The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I mentioned in my first status update, I’d always dismissed The Hunger Games as a European Battle Royale. And, superficially, it appears to be an apt comparison. High school kids are forced to battle each other until only one is left. With all the white-washing and remaking of Japanese movies and TV shows (still upset at the possibility of Keanu Reeves as Spike Speigel) I didn’t want to give it a chance. Then I got The Hunger Games as part of an audio book humble bundle. The entire trilogy plus a bunch of other books for a minimum of $15. So if it sucked, I wouldn’t feel gypped. (As of now I’ve only listened to the first book, so no series spoilers in the comments, please)

Love Hina, Vol. 11 by Ken Akamatsu

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I started reading this series 10 years ago. For whatever reason, I stopped a couple books short from the end. Last year I started re-reading them for a series over on Comic POW! ( http://www.comicpow.com/thread/unders… ) Overall, I’ve enjoyed the story almost as much as I did the first time around (when I was closer in age to Keitaro). Many manga and anime are full of Fan Service and, as you’d expect from a series involving a college guy living with HS-College age girls, there’s plenty here. But this entire volume was essentially just one giant fan service episode for 100 or so pages. Given that Akamatsu has actually really provided some of these characters a lot of emotional and personal growth it was just annoying and repetitive. The entire volume feels as though Akamatsu had to make, say, 100 issues and he realized his story only required 95 issues so he’s stalling. Instead of one nonsensical issue within the volume, the whole thing hinges on the girls being fired or quitting over and over as they fight with Keitaro’s sister, who’s running things while he’s in America.

Jumper by Steven Gould

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quick note: If you don’t like sci-fi - you can probably still enjoy this book. The main character can teleport and that’s it. The reasons, science, etc are not explored. It’s just a plot device and the rest of the story is pretty much devoid of anything sci-fi.

Boy this kid really starts off in a crap sack world. It’s no wonder this was the most banned book in the 90s.

Technology continues to complicate the media landscape. The other day I learned on the Fedora Planet how to send Pulse Audio over the net - allowing one computer to listen to music (or other audio) from another. But, in the context of music, who cares? I have all my music on Google Music. I can just plug my phone into the sound system and listen to music (or any other speakers). This also eliminates my need to use DLNA / uPNP servers/clients to play my music. (They never worked all that well anyway)

Librarian of Congress: Don’t be a bigot! Renew the rights of the blind to read!

Upgraded my netbook, Kuribo, to Fedora 21.

fedup --network 21 --product=nonproduct

Went off without a hitch. Like the new login theme. Waiting to make sure the curl in F21 works with Kodi (formerly XBMC) since the current newest version in 20 doesn’t work.

Watching Marx Brothers A Day At The Races with my two year old. She likes it. But asked me, “Daddy, why doesn’t that man talk?”

Two nights ago Scarlett had her first nightmare (that she could articulate to us). She was screaming for us to come and then hyperventilating as she told us what was scaring her. I won’t share the exact details, but I’m pretty sure it had to do with the fact that she saw Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast that day.

No problem!

But kill an elk? You are going to get convicted, you monster!

Jurors deliberated for about four hours before convicting Sam Carter on all nine counts he faced, which also included forgery and tampering with evidence.

Carter shot “Big Boy” the bull elk with his buckshot-loaded shotgun as it grazed on fallen crabapples, and then called in a friend and fellow officer to help remove it as horrified neighbors watched Jan. 1, 2013.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My brother Dan recommends a lot of stuff to me. I don’t always have the time or money to get to it right away, but when it comes to books, music, and comics I’m usually very in sync his recommendations. (At least when it comes to his recommendations to me, it’s been a bit spotty in the other direction) Examples of good recommendations include World War Z, Chew, Jonathan Hickman’s body of work, and Lucky Boys Confusion. Dan recommended the Thursday Next novels years ago. (At least five because it was way before Scarlett) I recently got a $10 credit on B&N Nook books so I went and grabbed the first book, The Eyre Affair.