Reading/Watching/Playing
Aug. 17th, 2022 11:28 amReading:
Finished Aurora Rising (aka The Prefect) and Alysium Fire. Continued with Al Reynolds reading two new ones. First, a standalone Eversion. Fun little book with some echoes of Terminal World and Diamond Dogs. Very interesting structure. I don't want to spoil it, but stick with the first five chapters even if it seems very odd and not Reynolds at all. This would make a fun movie or, probably better, a mini-series. Continued with Reynolds and the new Revelation Space book "Inhibitor Space". I quite like it, but although it claims to be readable without having read the earlier RS books, I'm not entirely certain that's true. Maybe it's just that I have read them, but sufficiently long ago that my memory is too strong to just follow this standalone, but not strong enough to fit it properly within the context. Almost finished it. I may now be inspired to go back through the RS sequence, but they're a long set and I've other things I want to read, so maybe for another time. I think this is the start of a new RS sequence, so maybe when I get to the next one I'll re-read the back list again. This is my 36th book this year, so I'm reading on average about one per week. Not quite as many as![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
vivdunstan, but this is not a competition.
Watching:
Almost done with my re-watch of 12 Monkeys. A nice timey-wimey self-creating self-solving whacky time-travel show. Watched the first six Harry Potter movies with $DAUGHTER with $WIFE paying limited attention to them. Re-watching Dreamworks Dragons series with $DAUGHTER, now up to season 5. Planning to watch The Sandman with $WIFE so it will take a while to get to that as we get limited time to watch things together that are unsuitable for $DAUGHTER. I've got lots to catch up on/try out: Paper Girls, remainder of current season of The Flash, remainder of the first season of Strange New Worlds, Locke and Key Season 3, ...
Playing:
I've been keeping up with Ring Fit Adventure on Switch except for when on a weekend break and for two days while recovering from vaccine shot 4. The "Silent Mode" works well as non-impact for my knees and ankles. I've gone back to Pikmin 3 for some fun, both solo and in co-op and competitive play with $DAUGHTER. A bit played out on both Control and Little Nightmares. Will go back to Control at some point, but may skip to Little Nightmares 2 instead of beating my head against the wall on the easy-to-understand-too-hard-to-do puzzle on LN.
Finished Aurora Rising (aka The Prefect) and Alysium Fire. Continued with Al Reynolds reading two new ones. First, a standalone Eversion. Fun little book with some echoes of Terminal World and Diamond Dogs. Very interesting structure. I don't want to spoil it, but stick with the first five chapters even if it seems very odd and not Reynolds at all. This would make a fun movie or, probably better, a mini-series. Continued with Reynolds and the new Revelation Space book "Inhibitor Space". I quite like it, but although it claims to be readable without having read the earlier RS books, I'm not entirely certain that's true. Maybe it's just that I have read them, but sufficiently long ago that my memory is too strong to just follow this standalone, but not strong enough to fit it properly within the context. Almost finished it. I may now be inspired to go back through the RS sequence, but they're a long set and I've other things I want to read, so maybe for another time. I think this is the start of a new RS sequence, so maybe when I get to the next one I'll re-read the back list again. This is my 36th book this year, so I'm reading on average about one per week. Not quite as many as
vivdunstan, but this is not a competition.Watching:
Almost done with my re-watch of 12 Monkeys. A nice timey-wimey self-creating self-solving whacky time-travel show. Watched the first six Harry Potter movies with $DAUGHTER with $WIFE paying limited attention to them. Re-watching Dreamworks Dragons series with $DAUGHTER, now up to season 5. Planning to watch The Sandman with $WIFE so it will take a while to get to that as we get limited time to watch things together that are unsuitable for $DAUGHTER. I've got lots to catch up on/try out: Paper Girls, remainder of current season of The Flash, remainder of the first season of Strange New Worlds, Locke and Key Season 3, ...
Playing:
I've been keeping up with Ring Fit Adventure on Switch except for when on a weekend break and for two days while recovering from vaccine shot 4. The "Silent Mode" works well as non-impact for my knees and ankles. I've gone back to Pikmin 3 for some fun, both solo and in co-op and competitive play with $DAUGHTER. A bit played out on both Control and Little Nightmares. Will go back to Control at some point, but may skip to Little Nightmares 2 instead of beating my head against the wall on the easy-to-understand-too-hard-to-do puzzle on LN.
Reading/Watching/Playing
May. 15th, 2022 12:02 pmAfter really enjoying Kameron Hurley's The Light Brigade, I decided to try some of her earlier books. Her first (AFAICT) novels were the Bel Dame Apocrypha, alternatively called the Nyx triogy. The first of these three was OK, but I forgave it's weaknesses because "first published novel". The second wasn't great, but I finished it OK. I really should have given up there, but I persevered into the third one and only finished it because I hate leaving books unfinished. It was a real struggle and came perilously close to the Eight Deadly Words at times. I may try out her other series at some point but I'm not in the mood now - I might give up on them because of a hangover malaise with her Nyx series.
Now, I've just started T. L. Hochu's The Library of the Dead, the first in an expected series of books merging urban fantasy with post semi-apocalypse (probably climate breakdown) and further mixing British/Scottish folklore with Zimbabwean magical traditions. Some shades of Mike Carey's thnkly-veiled Constantine-a-like (he wrote a very good run on the Hellblazer comic) Felix Castor series, with a ghost whisperer who uses music to exert power over spirits. It's a nice start, although I did get drawn into a brief Wikipedia rabbit hole on idiophonic instruments (to be distinguished from the idiot-phone - smartphone/television aka idiot-box) like the mbira which features in the novel.
$Daughter and I have finished watching Agents of SHIELD. Started watching Naomi with the family. Watched Sonic 2 last night. Watchable fun, though not as good as the first one. Started a re-watch of The Owl House with $DAUGHTER as well. Part 2 of the second and final season is coming out at present. On my own I7ve finished Picard Season 2, and watched Season 1 of Inside Job (adult animation, really funny conspiracy theory stuff, highly recommended). I started Season 2 of Russian Doll, but it didn't grab me like the first season, so I've paused that. I'll get to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but maybe wait until I can binge a few episodes or even the whole first season at once. New stuff coming up including Night Sky, Obi Wan Kenobi (with the family) and Moon Knight (with $WIFE when we can find time together without $DAUGHTER). Undone Season 2 is also sitting waiting to be watched. Another adult animation, but a more serious one though equally as freaky. Also recommended.
Picked up Control the game again for playing as I'm frustratingly blocked on Little Nightmares. I know what to do in LN at present but it's just ridiculously hard to do. The controls don't work precisely enough and there's too much to coordinate between hard-to-kill shadow monsters and moving an item, jumping on said item and jumping to grab a lever, all while trying to kill the shadow monsters (I can get one or two in a session, sometimes zero, but consistently killing them quickly is too hard). I'm also a bit blocked on Control, with the main quests being three serious boss battles that I just can't seem to get through. I'm on a side quest which is pretty hard (complete four mini-quests with a strict time limit). I've completed each quest at least once, though, and got to two complete ones within the time allowed a few times, so I feel I've got a chance of getting through it, unlike the LN one.
Now, I've just started T. L. Hochu's The Library of the Dead, the first in an expected series of books merging urban fantasy with post semi-apocalypse (probably climate breakdown) and further mixing British/Scottish folklore with Zimbabwean magical traditions. Some shades of Mike Carey's thnkly-veiled Constantine-a-like (he wrote a very good run on the Hellblazer comic) Felix Castor series, with a ghost whisperer who uses music to exert power over spirits. It's a nice start, although I did get drawn into a brief Wikipedia rabbit hole on idiophonic instruments (to be distinguished from the idiot-phone - smartphone/television aka idiot-box) like the mbira which features in the novel.
$Daughter and I have finished watching Agents of SHIELD. Started watching Naomi with the family. Watched Sonic 2 last night. Watchable fun, though not as good as the first one. Started a re-watch of The Owl House with $DAUGHTER as well. Part 2 of the second and final season is coming out at present. On my own I7ve finished Picard Season 2, and watched Season 1 of Inside Job (adult animation, really funny conspiracy theory stuff, highly recommended). I started Season 2 of Russian Doll, but it didn't grab me like the first season, so I've paused that. I'll get to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, but maybe wait until I can binge a few episodes or even the whole first season at once. New stuff coming up including Night Sky, Obi Wan Kenobi (with the family) and Moon Knight (with $WIFE when we can find time together without $DAUGHTER). Undone Season 2 is also sitting waiting to be watched. Another adult animation, but a more serious one though equally as freaky. Also recommended.
Picked up Control the game again for playing as I'm frustratingly blocked on Little Nightmares. I know what to do in LN at present but it's just ridiculously hard to do. The controls don't work precisely enough and there's too much to coordinate between hard-to-kill shadow monsters and moving an item, jumping on said item and jumping to grab a lever, all while trying to kill the shadow monsters (I can get one or two in a session, sometimes zero, but consistently killing them quickly is too hard). I'm also a bit blocked on Control, with the main quests being three serious boss battles that I just can't seem to get through. I'm on a side quest which is pretty hard (complete four mini-quests with a strict time limit). I've completed each quest at least once, though, and got to two complete ones within the time allowed a few times, so I feel I've got a chance of getting through it, unlike the LN one.
