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mousetrapplingIncludes some spoilers for Doctor Who at the end...
Fiction: Finished "The Gardens of the Moon", Steven Erikson - I think I said most of what I wanted to say last week, it sets the scene for the rest of the series, while still being a satisfying story in itself.
Started "Deadhouse Gates" also Steven Erikson - so far it's all travelling, generally a forced journey and each group with companions they might not've freely chosen. And perhaps "be careful what you wish for" as a theme too. I remember not being so fond of this one when I first read it, coz I wanted more of some of the other characters from the first book and at least one of the plot threads from this one is rather grim & dark ... but it's grown on me as a book.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - the current chapter looks at the period from 5500-3500 BCE, and his theme is how varied the cultures of the Mediterranean were during this time and the sense that it's merely historical accident that leads us to the world we know rather than inevitability.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors: Act 1 Scene 2, Act 2 Scenes 1-2 - a constant stream of comedy based on one man being mistaken for another, so far we've had one master beating both slaves in turn as he mistakes them for each other, and the other master's wife thinking this one is her husband. I'm not overly fond of this sort of comedy, and do rather feel that dear old mum or dear old dad should've told their respective children that they had been half of a set of twins before disaster struck ...
Podcasts:ep 261 of The History of England - Mary in fear for her liberty but not quite decisively fleeing England, which will have consequences for Dudley's future actions.
ep 174 & a bonus episode of The History of Byzantium - continuing his 1025 CE round up of the state of the empire with a look at the economy.
ep HoS 29 of The History of England Shedcasts - a look at the Wolf of Badenoch and what his "career" as a rapacious lord tells us about the political society of Scotland at the time (c.14th Century CE).
ep 101b of The History of Egypt - mostly an interview with Campbell Price, about statues of nobles set up in temples, and in particular the statues of Amenhotep son of Hapu.
ep 32-40 of The History of China - out of the Han, who descend into bickering factions behind increasingly powerless emperors, and into the Three Kingdoms period (which is exactly what it sounds like, a divided China).
Sunday podcast: ep 2 of I, Object - looking at satire, both modern western things like Spitting Image, and also from other cultures & times.
Music: While running I listened to both the Travelling Wilburys albums, and also The Ting Tings album.
Talk: "Papyrology and the EES: Riches from Rubbish Tips" Margaret Mountford - given at the EEG November meeting. A mix of the history of the EES and some examples of texts from the Oxyrhynchus Papyrii (discovered by an EES funded expedition) showing the variety of sorts of things that were found. Also a practical demonstration of the difficulties of piecing together fragments of discarded papyrus.
ep 2 of Origins of Us - looking at how our gut & our food preferences have shaped our evolution. Definitely remembered some of these one from a previous watch through, in particular the demonstration of the effect cooking has on how long it takes to get calories out of food.
Simon Schama's Rough Crossings - a documentary about a piece of history I'd never heard of before: the settlement in Sierra Leone of some ex-slave Africans who fought on the side of the British against the Americans in their War of Independence. Mostly, sadly, the story of their betrayal time after time by the British who promised them independence & freedom and failed to keep their word.
Indie & Beyond with Shaun Ryder & Alan McGee - part of a set of programmes again trawling through the BBC's archives of music footage, this time the format is two people from the subculture in question picking music and talking about it. Some good tunes. Funniest bit was Shaun Ryder watching the Happy Mondays playing Kinky Afro on Top of the Pops (one of Alan McGee's picks) with a dumbfounded expression all the while muttering "I don't remember playing this on Top of the Pops".
ep 1 & 2 of A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad - the story of the current Syrian president, focusing on trying to unpack how he went from an unassuming eye-doctor in West London, to a dictator responsible for the deaths of thousands of his own people.
ep 5 of Doctor Who - another good episode, and again without a "real" villain. Just wrong place, wrong time in a universe that's full of creatures of various sorts with various agendas. In this case a somewhat oddly cute voracious alien. Amused that the menfolk get sent off to deliver babies while the women and androids get on with saving the day (to be fair, one of the men got to play a role in that too). Family a definite theme, tho it was a bit of an odd juxtaposition of this episode's "always be there for them" theme with last episode of Yaz basically not being able to wait to get away from hers again given how overbearing they are. It's nice that we've pulled even further back from the "fate of the whole universe rests on the Doctor's shoulders" style, with this rather more in the line of finding an infestation of pests in one's house, needs dealt with but not world-destroying.
Books
Fiction: Finished "The Gardens of the Moon", Steven Erikson - I think I said most of what I wanted to say last week, it sets the scene for the rest of the series, while still being a satisfying story in itself.
Started "Deadhouse Gates" also Steven Erikson - so far it's all travelling, generally a forced journey and each group with companions they might not've freely chosen. And perhaps "be careful what you wish for" as a theme too. I remember not being so fond of this one when I first read it, coz I wanted more of some of the other characters from the first book and at least one of the plot threads from this one is rather grim & dark ... but it's grown on me as a book.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - the current chapter looks at the period from 5500-3500 BCE, and his theme is how varied the cultures of the Mediterranean were during this time and the sense that it's merely historical accident that leads us to the world we know rather than inevitability.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors: Act 1 Scene 2, Act 2 Scenes 1-2 - a constant stream of comedy based on one man being mistaken for another, so far we've had one master beating both slaves in turn as he mistakes them for each other, and the other master's wife thinking this one is her husband. I'm not overly fond of this sort of comedy, and do rather feel that dear old mum or dear old dad should've told their respective children that they had been half of a set of twins before disaster struck ...
Listening
Podcasts:ep 261 of The History of England - Mary in fear for her liberty but not quite decisively fleeing England, which will have consequences for Dudley's future actions.
ep 174 & a bonus episode of The History of Byzantium - continuing his 1025 CE round up of the state of the empire with a look at the economy.
ep HoS 29 of The History of England Shedcasts - a look at the Wolf of Badenoch and what his "career" as a rapacious lord tells us about the political society of Scotland at the time (c.14th Century CE).
ep 101b of The History of Egypt - mostly an interview with Campbell Price, about statues of nobles set up in temples, and in particular the statues of Amenhotep son of Hapu.
ep 32-40 of The History of China - out of the Han, who descend into bickering factions behind increasingly powerless emperors, and into the Three Kingdoms period (which is exactly what it sounds like, a divided China).
Sunday podcast: ep 2 of I, Object - looking at satire, both modern western things like Spitting Image, and also from other cultures & times.
Music: While running I listened to both the Travelling Wilburys albums, and also The Ting Tings album.
Talk: "Papyrology and the EES: Riches from Rubbish Tips" Margaret Mountford - given at the EEG November meeting. A mix of the history of the EES and some examples of texts from the Oxyrhynchus Papyrii (discovered by an EES funded expedition) showing the variety of sorts of things that were found. Also a practical demonstration of the difficulties of piecing together fragments of discarded papyrus.
Watching
ep 2 of Origins of Us - looking at how our gut & our food preferences have shaped our evolution. Definitely remembered some of these one from a previous watch through, in particular the demonstration of the effect cooking has on how long it takes to get calories out of food.
Simon Schama's Rough Crossings - a documentary about a piece of history I'd never heard of before: the settlement in Sierra Leone of some ex-slave Africans who fought on the side of the British against the Americans in their War of Independence. Mostly, sadly, the story of their betrayal time after time by the British who promised them independence & freedom and failed to keep their word.
Indie & Beyond with Shaun Ryder & Alan McGee - part of a set of programmes again trawling through the BBC's archives of music footage, this time the format is two people from the subculture in question picking music and talking about it. Some good tunes. Funniest bit was Shaun Ryder watching the Happy Mondays playing Kinky Afro on Top of the Pops (one of Alan McGee's picks) with a dumbfounded expression all the while muttering "I don't remember playing this on Top of the Pops".
ep 1 & 2 of A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad - the story of the current Syrian president, focusing on trying to unpack how he went from an unassuming eye-doctor in West London, to a dictator responsible for the deaths of thousands of his own people.
ep 5 of Doctor Who - another good episode, and again without a "real" villain. Just wrong place, wrong time in a universe that's full of creatures of various sorts with various agendas. In this case a somewhat oddly cute voracious alien. Amused that the menfolk get sent off to deliver babies while the women and androids get on with saving the day (to be fair, one of the men got to play a role in that too). Family a definite theme, tho it was a bit of an odd juxtaposition of this episode's "always be there for them" theme with last episode of Yaz basically not being able to wait to get away from hers again given how overbearing they are. It's nice that we've pulled even further back from the "fate of the whole universe rests on the Doctor's shoulders" style, with this rather more in the line of finding an infestation of pests in one's house, needs dealt with but not world-destroying.
