Book Review - From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain

I am so enamored with the new superhero genre.

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain, by Minister Faust, is written from the point of view of Dr. Eva Brain-Silverman, therapist to hyper-humanoids. Dr. Brain has written a self-help book just for superheros and the cape-induced issues that they suffer.

The book focuses on the therapy sessions for the Fantastic Order of Justice--the dysfunctional super-team. Through the various therapy sessions and crises, we learn what it is like to be a hyper-hominid in today's world and what psychological turmoil being a superhero raises.

Although Minister Faust does write with an agenda, it is well-woven through the entire book and really only comes to light in the finale. He has valid points, but don't let that scare you. It is a sold and well-written.

The real meat of the book is the back story and cultural references that he makes. From the absolutely astounding names for the superheroes to the mind boggling powers they posses. There were so many that it is impossible to single out my favorites. But Mr. Faust did a credible job of weaving the backstories together.

It is deceptively easy to trace the characters to the inspired origins. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Spiderman all exist as the main characters, but with different names and psychological problems.

I highly recommend this book. There is some rough language in it, but if you grew up watching the Justice League or reading comics, you will love this title.

I just finished Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card. I am a big OSC fan, but I didn't really enjoy his previous work, Empire, compared to his other titles. I am a huge fan of the Alvin Maker Series and the Ender/Bean works. So, I did approach this title with trepidation.

I liked this book and I do recommend it. OSC is pretty forward that this book is written with a screen writer (Aaron Johnston). It would make a great film. I liken the book to classic Michael Crichton--without the need of a Ph.D--and Lincoln Child. OSC writes a great page turner and adds science and medical information that makes sense to the layperson. There isn't much I can tell you that won't ruin some part of the book, though. It does deal with gene manipulation and a megalomaniac that runs as the book's protagonist. With some unexpected twists and fun to read action scenes., it will fill a weekend easily.

It is a great read.

Where am I?

I have been MIA for a few days. I have been working on two projects with my brother about Walt Disney World.

You can find us here:
The Imaginerding: Home of the Disney Geeks
The Minute-by-Minute Guide to Walt Disney World

It has been a lot of fun creating these two blogs--mainly to share a passion about creating the perfect Walt Disney World vacation.

Halo 3 Multi-Player Beta

Whew...

We have been waiting a long time for this one.

We purchased a copy of Crackdown with the beta invite on it.

We were finally able to get online last night.

WOW!

It was so much fun. Played just like Halo 2 but much prettier. We got to see the bubble shield in action, although briefly.

Connery and I played five social games (no rankings, just rumble training) and I played three games by myself. The matchmaking was pretty smooth--it probably took about 2 minutes to set up each match. I did have to mute every player in my party. It seems like I was only playing against 14 year olds that wanted to curse and scream into the headset.

Of the three maps, we definitely liked Highground over the other two. Snowbound was alright--it was small enough for 4-6 players. Valhalla needed way more than 6 people on the map--it really reminded me of a much greener and 'lusher' version of Blood Gulch (Halo) and Coagulation (Halo 2). Those maps were wonderful when you had more than eight people in a group.

Once I get my stats displayed on Bungie, I will share them.

LD5X6296
Originally uploaded by illustrator_ian.

Here I am at the Technology Summit at the Public Library of Charlotte/Mecklenburg County

Yes, I am totally rockin' "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

I don't know who my bandmate is, but we are going to go on tour under the name, "The Red Shirts!"

For those of you in the library world, the highlight of the day was seeing (and hearing) Stephen Abrams of Sirsi-Dynix.

Ooo Oooo, That Smell?

This blog posting was 13 years in the making.

Sounds incredible, right? Read on.

Our first Disney trip in 1994 seems like a whirlwind at this point in time. When I think about what happened and what we learned, it reminds me of an introductory swim class. We just threw ourselves in and attempted to swim.

We did alright. I had done some research and Teresa had visited before. I knew that I wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion and Star Tours. I read both of the eminent guide books of the time: Birnbaum's and Sehlinger's. This was before the internet was so mundane.

Anyways...

We first noticed this odd smell in Pirates of the Caribbean. Hard to explain what it was. It just seemed to permeate the attraction. We didn't smell it until we were in the main part of the ride--just after you enter the battle between the ship and the fort.

I mentioned it to Teresa and she smelled it too.

It seemed to be everywhere the animatronics were: Spaceship Earth, the World of Motion, the Energy Pavilion, Journey Into the Imagination, the Great Movie Ride...

And so on.

We didn't smell it during theater shows or outdoor rides.

It wasn't until almost a year later that we figured out the smell.

We lived in an apartment that was in walking distance of a few fast food eateries. We would go on occasional walks and plan our upcoming Disney trips.

I remember walking down Mountain St., next to a bank, and getting a whiff of the smell.

I stopped.

"Do you smell that?", I asked.

Usually, that means that I have, uh, changed the quality of the air myself. Teresa must've sighed.

I told her about the smell from WDW and she stopped to check it out. Then she smelled my arm.

That was the smell!

It had been one of the first times we had gone on a long walk during the warmer and sunnier months.

Still struggling?

Heat, sun and being outside? Very pale people?

It was the sunscreen that we used.

We realized that we were smelling ourselves on those attractions. They were all indoor attractions where you were conveyed. We would smell ourselves whenever the wind blew (or was blown on us) inside one of the show buildings.

I was reminded of this smell when I went with my brother, his two kids, my youngest son and grandpa to our local street fair. When I helped strapped the kids into the dual stroller, I got a whiff of the smell.

Ahh...sweet, sweet sunscreen.

I have three other smells that take me there: Cool Waters (1997 trip), a foot spray from Bath and Body Works (2000) and citrus smells (1994 and 1997--I miss you , Horizons).

Disney Collectible

DSC03846
Originally uploaded by biblioadonis.

Here is the 2001 refillable mug from Disney's Hilton Head Resort. Part of my Disney Collectible collection.

I forgot I had this one, till I looked way in the back of the cabinet.

North Carolina Disney Event!

Jeff P. over at 2719 Hyperion (and contributor to Lou Mongello's WDW Radio Show) is hosting Charles Ridgway, author of Spinning Disney's World, at the Barnes & Noble in Winston-Salem.

Hit his site for details--or just keep reading.

Who: Charles Ridgway, Disney Press Agent Extraordinaire
What: Book Discussion
When: Tuesday, June 5th @ 7:00 pm
Where: Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Why: If you like Disney at all and live in North Carolina, you need to be there.
How: Any way you can make it!

You can also listen to the podcast interview that Lou did on episode 5 of the WDW Radio Show.

Refillable Mugs...only work at Disney???

I was at a mandatory training session and bored out of my mind. I've wanted to catalog my collectibles with pictures for a while. Most of my stuff is theme-park attraction related. These are shots from my cell phone. Hence, the blurry quality.

I got the idea from Big Brian over at his Walt Disney World postcard site. I love the early postcards showing us what might have been...

Hidden Cost of Driving a Prius

I ran across this editorial and was a little stunned.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070404_Hidden_cost_of_driving_a_Prius.html

So...

The basic argument is that you are still consuming less gas driving a Prius, but there are still some thoughts about the damage to the environment and that no one is really sure how long the battery will last.

The nickel for the battery, for instance, is mined in Sudbury, Ontario, and smelted at nearby Nickel Centre, just north of the province's massive Georgian Bay. Toyota buys about 1,000 tons of nickel from the facility each year, ships the nickel to Wales for refining, then to China, where it's manufactured into nickel foam, and then onto Toyota's battery plant in Japan.

That alone creates a globe-trotting trail of carbon emissions that ought to seriously concern everyone involved in the fight against global warming. All told, the start-to-finish journey travels more than 10,000 miles - mostly by container ship, but also by diesel locomotive.

I wonder how much energy and resources are used with a normal vehicle. What about harmful effects on the environment?

There are many other scary facts in the editorial. Acid rain and the study that showed Hummers are more economical.

So, now what do I buy?

Disney Challenged!

I read this interesting post over at The Disney Blog. John Frost talks about a nonprofit company going after Disney to clean up some of the chemicals they use. Granted, this is worthwhile, but John talks about the fact that a lot of nonprofits pick a cause and go after a large company simply to get their name in the news.

I like John's comments in the third paragraph:
If the Center's investigation is accurate (and the letter from Disney seem to indicate it is) then there is room for improvement on Disney's part. I'd love to see some sort of pressure put on the providers of these 'toxic' cleaners to offer green alternatives. I'd rather see CHEJ praising Disney for its work so far and going to the government hand in hand asking for better regulations to eliminate toxic cleaners.

Even though Disney can stand up for themselves, it is nice to see someone point the issue in the more appropriate direction.

You can read about Disney's Environmentality on their corporate website.

If you have ever stayed in a Disney Hotel, you probably have seen the little placard that Disney puts out with Jiminy Cricket on it. It mentions that you can reuse your linens instead of having mousekeeping wash them every day. Also, several books I have in my collection talk about how Disney reclaims water and uses it throughout WDW for landscaping.

So...there.

Farewell, Mr. Vonnegut.

My first run-in with Kurt Vonnegut was after starting a job in high school as the library page at my local public library. It wasn't through shelving, but through a required reading list. Not mine--but one that I saw in a magazine or book. Actually, it would have been while I was in college and still working part-time at the library.

So, I took home Slaughterhouse-Five. I remember devouring it. And passing it on to my brother Andy. Over the next year we read most everything he had published. I remember hot days working as a clean-up crew with Andy for my dad's construction site. Digging ditches, sweeping, scraping and picking up trash. Discussing Vonnegut's work kept us going. I remember talking about Ice 9 while we were digging one day. And how it related to the Joe Satriani song.

So, I will go back and read some of his works again. I haven't talked to Kurt in a long time. I'm not sure which was the last book that I had read, but I think Slaughterhouse-Five will be the next one.

I have seen this quote on many blogs:

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC

--Vonnegut's Blues For America 07 January, 2006 Sunday Herald

Bubble Shield, Trip Mine and a Save Film

I just finished watching the new Halo 3 multi-player beta video. Wow.



Very exciting. They talked about three new things for the beta: the bubble shield, trip mine and save film.

All three of these will revolutionize the game play. When Halo 2 was released, the dual wielding changed the game play. Players that relied on the melee attack or grenades suddenly found themselves outgunned--literally.

We were given a sneak peek at the bubble shield in the H3 teaser released several months ago. Master Chief throws something into the ground and a geodesic dome appears over him. Apparently, there was a missile being fired at him. It hits the shield and destroys the 'hog. Does this replace the over-shield?

The trip mine clearly shows us a new way to think about Halo. Assuming you can plant it and leave it for later. But check out the video and see what happens with the warthog.

Finally--Save Film. I am not sure if this is in game or saved for later. But it is a re-play of sorts where you can change the angle and the speed of the clip. Bungie said that it can be used for taunting or reviewing your own game play. I wonder if full games can be stored for later viewing. Can you imagine being able to post it on YouTube?

Seeing this clip really excited me. We have Crackdown with the Halo 3 Beta invite and we (me and Connery) are psyched about playing it. Of course, I might need to invite a few friends over to have a little four player madness. But we'll need to have someone bring an extra controller. We only have three.

Early Disney Photo's (Part II)

You can read about my first day at Walt Disney World here.

We continue our story with the Disney-MGM Studios. Specifically Star Tours. Besides the Haunted Mansion, this was the ride I was most excited about. Back in the day (1994), the Early/Extra Magic Hour was called Surprise Morning. They rotated the parks on a specific schedule and people really did not take advantage of them. Ah, those were the days. Anyway, Sunday was the Surprise Morning for the Disney-MGM Studios.

We arrived at the Studios a little after 8:00am. If I remember correctly, the park was scheduled to be open at 9:00am. For some reason, I remember the song Mr. Jones by the Counting Crows playing on the rental car that morning. But I could be wrong; it may have been another day we were there. Needless to say, that song reminds me of that time. Warmth. I remember that it was very warm in the mornings in Orlando.

There was no one in the park that morning. To the right and above, you can see my first view of the Star Tours attraction. I vividly remember the kid and his parents walking in front of us. The kid with the baseball hat and blue backpack. And yes, I am wearing a dark blue t-shirt. It was hot (the weather--not me). We followed the kid and his family through the line and rode the attraction. What can I say? It was great. We visited Endor and in the traditional Disney storytelling fashion--something went wrong! When we left the ride the Star Wars fanfare was playing (you know, the music they play over the credits) and it was really exciting. Then we walked into the coolest thing in the world: a Star Wars gift shop!

I know, you're laughing, right? Well, you have to remember that back in 1994, there was not a lot of Star Wars merchandise. Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn had just been published in 1991. Before that, the last Star Wars books, merchandise or toys had been released in the middle 1980's. Needless to say, Teresa let me gawk for a moment and then we went to the front of the building to ride it again.

And again.

And again.

And again. I think we stopped after the fourth ride to meander and shop. At least I did. This is another one of those moments that I remember. Picking out the books, toys and paraphernalia--trying to decide what to get Stacy, Andy and Matthew. And what I wanted. I picked out a book for myself by Stephen Sansweet called Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible. I consider it one of the first books of my collection. When we finally had finished, we had spent over $400.00. Whew! Talk about spending too much! But it was Star Wars.

I do remember that the cast member gave us a lot of attitude about shipping the items back to our hotel room. Which was really weird. We just spent a lot of money...and we were at Disney! Actually, she was the least friendly cast member we ran across during that first trip. I believe that we ended up riding it at least one more time before Teresa told me we had to do something else. I don't remember anything else about the day. I know we rode other things, like the Great Movie Ride and Muppet Vision 3D, but I can't recall exactly.

I have been able to take Connery on Star Tours in 2004 and 2007. It is one of his favorite rides and we tend to ride it two or three times while we are at Walt Disney World. Next time, Sumner should be big enough to ride it. We can only hope! On the left is Connery with a clone trooper at one of the Star Wars Weekends in 2004. The picture on the left is Connery waiting in line for Star Tours in 2006. Two cast members told him that he had on a cool shirt. He loved it.

Morris Day and The Time

That's what Time It Is!

I was extremely fortunate to be able to see Morris Day and The Time last night at the Furniture Market in High Point. My brother's girlfriend worked at Market and had a pass to get into the show. Erica and I enjoyed the food and the music.

Morris was in great form--the pimp from North Minneapolis rocked the stage and kept the crowd moving all evening. I took some pictures, which came out fuzzy, and a lot of clips of the show. Check my YouTube account as I upload the videos.

I was great to see Jellybean and Monte (the other original members of The Time) and the guitar and bass player really helped move the show along and kept the audience pumped.




Morris Day and The Time start the show with Skillet from the album Pandemonium.

What Time is it?

"Time 2 just walk and shake my head
I'm cool 'til I'm dead
Enough has been said
Come on, baby, let's go 2 bed"

I'll be able to say more on Saturday (thanks to Stacy and Erica!).

Early Disney Photo's
(for me, anyway)

In May of 1994, my wife and I made our first trip to Walt Disney World. It was my first trip and her 6th or 7th. My memories of planning the trip were simply thinking about going to Disney and reading the Official and Unofficial guides to WDW. The Sehlinger book was a little more daunting to me. I was really not familiar with anything in Orlando and relied on the guidebooks to give me all of the information. Since the Official guide had pictures, I have always had a soft spot for it and still recommend it to newbies.

My wife handled most of the arrangements for the trip. She booked it with the travel agent and kept up with most of the details. Most of that has flipped. We make the decisions together, but I handle all of the bookings and other travel related chores.

It had been a lifelong dream to visit WDW since I was about four or five. I remember that a friend came back from a family vacation to WDW and had viewmaster slides of the vacation kingdom. I remember the exact moment I saw the slide for the Haunted Mansion and thought how amazing it would be to see it. It would literally haunt me for the next 20 years. We had friends that moved to Florida (can't remember where) and my parents always regretted not taking us. Me, I'm not so sure. Without any planning, visiting WDW between 1982 and 1986 might have caused us not to enjoy the vacation and therefore, not instilled a love for the theme park.

But back to the 1994 trip. We were both sort of inexperienced and we weren't sure what to think. We stayed at the Port Orleans (when it was just Port Orleans) and we really enjoyed the food court and the sit-down restaurant (hey Andy, want some strawberries and cream?). To us, the rooms were amazing and the grounds/theming were meticulous.

Our first thing after checking in was to drive to the Magic Kingdom. We had a rental car and it was about 3:00 in the afternoon. As we were pulling out of the Port Orleans resort, the sign said "All Guest Areas" with an arrow pointing left. Well, being a guy, I knew we hadn't seen the Magic Kingdom during our drive to the resort, so it must be to the right. We drove past the security at Ft. Wilderness, under the water bridge at the Contemporary and suddenly noticed that we were behind Space Mountain. Teresa exclaimed that she had never parked behind Space Mountain before and that maybe we should turn around. We did. It only took us a few extra minutes to get there.

After parking and riding the ferry (which was recommended for the first time visitor--one of the guidebooks), we entered the Magic Kingdom. It was awe-inspiring. We were both starving and had dinner reservations for the Liberty Tree Tavern at about 5:00. So, we got popcorn and ate it while strolling down Main St. USA and into Liberty Square. I do remember being amazed and excited about finally being there. Teresa did mention how my excitement was contagious. We didn't ride anything. I wanted my very first ride to be the Haunted Mansion.

We ate at the Liberty Tree Tavern and we both agree that it was a perfect meal that has not been replicated since. We still talk about the fried cheese platter that Teresa got as an appetizer. They have changed the menu since then and each succeeding visit has paled in comparison. Our experiences at the Tavern have gone downhill.

After the meal, we walked across to the Haunted Mansion and got in line. I have to admit, the ride was phenomenal. It is still one of my favorites. Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion and MuppetVision 3D are the big three for me to this day.

The only other things I remember about that first day:

• getting caught in the horrible exodus from the Magic Kingdom. I know that it must have taken us a good hour to get back to the hotel,
  
• ordering pizza from the Sassagoula Express and confusing the operator by ordering a cheese pizza with cheddar cheese (and getting one with only cheddar--no mozzarella), and
• being overwhelmed and thrilled at the same time.

And if you have to ask why I posed under the Prince bathroom sign...you obviously don't know me that well.

I was inspired to write this post from a couple of other blogs that I read (i.e., devour) whenever there is a posting (in no particular order):

• All Things WDW
• Gorillas Don't Blog
  
• Stuff From the Park
• Passport to Dreams Old and New
• 2719 Hyperion

They have been sharing stories, old photo's and really cool posts about the Disney theme parks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Also, I thought it would be fun to reminisce and talk about where my fascination started.

"I finally see the light; I've opened my eyes."

Brad Delp, lead singer of Boston, passed away on Friday, March 9th.

My cousin, Cheryl, introduced me to Boston in 1986 when Third Stage was released. At this time, I was still purchasing records and most of my music ran towards Prince and his musical family. I know Cheryl was trying to get me to listen to other artists and I thank her for all of the albums that she bought me. She always had great taste in gift-giving.

Boston is one of my super groups. Almost everything they did, I loved. There are very few bands in this list: Prince, Jellyfish and Boston.

What drew me to Boston? The sound.

Simply, it was mind blowing. Tom Scholz 's writing and recording techniques were flawless. Each of the three albums done with Brad singing were amazing. The harmonies, guitar leads, bass and drums...inspiring.

I realized that it has taken me over a week to write this post. How do you share something as personal as music? Especially if you haven't experienced Boston. Boston is not a heavy metal band. Definitely rock-n-roll with very pop influences.

I want to look at each album. I'll start with my first.

Third Stage (1986)

Amanda--a love song. Many Boston songs were about love. Whether they were as open as this one, you would have to listen for yourself. It is a more mature love song and deals more with a relationship than with just being in love.

We're Ready--Scholz said that Third Stage was meant to be listened to in order. This song continues what started in Amanda. Moving on and taking it to the next level.

The Launch: Countdown/Ignition/Third Stage Separation--the longest title with the shortest song. Boston's signature instrumental. Amazingly heavy keyboards/organs. Very arena rock.

Cool the Engines--the most reminiscent of the first Boston album with the signature guitar sound.

My Destination--simplistic. Brad singing, keyboards and drums at the end.

A New World--it does feel like we've landed. Great instrumental. Powerful

To Be a Man--the answer to "A Man I'll Never Be" from Don't Look Back. I still worship this song and try to hold it close to my heart. Search for the lyrics and ruminate on them.

I Think I like It--big guitar and even bigger vocals. This song has the tightest vocal harmonies and one of the first "ear-gasm" moments I can truly remember: the final chorus. Nuff said. Probably one of Brad's best vocal works.

Cant'cha Say (you Believe in Me)--Great harmonies, great chorus and great build-up after the first verse.

Hollyann--can you say power ballad? Real honest to goodness power ballad! This has some soaring guitar and vocal work on it. Great way to end an album. Love through the ages.

Overall, a very impressive album. This is one of my perfect albums. Every song is great and could stand on its own. The weakest song is till better than most songs on other albums.

Brad, you will be missed.

A Fond Farewell...

Over at the Disney Blog, John Frost has posted about the closing of L'Originale Alfredo Di Roma in the Italy Pavilion at Epcot. He raises some excellent thoughts about why this beloved and cherished restaurant is closing. The biggest? The Disney Dining Plan.

Personally, I experienced this restaurant in 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2001. We didn't visit it in 2004 or 2006 for different reasons. At each dining opportunity, I always ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo, the signature dish. I found it to be absolutely perfect and ruined me for life. (Just like my wife's lasagna.)

We didn't visit the restaurant in 2004 because my mom didn't want to spend a lot of time in restaurants or eating heavy meals (during that May trip, we did eat at Sci-Fi, Prime Time, and Olivia's). When we visited Epcot, we ate at the Electric Umbrella and the Rose & Crown (for my Dad).

In 2006, we did the Dining Plan (DDP). It was just us (me, wife and both kids) and it really wasn't worth it for us. Our kids are very finicky and they had just changed the DDP kid's menus. Honestly, we were shocked. Our first meal was at the Rose & Crown and there was nothing on the menu that either one of our children would eat. I am not kidding. We begged the waitress to make a grilled cheese and they couldn't accommodate us.

The rest of the week, as far as dining was concerned, went very downhill. Sure, we saved money and ate in restaurants we would never have tried. But, we ate way too much and left a lot of food on our plates. We talked about it the whole trip. We looked at the menu and discussed what we would have shared to save money. We decided with the kids, it would have saved so much time and effort to eat all of our meals at counter service locations. Our favorite meal of the trip was at Pinocchio's Village Hause in the Magic Kingdom.

I started this post to commiserate and celebrate Alfredo's. I have digressed, but I always do that when I mention the DDP. Here are some shots of our 2001 visit to Epcot. (the shot at the top of the post is of my mom and dad.)


This is Connery trying to take a nap...or us trying to get him to take a nap.






Here is my youngest brother, Stacy, in front of the fountain.








Connery entertaining himself in the lobby of the restaurant.








Good food, good times. Alfredo's, we will miss you. I do wonder what other restaurants at Epcot might suffer the same fate.

Book Review

The Disney Queue Line Survival Guidebook by Kimberly Button. 2006 ed. Infinity Press. 386 p. 0-7414-3268-4 $19.95

Kimberly Button, a former Walt Disney World (WDW) and Disney Cruise Line cast member, has written a handy guide to easing the time standing in all of those lines at WDW. She states in the introduction that the book “gives you only the essential, straightforward information that you need to simply enjoy Disney’s theme park attractions along with plenty of entertaining fun and games so that your entire day, even the time spent in queue lines, can be purely magical.”

This sums up Ms. Button’s work pretty well. She has divided the book by theme park and then by individual land. Within each land, she describes the rides; approximate time of each ride, helpful hints and if there is a fear factor or other important information. The real fun and excitement begins after the ride overview. For each attraction, there are several pages of trivia, scavenger hunt items and word scrambles.

At first, I was a little unsure of the value of the book. Would I really take this into the park? Would my kids enjoy it? Would I enjoy it?

I thought back to my last trip to WDW and realized that the guide really would have come in handy while waiting for restaurant seating, downtime at the hotel, waiting for the bus and for planning the trip with the kids in mind. I am a trivia hound and often the tidbits and facts that I spout don’t seem to interest my eight year old. This book has various levels of trivia…there were questions to make you laugh and ones that befuddled me! The kids would have loved the word searches and I know that it would have been fun to help them find the scavenger items while waiting in line.

The real questions are whether I would recommend this title and to whom? Wholeheartedly! I believe that this guide does offer something completely unique and worthwhile. I would suggest taking post-it notes and marking the specific areas you are going to visit for that day. Another idea would be to highlight the correct answer for the trivia questions or make a small notation next to the answer. It will make it easier to figure out who is right while you are standing in line. Almost anyone would benefit from this book. WDW veterans will find new things to discover and first-timers will be able to use the book to keep their sanity during long waits.

The book is approximately 8”x5” and about an inch thick. It is a backpack book. I would expect it to be rather dog-eared by the end of a week long vacation at WDW. You will be shuffling it in and out of your bag whenever you find yourself with more than a 5 minute wait anywhere!

Blog Review

2719 Hyperion

I ran across this blog a few weeks ago after it was mentioned on the belated Mousetunes Podcast. I have spent the past few weeks digesting it. If you are a fan of Walt Disney World, you have to add this blog to your aggregator ( I still like bloglines).

What drove me to the site was the wonderful interview with Jeff on the Mousetunes podcast for January 28, 2007. Jeff and Lou (the host) spent time discussing the Muppet Vision 3D attraction--specifically the queue areas. This is one of my favorite attractions and the Muppet Show was my favorite show growing up. Hearing Jeff and Lou laugh and discuss the secrets, jokes and insider information was one of the best segments of the podcast series.

When I got home, I immediately checked the show notes for the blog site and was amazed at the content.

At first, I was drawn in by the fantastic pictures. Due to the detail, I assumed that Jeff was an Orlando native. When I checked his profile, I was astounded to see that he lives in North Carolina (the home state of yours, truly).

Once I delved into the blog (I started with the first post and read backwards), I was pleasantly surprised to see that Jeff was not just a fanatic, but he cared about Walt Disney World. He didn't gush or lambaste...he was somewhere in the middle. He obviously had done his research and has spent many years following the Walt Disney Company.

I liken Jeff's blog to an online course about Disney. He has articles detailing classic cartoons and characters, extinct attractions and attractions that were never built. My absolute favorite section of Jeff's blog deal with the small details of the theme parks that you might miss as you sprint to Splash Mountain or the Tower of Terror. Whether it is a sign, and architectural detail or a hidden element.

I applaud Jeff and thank him for the work that he is doing.

March of the Librarians

Great spoof on so many levels...



I guess the reason I don't sport plumage on my face is because I am married.

I guess...

A Little Wii-modeling is in Order...

Well, we were able to add a new member to our family: the Nintendo Wii! It is a long tale, full of heartache, suspense, princesses and...

Well, not exactly.

My friend, Michael, let me borrow his Wii over Christmas while he visited his girlfriend's parents (with her, of course). The family came over and we had a great time playing bowling, tennis, baseball and boxing.

www.flickr.com

Well, to make a long story short...


My friend, Michael, is moving in with his girlfriend (go Michael!) and they both have Wii's. She offered to sell us hers if we were interested. Of course!

So we have to move some TVs around and figure out the optimal placement for the game systems. We have an Xbox 360 and it is hooked up to the big TV and the surround sound system. A system like the 360 deserves a TV that can show off it's graphical capabilities. Since the Wii only has SDTV and we have 4 gamers in the house, we will want the Wii on another TV with a lot of room to flail the Wii-mote. We will put the Wii in the playroom--but it has a 20" TV. The master bedroom has the 27" TV. So, we make the sacrifice and switch the TVs.

But...the dresser in the playroom might not be able to hold a 27" TV. So, does more furniture need to be involved? Can we put something smaller in the bedroom for the 20" TV and use the stand in the bedroom for the playroom? We plan on buying a new TV over the summer. Even though that is 6 months away, it will mean shifting TVs and furniture again.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

But I am not complianing. Not at all!

Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Gnod!*

I have been playing with the artificial intelligence software at gnod.com over the past few days. It is sort of like a recommendation software. Here is the description from the website:
Gnod is my experiment in the field of artificial intelligence. Its a self-adapting system, living on this server and 'talking' to everyone who comes along. Gnods intention is to learn about the outer world and to learn 'understanding' its visitors. This enables gnod to share all its wisdom with you in an intuitive and efficient way. You might call it a search-engine to find things you don't know about.

You put in your favorite authors, musicians or authors and Gnod will give you a map of similar artists and people.

Here is a screen shot I did for Orson Scott Card (OSC):


OSC is in the middle of the map. Various other authors are arrayed around him based on what other readers have said. When I look at the map, I do see a lot of other authors that I have enjoyed:
J.K. Rowling, John Iriving, Connie Willis, JRR Tolkein, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Kurt Vonnegut, and Dan Brown. Many of the other authors listed have piqued my interest before and have come up in conversations with other people. They are on my list.

With music and movies, you can put in three favorites and it will bring back recommendations. When I did it, I knew and liked about half, didn't know a few and didn't like one or two. It was very close to my preferences.

It is a fun site to play with and would be very helpful when looking for moves on Netflix or trying to catch new authors at your library. As far as the music, I would love a way to import the artists into my Pandora or Yahoo! Music stations.

*Yes, that is a Superman II reference.