Life Online, Books, Comics and Stuff
Arg, I'm a bad LJler. It has been so long since I had posted about anything culture related. But somehow, there was so much going on with the job, the baby and everything, that I didn't have the peace of mind.
So what happened? I got into some discussions with anti-vaxxers online. Scary...and often also so sad people. I mean, I understand why people drift into that scene if they have a kid that suffers from a vaccination deffect (real or coincidental). That the risk of a dangerous side effect from the desease is much higher than from the vaccination doesn't help much, when it hit your kid. Also I tend to think that the heated and often fundamentalist discussion drowns out the really important questions.
Like quality control and realistic and independet studies of vaccine effects. There is far too little independent (aka state funded) research on marketed drugs of any kind. It's a pity, because we could learn so much from all this data that is not collected. It could make the process saver without generally calling into question one of the key successes of medical history that has saved uncounted lives.
On the book side, I finally read Blood of Tyrants (Temeraire 8) and it was a very good read. I didn't care much about the beginning, where Laurence lost his memory and we had to suffer again through all the angst of having become an aviator and a traitor. Seriously, I was so greateful for Tharkay to show up and put an end to it. After that the book was brilliant again. I knew that Temeraire Napoleon's russia campaign would become a treat and it really is. I can't wait for the culmination of the whole thing in the final book of the series. And I did love the conflict that came from the russian treatment of dragons being so loathsome, that even Laurence couldn't help to slightly root for the French at times. Also loved Murat's scene when they take him prisoner. The letter to his wife was adorable. I hope the finishcan live up to the rest of the series but I am fairly optimistic.
Next thing I plan to read is "A Darker Shade of Magic" It just looked so very intriguing. Has anyone here already read it?
I'm somewhat happy that Spuffy is finally getting it's moment in the sun in the comics even if I'm not reading anymore. From the discriptions it doesn't even sound so bad to me (certainly better than the glowhypnole plot) but I guess for me it is too late for a shippy squee.
I have this general problem with long running US comics that change the authors. Where a superintriguing storyline about spiderman by some ingenious writer can be followed by a completely moronic one, where the voices are off and the hero has forgottten everything that happened in the awesome arc. I need continuity. i can ignore one or two horrible episodes on a tv show, but I can't ignore the existence of season 8 and read the later comics like it didn't happen. Especially regarding Spike. A Spuffy where Buffy didn't care that he's not dead anymore, doesn't work for me.
But it's still nice to see that it is no longer ignored, even if it doesn't do the trick for me.
So what happened? I got into some discussions with anti-vaxxers online. Scary...and often also so sad people. I mean, I understand why people drift into that scene if they have a kid that suffers from a vaccination deffect (real or coincidental). That the risk of a dangerous side effect from the desease is much higher than from the vaccination doesn't help much, when it hit your kid. Also I tend to think that the heated and often fundamentalist discussion drowns out the really important questions.
Like quality control and realistic and independet studies of vaccine effects. There is far too little independent (aka state funded) research on marketed drugs of any kind. It's a pity, because we could learn so much from all this data that is not collected. It could make the process saver without generally calling into question one of the key successes of medical history that has saved uncounted lives.
On the book side, I finally read Blood of Tyrants (Temeraire 8) and it was a very good read. I didn't care much about the beginning, where Laurence lost his memory and we had to suffer again through all the angst of having become an aviator and a traitor. Seriously, I was so greateful for Tharkay to show up and put an end to it. After that the book was brilliant again. I knew that Temeraire Napoleon's russia campaign would become a treat and it really is. I can't wait for the culmination of the whole thing in the final book of the series. And I did love the conflict that came from the russian treatment of dragons being so loathsome, that even Laurence couldn't help to slightly root for the French at times. Also loved Murat's scene when they take him prisoner. The letter to his wife was adorable. I hope the finishcan live up to the rest of the series but I am fairly optimistic.
Next thing I plan to read is "A Darker Shade of Magic" It just looked so very intriguing. Has anyone here already read it?
I'm somewhat happy that Spuffy is finally getting it's moment in the sun in the comics even if I'm not reading anymore. From the discriptions it doesn't even sound so bad to me (certainly better than the glowhypnole plot) but I guess for me it is too late for a shippy squee.
I have this general problem with long running US comics that change the authors. Where a superintriguing storyline about spiderman by some ingenious writer can be followed by a completely moronic one, where the voices are off and the hero has forgottten everything that happened in the awesome arc. I need continuity. i can ignore one or two horrible episodes on a tv show, but I can't ignore the existence of season 8 and read the later comics like it didn't happen. Especially regarding Spike. A Spuffy where Buffy didn't care that he's not dead anymore, doesn't work for me.
But it's still nice to see that it is no longer ignored, even if it doesn't do the trick for me.