Still kicking

No, I haven't died. Life has just been too busy for blogging, what with work, side projects, church assignments, library books piled up way too high, a teething baby, and home improvement projects with winter coming on in Minnesota.

And so I'm going to get away from it all. We'll be taking a vacation to Disneyworld and will be back at the end of the month. (No, not all the time will be spent at Disneyworld; we'll also camp on the Gulf of Mexico and spend Thanksgiving weekend with family, plus the driving time (yup, we're crazy enough to drive from Minnesota to Florida with five boys!).

So, have a great Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll pop in and say something while I'm on vacation. But I kind of doubt it.

Wicked

Last week, PBS had a special on the history of Broadway musicals. I caught a few minutes of it as my wife was watching. They were discussing a relatively new musical (one year old), Wicked. It looked fairly interesting, so when I saw it on the Showtunes section of MusicMatch, I thought I'd take a listen.

Wow! This musical has completely blown me away. The music is original and evokes emotions greatly. Various musical styles are blended together without seeming incongruous. But more importantly, the music really helps to tell the story, which is a great one.

The musical is set in the Land of Oz and gives the “backstory” of the familiar movie. It tells of the friendship of Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West from their school days, and how the Wicked Witch became ... well, Wicked. It is an engaging adaptation of Gregory Maguire's book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

And all of that without having seen the musical yet! Apparently there are some plot twists not revealed on the official or unofficial sites I've seen. See the unofficial site for more info on the musical and the composer, Stephen Schwartz, who also wrote the music and lyrics for The Prince of Egypt.

There's a tour planned for Spring 2005, and if I have the chance, I'm definitely going to go see this one.

Game review: Coda

Players: 2-4 Ages: 6-Adult

I was browsing at the game store at the mall recently and noticed Coda. It looked intriguing, and was relatively inexpensive, so I picked it up. I played it yesterday for the first time with my 8 1/2-year-old (Dallin) and 7-year-old (Sammy).

Coda is a fairly simple “code-breaking” game, using numerical codes only. There are two sets of tiles, white and black, each numbered 0-11. For “advanced” game play, there is also a dash (-) tile in each color. The players draw tiles and arrange them in ascending numerical order, with black tiles preceding white tiles if they have the same number on them. The players then take turns “attacking” various point of their opponents' “codes”. If they make a successful attack by guessing a tile correctly, the opponent must reveal that tile, and the guesser has the option of continuing to attack or adding a newly-drawn tile to his or her code. If unsuccessful, the newly-drawn tile is added to his or her code in the proper position, but revealed to the other players. The object is to be the last one with tiles concealed.

We played only the simple version, without the dash tiles, which act as “wild” tiles in the more advanced version. Dallin caught on right away, while Sammy needed a little more coaching. They both really enjoyed the challenge of the game and seeing their opponents' codes revealed. I found it to be very easy. It seems to me the game has the potential for real challenge if there were good variant rules developed, or if letter tiles were included, or some such enhancement.

Game play was pretty short for us; I'd say not more than five or six minutes per round. It's like an easier version of Mastermind, which my kids are about to be introduced to. :-)

Restaurant review: Big Bowl

Last Friday, my family came to pick me up from work so we could go to lunch together. We decided to go to Big Bowl, on the recommendation of some friends. We had to wait about half an hour to get in, so we decided to walk around the mall a bit (boy, do kids find escalators fascinating!).

It was well worth the wait. They were great with the kids: each received chopsticks that had the top ends rubber-banded together, with a folded-up paper wedged in to make the chopsticks easy to use. They also got an activity book, and, in a take-home container, some crayons and “Wikki Stix,” sticky and bendable sticks with instructions on making various figures. The server was also really great with the kids, chatting with them on their level and very helpful.

And then the food was excellent. I had the Asian chicken salad, which, while a little heavy on the dressing, had a nice mix of greens and sprouts, including Asian cilantro. The peanutty chicken satays were just the right touch. My wife had the chicken pad thai. The flat noodles were very good, and the spices just right. For the kids, we got a couple of crispy chicken “nuggets” and a couple of stir-fried noodle dishes -- they got to choose their meat and veggies. The kids didn't particularly care for the unusual sauces, but really enjoyed the chicken and noodles. Their meals came with lemonades that were not only adult-sized (which my kids loved), but came with free refills. We had a fair bit of food left over at the end of the meal, and their take-home containers were really sturdy, unlike at so many other places.

All in all, it was a really good experience, and we will definitely be back.

Prices for lunch are about $9-12 for regular dishes; $4-5 for kids' meals.

Game review: Quiddler

Players: 2-10 Ages: 10-Adult

Last year, my brother introduced me to Quiddler, by Set Enterprises. This is a word-building card game with elegantly designed cards, inspired by Celtic manuscripts. The object of the game is to make words out of the cards in your hand and score the most points (different letters have different point values). There are a few two-letter combinations, such as QU, IN, and TH, and bonuses for forming the most words and the longest word, for an additional element of strategy.

The game is played in phases, with the number of cards in your hand increasing in each phase, starting with three and ending with ten. This game has quickly become a family favorite, and is a great way to teach kids spelling, as well as to learn lots of unusual short words that may come in handy in lots of other word games you play.

If you're in a silly mood, you can have a lot of fun by playing with misspelled words. In this “variant”, you are not allowed to use correctly spelled words, but the letters must sound out a real word (or at least come close). Note: this tends to work best when people are tired. ;-) Enjoy!

Biggest debate mistakes

Bush and Kerry each missed an excellent opportunity last night to clarify important distinctions in their positions. I can't say I was terribly impressed by either of them, though the debates were somewhat useful in helping me develop my opinions of them and this race.

Bush's big missed opportunity was this: He said, in answer to a question about Iraq, “the enemy attacked us,” and Kerry jumped all over it, saying that Saddam Hussein didn't attack us, Osama bin Laden did. Bush, in his response, simply stated (paraphrasing), “I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. You think I don't know that?” He then proceeded to address a different part of Kerry's statement. This was the perfect opportunity for Bush to not only show that he didn't slip up in his statement, but to illustrate an important difference between him and Kerry. He should have said, “Of course I know bin Laden attacked us. And that event changed the way we respond to threats. We didn't attack Iraq because they attacked us on September 11, we attacked because we wanted to prevent another September 11, and you agreed with me that Saddam was a threat, and authorized me to use force to prevent Saddam from carrying out the kind of attack we suffered on September 11. That is why the September 11 attack is relevant to the war in Iraq.”

Kerry's big missed opportunity was this: Bush's campaign has been portraying Kerry as a flip-flopper. So he was posed the question (paraphrasing), “When you returned from Vietnam, you asked, ‘How can you ask a man to be the last to die for a mistake?’ Are the soldiers in Iraq dying for a mistake?” Kerry answered (paraphrasing), “No; they don't have to be, if we implement the right policies there.” Wrong answer for him, I think. This answer made him look to me like he either didn't have a clear position on Iraq (was it a mistake or not?) or he was answering only for political expediency (yes, Iraq was a mistake, but if I say that, I'll lose votes). What he should have said was, “Yes, it was a mistake to go into Iraq the way we did. But it is not a mistake for us to stay and finish the job, now that we're there. We have a moral obligation to the people of Iraq, the Middle East, and the entire world to bring nations together to stabilize Iraq, to rebuild its infrastructure, to train its security forces, and to help make Iraq a safe and democratic nation. Our president made a mistake in going into Iraq when and how he did, but I will succeed in Iraq where he is failing, so that our soldiers don't die for a mistake.”

Maybe that's too much to hope for from these candidates.

Why didn't somebody tell me this earlier?

Money Can't Buy Happiness

I love public libraries

I am a heavy public library user. I typically have five to ten books checked out from the library, plus books for my kids, both for home school and for pleasure reading, plus DVDs, videos, and CDs (listening to a library copy of Elton John's Greatest Hits as I type).

Our local library (Hennepin County Library) is really excellent. They have a great website with a very good catalog system for reserving and renewing materials. Their interlibrary loan participation is excellent: I've checked out books from Yale, the University of Minnesota, BYU-Hawaii, Ricks College, and other places, at no extra charge.

They also have lots of events we have appreciated. For example, I took my kids to a magic show; afterward, they checked out several books to learn how to do magic tricks. They have regular story times where a librarian reads stories to young children and they do activities. Of course, they offer computer training, internet access, and computers for children. And that's not to mention the tax information classes, auto mechanics classes, reading clubs, author discussion groups, research services, etc. they offer.

Anytime I start feeling especially skeptical about government programs, I have to remind myself of the benefits I receive from our public library.

Still applicable

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness;

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate;

only love can do that.

Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence,

and toughness multiplies toughness

in a descending spiral of destruction.”

--Martin Luther King, Jr.,

“Strength to Love,” 1963

Fall colors

As election season approaches, the colors of fall are abounding. No, not the browns and oranges of autumn leaves -- the reds and blues of election signs on everybody's lawns.

Most of the time, Republican candidate's signs are primarily red with a splash of blue, while Democrat candidate's signs are primarily blue with a splash of red. We are all familiar with the images on TV of the "red states" and the "blue states". But where did the red = Republican, blue = Democrat thing come from?

Different colors have very different connotations. Red has connotations of aggressiveness, radicalism, danger, boldness, heat: emotion. Blue has connotations of calmness, thoughtfulness, depth, patience: rationality. So who gets to decide which party is associated with which color? Do the colors accurately reflect the general character of the two primary parties? The candidates? The labels "conservative" and "liberal"?

Sneaking food into Shrek

Rarely do I see a movie at a first-run theater. It's just too expensive. Usually I just rent them, but occasionally we go to the dollar movies, which of course really cost two dollars, except on Tuesdays, when they have nostalgia or something and charge only one dollar.

So I took my kids to see Shrek 2 this afternoon. I conceded to the high prices (now you know why it's called a concession stand) and bought popcorn, but there was no way I was paying the high prices for their candy. So I took the kids to the grocery store before the movie and bought some treats, which we sneaked into the theater.

This disturbed my eight-year-old son, who questioned the morality of our actions. Was this a despicable immoral act I committed in front of my children? If we hadn't brought candy into the theater, I still wouldn't have spent the money on candy at the concessions. We would have just gone without. So the theater didn't lose any money because of it. (Of course, you recognize the thought process here: it's exactly the same sort of rationalization many people give for online music swapping: we wouldn't buy the high-priced albums anyway, so nobody's really losing money.)

Do I need to repent?

Oh, and by the way, I thought Shrek 2 was better than the first one.

Comments fixed

Thanks to Clark for pointing out that my comments here weren't working. I've fixed them now, so have at it! You know you've got comments just stored up...

Game review: Swap!

I'm adding a new feature to my blog: game reviews. I'm not a video gamer or role-playing gamer, though, so if you're looking for that, sorry. I'm talking about board games and card games, primarily. Feel free to suggest some of your favorites.

This first review is of Swap! Card Game, by Patch. You can find this game at Wal-Mart for about $4.

Like UNO, the point of Swap! is to get rid of all the cards in your hand. The manufacturer lists it as appropriate for ages 7 and up, but my 5-year-old was able to play without any problems. The only matching to be done is by color; there are no numbers or letters, so no reading is required. There are cards to change colors, and Slap cards where everyone has to slap their hands down quickly, but most importantly, there are cards that require players to swap hands (hence the title). This can change the game rapidly and really levels the playing field, so that children have an equal chance of winning the game. Of course, my children absolutely love it.

A round usually only lasts 5-10 minutes, so it's a quick, inexpensive, and fun family game, especially for families with younger children who know their colors and who can't wait for a chance to beat Mom & Dad. Enjoy!

How to distract your readers

I've been reading Phillip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series, and am almost finished with book three, The Dark Design. I completely agree with the reviewers at Amazon.com who comment on Farmer's “asides” that give him a chance to include his own philosophy, thinly disguised as a character's thoughts, dreams, or whatever. The later Terry Goodkind books have the same flaw. So, to you budding writers out there, avoid this error.

But, frankly, even more distracting to me is the ridiculous attempt at multiculturalism (I can only assume) by including most measurements in both English and metric system, or both 12- and 24-hour time. This results in ludicrous phrases like:

Jill had assumed, along with everybody else she knew, that the mountains were from 4564 to 6096 meters high.

What? Nobody assumes such ranges with figures like that. They'd say something like “4500 to 6000 meters [or metres?] high.” Or worse:

On the average, The River was 2.4135 kilometers or a mile and a half wide.

or

The first mate, Tom Rider also known as Tex, stood about 5.08 centimeters or 2 inches shorter than Frigate's 1.8 meters or 6 feet.

About 5.08 centimeters? Are you sure it wasn't about 5.080036 centimeters?

Whatever the merits of inclusivity, this is not one of them. Please, if anyone reading this (is anybody reading this?) is thinking of writing, never, never, never do this.

(That said, I did notice that the Ensign has started including metric system estimates (in parentheses) where relevant. They do a much better job than the above quotes.)

Vote for me!

I've seen lots of discussion about a liberal bias in the media. Well, if they're trying to prop up John Kerry's campaign, either they're doing a lousy job of it, or Kerry has a really lousy campaign.

I have my share of concerns about Bush, but if anybody wants me to vote for them, they better tell me some specifics about their ideas for governing the country, not just tell me how poor a job Bush is doing.

I can say, as well as Kerry does (or maybe better) how Bush didn't act quickly enough, or too quickly, or didn't get enough international support, or is implementing the wrong policies, or isn't implementing intelligence reforms quickly enough, or that I wouldn't have made the same mistakes Bush made. So, why not vote for me?

And what I heard of John Edwards' convention speech wasn't much better. It's nice to hear that we can have affordable health care for everyone, that we can have equal education for everyone, etc., but if you don't tell me how we can, it's just a bunch of hot air.

Give me specifics! The only specifics I've heard were that Edwards was going to pay for everybody's health care and education by making the richest 2% of Americans pay for it. There's got to be more than that.

Community theater

My wife and two oldest boys recently performed in Cross Community Players' Brigadoon. Despite their fears, it turned out to be a really good show. This was the first play for my two oldest (aged 8 and 6), and they had a great experience. I'm very happy that they enjoyed it; I hope that we can make a family tradition out of community theater.

Only problem is, now I have the theater bug worse than I have in the past eight years, since my last community theater play!

There's something about theater, both in terms of performing and watching, that is very different from a movie. There's a connection between audience and performers, and a flow to the performance that really makes a difference.

A little mo life...

Since “real life” has been keeping me so busy, I should surely have something to post on my personal blog, right? I hope to revive this blog and maybe someday even be ready to participate in the Mo Life Blog Club...

Fresh apricots

We just ate our first fresh apricots of the season. Mmmmmm... reminds me of being a teenager and climbing my grandparents' apricot tree in the backyard, eating apricots right off the tree. Hard to beat that.

Wal-mart and digital music

Wal-mart has taken up the second spot in online music sales, after iTunes. One likely reason for this is that they price tracks at 88¢, rather than everyone else's 99¢. The NPR story on Morning Edition today remarked that this is Wal-mart's typical strategy: undercut on price by taking advantage of economies of scale. But how does that apply to digital music? Where are the economies of scale that Wal-mart is taking advantage of that are not available to other online music sellers like iTunes? It seems to me that digital music levels the playing field, so to speak. The overhead of selling and distributing music online includes application development, server hardware, bandwidth, etc., but it's not clear to me how Wal-mart has any advantage there.

Still, I'm glad to see what may be the beginning of price wars among digital music sellers. Like the commentator, I think the sweet spot for me is somewhere around a quarter a track.

Silly language innovations

It seems that one of the driving forces in (American) English public communication is the search for one-word nouns that encapsulate ideas. Unfortunately, this leads to some very silly innovations, like the one I heard on NPR the other day. They were discussing the recent reports of abuse of Iraqi prisoners, and the fact that the military had outsourced interrogation to private contractors. The reasoning behind this outsourcing was not merely financial, the analyst said, but also because the politically-driven desire to be distanced from such unsavory activities. “It's the politics of it,” said the analyst, “It's the optics of it.”

Optics?!? What does the study of the refraction of light have to do with motivation to outsource interrogation?

Yes, I understood what he meant: that it has to do with how such interrogation appears to people -- with how it looks. Some people would say that's sufficient; after all, he chose a term to communicate his meaning and I understood it, and isn't that what communication is all about? True, but there's a lot more to communication than merely conveying a meaning. The words we choose say something about us and our audience, and I'm not sure I like the connotations of his choice to use “optics” to describe this. It's too much PR. I suppose that's only fitting in a culture like ours where optics appearance is everything...

Bush Democrats?

I just finished reading Orson Scott Card's recent essay at The Ornery American (dictionary.com doesn't recognize the “onnery” pronunciation). Last year, Card called himself a “Tony Blair Democrat,” but it seems from his recent essays that he's really a Bush Democrat: socially conservative, fiscally liberal, and a hawk. Bush certainly hasn't been very fiscally conservative in this term (though he may not be spending the money where Card would prefer).

Is there something to the old saw about becoming more conservative as you grow older?

Value of a life

So, we've all heard the news about the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan (I first heard about it from all-encompassingly). The flurry of media attention given to his death contrasted with the relative lack thereof for other fallen soldiers. Why? And what was a key point of most reporting of his death? The fact that he gave up a 3.6 million dollar salary to serve his country. Money, money, money -- is that really such a big differentiator? Other soldiers have given up their families, their futures. Isn't even a few million dollars a pittance compared with that? It seems that we care so much about money that we value a fallen soldier who gave up a large salary more than we do another soldier who didn't. “Net worth,” indeed.

It's Personal

I started my foray into blogging with a Mormon-themed blog, Let Us Reason. Almost immediately, I discovered that there were things I wanted to blog that didn't really fit into the focus I wanted on Mormonism in that blog. I needed a personal blog. And voilà! GrasshopperMuse was born.

Though I use the online moniker “Grasshopper”, my “real life” identity is Christopher Bradford. I live in Minnesota and work as an internet consultant. My wife Lucy and I have five boys. Amazingly, I somehow find the time to read a lot, particularly online, where I participate in a few discussion boards and as a regular commenter on various blogs in the Mormon Blogosphere, affectionately known as the Bloggernacle (a term I coined).

This blog will deal with cultural, political, artistic, and personal musings, hopefully complementary to Let Us Reason.