Lego Batman!

Similar to Lego Star Wars and its sequel, which both sold several million units in the U.S. alone, Lego Batman will be a family-friendly game featuring the characters from DC’s Batman comics made out of the famous toy bricks. Warner will release it in 2008 on multiple consoles.

from SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel

So what’s next?

As you may have heard, Tubby Smith is no longer the men’s basketball coach at Kentucky. I’m saddened by this, but I think it is for the best for both sides in the relationship. Tubby was probably tired of the fishbowl and the criticism. Kentucky fans were tired of the slow style of play and the constant feeling that UK was playing from behind in many ways.

I don’t know who the next coach will be, nor will I speculate. I believe that Kentucky needs a charismatic coach that has a fast-paced style. The coach should also be willing to put up with the extreme scrutiny that comes with coaching at what should be a top-5 school.

Rambling on leadership

I’ve been thinking about a few things this evening. What is good leadership? What makes people want to follow those leaders? What should leaders do to motivate others?

Ultimately, these are questions that I’m trying to answer for myself. I’m formulating these things in my head because I feel a need to be a better person and a better leader. As always, there is no right answer, but there are good ones and bad ones.

I suppose this could be defined as a quest. Fortunately, there are plenty of others who have been down this road, so there is a ton of good information out there. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of hacks who think they can boil it down to an acrostic for COACH or LEAD or some other nonsense.

I’m feeling a little introspective tonight, but I’m sure this theme will continue. As I solidify my thoughts and feelings on the subject, I’ll share. I think it helps me be coherent. As my one loyal subscriber can attest to, I ramble when I get like this in person. Writing helps to make those thoughts come together and it saves you the pain of listening to me figure it out.

Four hours of reality tv

Jennifer just subjected herself to four hours of reality tv, minus commercials of course. I walked away from Dancing with the Stars. I just couldn’t do it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End trailer

Disney released a very long trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End today. I’m not nearly as excited about this one as I was Dead Man’s Chest, but I think that’s because I thought Dead Man’s Chest would have more story. Silly me.

I just buried a gerbil

One interesting thing that gerbils do is eat their dead. I didn’t know this until my wife found one of her adopted gerbils dead in its cage with a nibbled head. I’ve never put a hand in their cage, but I did tonight. Go figure.

Weekend update

Since I didn’t post all weekend, I feel that I should explain myself.

I went into a basketball-induced coma on Friday night. That is all.

On the bright side, I’ve only lost 12 games on my bracket so far, so I’m sitting at about 75%. Not great, but not too bad either.

Three ‘Jeopardy’ contestants end up tied

The show contacted a mathematician who calculated the odds of such a three-way tie happening — one in 25 million.

from Three ‘Jeopardy’ contestants end up tied – Yahoo! News

Accordion Hero 2

Hit all the right notes and get the crowd on their feet waving their beer steins in unison – you are an accordion hero! Includes all the great accordion melodies you’ve ever gotten really, really drunk to…from Ein Munchen Steht Ein Hofbrauhaus to Rock You Like A Hurricane.

from Spiele: Accordion Hero

Israel recalls ‘naked ambassador’

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel recalls ‘naked ambassador’:
Israel has recalled its ambassador to El Salvador after he was found drunk and naked apart from bondage gear.

Reports say he was able to identify himself to police only after a rubber ball had been removed from his mouth.

Finished Neverwhere

After a false start, I finished Neverwhere over the weekend. Overall, it was a great story. I really enjoyed Croup and Vandemar, though some of the other characters seemed a little flat to me. The book was a bit short, by American Gods standards, but it felt complete and very well written to the end.

Gaiman’s writing style is easy to read, at least for me. Generally, dark themes don’t feel so dark when he describes them. Neverwhere certainly has some horrific moments and is generally suspenseful, but it never feels overbearing. It’s a very tightly constructed story with little to no waste. Since it moves along at a fairly brisk pace, it stays interesting to the end.

The story suffers from a little bit of Murder She Wrote syndrome. Every character has a role in the story, so it makes it predictable on some level, but it still finds a nice balance. Overall, I recommend it, but only if you like dark fantasy novels or are a Gaiman fan.

Update:

I didn’t realize it was a novelization. No wonder it seemed flat. Sorry Neil, even though you wrote it!

The novel was written after the series and was released in the UK by the BBC ISBN 0-7472-6668-9 and from Avon Books ISBN 0-380-78901-9 in July 1997.
For a book based on a TV series, it is considered to be surprisingly good, perhaps because it was written by Neil Gaiman himself, and might be described as an adaptation of the series as he would have preferred it, without the compromises required by budget restrictions and other factors.

from Neverwhere – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technorati Tags: neil gaiman, neverwhere

CompUSA.com – Closing Stores

If you feel like punishing yourself by going to an even less organized store, CompUSA is closing half of their stores, including all of them that I know of in the Atlanta area. Have fun with the bargain shopping.

from CompUSA.com – Closing Stores

Back to Neverwhere

I was doing very well reading Neverwhere, then I got distracted. I picked it back up a couple of nights ago and now I’m tearing through it again. I should be done in a few nights, then I’m off to The Dark Knight Returns or maybe The Watchmen.

Choices, choices.

Free as a Bird

I was listening to my last.fm recommendations station and “Free as a Bird” from the Beatles Anthology came up. It was the track that the three remaining Beatles converted from a John Lennon demo in 1995. I was firmly in one of my Beatles phases for a while after those albums came out. Sad, but good.

Technorati Tags: beatles

Springer replaces Philbin

So NBC couldn’t get Regis to come back for America’s Got Talent, so they went with.. Jerry Springer. I know everyone thinks he’s lovable after Dancing With The Stars, but still. This quote says it all:

“I’ve been around some of America’s most talented individuals on my talk show for the last 16 years, so I’ll feel right at home hosting ‘America’s Got Talent,’” Springer says in a statement. “I love the show and look forward to discovering the best performers from across the country.”

from ‘Talent’ Swap: Springer Replaces Philbin
– Regis’ schedule was just too busy. Jerry’s? Not so busy. – Zap2it