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Aug. 12th, 2012 01:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jtniehofThe Dispossessed, King Lear, In Fire Forged, A Beautiful Friendship, Pale Ale, Continental Pilsener, Triathlon Workout Planner, A Certain Scientific Railgun vol. 2, Asobi ni iku yo!/Bombshells from the Sky/Cat Planet Cuties, Fate/Zero, Medaka Box, Kids on the Slope, The Town That Was, Casino Royale, The Dark Knight Rises.
The Dispossessed (Ursula K. LeGuin): Weakened by an almost Heinleinian problem, where politics substitute for plot and characterization seems to come second. At least the societies presented are not strawmen, but deeply ambivalent, with powerful good and powerful bad in each. Shevek's development is left mostly up to the reader: combining events from flashbacks with actions in the "present" storyline, you can start to piece together what makes him tick. A somewhat strange and difficult book.
King Lear: Slings and Arrows made me feel obligated to correct my lack of exposure. Can I use "difficult" again? Of the Shakespeare I've read, Lear seems the least suited to reading rather than performing. Very quotable, great speeches, although in context they're more ambiguous, even sarcastic. I probably should have drawn a relationship diagram from the start, then everything might have made more sense.
In Fire Forged (David Weber): Prolonged essay on starship armor aside, these three shorts are good solid fun in the Honorverse. Since they're written by, respectively, Lindskold, Zahn, and Weber, there's some serious talent brought to bear. I need to start reading Lindskold's own works.
A Beautiful Friendship (David Weber): First of a YA series All About Treecats. The first half is expanded from the short of the same name in More Than Honor, and it's infected with the same stretch-it-out bug that's bee plaguing the Honorverse lately. The second half is more interesting, for at least it's new. It still drags a bit, though. There are some long bits of back-and-forth dialogue wherein the characters VERY EXHAUSTIVELY lay out their thought process. "I get it already, can we just move on?". I'm not sure if I'd say it does or does not read like a YA novel, but it does read almost exactly like Weber's other Honorverse novels. In particular, the amount of time spent from the adult's point of view is a bit high for a YA novel, if readers are supposed to identify primarily with Stephanie. So why the YA billing? Guarantee of minimal sex? Cynical marketing? Supposedly Lindskold is more or less taking over with the next entry; we'll see how she does. I don't think this is particularly going to draw in younger readers, nor really any readers outside of existing Honor fans.
Pale Ale (Terry Foster): This first volume in the Classic Beer Styles series has a fair bit of useful information, but it's a little dated and haphazard. Modern homebrew shops are far better stocked than at the time of writing! For instance, I found the water chemistry section very interesting, but light on practicalities (such as what chemicals to use). Since this is a style-specific book, however, maybe such is better left to a general techniques book?
Continental Pilsener (Dave Miller): Second in the Classic Beer Styles series, and much like the first, although perhaps not as useful. I would have appreciated a little more discussion of reasonable lagering techniques for the homebrewer; the focus seems more on microbrewers with money to blow on equipment, rather than on homebrewers with time to spend on experimenting.
Triathlon Workout Planner (John Mora): Most of the book is spent in vague generalities (which I skimmed) followed by "now do this specific workout". There's little on what make the workouts tick or how to put together a plan to meet one's needs. The much-vaunted "80/20 rule" isn't really explained and there's nothing on periodization or managing intensity. A third of the pages go to blank training logs that could just as easily have been a PDF online. I found Friel's books fare more useful.
A Certain Scientific Railgun vol. 2: More interesting as the plot warms up, but I still don't care about the characters and I suspect it's from not reading Index. Probably going to drop this, at least for awhile.
Asobi ni iku yo!/Bombshells from the Sky/Cat Planet Cuties: Fairly different from what I expected. The fanservice drops off dramatically after the first couple of episodes, with some reasonable time given to plot. It's sort of a conspiracy-thriller, played not necessarily for laughs but at least for amusement. If you leave out the groan-worthy bits (most notably catgirls in heat, sigh), it's fun but nothing particularly world-changing.
Fate/Zero: The high point of the anime franchise so far (easier to make a coherent plot out of a novel than a game?) This is what it looks like when the Big Boys play at the Holy Grail War: serious, brutal, a touch gruesome. Lots of ruminating on the nature of heroism, honour, etc.--particular in this round where the servants seem more honorable than the masters. Emiya Kiritsugu's arc nicely parallels Shirou's, particularly in Unlimited Blade Works. I do think it's better to watch at least Unlimited Blade Works before Zero, and UBW makes more sense if you've seen Stay Night, so...I guess it's a watch them all. But I suspect they're not the sort of thing which is universally liked.
Medaka Box: A fine instance of "fun, not good". The whole show hinges on the gag that Medaka is just so good that she can solve every problem and beat everyone. At everything. And make them feel good for having been beaten. Surprisingly, it does not get old. Things go downhill a bit in the last four episodes where they try to go beyond the formula and bring more nuance to her character. We'll see what season 2 brings....
Kids on the Slope: For the most part, really as good as the hype. (Kanno music helps.) Sort of Beck-KOR-Bebop. I appreciated the historical setting (60s) as something a bit different without being tied specifically to Big World Events. I wonder if the period was meant to enable some subtle commentary on Japan's evolution as a nation, commentary too subtle for Westerners. Gets rushed towards the end; I'm told they compressed something like nine volumes of manga into the 13 episodes and it really did suffer. Very glad I watched; not sure if I want to dig in again. Some of the apparent depth wound up superficial in the end (again, rushing?)
The Town That Was: Less a movie about Centralia and the mine fire; more some vignettes of one of the people who stayed behind (the youngest). I prefer my documentaries to come together in a story, or at least a theme, and this fails.
Casino Royale (rewatch): More enjoyable the second time around, because I was paying close attention rather than having it on in the background. They've done a great job of taking the Bond franchise away from the techno-wizardry and kill-with-a-quip and back into hard-nosed "spy" stuff. Craig just looks beaten to a pulp after every fight. Although I haven't read them, I've heard these are closer to the Fleming novels; it also seems there's inspiration taken from the style of the Bourne movies. Very spares dialogue: a few lines at the beginning, and then action without speech for another fifteen minutes. Critical plot points are mentioned once and then acted on: spare and hard to follow if you aren't paying attention. Not a great movie, but certainly very good.
The Dark Knight Rises: Although Dark Knight was only loosely linked with Batman Begins, Rises is very strongly linked to both; I didn't rewatch before seeing Rises but it wouldn't be a bad idea. For large parts of the movie the plot doesn't seem to make much sense, but it all comes together in the last forty minutes. Bane is...problematic. I can't tell if Nolan was trying to say something about the Occupy movement; if so it was muddled at best. The shape of the villain is a little different, grandiose in a very different way. In some sense Bane's the opposite of Ledger's Joker, who wouldn't know what to do with a car when he caught it. That makes this film very different, almost not a Batman film. (Also, there's large chunks sans Batman.) Catwoman's well-done, BTW, as non-exploitative as a spandex catsuit can be and passing up several opportunities for ass shots. I agree with what seems to be the consensus; good, worthy finale, but not quite as good as The Dark Knight.
The Dispossessed (Ursula K. LeGuin): Weakened by an almost Heinleinian problem, where politics substitute for plot and characterization seems to come second. At least the societies presented are not strawmen, but deeply ambivalent, with powerful good and powerful bad in each. Shevek's development is left mostly up to the reader: combining events from flashbacks with actions in the "present" storyline, you can start to piece together what makes him tick. A somewhat strange and difficult book.
King Lear: Slings and Arrows made me feel obligated to correct my lack of exposure. Can I use "difficult" again? Of the Shakespeare I've read, Lear seems the least suited to reading rather than performing. Very quotable, great speeches, although in context they're more ambiguous, even sarcastic. I probably should have drawn a relationship diagram from the start, then everything might have made more sense.
In Fire Forged (David Weber): Prolonged essay on starship armor aside, these three shorts are good solid fun in the Honorverse. Since they're written by, respectively, Lindskold, Zahn, and Weber, there's some serious talent brought to bear. I need to start reading Lindskold's own works.
A Beautiful Friendship (David Weber): First of a YA series All About Treecats. The first half is expanded from the short of the same name in More Than Honor, and it's infected with the same stretch-it-out bug that's bee plaguing the Honorverse lately. The second half is more interesting, for at least it's new. It still drags a bit, though. There are some long bits of back-and-forth dialogue wherein the characters VERY EXHAUSTIVELY lay out their thought process. "I get it already, can we just move on?". I'm not sure if I'd say it does or does not read like a YA novel, but it does read almost exactly like Weber's other Honorverse novels. In particular, the amount of time spent from the adult's point of view is a bit high for a YA novel, if readers are supposed to identify primarily with Stephanie. So why the YA billing? Guarantee of minimal sex? Cynical marketing? Supposedly Lindskold is more or less taking over with the next entry; we'll see how she does. I don't think this is particularly going to draw in younger readers, nor really any readers outside of existing Honor fans.
Pale Ale (Terry Foster): This first volume in the Classic Beer Styles series has a fair bit of useful information, but it's a little dated and haphazard. Modern homebrew shops are far better stocked than at the time of writing! For instance, I found the water chemistry section very interesting, but light on practicalities (such as what chemicals to use). Since this is a style-specific book, however, maybe such is better left to a general techniques book?
Continental Pilsener (Dave Miller): Second in the Classic Beer Styles series, and much like the first, although perhaps not as useful. I would have appreciated a little more discussion of reasonable lagering techniques for the homebrewer; the focus seems more on microbrewers with money to blow on equipment, rather than on homebrewers with time to spend on experimenting.
Triathlon Workout Planner (John Mora): Most of the book is spent in vague generalities (which I skimmed) followed by "now do this specific workout". There's little on what make the workouts tick or how to put together a plan to meet one's needs. The much-vaunted "80/20 rule" isn't really explained and there's nothing on periodization or managing intensity. A third of the pages go to blank training logs that could just as easily have been a PDF online. I found Friel's books fare more useful.
A Certain Scientific Railgun vol. 2: More interesting as the plot warms up, but I still don't care about the characters and I suspect it's from not reading Index. Probably going to drop this, at least for awhile.
Asobi ni iku yo!/Bombshells from the Sky/Cat Planet Cuties: Fairly different from what I expected. The fanservice drops off dramatically after the first couple of episodes, with some reasonable time given to plot. It's sort of a conspiracy-thriller, played not necessarily for laughs but at least for amusement. If you leave out the groan-worthy bits (most notably catgirls in heat, sigh), it's fun but nothing particularly world-changing.
Fate/Zero: The high point of the anime franchise so far (easier to make a coherent plot out of a novel than a game?) This is what it looks like when the Big Boys play at the Holy Grail War: serious, brutal, a touch gruesome. Lots of ruminating on the nature of heroism, honour, etc.--particular in this round where the servants seem more honorable than the masters. Emiya Kiritsugu's arc nicely parallels Shirou's, particularly in Unlimited Blade Works. I do think it's better to watch at least Unlimited Blade Works before Zero, and UBW makes more sense if you've seen Stay Night, so...I guess it's a watch them all. But I suspect they're not the sort of thing which is universally liked.
Medaka Box: A fine instance of "fun, not good". The whole show hinges on the gag that Medaka is just so good that she can solve every problem and beat everyone. At everything. And make them feel good for having been beaten. Surprisingly, it does not get old. Things go downhill a bit in the last four episodes where they try to go beyond the formula and bring more nuance to her character. We'll see what season 2 brings....
Kids on the Slope: For the most part, really as good as the hype. (Kanno music helps.) Sort of Beck-KOR-Bebop. I appreciated the historical setting (60s) as something a bit different without being tied specifically to Big World Events. I wonder if the period was meant to enable some subtle commentary on Japan's evolution as a nation, commentary too subtle for Westerners. Gets rushed towards the end; I'm told they compressed something like nine volumes of manga into the 13 episodes and it really did suffer. Very glad I watched; not sure if I want to dig in again. Some of the apparent depth wound up superficial in the end (again, rushing?)
The Town That Was: Less a movie about Centralia and the mine fire; more some vignettes of one of the people who stayed behind (the youngest). I prefer my documentaries to come together in a story, or at least a theme, and this fails.
Casino Royale (rewatch): More enjoyable the second time around, because I was paying close attention rather than having it on in the background. They've done a great job of taking the Bond franchise away from the techno-wizardry and kill-with-a-quip and back into hard-nosed "spy" stuff. Craig just looks beaten to a pulp after every fight. Although I haven't read them, I've heard these are closer to the Fleming novels; it also seems there's inspiration taken from the style of the Bourne movies. Very spares dialogue: a few lines at the beginning, and then action without speech for another fifteen minutes. Critical plot points are mentioned once and then acted on: spare and hard to follow if you aren't paying attention. Not a great movie, but certainly very good.
The Dark Knight Rises: Although Dark Knight was only loosely linked with Batman Begins, Rises is very strongly linked to both; I didn't rewatch before seeing Rises but it wouldn't be a bad idea. For large parts of the movie the plot doesn't seem to make much sense, but it all comes together in the last forty minutes. Bane is...problematic. I can't tell if Nolan was trying to say something about the Occupy movement; if so it was muddled at best. The shape of the villain is a little different, grandiose in a very different way. In some sense Bane's the opposite of Ledger's Joker, who wouldn't know what to do with a car when he caught it. That makes this film very different, almost not a Batman film. (Also, there's large chunks sans Batman.) Catwoman's well-done, BTW, as non-exploitative as a spandex catsuit can be and passing up several opportunities for ass shots. I agree with what seems to be the consensus; good, worthy finale, but not quite as good as The Dark Knight.