![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousetrapplingTwo weeks worth as we were away last week, includes minor spoilers for Doctor Who at the end...
Fiction: Finished "The Long Hunt", Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald, also read "The Stars Asunder" and "A Working of Stars" also by Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald which finishes off the series. The middle two books of the seven ("The Gathering Flame" and "The Long Hunt") were by far the weakest, being just the generation before & the generation after the initial trilogy and not really having that much of a story to tell. The last two ("The Stars Asunder" and "A Working of Stars") are the strongest and I remembered as my favourites last time I read them. Rather than being generic space opera they develop the magic system of the story's universe. There's also a theme of how burning everything down because you don't like the way things are isn't a terribly good idea if you don't have a strong sense of how to get to something better. Which resonated rather with modern politics, I thought.
Started "The Gardens of the Moon", Steven Erikson - the first of The Tales of the Malazan Books of the Fallen, a secondary world epic fantasy series. I've been looking forward to getting to these books, we own all the main sequence tho I don't think I've previously read the last couple, and I remember thoroughly enjoying them. So far so good, which is also good as I remember them getting better after the first one. One thing I like about them is that there's a good sense of deep time to them, and also that there's a lot of ambiguity - a sense that no-one is the villain in their own story.
Non-fiction: Finished "The Mind in the Cave", David Lewis-Williams - I just had the epilogue to read, and I think I said everything I wanted to a couple of weeks ago when I'd nearly finished it. Interesting book, tho I don't think I completely buy his thesis.
Started "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - I'd originally intended to read something fluffy and lightweight next but I couldn't decide what to read before this one but I knew this was the one after, so I just went for this one next. It's a history of the lands around the Mediterranean from the earliest hominids to live round it through to the beginning of the Roman Empire. The first couple of chapters set the scene - first by setting out the reason he is writing this history and secondly by looking at the geographical & climatic peculiarities of the Mediterranean. Chapter 3, which I'm nearly finished, takes us up as far as c.50,000 years ago at which point there are Neanderthal populations to the north and modern humans to the south and it's the separation of the Neanderthals from the African population by the sea that has driven the divergence.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Measure for Measure: Act 4 Scenes 3-6 - in which the Duke manipulates everyone and the scene is set for Angelo to be exposed as a hypocrite.
Podcasts:ep 256-259 of The History of England - which is taking us through Edward VI's reign, still in the period where the Duke of Somerset (the king's uncle) was exercising most power.
another 4 mini-episodes of The History of Egypt - again heavy on the poetry, which has been interesting.
ep 171-173 of The History of Byzantium - continuing the end of century (c.1025 CE) episodes looking at things like the military and also an interview he did on another podcast about the Varangian Guard.
ep 116-117 of The History of English - moving the narrative on a bit and looking at how the status of English in the surrounding countries of the British Isles developed (falling in Ireland & Wales, rising in Scotland), and starting to look at surnames & how they developed.
ep 3.L-3.M of The History of India - more supplementary episodes, in particular looking at the life & journeying of a Chinese monk Fa Xian who came to India to copy Buddhist texts to take back to China and whose account of his journey provides a lot of information about the India of his time.
ep HoS 28 of The History of England Shedcasts - the tale of David Bruce's reign.
ep 9-10 of The History of China - I'm now back up to date with all the ongoing podcasts I'm listening to so I've gone back to catching up with the back catalogue of this one, currently he's talking about the Western Zhou dynasty.
Sunday podcast: an episode of In Our Time about the historical plays of Shakespeare "Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets" which looked at that run of the history plays and how they matched up with history, both as we know history and as he knew history.
Music: While running I listened to part of the second Ladykillers compilation. And to drown out a film J was watching I listened to the rest of "The Best ... Album in the World .. Ever. Vol 5 CD 1", and started "The Very Best of Jazz Funk CD1" (it has a Benny Golson track on it), which wasn't quite what I was expecting - more songs & less twiddly bits.
The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs & Tragedy of Gene Clark - a biography of Gene Clark, about whom I knew nothing before. The archetypal story of how fame is a double edged sword, with Clark repeatedly self-sabotaging almost as soon as he achieved any sort of recognition for a project. A rather sad story.
Horizon: The Lost Tribes of Humanity - a couple of years old, this was Alice Roberts talking about the evidence that we have for the other species of hominids that overlapped with our own species, and just how much we interbred with them. Interesting, particularly in the context of both the non-fiction books I've read in this two week period.
ep 1 of Great Canal Journeys (series 9) - Prunella Scales & Timothy West go on boat journeys, this one wasn't on a canal (unlike most of them) it was on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. Rather well done, included most of the obvious places (like Karnak) plus some less often seen on TV (like Gebel el Silsila). I'd not seen any of these before, so I hadn't been aware that Prunella Scales has dementia - it is explicitly brought up during the programme but before it was made clear I was gradually realising why I was being reminded of conversations with my mother back when she was still "presenting well" but it was obvious there was no longer as much "there" behind the presentation. So the programmes are also about how the couple are dealing with her gradual decline and there's an air of melancholy to the whole thing.
Made by Machine: When AI Met the Archive - rubbish, utter rubbish, we only watched through to the end because there was a hint that it might pull together into something good but that didn't happen. Basic premise was training an AI to use different techniques to stitch together clips from the BBC Four archives to make mini-programmes of its own - like visual similarities or using the subtitles to find matching topics. Each of the computer edited sequences were pretty rubbish, and went on for too long. There were three techniques, and we'd assumed the fourth one would use all three (it did) and change it from being rubbish to being halfway decent (it didn't). The take home message was that actual human TV editors have no need to worry about their jobs.
ep 1 of Animals with Cameras - fitting cameras to animals to see their behaviour when there aren't humans there filming them (like when meerkats are in their burrows or chimpanzees when humans aren't present to influence them). Fluff, but good fluff.
Mechanical Monsters - Simon Schaeffer looking at technological developments in the Victorian era and how they responded to the changes in society that these wrought. Not what I was expecting, the blurb seemed to promise automatons, but this was more wide-ranging. And better, I think.
ep 1 of The Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure - this one in Hong Kong. A series from a few years ago, and rather more manic than the most recent one (which is the only other one we've watched). Still had lots of food to make us hungry though.
ep 1 & 2 of Doctor Who - new Doctor, new show runner, new Companions, which makes it a nervy buildup to a new season: can they pull it off? So far so good. I like the new Doctor and think she feels very Doctor-y. I liked that this is a Doctor who builds things, and I think they're doing a good job of showing she's clever (the sonic screwdriver is built from what was available so presumably one could build one oneself if only one knew what one was doing ...). Like the new companions, and definitely like that it's an ensemble cast and being set up explicitly as a team not the Doctor & his/her "significant other"-esque special friend. A nice change of dynamic. So far they all seem to have the same characterisation from episode to episode, which is good as that's one (but by no means the largest) of my major criticisms of Chibnall's Torchwood. It was Chibnall as showrunner I was most worried about in advance and although it's early days yet I'm optimistic after those two. I guess we are getting a through arc to the series, which is good as I like that aspect of New Who, and it also seems less in your face & convoluted than the Moffat era. Well, I suppose the Stena (sp?) as a series bad-guy (or at least tying together some of the episodes) is rather in your face, but I'm more interested in the reference to The Timeless Child and how she doesn't even know it. Loved the custard cream dispenser in the TARDIS :)
Books
Fiction: Finished "The Long Hunt", Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald, also read "The Stars Asunder" and "A Working of Stars" also by Debra Doyle & James D. Macdonald which finishes off the series. The middle two books of the seven ("The Gathering Flame" and "The Long Hunt") were by far the weakest, being just the generation before & the generation after the initial trilogy and not really having that much of a story to tell. The last two ("The Stars Asunder" and "A Working of Stars") are the strongest and I remembered as my favourites last time I read them. Rather than being generic space opera they develop the magic system of the story's universe. There's also a theme of how burning everything down because you don't like the way things are isn't a terribly good idea if you don't have a strong sense of how to get to something better. Which resonated rather with modern politics, I thought.
Started "The Gardens of the Moon", Steven Erikson - the first of The Tales of the Malazan Books of the Fallen, a secondary world epic fantasy series. I've been looking forward to getting to these books, we own all the main sequence tho I don't think I've previously read the last couple, and I remember thoroughly enjoying them. So far so good, which is also good as I remember them getting better after the first one. One thing I like about them is that there's a good sense of deep time to them, and also that there's a lot of ambiguity - a sense that no-one is the villain in their own story.
Non-fiction: Finished "The Mind in the Cave", David Lewis-Williams - I just had the epilogue to read, and I think I said everything I wanted to a couple of weeks ago when I'd nearly finished it. Interesting book, tho I don't think I completely buy his thesis.
Started "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - I'd originally intended to read something fluffy and lightweight next but I couldn't decide what to read before this one but I knew this was the one after, so I just went for this one next. It's a history of the lands around the Mediterranean from the earliest hominids to live round it through to the beginning of the Roman Empire. The first couple of chapters set the scene - first by setting out the reason he is writing this history and secondly by looking at the geographical & climatic peculiarities of the Mediterranean. Chapter 3, which I'm nearly finished, takes us up as far as c.50,000 years ago at which point there are Neanderthal populations to the north and modern humans to the south and it's the separation of the Neanderthals from the African population by the sea that has driven the divergence.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Measure for Measure: Act 4 Scenes 3-6 - in which the Duke manipulates everyone and the scene is set for Angelo to be exposed as a hypocrite.
Listening
Podcasts:ep 256-259 of The History of England - which is taking us through Edward VI's reign, still in the period where the Duke of Somerset (the king's uncle) was exercising most power.
another 4 mini-episodes of The History of Egypt - again heavy on the poetry, which has been interesting.
ep 171-173 of The History of Byzantium - continuing the end of century (c.1025 CE) episodes looking at things like the military and also an interview he did on another podcast about the Varangian Guard.
ep 116-117 of The History of English - moving the narrative on a bit and looking at how the status of English in the surrounding countries of the British Isles developed (falling in Ireland & Wales, rising in Scotland), and starting to look at surnames & how they developed.
ep 3.L-3.M of The History of India - more supplementary episodes, in particular looking at the life & journeying of a Chinese monk Fa Xian who came to India to copy Buddhist texts to take back to China and whose account of his journey provides a lot of information about the India of his time.
ep HoS 28 of The History of England Shedcasts - the tale of David Bruce's reign.
ep 9-10 of The History of China - I'm now back up to date with all the ongoing podcasts I'm listening to so I've gone back to catching up with the back catalogue of this one, currently he's talking about the Western Zhou dynasty.
Sunday podcast: an episode of In Our Time about the historical plays of Shakespeare "Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets" which looked at that run of the history plays and how they matched up with history, both as we know history and as he knew history.
Music: While running I listened to part of the second Ladykillers compilation. And to drown out a film J was watching I listened to the rest of "The Best ... Album in the World .. Ever. Vol 5 CD 1", and started "The Very Best of Jazz Funk CD1" (it has a Benny Golson track on it), which wasn't quite what I was expecting - more songs & less twiddly bits.
Watching
The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs & Tragedy of Gene Clark - a biography of Gene Clark, about whom I knew nothing before. The archetypal story of how fame is a double edged sword, with Clark repeatedly self-sabotaging almost as soon as he achieved any sort of recognition for a project. A rather sad story.
Horizon: The Lost Tribes of Humanity - a couple of years old, this was Alice Roberts talking about the evidence that we have for the other species of hominids that overlapped with our own species, and just how much we interbred with them. Interesting, particularly in the context of both the non-fiction books I've read in this two week period.
ep 1 of Great Canal Journeys (series 9) - Prunella Scales & Timothy West go on boat journeys, this one wasn't on a canal (unlike most of them) it was on the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. Rather well done, included most of the obvious places (like Karnak) plus some less often seen on TV (like Gebel el Silsila). I'd not seen any of these before, so I hadn't been aware that Prunella Scales has dementia - it is explicitly brought up during the programme but before it was made clear I was gradually realising why I was being reminded of conversations with my mother back when she was still "presenting well" but it was obvious there was no longer as much "there" behind the presentation. So the programmes are also about how the couple are dealing with her gradual decline and there's an air of melancholy to the whole thing.
Made by Machine: When AI Met the Archive - rubbish, utter rubbish, we only watched through to the end because there was a hint that it might pull together into something good but that didn't happen. Basic premise was training an AI to use different techniques to stitch together clips from the BBC Four archives to make mini-programmes of its own - like visual similarities or using the subtitles to find matching topics. Each of the computer edited sequences were pretty rubbish, and went on for too long. There were three techniques, and we'd assumed the fourth one would use all three (it did) and change it from being rubbish to being halfway decent (it didn't). The take home message was that actual human TV editors have no need to worry about their jobs.
ep 1 of Animals with Cameras - fitting cameras to animals to see their behaviour when there aren't humans there filming them (like when meerkats are in their burrows or chimpanzees when humans aren't present to influence them). Fluff, but good fluff.
Mechanical Monsters - Simon Schaeffer looking at technological developments in the Victorian era and how they responded to the changes in society that these wrought. Not what I was expecting, the blurb seemed to promise automatons, but this was more wide-ranging. And better, I think.
ep 1 of The Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure - this one in Hong Kong. A series from a few years ago, and rather more manic than the most recent one (which is the only other one we've watched). Still had lots of food to make us hungry though.
ep 1 & 2 of Doctor Who - new Doctor, new show runner, new Companions, which makes it a nervy buildup to a new season: can they pull it off? So far so good. I like the new Doctor and think she feels very Doctor-y. I liked that this is a Doctor who builds things, and I think they're doing a good job of showing she's clever (the sonic screwdriver is built from what was available so presumably one could build one oneself if only one knew what one was doing ...). Like the new companions, and definitely like that it's an ensemble cast and being set up explicitly as a team not the Doctor & his/her "significant other"-esque special friend. A nice change of dynamic. So far they all seem to have the same characterisation from episode to episode, which is good as that's one (but by no means the largest) of my major criticisms of Chibnall's Torchwood. It was Chibnall as showrunner I was most worried about in advance and although it's early days yet I'm optimistic after those two. I guess we are getting a through arc to the series, which is good as I like that aspect of New Who, and it also seems less in your face & convoluted than the Moffat era. Well, I suppose the Stena (sp?) as a series bad-guy (or at least tying together some of the episodes) is rather in your face, but I'm more interested in the reference to The Timeless Child and how she doesn't even know it. Loved the custard cream dispenser in the TARDIS :)
no subject
Date: 2018-10-18 19:12 (UTC)(I'm not paying for a way to access Dr. Who as it airs, so will likely be binge watching once the season is available on DVD. It's going to be difficult....)
no subject
Date: 2018-10-24 17:53 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-25 17:47 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-25 17:58 (UTC)