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mousetrapplingIncludes some spoilers for Doctor Who at the end...
Fiction: Still reading "Midnight Tides" Steven Erikson - themes of debt & freedom/enslavement ... and be careful what you wish for. It feels like a story from the distant past of the rest of the books, but it's really happening at much the same time (or rather just before) but in a sort of bubble that's been isolated from the rest of the world (universe?).
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - looking at the eastern part of the Mediterranean during the 2nd Millennium BCE.
Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost: Act 2 & Act 3 (both single scenes) - I'm being too slow reading this I think, I've lost the narrative thread and it seems just to be a succession of people being witty at each other.
Podcasts: ep 5.1-5.2 of the History of India - the rulers of Patliputra after the collapse of Harsha's empire, also briskly trotting through the history of Nepal up to this point in the narrative.
ep 82-85 of The History of China - the first couple of Tang Emperors, including them fending off Turkic invaders. Also bringing Tibet into the narrative as their kingdom is powerful at this point in the story.
ep 179-190 of The History of Byzantium - resuming the narrative with the first emperors after Basil II (who'd been successful in many ways as an emperor but arranging for the succession was not one of those ways!).
ep 265a of The History of England - an interview with Nicola Tallis about Jane Grey (as Tallis has written a book about her).
ep Eleanor 4-6 of The History of England Shedcasts - continuing with the biography of Eleanor of Acquitaine we're up to the first years of her marriage to Louis VII (the King of France).
bonus episode plus ep 104 of The History of Egypt - the bonus episode was about the environment and animals living in the region of Egypt during the time of the dinosaurs. Rather neat but not quite what I was expecting! :) The next real episode looked at the life of wealthy men during the 18th Dynasty.
ep 212 of The China History Podcast - continuing his Jewish Refugees in China series, looking here at the situation c.1941, including some more mini-bios of people who helped the Jews escape Europe.
ep 120 of The History of English - the narrative has got up to the Black Death, which actually helps to re-establish English as a primary language in the country for the elite.
Sunday Podcast: an episode of In Our Time about The Poor Laws, of the 19th Century - which were a switch from the very localised situation that existed before which had an emphasis on Christian charity, to a centralised top-down imposition of a punitive regime to make sure no-one claimed to be poor unless they really really had to. It sounded like despite several scandals it was more punitive in theory than in actual implementation, but it did instill a fear of ending up in "the workhouse" in the average person and in sweeping away the localised ways of organising things like this (which does then lead to a country where things like the NHS can be implemented).
Music: While running I listened to a metal compilation called "Corrosion", plus a 2-disc U2 best of. To drown out the TV sounds so I could write I listened to a selection of compilations - "The Later Lounge" (had a Big Boss Man track on it, and reminded me of a club night called Harry Palmers that we used to go to in Ipswich nearly 20 years ago), "Pre-Fab: The Songs that Influenced The Beatles" (a Big Joe Turner track, selection of 50's-ish rock & roll songs), "Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered CD1" (only the first couple of tracks, there'll be a Big Linda track, I'm not overly fond of this as I'd rather listen to the originals).
ep 2-3 of The Hairy Bikers Home for Christmas - figured we should watch these fairly close together so we see the series near Xmas. Some of the food looks really good :)
ep 1-2 of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2018 - Alice Roberts and Aoife McLysaght talking about human evolution & diversity. Aimed at kids, of course, but nonetheless interesting and rather fun.
ep 1 of Earth's Greatest Rivers - this'll be a 3 part series about rivers, starting with the Amazon. I had no idea there were any bits of river that boiled, let alone a couple of mile stretch of the Amazon.
ep 10 of Doctor Who - New Year special instead of a Xmas special, which I liked as the shoe-horning in of Santa Claus and/or other Dickens-esque Christmas elements was beginning to outstay its welcome as a concept. The New Year-ish bits were less obtrusive I thought. I'd been spoiled for the major recurring villain that we got, but that didn't matter, the initial "what's going on" bit was still tense and was quite short anyway. And an interestingly different way to use them too. I liked seeing the Doctor going from "ooh interesting" to "oh shit" when she figured it out. I also liked the two archaeologists, and the lost legend that turned out to be true. The ending felt a little naff though, and the Ryan resolves his Daddy issues subplot played out a bit quickly to make me really believe it. But hopefully having tied up that loose end (to some degree) the next season (whenever it arrives) will make more use of Yaz who has definitely felt underdeveloped compared to the other two.
Books
Fiction: Still reading "Midnight Tides" Steven Erikson - themes of debt & freedom/enslavement ... and be careful what you wish for. It feels like a story from the distant past of the rest of the books, but it's really happening at much the same time (or rather just before) but in a sort of bubble that's been isolated from the rest of the world (universe?).
Non-fiction: Still reading "The Making of the Middle Sea", Cyprian Broodbank - looking at the eastern part of the Mediterranean during the 2nd Millennium BCE.
Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost: Act 2 & Act 3 (both single scenes) - I'm being too slow reading this I think, I've lost the narrative thread and it seems just to be a succession of people being witty at each other.
Listening
Podcasts: ep 5.1-5.2 of the History of India - the rulers of Patliputra after the collapse of Harsha's empire, also briskly trotting through the history of Nepal up to this point in the narrative.
ep 82-85 of The History of China - the first couple of Tang Emperors, including them fending off Turkic invaders. Also bringing Tibet into the narrative as their kingdom is powerful at this point in the story.
ep 179-190 of The History of Byzantium - resuming the narrative with the first emperors after Basil II (who'd been successful in many ways as an emperor but arranging for the succession was not one of those ways!).
ep 265a of The History of England - an interview with Nicola Tallis about Jane Grey (as Tallis has written a book about her).
ep Eleanor 4-6 of The History of England Shedcasts - continuing with the biography of Eleanor of Acquitaine we're up to the first years of her marriage to Louis VII (the King of France).
bonus episode plus ep 104 of The History of Egypt - the bonus episode was about the environment and animals living in the region of Egypt during the time of the dinosaurs. Rather neat but not quite what I was expecting! :) The next real episode looked at the life of wealthy men during the 18th Dynasty.
ep 212 of The China History Podcast - continuing his Jewish Refugees in China series, looking here at the situation c.1941, including some more mini-bios of people who helped the Jews escape Europe.
ep 120 of The History of English - the narrative has got up to the Black Death, which actually helps to re-establish English as a primary language in the country for the elite.
Sunday Podcast: an episode of In Our Time about The Poor Laws, of the 19th Century - which were a switch from the very localised situation that existed before which had an emphasis on Christian charity, to a centralised top-down imposition of a punitive regime to make sure no-one claimed to be poor unless they really really had to. It sounded like despite several scandals it was more punitive in theory than in actual implementation, but it did instill a fear of ending up in "the workhouse" in the average person and in sweeping away the localised ways of organising things like this (which does then lead to a country where things like the NHS can be implemented).
Music: While running I listened to a metal compilation called "Corrosion", plus a 2-disc U2 best of. To drown out the TV sounds so I could write I listened to a selection of compilations - "The Later Lounge" (had a Big Boss Man track on it, and reminded me of a club night called Harry Palmers that we used to go to in Ipswich nearly 20 years ago), "Pre-Fab: The Songs that Influenced The Beatles" (a Big Joe Turner track, selection of 50's-ish rock & roll songs), "Mojo Presents The White Album Recovered CD1" (only the first couple of tracks, there'll be a Big Linda track, I'm not overly fond of this as I'd rather listen to the originals).
Watching
ep 2-3 of The Hairy Bikers Home for Christmas - figured we should watch these fairly close together so we see the series near Xmas. Some of the food looks really good :)
ep 1-2 of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2018 - Alice Roberts and Aoife McLysaght talking about human evolution & diversity. Aimed at kids, of course, but nonetheless interesting and rather fun.
ep 1 of Earth's Greatest Rivers - this'll be a 3 part series about rivers, starting with the Amazon. I had no idea there were any bits of river that boiled, let alone a couple of mile stretch of the Amazon.
ep 10 of Doctor Who - New Year special instead of a Xmas special, which I liked as the shoe-horning in of Santa Claus and/or other Dickens-esque Christmas elements was beginning to outstay its welcome as a concept. The New Year-ish bits were less obtrusive I thought. I'd been spoiled for the major recurring villain that we got, but that didn't matter, the initial "what's going on" bit was still tense and was quite short anyway. And an interestingly different way to use them too. I liked seeing the Doctor going from "ooh interesting" to "oh shit" when she figured it out. I also liked the two archaeologists, and the lost legend that turned out to be true. The ending felt a little naff though, and the Ryan resolves his Daddy issues subplot played out a bit quickly to make me really believe it. But hopefully having tied up that loose end (to some degree) the next season (whenever it arrives) will make more use of Yaz who has definitely felt underdeveloped compared to the other two.
