Activity Log (Since 2 March, 2017)

[flamebyrd]

As always, feel free to ask me about any of these and I will try to distill my thoughts into something shareable.

Books
The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red - Martha Wells
The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker
The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater (in audiobook)

Anime
Bodacious Space Pirates 1x04
The Royal Tutor 1x01-1x12

Live
Figure Skating: Winter Spectacular, featuring Jeremy Abbott and Yuka Sato
Cirque du Soleil: Kooza

No, I haven't seen Wonder Woman or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 yet. Soon.

Comments

[lilysea]

The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red - Martha Wells

The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker

I LOVED these books! ^_^

[flamebyrd]

They were both pretty great! I loved Murderbot in particular, though :D

[bunny_m]

How are you enjoying Bodacious Space Pirates so far?

No, I haven't seen Wonder Woman or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 yet. Soon.

Soon, or Soon™? ;)

[flamebyrd]

I'm getting through Bodacious Space Pirates very slowly, which I don't think is helping its pacing issues. But it's still cute!

I have a slight issue in that Guardians is now only showing at 10am and 9pm, neither of which are convenient times for cinema-going for us. But maybe on the weekend?

Wonder Woman is just waiting on me to feel like going to the cinema some evening...

[bunny_m]

I watched it all in one binge, as is my usual wont, and had no issues with the pacing.

I was however, driven quite mad by A Certain Person's posts/reviews about it where they continually complained about the pace, but left weeks to months between each episode. *!Gnnnnnrrrrr!!!!*

The movie was nice, but didn't quite recapture the feel of the show, for me.

(Note: Reading Belmont is a nice cheap cinema, being $10 per session or $12 for the Titan screen, if/when you do decide to go.)

[flamebyrd]

Not a lot actually happens in each ep - at least so far - so I feel binge-watching would work a lot better... (And yeah, it's been years at this point, right? XD)

I will keep Reading Belmont in mind, thanks!

[sqbr]

The Murderbot Diaries and The Golem and the Djinni are both on my to read list, so I'd be interested to hear about either of them.

[flamebyrd]

I loved Murderbot, but I tend to enjoy Martha Wells a lot in general, so I'm not a very biased reviewer here.

The Golden and the Djinni is a really interesting book, it has a very strong sense of place (immigrant communities in 19th century New York) and of the myths that form the two protagonists. (Unfortunately I don't know enough to rate their accuracy!) I enjoyed it a lot, although I don't think it'll become a favourite.

[seekingferret]

I can't speak to the Muslim side but as to the Jewish folklore... Well, accuracy is not a thing one can rate when it comes to folklore, but Wecker manages to do exactly none of the things that usually make me throw a Golem story across the room, which is a testament to how careful and skillful her storytelling is. And her early 20th century Lower East Side felt very real to me as someone whose grandparents grew up there.

[flamebyrd]

Oh, that's really good to know. On both counts, but particularly on the golem one because I know that's a sensitive topic.

[seekingferret]

It's really easy to conflate the Golem story with the Frankenstein story- they have a similar basis, but the underpinning themes are very different and if you tell a Golem story with Frankenstein themes it's going to fall down for me. Golem stories are about creating life in imitation of the God the Creator with the Creator's approval, not in defiance of God's law as in the Frankenstein story.

[sqbr]

Thank you!

[nic]

Figure Skating: Winter Spectacular, featuring Jeremy Abbott and Yuka Sato

Oooh, you actually got 2 decent skaters out in WA? That's awesome! How was it?

I did not go to Stars on Ice this year. :( (I missed you and there were no skaters I really wanted to see.)

[flamebyrd]

It was a whole heap of fun! Abbott and Sato were the only international skaters, the rest were a mix of interstate and locals - totally different experience to Stars on Ice, obviously, but still really enjoyable. Funny story though, I was totally underdressed because I dressed for an arena experience, not "sitting two metres from the ice".

Sorry you didn't make it to Stars on Ice this year though :( I miss it!

[quettalinde]

The Golem and the Djinni! What did you think?!

Wonder Woman and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 were both loads of fun! Enjoy!

[flamebyrd]

Yes! I saw it in the library and remembered you'd recommended it, so I picked it up on the spot - very fortunate.

I enjoyed it a lot, it was very thoughtful and immersive. Interesting in tone, too, with this sort of brutal unapologetic frankness about the things that happen in the course of the story - not soft, without being offputtingly hard? And I loved how much a part of their source cultures both the golem and the djinni felt.

I'm a little hesitant at how we ended up with a wilting flower and a rake as our protagonists, but it kinda sidestepped most of the tropes that make that particular relationship dynamic not work for me.

[cesy]

Ooh, skating and Cirque, nice!

[flamebyrd]

I really feel like I should have taken the chance to see more Cirque shows while I was living in Canada. But I'm glad they eventually come over here too. (At least I caught two Stars on Ice shows in Vancouver. Although I really enjoyed the local show too! They're very different experiences.)