things I saw and read
I'm finally wearing my contacts again, and am going to make darn sure I have a backup lens.
Reading
I've been reading more of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, specifically the books about the Night Watch, which I received as a birthday present (except for, apparently, Guards, Guards! because the giver didn't care for that one as much.) It's always a pleasure to read a series (or parts of a series) and realize that each book is better than the last one - the characterization deeper, the plot thicker, and the satire more wicked and trenchant at the same time.
Although I'm not always a fan of Pratchett's absurdist humor that seems to predominate in the earlier books, as the series goes on, the humor moves away from parody to a sharper wit, leavened with action, drama and surprisingly moving scenes that reflect on the Big Themes that you'd expect to find in more serious literature - sacrifice, revolution, justice, and so on.
Watching
We saw March of the Penguins on Friday. Antartica is fiercely beautiful in the way that the Gobi Desert is beautiful - stark, empty and deadly. Morgan Freeman narrates the saga of the emperor penguins as they struggle to bring the next generation into the world. It was well worth seeing, although all the anthropomorphizing did make me curious if there were any gay penguins. Apparently there are in King Penguins, and "heterosexual polygamous trios" in Emperor Penguins. I still have to get around to reading that book (Biological Exuberance) referenced in that link, as it makes a strong case for all sorts of non-heterosexual activity in animals as a natural part of the wild kingdom.
(verin_the_brown, be grateful that your hub was not required to balance Dire Badger on his toes for four months while you went off in search of highly fattening fishes!)
Reading
I've been reading more of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, specifically the books about the Night Watch, which I received as a birthday present (except for, apparently, Guards, Guards! because the giver didn't care for that one as much.) It's always a pleasure to read a series (or parts of a series) and realize that each book is better than the last one - the characterization deeper, the plot thicker, and the satire more wicked and trenchant at the same time.
Although I'm not always a fan of Pratchett's absurdist humor that seems to predominate in the earlier books, as the series goes on, the humor moves away from parody to a sharper wit, leavened with action, drama and surprisingly moving scenes that reflect on the Big Themes that you'd expect to find in more serious literature - sacrifice, revolution, justice, and so on.
Watching
We saw March of the Penguins on Friday. Antartica is fiercely beautiful in the way that the Gobi Desert is beautiful - stark, empty and deadly. Morgan Freeman narrates the saga of the emperor penguins as they struggle to bring the next generation into the world. It was well worth seeing, although all the anthropomorphizing did make me curious if there were any gay penguins. Apparently there are in King Penguins, and "heterosexual polygamous trios" in Emperor Penguins. I still have to get around to reading that book (Biological Exuberance) referenced in that link, as it makes a strong case for all sorts of non-heterosexual activity in animals as a natural part of the wild kingdom.
(verin_the_brown, be grateful that your hub was not required to balance Dire Badger on his toes for four months while you went off in search of highly fattening fishes!)