Deus X Makina

Well, as you can see, I finished my Goal Tracking module there on the right. Does it look pretty tight to you?

Wait! Before you answer that, let me tell you what was involved: now, you can't see it, but that is an object-oriented application using a Model-View-Controller implementation. So I'm going to insert rows into the site's mySQL database as I weigh myself and complete rounds of golf throughout the year. The graph will update dynamically. Pretty cool? If you examine the source of this page, you can see that getting those DIVs to stack on one another did not require one or two lines of CSS formatting. Oh, and those colors? Chosen on the server-side based on the percentage of the goal remaining. Plus you'll note the milestones I added, which will change to reflect when they are met as I meet them.

Okay, now are you impressed? Really? No. Huh. Fine. FINE! I didn't make it for you anyway!

Also, I added a spot for pictures at the bottom. Because if that photo isn't going to motivate me to lose weight, nothing will. I look like a narwhal.

Welcome back to Deus X Makina 5.0! I moved the site to the Joomla CMS because almost all of the content was blog articles, plus I wanted to add an easy way to track my progress. What progress you might ask?

Well, I spent the last 9 months taking golf lessons in an effort to get ready to play at the Broadmoor (home of the 2011 Women's U.S. Open). I don't mind telling you that I did pretty bad. I was very nervous, playing next to a 10 handicap (who happened to be my wife's COO), and the course is not exactly easy to begin with. I made one or two good approaches, one or two good putts, and the rest of the team was nice enough to let me take some gimme ten-footers, but overall, I wasn't happy with my performance.

Then, while looking through some photos, I found one of me looking fatter than I've been in 9 years (Fall 2000... "The Immobile Months"). I weighed myself when I got home: 194.6 lbs, 24.0% body fat. Well, that's it, I decided. Time to make some changes.

By the next conference, I want to shave 15 strokes off my game, 15 pounds off my form, and get down to 15% body fat. So I... I'll use the verb "received"... the P90X program, an intense workout regimen of six days a week of high impact programs, and I renewed my commitment to GolfTEC, a golf instruction agency, and my instructor, Dennis Beidenstein.

I have a plan. Now comes the easy part.

4 STARS

Larsson's second book of the Millennium Trilogy, above all else, does not disappoint. Certainly there are parts that are not enjoyable, but the novel, on its face, doesn't ever betray you or let you down. Everything in it either creates tension or relieves it. Larsson's particular style makes sure you are thinking something and you need to decide how you feel about it, knowing full well that it might turn out the other way.

Lisbeth Salander is back, this time independently wealthy. The first third of the book devotes serious effort to recharacterizing her, Blomkvist, Berger, Bjurman, and all the rest. Unfortunately, I found Lisbeth's trip to Bermuda too long and describing new aspects of her personality (she allows herself to be seduced by a 16-year-old native?) without talking about the process of how she changed was poignant. She seemed removed from her old self, even though her actions in the second and third parts of the book are basically the same. The only new feeling is regret involving Miriam Wu, which is refreshing but is not emphasized. More on Blomkvist below.

The second act focuses a lot on police procedure, and is relatively interesting. Several bright characters appear, and the concurrent investigations of Armansky, Blomkvist, and Bublanski are fun to watch overlap and expound upon one another. Larsson plays a great, but common, card of emphasizing one character then removing them from the book for a long stretch, where the reader is constantly wondering what really happened and learning about facts in a roundabout fashion. It works well for him.

The confrontation at the warehouse seemed both exciting and off-kilter. In a way, I felt that the giant was "unfair" and that Roberto's cocky attitude let the reader take a serious look at what was being foreshadowed. Larsson really shines at the outcome.

At times, the book appears to be sponsored by Apple and IKEA. It is strange to me, especially with the technical jargon, because if you go back and reread book one, the computers are terribly outdated and no longer impressive. Continuing to refer to their specification guarantees that, sooner than later, readers will find the archaic references humorous. I don't think it detracts from the narrative, however. I merely regard it as curious.

Again in this book, my biggest problem is Blomkvist. Bleak and uninteresting, he is recharacterized as a blithe ladies man whose biggest problem is fame and women throwing themselves at him. Woe is he. No one is really interested in the relationship between him and Harriett. As he puts on his gumshoe hat in the second act, it looks like he actually might graduate into some kind of emotion, but again: nothing. I could see him not becoming involved in the Vanger case because he had no connection, but these events are closely tied to him and he barely reacts. At the end, Salander reveals that there is actually nothing to solve at all, and all his efforts merely confirm what she knew the whole time. It's frustrating to watch a character get so much face time but basically get ignored for another 300 pages.

A couple other assorted issues with the book:

1. If you're an investigative reporter, or even a grad student, about to blow the doors off a major scandal, get some folks fired and probably a few others sent to prison, it really can't be surprising that violence might ensue. You may want to consider basic protective measures. Then Blomkvist attempts to go after them armed only with a can of mace? Smart.
2. You can't flip a page in the second act without a police officer calling Lisbeth retarded. OKAY. WE GET IT. At times the psychologist reports get mentioned once a paragraph. It's like being beaten with a fish.
3. I guess Larsson heard that everyone thought the epilogue of the first book was too long, and decided to remove the second book's denouement as punishment. The sequel preparation to book one was obvious, but this might as well be a "To be continued..." page. Golly, I wonder who will take over Berger's spot at Millennium? I sure have heard a lot about this Camilla girl! Durrrrrr...

Overall, I have to give the book four stars, even though it probably only deserves three. Lisbeth is an extremely fun character, even though she can (almost) do no wrong. The rest of the cast, besides an extremely vibrant, psychotic portrayal of Bjurman, seem blurry at best, and I really wish Larsson would have finished the book rather than take the cheap route to getting me to buy book three. Doesn't mean I won't buy it immediately, though... :)

3 STARS

I'm not sure what to say about this book. The writing is solid: subdued and keeps a good pace. You'll never find yourself wishing things were going faster, because you're never really sure where you're headed. To a confrontation with Doc Barker's gang? Reverend Whipple? Fiona? You're never sure.

Mercer is a great character, constantly trying to improve himself and facing serious choices about his development as a man and a police officer. Dorst did an okay job telling me why Mercer liked Fiona, but I never really got the romantic connection. I was really pulling for him to get with Kelly and have a little fun, for the first time in his life.

Encapsulating the action into the police reports is an interesting implementation of fiction. Dorst certainly gets points for trying something new. I can't figure out what I really like about this book, but I can tell you what I don't.

1. The present tense is very distracting at times. I don't understand why authors choose to write in this fashion when so little is gained. I guess it's a good decision when you're writing lyrical narrative, with lots of action and a fast pace. But if you're describing architecture, the present tense is ridiculous: "Is someone creating the corinthian columns right now? I can't tell!"
2. Officer Mercer is rather injury-prone. I could see one incident, specifically the car crash, happening and advancing the plot. But he's in the hospital on three separate occasions, and after the third occurrence you really don't care that he's in pain.
3. So many characters! Most are interesting, with Toronto and Jude probably being the most in-depth, but their roles come in waves, and are never complete. Some characters, particularly Lorna, get off scott-free from their poor choices, while others, particularly Jude, are placed in impossible situations and face huge consequences. Reyna doesn't even make an appearance in the epilogue: what the Hell happened to her?
4. We are never really emotionally invested in the plight of the ghosts. Dorst never connects what Featherstone was doing there in the first place (I assumed he actually was crazy) and, more importantly, never gives us a real reason for Mercer to care what happened to the beleaguered residents of the cemetary.
5. Little Coit learns martial arts from an old guy in the Japanese cemetary? Seriously?
6. Using root on the living in the climax seems curious. Doc Barker already has a great method of killing, see Sergeant Featherstone. Further, we are never told about the method used by the latter to avoid coming to the cemetary at all. It is mentioned in passing in one of the police reports (cremation, I think?) but it would have been interesting to examine how he learned of the circumstances and any other "rules" that apply to the lives of the dead.

Overall, I guess I can't recommend this book, per se, but if you're thinking about reading it, I think you should, simply to see what you'll think.

3 STARS

After finishing the Harry Potter series, I was desperate for good fantasy fiction, and there's just not a ton out right now. His Dark Materials went south (yeah... deep south) by the middle of Amber Spyglass. Magic Bites, Dresden Files, and the other magic/mystery series failed to lure me. Luckily, I found The Alchemyst.

I liked the first book, and the second, thoroughly. Michael Scott draws action sequences very well and it's fun to glimpse some of the personalities he has implemented: Dr. John Dee is a great villain, and Saint-Germain is a fun addition to the party. The drama is self-sustaining, as the main characters are constantly moved and moving in and out of danger.

As with most action fiction, characters thoughts and feelings are usually limited to analysis of the situation at hand and reacting to previous events: there's no internal interaction going on, and that's okay. Scott, however, has stumbled across a couple problems and hasn't fixed them in his 2nd book of the series.

1. Scott has a bad case of the one-uppers. Remeber when wereboars were considered the best warriors in history during the battle at Yggdrasill? No, now the Disir are the best. Except for Nidhogg. And Mars. And whomever they meet next. It's going to be tough for Scott to continue introducing more and more characters who are supposed to be more and more dangerous (literary escalation) when he starts out at such superlatives (Scathach is the best warrior there ever was... period). One "superbly powerful" character towards the end of this book barely made it thirty pages past his introduction, and was killed by what seemed like a relatively simple attack by Dr. John Dee. Where will Scott go from here, given that the only possible direction is up?
2. Joan really needs more definition as she seems to be the same character as Scathach.
3. We also seem to be missing a major theme here: Sophie and Josh aren't too emotionally invested in what's happening, and for a long time simply wanted to return home. It's almost like Scott's releasing the books in teen-sized serials, rather than a long epic that might prove imposing to the novice reader. Very little attention has been paid by any character that Flamel's motivations are primarily based around getting his wife back and returning to immortality. I'd really like to see Scott begin to tie together action and an overall morality. He's touched on it a couple times, usually involving Dee's attempts to lure Josh away, but there really needs to be a full addressing of the issues awaiting our heroes.

Overall, very good, and worth the relatively quick read.