What I watched: Still watching The Magicians, but loving it less. It is falling into the same lazy world-building/writing trap that Eureka did, the multiple timeline trope. The parallel worlds are an intrinsic part of Magicians, but I get tired of multiple timelines. I like the multiverse of Earth, Brakebills, Neitherlands, Fillory, etc. It’s when you try to keep track of Eliot 23 vs. Eliot 40 vs. Eliot 17 in all those locations that I get annoyed.
What I read: I ripped right through the three Judah Black novels by E. A. Copen. (Book four is due out this year.) Judah is a special agent with the government agency that manages non-humans, Weres, Fae, Vampires, etc. She has been posted to the worst placement, the Paint Rock Supernatural Reservation. There are sub-stories about the internment of supernatural beings, mistrust of the government, Native Americans, magic, power struggles, impending Fae wars, her soon-to-turn werewolf preteen son, and a minor bit of romance. E. A. Copen writes the The Lazarus Codex and Felix Cross novels, both worthwhile if you like your fantasy genre books a bit gritty.
Should you read this or any book by E. A. Copen? Absolutely, if you like less happily ever after and more struggle.
What I listened to this week: GUM, a project/band of Jay Watson, a multi-instrumentalist who has toured with Tame Impala and POND, and a new band to me:
Out in The World:
Glamorous Damage:
So, dearest DeadSplintertarians, how are you? Are you hanging in there, through frigid weather, isolation, and the plague? What have you watched, read, or listened to? Did you do anything fun? Please do let us know what is up with you!
what i watched : blood machines
its 3 15 minute shorts forming a somewhat coherent story…strange artsy stuff..pretty tho
what im reading : well.. re reading i guess…the dragonlance chronicles…found em in the attic…been so long since ive read them ive forgot pretty much all but the biggest plot points…anyways its easy reading mostly light hearted fantasy…perfectly good bedtime reading imo
and listening to : moor mother
its a little different than what i usually listen too…but i like it
I looked at the Dragonlance Chronicles on Amazon and found in the author bio that she is big in dog flyball racing. I had no idea what it was. Here is a short, old clip; the fun starts at about 35 seconds. The boarder collies are on it, while the white dog appears to be humoring his human. Happy weekend to you!
lol tbh…collies are incredibly enthusiastic about everything…very high energy doggies
happy weekend to you too 🙂
…I vaguely remember the dragonlance stuff…don’t think I ever made ith through all of them, though?
well…i dont know if you did either mate?
its 4 main big books….and about a bazilion spin offs and prequals and sequals and pre sequals…lol (but imo..only the hickman & weiss books are really good)
“(but imo..only the hickman & weiss books are really good)”
I knew I liked you.
lol 😀
(but imo..only the hickman & weiss books are really good)
This is not opinion; it is fact. Carry on.
I watched several episodes of How To With John Wilson. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, he is an NYC cameraman who worked on a lot of things like infomercials and he puts together loose shows based on footage of things like scaffolding.
I like it, and it is hard to think of how a more professional construction would make it better instead of worse, but it’s not quite clicking for me. His personality is so withdrawn it’s a bit too hard for me to engage with, but it is still full of a lot of interesting bits.
I was not familiar with him, Goggled and watch a clip of a trailer. I see your point; my issue would be the tenor of his voice, it is a bit to nasal for easy listening. But that could just be me, I have a thing about sound/pitch.
Watched: The Hero, a movie starring Sam Elliott. It was pretty good, albeit a little plodding. About an aging Western movie star who is trying to deal with some shit in his life.
Read: “The 1927 Bombing That Remains America’s Deadliest School Massacre”, from Smithsonian magazine. This is a crazy-as-fuck story about a guy who went completely off the rails, and then how the town had to deal with a bunch of disaster tourists who came to town just to rubberneck.
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-1927-bombing-that-remains-america-s-deadliest-school-massacre?utm_source=pocket-newtab
I first heard/saw Amy Helm when she sang with her father’s band The Barnburners in a tiny little club in Nashville, and was totally blown away. Encountered her again a few years later as a member of Ollabelle when they were being featured on All Things Considered. One of those artists that I just can’t get enough of. This is the title track of her latest album, which came out a couple of years ago.
To my ears, the Amy Helm almost has an early Bonnie Raitt vibe? Regardless, I like it – and she skims the edge of, but does not cross, my “too highly-pitched for my comfort zone”. Yippee! Best wishes on roof raking…
I’m not reading anything, I need to look for something that will hold my interest for more than 5 minutes at a time.
I watched the first couple of episodes of The Magicians on your recommendation. I’m enjoying it but I sort of remember having the same issue with the books that you describe.
Fun Music Saturday continues, but I’m aware that not everyone shares my idea of fun.
Madge – Ethanol
Hi @Hannibal if you think it is fun, I am with you!
Books: Finished The Storm on Our Shores, which was a bit sad, but a remarkable story that I’m glad I read. Just started The House of Owls by Tony Angell. So far (about 50 pages in) I am enjoying it.
Music: I’ve never been able to really get into Mogwai, but this recent single might change my mind. I really like it.
@MemeWeaver I like that Mogwai, too!
My best friend is way into the gritty urban fantasy thing, so I’ll have to tell her about the Copen books
Reading – Mad, Bad, and Dangerous To Know by Samira Ahmed. It’s a YA romance novel about a girl who’s half-Indian, half-French, and all-American. I’m only about 20% in, but it’s pretty good, so far.
Also reading – Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt by Barbara Mertz. Mertz also writes under the name of Elizabeth Peters, author of the Amelia Peabody series. It was originally published in 1966, so some of the info is outdated, but it’s still very interesting.
Watching – nothing, really. About all I’ve watched this week was a few episodes of Warrior Nun on Netflix, which was… ok. I might continue with it, might not.
Listening to – Tessa Violet.
@HoneySmacks daily life in ancient Egypt sounds interesting to me.
Have you read any of the Amelia Peabody series? If not, I highly recommend them!
I have resumed reading Vincent Cannato’s “The Ungoverrnable City,” which is about John Lindsay and his Mayoralty of New York in the 60s–early 70s. Tall, sort-of-young, patrician, handsome, Kennedyesque, and still fondly remembered by some older folks, his tenure was pretty catastrophic but if you look at what happened in and to American cities in the late 60s he probably did about as well as he could. The de Blasio administration has been an unrelenting horror show and there are lots of parallels, so that’s why I’m reading it.
Is it interesting to read about places in the city as they were then, which you are familiar with now? I bet is fascinating.
The funny thing is, there’s a cliché that the only thing constant about New York is that it’s always changing. That’s absolutely not true. I mean, superficially yes, especially as this pandemic and the crushing lockdowns bear on and businesses collapse right and left around us. But it’s all eerily familiar if you ever read or see anything from, say, 1900 on. Neighborhoods gentrify and fall into decline, industries wax and wane, but by 1900 New York, Manhattan at least, was set, and it just inhales and exhales and the populations shift around. The only thing that really astonishes me is how gentrified and chain-ized Manhattan has become in the 30AHEM years that I’ve lived here, and how quiet everything has gotten over the last year or two (the Great Exodus predated the pandemic, something Bill de Blasio denies but the city’s census records do not).
Finally got around to watching the last 4 episodes of The Expanse.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Dominique Tripper is brilliant. And I am loving the character arc of Avrasarala. Shoreh is perfectly cast for that role.
That’s really about it. Still don’t have the mental energy to read. Did find the One Mix episodes on my Apple Music subscription and I have enjoyed several of those. Dirty South was notably good.
I also have Game Pass on my Xbox and just started Outer Worlds. It’s not bad. I am enjoying the snark at corporate America.
The Expanse is next on the list after finishing Magicians. So may DeadSplinterites rave about it!
I hope you enjoy it. I think it’s simply incredible.
oh im conflicted here
@Elliecoo
the books are my favourite thing ever…and the series what ive seen so far is pretty damn good too
the storylines dont entirely match tho
as i read the books first…i get annoyed at the series not matching…everything from plot points to how i imagined the characters…cept avasarala…they kinda nailed her…toned down the language..but yeah
i dont know wich im sposed to tell you to read/watch first….
Ohhh books….I can probably get them read faster than watching something!
the last one isnt out yet
but the 8 out so far are all good…and they read like movies
…the books are great…but the show (at least to me) succeeds in at least some ways the books don’t (& vice versa) so I’ve found it kind of a benefit that there’s enough differences between the two not to know for sure exactly how everything is going to go for everyone all the time…even if there are a few things that means don’t quite get a literal translation from the page?
…it might be the best tv that’s sci-fi-as-in-space (t0ratyer than something like westworld) that I’ve seen?
it might be?
(sorry im just returning the question mark?)
/me is uptalking in his head now?
it is very good
but in my mind alex is a midle aged indian leaf on the wind…fuck whats his name..firefly
and bobby is 6ft4 of mountain
also amos is too pretty :p
(i only object to that coz i identify with amos)
I’m listening to pretty new Babe Rainbow I somehow missed released at end of year.
Watching it snow several inches here which it never does so we went out and I snowboarded down all the hills in my neighborhood. Got some weird looks from a neighbor going out to get his mail as I fly by!
Good for you @LoveShaq. Keep those neighbors guessing!
Just finished: “The Sinner” season 3 on Netflix. Can i just say Bill Pullman = major zaddy in this show.
Currently reading: “Dopesick” by Beth Macy. FUCK Purdue Pharma with a rusty rake. Fuck calling a drug problem an “epidemic” once it affects white teens. We’re going to be dealing with this shit for a generation, and as a person with a chronic pain condition, I’m concerned on multiple fronts.
Currently watching: “Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel.” Normally i love a good true crime show, but this one is intellectually insulting. They really play up the missing person aspect, even though she’s no longer missing, until halfway thru the series. They also do not shy away from batshit conspiracy theories (Elisa Lam was a bioterror agent sent by the Canadian government to eliminate the homeless population of Skid Row) to the paranormal (the Cecil Hotel is a demonic vortex that attracts negative energies). What I’d like to know is why it took LAPD 3-4 days to look at security footage from the hotel. If you’re a cop investigating a crime at a HOTEL, wouldn’t getting the tapes be your first thing?
Oh wow that’s unfortunate. I’m a little bit into episode 3 I think? I’ve been watching it while walking on the treadmill so only halfsies paying attention at times.
It’s only 4 episodes. I’m frankly amazed they were able to drag it out that long.
Netflix seems to have decided that all their true crime stuff since 2020 is 4 episodes. That template keeps getting repeated for their docs.
What I’m reading: Invisible Men, by Ken Quattro. It’s about Black comic book creators of the 30s through the Golden Age who are now all but forgotten. Beautiful artwork.
What I’m watching: Resident Alien on Syfy (just caught up with a 4-episode binge). It’s based on an outstanding independent comic so I had high hopes, but much like I, Zombie it’s been modified extensively. Now I’m not one to snivel when the TV or movie adaptation differs from the source material (I enjoyed I, Zombie; Preacher; and several others). Generally, I prefer it, since I already read the source material and am just as happy to see another take on it. I’m not quite so happy with the RA adaptation — the lead character’s motivations are completely different and make him a much less sympathetic character. But I’ll watch it until Syfy prematurely cancels it. They do that, y’know.