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1. In the round-up of posts regarding best and worst of 2017...this post on Facebook, made me very happy.

2. The best thing that I saw over the holiday weekend was probably the second season of Netflix's The Crown. I don't know how accurate it is, but it's depiction of marriage...was compelling.
Also it provided a great deal of insight into Prince Philip, not to mention family life such as it was. After watching it, I found that I understood a few things better. Such as the fact that Britain is not a Republic or a Democracy, but a Constitutional Monarchy. (Actually nowhere is a pure democracy, as far as I know...I may be missing a country out there somewhere..., we're all either Republics or Constitutional Monarchy's, some are dictatorships (see North Korea and China).) A Constitutional Monarchy -- is basically where the monarchy stands above the political system, they don't rule, but they do have the power to intervene if need be. Elizabeth chose her father's route, which was to not interfere and stay aloof from it all. I have a feeling her sister, and her uncle the Duke of Windsor/Prince of Wales, probably would have interfered more. They liked the power and privileges, while Elzabeth and her father seemed to want nothing to do with it, and were to an extent "reluctant" monarchs. In discussing this with my parents, who I watched it with over the holidays on their huge tv, we agreed that if it had been her sister or the Duke of Windsor in charge -- Britain may have been forced to do away with the monarchy. There's certainly indications of that happening prior to Prince of Wales abdicating the thrown, mainly because he was proving to be a bit of a foreign policy problem (in that he was collaborating with the Nazis and providing them with state secrets.) Reluctant monarchs saved the monarchy in Britain. (Ironic.)

Anyhow the series was tight, informative, and compelling. By far one of the best things I've seen this year.

3. My mother and I agree that Greatest Showman, despite what the critics think, was far more entertaining than The Last Jedi.

And both were more entertaining than the musical "Newsies" whose appeal continues to be lost on me. Why this musical has such a huge fandom, I've no clue. I'm guessing it's the dancing? But the musical adaptation of the Irish film "Billy Elliot" was far better, dance, story, song, etc. And as a film and musical.

We saw the musical "Newsies" at the Arts Center on Hilton Head Island, and almost nodded off during it. My father had to leave towards the end -- too long sitting kills his back.

4. Just finished reading the third in Illona Andrews latest series -- The Nevada Baylor Series, "Wildfire" and it...well, it's okay. No where near as good as the Kate Daniels books. If you didn't like the Kate Daniels series, don't even bother with this one. The writer has a few annoying quirks, that initially aren't but become so over time.

This is a word of warning to writers out there. Be careful of repetitive writing quirks or slang.
If you find yourself always using a specific slang word, phrase, etc - stop it. It takes your reader out of the story or post.

Illona Andrews quirk? Apparently all her characters say "Aha". It doesn't matter who they are -- they think "aha".

If you are doing that? Start editing yourself. Or find someone who will. A good editor gets rid of these things. (Why her editor hasn't caught them is beyond me. But I've been wondering about the quality of editors lately. Or if editors even do editing any longer...)

What I'm reading now

Was re-reading and mainly editing my sci-fi novel to date. (It's not finished, it's getting close though.) Because I can't read anything I write without editing it. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and think everything I write requires substantial improvement.

Anyhow, I decided after some discussion to leave my work in progress with my mother -- to read. She's actually the best reader I've had. Usually can tell me what works and what doesn't work. And rather objectively, believe it or not.

I may live to regret it. We shall see.

So, gave up on that and am reading a rather dull Corporate Contemporary Romance between two economists/financial experts. What's interesting about the book is that it takes place in Sweden and everyone is Swedish. This is rare. Most romance novels either take place in Britain or the US. Rarely do you find one that takes place elsewhere, particularly Sweden. Other than that it's pretty formulaic. Wounded hero, who is a corporate raider, seeking vengeance against the heroine's family.
Heroine with serious Daddy issues (her father is a misogynist and racist power mogul). I was going to give up, then, something about it seemed to provide insight into Trump and his cronies...so I kept going. (The flaw of the hero is his ego or need to be better than everyone who bullied him.)

It's not very good. Although has gotten good reviews...which is odd. I think whoever published this book is an expert at marketing and promotion. Shame they didn't put that expertise towards actual editing and writing.

Doctor Who - Christmas Special

Finally saw The Doctor Who - Christmas Special, and I liked it. It wasn't quite what I expected but it worked, revisiting and re-emphasizing various year-long themes, such as "be kind", war is pointless, and hate foolish, while love is wise. And...patriarchial values and belief systems have resulted in a toxicity that could very well destroy us all, if we let it.

( Read more... )

It's the end of the RT Davies/Stephen Moffat/Mark Gatiss era of the series. So a quick rundown of what I liked most about it.

I have to admit, I'm more of a Moffat than RT Davies fan. So came into the fandom late as a result.
I honestly couldn't figure out the appeal until Moffat's Blink, Silence in the Library and Forests of the Dead. Although I did like The Empty Child. RT Davies was a bit too sentimental for my taste, and I felt a bit on the preachy side. Also the lonely god theme felt old and tired, a trope that I wanted to see exploded and subverted. Enter Stephen Moffat, who basically did just that -- he not only did it, he questioned the trope, and the consequences of playing that role. Moffat basically showed the rot under that romantic trope, and why it did not work. YMMV. I know a lot of people online adored RT Davies Who. But it didn't work for me. I did however like Davies "Torchwood" spin-off, and the miniseries that followed it. (Not both of them, just the one entitled Children of God, I think.) Torchwood and Captain Jack Harkness was a better fit for Davies than Who.

My favorite Doctor Who is a tie between Eccleston and Capadali. I liked Eccleston (Nine) bad boy, dark leather jacket, edginess, and Capadali's wacky old man charm.

My favorite companions? A tie between Amy/Rory and Bill Potts. I liked Donna but hated how Davies handled the character's arc. Rose didn't work for me at all (neither the actress nor the character and I gave up on the series for a bit). The middle one did work, but she felt somehow underdeveloped, as if the writers weren't sure what to do with her. Clara? Not crazy about the actress or the character. (Skipped over most of her episodes as well). Amy/Rory arc worked for me, and I loved both actors. Also adore Pearl Mackie's Bill Potts. Who exuded warmth and delight in every scene she was in.

My favorite non-companion recurring character? River Song. Adore this character. Favorite character in the series. I shipped this character hard.

Most of the non-companion recurring characters I liked -- Nardol grew on me, as did Captain Jack, and
Missy (who was much better in the last season) and my favorite version of the Master since the old guy, who I think was played by Derek Jacobi but probably am wrong about that. (There's two British actors that look alike that I keep confusing.).

Favorite episodes? The Empty Child, Listen, Blink, Family of Blood, The Human Condition, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Let's Kill Hitler, A Good Man Goes to War, The Girl Who Waited, The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song, The Many Husbands of River Song, The Doctor's Wife,
and Pilot.

Favorite Season? Don't know. I own the second part of Season 4, the complete Sixth Season, and Season 7 (Part I). I know a lot of people didn't like Season 6 and don't think it makes sense, but I rather enjoyed it (and to be honest, I had begun to hand-wave the plotting and science of Doctor Who a while back, because much like Star Wars franchise, it doesn't make a lot of sense most of the time. It's like a soap opera, you just sort of except the fact that the writers don't care that much about continuity and tight plot arcs. Actually having a deep love of the soap genre helps a great deal in this regard. You accept it makes no sense, that isn't really supposed to, and move on. The focus is really on theme and metaphor. It's fairy tale not science.)

Have I read fanfic on it? Yes, for a bit I read River Song fanfic. But nothing outside of that. I think I read a Rose Tyler one once because a friend wrote it.

Favorite Ship? The Tardis. Or the Doctor/Tardis. I'm not really a romantic shipper for Who. He seemed rather adrogynous to me somehow. I don't know why. In part, it's how Tennant and Smith played him. Capadali as well. Eccleston is the only one who didn't play him that way, and Eccleston left the role early on due to creative differences. While I liked Eccleston in the role...I honestly think Smith/Tennant's takes were closer to the writer's vision, along with Capadali's. Hence the reason they were in it longer.


I'd admittedly given up on Doctor Who for a bit, but this season brought me back and I find I'm intrigued to see what Chinball and Jodi Whitaker will bring to it.

Last Jedi Links and a bit on what Last Jedi and Doctor Who have in common

1. From elisi - This is not Going to Go The Way You Think - The Last Jedi is a Subversive AF and I Am Here For it.

( spoilers ahoy )

* I kinda love Whil Wheaton -- his blog post I agree with for the most part. (I thought the action sequences went on too long. And no, cramming two movies into one isn't always a good thing.) - This is non-spoilery.

* We Need to Talk About Last Jedi Controversy

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* Crazy Long Rolling Stone Interview with Mark Hamil and Rian Johnson

*
The Star Wars Last Jedi Backlash Controversy Explained

Some interesting passages from this link are below:

The Last Jedi is more or less a metaphorical depiction of the baby boomer generation (a generation that featured a lot of white dudes — good and bad — in positions of power) handing off leadership roles to younger generations, particularly millennials, who tend to be more racially diverse and to advocate having more women in positions of power. The series’ millennial good guys are a young white woman, a black man, a woman of Asian descent, and a Latino man, while its millennial bad guys are two white dudes.

( spoilers )