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Book Foo and some assorted other stuff...
Aug. 30th, 2012 01:18 pmBook Foo... been a while..
Finished: Old Man's War by John Scalzi (reread)
Reread, not much new to say, enjoyed it, probably a little more knowing how the last book turns out so some of the things that put me off the first time didn't this time.
Finished: For the Win by Cory Doctorow
This is a book about gold farming in MMORPGs and attempts to unionize them in various other countries.
It's a Cory Doctorow book, so it does get a bit preachy at times (although, I largely agree with his points so I don't mind so much), and hits on some of his pet interests a lot, but he does write with an enthusiasm that can be infectious, even though some of the outcomes are less than convincing.
But it was fun and an interesting look at how things like gold farming as a business might work and other issues.
Finished: The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (reread)
Again, reread, same universe. Not much to say.
Finished: The Last Colony by John Scalzi (reread)
See above
Finished: Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (reread)
Last book in the series, parallel to The Last Colony. I do think that there are some elements of it that are worthy of their own book, but in padding those elements out to novel length and giving the character interesting things to do it does push the character a little into... well, I'd almost say Mary Sue territory, but they're all his own characters. Still, it's one of those cases where it feels like she's too awesome and perfect and right all the time that it strains believability. The other main characters (who, in other books, do occasionally have this problem, but at a much lesser degree) have the advantage of being older and well-trained and occasionally in superhuman bodies.
Finished: Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
Another reread, and multiple times reread so nothing much to say. Is it wrong I really like the Quellisms?
Finished: The Year's Best SF 14 (short story collection)
As usual, a mix of good stories and kind of blah ones. Neil Gaiman's got one in this one, called "Orange", and it's kind of fun, although it's a bit too gimmicky for my tastes. My favorites are probably "Oblivion: A Journey", by Vandana Singh, although it ends a little predictably I liked the way there. Michael Swanwick's "The Scarecrow's Boy" was also pretty good, and Ted Chiang's "Exhalation" is really neat in a 'imagining a whole different basis for life and how that affects how people believe' way. Others have some good elements, but didn't really bring it home like I'd hoped. None outright pissed me off, though a fair number left me kind of cold.
Started: Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
Started: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (Kovacs trilogy, #2)
What else? TV really hasn't started yet, aside from Grimm (which is already in my bad books for pulling the all-time !@%@! move in storytelling. (spoilers) ( Read more... )
Otherwise, things are starting soon, starting with Doctor Who this weekend (and the Pond Life minisodes already started... they're mildly cute, but not really anything special).
In movies, I finally wound up seeing some of the big ones of the summer:
The Hunger Games: Liked it for the most part. Obviously loses a lot of the internal dilemma and wishy-washiness of the books, and I don't think they really sold the... heart in the ending like they did in the book. Where (spoilers) ( Read more... ) Otherwise, it pretty much had the same good points and flaws as the book, but enjoyable enough for a movie. Probably will watch the others (though maybe not the last one, I don't know).
Avengers: Really very satisfying all around. A little less impactful considering I'd already been spoiled on a number of the best lines and surprises, but still, really good, especially with a movie with that large a cast. Apparently Joss Whedon's doing a SHIELD TV show in addition to the next movie... not my first choice, but might be cool (hopefully they'll use it to set up some new female heroes to make the jump into the next movie).
The Cabin in the Woods: Again, I might have been spoiled a little which ruined some of my enjoyment, but I liked it. Not super-great, but good, and, aside from one eye-rollingly stupid contrivance (spoiler) ( Read more... ), I really liked the ending. But what it really needs?
A sequel.
No, wait, hear me out. (Major spoilers again, obviously) ( Read more... )
In completely unrelated news, last night I had a dream I was running from a tornado. Which I think is a first for me. I don't live in a particularly tornado-prone area (every once in a while there's a report of one in the general part of the province,but I've never seen one myself). Anyway, it was kind of intense, but kind of cool, too. ( Read more... )
Finished: Old Man's War by John Scalzi (reread)
Reread, not much new to say, enjoyed it, probably a little more knowing how the last book turns out so some of the things that put me off the first time didn't this time.
Finished: For the Win by Cory Doctorow
This is a book about gold farming in MMORPGs and attempts to unionize them in various other countries.
It's a Cory Doctorow book, so it does get a bit preachy at times (although, I largely agree with his points so I don't mind so much), and hits on some of his pet interests a lot, but he does write with an enthusiasm that can be infectious, even though some of the outcomes are less than convincing.
But it was fun and an interesting look at how things like gold farming as a business might work and other issues.
Finished: The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi (reread)
Again, reread, same universe. Not much to say.
Finished: The Last Colony by John Scalzi (reread)
See above
Finished: Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (reread)
Last book in the series, parallel to The Last Colony. I do think that there are some elements of it that are worthy of their own book, but in padding those elements out to novel length and giving the character interesting things to do it does push the character a little into... well, I'd almost say Mary Sue territory, but they're all his own characters. Still, it's one of those cases where it feels like she's too awesome and perfect and right all the time that it strains believability. The other main characters (who, in other books, do occasionally have this problem, but at a much lesser degree) have the advantage of being older and well-trained and occasionally in superhuman bodies.
Finished: Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (reread)
Another reread, and multiple times reread so nothing much to say. Is it wrong I really like the Quellisms?
Finished: The Year's Best SF 14 (short story collection)
As usual, a mix of good stories and kind of blah ones. Neil Gaiman's got one in this one, called "Orange", and it's kind of fun, although it's a bit too gimmicky for my tastes. My favorites are probably "Oblivion: A Journey", by Vandana Singh, although it ends a little predictably I liked the way there. Michael Swanwick's "The Scarecrow's Boy" was also pretty good, and Ted Chiang's "Exhalation" is really neat in a 'imagining a whole different basis for life and how that affects how people believe' way. Others have some good elements, but didn't really bring it home like I'd hoped. None outright pissed me off, though a fair number left me kind of cold.
Started: Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
Started: Broken Angels by Richard K. Morgan (Kovacs trilogy, #2)
What else? TV really hasn't started yet, aside from Grimm (which is already in my bad books for pulling the all-time !@%@! move in storytelling. (spoilers) ( Read more... )
Otherwise, things are starting soon, starting with Doctor Who this weekend (and the Pond Life minisodes already started... they're mildly cute, but not really anything special).
In movies, I finally wound up seeing some of the big ones of the summer:
The Hunger Games: Liked it for the most part. Obviously loses a lot of the internal dilemma and wishy-washiness of the books, and I don't think they really sold the... heart in the ending like they did in the book. Where (spoilers) ( Read more... ) Otherwise, it pretty much had the same good points and flaws as the book, but enjoyable enough for a movie. Probably will watch the others (though maybe not the last one, I don't know).
Avengers: Really very satisfying all around. A little less impactful considering I'd already been spoiled on a number of the best lines and surprises, but still, really good, especially with a movie with that large a cast. Apparently Joss Whedon's doing a SHIELD TV show in addition to the next movie... not my first choice, but might be cool (hopefully they'll use it to set up some new female heroes to make the jump into the next movie).
The Cabin in the Woods: Again, I might have been spoiled a little which ruined some of my enjoyment, but I liked it. Not super-great, but good, and, aside from one eye-rollingly stupid contrivance (spoiler) ( Read more... ), I really liked the ending. But what it really needs?
A sequel.
No, wait, hear me out. (Major spoilers again, obviously) ( Read more... )
In completely unrelated news, last night I had a dream I was running from a tornado. Which I think is a first for me. I don't live in a particularly tornado-prone area (every once in a while there's a report of one in the general part of the province,but I've never seen one myself). Anyway, it was kind of intense, but kind of cool, too. ( Read more... )
