Sunday!
Having taken my first full practice test (“inch deep and mile wide, my Aunt Fanny”), I realize that I need to get yet another CISSP book and start reading the heck out of that.
I mean, seriously. The questions included stuff like “An electrical fire is which class of fire? A, B, C, or D?” and “Which mode of DES generates random binary bits? ECB, CBC, CFB, or OFB?”
We’re not really discussion concepts here, guys. We’re doing rote memorization of trivia.
But I complain too much.
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
The Croods with Junior, which explains why I’m on the league. 😉Report
I Frankenstein….whatever you do do not rent this movie. You would think a movie with Bill Nighy, Aaron Eckheart, and Miranda Otto couldn’t be that bad add in demons and gargoyles sounds like fun…nope. The acting wasn’t horrible and actually given the writing probably pretty good but what a dumbass story. Apparently all you need to kill demons easily is scratch a symbol on anything and poof no more demonReport
Revenge! I finished Arrow. After Revenge will be The Americans.
I am listening to James Lee Burke. The trip back south pretty much demanded it.Report
My son and I watched Arrow. It’s not good, but it is entertaining enough.Report
It’s not exactly high art, but I am enjoying it a great deal.Report
Some of the acting is so bad. And all of the dialogue is bad. However, the story itself is pretty cool, and the action is as well.
My son and I usually watch one show at a time on Netflix or Amazon streaming, and before we watched Arrow we’d watched a few SyFy shows. As soon as we started watching Arrow I felt the need to point out that the biggest difference between SyFy and CW is that for the latter, almost all casting decisions are made based on looks, so everyone is beautiful, and most of them can’t act. Once you get past that not being able to act part, you can enjoy the shows.Report
I agree about the dialogue, and acting tends to follow dialogue as is often the case. Blackthorne is a great actor, but even he comes across as lackluster on Arrow. I suspect that others are actually better than they appear. Dialogue is hard to write for superhero stories, and becomes especially so when you try to CW it.Report
The Americans was amazing this season. It was over far too quickly. I don’t know another show that so deftly plays around in shades of gray – one of the best things about it was how Yneevpx, va nal bgure fgbel, jbhyq unir orra gur tbbq thl – nsgre nyy, ur bayl xvyyrq XTO ntragf jub unq ragenccrq/hfrq uvz, naq xvyyrq uvf pbzcngevbgf; lrg jr ner fb qrrcyl vairfgrq va C & R gung jr xvaq bs bireybbx gur snpg gung gurl’ir qbar nf onq be jbefr, naq gurer unir orra zber vaabprag ivpgvzf (gubhtu bs pbhefr gung pnyphyhf punatrf ntnva vs lbh pbafvqre Yneevpx’f vaibyirzrag va gur H.F.’f Nqiragherf va Fbhgu Nzrevpn). Fnaql Orrzna oernxf zl urneg. Fgna Orrzna svanyyl fperjf uvf urnq ba fgenvtug, gbb yngr gb fnir uvf zneevntr be Avan (ohg Avan frrzvatyl erfcrpgf uvz sbe abg gheavat). Avan naq Nagba ner tbvat gb raq hc gbtrgure, znex zl jbeqf, artngvirf bs C & R, haqrezvavat gur HFFE sebz jvguva.Report
@glyph On a scale from 1-10, with 1 being “It ended on a cliffhanger and my stomach is going to be turning until next season” and 10 being “It ended so satisfyingly that I look forward to next season – if there is one – but I am perfectly content until then, with the end of season one being an 8… how would you rank the season’s end?Report
If I understand you, you are asking about the S2 finale without yet having seen any of S2?
Without spoiling, I will say that there is one scene in the finale that is *thematically* satisfying, and casts many earlier scenes in an entirely-different light, but could maybe have been executed slightly better (though all concerned still act the hell out of it); and another in which a character makes a threat that I think is supposed to be badass but to me is realistically impotent (and frankly, that impotence may be the POINT of that scene).
I didn’t think they’d be able to wrap up the plot threads they had AND set up the next season in one episode, but by golly they did. I’d go 9 out of 10. Best show on TV not named Mad Men or Game of Thrones. I cried at one episode. I don’t cry over TV often.Report
Oh wait, you are asking about the “cliffhangingness” of it, not overall quality?
I would say I very much look forward to next season – there are questions to be answered and actions to reverberate – but it’s not a “cliffhanger” as such (all *immediate* threats have been neutralized, but deeper fissures are making themselves apparent.) So…8 I guess?
God I love this show.Report
Thanks. Yeah, I was just wanting to know whether I should prepare myself to get angry at a cliffhanger.
Do we know the renewal status?Report
It got renewed, which is sort of surprising, I don’t think it gets great numbers. Maybe FX just likes the critical cachet (or – wonder of wonders – actually likes and believes in the show)?
http://tvline.com/2014/04/16/the-americans-season-3-renewed-fx/Report
Cancellation Bear doesn’t even try to predict cable network shows because the incentives are so varied.Report
I can’t believe Hannibal got renewed on NBC, it’s another critical success/middling-ratings show (though it’s apparently cheap to produce for NBC because they split the cost with Gaumont).Report
Cancellation Bear predicted it!Report
I read the new Jo Walton, as previously mentioned, and loved it. Read another one of the Phillip Rock historical litfic/potboilers from the 70s. working on a Timothy Egan book about Edward Curtis the photographer.
Mostly I’ve been watching The United States of Tara.Report
Three movies this weekend, which three more than we see most:
Her, which was amazing on so many levels but difficult to watch.
Grand Budapest Hotel, which was beautifully silly and thoroughly enjoyable.
Godzilla, which showed that even an incredibly well-made movie about two giant misters fighting and knocking over buildings is still, at the end of the day, a movie about two giant misters fighting and knocking over buildings.Report
Unlike Beowulf, where one of them is a missus.Report
The best TV show adapted from a video game. Ever.
(no, not Persona 4)Report