Raithe

The Nero Wolfe Mysteries. A series of adaptions of the novels into a made-for-tv-movie format. What's quirky about it is that it's a lot like a theatre troup. The same ensemble cast of 20 or so actors in all of the shows, but only about a handful play the same characters; the principle ones of Nero Wolfe - Maury Chalkin, Archie Goodwin - Timothy Hutton, Inspector Cramer - Bill Smitrovich, and the other few close agents and several other characters that are seen more then once. All the supporting characters that show up rotate the rest of the cast each "episode". The femme fatale in one episode might be the innocent support in another, the creepy misdirect actor returns as the solid citizen in another show. It's a little weird to get used to..but it works in a surprising manner. The likes of Kari Matchett, Debra Monk, Francie Swift, James Tolkan, Saul Rubinek, Nicki Guadagni and the late great George Plimpton (names you might not recognise, but faces you surely will). Detective/Mystery stories set in a vague timezone that could stretch from the 30's to 50's. It's got some wonderfully snarky dialogue. Nero Wolfe, a hugely overweight connesieur of fine foods, wines and orchids who happens to be a genius detective who refuses to leave his manhattan brownstone to solve crimes. Thus solving them by sending out his agents to gather the clues. Very much like the evil mastermind in reverse.. The character of Archie Goodwin as the principle "right-hand man" being the lead and having a very smooth first-person voice over as narrative.

Nasa Unveils the New Rocket Designs On keeping with the whole space topic.. Nasa's upcoming Space Launch System (SLS)....

Not being the most fun start to the day. Got woken a couple of hours early, hazed in and out of conscousness with that slow set in of a headache. Then of course my sister once again left for work without giving her dog any exercise, so the sod's full of energy and bored. She's older then me, but suprisingly acts like a spoiled 17 year old in a lot of ways. Mom's having one of her bad pain days. And the cat keeps sauntering in front of the puppy in a taunting manner which only adds to the fun.

I got into those books when I was about 12 or so. The first few of the series (well, that would be about 9 or so), up to the battle of Waterloo are really quite good. The details of the napoleonic wars are certainly there. Unfortunately, it then turned into quite a popular thing what with the tv series they did based on them, and he wrote another handful that just got a bit messy.

Awesome, already pre-ordered. Yup, same here, DEHR to Saints Row to TOR and then ME3... Apart from that, there's nothing on my "have to get" list. Just some I'm curious on and I might pick up if I see them when I'm feeling flush.

For the added elements of silly, Saints Row the Third even has a Tron-style level in it... Decker.Die

Caught my mother watching some documentary about "child preachers" in America... Is it just me, or is having a 4 year old up on a pulpit, stringing "preaching" words together while jumping up and down, praaaiiiising jeeeessuus and slapping a hand on a bible just a tad creepy? The kids father, "some people say its brainwashing, but it's not. people say brainwashing when it's about something they don't like. I call it simply training."

David Weber's "How Firm a Foundation" turned up around noon, and I ended up getting drawn into reading it for the rest of the day between distractions...

Had the morning start with the dogs being a tad overplayful and snappy with each other, then got a few things handled. Now trying to get my mind wrapped around the geometry of Tesseracts. For some reason I just can't seem to get the proper visual connection of what's going on with it. Maybe a fresh cup of tea will help stir my mind along.

It's always odd when you go through the day managing to keep a sort of upbeat optimism going. When a quiet moment hits in the evening and for no apparent reason, your mood just totally drops way down. Edit: I think I might just put on some Vangelis and bury myself in a book away from the world for the evening.. At least as much as reality allows.

Remember, EMP and Stun Gun is your friend, that and keeping an eye on the water to see where she's running when cloaked... Blow up the computer cores and chunks of the water will also get electrified... Edit: The first time I met that boss, I was chewing the walls in frustration before I got the knack. The second playthrough and she was toast in seconds.

Watching the new season of Mythbusters start up, enjoying some home-grown apples stewed, with sultanas, cinnamon, and dark sugar... Trying to gird myself to clean the kitty litter in a bit.

For those who might not have actually recognised the term it was a "traveller's site" Traveller's is the catch all term over here for the collected "irish (many generations ago) tinkers/gypsy families /thieving, littering gits" who roam around in a pseudo-nomadic lifestyle. Not to stereotype them, I've met some who are perfectly nice folks if you treat them as everybody else and earn their friendship. The trouble is, I've also met plenty of the other sort who set up camp on the common, trash the place, leave shattered beer bottles and such around to injure the locals dogs, steal the milk from your doorstep, act bolshy when you find them trying to get up the sidewalk of your house, and then complain about human rights abuses when the police come to move them on from where they're illegally camped. So, not exactly the "common / normal" of the UK population.

For the background music to encourage thought.. Yuki Kajiura's Aquarian Age - Sign for Evolution soundtrack..

Applying system shock to a Geek's brain...

Arg. Now I'm annoyed. A handful of rpg books were being sold on ebay, so I was all set to snipe in and get them. Set up, just had to flip through tabs and hit confirm bid for each book. And then my frikken system locked up in that last 15 seconds .

Taking the time to have a late lunch. One omelette with mature cheddar and caramalised onions. I have to say , my sister only lines mild cheddar and that stuff takes like so much plastic to me. Go mature with the cheese for actual taste..

Carrying Condoms can be Proof You're a Prostitute.. DC Police Confirm Condoms Used as Evidence of Prostitution Heh, for the weird - Police in DC apparently use the idea that any girl with more then two condoms on her is likely to be a prostitute...

The Missing Link They've added a section on the official site with a video trailer for the upcoming dlc and some general blurb.

Deus Ex : The Icarus Effect - by James Swallows.

Trying to push through the day, but knowing I seriously need to kick my ass into gear. The lack of sleep not helping, but now the curry from last night seems determined to have it's revenge.

For a nice quote from Neil Gaiman....

From what I recall, the book actually makes the three mooks much less two-dimensional and fleshes out that mercenary group.

Urf, had little sleep and what little I had was disturbed by a> the cat deciding to hammer on the door, then b> the alsatian deciding to jump on my bed. Then said puppy has been a complete sod with the devil in him this morning and only just appears to be settling. It makes me really appreciate the mornings I can actually take the time to drink a cup of tea within the first hour I get up rather then be constantly dealing with those mini-crisis moments.

Ordered out for an indian. So waiting for the lamb balti and peshwari to arrive. Having one of those annoying sudden hit of tired and mental daze but keeping myself going forward or at least staggering in a general direction...