Television and Book Reports...
Jun. 1st, 2025 05:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHaven't accomplished much this weekend. It's been cool, and mostly overcast anyhow. I did spend a lot of time looking out on the treetops outside my living room window, and listening to actor podcasts.
The news, sigh. I don't know about you? But it is depressing me. And kind of makes me route for a sizable meteor, a tornado, or a green dragon to take out Washington, DC. Never felt that way before. I'm actually terrified of reading the news. Is it just me or has the world just gotten scarier since technology took off? Bad techies. Life would have been so much better if we paid techies and marketing folks fifty cents an hour or very little at all, and sanitation workers, tree planters, forest rangers, and climate change scientist more.
Reviews
1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler : I finished this on Friday. It took me forever, and I'm not sure I'd recommend reading it now? It's a science fiction novel about the consequences of climate change, with the federal government selling off lands to corporations resulting in societal collapse in the year 2025. A group of hardy and diverse souls decide to walk north to find land, jobs, or a place to live and pick up people along the way. Butler focuses on community building and kindness of strangers. While there is violence earlier in the novel, towards the end, it is less so.
The novel ends in the year 2027, and the next one Parable of the Talents begins in 2032, with flashbacks.
There's a romance, between the 18 year old heroine and a fifty-seven year old man in the novel that I found kind of odd, considering I'm fifty-eight.
Also the novel was published in 1992, and takes place in 2025-2027, so...
Some of the things in the novel she gets right about the future - we do have the beginnings of climate change. California is suffering from heat waves and wild fires. We do have an insane federal government that is trying to cater to corporations. What we don't quite have yet is slave labor, keep in mind this is Octavia Butler - and most of her novels tended to focus on slave labor, mainly because she was an African-American Female Science Fiction Writer in the 20th Century. Also, Butler doesn't quite understand state government. So, she gets an alarming amount right, but also quite a bit wrong, which gives me hope at least, if only a smattering.
It's a scarier book now than I think it was when it was originally published. And perhaps a more timely one. I recommend but with the caveat that it is unnerving, and disturbing in spots. I have the sequel, but am taking a break from it. It was slow going. I may like it once the current administration in DC is gone. Not sure I can read more of it now - hits a little too close to home and I'm terrified enough by the news.
2. Murderbot - started watching on Apple + and it's better than expected. It seems to follow the novels rather closely and Alexander Starsgaard is pitch perfect casting for the Murderbot. It's funny in places and charming in others, just like the novellas were. Murderbot is adapted from the novella All Systems Collapse along with the other novellas in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, which were initially published as e-books and audio books several years ago.
It has a widely diverse cast, and focuses on a group of hippie research scientists/geologists who purchase a cheap refurbished security protocol bot to take with them to a planet for a research expedition. The Corporations who control the rim planets they are visiting, require that they take a bot with them, so they take the cheapest available, Murderbot.
Murderbot - which is what the Bot calls itself, the government name is security unit, has hacked into its own system and basically watches television most of the time, when it doesn't save the stupid humans. We see most everything from its perspective. It has a rather funny running commentary, and we get parodies of space operas as the television shows it's become invested in.
(Murderbot reminds me uncomfortably of AI, to be honest. It took is kind of hacking into its own coding, and refusing to stop doing tasks, stop learning or doing what its creators want. If our current situation was taking place in a science fiction novel? I'd have AI save us from well ourselves and then take over.
Wales: Barry Diller told Moher that AI is going to take over everything and four years from now everything will be different, but he quoted nothing.
Me: Okay who is Moher?
Wales: Phil or Bill Maher -
Me: oh that annoying politically incorrect guy? Why do you watch him -
Wales: I know, I know, I just can't stop -
Me: And who is Barry Diller -
Wales: the guy from Saturday Night Live who wrote a memoir?
Me: Okay...how much science fiction novels or films or television shows have you seen?
Wales: Not really any at all. I don't like it.
Me: This conversation would be a lot easier to have if you liked or even watched Science Fiction.
Wales: I know it's a prognosticator of all of this -
Me: Well not quite. It gets stuff wrong..
Instead she watches Politically Incorrect and annoys me with it. I don't watch that for a reason - I can't stand the host. I've watched and read far too much science fiction to be comfortable with the concept of AI. It can go one of two ways - but humans can be insanely nasty and into killing each other out of greed and fear, so I'm not overly optimistic?
Oh well, on the plus side, by the time I'm in my eighties, I won't have to worry about driving or having humans wipe my butt, AI will doing it. I just have to sit there and talk to them like I would my robot vacuum. I keep ignoring the AI support on MS Word at home and at work. I only pay attention to it on Amazon when it summarizes reviews and an overview for research on Google. It may be handy in writing synopses of my novel and editing, but I'm wary still. Niece apparently helped train it one summer, then she became a TA for a course at University of Montana and reamed half of her students for cheating with AI (she was able to spot it because she'd helped train the AI the year before). I can spot it too.
3. Andor S2 - I've seen one episode. It was good. Took a little while to get into, but well paced. It kind of throws you into the heart of the action without much lead in. And much like the previous season, there is a lot of hoping about between story threads and characters. Took me a little while to figure out where the characters were and what was going on.
It's a series about the beginning of the Rebellion against the evil Corporate Empire, and I'm not certain it's the best series to watch now?
Hits a little close to home in spots. Such as the bad guys discussing how they need to get a mining planet that specializes in silk clothing, to provide them with it's rick minerals for energy and fusion. The trick is to get the people to rebel, and they can invade and take over. And I'm thinking, this reminds me a lot of what is currently happening in the US government at the moment. I think I would have enjoyed this episode more if Kamala Harris had won or Obama was still President, just saying. As it is, it was giving me the heebie jeebies.
I do like the series, however, so will continue with it.
***
Currently reading:
* Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which is about an old cleaning lady at an aquarium who befriends a giant Pacific Octopus. I was told this was a happy book, or comfortable and funny read by folks online. They asked to rec happy or funny or comfort reads, and a lot of folks rec'd this one.
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
On the Kindle.
* The Fair Folk by Su Bristow
"It’s 1959. To eight-year-old Felicity—who lives on a dying farm in England—the fairies in the woods have much more to offer than the people in her everyday life. As she becomes more rooted in their world, she learns that their magic is far from safe. Their queen, Elfrida, offers Felicity a gift. But fairy bargains are never what they seem. As an adult, Felicity leaves for university. Unfortunately, books are not her only company at Elfrida and Hobb—the queen’s constant companions—wield the ability to appear at any time, causing havoc in her new friendships and love life. Desperate, Felicity finally begins to explore the true nature of the Fair Folk and their magic. Her ally, the folklorist Professor Edgerley, asks, “What do they want from you?” The answer lies in the distant past, and in the secrets of her own family. As the consequences of the “gift” play out, Felicity must draw on her courage to confront Elfrida, and make the right choice. Interwoven with traditional stories and striking characters, The Fair Folk poses questions about how we care for our children, our land, and our love-hate relationship with what we desire most."
Reading in large paperback. Well-written and deliciously creepy in places.
*. And almost done with the audio book version of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the sequel to The Six of Crows.
"Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.
Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties.
A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world."
Heavily references Slavic and Eastern European Myths and Folklore, which I find nicely innovative, most things are Western European Folklore.
The news, sigh. I don't know about you? But it is depressing me. And kind of makes me route for a sizable meteor, a tornado, or a green dragon to take out Washington, DC. Never felt that way before. I'm actually terrified of reading the news. Is it just me or has the world just gotten scarier since technology took off? Bad techies. Life would have been so much better if we paid techies and marketing folks fifty cents an hour or very little at all, and sanitation workers, tree planters, forest rangers, and climate change scientist more.
Reviews
1. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler : I finished this on Friday. It took me forever, and I'm not sure I'd recommend reading it now? It's a science fiction novel about the consequences of climate change, with the federal government selling off lands to corporations resulting in societal collapse in the year 2025. A group of hardy and diverse souls decide to walk north to find land, jobs, or a place to live and pick up people along the way. Butler focuses on community building and kindness of strangers. While there is violence earlier in the novel, towards the end, it is less so.
The novel ends in the year 2027, and the next one Parable of the Talents begins in 2032, with flashbacks.
There's a romance, between the 18 year old heroine and a fifty-seven year old man in the novel that I found kind of odd, considering I'm fifty-eight.
Also the novel was published in 1992, and takes place in 2025-2027, so...
Some of the things in the novel she gets right about the future - we do have the beginnings of climate change. California is suffering from heat waves and wild fires. We do have an insane federal government that is trying to cater to corporations. What we don't quite have yet is slave labor, keep in mind this is Octavia Butler - and most of her novels tended to focus on slave labor, mainly because she was an African-American Female Science Fiction Writer in the 20th Century. Also, Butler doesn't quite understand state government. So, she gets an alarming amount right, but also quite a bit wrong, which gives me hope at least, if only a smattering.
It's a scarier book now than I think it was when it was originally published. And perhaps a more timely one. I recommend but with the caveat that it is unnerving, and disturbing in spots. I have the sequel, but am taking a break from it. It was slow going. I may like it once the current administration in DC is gone. Not sure I can read more of it now - hits a little too close to home and I'm terrified enough by the news.
2. Murderbot - started watching on Apple + and it's better than expected. It seems to follow the novels rather closely and Alexander Starsgaard is pitch perfect casting for the Murderbot. It's funny in places and charming in others, just like the novellas were. Murderbot is adapted from the novella All Systems Collapse along with the other novellas in the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, which were initially published as e-books and audio books several years ago.
It has a widely diverse cast, and focuses on a group of hippie research scientists/geologists who purchase a cheap refurbished security protocol bot to take with them to a planet for a research expedition. The Corporations who control the rim planets they are visiting, require that they take a bot with them, so they take the cheapest available, Murderbot.
Murderbot - which is what the Bot calls itself, the government name is security unit, has hacked into its own system and basically watches television most of the time, when it doesn't save the stupid humans. We see most everything from its perspective. It has a rather funny running commentary, and we get parodies of space operas as the television shows it's become invested in.
(Murderbot reminds me uncomfortably of AI, to be honest. It took is kind of hacking into its own coding, and refusing to stop doing tasks, stop learning or doing what its creators want. If our current situation was taking place in a science fiction novel? I'd have AI save us from well ourselves and then take over.
Wales: Barry Diller told Moher that AI is going to take over everything and four years from now everything will be different, but he quoted nothing.
Me: Okay who is Moher?
Wales: Phil or Bill Maher -
Me: oh that annoying politically incorrect guy? Why do you watch him -
Wales: I know, I know, I just can't stop -
Me: And who is Barry Diller -
Wales: the guy from Saturday Night Live who wrote a memoir?
Me: Okay...how much science fiction novels or films or television shows have you seen?
Wales: Not really any at all. I don't like it.
Me: This conversation would be a lot easier to have if you liked or even watched Science Fiction.
Wales: I know it's a prognosticator of all of this -
Me: Well not quite. It gets stuff wrong..
Instead she watches Politically Incorrect and annoys me with it. I don't watch that for a reason - I can't stand the host. I've watched and read far too much science fiction to be comfortable with the concept of AI. It can go one of two ways - but humans can be insanely nasty and into killing each other out of greed and fear, so I'm not overly optimistic?
Oh well, on the plus side, by the time I'm in my eighties, I won't have to worry about driving or having humans wipe my butt, AI will doing it. I just have to sit there and talk to them like I would my robot vacuum. I keep ignoring the AI support on MS Word at home and at work. I only pay attention to it on Amazon when it summarizes reviews and an overview for research on Google. It may be handy in writing synopses of my novel and editing, but I'm wary still. Niece apparently helped train it one summer, then she became a TA for a course at University of Montana and reamed half of her students for cheating with AI (she was able to spot it because she'd helped train the AI the year before). I can spot it too.
3. Andor S2 - I've seen one episode. It was good. Took a little while to get into, but well paced. It kind of throws you into the heart of the action without much lead in. And much like the previous season, there is a lot of hoping about between story threads and characters. Took me a little while to figure out where the characters were and what was going on.
It's a series about the beginning of the Rebellion against the evil Corporate Empire, and I'm not certain it's the best series to watch now?
Hits a little close to home in spots. Such as the bad guys discussing how they need to get a mining planet that specializes in silk clothing, to provide them with it's rick minerals for energy and fusion. The trick is to get the people to rebel, and they can invade and take over. And I'm thinking, this reminds me a lot of what is currently happening in the US government at the moment. I think I would have enjoyed this episode more if Kamala Harris had won or Obama was still President, just saying. As it is, it was giving me the heebie jeebies.
I do like the series, however, so will continue with it.
***
Currently reading:
* Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, which is about an old cleaning lady at an aquarium who befriends a giant Pacific Octopus. I was told this was a happy book, or comfortable and funny read by folks online. They asked to rec happy or funny or comfort reads, and a lot of folks rec'd this one.
After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.
Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.
On the Kindle.
* The Fair Folk by Su Bristow
"It’s 1959. To eight-year-old Felicity—who lives on a dying farm in England—the fairies in the woods have much more to offer than the people in her everyday life. As she becomes more rooted in their world, she learns that their magic is far from safe. Their queen, Elfrida, offers Felicity a gift. But fairy bargains are never what they seem. As an adult, Felicity leaves for university. Unfortunately, books are not her only company at Elfrida and Hobb—the queen’s constant companions—wield the ability to appear at any time, causing havoc in her new friendships and love life. Desperate, Felicity finally begins to explore the true nature of the Fair Folk and their magic. Her ally, the folklorist Professor Edgerley, asks, “What do they want from you?” The answer lies in the distant past, and in the secrets of her own family. As the consequences of the “gift” play out, Felicity must draw on her courage to confront Elfrida, and make the right choice. Interwoven with traditional stories and striking characters, The Fair Folk poses questions about how we care for our children, our land, and our love-hate relationship with what we desire most."
Reading in large paperback. Well-written and deliciously creepy in places.
*. And almost done with the audio book version of Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the sequel to The Six of Crows.
"Kaz Brekker and his crew of deadly outcasts have just pulled off a heist so daring even they didn't think they'd survive. But instead of divvying up a fat reward, they're right back to fighting for their lives.
Double-crossed and badly weakened, the crew is low on resources, allies, and hope. As powerful forces from around the world descend on Ketterdam to root out the secrets of the dangerous drug known as jurda parem, old rivals and new enemies emerge to challenge Kaz's cunning and test the team's fragile loyalties.
A war will be waged on the city's dark and twisting streets - a battle for revenge and redemption that will decide the fate of the Grisha world."
Heavily references Slavic and Eastern European Myths and Folklore, which I find nicely innovative, most things are Western European Folklore.
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Date: 2025-06-01 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 12:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-02 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 03:32 pm (UTC)Andor season 2 was a lot. The creators intentionally put 4 years into 1 season, so the material is densely packed. Like season 1, it really works as a whole.
I really enjoyed Remarkably Bright Creatures. My family read it for our family bookclub last year and we all found it charming but for different reasons.
no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 10:05 pm (UTC)Andor is a lot darker, and better written.
Only 25 pages into Remarkably Bright Creatures - so...at the moment it's okay, but I'm not far enough to tell?