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Month: September 2020

Putting On the Whistle One More Time

Putting On the Whistle One More Time

coach dribbling soccer ball with kids running alongside
Me coaching a few years ago

So, I’m coaching soccer again.

What with the global pandemic and all, things have changed everywhere in life, including youth sports. People are still a bit wary about things and so when we received sign-ups for our local soccer club our numbers were down a bit from years past. And there were just so many questions. So we decided to forego our usual travel soccer programs (travelling to other counties in Pennsylvania) and just do things in house as a club. Which means we needed more coaches.

So I’m coaching our U13 co-ed team. This was our first week, and it’s gone pretty good so far. It’s nice that a number of the kids in the program are ones I coached at the U8 level. They’ve all grown so much. And luckily they are right at the edge of still being young enough to be entertained by my corny jokes and general weirdness.

Our first game is tomorrow. Each week we are splitting up the 26 kids we have into 2 teams and then having them play against each other. No it won’t be like playing against kids from other towns, but hopefully it will still be fun and more importantly keep them progressing with their skills. And it gets me out in the nice Autumn air.

HBO Max is making a ‘Westing Game’ TV Series

HBO Max is making a ‘Westing Game’ TV Series

Holy crap. They are making a TV series based on The Westing Game. Growing up, The Westing Game was the book I always said was my favorite novel. I remember receiving it from the RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) program in class in 5th grade.

On RIF day, the teacher would lay out all they books they received onto a table in the front of the class. Some system was used to determine who got to pick their book first (maybe it was a reward or something, I never went first). But there was no widely available Internet back then and I lived in a little rural town so I had no idea what books were good. So I went based on the cover of the books.

The cover below isn’t the same as the cover on my copy (I still have it) though. I really lucked out. Normally I’d try to look for a choose your own adventure book as those were all the rage at the time. Or a Garfield book. But something must’ve caught my eye with The Westing Game. No it wasn’t that Caldecot medallion on the cover. Maybe it was just the word game in the title.

Regardless, I picked The Westing Game and fell in love with it. I guess it reminded me a little of the movie Clue. Or who knows why a book clicks with a kid. Either way, you should check it out if you’ve never read it. I guess I’ll have to do a re-read before watching the upcoming HBO Max series.

HBO Max is developing a series adaptation of the classic children’s mystery “The Westing Game.”

Source: ‘Westing Game’ Series Adaptation in the Works at HBO Max – Variety

Cory Doctorow – Little Brother 3 (actual title Attack Surface) Kickstarter

Cory Doctorow – Little Brother 3 (actual title Attack Surface) Kickstarter

So, I read Cory Doctorow’s novel Little Brother, a long time (holy crap it’s been 12 years) ago. It remains one of my favorite books of all time. It changed me like how 1984 changed me. I’ve never looked at a RFID tag the same way since.

I wrote about Little Brother on my old blog. When I was done reading it, I sent Cory an email and he responded. I wrote about that too.

Well, now he is publishing a third book in the Little Brother series, titled Attack Surface. Here is a synopsis of the book I found on the web:

Cory Doctorow’s Attack Surface is a standalone novel set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Little Brother and Homeland.

Most days, Masha Maximow was sure she’d chosen the winning side.

In her day job as a counterterrorism wizard for an transnational cybersecurity firm, she made the hacks that allowed repressive regimes to spy on dissidents, and manipulate their every move. The perks were fantastic, and the pay was obscene.

Just for fun, and to piss off her masters, Masha sometimes used her mad skills to help those same troublemakers evade detection, if their cause was just. It was a dangerous game and a hell of a rush. But seriously self-destructive. And unsustainable.

When her targets were strangers in faraway police states, it was easy to compartmentalize, to ignore the collateral damage of murder, rape, and torture. But when it hits close to home, and the hacks and exploits she’s devised are directed at her friends and family—including boy wonder Marcus Yallow, her old crush and archrival, and his entourage of naïve idealists—Masha realizes she has to choose.

And whatever choice she makes, someone is going to get hurt.

So Cory is putting out a third book in this series. He’s also doing a kickstarter to publish the audiobook of the novel. He’s doing this because Audible aka Amazon refuse to let him publish his audiobooks DRM free.

To recap (this is straight from Cory Doctorow but sums things up nicely):

* Attack Surface is the third Little Brother book

* It aims to radicalize a generation of tech workers while entertaining its audience as a cracking, technologically rigorous thriller

* The audiobook is amazing, read by the fantastic Amber Benson

If you pre-order through the Kickstarter:

* You get a cheaper price than you’ll get anywhere else

* You get a DRM- and EULA-free purchase

* You’ll fight monopolies and support authorship

Fight the power that is Amazon and get a DRM free audiobook of what I’m certain will be an excellent book in return.

Writing From The Past – Robitussin

Writing From The Past – Robitussin

I was cleaning out some old papers from college. I came across this gem from my writing course. I think it’s pretty decent, though it could use a few edits. Man, did I hate Robitussin.

When I was sick as a child my mom would make me take Robitussin cold medicine. As soon as I would see the bottle, I knew what was next, my stomach would turn and the saliva in my mouth would dry up. My mouth couldn’t take another teaspoon of the blood red poison and neither could I.

When I drank of this vile concoction I tried not to let it touch my tongue but it always did. My taste buds would contract on my tongue as if they were hiding from this evil medicine. My eyes and nose would begin to burn. I would drink a glass of water to quench the fire.

Super Mario™ 3D All-Stars for Nintendo Switch – Nintendo Game Details

Super Mario™ 3D All-Stars for Nintendo Switch – Nintendo Game Details

Play three of Mario’s greatest 3D platform adventures—all in one package!

Source: Super Mario™ 3D All-Stars for Nintendo Switch – Nintendo Game Details

Nintendo had a big press conference yesterday where they announced a bunch of things to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Brothers. The big one, to me, is called Super Mario 3D All Stars. That’s Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy all in one game for the Switch.

Now, I own all these games for their respective consoles. But I’m still excited to get this anyhow. I’m excited to play Mario 64 on a nice TV and on a controller that isn’t the Nintendo 64 controller. I’m also…excited(?)…to play Mario Sunshine again? I wouldn’t exactly say I’m excited to play that one because it’s the one Mario game that really frustrated me. But I do want to give it another chance, I suppose.

Mario Galaxy we still have for Wii. I used to play this one while my daughter watched me play. It was like watching TV for her. That game is super fun.

Anyway, I’m happy Nintendo is doing this. It will be nice for more people to experience these games. Let’sa go!