Snark and Reviews
So, I started to read a fic recommended on the TWoP boards, and continued to read out of sheer fascination that someone could recommend such a thing. Setting aside characterization and the rather amusing homonyms (a spell-checker is not a beta reader, and apparently neither is this author's beta reader), there was a "fateful manservant" and a "questionable smirk" within a few paragraphs of one another. I want a fateful manservant. And possibly a questionable smirk, but only on weekends. But then I was reading article summaries from the SSRN (Social Sciences Research Network), which often has interesting stuff, and one summary referred to "business morays." Cue image of eel with briefcase, bow tie and bowler hat. Is there no refuge from these declining standards?
Yes, actually: Terry Pratchett, "Night Watch." I like Pratchett because, amidst the puns, parodies and satires, there's a strong moral sense, along the lines expressed by Tom Stoppard: "I can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and I can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory-they're all blood, you see." Rincewind knows this, but he doesn't like to think about it. Granny Weatherwax knows this. Vetinari knows this. But most of all, Sam Vimes knows this. So I was thrilled to return to the Night Watch. Return, because Sam finds himself in his own past, chasing a dangerous criminal and trying to keep his younger self from falling into bad habits. There's no great theory of the grandfather paradox here, just some loopy monks, Pratchett's equivalent of technobabble. It's an enjoyable story along Pratchett's usual lines, though someday I really want to know more about Vetinari.
Lemony Snicket, "The Carnivorous Carnival." The latest entry in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" continues the story of the Baudelaire orphans, Klaus, Sunny and Violet. I didn't notice until just now the von Bulow reference (apparently Violet was the name of one of the lawyers in the von Bulow trial). As usual, nothing very good happens to the orphans, and in fact things are very grim indeed by the end. We have a few more hints about the Snicket/Baudelaire/Quagmire connections, but only a very few. I'm beginning to fear that Snicket's conspiracy arc will end like the XF's did -- in incoherent pieces. Damn you, Chris Carter, for taking my innocence! Ahem. Still, as long as Snicket can write passages such as "The point is that there are times where the arrival of a bunch of lions is good news, particularly in a fictional story where the lions are not real and so probably will not hurt you. There are some cases, as in the case of Queen Debbie and her boyfriend, Tony, where the arrival of lions means that the story is about to get much better," I'll happily follow the luckless Baudelaires and wonder what exactly happened to Beatrice.
Yes, actually: Terry Pratchett, "Night Watch." I like Pratchett because, amidst the puns, parodies and satires, there's a strong moral sense, along the lines expressed by Tom Stoppard: "I can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and I can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory-they're all blood, you see." Rincewind knows this, but he doesn't like to think about it. Granny Weatherwax knows this. Vetinari knows this. But most of all, Sam Vimes knows this. So I was thrilled to return to the Night Watch. Return, because Sam finds himself in his own past, chasing a dangerous criminal and trying to keep his younger self from falling into bad habits. There's no great theory of the grandfather paradox here, just some loopy monks, Pratchett's equivalent of technobabble. It's an enjoyable story along Pratchett's usual lines, though someday I really want to know more about Vetinari.
Lemony Snicket, "The Carnivorous Carnival." The latest entry in "A Series of Unfortunate Events" continues the story of the Baudelaire orphans, Klaus, Sunny and Violet. I didn't notice until just now the von Bulow reference (apparently Violet was the name of one of the lawyers in the von Bulow trial). As usual, nothing very good happens to the orphans, and in fact things are very grim indeed by the end. We have a few more hints about the Snicket/Baudelaire/Quagmire connections, but only a very few. I'm beginning to fear that Snicket's conspiracy arc will end like the XF's did -- in incoherent pieces. Damn you, Chris Carter, for taking my innocence! Ahem. Still, as long as Snicket can write passages such as "The point is that there are times where the arrival of a bunch of lions is good news, particularly in a fictional story where the lions are not real and so probably will not hurt you. There are some cases, as in the case of Queen Debbie and her boyfriend, Tony, where the arrival of lions means that the story is about to get much better," I'll happily follow the luckless Baudelaires and wonder what exactly happened to Beatrice.