I finished reading the eleventh, and final, book in the Sword of Truth series last night.
One of the complaints that my friends and I have levelled at the series is the amount of repetition that you were subjected to in previous books. How many times does a reader need to be reminded that Richard is a Woodland guide from Heartland, that Kahlan is the Mother Confessor, that Nicci used to be the Slave Queen / Death's Mistress? It wouldn't be so bad, and perhaps even understandable, if we were reminded once per book. It would give newcomers to the series the opportunity to know who was who without reading the earlier books; although why anybody would want to jump into a series of books mid-way through. The problem has always been the fact that Goodkind seems to think his readers have a ten minute attention span and need constant reminding of who is who.
With all that being said, Confessor doesn't suffer from the continued repetition and the story moves along at a very nice pace. I started reading the book on Wednesday evening with 10 chapters. I read a further 10 on Thursday evening. I read a further 5 on Friday afternoon and intended to read another 10-15 on Friday night. However, I got thoroughly engrossed and ended up reading the final 40 or so chapters all in one go. As one of my friends has since pointed out the ending has a wee bit of a surprise in store; enough of a surprise that a lot of reviews that I have since read have lambasted Mr Goodkind for the ending. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the surprise twist was in some ways rather appropriate.
I'm a bit disappointed that the story of Richard, Kahlan and their friends has now ended and will be looking for another series to sink my teeth into. In the meantime, I will enjoy The Legend Of The Seeker TV series and will read a couple of standalone books that I have not previously got around to reading.
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I've just watched the final part of Dead Set on Channel 4. I previously watched episodes 1 and 2 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dead Set was originally a five part zombie horror thriller broadcast on E4 in October 2008. Channel 4 showed it in three parts this week. At the simplest level it's pretty much seems to be a kind of cross between Big Brother and 28 Days/Weeks Later.
I've never been a big fan of Big Brother, so never really set aside the time to watch it. However, I've been going to bed earlier than usual this week and caught the first two parts whilst in bed. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to and also enjoyed tonight's final part. I've enjoyed it enough to add it to my Amazon list and will purchase it at some point in the future.
Joe Francis, of Girls Gone Wild, and Larry Flynt, of Hustler, are seeking a $5 billion bailout from the U.S. Congress, claiming the adult entertainment industry has taken a huge shot to the face because of the downturn -- citing the fact that XXX DVD sales are down 22% from a year ago.
"With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt says. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."
Francis added "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration."
I detect tongues very firmly in cheeks. I must admit that the amount of vitriol that the moral minority has posted on various sites and forums has amused me.
Ron Asheton, one of the founding members of Iggy Pop's band, The Stooges, was found dead by police at his Ann Arbor, Michigan home on Tuesday. He was 60 and is survived by his sister Kathy and his brother Scott, who is The Stooges' drummer.
He was The Stoooges' guitarist and played alongside his brother Scott on drums and the late Dave Alexander on bass. The band are on the shortlist to enter the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this April and Asheton was ranked the 29th greatest guitarist of all-time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.
Here for your viewing pleasure is the announcement of the newest addition to Apple's laptop range.
I've almost just crippled myself by falling out of the bath. I was stood up in the bath removing the last of the soap suds off my legs prior to starting to dry myself when I slipped and ended up falling sideways out of the bath. Luckily, I managed to brace myself on the sink before falling all the way to the deck but ended up stumbling halfway across the bathroom before regaining my balance. I've skinned the bottom knuckle of my left thumb and have badly grazed the rear of my right knee. But, aside form the embarassment factor, it could've been much, much worse.
Several men are in the locker room of a golf club.
A cell phone on a bench rings and a man engages the hands free speaker-function and begins to talk.
Everyone else in the room stops to listen.
MAN: "Hello."
WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
MAN: "Yes."
WOMAN: "I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's only $1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?"
MAN: "Sure, go ahead if you like it that much."
WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2005 models. I saw one I really liked."
MAN: "How much?"
WOMAN: "$90,000."
MAN: "OK, but for that price, I want it with all the options."
WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing .....the house I wanted last year is back on the market. They're asking $950,000."
MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer of $900,000. They will probably take it. If not, we can go the extra 50 thousand. It is really a pretty good price."
WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later! I love you so much!!"
MAN: "Bye! I love you, too."
The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are staring at him in astonishment, mouths agape.....
Then he smiles and asks: "Anyone know who this phone belongs to?"
26-year-old Matt Smith has been named as the next Doctor. He will take over from the departing David Tennant, who will begin filming the first of his final 4 specials later this month. Filming for the next full season; the fifth, of Doctor Who is expected to commence in the summer.
Smith, who becomes the youngest actor ever to portray the Doctor, got his big break in the 2006 adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, it's follow-up, The Shadow in the North, and in The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also played a leading role in BBC Two's political drama Party Animals.
He has also appeared on stage in the West End opposite Christian Slater in Swimming With Sharks. He has also appeared on stage in Fresh Kills, On the Shore of the Wide World and portrayed Lockwood in Alan Bennett's The History Boys.
I fell asleep at about 11pm last night whilst reading in front of the tv in my 'media room'. I woke up at about 3am and after a quick check of emails and rss feeds decided to call it a night and went to bed. Or, at least, tried to. Even though I climbed into bed at about 3:30am it wasn't until around 6:30am that I finally managed to fall asleep. I woke up again at about 10:30am and am now feeling tired again.
Nope, I'm not about to give away a huge scoop. I'm just giving people a heads up that the announcement is less than 24 hours away. It will be made on a specoal edition of Doctor Who Confidential that will air on BBC One tomorrow at 5:35pm GMT. Paterson Joseph, David Morrissey, Sean Pertwee, James Nesbitt, Russell Tovey and James McAvoy have all been mentioned as possibles at one time or another. Paterson Joseph and James Nesbitt have both been previously named as bookies favourites Russell Tovey has been mooted as being the first choice of departing Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies. I'm not sure who is going to be named but Sean Pertwee, son of thrid doctor Jon Pertwee, would be an interesting choice.
January 2008 saw the death of Tasha, my canine companion for just over 17 years. Her kidneys and liver started to fail and rather than letting her suffer the vet put her to sleep. Almost a year later and I still feel sad. January also saw some minor tweaking to the blog and a late Christmas Party for the SASRA FRP & Wargames Club. We're doing the same again this year. There's an LRP booked at the venue for the Friday night and we will hold our party on the Saturday night. If the LRP doesn't go ahead we will also be having a LAN party. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure in January and prescribed medication for it. I also had the toenails removed from both big toes and then proceeded to stub them about 15-20 times before they were fully healed. The world of entertainment saw the death of Heath Ledger and the release of the first of a series of proposed Dragonlance animated films. Gaming saw Microsoft giving away the XBox Live Arcade game Undertow away for free in recompense for the problems users had suffered over the festive period in 2007.
February 2008 saw the 50th anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster when 23 of the 44 people on board British European Airways Flight 609 died during its third attempt to takeoff from a slush-covered runway at the Munich-Riem airport in Munich, Germany. I won an iPod Nano, coutesy of Dom Ramsey at MoneyBlogger. I purchased, and completed, Crackdown for the XBox 360. I attended, and enjoyed, a Lord Of The Rings marathon. My network printer died but I managed to find a replacement for what could best be described as next-to-nothing.
March started off with the annual SASRA FRP & Wargames Club 24 hour event; which, incidentally, we're not running this year. The 2008 event was a lot of fun. However, it was very tiring. March also saw the first of a whole raft of PC problems that needed sorted for various members of my family and friends. I've pretty much lost count of the number of times I've ended up reinstalling PCs over the years. One of my favourite musicians of the 1990s; Jeff Healey, passed away in March. As did D&D pioneer Ernest Gary Gygax and sci-fi author Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE. John Hewer, who portrayed Captain Birdseye, also passed away. March saw me install Ubuntu, for testing purposes, onto my laptop. Sky followed up their successful adaptation of Hogfather with another success; The Colour Of Magic. Going Postal is apparently next in line. March also saw the release of The Byron Review.
April saw the fifth anniversary of this blog and the end of the first part my Ratkin story. However, the month started off with myself in a foul mood, with a huge, pounding headache. Luckily, an early night and some peace and quiet soon sorted that out. April saw the rlease of Ikaruga onto XBox Live Arcade. However, I still need to get round to purchasing it. April also finally saw the release of the Optimus Maximus keyboard. The Hardy Heron release of Ubuntu found it's way into the wild in April and Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for Windows XP.
May saw the dressings come off my toes for the last time. The football season came to an end with Manchester United being crowned the champions of both England and Europe. Petra joined the family in May; she's an American Bulldog. Dad got some bad news in May; he would need to have his other leg amputated.
June started off with me putting together a new PC for Colin. I also spent a fair portion of the month playing GTA IV. The Boston Celtics became NBA champions for the first time in 22 years and Spain won UEFA 2008. June also saw the 500th entry on this blog.
July saw an official announcement from Blizzard that Diablo III was in development. I sat down to start watching Dexter in July and am now hooked. It's such a brilliantly written series, full of such dark humour. July also saw me start dietting; a process I would continue to revisit throughout the rest of the year. I also managed to catch up with Chrissy in July; and have spent a fair portion of the year since then with her, Geoff and the kids. My kid sister, Catherine, spent some time in hospital. I also spent some time in July helping Mark redevelop his Manchester United website. A group of freinds and I went to see The Dark Knight in July. Heath Ledger should get a posthumous Oscar for his performance as The Joker. We also saw You Don't Mess With The Zohan; a brilliant comedy starring Adam Sandler.
August started off with me chopping off my long hair. Other than the Olympics the only other thing of note for August was visiting Alastair and his family in Folkestone. However, I discovered a week or so later that he and his wife of 13 years were splitting up.
September saw Dad having his other leg amputated. Whilst he was still in hospital I made some Flapjack; enjoyed by everybody who tasted it. I sold my HP Compaq laptop to my sister-in-law and purchased myself a new Dell Studio 1535. However, I am planning to sell that sometime in the next month or so and replace it with a Dell Studio 1735.
October saw me having to reinstall my PC; the first time in almost a year. The previous time was due to an upgrade. I'm planning on upgrading again in about a month or so and will need to reinstall again. October ended with a Halloween jaunt to Rheged and Keswick with Chrissy and her kids.
November started with the sound disappearing from my PC. Adding a soundcard solved the problem. Chrissy's five-year-old daughter won a poetry recital. I renewed my web hosting agrrement with Compila. I spent some time babysitting Chrissy's kids whilst she was in London. I turned 39. Barack Obama was elected as the next president of the USA.
December started with me feeling ill and forgetting my wallet when filling up the car. Chrissy's daughter's Christmas play was a lot of fun. Manchester United were crowned World Club Champions. The run up to Christmas saw me back and forth to the shops but Christmas itself was a lot of fun. I've done two lots of baking in the last couple of weeks and my Mince Pies, Jam Tarts and Scones have gone done a real treat. I caught up with a couple of old friends and finally, I rounded out 2008 by having a few glasses of Jack Daniels whilst nattering to a couple of friends.
It seems that just about everybody has done their own version of Auld Lang Syne over the years. Here, is probably, the best, rocky version I have ever heard. There's a live version and a studio version; both by Die Toten Hosen. I have also included a version by the BBC Symphony Orchestra along with a Trance and a Techno version.
Other than taking Dad to see the Nurse this morning; to get some stitches removed from his thumb, I've spent vitually all of today baking. I've made 5 trays of Mince Pies, 6 trays of Jam Tarts; both Strawberry and Lemon Curd flavours, and 7 trays of Scones. The last lot of baking that I did went down a treat.
I am now going to have a nice relaxing couple of hours sat in front of the TV.
When Big Ben chimes midnight tonight to mark the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 it will herald the world-famous clock's 150th anniversary. However, there will have been a fair bit of sweating going on in the background. The engineers that look after the famous clock and bell are having to introduce an extra second just before midnight due to the introduction of a leap second by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS).
There have been 23 leap seconds added since they were first introduced in 1972. Peter Whibberley of the National Physical Laboratory - known to his colleagues as "the Time Lord", represents the UK on the IERS. He explains "Ultimately, over many hundreds of years if leap seconds were scrapped, the time of night and day would drift away from the time shown by our clocks," adding "So if nothing was done to bring them back into line, night would be happening at midday as shown by the clocks."
So, feel free to look forward to your extra second of either revellry or sleep tonight.
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