2021-02-01 02:22:26

Okay it's currently after midnight here in the benighted kingdom, which means that one twelth part of 2021 is officially over, ---- and to be honest if the rest goes this way I dam well hope that it goes quick.
Never mind all those "happy new year", and "may it be better than the last", thoughts we were having a month ago, since so far things have been pretty crappy over here, lots more corona, arguments with Europe about exporting vaccines, albeit hopefully America is going to calm down now.

unfortunately, we've seen a lot of tragedy. My lady's been rather unwell for the past few weeks, and though (hopefully), a hospital appointment she had completely sorted the problem out, equally this was at a hospital which was a corona hotspot, so she's worried.
Combine this with the fact that her father died this week of Corona, and she's not having a great time right now, albeit we're glad her health problems seem to be resolved, assuming we can dodge the virus of course.

Just to make things even more cheerful, My cousin, his entire family, and my uncle (the same uncle who fell down stairs early in January and got a really bad injury), now all have corona as well.

so pretty dire over here, though we're still doing what we can as far as staying in extreme lockdown goes.

Other than that not to much to report. I have been doing some more gaming which is nice, albeit still playing erion, I recently bought and finished fury driver moonwalks, and have got back into slay the spire, hopefully I can also get back to db editing soon.

Reading wise, I've been on brandon Sanderson's rhythm of war for the last week or so, which has been good, albeit not quite as compelling as the others, in particular, sanderson's writing style seems a bit rough, directly talking about "mental illness", and using words like "electricuted", or describing someone as a "teen", which are definitely odd in a fantasy setting.

Also, though I've loved the way he has dealt with Kaladin's mental illness in the past, the fact that he's talking about it very directly here makes things less, rather than more effective.
that being said, we've still had some nice scenes, a lot of interesting world building, and at least some character changes, albeit this is the first stormlight book which I'd not class as really exceptional or compelling.

Good yes, worth reading yes, but not quite with that magic quality the first three had.

I'm also introducing my lady to buffy the vampire slayer and angel, which is proving fun, it's also nice for me to get the audio described versions, since while I own the standard, none described series on dvd and watched it that way before, it's nice to get the immediate description of what's going on.

That's pretty much it to report over here, since as I said, the lockdown very much continues, so not a lot new is happening, heck, even my application for a second guide dog now that Reever has retired is very much on hold, and the less said about those brainless illiterate troglodytes whom web zine publishers employ as editors, the better.

Hope everyone else is having a slightly less dismal time.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2021-02-01 04:06:31

Well, I still have about, 2 hours and a minute when I started writing this, but my birthday is this month. its nothing to be overly excited for, but its a blessing to live another year. This is also one of the coldest months in this country, so I'm happy about that also. I like the cold.
In some grimish corona news, the largest Trinidadian festival, Carnival which is usually hosted in this month was cancelled due to the virus. Corona literally cancelled one of the most nationalistic patriotic things about us, but hey, at least we can still go to the beach. Funny enough, this may be the first ash Wednesday when people actually attend school lol. January was quite quiet on this end, the deaths started to go up, but not as bad as Britain or the USA. People are still being alarmed about it, but in alot of cases its just politically charged. Speaking of politically charged, a few days ago, Tobago had their local election, and it resulted in a a draw. The Tobago nationalist/regionalist party, the PDP technically won by like 80 votes, however the Union party, which is the party that lead Trinidad to independence, and the current governing party nationally picked up 6 seats, and as i mentioned, slightly less votes, but since both parties won 6 seats nobody knows who really won the election yet. There isn't anything in the constitution that deals with this sorta thing. Personally, I think the PDP should be given the chief secretaryship, and that's me a unionist, but its alot of bickering between the old idiots.

Also dark, great to see you starting the monthly discussion again, haven't seen you do it in a while. Eiterways, cheers for the rest of the month everyone

You ain't done nothin' if you ain't been cancelled
_____
I'm working on a playthrough series of the space 4X game Aurora4x. Find it here

2021-02-01 04:52:15

@ same. if you don't mind wen is your birthday?, mine is on the seventh. and i really like the cold as well.

Bach is an astronomer, discovering the most marvelous stars. Beethoven challenges the universe. I only try to express the soul and the heart of man."
― Frederic Chopin.

2021-02-01 06:09:27 (edited by George_Gaylord 2021-02-01 06:10:04)

@3, the 11TH. I know there's someone else on this forum whose birthday is also the 11TH of Frebruary, but can't remember.

You ain't done nothin' if you ain't been cancelled
_____
I'm working on a playthrough series of the space 4X game Aurora4x. Find it here

2021-02-01 11:35:54

well here corona's going downhill, if it does stay like that, our schools, univercitys and nearlly all things will open.
AA in gaming, well i am playing eurofly, my gole's unlock an autopilot, now i'm on task 4.5 and it's not any easy tho.

Yours kindly

2021-02-01 11:47:18

Weeeelp 2021 has already been pretty eventful for me. I got kicked out of my parent's house, and am right now staying at a friend's place I will probably have to move out of soon as well. Can school, like, open already? Please? Pretty please?

2021-02-01 16:42:00

@Dark: Yeah, the "may this year be better than the last" was really annoying.
Corona-wise, even though Austria is in a lockdown (don't mind the 5000-people protest march and the open skiing resorts *irony*), numbers of new infections haven't really gone down that much. And a lot of other crazy shit has been going down here in Austria, but explaining that would go into too much detail. Oh, and universities have been closed roghly since October/November, so far no word from the government about universities.

Greetings and happy gaming, Julian

If you say you never lie, you're a liar.
Oh, and #freeGCW

2021-02-01 21:35:34

Well, the current data would make you believe that the cases in India have gone down from the numbers around September to November quarter, however I believe that people are simply are not tested anymore properly these days.

Also, the arrival of the vaccine, undoubtedly is a great news, the fears of the public have still been not abated, especially keeping in mind the news related with my state's trial in the previous month's topic.

Aside from that, there's a lot of political maneuvering going on currently, because some people screwed things up in the heat of their passions, or some other people screwed it for them and blamed it on them...

Thankfully, I do seems to be progressing nicely in my plans, writing my fanfic, planning to open a blog where I would review anime, and movies and even tv series. I do want to have enough content by the time I open the blog, so I would be able to post something weakly at least.

Visibility is important, you see.

Also, I picked up The Color of Magic, my first ever Discworld book. Many people are telling me that I have started a ride which I won't be forgetting any time soon.

@JayJay and all those who like cold:
How unfortunate that I like the warmer seasons more. (Please note that I said warmer seasons, not blistering hot seasons.)

@Dark:
You may deal with all of your problems successfully, is all I can hope for. Also, congrats on opening the new monthly discussion topic! Haven't seen you for a while, glad to see you active.

2021-02-02 02:38:22

@8, keep in mind cold for me is 26C in the daytime lmao

You ain't done nothin' if you ain't been cancelled
_____
I'm working on a playthrough series of the space 4X game Aurora4x. Find it here

2021-02-02 08:15:19

I have spend the last 3 days cursing myself after I stupidly managed to destroy my pc. I hate 2021.

I used to be an aventurer like you. Then I took a knee in the arrow.

2021-02-02 10:43:37

Well, I've been doing fine. My birthday's on the 12th. Cases are pretty low here, about 250/day, then again I live in a country that has a population of 1.3m. Latvia and Lithuania are doing pretty bad though.
Hoping everyone's life situations get a lot better sooner than later.

"Snake, don't worry about it. There's more to being a good person than just having a stereo television."

2021-02-02 19:15:20

I usually don't reply here but just to add one more birthday on the list lets go, :-)
my birthday is on the 15th, usually I celebrate with my friends but, well? lets see how it goes this time.

allow me to speak more,
catch me on Twitter
or, Mastodon

2021-02-02 21:20:19

:d, myne is the 4th
well, we still have part lockdown , curfews at weekends, but we started to recover.

2021-02-03 13:55:26

@1 and 6, oof. sorry to hear that. I hope what ever you are going true gets better.

I am a divine being. I can be called a primordial deity, but that might be pushing it, a smidge. I am the only one of my kind to have ten tails, with others having nine. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I have ascended my own race.

2021-02-04 06:02:23

@Gaki_shonen, thanks for the good wishes.
@Haily, that sounds pretty dire with circumstances, hope your new move eases things off.

@Dark eagle, good luck with the blog. I've thought about starting one myself, perhaps doing some rereads of books, reviews or articles, but not sure about  how to get a good readership. There was a point I also looked at working for tor.com, but tor.com really is the insane end of sjw where they literally hate anyone with a y chromosome who isn't gay, so though I have the qualifications to prove it, I've never had a reply, which is a shame since a full reread of William Horwood's Duncton, or some disability related analyses of characters like Jordi laforge are just the sort of thing I could have done, and something which would have meshed well with some of the saner content on the site, as well as been a good way for me to get into publishing. Oh well, publishers are arse holes, and tor.com are bigger arseholes than most.

I have banged out the odd article on the blog for fantasybookreview.co.uk, right now am working one on the idea of deus ex machina.

In other news, I finished rhythm of war, and okay, sanderson did have a couple of cool characters and one plot twist which I didn't expect. However, given that the book didn't have the driving quality and absolute grimness of the first three, Kaladin's usual "I can't save everyone, oh look, I'm suddenly a super hero", for the first time in the series was starting to irritate me, as was the rather obvious way Sanderson took Shalon's plot. The past flashbacks, while interesting for background didn't really tell us anything new or provide major game changers, the way that Kaladin, shalon and especially Dalinar's stories had, then again Dalinar's past story recounted in Oath bringer is one of the cleverest bits of character writing I've seen in literature, taking a character we love and showing just how dam horrible he used to be, so I can't knock this too much.

the book  also short changed a number of characters, and had a few too blatantly preachy passages, although a few other bits and relationships (especially Nivani's), were fantastic.

IN general though, not as good as the rest of the series, though still worth reading, albie there were some major plot developments that made me want to go on to the next book.

Not too much else to report. Hopefully as my lady is getting to the 8 day mark with no symptoms, she avoided Corona at the hospital, though we're still being dam careful about shielding. Actually, it does look like (import arguements aside), the government are actually being vaguely sensible about lockdown in so far as having one, rather than the wishy washy nonsense with some places opening (like car show rooms), and some places not and people not knowing what was going on.

The lockdown is apparently starting to have an effect, though Christmas has put a bit of a dent in it, so hopefully things will improve, assuming some idiot doesn't complain and want to end things too early again, and in the mean time my lady and I will keep up with as much shielding as possible.
Indeed, this latest sstrain is getting a bit closer to home, my uncle is apparently seriously ill, and while he might recover, chances aren't good, which makes my cousin feel pretty bad, and of course with my father in law having corona, we're worried about my lady's family in the states where the lockdown hasn't been quite as rigidly observed.

Oh, and as a general bit of national news, Captain Tom More, (although he was promoted to full colonel, and even knighted by the end), the old soldier who raised over forty million quid last year, walking around his  garden 100 times in his walking frame, to celebrate his hundredth birthday apparently died yesterday.

Sad news, and doubly ironic that he died of covid, although if you can say going out in a blaze of glory?

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2021-02-04 14:22:20

@omer, happy birthday man. hope you get lots of presents and cake and ice-cream. and have fun

I am a divine being. I can be called a primordial deity, but that might be pushing it, a smidge. I am the only one of my kind to have ten tails, with others having nine. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I have ascended my own race.

2021-02-07 13:26:51

So, I finished The Color of Magic, and let me say that I don't want tourists like Rincewind and Twoflower in my city.

Because every single place they visited, they caused so many problems. Now, I wonder how the second book would turn out?

2021-02-07 23:44:14

Funny to think of you reading colour of magic now big_smile.
But yeah, rincewind remains sort of a walking disaster. he's not actually my favourite diskworld character for all lots of the books with him are rather fun.

It makes me very old to think of you reading colour of magic now, since I read it first myself back in the nineties, although as I didn't have access to propper reading order lists back then,  and the RNIB were rather stupid about sending books in correct order, I wound up starting with Pyramids big_smile.

Interestingly enough, colour of magic gets a lot of flack, but I actually enjoyed it, even more so when I read it quite a bit later and recognised some of the older fantasy novels it was paradying, such as the hole worm berg section being a take off of Anne McCafffry, or the hole belshaharoth hing being a lovecraft micky take, although there was more than enough of cool bits of descriptions, crazy occurrences and just general weird insane fun to enjoy on it's own.

Light fantastic isn't imho as good as colour of magic, though it still has it's fun bits, especially conina the barbarian and some of the micky takes of arabian nights.

Equal rights, when I last read it was a bit of a slower story, though nicer for being less frenetic, albeit the granny weatherwax of equal rights is very different to the one we got later.

Mort however, the fourth diskworld book is completely awesome, especially because it centres around death, and none of the first three are actually bad or disappointing, just a little obviously an author finding his feet in a new setting, after all colour of magic was originally going to be a stand alone.

Be interested to hear what you think to the others.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2021-02-08 08:57:04

The Luggage is my favorite character from those first two books. I'm currently on Soul Music and I like Death very much as well.

2021-02-08 11:55:00

Yeah, the luggage is hilarious, indeed I loved the comedy return of the luggage in interesting times.
I think Hog father is still my favourite death novel, though I do enjoy many of them. Soul music in particular didn't seem to get Susan quite the way she turned out later, and I was sorry one character from Soul music never shows up again, also I give Pratchet lots of credit in Soul music for doing rock n roll jokes that even someone like me, who is only casually aware of rock music could get, albeit soul music is one of the more extreme diskworld books for doing what my friend once accused pratchett of doing way to often, and having unguessable endings solved by cosmic craziness, then laughing at the reader for not guessing them.

Then again, much as I love some of the early diskworld books for their breathless excitement and fun, I did enjoy it on those occasions Pratchett goes a little darker, like small gods.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2021-02-11 11:22:02

Happy birthday @JayJay!

"Snake, don't worry about it. There's more to being a good person than just having a stereo television."

2021-02-11 13:12:00

Thanks 21, 3 more years

You ain't done nothin' if you ain't been cancelled
_____
I'm working on a playthrough series of the space 4X game Aurora4x. Find it here

2021-02-11 14:17:32 (edited by Dark 2021-02-11 14:20:16)

@Jayjay, didn't realise it's your birthday. Cool.
I'd wish you many happy returns, accept that we don't want the virus to return once it's gone, still I hope you have a better time than I did last year which has to rank as one of my crappiest birthdays ever, then again, the older you get, the crappier your birthdays get, since rather than marking milestones in coming of age they mark how much of a boring old fart your becoming.

now get off my lawn you meddling kids! grumble grumble!

Btw, speaking of boring, not too much to report, accept that my lady is getting her corona virus vaccine tomorrow.
Her cancer has hopefully gone by this point, but one consequence of her getting on the health risk list, is getting higher in the vaccine cue, which is a good thing, since she is prone to getting ill, as witness the start of this year.

Not that we're exactly planning to go galivanting around once she had it, likely extreme lockdown rules will continue, but it will be a good thing.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2021-02-13 10:55:43

So, I just finished The Light Fantastic, and I kind of think that it was a great book to conclude the trip of the first ever tourist.

I also feel that in general this book had much more better plot, since
Pratchett actually subverted the tropes which he was parodying. I also like the character development the characters have gone through. Rincewind may not be the best main character, but still, he did grew between the two books, from a greedy selfish wizard, to someone who went to the house of death to save Twoflower, he has come far in these two books.

Now, let's see what Equal Rights has to offer me.

2021-02-13 14:55:11 (edited by Dark 2021-02-13 14:55:24)

@Dark eagle, your comments about rincewind growing are a little sad in retrospect, since everytime we seem him from the series here after, he's doing exactly the same thing.
he really annoyed me in lost continent where he's given not one, not two, but about five different opportunities to move on with his life, even a young lady whose interested in him, but he just goes back to the same old "I'm a coward, I just want a quiet life", schtick that we've seen before.


I wouldn't go so far as saying he spoils the books he's in, but he's probably my least favourite of the recurring dw characters.

Equal rights is a slower, more introspective story, it's a bit jarring in that the granny weatherwax you see in equal rights is slightly different to her later portrayal, aalso, much of the main point of the book and it's conflict don't really show up until the end, but it's a fun story nonetheless.


Mrs. Dark had her vaccine today, which is a good thing. I don't know if I'll be getting one, as I'm living with someone whose on the vulnerable list, but either way, it's a relief, and we're probably going to celibrate by rewatching onward and having some chinese grub.
it's not really the valentines day we would have chosen, but it will be fun nevertheless.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)