 |
|
If you - by chance - happen to have caught my recent reads meme back in February, you probably know that I'm a fan of C. L. Wilson's Tairen Soul series.
Today I stumbled across On the Edge by Ilona Andrews, which nearly made me miss my train station (luckily the train ends there ;) ). Other than I.A.s Magic series, which wasn't exactly my cup of tea (in fact, had I recalled her as the author of that one, I probably wouldn't have picked it up), On the Edge gribbed me from page 1. It's a fast-paced, dark-humored, plot-driven 3rd person tale in which the romance is a fitting element to the structure (not the other way round as happens in most fantasy romance stories).
The style of writing and the plot details remind me a lot of what I love about C.L. Wilson's books. And the humor is darker - like L.K. Hamilton's early Anita Blake books (those before the series descended into utter porn after book 4) - without being needlessly gory in description.
( cut for small element but not plot-spoilers ) this is a book to take up (but probably not on a commuter train).
Only repercussion: just one book (so far?).
This entry has  comments here on Dreamwidth.
Please comment there using OpenID.
| Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
|
|
I must admit I liked the original startrek. I also liked some of the settings of the later series (DS-9, Voyager), but I also never truly bothered to follow the series (chronologically or complete), because I got ultimately bored after a dozen eps or so, when nothing of the potential conflict in the setup between characters and surrounding was even remotely addressed or put to use.
The same goes actually for many of the sciencefiction series brought to tv or cinema in the last twenty years. Get me right: I *love* StarWars IV (and its potential), but that was *before* the rest of the saga; I love Eureka with its all nonsense take on scientists, and a few more (notably the original Battlestar Galactica and Bab-5, but again, "it's the setting, stupid." (to misquote Bill Clinton)).
However, when was the last time you saw a believe scientific and social different world set up on tv? The only thing I can spontaneously come up with is StarGate for a series, and even there it's mostly the original seasons with the earlier being the better, the Atlantis part lost most (if not all and then some) of its flavor, and Blade Runner as a movie.
SF author Charles Stross posted about the shortcomings of sciencefiction shows and movies in his online diary that brings these issues to a very clear point in terms of scientific and social world building for spellbinding scifi stories. His example is Startrek:TNG, and even if you don't agree with me (or like TNG to death), have a look at the quoted script excerpt for one of its eps, before the technical helpers filled in the gaps. It's a thought-provoking read.
This entry has  comments here on Dreamwidth.
Please comment there using OpenID.
| Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
http://fragbert.livejournal.com/442522.html
I offered my opinion that most everything that Jesus taught can be distilled down to one simple, if not a bit vulgar, statement: "Life is hard, we're all in this together, don't be a dick."
...and then they are going to compare sizes and it starts all over again.
Taken from ![[info - livejournal.com]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif) elbales and rurounitriv.
This entry was originally posted at http://akk.dreamwidth.org/239430.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
| Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
I love watching catastrophe movies. I really do. They're great entertainment.
Mostly because I always lmao about how much scientifically impossible rubbish can be squeezed into an average of two hours. (Few exceptions exist, most notably "Dante's Peak", which went to lengths displaying what was then state of the knowledge about a Plinian eruption. I specifially name it, because that was *such* a positive surprise in the cinema back then.)
It looks as if Emmerich's 2012 will not be such an exception.
I'll better do more midriff exercises before watching that one...
This is not the official trailer. This is a "documentary" about the improbabilities already found in the trailer.
This entry was originally posted at http://akk.dreamwidth.org/237010.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
| Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
Today I spontaneously bought a three dvd set of "Blood Ties" (first 12 eps), admittedly without knowing anything about the series but the few tiny pictures on the cover, the text next to it, and the vague memory of books of the same title in my favorite book store.
My monetary freeway isn't that well tarred as to me typically buying dvds without sound research about the content. This was an atypical buy. ( And a surprisingly delightful one. )
I definitely have to get the remaining eps. Now.
This entry was originally posted at http://akk.dreamwidth.org/229091.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
| Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
When the movie 300 came into the cinemas 2007, I was not tempted to watch it (ditto at the DVD release later that year). The topic wasn't that interesting to me.
However, since then the movie managed to be called (in no specific order & no assumption of completeness): fascist, racist, communist, (+ a lot more -ists), inhuman, violence-glorifying, historically incorrect and politically incorrect towards the elderly, the disabled, artisans, craftspeople, women, African people, Asian people - and it pissed off the entire nation of Iran.
All that while still getting a cinema rating of FSK-16 (roughly an "R") in Germany. Wow.
Let's say, I was intrigued. Today I sat down and watched it. And found that I liked it. A lot.
( So what is 300? )
| 2 Replies | Comment | Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
Which books that left a lasting impression on you did you read - or reread - over the last three months?
To clarify things: only books that you read voluntarily and completely count. That means, if you tackled Emily Brontë for school, it does not count (probably with the exception that you are a rabid fan of hers and are absolutely in love with her prose ever since). If you have to go to your book pile and look up title and summary to list the book, it does not count.
( my count: 9 )
| 2 Replies | Comment | Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
Two days ago I answered the unread book meme and today that tempts me to make my list of books that left a lasting impression on my imagination. Books that I (voluntarily) reread multiple times, or books I remember almost word for word without rereading them multiple times.
( Books! )
| Comment | Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
...when being worn out is spent watching all 15 episodes of Leiji Matsumoto's "Cosmowarrior Zero" (13 serial eps and 2 tv specials) in one go from 10:00 to somewhat 18:30, with brief interruptions to refill coffee and creme softcake. ♥
And to top it off, I don't even have to develop a bad conscience about it, because my data analysis laptop was running an extensive system check after an unexpected crash this morning and nicely recovered around 17:55! ♥ ♥
On an afterthought: I absolutely need Zero and Captain Harlock icons now!
| Comment | Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
When it comes to the topic of dragons in fantasy literature, there's often this feeling of "the stories are told". People mention "Pern" (and probably the Dragonlord-Saga by Joanne Bertin) and a couple of shortstories and consider the topic closed. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the Pern books, though I'm a fan of dragons -- of the bloodthirsty Western ones à la Fafnir a tad more than of the wise Eastern version. But that's a matter of taste. And action.
Then I realized that in the last few weeks I read two books which both shed a very different - and diametrically opposing - view on the dragons in fantasy literature. Both books are still on my mind after weeks have passed and I'm tempted to reread both of them (and the sequels to the second one); enough to warrant a book recommendation for them!
( Markus Heitz: Die Mächte des Feuers )
( Naomi Novik: His Majesty's Dragon )
| Comment | Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
|
| 2007-07-22 09:58 |
| Manga Recommendation: Shout Out Loud! |
| Public |
| happy |
| Vangelis - To The Unknown Man |
| manga, recommendation |
|
Shout Out Loud! (Sakende Yaruze)
by Satosumi Takaguchi
genre tags: boy's love, drama, comedy, real life
I really enjoyed this manga so far. It's quite uncommon in the BL genre to find a story with believable, adult characters having mundane, real life problems in addition to the genre specific issues. Takaguchi-san's subdued but realistically proportioned drawing style only adds to this appeal.
( Spoiler )
The BL aspects are fairly light in the first books and if you look for fast paced, hard action scenes (BL or otherwise), you're likely going to be disappointed aside from a few ice hockey matches. But I found these books to be a truly enjoyable read and a nice change from the fast paced, dark stories (X/1999 for example) that I usually read.
| Comment | Memories | Tell a Friend | Link |
|
|
|
|
|
