A blog of neat and interesting things.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Rogue One teaser trailer
I don't normally watch trailers, but I had to make an exception here. Yet another kickass female protagonist? Hell frakking yes!
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Finished: An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by P. D. James (spoilers)
The story follows the young Cordelia Gray who inherits Pryde's Detective Agency after her partner in the business commit suicide. She's not long after hired by a Sir Ronald Callender to investigate the suicide of his only son, Mark. Specifically, he wants to know why Mark killed himself and this sets off a whole chain of events that culminates in Cordelia uncover that the victim was in fact murdered and eventually who murdered him.
Generally, I liked the story because Cordelia had to struggle and work in her investigation, rather not instantly know everything like a stereotypical super-sleuth. I enjoy stories like that where the answers aren't all easy to find. The only thing I didn't like was the last part where P. D. James's other and more famous detective, Adam Dalgiesh shows up out of nowhere and lays everything that happened in the climax at Cordelia's feet. His appearance makes no sense whatsoever and has no bearing or consequence on the plot. It's almost like James wrote the ending then decided "YOLO" and threw Dalgiesh in for the hell of it.
My rating for this would have to be like 7.5/10.
Saturday, April 2, 2016
Sunday, March 13, 2016
What I'm currently reading: A Darker Shade of Magic (V.E. Schwab) and Saturn Run (John Sandford and Ctein)
Because reading two books at the same time is oddly effective for me.
One of the things I like about this story is the conversion of a space station (apparently the U.S. has its own in 2066) into a ship. I thought that was pretty clever, given that the U.S. doesn't have time to build a ship from scratch.
I'm focusing on A Darker Shade of Magic right now, then switching it to Saturn Run as soon as I'm finished. After that, I might pay Wallander or Rebus another visit. Once I'm finished with Saturn Run, I'm going to keep on going with sci-fi and read either A King of Infinite Space (Allen Steele) or A Maze of Stars (John Brunner).
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| (via Macmillan) |
Kell is one of the last Travelers-magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes, connected by one magical city.
There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad king-George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered-and where Kell was raised alongside Rhys Maresh, the roguish heir to a flourishing empire. White London-a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.
Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.
Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.I'm about halfway through this book and it makes me a bit sad because I'm halfway done and I don't want the story to end. A Darker Shade of Magic is an amazing book that hooked me from the get-go and hasn't relented since. I'm disappointed that Red London isn't a real place I can go to and that I'm not Antari either, dammit!
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| (via Penguin) |
The year is 2066. A Caltech intern inadvertently notices an anomaly from a space telescope—something is approaching Saturn, and decelerating. Space objects don’t decelerate. Spaceships do.This is a book I've seen at the library twice and decided to check it out because I really like this vein of hard sci-fi where humans have to push themselves to the limit technologically. That's why I want to read The Martian, Red Mars, and Seveneves this year and the next. In this case, an alien starship hanging out around Saturn forces humanity (in this case, the U.S. and China. No idea about the rest of the world because I haven't gotten that far yet) to push itself beyond what they've done before: travel to the outer planets. Oh no doubt that we'll do this in the real world eventually, but I would be surprised if it happened within my lifetime or even in this century.
A flurry of top-level government meetings produces the inescapable conclusion: Whatever built that ship is at least one hundred years ahead in hard and soft technology, and whoever can get their hands on it exclusively and bring it back will have an advantage so large, no other nation can compete. A conclusion the Chinese definitely agree with when they find out.
The race is on, and an remarkable adventure begins—an epic tale of courage, treachery, resourcefulness, secrets, surprises, and astonishing human and technological discovery, as the members of a hastily thrown-together crew find their strength and wits tested against adversaries both of this earth and beyond. What happens is nothing like you expect—and everything you could want from one of the world’s greatest masters of suspense.
One of the things I like about this story is the conversion of a space station (apparently the U.S. has its own in 2066) into a ship. I thought that was pretty clever, given that the U.S. doesn't have time to build a ship from scratch.
I'm focusing on A Darker Shade of Magic right now, then switching it to Saturn Run as soon as I'm finished. After that, I might pay Wallander or Rebus another visit. Once I'm finished with Saturn Run, I'm going to keep on going with sci-fi and read either A King of Infinite Space (Allen Steele) or A Maze of Stars (John Brunner).
Friday, March 11, 2016
Captain America: Civil War trailer: Tom Holland's voice is going to take some getting used to
So I finally watched the newly released trailer for the next Captain America movie. Generally, I don't watch trailers because they just don't interest me (I'm not much of a movie-goer), but I saw a short clip from the trailer on Tumblr (yes, somebody clipped a trailer, welcome to the world of tomorrow) of Spider-Man relieving Cap of his shields and wanted to make sure it was legit, since the clip didn't show Spidey himself.
I liked the trailer overall, but Tom Holland's voice just bugged me. I grok that he's playing a teenage Spidey and I'm all for that, but Holland is 19 years old according to Google but sounds like he's barely a teenager. I don't know, I'm probably biased because of the Raimi movies or I'm used to Spider-Man being played by older actors. This was the first time I've ever heard the guy's voice, so it might just take some getting used to.
There's a bit at the beginning of the trailer where what's-his-face is going through all the destruction caused in Avengers, The Winter Soldier, and Age of Ultron and when they get the latter, you see Wanda look down in shame. Steve sees her reaction and tells the guy "Okay, that's enough." This is what I like about Steve and what the movies have gotten so right about his character. The Avengers are more than a team to him. He cares about them and isn't going to let Wanda be guilt-tripped by some douche in a suit.
I liked the trailer overall, but Tom Holland's voice just bugged me. I grok that he's playing a teenage Spidey and I'm all for that, but Holland is 19 years old according to Google but sounds like he's barely a teenager. I don't know, I'm probably biased because of the Raimi movies or I'm used to Spider-Man being played by older actors. This was the first time I've ever heard the guy's voice, so it might just take some getting used to.
There's a bit at the beginning of the trailer where what's-his-face is going through all the destruction caused in Avengers, The Winter Soldier, and Age of Ultron and when they get the latter, you see Wanda look down in shame. Steve sees her reaction and tells the guy "Okay, that's enough." This is what I like about Steve and what the movies have gotten so right about his character. The Avengers are more than a team to him. He cares about them and isn't going to let Wanda be guilt-tripped by some douche in a suit.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Off Topic Tuesday #6: Devolved English Parliament?
First thing first, I should note that I'm not British, but just an American who gets interested in these kinds of things. So with that said, take this post with a grain or two of salt.
One of the things that's caught my attention is the debate over whether England should have its own parliament. Currently Scotland, Wales, and I believe Northern Ireland all have their own devolved assemblies. What's a devolved assembly? The best way I can explain it is to compare it to how states function in America. Each has its own government that sits below the Federal government. Each state can set their own economic policies, laws (provided that they don't conflict with the Constitution and Federal laws), and their own defense (in the form of a national guard and a state defense force), while the Fed handles affairs on the national level. In the United Kingdom, the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland work the same way, with the British Parliament having primacy over things that effect the entire kingdom.
Except there's a bit of a problem. More of an elephant that's quietly sitting in the room, waiting for someone to address it, really. The problem is that the biggest member of the United Kingdom, England, doesn't have its own devolved government. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm American, so I'm pretty well lost on why it doesn't have its own government. It's just odd that only three out of the five members (I'm counting Cornwall as separate because YOLO) do and the other two don't. In fact, this has led to one dilly of a pickle when it comes to the UK Parliament voting on laws. It's called the West Lothian Question and pertains to whether or not the rest of the UK should vote on bills that will effect England only and not the others. Personally, I don't think MPs from Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland should be able to vote on bills effecting England anymore than legislators from West Virginia should be able to vote on bills in Montana. At the same time, barring those same MPs from being able to vote on a bill just because of that doesn't seem write either.
So with that in mind, it makes sense to create an English Parliament and grant it the same powers and authority that the other devolved assemblies have and with its own First Minister. Similarly, Cornwall should get its own assembly as well, since it's a distinct region like all of the others. Gotta be fair, after all.
I also think that if England does get its own government, it shouldn't be located in London. I know that that would be the most obvious no-brainer choice for capitals, but having London be both the seat for the British Parliament and the devolved English Parliament just doesn't sit right. A single city, no matter how ground, can play host to two capitals. So I'd say put it somewhere away from London, pick one of the many other cities of England, like Liverpool, Manchester, etc. I'd imagine that there would be a nice economic benefit to this idea too, a shot in the arm for whichever city and whatever part of the country gets to play host to the new government. I mean, a new parliament building would have to be designed and built, which creates jobs. It could also attract businesses to the area, which just means more cash flowing through and I don't think many people would object to that.
Of course, there's a downside here: racists. Unfortunately, the idea of a Parliament of England has attracted the worst element that every country has, and this particular breed sees the debate as a chance to establish some sort of "English-only" utopia and as you can surmise, their view of "Englishness" is ethnic in scope, i.e. whites only. This, I imagine, is probably hurting the movement to create an English government more than it's helping, but those people are too dimwitted to recognize that. Ethnic nationalism is stupid.
So what do you think? Should England and Cornwall get their own devolved governments? Let me know in the comments below.
One of the things that's caught my attention is the debate over whether England should have its own parliament. Currently Scotland, Wales, and I believe Northern Ireland all have their own devolved assemblies. What's a devolved assembly? The best way I can explain it is to compare it to how states function in America. Each has its own government that sits below the Federal government. Each state can set their own economic policies, laws (provided that they don't conflict with the Constitution and Federal laws), and their own defense (in the form of a national guard and a state defense force), while the Fed handles affairs on the national level. In the United Kingdom, the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland work the same way, with the British Parliament having primacy over things that effect the entire kingdom.
Except there's a bit of a problem. More of an elephant that's quietly sitting in the room, waiting for someone to address it, really. The problem is that the biggest member of the United Kingdom, England, doesn't have its own devolved government. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I'm American, so I'm pretty well lost on why it doesn't have its own government. It's just odd that only three out of the five members (I'm counting Cornwall as separate because YOLO) do and the other two don't. In fact, this has led to one dilly of a pickle when it comes to the UK Parliament voting on laws. It's called the West Lothian Question and pertains to whether or not the rest of the UK should vote on bills that will effect England only and not the others. Personally, I don't think MPs from Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland should be able to vote on bills effecting England anymore than legislators from West Virginia should be able to vote on bills in Montana. At the same time, barring those same MPs from being able to vote on a bill just because of that doesn't seem write either.
So with that in mind, it makes sense to create an English Parliament and grant it the same powers and authority that the other devolved assemblies have and with its own First Minister. Similarly, Cornwall should get its own assembly as well, since it's a distinct region like all of the others. Gotta be fair, after all.
I also think that if England does get its own government, it shouldn't be located in London. I know that that would be the most obvious no-brainer choice for capitals, but having London be both the seat for the British Parliament and the devolved English Parliament just doesn't sit right. A single city, no matter how ground, can play host to two capitals. So I'd say put it somewhere away from London, pick one of the many other cities of England, like Liverpool, Manchester, etc. I'd imagine that there would be a nice economic benefit to this idea too, a shot in the arm for whichever city and whatever part of the country gets to play host to the new government. I mean, a new parliament building would have to be designed and built, which creates jobs. It could also attract businesses to the area, which just means more cash flowing through and I don't think many people would object to that.
Of course, there's a downside here: racists. Unfortunately, the idea of a Parliament of England has attracted the worst element that every country has, and this particular breed sees the debate as a chance to establish some sort of "English-only" utopia and as you can surmise, their view of "Englishness" is ethnic in scope, i.e. whites only. This, I imagine, is probably hurting the movement to create an English government more than it's helping, but those people are too dimwitted to recognize that. Ethnic nationalism is stupid.
So what do you think? Should England and Cornwall get their own devolved governments? Let me know in the comments below.
An important note concerning Iron Monday
So apparently Marvel Comics at some point renumbered all of the Iron Man armors and now consider the Golden Avenger and Hulkbuster to be variants of the Mark I and Modular Armor, respectively. So pretty much, my numbering of the armors has been off up until today when I did that belated Iron Monday about the original red and gold armor. It's not a huge deal, but it does mean that I have to go back and fix the numbering on the first four posts.
Like I said, not a big deal but I thought it was worth pointing out.
Like I said, not a big deal but I thought it was worth pointing out.
Iron Monday #5: the original red and gold
Well, a belated Iron Monday, at least! Sorry for not posting one last week, but things can get hectic in real life. So this week I decided to go with the first Iron Man armor to feature the red and gold color scheme.
First appearing in Tales of Suspense #48, this armor was created after Tony nearly died after his first encounter with Mr. Doll, a supervillain who could create voodoo dolls out of clay. His attack on Iron Man caused the golden avenger to fall into the ocean while in excruciating pain and he barely lived to fight another day. In response, Tony decided to ditch the Mark I in favor of a newer and better armor.
As you can see, the biggest difference is the size. The Mark II was much slimmer and lighter looking than its predecessors and that was to solve a major problem that they both had: power consumption. Both of the previous armors were energy hogs that required large amounts of power just to move and function under their own bulky weight. This was a fairly big concern when you factor in the pacemaker that kept Stark's heart going. The more power the armor required to function meant less power for the pacemaker and considering that those requirements increased as the armors were put under greater stresses, it was not an ideal situation. This also put a strain on Stark's already weak heart and it probably would have killed him if he hadn't switched to a new suit.
So how light was the new armor? Well, the chest piece is described as being "wafer-thin", which I'm guessing is pretty damn thin. Similarly, the helmet was thinner and lighter (Tony claiming that he could barely even feel it), and the jets located in the boots were only an inch, much smaller than the ones found in the first two armors. The face plate of the helmet was also designed to allow more of Stark's facial expressions show through, which he believed would have a psychological effect on his enemies. The reduction in weight allowed allowed Stark to add more equipment to the new suit, such as a radio with an antenna attached to the left shoulder. That's actually one of my favorite things about the armor because it gives it even more of a sci-fi feel.
Another thing Tony Stark made sure to add was more power. While the Mark II wasn't an energy hog like his previous armors that didn't mean that he was going to slouch on that particular area. The arm and leg cuffs contained separate power units that he could use if the main power supply went kaput. He would later add power pods on the hips as an additional power sources.
The major feature of the new armor was how fast it took to "suit up". With the prior armors, it took like three minutes for Stark to put on all the component pieces, whereas the new armor took seconds. The aforementioned cuffs contained the gold parts of the armor, which were magnetically drawn to the shoulders and hips, respectively. The jets were separate units that Stark merely had to step hard into (like how a skier steps into those clamps on their skies) and that activated the covering for the boots.
On a minor note, the helmet had three variants. The original's face-plate had a horned look to it, which was later replaced in issue #54 by rivets that outlined the face and removed the horns (making the helmet and face-plate look more integrated). The third version was pretty much just the second version, sans-rivets. I like the riveted version, it gave the armor an "industrial" look about it.
This armor would last until 1965, when it was replaced in Tales of Suspense #66 by the Mark III.
Pictures from Marvel Database.
First appearing in Tales of Suspense #48, this armor was created after Tony nearly died after his first encounter with Mr. Doll, a supervillain who could create voodoo dolls out of clay. His attack on Iron Man caused the golden avenger to fall into the ocean while in excruciating pain and he barely lived to fight another day. In response, Tony decided to ditch the Mark I in favor of a newer and better armor.
So how light was the new armor? Well, the chest piece is described as being "wafer-thin", which I'm guessing is pretty damn thin. Similarly, the helmet was thinner and lighter (Tony claiming that he could barely even feel it), and the jets located in the boots were only an inch, much smaller than the ones found in the first two armors. The face plate of the helmet was also designed to allow more of Stark's facial expressions show through, which he believed would have a psychological effect on his enemies. The reduction in weight allowed allowed Stark to add more equipment to the new suit, such as a radio with an antenna attached to the left shoulder. That's actually one of my favorite things about the armor because it gives it even more of a sci-fi feel.
Pictures from Marvel Database.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Another book haul
And a modest one at that.
This illustrates why thrift stores aren't always the ideal place to find used books. I bought The Kite Runner and Jude the Obscure at one Goodwill and The Killer Angels and 1972 at another. The second store was where I bought close to six books late last month and that well dried up real quick.
On the other hand, the first Goodwill I went to had three or four shelves of western paperbacks. If I was a fan of that genre, I'd have been in happier than a hog in a mud puddle. Alas, the prairie doesn't call to me.
On the other hand, the first Goodwill I went to had three or four shelves of western paperbacks. If I was a fan of that genre, I'd have been in happier than a hog in a mud puddle. Alas, the prairie doesn't call to me.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
B-B-B-Book haul *blasts air horns*
Decided to go out and do some used book shopping yesterday and I came back with a nice load.
If you can't read the titles, here's the list:
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
A Room With a View - E.M. Forster
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach
Sarum - Edward Rutherford
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
The first three came from the used bookstore I mentioned in a previous post. My purchase of Jane Eyre is directly connected to having read The Eyre Affair, which compelled me to want to finally read the former. The rest of the books came from a Salvation Army store I was walking past on the way home. I almost didn't get any books until a closer look revealed The Princess Bride, The Eyre Affair, and the others. No idea how I missed them on the first pass, but it always pays to take a closer look. I just finished The Eyre Affair Friday night (post on that coming soon), but it was a library copy, so buying my own copy was a no-brainer.
I paid $13.28 total, which I don't think is too bad for eight books. No idea which of these I'm going to read first when I finally get around to them.
See anything you like?
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| Click to embiggen. |
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
A Room With a View - E.M. Forster
The Princess Bride - William Goldman
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane - Katherine Howe
The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach
Sarum - Edward Rutherford
The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde
The first three came from the used bookstore I mentioned in a previous post. My purchase of Jane Eyre is directly connected to having read The Eyre Affair, which compelled me to want to finally read the former. The rest of the books came from a Salvation Army store I was walking past on the way home. I almost didn't get any books until a closer look revealed The Princess Bride, The Eyre Affair, and the others. No idea how I missed them on the first pass, but it always pays to take a closer look. I just finished The Eyre Affair Friday night (post on that coming soon), but it was a library copy, so buying my own copy was a no-brainer.
I paid $13.28 total, which I don't think is too bad for eight books. No idea which of these I'm going to read first when I finally get around to them.
See anything you like?
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