Currently.
Wow, long time no update. I'm in Sydney until Feb 14, so if anyone here wants to catch up, just let me know.
Reading
I recently finished Siddharta Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. I bought it quite some time ago (in fact, it might have been the last time I saw
fahye in Newtown, so early 2012?) but haven't gotten around to reading it because it's a big, oversized paperback, not at all luggage-friendly, and I've been mostly in China over the last year. Still, I finally cracked it open last week, and read it in less than 3 days - it was that brilliantly paced and exciting. It reads kind of like a scientific mystery, unfolding across the decades on different continents. (Although the author's focus on the efforts of American scientists and doctors is one of the book's weaknesses, for what aims to be a true "biography" of a disease that has no geographical boundaries. If the book is a procedural, then the doctors at the NCI are the main protagonists.) Highly recommended.
I also have a new post up on Ars Aromatica about my favourite books, or the books that most define me.
Watching
A couple of new shows have my attention for now: The Following and The Americans are the newest, which I'm enjoying so far, but I waive judgement until I see how they work as a series.
Then there's Ripper Street, which is superficially similar to BBC America's Copper, but a far superior show in writing, acting, and general storytelling. The set up is that Whitechapel in the late Victorian era is trying to regain a sense of order and security after Jack the Ripper's reign of terror. What I really admire about the show is how it depicts the time and urban setting, and the tumultuous changes that England (and the entire Western world) was going through at the time, through the cases of the week: serial killers, the pornography industry, returning veterans of the Anglo-Egyptian war, anti-Semitism, gang violence. It reminds me a bit of The Hour in that way. The actors are all fantastic, especially the mismatched investigating trio (Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg), who each bring something different to the table.
Last night, I mainlined the first 13 episodes of Netflix's House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, Michael Kelly, Robin Wright, Kate Mara and Corey Stoll. I mainly fast forwarded the last few episodes because my eyeballs were falling out of my head by 3am, but my impression is that it is very similar to the plot and overall ironic feel of Israel Rank, a book by Roy Horniman which was the basis of the movie Kind Hearts and Coronets. So without spoiling House of Cards, this is what happens in Israel Rank: charming, intelligent and ruthless young Israel, son of the daughter of a Duke and a penniless Jewish commoner, now orphaned, vows revenge on his relatives who snubbed his mother and himself, and proceeds to murder his way up the aristocratic family tree, staging the deaths as accidents or natural deaths, before winding up the heir to the Dukedom. However, a woman who feels wronged by him might upset his plan just as it is about to come to fruition.
Oh, I also saw Zero Dark Thirty yesterday, despite my queasiness about the existence of an Oscar-nominated film depicting CIA competence in the landscape of coverage of the entire War on Terror, and that's not even going into the whole torture controversy. But did you know that John Barrowman is in it?? Like, only for 3 min, but it was the most unexpected cameo.
Wearing
Just as Shanghai just went through a strange warm spell, Sydney is also having an unusually cool January. At home, I'm wearing my abi and joseph yoga pants, a singlet top, wrap top, then a fleece jumper on top of that. And socks.
Eating
My parents recently got a juicer and have been juicing everything in the house in a burst of enthusiasm. Dad has also been making homemade fish floss, which makes me wonder if this is what garum must have smelt like.
This entry was originally posted at http://the-grynne.dreamwidth.org/979538.html and has
comments.
Reading
I recently finished Siddharta Mukherjee's The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. I bought it quite some time ago (in fact, it might have been the last time I saw
fahye in Newtown, so early 2012?) but haven't gotten around to reading it because it's a big, oversized paperback, not at all luggage-friendly, and I've been mostly in China over the last year. Still, I finally cracked it open last week, and read it in less than 3 days - it was that brilliantly paced and exciting. It reads kind of like a scientific mystery, unfolding across the decades on different continents. (Although the author's focus on the efforts of American scientists and doctors is one of the book's weaknesses, for what aims to be a true "biography" of a disease that has no geographical boundaries. If the book is a procedural, then the doctors at the NCI are the main protagonists.) Highly recommended.
I also have a new post up on Ars Aromatica about my favourite books, or the books that most define me.
Watching
A couple of new shows have my attention for now: The Following and The Americans are the newest, which I'm enjoying so far, but I waive judgement until I see how they work as a series.
Then there's Ripper Street, which is superficially similar to BBC America's Copper, but a far superior show in writing, acting, and general storytelling. The set up is that Whitechapel in the late Victorian era is trying to regain a sense of order and security after Jack the Ripper's reign of terror. What I really admire about the show is how it depicts the time and urban setting, and the tumultuous changes that England (and the entire Western world) was going through at the time, through the cases of the week: serial killers, the pornography industry, returning veterans of the Anglo-Egyptian war, anti-Semitism, gang violence. It reminds me a bit of The Hour in that way. The actors are all fantastic, especially the mismatched investigating trio (Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg), who each bring something different to the table.
Last night, I mainlined the first 13 episodes of Netflix's House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, Michael Kelly, Robin Wright, Kate Mara and Corey Stoll. I mainly fast forwarded the last few episodes because my eyeballs were falling out of my head by 3am, but my impression is that it is very similar to the plot and overall ironic feel of Israel Rank, a book by Roy Horniman which was the basis of the movie Kind Hearts and Coronets. So without spoiling House of Cards, this is what happens in Israel Rank: charming, intelligent and ruthless young Israel, son of the daughter of a Duke and a penniless Jewish commoner, now orphaned, vows revenge on his relatives who snubbed his mother and himself, and proceeds to murder his way up the aristocratic family tree, staging the deaths as accidents or natural deaths, before winding up the heir to the Dukedom. However, a woman who feels wronged by him might upset his plan just as it is about to come to fruition.
Oh, I also saw Zero Dark Thirty yesterday, despite my queasiness about the existence of an Oscar-nominated film depicting CIA competence in the landscape of coverage of the entire War on Terror, and that's not even going into the whole torture controversy. But did you know that John Barrowman is in it?? Like, only for 3 min, but it was the most unexpected cameo.
Wearing
Just as Shanghai just went through a strange warm spell, Sydney is also having an unusually cool January. At home, I'm wearing my abi and joseph yoga pants, a singlet top, wrap top, then a fleece jumper on top of that. And socks.
Eating
My parents recently got a juicer and have been juicing everything in the house in a burst of enthusiasm. Dad has also been making homemade fish floss, which makes me wonder if this is what garum must have smelt like.
This entry was originally posted at http://the-grynne.dreamwidth.org/979538.html and has
comments.