Robin Hobb’s Shaman’s Crossing – 4 stars.
I really liked this book; Hobb’s characterization and plotting are excellent, as always. It is a bit slow in pacing, but it’s sort of a setup book, much like Michelle West’s The Broken Crown, the beginning to one of the best fantasy series ever written, IMO. Now I’m on tenterhooks waiting for the next one.

In the last 12 hours. I’ve gotten 26 spam comments on this blog. I can only assume it’ll get worse from here, dammit. It’s a good thing I’ve got WordPress set up so that all new commenters need to be moderated before a comment of theirs shows up on my blog. Yeesh.

I was very sad to have missed this past Sunday’s Bears’ game because I was flying back from Chicago, but damn. 7 game streak, baby. And the last two wins were against strong defensive teams with great records. I figure if the defense keeps playing like it has been, it can only get better from here, especially since Rex Grossman (that delicate flower) is finally healthy again. If he gets some play time in the weeks to come (which IMO he has to earn since Orton has been performing solidly, but not spectacularly, thus far), I see good things coming. BEARS!

I just got back from my 10-year high school reunion, and it was very strange. You see, for the most part, I had no desire to see people I went to high school with after it was over. I lost touch with everyone in my class, more or less, and the people I did make friends with from my high school were from other classes whom I got to know later on. So that basically meant that I talked to about 3 or 4 people total tonight, which was about as much as I wanted. So it was, on the whole, pretty boring. At least I didn’t have to stab anyone in the neck with a pen. That’s something.

The Ice Harvest: 3 stars

This wasn’t a comedy, and it shouldn’t have been advertised as one. But it was quite good. I liked it, especially Oliver Platt’s performance.

the other day, I’ve been sort of rediscovering rock and roll in the past week or two, listening to stuff I haven’t listened to in years; like Blind Melon, which was really a wonderful band—specifically their self-titled debut (to which I’m listening at this very moment) and Soup, “one of the most underrated and overlooked great rock albums of the ’90s”.

Anyway, so this weekend, I put together a playlist of some of my favorite rock songs of all time, and I’ve been having a great time listening to it. You know, it’s funny. I get so ridiculously proud of myself when I put together a mix or a playlist that turns out well. Anyway, so here’s what’s on my playlist:

1. Come Together – The Beatles
2. All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix
3. Mouthful of Cavities – Blind Melon
4. Wonderwall – Oasis
5. My Hero – Foo Fighters
6. Going Under – Evanescence
7. In Bloom – Nirvana
8. Angels of the Silences – Counting Crows
9. Feel Like Makin’ Love – Bad Company
10. The Masterplan – Oasis
11. Hunger Strike – Temple of the Dog
12. Breaking the Habit – Linkin Park
13. Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down – Fall Out Boy
14. Down – Blink-182
15. Garden – Pearl Jam
16. Sleepyhouse – Blind Melon
17. Zombie – The Cranberries
18. I’ve Got a Feeling* – The Beatles
19. In My Place – Coldplay
20. Photograph – Nickelback
21. Man on a Mission – Van Halen
22. Black Dog – Led Zeppelin
23. Want You Bad – Offspring

* I hadn’t even heard of this song before watching Beck (the band did a cover in the show), let alone known that The Beatles had done it, but now it’s one of my favorite Beatles’ songs, as well as one of my all-time favorite rock songs.

Just a quick follow up: the final score was Bears 13, Panthers 3. Jake Delhomme got sacked 8 times; by the second half of the 4th quarter, it was like Carolina’s offensive line had just given up and replaced themselves with life-sized cardboard cutouts. As for the Bears, the whole team played so well; what a great game!

but it’s just the beginning of the second quarter, and it’s Bears 10, Panthers 0. This is the first real contender of a team the Bears have played this season, and this is a huge game. BEARS!!

deliver on a promise (actually, that’s said a lot, but never mind). The new layouts—and more importantly, some content—are up for my personal website and its books section!

George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. I’m rereading all the previously released books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series in anticipation of reading the newly released A Feast for Crows. It was so long between the third and fourth books in this series that I’ve completely forgotten what happened before. Not that it’s a hardship to read anything by Martin. He is one of my very favorite authors.