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mousetrapplingIncludes some spoilers for Doctor Who at the end...
Fiction: Still reading "House of Chains" Steven Erikson - much of which is actually to do with populating the new roles of the new House in the Deck of Dragons, but also generally about mortal tools of immortal/more powerful purposes and how that comes at a price.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - moving on from the Levant c. 3500 BCE to 2200 BCE to the northern Mediterranean shores in the same period, and how their societies were also changing but not driven directly by the rising superpowers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Read all of "Making Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day" Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky - read an excerpt somewhere and got the book from the library, quite a slight read but a set of tactics for being more focused & finding more time. Some obvious, some less so - and an interesting approach for this sort of book where they are absolutely upfront that nothing works for everyone, so you should experiment (rather than the more didactic approach of "do this and only this for success"). Not sure I would've paid money for it, but interesting enough from the library.
Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing: Act 3 Scenes 1-5, Act 4 Scenes 1-2 - finding this quite fun to read, although I don't share Shakespeare's fondness for malapropisms as a humorous device.
Podcasts: ep 264d-g of The History of England - and this wrapped up most of the short reign of Lady Jane Grey, with just the aftermath to come.
ep Eleanor 3 of The History of England Shedcasts - her early life.
ep 63-69 of The History of China - continuing with the many assassinations of & by Emperors that seems to characterise the Southern & Northern period, he's got up to the collapse of the Northern Wei which is the beginning of the end of this period, but is back tracking a bit to get the South to the same point before continuing.
ep 178 of The History of Byzantium - more listener questions about the state of the Empire c.1025 CE.
ep 102b of The History of Egypt - covering Crete, in the time period of Amenhotep III's reign, through the eyes of an embassy from Egypt (fictitious in detail but there was definite contact between the cultures).
Sunday Podcast: an episode of In Our Time about The Thirty Years War - much less of a conflict about religion than I had always assumed (knowing little about it), and more about secular politics, also some resonances with the First World War.
Music: While running I listened to Bon Jovi "Cross Road", Roxette "Don't Bore Us - Get to the Chorus!" and Arctic Monkeys "Whatever I Say I Am, That's What I'm Not".
ep 5 of Dynasties - Tigers to round out the series. And a bit less gory death, although still some pretty gory stuff. This felt like a very different angle for a nature series, some iconic species and beautiful imagery of course, but a focus on the brutal realities of their lives. Good, but uncomfortable viewing at times.
ep 3 of the Mediterranean with Simon Reeve - moving through Libya and Tunisia to Sicily, with a theme of migrants this time. Although also the Mafia for added depression.
ep 5 of The Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure - more Japan, away from Tokyo this time and included some daftly expensive beef.
ep 3 of The Lakes with Paul Rose - a slightly more meaty feeling episode than the first two, the lake was Coniston so of course it included Donald Campbell.
ep 10 of Doctor Who - season finale, which did bring back an earlier villain to bring the Graham and Ryan arc to a satisfying close. I've liked how this season the focus is on the recurring characters and not on complicated jigsaw puzzles of hints for what's "really happening this season". Tho given how much I do like SFF with complex world-building and narrative structures (see the fiction books I'm currently reading for an example) that's indicative of how I didn't really feel Moffat was capable of pulling off a satisfying conclusion (neither emotionally nor intellectually) to his constructions. My doubts going into this series were based on Chibnall era Torchwood where we felt that the characters changed from week to week to fit whatever the story needed, so it was a surprise to find the characters were the solid centre round which this series was built. Grief & loss were the narrative thread that held much of it together, which is a very New Who theme - think of Rose, think of Donna, think of Clara and that's just the first three examples off the top of my head. But this series wasn't about grand dramatic gestures nor was the loss the final moment of an arc, it was about living with grief and healing over time. And the overall flavour of the stories was hopeful, things might look like they've gone completely to shit but individual people can be kind, can do the decent thing and make the world a bit better. So I enjoyed it, a good piece of character driven SFF - I think my main criticism would be that Yaz was under utilised which will hopefully be corrected in the next season.
Books
Fiction: Still reading "House of Chains" Steven Erikson - much of which is actually to do with populating the new roles of the new House in the Deck of Dragons, but also generally about mortal tools of immortal/more powerful purposes and how that comes at a price.
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - moving on from the Levant c. 3500 BCE to 2200 BCE to the northern Mediterranean shores in the same period, and how their societies were also changing but not driven directly by the rising superpowers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Read all of "Making Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day" Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky - read an excerpt somewhere and got the book from the library, quite a slight read but a set of tactics for being more focused & finding more time. Some obvious, some less so - and an interesting approach for this sort of book where they are absolutely upfront that nothing works for everyone, so you should experiment (rather than the more didactic approach of "do this and only this for success"). Not sure I would've paid money for it, but interesting enough from the library.
Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing: Act 3 Scenes 1-5, Act 4 Scenes 1-2 - finding this quite fun to read, although I don't share Shakespeare's fondness for malapropisms as a humorous device.
Listening
Podcasts: ep 264d-g of The History of England - and this wrapped up most of the short reign of Lady Jane Grey, with just the aftermath to come.
ep Eleanor 3 of The History of England Shedcasts - her early life.
ep 63-69 of The History of China - continuing with the many assassinations of & by Emperors that seems to characterise the Southern & Northern period, he's got up to the collapse of the Northern Wei which is the beginning of the end of this period, but is back tracking a bit to get the South to the same point before continuing.
ep 178 of The History of Byzantium - more listener questions about the state of the Empire c.1025 CE.
ep 102b of The History of Egypt - covering Crete, in the time period of Amenhotep III's reign, through the eyes of an embassy from Egypt (fictitious in detail but there was definite contact between the cultures).
Sunday Podcast: an episode of In Our Time about The Thirty Years War - much less of a conflict about religion than I had always assumed (knowing little about it), and more about secular politics, also some resonances with the First World War.
Music: While running I listened to Bon Jovi "Cross Road", Roxette "Don't Bore Us - Get to the Chorus!" and Arctic Monkeys "Whatever I Say I Am, That's What I'm Not".
Watching
ep 5 of Dynasties - Tigers to round out the series. And a bit less gory death, although still some pretty gory stuff. This felt like a very different angle for a nature series, some iconic species and beautiful imagery of course, but a focus on the brutal realities of their lives. Good, but uncomfortable viewing at times.
ep 3 of the Mediterranean with Simon Reeve - moving through Libya and Tunisia to Sicily, with a theme of migrants this time. Although also the Mafia for added depression.
ep 5 of The Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure - more Japan, away from Tokyo this time and included some daftly expensive beef.
ep 3 of The Lakes with Paul Rose - a slightly more meaty feeling episode than the first two, the lake was Coniston so of course it included Donald Campbell.
ep 10 of Doctor Who - season finale, which did bring back an earlier villain to bring the Graham and Ryan arc to a satisfying close. I've liked how this season the focus is on the recurring characters and not on complicated jigsaw puzzles of hints for what's "really happening this season". Tho given how much I do like SFF with complex world-building and narrative structures (see the fiction books I'm currently reading for an example) that's indicative of how I didn't really feel Moffat was capable of pulling off a satisfying conclusion (neither emotionally nor intellectually) to his constructions. My doubts going into this series were based on Chibnall era Torchwood where we felt that the characters changed from week to week to fit whatever the story needed, so it was a surprise to find the characters were the solid centre round which this series was built. Grief & loss were the narrative thread that held much of it together, which is a very New Who theme - think of Rose, think of Donna, think of Clara and that's just the first three examples off the top of my head. But this series wasn't about grand dramatic gestures nor was the loss the final moment of an arc, it was about living with grief and healing over time. And the overall flavour of the stories was hopeful, things might look like they've gone completely to shit but individual people can be kind, can do the decent thing and make the world a bit better. So I enjoyed it, a good piece of character driven SFF - I think my main criticism would be that Yaz was under utilised which will hopefully be corrected in the next season.
