Media log, August
91 Days, This Art Club Has a Problem, Momokuri, Effective Devops, The Summit Seeker, Beginnings (Worlds of Honor 6), Spice and Wolf 13-17, Rush Hour, Star Trek: The Animated Series.
91 Days (2ep): There may be a decent show in there, but it was exhausting to track so many characters with so many conflicting allegiances. A lot of characters and relationships get thrown at the viewer right off the bat and I just didn't have energy left to enjoy it....or take notes.
This Art Club Has a Problem (2ep): The good part (relatively speaking) was trying to clone Wagnaria. The bad part was everything else.
Momokuri (3.5 or 7 ep): The obsessive stalking was cute in the moment, but once we got the point of showing all the plotting, the creep factor took over and the funny went away.
Effective Devops (Jennifer Davis and Katherine Daniels): A worthwhile read overall, mostly concrete and applicable. I would have liked a little bit more on tools, not in the "recommended tools" sense that the authors rightly eschew, but examples of specific tools and how to apply them, just to be concrete. I greatly appreciated the hard-nosed, scientific, and specific treatment of "soft skills", with citations. Often these skills are reduced to froo-froo handwaving, even for people who claim to value them, and I applaud standing up for teachable, learnable, trainable, well-analyzed interpersonal skills.
The Summit Seeker (Vanessa Runs): Probably not a bad book to plow through on the flight to a mountain race. Felt a little light on ultras specifically and what happens in the moment on a mountain run--more retrospective of what they mean in general. For example, I would have liked to see more like the chapter her first big marathon training run. Like so many ultra books, reads a lot like a bunch of blog posts strung together.
Beginnings (Worlds of Honor 6): As with most of the Honorverse shorts, this is very much a fan book. Best is probably the first, in the early PD era and laying out the tensions before Old Earth's Final War. Zahn can usually be relied on to deliver a great story, but his entry on the first Battle of Manticore is a little below his normal standard. I see this one got expanded out to book length in yet another spinoff series I haven't caught up on yet (I'm really behind in this whole sprawling universe.) Weber's entries are a little too straightforward, checking off the obvious boxes...which doesn't mean they don't have their own enjoyable bits. I am amused that he just had to have Honor one-up Stephanie, though.
Spice and Wolf 13-17: In the end, I think I finally saw what was supposed to be going on with the Holo-Lawrence relationship, after fifteen volumes of grating annoyance. Coupled with a frequent tendency of the writing to cross from subtle to deliberately obtuse, spending several paragraphs not explaining things, this was occasionally a slog. The final intrigue of volumes 14 and 15 was up to the standards of the earlier novels, and the resolution satisfied without being trite. The world constructed along the way fascinated me, too.
Rush Hour: We figured this would be canceled right away, and we were right. It's not terribly sophisticated but rather tons of fun. Everything about the style screams the mid-90s origins and that works so well. It's pretty obvious Foo and Hires studied Chan and Tucker; they start out very much like the movie characters but with a fair bit of their own take mixed in. The last episode has several weak moments where all the plot threads are resolved in the most obvious way, but then it drop back to the banter that made the rest of the series so fun. It's ridiculously playful: from the punning episode titles (O Hostage My Hostage) to the obligatory Chan-style screwball fights every episode. I hope they enjoyed making it.
Star Trek: The Animated Series: An excellent continuation of TOS. I think the shorter runtime helps...it's a little less grandiose, which still not what I'd call a kids' show. So much of Trek canon comes from here, including the first holodeck episode. Some brilliant episodes (e.g. Albatross). If you've watched TOS, it's worth going on. Of course, now I have to watch the movies, starting with (ugh) 1.
se, spending several paragraphs not explaining things, this was occasionally a slog. The final intrigue of volumes 14 and 15 was up to the standards of the earlier novels, and the resolution satisfied without being trite. The world constructed along the way fascinated me, too.
Rush Hour: We figured this would be canceled right away, and we were right. It's not terribly sophisticated but rather tons of fun. Everything about the style screams the mid-90s origins and that works so well. It's pretty obvious Foo and Hires studied Chan and Tucker; they start out very much like the movie characters but with a fair bit of their own take mixed in. The last episode has several weak moments where all the plot threads are resolved in the most obvious way, but then it drop back to the banter that made the rest of the series so fun. It's ridiculously playful: from the punning episode titles (O Hostage My Hostage) to the obligatory Chan-style screwball fights every episode. I hope they enjoyed making it.
Star Trek: The Animated Series: An excellent continuation of TOS. I think the shorter runtime helps...it's a little less grandiose, which still not what I'd call a kids' show. So much of Trek canon comes from here, including the first holodeck episode. Some brilliant episodes (e.g. Albatross). If you've watched TOS, it's worth going on. Of course, now I have to watch the movies, starting with (ugh) 1.
There are
comment(s) on the Dreamwidth version of this post; please add yours there or here!
91 Days (2ep): There may be a decent show in there, but it was exhausting to track so many characters with so many conflicting allegiances. A lot of characters and relationships get thrown at the viewer right off the bat and I just didn't have energy left to enjoy it....or take notes.
This Art Club Has a Problem (2ep): The good part (relatively speaking) was trying to clone Wagnaria. The bad part was everything else.
Momokuri (3.5 or 7 ep): The obsessive stalking was cute in the moment, but once we got the point of showing all the plotting, the creep factor took over and the funny went away.
Effective Devops (Jennifer Davis and Katherine Daniels): A worthwhile read overall, mostly concrete and applicable. I would have liked a little bit more on tools, not in the "recommended tools" sense that the authors rightly eschew, but examples of specific tools and how to apply them, just to be concrete. I greatly appreciated the hard-nosed, scientific, and specific treatment of "soft skills", with citations. Often these skills are reduced to froo-froo handwaving, even for people who claim to value them, and I applaud standing up for teachable, learnable, trainable, well-analyzed interpersonal skills.
The Summit Seeker (Vanessa Runs): Probably not a bad book to plow through on the flight to a mountain race. Felt a little light on ultras specifically and what happens in the moment on a mountain run--more retrospective of what they mean in general. For example, I would have liked to see more like the chapter her first big marathon training run. Like so many ultra books, reads a lot like a bunch of blog posts strung together.
Beginnings (Worlds of Honor 6): As with most of the Honorverse shorts, this is very much a fan book. Best is probably the first, in the early PD era and laying out the tensions before Old Earth's Final War. Zahn can usually be relied on to deliver a great story, but his entry on the first Battle of Manticore is a little below his normal standard. I see this one got expanded out to book length in yet another spinoff series I haven't caught up on yet (I'm really behind in this whole sprawling universe.) Weber's entries are a little too straightforward, checking off the obvious boxes...which doesn't mean they don't have their own enjoyable bits. I am amused that he just had to have Honor one-up Stephanie, though.
Spice and Wolf 13-17: In the end, I think I finally saw what was supposed to be going on with the Holo-Lawrence relationship, after fifteen volumes of grating annoyance. Coupled with a frequent tendency of the writing to cross from subtle to deliberately obtuse, spending several paragraphs not explaining things, this was occasionally a slog. The final intrigue of volumes 14 and 15 was up to the standards of the earlier novels, and the resolution satisfied without being trite. The world constructed along the way fascinated me, too.
Rush Hour: We figured this would be canceled right away, and we were right. It's not terribly sophisticated but rather tons of fun. Everything about the style screams the mid-90s origins and that works so well. It's pretty obvious Foo and Hires studied Chan and Tucker; they start out very much like the movie characters but with a fair bit of their own take mixed in. The last episode has several weak moments where all the plot threads are resolved in the most obvious way, but then it drop back to the banter that made the rest of the series so fun. It's ridiculously playful: from the punning episode titles (O Hostage My Hostage) to the obligatory Chan-style screwball fights every episode. I hope they enjoyed making it.
Star Trek: The Animated Series: An excellent continuation of TOS. I think the shorter runtime helps...it's a little less grandiose, which still not what I'd call a kids' show. So much of Trek canon comes from here, including the first holodeck episode. Some brilliant episodes (e.g. Albatross). If you've watched TOS, it's worth going on. Of course, now I have to watch the movies, starting with (ugh) 1.
se, spending several paragraphs not explaining things, this was occasionally a slog. The final intrigue of volumes 14 and 15 was up to the standards of the earlier novels, and the resolution satisfied without being trite. The world constructed along the way fascinated me, too.
Rush Hour: We figured this would be canceled right away, and we were right. It's not terribly sophisticated but rather tons of fun. Everything about the style screams the mid-90s origins and that works so well. It's pretty obvious Foo and Hires studied Chan and Tucker; they start out very much like the movie characters but with a fair bit of their own take mixed in. The last episode has several weak moments where all the plot threads are resolved in the most obvious way, but then it drop back to the banter that made the rest of the series so fun. It's ridiculously playful: from the punning episode titles (O Hostage My Hostage) to the obligatory Chan-style screwball fights every episode. I hope they enjoyed making it.
Star Trek: The Animated Series: An excellent continuation of TOS. I think the shorter runtime helps...it's a little less grandiose, which still not what I'd call a kids' show. So much of Trek canon comes from here, including the first holodeck episode. Some brilliant episodes (e.g. Albatross). If you've watched TOS, it's worth going on. Of course, now I have to watch the movies, starting with (ugh) 1.
There are
comment(s) on the Dreamwidth version of this post; please add yours there or here!