... the IT man in LibraryLand
So for all of it's long life in Melbourne one had, until Sunday last, neglected to pay a visit to the fine institute which is IMAX.
Well that situation has been rectified thanks to the auspices of ElfBoy. He invited myself and Salsa Girl along with many others (who shunned his advances) to experience Tron Legacy at said venue.
I quite enjoyed the movie despite it's relentless electronic soundtrack and internal logic inconsistencies (it's really hard to get there - let's jump on this data train that goes right there).
Worth a watch and IMAX does seem to suit it well
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The Reading Roundup
It's been a while since I posted anything about what I've been reading so here is a slew of books I've finished in the last six months.
First up is Kraken by China Mieville. This one holds a special place in my heart for it was after attending a talk by the author that Salsa Girl and I commenced our grand experiment together.
The book itself is almost up to his usual standard although it does seem to be fascinated with the "weird in the modern world" idea which makes it interesting but not quite compelling.
My next read was Terry Pratchet's Reaper man. This crossed the returns desk at work and happened to be the one I was up to in his Discworld series so I snapped it up and put it on my to-read pile.
I enjoyed it heartily - my first Pratchet for years (which means I am falling further and further behind his output).
Following the fantasy hijinks I moved on to the first of the recommendations for my reading that I deigned to allow Salsa Girl to make - Illusions by Richard Bach. Much like his seagull book it is about the power of believing in oneself and one's ability to shape reality with one's own belief. This one, however takes it a bit further and a bit more literally with it's real-world, human based setting. All in all some nice ideas but hard to take the implication that they are real.
This next one show the danger of giving one's romantic interest carte blanche to select one's reading material, especially when combined with ones own compulsion to do things in the proper order. So because the strong recommendation was for the second in the Children of Earth series I had to start with the first volume - The Clan of the Cave Bear (AKA Ayla invents everything) by Jean M Auel. It is the tale of a young Cro-Magnon girl adopted by a tribe of Neanderthals and the troubles she has fitting with her different look, new ideas, and not knowing her place in The Clan
Anyway, I'll begrudgingly admit that it was a reasonable read although there was an annoying tendency to mix scientific narrator information with point of view type narration, a fictitious example: Ayla was wary as she entered the mountains because tectonic plate shifting caused regular earthquakes.
Which brings us to Prophet Margin by Simon Spurrier. I read this one thanks to Fantomas and his generous birthday voucher.
It is a novel based on characters from 2000AD - the same comic in which Judge Dredd features.
Reading this was akin to watching a car crash as the author appeared to be too embarrassed writing the story to take the characters seriously. I had no sense of the author even liking the characters as I read numerous blokey/schoolboy allusions to the sexual relationship of the two male main characters. Mix in a lot of juvenile "world comprised totally of space whale excrement" type settings, many clumsy attempts to write like Douglas Adams, and a seeming misunderstanding of the main characters motivations and you have a book that's a struggle for the first half and then begins to settle down and flow by the time it gets to it's final 50 pages or so. All the while never really feeling like the same setting as the original comics.
Thanks a lot Fantomas!!!
Not worth a read for anyone other than a big fan of the characters looking to be outraged - i.e. me.
After reading that last one I was glad to be diving into the second Clan of the Cave Bear novel next.
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First up is Kraken by China Mieville. This one holds a special place in my heart for it was after attending a talk by the author that Salsa Girl and I commenced our grand experiment together.
The book itself is almost up to his usual standard although it does seem to be fascinated with the "weird in the modern world" idea which makes it interesting but not quite compelling.
My next read was Terry Pratchet's Reaper man. This crossed the returns desk at work and happened to be the one I was up to in his Discworld series so I snapped it up and put it on my to-read pile.
I enjoyed it heartily - my first Pratchet for years (which means I am falling further and further behind his output).
Following the fantasy hijinks I moved on to the first of the recommendations for my reading that I deigned to allow Salsa Girl to make - Illusions by Richard Bach. Much like his seagull book it is about the power of believing in oneself and one's ability to shape reality with one's own belief. This one, however takes it a bit further and a bit more literally with it's real-world, human based setting. All in all some nice ideas but hard to take the implication that they are real.
This next one show the danger of giving one's romantic interest carte blanche to select one's reading material, especially when combined with ones own compulsion to do things in the proper order. So because the strong recommendation was for the second in the Children of Earth series I had to start with the first volume - The Clan of the Cave Bear (AKA Ayla invents everything) by Jean M Auel. It is the tale of a young Cro-Magnon girl adopted by a tribe of Neanderthals and the troubles she has fitting with her different look, new ideas, and not knowing her place in The Clan
Anyway, I'll begrudgingly admit that it was a reasonable read although there was an annoying tendency to mix scientific narrator information with point of view type narration, a fictitious example: Ayla was wary as she entered the mountains because tectonic plate shifting caused regular earthquakes.
Which brings us to Prophet Margin by Simon Spurrier. I read this one thanks to Fantomas and his generous birthday voucher.
It is a novel based on characters from 2000AD - the same comic in which Judge Dredd features.
Reading this was akin to watching a car crash as the author appeared to be too embarrassed writing the story to take the characters seriously. I had no sense of the author even liking the characters as I read numerous blokey/schoolboy allusions to the sexual relationship of the two male main characters. Mix in a lot of juvenile "world comprised totally of space whale excrement" type settings, many clumsy attempts to write like Douglas Adams, and a seeming misunderstanding of the main characters motivations and you have a book that's a struggle for the first half and then begins to settle down and flow by the time it gets to it's final 50 pages or so. All the while never really feeling like the same setting as the original comics.
Thanks a lot Fantomas!!!
Not worth a read for anyone other than a big fan of the characters looking to be outraged - i.e. me.
After reading that last one I was glad to be diving into the second Clan of the Cave Bear novel next.
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A History of Violence
With a few weeks of holiday remaining I am finally getting the time to catch up on my movie watching.
This one, A History of Violence, was a birthday gift from Legion2 way back at the beginning of last year.
The movie is based on a graphic novel (which one has never actually read) by John Wagner - a favourite comic writer of mine primarily for his 30 years of writing Judge Dredd.
I found it interesting and tense. Worth a watch if violent acts are something you can handle.
Three and a half stars.
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This one, A History of Violence, was a birthday gift from Legion2 way back at the beginning of last year.
The movie is based on a graphic novel (which one has never actually read) by John Wagner - a favourite comic writer of mine primarily for his 30 years of writing Judge Dredd.
I found it interesting and tense. Worth a watch if violent acts are something you can handle.
Three and a half stars.
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The Holiday is Over
The time has finally come for me to once again take up my virtual pen and recommence my wisened scribblings for you, my loyal audience.
These past weeks of Tales silence have been filled with a multitude of activities - most of them undertaken in the company of the esteemed Salsa Girl.
I had best give you a quick summary lest we be here all day together going through the intricacies of the twists and turns of fate that have swept about me in these weeks of holiday.
So, anyway, after my lower post count year in the history of The Tales I believe it may be time for some changes to be enacted in what remains of this year.
The first change is that one shall be endeavoring to be making more frequent postings. In order to enact this one shall have to adopt the twitter mentality somewhat and gift you with shorter posts - probably limiting myself to a mere paragraph or three rather than elabourating at great length as one as be come want to do.
Other changes may be more noticeable should they come to fruition but I'm sure you shall notice them if they become fact.
Post to you again soon...
.
These past weeks of Tales silence have been filled with a multitude of activities - most of them undertaken in the company of the esteemed Salsa Girl.
I had best give you a quick summary lest we be here all day together going through the intricacies of the twists and turns of fate that have swept about me in these weeks of holiday.
- a day or so of rest before beginning the long trek north to spend some time with Salsa Girl's father in sunnier climes
- much feasting punctuated by: beach attendance, Day trips, musical performances, markets, a display of bluebottle dancing put on by Salsa Girl, and much reading on the decking
- some driving inside of a cloud
- a mild scramble for last minute accommodation on our return journey after our "she'll be right" mindset proved to, in fact, be wrong
- strings of lazy days at home composed of sleeping in, long brunches, and finishing our watching of the Rome tv series - excellent, albeit gory, stuff
- a non too few gaming events including a trip out to the fringes of Melbourne to play the new Napoleonics game on a magnificent 3D tabletop mere days before acquiring one's own copy
- and many, many other occurrences that have become lost in the haze that is long summer holidays
So, anyway, after my lower post count year in the history of The Tales I believe it may be time for some changes to be enacted in what remains of this year.
The first change is that one shall be endeavoring to be making more frequent postings. In order to enact this one shall have to adopt the twitter mentality somewhat and gift you with shorter posts - probably limiting myself to a mere paragraph or three rather than elabourating at great length as one as be come want to do.
Other changes may be more noticeable should they come to fruition but I'm sure you shall notice them if they become fact.
Post to you again soon...
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