Various Stuff
Jun. 25th, 2012 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxHave Read:
At Home by Bill Bryson... Interesting the the same vein as "A Brief History..." Analyzing a home is basically the structure on which he hangs a lot of random history, so you wind up reading anecdotes with stories about how Eiffel built his tower (and how one of his most vocal critics was one of the men who had to approve the project to be built) to a Victorian woman who ran a successful company that made ceramic stone in place of real stone (it combated Victorian London's toxic atmosphere), and no one quite knows how she did it. To how Eli Whitney built his gin and how his well-intentioned invention brought an onslaught of untold misery because the book also revisits 17th-19th century servitude and slavery. Interesting (and often amusing) book if you like these sorts of histories. (I do).
Redshirts by John Scalzi ... Fun. The codas run sort of long (the first one overlong) and are really more or less short stories of their own, though they do relate to the novel. As the title implies, the story is about 'redshirt' characters, those that are dispensable and who are canon fodder trapped in a story where others are the protagonists. There are some nice shots at the pervasiveness of protagonist privilege and the tendency to kill characters just to amp the emotion instead of actually earning the emotion (or the privilege). (One of my favorite bits was a female redshirt realizing that she'd just entered a sexual relationship with one of the protagonists... which meant that she was probably next to die...so that the male protagonist could feel bad about it! Yeah, he'd 'feel bad' but she'd be the one who would have to DIE!) Quick fun read.
Am Reading:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green... Interesting thus far. Can see how this is going to be a tear-jerker.
Watched:
Crazy, Stupid Love... Enjoyed it. Had a few good laughs and it wasn't entirely vapid (which is a risk one runs with rom coms). I'd watch this one again.
Ides of March... Rather depressing and cynical. One rather large plot hole left in the story. No good guys, and one 'refrigerated' female character, and yet...overall still watchable.
True Blood - I'm actually enjoying the season thus far. It seems as though maybe they are paying some attention to the fall out and consequences of their story. Have to say, though, that I really, really hated TWOP's recap. In fact, I'd say that TWOP's recap of the episode was borderline offensive.
At Home by Bill Bryson... Interesting the the same vein as "A Brief History..." Analyzing a home is basically the structure on which he hangs a lot of random history, so you wind up reading anecdotes with stories about how Eiffel built his tower (and how one of his most vocal critics was one of the men who had to approve the project to be built) to a Victorian woman who ran a successful company that made ceramic stone in place of real stone (it combated Victorian London's toxic atmosphere), and no one quite knows how she did it. To how Eli Whitney built his gin and how his well-intentioned invention brought an onslaught of untold misery because the book also revisits 17th-19th century servitude and slavery. Interesting (and often amusing) book if you like these sorts of histories. (I do).
Redshirts by John Scalzi ... Fun. The codas run sort of long (the first one overlong) and are really more or less short stories of their own, though they do relate to the novel. As the title implies, the story is about 'redshirt' characters, those that are dispensable and who are canon fodder trapped in a story where others are the protagonists. There are some nice shots at the pervasiveness of protagonist privilege and the tendency to kill characters just to amp the emotion instead of actually earning the emotion (or the privilege). (One of my favorite bits was a female redshirt realizing that she'd just entered a sexual relationship with one of the protagonists... which meant that she was probably next to die...so that the male protagonist could feel bad about it! Yeah, he'd 'feel bad' but she'd be the one who would have to DIE!) Quick fun read.
Am Reading:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green... Interesting thus far. Can see how this is going to be a tear-jerker.
Watched:
Crazy, Stupid Love... Enjoyed it. Had a few good laughs and it wasn't entirely vapid (which is a risk one runs with rom coms). I'd watch this one again.
Ides of March... Rather depressing and cynical. One rather large plot hole left in the story. No good guys, and one 'refrigerated' female character, and yet...overall still watchable.
True Blood - I'm actually enjoying the season thus far. It seems as though maybe they are paying some attention to the fall out and consequences of their story. Have to say, though, that I really, really hated TWOP's recap. In fact, I'd say that TWOP's recap of the episode was borderline offensive.
