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Shmee Muses On The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy

I just recently finished the fifth book in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy named Mostly Harmless, and I was once again stuck at how funny Douglas Adams’ series is.  It is the only book series that I know of that makes math and sciences jokes so often and so well.  He also had an amazing talent for describing the most mundane things in the most extraordinary way.

Mostly Harmless kind of ends the series on a somber note, and I was surprised that there was not one more chapter to say “Just kidding!”, but the book is still and excellent read.

There is a sixth book in the trilogy, but is not written by Adams, but another gentleman, and I am sure that he is fine writer, but I think I will just stick to these classic five books.

If you have ever had an inkling about trying this series, let me tell you it is an absolute must.  The books make me so happy when I read them that I may just have to read them all over again.

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Shmee Reads The Book of Deacon!

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The Book of Deacon was written in 2010 by Joseph R. Lallo.  It is a straight up fantasy book, but there is nothing wrong with that provided it is good, and thankfully it is.

The story is about a young girl Myranda who is tying to survive a war that has been going on for decades.  She is an outcast because she wants peace without victory.  She just wants the war to be over and the killing to stop, but she soon finds a powerful sword and a mysterious friend and her life changes forever.

The setup sounds kind of generic, and pretty much every fantasy being is in this book from dragons to mermaids, but luckily it is so well written and Myranda is such a great character that the story kept me interested.  This is the first book in a trilogy, so it is pretty much all just character development and world building, and the greater story arch has not yet really kicked in, but by the end the of this book we do get what Myranda believes to be her greater purpose.

If you are looking for a fun fantasy read then I recommend this one.  It is only three hundred pages long, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome and it has quite a bit of action, and the best part is that it is free for Amazon Kindle owners.  I got it as part of my indie bundle from awhile back, but it would still be worth reading if it cost more.

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The Return of the Man of Steel

Man of Steel

The Man of Steel is one of 2013’s tentpole blockbusters.  It was produced by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight), and directed by Zack Snyder (300).  DC/Warner Bros is pinning all its super hero movie hopes on this movie, and I think that they mostly succeeded.

The movie is about an alien from a dying world, who was sent to Earth to be saved from the end of his planet by his loving parents.  He is taken in and loved by an Earth couple even as he struggles to figure out who he is, and his place in this world.  I am of course talking about Superman (Henry Cavill).  His soul searching has to end when a threat from his home world comes to threaten Earth.

The problem with this plot is that since Superman’s origins are so well known that there are not a lot of surprises to be had in this story.  We know all about Superman even if we have never picked up a comic book in our life, but since they decided to do a total reboot, we got to watch it all over again.

All that being said, I still liked this movie.  Zack Snyder once again proves that he is a special effects genius, because this movie looks great, and the action it produces is top notch, and there is something fun about Superman learning to be Superman, and having him being guided by his two fathers Jor-El (Russell Crowe), and Jonathan Kent (Kevin Costner).  They shape his life and lead him to being the man in the blue tights.

I know that some people were upset about the body count at the end of the movie, and it is quite high, but I think that Sups is new to the game and he is doing the best he can.

This was not the greatest movie ever, and I think that since the Batman movies were so good that is going to hurt Man of Steel, but I think it is still a fine movie, and one that sets up the franchise quite well.  I just hope they can write a story we haven’t seen next time.  If you want another take on the movie my buddy Daniel gave it a watch was well.

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Shmee Loves Wireless Charging!

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So as my readers know, I recently got a new phone a Nokia Lumia 928, and one of its features is Qi wireless charging, one of the inductive power standards.  I didn’t review that feature at the time because wireless chargers are kind of expensive, and I can be kind of cheap, but as luck would have it a refurbished one went on sale, so I decided to give it a try.

So far all of you that don’t know wireless charging doesn’t mean that the charger just shoots electricity in to the air and charges things, but that all you have to do is set your wireless charging device on the charger and it charges it, so it is not that much different than a normal charger except you don’t have to plug your device in.  You just set it down.  At first I didn’t think such a minor change was all that big of a deal, but it turns out that it is much more convenient.

For instance, if your charger is on your night stand and it is dark in your room you don’t have to try and plug in your phone blind, or if someone texts you at night you do not have to fight with the cord to check the message, you just pick up the phone and look.  It is pretty great.  Plus you don’t have to worry about ruining the USB or device port on your phone by putting in the charger upside-down or sideways.

The charger itself is pretty standard.  It is a small black slab, though it comes in several other colors, and when it is charging something a little LED turns on.  It doesn’t just work with Nokia phones it will charge any Qi enabled devices, so some phones from Samsung and LG will work with it, or you can buy cases and battery kits for all sorts of phones and devices to make it work.

Considering if you pay full price for a Qi charger they can be kind of expensive, I would not recommend running out and getting one, but if they are on sale, or you find a good refurbished unit, or you get lucky both like me and both cases are true than they are fun to have, and they do add quite a bit of convince.  So like Ren and Stimpy used to say about Log, “It’s better than bad it’s good!”

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The Muppets Return!

the muppets

The Muppets came out in 2011 and it was their first big screen movie since 1999’s Muppets from Space.  It was written by Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller, and directed by James Bobin.  It was the first Muppet movie to win an Academy Award for Best Song for “Man or Muppet” written by Bret McKenzie.  It is an all around fantastic film.

The movie starts off with a boy named Walter, who looks like a Muppet, talking about growing up and how The Muppet Show made him feel like he fit in, so when he, his brother Gary (Jason Segal), and Gary’s long time girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) go LA, they go to visit Muppet studios, but to their dismay it is run down and being sold to an oil baron (Chris Cooper), and of course the only way to save the studio is get the gang back together and put on a show.

The plot is simple and predictable, but The Muppets bring such charm and pizzazz to everything they do you don’t really care.  Some people also like to point out that this movie can be more about Walter and Gary, both Jason Segal creations, than The Muppets proper, but since Jason Segal petitioned to Disney to save The Muppets from obscurity, I am good with a little self indulgence on his part.

I also like how this movie seems to understand that The Muppets are from a different time, so a lot of the jokes are based around the fact The Muppets may not be relevant anymore, but luckily this movie proved them wrong and was a success so we are getting another Muppet movie next year.

The song and dance numbers are great, so at least Segal and McKenzie know how to stage a good musical, and just like any good Muppet movie it is jam packed with surprise star cameos..

I love The Muppets and I loved this movie.  It may not be the most gripping or belly laugh funny movie ever, but I almost never stopped smiling while I was watching it, and in my book that is high praise.