Taking a Mental Health Day

So I booked today off from work to do pretty much nothing, it's not actually anyone's birthday and I'm not heading out on a trip, I just decided it would be nice to have a long weekend and maybe get some reading done.

In my mind, taking a day off every couple months for no particular reason is a pretty great thing to do (if you can), as it gives you the time to catch up on all the fun stuff you've been putting off.

For example, today I ran some errands with my wife, read two comic series collections and a number of short stories from the new short story collection Rogues (which includes the latest Song of Ice and Fire story and a Neverwhere spinoff as well!)

Past that I watched some TV, when on a walk and made some pulled pork for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow is back to work for me, but just having the ability to take a day off to do very little was a pretty great way for me to spend the day

Genre Character of the Week: Robocop

As someone always interested in media studies, I was pretty excited earlier this week to get the 2013 film Robocop from my local library earlier this week, as I was interested in how it would measure up to the original.  Then I realized, my kids haven't seen the original yet, so tonight we addressed this and watched the 1987 original, Robocop.

A quick side note - the original film (even 17 years later) is one of the most violent films I've ever come across, and I watch a lot of horror and war films, so even through I'm saying I showed my kids this movie, it's important to note that my kids are 17 and 21, and both of them have been raised with the goal of increasing media literacy since they were very young, looking at not only any given story, but how it works and why.  Although I feel the film has a lot to offer it's audience, don't show this movie to the younger crowd as the violence is intentionally shocking and pretty horrifying.

I first saw this movie at the age of eleven, and at the time I simply thought it was pretty awesome.  I loved the action and was entranced by both the point of view segments and the great performance done by Peter Weller as the main character.  It wasn't until repeated viewings at an older age when I started to connect the film to Frankenstein and began to see it as the satire on corporate culture and the war on crime it was.

What I like best about the character (in the first film) was the great sense of loss that he carried; having been overwritten by new programming, police officer Alex Murphy was supposed to no longer exist except as the basic biological foundation of Robocop.  The story follows his existence from man to machine and back to man again (sorry for the mild seventeen-year-old spoiler), and that character arc is one of the greatest things about the film - and also the stop motion animation for ED-209, which was pretty darn great.

I'm nervous to see what the reboot will bring to the concept, but am open to what it has to offer.

Book Review: Mr. Mercedes

Late last week I read the new Stephen King novel Mr. Mercedes and really enjoyed it.  The novel, more a thriller than a horror (although to be fair the opening chapter is pretty horrific), focused on a retired police detective named Bill Hodges who finds himself being literally taunted by the perpetrator of an unsolved crime from years ago.

The novel quickly introduces the criminal and alternating chapters show the cat and mouse game being played between retired detective Hodges and Mr. Mercedes (the name given to the criminal by the press due to his use of a mercedes in a spree killing he committed years ago).

What I liked best about the novel was both the fast pace at which it moved (I read the book in little over a day and a half), and the great characters introduced throughout.  Hodges comes across as a really interesting character and the villain is one of the most disturbed individuals I've read about in a long time (and I tend to average at least one horror novel a month, so that's saying something).

Definitely worth the read, and on June 10 the Author mentioned on his twitter feed that this is intended to be the first book in a trilogy.

Me and my Shine

As a convocation gift, my wife and kids got me an activity tracker called a Misfit Shine (pictured right), which works to help me keep track of my daily activity goals.

In addition, it looks really cool - it's a dark blue colour called "Storm" and wearing it makes me feel like I'm living a little bit in the future.

Although not as well known as the Nike Fuel band or the FitBit, for sheer cool factor I'm pretty impressed with the thing.

I'm still in early days as far as claiming its effectiveness, but so far it seems to work pretty well, and I'm really enjoying using it for it's secondary feature as a pretty neat little analog watch.

So I guess I'm a Librarian Now...

After two years and eight months of part-time work, I got to take the stage at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada yesterday and am now completely finished with my time in Graduate school.

The last few years have been pretty great, and a huge part of that was doing this blog (which I fully intend to continue with) as it got me very used to delivering written work on a regular basis.  For all of you who have followed my blog over the years, or commented on any posts, Thanks!  To the folks who have just swung by and read - thanks as well, keeping you all in mind while writing has definitely kept me on my toes for the last few years.

As a special thanks, here's a photo of me on my Convocation day, I'm sitting next to one of my favourite sculptures on campus and am holding the eagle feather I was awarded by Aboriginal Student Services upon graduation.

Thanks everyone!

Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow

This weekend I went with my daughter and my BFF Mike to see the latest Tom Cruise movie, Edge of Tomorrow.

The film, based off the 2004 Japanese novel All You Need is Kill, focuses on a man forced into a War he recruits for but doesn't participate in, and the events surrounding his death on his first day in battle.

The problem is, as soon as he dies, he wakes up again, two days earlier, and relives the same two days again, and again, and again.

The film itself is pretty great, both leads do a wonderful job and the effects are pretty fantastic (although I still don't recommend seeing it in 3D if you can avoid it).  I enjoyed it a lot more than Oblivion last year, and to be fair, I liked that film fine enough, but this one brought a lot of interesting concepts to the table, and also had Mechs (robotic suits of armour found commonly in Japanese animation) which I absolutely loved.

My only issue with the film (as with a lot of movie adaptations) was that it left out a number of things from the original book I would have liked to have seen (including the ending).

In the end, see the movie, as it's well worth it, but definitely pick up the book, because it was just amazing.

Book Review: All You Need is Kill

For the first time since finishing Grad School, I've finished a book in a day.

Also the book was pretty freaking awesome!

All You Need is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka is a great little military science fiction story which begins like a bizarre war-themed SF story mixed with the film Groundhog Day and quickly evolves into something much more interesting.

I fully admit that I picked up the novel as I wanted an excuse to go see the new Tom Cruise film Edge of Tomorrow (which is based on the book) and always find it easier to justify seeing a film if I've read the original source material.

The story moves incredibly quickly and is a great mix of Japanese Mecha Science Fiction (focusing on stories involving robotic suits controlled by people) and an intriguing concept, both of which kept me interested throughout and turning pages faster than I normally do while reading SF.

Would I recommend it?  Absolutely.