Cold Days...

Finished Cold Days by Jim Butcher this morning...and while I found the book slow going at points (too much frigging exposition), will state that the writer surprised me and took the characters in interesting directions. Sort of makes me want to re-read the books.

Still wasting far too much time jockeying around with the Karrin Murphy/Harry Dresden will-they-won-t-they routine. To the point in which I'm beginning to lose interest in it entirely and thinking - hey, let's go do Harry and Molly instead, so much more interesting.

(By the way, this happens in all serials, no serial writer that I've come across in television/film or books has found a way of keeping a long-term relationship interesting in a serial. Was watching "Doc Martin" with my parents over the holiday, and of course they broke up Doc Martin and his paramour up about five times. It gets old after a bit, and the audience starts rooting for both characters to move on. Because let's face it - if you can't make it work after two years of trying, it isn't happening. The only times it works is when the writer is smart enough to let the characters get together and work on their relationship - see Farscape, Amy/Rory in Doctor Who, Nick and Nora Charles for just a few examples. Teasing the audience on the ship forever doesn't work, audiences are fickle creatures with shorter attention spans than cats.)

Cold Days is tighter and a bit better written than Ghost Story, but since the writer has to find a way to work Harry back into his world, move the plot forward, and explain everything that has been happening to Harry and the reader - there is a lot of exposition or more telling/less showing. I found myself skimming a bit.
( vague spoilers for the series )

With a few quibbles, I rather liked the book. Not great, but fun and enjoyable overall.

Up next...I think is Diana Rowland's My Life as a White Trash Zombie, which I got as a Xmas present, or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Decisions, decisions.


Oh...and Happy 2013. May it treat you well. I'm hoping it's better than 2012, or at the very least no worse than 2012. Less stress, more fun.

Cold Days...

Finished Cold Days by Jim Butcher this morning...and while I found the book slow going at points (too much frigging exposition), will state that the writer surprised me and took the characters in interesting directions. Sort of makes me want to re-read the books.

Still wasting far too much time jockeying around with the Karrin Murphy/Harry Dresden will-they-won-t-they routine. To the point in which I'm beginning to lose interest in it entirely and thinking - hey, let's go do Harry and Molly instead, so much more interesting.

(By the way, this happens in all serials, no serial writer that I've come across in television/film or books has found a way of keeping a long-term relationship interesting in a serial. Was watching "Doc Martin" with my parents over the holiday, and of course they broke up Doc Martin and his paramour up about five times. It gets old after a bit, and the audience starts rooting for both characters to move on. Because let's face it - if you can't make it work after two years of trying, it isn't happening. The only times it works is when the writer is smart enough to let the characters get together and work on their relationship - see Farscape, Amy/Rory in Doctor Who, Nick and Nora Charles for just a few examples. Teasing the audience on the ship forever doesn't work, audiences are fickle creatures with shorter attention spans than cats.)

Cold Days is tighter and a bit better written than Ghost Story, but since the writer has to find a way to work Harry back into his world, move the plot forward, and explain everything that has been happening to Harry and the reader - there is a lot of exposition or more telling/less showing. I found myself skimming a bit.
( vague spoilers for the series )

With a few quibbles, I rather liked the book. Not great, but fun and enjoyable overall.

Up next...I think is Diana Rowland's My Life as a White Trash Zombie, which I got as a Xmas present, or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Decisions, decisions.


Oh...and Happy 2013. May it treat you well. I'm hoping it's better than 2012, or at the very least no worse than 2012. Less stress, more fun.

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Auld Lyn Syne and Superhero Comic Books, TV Shows and Movies..

Here's a lovely rendition of Auld Lyne Syne by the community choir at the Unitarian Universalist Church that I attend. Not religious at all, well not really...so no worries.
( Read more... )

Finished marathoning the last six episodes of Arrow today...the series gets more interesting as it goes. Rather like John Barrowman's villain, who surprises you. Or they managed to surprise me in regards to him. Only drawback is the three young female characters - Oliver's sister, the Huntress, and his ex-flame Laurie Lance, all look alike and are hard to tell apart. But generally speaking I'm finding all the characters rather interesting and complex.

Hm. Marvel has Disney/ABC and Joss Whedon. DC comics has CW (CBS)/Warner Brothers and Christopher Nolan. Marvel is lighter in tone and colorful (at least its movies are), and DC has become darker and more noirish in tone (at least its movies). So far...I like DC's tv shows and movies better than Marvel's...but that's mainly because I prefer the noirish overtones and darker landscape. DC seems to question protagonist privilege and the tension between being a pure vigilante and a hero a bit more. Also looks deeper into the question of power. While Marvel seems to have more of a sense of humor about the enterprise and is more about amusement. One feels like eating bittersweet dark chocolate while the other is milk chocolate with toffee.

As an aside? I speaking mainly about the movie and tv franchises - not the comic books. From what I've read - Marvel's comics have gotten quite dark. Spiderman and Doctor Octopus switched bodies in a switch that is somewhat reminiscent of Buffy's Who Are You. Except Doc Oct won, and his old body was dying...now poor Peter Parker is stuck in the beaten down body of his arch-nemesis, while Doc Oct is jumping about in his and is the anti-hero of the comic book. I know, insane. I read this in USA Today last weekend, blew me away. Are the writers nuts? I mean it is fascinating, but also insanely risky. Which is actually what I used to love about superhero comics and what I adore about soap operas/serials - in these art-forms, writers do take crazy risks. Makes sense, would be incredibly boring if you didn't.

This sudden pop culture fascination with superhero comic books makes me wish I was still heavily into the trope. And 12 years ago, I would have been.

Am procrastinating re-reading and revising my novel - Doing Time on Planet Earth. Maybe I should just put it on the shelf for a bit and start on something else? Take the pressure off myself for getting it published or self-published. Various members of my family are self-publishing. It's quite the rage at the moment. So should investigate it....