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mousetrapplingA media roundup even tho it's my birthday ... I did stop in the middle to finish a book tho ;)
Fiction: Finished (just now) "The Price of the Stars", Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald - enjoyed that a lot, tho the "good guys" are actually morally ambiguous and I'm not sure if we're supposed to think that or if they're supposed to come across as good. The body count is a bit high for actual good guys tho. From having just been watching the Mark Kermode series about cinema genres I can identify it as a heist plot, which I'm not sure I picked up on before, tho it's been long enough since I read it that I can't actually remember when that was so who knows.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Mind in the Cave", David Lewis-Williams - currently in the chapter considering what consciousness & intelligence are and whether the Neanderthals had a different type of mind to us, just as intelligent but not in the same way.
Still reading "The Rise & Fall of Ancient Egypt", Toby Wilkinson - currently reading about the Old Kingdom: pyramids & rulers positioning themselves as divine.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor Act 4 Scenes 1-3 - a bit more plot & a bit less punning so more enjoyable to read.
Podcasts: ep 3.Q-4.I of The History of India - back up to date with this one. The out of order one (3.Q) was an interview with an artist who knew more about the art in the Buddhist caves at Ajanta.
ep 1-9 of the History of China - a different podcast about China, this one a chronological trot through the history, so far so good :)
Music: While running I listened to The Raveonettes "In & Out of Control", and two of the discs of Queen's Greatest Hits. I also listened to Ian Mosley & Ben Castle "Postmankind", which was pleasant but passed me by, and a CD called "David Gilmour & Friends" (which has a track by Ben Watt on it), which surprised me by having a Steven Wilson track on it.
ep 4 of Hairy Bikers' Mediterranean Adventure - South of France, still a programme to make us hungry even tho we'd just finished dinner before watching it.
ep 4 of Andrew Marr's History of the World - Vikings and Mongols, and Europe's Renaissance as an accident of the Mongol's conquest of large chunks of the rest of the continent.
ep 3 of Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema - Coming of Age movies, not a genre that's really my thing at all, feels like one that has a time limited appeal but clearly other people feel differently. Surprised The Outsiders didn't get even a name check (which is a film I watched in the right time frame for it to work for me - in school in fact, in English).
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall - biopic, well, hagiography, of Michael Jackson's early career. Despite concentrating on the career side of it you did get a sense of how fucked up his adolescence must've been.
ep 3 of Big Cats About the House - the jaguar cub getting to the point where she was too big to live in the zoo keeper's home & so off to the sanctuary where she'll live the rest of her life. A good series, in the not-requiring-much-thought sort of way.
Books
Fiction: Finished (just now) "The Price of the Stars", Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald - enjoyed that a lot, tho the "good guys" are actually morally ambiguous and I'm not sure if we're supposed to think that or if they're supposed to come across as good. The body count is a bit high for actual good guys tho. From having just been watching the Mark Kermode series about cinema genres I can identify it as a heist plot, which I'm not sure I picked up on before, tho it's been long enough since I read it that I can't actually remember when that was so who knows.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Mind in the Cave", David Lewis-Williams - currently in the chapter considering what consciousness & intelligence are and whether the Neanderthals had a different type of mind to us, just as intelligent but not in the same way.
Still reading "The Rise & Fall of Ancient Egypt", Toby Wilkinson - currently reading about the Old Kingdom: pyramids & rulers positioning themselves as divine.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor Act 4 Scenes 1-3 - a bit more plot & a bit less punning so more enjoyable to read.
Listening
Podcasts: ep 3.Q-4.I of The History of India - back up to date with this one. The out of order one (3.Q) was an interview with an artist who knew more about the art in the Buddhist caves at Ajanta.
ep 1-9 of the History of China - a different podcast about China, this one a chronological trot through the history, so far so good :)
Music: While running I listened to The Raveonettes "In & Out of Control", and two of the discs of Queen's Greatest Hits. I also listened to Ian Mosley & Ben Castle "Postmankind", which was pleasant but passed me by, and a CD called "David Gilmour & Friends" (which has a track by Ben Watt on it), which surprised me by having a Steven Wilson track on it.
Watching
ep 4 of Hairy Bikers' Mediterranean Adventure - South of France, still a programme to make us hungry even tho we'd just finished dinner before watching it.
ep 4 of Andrew Marr's History of the World - Vikings and Mongols, and Europe's Renaissance as an accident of the Mongol's conquest of large chunks of the rest of the continent.
ep 3 of Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema - Coming of Age movies, not a genre that's really my thing at all, feels like one that has a time limited appeal but clearly other people feel differently. Surprised The Outsiders didn't get even a name check (which is a film I watched in the right time frame for it to work for me - in school in fact, in English).
Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall - biopic, well, hagiography, of Michael Jackson's early career. Despite concentrating on the career side of it you did get a sense of how fucked up his adolescence must've been.
ep 3 of Big Cats About the House - the jaguar cub getting to the point where she was too big to live in the zoo keeper's home & so off to the sanctuary where she'll live the rest of her life. A good series, in the not-requiring-much-thought sort of way.
