Last post of the year...
Dec. 31st, 2011 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Instead of starting with Book Foo as usual, I'll start with TV/movies...
There's not been a lot going on in recent weeks... heck, even recent months have been dry, but since traditionally the last week of the year you look back and choose best/worsts, what the hell, I'll go ahead and do the same.
For 2011:
Best New Series: Of the fall season, Grimm, I guess, although none wowed me. Of 2011 in general... Game of Thrones, I think. Started off a little slow, but I got really into it. Falling Skies gets an honorable mention.
Best Returning Series: ... Walking Dead, I guess. Again, not a whole lot of returning series' that I care about anymore.
Biggest Downslide of a Returning Series: Probably Doctor Who. It was still solidly enjoyable, but missing something. But again, with few returning series I even watch, even that stood out.
Most Regretted Cancellation: Probably Stargate Universe, even though it was actually cancelled the year before, it ran out its run of new episodes in 2011.
Best Movie: X-Men: First Class, I guess. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was surprisingly good considering it should have been a thoughtless cash-in to a long-running and long-played out series.
Most Disappointing Movie: I only saw "The Last Airbender" in 2011, and I so WANT to name that, but if I do that, I also have to name Inception for 2011. So, I'll go with Green Lantern. Okay, but could have been much better.
For 2012:
Most Anticipated New Series: You know what, I think it might just be Avatar: The Legend of Korra (and it looks like they may actually be using that as the title, instead of the awkward 'Last Airbender: Legend of Korra' one). Of non-animated shows, I guess Alcatraz.
Most Anticipated TV Return: Doctor Who, just because it'll take so LONG. It had BETTER be good with that long a wait, Moffat. Oh, and Game of Thrones, season 2.
Most Anticipated Movies: Avengers, Hunger Games, Prometheus, World War Z, Amazing Spider-Man are all high on my anticipation list. If I had to choose one... Avengers, just because a) Whedon, and b) seeing how they'll manage all the big stars (by which mean the characters) in one movie.
Most Dreaded Movies: I somehow don't care a bit about The Dark Knight Rises based on what I've seen so far, but I won't go so far as to say I dread it. John Carter is probably my choice... I think a great movie could be made by adapating (even if somewhat loosely) the Mars books, but somehow I'm getting train-wreck vibes from it.
And now onto books... first, the last Book Foo of 2011...
Finished: Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge
So, I've now read all of Vinge's novel length work. And, while I was reading before, I always wondered... when was it he became awesome? I mean, his earlier work certainly had some good ideas, but was a little clunky and didn't quite click. So, I'd wondered, was my first exposure to him, A Fire Upon The Deep, where he hit awesome? A bit depressing, but okay.
Luckily, I have solved the question in a happy way. He hit awesome with Marooned in Realtime. The Peace War was almost awesome with a really good idea, but it was this sequel that he really hit his stride and wrote a kickass novel. In fact, I'd almost suggest skipping the Peace War entirely - it's not really necessary to the plot of the book, some of the political situations and the very few continuing characters can probably work just as well if introduced to you as they were in the book, and the story, although hinging on the same technological gimmick, is completely independent. Of course, I'm not the type to take that advice from other people.
(back of the book-type synopsis of the overall concept behind the cut, along with more detailed thoughts, but no big spoilers)
The 'central technology' of the book are the bobbles, a technology that lets anybody take a one-way trip into the future. When bobbled up, the outside world just encounters an impenetrable (but movable) sphere, essentially cut off from the universe and flow of time until the bobble is set to expire naturally. The story focuses on a group of humans who, through various means, either intentionally or through the actions of others, bobbled and reemerged after a point where all of humanity had vanished. Using bobbles and jumping, by degrees, millions of years in the future in order to synchronize everybody they can, they get together to try to restart humanity despite having just barely enough people and tech to make it. And then there's a sort-of murder of one of the architects of the plan - left unbobbled while everybody else jumped a hundred years ahead, and left alone for decades until her 'natural' death. A former detective, who was shanghaied past the Extinction of humanity while working a case, is tapped to investigate.
Although he's awesome, he's not perfect, a lot of the secondary characters still ring a little flat, and many of the suspects therefore never become memorable, and I'm not sure I entirely buy into some of the political philosophies he puts forward, but there's just so much awesome here it's easy to forgive... there's the explorations into what geology and animal evolution might look like over millions of years... different ways to use the central technology depending on your point of view, there's one of his earliest in-fiction descriptions of the Singularity. And through it all, Vinge weaves three mysteries on three different scales (who did the murder, what caused humanity to disappear, and who was responsible for the protagonist's personal time trip) in an enthralling manner that made the book hard to put down. Loved it.
Finished: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
I'm a little late to the party, but I finally finished it, and I have to say... meh.
A bit more spoilers behind the cut, but nothing really serious.
There were a few times I rolled my eyes and thought things worked out far too conveniently to be believed, a lot of Just-So writing, and many of my earlier suspicions for how the story would play out turned out to be true...
The Deathly Hallows themselves I felt were stupid and detracted from the book, particularly the cloak part of them (considering how many limitations it had and how many times people seemed to see through it in earlier parts of the books), and the resolution was... well, kind of lame. One of my biggest annoyances with the series is that so often Harry isn't really making the choices, he's just manipulated into doing what he needs to at a particular time... eg, in Goblet of Fire, he doesn't enter the tournament, he's entered, he doesn't pass by his own efforts, he's given the key to all his challenges in advance. Here it's similar, so there's never really a satisfying feel that HE defeated Voldemort, it was like it was all some divine plan and, well, the best that can be said about him is that he didn't screw it up. And I don't like that in a story.
I think I was a little more aggressively unimpressed when I first finished the book, but it's been about a week or so and at this point I just have nothing further to say, except this, apparently one of the big 'love it or hate it' things is the flashforward at the end. And true to form, I did neither. It was okay, I didn't think it was really necessary but I can see why the author did it and didn't find it especially offputting.
All in all, I never quite bought into HP-love, it was a mildly enjoyable kids series but never the kind of thing I thought should be the phenomenon it's become. And this is, well, an ending. Ironically, I think the series actually WOULD be best served by Rowling giving up control, letting it exist as an environment rather than a story, so say, having comics/cartoons set at Hogwarts after Voldemort's era would actually be a GOOD thing, rather than diluting the story... here, the story wasn't all that impressive, what was impressive was the setting Rowling created, and the setting needs to be used by others to live up to its full potential. So, get over yourself, Rowling, and sell out for the good of your creation! Well, I suspect she already has sold out in many ways (so many licensing deals out there for products), but sell out in a way that lets others be creative with what you've built, rather than purely commercially.
For 2012, my first books will be...
Started: Spin State by Chris Moriarty
Started: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
That makes my book list for 2011, more or less in order, the following...
1. Song of Susannah (Dark Tower Book VI), by Stephen King (reread)
2. Mainspring, by Jay Lake
3. Tesseracts 6 (short story collection)
4. The Dark Tower (Dark Tower Book VII), by Stephen King (reread)
5. Tesseracts 7 (short story collection)
6. Jumper: Griffin's Story, by Steven Gould
7. Tesseracts 8 (short story collection)
8. Wireless, by Charles Stross (short story collection)
9. Rage, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books) (reread)
10. The Long Walk, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books) (reread)
11. Roadwork, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books)
12. The Running Man, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books) (reread)
13. Cell, by Stephen King (reread)
14. City of Diamond, by Jane Emerson
15. The Last Colony, by John Scalzi
16. Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi
17. The Collapsium, by Will McCarthy
18. Patton's Spaceship, by John Barnes (in The Timeline Wars omnibus) (reread)
19. Washington's Dirigible, by John Barnes (in The Timeline Wars omnibus) (reread)
20. Caesar's Bicycle, by John Barnes (in The Timeline Wars omnibus) (reread)
21. The Puppet Masters, by Robert A. Heinlein
22. Engineman, by Eric Brown
23. The Summer Tree, by Guy Gavriel Kay
24. Matter, by Iain M. Banks
25. Helm, by Steven Gould
26. Designated Targets, by John Birmingham (Book 2 of The Axis of Time)
27. Newton's Wake, by Ken Macleod
28. The Witling, by Vernor Vinge
29. The Jennifer Morgue, by Charles Stross
30. Cosmonaut Keep, by Ken Macleod
31. Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds
32. Helix, by Eric Brown
33. Final Impact, by John Birmingham (Book 3 of the Axis of Time)
34. A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
35. Under the Dome, by Stephen King
36. The Clockwork Rocket, by Greg Egan
37. A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
38. The Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
39. Dark Light, by Ken Macleod
40. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
41. Marooned in Realtime, by Vernor Vinge
42. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
So, 42 books, last year was 47, the year before was 44, so falling behind a bit, but a few of them were big books, and also haven't had as much dead time as work. Still, must try to pick up for next year, and I have plenty of new books on my 'to read (and already purchased)' pile.
And, we'll end off more or less with a traditional meme...
1.What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Can't think of anything big. Officially became an organ donor, I guess? By that I mean I registered as one in the event of my death, not that I actually donated an organ. That I know of.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
The last resolution I kept, many years ago, was to not make any resolutions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nobody especially close to me. It's possible a stepsibling or cousin did, I don't always keep track of those... I mean that if they did, I was probably aware of it, but given my diffficulty keeping track of events in time, I can't recall if any of them actually happened this year as opposed to last.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Luckily, no.
5. What countries did you visit?
Once again, I visited the hell out of one small area of Canada. Pretty much exclusively.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Super-powers, romance, a zombie apocalypse, a truck running into me to end it all early, you know, the usual impossible wishes.
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 1, because it's the first. Otherweise, dates don't usually etch themselves on my memory.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Paying off my student loans and becoming completely debt-free. It's... well, it's something.
9. What was your biggest failure?
The continuing failure of my life. Can we stop asking these questions that get me to dwell on it?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I hurt my back, but luckily not enough that I missed any work. A few too many colds and such. Depression, I guess. So, nothing serious.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new computer I just got a few days ago, maybe, although the jury's still out on it. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's not like a jump into the singularity or anything that opens up new vistas, it just lets me do stuff I already did, faster, and maybe a couple games I couldn't play before. So it may in the long run feel a bit like buying new shoes... yes, they may be nice shoes, but I was just replacing old worn-out shoes.
So it may turn out to be a book, which at least was still capable of engendering sense-of-wonder. As for which one? Well, don't make me choose. But I'm thinking Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge, just because it was so long-awaited and mostly lived up to my more realistic hopes.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Lots of people's, but none really comes to mind.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Plenty, including our own government, but right now I'm thinking, anyone who supports SOPA. It's pretty much a no-brainer to me, to the point that if a corporation supports it, I consider they've declared themselves my enemy and the enemy of humanity and that I will not have even the slightest qualms over pirating their work. This includes a lot of media companies, so, congratulations, normally I do try to support work I like, but when you support this kind of thing, no. Sadly, this currently includes Marvel and DC, even though I'm sure their corporate overlords push them to it, it doesn't change my decision.
Oh, and speaking of comics, on a much less relevant level, DC, for rebooting its universe and getting rid of a whole bunch of characters. I really don't have to boycott DC because of SOPA, their reboot made me lose all interest in following their universe. Marvel, I still might download the occasionally issue, and once in a while, I might even buy something, DC, I literally couldn't even be bothered to do that.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Paying my brother's share of the rent and food. He had a difficult year, but at least he seems like he might be pulling out of it.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge. Various bits of Doctor Who and the Walking Dead returns. I guess you could say I got really really excited about Avatar: The Legend of Korra, but it hasn't even started yet.
16. What songs will always remind you of 2011?
Unless there's a song with the year in the chorus, no song will ever remind me of a particular year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Sadder, through the metaphorical effects of entropy.
b) thinner or fatter? Probably a little fatter, but not by much.
c) richer or poorer? About the same, with the proviso that if I didn't have to spend so much on my brother's rent, I'd be much much richer. Also, no debt. So, actually, I'd say richer over all.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing, interacting with other human beings.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Isolating myself. Yet it'll continue.
20. How did you/will you spend Christmas?
All you can eat buffet at Mandarin, followed by present opening at my Dad's. Ate so much I almost puked.
21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Only in my dreams, which is probably the only place I'm capable anymore. Had another one last night, actually, which probably accounts for me a little extra depressed this morning.
22. How many one-night stands?
0
23. What was your favourite TV program?
Walking Dead, I guess? Even though it was a little weaker than this year, there
really wasn't a whole lot this year to be excited about TV-wise, and even Doctor Who was
weak.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't hate people. Unless corporations count as people. In which case, I hate them so much. But I often do.
25. What was the best book you read?
Probably Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge, but there were a couple other really good ones.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I didn't make any musical discoveries. Then again, I didn't make any musical investigations or explorations either. Music and I are content to live in separate realms.
27. What did you want and get?
A computer.
28. What did you want and not get?
A new reason to live, my old ones are getting stale.
29. What was your favourite film of this year?
It's not really a 2011 film, but I first saw it in 2011, so... Inception, I guess?
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I can't even remember. Probably a quiet family dinner, and probably not on the exact date. I turned 33. Or 21, in Hexadecimal, which I've decided to start counting my age in.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying
A personality transplant.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
T-shirt and jeans, almost exclusively.
33. What kept you sane?
Excuse me?
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Can't think of any in particular that stood out, so, I'll say Summer Glau, because, well, Summer Glau!
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The growing realization that the people in power have gamed the system to screw us and will continue screwing us to the best of their ability to the end of time unless something big happens. I always kinda-sorta-suspected it, but it's becoming more and more apparent each year.
36. Who did you miss?
Can't think of specific people, but I miss lots of people in general.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anybody new and fascinating this year.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011
That if you don't interact much with people, you don't tend to learn many valuable life lessons.
39. Quote song lyrics that sum up your year:
"Is this a song lyric? No? Oh well, that's okay, because it doesn't really sum up my year either."
Very apropos.
Or, perhaps just "(instrumental)"
I don't really celebrate New Years, and although I usually stay up past midnight just because, this year I really think I'll just sleep through it.
But, before I go... the mnemonic device I use to instantly calculate the day of the week any day of the year falls on, this year will be:
Sunlight Wakes The Surf Too Furiously...
Surf Will Still Move The Sand
It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to be something I can remember...
(For those that don't know, the start of each word in the phrase points to a day of the week. The month at the Nth position in the phrase starts with that day of the week. The 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the month also start on that day of the week, so the rest is easy calculation. So for March 24th, my birthday, it goes like this: March is the third month, you go to the third word, To. The word "The" starts with Th, which stands for Thursday, so the 22nd is a Thursday. That means the 24th is a Saturday.)
There's not been a lot going on in recent weeks... heck, even recent months have been dry, but since traditionally the last week of the year you look back and choose best/worsts, what the hell, I'll go ahead and do the same.
For 2011:
Best New Series: Of the fall season, Grimm, I guess, although none wowed me. Of 2011 in general... Game of Thrones, I think. Started off a little slow, but I got really into it. Falling Skies gets an honorable mention.
Best Returning Series: ... Walking Dead, I guess. Again, not a whole lot of returning series' that I care about anymore.
Biggest Downslide of a Returning Series: Probably Doctor Who. It was still solidly enjoyable, but missing something. But again, with few returning series I even watch, even that stood out.
Most Regretted Cancellation: Probably Stargate Universe, even though it was actually cancelled the year before, it ran out its run of new episodes in 2011.
Best Movie: X-Men: First Class, I guess. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was surprisingly good considering it should have been a thoughtless cash-in to a long-running and long-played out series.
Most Disappointing Movie: I only saw "The Last Airbender" in 2011, and I so WANT to name that, but if I do that, I also have to name Inception for 2011. So, I'll go with Green Lantern. Okay, but could have been much better.
For 2012:
Most Anticipated New Series: You know what, I think it might just be Avatar: The Legend of Korra (and it looks like they may actually be using that as the title, instead of the awkward 'Last Airbender: Legend of Korra' one). Of non-animated shows, I guess Alcatraz.
Most Anticipated TV Return: Doctor Who, just because it'll take so LONG. It had BETTER be good with that long a wait, Moffat. Oh, and Game of Thrones, season 2.
Most Anticipated Movies: Avengers, Hunger Games, Prometheus, World War Z, Amazing Spider-Man are all high on my anticipation list. If I had to choose one... Avengers, just because a) Whedon, and b) seeing how they'll manage all the big stars (by which mean the characters) in one movie.
Most Dreaded Movies: I somehow don't care a bit about The Dark Knight Rises based on what I've seen so far, but I won't go so far as to say I dread it. John Carter is probably my choice... I think a great movie could be made by adapating (even if somewhat loosely) the Mars books, but somehow I'm getting train-wreck vibes from it.
And now onto books... first, the last Book Foo of 2011...
Finished: Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge
So, I've now read all of Vinge's novel length work. And, while I was reading before, I always wondered... when was it he became awesome? I mean, his earlier work certainly had some good ideas, but was a little clunky and didn't quite click. So, I'd wondered, was my first exposure to him, A Fire Upon The Deep, where he hit awesome? A bit depressing, but okay.
Luckily, I have solved the question in a happy way. He hit awesome with Marooned in Realtime. The Peace War was almost awesome with a really good idea, but it was this sequel that he really hit his stride and wrote a kickass novel. In fact, I'd almost suggest skipping the Peace War entirely - it's not really necessary to the plot of the book, some of the political situations and the very few continuing characters can probably work just as well if introduced to you as they were in the book, and the story, although hinging on the same technological gimmick, is completely independent. Of course, I'm not the type to take that advice from other people.
(back of the book-type synopsis of the overall concept behind the cut, along with more detailed thoughts, but no big spoilers)
The 'central technology' of the book are the bobbles, a technology that lets anybody take a one-way trip into the future. When bobbled up, the outside world just encounters an impenetrable (but movable) sphere, essentially cut off from the universe and flow of time until the bobble is set to expire naturally. The story focuses on a group of humans who, through various means, either intentionally or through the actions of others, bobbled and reemerged after a point where all of humanity had vanished. Using bobbles and jumping, by degrees, millions of years in the future in order to synchronize everybody they can, they get together to try to restart humanity despite having just barely enough people and tech to make it. And then there's a sort-of murder of one of the architects of the plan - left unbobbled while everybody else jumped a hundred years ahead, and left alone for decades until her 'natural' death. A former detective, who was shanghaied past the Extinction of humanity while working a case, is tapped to investigate.
Although he's awesome, he's not perfect, a lot of the secondary characters still ring a little flat, and many of the suspects therefore never become memorable, and I'm not sure I entirely buy into some of the political philosophies he puts forward, but there's just so much awesome here it's easy to forgive... there's the explorations into what geology and animal evolution might look like over millions of years... different ways to use the central technology depending on your point of view, there's one of his earliest in-fiction descriptions of the Singularity. And through it all, Vinge weaves three mysteries on three different scales (who did the murder, what caused humanity to disappear, and who was responsible for the protagonist's personal time trip) in an enthralling manner that made the book hard to put down. Loved it.
Finished: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
I'm a little late to the party, but I finally finished it, and I have to say... meh.
A bit more spoilers behind the cut, but nothing really serious.
There were a few times I rolled my eyes and thought things worked out far too conveniently to be believed, a lot of Just-So writing, and many of my earlier suspicions for how the story would play out turned out to be true...
The Deathly Hallows themselves I felt were stupid and detracted from the book, particularly the cloak part of them (considering how many limitations it had and how many times people seemed to see through it in earlier parts of the books), and the resolution was... well, kind of lame. One of my biggest annoyances with the series is that so often Harry isn't really making the choices, he's just manipulated into doing what he needs to at a particular time... eg, in Goblet of Fire, he doesn't enter the tournament, he's entered, he doesn't pass by his own efforts, he's given the key to all his challenges in advance. Here it's similar, so there's never really a satisfying feel that HE defeated Voldemort, it was like it was all some divine plan and, well, the best that can be said about him is that he didn't screw it up. And I don't like that in a story.
I think I was a little more aggressively unimpressed when I first finished the book, but it's been about a week or so and at this point I just have nothing further to say, except this, apparently one of the big 'love it or hate it' things is the flashforward at the end. And true to form, I did neither. It was okay, I didn't think it was really necessary but I can see why the author did it and didn't find it especially offputting.
All in all, I never quite bought into HP-love, it was a mildly enjoyable kids series but never the kind of thing I thought should be the phenomenon it's become. And this is, well, an ending. Ironically, I think the series actually WOULD be best served by Rowling giving up control, letting it exist as an environment rather than a story, so say, having comics/cartoons set at Hogwarts after Voldemort's era would actually be a GOOD thing, rather than diluting the story... here, the story wasn't all that impressive, what was impressive was the setting Rowling created, and the setting needs to be used by others to live up to its full potential. So, get over yourself, Rowling, and sell out for the good of your creation! Well, I suspect she already has sold out in many ways (so many licensing deals out there for products), but sell out in a way that lets others be creative with what you've built, rather than purely commercially.
For 2012, my first books will be...
Started: Spin State by Chris Moriarty
Started: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
That makes my book list for 2011, more or less in order, the following...
1. Song of Susannah (Dark Tower Book VI), by Stephen King (reread)
2. Mainspring, by Jay Lake
3. Tesseracts 6 (short story collection)
4. The Dark Tower (Dark Tower Book VII), by Stephen King (reread)
5. Tesseracts 7 (short story collection)
6. Jumper: Griffin's Story, by Steven Gould
7. Tesseracts 8 (short story collection)
8. Wireless, by Charles Stross (short story collection)
9. Rage, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books) (reread)
10. The Long Walk, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books) (reread)
11. Roadwork, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books)
12. The Running Man, by Stephen King (in The Bachman Books) (reread)
13. Cell, by Stephen King (reread)
14. City of Diamond, by Jane Emerson
15. The Last Colony, by John Scalzi
16. Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi
17. The Collapsium, by Will McCarthy
18. Patton's Spaceship, by John Barnes (in The Timeline Wars omnibus) (reread)
19. Washington's Dirigible, by John Barnes (in The Timeline Wars omnibus) (reread)
20. Caesar's Bicycle, by John Barnes (in The Timeline Wars omnibus) (reread)
21. The Puppet Masters, by Robert A. Heinlein
22. Engineman, by Eric Brown
23. The Summer Tree, by Guy Gavriel Kay
24. Matter, by Iain M. Banks
25. Helm, by Steven Gould
26. Designated Targets, by John Birmingham (Book 2 of The Axis of Time)
27. Newton's Wake, by Ken Macleod
28. The Witling, by Vernor Vinge
29. The Jennifer Morgue, by Charles Stross
30. Cosmonaut Keep, by Ken Macleod
31. Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds
32. Helix, by Eric Brown
33. Final Impact, by John Birmingham (Book 3 of the Axis of Time)
34. A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
35. Under the Dome, by Stephen King
36. The Clockwork Rocket, by Greg Egan
37. A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
38. The Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
39. Dark Light, by Ken Macleod
40. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
41. Marooned in Realtime, by Vernor Vinge
42. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling
So, 42 books, last year was 47, the year before was 44, so falling behind a bit, but a few of them were big books, and also haven't had as much dead time as work. Still, must try to pick up for next year, and I have plenty of new books on my 'to read (and already purchased)' pile.
And, we'll end off more or less with a traditional meme...
1.What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Can't think of anything big. Officially became an organ donor, I guess? By that I mean I registered as one in the event of my death, not that I actually donated an organ. That I know of.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
The last resolution I kept, many years ago, was to not make any resolutions.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nobody especially close to me. It's possible a stepsibling or cousin did, I don't always keep track of those... I mean that if they did, I was probably aware of it, but given my diffficulty keeping track of events in time, I can't recall if any of them actually happened this year as opposed to last.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Luckily, no.
5. What countries did you visit?
Once again, I visited the hell out of one small area of Canada. Pretty much exclusively.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
Super-powers, romance, a zombie apocalypse, a truck running into me to end it all early, you know, the usual impossible wishes.
7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 1, because it's the first. Otherweise, dates don't usually etch themselves on my memory.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Paying off my student loans and becoming completely debt-free. It's... well, it's something.
9. What was your biggest failure?
The continuing failure of my life. Can we stop asking these questions that get me to dwell on it?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I hurt my back, but luckily not enough that I missed any work. A few too many colds and such. Depression, I guess. So, nothing serious.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new computer I just got a few days ago, maybe, although the jury's still out on it. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's not like a jump into the singularity or anything that opens up new vistas, it just lets me do stuff I already did, faster, and maybe a couple games I couldn't play before. So it may in the long run feel a bit like buying new shoes... yes, they may be nice shoes, but I was just replacing old worn-out shoes.
So it may turn out to be a book, which at least was still capable of engendering sense-of-wonder. As for which one? Well, don't make me choose. But I'm thinking Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge, just because it was so long-awaited and mostly lived up to my more realistic hopes.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Lots of people's, but none really comes to mind.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Plenty, including our own government, but right now I'm thinking, anyone who supports SOPA. It's pretty much a no-brainer to me, to the point that if a corporation supports it, I consider they've declared themselves my enemy and the enemy of humanity and that I will not have even the slightest qualms over pirating their work. This includes a lot of media companies, so, congratulations, normally I do try to support work I like, but when you support this kind of thing, no. Sadly, this currently includes Marvel and DC, even though I'm sure their corporate overlords push them to it, it doesn't change my decision.
Oh, and speaking of comics, on a much less relevant level, DC, for rebooting its universe and getting rid of a whole bunch of characters. I really don't have to boycott DC because of SOPA, their reboot made me lose all interest in following their universe. Marvel, I still might download the occasionally issue, and once in a while, I might even buy something, DC, I literally couldn't even be bothered to do that.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Paying my brother's share of the rent and food. He had a difficult year, but at least he seems like he might be pulling out of it.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Children of the Sky, by Vernor Vinge. Various bits of Doctor Who and the Walking Dead returns. I guess you could say I got really really excited about Avatar: The Legend of Korra, but it hasn't even started yet.
16. What songs will always remind you of 2011?
Unless there's a song with the year in the chorus, no song will ever remind me of a particular year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Sadder, through the metaphorical effects of entropy.
b) thinner or fatter? Probably a little fatter, but not by much.
c) richer or poorer? About the same, with the proviso that if I didn't have to spend so much on my brother's rent, I'd be much much richer. Also, no debt. So, actually, I'd say richer over all.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing, interacting with other human beings.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Isolating myself. Yet it'll continue.
20. How did you/will you spend Christmas?
All you can eat buffet at Mandarin, followed by present opening at my Dad's. Ate so much I almost puked.
21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Only in my dreams, which is probably the only place I'm capable anymore. Had another one last night, actually, which probably accounts for me a little extra depressed this morning.
22. How many one-night stands?
0
23. What was your favourite TV program?
Walking Dead, I guess? Even though it was a little weaker than this year, there
really wasn't a whole lot this year to be excited about TV-wise, and even Doctor Who was
weak.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't hate people. Unless corporations count as people. In which case, I hate them so much. But I often do.
25. What was the best book you read?
Probably Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge, but there were a couple other really good ones.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I didn't make any musical discoveries. Then again, I didn't make any musical investigations or explorations either. Music and I are content to live in separate realms.
27. What did you want and get?
A computer.
28. What did you want and not get?
A new reason to live, my old ones are getting stale.
29. What was your favourite film of this year?
It's not really a 2011 film, but I first saw it in 2011, so... Inception, I guess?
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I can't even remember. Probably a quiet family dinner, and probably not on the exact date. I turned 33. Or 21, in Hexadecimal, which I've decided to start counting my age in.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying
A personality transplant.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
T-shirt and jeans, almost exclusively.
33. What kept you sane?
Excuse me?
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Can't think of any in particular that stood out, so, I'll say Summer Glau, because, well, Summer Glau!
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The growing realization that the people in power have gamed the system to screw us and will continue screwing us to the best of their ability to the end of time unless something big happens. I always kinda-sorta-suspected it, but it's becoming more and more apparent each year.
36. Who did you miss?
Can't think of specific people, but I miss lots of people in general.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anybody new and fascinating this year.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011
That if you don't interact much with people, you don't tend to learn many valuable life lessons.
39. Quote song lyrics that sum up your year:
"Is this a song lyric? No? Oh well, that's okay, because it doesn't really sum up my year either."
Very apropos.
Or, perhaps just "(instrumental)"
I don't really celebrate New Years, and although I usually stay up past midnight just because, this year I really think I'll just sleep through it.
But, before I go... the mnemonic device I use to instantly calculate the day of the week any day of the year falls on, this year will be:
Sunlight Wakes The Surf Too Furiously...
Surf Will Still Move The Sand
It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to be something I can remember...
(For those that don't know, the start of each word in the phrase points to a day of the week. The month at the Nth position in the phrase starts with that day of the week. The 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the month also start on that day of the week, so the rest is easy calculation. So for March 24th, my birthday, it goes like this: March is the third month, you go to the third word, To. The word "The" starts with Th, which stands for Thursday, so the 22nd is a Thursday. That means the 24th is a Saturday.)
