"Yes, mother, I called her a bobblehead. She was nodding too much. It was bothering me."
School was cancelled today due to a random freak snowstorm pouring a half foot of snow on our heads - and it's still coming down, by the way. Work also closed early.
So in short, I did nothing productive today. I did, however, get my copy of the newly-released volume 5 of Trinity Blood today! XD I still haven't managed to watch it because certain annoying siblings have been hogging the TV all day, but that's the only plan I have this weekend. The whole DVD package is absolutely gorgeous.
Also, I have several things queued up in my list of things to scan (including all 5 volumes of Trinity Blood, several cover patterns from old books, and a few drawings), but I have managed to misplace the scanner's power cable, so that'll have to wait until daytime, when I can actually see the computer's surroundings.
All that said, I have two things to share. One is an oekaki I scribbled last night on NDA:
Also, an imag of just the stars layer:
The other thing would be a few brief reviews of books I've read recently, like I said I was going to do. So here those are, by title:
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
----------------------
I checked this out because of it's reputation as the inspiration for the TV series Bones, which I love dearly (it being one of the only two things I watch on TV these days; House M.D. being the other). But I was, alas, highly disappointed. All of the characters that make Bones such an amusing show were missing, except Tempe Brennan herself, who was so radically different in the book that she might as well have been missing, as well. I mean, what about the Squints? Booth? Tempe's obvious and hilarious social disorders? The characters, man, the characters.
Aside from that (major) complaint, the book was, I suppose, written well enough. It was at least forensically interesting, but the cast of the book was largly forgettable and I feel like I wasted my time reading another pulp murder mystery, which, essentially, was all it was. Reichs isn't a bad writer, but her characterization needs work.
------------------------
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
------------------------
After enjoying the historical fiction-ey-ness (Hey, I can make up works if I like. Shakespeare did it, and everyone thinks he was a genius!) of The DaVinci Code (I refer to the book of couse, having not seen the movie), I was sort of looking forward to Angels and Demons, a prequel novel. It didn't quite live up to the sheer creativity of its predecessor, but it was, actually, really nice as a pleasure read. Just like anthropology, I'm a sucker for symbology and religious history (which, I will gladly point out, is a really odd interest for an atheist) and fine art. So as entertainment, it gets a thumbs up. Not exactly spiritually uplifting, though. And I think Brown overdid the general breaking-of-Vatican-law thing. On the other hand, it had a great mix of drama, history, and totally awesome comical moments (Americans falling from the sky, etc.).
------------------------
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Advance Reader's Copy) by James Patterson
------------------------
I would like to start off by saying that virtually everything James Patterson writes sounds the same. I mean, if you have read one of his mystery novels, you might as well have, in all practicality, read them all. And their endings are invariably bad. So when the first book of the Maximum Ride trilogy showed up in my room from the most unliely source - my Dear Arbolish Sibling - I was happily surprised. It was witty. It was funny. It had a wry sense of humor and sarcasm that I loved. It was interesting. And finally, it wasn't another dang pulp fiction mystery/romance of the sort my mother reads when bored. It was also written for a YA audience, which was a change of pace.
Naturally, as with all pleasant surprises, I wanted more. So I bought the second book. That was of raher debatable quality, to be honest.
So then we got to the third book, which hasn't actually been released yet, but Janis managed to snag for free as an ARC at the NY ComicCon.
...If you can read a whole novel of that thickness in less than two hurs, it's a bad sign. The plot, which had before had interesting twists, continued the bizarre streak it started in the second novel. I mean, an army of Max clones? Some random super-genetically-enhanced kid who showed up out of nowhere? And the end was so anticlimactic I nearly cried. Out of boredom, of course.
So it is with a greater disappointment than usual that I give a poor review of the third book of the trilogy. It had such potential, but Patterson blew it.
------------------------
DOLPHINS*EXTRATERRESTRIALS*ANGELS: Adventures Among Spiritual Intelligences (Advance Reader's Copy) by Timothy Wyllie
------------------------
Actually, I absconded this from the discard pile at the library at which I am currently employed, partially because of the title, and partially because of... okay, I lied, it was mostly the title. Whatever. Anyway, I was hoping it would be something along the lines of exploring the possibilities of other intelligences, maybe something relevant, whatever. I'm actually not even sure what I was hoping for. But from what I read, I am forced to conclude that all the author did was get high, nearly drown himself in an effort to "talk" with the dolphins, and cook up the most bizarre theory I have ever heard in my life, involving sand dollars as dolphin information receptors, alien angels in a Benevolent Universe about to bring Peace and Enlightenment upon our planet, Lucifer secretly being a confused alien representative of some God that may or may not actually exist, and a vast, interconnected network of intelligences and awesomeness. Or something. Like I said, I'm petty sure they were all high. They certainly alluded to abuse of hallucinogenic drugs, at the least.
I was hoping, when I picked it up, that this book would be thought-provoking. It managed to just barely avoid being comical. And I should mention the whole thing suffers from a pretty bad case of non sequitur.
------------------------
The Occult Detectives of C.J. Henderson by C.J. Henderson
------------------------
It would be a lie to say I just read this book. I jut reread it. I bought it at the last Connecticon, where Arbol and I got to meet the author and have a conversation on the state of horror & occult fiction these days. He also signed the book, and I'm hoping he'll be there at this year's CTCon so I can buy another book or two, or at least tell him I enjoyed this one. There are thirteen stories in this anthology, mos of which are at least interesting and well-written; most are actually really good. They tackle a whole range of mythological figures, from Saman to Lilith to werewolves and vampires and hellhounds. Plus, Cthulhu. Cthulhu is in there. Enough said. A definite recommendation to those fans of occult fiction; it's one of those stories that you can read over and over and still enjoy it. Again, a pleasure read, not exactly deeply compelling philosophically, but a very good pleasure read.
------------------------
Fullmetal Alchemist by Arakawa Hiromu
------------------------
Finally, some manga! I actually do not generally enjoy FMA, to be honest. I realize that's anime heresy, but the series never managed to really catch my attention. It's not bad, it's just not compellingly awesome. The only reason I laid hands this volume is because Kelly and Brenna had two copies, and donated one to anime club, which I of course had to screen prior to letting the minions have it.
Anyway, with all that said, I actually enjoyed this volume. I've read most of what happened up to this point in scanlations, so there wasn't a huge gap in my knowledge, at least. Roy is... totally awesome. In a Roy way (I still have the urge to scream the starbucks coffee commercial that was all like, "Roy! Roy, Roy, Roy! Roy, Roy, Roy!" every time he shows up, but he totally pwned Lust, and there was awesomeness. And Hayate is the cutest dog ever, and Barry reminds me for some reason of the Renji/Dondochakka interaction in Bleach's latest arc. I don't actively follow the series, but I'll give it credit for having its cute moments. :)
------------------------
I hope to have some non-fiction reads (aside from the dolphins and aliens thing) the next time I get around to doing something like this. I'm currently working on a linguistics book on a recommendation from sidh and I'll probably pick up some other books between now and then, too. Until that happens, I hope you found this interesting!
So in short, I did nothing productive today. I did, however, get my copy of the newly-released volume 5 of Trinity Blood today! XD I still haven't managed to watch it because certain annoying siblings have been hogging the TV all day, but that's the only plan I have this weekend. The whole DVD package is absolutely gorgeous.
Also, I have several things queued up in my list of things to scan (including all 5 volumes of Trinity Blood, several cover patterns from old books, and a few drawings), but I have managed to misplace the scanner's power cable, so that'll have to wait until daytime, when I can actually see the computer's surroundings.
All that said, I have two things to share. One is an oekaki I scribbled last night on NDA:
Also, an imag of just the stars layer:
The other thing would be a few brief reviews of books I've read recently, like I said I was going to do. So here those are, by title:
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
----------------------
I checked this out because of it's reputation as the inspiration for the TV series Bones, which I love dearly (it being one of the only two things I watch on TV these days; House M.D. being the other). But I was, alas, highly disappointed. All of the characters that make Bones such an amusing show were missing, except Tempe Brennan herself, who was so radically different in the book that she might as well have been missing, as well. I mean, what about the Squints? Booth? Tempe's obvious and hilarious social disorders? The characters, man, the characters.
Aside from that (major) complaint, the book was, I suppose, written well enough. It was at least forensically interesting, but the cast of the book was largly forgettable and I feel like I wasted my time reading another pulp murder mystery, which, essentially, was all it was. Reichs isn't a bad writer, but her characterization needs work.
------------------------
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
------------------------
After enjoying the historical fiction-ey-ness (Hey, I can make up works if I like. Shakespeare did it, and everyone thinks he was a genius!) of The DaVinci Code (I refer to the book of couse, having not seen the movie), I was sort of looking forward to Angels and Demons, a prequel novel. It didn't quite live up to the sheer creativity of its predecessor, but it was, actually, really nice as a pleasure read. Just like anthropology, I'm a sucker for symbology and religious history (which, I will gladly point out, is a really odd interest for an atheist) and fine art. So as entertainment, it gets a thumbs up. Not exactly spiritually uplifting, though. And I think Brown overdid the general breaking-of-Vatican-law thing. On the other hand, it had a great mix of drama, history, and totally awesome comical moments (Americans falling from the sky, etc.).
------------------------
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Advance Reader's Copy) by James Patterson
------------------------
I would like to start off by saying that virtually everything James Patterson writes sounds the same. I mean, if you have read one of his mystery novels, you might as well have, in all practicality, read them all. And their endings are invariably bad. So when the first book of the Maximum Ride trilogy showed up in my room from the most unliely source - my Dear Arbolish Sibling - I was happily surprised. It was witty. It was funny. It had a wry sense of humor and sarcasm that I loved. It was interesting. And finally, it wasn't another dang pulp fiction mystery/romance of the sort my mother reads when bored. It was also written for a YA audience, which was a change of pace.
Naturally, as with all pleasant surprises, I wanted more. So I bought the second book. That was of raher debatable quality, to be honest.
So then we got to the third book, which hasn't actually been released yet, but Janis managed to snag for free as an ARC at the NY ComicCon.
...If you can read a whole novel of that thickness in less than two hurs, it's a bad sign. The plot, which had before had interesting twists, continued the bizarre streak it started in the second novel. I mean, an army of Max clones? Some random super-genetically-enhanced kid who showed up out of nowhere? And the end was so anticlimactic I nearly cried. Out of boredom, of course.
So it is with a greater disappointment than usual that I give a poor review of the third book of the trilogy. It had such potential, but Patterson blew it.
------------------------
DOLPHINS*EXTRATERRESTRIALS*ANGELS: Adventures Among Spiritual Intelligences (Advance Reader's Copy) by Timothy Wyllie
------------------------
Actually, I absconded this from the discard pile at the library at which I am currently employed, partially because of the title, and partially because of... okay, I lied, it was mostly the title. Whatever. Anyway, I was hoping it would be something along the lines of exploring the possibilities of other intelligences, maybe something relevant, whatever. I'm actually not even sure what I was hoping for. But from what I read, I am forced to conclude that all the author did was get high, nearly drown himself in an effort to "talk" with the dolphins, and cook up the most bizarre theory I have ever heard in my life, involving sand dollars as dolphin information receptors, alien angels in a Benevolent Universe about to bring Peace and Enlightenment upon our planet, Lucifer secretly being a confused alien representative of some God that may or may not actually exist, and a vast, interconnected network of intelligences and awesomeness. Or something. Like I said, I'm petty sure they were all high. They certainly alluded to abuse of hallucinogenic drugs, at the least.
I was hoping, when I picked it up, that this book would be thought-provoking. It managed to just barely avoid being comical. And I should mention the whole thing suffers from a pretty bad case of non sequitur.
------------------------
The Occult Detectives of C.J. Henderson by C.J. Henderson
------------------------
It would be a lie to say I just read this book. I jut reread it. I bought it at the last Connecticon, where Arbol and I got to meet the author and have a conversation on the state of horror & occult fiction these days. He also signed the book, and I'm hoping he'll be there at this year's CTCon so I can buy another book or two, or at least tell him I enjoyed this one. There are thirteen stories in this anthology, mos of which are at least interesting and well-written; most are actually really good. They tackle a whole range of mythological figures, from Saman to Lilith to werewolves and vampires and hellhounds. Plus, Cthulhu. Cthulhu is in there. Enough said. A definite recommendation to those fans of occult fiction; it's one of those stories that you can read over and over and still enjoy it. Again, a pleasure read, not exactly deeply compelling philosophically, but a very good pleasure read.
------------------------
Fullmetal Alchemist by Arakawa Hiromu
------------------------
Finally, some manga! I actually do not generally enjoy FMA, to be honest. I realize that's anime heresy, but the series never managed to really catch my attention. It's not bad, it's just not compellingly awesome. The only reason I laid hands this volume is because Kelly and Brenna had two copies, and donated one to anime club, which I of course had to screen prior to letting the minions have it.
Anyway, with all that said, I actually enjoyed this volume. I've read most of what happened up to this point in scanlations, so there wasn't a huge gap in my knowledge, at least. Roy is... totally awesome. In a Roy way (I still have the urge to scream the starbucks coffee commercial that was all like, "Roy! Roy, Roy, Roy! Roy, Roy, Roy!" every time he shows up, but he totally pwned Lust, and there was awesomeness. And Hayate is the cutest dog ever, and Barry reminds me for some reason of the Renji/Dondochakka interaction in Bleach's latest arc. I don't actively follow the series, but I'll give it credit for having its cute moments. :)
------------------------
I hope to have some non-fiction reads (aside from the dolphins and aliens thing) the next time I get around to doing something like this. I'm currently working on a linguistics book on a recommendation from sidh and I'll probably pick up some other books between now and then, too. Until that happens, I hope you found this interesting!