Alright, this looks like a good place for the divide.
If you’re just joining us, and you are, and wondering about the jump up to 11 posts for the month (not that that particular detail should surprise you), I wrote this long present related piece, chopped it in half, and there you go. So definitely check out the post before this to be caught up. Ah, and also the post before that and the post before that, since those two just went up yesterday in a sort of similar fashion.
I was given a bunch of stuff from residents at the condo I work at. 3 bottles of wine (of course I don’t drink, so those were immediately re-gifted to OTHER residents. SHH! But I kept the one bottle bag because it was nice and also as a reminder of the generosity itself). Along the same lines I was given a rockstar energy drink with vodka in it. Again, I don’t drink alcohol (or energy drinks for that matter) so I gave that away too.
A quick note: giving away all that alcohol wasn’t as easy as it sounds, I kind of agonized over what to do, just because I’ve never felt it was okay for me to get someone else alcohol if I don’t think it’s okay for me; it’s a habit I’d rather not encourage. Regardless I (uh, mostly) gave them all away to responsible parties, and that’s that.
One funny one was a card that read “To Guard” but also had a ten in it! I can live with being called “Guard”. Ah, another quick note: yes, I did feel a little awkward getting all this stuff, and there’s more for me to mention, but nothings quite as weird as receiving actual cash. Ah well. I wonder what’s in that gift horse’s mouth?
I got chocolates and a card from this one girl, and a cool Green Lantern wallet and raccoon figure (in recollection of the time I watched over that raccoon for the night) from this OTHER girl who in fact has the same name as the first. Coincidental.
I got Lindt chocolates (I think that’s the name of the brand) from the management office, that had a card as well, that was nice, and in addition the secretary left me a $25 gift card to Tim Horton’s <- yeesh but that’s a lot!
Oh man, I also had some two bite brownies that had a Christmas themed frosting thing going on. Yes. Brownies with frosting. This was addressed to “the guards” plural, so I ate half and left the rest to the other guy. Okay, wait wait, I didn’t eat half, I actually shared with a bunch of people who came by- but only from my side! I didn’t offer up any of the other guy’s brownies.
This one family gave me a tin of these café cream chocolate stick things that were indeed mighty fine. I shared those as well, but at one point the guys visiting asked for another one, and when I reached in to grab him one… uh, I’d already eaten them all. Whoops. The way it was packaged inside the tin made it hard to gauge how many were left. Again, whoops.
Oh, and this same family gave me a panettone which I have yet to open up, but it’s just interesting that this is now the second panettone I’d been given within a weeks time, and before that I’d never heard of such a product. It’s like I’m not Italian or something (I’m not at all FYI).
I think that’s everything except for the super gloves I was given by this one lovely couple. I’d mentioned to them that I’d needed to get some gloves like a month ago, and I found a pair that, sure, made me look like a Dr. Seuss character, but still, gloves is gloves- but now I have some much nicer form fitting gloves. It’s sort of like going from Adam West to Christian Bale, from a costuming perspective. (Hey, don’t say anything against Adam West! I still stand by my assertion that he has the best handshake in the world!) Oh, also, the gloves were in this really cool sort of tiger striped box. Yay boxes! It’s unfortunate that they got my name wrong, addressing it to “Isaiah”.
If Isaiah comes around looking for his gloves, tell him to scram!
Huh, well, I guess that’s that for 2011 posts. It’s funny to see a buddy of mine comment on the year that was over on the Facebook. It was just overwhelmingly positive and excited about what had gone on for him, and looking forward to next year. Whereas MY feelings about the year being over are pretty much the same as they’ve been for several years now. “Wow, I’m glad that’s over. Sure hope the next year goes better.” Sort of like exhausted defeat mixed with cautious (cautious!) optimism.
At least I succeeded in getting a handle on my finances this year. I had to become nocturnal and quasi narcoleptic to do that, but there it is. But at least I’m as popular as ever!... great, more bad news.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Presents happened
Okay, with two to go, let’s write something then arbitrarily chop it in half. Is it cheap? You bet it is! Ugh I want to go back to bed. Stupid New Years plans.
I figured the first easiest thing to go on about is, you know, what I got for Christmas. ‘Cause it’s all about the loot, right?
Well, for starters my favourite thing is the collected hard cover reprint of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. I got that from Jimmy and Cool Geoff (oh sure, I’ll use peoples names when I’m talking about good stuff they did, but if I’m complaining I’ll be as generic as possible. For shame.) I pretty much new what it was going in- when I did some Christmas shopping at “The World’s Biggest Bookstore” I couldn’t help but lovingly look at the book, getting a feel for its heft and the groove along the spine… well, wrapped or not, I’d familiarized myself with the feel of the book. Still, I didn’t want to get too excited- what if I was wrong? But, yeah, there it was. What a good couple of dudes to get that for me. Did I say good? I meant amazing.
Then from my two youngest brothers, they pooled their resources and got Jordan and myself a 3DS each. It’s an awful lot of money to spend on a gift, so naturally I was a little conflicted about it, but the technology involved in that little hand held device really is remarkable. You know it has this feature where you place a card on a flat surface, the camera recognizes the card, and you see on the screen the surface and the card… plus a crazy 3D dragon! I was totally blown away by that. With technology like that there is officially no reason left for CGI in movies to suck.
Speaking of the 3DS, Cool Geoff actually got me ANOTHER gift (what a generous guy!) a DS game called “Ghost Trick”. It’s sort of a puzzle/mystery game you play as this dead guy’s ghost. Also there’s some time travel. That sure is a lot of cool stuff involved!
I got a box containing a cool new sweater, jeans and socks. Actually, the box is really cool too, but that’s coming from a guy unused to presents inside impressive boxes. Yes I’m lame. I imagine my dad looked at the tag on my jeans to get the size while I was at work… plenty of opportunity to do that. I was planning on buying some new jeans, but maybe going a size up. Well, too late for that! Sure hope people like me in hipster lookin’ skinny jeans. Ah, they’re not actually “hipster lookin’” but they are mighty tight. Hopefully they just need some wearing to get them to loosen up some. I wore the new clothes to that Christmas party of last Wednesday, an act that’s gotten to be my annual unveiling of my Christmas gear. I was told the pants looked good, so there you go.
Jordan got me a collection of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four tales that look to have been drawn by the late great Mike Wieringo. Wow I hope I spelled his name right.
Jason got me a Sonic comic/magazine hybrid bit, as well as a Return of the Jedi poster. What a sweet guy!
I figured the first easiest thing to go on about is, you know, what I got for Christmas. ‘Cause it’s all about the loot, right?
Well, for starters my favourite thing is the collected hard cover reprint of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic. I got that from Jimmy and Cool Geoff (oh sure, I’ll use peoples names when I’m talking about good stuff they did, but if I’m complaining I’ll be as generic as possible. For shame.) I pretty much new what it was going in- when I did some Christmas shopping at “The World’s Biggest Bookstore” I couldn’t help but lovingly look at the book, getting a feel for its heft and the groove along the spine… well, wrapped or not, I’d familiarized myself with the feel of the book. Still, I didn’t want to get too excited- what if I was wrong? But, yeah, there it was. What a good couple of dudes to get that for me. Did I say good? I meant amazing.
Then from my two youngest brothers, they pooled their resources and got Jordan and myself a 3DS each. It’s an awful lot of money to spend on a gift, so naturally I was a little conflicted about it, but the technology involved in that little hand held device really is remarkable. You know it has this feature where you place a card on a flat surface, the camera recognizes the card, and you see on the screen the surface and the card… plus a crazy 3D dragon! I was totally blown away by that. With technology like that there is officially no reason left for CGI in movies to suck.
Speaking of the 3DS, Cool Geoff actually got me ANOTHER gift (what a generous guy!) a DS game called “Ghost Trick”. It’s sort of a puzzle/mystery game you play as this dead guy’s ghost. Also there’s some time travel. That sure is a lot of cool stuff involved!
I got a box containing a cool new sweater, jeans and socks. Actually, the box is really cool too, but that’s coming from a guy unused to presents inside impressive boxes. Yes I’m lame. I imagine my dad looked at the tag on my jeans to get the size while I was at work… plenty of opportunity to do that. I was planning on buying some new jeans, but maybe going a size up. Well, too late for that! Sure hope people like me in hipster lookin’ skinny jeans. Ah, they’re not actually “hipster lookin’” but they are mighty tight. Hopefully they just need some wearing to get them to loosen up some. I wore the new clothes to that Christmas party of last Wednesday, an act that’s gotten to be my annual unveiling of my Christmas gear. I was told the pants looked good, so there you go.
Jordan got me a collection of Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four tales that look to have been drawn by the late great Mike Wieringo. Wow I hope I spelled his name right.
Jason got me a Sonic comic/magazine hybrid bit, as well as a Return of the Jedi poster. What a sweet guy!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Written on the 29th... mostly just railing against the horribleness
Need to get back to bed after a fitful five… ah, no, four hours. I dreamt of music practices where I just couldn’t get my stand in order, my instrument prepared, I couldn’t play the music at all. Horrible. I had that variety of dream a few years back when I got back into playing in the orchestra and band and whatnot. I didn’t need to worry so much about the band, but the dream came scarily close to reality with the orchestra.
I also dreamed I was with a friend of mine who tends towards the antagonistic, that we were suddenly surrounded by a gang of gun toting individuals. Completely surrounded, my antagonistic friend decided to whip out his own gun, fearlessly escalating the situation. I couldn’t help but admire how this dream version stuck to his principles of questioning why these people were giving us a hard time, even as I hated him for making a bad situation so much worse. Interestingly, I’ve never actually dreamed of being shot before- well, now I have. Fortunately my perspective almost immediately shifted, first to my friends place, then back to me, uninjured. Uh, dodged that bullet I guess.
At a party last night, one I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. Unfortunately I invited someone to come with that ended up completely disappointing me by not showing up (despite a surprising number of text messages telling me she was on her way… have to hand it to her on that one, I’ve never been ditched before while in relatively constant communication with the ditcher)
It’s very likely I will see her tonight, she lives where I work, so here are a couple options on how this conversation may go down:
a) Oh man, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it out.
Me: Well, yeah, I’m pretty unhappy about that. You kept saying you weren’t going to let me down but you did anyway. Frankly, it’s pretty disrespectful. (<- careful now, this is where it turns south)
How could you say that… I’ve just got a lot of stuff going on right now… etc. etc., something to that effect.
Me: Ah, listen, I apologize, it’s not a big deal, don’t even worry about it.
OR
b) Oh man, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it out.
Me: It’s not a big deal, don’t even worry about it.
Fin
So see, the advantage in the second version of our little production, is that I don’t end up having to apologize for anything so crazy as having hurt feelings. So that’s a plus.
If it seems cynical that I’m already going over a conversation in my head that hasn’t actually happened yet, well, that’s because I can be pretty cynical.
P.S.- it's fine, it's fine, I had a glass of egg nog, I'm fine, it's fine. But seriously, just say you're not coming. Then I wouldn't have checked my phone every minute of the evening waiting for the message that it was time to fetch you from the subway station.
I also dreamed I was with a friend of mine who tends towards the antagonistic, that we were suddenly surrounded by a gang of gun toting individuals. Completely surrounded, my antagonistic friend decided to whip out his own gun, fearlessly escalating the situation. I couldn’t help but admire how this dream version stuck to his principles of questioning why these people were giving us a hard time, even as I hated him for making a bad situation so much worse. Interestingly, I’ve never actually dreamed of being shot before- well, now I have. Fortunately my perspective almost immediately shifted, first to my friends place, then back to me, uninjured. Uh, dodged that bullet I guess.
At a party last night, one I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. Unfortunately I invited someone to come with that ended up completely disappointing me by not showing up (despite a surprising number of text messages telling me she was on her way… have to hand it to her on that one, I’ve never been ditched before while in relatively constant communication with the ditcher)
It’s very likely I will see her tonight, she lives where I work, so here are a couple options on how this conversation may go down:
a) Oh man, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it out.
Me: Well, yeah, I’m pretty unhappy about that. You kept saying you weren’t going to let me down but you did anyway. Frankly, it’s pretty disrespectful. (<- careful now, this is where it turns south)
How could you say that… I’ve just got a lot of stuff going on right now… etc. etc., something to that effect.
Me: Ah, listen, I apologize, it’s not a big deal, don’t even worry about it.
OR
b) Oh man, I’m so sorry I didn’t make it out.
Me: It’s not a big deal, don’t even worry about it.
Fin
So see, the advantage in the second version of our little production, is that I don’t end up having to apologize for anything so crazy as having hurt feelings. So that’s a plus.
If it seems cynical that I’m already going over a conversation in my head that hasn’t actually happened yet, well, that’s because I can be pretty cynical.
P.S.- it's fine, it's fine, I had a glass of egg nog, I'm fine, it's fine. But seriously, just say you're not coming. Then I wouldn't have checked my phone every minute of the evening waiting for the message that it was time to fetch you from the subway station.
Written the 28th- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Poor little banana- left all alone to rot in a corner. Well I’LL eat you, even if those other meanies won’t.
Dude, this is like the perfect banana! I thought it’d be all gushy and brown, but it isn’t at all!
Went to see “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” yesterday (that was all my day consisted of, get up, go see movie, come home, eat two slices of pizza, a little game boy, then sleep). I originally had no intention of going to see it, I’m too much of a snob, and if EVERYONE is reading this book, then clearly I don’t want anything to do with it in novel or movie format, however a buddy invited me to go see it, and I certainly am not popular enough that I get to turn down offers to do stuff.
How was the movie? Overall I liked it, it’s good to get in touch with my Swedish roots (when people said “sköll” I knew what it meant! Not sure if I spelled that right!). An awful lot of rapists and Nazis in Sweden it seems- yeah, yeah, it’s just a movie.
There’s an opening theme to the film that was very James Bond. All inky CGI people moving to the Trent Reznor tunskies. Kinda weirded me out.
I’m afraid I was never drawn in enough to inhabit the world I was watching. Everything was very clearly a story someone made up. A cat shows up… oh no cat! Don’t you know you’re only there to get scarily killed later on? Olp there it is. (I wonder how they made that dead cat. Hopefully not the easy way.)
Sorry investigator, those phone numbers in that diary were checked out years ago, and they don’t seem to have any bearing on the case. Gee willikers, you think it’ll turn out those weren’t phone numbers at all?!?
Probably the thing that killed me the most (is this the end of my list? Not sure, I’m kinda figuring this out as I go) was the way Daniel Craig’s character Mikaal Blom-something (I have no idea how it’s supposed to be spelled- I didn’t read the book!) would hang his glasses under his chin, just barely resting on the one ear when he was lost in thought. That’s such a writerly tic to add in. Yup, what a well developed character. Except there is no one in the history of ever that would have their glasses hang like that. It’s likely I will now, but only because someone is imitating the movie. Art becoming artifice.
The eponymous Girl of the movie (are you sick of reading that line from reviewers yet? “the eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo” what an easy way to shove in four syllables) has so many tics to her that it’s hard to get a bead on her. Wait, maybe I’m lying. She seems like an easy character to write (though I can’t really remember it now, I know in the three hours I slept I dreamed of some violent scenario being carried about by that Lisabeth Salander, and I was like “yup, there’s that character”) but the hard part would be in actually going back over her history to justify why she is the way she is. What events could’ve come together to make Salander Salander? The mystery will almost certainly be better than what’s given to the reading/viewing audience. Unless it’s never touched on… I haven’t read this trilogy!
I’m making it sound like I didn’t like the film, well; I had a good time trying to figure out the mystery. Until it turned out there wasn’t any mystery, that definitely sucked. Okay, spoilers:
So Daniel Craig gets hired to find out who killed this girl, because there was no way she could have disappeared off the family’s island. Great, so let’s not check out that idea ANYWAYS since, yeah, she’s alive and just got off the island! And the old man that starts things off by hiring Craig thinks that the killer has been taunting him all these years by sending him the exact same present that the girl always gave her at Christmas time. Oh, what’s that? It was just more presents from the girl, but because there was no note she was unknowingly tormenting the guy? In the forty years since she disappeared, she couldn’t have written the guy a note saying “yeah, stop freaking out?” or the accomplice that helped her escape all those years ago, why didn’t SHE tell the old man it was cool?
Bah. THAT part sucked.
Lisabeth busting up the coincidental killer (there was a killer around, and being scared of him was the reason that the missing girl ran away, but he didn’t know what happened to the girl either) with a golf club, saving Daniel Craig in the nick of time, that rocked. To quote Casey Jones from the first Ninja Turtles movie “I’ll never call golf a dull game again.”
And FYI, if you’re watching it, and thinking that one guy is way too helpful, he’s got to be the killer? Yeah, go with that instinct.
Oh, but right near the very end, when Craig tells Lisabeth she looks nice and you get to see this generally non-emotional girl simply beam with happiness (she doesn’t grin or anything, she never smiles, but there’s a definite warmth in her look just then) well, it was a super sweet moment.
And for anyone mad that Craig and Lisabeth didn’t end up together at the end (of this book/movie at least) - dude, I’m pretty sure she ended up with a billion dollars. She got off pretty well here.
Dude, this is like the perfect banana! I thought it’d be all gushy and brown, but it isn’t at all!
Went to see “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” yesterday (that was all my day consisted of, get up, go see movie, come home, eat two slices of pizza, a little game boy, then sleep). I originally had no intention of going to see it, I’m too much of a snob, and if EVERYONE is reading this book, then clearly I don’t want anything to do with it in novel or movie format, however a buddy invited me to go see it, and I certainly am not popular enough that I get to turn down offers to do stuff.
How was the movie? Overall I liked it, it’s good to get in touch with my Swedish roots (when people said “sköll” I knew what it meant! Not sure if I spelled that right!). An awful lot of rapists and Nazis in Sweden it seems- yeah, yeah, it’s just a movie.
There’s an opening theme to the film that was very James Bond. All inky CGI people moving to the Trent Reznor tunskies. Kinda weirded me out.
I’m afraid I was never drawn in enough to inhabit the world I was watching. Everything was very clearly a story someone made up. A cat shows up… oh no cat! Don’t you know you’re only there to get scarily killed later on? Olp there it is. (I wonder how they made that dead cat. Hopefully not the easy way.)
Sorry investigator, those phone numbers in that diary were checked out years ago, and they don’t seem to have any bearing on the case. Gee willikers, you think it’ll turn out those weren’t phone numbers at all?!?
Probably the thing that killed me the most (is this the end of my list? Not sure, I’m kinda figuring this out as I go) was the way Daniel Craig’s character Mikaal Blom-something (I have no idea how it’s supposed to be spelled- I didn’t read the book!) would hang his glasses under his chin, just barely resting on the one ear when he was lost in thought. That’s such a writerly tic to add in. Yup, what a well developed character. Except there is no one in the history of ever that would have their glasses hang like that. It’s likely I will now, but only because someone is imitating the movie. Art becoming artifice.
The eponymous Girl of the movie (are you sick of reading that line from reviewers yet? “the eponymous girl with the dragon tattoo” what an easy way to shove in four syllables) has so many tics to her that it’s hard to get a bead on her. Wait, maybe I’m lying. She seems like an easy character to write (though I can’t really remember it now, I know in the three hours I slept I dreamed of some violent scenario being carried about by that Lisabeth Salander, and I was like “yup, there’s that character”) but the hard part would be in actually going back over her history to justify why she is the way she is. What events could’ve come together to make Salander Salander? The mystery will almost certainly be better than what’s given to the reading/viewing audience. Unless it’s never touched on… I haven’t read this trilogy!
I’m making it sound like I didn’t like the film, well; I had a good time trying to figure out the mystery. Until it turned out there wasn’t any mystery, that definitely sucked. Okay, spoilers:
So Daniel Craig gets hired to find out who killed this girl, because there was no way she could have disappeared off the family’s island. Great, so let’s not check out that idea ANYWAYS since, yeah, she’s alive and just got off the island! And the old man that starts things off by hiring Craig thinks that the killer has been taunting him all these years by sending him the exact same present that the girl always gave her at Christmas time. Oh, what’s that? It was just more presents from the girl, but because there was no note she was unknowingly tormenting the guy? In the forty years since she disappeared, she couldn’t have written the guy a note saying “yeah, stop freaking out?” or the accomplice that helped her escape all those years ago, why didn’t SHE tell the old man it was cool?
Bah. THAT part sucked.
Lisabeth busting up the coincidental killer (there was a killer around, and being scared of him was the reason that the missing girl ran away, but he didn’t know what happened to the girl either) with a golf club, saving Daniel Craig in the nick of time, that rocked. To quote Casey Jones from the first Ninja Turtles movie “I’ll never call golf a dull game again.”
And FYI, if you’re watching it, and thinking that one guy is way too helpful, he’s got to be the killer? Yeah, go with that instinct.
Oh, but right near the very end, when Craig tells Lisabeth she looks nice and you get to see this generally non-emotional girl simply beam with happiness (she doesn’t grin or anything, she never smiles, but there’s a definite warmth in her look just then) well, it was a super sweet moment.
And for anyone mad that Craig and Lisabeth didn’t end up together at the end (of this book/movie at least) - dude, I’m pretty sure she ended up with a billion dollars. She got off pretty well here.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Item! Torchwood Season 1 Disc 2
Sort of losing steam a bit, but that’s okay, judging by my ranting about the episodes contained on the disk when I talked about it last night I should have enough juice to finish off here for the day. Right, also, letting you know, I just dumped a bunch of my mini post type things on you, so if you were visiting before (unlikely) and are visiting now (very likely, because you are reading this. You are visiting! The chances of you visiting are 100%!) then be aware of the one, two, three, yes, three PREVIOUS posts that I put up just now. The first one, I guess I mean the earliest of these four in total posts was actually NOT written today, but last Sunday I think, I just hadn’t had a chance to post it. So there, I’m not totally just dumping all this onto a screen at once. Well, yes, I mostly am, but whatever.
Got the second disc of this Torchwood business from the library- have I yet mentioned how disappointed I am that Torchwood isn’t a western? Maybe I confused it with Deadwood, which I also haven’t seen. I sure hope THAT one is a western. Is any one a western?!?!
Right, so this disc contains three episodes (no easy way to view this, memory then):
Ghost Machine
Cyberwoman
Fairies
They’re all fairly ridiculous and not a western at all.
Ghost machine has the Torchwood gain find HALF a machine (funny, whenever I break my machines in half they stop functioning) that picks up, they determine, strong emotional resonances that the machines handler then get to view and semi experience. When this is explained to Gwen she basically takes this as confirmation of her earlier theory. The machine shows you ghosts! Of course!
And no one corrects her. I hope they were just too embarrassed to say “no Gwen, not ghosts, we just told you what this thing does. Totally separate idea.”
And, I’m sorry, I know this makes me a horrible person, but I can’t take them seriously with their accents. “I joost sew a guh-oost.” <- that was a terrible articulation of what the one girl sounds like, further entrenching the idea that I’m horrible, but it’s the best representation I could figure. While also keeping my assertion of ridiculousness front and center. What a biased presentation!
And this Gwen girl goes to visit this blackmailer/pyro (his name is “Burny” because of the shack he burned down) and when she gets a call telling her maybe she isn’t entirely safe chilling out there she doesn’t calmly say “I have to leave” she instead says “YOU SAY BURNY IS DANGEROUS?” (Burny is standing right next to her, apparently oblivious)
For some reason the story played it like Burny didn’t hear that, but that is stupido. Yes, it turns out he was mostly harmless, so maybe he could’ve been insulted or something.
Cyberwoman is about this girl that only got partially transformed into a Cyberman during that big series finale over in the second series of Doctor Who with all the Cybermen running around and whatnot.
Just as a quick aside, are my sentences getting less comprehensible (took me WAY too long to remember the word comprehensible)? I’m getting tired and lazy. And I have to go do Christmas shopping nowish or never! Anyways.
So this girl is apparently in a relationship with Ianto (man, I do not even care if that’s how that name is supposed to be spelled) who is basically the Torchwood gang’s butler, making his the most useless position amongst the lot, which is really saying something, when that Owen guy is a scientist that doesn’t science, and Gwen is/was a police officer that doesn’t know how to shoot a gun (I think she just learned in Ghost Machine, but seriously, what? They have police officers over in Britain that don’t carry guns? Is that true?)… everyone pretty much relies on the Bat-computer to give diagrams and then Captain Jack Harkness (the leader) gives exposition about what the thing is.
Right, Ianto is a handsome guy, unless he’s shouting in despair, then he looks rather silly. This comes up a lot in this episode. Maybe the director could have, shot him from behind? The face anguish wasn’t really selling me on the scene. Or at least for SOME of the time shoot from the back. Don’t be afraid to get arty on us. So he’s secretly got this Cyberwoman in the basement and he’s trying to cure her because he loves her, so when the rest of the Torchwood group leave to get a drink (maybe if they invited Ianto out he’d be less inclined to keep horrible crimes against humanity a secret downstairs) he gets this leading cybernetic expert guy into the base to help out.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, the second Ianto turns his back to hide the evidence of his shenanigans from the returning Torchwood gang the Cyberwoman loses her human personality (for some reason…) and kills the cybernetics expert guy! Ianto freaks out about this and hides the body… and the body is never mentioned for the rest of the episode! Maybe it’s me, but if someone gets killed from a dubious secret experiment I’ve got going on, and I hide the body to cover my tracks, BOOM, pretty evil. Evil-ish anyways. Yes, the guy is under a lot of stress. Did you SEE that cybernetic expert guys face? It got mess-ed UP!
So the Torchwood guys have to stop this Cyberwoman (I have got to stop capitalizing the ‘C’) from leaving and taking over the planet, even though she’s got an awful lot of fleshy parts that aren’t particularly invulnerable at all- but they needed to shut off the power to stop Gwen from getting cybernized, so now, until the system reboots, the weapons are locked down. Oh no!
This eventually leads to a gratuitous bit of resuscitation between Jack and Ianto (CPR doesn’t work that way) especially jarring because if Jack wants to kiss a guy, fine, but he’s totally mad at Ianto for keeping the secret cyberwoman around to threaten earth. Maybe he could’ve kissed Owen or something?
But this ALSO eventually leads to Jack getting some sauce/attractant on the cyberwoman so that she has to fight off the pterodactyl that hangs out in the Torchwood base. THAT was legitimately awesome. Cyberwoman versus Pterodactyl? Bravo, sirs. Then she got knocked over and the fight wasn’t nearly as cool. Hard to make defensive moves when you’re a robot on your back. Apparently it’s very much like being a turtle. That’s how it looked to me anyways.
So blah bede blah everyone escapes, the system reboots so the doors open, and the pizza girl wanders downstairs to a) her death, but also b) her body becoming host to the cyberwoman’s brain because now, all of a sudden, she sounds human again, remembering all the great times with Ianto and whatnot. What exactly brought this on? I have no clue. But then she says now her and Ianto can get upgraded properly together, so she’s clearly more machine now than man, and gets gunned down by a firing squad of the Torchwood dudes after Ianto refused to kill his girlfriend.
Why did I give a run down of the entire episode? Well, I’m crazy, first of all but also to illustrate how crazy it is that after all this goes down Ianto isn’t kicked off the Torchwood job. What? Man, I wouldn’t keep him around after this. Did you find the cybernetics expert’s body yet? Well it’s down there! And you sure didn’t do that pizza girl any favours! And he punched out Jack, even after that kiss of life they had back there.
If it was MY secret organization, I’d have flashy thinged him and sent him on his way. Give him a job at the post office or something.
In case that’s too old of a reference for you, by “flashy thinged him” I’m referring to the memory erasing device used in the coolness incarnate movie Men In Black.
Ah, I’ve gone on way to long. So yeah, the episode Fairies.
It deals more with a supernatural threat which I’ve never seen on a Doctor Who type show before; they always go “magic? Oh you silly human, no, that was SCIENCE!” but this time, yeah, sort of magic. And the fairies are depicted as unstoppable killing machines that do whatever this chosen girl wants. We’re supposed to feel bad for the girl/mother when they get separate so the girl can go become a fairy, but dude, the fairies did you a favour getting rid of her! That girl sucked! She wasn’t just a creepy little girl; she killed people with her fairy friends!
But at the very end, because Jack has to look like a hero, she holds back the little girl for a second and says “NO YOU CAN’T HAVE HER!” or something very much like that, and the fairies are like “listen, hold onto her if you want to, but then we’ll kill everyone on the planet, so there” forgetting the fact that there was nothing really stopping the fairies from killing Jack and Gwen and then TAKING the little girl (yes yes, Jack can’t be killed, but he can be death like before he pops back up on his feat. Way more than enough time to take a little girl to some fairy realm.).
So then Jack is all “You promise she’ll be okay?” <- referring to the little girl, as though, again, he could stop these guys if he wanted to
And the fairies respond that she’ll live forever (what with her being a new fairy and whatnot)
So Jack lets her go, and everyone gets mad at him for letting her go, even though there was no reason to hold onto her anyways. The girl WANTED to go, and more importantly, those unstoppable fairies wanted her to go.
Funny thing though, those unstoppable fairies, well, when they finally showed up at the end of the episode instead of killing dudes semi-off-screen, well, they looked pretty shoot-able. Like, get some silver or whatever works on fairies, and shoot ‘em up. But they didn’t even try that! What kinda western IS this??
To be ABSOLUTELY fair, there was a bit of exposition that skipped over while I was watching it (this IS a library DVD after all) so maybe there was a line in there that would’ve totally convinced me of the brilliance of everything that happened later. I actually pretty much missed the part where they even connected the killings and figured out where to look for this chosen girl. But… yeah, yes, I’m definitely fine. I think I’ll be okay without having seen that bit. I’ll soldier on, anyways.
And that’s it; I’m done, and quite a bit closer to getting all my blog stuff done for the month. Also, I called these mini posts, but for the most part they’re quite a bit longer I think than a lot of entries of mine, so there you go.
Probably no more posts until after Christmas, so Merry Christmas.
Got the second disc of this Torchwood business from the library- have I yet mentioned how disappointed I am that Torchwood isn’t a western? Maybe I confused it with Deadwood, which I also haven’t seen. I sure hope THAT one is a western. Is any one a western?!?!
Right, so this disc contains three episodes (no easy way to view this, memory then):
Ghost Machine
Cyberwoman
Fairies
They’re all fairly ridiculous and not a western at all.
Ghost machine has the Torchwood gain find HALF a machine (funny, whenever I break my machines in half they stop functioning) that picks up, they determine, strong emotional resonances that the machines handler then get to view and semi experience. When this is explained to Gwen she basically takes this as confirmation of her earlier theory. The machine shows you ghosts! Of course!
And no one corrects her. I hope they were just too embarrassed to say “no Gwen, not ghosts, we just told you what this thing does. Totally separate idea.”
And, I’m sorry, I know this makes me a horrible person, but I can’t take them seriously with their accents. “I joost sew a guh-oost.” <- that was a terrible articulation of what the one girl sounds like, further entrenching the idea that I’m horrible, but it’s the best representation I could figure. While also keeping my assertion of ridiculousness front and center. What a biased presentation!
And this Gwen girl goes to visit this blackmailer/pyro (his name is “Burny” because of the shack he burned down) and when she gets a call telling her maybe she isn’t entirely safe chilling out there she doesn’t calmly say “I have to leave” she instead says “YOU SAY BURNY IS DANGEROUS?” (Burny is standing right next to her, apparently oblivious)
For some reason the story played it like Burny didn’t hear that, but that is stupido. Yes, it turns out he was mostly harmless, so maybe he could’ve been insulted or something.
Cyberwoman is about this girl that only got partially transformed into a Cyberman during that big series finale over in the second series of Doctor Who with all the Cybermen running around and whatnot.
Just as a quick aside, are my sentences getting less comprehensible (took me WAY too long to remember the word comprehensible)? I’m getting tired and lazy. And I have to go do Christmas shopping nowish or never! Anyways.
So this girl is apparently in a relationship with Ianto (man, I do not even care if that’s how that name is supposed to be spelled) who is basically the Torchwood gang’s butler, making his the most useless position amongst the lot, which is really saying something, when that Owen guy is a scientist that doesn’t science, and Gwen is/was a police officer that doesn’t know how to shoot a gun (I think she just learned in Ghost Machine, but seriously, what? They have police officers over in Britain that don’t carry guns? Is that true?)… everyone pretty much relies on the Bat-computer to give diagrams and then Captain Jack Harkness (the leader) gives exposition about what the thing is.
Right, Ianto is a handsome guy, unless he’s shouting in despair, then he looks rather silly. This comes up a lot in this episode. Maybe the director could have, shot him from behind? The face anguish wasn’t really selling me on the scene. Or at least for SOME of the time shoot from the back. Don’t be afraid to get arty on us. So he’s secretly got this Cyberwoman in the basement and he’s trying to cure her because he loves her, so when the rest of the Torchwood group leave to get a drink (maybe if they invited Ianto out he’d be less inclined to keep horrible crimes against humanity a secret downstairs) he gets this leading cybernetic expert guy into the base to help out.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, the second Ianto turns his back to hide the evidence of his shenanigans from the returning Torchwood gang the Cyberwoman loses her human personality (for some reason…) and kills the cybernetics expert guy! Ianto freaks out about this and hides the body… and the body is never mentioned for the rest of the episode! Maybe it’s me, but if someone gets killed from a dubious secret experiment I’ve got going on, and I hide the body to cover my tracks, BOOM, pretty evil. Evil-ish anyways. Yes, the guy is under a lot of stress. Did you SEE that cybernetic expert guys face? It got mess-ed UP!
So the Torchwood guys have to stop this Cyberwoman (I have got to stop capitalizing the ‘C’) from leaving and taking over the planet, even though she’s got an awful lot of fleshy parts that aren’t particularly invulnerable at all- but they needed to shut off the power to stop Gwen from getting cybernized, so now, until the system reboots, the weapons are locked down. Oh no!
This eventually leads to a gratuitous bit of resuscitation between Jack and Ianto (CPR doesn’t work that way) especially jarring because if Jack wants to kiss a guy, fine, but he’s totally mad at Ianto for keeping the secret cyberwoman around to threaten earth. Maybe he could’ve kissed Owen or something?
But this ALSO eventually leads to Jack getting some sauce/attractant on the cyberwoman so that she has to fight off the pterodactyl that hangs out in the Torchwood base. THAT was legitimately awesome. Cyberwoman versus Pterodactyl? Bravo, sirs. Then she got knocked over and the fight wasn’t nearly as cool. Hard to make defensive moves when you’re a robot on your back. Apparently it’s very much like being a turtle. That’s how it looked to me anyways.
So blah bede blah everyone escapes, the system reboots so the doors open, and the pizza girl wanders downstairs to a) her death, but also b) her body becoming host to the cyberwoman’s brain because now, all of a sudden, she sounds human again, remembering all the great times with Ianto and whatnot. What exactly brought this on? I have no clue. But then she says now her and Ianto can get upgraded properly together, so she’s clearly more machine now than man, and gets gunned down by a firing squad of the Torchwood dudes after Ianto refused to kill his girlfriend.
Why did I give a run down of the entire episode? Well, I’m crazy, first of all but also to illustrate how crazy it is that after all this goes down Ianto isn’t kicked off the Torchwood job. What? Man, I wouldn’t keep him around after this. Did you find the cybernetics expert’s body yet? Well it’s down there! And you sure didn’t do that pizza girl any favours! And he punched out Jack, even after that kiss of life they had back there.
If it was MY secret organization, I’d have flashy thinged him and sent him on his way. Give him a job at the post office or something.
In case that’s too old of a reference for you, by “flashy thinged him” I’m referring to the memory erasing device used in the coolness incarnate movie Men In Black.
Ah, I’ve gone on way to long. So yeah, the episode Fairies.
It deals more with a supernatural threat which I’ve never seen on a Doctor Who type show before; they always go “magic? Oh you silly human, no, that was SCIENCE!” but this time, yeah, sort of magic. And the fairies are depicted as unstoppable killing machines that do whatever this chosen girl wants. We’re supposed to feel bad for the girl/mother when they get separate so the girl can go become a fairy, but dude, the fairies did you a favour getting rid of her! That girl sucked! She wasn’t just a creepy little girl; she killed people with her fairy friends!
But at the very end, because Jack has to look like a hero, she holds back the little girl for a second and says “NO YOU CAN’T HAVE HER!” or something very much like that, and the fairies are like “listen, hold onto her if you want to, but then we’ll kill everyone on the planet, so there” forgetting the fact that there was nothing really stopping the fairies from killing Jack and Gwen and then TAKING the little girl (yes yes, Jack can’t be killed, but he can be death like before he pops back up on his feat. Way more than enough time to take a little girl to some fairy realm.).
So then Jack is all “You promise she’ll be okay?” <- referring to the little girl, as though, again, he could stop these guys if he wanted to
And the fairies respond that she’ll live forever (what with her being a new fairy and whatnot)
So Jack lets her go, and everyone gets mad at him for letting her go, even though there was no reason to hold onto her anyways. The girl WANTED to go, and more importantly, those unstoppable fairies wanted her to go.
Funny thing though, those unstoppable fairies, well, when they finally showed up at the end of the episode instead of killing dudes semi-off-screen, well, they looked pretty shoot-able. Like, get some silver or whatever works on fairies, and shoot ‘em up. But they didn’t even try that! What kinda western IS this??
To be ABSOLUTELY fair, there was a bit of exposition that skipped over while I was watching it (this IS a library DVD after all) so maybe there was a line in there that would’ve totally convinced me of the brilliance of everything that happened later. I actually pretty much missed the part where they even connected the killings and figured out where to look for this chosen girl. But… yeah, yes, I’m definitely fine. I think I’ll be okay without having seen that bit. I’ll soldier on, anyways.
And that’s it; I’m done, and quite a bit closer to getting all my blog stuff done for the month. Also, I called these mini posts, but for the most part they’re quite a bit longer I think than a lot of entries of mine, so there you go.
Probably no more posts until after Christmas, so Merry Christmas.
Item! The Stone Rose
For those just tuning in, and you sort of are in that there was no way to be with me beforehand because I’m posting these entries all at once (oh, but you mostly aren’t because this is the internet you’re reading, and there’s no tuning required, mores the pity), I’ve just posted two entries before this one here, so if you don’t want to miss out, you should maybe go have a look.
This one will be short, since I seem to have gone all out on that last one, also there’s I think much less I want to say about this one.
The Stone Rose is a Doctor Who novel by Jacqueline Rayner that stars the David Tennet iteration of the Doctor plus Rose as the companion (the Doctor X Rose FOREVAH!)- As my parenthetical interjection just now has alluded, I’m quite fond of this pairs TV chemistry, so I grabbed the novel for some good times.
The book is… kinda junky. It’s a good thing no one that isn’t already a fan would be reading this, because it fails to paint much of a picture, rather it alludes to the usual visions the tv audience would be familiar with, queuing up our own nostalgic remembrances to enjoy the book with. Never seen an episode? Don’t particularly like the David Tennet Doctor or Rose? Well, definitely don’t read this book.
But the font is definitely large, so it doesn’t take long to get through. Huzzah!
It was silly verging on annoying how the characters met during the course of the adventure insisted on introducing themselves with little prompt (I would have settled for someone going “say, what’s your name?” that would have been a decent prompt), and telling everyone their full name, first, last, middle, you name it. Occupation. Ah, there aren’t THAT many characters, and I suppose it only really happens for the two… but it stands out like a sore thumb.
Stands out like a sore thumb. What a weird thing to say. My thumbs are rarely ever sore (surely a testament to a sedentary, garden-less lifestyle). How about “stands out like Powder at a tanning salon”. Do you remember Powder? That white white white guy in that movie of the same name? Came out in the 90’s? Yeah, I actually didn’t see it either. But I think he may have had, like, electrical powers or something!
Oh, right, Stone Rose. So the main duo is shown a statue of Rose in a modern museum and they think- awesome, let’s travel back to ancient Rome and get a statue made of you. Which is fine as far as it goes. A Doctor Who adventure set in Rome circa one hundred something A.D. (or some when about there).
So they have to figure out this mystery about a disappearing kid, a future girl, an evil artisan who turns people to stone (watch out Rose!) and it turns out… a technological genie from the future did it.
What.
Whew, well, that was close; you almost told a story that held together there. By the way that’s GENIE as in “Genetically Engineered Neural Imagination Engine” which, turns out, means it can do whatever it wants, so long as someone wishes it. Yes, good, because Rome is known for its GENIES. I wouldn’t even be complaining if this story was set in, you know, Agrabah or something (yeah yeah, Agrabah isn’t real, you get my meaning.).
So yeah. I don’t recommend this book; also, I’m done talking about this book. Next!
This one will be short, since I seem to have gone all out on that last one, also there’s I think much less I want to say about this one.
The Stone Rose is a Doctor Who novel by Jacqueline Rayner that stars the David Tennet iteration of the Doctor plus Rose as the companion (the Doctor X Rose FOREVAH!)- As my parenthetical interjection just now has alluded, I’m quite fond of this pairs TV chemistry, so I grabbed the novel for some good times.
The book is… kinda junky. It’s a good thing no one that isn’t already a fan would be reading this, because it fails to paint much of a picture, rather it alludes to the usual visions the tv audience would be familiar with, queuing up our own nostalgic remembrances to enjoy the book with. Never seen an episode? Don’t particularly like the David Tennet Doctor or Rose? Well, definitely don’t read this book.
But the font is definitely large, so it doesn’t take long to get through. Huzzah!
It was silly verging on annoying how the characters met during the course of the adventure insisted on introducing themselves with little prompt (I would have settled for someone going “say, what’s your name?” that would have been a decent prompt), and telling everyone their full name, first, last, middle, you name it. Occupation. Ah, there aren’t THAT many characters, and I suppose it only really happens for the two… but it stands out like a sore thumb.
Stands out like a sore thumb. What a weird thing to say. My thumbs are rarely ever sore (surely a testament to a sedentary, garden-less lifestyle). How about “stands out like Powder at a tanning salon”. Do you remember Powder? That white white white guy in that movie of the same name? Came out in the 90’s? Yeah, I actually didn’t see it either. But I think he may have had, like, electrical powers or something!
Oh, right, Stone Rose. So the main duo is shown a statue of Rose in a modern museum and they think- awesome, let’s travel back to ancient Rome and get a statue made of you. Which is fine as far as it goes. A Doctor Who adventure set in Rome circa one hundred something A.D. (or some when about there).
So they have to figure out this mystery about a disappearing kid, a future girl, an evil artisan who turns people to stone (watch out Rose!) and it turns out… a technological genie from the future did it.
What.
Whew, well, that was close; you almost told a story that held together there. By the way that’s GENIE as in “Genetically Engineered Neural Imagination Engine” which, turns out, means it can do whatever it wants, so long as someone wishes it. Yes, good, because Rome is known for its GENIES. I wouldn’t even be complaining if this story was set in, you know, Agrabah or something (yeah yeah, Agrabah isn’t real, you get my meaning.).
So yeah. I don’t recommend this book; also, I’m done talking about this book. Next!
Item! Murder at the ABA
Okay, I have a lot of catching up to do here, so I’ve got I guess some mini updates that I’m just going to write and separate by topic. Oh, also, I’m posting a thing that I wrote a couple of days ago but hadn’t got the chance to put up yet, so feel free to look back at that if you’re so inclined. This month is a tricky one, you may miss things.
Uh, the book is downstairs, but I don’t want to go get it. I’ll need my USB anyway, but forget it, it’s gone forever for now. Forever!
So the book is “Murder at the ABA” and it’s by Isaac Asimov- handsome name, I know. Someone looked over my desk at the spine of the book and went “whu-? Did this guy write a boo- oh, Asimov, that famous guy.”
I’m glad I read this AFTER “Bimbos of the Death Sun” because there’s a lot of crossover while this is the superior book. Written about a decade before Bimbos of the Death Sun.
…
Progress!
So they both take place at conventions, Bimbos at a science fiction convention, ABA at the American Booksellers of America convention (THAT’S what ABA means! I just got it!... no, that was a lie, it’s quite clear what ABA stands for throughout the book, it’s not a secret). Both stories are murder mysteries, both murderees are unlikable characters, both amateur sleuths are writers themselves, both murders take place around the hundred pages mark so that I’m left sitting there going “hey book, I thought this was a murder mystery, aren’t you forgetting something? The only mystery so far is when there’s going to be a murder!”
Both stories, interestingly enough, quasi feature Harlan Ellison, but in opposite roles. I’m given to understand that Harlan Ellison, brilliant writer though he may be, is famously short and short tempered. The murdered party in ‘Bimbos of the Death Sun’ is the star writer of the science fiction convention, a short guy, prima donna, that insists on obscure British candy at all hours (okay, that happened once- and it wasn’t all that obscure a candy for us Canadians- they were Smarties!). I’m given to understand that the writer has denied that this character is based off of Harlan Ellison, but that plenty of readers have suggested otherwise. It sounds like it’s in the writer’s best interest to deny, deny, deny.
Murder at the ABA is in fact DEDICATED to Harlan Ellison, and the amateur sleuth protagonist is a short and short tempered character by the name of Darius Just. So, I figure he’s a Harlan Ellison expy. Interesting, yes?
Ah, a note on “Darius”. For the first chunk of the novel I was reading it in my head as “Dairy-us”, a not unconventional reading of the name, until a section takes the time to specifically inform me that I was reading it wrong, that it was in fact “Dare-I-us”. The book tries to teach us this by saying it rhymes with some other words (the book is downstairs remember, so I can’t drop the books method) - but I still didn’t get it until the last example they used, the first two were still a little ambiguous to me. My “Dare-I-us” has got to be the superior explanation, quick and easy. Anyway.
I think it’s kind of silly to not go into this at the beginning of the book- we should know the characters name! - it makes me think that Asimov just sort of plotted the book, rolled up his sleeves, and then wrote whatever came to mind until a book was done, without bothering to re-arrange after the fact something the would be maybe better served at the start. Then again, it’s a decent method if it gets novels written. He’s gotta make his cheddar. By which I mean money.
On the other hand, it could be a great ploy to get into the readers head, KNOWING that they’d spent all this time calling the protagonist by the wrong name, then calling the reader out on it, then correcting him, then watching the reader squirm and readjust to a new name, slowing down the reading until you get into the new swing of things. If this was some kind of pacing tactic, then it’s an absolutely brilliant move. I doubt that’s what happened, but who knows?
(Funny that for most people I’ll just assume lazy writing, but if this book was written by, say, GRANT MORRISON (!) I’d probably give the benefit of the doubt and assume the brilliance.)
The book feels padded to the extreme. I seriously don’t need to know about how you feel about the fried chicken dinners, or your suspicions about everyone looking down on you, Mr. Narrator-Is-A-Short-Guy Darius Just. I admire the effort at capturing everything that happens in the four day time frame of the mystery, it’s a technique I had long favoured for its verisimilitude to life, but I’ve fallen out with it with the clear realization that it undercuts the drama/storytelling to a huge degree.
I just remembered that there are some cool bits or something that I left a note to myself that I wanted to get them recorded here, but I forget what they are. So now I definitely do have to go downstairs and pick up the book and my notes. Be right back.
Whoah, dude! You’re still here? That’s patience. That’s dedication! I thought for sure you’d get tired of waiting for me since I decided to get that bowl of cereal. Well, great, let’s finish up this entry.
Okay, so my notes allude to two pages near the beginning of the novel, right next to each other actually. Page 26 has the narrator say:
“…it’s not what you know, it’s whom you get drunk with.’
‘If I sound bitter, it’s because I don’t drink. I have no moral objections understand, but it is by my keen, incisive brain- or whatever adjectives you prefer- that I make my living; and I have never quite seen that banging it with a hammer called alcohol (or dope) can improve its functioning.”
I find the idea of someone not drinking fascinating, just because it’s so universal… he said, even though he doesn’t drink at all himself.
Also interesting is that we’re told through the course of the novel that Isaac Asimov, who is a character that shows up in this Isaac Asimov novel, also doesn’t drink. So does that mean there are three pseudo characters here that don’t drink; Darius Just, Isaac Asimov the character and Asimov the writer of the book, or just the one Isaac Asimov highlighting his own views on the subject?
I don’t think we’re getting quite a reliable bit of self description here when Just says he has “no moral objection” to drinking. After he does discover the body and is quite shaken up about it, he goes and sits at a bar, wishing he could drink to dull the experience. Well, if he has no moral objection to it, why doesn’t he?
The next thing I wanted myself to copy down is from the next page over, lucky 27, a sort of exultation of writers:
“But an editor can be fired, I eventually learned. And when he is fired, he is no longer an editor, merely an item in the statistics of the unemployed.’
‘Not so a writer. He cannot be fired. He might be rejected, he might fail, he might starve, he might be forced to keep body and soul together by taking some menial (i.e., non-writing) employment, he might be ignored by the critics and denounced by the public- but he was a writer, a failed writer, an unsuccessful writer, a starving writer, a writer. No editor could change that fact.”
I really enjoyed that passage, obviously.
The best part of the book, a device that doesn’t get used nearly enough here, were the footnotes. Not just any footnotes! The idea as told to us in the novel is that Asimov the character has been tasked with writing a story called Murder at the ABA, and Darius Just actually FINDS a murder at the ABA, so the former agrees to help the latter write the book, the very book we hold in our hands! Awesome! (it’s sort of a let down when at the end Asimov has a page asserting that Just is a fictional character and all the murderous events were his own creation, though he DID attend an American Booksellers Association convention, with certain other true particulars)
So every now and again we get a foot note, either Darius or Asimov suggesting some conceit from the other, with a rebuttal underneath. It was a ton of fun, and again, I wish there were more of these diversions in the book. I’ll find an example so you get what I’m talking about.
Ah, here’s a fine example:
* I think Asimov dedicated this book to Harlan Ellison because of all the checks he signed with that name. – Darius Just
Quite the contrary; out of sincere admiration. – Isaac Asimov
Pretty cool, eh?
Oh, but that said, I’m sure there are better books for you to read. Go check out a Sherlock Holmes if you want a mystery. Oh, but not Hound of the Baskervilles- Holmes was barely in that one, that was such a cheat. Oh, or go see the new Holmes movie, that’s going to be awesome. Yes, okay, I understand the critics aren’t crazy about it. Whatever, it’s Robert Downey Jr. man.
Uh, the book is downstairs, but I don’t want to go get it. I’ll need my USB anyway, but forget it, it’s gone forever for now. Forever!
So the book is “Murder at the ABA” and it’s by Isaac Asimov- handsome name, I know. Someone looked over my desk at the spine of the book and went “whu-? Did this guy write a boo- oh, Asimov, that famous guy.”
I’m glad I read this AFTER “Bimbos of the Death Sun” because there’s a lot of crossover while this is the superior book. Written about a decade before Bimbos of the Death Sun.
…
Progress!
So they both take place at conventions, Bimbos at a science fiction convention, ABA at the American Booksellers of America convention (THAT’S what ABA means! I just got it!... no, that was a lie, it’s quite clear what ABA stands for throughout the book, it’s not a secret). Both stories are murder mysteries, both murderees are unlikable characters, both amateur sleuths are writers themselves, both murders take place around the hundred pages mark so that I’m left sitting there going “hey book, I thought this was a murder mystery, aren’t you forgetting something? The only mystery so far is when there’s going to be a murder!”
Both stories, interestingly enough, quasi feature Harlan Ellison, but in opposite roles. I’m given to understand that Harlan Ellison, brilliant writer though he may be, is famously short and short tempered. The murdered party in ‘Bimbos of the Death Sun’ is the star writer of the science fiction convention, a short guy, prima donna, that insists on obscure British candy at all hours (okay, that happened once- and it wasn’t all that obscure a candy for us Canadians- they were Smarties!). I’m given to understand that the writer has denied that this character is based off of Harlan Ellison, but that plenty of readers have suggested otherwise. It sounds like it’s in the writer’s best interest to deny, deny, deny.
Murder at the ABA is in fact DEDICATED to Harlan Ellison, and the amateur sleuth protagonist is a short and short tempered character by the name of Darius Just. So, I figure he’s a Harlan Ellison expy. Interesting, yes?
Ah, a note on “Darius”. For the first chunk of the novel I was reading it in my head as “Dairy-us”, a not unconventional reading of the name, until a section takes the time to specifically inform me that I was reading it wrong, that it was in fact “Dare-I-us”. The book tries to teach us this by saying it rhymes with some other words (the book is downstairs remember, so I can’t drop the books method) - but I still didn’t get it until the last example they used, the first two were still a little ambiguous to me. My “Dare-I-us” has got to be the superior explanation, quick and easy. Anyway.
I think it’s kind of silly to not go into this at the beginning of the book- we should know the characters name! - it makes me think that Asimov just sort of plotted the book, rolled up his sleeves, and then wrote whatever came to mind until a book was done, without bothering to re-arrange after the fact something the would be maybe better served at the start. Then again, it’s a decent method if it gets novels written. He’s gotta make his cheddar. By which I mean money.
On the other hand, it could be a great ploy to get into the readers head, KNOWING that they’d spent all this time calling the protagonist by the wrong name, then calling the reader out on it, then correcting him, then watching the reader squirm and readjust to a new name, slowing down the reading until you get into the new swing of things. If this was some kind of pacing tactic, then it’s an absolutely brilliant move. I doubt that’s what happened, but who knows?
(Funny that for most people I’ll just assume lazy writing, but if this book was written by, say, GRANT MORRISON (!) I’d probably give the benefit of the doubt and assume the brilliance.)
The book feels padded to the extreme. I seriously don’t need to know about how you feel about the fried chicken dinners, or your suspicions about everyone looking down on you, Mr. Narrator-Is-A-Short-Guy Darius Just. I admire the effort at capturing everything that happens in the four day time frame of the mystery, it’s a technique I had long favoured for its verisimilitude to life, but I’ve fallen out with it with the clear realization that it undercuts the drama/storytelling to a huge degree.
I just remembered that there are some cool bits or something that I left a note to myself that I wanted to get them recorded here, but I forget what they are. So now I definitely do have to go downstairs and pick up the book and my notes. Be right back.
Whoah, dude! You’re still here? That’s patience. That’s dedication! I thought for sure you’d get tired of waiting for me since I decided to get that bowl of cereal. Well, great, let’s finish up this entry.
Okay, so my notes allude to two pages near the beginning of the novel, right next to each other actually. Page 26 has the narrator say:
“…it’s not what you know, it’s whom you get drunk with.’
‘If I sound bitter, it’s because I don’t drink. I have no moral objections understand, but it is by my keen, incisive brain- or whatever adjectives you prefer- that I make my living; and I have never quite seen that banging it with a hammer called alcohol (or dope) can improve its functioning.”
I find the idea of someone not drinking fascinating, just because it’s so universal… he said, even though he doesn’t drink at all himself.
Also interesting is that we’re told through the course of the novel that Isaac Asimov, who is a character that shows up in this Isaac Asimov novel, also doesn’t drink. So does that mean there are three pseudo characters here that don’t drink; Darius Just, Isaac Asimov the character and Asimov the writer of the book, or just the one Isaac Asimov highlighting his own views on the subject?
I don’t think we’re getting quite a reliable bit of self description here when Just says he has “no moral objection” to drinking. After he does discover the body and is quite shaken up about it, he goes and sits at a bar, wishing he could drink to dull the experience. Well, if he has no moral objection to it, why doesn’t he?
The next thing I wanted myself to copy down is from the next page over, lucky 27, a sort of exultation of writers:
“But an editor can be fired, I eventually learned. And when he is fired, he is no longer an editor, merely an item in the statistics of the unemployed.’
‘Not so a writer. He cannot be fired. He might be rejected, he might fail, he might starve, he might be forced to keep body and soul together by taking some menial (i.e., non-writing) employment, he might be ignored by the critics and denounced by the public- but he was a writer, a failed writer, an unsuccessful writer, a starving writer, a writer. No editor could change that fact.”
I really enjoyed that passage, obviously.
The best part of the book, a device that doesn’t get used nearly enough here, were the footnotes. Not just any footnotes! The idea as told to us in the novel is that Asimov the character has been tasked with writing a story called Murder at the ABA, and Darius Just actually FINDS a murder at the ABA, so the former agrees to help the latter write the book, the very book we hold in our hands! Awesome! (it’s sort of a let down when at the end Asimov has a page asserting that Just is a fictional character and all the murderous events were his own creation, though he DID attend an American Booksellers Association convention, with certain other true particulars)
So every now and again we get a foot note, either Darius or Asimov suggesting some conceit from the other, with a rebuttal underneath. It was a ton of fun, and again, I wish there were more of these diversions in the book. I’ll find an example so you get what I’m talking about.
Ah, here’s a fine example:
* I think Asimov dedicated this book to Harlan Ellison because of all the checks he signed with that name. – Darius Just
Quite the contrary; out of sincere admiration. – Isaac Asimov
Pretty cool, eh?
Oh, but that said, I’m sure there are better books for you to read. Go check out a Sherlock Holmes if you want a mystery. Oh, but not Hound of the Baskervilles- Holmes was barely in that one, that was such a cheat. Oh, or go see the new Holmes movie, that’s going to be awesome. Yes, okay, I understand the critics aren’t crazy about it. Whatever, it’s Robert Downey Jr. man.
On this mornings gym and yes, last nights show.
Argh this is ridiculous. I keep playing computer solitaire recently (the “computer” part is so that people don’t confuse me with a card solitaire person… IF I was any good at shuffling, which I’m not, maybe that could conceivably not feel like the biggest waste of time ever. But I doubt it.) It has this slight addictive quality in that you think “just one more game, only takes a second” and then half an hour is gone. Plus, there is some enjoyment to be had in finally being able to beat something that so defeated you when you were little.
Not that it doesn’t still defeat me sometimes. There’s totally a strategy here that I’m missing. This isn’t something I need to worry about.
“Isaac! We need you to save the Earth!”
“Whoah, okay, what do I need to do?”
“Beat those aliens at solitaire!”
“NOOO!”
(That’s ignoring the fact that solitaire is played… uh, solitarily. I guess there’s a score that the aliens could use to judge who won or not.)
Wasn’t able to make the gym the past two days (lousy not open at 3am on weekends) but I went this morning. You know I skipped bicep curls and went straight to the hard shoulder stuff? Now THAT is maturity for you. The power went out, which was fine. It’s well lit from outside, so it was pretty much business as usual for me. I think a guy was stuck in the elevator. Okay, I’ll say it- serves you right for coming to the gym and taking the elevator up to the place.
There was some trouble when I left, the locker room was entirely without light, and of course anti-social creature that I am, I always use a locker as far away from the entrance (i.e. the only source of light) as possible. My locker was around a corner and everything. So it was slow going with my feeble little cell phone light, and feeling around a lot. A dime fell out of my jeans pocket, and I almost said “it’s not worth it, Isaac” but then I reminded myself “No! It’s a full dime on the ground, not some lousy penny!” And I found it! Extreme!
The only real trouble the power outage cost me was the fact that it meant there was no music to listen to. Again, not that big a concern, except I was really hoping to switch gears today as far as what music was in my head. I’ve still got this song stuck in my head (just a couple of bars, as usual, which is so much worse) from the show I went to last night… a show that, ahhh, yeah. I didn’t like at all. I’m sorry!! I went because my friend was in it, but man I probably shouldn’t have gone at all.
I was really uncomfortable with how the show went out of its way to, and I know this makes me sound lame, be blasphemous. I get it, you’re all apparently atheists (I guess), but there’s plenty of good material with Santa Claus, or just anything light and fun, that can be made a little bit sexy (this was a burlesque show, by the by). The birth of Christ is, and I can’t believe I have to say this, not cool to use.
Dude, during the intermission the “Bad Santa” host had people up on his knee for photos, he tells this one woman to smile and say “Merry Christmas!” and she goes “I don’t want to say that because I’m atheist.” And the Santa says “fair enough.”
Is that fair enough? REALLY? That’s like me going “Hey, my Jewish friend, happy Hanukah- oh, wait, I take it back, I’m not Jewish. I don’t celebrate that holiday.”
And then the whole second half the “Bad Santa” host switched into a Catholic priest costume to get mock fellated by two altar boys! What does that have to do with Christmas?? (oh, plus it’s, you know, kind of a horrible thing to make light of)
I hate that my complaining about this stuff makes me seem like an overly serious nutbar, well, fine. Leave a comment to that effect and I guess never return to read what I have to say.
I wasn’t even going to write much about the experience, for fear of seeming, again, like a no-fun-having-prude or some such, and also because I’d hate for my friend to read this and find out how much I didn’t like the show (it’s because of that latter reason that I’ll often hold back specifics on this blog), but man!
My ticket said 8pm, and I got there right on time, but then I find out that the show wasn’t supposed to start until 9:30… I knew I had forgotten something from the Facebook event page… but then it didn’t ACTUALLY start until just before 10:30! And I was already half asleep from only being in bed from 12:30pm-6pm (my sleep schedule is so messed up). But yes, that was a bad start to the evening right there. I could have slept two more hours at home! I’d probably be a lot more forgiving if that had been the case.
Of special note was the sexy cat act, prowling on stage, lip synching to this Christmas carol as sung by meows. I can’t tell you how annoying those meows were. They weren’t Batman Returns Catwoman meows, they were Alvin and the Chipmunks/oh-look-my-cat-has-rabies meows. Okay, so I guess I could tell you how annoying those meows were.
That lip synching stuff is for the birds. The Bad Santa announcer guy actually did sing with his real voice- he was pretty good. An actual performance!
And the last act of the night was the re-enactment of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (a decent topic as far as it goes), but never seemed to want to stray from the grotesque Grinch… who was herself lip synching the song about how the Grinch is a mean one and whatnot (a fact which is just itself confusing from a narrative standpoint). Maybe I just don’t know what ‘burlesque’ is? I thought I did- wait, so is it something organized to show to kids so that they will completely lose the will to have sex? Some kind of advanced abstinence program? Is that what burlesque is? ‘Cause I thought it was something different.
After the program my friend said she appreciated my coming out, and I said “good”. I hoped it sounded like “good, I’m glad to help” as opposed to “good, you should appreciate it, because it was in fact not fun for me”. The second the word “good” came out of my mouth I started worrying about whether it sounded like I meant the latter version, you know, the jerk version. I tried to keep supportively monosyllabic until I could get outta there, but I’m concerned my ruse will be discovered by my sucky lying skills. Also, this blog is a dead give away. (Please don’t read it…. I really shouldn’t be posting it, I just feel kind of strongly about the subject.)
Well, there we go, enough material for two of my regular postings, condensed into one. It’s not like I’m behind on my posts or anything.
Not that it doesn’t still defeat me sometimes. There’s totally a strategy here that I’m missing. This isn’t something I need to worry about.
“Isaac! We need you to save the Earth!”
“Whoah, okay, what do I need to do?”
“Beat those aliens at solitaire!”
“NOOO!”
(That’s ignoring the fact that solitaire is played… uh, solitarily. I guess there’s a score that the aliens could use to judge who won or not.)
Wasn’t able to make the gym the past two days (lousy not open at 3am on weekends) but I went this morning. You know I skipped bicep curls and went straight to the hard shoulder stuff? Now THAT is maturity for you. The power went out, which was fine. It’s well lit from outside, so it was pretty much business as usual for me. I think a guy was stuck in the elevator. Okay, I’ll say it- serves you right for coming to the gym and taking the elevator up to the place.
There was some trouble when I left, the locker room was entirely without light, and of course anti-social creature that I am, I always use a locker as far away from the entrance (i.e. the only source of light) as possible. My locker was around a corner and everything. So it was slow going with my feeble little cell phone light, and feeling around a lot. A dime fell out of my jeans pocket, and I almost said “it’s not worth it, Isaac” but then I reminded myself “No! It’s a full dime on the ground, not some lousy penny!” And I found it! Extreme!
The only real trouble the power outage cost me was the fact that it meant there was no music to listen to. Again, not that big a concern, except I was really hoping to switch gears today as far as what music was in my head. I’ve still got this song stuck in my head (just a couple of bars, as usual, which is so much worse) from the show I went to last night… a show that, ahhh, yeah. I didn’t like at all. I’m sorry!! I went because my friend was in it, but man I probably shouldn’t have gone at all.
I was really uncomfortable with how the show went out of its way to, and I know this makes me sound lame, be blasphemous. I get it, you’re all apparently atheists (I guess), but there’s plenty of good material with Santa Claus, or just anything light and fun, that can be made a little bit sexy (this was a burlesque show, by the by). The birth of Christ is, and I can’t believe I have to say this, not cool to use.
Dude, during the intermission the “Bad Santa” host had people up on his knee for photos, he tells this one woman to smile and say “Merry Christmas!” and she goes “I don’t want to say that because I’m atheist.” And the Santa says “fair enough.”
Is that fair enough? REALLY? That’s like me going “Hey, my Jewish friend, happy Hanukah- oh, wait, I take it back, I’m not Jewish. I don’t celebrate that holiday.”
And then the whole second half the “Bad Santa” host switched into a Catholic priest costume to get mock fellated by two altar boys! What does that have to do with Christmas?? (oh, plus it’s, you know, kind of a horrible thing to make light of)
I hate that my complaining about this stuff makes me seem like an overly serious nutbar, well, fine. Leave a comment to that effect and I guess never return to read what I have to say.
I wasn’t even going to write much about the experience, for fear of seeming, again, like a no-fun-having-prude or some such, and also because I’d hate for my friend to read this and find out how much I didn’t like the show (it’s because of that latter reason that I’ll often hold back specifics on this blog), but man!
My ticket said 8pm, and I got there right on time, but then I find out that the show wasn’t supposed to start until 9:30… I knew I had forgotten something from the Facebook event page… but then it didn’t ACTUALLY start until just before 10:30! And I was already half asleep from only being in bed from 12:30pm-6pm (my sleep schedule is so messed up). But yes, that was a bad start to the evening right there. I could have slept two more hours at home! I’d probably be a lot more forgiving if that had been the case.
Of special note was the sexy cat act, prowling on stage, lip synching to this Christmas carol as sung by meows. I can’t tell you how annoying those meows were. They weren’t Batman Returns Catwoman meows, they were Alvin and the Chipmunks/oh-look-my-cat-has-rabies meows. Okay, so I guess I could tell you how annoying those meows were.
That lip synching stuff is for the birds. The Bad Santa announcer guy actually did sing with his real voice- he was pretty good. An actual performance!
And the last act of the night was the re-enactment of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (a decent topic as far as it goes), but never seemed to want to stray from the grotesque Grinch… who was herself lip synching the song about how the Grinch is a mean one and whatnot (a fact which is just itself confusing from a narrative standpoint). Maybe I just don’t know what ‘burlesque’ is? I thought I did- wait, so is it something organized to show to kids so that they will completely lose the will to have sex? Some kind of advanced abstinence program? Is that what burlesque is? ‘Cause I thought it was something different.
After the program my friend said she appreciated my coming out, and I said “good”. I hoped it sounded like “good, I’m glad to help” as opposed to “good, you should appreciate it, because it was in fact not fun for me”. The second the word “good” came out of my mouth I started worrying about whether it sounded like I meant the latter version, you know, the jerk version. I tried to keep supportively monosyllabic until I could get outta there, but I’m concerned my ruse will be discovered by my sucky lying skills. Also, this blog is a dead give away. (Please don’t read it…. I really shouldn’t be posting it, I just feel kind of strongly about the subject.)
Well, there we go, enough material for two of my regular postings, condensed into one. It’s not like I’m behind on my posts or anything.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Dreadfully behind
Yeah, I'm feeling really behind on entries this month. Should have posted yesterday, but instead I travelled to pick up a Christmas present for my brother Simon (by his own criteria, I got him a brand new video game. Nothing pre-owned. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as expected as he'd like, so, well, it's clear I don't love him that much. What can you do?)
So aside from my more materialistic brothers, everyone else I have... yet to shop for. I'm planning on getting people cool books. I like books. What's wrong with books?
Do you remember my one tradition of picking up a toy for toy mountain or whatever? Well, this year I was getting groceries at Wal-Mart and went "wait. I have money now. It's early yet in December. There are more options as far as action figures go at this point. Why not get that toy to donate NOW?"
So I did. I picked up the basic Hal Jordan Green Lantern figure from the movie. It comes with a ring for the kid to wear, which, as far as encouraging imagination, I thought put this option over the Spidey figure.
That said, I hope I'm not ruining some kids potential comic reading career by starting him off with a toy based off that crummy Green Lantern movie. Too bad the toy/ring aren't brighter either. It's like if Tim Burton made Green Lantern. Except it's not anything like that at all really.
Okay, that's going to have to be all for now, I have plans tonight and I haven't actually been to sleep yet this evening (it's almost noon now... whoops)
So aside from my more materialistic brothers, everyone else I have... yet to shop for. I'm planning on getting people cool books. I like books. What's wrong with books?
Do you remember my one tradition of picking up a toy for toy mountain or whatever? Well, this year I was getting groceries at Wal-Mart and went "wait. I have money now. It's early yet in December. There are more options as far as action figures go at this point. Why not get that toy to donate NOW?"
So I did. I picked up the basic Hal Jordan Green Lantern figure from the movie. It comes with a ring for the kid to wear, which, as far as encouraging imagination, I thought put this option over the Spidey figure.
That said, I hope I'm not ruining some kids potential comic reading career by starting him off with a toy based off that crummy Green Lantern movie. Too bad the toy/ring aren't brighter either. It's like if Tim Burton made Green Lantern. Except it's not anything like that at all really.
Okay, that's going to have to be all for now, I have plans tonight and I haven't actually been to sleep yet this evening (it's almost noon now... whoops)
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The alternatives
I just tried this morning some whey protein stuff after my workout. It was far thicker than I'd imagined it would be, like I was trying to drink cake batter.
Which is pretty awesome.
The stuff is pretty expensive, but I suppose you get a fair amount of the stuff. We'll see how long it lasts.
Spent yesterday, besides picking up comics and posting that blog about Gulliver's Travels, hanging out with Jordan, to go downtown and get him hooked up with Iron Horse Security (that's the outfit I work for). I had a good time with the guy, which is something I can sometimes forget, whenever I get too busy making sure the guy is looking both ways before crossing the road or whatever.
They hired him, so now he just has to get through the training and pass the licencing. All very do-able. It'll be a big help when he gets all that going. All part of my plan.
Got my youngest brothers present delivered yesterday- that guy is going to love it. Take that! Checkmate. Etc.
I don't really want to go anywhere today. I've got some library books to pick up, maybe Jordan will go get them.
Oh! Dude, I got a Christmas card from an old friend of mine. She's so sweet! You know, she actually gave me the Superman patch that rests inside my wallet for my high school graduation!
Also, know what I watched this morning while I ate a spinach and provalone pizza? Napoleon Dynamite! Love that movie- it's got skills. Heartwarming skills.
Okay, you're tired of reading just daily minutia. But good news! I bet by my next post I'll have finished this Isaac Asimov book that I can then talk about.
(I'm working under the assumption that me talking about things I've read is more interesting than the alternatives.)
Augh I forgot that this "post" button doesn't like to work on this laptop for some reason. Guess I am going to the library after all.
Which is pretty awesome.
The stuff is pretty expensive, but I suppose you get a fair amount of the stuff. We'll see how long it lasts.
Spent yesterday, besides picking up comics and posting that blog about Gulliver's Travels, hanging out with Jordan, to go downtown and get him hooked up with Iron Horse Security (that's the outfit I work for). I had a good time with the guy, which is something I can sometimes forget, whenever I get too busy making sure the guy is looking both ways before crossing the road or whatever.
They hired him, so now he just has to get through the training and pass the licencing. All very do-able. It'll be a big help when he gets all that going. All part of my plan.
Got my youngest brothers present delivered yesterday- that guy is going to love it. Take that! Checkmate. Etc.
I don't really want to go anywhere today. I've got some library books to pick up, maybe Jordan will go get them.
Oh! Dude, I got a Christmas card from an old friend of mine. She's so sweet! You know, she actually gave me the Superman patch that rests inside my wallet for my high school graduation!
Also, know what I watched this morning while I ate a spinach and provalone pizza? Napoleon Dynamite! Love that movie- it's got skills. Heartwarming skills.
Okay, you're tired of reading just daily minutia. But good news! I bet by my next post I'll have finished this Isaac Asimov book that I can then talk about.
(I'm working under the assumption that me talking about things I've read is more interesting than the alternatives.)
Augh I forgot that this "post" button doesn't like to work on this laptop for some reason. Guess I am going to the library after all.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Not so swiftly read
A poster of a sleeping baby on the subway has infected me with some happiness. It wasn't a picture of a posed baby, all looking into the camera. Those tend to suck.
This shot just captured pure contentment. I found it enthralling for that.
Maybe it WAS just a cute baby and I've been tricked. I hope not.
Tired, had to get up to go pay for my brother to take the security guard course so that he can get a job, thereby relieving me of some money worry pressure, thereby helping me pay off debts sooner, thereby allowing me to move on with my life.
It may help him too, who can say?
Finally finished Gulliver's Travels. You know that book was published in the early 18th century?? Like, 17-something! I had no idea it was that old! It makes the whole thing that much more impressive, plus I can forgive it its dryness (which was the style at the time).
No it really isn't much of a story, but as early speculative fiction it's remarkable. Each section is "what if [crazy premise] was real?", each premise used to sucker punch contemporary society. The sections are mostly divided into the one with the little people, the most famous story, then the land of giants, sort of well known, and then the last two parts that no one has ever heard of: the weird people that live on a floating island (it uses magnets! This was written in 17-uh, something! Magnets!) and then the land populated by rational horses and animalistic Yahoos (i.e. humans).
Sadly, most of the text boils down to descriptions of how things are different in each land, specifically with an eye to size in the first two parts (duh). Like I said, it could be pretty dry, and if you already get the gist of it, yeah, there really isn't much point in reading the whole thing.
The third story, despite having a floating island (magnets!) was the section I enjoyed the least, if you had to skip a section I'd go for that one. But definitely read through the last bit when Gulliver lives with the rational horses- with that one Gulliver is convinced humans suck, and because of that his character actually has some kind of arc. It's a bit of a downer that he doesn't end up thinking humans are okay after all (after returning home it takes him years to be able to stand the company of his wife and children again) but seeing as the point of the book isn't an enjoyable story but to tear down and expose the worst of humanities foibles (that, big surprise, are still true today) then how could I ask for some apologetic turn around ending?
That Jonathan Swift kept his integrity, at least!
(okay, the guy didn't originally publish under his own name, so he wasn't exactly risking himself in the writing of his attacks... but it is pretty amazing that he published AS Gulliver, saying the book was a non fictional travelogue.)
This shot just captured pure contentment. I found it enthralling for that.
Maybe it WAS just a cute baby and I've been tricked. I hope not.
Tired, had to get up to go pay for my brother to take the security guard course so that he can get a job, thereby relieving me of some money worry pressure, thereby helping me pay off debts sooner, thereby allowing me to move on with my life.
It may help him too, who can say?
Finally finished Gulliver's Travels. You know that book was published in the early 18th century?? Like, 17-something! I had no idea it was that old! It makes the whole thing that much more impressive, plus I can forgive it its dryness (which was the style at the time).
No it really isn't much of a story, but as early speculative fiction it's remarkable. Each section is "what if [crazy premise] was real?", each premise used to sucker punch contemporary society. The sections are mostly divided into the one with the little people, the most famous story, then the land of giants, sort of well known, and then the last two parts that no one has ever heard of: the weird people that live on a floating island (it uses magnets! This was written in 17-uh, something! Magnets!) and then the land populated by rational horses and animalistic Yahoos (i.e. humans).
Sadly, most of the text boils down to descriptions of how things are different in each land, specifically with an eye to size in the first two parts (duh). Like I said, it could be pretty dry, and if you already get the gist of it, yeah, there really isn't much point in reading the whole thing.
The third story, despite having a floating island (magnets!) was the section I enjoyed the least, if you had to skip a section I'd go for that one. But definitely read through the last bit when Gulliver lives with the rational horses- with that one Gulliver is convinced humans suck, and because of that his character actually has some kind of arc. It's a bit of a downer that he doesn't end up thinking humans are okay after all (after returning home it takes him years to be able to stand the company of his wife and children again) but seeing as the point of the book isn't an enjoyable story but to tear down and expose the worst of humanities foibles (that, big surprise, are still true today) then how could I ask for some apologetic turn around ending?
That Jonathan Swift kept his integrity, at least!
(okay, the guy didn't originally publish under his own name, so he wasn't exactly risking himself in the writing of his attacks... but it is pretty amazing that he published AS Gulliver, saying the book was a non fictional travelogue.)
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