Comments | switchbladesis: Why don't I have a reading icon? Still?

switchbladesis

Why don't I have a reading icon? Still?

Apr 03, 2011 17:11

I just found out that Iain M. Banks's Consider Phlebas is available for both the Nook and Amazon Kindle for 99 cents. I haven't read it yet, but it's one of those books people periodically throttle me for not having read yet, so it's probably worth checking out.

Also, Barnes & Noble's Free Friday book, God's War, is still available for free. There ( Read more... )

why don't i have a reading tag?, awesome, things that everyone else has seen befor, i'm rotting my brain, more interesting things on the internet

Comments 12

tierfal April 3 2011, 23:19:05 UTC

it's one of those books people periodically throttle me for not having read yet
As an English major, I guess I should probably go directly to the guillotine (do not pass GO) for not even having heard of this. >_>

You know me and my checkered past with the pin-up artists, lol. XD That said - that and the underwear ad topic sound REALLY interesting in that "What does it say about me that I'm fascinated?" kind of way. XD

~fancy~

…I just like that word.

switchbladesis April 4 2011, 01:33:03 UTC

I think it's less a general 'all well-read people must have read this' at more the fact that I a) like space opera that b) deals with socio-cultural issues and intense worldbuilding and c) have a high tolerance for impenetrable/wandering plot.

Apparently this is the book for me? And I assume you all have the exact same taste in books as I do.

But yeah, all of my more cultured sci-fi friends look down upon me for not having read it yet. It's like I haven't seen Buffy or something. :D ( ... )

krazylokoguy April 4 2011, 00:10:44 UTC

It looks like Professor McGonagol and Harriet Jones are going to team up! EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD RUN IN FEAR OR BOW TO THEIR WHIMS.

In my convo with friends I kept referring to the actress as "Shaun's mom." HOW DID I FORGET SHE WAS ALSO HARRIET JONES. Shame on me. SHAME ON ME. But yeah for real, any scenes with these two were awesome.

I, too, liked Mary. Then again other than Thomas and the evil maid, I liked every other character. I mean I like Thomas too for obvious reasons, but him and the other maid are a bit too one dimensional to me at the moment. Hopefully S2 develops them a bit more. Sybil rocks. I have too many ships on this show.

Also, yes, DOCTOR WHO. Less than 3 weeks now!

switchbladesis April 4 2011, 01:42:32 UTC

OMG I FORGOT SHE WAS SHAUN'S MOM. WE'RE EVEN.

Oh god, yeah. This scene just reminds me why I love Maggie Smith so much:

There are so many gems, so little time.

What's really funny is if you check out the netflix summaries for each episode, they manage to make it sound like every episode is about the Violet/Isobel rivalry-even if it was really only about ten minutes of the entire episode.

On the TWOP Downton Abbey forum, there was this one person that tried for about two pages to justify Thomas' actions. Everyone else was like '. . . no. He's still a jerk.' The evil maid at least had some heart in the last episode. Mostly, I want more about why they were so loyal to each other-for a while I thought they were supposed to be related.

It's felt like SO LONG since I've had any new TV to watch-I'm really excited about Doctor Who. And A Song of Ice and Fire. And a couple of the episodes of SPN. Shiny things!

krazylokoguy April 4 2011, 04:38:19 UTC

True story: I read LJ comments via email so I actually didn't realize you attached a video until I went here to reply. The funny thing is I just saved a gif of this exact scene on tumblr so I can reblog it tomorrow. Awesome.

The thing is, it's easy enough to give both Thomas and the evil maid more dimensions. I mean Thomas dealing with his sexuality and being repressed in more ways than one could've have been put more into the forefront, but no let's steal from the boss and blame it on the disabled fellow. As for the evil maid, she was even more ridiculous until, like you said, the very last episode where it looks like she's actually feeling emotions other than malice and EVILNESS.

I always have new TV to watch. If there's nothing on TV I dl something or watch in Netflix. One of these days my brain is going to go "Okay. Seriously. That's enough." and I don't know... crash or something. How are you feeling about SPN this season? I'm kinda meh.

switchbladesis April 5 2011, 01:27:26 UTC

Hahah, it's a pretty amazing scene.

I kind if preferred it if Thomas was evil and gay, but not evil because he was gay? I don't know: if this was another show, they'd probably be able to show some of the other characters being openly homophobic, which might explain his actions more. But. . . that'd be a completely different show.

I've just stopped watching television when it's actually on-almost everything is downloaded or via netflix now.

Supernatural-I'm liking it more than last season, still-I liked soulless!Sam, am kind of 'meh' to the Mother of All, and am really excited to see Castiel do more Regrettable Things (this is a surprise to no one).

etiam_quietus April 4 2011, 00:23:52 UTC

Oooh, thanks for the heads up about the Banks novel. Also planning on reading The City & The City if I ever finish Perdido Street Station (it's not that I don't like it, it's that other things keep needing to be read first)

It looks like Professor McGonagol and Harriet Jones are going to team up!
LOL! I tremble in fear!

I really liked the first two eps of Downton Abbey, but I confess to being a bit disappointed by the last two eps. I've heard that they were a little chopped up when they were shown in the states, so that might account for it, but they just left me feeling unsatisfied, like the storytelling sort of lost its way a little. Still, I'm looking forward to the second season!

switchbladesis April 4 2011, 01:56:39 UTC

it's not that I don't like it, it's that other things keep needing to be read first

Haha, yeah-I know how that goes. See why I'm not finishing Palimpsest right now.

It's interesting, I heard that they had to rearrange a lot of the scenes for the different format on the PBS version-I wonder how much that changed the viewing experience. The netflix version is the UK version (which is also the US DVD version, I think?), but I don't think they changed that many things around.

What I found most confusing was the time jump-two years pass between the first and last episode, but not much seems to change at all. Also, what really surprised me was how little was resolved: other than Thomas leaving, all of the plot lines seem to be up in the air.

But then again-second season! What I've heard of it sounds pretty interesting, but I'm curious as to how they're going to deal with most of the male cast being expected to be at the front.

sistabro April 4 2011, 06:58:42 UTC

I haven't heard of.. whatever that book you are supposed to have read.. um

That said, I just finished City and the City.. OMG THE IDEAS ♥__♥ The writing was kinda shoddy tho, like not bad, but not very clean either and sometimes detracting because of it. Also, the case was just, wtf a little bit at the end. I wanted more Corwi, she was pretty much the only human character I actually liked. Her and Borlu's boss. Borlu, I could take him or leave him. But the cities, oh those were delicious and fabulous and just, so cool, such a visceral metaphor for all the little ways we are socialized to, well, see and unsee things. Also reading this was not at all what I should have been doing this weekend, like, at ALL :(

switchbladesis April 5 2011, 01:53:19 UTC

Consider Phlebas is pretty much THE modern space opera that deals with socio-cultural issues and morally ambiguous characterse, which are all things I like ( ... )

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switchbladesis April 5 2011, 02:01:12 UTC

Congrats on getting through to post this comment, BTW.

It's really interesting, someone linked to the press packet on TWOP here, if you're interested, and it seems to imply that the reason why O'Brien was so bitter and angry was because she'd given up her chance at a family for service. Which is an interesting idea, but I would have liked to see it more in the actual show. Also, some idea as to why she was so loyal to Thomas-did she really need a smoking buddy that badly ( ... )

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switchbladesis April 9 2011, 14:04:45 UTC

Yeah, I just wish the O'Brien and Thomas relationship was more defined. They trust each other a lot, for being so evil to everyone else.

There was actually a suggestion that the Earl would still be considered as an officer, especially since he as prior field experience and isn't that old. I don't know if they'll actually go that route.

PS: have you seen this yet?

Also: starting project to thank you for the Christmas gift. Any requests/suggestions/things you like?