Book #14 of 2015: Dog / Movie: Age of Ultron / TV
Dog by Bruce McAllister
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
I hated this book so much, I don't even want to write about it now. Usually there's some positive thing in a story that I can focus on, but for Dog there's nothing I liked other than the cover, and I didn't even like that much.
I believed none of the characters -- not a single one, from main to most minor, seemed like a real person.
The plot was unbelievable, from biggest point to smallest.
I disliked the writing ("I got up on the broken safety glass, stood, and began, like a frantic foghorn, to call Jennifer's name.").
The editing/typesetting was awful (endless spacing issues after dialogue tags).
The plot was about some ~~evil~~ supernatural dogs that "helped" people die who were supposed to die. An American couple who seemed straight out of Tumblr ("We were young and loved each other very much. Like two puppies playing in a big back yard someone else took care of (which any First World country is) we were enjoying life as the young should...") went to Mexico to teach English. They decided to take a bus tour to someplace, the bus was on a road that cut straight through the jungle, and lightning hit the road in front of the bus. That's right, lighting ignored all the taller things than the flat ground, and struck the road exactly in front of the bus. This blinded the driver, and the bus rolled through the jungle. The American woman got badly hurt, a compound fracture in her leg. Wild dogs (and/or these supernatural evil dogs) came out of the jungle and tried to drag her off. How'd they do that? Did these dogs try to pull her off by her clothing? Did they bite into her flesh? No. They grabbed her by the bone sticking out of her leg. How in the world does that even make sense?
Mumble mumble grrr.
Age of Ultron: I don't read the comic books, my whole exposure to canon is through the movies and fandom stuff. Somehow I was expecting Ultron to be polar opposite of what he was in the movie. (I suppose, while I'm probably one of the last people on my friends list to have seen the movie, it's still new enough that this might be considered spoilery, so I'll cut.)
I really didn't like Ultron at all. I had seen pictures of him sitting on some kind of throne in space? over the planet? and so I was expecting something more of the character. Something bigger. Not some human-sized and -shaped snarky robot thing. I had an absolutely impossible time taking Ultron seriously, seeing him as any threat at all. That pretty much killed my enjoyment of the movie. /end spoiler
The non-main plot stuff I liked well enough. Liked the twins a lot. Liked the character interactions and humor, especially Steve's.
I have zero desire to watch AoU again, but I'll still happily watch other movies set in that world.
Speaking of movies, I'm going to try to see Jurassic World on Thursday, during FFXIV's 24 hour pre-expansion downtime. :DDD
TV: Other folks have been listing the shows they're currently watching, and I thought that would be a good idea if for no other reason then maybe I won't lose track of a show and forget it exists. Which has probably already happened, so this list is likely to be incomplete.
Shows I'm currently watching, in no special order:
Sense8: When Netflix sent me an email about it, I put it on my To Watch List, but it was doxxxicle's recommendation that bumped it higher on the list. Oh. My. God. I love this show! I'm only three or four eps in (because it's not a show I can multitask during, so that makes it harder for me to watch). While there are a few small plotholes, all in all, I love the show to death.
Orange is the New Black: Loved the first season, liked the second. Haven't seen any of the third yet. Not terribly driven to see it, will eventually.
Game of Thrones: Loved the first season, enjoyment quickly went downhill from there. Was mighty indifferent last season. Saw the first ep of this season, not at all driven to watch the rest, though will eventually. Probably. No real reason for not wanting to watch, I'll probably enjoy this season once I do see it. Probably.
Masterchef AU: I still have the bookmark for this show, but haven't really felt the need to watch more. On ep 15 of season 7 (first/only season I've seen), 52 eps in the season. Might get back to it eventually.
Reign / The 100: CW shows. I enjoyed both, but end of season/midseason breaks killed my momentum to watch them. I really want to watch more of them both. Eventually.
House of Cards / Marco Polo: There sure are a lot of Netflix shows on my list, huh? Loved Marco Polo, at the point of not really liking House of Cards. Caught up on both, will be all over the new Marco season, might watch House of Cards eventually.
Blake 7: I've heard so much good about this show, and think it will be a good match for my taste, I just need to make time to try it.
Farscape: Hopefully I'll get back to it one day...
I know I've forgotten a bunch of shows off that list...
Edit: Adding SW Clone Wars. I like the show a lot, it just sort of fell off my mental (and LJ) list.
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
I hated this book so much, I don't even want to write about it now. Usually there's some positive thing in a story that I can focus on, but for Dog there's nothing I liked other than the cover, and I didn't even like that much.
I believed none of the characters -- not a single one, from main to most minor, seemed like a real person.
The plot was unbelievable, from biggest point to smallest.
I disliked the writing ("I got up on the broken safety glass, stood, and began, like a frantic foghorn, to call Jennifer's name.").
The editing/typesetting was awful (endless spacing issues after dialogue tags).
The plot was about some ~~evil~~ supernatural dogs that "helped" people die who were supposed to die. An American couple who seemed straight out of Tumblr ("We were young and loved each other very much. Like two puppies playing in a big back yard someone else took care of (which any First World country is) we were enjoying life as the young should...") went to Mexico to teach English. They decided to take a bus tour to someplace, the bus was on a road that cut straight through the jungle, and lightning hit the road in front of the bus. That's right, lighting ignored all the taller things than the flat ground, and struck the road exactly in front of the bus. This blinded the driver, and the bus rolled through the jungle. The American woman got badly hurt, a compound fracture in her leg. Wild dogs (and/or these supernatural evil dogs) came out of the jungle and tried to drag her off. How'd they do that? Did these dogs try to pull her off by her clothing? Did they bite into her flesh? No. They grabbed her by the bone sticking out of her leg. How in the world does that even make sense?
Mumble mumble grrr.
Age of Ultron: I don't read the comic books, my whole exposure to canon is through the movies and fandom stuff. Somehow I was expecting Ultron to be polar opposite of what he was in the movie. (I suppose, while I'm probably one of the last people on my friends list to have seen the movie, it's still new enough that this might be considered spoilery, so I'll cut.)
I really didn't like Ultron at all. I had seen pictures of him sitting on some kind of throne in space? over the planet? and so I was expecting something more of the character. Something bigger. Not some human-sized and -shaped snarky robot thing. I had an absolutely impossible time taking Ultron seriously, seeing him as any threat at all. That pretty much killed my enjoyment of the movie. /end spoiler
The non-main plot stuff I liked well enough. Liked the twins a lot. Liked the character interactions and humor, especially Steve's.
I have zero desire to watch AoU again, but I'll still happily watch other movies set in that world.
Speaking of movies, I'm going to try to see Jurassic World on Thursday, during FFXIV's 24 hour pre-expansion downtime. :DDD
TV: Other folks have been listing the shows they're currently watching, and I thought that would be a good idea if for no other reason then maybe I won't lose track of a show and forget it exists. Which has probably already happened, so this list is likely to be incomplete.
Shows I'm currently watching, in no special order:
Sense8: When Netflix sent me an email about it, I put it on my To Watch List, but it was doxxxicle's recommendation that bumped it higher on the list. Oh. My. God. I love this show! I'm only three or four eps in (because it's not a show I can multitask during, so that makes it harder for me to watch). While there are a few small plotholes, all in all, I love the show to death.
Orange is the New Black: Loved the first season, liked the second. Haven't seen any of the third yet. Not terribly driven to see it, will eventually.
Game of Thrones: Loved the first season, enjoyment quickly went downhill from there. Was mighty indifferent last season. Saw the first ep of this season, not at all driven to watch the rest, though will eventually. Probably. No real reason for not wanting to watch, I'll probably enjoy this season once I do see it. Probably.
Masterchef AU: I still have the bookmark for this show, but haven't really felt the need to watch more. On ep 15 of season 7 (first/only season I've seen), 52 eps in the season. Might get back to it eventually.
Reign / The 100: CW shows. I enjoyed both, but end of season/midseason breaks killed my momentum to watch them. I really want to watch more of them both. Eventually.
House of Cards / Marco Polo: There sure are a lot of Netflix shows on my list, huh? Loved Marco Polo, at the point of not really liking House of Cards. Caught up on both, will be all over the new Marco season, might watch House of Cards eventually.
Blake 7: I've heard so much good about this show, and think it will be a good match for my taste, I just need to make time to try it.
Farscape: Hopefully I'll get back to it one day...
I know I've forgotten a bunch of shows off that list...
Edit: Adding SW Clone Wars. I like the show a lot, it just sort of fell off my mental (and LJ) list.