Juneau | Youseph Tanha

Who Watches The Watchmen

watchmen_logo

Today I went and saw “Watchmen” At the movie theater with Hannah and some friends. Back in November I read the Watchmen graphic novel and really enjoyed it. I read it knowing their was a movie coming out and I wanted to be educated with the source material.

In the end I liked the graphic novel more then the movie. But saying that, I know that I will be getting the DVD when it comes out because it was still good. Speaking of good, without giving anything away let me talk about the good in this movie.

The directing was amazing! Just WOW.
The movie was very graphic
The sound track was really good.
Acting was really good.
For the most part (I strain when I say this) it was pretty accurate.

Now for the bad

Things where left out from the graphic novel. The movie was almost 3 hours long and I have been reading that when the DVD comes it it will have 20 extra minutes. But even with the 20 extra minutes they will still be leaving things out from the comic.
They dropped the ball on picking an actor who played Richard Nixon and his makeup. Frost Nixon‘s Nixon it’s not.
I feel that the way Dr. Manhattan lives in time was not represented well.
The ending is different from the comic book. I don’t think it affects the story really. But I don’t understand why it was changed in the first place.

Finally. It’s worth seeing. I am going to get the DVD when it comes out. But like most movies that are adapted from books, I wish it was truer to the source material.

Dungeons & Dragons: Is It Worth The Cost?

I went looking online for the three core rulebooks that are required to play the game of Dungeons & Dragons. The Player’s Handbook, The Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. Amazon shows the Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition containing all three core rulebooks for just over sixty six dollars.

Now sixty six dollars is not a whole lot of money really. But it was enough for me to take a step back and ask myself, “Are you really going to play this game all that much? It’s almost the same price of a video game!”

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set

Some time passed with me looking off and on at the rulebooks on the Amazon website. Then one day I took brake from work and headed over to the local book store here in Juneau to see what they had in the way of Dungeons & Dragons. It was not long after that, I found myself staring down at a bin of multi colored dice, dice bags, playing cards for games like Magic The Gathering. I finally came across the Dungeons & Dragons section. The D&D section was on a book shelf on the bottom rack, near the back of the store. It was clear from the way the book shelf was arranged that they normally have more Dungeons & Dragons books available. But as it stood they did not have one rulebook that I could find. The upside to this in my thinking, was that Juneau was home to more Dungeons & Dragons players then I was currently aware of. This opened the possibility of a local community of information that I might be able to tap into.

As I stood up to got ready to leave the D&D section of the book store my eyes caught site of a blue box. I bent back down to pick it up and found it to be the “Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition RPG Starter Set“. My eyes widened as I read that the starter set contained “Everything you need to start playing now!”.

Over 50 full-color character and monster tokens
3 sheets of double sided D&D Dungeon Tiles
16-page 4th Edition Quick-Start Rules
64-Page Dungeon Master’s Book
6 dice

To say the least I was stoked to find this! And for seventeen bucks I picked it up. I figured if the starter set could help me get a grip on how the game is played, then I would for sure know if investing nearly seventy bucks into the three core rulebooks would be worth it for me or not.

To Be Continued…

Dungeons & Dragons: The Learning Quest Continues

So some time has passed since my first Dungeons & Dragons post. Since then I have been doing some more research online. I have learned that their have been several versions of the game have been released since 1974. The current version of Dungeons and Dragons is Version 4.0. It’s supposed to be a lot easier for newcomers to the game to grasp. In my case, I take that as very positive news. It was also encouraging to find that I am not the only one learning how to play the game. Gabe from Penny Arcade has also been taking steps to learn how run a D&D game as you can read on the Penny Arcade blog.

To Be Continued…

You Can’t Find Any Little Debbie Products In Juneau Alaska

Little Debbie

It’s True! I have lived here for nearly four years now. I have been inside every store in Juneau at least once looking for Swiss Cake Rolls, Cosmic Brownies, or Chocolate Chip Snack Cakes with no luck. It’s quite sad. My Fiancé takes this a little harder then I do. Chocolate of course, is one of the things she loves.

Luckily for us, we have caring families who from time to time send us a care packages from the lower 48 states with (among other things) Little Debbie products. We very carefully ration them out to last as long as possible.

It’s very puzzling to us why no stores in Juneau carry any Little Debbie products at all. It’s been a topic of quit a few conversations between us, and friends, and family.

[UPDATE: 12.10.2012]

Since the fall of Hostess and the loss of the beloved Twinkies a couple of weeks ago, stores in Juneau have started caring Little Debbie Products. I noticed this last Saturday in our local Fred Meyer. I was able to pick up some cosmic Brownies and Swiss Rolls for my cheat day. It was so tasty!

Icy Roads and Sunny Skies

Hannah has been back from Anchorage now for just under two weeks. I was worried about her because of the Mt. Redoubt Volcano. It is still making a fuss in Anchorage, but has yet to blow it’s top.

The last two weeks in Juneau have been pretty nice for the most part. A mix of cloud filled snowy skies and bright sunny days. Today is one of those more sunny days. The main roads through out Juneau are clear of snow and ice. But some of the lesser traveled roads are still covered. The turn off to my house for example, is still all ice. At least an inch thick I would guess. I am glad I picked up a pair of Yaktrax for my shoes. Walking our dog everyday without them would be a slip and sliding adventure for sure. The snow on the ground where I live is higher then my car in most people’s yards.

The sun is out now when I wake up in the morning and go to work. Better yet, it’s still out when I get home from work. The first day I came home from work last week and the sun was out I was pretty exited about it. I am so looking forward to the summer when the sun is out all the time.

For anyone who wants to see what Juneau looks like on a daily bases you can check out some local webcams here.