Time and Again Review

I buy a lot of e-Books. I hear about something being on sale that I think I might like and I pick up a copy to read at some point in the future. Recently I picked up copies of Jack Finney's Time and Again and Terry Pratchett's Nation for something like $1.99. Practically free. I decided to try Time and Again first.

Time and Again is Jack Finney's illustrated novel from 1970 about an advertising artist, Simon Morley, who gets involved in a government project on time travel. Since I like time travel, it seemed like a good bet I would enjoy this. I won't go into the particulars of how time travel works within the context of the story as that is well done and integral to the story. One nice aspect of the book is the way Finney includes pictures and drawings in the book that heighten the reader's immersion (and the characters) into the story. This really heightens the story in a similar way that art did for the Da Vinci Code.

There are aspects of romance and moral quandaries in the story as well. I found the main character's viewpoint to be interesting. His internal dialog about women around him seems very shallow, at times, by today's standards. See, he is in a relationship and thinking that it will eventually lead to marriage while still internally finding nearly every woman he sees attractive and wants to meet them. As with any older work, this is probably more a product of the mores of the time than any particular choice on the author's part. Another topic covered in the story is the moral aspects of time travel - should it be done, what is okay to do and not do as well as who has the right to make those choices.

Overall the book hits some high notes and has obviously influenced many of the time travel romance novels (or movies) that have followed over the year. The illustrative parts, drawing and photos, are well done and add depth to the story. I recommend Time and Again if you like time travel and historical novels. Time and Again gets 3.5 Mick Happies. Next time it may be Nation or possibly Motorsport Manager, both of which are taking up all my free time.

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal DVD Review

For those who are unaware, Terry Pratchett is the well-loved author of the Discworld series of humorous fantasy novels. There are dozens of them in the series (the Tiffany Aching books being some of my favorite) and each takes the usual tropes and intermixes satire of our own world to yield a funny take on fantasy. Over the last half of the first decade of the 2000s, Sky TV in the UK has commissioned live-action films of three of Terry Pratchett's novels, The Colour of Magic (a funny look at tourism), Hogfather (a take on Santa Claus) and the latest: Going Postal (a take on communication and interconnectivity).

Going Postal is the story of Moist von Lapwing, a con artist, who finds himself in trouble with the Ankh-Morpork (A-M is the main city of the Discworld - think London only dirtier and more magical) constabulary and sentenced to death. Instead of being killed, the city's Patrician, Lord Vetinari, decides that Lipwig might serve another purpose and tasks him with running the A-M post office. This puts Lipwig in direct competition with Reacher Gilt, the owner and operator of the Clacks system (a set of semaphore towers connecting A-M with other cities in the Discworld for rapid communication), which has superseded the post office with its easy/fast communication.

What follows is a romp through obsession with collectibles, hacking of the Clacks, hallucinations and a man fighting for his life, to become respectable and to win the heart of the woman he is falling in love with. You don't have to be versed in the Discworld series to enjoy Going Postal. The story stands on its own while being perched on the back of the deep history the series has developed. There are tons of nods to the rest of the Discworld series and its many characters here, but you don't have to know them to enjoy it all.

The casting for Going Postal was great. Richard Coyle, playing Moist, was a good choice. If you watch British television, you might know him from Coupling where he played Jeff. He has gone on to carve out a good career since then and Going Postal was a good addition. The movie also stars Charles Dance as Lord Vetinari and Clare Foy as Adora Belle Dearheart, the love interest and the daughter of the man who invented the Clacks that were later taken over by Reacher Gilt. Clare recently starred with Richard Coyle in NBC's short-lived pirate show, Crossbones. Good to see them working together years earlier in Going Postal.

Going Postal runs about 3 hours in two 90 minute episodes and has many twists and turns. It is a good movie to start with if you are unfamiliar with Discworld. Just think, if you like it then there are lots of books to enjoy later. Many covering the same characters in more detail. There are differences between the book and the movie and the Wikipedia link above will list some of the differences. Even as a stand-alone movie, Going Postal works. I give it 4 Mick Happies and recommend you (and any pre-teen/teenagers in your house) sit back and enjoy. See you all in Ankh-Morpork.

Christmas Games Round Up

Ahh, 2015 at last. For the second straight year I was able to put together the same number of posts on this site, 41. Maybe I can do better this year (probably will be a stretch to keep things up instead). This first post is easy though, I have lots of new games to discuss that found their way under the Christmas tree last year. What follows is a set of quick reviews on a number of the fun items my family and I gave each other as gifts.

Civilization: Beyond Earth - The latest iteration of the Civilization series builds on the base of the Civilization V engine to give a futuristic Civ game - spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri. The game is standard Civilization with futuristic and alien trappings. You found a settlement, research technologies, build upgrades, explore, try to survive and beat the other civilizations on the planet that mankind has come to after things have deteriorated on earth. I have to say that the futuristic trappings really fit well with the Civ model. Having scouting units build expeditions to explore crashed satellites, alien lifeforms wandering the planet that have to be dealt with, new resources to exploit are all great. If you like the Civ games, this is more of the same with new lip gloss and spit polish. Civilization: Beyond Earth gets 4 Mick Happies.

Jeff Foxworthy's You Might Be A Redneck If… - We like board games around our house and every Christmas and most birthdays will see a new one showing up. This Christmas we had several to play with including You Might Be A Redneck If… For those unfamiliar, the game is based on the comedy of Jeff Foxworthy. You are a redneck trying to stock up your trailer with the usual things you might need such as a TV, satellite dish, fly swatter, beef jerky, a recliner and your dog. To get them, you have to move around the board to various locations. To move, you guess the right answer to a redneck joke. Having family from the South, many of the answers were no-brainers for me but of course my mom, who grew up in the South beat all of us. This is a fun board game sure to bring some laughs and provide good clean fun (as long as you don't mind being hard on some rednecks). 4 Mick Happies.

Despicable Me Minion The Game of Life - I have about 5 different versions of Monopoly and two different versions of Clue and now 3 different versions of The Game of Life. We love the minions from Despicable Me around our house, who doesn't right? The latest iteration of their invasion into all things is this version of Life. You are a Minion who starts with a Minion type job with the goal of collecting 5 bunches of bananas. To help you, you will earn banana bucks from your job, which can be traded in for a bunch of bananas. You will also land on various spots and pick up cards that tell you what to do. The game is for very young ages and can be played very quickly. With 3 of us, we completed two games in less than 30 minutes and laughed at some of the mechanics of the game such as the minion spinners that cause you to change direction when you reach them. If you like cute board games that take minimal time to setup and play, this is a good one. The math is simple and the mechanics are a good variation on the classic Life game. Probably good for ages 5 or 6 and up. 4 Mick Happies.

Metal Earth Millennium Falcon Model - If you have gone to a Barnes & Noble store and looked at their puzzle/game section, you have probably seen these metal puzzles. They are small sheets of metal that have individual pieces that can be punched out and assembled into things like the Eiffel Tower or in this case, the Millennium Falcon. This was in my stocking this year along with an X-Wing model. Everything you need, instructions and all the pieces are included in the packet except the tools to manipulate the pieces to lock together. A pair of tweezers and a needle-nose pliers. They are needed to pull tabs through slots and fold them down - which is how pieces are locked together. Warning, this is not exactly the easiest puzzle to put together, but it does get easier as you go along. Also, the pieces are small, which is where the tweezers can help. It took about 2 hours of dedicated work and a bit of swearing to get the Falcon show above built. The metal can be a little sharp too, so you will probably hurt your fingers at some point. The finished product of your effort does look cool though. If you have patience for it and the right tools, there is probably a Metal Earth puzzle for you. This one gets 3.5 Mick Happies.

Personalized Puzzle from Shutterfly - My wife often gets personalized gifts via Shutterfly and this year was no exception. She decided to have a traditional puzzle made from some of our family photos. What resulted was an awesome ~250 piece puzzle that we were able to assemble in about 30 - 40 minutes working together as a team. It was also great seeing the family pictures emerge as the pieces came together. If you like puzzles at all, I recommend you get one for your family. 5 Mick Happies.


Happy New Year!