Friday, May 29, 2009

Matlab.....

Slowest program ever. Argh!!!

Book Review: Rattle His Bones

Rattle His Bones (Daisy Dalrymple Mystery #8) Rattle His Bones by Carola Dunn

My review

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a very simple mystery, but I enjoyed it. It is set in the British Natural History Museum, and carefully explores the relationships between the different curators and museum staff. I found this interesting, because it touches upon rivalries between related scholarly fields and the big egos common in academia. Really, the book could quite easily have been set in a university department and had a similar flavor (though there wouldn't be an excuse for jewel theft!).

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Book Review: Battle for the Cowl

Batman: Battle for the Cowl Batman: Battle for the Cowl by Tony Daniel

My review

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
First thoughts: I'm reading this in floppy form as it's released. Currently I have read issues 1 and 2 out of three. I have also been following the tie-ins (Gotham Gazette, issues in Batman, Detective Comics, etc.). The action is moving right along, which is nice. I guess that's what happens when the main series is only three issues long.

Update: I finished the third (last) issue. I found it confusing that there was apparently some action that happened between issues 2 and 3 that was missing. That stuff probably happens in a tie-in that I missed (damn you, DC, for your large event cross-overs!). But besides that, this was a sensible ending to a simple story. I don't mean that as a criticism, but rather as praise. It was nice to read a straightforward "comics event," instead of the time-jump-around-y stuff that Bendis always writes. I am looking forward to what's in store for the new Bat books coming this summmer.

Movie Review: Wolverine

This was okay, but not as good as it could have been. The relationship between Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Sabertooth (Liev Schreiber) was interesting, and some of the other mutants on Wolverine's government special ops team (like Dominic Monaghan) were decent. Otherwise, we get a sequence of sometimes standard and sometimes super weird action and character moments. (What was up with the fat man boxing bit? Or the naked Wolverine running through the woods bit?) Gambit and Emma Frost don't add much, sadly. A bit of a waste.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Baby Hat and Booties




I made these for my advisor, who is due to have a boy in a couple weeks. She's always wanted to learn how to knit, so I knew she would appreciate these. The patterns I used are here for the hat and here for the booties (ravelry links). Both were well written. My only issue was that the hat pattern wasn't clear on the gauge, but that doesn't seem to matter so much for baby hats. I didn't do the fold-down cuffs or the eyelets for the booties. I hope they stay on his feet!