Unlike most of my friends, I did not care much for this episode. I will therefore have to do a spoilery filled rant. Which means cuts for those who haven't seen it.

( Read more... )

Finished: A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Thoughts on the debut of John Carter behind the cut. Not really spoilery. ( Read more... )
Started and finished: The Fifth Omni Book of Science Fiction (short stories)
Started: Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman

Thoughts on the Omni SF book behind the cut. Not really spoilery. ( Read more... )
Finished: Otherland: Vol 4: Sea of Silver Light, by Tad Williams
Started: Queen of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder

Thoughts about the whole of the Otherland series behind the cut. Some minor spoilers. Quick thought: liked it more than I thought I would. ( Read more... )

Other news! I have a new tasty sandwich treat. Mortadella and Caesar dressing. Now, one of my favorite sandwich discoveries of the last decade was Mortadella and Feta Cheese. Very nice, but there's one problem. I have to have Feta. And though I love feta cheese, I don't eat it enough to make it feasible to have it on hand at all times - it's too expensive in small batches and goes bad in large batches. So usually I only get it if my grandmother gives me some from her own batches (she uses it a lot), and so Mortadella and Feta is, although awesome, somewhat rare for me. However, Caeser dressing does a lot of the same good thing - gives it a nice tangy, salty kick, and I can have Caesar dressing all the time. So it is now superior on my list of favorite sandwiches.
(By favorite sandwich discoveries I mean things that I can make easily and for relatively cheaply, not fancy frou frou sandwiches or ones that require 50 steps, no matter how awesome they might be).

In other food news tried a microwave (PC) 'lamb rogon josh' dish today, which was quite nice for a microwave meal. Never had rogon josh before, but it might be worth trying sometime if I get the chance at a real place.

And, haven't mentioned dreams in a while, but there were a couple in the last few days I wanted to get down. One involving something very disturbing from Doctor Who, and another just SF goodness. ( Read more... )

Oh, and damn you Marvel. You finally decide to do a Runaways What If (What If... The Runaways became the Young Avengers)... and not only do you have to give it to CB Cebulski to write (a guy who seems very nice and apparently likes all my favorite characters, but to whom I've never particularly enjoyed any of his writing), but you make it a BACK-UP story to five other What Ifs I have no interest in. *shakes fist*. I think I'll have to resort to... let's call it magic, to get this story.

Finally, shouldn't there be _some_ standards and accountability with television commercials? I mean, specifically, that when a TV channel advertises something as an "all new episode", should it not _be_ an all-new episode, and if it is not, that commercial pulled and replaced with one that does not use that phrase (or, in the absence of that, some kind of punishment)? I'm speaking specifically of the Comedy Network, which I watch a fair bit, and I constantly see commercials for Corner Gas that start with "ON AN ALL NEW CORNER GAS"... except they're reruns. This year's reruns, sure, but reruns all the same. NOT ALL NEW. YOU DIE NOW. It's not like I'm looking forward to new eps or anything, it's the principle of the thing - if you advertise All New, it had damn well better be all new. It's bad enough when US channels used to advertise something as the "World television premiere" of something that already aired in Canada, but this is another level entirely. I don't actually think they're being deceptive in this case, just lazy (too lazy to redo the commercials from when it was new), but laziness is not an excuse - you're a network, you've got millions of dollars - fix it. *shakes fist*.

This week I got three books:

New Warriors #13 (meh, okay)
Runaways #30 (My pick of the week, some interesting tweaks to the status quo)
Secret Invasion Runaways/Young Avengers #1 (reasonably fun)

Full reviews as usual at my comic reviews site for anyone interested.

I also noticed the bookstore I got my giftcards at for my birthday/xmas was having a 'buy 3 books, get the 4th free'... not _that_ great a deal, but still, better than nothing. So I used up one of them and got:
Queen of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder
A Meeting at Corvallis by S.M. Stirling
Iron Sunrise, by Charles Stross
and
Camouflage, by Joe Haldeman (Nebula Award Winner).

Work was okay, but a bit later than usual and so got home later than I'd like, both hot, tired (from the long walk), and hungry (I wanted to stop at a Taco Bell and see if I could take advantage of Phillip Ontakos, but alas, none is ever in my path when I need one. :P). However, on the way home I did pass a strip club with "Hulk was filmed here" on the marquee (outside). You can see the one in the trailer, when the two monsters are rushing each other in the streets and you see a big Zanzibar sign in the background. I just found it was amusing that they were advertising that.

In other news, I'm reasonably pleased with myself writing wise this month. Not only have I met my writing quotas for on-weeks, but I've also _edited_ a significant amount on my off-weeks. Pretty much every day this month that would have been a writing day on an on-week has become an editing day on an off-week. Okay, sure, I may not have done as much as I would have liked on each day, but I've done a chunk that I can at least be mildly pleased with. So yay me. I think I'm also getting a little better at identifying exactly what about particular passages that doesn't sound right - before it was usually sort of a vague unease, that the words didn't flow as I wanted them to, but wasn't sure exactly what to fix. So I think I'm getting a little better at it. Yay me x2.

In TV news, well, there's Doctor Who, and... well, unlike a lot of people on my flist, I didn't much care for the latest episode. Like a lot of RTD's work, it was only okay. Well-acted, certainly. A few good moments, undoubtably. But on the whole it didn't do much for me - the basic plot has been used many times in SF (and even non SF) and, really, not done terribly innovatively here. The reason why it happened (both the sci-fi reason and the more human reason behind the title) didn't reall work well for me, nor did I see why certain elements of the resolution should work (which seemed to boil down to 'just because we need that'). There's also a lot in the episode that, because it's a tease for big events that the finale will handle, I have to hold in abeyance before I decide whether they were handled well or terribly in this episode. Midnight was much better.

Also watched the S5 premiere of Stargate Atlantis, which I watched early by... let's say 'magic'. It was also okay, but a little more on the enjoyable side. Kind of a lot there that I expected to happen, but Stargate's the kind of show that it's fun to follow along even with that. Still, one thing really bugged me (fairly minor spoiler, but cut anyway) ( Read more... )

Oh, and a teaser from Doctor Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog (the Joss Whedon mini-musical with Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris), if you haven't seen it yet.

I did a Sci-Fi friending meme a while back, and got some new friends out of it. So, welcome! Maybe I'll try to do one of those intro memes going around in the next little while. One thing you should probably know is I occasionally do big random post full of whatever comes to mind, with few segues.

Done another writing cycle... still working on the same longer story I was doing so last time, and still doing well with it, know generally where I'm going, so that's a relief. It's still pretty rough, of course, but I'm having fun with it.

I hate when ads answer questions I never asked. On the way to work I pass a place where there's a big sign in the window saying, "Yes, we have lemon tarts!" That's a little presumptuous of them, don't you think? How do they know what question I'm asking? Maybe it's "Do you have anything that I can break into your store and steal without you getting mad or pressing charges?"

Speaking of ads, whenever I see a dating website commercial that shows a couple happily in love, I always try to find myself imagining which of them will snap and attempt to kill the other first. Have I become too cynical?

In TV, what's been new? BSG and Doctor Who! (Hey, that's a poem and I didn't know 'em!)
BSG was somewhat disappointing, all in all, both all this year and, to a lesser extent, the finale. It wasn't bad, just, kinda meh. We'll have to see where it goes. I'm still thinking they jumped the shark with the Final Four. I get the impression they got too enamored with OMG COOL NEW IDEAs at some point that they dropped the ball on their previous ongoing plots and won't be able to tie everything up in a fundamentally satisfying way.

Doctor Who, though, wow, that actually turned in a good episode by RTD. Surprising, because his are the episodes that I usually dislike quite a bit, even if I like elements of them. This one, although it had a few rough spots, was overall very well done. (My main problem is that I thought the reactions turned a bit too extreme _too_ fast, at least without invoking alien paranoia-rays), and I don't think I have any reservations in calling it one of RTD's best. And, for that matter, possibly one of the best of the season.

I saw a trailer for the US version of Life on Mars. I didn't really plan on watching it, but was just curious. Now, one of the big rumors is that they're going to redo the whole pilot and recast everybody except the star. Based on the trailer? Wow, I'm hoping the rumor is the exact opposite. Because I can see everything else working in a kitschy sort of way, but the star is _so_ flat. And you do not mess with Colm Meany. You recast something to _get_ Colm Meany, not to get rid of him. Anyway, I probably still won't watch it, regardless of recasting, unless nothing else is on when it premieres, but it's the principle of the thing.

You know you're a comics geek when anytime someone starts talking about 'green living', you instantly suspect them of being Skrulls (or Green Martian, I suppose, for DC fans).

It's official - new showrunner after RTD. Definately good news in my book.

Since I'm here and talking about Who, my thoughts on The Unicorn and the Wasp:
Great beginning, didn't like the finish. Also, I knew it was not going to happen, but I really wanted (spoilers ahoy) ( Read more... )

BSG was good this week, one of the best of the year. Though oddly enough LOST has once again become the show I'm most excited about.

Of course, this week sucks for TV - not only is LOST on a skip week, so is BSG _and_ Doctor Who. Oh well, at least there's the Supernatural finale (which airs tomorrow for me, so I haven't seen it yet despite it already ending), that's something.

Well, that was lame. There were a few points, but overall I thought it was awfully silly, and not in a good way. And normally I don't post on it, but since the majority of people seemed to enjoy the ep, I felt the need to rant.

(Spoilers)
( Read more... )

Edit: I've decided to attach some quotes from an article about "Why Doctor Who Sucks right Now" that sum up how I feel. No spoilers for future episodes in my segments, though the original essay has a few. I just wanted to quote it here because of a big, MAN I AGREE (not specifically that it sucks, just that it could and should be so much better).
( Read more... )

So let's start with the TV, shall we? Doctor Who was a better episode this week with a trip to the past, and Donna's doing a good job as the Doctor's Companion. Though I do kind of wish we'd get a story set in a historical time period that _doesn't_ deal with some alien plot to destroy or take over the world, or really deal with aliens at all. I know they're the bread and butter of Who, but I'd like to see one that _just_ dealt with the history, with some of the drama being involved in being swept up in events, maybe being killed in the middle of a war, etc. Hell, I'd kind of like the same in a future story too. BSG also worked out better, with some odd developments on the cylons that were kind of cool, but (minor spoilers ahead) ( Read more... )

In other news about the old Televisual system, Amy Acker has joined the cast of Whedon's Dollhouse, so there's another alum of his old shows. You know when he finds someone he likes he likes using them again. There's still no official word on the renewal of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but TV guide lists it as a 9 on "chances to return out of 1-10" and pointed out that apparently they've been adding to the production staff, so that's good to hear. I just wish they'd make it official. John Shiban's taking up a showrunning position on another series (Wizard's First Rule) which I suspect means he may be leaving Supernatural or having less of an involvement, which I only mention because there are some SN fans on my flist who might be interested. Also Ron Moore and Michael Taylor (of BSG) have a SF pilot greenlit for FOX. Let's hope it works out better than their last series, the Bionic Woman. Here's how it, Virtuality, is described: "(A) sci-fi drama which follows 12 astronauts who are sent on a 10-year journey to find a distant solar system. The explorers pass the time by hooking up to advanced virtual reality modules to explore self-created worlds. But they discover someone has downloaded a computer bug into the system -- and one of them may be the saboteur." You know, I kind of dig the description? It sounds like they're making it a Slower-Than-Light travel SF series, which is good, and as long as the virtual reality element is handled well it could be quite cool. I'm in for it. I know a lot of people don't bother with FOX because they cancel stuff, but if you ask me, that attitude's just dumb and liable to get more stuff cancelled. They want a hit as much as anyone and they as a network seem to _try_ a lot more for SF than many of the other ones, who only attempt it when another network has hit big with one. Anyway, rant over. Moving on.

Writing-wise, I'm on another writing cycle, although I was actually working on a fair bit of free-writing during my off-cycle, so it doesn't seem like much. It's going okay I guess, still a bit slogging and still don't have the whole excitment about writing back yet, and though I still have decent ideas for the SFnal aspects of a story, the more basic plots sometimes elude me. However, last week I did make some good progress on a story (a sequel, or at least set in the same universe but much later, to one I finished and was quite pleased with a while ago). In the process, I wound up wroting my first male/male sexual relationship. ( Read more... )

I think the lack of writing excitement probably signals I haven't entirely pulled out of my winter depression, despite it being spring. I still feel a bit hopeless, which while a realistic outlook doesn't help me get up and moving like I'd want. Helping to mitigate it though is that I've been a bit more into chatting with a new group. No offense to the other people I chat with, but, well, you suck! No, no, you don't suck, it's just there is something sort of ego-stroking about talking to a new group of people who you haven't already told your best jokes to. ;) This is actually the remnants of the old BKV online forum who since migrated to a new one after he closed it, where we also set up a chat room.

Anyway, what else is else? Oh yes, Book Foo.

Finished: Look to Windward, by Iain M. Banks
Started: Ventus, by Karl Shroeder

Look to Windward is another Culture novel, and the last of them I'll be reading for a while (since it's the last I've got right now). It wasn't bad, but not my favorite of them.
( Read more... )

Ventus is a first SF novel by a Toronto writer, looking like it's a nice big idea novel, and it's pretty hefty.

Finished: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
Started: Otherland, Vol 3: Mountain of Black Glass, by Tad Williams

Thoughts on OotP behind cut. Short version, not bad, but some elements rankle.
( Read more... )

First, the regional accent meme. For reference I'm a 30 year old Canadian in Toronto (but who moved around a bit when I was young).

What do you call these things?

A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Waterslide
The thing you push around the grocery store: Employees
A metal container to carry a meal in: Cage
The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Toaster
The piece of furniture that seats three people: 3 Milk Crates
The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: Gnome
The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Tree
Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Poison
A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: Bacon
A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: Gyro
The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: Not enough.
Shoes worn for sports: Unimportant.
A flying insect that glows in the dark: Radioactive mutant cockroach
The little insect that curls up into a ball: Radioactive mutant cockroach (in defensive posture)
The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: Deathtrap
How you eat pizza: Naked
Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard: Pathetic
The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: Lair
The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: Sink

Okay, real answers: ( Read more... )

I don't think Wendy's advertising people have logic is a strong suit. I saw a recent ad where they said, "If hamburgers were meant to be frozen, wouldn't cows come from Antarctica?"... uhm, by that same logic, if hamburgers were meant to be cooked, wouldn't cows come from volcanos? Holy crap, I'm never eating at Wendy's again, they're not going to cook my burgers.

Who was on. Plot a little dumb, though the Adiposes are cute and could make a good plushy toy. Liked Donna for the most part but was worried that they were leaning too much towards her lurving the Doctor. Yes, they made that whole speech "I'm not mating with you", but it still struck me as her earlier chats with Grandpa that felt to me more that she thought the Doctor was awesome and wanted to lurve him rather than just wanting to travel and see the universe. But most of the reviews I've read had people who came away with the distinct impression that she _doesn't_ feel that way, so I'm hoping I'm wrong and they're right. Even if I am, it still feels a bit too much like Hero worship, I'd like a little more independence in compaions.

BSG was okay, but no big comments on it.

In surprising nice news, yesterday morning as I was heading out to work, I noticed some paper in my inside jacket pocket where I keep my hat, and decided to clean it out. There, what did I find? An uncashed paycheque from work... from mid December. So yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Pleasant one, though.

Anything else? Don't think so.

So, posting a bunch of random stuff again...

Is it just me or does "Vantage Point" look like on of those crappy "go through the same story from different people's points of view" type plots that every TV series in existence eventually does one episode based on the concept if they last long enough. If so, isn't that, as a movie plot, in the 'done to death' category?

Speaking of movies, the more I see commercials for Jumper the more I'm convinced I'm going to be disappointed in how much they changed from the book, to make it worse. It's kinda killed off my interest in seeing it.

It should be come as no surprise to my flist that I'm a man who shuns reality and lives deeply in fantasy. When I'm not watching TV or movies (which are often fantastical or SF in nature), I'm often working out story ideas or SF concepts in my head, or daydreaming around a SFish concept in a Walter Mitty way. These daydreams go back and forth, certain ones repeat every once in a while after a break, sometimes I do several different ones in a day. Lately though I've been stuck on the last man on Earth scenario. ( Read more... )

Looks like the Writer's Strike may be winding down. Yay. Hope it lasts past the initial 'back to work while we vote on the actual deal' and hope it's a good deal for them, since they deserve it. Edit to add: They officially voted to end the strike, at least until they have a chance to review and vote on the deal. So writers are back to work tomorrow.

Speaking of writing, done a writing cycle. Started a new story and managed to finish it... except I hate it. I still like the idea, and maybe one or two of the beats, but I don't like how it turned out and if I want to use it I'll probably have to write it all over again from scratch. And I'm not even sure how I'd start. So, kind of a good news bad news situation. Oh well.

I've been feeling a little iffy for the last week or so. It's odd, sometimes I feel fine, but often at some point during the day I feel dizzy and very very slightly nauseous. It's irritating, but I suppose it's better than being actually sick. Although sometimes I wish sickness would come and get it over with rather than these shadows of it coming and going regularly.

One of the few forums I hang out at closed suddenly. Most of the people knew it was coming (though not quite so suddenly) and so there's a backup getting in place for the people who hang there, but still, end of an era, of sorts.

Doctor Who Fandom Meme/Survey, stolen from locker_monster.. ( Read more... )

Thoughts on yesterday's Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Slightly spoilery, also with an answer from one of the producers that some Terminator fans have wondered about since the second episode about a potential 'mistake'. ( Read more... )

Finally to end on a random note completely different from all the rest, I have been craving spiciness lately a lot more than usual (I always enjoy it). Also, I've been craving trying something _different_ than all the usual stuff I try. I am considering getting a bottle of Jerk BBQ sauce when my current BBQ sauce of choice (chipotle) runs out, to perhaps satisfy a little of both at once.

Yesterday did the rest of Christmas, going to my dad's and opening presents and such. It was a smaller affair than usual, and much less drama, at least direct drama. There was periphery drama, the sort of drama you're not involved in or witnessing but sort of informed about what's going on and might explode into future drama, but oh well, at least a generally good time was had during the day.

Giftwise wasn't too bad, got more money, socks, a gift card for Chapters/Indigo/World's Biggest Bookstore, and a bag of snacks (Whoppers, Willowcrisps, Popcorn, Pringles, Szechuan BBQ Rice Pringles, Honey Roasted Peanuts).

Dinner was also awesome, the traditional turkey, gravy, stuffing, ham, mashed potatoes, corn, turnips, bread, brocolli. Plenty of good food and plenty of leftovers since so few people were there this year. Also plenty of sweets to take home - cheesecake tarts, candy squares, and gingerbread and shortbread cookies.

Oh, and I forgot to mention last time that I made another attempt at making sponge toffee. This time I didn't burn it, but I made the opposite mistake... I didn't let it cook long enough. So when I put in the baking soda it expanded but not super-much like sponge toffee is supposed to, and wound up with a thin layer of perfectly edible (but very sticky) hard toffee-like substance, but not the 'inside of a crunchie bar' type sponge toffee I was going for. Ah well, I'll try again another time and maybe get it right. Or maybe see if I can get a candy thermometer to take some of the guesswork out of it.

I did have work today but no comics since they're delayed this week (and possibly next, but so far I have nothing on my list for next so I'll go this week), and since I didn't want to go a long way out of my way for boxing day shopping when most of what I buy is on sale for the whole of boxing week, I got home pretty early. Work was okay though, light load and things got started at a decent time. Had leftovers for lunch/dinner.

When I got home I had Doctor Who's Xmas special ready to watch. Overall, mildly pleasant, but suffered a bit too much from RTD's writing, and some dopey concepts. Mild spoilers behind the cut.
( Read more... )

Finished: Pandora's Star, by Peter F. Hamilton
Started: Judas Unchained, by Peter F. Hamilton

It's the first and second half of the same series, so really I'm at the midpoint, but some non-spoilery thoughts behind the cut anyway.
( Read more... )

Oh, and for anyone participating in NaNoWriMo who wants one, here's a NaNoWriMo Friending Meme.

Star Trek movie casting started out so well, but now they seem to be getting people who don't really (to me) seem anything like the original characters, visually, so I'm getting kinda mehish about the whole thing. We'll see again when more information and/or trailers start to get out.

TV's been okay but nothing's really wowed me this week. Though I will note I finally put Boston Legal out of its misery - I've been sort of casually watching it since it started, not loving it but liking at least certain elements of it enough to continue. But this year, Supernatural airs here the same time slot (5 days delayed from the normal time, but whatever), so I'm watching that instead. I suppose I could just DL supernatural and keep watching BL, but... I just don't care enough about BL.

Speaking of time schedule conflicts, my VCR seems to be slowly dying, the playback of new recorded shows is not good (so I assume the problem's in the record head). Won't bother getting it repaired, or replaced for that matter... might as well just start downloading the shows I want to keep or that conflict, but still it's a bit of an irritation for when I want to record something 'on the spot'. Maybe I'll see if I can track down a VCR head cleaner tape (do they still even make those?) and give that a whirl.

And speaking of downloading, I'm finished my Old School Doctor Who watching for the season. Stopped at Revenge of the Cybermen. Baker definitely rocks, blowing Pertwee away, even if the stories for the most part haven't been all that great. Also saw Davros for the first time - previously I'd only heard about him. Not all that impressed, at least not yet. Anyway, I'll pick up more in the summer dead season, maybe make a big dent in Baker or even move on to the next guy.

Lil more depressed than usual lately, I find. No particular cause, except the whole longing for impossible things, but that's about par for the course. *shrug*

Normally I get my Who news from my flist, who seem to be pretty up on things. So why hadn't I heard until now that ( Spoiler for S4 plot here )

Maybe I just missed when somebody posted about it when I was reading after just waking up and still half asleep.

Okay, so yesterday, I got a phonecall from work, telling me that they'd heard that things were running about 6 hours late with the delivery, and instead of showing up for about 6:30am when I normally do on Mondays, I should show up around 11am. So a bit of a pain, but I can sleep in, right?

And, of course, they call me at 6:30am, wondering where I am, because the truck's there. Nobody there apparently had any clue about it. So I rushed out (I had some foresight that this might happen, so I instructed my roommate, who is up nights, to wake me if they call, and pre-showered right before bed so if I had to I could get up and go quickly), and ran as much as I could of the 45 minute walk there, and got there and did as much of it as I could, and helped out with some other stuff I don't normally do to help pick up the slack and still do my fair share.

Next time they tell me that on the day before, I'm just showing up at my normal time anyway. This is the second time they've done that to me.

On the plus side, on the way home I stopped at the post office. See, I ordered some books from Indigo (because Amazon didn't have all of them in stock), and according to their tracker, on Friday, the post office attempted delivery but were unable to due to the size, and left a card to tell me where I can pick it up. Except, when I went down to check the mailbox, there was no such card. Still, since the closet post office was on the way home from work I took a chance, stopped in and asked if they had anything for me, and they did. So I have my books. I got:
Blindsight, by Peter Watts
Glasshouse, by Charles Stross (set in the same world as Accelerando)
The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross (the sort of British Intelligence Agency that fights Lovecraftian Horror book)

and in some other news, I finally finished up the Pertwee run on Doctor Who. Yay. I'm watching the first couple Tom Bakers (I decided I'd watch the first season, so I see up to his first Dalek ep and his first Cyberman ep, and then save the rest of his run for next summer). In the middle of Robot now, and yes, definitely Baker is a SIGNIFICANT improvement on Pertwee. I don't know why, Pertwee always struck me as a bit too smug (all the Doctors are a little smug, but he showed it the most that I've seen), and too actiony with his Venusian Kung Fu, and of course the whole Earth Exile plot was dumb and went on waaay too long. But in one ep of Baker he's already neck and neck with Troughton on the old school scale, so I can see why he's generally considered the most iconic one (I'm still not entirely sure where the new school ones fit in on my personal scale).

Oh, and new Heroes tonight, so yay! Finally. And Prison Break too.

Finished: Cyteen, by CJ Cherryh
Starting: Stations of the Tide, by Michael Swanwick

Cyteen wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. When it started, I feared I was bouncing hard off it. (More behind the cut, relatively spoiler light)
( Read more... )

So, this leaves me with one Hugo winning novel left to read. Over the past weekend, the Hugo Awards were announced, and Vernor Vinge's novel Rainbows End won for Best Novel (in other news, Stephen Moffat won Short Form Dramatic Presentation for "The Girl in the Fireplace", so good on him). It was the only one of the nominees I read (thoughts were here), but not the only one I planned to, and despite liking it and not having read the others, I was kind of hoping either Blindsight, by Peter Watts (Torontonian and I liked the first chapter I read online enough to want the book), or Glasshouse, by Charlie Stross (based on my liking Accelerando, which I'm nearly done with) would win (both for the reasons given and also I have a tendency to root for people who haven't already won yet). Ah well. Glasshouse won the Libertarian SF award.

Anyway, just one to go, then I have to work on finishing up the last few Nebula-winners. Well, technically speaking, I _just_ have to finish up the last few Nebula-winners, as the last Hugo holdout is in fact a Nebula Winner as well (The Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold). But once I finish that last one, I just have to maintain it by buying the newest winner every year.

Not a whole lot _to_ be watching. I've already posted on the TV pilots I've seen, and those are really all the ones I'm particularly interested in seeing early. The others I'll just wait until they come on TV.

So what else is there during the summer? Well, I haven't downloaded any of the new Dead Zones, 4400s, or Flash Gordon to check out, and they haven't started airing here, so all that's left is reality tv, which I don't particularly feel like talking about, reruns, which don't deserve much talking about, and a handful of new (or new to me) stuff.

1) Masters of Science Fiction. Limited run anthology show of adaptations of short science fiction into one hour episodes. Stellar idea. Wonderful. There are hundreds of short stories out there that would make awesome one hour episodes. Hell, you could even do one ep that's a bunch of short short science fiction, each a few minutes in length (like "They're Made Out Of Meat").

Execution? ... Well, they've aired four out of six produced, and it looks like that's all that's going to be aired. ( Read more... )
So its a little disappointing that they took a great idea for a series, and so completely wasted the opportunity.

If I were going to do this, and I had an order of 6, just 6 to do? Off the top of my head (and cutting off ones that were already adapted reasonably well several times or are likely to have major rights issues because they're tied up with movie properties):
( Read more... )

I've also been working my way through Classic Who. See, aside from some very dim memories of childhood, I started Who with the first Doctor, Hartnell, and watched up until the start of Pertwee. After that, the station that was airing them didn't think it was cost effective to buy anymore episodes. So, I've been gradually trying to finish up Pertwee. I'm not done yet, but I'm close. ( Read more... )

Commercials I hate! There's this sprint commercial where they sing out "ladies and gentlemen," followed by various flight instructions, all being sung as though by a choir, while the scene shows people interacting on their PDA or some. But the singing really irritates the hell out of me, and it's on all the bloody time. It's gotten to the point I have to mute it when I hear the first bit of it. DIE DIE DIE, whoever made that commercial, and allowed it to be produced.

Now to books. First:
Finished: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami (Reread)

I've read it several times already so no new comments really. I still quite enjoy it and it sweeps me up into the story every time.

Started: Scatterbrain by Larry Niven
and
Accelerando by Charles Stross.

Scatterbrain is a collection of short stories, excerpts from his novels, and some essays, a lot of which is concentrated on 'process'. Still, a lot of it feels like adds for his other books. I think I'd feel cheated if I paid more than $2 for it, but since I got it discount, I am enjoying some of the insight he gives on the process of his writing, and particularly the process of collaboration.

Oh, speaking of $2 books, I found First Meetings in the Enderverse by Orson Scott Card for $2 the other day and so I snapped it up. It's just a few short stories, one I already have (Investment Councilor, with his first meeting with Jane), the original novella format of Ender's Game (which I'd never read before... it was okay but I much prefer the novel), and two short stories dealing with Ender's parents. Wouldn't have bothered at full price, but it's nice to have at a discount.

Now, on to a meme! Books and reading meme from soleta_nf...
( Read more... )

And finally, to move off of reading and on to writing, I've finished the basic writing of the workshop thing I'm working on, the one with steampunkish elements. It clocked in at about 9600 words. Oops. I guess I got a little carried away. Anyway, I still need (badly) to edit (it's awful, but I think it can be made less awful), and I still love the basics of it even if my implementation sucked.

I'll also probably whittle a shorter version down for workshop posting (since they tend to expect shorter submissions), and leave the longer one as an optional, but I'll post both.

The tentative title is Steampunk Allie and the Omniscope.

So, today is No Comic Day and No Work Day. Why? Because of

BACK-OUT '98

Yes, I'm well aware it's the year 2007. But for some reason, it's still Back-Out '98. Maybe I'm just generally 9 years behind (or, would that be ahead?). So what's the status? Well, yesterday I woke up virtually unable to move which was worse than even when it first started. However, this must have been due to inflammation or muscle tightness or something, because I eventually got a hot water bottle and that loosened me right up. I still can't bend and there are occasional pains from moving, but I'm not virtually immobile. (However, sitting long periods is a pain, which is why this is being written in small bits, followed by lying down). So I skipped work, and no comics. I'm optimisticly hoping to be okay for work Friday, and then pick up comics after that, but really, who knows? Cross fingers, and send healing vibes through the net if you can. I can walk with decent speed, but I find that I'm Dune Walking. That is, as the title implies, I seem to walk without rhythm. This means that, were I on Arrakis, I would probably be able to cross desert areas without being swallowed by Sandworms. Sadly, I'm on Earth, which just means I look a little odd. Luckily, nobody's watching.

Anyway, what else, besides the back? Well, there are books, I guess. Since I'm lying down a lot I've been doing a bit more reading than I normally do at home - since getting up to check the net is no longer an instant reflex when TV gets boring, having a book is helpful.

So, Book Foo!
Finished: The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton (2nd part of Night's Dawn series)
Started: The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton (conclusion)

Quick thoughts, not terribly spoilery, behind cut. ( Read more... )

and also
Finished: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke
Started: Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson
Thoughts, not terribly spoilery, behind cut. ( Read more... )

And a 'Who Year In Review' meme, stolen from donna_c_punk... (spoilers for much of S3 who and casting spoilers for S4)
( Read more... )

And in the 'weirdness' category? Anyone remember that the window in my room had a crack in it when we moved in, and they said there was a work order? Then after 3 months of keeping the path clear without hearing anything, I rearranged my room?. So today they showed up. With no warning. While my back was hurt. So we had to take down all the coverings in the window and move the bed out of the way. I also stepped on something sharp that was on the ground and hurt my foot a little. All that's not that weird (at least, not for me). The weird thing is, immediately after all that was done? My back got better. Not 100%, but better than it had been since it got hurt. If it improves any more, I think I'd be okay to work (though slowly) Friday.

This week I got three books.

Loners #4 (a little unsubtle in places, but like some of the development)
New Warriors #2 (enjoying the series and concept, bit of worries about the pace)
Runaways #27 (my Pick of the Week, some nice developments an enjoyed the plot)

Full reviews up as usual at my comic reviews site for anyone interested.

I also picked up Otherland, book 1 by Tad Williams, and Seeker, by Jack McDevitt (won Nebula award).

Today is Thursday of course, comics were delayed due to Canada Day (they were not delayed due to Independence Day because if it wasn't for our holiday our shops would have already received the comics and are still open on Wednesdays). And a good thing, too, because work was annoying. Supposedly we're shifting over to do my part of the job in the mornings, but this week it was delayed until 1 pm, and I was there since 6:30 or so. Well, except at around 11 they phoned and said '2 more hours' and I was done my book and so I went home, ate lunch (sausages, mashed potatoes, and beans), got a new book, and went back to work almost immediately, arriving only a few minutes before they got there. If I had to go get comics on top of that, I would have been even more tired.

Lunch today was meatloaf, peas and corn, and kraft dinner (spirals), for those wondering. For those still wondering, since my brother works nights now we eat our big meal at around lunchtime for me, since they don't like eating right after waking up and I don't care when I eat, so long as I do.

Oh, and Dream Foo! A Doctor Who dream. Modern who, but with a special Guest from Who Past!
( Read more... ) I was pretty pleased with it, as dreams go. I've tossed around similar ideas before consciously, but usually when they wind up in my dreams they get mangled beyond useable condition, whereas this one could fly pretty well as is.

I don't know what's with me lately. I guess I'm technically depressed, but in terms of objective feeling, 'numb' is more accurate. Everything feels like meh. I feel withdrawn and bored and don't feel like doing the things I normally do when bored. Can't work up the enthusiasm. And I feel out of touch with people, unconnected.

Technically on a writing cycle this week. I took Canada Day off, in part because it just wasn't flowing and in part because I had to go out to do family stuff for a good chunk of the day. The first two writing days of the cycle I met the quota, but I felt I was more plugging along, not really doing my best work, and I haven't really had a good, exciting idea I want to explore in a while. See, Meh.

And speaking of Meh, I should probably talk about Doctor Who, spoilery thoughts on "The Last of the Time Lords"
( Read more... )

So that's the last Who until Christmas. What's up with British television that they can't manage to make a full season? I say let's cancel the crappy Torchwood and use that effort to make more Who. Feh. Anyway, I think I'll help fill up some of the rest of the summer hours by continuing watching the old school Who from where I left off, and see if I can complete the rest of Pertwee's run (I'd just gotten up to the Master's first appearance), and maybe get to the Fourth Doctor finally.

In other news, meh.

Haven't done this in a while, so there are a bunch over the last few days.
( Read more... )

Also, LJ seems to be spazzing out. My normal style (flexible squares) keeps timing out when I try to load my flist. So I have to change to crappy Generator to read what's going on. *shakes fist at LJ*.

Oh, and "When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your LJ."

"It is the failure of all beings that the judge through their own eyes" - The Sensorites

Spoilery of course. Non-spoilery reaction preview? Mixed.
( Read more... )

Incidentally, I'm still wondering exactly how the Time War works out, in terms of consequences and logistics. Does Gallifrey simply not exist anywhere in the past, present, or future anymore? Or could one, theoretically, go back to Gallifrey before the Time War, except that doing so would create a time paradox that they always seek to avoid. If the Doctor went back to, say, the last time he met, say, the Meddling Monk, could he see him there? Or has he been wiped from history entirely? And if so, how does that possibly work, and what status the rest of the Doctor's adventures that involved Time Lords?

Let's start with some Book Foo...
Finished: Next of Kin, by Eric Frank Russell
Started: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Some brief non-spoilery thoughts on NoK behind the cut.
( Read more... )

Doctor Who, Spoilers for Utopia behind cut! ( Read more... )

Normally, I don't post any of my fiction writing. I'll occasional post random ideas or seeds of same, but I'm always shy of posting actual writing. It's the kind of thing where either I want to attempt to publish it first, or if not I want to edit and editing is slow. I think there are a few Sliders fanfics of mine out there from a decade ago, but not much other than that. But, on one of the message boards, someone started a 'Writers Workshop' thread, where the first challenge was to write the first 5 pages of a story, in comic book script format, although any genre. I'm not technically on a writing cycle now, but I'm still trying to stretch myself, so I figured I'd do something I don't normally do, and participate.

So I took an old idea I had that I didn't think I was going to write into a short story or novel, and over the course of a day or so fleshed it out into 5 comic pages worth of introduction and posted to the thread. Still kinda think it sucks, but the thread is here, towards the end of the first page, if anyone happens to be interested. I'm ghostly1 there. There are a few other interesting script starts there too of course that might be worth a look.

Edit: Decided to include it directly in the entry, behind a cut of course. And now updated with some explanatory data of the concept. ( Read more... )
Today is my last afternoon work day. Well, assuming the truck's not horrendously late. From now on I work mornings, which means more free time when I get home. Plus, probably cooler temperatures.

Okay, since 'Blog Like It's The End of the World' day is over (PS, I died saving the world. BECAUSE I CALLED DIBS), I can write a more standard post about yesterday.

Yesterday was comic day! This week I got 2 books.

Mystic Arcana: Magik #1
New Mutants #39

Didn't wind up getting Cable & Deadpool #41.

Full reviews up as usual at my comic reviews site for anyone interested.

Picked up "Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" at the used bookstore. I wanted to grab it before my shadow did - even though my shadow already has a copy (this is a different one than I saw before, and slightly more expensive), he's strange and would probably snap this one up just to bug me.

Had a salami sandwich for lunch. Hot day, and work was kind of annoying. Especially because I was told, shortly after I started, that when I was done I'm supposed to call the boss on his cell phone. I asked why and was told only "he wants to talk to you". So, all through work there was a little knot in my gut forming, imagining the worst. ( Read more... )

Also, I never did post my thoughts on the most recent Doctor Who episode, "Blink". So, here we go, spoilers ahoy.
( Read more... )

Okay, there's these commercials for this movie called 'Nancy Drew', about some teen girl outcast who solves mysteries. Come on, can't anyone come up with any ideas other than ripping off Veronica Mars? ;) (Oh, hush, I know Drew came first, I'm just kidding, but the commercial does give me a bit of the same vibe, even though they're outcast for different reasons). Maybe if the movie does well, for the sequel they'll adapt the controversial "Key in the Clock" (so many swears).

I reconfigured my room a few days ago, reorienting my bed and putting in my desk and all my comics, so it's much more cluttered, but I like it better this way. I'd kept the old way because supposedly people were going to fix my window but since I've been here 3 months with no word on when, I'm assuming someone dropped the ball on that. Really, I don't care about the window being fixed, it's a small crack and I don't look out of it anyway.

Doctor Who was... pretty good. I do have some serious reservations about it, though. (SPOILERS for Family of Blood)
( Read more... )

So some of my high school friends had planned to get together for dinner at a place relatively near me over the weekend. Although I didn't want to confirm for the dinner itself, for various reasons, it was close enough that I thought about doing a surprise drop in to say hello for a few minutes and then going back. Alas, on the day of it slipped my mind and there were no followups on it, so if they did meet I wasn't able to see them. Ah well, would have been nice to see them again. Maybe next time, if there is one.

I have some book foo to do too (wow, try saying that 5 times fast) but I'll save that for another post, I think.

Huge post time!

Okay, here's what I thought about the major shows I watched this year. They're not the only shows I watched, but the ones where I made it a point to watch them. There will be spoilers, in some cases for the season finale, as well as a look ahead at what's coming. There will be some ranting.

Ongoing shows: BSG, GA, Heroes, Lost, Office, Prison Break, Supernatural, SGA, 24
( Read more... )

Cancellations/Ending Shows: Drive, Jericho, SG1, VM
( Read more... )

The Coming Year

The networks have released their TV upfronts, detailing the new shows going on the network. A good one-stop site for it all is here.

Shows I'm interested in or vaguely interested in: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, New Amsterdam, Pushing Daisies
( Read more... )
My fall viewing schedule, Monday to Friday:

Monday:
8pm: Prison Break
9pm: Heroes
10pm: Journeyman

Tuesday:
8pm: New Amsterdam

Wednesday:
8pm Pushing Daisies

Thursday:
9pm: The Office
9pm: Grey's Anatomy (tape one, watch the other, probably)

Friday: I usually catch up on Supernatural where it airs on my local channel. Don't know if that'll continue, but it's a possibility.

Saturday/Saturday I sometimes get local broadcasts of US cable shows, plus there's always the typical animation block.

Once January rolls around I'll have BSG, Lost, 24, and Sarah Connor Chronicles

They've announced the preliminary guest list for the Toronto Fan Expo this year. No Firefly actors. And really, not all that much for me there. Comicwise there'll be Greg Pak and C.B. Cebulski, who are both writers I've enjoyed some in the past, but neither are 'big' to me. None of the few artists I'd particularly care to get anything from either. In terms of actors it's also pretty sparse. Their big advertised thing is 'everyone who's played Darth Vader'. But really the only one I'd be at all interested in is Hayden Christiansen and that's not even for Anakin - that's for his upcoming role as the lead in the film adaptation of the novel Jumper. That's mild. Adam West will be there, and he's kinda cool in a camp way. A couple of Trek stars as usual... Johnathan Frakes (Riker), James Darren (Vic Fontaine) and Dwight Schultz (Barclay). Then there's Tricia Helfert, Number 6 from BSG, but really, she's probably the BSG character I'm not all that interested in. Sean Astin'll be there too. I'm tempted to try to find him just so I can walk up to him and say, "Oh, Sam!", but a) he probably gets that all the time, b) I'd never actually go through with it, and c) It'd probably be hard to wait.

So, the biggest guns of the show, for me personally, are Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) and Hayden Panettiere (Claire from Heroes). Are they enough for me to go? I don't know. Neither is enough for me to want to pay for the pleasure of their autograph. But they might be cool to see.


Book Foo:
Finished: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
Started: Worlds, by Joe Haldeman
Still Reading: The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton (Wednesdays)

Thoughts on Harry Potter behind the cut. Some spoilers, but most people who are reading the books are still way ahead of me or already saw the movie.
( Read more... )

With this book read, I am down to only 4 unread Hugo Winning novels:
Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson (2006)
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke (2005)
Paladin of Souls, by Lois McMaster Bujold (2004)
and
Cyteen by CJ Cherryh (1989).

That may go up to 5 this summer depending on who wins this year (but I've already read one of the nominees, and am planning on getting another in the near future). I know Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell's at one of my used bookstores - oversized TPB print, but at the price of a paperback, so might be worth it. (I still have 9 Nebula award winning novels to read)

Since this seems to be the week we get to the last of the Season Finales, I'll save up most my TV thoughts until then and do a big 'the year in TV'/'the coming year in TV' post. However, since Who won't be done then, I'll talk briefly about my thoughts on the latest ep, 42, here. ( Read more... )

Oh, and I never did get around to identifying the last unguessed quote in my movie quotes quiz. It was:
2. "It's a very rare person who is taken for what he truly is."

And it was from The Last Unicorn. But it was unguessed, so... I win, flist! Ha!

Spoilery thoughts on "Evolution of the Daleks", the latest Who episode (and a bit of 'What I'd Do With...'ish thinking about the Daleks).

Non-spoilery summary: It was pretty lame.
( Read more... )

Haven't done one of these in a while, so here we go, strap yourself in... if you're into that sort of thing, anyway.

Lets start with a Interview meme:
Want me to ask you five questions? Leave a comment, I'll ask you five questions, and then you answer the questions in your own journal.

Here's 5 questions from foxfyre...

1) What was it that got you started using the internet? ( Read more... )
2) You generally avoid any ODA (online displays of affection). What are your criteria for making an exception to this rule?( Read more... )
3) How the heck did you put up with running XET for so long? ( Read more... )
4) You've mentioned in the past that you don't like music. Can you explain that a little bit?( Read more... )
5) If you really were a super-powered individual, what do you think your power would be? ( Read more... )

Facebook continues to be an odd source of nostalgia. I've made contact with a few friends from way back that I hadn't heard anything from in years. There's even a group for the old BBS scene in my city. And found, but didn't contact, a couple other people, mostly old crushes and the like. I was also surprised to find a photo of myself in Grade 5. Someone uploaded a class picture, and I stumbled upon it (through a weird series of searches). I don't actually remember the person who uploaded it, but I found myself in it all the same.

On to talking about writing, I'm on another writing cycle. I've been toying with making an addition to the workload. Right now, for 'on' weeks, I do 2000 words per non-work day, for a total of 8000 words. But lately once in a while I've been feeling an urge to write somewhat more... frivolous stuff. Stuff that I'd feel bad claiming under the word limit, but that I kind of want to do for fun. Like, for example, attempting to write a movie adaptation of a book I like, or a comic, or something like that. It's not really 'my' work, but I find such things fun sometimes, even if it couldn't go anywhere. So I'm thinking of devoting one of my work days on a writing cycle to working on these sorts of things. Not Wednesday of course, since that's also comic day, which means in addition to work, I'm walking for something like 3 hours that day, and it's also a relatively big TV night, so I don't really have time. But on Friday I usually could swing at least some time for writing, and Sunday my work's really negligable, although I tend to sleep more in the afternoon to make up for waking up so godawfully early. Though also on Sundays at least on a semi-regular basis I go do family stuff, so that would eat into the time. Anyway, I'm still thinking.

So, that big university massacre. Normally I'm silent on such things, but there were a couple of things I noticed on the coverage that I wanted to get off my chest.
( Read more... )

But on to happier things to end off. TV! New Heroes on Monday finally. Woot. Supernatural was fun this week. Grey's Anatomy, okay. Didn't care for LOST this week (Sorry BKV, I knew it was your first, but too much stupidity on the part of the characters). Still mixed on Drive. Other than that, there really hasn't been a whole lot new, aside from Doctor Who. (very few spoilers behind
cut) ( Read more... )

Haven't done one of these in a while, because, well, everything's been in reruns. Well, almost everything.

I'll be talking about Torchwood, Doctor Who (Xmas special), and Stargate Atlantis (the episodes that have aired in Canada, up through 3x16 or 3x17 or something). Some spoilers, but not too much. Also some icons.

( Read more... )

First up, Dream Foo! ( Read more... )

Spoiler-light TV bits: Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Torchwood
( Read more... )

I created my very first Wikipedia page this weekend. I've done some minor edits before, but this is the first time I've created a whole page. It will no doubt interest nobody on my friends list, of course. Anyway, what happened was, while I was rereading the Grainger/Hooded Swan books, I did a wiki search for it, like I tend to do for most series I read. Only to come up empty. Not only has bar