Sunday, January 12, 2025
Mug of the week
Saturday, December 25, 2021
More convention photos (Part 3)
It has been a long time since I've blogged. I just finished uploading my DisCon III (79th WorldCon) photos, so I will start another page with links to convention photos.
Previous pages are Part 1 (started in 2016) and Part 2 (started in 2017) These need to be expanded with more from those some of the conventions included there.
DisCon III December 15-19: December 15, December 16, December 17 panels, December 17 Masquerade, December 18, December 18 Hugo Awards, December 19 (screen captures).
Labels: conventions, Hugo Awards
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
The Wicked King
The Queen of Nothing by Holly BlackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Wicked King ended with a number of cliffhangers. The Queen of Nothing resolves them all, lets us see the meaning of all the relevant prophesies, and we see the culmination of the arc for several characters.
It was a general delight throughout and kept me wondering how things were going to completely work out until the end.
View all my reviews
Labels: reading
Tuesday, August 04, 2020
The Wicked King
The Wicked King by Holly BlackMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A great sequel to The Cruel Prince. There are a lot of twists and turns here and it ends on a number of cliffhangers with a lot of questions to be resolved in the final book in the series. It is a compelling read and made me want to get to The Queen of Nothing as soon as possible.
View all my reviews
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Desktop of the Week - Archmage Angus MacGuffinSteve Conley, creator of the brilliant webcomic The Middle Age, just sent links to his Patreon supporters of wallpapers featuring one of his toons. This time it is Archmage Angus MacGuffin.
He does this a couple times a year. Since it is exclusive to Patreons I've just included the image that goes along with the Patreon post and not the actual wallpaper itself.
He has been nominated for several awards for this comic. Besides being on his own site it is also available in comic strip form on comics.com.
It is a delightful comic and is well worth reading and your support.
Monday, June 29, 2020
Ravens vs Broncos January 12, 2013
I continued watching the second Ravens Superbowl run with their game against the Broncos.
I had a haircut that morning. During the day we needed to get the Dish Network signal reset. It did get reset and we watched the game before and during dinner and afterwards. There was a Baltimore Science Fiction Society event that I wanted to go to at their building in downtown Baltimore. So I left near the beginning of the 4th quarter. I listened to the game on the radio, heard all the 4th quarter and couldn't find a parking spot. After driving around the block a number of times I gave up and drove home and heard the rest of the game on the way home. I watched interviews on NFL Network after getting home.
Even though I knew what was going to happen it was still a very exciting game to watch and this time I would be able to see the 4th quarter and the overtime periods.
Jacoby Jones had a bad day on special teams. He muffed his first kickoff return attempt and didn't get much on any other return.
After falling behind by 7, the Ravens got a 59 yard pass to Torrey Smith to tie it up. Then 42 seconds later Corey Graham got a 39 yard interception return for the lead. The game was tied 5 times.
With 42 seconds left in the first half Joe Flacco threw a 32-yard pass to Torrey Smith to get the game tied at 21-21.
Denver's Trindon Holliday opened the scoring with a 90-yard punt return for a TD and then opened the second half with a 104-yard kickoff return.
Peyton Manning suffered his second post-season fumble in his career. The Ravens turned that into a game tying TD run to make it 28-28.
The Broncos pulled ahead 35-28 with just over 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The announcers are talking about how tired the Ravens defense is. The Ravens have a 3rd and 5 with 3:16 left and the ball goes in and out of Jacoby Jones' hands. It just isn't his day at this point. The Ravens go for it on 4th down and it is incomplete. They then give up a first down, but stop the next series and get the ball back 1:09 left and no timeouts.
After an incomplete pass by Flacco and then a 7-yard scramble it is third down and Joe Flacco throws it deep to Jacoby Jones who makes his first catch of the day and runs for a 70-yard touchdown. Justin Tucker ties it at 35 each. Jacoby Jones' pretty terrible day has turned around into a spectacular one.
The announcers say "Ray Lewis gets new life." Peyton Manning takes a knee with 31 seconds left, probably not wanting to risk a turnover. It goes to overtime.
The announcers reiterate "Everyone predicted a routine Broncos win."
With 53 seconds left in the first overtime, Corey Graham gets his second interception of the day at the Broncos 45. The Ravens drive a little further to the Denver 29. Then "here comes the rookie" - Justin Tucker. He hits a 47-yard field goal to win the game 38-35.
They fit it all on one DVD with about 2:47 worth of film. They were cutting a few seconds here and there quite often trying to conserve space. The film on the DVD ends moments after the Justin Tucker FG. No scenes of players rushing to the field or anything.
It was great to finally see the whole game. Just an amazing win by the Ravens.
I have not attempted to go to the BSFS building since then.
I continued watching the second Ravens Superbowl run with their game against the Broncos.
I had a haircut that morning. During the day we needed to get the Dish Network signal reset. It did get reset and we watched the game before and during dinner and afterwards. There was a Baltimore Science Fiction Society event that I wanted to go to at their building in downtown Baltimore. So I left near the beginning of the 4th quarter. I listened to the game on the radio, heard all the 4th quarter and couldn't find a parking spot. After driving around the block a number of times I gave up and drove home and heard the rest of the game on the way home. I watched interviews on NFL Network after getting home.
Even though I knew what was going to happen it was still a very exciting game to watch and this time I would be able to see the 4th quarter and the overtime periods.
Jacoby Jones had a bad day on special teams. He muffed his first kickoff return attempt and didn't get much on any other return.
After falling behind by 7, the Ravens got a 59 yard pass to Torrey Smith to tie it up. Then 42 seconds later Corey Graham got a 39 yard interception return for the lead. The game was tied 5 times.
With 42 seconds left in the first half Joe Flacco threw a 32-yard pass to Torrey Smith to get the game tied at 21-21.
Denver's Trindon Holliday opened the scoring with a 90-yard punt return for a TD and then opened the second half with a 104-yard kickoff return.
Peyton Manning suffered his second post-season fumble in his career. The Ravens turned that into a game tying TD run to make it 28-28.
The Broncos pulled ahead 35-28 with just over 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. The announcers are talking about how tired the Ravens defense is. The Ravens have a 3rd and 5 with 3:16 left and the ball goes in and out of Jacoby Jones' hands. It just isn't his day at this point. The Ravens go for it on 4th down and it is incomplete. They then give up a first down, but stop the next series and get the ball back 1:09 left and no timeouts.
After an incomplete pass by Flacco and then a 7-yard scramble it is third down and Joe Flacco throws it deep to Jacoby Jones who makes his first catch of the day and runs for a 70-yard touchdown. Justin Tucker ties it at 35 each. Jacoby Jones' pretty terrible day has turned around into a spectacular one.
The announcers say "Ray Lewis gets new life." Peyton Manning takes a knee with 31 seconds left, probably not wanting to risk a turnover. It goes to overtime.
The announcers reiterate "Everyone predicted a routine Broncos win."
With 53 seconds left in the first overtime, Corey Graham gets his second interception of the day at the Broncos 45. The Ravens drive a little further to the Denver 29. Then "here comes the rookie" - Justin Tucker. He hits a 47-yard field goal to win the game 38-35.
They fit it all on one DVD with about 2:47 worth of film. They were cutting a few seconds here and there quite often trying to conserve space. The film on the DVD ends moments after the Justin Tucker FG. No scenes of players rushing to the field or anything.
It was great to finally see the whole game. Just an amazing win by the Ravens.
I have not attempted to go to the BSFS building since then.
Labels: sports
Monday, June 22, 2020
Ravens vs Colts - January 6, 2013
I started watching the Ravens second Super Bowl march with their Wild Card victory over the Colts.
I did watch that game in the early afternoon (January 6), but didn't pay absolute full attention to it at the time. This was Justin Tucker's rookie year. He beat out Billy Cundiff in camp. The Ravens had scored no TDs vs the Colts in their previous playoff games, but turned that around in a big way with this 24-9 victory. This was Ray Lewis' final home game. Ray Lewis played the final kneel-down snap on offense at the end of the game.
Anquan Boldin had an amazing game with 145 yards and a TD on 5 receptions. Both Bernard Pierce and Ray Rice had good games, though Rice lost the football twice, but he had a big run at the end of the first half leading to the RaveAndrew Luck threw his first interception in 153 throws.
ns' first TD.
I started watching the Ravens second Super Bowl march with their Wild Card victory over the Colts.
I did watch that game in the early afternoon (January 6), but didn't pay absolute full attention to it at the time. This was Justin Tucker's rookie year. He beat out Billy Cundiff in camp. The Ravens had scored no TDs vs the Colts in their previous playoff games, but turned that around in a big way with this 24-9 victory. This was Ray Lewis' final home game. Ray Lewis played the final kneel-down snap on offense at the end of the game.
Anquan Boldin had an amazing game with 145 yards and a TD on 5 receptions. Both Bernard Pierce and Ray Rice had good games, though Rice lost the football twice, but he had a big run at the end of the first half leading to the RaveAndrew Luck threw his first interception in 153 throws.
ns' first TD.
Labels: sports
The Ten Thousand Door of January
I read this much quicker than expected. Here is what I wrote on Goodreads.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A wonderful piece of work with all so many puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. There is a book inside the book written in a different style. There are loads of delights throughout the book and a love of stories and storytelling. I am sure rereading it would be a completely different experience, but would also be delightful. It does leave me wanting to spend even more time with these characters.
View all my reviews
It is one of the Hugo Awards Best Novel finalists.
I read this much quicker than expected. Here is what I wrote on Goodreads.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. HarrowMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A wonderful piece of work with all so many puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. There is a book inside the book written in a different style. There are loads of delights throughout the book and a love of stories and storytelling. I am sure rereading it would be a completely different experience, but would also be delightful. It does leave me wanting to spend even more time with these characters.
View all my reviews
It is one of the Hugo Awards Best Novel finalists.
Labels: Hugo Awards, reading
