Media log, December
Shadow of Victory, Shin Sekai Yori, Anatomy for Runners, Inventing the Charles River, A Walk in the Woods, Keanu, Trinity Seven, My Wife is the Student Council President 2, Mahou Shoujo Nante Maouiidesukara 2, Keijo, WWW.Wagnaria!
Shadow of Victory (David Weber): Although ostensibly a mainline HH novel, Honor herself only shows up in a single chapter, copied from elsewhere. The whole book is rehash, failing to advance not only the plot but the timeline by a single minute. Everything's been seen before from a different angle, and sometimes from the same angle in the same words! I'd be more forgiving were this a sidestory collection, but it's really hard to forgive this as a novel.
Shin Sekai Yori (Yusuke Kishi): Finally got through the novel's fan translation, which is...adequate. I haven't exactly enjoyed this story in any form, and yet I keep revisiting it in different media. There's something about power and responsibility hidden in there: obviously the themes are overt, but any moral is more subtle.
Anatomy for Runners (Jay Dicharry): The title is somewhat misleading: rather than anatomy in general, this book lays out certain deficiencies common in runners (in range of motion, muscle control, and strength), ways to test for them, and corrective exercises. It's clear and convincing, despite a certain amount of "I'm right everybody else is wrong." The proof would come in seeing if any of this actually helps, but after working with a local coach, I'm not convinced.
Inventing the Charles River (Karl Haglund): Well-written, well-organized, enjoyable and persuasive. The historical content is good but it really hits its stride in the chapters on the Dig; in that sense the preceding chapters all feel like context (both historical and thematic.) It's a reminder of just how many broken promises there still are on that project.
A Walk in the Woods: Would have been a better movie if the "plot" had been replaced with more one-liners. Bryson and Katz are both horrible beings, but at least Katz is human.
Keanu: I'm not a Key and Peele fan as such, having bounced off what little I've seen. Still had fun with Keanu, which is all I was really asking. Even though it's trope-laden (occasionally inverted) and a lot of the plot beats are telegraphed in advance, I spent most of my time laughing and at least somewhat caring about the characters. The cat is, indeed, cute, and never in real peril.
Trinity Seven: Another show manages to squander an interesting premise. In this case they start to pull the thread of the premise before shrugging off any implications: there's suggestions that the protagonist is seriously evil, but further development pans out to "eh, evil, whatever". Fanservicey in a way that gets boring.
My Wife is the Student Council President 2: Another round of fanservice and light, mostly plot-free, hinjinks. Nothing different from the first.
Mahou Shoujo Nante Maouiidesukara 2: A substantial improvement on the first season; beating up on Miton proved a far better source of material than generally perving around. Having a few more characters to work with also helped; loved the penguin.
Keijo: I expected so-bad-its-good, but Keijo managed to be a parody that was actually good in its own right. Basically they played the shounen sports tropes very straight to hilarious effect. This is so preposterous it's good.
WWW.Wagnaria!: The change of venue and characters makes some of the old jokes new again...and allows for some new ones to repeat until they're old. I was entertained but I'm not sure they need to keep this up.
There are
comment(s) on the Dreamwidth version of this post; please add yours there or here!
Shadow of Victory (David Weber): Although ostensibly a mainline HH novel, Honor herself only shows up in a single chapter, copied from elsewhere. The whole book is rehash, failing to advance not only the plot but the timeline by a single minute. Everything's been seen before from a different angle, and sometimes from the same angle in the same words! I'd be more forgiving were this a sidestory collection, but it's really hard to forgive this as a novel.
Shin Sekai Yori (Yusuke Kishi): Finally got through the novel's fan translation, which is...adequate. I haven't exactly enjoyed this story in any form, and yet I keep revisiting it in different media. There's something about power and responsibility hidden in there: obviously the themes are overt, but any moral is more subtle.
Anatomy for Runners (Jay Dicharry): The title is somewhat misleading: rather than anatomy in general, this book lays out certain deficiencies common in runners (in range of motion, muscle control, and strength), ways to test for them, and corrective exercises. It's clear and convincing, despite a certain amount of "I'm right everybody else is wrong." The proof would come in seeing if any of this actually helps, but after working with a local coach, I'm not convinced.
Inventing the Charles River (Karl Haglund): Well-written, well-organized, enjoyable and persuasive. The historical content is good but it really hits its stride in the chapters on the Dig; in that sense the preceding chapters all feel like context (both historical and thematic.) It's a reminder of just how many broken promises there still are on that project.
A Walk in the Woods: Would have been a better movie if the "plot" had been replaced with more one-liners. Bryson and Katz are both horrible beings, but at least Katz is human.
Keanu: I'm not a Key and Peele fan as such, having bounced off what little I've seen. Still had fun with Keanu, which is all I was really asking. Even though it's trope-laden (occasionally inverted) and a lot of the plot beats are telegraphed in advance, I spent most of my time laughing and at least somewhat caring about the characters. The cat is, indeed, cute, and never in real peril.
Trinity Seven: Another show manages to squander an interesting premise. In this case they start to pull the thread of the premise before shrugging off any implications: there's suggestions that the protagonist is seriously evil, but further development pans out to "eh, evil, whatever". Fanservicey in a way that gets boring.
My Wife is the Student Council President 2: Another round of fanservice and light, mostly plot-free, hinjinks. Nothing different from the first.
Mahou Shoujo Nante Maouiidesukara 2: A substantial improvement on the first season; beating up on Miton proved a far better source of material than generally perving around. Having a few more characters to work with also helped; loved the penguin.
Keijo: I expected so-bad-its-good, but Keijo managed to be a parody that was actually good in its own right. Basically they played the shounen sports tropes very straight to hilarious effect. This is so preposterous it's good.
WWW.Wagnaria!: The change of venue and characters makes some of the old jokes new again...and allows for some new ones to repeat until they're old. I was entertained but I'm not sure they need to keep this up.
There are
comment(s) on the Dreamwidth version of this post; please add yours there or here!