[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/02/07/the-home-sickies/ Thursday I had people over for the inaugural poker night at the new house.

It’s taken us a lo-o-ong time to get the dining room set up: Buying a big buffet to store my board games (and empty all the boxes of games that we lining the room), and getting a rug for the

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/02/04/inaugural-poker-night/ Before Watchmen, the upcoming project from DC Comics, has been the talk of the comics world for a little while now. Here’s my two cents on the project.

First, I do get a little tired of Alan Moore saying that he wishes comics companies would stop exploiting properties he created that he doesn’t own,

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/02/01/before-watchmen/ Another sunny weekend here in the Bay Area. We got a good dose of rain last weekend, but now we’re back to the sun. Such a tough life, I know. I really would like to get some more rain, but at least the cats can enjoy the sun beams.

We went out running errands

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/29/incremental-changes/ I had a nice birthday today. I’d debated going up to San Francisco to Cal Academy, but I didn’t really feel like getting up early to get there before the holiday crowds rolled in.

So instead we got up at our usual time, and Debbi made scones. Somehow I forgot to open my presents

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/16/birthday-trip/ My birthday is tomorrow, and Debbi and I have the day off to enjoy a long weekend together. It’s not a “significant” birthday, so I don’t feel much older. But it’s nice to have some extra time off.

I threw my usual birthday party last night, and it was nice to not have to

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/15/birthday-weekend-2/ I’ve written about Blackjack and his cancer so much over the last year that you might have forgotten we have 2 other cats.

Newton is our elderly orange kitty. He’ll be 18 in April, and we’ve been together for over 17 years. He’s lived in 2 states, in 4 different homes, he’s seen Blackjack

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/10/state-of-the-newton/ A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that Alien is his “favorite movie of all time”. This was coincidental, since during our lunch conversation the other day about Stanley Kubrick, someone asked me what I thought of Blade Runner, which of course wasn’t directed by Kubrick, but by Ridley Scott, who also directed

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/07/alien/ At lunch the other day we somehow went from talking about Pixar films to talking about those of director Stanley Kubrick. Some people love Kubrick’s films, but I don’t, having seen five and not enjoyed any of them.

Whenever I think of Kubrick, I recall my high school film class teacher (who introduced me

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/06/why-i-dont-like-stanley-kubricks-films/ 2011 was a mixed bag for us, with some big highs and big lows.

The main high was buying our new house (as well as selling the townhouse, no small accomplishment in this economy). It took us about 3 months of looking, and no small amount of frustration (bidding on and not getting a

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2012/01/02/looking-back-at-2011/ Steven Moffat’s second season running Doctor Who shared one major characteristic with Russell T. Davies’ second season: Both were not as good as their first seasons. Moffat is overall a much stronger writer than Davies and his story arcs have been more interesting (far fewer Daleks, for one thing), but this season felt like

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/12/31/doctor-who-season-six/ It’s been over a year since my last webcomics round-up (you can find my first two such posts here and here), and I wanted to squeeze in a new such entry before the new year. As usual, I found a few I really liked, and there are a few that I don’t much like,

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/12/29/webcomics-i-read-2011-edition/ We got woken up around 4 am this morning by Newton doing his late-night meowing thing. Debbi wasn’t able to get back to sleep and came downstairs to read until she could sleep again. I came down later (I’d been sleeping fitfully all night) and found both Blackjack and Roulette snoozing while she read.

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/12/25/merry-little-christmas/ …by which I mean it’s actually the second day of my vacation. The company’s shut down for Christmas week, so I’ll be bumming around through January 2. Happily, Debbi has the week off too, to assist me in my slothfulness.

We’ve done all the grocery trips to have food for today and tomorrow. And

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/12/24/the-first-day-of-the-rest-of-my-vacation/ The Defenders #1, by Matt Fraction, and Terry & Rachel Dodson, Marvel, December 2011

From the cover, it has all the hallmarks of something that should be a pretty good comic book: Matt Fraction has a good reputation (I’m not a big fan of his Casanova

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/12/13/the-defenders-1/ Two nice things about our new house: One, we have enough space to host a dinner party. Two, we have a neighborhood and we’ve been getting to know our neighbors. And that’s what we did Friday night.

Actually it was our neighbor Juan who wanted to have a get-together, and he finally pinned us

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/12/11/dinner-party/ Apple closed down its corporate offices for Thanksgiving week – which it does from time to time, but not every year – so I had the week off. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Last Sunday, Debbi hosted a cookie exchange with some friends. So we had six guests over to exchange cookies. I

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/11/27/thanksgiving-week-off/ I think Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles” series didn’t become really big until the publication of The Vampire Lestat in 1985, but look at the copyright date on this book, the first in the

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/11/26/anne-rice-interview-with-the-vampire/ Time for a few pictures of our cats as they enjoy our new home.

First, can you spot the two cats in the photo below?

Roulette & Newton have been enjoying the morning sun in the guest room, and Roulette has also turned into something of an “under-furry”.

Blackjack sometimes lies in the

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/11/19/gratuitous-cat-pictures/ Now that daylight savings time has ended, so to has my biking to work regimen. Not because it gets cold, but because I don’t like biking home in the dark. While Silicon Valley is a pretty good place to bike (for an urban environment), it’s not so much the cars that worry me, as

[Read the whole thing]]]> http://www.fascinationplace.org/2011/11/15/back-to-the-gym/