I finished Season One of Babylon 5 and, gotta say, despite the whole issue with wooden acting, horrible line reading, Sinclair’s stupid intense face, Ivanova’s interrupting people to remind them that she’s Russian, and Garibaldi’s… well, let’s call it “detachment”, there’s some really awesome stuff in there.
And, of course, I’ve been reading Jacob’s Room for our bookclub.
So… what have you been reading and/or watching?
Jaybird
Jaybird is Birdmojo on Xbox Live and Jaybirdmojo on Playstation's network. He's been playing consoles since the Atari 2600 and it was Zork that taught him how to touch-type. If you've got a song for Wednesday, a commercial for Saturday, a recommendation for Tuesday, an essay for Monday, or, heck, just a handful a questions, fire off an email to AskJaybird-at-gmail.com
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on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassDavidTC: Do you know that it’s literally against US law for the US to fund countries that are commit…
on The Shifting Politics of AbortionAccepted. I so, so, hope that this lineup of sh*t sandwich policies convinces the Arizonans to final… on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassLikud opposes two states. Likud is also 23% (as of 2022) Something like a third of Israelis support…
on The Shifting Politics of AbortionYes. Modify North to be "a small number of the GOP legislators know". I haven't looked, but would be…
on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassI think both sides are pretty clear at what their version of victory looks like. Hamas openly states… on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassYitzhak Rabin's assassin was Mizrahi, particularly from Yemeni background. The Jews of Yemen started…
on The Shifting Politics of AbortionGOP anxieties about the politics of a near-total abortion ban have led to an unlikely, albeit tempor… on The Shifting Politics of AbortionYeah, even the GOP knows that law is gonna kill them in AZ if they don't do something about it. on Free Speech, But No Freedom to HarassAlso true. Still where does this leave us as American citizens? We are being beseeched to support on… on The Shifting Politics of AbortionToday the Arizona House voted to repeal the 1864 law. A similar bill passed its first reading in the…
April 24, 2024
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I spent some of the weekend watching sessions from the FTBCon online conference, which I won’t discuss further because No Religion and No Politics.
Also I’m watching Season 3 of The Almighty Johnsons, and Loki just made an appearance!Report
Still reading Maps & Legends by Michael Chabon, and I just hit this sentence:
Are these bouts unusual to other people? I was once attempting to describe this state of mind to a friend, and I used almost these exact same words (well, I said crippling nostalgia).
This state of mind was foreign to him. He had no idea what I meant, but didn’t think it sounded too pleasant or useful.
Finally watched Beasts of the Southern Wild last night (hey, I don’t see movies often anymore). Per Kazzy’s recent question about magical realism, it might qualify; like Pan’s Labyrinth, it walked a similar line between gritty realism and dreamlike symbolism. Well worth seeing.
Only God Forgives is on VOD, I might watch that tonight despite the bad reviews, because I like Refn.Report
I feel that way sometimes, and I felt a similar recognition when I read that bit in Maps and Legends. I know other people who seem to feel that way, that strongly, from time to time as well – but not very many of them.Report
There’s even a song sort of about this. If it’s on YT, might have do do a post on that one.Report
FYI TO ALL – the spam filter seems like it might be going crazy and moderating some comments for no reason. I just cleared one from the Doc and Kim.Report
Didn’t Woodie Allen just make a movie about this just recently?
I’ve felt this sort of nostalgia pretty often through most of my life, but I think the feeling becomes more frequent and more intense as my life, and the world around me, become more complex and more saturated with technology.Report
As usual reading more than one book. The doomed Brigade: Dragonlance Kang’s Regiment Vol. 1 and The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty Fifth Annual Collection
Also this weekend went to a three day pool party and just finished mowing the entire yardReport
Almost done with “A Wrinkle in Time”.
A question: I recognize there are some real scifi elements to it. However, does it also qualify as “magical realism”?
Note: As I haven’t yet finished the book (I am JUST to the part where the children discover their father in the column), please do not offer any spoilers. For instance, it seems to be that the “witch” characters might be elements of “magical realism”, but there might be something yet revealed about them that offers a more scientific or scifi-y explanation of their nature; if such is the case, give me like a day or two to finish.Report
No, it’s pretty much straight fantasy with some science-fictional trappings added. In magical realism, the magical stuff is accepted by the story’s characters as a natural part of the world, and they don’t distinguish between the parts of their world that match ours and the parts that don’t. (The reader does, of course.) In AWiT, Meg and the other kids had no idea about any of the weird stuff until they’re thrown into the middle of it, and they’re well aware of how weird it is.Report
To say it another way, picture a story set in Narnia with no visitors from Earth, no Aslan, and no White Witch. It’s just a regular story about, say, two men both courting the same girl, and there’s talking animals, but nobody mentions that animals can talk any more than they mention that wheels are round. That’s magical realism.
Throw in the Pevenseys to say “Those animals are talking! WTF?” That’s fantasy.Report
Got it. Thanks.Report
For watching, I am about halfway through Season 1 of Supernatural. This show really feels like the good parts of the X-Files, without any government conspiracy, and less skepticism. Enjoyable so far. I also finished Book 1 of Avatar; The Last Airbender, which is the only season that I had seen entirely. I have only seen scattered episodes of the rest of the series, so I look forward to getting it all in order.
For a reading/watching hybrid, I also finished up the audio/visual edition of Cerebus High Society. I was skeptical of the quality of a graphic novel done in this format, but it worked very well. Dave Sim did an excellent job with voicing the characters, making them very distinct. I believe the first issue is available for free, if anyone is interested in checking it out. Now I have to decide if I want to move on to reread Church & State, or if I would prefer to wait, since I also want to reread Lucifer after we finish The Kindly Ones for Somniloquy.
For some heavier reading, I am making my way through War and Peace. I was expecting this to be a book I would have to force myself to read, but it has actually been one I have trouble putting down. I imagine this will go a bit faster than I expected it to.Report
I am reading an illustrated history of New Zealand and a memoir about being a kid in Montana. And some Laurell K. Hamilton. I’m also rereading the Night Circus.
Still not watching much, other than the odd episode or two of Quantum Leap. Too much reading to do!Report