Karsa Orlong
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Posts posted by Karsa Orlong
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It has over a million and a half views on YouTube .. even though it's geo-blocked .. that is phenomenal.
Yeah, but 1,499,999 of those views were you!
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Your favourite read of the year?
Well I could say pretty much every book I read from Patrick O’Brian’s ‘Aubrey/Maturin’ series, as I loved them all. If I had to pick one, for argument’s sake, it would be The Reverse of the Medal (#11). Just wonderful.
Apart from those, my favourites were:
Blindsight by Peter Watts
Echopraxia by Peter Watts
Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald
Caesar by Colleen McCullough
The Silence by Tim Lebbon
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Empty Throne by Bernard Cornwell
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David GoldYour favourite author of the year?
Patrick O’Brian.
My favourite new (to me) author was Peter Watts.
Your most read author of the year?
Patrick O’Brian (13 and a bit)
Your favourite book cover of the year?
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)?
The Martian – pretty much hated the bit I read of it. But the Golden Globes filed it under ‘Comedy’ so maybe I was reading it wrong!
The book that most disappointed you?
There were a few but, purely because my expectations were so high for it, Death Descends on Saturn Villa (Gower Street Detectives Book 3) by M.R.C. Kasasian. Just a nosedive in quality after the first two books.
Your favourite literary character this year?
Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin – and Preserved Killick, of course. Also Isabella, Lady Trent, from Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons.
Oh, and Valerie from Echopraxia by Peter Watts – the scariest character I’ve encountered in a novel in years.
Your favourite non-fiction book this year?
I actually read a few non-fiction books last year, for a change. My favourite was Commander: The Life and Exploits of Britain's Greatest Frigate Captain by Stephen Taylor.
Your favourite collection of short stories this year?
Mr Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester. Also, Ray Bradbury: Stories Volume 1, although I haven’t read every single story in it (there are a hundred of them!). It’s worth getting just for ‘A Sound of Thunder’.
Your favourite publisher of the year?
Gollancz, as usual.
Your favourite re-read of the year?
The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
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Currently working my way through Star Wars: The Clone Wars tv series on blu-ray (if only the prequel movies had been as good!) and season 2 of Rebels on Sky (nowhere near as good as The Clone Wars but it's definitely improved this season) . . .
especially since Darth Vader turned up
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I pretty much echo what Madeleine said - thought it was dreadful, tbh.
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Return of the Jedi Despecialized version
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Meh.
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Just watching some dances back .. mostly Jay's of course
I don't believe Jay's showdance was a cop out at all ..
:oJay didn't peak with his jive imo ..
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All's fine, thanks
Didn't do a lot of reading towards the end of last year - I stopped listing what I read, so I can't remember in full. Since last post I definitely read:
Sharpe's Triumph - Bernard Cornwell (not bad)
Dauntless (Lost Fleet Book 1) - Jack Campbell (average at best - which is a bummer as I have the whole series and the spin-offs on my Kindle
)Off Season - Jack Ketchum (very scary and deeply unpleasant)
Mr Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Book 1) - C. S. Forester (not quite Patrick O'Brian but still brilliant!)
also, non-fiction: Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England - Thomas Penn (about Henry VII - very good)
Christmas books:
HUGE thanks to Laura for the Hornblower books
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Watched The Empire Strikes Back despecialized version this afternoon. Perfection.
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Star Wars - despecialized version - Star Wars the way it was mean to be: the original theatrical version, lovingly restored by fans, in HD with DTS-HD Master audio and all of Lucas's tinkering removed. Even if they do eventually release the original versions on blu-ray it probably won't be better than this. Shall be watching The Empire Strikes Back despecialized version later today
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I thought the final, particularly the first programme, was a bit underwhelming.
Glad I'm not the only one who thought that! I said to Kay a couple of months back that I was finding this series a bit boring, and nothing really happened to change my mind in the last few weeks. The outcome had been predictable from week 3, even though Jay wasn't the best dancer in the final. I thought he peaked with his jive, as Georgia peaked with her Char-less-tun, and neither came near that level again, IMO. Kellie was consistent, and I loved her show dance (the only one that really felt like a show dance, to me - Jay's was a cop out! - but none of them came close to Flackers' show dance last year, for me), but she was never going to win it.
In the end, I couldn't get behind anyone, so really didn't get invested in it this year like I have in past years. So my overall feeling towards this season was 'Meh!'
On the other hand, I really enjoyed the Christmas special, and especially seeing Lisa, Tom and Harry dance again
Glad to see the back of Aliona (shame she didn't go three months earlier!) but I'm still getting over the sight of Nat dressed as Puss in Boots, which rendered Aliona irrelevant
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Also, once you're up to date, another spin-off series begins in January, called Legends of the Future
Legends of Tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7LlmaFg0lw
Looks GREAT!
Also, Flash/Arrow crossover event next week
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Dude ! Team Oliver !
It surprised me too - I think it`s the Lance/Oliver on-off bromance, and Paul Blackthorne`s been just excellent ( makes me think about getting out My Dresden Files boxset
).On all the forums I frequent I think you're the first person I've seen say they prefer Arrow to The Flash
Just saw this - off topic - FNL the Musical.
Funny, when I watched the series I kept thinking 'What this needs is songs!'
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After slow progress with Dissolution for many weeks, over 2 evenings i put down my phone & the tv controller and just got through the last 250 pages easily. I enjoyed it in the main, but I think what made it better was I had recently watched a documentary about 'The last days of Anne Boleyn' and all the points raised in the documentary - about whether she was framed for adultery/treason - were part of the story. It meant I had a better understanding of what the known facts were in comparison to what this story's version of events was. Added to the fact that I am also finally getting round to watching Wolf Hall, it's been a bit of a Henry VII/Anne Boleyn/Thomas Cromwell theme going on!
I saw that documentary a while back and it did amuse me, the way the various historians were disagreeing with each other's theories
If you're interested in the fall of Anne Boleyn and you've already read Hilary Mantel's books, Alison Weir's The Lady in the Tower is worth a look I'm 270 pages into Jack Campbell's Dauntless, the first book in his 'Lost Fleet' series. It's not great - which is a bummer considering I bought the whole series in a Kindle sale a while back
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I found the extra dancers, in all the routines, a really annoying distraction.
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What did Jamelia say, by the way? I don't watch ITT.
She said she knew the decision wasn't going to be in her favour when they re-recorded Peter's ovation, or words to that effect.
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I think that Arrow is even better than The Flash.
That's just crazy talk!
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Cool info about Barry's father. I only know him as Dawson's dad on Dawson's Creek.
I knew I'd seen him somewhere before
Thanks for the info on the order of the shows. I might stop watching The Flash for now and watch the first couple of seasons of Arrow. Then I can watch them roughly in the order they aired.
The good thing about that is that you already know how good The Flash is, so the first season of Arrow shouldn't put you off
Goodness, it's hard keeping up with all of the superhero shows!
Tell me about it!
And I haven't even looked at Daredevil yet . . .I saw that you enjoyed the first episodes of Jessica Jones.
Yeah, I'm really liking it. It's got this very understated, noir-ish approach, with a feeling of paranoia running through it. It really grabbed hold at the end of the first episode.
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Yay, glad you're enjoying it
Would you rather we went back to using spoiler tags? 
Arrow normally airs after The Flash each week, so it's best to watch The Flash eps before the Arrow eps. The crossover episodes are definitely designed to work that way, and there have been a few cameo appearances between each series, too.
Re Arrow, it had a really shaky start, IMO, but began to get into its stride in the latter stages of season 1. Season 2 was great fun, and is worth watching because it featured Barry Allen in a couple of episodes, almost like pilot episodes for The Flash. At the time I first saw them I had no idea who he was, or that there was going to be a series of The Flash
Also, once you're up to date, another spin-off series begins in January, called Legends of the Future
Just to note, cos I don't think we've ever mentioned this, the guy playing Barry's father, John Wesley Shipp, played Barry Allen/The Flash in the previous tv series made in the 1990s . . .
ETA: Hmm, didn't make that very clear . . . seasons 1 and 2 of Arrow ran prior to the start of The Flash, so season 1 of The Flash and season 3 of Arrow are the first ones that ran alongside each other.
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Jessica Jones 1x05. Okay, that was excellent. I always disliked David Tennant - now I know why. He's evil!
Supergirl 1x04. Oooh, an actual hint of an actual plot. Blimey!
Nice touch having Dean Cain and Helen Slater as Kara's adoptive parents, I thought (been meaning to say that since the first episode) The Walking Dead 6x07. Oh, what a surprise - not
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So, they re-recorded Peter's ovation in the dance-off. Pretty sure, from the look of surprise on Zoe's face, that Jamelia wasn't supposed to say that. The plot thickens.
I'm not a fan of Gleb … give me Aljaž any day instead.
Same here. I like Aljaž and Janette - they're always so happy
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Will you be starring in that one as well ?
Nah, I wasn't in Toronto. By all accounts it wasn't one of their better performances that night, either 
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That Zoom voice sounds like Tony Todd to me. Hmm.
That's cos it is
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with added layers of grit and realism!
And toasted cheese
Steve's Bookshelf 2016
in Past Book Logs
Posted · Edited by Karsa Orlong
Books read in 2016:
Invader (Foreigner Book 2) by C J Cherryh
Winterfair Gifts (Vorkosigan Saga Book 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Tarkin by James Luceno
The Aylesford Skull by James P Blaylock
Inheritor (Foreigner Book 3) by C J Cherryh