how do they rise up?
So yesterday I dreamt I got up and went to work when I didn't, and today I dream that I woke up late for work (at 7:47 am!) and missed my meeting entirely. Which I didn't. Ugh, anxiety, you are terrible.
And then I had one of those ocular migraine thingies which made trying to do any kind of work super annoying (I mean, more annoying than working is anyway). Two thumbs down, do not recommend, would not like to try again.
*
The Flash
Well that certainly was an episode of tv. It was unfortunately listless for a season finale, though it had some nice character moments, mostly belonging to Wells, Cisco, and Wally. And they were really hitting the Star Wars parallels hard, I thought. Like, did they finally fulfill their Anakin=Barry metaphor here with Barry falling to the dark side of the Speed Force? Idek. I did like seeing the real Jay Garrick as the Golden Age Flash. And I hope they do something interesting with Barry saving his mom and changing the timeline, because otherwise, what was the point of anything? On the plus side, at least Zoom is gone. He started out so well and ended up so blah. Sigh.
And it's Wednesday so I guess it's books, and also comics, and whoo boy do we have some shit to rant about there, because it wouldn't be comics if everything weren't terrible. And I won't be cutting for spoilers on this one particular thing, either. so. I'm sure if it's relevant to your interests, you're already aware.
Anyway!
What I've just finished
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
I enjoyed this, though I'm annoyed that it's not a one-and-done book but a trilogy (or duology?). It's a retelling/remix of One Thousand and One Nights, though Sharzad's nickname being Shazi made me feel like she was Babette from Gilmore Girls' pomeranian or something. I just kept hearing it my head as Sally Struthers saying "Shotzie." *hands* My brain is a scary place sometimes.
Call Her Savage by Marjorie Liu, which reads like some intense fanfiction of a steampunk AU series I haven't read, where the Chinese settled the Pacific coast of North America and teamed up with the Native Americans, and helped the American Revolution succeed against the British and now the British and Chinese are at war. I would have read a whole novel set in this world, tbh.
Grayson #20
Oh, Dick. With the nu52 coming to an end in rebirth, this wrapped up Grayson, which I would definitely recommend if you enjoy spyjinks and Dick Grayson, and really, why wouldn't you? There's a musical issue, Midnighter pops up a lot to flirt, Helena Bertinelli kicks ass and Dick wears a tux. Does the plot make sense? I don't really know, but I also don't really care. *hands* He remembers he's not just a spy but a superhero and one trained by Batman. And Helena made it so his family and friends remember him but no one else does, so he can go back to being Nightwing. Oh heart.
Star Wars #19
Leia, Sana and Aphra taking care of business - with some help from Artoo - while Han and Luke are useless. I like it! Another! And hey, that random guy from the annual I didn't care for actually has a point. It doesn't make me retroactively like that book better, but at least it wasn't just a random story that had no relation to anything else.
Obi-Wan & Anakin
Since the fifth and final issue came out today, I guess I will post about it. It was fine? I didn't love it? The art was decent, though as usual, I often had trouble following fight scenes. Obi-Wan was pretty. Palpatine was creepy. Everybody made choices they thought were good but which turned out poorly in the long-term. So, you know, Star Wars. *hands* I do want the AU where Anakin decides to leave the Order and Obi-Wan goes with him. Maybe they go to Satine! Maybe they go to Naboo! Maybe they become itinerants for hire and then Anakin frees some slaves in the middle of doing something else and it becomes a movement! You should totally write that for me.
What I'm reading now
Well, I have been working at The Nameless City but because of technical issues with it only loading in 2-page horizontal mode, it makes it very difficult to read and almost impossible to parse the art, which is a shame. Also, I guess using the Avatar font etc. has made me view it as kind of AtLA fanfic? Which is probably not what the author really wants. *hands*
Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011 by Rick Houston, which I didn't realize began in 1986 (that'll teach me not to pay attention) so be warned, it does start with Challenger. I remember it (I was a sophomore in high school; I remember standing outside the lab waiting for double bio when the announcement for the moment of silence came over the PA), though I imagine you don't need to in order to tear up over it the way I did.
It's kind of a haphazard history? I don't know. What I wanted was a book about the transition from Apollo to Skylab to the shuttle and this is not that. This is mostly so far anecdotes from various astronauts about their various shuttle missions. Which is neat, but not what I was actually looking for.
What I'm reading next
I guess I'll put the promised rant here. I'm spoiling it because fuck Marvel, that's why.
I'm definitely not reading the new Captain America: Steve Rogers. I don't care what the 'true story' is or how they retcon this or what the fuck they think they're doing (I imagine it will be some cosmic cube fuckery), MAKING CAPTAIN AMERICA (AND HIS MOM WTAF) A NAZI IS JUST WRONG ON EVERY LEVEL AND I WON'T ACCEPT IT OR GIVE THEM MONEY FOR IT AND I SUGGEST YOU DON'T EITHER. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WERE THEY THINKING? CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS CREATED BY JEWISH ARTISTS TO FIGHT FASCISM, MARVEL. WHY ARE YOU SHITTING ON THAT? COME THE FUCK ON. (sources: x | x | x)
Like, Ultimate Cap wasn't vile enough? THEY HAVE MADE ULTIMATE CAP LESS VILE IN COMPARISON. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? I NEED A SILKWOOD SHOWER STAT.
Someone should fire Brevoort and Spencer and anyone else who thought it was a good idea to shit on an iconic character in this way. I get that it's comics and in a year it will have been retconned out of existence but it's just WRONG on so many levels that I don't see why I even need to explain them if this braintrust can't see it. I hope it fails spectacularly, not only financially but critically and Disney boots them all out.
Ugh.
Maybe I'll just reread Night Watch next instead.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/844725.html.
people have commented there.
And then I had one of those ocular migraine thingies which made trying to do any kind of work super annoying (I mean, more annoying than working is anyway). Two thumbs down, do not recommend, would not like to try again.
*
The Flash
Well that certainly was an episode of tv. It was unfortunately listless for a season finale, though it had some nice character moments, mostly belonging to Wells, Cisco, and Wally. And they were really hitting the Star Wars parallels hard, I thought. Like, did they finally fulfill their Anakin=Barry metaphor here with Barry falling to the dark side of the Speed Force? Idek. I did like seeing the real Jay Garrick as the Golden Age Flash. And I hope they do something interesting with Barry saving his mom and changing the timeline, because otherwise, what was the point of anything? On the plus side, at least Zoom is gone. He started out so well and ended up so blah. Sigh.
And it's Wednesday so I guess it's books, and also comics, and whoo boy do we have some shit to rant about there, because it wouldn't be comics if everything weren't terrible. And I won't be cutting for spoilers on this one particular thing, either. so. I'm sure if it's relevant to your interests, you're already aware.
Anyway!
What I've just finished
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
I enjoyed this, though I'm annoyed that it's not a one-and-done book but a trilogy (or duology?). It's a retelling/remix of One Thousand and One Nights, though Sharzad's nickname being Shazi made me feel like she was Babette from Gilmore Girls' pomeranian or something. I just kept hearing it my head as Sally Struthers saying "Shotzie." *hands* My brain is a scary place sometimes.
Call Her Savage by Marjorie Liu, which reads like some intense fanfiction of a steampunk AU series I haven't read, where the Chinese settled the Pacific coast of North America and teamed up with the Native Americans, and helped the American Revolution succeed against the British and now the British and Chinese are at war. I would have read a whole novel set in this world, tbh.
Grayson #20
Oh, Dick. With the nu52 coming to an end in rebirth, this wrapped up Grayson, which I would definitely recommend if you enjoy spyjinks and Dick Grayson, and really, why wouldn't you? There's a musical issue, Midnighter pops up a lot to flirt, Helena Bertinelli kicks ass and Dick wears a tux. Does the plot make sense? I don't really know, but I also don't really care. *hands* He remembers he's not just a spy but a superhero and one trained by Batman. And Helena made it so his family and friends remember him but no one else does, so he can go back to being Nightwing. Oh heart.
Star Wars #19
Leia, Sana and Aphra taking care of business - with some help from Artoo - while Han and Luke are useless. I like it! Another! And hey, that random guy from the annual I didn't care for actually has a point. It doesn't make me retroactively like that book better, but at least it wasn't just a random story that had no relation to anything else.
Obi-Wan & Anakin
Since the fifth and final issue came out today, I guess I will post about it. It was fine? I didn't love it? The art was decent, though as usual, I often had trouble following fight scenes. Obi-Wan was pretty. Palpatine was creepy. Everybody made choices they thought were good but which turned out poorly in the long-term. So, you know, Star Wars. *hands* I do want the AU where Anakin decides to leave the Order and Obi-Wan goes with him. Maybe they go to Satine! Maybe they go to Naboo! Maybe they become itinerants for hire and then Anakin frees some slaves in the middle of doing something else and it becomes a movement! You should totally write that for me.
What I'm reading now
Well, I have been working at The Nameless City but because of technical issues with it only loading in 2-page horizontal mode, it makes it very difficult to read and almost impossible to parse the art, which is a shame. Also, I guess using the Avatar font etc. has made me view it as kind of AtLA fanfic? Which is probably not what the author really wants. *hands*
Wheels Stop: The Tragedies and Triumphs of the Space Shuttle Program, 1986-2011 by Rick Houston, which I didn't realize began in 1986 (that'll teach me not to pay attention) so be warned, it does start with Challenger. I remember it (I was a sophomore in high school; I remember standing outside the lab waiting for double bio when the announcement for the moment of silence came over the PA), though I imagine you don't need to in order to tear up over it the way I did.
It's kind of a haphazard history? I don't know. What I wanted was a book about the transition from Apollo to Skylab to the shuttle and this is not that. This is mostly so far anecdotes from various astronauts about their various shuttle missions. Which is neat, but not what I was actually looking for.
What I'm reading next
I guess I'll put the promised rant here. I'm spoiling it because fuck Marvel, that's why.
I'm definitely not reading the new Captain America: Steve Rogers. I don't care what the 'true story' is or how they retcon this or what the fuck they think they're doing (I imagine it will be some cosmic cube fuckery), MAKING CAPTAIN AMERICA (AND HIS MOM WTAF) A NAZI IS JUST WRONG ON EVERY LEVEL AND I WON'T ACCEPT IT OR GIVE THEM MONEY FOR IT AND I SUGGEST YOU DON'T EITHER. WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK WERE THEY THINKING? CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS CREATED BY JEWISH ARTISTS TO FIGHT FASCISM, MARVEL. WHY ARE YOU SHITTING ON THAT? COME THE FUCK ON. (sources: x | x | x)
Like, Ultimate Cap wasn't vile enough? THEY HAVE MADE ULTIMATE CAP LESS VILE IN COMPARISON. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? I NEED A SILKWOOD SHOWER STAT.
Someone should fire Brevoort and Spencer and anyone else who thought it was a good idea to shit on an iconic character in this way. I get that it's comics and in a year it will have been retconned out of existence but it's just WRONG on so many levels that I don't see why I even need to explain them if this braintrust can't see it. I hope it fails spectacularly, not only financially but critically and Disney boots them all out.
Ugh.
Maybe I'll just reread Night Watch next instead.
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/844725.html.
people have commented there.