Book Review: "The Sorceress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel"

Book #3 in "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" series, by Michael Scott, is another fast paced magical adventure. Flamel and the Twins are in London, while Flamel's wife Perenelle remains trapped on Alcatraz.

There are a series of really good battles, intermixed with more time to get to know the characters. This book is the longest of the 3, and it's definitely the slowest paced, though it's still moving very quickly.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first 2, though I still liked it. Some of the characters are beginning to annoy me at times, especially Josh. I did like the introduction of 2 new characters in this book, and hope they reappear in later books. I await book #4, which I think will be released next year. Hopefully the characters will continue to grow, and the things that are starting to annoy me will fade away.

Movie Review: The Punisher: War Zone

"The Punisher: War Zone" is the latest in the long line of Marvel Comics movies. While Spiderman and the X-Men movies were big budget and really well done, "The Punisher" is more along the lines of "Daredevil" and "Elektra".

There is enough quality action in this to keep an action film junkie like me interested. Lots of shoot 'em up scenes. But the plot and dialogue were lacking. The bad guys were more comic relief than actually bad, which got annoying at times.

I guess I'm saying it's sorta stupid, but I sorta liked it. Watch at your own discretion.

The Harvester

Yesterday, 3 friends and I went to play golf at The Harvester near Des Moines, IA. This course was recently ranked #36 on the Golf Digest Top 100 Courses You Can Play (i.e. Public). The picture above is from the 3rd hole, which was my favorite on the course. It is 180 yards over water. I hit the green with my tee shot, but 3 putted for bogey...3 putting was common for me yesterday.

While the course is beautiful and difficult, overall it was a disappointing day from a golf standpoint. I played my worst round in several years...I couldn't putt or hit my irons. I actually drove the ball very well. Unfortunately, I haven't reached the point in my golf game where I can completely divorce myself from expectations...I can handle a bad round, but awful rounds still affect my fun level. Yesterday qualified as an awful round.

Overall though, the course is a wonderful golf course. The greens are the fastest I've ever played, and they are firm, so the ball releases forward when it lands rather than checking up. The fairways are wide enough, without being easy, and the bent grass fairways are really tightly mowed...which was another problem for me. Tight fairways reveal a fundamental swing flaw...I don't take divots, which works fine on most courses, but get me on really tightly mown fairways, and I struggle to hit it solidly. I'll have to work on that.

There were only 2 disappointments, other than my golf game. The bunkers are very inconsistent, some have too much sand while others do not have enough. Also, I thought the service was lacking. For $80, I would have expected to see the beverage cart more often, and I would have expected to have someone clean my clubs afterward.

I'm glad I played The Harvester once, but I'm not going to go out of my way to go again. If I have friends who want to go, I'll consider joining, but it's not so special that it warrants a yearly trip.

Here's a couple more pictures. This one is from the top of #15, otherwise known as "Big Hog". It's a 600 yard par 5, uphill the entire way. Our tees were actually back so it was playing at probably 630 yards. I hit driver, 3 wood and 6 iron to the back of the green, and then 3 putted for bogey. Being above the hole putting down hill is a really bad idea on this course.



This last picture is of the 18th hole. I actually took this from the 14th tee box, which is a better angle. It's a 540 yard par 5 with water all the way down the right side. You hit to the first peninsula, then you can either go for the green or lay up to the 2nd peninsula. I ripped a perfect drive on this hole, then played my hybrid just off the green to the left. I chipped it to about 10 feet, but missed the birdie putt. I did manage to make the par though...so at least I finished somewhat strong.

Nobody to Blame Now

Alright liberals, you've got it all now. You have the most liberal President in history. You control both houses of Congress. You have the most liberal leadership in the history of the House of Representatives. You have a 60 vote majority in the Senate (thanks to the Minnesota Supreme Court)...that's filibuster proof baby!

So, if I listen to my liberal friends...yes, I have 2 who actually admit it and several others who are "moderates that support Obama" (a.k.a. liberals who won't admit it), then we should have a Utopia in this country by 2010. From what I've been told it's the evil Conservative capitalists who are exploiting the poor, ruining the environment, and generally causing the world to hate us.

Now that we have the liberal's dream scenario in place, I figure this country should be a Utopia, just like those other liberal strongholds, such as Michigan, California and New York. What's that you say? Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country, California is bankrupt and New York is almost bankrupt? Surely not! Why those states have been run by liberals for longer than any others, surely they should be the greatest places to live.

That's the not so well kept secret...liberal policies don't work! They never have. That's why Western European countries such as France and Germany are electing Conservatives now...they've figured out that the liberal policy of redistribution of wealth through tax policies, health care and social programs doesn't work. What Obama and his cronies are trying won't work either. And you know what? They can't blame George W. Bush or Rush Limbaugh or Fox News now, even though they will try. They have it all, and everything that happens going forward, good or bad, is on them (and I believe it will be more bad than good).

And to my Conservative friends out there...watch out! They will try to get us to support them in a bipartisan manner. They don't need us, so the only reason they could have for doing this is so that we can share the blame in their failures. Remember our principles...strict adherence to the original intent of the Constitution, limited federal government and protection of human life from birth to natural death. Stick to those principles and hopefully in 2010 we'll have some semblance of a country to begin to reclaim. Until then, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

A Sad Week

In a week that saw us lose Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, the loss that hits me the hardest is the passing of Billy Mays.

Billy Mays was the American Dream personified. He found something that he loved to do, pitching products, and he went out and did it better than anyone else. He was an over the top, larger than life personality who sold everything from Oxi-Clean to the Big City Slider Station. Recently, he's been appearing on Discovery Channel's Pitchmen, where he, and fellow pitch man, Anthony Sullivan would evaluate different inventions and decide what would sell and what wouldn't.

My favorite Billy Mays commercials were the commercials for ESPN360.com. The best line was "THE SECRET IS IN THE INTERNET CONNECTION! LIVE SPORTS TRAVEL ALONG THIS WIRE TO THE BACK OF YOUR DESK TOP!" Mays will be missed by all of us that loved his boisterous, TV pitchman personality.