Shadows of Sanctuary

Shadows of Sanctuary edited by Robert Lynn Asprin, 1981, Ace Fantasy

More Thieves' World! Yes, I figured it was time to get to the third book in the series, so I took it off the shelf and read it over a couple business trips. It has the same consistency as the second volume in the series, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, but actually ends up as a better book because the individual stories are better. Where the second volume was all over the map (literally), the stories here focus more directly on Sanctuary itself, which helps focus things in.

The stories here still have the dark, oppressive mood of many of the typical stories in these anthologies, but I did find that a few stories actually broke that mold and went in different directions. A Gift in Parting, by the editor, focuses not on the criminal element in the city, but on the fishing community. Specifically, the focus is on one family, in which the eldest son is preparing to leave home and find his fortune. Through some events, the father finds a way to give his son the real gift that he needs to find success in life. The whole story has a nice, feel-good element to it that is often missing from these stories. In a simliar, but different, vein we have The Rhinoceros and the Unicorn. This story focuses on a local artist and how he gets wrapped up in events that could either destroy him or set his fortunes for life. The nice thing is that it involves someone doing their regular job, but the events he gets involved him help him to notice what is truly valuable in life.

The other stories are generally good, though I found the first story, Looking for Satan, to be somewhat ponderous and preachy. Overall, though, this was a pretty good book, and maybe the best one in the series so far.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Serious anime fans know that Hayao Miyazaki didn't just show up one day, found Studio Ghibli, and proceed to create all of these great movies. Like all people, he started from the ground up, working as an animator on early films and TV shows for different studios. The film that really got him attention as a serious creator for the first time was The Castle of Cagliostro, a Lupin the Third movie (based on the manga by the creator known as "Monkey Punch") about Lupin's adventures in a fictional European country. As usual, our thief is after some fantastic treasure but ends up chasing girls, instead, which some would say is actually another kind of treasure, so there you go. It is interesting to see Miyazaki put his fingerprints on another creator's work, as his more famous films were usually his own original creations.

In case you are wondering why I am writing about this, today is the day that Manga Entertainment is releasing a Special Edition of the movie on DVD in North America. I find it interesting, from my closet marketer perspective, that they are copying the Disney/Studio Ghibli releases as closely as they can in the cover art, with the red banner up top and the single image of the main characters on the front (as you can see below). Probably not a bad idea for those stores that put all the Miyazaki films side-by-side on the racks. Anyway, if you have an interest in the film this is your best bet for checking it out, as there as some solid extras on this edition of the movie, compared with the earlier release put out a number of years ago.

Someone Finally Said It

Many people don't like to admit that the world doesn't fit into their pre-conceived ideas, but sometimes you just have to face facts. The Brazen Careerist is facing facts right now. Like it or lump it, you have to deal with it.

We will send you to Detroit!

Yes, I find myself in Motown this week (and next, as well). I am helping with some SOX 404 work at an automotive manufacturing equipment supplier, which looks to be a barrel of laughs as nobody seems to have time to talk to me until Wednesday. Ah, well. That should give me lots of time to prepare for my meeting, eh?

This last weekend was fairly busy, but good. On Saturday I helped a friend get rid of his old washer and dryer and install a new set, I cleaned my basement, and I went to my older brother's birthday party. On Sunday I had another party as well as preparations for my Detroit trip. And I cleaned my front door and the filthy siding around my porch. I couldn't remember when I had last done that, and it looked like I maybe had never done it since I moved in, so I figured that was a sign that I should get to it. So, yeah, it looks like someone actually lives there now.

Back Home, for two days

My training is complete. Sorry for not posting all week, but we had limited access to the Internet during training and I they kept us quite busy so I didn't have the time to do any blogging. The training that I had was pretty good, over all. Some of the classes weren't very useful, but some were quite useful, indeed. The freebies from training weren't bad, either: Starbucks gift card, free T-shirt (we had choices, but since they were all stupid, it was a "lesser of two evils" situation), and free iPod. Yes, you saw that right. They gave us all free iPod Shuffles. I didn't want a Shuffle, though, I wanted something better. So, I was able to take it to my local Apple store and trade it in for $99 off of an iPod Nano. So, I have a new iPod Nano, 2G, that I am currently playing with. Not too shabby.

In other news, I will be in Detroit the next two weeks helping out another audit team on an automotive client. I will be auditing the sales cycle and the requisite accounting thereof. It shall be thrilling, I am sure.