Number6's Journal

So, I haven't posted since the con, as it turns out. What have I been doing since then? Not much. First I got an annoying dose of Con Flu, but thankfully, that's worn off, I think. I rooted my phone, mostly to remove some of the annoying bloatware apps (I don't need a separate app for Google Magazine and Google Movies and Google whatever, especially since I can get all of them through the app store). I also changed the start screen, so instead of an ad for the phone carrier I got the phone from, I get a shot of the TARDIS flying through the Time Vortex while I boot up.

I considered doing some kind of stargate-gate-dialing animation but I couldn't find any I liked. I also had a crazy idea that I don't think's already implemented and too lazy to do myself, but... wouldn't it be awesome if, instead of entering a pin, you had to dial a gate address on the Stargate? Sure, you'd have to use more digits than most people use, but it'd just be cool. ;). In other phone news, I've started reading books on it more actively, but I still prefer paper books, so I do it in two circumstances: first, when I'm walking to work and it's too dark to read normally, it's easy to read on my phone. Eventually it'll probably get too cold to do that, but for a while, it means more reading time. And secondly, of course, when I finish a book but am still on-the-go, I automatically have a backup. Before I realized how easy it was to read in the dark with it, I spent a few too-dark-to-read walks listening to audioplays... the Neverwhere adaptation, and the adaptation of Iain M. Banks' "The State of the Art", both quite enjoyable. There are also some short stories I can get readings of online for free I'm going to load on them.

Anyway, beyond that, I'm still alive. Not much changes in my life, but I consume media, so let's see the results of my digestion... wait, that sounds inappropriately icky. Strike that. Something else.

Thanks to st_aurafina, I've discovered an amusing weekly webcomic, Monster of the Week, which is basically... a (usually) comedic take on every episode of X-Files, as a (usually) 12-panel comic, from the beginning, in order. They just did "War of the Coprophages" which is here, but if you want to start from the beginning, click here.

New TV season has started, but on the whole I'm not too excited about it. So far I've only checked out two, SHIELD, and Sleepy Hollow.

Let's start with the good.

How about you guess which one that is?

Did anybody guess Sleepy Hollow? Then you're not a good guesser. SHIELD was pretty good... a little rough, and, because of the ubiquitous promos, all the best bits fell a little flat, since we'd seen them so many times. As Whedon pilot episodes go, it's probably on the low end, but that still means a watchable show with some great moments, and I look forward to seeing where they go with it. Also, surprise Ron Glass! (Well, a surprise to me!) Hopefully he's recurring. Maybe now that he's got two big SFTV credits, he'll be more likely to be recruited for cons. :)

Now Sleepy Hollow... I guess it's not outrageously BAD, the actors have mostly been good, and once in a while there's an interesting moment of friction between attitudes of the past and present, but... it's not nearly good enough to get past the silliness of the premise of Ichabod Crane teaming up with a modern day police officer to solve crimes (magic crimes!). Every time they do something to make Ichabod surprisingly useful in the modern day, or find some way to allow him to continue to help, I feel the beams straining under the weight of the sillyness. Honestly, I can't imagine how it got approved to the pilot stage, much less a full series. But maybe it'll surprise me and be a success... apparently the first couple episodes got decent ratings, but.. meh, I might watch as long as nothing else airs at the same time, but I would not bother to download if I missed an episode or something else started airing in that space.

I have no faith in the quality of the long-term plot either... prepare to have nothing in the series mean anything or make any sense, because Sleepy Hollow is done by the same people that did the recent Trek Movies, so, I guess that's as good a time as any to Segue into talking about movies (I also need to talk about cartoons a bit, but it's a shame to waste a good segue, so let's do that a little later).

I saw Star Trek Into the Darkness. You may or may not recall that I was not at all impressed with the original remake, it was just full of stupid, and this... this is more of the same. The only thing these movies have going for it are some good actors and a good flashy look, it is practically completely brainless, plotholes up the wazoo. And, annoyingly, the writers treat Starfleet... well, they pretty much treat it like it's Hollywood: Where even if you haven't paid your dues or have in fact $!$@ed up spectacularly in the past, you can get control of a flagship based on a lucky success or somebody liking you personally. (Longer complaints below, some spoilers) ( Read more... )

I also watched World War Z, and... another meh. In this case, the movie itself's not bad... there are even a few good ideas here, some decent action moments. But it wasn't a World War Z movie. As I expected, it was a "Brad Pitt is awesome and fights zombies and beats impossible odds and saves the world" movie. And ANY movie could have done that, but a World War Z movie could at least have done something different that matched the book. I've mentioned this before, but I actually read (and have on my HD) what was allegedly an early script by J. Michael Straczynski where ( Read more... )

Now let's dart back to the small screen, for cartoons. Legend of Korra is back for season 2, finally, and it's good so far, although some of the manipulation is pretty obvious to everybody but Korra and I kind of want to take her aside and shake her by the shoulders to point out some of the stupidity. But it's nicely animated and got some funny moments.

Beware the Batman is the new Batman series, featuring a military-grade Alfred and Katana as a sidekick, all done in CGI. It's actually not too bad, mostly owing to the (frankly, brilliant) commitment to use obscure Bat villains instead of the classics, so we don't have to face the 30th Poison Ivy origin story, or the 30,000th Joker story. I just kind of wish they didn't go with Katana as a side kick and instead went with Cassandra Cain, or used a Stephanie Brown Robin or something. And, the animation... it's too clean and stiff. I feel like I'm watching plastic toys walking around in a plastic world. That's a risk in lots of CGI, but I've not only simply seen it done better as a whole, but it also stands out much more because Batman should be... grittier. But the stories are generally keeping my interest.

Now I have a bunch of Book Foo to get through, most of the reviews will be copypasted from Goodreads as usual, with maybe a few additional comments.

Finished: The Rapture of the Nerds by Cory Doctorow and Charlie Stross

It's after the singularity, and much of humanity has uploaded into digital consciousness out in the solar system, but there are plenty left on Earth, trying to live the old way. One of these is Huw, a technophobic Welshman who signs up for a special kind of jury duty, to evaluate a piece of new technology sent to Earth by the occasionally incomprehensible cloud, and decide whether it should be allowed among the public. Huw plans to vote no on general principle, and maybe use it as an excuse to rant about the cloud in general, but instead gets wrapped up in events that will not just change him, but potentially the whole world.

( Read more... )
Short version: It's a solid book, fast-paced, fun... probably not going to be one of my favorites, but worth-reading.

Finished: Hyperion by Dan Simmons (reread)

A war is brewing around the distant planet of Hyperion, between two factions of the descendents of old Earth, but what happens on the planet itself might affect the universe more. ( Read more... )

It was a pleasure coming back to the universe, even if it doesn't capture quite the sense of wonder as it gave me the first time I read it, and I notice a few more flaws, I still think it's a great book.

Throughout the Hyperion series there have been occasional quotes that strongly reflect my values, or I just really like, and I believe I've posted them before, but I feel like quoting again, so, I'll do that. It's non-spoilery so I'll leave it uncut:

Sol wanted to know how any ethical system--much less a religion so indomitable that it survived every evil mankind could throw at it--could flow from a command from God for a man to slaughter his son. It did not matter to Sol that the command had been rescinded at the last moment. It did not matter that the command was a test of obedience. In fact, the idea that it was the obedience of Abraham which allowed him to become the father of all the tribes of Israel was precisely what drove Sol into fits of fury.

After fifty-five years of dedicating his life and work to the study of ethical systems, Sol Weintraub had come to a single, unshakable conclusion: any allegience to a deity or concept or universal principle which put obedience above decent behavior towards an innocent human being was evil.

Finished: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons (reread)

As interstellar war threatens the human Hegemony, a poet dreams of the planet of Hyperion and the quest of several pilgrims for the time-bending Shrike... events that are actually occurring, and may decide the fate of all of humanity. ( Read more... )

Finished: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (received for free!)

Full disclosure, I read an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads program.

The Justice of Toren was an artificially intelligent starship serving the Radch, a galactic empire, controlling both the ship itself and many ancillaries... soldier bodies that were once human, their minds replaced entirely by the AI. But that was before... now all that's left of the Justice is Breq, one of those Ancillaries, carrying on the ship's memories and a futile quest for revenge on the Radch Emperor.

( Read more... )

Short version: Quite good, I enjoyed it all the way and wanted more, has an interesting approach to gender for those who might not read the full review but are interested in such things.

Finished: I Am Legend (and other stories) by Richard Matheson (reread)

Robert Neville is possibly the last uninfected man on Earth after a plague has killed billions... and returned to life as monstrous beings that stalk the night looking for fresh blood. Every day he renews his supplies or researches the phenomenon, while by night all he can do is hole up in his home and hope the defenses hold.

This is it, the granddaddy of the zombie apocalypse tale, ( Read more... )

Finished: Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread)

Hundreds of years after the fall of the human Hegemony, a man named Endymion is rescued from execution and given a task... to intercept and protect a young girl named Aenea, expected to appear out of a portal from the past and walk into an army of soldiers controlled by the now corrupt and ruling Catholic Church, so that she may fulfill her destiny. ( Read more... )

As I recall, the last book has more problems, but this one is one of the better books in the series.

And a quote:
"Entropy is a bitch," I said.
"Now, now," said Aenea from where she was leaning on the terrace wall. "Entropy can be our friend."
"When?" I said.
She turned around so that she was leaning back on her elbows. The building behind her was a dark rectangle, serving to highlight the glow of her sunburned skin. "It wears down empires," she said. "And does in despotisms."

Finished: The Mothership by Stephen Renneberg (received for free!)

Full disclosure, I received a copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads program.

The Mothership tells the tale of a spaceship craft in a remote part of Australian. A US military team is sent in to investigate and retrieve any alien technology they can find, and destroy it if it becomes a threat, and a few locals are also caught up in the alien crash.

This book unfortunately left me cold, (some more-than-usual spoilers ahoy)( Read more... )

Finished: The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons (reread)

This novel concludes the Hyperion Cantos and the tale of Raul Endymion, as he stands by the messiah figure Aenea's side (or, occasionally, is forced to leave her) against the dangers of the corrupt Catholic Church who, in league with the parasitic AIs of the TechnoCore, not only want her dead, but are also about to launch a new crusade throughout the galaxy to destroy all of humanity who won't submit to their rule and the resurrection-providing cruciforms.

It serves as a pretty good conclusion, overall, ( Read more... )
Finished: Blindsight by Peter Watts (reread)

I've probably reviewed this book on LJ several times already so I won't even bother with an introduction before the cut. ( Read more... )

I'm not the kind of person to choose just one favorite book... but this would absolutely be in my top ten.

Started: The World's Best SF 4 (short story collection)
Started: Defining Diana by Hayden Trenholm (received for free!)

So, yeah, that's about all I think I have to say.

Lots of reading done recently that I need to get caught up on. So, without further ado...

Finished: The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton

The third and final book of a series (although there was a previous series set hundreds of years in the same universe), The Evolutionary Void concludes the story of a "void" in the center of the galaxy that apparently contains a paradise-type world full of psychic powers, that lots of people want to enter, except doing so threatens the whole galaxy if it expands.

I like the series as a whole, and it's hard to talk about it without going over the same grounds I've talked about before. I suppose the only important thing to discuss is "Is it a satisfying conclusion?", and the answer is...

No, not entirely. However, GETTING to the conclusion is satisfying to a certain extent, even most of the book is enjoyable. It's just when they actually get to the point where the Void issue is dealt with, it's... a little too pat. (Spoilers, not major ones, no huge mystery-blowing ones, but some) ( Read more... )

I still think I might read it again at some point, though.

Finished: Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
This is a story of... 22nd Century America. Which is a lot like 19th Century America, due to the world essentially running out of oil, and a fundamentalist religious revival that spurns the knowledge that they blame for getting the world into the crises of the past centuries. It's told by a writer friend of the title character, who is the nephew of the President (more like Dictator), and a potential rival, and who has plenty of unorthodox ideas.

This story almost reads like the author wanted to write a Civil War era story (or maybe earlier, but it feels very Civil Warish to me), except he knew that his bread and butter was SF fans, and so he set it in the future that gave him much of what he wanted, and allowed him to improvise other elements. I've liked Wilson's work before, but this one doesn't do it for me, it feels a bit... artificial, ironically because of the attempt to give it a naturalistic style, as of someone who wrote in the past, with occasional asides to the audience, and footnotes, and things like that. However, as the writer is occasionally very naive, this causes some problems ( Read more... )

A more significant problem is I rarely got especially interested or invested in the world, and loathing many of the characters in the artistocracy (who, granted, were meant to be despicable) doesn't help. I mean, it's a little annoying to read a character earnestly defend slavery as natural, even if it's not meant to be approved of.

Compare this to The Windup Girl, which also relies a little on a "out of oil, so old ways become more common" idea, but the difference is, I was INTERESTED in that world. This one, I wasn't, especially, even when they brought in the occasional reference to higher tech (or, more commonly, tech that we're all familiar with but is much higher than the local standard, which can occasionally provide interesting contrasts, but in this book, not so much). It just felt like I was tricked into reading a historical-esque story.

It's not horrible, I never seriously contemplated just not finishing, and a certain type of person might really like it, and it does some nice things like (minor spoiler for a character element) ( Read more... ) But I don't expect I'll read it again anytime soon, perhaps ever.

I did find it for only $2 (discount clearance bin at a bookstore), so I suppose I can't complain much.

Finished: The Sunless Countries (Book Four of Virga) by Karl Schroeder

Another novel set in Virga, an approximately Earth-sized engineered habitat, filled with air and small cities who must rotate to produce their own gravity and use fusion suns to provide light and warmth.

This novel brings back Hayden Griffith from the first novel in the series, although really it's the story of Leal, a university professor in a country that, as the title implies, doesn't have its own sun... they don't live in complete darkness, their cities are lit, but it's lit like a city might be lit at night. She must struggle with her country's politics changing dramatically for the worse, all while there's a mysterious outside threat... a threat that might be from outside Virga itself.

Always enjoy this series, and this one is no exception... both fun big SF ideas and low-tech swashbuckling adventure, coexisting in one seamlessly. And one of Schroeder's strengths - people who seem like villains but who have a point (although not all of the bad folks in this one share that quality).

Slight weaknesses in that some of the virulent political struggle in the city read a bit too silly, and occasionally the story jumped a few months suddenly when I'd have liked to stay a little longer. Also, usually in this series, the story of each book more or less stands alone. There are plot threads that continue from book to book and sometimes a supporting character is left in one place in one book and takes the lead in another book to finish their story, but it still feels like each is its own story. But in this case it felt a lot more like a cliffhanger ending, that this was only part of the story.

Still, looking forward to reading the conclusion (Ashes of Candesce), although I think I'll still wait till paperback.

Finished: Catching Fire (Book Two of the Hunger Games Trilogy) by Suzanne Collins

Don't want to give a plot outline because it kind of spoils the first book. But behind the cut later there may be some of that by implication. So, anyway, although I did enjoy this book more than the first one, it still suffers from many of the same weaknesses.

But let's get one out of the way it improves on, at least. In the first book, I complained that except for a very small group of characters, nobody else in the games (or the book, in fact) seems to get any development. In this one, they don't have that much of a problem - quite a lot of them get some development.

However, that almost highlights one of my other problems. (Spoilers, where I'll also go into the other problems) ( Read more... )

Still, I did like it better than the first, the tension is higher and it feels like the main character actually makes more choices instead of just being backed into things.

I am going to finish the series.. in fact, my brother just borrowed the last book from my stepbrother, as apparently he and his wife also enjoy it, and they're not normally readers. I've said it before: Even though I think it's overrated (though I do enjoy it), I have to applaud them for getting people excited about reading.

Anyway, I'll read it after my brother (though I'll still probably buy the last book myself, since I like owning books, though this means I can wait for it to be used).

Finished: The Lord of the Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa
This is another book from the Haika Soru imprint, which takes Japanese SF novels and translates them and releases them in North America. They're also, I shouldn't have been surprised to find out and yet somehow was, the same company that released Battle Royale here (though, at the time, not under the name). So far I've had good experiences with them.

This one is an alien invasion story, with a twist... the aliens keep traveling back in time to earlier and earlier eras in their quest for total victory, forcing the human side to do the same, sending their AI war cyborgs back to create alternate timelines and repel them. Most of the story is set in an alternate 3rd century Japan, although there are chapters set throughout history.

I'm not thrilled at all the handling of time travel and timelines in the book, it feels a little sloppy and inconsistent at times, which I normally hate, and includes things like ( Read more... )

That said, I really enjoyed the book as a whole, it had a nice heart throughout and an epic scale. Suffers from the usual 'translated story problem' (characters, dialogue and just plain writing style sometimes feeling a bit stilted, perhaps due to translation) but less so than some of the other books of this imprint I've read.

Finished: Transition by Iain M. Banks
Unusual for Banks, a SF novel that doesn't take place in the Culture, or even in space at all (really, if it takes place in space, even if it's not actually a Culture book, it often feels like it might as well be, just in a part of the universe far away from their influence). This book takes place on Earth, or rather Earths. It's about parallel universe, and a shadowy group who travel from world to world using a special drug, and manipulating events to their liking, and particularly about a power struggle within the group. It jumps around from a bunch of different characters and viewpoints.

It starts out rather well, a quite entertaining setup, a mysterious organization that might be good or bad or bits of both, peeks at other worlds, all the good stuff that a multiple-universe themed story can get into. And it stays that way though most of the book.

Unfortunately, it all kinds of falls apart at the end (not as bad as City at the End of Time, another book that had people who could jump into parallel universes and also turned to $!@$ at the end), many of the storylines that get significant page time tend to not really matter much to the plot (at least, not enough to need that much time), questions that were looming never get resolved. It all goes to hell when (spoilers ahoy) ( Read more... ) A shame too, because I was quite enjoying it... and I guess it still has that value, a lot of the book is sort of entertaining glimpses of alternate worlds and different (to me, but still quite common) mindsets and just interesting characters, and the ending doesn't actually take away from that... one of the stories where the journey is more interesting than the destination. It's just a shame in this case the destination was SUCH a letdown (but again, at least not utter %@!% like City at the End of Time, just rather unsatisfying).

And a particular part of that journey stood out: I used to be in the habit of selecting quotes from the books I read that particularly resonated with me... more often in rereads, but occasionally in new ones too. I've gotten out of the habit, but there's one in this one I do want to highlight. It doesn't even really matter in the context of the story (but I'll cut it anyway), it's not a part of the plot, it's just one of the characters talking about a part of his history... it's a little piece about torture in general.
( Read more... )

Finished: Blindsight by Peter Watts (reread)

Read this so many times. But still love it. And although I think I've already quoted this one, since I'm in a quoting mood (although there are plenty of great quotable parts in this):

"Watching the world from a distance, it occurred to me at last: I knew exactly what Chelsea had meant, with her Luddite ramblings about desaturated Humanity and the colorless interactions of virtual space. I'd known all along. I'd just never been able to see how it was any different from real life."


Started: Not entirely sure, because I JUST finished and still haven't chosen replacement books, but right now I'm thinking Spin Control by Chris Moriarty and maybe a reread of something.


I have a bit of TV to talk about, but I think I might wait till next week so I can discuss a whole season of one show.

Finished another writing cycle. Technically speaking, I only wrote just over 7000 words instead of my aimed for 8000, but I still made quota. How's that? Well, because I give myself a 1000 word bonus for finishing. Yes, I actually finished one. Complete narrative from beginning to end. And, oddly enough, it was the one that I last reported as being potentially unsalvagable. I managed to work through the problems. Of course, it still needs to be heavily edited (my biggest stumbling block now that I've actually started writing regularly, I can't seem to get up the drive to edit), but I've finished at least. So yay me!

Book Foo:
Finished: Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge
Started: The Forever Machine, by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley

Thoughts about Rainbows End behind the cut. Minor, vague spoilers.
( Read more... )

There are still two outstanding quotes from my movie quotes quiz, that nobody has yet guessed. They are:
2. "It's a very rare person who is taken for what he truly is."
10. "It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant." - Stand By Me, guessed by angelophile.

I actually figured these would be fairly easy. But, since nobody got it, hints:
#2: Comes from a movie that I know many of my flist knows, because we've quoted from it before. It's animated.
#10: Comes from a movie based on a short story by a famous author. The movie (but not the story) is titled after a song.

Speaking of the quotes quiz, pulling a quote from Heathers inspired me to go out and dig the movie out again. Still enjoy it, and it made me make a few icons for it:
( Read more... )

In completely unrelated Veronicas, Veronica Mars tonight.

Found this while going through some of my old entries. Was fun, so I figured I'd do it again. Pass on the meme if you like.

Here are quotes from 10 movies I like. Comment and guess the movie (looking it up is cheating, of course). If you do, I'll edit the post to mark it guessed.

1. "Never trust a beautiful woman. Especially one who's interested in you." - X2: X-Men United, guessed by ciaracat.
2. "It's a very rare person who is taken for what he truly is."
3. "I want to be just like you. I figure all I need is a lobotomy and some tights." - The Breakfast Club, guessed by foxfyre
4. "You've got an overdeveloped sense of vengeance. It's going to get you into trouble someday." - The Princess Bride, guessed by ciaracat.
5. "I'm a monster. What I do is evil. I have no illusions about it, but it must be done." - Serenity, guessed by occamsnailfile
6. "Wiping out the human race? That's a great idea. That's great. But more of a long-term thing. I mean, first we have to focus on more immediate goals." - 12 Monkeys, guessed by fiddlersgreen
7. "Ah, now you're talking. I can be up for that. I've already started underlining meaningful passages in her copy of Moby Dick, if you know what I mean." - Heathers, guessed by escap1974
8. "Just doing my part for the deconstruction of America" - The Faculty, guessed by escap1974
9. "I got the better end of the deal. I only lent you my body - you lent me your dream." - Gattaca, guessed by lyssachan
10. "It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant." - Stand By Me, guessed by angelophile (in subsequent post)

Oh, and new Veronica Mars tonight, woo.

First, since I was tagged by tadiera...
The Random Meme
The Official Rules: Write a journal entry with 10 random facts about yourself. Then, pick 10 of your friends list and tag them. These rules should be included in your entry.

( Read more... )

Also from tadiera, a survey from myspace targetted at teenage girls. But I'm humoring my inner teenage girl so I'll answer it.
( Read more... )

These next two are from foxfire27... Five Things Meme and How Girly Are You. Since I'm a reasonable approximation of a man, I'm hoping not too girly, but then I did just do a survey for teen girls, so...
( Read more... )

Book Foo:
Finished: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Some general thoughts (spoiler lite) behind the cut. ( Read more... )

Also finished: Ilium, by Dan Simmons
Minor spoilers behind the cut along with my thoughts and a quote (the quote contains some Proust spoilers)
( Read more... )

Started: The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison (Wednesday)
and Olympos, by Dan Simmons (Friday and Sunday).

Olympos is of course the sequel to Ilium, and TSSR is about a criminal in the future. I've only read a few pages in, but he seems to be an entertaining character so far.

All the news that's fit to print but that has nothing to do with reality!

PerExWriMo update: Going more or less on pace, ( Read more... )

Word count is about 13.5k (that is, total for PerEXWriMo, rather than the particular story I'm on now, which is just over 6k).

Dream Foo: ( Read more... )

TV: Lessee, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Torchwood.

Minor spoilers for the latest episodes, but nothing too big I think.
( Read more... )

Book Foo!
Finished: When Gravity Fails, by George Alec Effinger

For those not aware (or paying attention if I described it in a previous post), WGF is a cyberpunk crossed with a noir detective book about a guy in an Arabic ghetto who has to track down a murderer.

Overall, I quite enjoyed it. ( Read more... )
Started: Ilium, by Dan Simmons

About the Trojan war reinacted on Mars by gods, AIs, and a decadent post-human society.

And of course, Still Reading: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling (Wednesdays, should be finished this week).

Here's a heaping helping of randomness.

One of my fingers has been bothering me lately. ( Read more... )

Monday was Thanksgiving. ( Read more... )

Recently found on BoingBoing this bit about a CBC radio program where they discuss the idea that certain things classified as 'disorders', including autism and psychopathy aren't really such, but in fact 'different ways of being human', and particularly as (perhaps first steps towards) human speciation. I'm mainly just including this here to store the link so I don't have to dig through BoingBoing's archives to find the links when I have time to actually listen. But there is something in the BoingBoing article itself that appeals to me. ( Read more... )

Some TV thoughts. Lost, Jericho, Heroes, Veronica Mars, Grey's Anatomy, Battlestar Galactica, LOST. All talking about recent episodes, but I'm going to be relatively spoiler lite (by which I mean no 'big' revelations, but some incidental minor things, though), so it should be safe even if you haven't seen them, since I'm mostly talking about my own impressions. Oh, wait, there is _one_ icon from Veronica Mars behind the cut, and it's a little spoilery for S3, episode 2. But it was just too funny not to do. ( Read more... )

And now onto Book foo!
Finished: Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling (reread)
Thoughts and quote behind cut: ( Read more... )

Also finished: Swan Songs: The complete Hooded Swan Collection, by Brian Stableford (reread)

Since this is really five books in one, I'm going to do a quote or two from each. And there will be some spoilers, but let's face it... I've only talked to one person online who's even heard of it, and no one who's read it, so I'm not under any delusions any of you are going to read it. Hell, I doubt most people'll even be reading the quotes. So I'm just amusing myself with bits of it I liked. But hell, I'm still leaving out any big spoilers, just in case.( Read more... )

Started: The Protector's War, by S.M. Stirling (Fridays and Sundays)
Appleseed, by John Clute (Wednesdays)

TPW is the sequel to DTF, and the reason I reread DTF. Appleseed is a book I got for $2 in the 'last call' bin at a bookstore. Haven't really gotten far enough into them to give any more thoughts than that. Oh and I was wandering through the bookstore and looked again at Ilium, by Dan Simmons. Anyone on my flist read it and have any (non-spoilery) thoughts? I liked the Hyperion series by the same author, but too much mythological content (particularly when it's 'indistinguishable from fantasy') sometimes turns me off for some reason, and I fear Ilium might tread on that.

Anyway, this concludes another edition of HUGE RANDOM POST.

Pick 10 of your favorite movie, book and other quotes and post them in your journal
As people guess them, cross them off and credit who guessed them.
Tag 5 people to do the meme. (I'm not tagging, do it if you want)

And if you know lots, don't guess all of them until after others have had a go.


1. "Go then, there are other worlds than these." woot - Jake, The Dark Tower series, by Stephen King
2. "I saw my parents kill a girl, and then I found a dinosaur in my
basement. I haven't slept in four days." lyssachan - Gert Yorkes, Runaways comic Open Bonus Question: Which issue?
3. I say we take off, and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only
way to be sure." angelophile with the full guess, tadiera with a partial - Ripley, Aliens
4. "She understands. She doesn't comprehend." lyssachan - River Tam, Firefly, "Objects in Space"
5. "Fear is the mind-killer." tadiera - Dune Open Bonus Question: What is the name of the speech it's from, and what character first uses it? (It's from The Litany Against Fear, guessed by tadiera).
6. "Key phrases: Hexapodia as the key insight"
7. "Being blowed up isn't walking around and drinking with your buddies dead. It's little bits being swept up by a janitor dead, and I don't think you're ready for that." angelophile - Xander, from Buffy The Vampire Slayer (tv series) Open Bonus Question: What episode? The Zeppo (angelophile)
8. "Remember, the enemy's gate is down." anomilygrace - Ender Wiggin (among other characters), Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
9. "Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself." angelophile - Sign in The Prisoner tv series
10. "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." anomilygrace - Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell, Open Bonus Question: Which character?

Yeah, I know, most of mine are really easy (and I've probably used many on previous quote-guessing memes). Oh well. I tried to choose some of the less obvious phrases from my obvious sources.

Hints: More than half are from print, but some of the print ones are also movies.