Various Entertainment Related Stuffs
Oct. 2nd, 2008 06:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Starting with Book Foo:
Finished: Permanence, by Karl Schroeder
Started: Armor, by John Steakley (reread)
Thoughts on Permanence behind the cut. General concept spoilers. Short version: Enjoyed it but probably Schroeder's weakest. The main character comes from a 'Halo world', a world surrounding one of the many brown dwarfs that are between stars. These worlds are slowly choking due to lack of trade, because FTL ships don't go to them (they need a nearby sun to work), and the "cyclers", STL ships that travel in a cycle between them, are slowly dying out and not being replaced due to economic issues. So when the main character discovers (and gets salvage rights to) a seemingly abandoned alien cycler, well, plot happens.
I've liked most of Schroeder's work so far and this is no exception, but it's probably the weakest. The pace was a bit uneven (skipping over some things that might be cool and spending too much time on others), and there just wasn't as much "woo"ness to it all. A few of the themes explored were a little weak, although I did particularly like one of the ones that ended the book, and others that reminded me a bit of Blindsight (and partly inspired me to read that again).
It's also a bit interesting because it's really, to my recollection, Schroeder's first attempt to tackle 'aliens' - in his other books he's dealt mostly with divergent human cultures and AIs, some of which are different enough to be alien, but actually separate aliens are a different matter. He handles it okay but there's nothing particularly spectacular about it. I enjoyed it, but doubt I'll remember much of it or have a burning urge to reread like I think I would his other books.
Finished: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
Started: Blindsight, by Peter Watts (reread)
Most of my flist is probably at least passingly familiar with HP, if not having read it (I'm behind). But I'll keep it spoilery light in case someone else is as far behind as me.
So, anyway, you all know the general plot. It's a Harry Potter book. On the plus side, this one doesn't rely on everybody in the world except the main characters being complete idiots (although there's some of it), but on the other hand the plot doesn't feel as... important as some of the others. Even Big Spoiler included, this whole book almost feels like it should be a subplot of another book.
Speaking of Big Spoiler, I'd already heard it long before I read even the first book, so of course that was blunted for me. I have my doubts about it, and if something's not fishy with it then I'll be a bit disappointed (please refrain from spoiling or hinting toward it). Anyway, this was the first book I've managed to read before the movie of it came out - I hadn't watched the movies first, but you always get a bit of the plot from commercials and such. So although I knew the ending, at least much of the rest was slightly more surprising.
But overall, I still don't get it. I mean, it's an okay book and book series, for a children's book series, but I still can't grasp why it's got the following it has (at least among adults). I mean, I can see some appeal in the general concept. It's not specifically to my tastes and contains way too much crap that renders it inconsistent with itself (in a world with Unbreakable Vows and Truth Potions a lot of the crap in the early books just becomes questionable). I still feel no urge to obsessively slash any of the characters (though do confess a mild desire to see Luna Lovegood with somebody nice). But I've come this far, so I might as well continue, if I can find the last book cheaply.
Also, I'm doing this meme again cause I'm bored...
1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
calliopes_pen gave me the difficult letter E, so, here we go...
Ender Wiggin, Ender's Game
This is the character that got me reading Science Fiction. Ender Wiggin, a "Third" - third child born in a world of rigid population controls, considered an obscenity (even though he was specially licensed), and a child genius, with startling empathy. Okay, it's not much of a _character_, per se, but his adventures stuck with me, and particularly some of his insights. I've sort of taken as a personal mantra "Remember -- the enemy's gate is *down*." It's a reminder that a change of perspective can lead to startling insights (the quote refers to the subjective imposition of direction in a gravity-free environment).
Emma Frost, X-Men Comics
I never really grew all that attached to her as a villain - she was interesting, and I loved her school and the Hellions, but she didn't really come to my attention much until she joined the side of good, specifically in New X-Men and after (later I went back and read some Generation X, but that was published in my years away from comics). And the costume was ridiculously skimpy, but, well, I'm a man so I don't mind.
And, I dunno, I just really liked the snarkiness and sort of darkness, despite her wishing to atone, and her genuine-seeming love for Scott Summers.
Now I should go back and talk about that. Because I hated hated hated how she and Scott got together. Even beyond my personal distaste for 'having an affair' type plot, I just thought it was for the most part horribly written. However, he must have had some odd instinct, because despite never wanting to read any of the origin of the relationship ever again (and indeed, preferring to ignore that it ever happened), I actually think they were much better together than Scott and Jean. Scott's too much of a goody-two-shoes type (at least classically, and ideally, although now he's being written as cold black ops leader who sanctions killing in order to safeguard racial purity, but Current Marvel's crap knows no bounds), it's nice to have someone with a little bit of a darker edge to balance out against it. So I kind of like it with an eye to thing like the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon where (at least theoretically), Emma and Scott can get together after Jean's already presumed dead.
Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars
At first, he was the character you loved to hate because he was such a jerk, but also a charismatic jerk. You wanted to see him get what was coming to him, but he was fun to watch torment the main character. But then he grew a soul, in large part due to his own pain and the relationship with the character you'd least expect. Of course, he was also a suspect in the big murder plot (and others), so you never quite knew where he stood.
As the show went on he sort of went into either a devoted boyfriend who was imperfect in other ways, which was a little boring, but in general the Veronica/Logan dynamic was interesting to watch no matter how it went.
Ezri Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Ezri came to replace Jadzia Dax in towards the end of DS9. Jadzia was killed, but the Dax symbiote survived. Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances, the Dax symbiote had to be implanted en route back to Trill, in the only person available - a green ensign who was in training to be a ship's counsellor, and who had undergone none of the training one goes through when one wants a Symbiote.
I liked Jadzia, but I never got particularly attached to her. She was always a little flat and cold to me. But Ezri, I really liked for some reason, she just seemed so earnest and it was fun watching her struggle through the identity issues involved in being a Trill. They may have put too many episodes focusing on her, but I think she was an asset to the show. And I like the actress, who's appeared in a number of other SF-related shows.
Ellen Harvell, Supernatural
E's hard because there aren't many characters that are easy to think of. So my last choice is Ellen, who appeared in Season 2 of Supernatural. She ran a bar for Hunters (that is, demon hunters), and helped the main characters out on their big enemy. Her husband was a hunter who worked with the boys' father, and her daughter wanted to join the life. And... I dunno, I just liked her. She had a sort of no-nonsenseness about her, and a little bit of overprotectiveness and resentment she was trying to move past for the greater good. I liked it in the S2 finale when she started to actively take part, and was disappointed she didn't show up at all in S3. And I would seriously watch a show of Bobby and Ellen fighting evil together.
(Since I just watched Pushing Daisies I realized I could have also chosen Emerson Codd, but I'd already written all this and didn't want to waste the work. But he gets an honorable mention).
and of non-media stuff, but from RPG/MUSHing world:
Eve, X-Men End Times
Cause she was fun and tried to kill Professor Xavier with poison darts after he fired her from the X-Mansion, then ran a secret mutant bar!
And over the last weekend I finished up watching S2 of Torchwood. And to all of you who raved about the vast improvement. Well, you lot are all filthy, filthy liars. Well, okay, not so much liars, but overexaggerators. It was slightly better. I didn't want to stab most of the characters to death over the course of the series. But it's still crap, poorly written and without even the whimsy that excuses that for Doctor Who. I'm done with it, for reals, save perhaps for an episode or two if something amazingly cool happens like they bring in The Brig.
And sadly it's looking like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles may be on the verge of being cancelled. That sucks. Cancel Fringe, that show turned out to blow chunks. Sure Terminator's not lived up to its potential (and has been weaker this year than last), but it's still cool. :P
Finished: Permanence, by Karl Schroeder
Started: Armor, by John Steakley (reread)
Thoughts on Permanence behind the cut. General concept spoilers. Short version: Enjoyed it but probably Schroeder's weakest. The main character comes from a 'Halo world', a world surrounding one of the many brown dwarfs that are between stars. These worlds are slowly choking due to lack of trade, because FTL ships don't go to them (they need a nearby sun to work), and the "cyclers", STL ships that travel in a cycle between them, are slowly dying out and not being replaced due to economic issues. So when the main character discovers (and gets salvage rights to) a seemingly abandoned alien cycler, well, plot happens.
I've liked most of Schroeder's work so far and this is no exception, but it's probably the weakest. The pace was a bit uneven (skipping over some things that might be cool and spending too much time on others), and there just wasn't as much "woo"ness to it all. A few of the themes explored were a little weak, although I did particularly like one of the ones that ended the book, and others that reminded me a bit of Blindsight (and partly inspired me to read that again).
It's also a bit interesting because it's really, to my recollection, Schroeder's first attempt to tackle 'aliens' - in his other books he's dealt mostly with divergent human cultures and AIs, some of which are different enough to be alien, but actually separate aliens are a different matter. He handles it okay but there's nothing particularly spectacular about it. I enjoyed it, but doubt I'll remember much of it or have a burning urge to reread like I think I would his other books.
Finished: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
Started: Blindsight, by Peter Watts (reread)
Most of my flist is probably at least passingly familiar with HP, if not having read it (I'm behind). But I'll keep it spoilery light in case someone else is as far behind as me.
So, anyway, you all know the general plot. It's a Harry Potter book. On the plus side, this one doesn't rely on everybody in the world except the main characters being complete idiots (although there's some of it), but on the other hand the plot doesn't feel as... important as some of the others. Even Big Spoiler included, this whole book almost feels like it should be a subplot of another book.
Speaking of Big Spoiler, I'd already heard it long before I read even the first book, so of course that was blunted for me. I have my doubts about it, and if something's not fishy with it then I'll be a bit disappointed (please refrain from spoiling or hinting toward it). Anyway, this was the first book I've managed to read before the movie of it came out - I hadn't watched the movies first, but you always get a bit of the plot from commercials and such. So although I knew the ending, at least much of the rest was slightly more surprising.
But overall, I still don't get it. I mean, it's an okay book and book series, for a children's book series, but I still can't grasp why it's got the following it has (at least among adults). I mean, I can see some appeal in the general concept. It's not specifically to my tastes and contains way too much crap that renders it inconsistent with itself (in a world with Unbreakable Vows and Truth Potions a lot of the crap in the early books just becomes questionable). I still feel no urge to obsessively slash any of the characters (though do confess a mild desire to see Luna Lovegood with somebody nice). But I've come this far, so I might as well continue, if I can find the last book cheaply.
Also, I'm doing this meme again cause I'm bored...
1. Comment on this post.
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Think of 5 fictional characters and post their names and your comments on these characters in your LJ.
calliopes_pen gave me the difficult letter E, so, here we go...Ender Wiggin, Ender's Game
This is the character that got me reading Science Fiction. Ender Wiggin, a "Third" - third child born in a world of rigid population controls, considered an obscenity (even though he was specially licensed), and a child genius, with startling empathy. Okay, it's not much of a _character_, per se, but his adventures stuck with me, and particularly some of his insights. I've sort of taken as a personal mantra "Remember -- the enemy's gate is *down*." It's a reminder that a change of perspective can lead to startling insights (the quote refers to the subjective imposition of direction in a gravity-free environment).
Emma Frost, X-Men Comics
I never really grew all that attached to her as a villain - she was interesting, and I loved her school and the Hellions, but she didn't really come to my attention much until she joined the side of good, specifically in New X-Men and after (later I went back and read some Generation X, but that was published in my years away from comics). And the costume was ridiculously skimpy, but, well, I'm a man so I don't mind.
And, I dunno, I just really liked the snarkiness and sort of darkness, despite her wishing to atone, and her genuine-seeming love for Scott Summers.
Now I should go back and talk about that. Because I hated hated hated how she and Scott got together. Even beyond my personal distaste for 'having an affair' type plot, I just thought it was for the most part horribly written. However, he must have had some odd instinct, because despite never wanting to read any of the origin of the relationship ever again (and indeed, preferring to ignore that it ever happened), I actually think they were much better together than Scott and Jean. Scott's too much of a goody-two-shoes type (at least classically, and ideally, although now he's being written as cold black ops leader who sanctions killing in order to safeguard racial purity, but Current Marvel's crap knows no bounds), it's nice to have someone with a little bit of a darker edge to balance out against it. So I kind of like it with an eye to thing like the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon where (at least theoretically), Emma and Scott can get together after Jean's already presumed dead.
Logan Echolls, Veronica Mars
At first, he was the character you loved to hate because he was such a jerk, but also a charismatic jerk. You wanted to see him get what was coming to him, but he was fun to watch torment the main character. But then he grew a soul, in large part due to his own pain and the relationship with the character you'd least expect. Of course, he was also a suspect in the big murder plot (and others), so you never quite knew where he stood.
As the show went on he sort of went into either a devoted boyfriend who was imperfect in other ways, which was a little boring, but in general the Veronica/Logan dynamic was interesting to watch no matter how it went.
Ezri Dax, Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Ezri came to replace Jadzia Dax in towards the end of DS9. Jadzia was killed, but the Dax symbiote survived. Unfortunately, due to unforseen circumstances, the Dax symbiote had to be implanted en route back to Trill, in the only person available - a green ensign who was in training to be a ship's counsellor, and who had undergone none of the training one goes through when one wants a Symbiote.
I liked Jadzia, but I never got particularly attached to her. She was always a little flat and cold to me. But Ezri, I really liked for some reason, she just seemed so earnest and it was fun watching her struggle through the identity issues involved in being a Trill. They may have put too many episodes focusing on her, but I think she was an asset to the show. And I like the actress, who's appeared in a number of other SF-related shows.
Ellen Harvell, Supernatural
E's hard because there aren't many characters that are easy to think of. So my last choice is Ellen, who appeared in Season 2 of Supernatural. She ran a bar for Hunters (that is, demon hunters), and helped the main characters out on their big enemy. Her husband was a hunter who worked with the boys' father, and her daughter wanted to join the life. And... I dunno, I just liked her. She had a sort of no-nonsenseness about her, and a little bit of overprotectiveness and resentment she was trying to move past for the greater good. I liked it in the S2 finale when she started to actively take part, and was disappointed she didn't show up at all in S3. And I would seriously watch a show of Bobby and Ellen fighting evil together.
(Since I just watched Pushing Daisies I realized I could have also chosen Emerson Codd, but I'd already written all this and didn't want to waste the work. But he gets an honorable mention).
and of non-media stuff, but from RPG/MUSHing world:
Eve, X-Men End Times
Cause she was fun and tried to kill Professor Xavier with poison darts after he fired her from the X-Mansion, then ran a secret mutant bar!
And over the last weekend I finished up watching S2 of Torchwood. And to all of you who raved about the vast improvement. Well, you lot are all filthy, filthy liars. Well, okay, not so much liars, but overexaggerators. It was slightly better. I didn't want to stab most of the characters to death over the course of the series. But it's still crap, poorly written and without even the whimsy that excuses that for Doctor Who. I'm done with it, for reals, save perhaps for an episode or two if something amazingly cool happens like they bring in The Brig.
And sadly it's looking like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles may be on the verge of being cancelled. That sucks. Cancel Fringe, that show turned out to blow chunks. Sure Terminator's not lived up to its potential (and has been weaker this year than last), but it's still cool. :P
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-03 01:50 pm (UTC)The reason I say faddishness is because children's librarians (like my mother) have had problems trying to get kids to cross over to other totally awesome children's fantasy that's out there, and there's really a lot of it. You don't have to work /quite/ as hard at world-building when dealing with young audiences.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 12:06 am (UTC)If you dislike Torchwood so much, maybe I shouldn't suggest you watch The Sarah Jane Adventures. But I'm guessing you'll watch the one ep with the Brig, whenever that is.
And I'm loving your icon there. I've been playing that Marvel video game a lot and every time I play Thor I can't help but think "The hammer is my manhood." :-D
no subject
Date: 2008-10-04 12:19 am (UTC)I don't really plan on watching SJA for anything more than the Brig episode, but I'd probably be a bit more lenient on it seeing as how it's designed for kids. Still, it just doesn't interest me as a whole series, except for seeing the Brig.
And thanks. Someone made a joke about "The Hammer is My Penis" on a scans_daily post about Thor, and I was bored so I dug up a few scans that looked like they would work, and did some photoshopping, and voila. ;). It seems to be rather popular.