newnumber6

Since I only get one comic book a month now, that's what I got:

New Mutants #6 (not bad for a 'heroes returning from the dead' crossover plot)

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

Also picked up at the used bookstore (for only 50 cents!): Year's Best SF #9 (short story collection).
Pretty sure I don't have that one, stories in it by Doctorow and Stross among others, should be worth a look. And even if it WAS a rebuy, hey, 50 cents!

Work was okay, although they showed up earlier than I did, so a lot of work awas done for me. Which is good, I guess, since I still get paid the same amount, but I still feel bad. Ah well.

On the way to the comic store I noticed a building was owned by the "WTF Group". WTF? Anyway, drizzly the whole day so I didn't get any reading while walking done either. :P. Ah well.

Start with ze Book Foo.

Finished: Battle Royale, by Koushun Takami (reread)
Started: The Science Fiction Century, Vol 1, by assorted (short story collection)

I've read BR several times so there's not much new to say. However, there are a couple things I want to comment on in terms of the plot, compared to what I might have expected. Spoilers, of course.
( Read more... )

Finished: A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (reread)
Started: Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell (reread)

Not much to say about A Fire Upon the Deep. Really liked it, as usual. No particular added payoff in reading the series in chronological order as opposed to publication order, so I'll probably go with the usual next time. Key phrases: hexapodia as the key insight

A post on 1984 by karenjeane reminded me that I hadn't read the book in a while, and since I needed something to read, well, it seemed like a perfect choice. Odd that I've been reading a bunch of books with a 'totalitarian government' theme lately, though... Battle Royale, A Deepness in the Sky (sorta, with the badguys), 1984.


In other news, I got a nice little ego boost yesterday. You know this icon? (assuming you're not reading a really old entry and I've rotated it out since). Well, I made it from a larger page-edit I did in Photoshop using that particular gag. I made it something like a year ago, for the old scans_daily community (and probably one of the last Photoshops I've done, I haven't even made many icons since the community was shut down). But yesterday? Someone posted it to a 'funny images' thread on the (revived) Ships and Giggles forum. When I revealed I did it, the poster told me that Matt Fraction, current writer on the Iron Man comic, just tweeted about it. Text was:
"This IRON MAN/DR. HORRIBLE mashup has delighted Team IRON MAN to no end: http://tinyurl.com/yckhmxo (thanks Cth. anybody know who made it?)"

I used my rarely used twitter (http://twitter.com/starpilotsix)to let him know I was responsible in case you were wondering. So yeah, like I said, nice little ego boost there. :)

Finished: Weapons of Choice, by John Birmingham

Thoughts behind the cut. Short version: Enjoyed the premise, execution was a bit dry and uninteresting at parts. Not many plot-specific spoilers ahead beyond general plot outline. ( Read more... ) I'd read the rest of the series but I'm not salivating over it- I'll happily wait until I find it in a used bookstore.
Started and Finished: Sunstorm, by Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke
Started: Tehanu, the Last Book of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin (Nebula Winner, forgot to mention I got it Wednesday).

Thoughts on Sunstorm. Slightly spoilery for both it and the previous novel in the series, as well as for Stargate, by analogy. Short version: Okay, but a bit meh, and didn't even have the coolness of the first book. Probably would have been better off skipping it. ( Read more... )

Finished: Woken Furies, by Richard Morgan (reread)
Started: Ventus, by Karl Schroeder (reread)

Woken Furies is a reread, so I don't have much to say. Enjoyed it of course, and I probably will reread the series again at some point. I did make a bit of a connection to why the main character interests me, and I should have made it earlier, considering his name. (Some spoilers)( Read more... )

What else is new in my life? Not a whole lot, sadly. My life is pretty stagnant. Wake up, hang around on the internet wasting time that isn't at work, just making it through one day after another. Don't go out much other than work, shopping, and occasional grocery stuff. Don't even especially feel like my old hobbies like icon-making, and most of my discussion forums have disappeared, yet I haven't found anywhere to replace them, probably because most of them are comic related and I'm down to two comics a month now, and not as excited about either as I once was. Meh.

Speaking of, working a bit again, after taking something of a break, on my Runaways Vol 3 outline, thanks to a couple positive comments that energized me a bit. May post the outlines for issues #12 to 24 in the next few weeks, rocketting me right past where the real book is now.

TVwise nothing much is on, just reality shows (so I am watching Big Brother I guess), and downloading old Who's. (And man, Global, how many times do you have to air The Unit in one week... don't you have other shows to air?). Thinking of rewatching another old series, maybe Veronica Mars, to help fill the empty hours. SDCC's on now but no news has particularly excited me. New trailer for Stargate Universe looks interesting enough, but that's about it. But still a couple days left for it.

But overall, meh. I'd say I need a life, but the truth is I probably wouldn't know what to do with it is I had one.

This week I got one book:

Runaways #11 (A little mixed, some nice character moments but the big events felt a little hollow)

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

At the used bookstore, I picked up:

Weapons of Choice, by John Birmingham
The SAS Fighting Techniques Handbook (New and Revised), by Terry White
Sunstorm, by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter
All for 2 or 3 bucks each, in the 'we want to get rid of these' bin.

And speaking of Runaways, I've finished my complete issue by issue outline of my own first year of the title (assuming I took over immediately after the Secret Invasion crossover), and solicits through issue #24. Now starting on the outlines of those. :P Good thing I have no artistic ability whatsoever, or I'd probably be drawing it too.

Work was okay, but man was it hot today. Probably hottest work day I've had of the year. Yarg.

In other news... Uh oh. Heroes is screwed. I mean even more so. Yes, okay, it's gone to hell already and unrecoverable. Granted. But there are levels of everything. Bryan Fuller left again. Before the 4th Season has begun. Which mean the chance of redeeming qualities of 4th Season are about nil. Next I'm sure we'll be hearing they rehired Loeb. Can't blame Fuller for leaving the ongoing train-wreck though, especially when he can focus on his own work.

Oh, and those new brands of chips? The Baby-Back Ribs flavour does actually remarkably simulate the flavour of the last BBQ ribs I had, so thumbs up on that. But their "Greek" Flavour? Feta Cheese, Olive, and Oregano? I think it's just become my new favorite flavour. I'm addicted to those now. OMG. They're awesome. I say again OMG.

Once again, because Canada is Awesome, we get ours a day before the US (we didn't have a holiday this weekend that delayed them). And it was actually a comic day for me.

This week I got one book:

Runaways #10 (Yost story was pretty entertaining, Asmus' story was so-so)

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

Also picked up at the used bookstore, "The Yiddish Policeman's Union", by Michael Chabon (winner of Hugo and Nebula award).

Work was okay, heavier of course due to Monday-me screwing me over. Damn you Monday-me! Ah well. Anyway, had a bit of a late start to walk to work, but ended up being spotted by my dad who gave me a lift towards the general area of the comic store, which was nice. The heavy rain sometime after that, not quite so nice. Ah well.

Finished: Lady of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder (reread)
Started: The Algebraist, by Iain M. Banks

It's a reread, so I don't really have extended comments, but it does reread very well, and I expect I'll be reading it again sooner or later.

Finished: Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan (reread)
Started: The State of the Art, by Iain M. Banks (novella + short stories)

Another reread that works pretty well. This time around as I was rereading it part of my mind was attempting to see it almost as a movie script - determining
what to keep, what to cut, how to depict certain aspects. I actually think it could work pretty well as a movie.

Don't think I mentioned before, but I also watched the Caprica pilot. Not bad, maybe a bit slow at spots, but it has some potential there, and deals with a number of my favorite SF themes more directly, it seems, than BSG did. So we'll see when the series comes out.

Had a dream the other night where I was in the future, trying to find information on a digital plague that destroyed the world's computers in 2010. I wanted to get an anti-virus protocol that would stop it. Anyway, it was something like 500 years in the future, but the only real hi-tech I saw was that escalators, if you started to go up the down escalator (or vice versa) and nobody else was on it, would automatically change direction. Most people in the future had no idea (and one of the people I asked was Deadpool, who had lived all this time since then, but he couldn't remember it or much of that century), but I finally found somebody right as I was about to be pulled back to the present (my trip was time dependant) and he started downloading the information into a USB key. Then somebody knocked at the door and somehow I knew it was a killer, after me, sort of a Terminator but not a robot. It burst through the door and shot different people in the room (including Deadpool), but I grabbed the USB key and disappeared back into the present with it, at which point I woke up. Then a little later I dreamed I was touring a house somebody won on the Price is Right, for some reason. Pretty wide range there in imaginative dreaming.

No comic day of course, as it seems I only pick up comics every other week.

Work was okay.

In other news, today was the day. It comes once a year. Children around the world look forward to it. Well, okay, not the last one, unless my life is a lot weirder than I expected. It's... Haircut Day. Yes, I got my annual haircut (I like my hair longish during the winter for warmth, short during the summer for coolness). No pictures though, you'll just have to imagine.

In other other news, remember way back when my old new computer died and I had to get a new one? Well, left wondering all that time was the status of my data, which existed on a HD that was dying and possibly precipitated the total death of the computer. Anyway, I finally got an IDE External HDD enclosure (late B-Day gift), so I could connect that drive to my new computer through USB. It's very slow, chiefly because, every once in a while, the drive decides it'll go to sleep for an hour or two and not transmit any data at all (when it's working well it's a little slow but a respectable speed). And sometimes it just doesn't recognize it at all. But I eventually got the most critical stuff copied over, and am now slowly copying over the non-essentials (the "yeah, I could probably download this again but it'd be a pain to find it all and remember what I had and why" stuff), and then I will perform an autopsy, reclaim the vital internal organs, and give the HD its final rest. Technically even if I couldn't recover data off it it wasn't that big a deal, I'd already backed up the essential stuff some months back, on my old old computer. About what I would have lost is something like 5 months worth of the writing I did on the old new computer (but I do most of my writing on my old old computer so that wasn't much), and maybe a couple passwords.

However, my new computer came close to getting me evicted! Well, and my own stupidity. See, yesterday we got a notice from the landlord company, basically saying the rent cheque bounced and we had 24 hours to give them a money order or they'd start eviction proceedings. As it turned out, I'd forgotten to deposit my paycheck at the end of the last month (actually, my last two). I thought I had enough money to cover it regardless, but as it turned out, I had just _slightly_ less. As in, 'much less than the cost of my computer', so if I didn't have to buy one of those a couple months back, it really would have been fine. Embarassing, but, ah well, one rushed trip to the bank later and it got sorted out.

And, Book Foo. 3-for-1 special! Or technically 4-4-1 special.

Finished: Chasm City, by Alastair Reynolds
Started: Altered Carbon, by Richard K. Morgan (Reread)

So I didn't much care for Revelation Space, the first novel by Alastair Reynolds. But I figured, it was his first novel, maybe I'll give him another chance. Short version: Not bad. Wouldn't be one of my favorites, but I liked it enough that I'm more willing to try more books by him. I don't really have much in the way of long or spoilery comments, though.

Finished: Shadow and Claw, The First Half of the Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

This actually counts as two books, "Shadow of the Torturer" and "Claw of the Concilliator", which were, I believe, originally published separately. However, it's also clear that they're all intended to be part of one book. Still, I'm counting it as two, mostly because I didn't much care for it. I can see skill there, but it falls into that category of "Not My Thing". (Minor spoilers beyond, mostly just furthur thoughts) ( Read more... ) Anyway, Claw of the Conciliator part was a Nebula Award winner which means I had to read it eventually. I probably won't finish it though, unless I happen to find the next parts really cheap.

Started and Finished: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Started: Lady of Mazes, by Karl Schroeder (reread)

We all know the plot of PaPaZ, at least in broad strokes. It's mostly Pride and Prejudice, but with zombies. And 'mostly Pride and Prejudice' is, for good or ill, truly what it was. I think after reading this I can satisfy myself that Jane Austen also falls into the category of "not my thing". I can certainly see how other people, people who are not me, can really dig it, but it leaves me cold. Zombies were the only thing that could have gotten me to read it at all. I will be talking more specifically about how they managed the introduction of that element, and so that may count as spoilers, behind the cut, but for my 'short version', I will only need two lines. The first of which is exactly the same as what my review would probably be for Pride and Prejudice. The other is likely not. The two line review: "Needed more zombies. Also, (and I cannot believe I am typing this) needed fewer ninjas." ( Read more... ) So although I didn't much enjoy reading it, I did get it for free and am kinda happy I own it, as a conversation piece if nothing else, if I was the type who had conversations with people or indeed had people over at all. Actually, one of the best parts of the book were the tongue-in-cheek "discussion questions" at the end, which might be perfect if your book club wound up choosing it, locker_monster. ;)

And finally, most of the TV rumor mills are saying Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is dead. I'll wait until official word from somebody involved before losing all my hope, but if its true, I can't say it was unexpected, although it really is too bad. It had a weak middle of the season, but it picked up significantly and I really wanted to see where they'd go from where they left off. It'll probably the show I miss most of this year's cancellations (including likely or even possible cancellations). You know, sooner or later, somebody's going to move a series from TV, and, upon cancellation, take the risk and become a DVD-only TV series. Not a series of DVD movies like Stargate, but an actual series with different episodes. Somebody's gotta be the first. And it'll probably be a SF series that does it. I wish it would be this one, but I doubt it. Oh well, if it does end up here, at least it frees up Summer Glau to play Ninja Ballerina (shut up, I live in my own little fantasy world, the rent's cheap and I have an in with the landlord).

I don't even really blame Fox this time around, because, for whatever reason (and again, I can't blame Fox), the ratings just sunk after a phenomenal premiere. I guess it just wasn't everybody's tastes in a Terminator series. We were lucky to get a full second season at all.

This week I got one book:

Captain Britain and MI13 #12 (good, maybe a bit of unclear storytelling at times, but enjoyable)

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

In other news: Hah, Tahmoh Penikett is going to be in Sci-Fi's Riverworld retry. That guy's just in everything nowadays, isn't he? And to think, he was intended to be killed off in the opening miniseries. He's almost as lucky as Colm Meany (who went from a virtual extra on TNG to a recurring character to main cast in a spinoff and established himself as a character actor)
It looks like they're totally changing the storyline again. As I said, I was more enthused with the concept than the story itself, so I'm not in theory opposed, but the description given of the characters (the best part of the concept, being the ability to mix way different characters) leaves me a little cold.

Speaking of casting, Jackie Earl Haley, Rorschach, will be the next Freddy Kreuger. For those who don't know, Freddy was my pre-teen/teenage horror movie _exception_. That is, I didn't much care for horror movies, _except_ the Nightmare on Elm Streets (mainly because I was big into dreams in general and fell in love with #3 where they learned they could control their dreams to fight them). I think I've moved past it though, no real interest in seeing it except as an academic 'what'll they do with it' wondering.

This week I got one books:

Runaways #8 (a few plotty issues, but actually more enjoyable than usual)

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

Speaking of Runaways, they announced the new creative team. With #11 (probably) it will be written by Kathryn Immonen, with art by Sara Pichelli. I've seen some of Pichelli's work before and thought it not bad, but never read any of Immonen. I'm willing to be cautiously optimistic. And hey, if Christina Strain stays on colors, that may be an all-female creative team (well, if you don't count letterers and maybe not inkers), which is kinda cool. Less thrilling is the spoilery hint about what would happen in that run. I'll just link to it, if you're interested. A few art samples there too, and looks much improved to me over recent efforts.

And yesterday was my birthday. Another year older and deeper in debt. Actually less deep in debt because I'm gradually paying off loans and still make more than I spend, but why quibble on details. Another year older and less likely to be happy, anyway. Ah well, another year down, X-1 left to go. As is my tradition, I do not have to accept my new age until the other half of my birthday, on Good Friday. Still, thanks to all those who wished me happy birthday, and to the rest of you, YOU ALL SUCK. J/K, really not that big a deal. If it was, I would have dropped hints regularly before it came.;)

Didn't actually do anything on my birthday, spent a quiet day at home. Last weekend I went to my grandmother's for a 'birthday dinner' which was quite nice, though. Roast beef, rice, scalloped potatoes, corn, and for desert, cheeeeeesecake tarts, some of which I took home and ate on my actual birthday. (I also got my traditional bag of salt and vinegar chips to devour).

In other news, apparently SF channel will be giving the Riverworld concept another go. I always loved the concept (even though the books themselves were only soso), and thought their first attempt at a movie was only okay, so I look forward to another try.

This week I got two books:

Captain Britain and MI13 #11 (quite good, really enjoying the arc)

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

Also picked up at the used bookstore:

Book of the New Sun, the First Half of, by Gene Wolfe (since one half of the first half is a Nebula winner I haven't read)

and

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds

Wasn't too thrilled with Revelation Space by Reynolds, but this was cheap and I'm running low on new reading material so I figured what the heck, I'll give him another chance.

Work was okay, showed up only a few minutes after I did and decent load. And of course, since I had comics to get and the weather was fairly nice, I got some good reading time in. The weather was fairly nice, as I just said, but very windy. Which did make it a bit challenging to read at times, but I managed, except at a few points (like going under a train bridge that seemed to become like a wind tunnel.

What else? Some quick TV thoughts... BSG's moving slow and with what, only a couple eps left, I really don't have confidence that they're going to end on a satisfactory note. I happened to see a little preview for Caprica that looked good, though, looking forward to that when it comes, even if I'll probably have to treat it as a completely separate entity from BSG. Lost's been enjoyable (but what? Not on tonight?). Terminator _finally_ came through with a pretty good ep after a few weeks of stinkers (I mean seriously, how many times do we need people to be hallucinating/dreaming major parts of the episode, or for there to be fear that that's going on?). Dollhouse continues to, uhm... 'be', I guess.

Morena Baccarin is cast in the V remake. You know, I almost think the only way to approach the series would be to... not even Battlestar Galactica it, because BSG remained pretty close, plotwise, just modernizing it and making one major change (adding secret human cylons). For V, I think the best way to do it would be to also reimagine it, but go one step furthur... just use the title V, and the premise of aliens landing and becoming public to the world, and forget the lame (I'll cut for spoilers just in case you never saw any of the original) ( Read more... ). Reimagine not just the plot but the whole nature of the aliens, make the threat (if there even is one) a new one. Anyway, we'll see, Morena Baccarin in it might make me at least give it a look. Aw, who am I fooling, I'm a sci-fi geek, I'd probably give it a look regardless.

Been having a fair number of 'back in high school' dreams, or 'meet somebody from high school' dreams lately. And they usually involve rather random people, people I wasn't particularly close with (or negative with), just people who's name/face I happen to remember. Shrug.

Depressed of course (tis the season), and not really feeling inspired to do writing (though I've been meeting my quotas, it's been fairly joyless). And I'm still very lightly sick. Can't seem to shake it. So, meh all around.