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Karsa Orlong

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    What are you planning to watch on TV today/tonight

    in Music / TV / Films

    Posted · Edited by Karsa Orlong

    As the series go on the writers have got a better handle on the characters and the show gets funnier because of it. I think my favourite episode is one where they show how Leonard met Sheldon, but that's at the arse end of series three so you have a bit of a way to go!

    I think I've actually seen that one - is it the one where they explain what happened to the lift (er, sorry - elevator)? :lol: I also like the Wil Wheaton one, where they had the bowling match and Wheaton was trying to split up Penny and Leonard just so Sheldon's team would lose the game :lol:

    The Malazan Book of The Fallen by Steven Erikson

    in Horror / Fantasy / SF

    Posted

    It's nearly here ...

     

    On February 21st 2011 my favourite fantasy series reaches its conclusion ...

     

    TheCrippledGodcoverart2.jpg

     

    Savaged by the K'Chain Nah'Ruk, the Bonehunters march for Kolanse, where waits an unknown fate. Tormented by questions, the army totters on the edge of mutiny, but Adjunct Tavore will not relent. One final act remains, if it is in her power, if she can hold her army together, if the shaky allegiances she has forged can survive all that is to come. A woman with no gifts of magic, deemed plain, unprepossessing, displaying nothing to instill loyalty or confidence, Tavore Paran of House Paran means to challenge the gods -- if her own troops don't kill her first.

     

     

    122 days to go :woohoo:

     

    Which means I've got 122 days to finish my re-read of the first nine books :lol:

    pontalba's 2010 Reading List

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Last night I finished Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination. I know it has a reputation for being one of the best sci-fi books around, but I can't say I was overly impressed by it.

    That's a shame! I absolutely loved that book (I only read it a few months ago). I thought Gully Foyle was a brilliant anti-hero, and I thought the whole thing had a cracking pace about it that really swept me along with it. I wasn't so impressed with his The Demolished Man, though, so you might want to avoid that one like the plague :wink:

     

    Well, simply substitute horses, er, pooping in the road and carriages running through it. ewwwwwww! I like the modern view far better! :lol:

    :lol:

     

    Well, when you put it like that ... :lol:

    pontalba's 2010 Reading List

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I had a friend many years ago, an English doctor...she had interned at a hospital, can't remember the name, that was 900 years old. Can't touch that time frame here, even in New Orleans! LOL

    :lol:

     

    Ah, but you probably know all the places that Louis and Lestat went to in Interview With The Vampire, right? :cool::D

     

    The daft thing is, when I was reading Dark Fire, I kept picturing the streets as they are now. I can't imagine they had many taxis and double-decker buses running around in 1540 :rolleyes::doh::lol:

    Join City and you're dead

    in Sport

    Posted · Edited by Karsa Orlong

    That sort of reaction is disturbing, you're right.

     

    It's interesting that this has come about just a season before UEFA brings in the new regulations regarding transfer fees. I suspect Rooney's agent has marked this season as the last chance to get his player a mammoth deal.

     

    I also have to wonder, now, if Rooney thinks the England team isn't good enough for him, either - cos we certainly don't look like winning anything anytime soon. Is he wishing he could change nationality as well?? :doh::lol:

    pontalba's 2010 Reading List

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted · Edited by Karsa Orlong

    On a much more satisfying note, this evening I finished The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. I'd read The Day of the Triffids decades ago, and cannot for the life of me understand why I haven't read more of Wyndham! He is simply wonderful. He was so far ahead of his time, and his low key, spare prose so beautifully descriptive that I'm truly sorry to have waited all these years to read more.

    I loved those two books, both wonderful reads. If you haven't read them, have a look at The Midwich Cuckoos and The Kraken Wakes as well. I remember my head teacher reading the class an extract from the latter when I was about 12 years old and it scared the bejesus out of me :lol: I read the whole book a few years later and thought it was amazing.

     

    Shame to hear you weren't as thrilled as you thought you'd be with Sansom's Dissolution. I've read the first two, and thought they were both brilliant. Dark Fire has the slight edge, I think, so hopefully it'll show the progression you're looking for. The story's set almost exactly where I work (I work in Fleet Street, about five minutes walk from St Paul's and just around the corner from Fetter Lane, all of which are frequently used in the Sansom novels - which is quite bizarre :lol: ).

    Steve's Bookshelf 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I've never kept a list of books I have read before but, for some reason, this year seemed a bit different right from the start. I went for several years where I didn't read much at all (I blame my iPod – I used to read every day on the tube but music-on-the-go seemed to change all that). Then, about 18 months ago, I changed jobs and found myself with a lot more free time on my hands. I decided that I wanted to do something more constructive with that time than sit in front of the tv, so I decided to try writing again – something which I had not done in many a long year – and that, in turn, made me want to start reading again.

     

    Anyway, this year I set out thinking I was going to try and read 50 books. I'm not the fastest reader, but I'm already past that milestone and I am happy to say that I have not given up on one single book out of the list above. I've finished them all, even if I haven't particularly enjoyed some of them. And I've read more books in this one year than I had done in, probably, the previous ten put together.

     

    The other aspect of my reading that has interested me this year is how my tastes have, to a small extent, diversified. The novel I am attempting to write is set in the fantasy genre, so for the best part of a year all I read was fantasy and sf. But I found myself growing a little bored with it. So, towards the bottom of the list, things are beginning to change. It's not a huge change, and not a huge number of genres, but – if you had told me at the beginning of the year that I would be reading something like Fallada's Alone In Berlin – I wouldn't have believed you.

     

    Ignoring the re-reads, my favourite 'new' books that I've read this year so far have been Mantel's Wolf Hall, Martin's A Song of Ice & Fire series, Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, Nesbo's first three Harry Hole novels, and Sansom's first two Shardlake novels. And possibly just beating them all are Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana (hands down, the most lyrical and emotional fantasy novel I've ever read) and Robert Harris's Lustrum, which is my favourite read so far this year.

     

    I might come back and list my TBR pile – if I can work up the energy!

     

    Cheers

     

    Steve

    Steve's Bookshelf 2010

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted · Edited by Karsa Orlong

    01. Gardens of The Moon by Erikson, Steven 9/10 re-read

    02. Consider Phlebas by Banks, Iain M. 7/10

    03. Assassin's Apprentice Hobb, Robin 7/10

    04. Deadhouse Gates by Erikson, Steven 9/10 re-read

    05. Royal Assassin Hobb, Robin 8/10

    06. Assassin's Quest by Hobb, Robin 6/10

    07. The Skinner by Asher, Neal 7/10

    08. A Game of Thrones by Martin, George RR 9/10

    09. Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye by Goodman, Alison 4/10

    10. Dune by Herbert, Frank 9/10 re-read

    11. Memories of Ice by Erikson, Steven 9/10 re-read

    12. A Clash of Kings by Martin, George RR 9/10

    13. The Anubis Gates by Powers, Tim 9/10

    14. A Storm of Swords 1: Steel and Snow by Martin, George RR 9/10

    15. A Storm of Swords 2: Blood and Gold by Martin, George RR 9/10

    16. The Black Company by Cook, Glenn 8/10

    17. Wolf Hall by Mantel, Hilary 9/10

    18. The Forever War by Haldeman, Joe 9/10

    19. A Feast For Crows by Martin, George RR 8/10

    20. The Stars My Destination by Bester, Alfred 9/10

    21. Black Sun Rising by Friedman, Celia 5/10 (sorry Nollaig!)

    22. The Player of Games by Banks, Iain M. 7/10

    23. Legend by Gemmell, David 8/10

    24. House of Chains by Erikson, Steven 10/10 re-read

    25. I Am Legend by Matheson, Richard 9/10

    26. Ship of Magic by Hobb, Robin 6/10

    27. The Road by McCarthy, Cormac 8/10

    28. Rendezvous With Rama by Clarke, Arthur C. 6/10

    29. Gone Tomorrow by Child, Lee 7/10

    30. Empire In Black And Gold by Tchaikovsky, Adrian 6/10

    31. The Windup Girl by Bacigalupi, Paolo 9/10

    32. Tau Zero by Anderson, Poul 5/10

    33. Against A Dark Background by Banks, Iain M. 8/10

    34. Blood Follows by Erikson, Steven 7/10 novella

    35. The Lees Of Laughter's End by Erikson, Steven 7/10 novella

    36. The Healthy Dead by Erikson, Steven 7/10 novella

    37. Cryptonomicon by Stephenson, Neal 6/10

    38. Dragonfly Falling by Tchaikovsky, Adrian 7/10

    39. Cross Country by Patterson, James 3/10

    40. Shadows Linger by Cook, Glenn 8/10

    41. Neverwhere by Gaiman, Neil 8/10

    42. The Pillars of The Earth by Follett, Ken 6/10

    43. Behold The Man by Moorcock, Michael 4/10

    44. Flowers For Algernon by Keyes, Daniel 7/10

    45. Gateway by Pohl, Frederick 7/10

    46. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Larsson, Stieg 8/10

    47. Midnight Tides by Erikson, Steven 10/10 re-read

    48. Inverted World by Priest, Christopher 5/10

    49. Dissolution by Sansom, C.J. 9/10

    50. A Maiden's Grave by Deaver, Jeffrey 7/10

    51. Lustrum by Harris, Robert 10/10

    52. The Demolished Man by Bester, Alfred 7/10

    53. The Redbreast by Nesbo, Jo 9/10

    54. The Fuller Memorandum by Stross, Charles 5/10

    55. Killing Floor by Child, Lee 7/10

    56. Nemesis by Nesbo, Jo 9/10

    57. Dark Fire by Sansom, C.J. 9/10

    58. The Gargoyle by Davidson, Andrew 7/10

    59. Earth Abides by Stewart, George R. 4/10

    60. The Devil's Star by Nesbo, Jo 9/10

    61. Retribution Falls by Wooding, Chris 7/10

    62. Alone In Berlin by Fallada, Hans 9/10

    63. Tigana by Kay, Guy Gavriel 10/10

    64. Company of Liars by Maitland, Karen 8/10

    65. The Shadow of The Wind by Zafon, Carlos Ruiz 10/10

    66. The Bonehunters by Erikson, Steven 9/10

    67. Winter's Bone by Woodrell, Daniel 8/10

    68. Sovereign by Sansom, C.J. 9/10

    69. The King Beyond The Gate by Gemmell, David in progress

    70. Pandora's Star by Hamilton, Peter F. 8/10

    71. Judas Unchained by Hamilton, Peter F. 4/10

    72. Roman Blood by Saylor, Steven 9/10

    73. Fevre Dream by Martin, George RR 7/10

    74. Solomon Kane by Howard, Robert E 7/10

    75. The Last Ten Seconds by Kernick, Simon 7/10

    76. Treasure Island by Stephenson, Robert Louis 8/10

    What are your first ten songs on iPod shuffle?

    in Music / TV / Films

    Posted

    Hands All Over - Soundgarden

    Every Day Is Exactly The Same - Nine Inch Nails

    Stranger By The Minute - Porcupine Tree

    Lonely Train - Black Stone Cherry

    White Unicorn - Wolfmother

    Flying In A Blue Dream - Joe Satriani

    The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning - Pure Reason Revolution

    Stargazer - Rainbow

    One And The Same - Audioslave

    Swamp Song - Tool

    What are you planning to watch on TV today/tonight

    in Music / TV / Films

    Posted

    Hawii 5-0 is on in 10 minutes. It's a guilty pleasure, but what the hey, right? LOL

    I quite liked the first episode - it was worth watching just for the stonking new version of the theme tune, but then the show itself turned out to be good fun. I liked the sparky working relationship between McGarrett and Danno, so I hope they maintain that. And then there's Grace Park in a bikini. Bonus. Shame they had to go and put James Blimmin Marsters in it (the show, not the bikini).

     

    I've got the second episode to watch, just haven't got around to it yet :)

    Pillars of the Earth Mini-series!

    in Music / TV / Films

    Posted

    I didn't bother rewatching it, but have just been reading The Guardian's blog about it and a couple of parts amused me:

     

    This is a big, high-powered cast, dumped into a grotty, sparsely populated world. The court of King Stephen is not only tatty, it's half-empty, like the upstairs room of a pub on a Tuesday night.

    :lol:

     

     

     

    We also see Waleran immolating himself in the hope of suppressing sexual desire.

    Immolating himself?? Blimey, he came out of that well :lol:

     

     

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/oct/16/pillars-of-the-earth-episode-one

    Pillars of the Earth Mini-series!

    in Music / TV / Films

    Posted

    I watched the first five episodes but haven't been back to watch the rest yet - I thought it was a pretty poor adaptation of a somewhat overrated novel. I think my main problem with the mini-series is its pacing. It seems they were intent on rushing through the first two or three hundred pages of the book to get to what they considered 'the good stuff'. Unfortunately, that means that quite major events are brushed over, or happen with little explanation, or aren't shown at all, and characters' motivations have flown out the window to be replaced by jarring shifts in the story. The first episode is especially guilty of this. Characters travel here, there and everywhere, and make life-changing decisions that aren't explained at all. As a result, they seemed to me to talk at each other because the script required it, rather than talking to each other because of the feelings between them.

     

    Having read the book, it's difficult to say how this adaptation will come across to someone coming to it fresh. It could feel quite bewildering, I imagine. The timeline of the story has been significantly compressed to fit the mini-series format, which is understandable but I thought it threw up quite a few additional problems. For instance, Alfred was supposed to be about 14 at this stage but looks like he's at least ten years older than that. Jack is also much older than he should be at the start. For someone who hasn't read the novel that shouldn't be a problem, though.

     

    I don't think any of my issues with it are the actors' fault, or the production qualities, which are first class. It'll be interesting to see what other people think of it.

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