Elizabeth/Lidabet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
opusculasedfera) wrote2013-02-17 11:05 am
opusculasedfera) wrote2013-02-17 11:05 am
Entry tags:
Assorted things/flailing
I'm enjoying the new season of Community! I like the sort of mostly casual Britta/Troy thing going on in the background, though I could do without them treating Troy like he's a tiny child. Not being super aware of kink, sure, but unaware that there's the possibility of having sex with his hot girlfriend? Not so much. (Conflicted about it? Quite possibly. But you'd have to show that.)
I'm not sure what to make of the super creepy relationship between Pierce and Gilbert because the show knows that it's creepy, but I can't tell if they know that it's more than just comedically fucked up.
I loved the Hallowe'en costumes, and particularly that they didn't feel any need to explain all of them, just rolled with it.
And really, I can forgive almost anything for that tango sequence with Jeff and the Dean. (This is going to sound weird, but the thing it reminded me most of was actually Regencies rather than modern dance movies? That combination of solid social dancing (rather than expert performance dancing), but in a very structured way where people are having an awkward conversation interupted by the demands of the ritual, was weirdly reminiscent of country dances in movies. Perhaps because the comedy was largely contained in the conflict between the conversation and the dance rather than mocking the Dean for wanting to dance the following part?)
--
I finally finished reading Ankaret Wells' The Maker's Mask. I have no idea why it took me so long to read because every time I picked it up it was fabulous. Strongly reminded me of Kirstein's Steerswoman books, in the best possible way. I can't decide if this is entirely because both of them are set on what seem to be colonised planets with social systems developed from ship crews and secret technological knowledge restricted to a special few, or if it's just because I think Tzenni and Rowan would be excellent friends. I suppose the layers of mystery are somewhat similar, though there's a very different feel to the human conspiracies of The Maker's Mask, and Rowan's discoveries about the indigenous life forms. Active versus passive conspiracies perhaps? Rowan's discoveries will be ultimately more game-changing, but there are fewer people actively involved in hiding the truth: she's mostly opposing fucked up systems that simply don't care. There's a lot more going on in the Spires, but it's mostly going to be sorted out by people and it's a matter of power shifts within one system, at least so far.
Something more closely resembling a review, though decidedly scattered: Tzenni is an engineer-equivalent dumped into a decidedly political situation when she goes to find her sister who's run off. She is the sensible protagonist of my heart, and I adore her devotion to clean water systems and trying to work out more efficient workflows. I enjoyed her relationship with the love interest, which is entertainingly conflicted without being either bickery for the sake of bickering, or so diametrically opposed that I don't understand why we're supposed to think they'd work at all. I liked that she doesn't enjoy politics and does think that some of the machinations around her are a complete waste of time, but that's not the same as thinking that she can be completely ignorant of what's going on around her. I do love books where people are aware that other people are not 100% to be trusted and yet have to figure out how to work with them anyway, rather than focusing their efforts on rendering that person completely trustworthy or giving up entirely.
The world-building is a ton of fun. I feel like I don't quite understand everything yet, but in a good way, and what I do understand was accomplished with an admirable minimum of infodumps. There's some deliciously complicated politics, largely based around factions that centre on people with the ability to interface with what appears to be the remnants of the technology from a colonising ship. This is done very cleverly, and I really appreciated that, while some information does seem to have been lost, there have also been technological experiments and advancements in the interim, and things have changed more than they have degenerated.
Highly recommended, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
--
I have no words for that Avs-Oilers game last night. It was ridiculous in all the best ways, though I am divided between delight over the Oilers' comeback and how well (nearly) everyone was doing (Nuge scoring! Maggie having a second big goal! Hemmer and Ebs with two each!), and the strong feeling that Dutchy is going to stab someone if the Avs don't start improving soon (and I really don't know if they can, after their completely unbelievable slew of injuries).
I'm not sure what to make of the super creepy relationship between Pierce and Gilbert because the show knows that it's creepy, but I can't tell if they know that it's more than just comedically fucked up.
I loved the Hallowe'en costumes, and particularly that they didn't feel any need to explain all of them, just rolled with it.
And really, I can forgive almost anything for that tango sequence with Jeff and the Dean. (This is going to sound weird, but the thing it reminded me most of was actually Regencies rather than modern dance movies? That combination of solid social dancing (rather than expert performance dancing), but in a very structured way where people are having an awkward conversation interupted by the demands of the ritual, was weirdly reminiscent of country dances in movies. Perhaps because the comedy was largely contained in the conflict between the conversation and the dance rather than mocking the Dean for wanting to dance the following part?)
--
I finally finished reading Ankaret Wells' The Maker's Mask. I have no idea why it took me so long to read because every time I picked it up it was fabulous. Strongly reminded me of Kirstein's Steerswoman books, in the best possible way. I can't decide if this is entirely because both of them are set on what seem to be colonised planets with social systems developed from ship crews and secret technological knowledge restricted to a special few, or if it's just because I think Tzenni and Rowan would be excellent friends. I suppose the layers of mystery are somewhat similar, though there's a very different feel to the human conspiracies of The Maker's Mask, and Rowan's discoveries about the indigenous life forms. Active versus passive conspiracies perhaps? Rowan's discoveries will be ultimately more game-changing, but there are fewer people actively involved in hiding the truth: she's mostly opposing fucked up systems that simply don't care. There's a lot more going on in the Spires, but it's mostly going to be sorted out by people and it's a matter of power shifts within one system, at least so far.
Something more closely resembling a review, though decidedly scattered: Tzenni is an engineer-equivalent dumped into a decidedly political situation when she goes to find her sister who's run off. She is the sensible protagonist of my heart, and I adore her devotion to clean water systems and trying to work out more efficient workflows. I enjoyed her relationship with the love interest, which is entertainingly conflicted without being either bickery for the sake of bickering, or so diametrically opposed that I don't understand why we're supposed to think they'd work at all. I liked that she doesn't enjoy politics and does think that some of the machinations around her are a complete waste of time, but that's not the same as thinking that she can be completely ignorant of what's going on around her. I do love books where people are aware that other people are not 100% to be trusted and yet have to figure out how to work with them anyway, rather than focusing their efforts on rendering that person completely trustworthy or giving up entirely.
The world-building is a ton of fun. I feel like I don't quite understand everything yet, but in a good way, and what I do understand was accomplished with an admirable minimum of infodumps. There's some deliciously complicated politics, largely based around factions that centre on people with the ability to interface with what appears to be the remnants of the technology from a colonising ship. This is done very cleverly, and I really appreciated that, while some information does seem to have been lost, there have also been technological experiments and advancements in the interim, and things have changed more than they have degenerated.
Highly recommended, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
--
I have no words for that Avs-Oilers game last night. It was ridiculous in all the best ways, though I am divided between delight over the Oilers' comeback and how well (nearly) everyone was doing (Nuge scoring! Maggie having a second big goal! Hemmer and Ebs with two each!), and the strong feeling that Dutchy is going to stab someone if the Avs don't start improving soon (and I really don't know if they can, after their completely unbelievable slew of injuries).
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