Book Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender: Imbalance Part One by F. E. Hicks et al.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Imbalance Part One written by Faith Erin Hicks and art by Peter Wartman

Team Avatar (Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph) head to Cranefish Town, the Earth Kingdom city where Toph's dad owns a factory. Since the war ended, the town has grown substantially, with many other businesses moving into the area. Some problems have arisen. First, the businesses have expanded but there's no local government. The business leaders have formed a council but they haven't developed a police force. This is a problem because, second, there is fighting in the street between various benders. The factories have developed new machines that require fewer benders (who are expensive employees). The unemployed benders have turned to crime, causing trouble for the factories and the non-bending citizens. Toph's dad has invited the team so Aang can help get the situation cleaned up. Speaking of cleaning up, the third problem is the generally poor use of natural resources and trashing of the area. Team Avatar spends some time cleaning up the beach as a start. Unfortunately, a conspiracy is afoot to keep the conflict between various factions going strong.

The book is a great intro to the story (there's two more parts) and captures the action, humor, and heart of the television series. The art does a great job mimicking the art from the series. This is a great continuation of both the television series and of Gene Luen Yang's impressive run of Avatar graphic novels.

Recommended, highly for Avatar: The Last Airbender fans.

Book Review: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

See my review of volume one here, volume two here, and volume three here.

Murderbot the SecUnit heads home (sort of) now that it has collected incriminating data on GrayCris Corporation, the company that tried to kill Muderbot's group in the first book. It's on its way to Dr. Menseh, the head of the first group who has been in the center of the anti-GrayCris lawsuits. She also bought Murderbot to keep the company from finding out that it is a defective SecUnit. The defect is a hacked governor unit that is supposed to keep Murderbot from acting independently. Murderbot uses its free will to help people...and to watch lots of serial dramas. On its way to Menseh's homeworld, Murderbot discovers that she's gone missing, most likely kidnapped by GrayCris in an attempt to cover up corporate wrongdoings. Murderbot to the rescue!

As always, the science fiction universe and the action-packed drama are fun. The most interesting part is seeing Murderbot developing as a person, learning to adapt to situations and, more importantly, to deal with those pesky emotions that often lead humans into making the bad tactical decisions. Murderbot is always complaining about. It also figures out how to deal better with eye contact and physical contact (there's a funny scene where Murderbot realizes someone needs a hug and goes so far to say that she can hug it). The struggle to understand its own humanity is another great example of the sci-fi tradition of Spock, Data, and Odo. Who doesn't love those guys?

Highly recommended--these first four short volumes make one extended story. A longer novel has been published and I am sure to read that soon.

Movie Review: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) co-written and directed by Nicholas Meyer

A massive explosion on a Klingon moon destroys the moon and poisons the Klingon homeworld's atmosphere. The official response from Klingon High Command is that there was an incident and they need no help. Two months later, secret negotiations with the United Federation of Planets are advancing thanks to Spock (Leonard Nimoy). The UFP invites Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to Earth to work on a peace treaty, which would mean disbanding the military assets along the Klingon-Federation border. Kirk (William Shatner) is opposed to any peace treaty but Spock has nominated Kirk and the Enterprise as the escort through Federation space for Gorkon's ship. When the two ships meet up, Kirk invites Gorkon and his staff to a diplomatic dinner. The dinner is extremely awkward (leading to lots of funny moments--funny for the viewers, not either crew) and no tension is relieved. After the Klingons return to their vessel, two photon torpedoes are shot at them, disabling their gravity. Two Federation crewmen beam aboard and kill Gorkon. The Klingons automatically accuse Kirk, who surrenders his vessel and beams aboard with McCoy. They are arrested and sent to a penal colony while Spock leads an investigation to find out what really happened.

The movie was the "final mission" for the original Enterprise crew and it is a great send off. The plot centers on an interesting mystery that flows from the tense political situation. Both sides have their warmongering zealots. Kirk starts off in that camp and slowly (and sometimes painfully) moves over to the side of peace. The story is a thinly-veiled metaphor of the end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The tone does not get too dark--they throw in plenty of jokes and have a running gag about Klingons quoting Shakespeare in the "original Klingon." Christopher Plummer plays the bad Klingon and, even though his character isn't that deep, he delivers his lines with gusto, in English or in Klingon. The story does get slow at a few points and the characters make a few too many references to literature, like the too-many-Easter-eggs in the recent Star Wars films. The flaws are fairly minor and easily outweighed by the good. The idea that all rational beings should count as human is both a timely and an eternal truth.

Recommended, especially to fans of the original Star Trek crew.

Nationals Opening Week Game 2021

Thanks to the school Easter holiday, we could go to one of the opening week games for the Washington Nationals baseball team. Since just my oldest son and I went, we took the Metro, which is cheaper than paying for parking for only two of us. We hadn't been to a game in over a year. Some new construction went up, but not a lot. The trapeze school is gone, which is a bummer.

View from the Metro exit

With Covid restrictions, only 5000 fans can attend any one game. The upside of that restriction is that any giveaways won't run out, so there's no need to rush early to the stadium. This particular game (the first of a doubleheader to make up for an earlier missed game) offered special radios.

The giveaway

The radio is pre-tuned to FM 106.7, which is the local station that broadcasts the Nats games. The radio is untuneable, so it's only good for the sports channel. The package also claims it only works at the stadium during game days. But it offers bonus audio content not available on the regular broadcast. Hmm....

The downside of the Covid restriction is that the stadium is fairly empty (the stadium has 41,313 seats). We had a well-shaded view of the field from our seats.

View of the field just before the game begins

To prevent people from "upgrading" their seats, the unused seats are zip-tied closed.

Not a comfortable way to sit

View during the game

Not all the concessions were open. Since the game started at 12:05, we ate lunch in the park. I had chicken tenders with fries. Yummy!

Lunch at the park

The game was fairly exciting at the start. The Nationals took a 4-1 lead in the first inning. Then they gave up five runs in the second, though the Nationals scored another. The game slowed down as the next several innings were scoreless. Then, in the fifth inning, we had the seventh inning stretch. Yes, you read that right, dear reader. Since the game was part of a doubleheader, each game was only seven innings.

This guy on the other team had some amazing stats:

.222 twice, then .444 and .666?!? Is this some sort of math problem?

The game ended with the Nats failing to tie the game on a double play at the bottom of the seventh. The second game was to start forty-five minutes later, so we decided to head home rather than hang around (the Nats lost again). In the metro station, we saw some strange ads.

Uh, maybe we should have gone to the Orioles game?

It was fun to go and we may try again if the situation turns out favorable.

Book Review: Black Widow Vol. 3 by N. Edmondson et al.

Black Widow Volume 3: Last Days written by Nathan Edmondson and art by Phil Noto

For my review of the first volume, go here, and for the second volume here.

Black Widow continues her search for redemption and to find out who is behind the enigmatic yet ever-present Chaos. Her lawyer/money manager has been shot and is slowly recovering in the hospital. She's been outed as having a very black past by a cable news network. She decides to lay low when she sees even her apartment is covered by news vans. But she won't stay on the sideline for long. She fights her way through the Chaos organization to reach a final conflict with The Prophet, a man possessed (maybe literally) by a vision of a better future. Black Widow doesn't buy it even though he offers her an easy life.

This book finishes the storyline for Edmondson. The ending is satisfying, creating an interesting character arc for Black Widow and a solution for the ongoing plot. The art as usual fits the story nicely. It is refreshing to read a book about a female character who isn't treated visually as a sex object. She doesn't even treat herself like a sex object. 

Recommended.

Book Review: God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew

God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew with John & Elizabeth Sherrill

Brother Andrew started life as a Dutch boy during World War II, hoping to be an adventurer fighting Nazis. By the time he was old enough, the war was over but the Dutch colonies were fighting for freedom. Andrew joined the army and did a lot of bad things he later regretted. He was shot in the ankle and forced to return home. He was in a pit of despair about his life and prospects. Then one day he picked up his mom's Bible, which he had kept only for sentimental reasons (certainly not for reading), and it made sense to him. He turned his life around and became a missionary to what may have been the toughest area at the time--the countries behind the Iron Curtain. He felt the call to bring Bibles and the message of God's love to countries under the heal of Soviet rule. He devoted his life to trusting in God to provide the financial means and the personal safety on his trip. He provided encouragement and brotherhood. Andrew married and eventually had others join his tough mission.

As an adventure story, Brother Andrew's life was full of excitement. He had lots of encounters with police and bureaucrats where prayer, grace, and honesty won the day. As a testimony of Christian faith, it's inspiring. His trust in divine providence paid off time after time, whether he needed more finances for the next trip or some border guard not to see the stack of Bibles in the back seat of his car. The book reads quickly and enjoyably. Andrew's sense of modesty and fervor shine through.

Highly recommended.

Cute Kid Pix March 2021

Here's some more pictures that didn't make their own blog post...

I had to drive to Annapolis to pick up an order from a sporting goods store. While I was there, I did some geocaching, discovering C&D Fun in a parking lot near the store. "C&D" stands for "Cache and Dash," i.e. an easy find with parking practically in front of the cache. I was so quick, I didn't take a picture. I drove across town to Spa Creek Series: Out of Sight, which was a much tougher find in a very urban spot. Unfortunately, the container has broken in half, so the contents were gone! Hopefully the cache owner will take care of it soon.

A tricky location

The reason for searching for this geocache was because it was by Third Eye Comics and Games, two awesome shops. Since I gave up reading graphic novels for Lent, I did not go in the comic shop but I did buy a couple of things at the game store. The building exteriors are cool.

Third Eye Comics

Third Eye Games

In other news, apparently someone is filming a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds in our backyard. 

I guess I don't have to aerate the lawn this year

We went to Pepperjacks, a local sandwich and ice cream shop, and I could not resist the special, limited-time-only flavor milk shake they were offering: Maple Bacon. The shake did have a sweet maple flavor followed by some nicely smoky bacon flavor. The shake had real bits of bacon in it, giving me something to chew on after the sweet sips. It was awesome. I would get it again.

Delightful!