that comics are not serious literature.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]

Louie Hong is a young man looking to find his fortune by heading into the West. The American West that remains after a biological attack of some kind has wiped out the population. Cities have fallen in to disrepair and humans are scattered into small settlements that hug the still being built railway. Louie also has one more thing going against him. He is a "control-natural", someone who is not allowed by law to have a cyborg enhancement. The rest of the population have bought whatever enhancements they can afford and that can improve their lives. This means they have arms that have built in whips or eyes that can see in the infrared spectrum. And they tend to shun people like Louie.

In this world, Louie gets caught up with a gang of bank-robbing, cattle rustling outlaws and is on the run from the law. He also ends up on the run from the outlaws when they think he has stolen the loot. Can Louie survive long enough to make his fortune?

I stumbled across this book as I was preparing for the Race in Fantasy Fiction podcast, but really this is not a book about race in a post-apocalyptic America (which would be an awesome story BTW). Rather this is a book about the value of humanity and an exploration of what would happen if cybernetic enhancements were common place.

Unfortunately, it tends to get cited as a book about race because the author is of Asian descent.

[  Mood: Sick ]
[  Currently: Listening to CBC Radio ]
A while back, the Roundtable looked at the topic of Race in Fantasy Fiction. During the discussion, author Ika Koek mentioned this book as one we all should read if we are interested in exploring the topic.

So off to the library went I.

This book definitely falls into the big, fat fantasy fiction category. At 672 pages, even its paperback edition could cause injury if dropped from a height. It is also a book that would be perfect for that long bus ride to the con or the forced family beach vacation.

To Ride Hell’s Chasm tells the story of Mykkael is an outsider in the kingdom of Sessalie. He won his position of Captain of the Garrison through a stunning victory in a tourney, but that doesn’t mean he is trusted by the general populace. His skin colour points him out as different to everyone around him. His refusal to play politics only serves to grind his rise above his station into the faces of the minor nobility. Yet, he is supremely competent in his job and has earned the respect of his superior and the king.

Then Princess Anja disappears right before her betrothal banquet. Mykkael, along with the rest of the city guard, is charged with her recovery. But Mykkael sees sorcery at work, and given that he is an outsider, he is the most likely suspect. Now he must fulfill his pledge to the king and find the princess while keeping one step ahead of those who would lock him up for being the guilty party. And let’s not forget those who would stop him before he uncovers their plans.

Author Janny Wurts has written an exploration of race set in a traditional high fantasy world. She explores what it means to be different in a suspicious society. This book could have easily been about a Muslim special forces member post 9-11 or a Japanese cop in WWII San Francisco. And this is the strength of the book. Through Mikkael’s eyes we see the slights and insults, the constant questioning of his abilities. And it makes the reader uncomfortable.

But it is also Mikkael that is the weakness of the story. He is the archetypical action hero, able to continue after most people would have succumbed to injury and exhaustion. He is the only one that has the protective marks that, paired with his first hand experience of fighting sorcerers that can ward off the impeding black magic empire. And that gets a little tired after awhile, especially in a book of this length.

In some ways, this book is two books. The first half is the long, slow burn as Mikkael tries to figure out what happened to Anja as suspicion builds against him. The second half of the book has much more of a breakneck speed, as Mikkael is forced to flee the city, all while still trying to find Anja. This half of the book flies by as Wurts ramps up the action.

Not an easy book to read, but worth the time.

[  Mood: Fed Up WIth Life ]
My son was sick this week and then he had the good grace to pass it on to me. Below stems from my general frustration with a certain type of supply teacher that seems to pop up from time to time. It does not represent one specific teacher. I know there are some damn good supplies out there. I wish the new system my employer has implemented let me book you for me.

Dear Supply Teachers of the World:

First off, thank you for coming in. Supply teaching is a stupid, sucky job. Most teachers have had to do it and we weren’t overly fond of it either. So I empathize.

That being said, if I leave you a lesson plan, it is because I want you to follow it. Not because I was bored or love writing lesson plans. Although I can see how you might think that, given that I have a child throwing up at home or I am running a 100 plus fever.

You might have thought that you were being thoughtful to use your Cat in the Hat lesson instead of the one that took me 1.5 hours to type up and prep for you. I’m sure it is brilliant and earned an A for you in Teacher’s College. But that’s not what my class is working on right now. But that’s OK, I will just wrap up your lesson and reteach the lesson you were supposed to teach when I get back. And I will also teach the follow-up lesson that I was supposed to teach when I get back.

And about my small math group you worked with. I’m sure they found it helpful that you took the time to find a worksheet on adding and subtracting four digit numbers. Especially since you were supposed to be working with them on the decomposing and recomposing single digit numbers activity I left for you. Never mind that the activity was to help them understand how subtraction and addition undo each other. I bet the child working at the grade 1 level who really doesn’t understand numbers above 9 found it particularly helpful. I also sure they covered this in Teacher’s College when you, like me, took your Special Education Part 2 or when you, like me, got to participate in a research group at the university because you were considered a leader in math education in the board.

Note: You may have notices the use of the pronoun "my" a lot in the last few paragraphs. That’s because they are my classes, not yours. I know them quite well as I have been teaching them since the beginning of the year. Some of the children have been lucky enough to work with me for several years. And I have programmed for them, based on their strengths and needs, as well as the provincial curriculum. Would you believe I even have an annual plan for when I am going to teach what? And Unit plans and weekly plans? Shocking, but true.

And yes, I know you want a class of your own. Who knows? You quite possibly even deserve one. But you know what? So did I when I was a supply teacher, but I did what the teacher I was replacing left me, because I was not so arrogant to believe that I knew better than a veteran teacher.

But don’t worry, I’m sure while I’m cleaning up the messes you left, you will be off teaching a Grade 6 class all about the American Revolution when they are supposed to be learning about the European Exploration of North American. But hey, no worries, it’s happening on the same continent isn’t it?

[  Mood: Fed Up WIth Life ]
[ Currently: Home Sick ]
I am quickly posting this here because these instructions are damn hard to find. Not to mention carry out. Warning: This does not export your reviews. You have to do that manually.

Thanks to Bruce Wan who figured this all out.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Editing the Podcast ]
We recently did a Superman vs. Batman podcast that I am editing right now. This title was mentioned as the best Superman comic every written. So I decided to pick it up.

Grant Morrison has done something interesting. He has made me care about Superman. Normally I could give two hoots about the Big Blue. I have called him, on more than one occasion, a boy scout. Yet in this collection of Grant Morrison’s I found myself empathizing with the Man from Krypton. Which means Grant Morrison is a damn good writer. Damn him.