Karsa Orlong

The popcorn made my mate so hungry he went out and bought a bag of it at the interval

Yeah. They're called Scousers

^^

I think most of the changes have been okay. I don't think the detour that Robb took in the books to get married would have worked on screen cos viewers wouldn't have seen their relationship develop

I'm currently reading (second attempt!) Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover. After that . . . Well, seeing as I struggled to pick the last book without a plan I figured I need a new one, so here are the next few books I want to read from my TBR pile: Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden Prophecy by S. J. Parris The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy The Odyssey by Homer Something by David Gemmell, to be decided (probably either Hero in the Shadows or The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend) A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge The Technician by Neal Asher Pompeii by Robert Harris The Silver Spike by Glen Cook ETA: The one no-one saw coming: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Add to this (possibly) re-reading more Sherlock Holmes and (maybe) some more Jules Verne. Also, I want to give one of Michelle's recommendations a try, The 5th Wave. I may not stick as rigidly to this plan as in the past, so I may well insert some more books off the TBR list, or others that I buy along the way

Ooh, I remember reading that one, it was very good. Diane Duane wrote a couple that I really liked

I had pretty much the same reaction the first time I read A Storm of Swords

3x09 related stuff:

I'm guessing GRRM's had a lot of input into what is due to happen in the final books. I'm sure I read somewhere that he'd discussed the rest of the story with Benioff and Weiss so they knew where it was going. If I can find it again I'll post the link 3x09 lived up to my expectations, just about

Game of Thrones. Was too knackered to watch it last night

Yeah, I went to Amsterdam over the weekend

No, it really didn't

Ya think???

^^ I did see your haul, yeah, very impressive! I'm also quite bemused that you bought a book by someone called Steve Amsterdam (which would only make sense if you've read my other thread ). Of course, I will be more proud when you've read all the Malazan books

A friend of mine has just moved to Liverpool to start teaching English as a foreign language - does that count?

New Doctor Who named by BBC

Aha, but will you watch them in broadcast order or production order? I might actually watch season 3 first. I watch that year so rarely (unsurprisingly!)

Are you doing a full rewatch of TOS, pontalba? I noticed you said you'd been watching a fair bit recently and it's whet my appetite a bit. I have all three of the remastered seasons on Blu-ray, but I've only ever watched 'selected' episodes from them, and I'm thinking now might be a good time to dive in and watch the whole series again (which I haven't done in years). I might even watch them with the new special effects, although that feels kind of sacrilegious to me

Book #30: The Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge Thoughts: It's difficult to know what to write about this one without posting massive spoilers for its predecessor, A Fire Upon the Deep. I think, first and foremost, this is a sequel to a book that didn't need a sequel. It's taken Vernor Vinge 19 years since the publication of AFUtD to come up with this book and, on some levels, it seems even given all that time even he didn't quite know what to do with it. Moving the tale on ten years after the events of the previous book, The Children of the Sky is a planet-bound story that eschews all the galaxy-spanning awe, the space opera, the Net of a Million Lies, and more, and concentrates on a power struggle on Tines World. It's kind of like Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - you've seen the previous films and are hoping to experience that sense of wonder and excitement all over again but, instead, you get a trade dispute Okay, CotS is nowhere near as bad as Phantom Menace. In fact, it is very entertaining in its own way. The main problem is that it wasn't needed and, as much fun as it is to revisit some of these wonderful characters, it's just not the same without the excitement, tensions and drama inherent in the plot of the previous book. And, what's worse, it leaves even more questions unanswered for what seems likely to be yet another sequel. Ka-ching! Still, there is fun to be had. The characters, old and new, create much warmth and humour and it is good to find out what happened to them. Hopefully the next book, whenever it may arrive, will get back to what Vinge did so well before. I'm still looking forward to reading the prequel, A Deepness in the Sky, though - apparently it's a belter 6/10

You can please all of the people some of the time etc etc

By that criteria, practically every film series, tv series, book series etc plays to its audience. You can hardly expect otherwise.

Um, did you not see the end of this one?

I was referring to But then why use Khan and his 72 people in the story at all? Why not come up with something original?

Very much so. I still don't know why they decided to basically re-run Khan - and repeat so much of the dialogue in the process - rather than tell an original story. Very lazy. On the other hand, I don't count that as 'pandering', because it seems to be working against the film with the fans. It's certainly my biggest issue with it. I don't think he can make a movie for the fans and make the movie that the studio wants to see. For me, the best of the movies (Khan, Undiscovered Country, First Contact) were basically tv episodes upgraded for the big screen. They aren't going to hold the attention of the average multiplex ADHD cinema-goer, sadly.