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The Jevlir Caravansary

Month: February 2007

  • The Book of Daniel

    . . . but not the one in the Bible.

    When this show first came out there were calls to boycott it, and I e-mailed my local NBC affiliate to support their decision to go ahead and air the show. I saw the first episode, and truly was not impressed with the show. There was no reason to boycott it, but I saw little reason to believe I’d enjoy it either.

    This week my wife and I got the DVD via Netflix, and watched the rest of the show. Through the first DVD my impression remained the same, but with the second DVD of the set the program actually improved. The final two episodes, which deal with Daniel’s son Peter getting beaten up because he is gay, and also look back to the death of son Jimmy from leukemia are really good. Having experienced the death of a child from cancer, I have a hard time watching such episodes, but the script had the right questions and many fo the right answers, or more precisely lack of answers, with which parents and other family members deal in such situations.

    I think the failing of the show was still the introduction of two many sources of conflict at once, overloading the viewer, but as the show focused more and more on a smaller set of problems it got much better. I suspect that by the time a new show reaches its sixth episodes it has already lost most of its viewers.

    In any case, the show was cancelled with no mourning from me at the time, but now that I’ve seen the entire series, my impression is much more favorable. I recommend taking a look at these DVDs.

  • Polecat Hollow Active Again

    After a long hiatus, Tom Sims is back posting on Polecat Hollow. You need to check in on this entry to find out about three styles of skunk tail hats.

  • Book: Off Armageddon Reef

    It no doubt surprises nobody that I am quick to read a new book by David Weber, who is one of my favorite authors of all time. In this case, our local library was quite helpful, because they had Off Armageddon Reef in almost immediately.

    This book is set in a completely new universe and promises to be fascinating. The first volume always requires a great deal of content just to allow the readers to get their bearings, but Weber manages to give us all that while fascinating with action and with politics. I know that some complain about the politics of the Honor Harrington series, and some about the detailed battle scenes, but I find both fascinating and excellent. Weber thinks through his battles and gives you specific strategies and tactics and the reasons that they work. At the same time, he has fasicnating characters who are part of fascinating cultures carrying out those tactics.

    One of the great features of this new series is the discussion of specific new elements of technology and how they impact strategy and tactics, which in turn impacts politics. I will be eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, while I continue to eagerly await the next Honor Harrington novel.

  • Upgrading to WordPress 2.1

    Well, I’m biting the bullet and trying to upgrade the numerous WordPress blogs I host to version 2.1, this one first. I’ll update this post when the deed is done. Then I’ll move to blogs on which I have more plug-ins and see how they work.

  • Book: Born in Death

    J. D. Robb continues the saga of Eve Dallas and Roark with this delightful action story with some mystery. I found myself guessing ahead correctly a bit too often, but the story moves well in any case.

    Eve finds herself handling two complex cases simultaneously. With the department insinuating that she might not be trustworthy because she’s dealing with substantial amounts of financial data that might get to Roark, who might use it for his own benefit, she and Roark decide to tackle the issue head on and challenge the department, the criminals, and some very powerful people.

    All of this is entwined with the preparations for Mavis to give birth with Roark and Eve serving as coaches. At some times, one wonders which will be more challenging, the criminal element or the baby element. Eve survives the attacks of criminals, but a baby shower seems more challenging.

    I confess that J. D. Robb grows on me as time goes on. She’s one of the rare contemporary authors that I truly enjoy.