Wed Reading Meme and other things..

1. Bought a new computer finally -- the MacBook Air - 13 inch. It's lighter and smaller than the old one. Also Apple isn't as helpful as they used to be. Last time I bought a computer, they switched my stuff from the old one over, free of charge. Took two hours. Now? 48 hours, and $99. So I chose to buy the far cheaper external hard drive and just flip over the items that required transfer, and everything else drops in from the cloud.

Bloody expensive computers. Last one was about 7-8 years old. I got sometime around 2010.

This one is faster than the last one. And the power button is on the keyboard again, instead of on the computer frame. Also no way to download CDs or DVDs. And less USB slots. The power hook-up is better, the last one was a magnet that kept slipping out.

I don't know if it is necessarily better just different. I'm going to have to down load all software though, impossible to copy from a CD. Although considering the problems I was having ejecting CDs from the old model, not that big of a deal.

I'm guessing the change is now you just download everything. Less waste. I suppose I could purchase an external CD/DVD drive. Found one on Amazon. My MacBook Pro had a built in DVD/CD drive, but the discs often got trapped in it.

I don't understand why they couldn't keep that attribute. Stupid people. I actually think the computers and laptops I had in the 1990s and early part of 21st Century or 00s were better made. And more durable. I miss them. I don't need all these weird add-ons. I deleted Garage Band from it, and movie maker.

2. Finished streaming Luke Cage, which had received rave reviews. Ghod knows why. I found it rough going and rather dull in places. Major pacing issues. I'm guessing the critics fell in love with the socio-political commentary, and allusions to Blaxploition cinema. Which makes sense, the best bits were that commentary. I just wish there was a better story. I don't watch tv shows like Luke Cage for socio-political commentary, I watch tv shows like the Wire and American Crime for that sort of thing. I was disappointed in it, and rather bored. Doesn't live up to the hype. Interesting the series they all hated, Iron Fist, was more entertaining and better paced than the one they all loved.

If it weren't for Clair Temple and Misty Knight, I'd have given up on this installment completely.

3. Wed Reading Meme

Just finished A Gentleman on the Street (Campbell Siblings #1) by Alisha Rae.

( off-the-cuff review below )

Reading now ...Kings Rising (Captive Prince #3) by CS Pascat -- this is an m/m fantasy series that had started online, got popular, the writer decided to self-publish, and has published three books and several novellas.

It's about two Greek (at least I think its Greek) Princes who are mortal enemies, but end up falling in love due to their relatives power play for their thrones.

Prince Damianos in Book One, is sold into slavery by his brother. Who basically sells him to their enemies as chattel. Ripped of his identity, his title, and everything. But as he soon discovers, the sale was done in cahoots with the Regent of the neighboring territory, in hopes that Damianos would kill Prince Laurent, the Regent's charge and allow Regent to take the throne. Of course that doesn't quite happen. But you can sort of see why they'd have thought it would work -- since Damianos becomes Laurent's personal sex slave and well...

But instead, Damianos falls in love with Laurent and vice versa. Damianos is bisexual. And everyone has slaves. It's ancient Greece.

There really are no female characters to speak of. Which usually would irritate me. But the male characters are captivating enough on their own. Also I like M/M slash. Overall? I don't really care that much about the gender of the characters involved just as long as they are interesting and the story captivates me. Will admit, that I find m/m more interesting than f/f. Although I've written and read both.

Anyhow...this is the final book in the trilogy and we had to wait a godawful long time for it. Not quite as long as we do for the next GRR Martin Song of Ice and Fire installation. But close. (Speaking GRR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire -- anyone else given up on that series? I honestly don't think he's going to finish that series before he dies. If he's even trying at this point. Oh well, I like the television series from a plot and character standpoint better. Still don't understand the fan love for the Stark clan. People do like their traditional hero tropes, don't they?)

The final book has less sex in it. The most sex is in Book One, and it's rather explicit and BDSM with sexual violence, albeit with men in mind. (ie, men are raped, women aren't). This book so far doesn't appear to have that much, but I'm only 7% of the way in. There's a lot of torture in all three, and violence, and warfare...hello ancient greeks fighting each other.

Luke Cage - Review

As previously noted, I didn't like this as much as the critics did. My guess is they are starved for socio-political commentary in comic book noir serials. And leapt on this like a bunch of starving kids seeing someone selling funnel wheels. It's funnel wheels...but hey, starving.

I've seen this sort of thing done better elsewhere. The first half of Luke Cage feels like a poorly written rip-off of The Wire. (If you haven't seen it? Go stream that instead. You can thank me later.) The second half, a poorly written commentary on Blaxploitation films of the 1970s.

To be fair, Luke Cage was Marvel comics reaction to the popular 1970s Blaxploitation films -- which were also commented on, albeit better by Quentin Tarantino with Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction.

The Marvel Comics back story on Luke Cage is that he becomes "a hero for hire" aka Powerman, marries Jessica Jone and has a child by her, and teams up with Iron Fist.

Throughout the television series, which is very noir, as were the Blaxploitation films of the 70s, Cage is referred to as either Powerman (a commentary on Black Power), and the bulletproof black man with a hoodie --- and a hero, a symbol of black male disenfranchisement. You also have various reference throughout to racial profiling.

Of the four series, Luke Cage has the most socio-political references. At times it stops everything and provides us with a lecture. The lecture either comes from Luke or one of the supporting characters. I actually think Daredevil and Jessica Jones handled it better, with less preaching. There's a lot of preaching going on in Luke Cage. Makes sense, considering the hero and the villain are sons of a southern baptist preacher.

The series suffers from some major league pacing issues. I kept falling asleep during it. We'd be in the height of action, and the writers would feel the need to do a music video. In which everyone is shown sitting around brooding while music is played in the background. OR we'd be treated to various and sundry press reports or speeches, mostly by Alfra Woodward's Councilwoman Mariah Dillard. All this slowed the action to a halt. And made it frustrating to watch. I started scanning past the speeches after a bit. This series was in desperate need of an editor.

The fight sequences also went on for too long. Luke Cage is gifted with skin that is bullet proof, he can't be effectively punched or shot, without special armor piercing bullets, called Judas Bullets.
So watching him fight is a bit like watching people fight a wall or battering ram. Also those no style to it. It's just punch and throw. Hardly as pretty or entertaining as Iron Fist and Daredevil's martial arts. No fancy leaps -- well unless you count Luke punching someone hard enough that they fly through the air, or when he throws people. I guess if you are into boxing it might be somewhat interesting.

There's a lot of unnecessary filler, which draws attention away from the characters and the story.

What works? Once again the female characters are by far the best developed and interesting. Misty Knight, the black female police detective who has a photographic memory and can visualize what happened just by looking at a photograph. She's also a basketball player. There's a history behind Misty and the show teases at it. The actress portraying the character is pitch perfect, world-weary and sharp. Unlike Mike Coulter, who plays the lead, you can see everything in her eyes and the lines in her face.

Then there's Rosaria Dawson's fourth or rather third turn as Clair Temple, who is developed even further in this entry, as a potential love interest for Luke, and a confidante. She's also kick-ass, and given family members and more of a back-story.

Alfre Woodward's Mariah Dillard is far more interesting than either of the male villains surrounding her. And her back-story more layered. She doesn't want to become the person she's being yanked into becoming by her family and her drive for power.

The cast is entirely black except for four or five characters, all supporting. And a lot of the cast comes from The Wire. Which is a nice shift, although hardly a stand-out. It's being done a lot now that we have over 450 scripted series, and POC have become a major marketing demographic. If this had popped up around the time The Wire did or fifteen years prior, yeah, big deal. Now? Which tells you how much things have changed and for the better.

There's various pop cultural references scattered throughout -- that highlight the trope that the writers are examining. They are also critic and academic bait. But I liked them and thought they added nuance to the series.

What did not work, besides the pacing and constant speechifying? Diamondback is an annoying villain. And poorly developed. By the time we get a back story, it's impossible to care. Shades, on the other hand, is more interesting. As was Cottonmouth, or Cornel Stokes, who had far more layers and in some respects felt more justified. Torn apart by guilt and resentment...his is almost a tragic story. It helps of course that he's portrayed by Marshala Ali of Moonlight.

And Mike Coulter, unfortunately, is not compelling as Cage. Pretty yes. But not compelling. It's telling when the villains are more compelling than he is. I half-wished this was Misty Knight's tale and not his.

Overall? Okay. Nothing to shout about. I probably won't stick around for S2.

Rankings?

Daredevil/Jessica Jones
Iron Fist
Luke Cage