Wednesday Media Consumption Roundup

[mousetrappling]

Books

Fiction: Finished "The Cardinal of the Kremlin", Tom Clancy. Well, he managed to make up for the lack of sexism (due to few female characters) by introducing a lesbian character who allowed him to demonstrate his homophobia as well ;) The thing about these is that I still enjoy the plot but find the characters & info-dumps are grating somewhat. Started "Clear & Present Danger", Tom Clancy. Quite enjoying the foreshadowing of doom so far, particularly as I can't remember how or how badly it all goes pear-shaped for the mission.

Non-fiction: still reading Gerald Harriss's "Shaping the Nation: England 1360-1461" - still reading the chapter on domestic politics 1369-1413. The first couple of years of Richard II's sole rule (starting when he was 17) quickly result in suspicion & paranoia building up and poisoning relations between the king & the nobility. Richard's keenness to assert his regality doesn't help, nor does the fact that he's rewarding & patronising younger non-great magnates.

Maps: 1783-1861 CE - European dominance & empire building, but also the rise of the USA. And also collapse for Spain. The rise of Nationalism as an ideology which fuels/is fuelled by the republican revolt in France and a series of other less successful uprisings across the continent. And of course the Industrial Revolution.

Listening

Podcasts: ep 68-78 of Renaissance English History podcast. As well as the regular joint episodes with Tudor Times about their person of the month she spent a while looking at the relations between the Tudors and France.

Sunday podcast: ep 17 & 18 of Our Man in the Middle East - a look at Iran over the last couple of decades, and then the Arab Spring with particular focus on Egypt. And on how the hope quickly soured and they are now under an even more repressive military regime than they were under Mubarak.

Music: while running I've finished off listening to the 100 Hits Rock compilation and also listened to a bit of the Travelling Wilburies.

Talk

"Delta Myths & Legends" Penny Wilson - an overview of what's known about the religious culture of the Egyptian Delta from predynastic times onwards & how it differs from the Nile Valley culture. Interestingly full of the ways there's not as much as known for sure as you'd think given how long Ancient Egypt has been being studied.

Watching

ep 2 of Utopia: In Search of the Dream - real world attempts to establish utopias. Most of which have failed, but he did find one long running hippy-ish commune (based initially on Skinner's Walden Two novel, but didn't keep all of that specific ethos for long). It wouldn't be utopia for me, and seemed to rely on the fact that turnover of population was possible, but nonetheless 50-ish years of a very different sort of society based on sharing everything.

ep 2 of The Legacy of Lawrence Arabia - the aftermath of the First World War & Lawrence's rather desperate attempts to get the promises he'd made to the Arabs kept in any form at all. Stewart made it clear that he believes this betrayal and refusal to let the Arabs form their own nation (rather than be divided between France & Britain) is the root cause of the modern situation in the Middle East.

ep 2 of Eight Days that Made Rome - Spartacus & his slave revolt. Having listened to an IOT on the subject at some point in the last couple of years I was more aware of the simplifications than I might've been. In particular the elision of earlier slave revolts.

eps 1 & 2 of Blue Planet II - the new David Attenborough series, ocean life. So far I've particularly liked seeing the creatures of the deep ocean as they're fascinatingly different.

ep 1 of Nile Rodgers: How to Make it in the Music Business - this'll be a three part (auto-)biography of Nile Rodgers, so this ep was mostly about his childhood & the 70s success of his band Chic. It feels weirdly like the sort of programme that's aired shortly after someone dies, only he's still alive & part of the programme.

ep 1 of Elizabeth I's Secret Agents - starting with the way that Cecil brought down Mary Queen of Scots, with a well organised sting. A bit wince-inducing as it rattled on about "first spy network" and other bits of hyperbole that were clearly bobbins. But still, we enjoyed it enough that we'll keep watching.

Comments

[magid]

in re: Blue Planet
You might enjoy reading The Soul of an Octopus; I read it some weeks ago, and was totally fascinated.