Book Review: Peter and the Starcatchers

This children's book was written by Ridley Pearson (whom I've never heard of) and Dave Barry (a humor columnist for the Miami Herald). Thus I had no idea what to expect. Would it be simplistic? Poorly written? Hilarious and yet disjointed? I've never seen it in paperback which was a deterrent [1], but then I found a copy on sale at one of the BYU Book Store's outdoor progressive inventory sales.[2] Even though it was quadruple what I would pay for a paperback at a thrift store, I decided to buy it.

Distribution Maps I: Parastacidae

I spend most of my day in Dr. Griffitts' lab [1] on the 7th floor of the Widtsoe Building (WIDB), on BYU campus. Sometimes I have to take DNA samples down to the sequencing center on the sixth floor. Many of the labs on the sixth floor do phylogenetics (mouse over for definition). I walk past their posters and see drawings of the organisms they study and where they (the organisms) live. I felt like that kind of information should be available, so I made .svg maps using Inkscape [2] and uploaded them to Wikimedia Commons (the media repository for Wikipedia). Allow me to introduce them:

Custom Halo: Reach Map Variant: Lost Forest

While browsing a website called ForgeHub, where you can find Halo 3 and Halo: Reach maps built by other gamers [1], I ran across a custom map variant called Lost Woods, which was created for Halo 3.[2] The concept is relatively simple—it's just a room full of pillars. You have to dodge through the pillars looking for your opponents. Since Halo: Reach came out we don't play Halo 3 anymore, so I decided to recreate Lost Woods for the newer game. I named the recreation Lost Forest.[3]

Movie Review: The Invasion

Back in 1954 an author named Jack Finney serialized a novel in Collier's Magazine.[1] It was a science fiction tale that involved the arrival of strange pods from outer space. These pods began replacing people with zombie-like lookalikes. The name of this book was The Body Snatchers. Since it was released, it has been translated onto the silver screen four times. The Invasion, released in 2007, is the most recent incarnation of The Body Snatchers.

Movie Review: The Day After Tomorrow

First of all, let's just all admit that this is a great title. It accurately conveys the level of hysteria that the filmmakers want you to feel about Global Climate Change. At the beginning of the movie, Earth's plunge into a new Ice Age is first predicted to occur in the next 100 to 1000 years.[1] Then they revise that to six to eight months. Oops. That was six to eight weeks. Scratch that. It's now six to eight days before—never mind. It's already here. Apparently this and other glaring inaccuracies prompted NASA to refuse to help with the movie—perhaps when Roland Emmerich (the director) went to see them, he shouldn't have worn his The-End-Is-Near sandwich board.

Movie Review: Sky High

In the world of Sky High, superheroes comprise a thriving, but clandestine subculture. One aspect of this culture is that side-kicks are second-class citizens. The plot follows the growing pains of Will Stronghold, the son of The Commander and Jetstream, the two most popular and accomplished superheroes in the world.

Recipe: Pelmeni

The first time I had pelmeni (Russian: Пельмени) was in Logan, Utah. I'd gone up to go on a double date that my friend Ben was setting me up on. When I went to pick up my date, her roommate was eating pelmeni with a guy who served his mission [1] in Russia. They had more than they could eat, so they offered us some. They were pretty good. Often translated as 'dumplings' [2], pelmeni are similar to and possibly derived from Chinese wontons.[3] They are traditionally eaten with a cucumber and tomato salad (but we ate ours with chopped spinach). Be warned, it took Leann and me over three hours to make these.