tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25249566027944991642024-02-19T01:23:19.834-08:00Specnologyscience, technology, speculative fictionAnassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.comBlogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-18359457072913939772013-04-10T07:00:00.000-07:002013-04-10T07:00:11.215-07:00The Inalienable Rights of Dragons, EverywhereMan, it's been a while since I've posted something. Oops. Seriously, I've meant to put something up, but … yeah. Sorry.<br />
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Now that that's out of the way (and hopefully the apology's accepted, not that I really need one), it's review time! This week it's not a book, but a series, and a series I'm three books behind in to boot. But it's entirely and absolutely made of awesome, so I'm going to tell you about it anyway.<br />
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Also, please, if you've read these books, no spoilers. All I know of books 5–7 is what's on their back covers, which are, predictably, non-commital as to plot and such-like. I'd like to keep it that way.<br />
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I picked up the first book in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temeraire_(series)">Temeraire series </a>by Naomi Novik because I needed something to read, it was in the library, and I'd vaguely heard it was good. Also because it had dragons, and I'm a sucker for dragons. Some people go for fairies or mermaids or werewolves. I go for dragons.* It was a really good read, but not a great enough one to compel me to the nearest library/bookstore for the second book. But eventually I ended up in front of <i>Throne of Jade</i> in a bookstore and, through fond memories, bought it. The way Novik expanded on the world, characters, and themes of the first book hooked me and I've been reading roughly a book a year ever since.**</div>
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The premise of the series is this: Captain William Laurence of the Royal Navy captures a French ship that's transporting a dragon's egg to Napoleon. The egg hatches before Laurence's ship reaches England and the hatchling imprints on Laurence. Laurence and Temeraire, the dragon, are drafted into the Aerial Corps, which means culture shock (the Corps is permissive compared to the Navy), a steep learning curve, distrust on both sides, and the requisite thrilling aerial battles. Every book takes place in a different area of the world, so we see how different cultures deal with having tamed and/or domesticated dragons. Which is utterly fascinating, but not why I've come to love the series. </div>
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I love the series because it's about a proper, upper-class British citizen (and a dragon) discovering human rights and becoming rights activists. Except for "human", I mean "dragon". The way Novik's coaxed Laurence from "dragons are brute animals" to "dragons are sentient beings and deserve better than we're treating them" is fantastic, subtle, and fascinating. <i>And I'm three books behind!</i> Novik writes Laurence's point-of-view so convincingly that more often than not, I didn't notice anything was "wrong" about the treatment of dragons until Laurence did. And then I was as shocked and appalled as he was, though I'm not sure I can credit that to Novik's writing quite so much. I think that's more a "decent person" thing. Ditto my rooting for Laurence and Temeraire to prevail as activists.<br />
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Novik's obviously put a lot of thought and research into the alternate history, from how air forces would change military battles, to how the different cultures treat dragons and how having dragons has changed those cultures, to how the Aerial Corps is structured and how Laurence doesn't quite fit in there due to his naval background. I keep thinking "Of course they'd do that" and "Now that's interesting!" and I love when books blow my mind that way. That's what speculative fiction should do <i>all the time.</i><br />
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Which is not to say the world-building is without fault. I read somewhere—though of course don't remember where now—a criticism that the world should be more different if everyone's had tame dragons since Roman times, that it's more like Novik's dropped dragons into the early 19th century Europe of our timeline. I don't know enough about history to contest that. And there's also been criticism (said to me, personally) that the punctuation is neither modern-day or period appropriate, to which I say, "Quibbles! It works for me!" But if you're going to be thrown out of the story by a mis-used semi-colon, consider yourself warned. Also things tend to fall out in Laurence and Temeraire's favour***, but hey, that's simple Protagonist Syndrome. Otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, the books are pretty much perfect.<br />
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To say anything further would spoil the books for you guys. I hope I've convinced you to check out the series (it starts with <i>His Majesty's Dragon</i>, a.k.a. <i>Temeraire</i>). I've nearly convinced myself to start the next book already, even though I have so much else I want to be reading right this second.<br />
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No, seriously, go read these books. I mean it.</div>
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* Also fairies, but the vaguely creepy, morally grey ones of folklore, rather than the twee things from new age stores and Disney movies.</div>
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** I don't like reading series books back-to-back very often, because I feel they lose some of their flavour.</div>
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*** But not always, and they don't always get the easy road to success either.</div>
Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-59353981240563338962013-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:002013-01-24T07:00:09.796-08:00Without Batman's HelpThe Major Crimes Unit of the Gotham Police Department deals with the same stuff any MCU deals with—except that where most cops only have to handle run-of-the-mill thugs, thieves, and murders, the Gotham PD have to deal with the Joker, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman. And, of course, they want to do it alone, without Batman's help.<br />
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I'm a sucker for police dramas and procedurals. I'm a sucker for superheroes. How could I not pick up <i>Gotham Central</i>? I'm glad I did, too. The writing's fantastic. (I'm not an artist so can't/won't comment on the art, except to say it does what it needs to.) The book ended too quickly, in the sense of "but, but, why can't there be more" rather than, "that didn't get tied up well." It was definitely tied up well.<br />
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The first trade paperback of the series, a.k.a. the only one I've read so far because I'm trying <i>not</i> to buy every book in the universe at the moment, comprises two distinct stories, each focusing on a different detective and introducing us to the dynamics of the MCU. The stories pull you on as you get sucked into the characters and their problems, and provide a few good "Omigosh no! That can't happen!" moments*. The writing is so tight the book feels like it should be longer, considering how much is in there. The dialogue is the kind of punchy you'd expect from a good TV show, but sounds human. I've read comics, and even novels, where everyone sounds similar, as if there's only one way to write a line of dialogue. That's not the case here. I knew who the characters were from their first pages, if not their first line, and even when I couldn't see them, I knew who was speaking. To say any more about the book here would mean spoiling the plot of the stories, and where's the fun in that?<br />
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I thoroughly enjoyed the first trade of <i>Gotham Central</i> and am looking forward to picking up the next, whenever that happens. I want to stay with these characters as they drive around Gotham trying to stop supervillains with guns and procedure and the law. I want to know what happens to them. I want it to be good things. And I want you, if you're at all interested, to pick up the series too. You won't be disappointed.<br />
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* One of the signs of a Good Read for me is the ability of a story to do that.<br />
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<br />Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-21640795315307674462013-01-05T20:05:00.003-08:002013-01-05T20:05:25.555-08:00Faustus Resurrectus, or, An ExperimentSo I think I'm going to try rebooting this blog again. Third time's the charm, right? After <a href="http://specnology.blogspot.com/2013/01/2012-reading-recap.html">my post the other day</a> my mom pointed out that I don't have to talk about my writing woes or my process or anything from the writer side of the book biz. I can simply review the books I read and the films I watch. (Possibly also TV shows? We shall see.) I've posted reviews on this site before, after all, and it's certainly something I'm comfortable talking doing, considering it's part of my dayjob. <i>And</i> I read a lot of good books that we either don't stock at work or couldn't sell well enough to justify stocking them if I brought them in. I have to get people to read those books somehow, right?<br />
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Here's the deal, then. Whenever I read or watch something I think should get a wider audience or is just plain <i>good</i>, I'll write a review of it. I don't promise any of the following:<br />
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<li>set times between posts</li>
<li>sticking to any genre, though science fiction and fantasy will dominate</li>
<li>the recency of the book (or film) — I read books published in the last couple years and books published hundreds of years ago</li>
<li>sticking to this review thing for any length of time, though of course the positive feedback of comments will help me keep going (hint hint)</li>
<li>reviewing everything I read or watch, because negative reviews aren't much fun to read or write and I have other things to do besides write long, though-out reviews</li>
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Fair enough? Good.<br />
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First book up is the first book I finished in 2013, though I started it shortly after Christmas. It's from a smaller press so hasn't gotten the same level of coverage as a book from one of the Big Six-Nearly-Five, and I found it gripping and refreshingly different from most of the urban fantasies I read.<br />
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<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nightshadebooks.com/book/faustus-resurrectus/#.UOjU7I7PS0s">Faustus Resurrectus</a></span></i></b></div>
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<b>Thomas Morrissey, Night Shade Books, 2012</b></div>
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Donovan Graham, recent M.A. in philosophy specializing in the occult, has built a pretty good life for himself. He bartends. He's all set to start his Ph.D. in the fall. He's close friends with his former thesis advisor. He's about to propose to the woman sharing his New York apartment. It's when he offers to help his advisor consult on a case with the NYPD that things start getting weird and dangerous. Satanic killer who may have the right rituals weird and dangerous.</div>
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This is certainly a much more horrific book than most of the urban fantasy I've read, even the series I'd point to as creepy. Morrissey doesn't shy away from blood, guts, human sacrifice, and madness. I actually had to put the book down a couple times because "ohgodohgod those poor <i>people</i>, that is <i>urk</i>"—note that mine is not a constitution suited to slasher films—but that's okay since I picked the book up again a couple minutes later to keep going. It's incredibly suspenseful—starts slow and builds, and when you think it's going to stop building, that we finally know what the bad guy's after, you look at the page count and realize that a) it's going to get even worse and b) you have no idea what's going to happen. Except that there's no chance of it being good. It's rare for a book to raise the stakes so much and so well that I genuinely doubt that anyone's getting out of the climax intact.</div>
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Donovan himself is another nice departure from the norm. He's entirely human and, while he's working with the police, he's not law enforcement <i>per se</i>. He's not broken like a lot of urban fantasy protagonists, either—you know, the ones who have addictions, dysfunctional relationships, PTSD, or are otherwise self-destructive. He's confident, driven, and knows what he wants from life. He can handle himself in a fight, sure, but his victories come from his brain, not his brawn. As a result of all that, I ended up rooting for Donovan a lot more than I've rooted for most urban fantasy protagonists, who generally have either more supernatural advantages or less to lose or both. (I rooted for a lot of the secondary characters too, including some of the less despicable bad guys. Everyone had fascinating dynamics with each other too, and felt realistic.)</div>
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The premise of the story, the villain and the goal he's working towards, are also fairly novel. There's urban fantasy about vampires, werewolves, demons, angels, fairies, ghosts, and the like all over the place these days, drawing from all kinds of traditions, but there isn't much that tackles Christianity in any aspect and this is the first book I've seen deal with the Faust legend at all. I think that factored into my need to keep reading, because I knew enough about the legend to kind of predict where the book was going, but not enough to really be certain. </div>
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Of course, this is Morrissey's first novel and there are some moments where the writing is less good than others. I mean, the characterisation, description, scenes, plotting, etc. were all quality, but every so often there was a scene or a moment within a scene that was a little uneven, or a little too convenient re: keeping the plot moving. There were some things that I felt could've been shown better rather than told to the reader, too. None of that ruined the story for me or even particularly drew me out of the moment, though, and I have high hopes for the sequel. The world has potential, the characters are compelling, and I have absolutely no idea how Morrissey's going to match the level of suspense the next time round. Now I just need to keep my eyes open for a release date….</div>
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Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-38769278645286249272013-01-03T08:00:00.000-08:002013-01-03T08:00:08.578-08:002012 Reading RecapSo I have two traditions on this blog: a New Year's resolution to actually write it regularly for a whole year, and writing <a href="http://specnology.blogspot.ca/2012/01/new-year-and-sundry.html">a post </a><a href="http://specnology.blogspot.ca/2010/12/years-end-hopes.html">around New Year's</a> itself about the best books I read in the past year (and kind of summing up the year at the same time). As you can probably tell by the time stamp on my previous post, I … kind of didn't manage that first resolution last year. At all. And since I've utterly lost the blogging spirit, I'm not even going to <i>try </i>to start the blog up again.* But I still want to do the These Books Are Awesome post so here goes.<br />
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Last year I read 55 books for the first time, and did two re-reads, for a total of 57 books. This year, I read 63 books for the first time, and reread 6, since I'm counting <i>The Lord Of The Rings</i> as three books. That gives me a total of 69 books, my personal best since I started tracking my reads in high school. I hope to do even better in 2013.<br />
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What do you mean, normal people don't make lists of books they've read? I reject your reality and substitute my own.<br />
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2012 is the Year of Britain. Not only did I go there (see previous posts), but I ended up reading a tonne of fiction set in England, much of it steampunk. Seventeen books, to be exact, including four that I read basically back to back over the two months that included my England trip. I had to consciously choose non-British books for a while after that.<br />
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I both did and didn't do better with my reading habits in 2012. I keep promising myself I'll read more literary and/or non-genre adult fiction and once again I ended up reading a grand total to two adult books that weren't science fiction, fantasy, or mystery. I did, however, read more young adult, graphic novels, and non-fiction than the past couple years, so there's that, at least.<br />
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Best Science Fiction: <i>Blackout</i> and <i>All Clear</i>, by Connie Willis<br />
Best Urban Fantasy: <i>Sixty-One Nails</i>, by Mike Shevdon<br />
Best Non-Urban Fantasy: <i>The Alphabet of Thorn</i>, by Patricia Mckillip<br />
Best Superhero: <i>Alias</i>, vol. 1, by Brian Michael Bendis<br />
Best Steampunk: <i>The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</i>, by Alan Moore<br />
Best Horror: <i>The Twelve</i>, by Justin Cronin<br />
Best Graphic Novel: <i>The Unwritten, vol. 1</i>, by Mike Carey<br />
Best Young Adult: <i>The Hunger Games</i>, by Susanne Collins<br />
Best Middle Grade: <i>The Peculiar</i>, by Stefan Bachmann<br />
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Best Mystery: <i>Cross Bones</i>, by Kathy Reichs</div>
Best Non-Genre Adult Fiction: <i>The Iliad</i>, by Homer<br />
Best Anthology: <i>Shine</i>, by Jetse de Vries<br />
Best Non-Fiction: <i>The Elegant Universe</i>, by Brian Greene<br />
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A fair number of the books above were tough decisions. I also enjoyed and highly recommend <i>Ashes of Honor</i> by Seanan Mcguire; <i>Here, There Be Dragons</i> by James A. Owen; <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i> by John Green; <i>Passage</i> by Connie Willis; <i>Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?</i> by Jesse Bering; <i>Whispers Underground </i>by Ben Aaronovitch; and <i>Vicious Circle </i>by Mike Carey. (Note that I've thrown <i>Good Omens,</i> <i>American Gods</i>, <i>The Hobbit</i>, and <i>LOTR</i> out of the running on account of they'd probably win everything if I didn't.)</div>
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In 2012 non-book news, I visited England for a week, as previously mentioned; I changed jobs and moved house, though I'm in the same city; and I finally got the first part of my novel "finished", for a given definition of the word. It's complete enough I feel I can move on, anyway. For those of you tracking my progress on this novel, the first part is what was once the whole book and now I have to write new stuff. Yeah. The less said, the better. I'm starting to despair this will ever be finished. Also that I've lost my writing mojo. Hopefully this is an end-of-the-year, start-of-the-year worry and things'll get better with time.**</div>
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What's new with you? Got any book recommendations for me? Not that I need any more…</div>
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* The periodic sciency post notwithstanding<br />
** And please, please let voicing my worries <i>not</i> blacklist me with agents, editors, and publishing houses.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-32453091548819948622012-05-28T07:00:00.000-07:002012-05-28T07:00:04.805-07:00England, Part Three<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I spent my last day in London at the British Library, Westminster Abbey, and walking the West End. The British Library, sadly, does not allow photography in their manuscript viewing room, so I can't show you any of the fabulous illuminated manuscripts or other historically interesting books I saw. (I also can't show you the Chaucer manuscript, but that's because it wasn't on display. Hmph.)</div>
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Things I learned at the British Library:</div>
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<li>Handwriting hasn't changed substantially in the last several hundred years, because I can still make out words penned centuries ago.</li>
<li>200 years ago, they were still writing in chicken scratch rather than proper handwriting</li>
<li>I've always thought illuminated manuscripts got touched up for their scans, much like fashion models. This is not true. The colors really are still that vivid and solid.</li>
<li>Gutenberg Bibles were BIG. Also printed without initials so purchasers could personalize their books with the local art styles.</li>
<li>Medieval drawings of humans look less stilted and stylized in person.</li>
<li>There are some phenomenally well-preserved books from the Middle Ages.</li>
<li>Everyone illustrated manuscripts, including the Persians, Indians, Chinese, and, of course, the Muslims.</li>
<li>The Chinese were block-printing way before anyone else was.</li>
<li>The Beatles wrote lyrics on some very strange things.</li>
<li>Bookbinding is beautiful, but not nearly as interesting as illumination.</li>
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Then it was on to Westminster Abbey, which also doesn't allow photographs inside. I definitely recommend going, especially if you have a historical bent, and also recommend getting the audio tour. It points out things you wouldn't necessarily notice otherwise, because there's no map or guidebook available. First off, though, the exterior!</div>
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I've been in some really dark and oppressive Gothic holy buildings, and in some light and airy ones. Westminster Abbey is definitely light and airy—and, like any regularly used historical church, full of more recent architectural styles as well. In this case, those styles are mainly for tombs, but I've seen mashups in central Europe where parts of the church were actually rebuilt. I'm very glad that didn't happen at the Abbey. Still, the massive amount of baroque and Victorian tombs and memorials (and the occasional Tudor one) were a bit jarring. The highly worn medieval ones fit a lot better into the aesthetic.</div>
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I found the tombs interesting, though. A lot of political and military leaders, and nobles, are either buried or remembered in Westminster Abbey, to the point that it's hard to see some of the statues in detail because there are three or four other statues in the way. A lot of the gravestones in the floor have also been worn down by foot traffic so are hard to read. The Tudor royalty were big on elaborate tombs of the "I need a better tomb than my dad" variety. Absolutely gorgeous work, though. Intricate. Lifelike statues.</div>
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I was the odd one out in the respects I paid to the memorials too, I think. Most people seemed to be there for the nobility, clustering around Queen Elizabeth I's tomb, or Henry V's. Poet's Corner was pretty crowded too (not that anywhere wasn't), but I got the impression that people were there just to say they'd been, rather than to see specific memorials. And, of course, there were the handful of people who'd actually come to Westminster Abbey for religious reasons. Me? I paid respect to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Handel, Darwin, Newton, Clementi, Addison, Blake, the Brontës, Watt, and a host of other literary and scientific figures I recognized. I was more excited to find Blake than I did to find Cromwell, who's also buried there.</div>
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All good abbeys have a cloister, which I sat in a while because my legs were tired from walking. It's cool and calm, and, wonderfully, allows photography because it's outside!</div>
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Those are medieval limestone coffins with holes carved for the head.</div>
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The back of the cathedral has a row of statues of 20th-century religious martyrs:</div>
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Opposite the abbey are, of course, the Houses of Parliament:</div>
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I headed for the West End next, because of<a href="http://forbiddenplanet.com/"> Forbidden Planet</a>, because I wanted to see the theatre district a bit, and because there was a ghost walk meeting there that evening. Forbidden Planet was more like a department store than I'd expected, but definitely cool. The theatre district was also neat to see, but also tempting. I almost didn't go on the ghost walk after all. </div>
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The walk itself was more history and fewer ghosts than I'd expected. There can't have been more than six or seven ghosts for the two hour tour. I'd thought a city as old as London would have been more haunted, but maybe the guide only picked the highlights. He was a good storyteller, if a bit of a ham and overly fond of invading personal space for dramatic effect. Most of his stories followed the urban legend formula—an unnamed friend or client just the other week had seen a ghost right <i>there</i>…. </div>
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None of the pictures I took on the walk have ghosts in them, but they're still good.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_aig4Eyf6Cde4M470I_W17HbiA_w8D-oNpzndl-kwIM64kkHmt6yF_Rgjy958ooCYQZjkEf-sw-qF0l_S86bg1KwCoC0Xn1_I6uA4j5vNhBOtZf3eQ-4ysjpJRKTxGdvqMNcyOGuavg/s1600/IMG_7112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_aig4Eyf6Cde4M470I_W17HbiA_w8D-oNpzndl-kwIM64kkHmt6yF_Rgjy958ooCYQZjkEf-sw-qF0l_S86bg1KwCoC0Xn1_I6uA4j5vNhBOtZf3eQ-4ysjpJRKTxGdvqMNcyOGuavg/s320/IMG_7112.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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After the walk, I hopped the tube back to the hostel. I caught a plane out the next morning. I have to go back someday, no question. </div>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-11604758275974680022012-05-25T07:00:00.000-07:002012-05-25T07:00:06.483-07:00England, Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/">Victoria and Albert Museum</a>! Art and design through the centuries! Highly recommended! I spent the whole day there, just about, and by the time I was done, my brain was ready to melt, I'd absorbed so much information. As I mentioned in the last post, a lot of the photos I took here were blurry. Low light levels and no flash will do that, unfortunately. I've left most of the blurred ones out because I can't show you all the cool bits of detail if they're not <i>there</i>, but also because 100+ photos is probably too many. I'm pushing it as it is.</div>
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The earliest street lighting was <i>not</i> gas, but coils of burning rope, in the Tudor era:</div>
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Famous statues!</div>
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A late-medieval German Madonna and Child:</div>
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A medieval cowl, photographed for the embroidery:</div>
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Early Korean bronze mirrors (polished side facing wall):</div>
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Chinese ritual drinking vessels, Bronze Age on left, 19th-century (?) on right. Photographed out of delight at how much the design didn't change.</div>
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An early pottery horse, from China:</div>
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A comparatively recent pottery camel, photographed for his expression:</div>
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Two suits of samurai armor</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhzlTsTqlaL2xwcC5KprQdoBoA9TDuEHhHufY87_qpWztfUH0cq3uRAkUsobyZ5vbu5Qjtrkjwv_rXiHKjjhGCiemuCvxvcti71yUihJwz_BAMq8Aafrr70pxtr4D1p1sfFWmEpSjOsU/s1600/IMG_6872.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvhzlTsTqlaL2xwcC5KprQdoBoA9TDuEHhHufY87_qpWztfUH0cq3uRAkUsobyZ5vbu5Qjtrkjwv_rXiHKjjhGCiemuCvxvcti71yUihJwz_BAMq8Aafrr70pxtr4D1p1sfFWmEpSjOsU/s320/IMG_6872.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oKq9XRSJTdCp74GD1GpdNmx5UPJzeuRwcjYmSnW4SjVkVl2Y3FU8paZ3FizMAW4TAeD3CMA0ajmwTl2v_HqyFUY20wIZrnI-8HYVQ1u8LBIdISkHlZw7oDBdadkgxXGBdg6EE8Leg1Y/s1600/IMG_6878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8oKq9XRSJTdCp74GD1GpdNmx5UPJzeuRwcjYmSnW4SjVkVl2Y3FU8paZ3FizMAW4TAeD3CMA0ajmwTl2v_HqyFUY20wIZrnI-8HYVQ1u8LBIdISkHlZw7oDBdadkgxXGBdg6EE8Leg1Y/s320/IMG_6878.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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A plaster cast of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan's_Column">Trajan's Column</a>, in two parts:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEThaAYomB1nuGdOUlZI5pXfzlLB72z1j7UlaS4oPqFxiwJS2UIOy6PWpWBC1JfMqzb51M134VkdtaMYBOYK-hjRcMMva-Lih0XLOnMWXNgYU2dj5Sph5cKMIBpPPUDhFw9_iyQHHA5qo/s1600/IMG_6923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEThaAYomB1nuGdOUlZI5pXfzlLB72z1j7UlaS4oPqFxiwJS2UIOy6PWpWBC1JfMqzb51M134VkdtaMYBOYK-hjRcMMva-Lih0XLOnMWXNgYU2dj5Sph5cKMIBpPPUDhFw9_iyQHHA5qo/s320/IMG_6923.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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And in close-up:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFDxA9QfYTWj5VPPZKCGvEHwX6lYmsEwSYxFFnCYsvww18X7GU1Ct-7IRCTTzZaFwPKwZYblPTFP4C6m9L4X02drLQyku-KgEV3hBrEzyCOdQHdS4nenV_X9D7tjjgFCwmZ4YwJ9s5tk/s1600/IMG_6925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFDxA9QfYTWj5VPPZKCGvEHwX6lYmsEwSYxFFnCYsvww18X7GU1Ct-7IRCTTzZaFwPKwZYblPTFP4C6m9L4X02drLQyku-KgEV3hBrEzyCOdQHdS4nenV_X9D7tjjgFCwmZ4YwJ9s5tk/s400/IMG_6925.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Various Scandinavian works, mostly from the Viking period:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98eFO6XFLZMm54vBcAVlz219XI5MTYaABxN4a-LkozD98XGNxDULVJ0vqPZAC2d3E9p8MmgDfM_uQWMEjQ2okuvB5aNLNCdCXxWxwngt500KZmfQjdrbQnydJI5qeNPU3OeDPadx-tMM/s1600/IMG_6932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh98eFO6XFLZMm54vBcAVlz219XI5MTYaABxN4a-LkozD98XGNxDULVJ0vqPZAC2d3E9p8MmgDfM_uQWMEjQ2okuvB5aNLNCdCXxWxwngt500KZmfQjdrbQnydJI5qeNPU3OeDPadx-tMM/s400/IMG_6932.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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One of four Tudor flag holders (there's a proper name for them, but I can't remember). This is the one that caught my eye first.</div>
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A circle of flattened brass instruments, hanging from the ceiling.</div>
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You know those cardboard cutouts you can get of your favourite actor or movie character? Apparently they were cool in the 18th-century too.</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handel">George Frederic Handel</a>:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfPQSqOpeubN_SZlwHWyst1yNczLjUVLmQPkDlBTDt2eaiZ8V-v7WdcAWjFqABJ3M3iDIISw5AzLUPy2OyyKkBZcDCKLqt5jYaVhU2SC-_qNILYzKXQ3SWmmN4FwGsl4Dih_UHrTEISE/s1600/IMG_6972.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfPQSqOpeubN_SZlwHWyst1yNczLjUVLmQPkDlBTDt2eaiZ8V-v7WdcAWjFqABJ3M3iDIISw5AzLUPy2OyyKkBZcDCKLqt5jYaVhU2SC-_qNILYzKXQ3SWmmN4FwGsl4Dih_UHrTEISE/s400/IMG_6972.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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And then my camera battery announced that it was seriously low and would like to be recharged, please, so I stopped taking photos at the V&A and went to the Science Museum around the corner, which had…</div>
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Difference Engines!</div>
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Among the many, many things I didn't photograph at the V&A were an impressive jewelry collection; an exquisite collection of jeweled snuff boxes; all sorts of Tudor and Jacobean artifacts, from clothes and cushions to furniture and weapons; many more statues and religious artifacts; a timeline of Japanese pottery; and an Islamic exhibit I skipped because, as I said, my brain was melting. I didn't see anything else in the Science Museum because there wasn't time and not much else looked interesting anyway.</div>
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By the time I was done with these two museums, I'd decided that I wanted nothing more than to sit down for the next century, and that I'd seen so many artifacts that going to the British Museum the next day would be overkill. Unfortunately, because I did really want to see the Anglo-Saxon stuff and I think they have bog bodies? Maybe? Ah well, next time. Incentive to go back. :)</div>
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Part Three (and Last) will largely consist of pictures of Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliment. You've been warned.</div>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-4516176865847378152012-05-24T07:00:00.000-07:002012-05-24T07:00:09.895-07:00England, Part One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I got back from England a couple days ago. It was kind of a spur of the moment trip, which meant a lot of scrambling around the two weeks beforehand, getting everything in place, and therefore not a whole lot of blogging. So, if you've been wondering why I haven't posted much in the last while, that's the big reason. I'd have said something about the trip, except you're not really supposed to tell the internet about your travel plans. </div>
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But I can share pictures of the trip after the fact, so here goes. Easy blog posts ahoy!</div>
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Here's the Dutch coast, about half an hour after my transfer in Amsterdam: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyN36tKk_L-E5sP-CP8A9WUpiPQ7TKrmxx22hpetyAYdQuj9_TJfu0-Lag6t_lpAaXeLNvedAi5KAaIDGg0942ttGSfQWsEdR1JW7CiA-1oywaLujg87qeVuF9nAvgIRgzdMYOyzgRC_8/s1600/IMG_6508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyN36tKk_L-E5sP-CP8A9WUpiPQ7TKrmxx22hpetyAYdQuj9_TJfu0-Lag6t_lpAaXeLNvedAi5KAaIDGg0942ttGSfQWsEdR1JW7CiA-1oywaLujg87qeVuF9nAvgIRgzdMYOyzgRC_8/s400/IMG_6508.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And here's a mostly-Victorian graveyard in Manchester…</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH9fhNTaPT1Z0p1KfOAPGd1apCxLhDAjWWKdjnscPhprRFiemPSqRXSEnMPSFuLDxG6OJDYUJ3sgDAV2IvN82DTgSeo-GYjGXTgaNB6qIstMnJcjEGFwtFLW8jqpeexu6-eUGLCdDya8/s1600/IMG_6512.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkH9fhNTaPT1Z0p1KfOAPGd1apCxLhDAjWWKdjnscPhprRFiemPSqRXSEnMPSFuLDxG6OJDYUJ3sgDAV2IvN82DTgSeo-GYjGXTgaNB6qIstMnJcjEGFwtFLW8jqpeexu6-eUGLCdDya8/s400/IMG_6512.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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… that contained an intriguing gravestone. I'm voting time travel.<br />
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Make that two intriguing gravestones. I'm not sure what the symbolism means here.<br />
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I was in Manchester for my sister's wedding. I'd post pictures, except she'd probably kill me. It was good, though. Nothing to complain about and everything to rejoice over.<br />
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The day after the wedding, I hopped a train for London. I had big plans to stare out the train window and absorb the many variants of England as they rushed past me, but it turns out that the only variant of England along the rail lines is the farmland-and-stone-village one out of James Herriot and Beatrix Potter. That got kind of dull, so I stuck my nose in a book pretty quickly. <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Sixty-One-Nails-Mike-Shevdon/dp/0857662473/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337841618&sr=8-2" style="font-style: italic;">Sixty-One Nails</a> is absolutely fantastic British urban fantasy—it's blurbed as "<i>Neverwhere</i> for the next generation" and they're right—and I completely struck out finding the sequel in the UK. It's not out in North America yet.<br />
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Anyway, London, Day One!<br />
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Saint Pancras Station, on my way to discovering the British Library wouldn't allow my duffel bag inside and I'd have to come back a different day.<br />
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King's Cross was on the other side of the street, but I didn't get a picture of Platform 9 3/4. I didn't want to push through the crowds to find out if I had to buy a ticket or not.<br />
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After dropping my bags at the hostel, I headed downtown again. I hit The Clink museum first, which was interesting but not nearly as much as I'd hoped. Would be good for kids who didn't know much about the early British prison system, but didn't have a lot of advanced material or artifacts to keep a knowledgeable adult engaged. But! in the same neighbourhood there were:<br />
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the ruins of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Palace">Winchester Palace</a> (1100s),<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsI2FVkpeScRuugTPMqF0dHiTYDt1OMsT-gu5pnOXZRbT8vWFCA4X8ahHEdlN5WCW-MvslyX0Gkm4E8IYMI3SrBmVL3175DYhyC25vt2fp4BcbmVdp-6BJgsDLEMohDO25_CcnXXYaII/s1600/IMG_6615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsI2FVkpeScRuugTPMqF0dHiTYDt1OMsT-gu5pnOXZRbT8vWFCA4X8ahHEdlN5WCW-MvslyX0Gkm4E8IYMI3SrBmVL3175DYhyC25vt2fp4BcbmVdp-6BJgsDLEMohDO25_CcnXXYaII/s400/IMG_6615.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwark_Cathedral">Southwark Cathedral</a>,<br />
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and the <i>Golden Hind </i>(replica):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9cFrdfPnWXOWiyxjP-xDO8UGzWDGbf5pk__l-TftuZIniUwQu7JZX-W56RtoqW0vOGDnJxEJG_oXtgK0wT2h9QgYmQoHGv2x6HhFrqQGxXC50Elj8641_wDDatxwwwknf3AcDzBeQr0/s1600/IMG_6621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9cFrdfPnWXOWiyxjP-xDO8UGzWDGbf5pk__l-TftuZIniUwQu7JZX-W56RtoqW0vOGDnJxEJG_oXtgK0wT2h9QgYmQoHGv2x6HhFrqQGxXC50Elj8641_wDDatxwwwknf3AcDzBeQr0/s400/IMG_6621.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There are lots more pictures of Southwark Cathedral, but I thought I'd spare you. :) After that, I crossed a bridge and saw this:<br />
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On a building I found a (18th-century?) notice, proving that prosecution signs go back a long way. I can't read the whole of this, unfortunately, but am assuming it's for loitering, because it amuses me to think so.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2DhsDyR5zZJOagclleae-VxUXT-GvxJj2WRlqQl1G6l0p7GT_pBNJcTAcgtrXCyyW4wn9jwTtKkFfJyYel_wQVVa6ULm_tBgdMRaT-DPUjnHaGn7LFlPtpXU5YI8N4KnrxhISZzOgQ8/s1600/IMG_6654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2DhsDyR5zZJOagclleae-VxUXT-GvxJj2WRlqQl1G6l0p7GT_pBNJcTAcgtrXCyyW4wn9jwTtKkFfJyYel_wQVVa6ULm_tBgdMRaT-DPUjnHaGn7LFlPtpXU5YI8N4KnrxhISZzOgQ8/s400/IMG_6654.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Also spotted were a church showing damage from the Blitz…<br />
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… a baroque water fountain …<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcY9mTQJB231rq8Wy7FLenZLIxqGNWrJXJPJWH1RUuxCZaAx4VM-LI5jme1ekb7gOFUlHlVial0_kW4Oo0FuvLBst_bPk_dDchvl4MnSQK_fOeQz6S3gUgCc0h9chwpPd-bp0SDieU-9o/s1600/IMG_6671.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcY9mTQJB231rq8Wy7FLenZLIxqGNWrJXJPJWH1RUuxCZaAx4VM-LI5jme1ekb7gOFUlHlVial0_kW4Oo0FuvLBst_bPk_dDchvl4MnSQK_fOeQz6S3gUgCc0h9chwpPd-bp0SDieU-9o/s320/IMG_6671.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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… and, of course, St. Paul's.<br />
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I've always heard about the beauty, majesty, and perfection of St. Paul's and said, "Ha! No building could live up to that hype! I don't believe it!" Except that this one does. It's flawless and tasteful, in a baroque sort of way, and in the early evening, took my breath away. I have a <i>lot</i> of photos of St. Paul's.</div>
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And then my legs were really tired and it was late, so I went to the hostel again.<br />
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Next up, the Victoria and Albert museum! In which I went overboard with the camera again and a lot of the photos are blurry!Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-13531660667772303882012-05-14T07:00:00.000-07:002012-05-14T07:00:08.292-07:00Great Superhero Read - The Avengers<i>Hoping to avoid spoilers, but read at your own risk.</i><br />
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The moment <i>The Avengers</i> was announced, I knew I was going to it. A movie with Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, <i>and </i>Captain America? How could I not? But at the same time, I was a little leery because the film would have a lot of strong, well-loved characters who'd demand screen time and I haven't seen all that many superhero ensemble films-- <i>The Fantastic Four </i>comes to mind, and that was abysmal.<br />
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I was glad to hear that Joss Whedon would be helming the film, though. I'm not a massive Whedon fan, but I've enjoyed his work and trust his writing and directing, and I know he's a geek and a fanboy. I figured he'd do the movie and characters justice, if anyone would.<br />
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I was torn by the trailers. They did a great job of inspiring confidence that the film would look awesome and treat the characters appropriately, and they were wonderful at conveying the general mood and plot without actually giving details. But at the same time, they had Thor fighting other Avengers, didn't show very much of the Hulk, gave the impression that there wouldn't be much substance (just battles), and had some valid complaints lobbed at it re: the fact that Black Widow has a tiny gun. I also wasn't sure how I felt about not entirely knowing the villain ahead of time.<br />
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The movie is and isn't anything like the trailers. We get the awesome battles and the snark, but we also get a tight, thinking-person story that keeps you guessing, and strong and believable character dynamics. It's just as thrilling and inspiring of nerdy glee as you'd expect. The science looked and sounded plausible. One of my bigger worries was that the Avengers would be introduced in a single scene, but I shouldn't have: Whedon spread the characters out so we'd get to know them one by one, and did it in such a way that the introductions worked with the story, rather than feeling forced. There were some excellent gags that had everyone in the theatre laughing. And Whedon even managed to bring out the personalities of lesser Marvel movie-verse characters Hawkeye and Black Widow, and to make me want an origin movie for the two of them. While there wasn't a whole lot of character arc material, there was some, and I definitely like Ruffalo's portrayal of the Hulk (though I haven't seen the other recentish Hulk movies).<br />
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One thing I've been noticing more lately is the appearances and agency of women in fiction. I blame the internet. Whedon did a good job, in my unschooled-in-formal-feminist-criticism opinion—that one line that has <a href="http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/1022287.html">online feminist fandom talking aside</a>. Natasha Romanov/Black Widow comes off as a realistic woman, with friends and fears and a fantastic ability to beat people up. She has action and agency and isn't a sexual object. Maria Hill is equally awesome, though we get less of her personality and more of her second-in-commandness. I don't remember anyone treating her differently because of her sex. And there are bit parts that could easily have gone to men, but went to women, which was nice to see. <i>The Avengers</i> doesn't pass the Bechdel Test, but that's not the be-all-and-end-all of feminist critique for me.<br />
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A couple quibbles: Fury was great, but largely in the background (which is probably fine, it's <i>The Avengers </i>not <i>Nick Fury</i>). We saw him making decisions and saying they were right, without any proof he could make good calls, but that might've taken away some of the suspense, so that's fine with me in the end too. Still, Fury's an interesting character and I'd like him to look less like a figurehead.<br />
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I also felt that Loki was a little out of character with his scheme, but believable enough. I had more trouble with him willingly subordinating himself to another person. Loki definitely makes a good villain, though, and I hope to see more of him in other films. He plays long games and keeps people guessing, and I like that.<br />
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Quibbles aside, I really liked the film. Spent-2.5-hours-in-a-theatre-grinning-my-head-off liked the film.Going-to-see-it-a-second-time-on-the-big-screen liked the film, which doesn't happen very often. It's fun, it has action and explosions, it has superheroes and some of my favourite characters to boot, and it has plot! That doesn't strictly follow the origin story model! That I couldn't predict!<br />
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Go see it, if you haven't already. Or see it again, if you have.<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tY9DnBNJFTI" width="560"></iframe>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-14035571608271958992012-05-08T06:00:00.000-07:002012-05-08T13:40:54.703-07:00The Future is ComingI haven't blogged in a while. Sorry. Life's doing a bang-up job of getting in the way of things. Also am writing again. Ish. Only a couple scenes from the end of the Part One novella, but I have to do another pass through it to add a mini-narrator and tweak one of the main narrator's voices slightly. And then done, hurray! And I can move to Part Two.<br />
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I have a couple blog posts in the works right now, mainly one of <i>The Dark Knight Returns </i>which I'm still trying to process. A post on <i>The Avengers</i> might come sooner. I'm going to see it tomorrow.<br />
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In the meantime, I think my log of neat science has gotten long enough to post. :)<br />
<ul>
<li>We already have the technology to build <a href="http://io9.com/5892333/we-already-have-the-technology-to-send-trains-into-space-at-a-fraction-of-the-cost-of-rockets">mag-lev trains to outer space</a>. It would take about 20 years and $6 billion to build the ramp for them, but they'd ultimately be cheaper than rockets. And probably more environmentally friendly. With any luck, we'll have <a href="http://io9.com/5897250/a-motor-that-can-get-to-the-moon-on-a-few-drops-of-fuel">ionic motors</a> powering lightweight spacecraft, such as probes, before then. They'll also make space exploration cheaper.</li>
<li>On the subject of space, we've all heard about Planetary Resources and its <a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/asteroid-mining-backed-by-google-james-cameron-1077565">asteroid mining</a> plans, right? Here are <a href="http://io9.com/5897714/shopping-list-for-the-universe-where-to-replace-all-of-earths-vital-resources">some other places they might want to look </a>afterwards.</li>
<li>We also have <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120327091223.htm">bleeding, color-changing, self-healing plastics</a>, <a href="http://io9.com/5897235/carbon-breakthrough-could-mean-cheap-eternally-stretching-graphene">stretchable graphene</a>, and improvements in <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120503162023.htm">touch-sensitive technology</a> which will create some pretty awesome new technology. Hopefully combined. Watch the two videos below and tell me that wouldn't be amazing.</li>
</ul>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/E4tYpXVTjxA" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9c6W4CCU9M4" width="560"></iframe>
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<li>We have managed <a href="http://gizmodo.com/205448/beam-me-up-scotty-scientists-transport-a-hunk-of-matter-18-inches">macroscopic teleportation!</a></li>
<li>We have improved our chances of having ubiquitous <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120503142651.htm">holograms</a> this decade!</li>
<li>And two other videos that I love. The first is a whole new breed of robot, and I guess the second one is too. Self-driving cars are robots as far as I'm concerned. </li>
</ul>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U2OSJQhHQp8" width="560"></iframe>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cdgQpa1pUUE" width="560"></iframe><br />
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And that's all from me for now. Science is wonderful. The future is wonderful. I can't wait.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-32949944740268482712012-04-10T10:14:00.000-07:002012-04-10T10:14:30.709-07:00How Not to Write a Cop Show (or, a review of Alcatraz)<i>As with most of my media-related rants, this post will contain spoilers. For multiple shows, possibly, but mostly for </i>Alcatraz<i>. Consider yourselves warned.</i><br />
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I've mentioned before on this blog that I'm a sucker for cop shows. I don't watch them all, but almost all I watch has some version of Case Of The Week in it. I'm especially a sucker for the shows with some science fiction or fantasy element -- <i>Grimm, Supernatural, Castle, Bones, Alcatraz</i>... Except that <i>Alcatraz </i>kind of lagged for me and I'm not interested enough to continue with the second season when it airs. Which is a shame, because the ideas in the show have potential.<br />
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<i>Alcatraz</i>, in case you don't know, revolves around a team of people, ostensibly part of the FBI, who travel around the San Francisco area capturing Alcatraz inmates who've been transported mysteriously forward through time. There's the Grizzled Senior Agent, the Young Eager Detective, the Geeky Comedic Sidekick, and a supporting cast of friends, relatives, and people connected to 1960s Alcatraz. Because it's written by people who wrote <i>LOST</i>, every episode ends with a twist that adds to the greater mystery and is meant to keep you guessing for a couple episodes, when they'll mostly resolve it and add something else in its place. Each inmate gets 1960s-era backstory that also serves to heighten the mystery, as does the fact that the Grizzled Agent is very blatantly Keeping Secrets. It's competently written, decently acted, and kept me coming back each episode.<br />
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Unfortunately, I came back largely in the hopes that it would get better. Competent is fine, but I was hoping for great, especially with the time travel and mystery thrown in. It could've moved faster. It could've been tenser and ratcheted the stakes past "unsettling" to "we're all going to die". (Presumably that'll come when we find out why the inmates are jumping forward.) It could've had characters that don't feel flat or like they're just going through the motions. About halfway through the season I decided that all the hints were going to give us an explosive finale, and from then on I watched mainly so I'd have all the clues when it was time for them to fall into place. I did not, sadly, get an explosive finale.<br />
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The slight flatness of the characters and writing, and the pedestrian nature of the episodes, which have the barest amount of continuity possible, are my main beefs with <i>Grimm </i>and <i>Haven </i>too. <i>Grimm</i> I'm sticking with because it's just cool enough to still hold my interest (and the finale's a few episodes away still), but <i>Haven </i>I quit on partway through the second season. I just didn't care about what happened to the characters anymore.<br />
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So here's what I'd like to do, if given<i> carte blanche</i> to reboot <i>Alcatraz</i>:<br />
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<b>1. Make the characters more interesting</b> - Characters should have more than one trait or habit to distinguish them from everyone else who shares their trope. A love of comics or the ability to quote philosophy does not an interesting person make. I want to see what scares them, what excites them, what drives them, and I don't want the feeling that the actors are just reading lines.<br />
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Booth, the FBI agent on <i>Bones</i>, is a Catholic football fan and ex-sniper who solves crimes creatively and doesn't quite understand the scientist mindset. Hauser, the FBI agent on <i>Alcatraz,</i> is an ex-Alcatraz guard who studied philosophy, fell in love with and lost a psychologist, and has become a grizzled, cranky old man. </div>
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Interesting, complex characters not only get me emotionally invested in their stories, but make the story less predictable because I'm not always sure how they'll react in any given situation.<br />
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<b>2. Speed up the feed of clues or the importance of them</b> - I am perfectly happy to know that Mysterious Things Are Happening and that I may have to wait the better part of a TV season before I know the answers. I want the twists to shake my world and make me think, not say "eh, I wonder where they're going". I want to be involved. </div>
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<i>Supernatural</i> does this well. We'll generally get a small clue or twist every episode (the demons want x because y, they want y so they can z). Every few episodes, the twist will be something massive, like a character being a double agent or the demons' plans being almost the opposite of what anyone thought. The twists have a strong connecting thread, they tend to follow logically from each other, and when the big ones happen, they truly do change everything. And if <i>Supernatural</i> does one thing well, it's cliffhangers. Man, are they good at cliffhangers.</div>
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In <i>Alcatraz</i>, the clues were scattered and a lot weaker. One week we'd discover a mysterious key. The next week, we'd see the warden playing favourites for unknown reasons. The week after that, the inmate-of-the-week would say "They told me to" as an explanation for his crime spree. The clues only have tangential relationships with the rest of the episode they're embedded in, and only slightly more attached to the season arc. When <i>Supernatural</i> gives a twist, we know how it'll affect the season from thereon out and I start squealing in my chair. When <i>Alcatraz</i> gives one, it's simply a fact and doesn't noticeably change the characters' behaviour. Or mine. </div>
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What I'd like to have seen from <i>Alcatraz</i> is more clues, faster. Tell us, in the same episode, that there's a mysterious key, the warden is playing favourites, and They are telling criminals to do things. In the next episode, give us more information about all three elements. Let us catch a glimpse of the They, even if it's by way of phone call. Show us in 1960 something about the key that 2012 won't find out for another few episodes. Around mid-season, finally use the keys or figure out the They, or even find out how the inmates are jumping through time. End the season with a revelation about what Their end goal is, and make us feel like the characters are against insurmountable odds, that they might never win. I wouldn't reveal the reason behind every clue, but I'd follow through often enough that viewers wouldn't grow disappointed.</div>
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I get the feeling that the writers were used to <i>LOST, </i>where they could spin out endless clues without really knowing where the series was going to end, which didn't teach them much about follow-through or coherence.</div>
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<b>3. Increase the tension and drama </b>- There's a whole subplot in <i>Alcatraz</i> about how Young Detective's "deceased" inmate relative is somehow key to the mystery. She apparently really wants to find out why, and to find him so she can arrest him, because we see her pouring over case files and saying things like, "I have to find him" to the rest of the cast. Hauser, the FBI agent, also wants to find this guy, and <i>he</i> says things like, "I want to find him. I have the feeling he's important" to the rest of the cast. But with neither of them did I ever feel that they meant it because they were curiously short of emotion in those scenes. Nor did I feel the criminal mcguffin was a genuine threat to anything. He popped up occasionally but very rarely did anything criminal. I'd make him more prominent, so that when the detective and agent finally track him down, it'll actually be a life-or-death sort of thing. And I'd ramp up the threat level of the other inmates too, on a whole. With some cop shows, I still worry about the characters and that they might not catch the guy. Not so much with <i>Alcatraz</i>.</div>
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There are other things I'd change re: tension. The detective and sidekick know the agent's withholding info, but apart from a couple "Please tell us" moments and one minor bit of blackmail over the course of an episode, they go along with it. I'd like them to bully the agent more and finally get him to cave. Or to hack into his systems or break into his house and get the information. Yes, there'd be fallout over the next couple episodes, but interpersonal conflict on TV is <i>fun</i>. And the sidekick clearly has problems adjusting to police work because he's a civilian and a pretty pacifist one at that. He has a hard time with dead bodies. He has a harder time shooting people. We see him dealing with that a little, but I'd like to see that a lot more.</div>
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Basically, I'd put the characters under real pressure and see how they react, rather than making the pressures pretty mundane and solvable, because nothing's revealed by giving them things they can deal with.</div>
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<b>4. Take risks</b> - I'd hurt protagonists. I'd hurt and kidnap the protagonists' friends. I'd write twists that would make viewers scream at the TV because "HOW ARE THEY COMING BACK FROM THAT?" <i>Castle</i>, which is generally pretty tame and family-friendly, has on at least one occasion "killed" characters at the end of an episode. <i>Supernatural </i>did a whole season where angels were the bad guys. <i>Alcatraz</i> hasn't done anything politically risky or which could have lost them viewers (apart from the writing quality). They haven't even done the 180° shift of bad guy motivation that <i>Supernatural</i> does. It's all basic procedural stuff—there's a bad guy, we have to stop him, we don't know what he's after, we know what he's after, we manage to track him, we put him in handcuffs at the 50-minute mark. Very little deviation, no two-part episodes, nothing.</div>
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<b>5. Give the geeky sidekick more story</b> - My favourite part of <i>Alcatraz</i>, probably not surprisingly, is the geeky comic-loving sidekick with the heart of gold. He's by far the most developed character in the show, because we have a good sense of what his family's like, what he likes, what his hobbies are. He cracks jokes but is also the sympathetic ear and very loyal. He even gets the romance subplot! Because he's so rounded, I feel like I know him so enjoy the scenes he's in and root for him. And, as I mentioned above, he's got the hardest time of all the main cast because of all the violence (and because something Bad happened to him when he was a kid). There's an emotional journey! He has to deal with trauma! His personality's going to change! I was to <i>see</i> that!</div>
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Plus, you know, I have a fondness for geeky guys. :) But mainly I want to see more of him because he makes the show interesting.</div>
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So there you go. If I were in charge of writing <i>Alcatraz</i>, I'd improve the characterizations, make the season arc move further and faster, make sure there was tension to drive the story along on a couple levels, take risks with the storyline to give it further punch, and put more of the geek dude in. If given free reign to tackle <i>Haven</i> or <i>Grimm</i>, I'd do much the same because those shows also suffer from somewhat weak writing. I may even do a post like this for <i>Grimm</i> after the finale. I have Opinions and must share them.</div>
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A common piece of writing advice I see is to read a lot, to absorb and analyse how writers put their stories together, so that when it comes time to write your own stuff, you'll have a larger toolkit to play with. This is absolutely true. But I also think that film media can teach a lot about how to tell stories, because the shows that get watched and renewed (or movies that make #1) are obviously doing something right, and the shows and movies without a lot of viewers, or a lot of disgruntled viewers, are doing something wrong.* Being able to analyse what TV does wrong isn't going to sort out <i>every</i> prose writing problem you have, but it does help with the broad strokes, I think. Dialogue, relatable characters, connection with audience, ways to keep the audience sucked in… those are all universal to storytelling.</div>
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*Not that the popular shows are perfect, by any means. I can point to all kinds of weak bits in <i>Supernatural</i>. Often a good hook is enough to keep a show on air.</div>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-62631080957914582632012-03-12T07:00:00.000-07:002012-03-12T07:00:06.963-07:00Great Superhero Read - Powers, Vol. 1I first heard about <i>Powers </i>about a year ago, when it was optioned for TV. It looked like a cool series and I'd heard the author, Brian Michael Bendis, was fantastic, so I did some poking around for reviews then put it on my wishlist. I got the first omnibus for Christmas. I read it a month ago. I liked it enough to keep reading the series when the mood strikes me, but not quite enough to buy more volumes. This may not be the same for all readers, because I'm a) picky and b) cheap, and because this is without question a well-written story.<br />
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<i>Powers Vol. 1 ("Who Killed Retro Girl?") </i>is an enjoyable police procedural done in the noir vein. There's lots of swearing, lots of "telling it like it is", and lots of shadows. Someone's killed Retro Girl at an elementary school, and veteran Det. Christian Walker and newly-transferred Det. Deena Pilgrim, of the homicide squad for superheroes, are put on the case. The detecting itself will be familiar to anyone who watches crime dramas--they talk to superheroic contacts, they rule out a couple suspects, they're at wits' end, they have an epiphany--but I'm fine with that for two reasons.<br />
<ol>
<li>This is the first volume and storyline of a serial comic. It's meant more to establish world and characters than to provide a complex story, and it definitely accomplishes the former.</li>
<li>I still found the story well-written and captivating (except for one thing, but I'll get to that).</li>
</ol>
The characters were realistic, engaging, and not candy-coated. I haven't read a lot of superhero comics, but in just about every one I have, I've always felt I was reading about Spider-Man or Superman or the Comedian -- characters, archetypes, slightly flat for all they have complexity and Issues. The characters in <i>Powers</i>, on the other hand,<i> </i>come off as people, flawed, scared, and hiding things. They sucked me into the story and didn't lose me for a minute. Even the secondary cast feels real, though they naturally get more archetypical the less screen time they're given.<br />
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The world is a little less engaging and realized than the cast, but never enough to lose me. In this volume, it's pretty much the backdrop to the characters and the mystery, though we're given tantalizing hints about the history, characters, power balance, and so on. Think of it like the pilot episode of a TV show, unintroduced secondary characters and all. Unfortunately, I think Bendis tried to put too much into this first book, because there are points where it feels like he's glossing over info and name-checking characters. I'd have liked for him to have slowed down a bit.<br />
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The world-building issues aren't a big deal, though. I've read books that are far worse on that count. My biggest problem with <i>Powers </i>is that the solution to the mystery comes out of nowhere. The murderer isn't seeded throughout the story like I've come to expect from mysteries. Maybe leaving him out was part of the realism? But it left me feeling vaguely disappointed and is one of the reasons why I'm not going to be <i>buying </i>Volume 2.<br />
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Long story short: Enjoyed the story, found it well-written in some areas and competent in others, thought it was a good start to the series. The flaws were largely ignorable. I can see why they want to make a TV show of it, because it would be awesome. I hope it leaves development hell.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-4894538938779205462012-02-28T13:06:00.000-08:002012-02-28T13:07:40.596-08:00February Science Round-UpA lot of the science that makes mainstream news is downbeat and gloomy. We're destroying the planet. We're running out of resources. We still can't manage to feed the global population. We may be making progress against cancer and AIDS, but then we might not. Birth control could be illegal this time next year. Luckily, a lot of the scientific research and advances are positive and awesome, to counter the trend. I much prefer the future <i>they</i> show.<br />
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On the medicine front, we now have a <a href="http://io9.com/5876669/ultra+tiny-nano+ear-can-hear-bacteria-and-viruses">powerful acoustic microscope sensitive enough to hear microbes</a>, if we can only find a way to make it work outside lab conditions. A British company has designed a <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21495-usb-stick-can-sequence-dna-in-seconds.html">gene sequencer in a <i>USB stick</i></a>, which makes sequencing portal and fast and could open up all kinds of avenues. (They call it MinION, which is adorable.) And we can now use <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/02/21/printing-human-tissue-for-drug.html">3D printing to create human tissue</a>. It's only being used for drug testing right now, but hopefully in the near future we'll be able to substantially shorten organ transplant lists.<br />
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Continuing with biological news, there's an almost viable <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/19/gm-microbe-seaweed-biofuels?CMP=twt_gu">microbe that can turn seaweed into biofuel</a> as well as a (natural!) <a href="http://aem.asm.org/content/77/17/6076">plastic-eating fungus</a> in the Amazon. Scientists can <a href="http://io9.com/5880618/breakthrough-the-first-sound-recordings-based-on-reading-peoples-minds">reconstruct sound from brainwaves</a>, which I'll admit is a little scary. We've also <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46456336/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T0PFQJjPSpE">germinated seeds from the last ice age</a>, which says some very awesome things about the hardiness of plants.<br />
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And shifting to technology, we now have a <a href="http://io9.com/5879423/a-computer-program-painted-this-artwork-from-its-own-imagination">computer program that paints</a>, which is cool, but not quite as cool as <a href="http://io9.com/5883765/this-is-the-stretchable-gold-that-will-power-rubber-circuit-boards">flexible circuitry</a> and a <a href="http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/01/20/announcing-the-flora-adafruits-wearable-electronics-platform-and-accessories/">wearable electronics platform</a>. Add those to<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/02/24/147364732/googles-goggles-is-the-future-right-before-our-eyes"> Google's promised glasses</a> and the following video, and we should be in the Future within the next couple years.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m5rlTrdF5Cs" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Of course, it's anyone's guess how and when all this stuff will be publicly available, rather than exorbitantly expensive and only owned by the rich. Or whether any of it's going to take off, even. Oh, for a time machine … Someone get on inventing that.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-43903038897251428652012-02-20T07:00:00.000-08:002012-03-07T21:22:24.556-08:00Great Superhero Read - ChronicleI've been describing <i>Chronicle </i>to people as a found-footage superhero movie. It's "shot" by a teen boy's camcorder and has that wonderfully raw, unscripted documentary style to it. Not that it was unscripted, because it established characters and premise too efficiently for that to be true, but there was never a moment when I dropped out of the conceit and said, "Somebody wrote that line." The style complemented the story nicely and as a result, I think this may be one of the most realistic takes on superheroes I've seen yet.<br />
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Most of that realism is credited to the story and acting, of course, rather than the cinematography. Three seniors--a loner who owns the camera, his philosophy-obsessed cousin, and a politician-in-training--go into the woods outside Seattle and find a mysterious Something that gives them all telekinesis. Once they discover their powers, the teens start hanging out and training themselves, then pull a couple typically teenaged pranks on the general public. One of the pranks goes wrong, forcing the teens to give themselves rules like "no power use on living things". But the loner gets more and more upset at how unfair his life is and starts disobeying that rule, and then things get Bad. There are subplots surrounding the loner's family and the teen's social lives (sex and drinking), because hey, realism.<br />
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I got sucked into the characters' lives quickly, especially our loner protagonist's. There were genuinely moments when I cried and certainly moments when I was scared for them. If the theatre had been empty or I'd been at home, I may even have yelled at the screen. And what's even better is that I didn't really see the twists coming. I thought the film was going to be superhero story type A, then story type B, and then lkjijkadhdkh. On a rewatch I'd catch a lot more of the hints and stuff, I'm sure, but I was so involved in the story the first time round that I only had a minute or so warning, <i>maybe</i>.<br />
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This isn't entirely a black and white, good and evil sort of superhero story either, though there are definitely moments of that. It's hard for me, even a couple days later, to look at any given negative event in the film and say, "that was a bad thing, he's completely in the wrong there", because the characters are all so perfectly teenaged. Can I really say I'd have acted differently in that situation? Can I say that any of the characters is evil, since there are mitigating circumstances at every turn? I can't even look at the most heroic moment and think only good thoughts about it.<br />
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Which is not to say that this is a completely dark film. There's hope and humor too. I laughed as often as I cried. I also went into the theatre expecting a slightly shallow story that moved from A to B to C without much underpinning, and got a surprisingly deeper, nuanced story. So yes, one of the best superhero films I've seen, definitely the most realistic, and certainly one I'll recommend to people and keep thinking about.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GkngycnIVBQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-7713955669593395812012-02-14T06:30:00.000-08:002012-02-14T06:30:02.618-08:00Rules of MagicIt's pretty accepted wisdom these days that if you're going to write a book with magic in, you need to put constraints on what that magic can do or the story won't be interesting. Magic wielders can make problems disappear with a wave of their hand or a well-placed word. You'll get deus ex machinas cropping up on every page. The villain of the piece will be so powerful your heroes don't stand a chance. Readers will expect rules and get frustrated when they can't find any. The story will end on page 10. And so on.<br />
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The topic came up briefly in #scifichat on Twitter a couple weeks ago. I might even have raised it myself, I don't remember. I do remember having to clarify what I meant, though, and the act of clarifying go me thinking. For me, magic rules exist on a gradient like so much else in the world of the Writing Process. I also apparently define "constraints" pretty loosely. For me, it's not <i>just</i> about who can do magic or how magic happens or where magic's found. It's kind of a mix of all of that, and a little more. Bear in mind this is from a reader's perspective. I have no doubt that even the looser types of constraints are pretty rigorous from the writer's end.<br />
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The loosest constraints on magic are found in books where magic is in the background or where the reader doesn't need a detailed description of how magic works to understand the story. The castle flies, but we don't need to know why or how. The elves in the forest just kind of are. The heroine steps through a doorway and finds herself on another continent. People can cast spells in multiple ways and magic rarely if ever has negative consequences for the caster. Ambient natural magic, the sort that humans don't control, also fits here. It's hard to tell if the writer's created rules or is just working from what feels right, but there's no question the story works.<br />
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The next level up from that are magic systems that are nearly identical to the ones listed above, except there are a handful of things magic can't do, or can't do well, or people can't do magic until they're trained. Maybe magic doesn't allow time travel or maybe it doesn't work well on animals. Maybe you get magical training on your parents' knees, or maybe you go to school for it. Magic's still pretty much in the background and the story can almost but not quite be told without it.<br />
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Then we start seeing systems where magic can do just about anything, but only certain people can make it work. Maybe they've got fairy blood. Maybe they're wizards. Maybe it's anyone with blue eyes or red hair. I'd rank systems where magic can do anything but involves intricate spellwork or specific conditions at this level too, along with magic that does anything but is hard to control. And systems that involve magical backlash are probably here too—where casting a spell diminishes personal energy or causes pain, and magicians can do anything as long as they can handle the kickback. Making it harder for the characters to do magic makes it harder for them to achieve their goals and I think, though I'm not sure, that this is about where most of the action-oriented fantasies come in.<br />
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After the broad application levels, the potential of magic starts narrowing. Maybe different people do different sorts of magic, so the guy's who good with fire is going to suck at or be unable to read the future, and the guy who reads the future can't make a potion to save his life. Maybe magic can only apply to living things, or inorganics, or the elements. Maybe spells end after thirteen hours.<br />
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From there, magic systems narrow further by imposing more and more limitations, to the point where blue-eyed, red-headed daughters of seventh sons can only control earth magic under the full moon at midnight if they've had twenty years of training and eaten special herbs beforehand. I think when you get that complicated and make magic almost impossible to do that the fantasy becomes less fun, but maybe that's me. I'd be delighted to be proved wrong.<br />
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I think a similar series of gradients probably applies to science fiction. We've got hard science fiction, after all, and various "soft" sci-fis until we hit space operas like <i>Star Wars</i> which can sometimes be classed as fantasy. It's probably even possible to sync the two gradients up and create one that encompasses all of speculative fiction. I am, however, too lazy to do that, but maybe I've inspired you?<br />
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Oh, and if anyone has thoughts on this, positive, negative, or simply thoughts, let me know. I like discussions. :)Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-54794608004225539822012-02-01T05:00:00.000-08:002012-03-07T21:22:24.569-08:00Great Superhero Read - Alphas<i>Alphas</i> is the first superhero show in the last couple years that I've managed to get into. <i>The Cape</i> was … eh. <i>No Ordinary Family</i> had too many poor reviews and I didn't like what I saw in the trailers. But the concept of <i>Alphas</i> intrigued me, and the characters and writing kept me, and the new season cannot start fast enough.<br />
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<i>Alphas</i> is a blend of superhero and crime dramas. There's a team of people, each with an 'alpha' ability, who are assembled by a psychologist and work for the Department of Defense, tracking down other alphas who are (usually) a threat to society. The show's wonderfully morally grey—there are secret and terrible prisons, nobody really knows what the DoD's long term plan for alphas is, and not every alpha-of-the-week is actually a bad guy in the end. The main ensemble knows they're getting progressively more in over their heads and being asked to do things that they're not trained for, especially when it comes to the Big Bad, alpha terrorist group Red Flag.<br />
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<i>Alphas</i> is as much about the characters as the crime-of-the-week, though. Everyone's believably flawed and played straight and realistic, not for laughs or as archetypes. They screw up. They have emotional baggage. They get on each others' nerves for the smallest things, and sometimes they lose trust in each other, but at the end of day they're friends. Occasionally the "end of the day" is a couple episodes later, though. This is not a show that wraps up everyone's problems neatly at the end of the hour.<br />
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As for the superhero aspects of the show: everyone in the ensemble has powers except for Dr. Rosen, the psychologist and alpha expert. There's a bit of stereotyping going on with who gets what power—the black guy's really strong, the beautiful woman has mind control, the nerd can hack anything with his mind—and the "synethesia" one woman has is not actually synethesia. The powers don't feel over-the-top, just a little beyond what's normal, and there's yet to be a big hero-vs-villain sort of fight that doesn't involve a) teamwork or b) conventional weapons. We're also jumping into these people's lives after they've figured out what they can do, so we see acceptance, not angst. Family members know, characters use powers for everyday things like getting a can of coke out of a machine or avoiding a speeding ticket, and nobody, not even the alphas-of-the-week are defined by their powers.<br />
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As you can probably guess, the believability and understated everything is a large part what attracts me to the show. It's a cop show, not a soap opera like <i><a href="http://specnology.blogspot.com/2011/02/year-of-superhero-heroes.html">Heroes</a></i> or an homage to comics like <i>The Cape</i> was looking to be, before I stopped watching. (I also like cop shows about as much as I like superheroes. That probably helps.)<i> </i>I'm also caught by the writing, which seems a cut above regular TV fare, and like that the writers aren't afraid to explore the morally grey thing. I've been looking forward to Season Two since it was announced, and no, that cliffhanger in the finale really didn't help.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q_WsiQx7F9U" width="560"></iframe>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-1527540739528326212012-01-24T06:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T06:00:17.027-08:00History and Convergent Books2011 was an interestingly synchronicitous year for me, reading-wise. As a general rule, I read a handful of historical sci-fi and fantasy books each year, and when I read non-fiction, there's a pretty good chance it'll be historical in nature too*. Normally the books I pick up don't coincide as much as 2011's did, though, and they usually don't get me thinking on a meta-level afterwards.<br />
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What started me off was watching <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1521197/">Anonymous</a></i> almost immediately after reading <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Ink-Steel-Elizabeth-Bear/dp/0451462092/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327267352&sr=8-2">Ink and Steel</a></i> by Elizabeth Bear. They both deal with the conspiracies and politics around the throne of Elizabeth I, and both place Shakespeare's plays at the center of the story—with reinterpretations of what that role really was. <i>Anonymous</i> states that Shakespeare's plays were written by the Earl of Oxford as a statement against the party line, and that Shakespeare was the front for the operation. <i>Ink and Steel</i>, on the other hand, has Shakespeare writing his own plays, with the help of a couple nobles versed in magic, and Kit Marlowe, who's living in Faerie instead of being dead. The plays are written in support of the party line (or at least the "good" politics), and the Earl of Oxford is part of the faction intent on bringing James I to power in England. Both stories state the Earl is Elizabeth's bastard.<br />
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I admit to knowing nothing about Elizabethan court politics prior to <i>Ink and Steel</i>, so don't know if Bear's portrayal is accurate or not—or even if we know enough about the people involved to have a good picture of what sides they were on. Having read it first, though, I accepted the factions as historical fact, which made seeing <i>Anonymous</i>, which had largely the same cast of characters but in different political roles, a little jarring. Why would so-and-so be saying that? Isn't he <i>for</i> Elizabeth? After a while, though, I gave up trying to make sense of it all and assumed the politics in <i>Anonymous</i> were as made up as the supposed Shakespeare conspiracy. After all, the screenwriters couldn't even be bothered to place the plays in the right order.**<br />
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I had a related experience with <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Hammer-Cross-Robert-Ferguson/dp/0713997885/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1327270694&sr=8-3">The Hammer and the Cross</a></i>, a history of the Vikings from the first historical records to the point at which everyone seems to have settled down, become Christian, and stopped raiding other countries. In this case, I'd read an article earlier in the year about how some of those Viking men who'd been buried with swords and armor and gold <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2011/07/invasion-of-the-viking-women-unearthed/1?csp=34tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-TechTopStories+%28Tech+-+Top+Stories%29">were actually women</a>. Unfortunately, <i>The Hammer and the Cross</i> was written before we knew that, so while part of me took the facts at face value and wanted to believe them all, because if it's in a book it must be true, part of me knew there were facts missing and kept adding "and also women" during the battle accounts.<br />
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I'm writing this post as an educated adult who's fairly up on her (Western) history and so tends to pick up historical fiction and non-fiction already knowing the general facts. This means that I'll notice basic errors, like epic fantasy hay bales, but when writers make more obscure mistakes, I'm with the majority in assuming there was no mistake at all. That in itself is an argument for accuracy of research, no? I read to learn, and I don't want to learn the wrong things. It distorts my perception of the world. That doesn't mean I'm not for taking creative liberties with facts if that's what the story demands, but I'd like the writer to be upfront about it in a foreword, afterword, or in the way they present the information in-text. The writers of <i>Anonymous</i>, I feel, were not upfront about their changes at all. I'd be less critical of the film if they had been.<br />
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I've talked before about <a href="http://specnology.blogspot.com/2011/09/thoughts-about-history.html">how we approach history</a>. Our past defines us and guides our actions whether we want it to or not, and I think understanding how history interacts with the present and how different cultures worked and were interconnected strengthens our view of the world. Not to get too self-helpy on you. But it's one of the reasons I think historical fiction, SFF or otherwise, is important, because it takes historical fact and makes it come alive. And *points to previous paragraph* why I think historical accuracy is important too.<br />
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That brings me to the last coincidental pair of books from last year. <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_Book_(novel)">Doomsday Book</a></i>, by Connie Willis, is a time travel story about a historian stranded in the 1300s valiantly recording her experiences and getting caught up in the lives around her. It's about people and crises and life. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eifelheim_(novel)" style="font-style: italic;">Eifelheim</a>, by Michael Flynn, is a first-contact story, about an alien ship that crashes in the medieval Black Forest, and the locals who help them survive and who initiate cultural exchange. It has a lot of interesting things to say about the intersection of science and religion, as well as what makes a "person", and the Black Forest setting feels as real as Willis's Oxford.<br />
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I find it interesting that two books set during the same time period, both well-researched, well-written, and critically acclaimed, can have such vastly different feels. Willis' Middle Ages are raw where Flynn's are a little idealized, because that's their stories require.The same goes for <i>Anonymous</i> and <i>Ink and Steel</i>, or any group of books set during whatever time period. History's surprisingly fluid, not just because the archeological record can be interpreted multiple ways or because established facts are sometimes not established at all, but because we impose biases on it, rework it to make a point, and promote some facts over others to influence reality. I love that about it, especially when it results in historical fiction, and <i>especially </i>because comparing different takes on the same history is fun for me.<br />
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A good writer will make the reader believe that they're truly taking part in the Middle Ages, or Elizabethan England, or eighteenth-century China, or wherever, and that's important and good, but it's also no substitute for primary documents and historical non-fiction. Fiction is lies, after all, even if it's one lie couched in a lot of fact. I get a lot of my history from novels and movies, and from comparing different fictions, but I keep a saltshaker handy, read informed reviews, and look stuff up if it tickles my interest. It's a good way to read, I think. And a pretty decent way to travel through time.<br />
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* Or neuroscience.<br />
** I read <i><a href="http://specnology.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-superhero-read-marvel-1602.html">Marvel: 1602</a></i><b> </b>after seeing <i>Anonymous </i>and was pleased to see the politics were still there, but that Marvel characters had replaced the courtiers. I liked that--although I would've liked Shakespeare to cameo.<br />
*** Neither is <i>Marvel: 1602</i> but I hope that's obvious.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-8694282932879512272012-01-16T12:29:00.000-08:002012-03-07T21:22:24.590-08:00Great Superhero Read - Marvel: 1602<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>As always, here be spoilers.</i></div>
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I asked for <i>Marvel: 1602</i> for my birthday last year, knowing only the hook: Marvel-verse heroes in Elizabethan England, instead of the present day. Also Neil Gaiman. Knowing Gaiman, I expected the layered, beautiful, intelligent story, but I didn't expect it to be integrated into the modern-day Marvel canon. I thought it would be much more of a fanfic/what-if situation.<br />
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The story starts by establishing characters, setting, and the threat that must be stopped, and as the book goes on we meet more characters and get further twists. It's a great all-round read, with requisite superhero power usage and intrigue that kept me flipping pages, but one of the things I liked best was turning a page and going, "Hey, it's that guy! I know that guy!" followed by either "Of <i>course</i> that's what he'd be doing" or "That was an interesting career switch. Huh. Wonder why?"* I really liked how Gaiman wove so many of the Marvel standbys into the story and made it seem right, and how well he made the characters fit into the time period. How well some of the characters fit without needing to be changed.<br />
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If you've been following this superhero project of mine, you probably know that I mainly know the Marvel-verse from the movies and internet-fed geek osmosis. This still means that I know the basic situations the characters find themselves in, I know some of the relationships the characters have to each other, I know how the characters relate to their world. (I think. Hopefully.) So it was interesting to see all that being rewritten and how Gaiman handles all the origin stories in a world where technological explanations won't fly. <i>Of course</i> he'd use magic and/or the arcane and instead, because what are superpowers but magic anyway? Plus Elizabethans had a healthy belief in magic already, or some of them did if <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_dee">John Dee</a> is anything to go by. Using magic grounds the characters in their new world.<br />
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Gaiman handles the impact of superpowers on seventeenth-century Europe very well all round, but I'd expect nothing less. I'm thinking mostly about the Inquisition going after the witchbreed here, and the fear James I instills in just about everyone with powers. It felt very believable to me while I was reading and, I'll admit, generated more of a sense of wonder than the <a href="http://specnology.blogspot.com/2011/06/year-of-superhero-amazing-spider-man.html">Spider-Man omnibus</a> did. That was straight-up action. This is <i>shiny</i>, with an open-ended feel not only because not all the Marvel characters appeared in <i>1602 </i>but also because in the end, the characters have the whole future ahead of them. Anything could happen!<br />
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When I said the superpowers in <i>1602</i> were caused by magic, I actually lied. The characters approach the powers as having magical origins and the way the powers are described reinforces the idea, but they actually result from the universe trying to reset the Earth after one Steve Rogers is thrown back in time. Therefore, the superpowers are caused by quantum, as Terry Pratchett would say. Which is essentially magic anyway, due to Clarke's Third Law and most people not understanding higher physics. And of course, the introduction of future!Captain America means that <i>Marvel: 1602</i> isn't just a rewriting, it's a parallel universe.<br />
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To sum up: <i>Marvel: 1602</i> is pitch-perfect on characterization, setting, and story, and hits every note I didn't know I wanted from a reworking of the Marvel canon. There are hidden levels you can peal the story apart to find, and more going on than you actually get to see on the page. And I desperately want a sequel, or prequel, or <i>something</i> to I can see more of everyone's adventures. (Alas, I will probably not get it, even if I somehow manage to buy/inherit Marvel.) I could probably reread the book and pick up on things I didn't catch the first time round, and that's always a sign of quality fiction for me. I wholeheartedly recommend you read this, if you're anywhere near the "target audience" of comic fans, alternate history fans, and Gaiman nerds.<br />
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* There were also "oh!" moments pertaining to people's powers, people's relationships, and what America means.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-46920364307482196262012-01-09T07:30:00.000-08:002012-01-09T03:32:56.645-08:00Computing, Holographs, and Medicine - A Science Round-UpIt's been a long time since I've done a science round-up, which means there's an awful lot of links in this post. Hopefully you're all nerdy enough about science to think that's a bonus.<br />
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Most of the cool scientific advances since my last post have been technological. We can produce <a href="http://io9.com/5863729/breakthrough-technique-could-give-us-molecule+thick-circuit-boards">microscopically thin circuit boards</a> out of graphene, which means smaller computers and hopefully greater processing power. Those computerized glasses might become a reality—not that it matters, because there are <a href="http://io9.com/5861725/engineers-have-created-an-led-display-you-can-wear-like-a-contact-lens">LED contact lenses</a> in the works. There's also conductive ink now, which promises to do some very cool things.<br />
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There are <a href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/liquid-robotics-wave-gliders-begin-historic-swim-across-pacific">robots swimming across the Pacific</a> and <a href="http://io9.com/5865455/behold-complex-self+assembling-3d-objects">self-assembling 3D objects</a> that come in a number of shapes, not just one at a time. <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-holographic-d-tantalizingly-closer.html">Holographic TV and movies</a> might become a reality soon too, which would be awesome. We've seen it in enough science fiction, it's time it actually happens. Plus it'll get rid of that 3D headache problem!<br />
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A group of scientists has recently managed to create an <a href="http://io9.com/5873410/breakthrough-cloaking-device-creates-a-hole-in-light-and-time">invisibility cloak</a> that also hides objects from time. Granted, it's not even close to being a piece of fabric yet, and probably never will be, but the potential for hiding things in plain sight like that … wow. It's even cooler than <a href="http://boingboing.net/2011/12/02/quantum-entanglement-demonstra.html">macroscopic quantum entanglement</a> or <a href="http://io9.com/5868277/coming-soon-nanoparticle+coated-clothing-that-cleans-and-deodorizes-itself">self-cleaning fabric</a>, though that's pretty cool as well.<br />
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What else have I come across? The fact that <a href="http://io9.com/5844552/scientists-show-that-memory-is-divided-into-bits-by-teleporting-mice">memory comes in packets</a> is intriguing, and makes me wonder how that knowledge is going to impact psychology. I don't know enough about neuropsych and neuroscience to be able to hazard a guess at what that might be, though, but I feel like I should use it in a story at some point. The idea has potential.</div>
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And speaking of human biology, we may actually have a functional <a href="http://io9.com/5869767/breakthrough-a-new-drug-that-could-cure-everything-from-colds-to-hiv">antiviral</a> now! And io9 has a <a href="http://io9.com/5869912/10-current-medical-procedures-our-22nd-century-descendants-will-find-barbaric">list of modern medical technologies</a> that we're going to think are barbaric in the future. I'd like to see stories about people looking back at modern medicine with horror, or time travellers doing the same, or, better yet, people proposing technologies that'll surpass what's on that list. In fiction or reality, I don't care.</div>
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I think I'll end today on an anthropological note. There's now evidence that <a href="http://io9.com/5864279/stone-breadcrumbs-reveal-humans-who-left-africa-over-100000-years-ago">humans left Africa over 100,000 years ago</a>, Which is about 30,000 years before anyone thought they had. This means rethinking ancient human cultures and migration patterns, and possibly other artifacts that don't quite fit where they've been placed at the moment. Me? I'll leave that to the scientists and get on with thinking of the hows and whys of that migration, and any human dramas that might make a good tale.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-22686454140535335892012-01-01T07:30:00.000-08:002012-01-01T07:30:01.968-08:00New Year and SundrySo it's 2012 and I feel like I should probably start blogging again. Or at least update this thing and let everyone know I'm still alive.* 2011 was a year. Some good, some bad, all kind of merging into normality. I suspect 2012 will be the same, and I've learned my lesson about hoping to finish writing projects. It never happens, and whenever I think I'm done, I manage to set myself back a good couple years. It's like I'm Sisyphus or one of those math problem snails (<i>A snail is climbing a window. Every day it climbs three inches, and every night it slides back two inches. If the window is three feet tall, how long until the snail reaches the top of the glass?</i>). In other words, if you ask about my novel, I will probably hit you.<br />
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Anyway, last year I listed <a href="http://specnology.blogspot.com/2010/12/years-end-hopes.html">my favourite books of the year</a>—as in "what I read", not "what came out" like most lists seem to be. Pleasingly, I pretty much matched my "new to me" numbers, with 55 books read in 2010 and 54 in 2011, re-read two books each year, and finished two previously started books. I figure I'm pretty close, especially since I'm pretty sure 2011's books were thicker on average. And I did slightly better at getting non-genre fiction into my diet! One book in 2010 vs. three in 2011**. Also eight non-fiction books in 2011 vs. six in 2010.<br />
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Here's my best of the year, for what they're worth:<br />
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Best Urban Fantasy: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Midnight-Riot-Ben-Aaronovitch/dp/034552425X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325412090&sr=8-1">Midnight Riot</a></i> tied with <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Blood-Honey-Stina-Leicht/dp/1597802131/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325412101&sr=8-1">Of Blood and Honey</a></i><br />
Best Non-Urban Fantasy: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Girl-Glass-Feet-Novel/dp/0312680457/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325412130&sr=8-2">The Girl with Glass Feet</a></i><br />
Best Superhero Novel: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Wild-Cards-George-R-R-Martin/dp/0765365073/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325412151&sr=1-2">Wild Cards I</a></i><br />
Best Science Fiction: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Passage-Justin-Cronin/dp/0385671091/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325412168&sr=1-1">The Passage</a>, </i>closely followed by book #54, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Eifelheim-Michael-Flynn/dp/0765340356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325412181&sr=1-1">Eifelheim</a></i><br />
Best Non-Genre Adult Fiction:<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Cloud-Atlas-David-Mitchell/dp/0676974945/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325412198&sr=1-1">Cloud Atlas</a></i><br />
Best YA: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Clockwork-Giant-Brooke-Johnson/dp/1468057499/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325412212&sr=1-1">The Clockwork Giant</a></i><br />
Best Non-Fiction: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Hammer-Cross-Robert-Ferguson/dp/0713997885/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325412234&sr=1-3">The Hammer and the Cross</a></i><br />
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If you're curious about why I picked those particular books, ask in the comments. If I give each of them a mini-review right now, this post will never end. If you want to know what else I read, <a href="http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ninjamuse&deepsearch=read+in+2010">the list is here</a>.<br />
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As for blogging plans for the new year, I don't really have any except that I'm going to do my best to get a post up every week. I want to continue talking about and reviewing superhero fiction of varying types, since I've read more superhero novels, acquired more graphic novels, and had a backlog of superhero film media to begin with. Plus, y'know, superheroes are awesome. I've also been archiving interesting science, so expect a post on that in the near future. Beyond that … I don't really want to talk about my process and progress with my writing, because that just gets me bummed, but other than that, I'm pretty open to suggestions. Note that I do not and will probably never have a Life to discuss here.<br />
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* I am.<br />
** Yes, it's still pathetic. SFF is too distracting.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-4384370559281856212011-10-14T10:20:00.000-07:002011-10-14T10:20:33.522-07:00Changing FormsI was up at my parents' last week, doing general visitery things and being a good daughter. And as happens when I'm home, I got to talking writing with Dad. He's about the only person I feel able to talk over my frustrations with, both about my own writing and about the industry in general. (After all, if you talk about frustrations on the internet, the internet will jump on your head and maybe tell prospective agents on you.) One of the things that came out of our discussions was that my frustrations over my novel not being the novel I want it to be, no matter how hard I try, could be because the novel was in the wrong form and/or not playing to my strengths.<br />
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This appears to actually have been the case, because I've shifted the form slightly and am writing again, <i>finally</i>. More on that at the end. I realized something else, though—I see a lot of writing blogs talk about style and structure, about how to write what sells, and about how to fix problems with the plot, with characters, with description, with mechanics. I see blogs talking about how to get out of writer's block by starting something new, having zombies attack the main character, or about how writer's block doesn't really exist and have you seen their post about fixing plot problems? I don't see many, if any, posts about solving problems by stepping back and asking yourself if the story's being told the right way, if it has the right narrative form or point-of-view. Those sorts of problems probably happen less than the other reasons for block, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.<br />
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I'm not going to talk about that process of stepping back. Hopefully you already know how to do that. Nor am I going to talk about point-of-view (POV) shifts, because there are plenty of other people talking about those. So that leaves me to list narrative forms, in the hopes that they'll spark a revelation in at least one blocked writer. This is probably not a complete list. Feel free to add to it.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>traditional narrative</b> - a single narrator in any <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_view_(literature)">POV</a>, telling a story; may focus on a character, a group of characters, a society, an age, a civilization…. The possibilities are, as with any of these forms, unlimited.</li>
<li><b>reflective narrative</b> - technically falls under "traditional narrative", but enough of a shift that I'm giving it its own bullet; the narrator speaks from a point after the book ends, shedding wisdom and insight on events in their past.</li>
<li><b>multiple narrative </b>- any story with two or more narrators, describing events from multiple points of view or telling interweaving/parallel stories; often gives the story a broader scope.</li>
<li><b>nonlinear narrative</b><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>- a story that jumps between different points in time.</li>
<li><b>frame story</b> - a story that's given a context for being told—a series of discovered letters, an interview, a person editing a manuscript, etc.; will most likely have two narrators, one with much less prominence than the other.</li>
<li><b>epistolary novel/diary</b> - a story told through letters, diary entries, email, etc.; can be told by one or more people.</li>
<li><b>script</b> - a story told through dialogue and physical actions, rather than prose.</li>
<li><b>visual narrative</b> - a story told through pictures (photos, film, drawings, etc.), rather than or alongside prose.</li>
<li><b>verse novel </b>- a story told through poetry, rather than prose.</li>
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Of course, these forms can be combined. I'd say graphic novels and comics are a blend of script and visual narrative, for instance. Reflective narratives can easily show up in any of the other forms. Scripts can be frame stories or nonlinear. You don't need to stick to just one, either, if mixing them up works better. </div>
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I can't tell you if you're blocked because you've using the wrong narrative form or if you're blocked because of something else. Obviously. You need to step back from the thick of the story and work that out yourself. But don't think, like I did, that the first form you choose is the only form the story can take. Be flexible. Try out other forms, if they strike your interest.</div>
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For the record, I'm switching my novel from a dual narrative to a frame story that drops one of the narrators and adds in another as the "framer". It'll require a whole lot more new writing, but I think it'll be a better book for it, in the end. It's so <i>good</i> to have the words flowing again.</div>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-20119845296825832532011-10-04T10:26:00.000-07:002012-03-07T21:22:24.537-08:00Year of the Superhero - After the Golden Age<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.carrievaughn.com/aga.html"><i>After the Golden Age</i></a> is … I'm still trying to decide as I write this, unfortunately. I think the cover copy did it a disservice, in that it seemed to promise me one book when I got another. The plot summary is neat—accountant daughter of famous superheroes must help take down supervillain—but it got me expecting a cutthroat story about assembling evidence and a lot of time in the courtroom, when the story itself is more about personal journey, family, and acceptance of one's lot in life. Which is <i>not</i> a bad story, at all. It just wasn't what I was expecting.<br />
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<i>After the Golden Age</i> is set in a fairly typical superhero world. Commerce City could stand in for just about anywhere. It has superheroes—the four members of the Olympiad, as well as a handful of teamless heroes. The Olympiad works out of a command centre at the top of a skyscraper, mounts patrols, checks the police scanner, and responds to supervillain-type threats, which annoys the police. There's also a supervillain, the Destructor, who's been a thorn in everyone's side for a generation and has crazy, mad scientist schemes that are "bound to work this time!" even if he works in an escape plan anyway. There do not appear to be superheroes elsewhere, and the reasons for powers existing in Commerce City isn't explained until near the end of the book.<br />
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But that's all background. Celia West, main character, accountant, and daughter of half the Olympiad, is more interesting. She has issues centering around how disappointed her parents were that she didn't inherit powers, and she's trying to make up for a mistake in her past. It's not going so well, and when she starts helping with Destructor's trial, it only gets worse. She also gets kidnapped enough that she reads hostage video scripts sarcastically and is pretty good at sizing up bad guys. As the story progresses, she starts taking a more active role in her life and the mystery (because there's always a mystery, we'll get back to that), and learns that heroism isn't just about powers and costumes. All the same, I can't help feeling that she could've been better realized, that we could've seen more of her personality outside of her reactions to events.<br />
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Like I said, I'd expected a cutthroat trial story, with Celia tracking down evidence in death-defying ways, and that wasn't what I got. The trial takes up maybe half the novel, at most, and we don't see very much of it, or of people putting together evidence. (They're trying to get the Destructor for tax fraud, not property destruction, murder, and the other things he's guilty of.) The story's about Celia coming to terms with herself, and the central mystery involves who's behind the current crime spree, since the Destructor's under way too much security to mastermind it himself. Or is he? As Celia's tracking down evidence against the Destructor, she starts uncovering hints that there's maybe more to the kidnappings, the Destructor, and superpowers than everyone suspects. As mysteries go, it's a fairly predictable one. I caught a lot of the clues before I think I was meant to, and anticipated a lot of, but not all, the twists. It also has an urban fantasy vibe, which isn't surprising considering that's where Vaughn got her start.<br />
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There are some moments surrounding superpowers and superheroes that I found interesting. The Olympiad and Destructor are still effective in their hero/villain roles once their identities are revealed, for instance, and welcome the publicity even. There are some sweet moments in which Spark, Celia's mother, cooks food with her bare hands and such-like. There are some not-so-sweet flashbacks where Celia's dad tries to test her for powers. There's mention of the consequences of telepathy. And, so far uniquely in my quest for superhero knowledge, the accident that caused the powers is also responsible for the protectiveness the heroes feel for the city. When they say they "have to" do their job, they mean it.<br />
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Ultimately, this isn't a particularly memorable story. Sure, I enjoyed reading it, but I didn't take anyway anything new from it. Everything superhero-wise (which is why I read the book) appears elsewhere—the nature of heroism, the growing-up narrative, the realistic examination of heroes and their powers—and I don't think <i>After the Golden Age </i>does those any better than the other stories. It was definitely an enjoyable read and a good story, but it kind of pales in comparison to some of the other books I've read this year. Oh well, on to the next book…Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-24043819629500122562011-09-26T10:49:00.000-07:002011-09-26T10:49:40.867-07:00Thoughts about HistoryI was thinking about stories and history and life the other day, about the sorts of books I read and how I feel when I read them, and about the local history I know and share, and I realized something. For me, there are two types of history. Maybe this is normal, but it's not, but I think it's interesting enough to merit a blog post all the same.<br />
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The main type of history is, of course, world history, all the facts and stories we've gathered about the span of human existence. It's epic and complicated, fantastic and scary, repeating and fascinating. It's sometimes hard to separate facts from fictions or synthesize what actually happened from all the varying reports. Most importantly, the people who populate this kind of history don't feel like people. I can read about Sumerians, Romans, Ming Chinese, Elizabethans, 19th-Century Americans, and men in WWII trenches, and unless I'm reading firsthand accounts, nobody feels real even though I know they were. There's an aura of fiction to this kind of history, and one I'd imagine historians and historical novelists have to push past at every turn.<br />
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And then there's the history of the places I know intimately, the stories about specific events and people who shaped the parts of my province I know best. While there's still a slight sense that the events aren't real, it's still a lot more grounded. I can point to landmarks or stand on hillsides and say, "This is where such-and-such happened" or "So-and-so could've been here then". I took a walking tour of historic Vancouver a couple weeks ago and had a strong feeling of "yes, this happened" because I could see the streets, knew the buildings, and, importantly, knew that the people being talked about were the same rough-and-ready types who had first colonized the area I grew up in. When I think about this type of history, I have a sense of ownership, that this is <i>my</i> history and something to be proud of.<br />
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This divide between world history and local history parallels my reasons for reading histories and historical novels. Most historical fiction I read or want to read, I choose because I want to know what life was like in a certain place at a certain time. The biographies and histories I choose are picked for the same sorts of reasons. I want to expand my knowledge base and find things out. But the novels, bios, and histories I've read about British Columbia—the gold rush, the ranchers, the loggers, and so on—I read because I know the basic stories and want to see how they're realized on the page. I use those books more like a time machine than an archive, and when I'm reading them, there's a deeper sense of "this could have happened" than I get with other historical fiction. I also get the time machine effect through firsthand accounts, as I alluded earlier.<br />
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I imagine this is probably a pretty common thing. History's always more immediate when you can see where it happened, or when you can see artifacts. The sense I got of European history, and the ancient world, while I was touring Europe so many years ago was incredible. And of course, local history often has a folklore quality to it. We tend to mythologize important people and events, and tell our children about them at a young age. The biggest hero of the area I grew up was a guy named Billy Barker, who found a motherlode that spurred a gold rush that built a city and drew ranchers into the area. Without him, the town I grew up wouldn't have been founded. There were other rushes, and other miners in the area first, but he's the guy everyone's heard about. I also learned the mythology of the fur trade, the Northwest Passage, and Canada's explorers.<br />
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At what point does local history become the more global "characters-not-people" history? How long does it have to be before the cultural memories fade? How much area can be called local? (My schoolbooks mythologized the colonization and exploration of the whole country, but the only bits at felt real are the bits that happened to BC.) Is this mythologizing of history what created the world's myths? I don't know. I don't even know if there's a single answer. But it's something interesting to think about, isn't it?Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-17443184963912994122011-09-13T07:30:00.000-07:002012-03-07T21:22:24.529-08:00Year of the Superhero - Captain AmericaIf you've been following this series, you'll know that Marvel movies make me grin like an idiot. <i>Captain America </i>was no exception. It was fun and exciting and a little bit cheeky, and I barely have any quibbles at all.<br />
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(Yes, I know<i> Captain America</i> came out weeks ago and I watched it opening week. I just didn't feel a blog post about it till now. On the upside, this means I don't have to worry as much about spoilers as usual.*)<br />
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I went into the film knowing the basics of the character through fandom osmosis and the theatrical trailers. Captain America is a whole-hearted boy scout type named Steve Rogers, who gets enhanced through "scientific" means to become a super-soldier. He has a sidekick named Bucky, and together they fight Nazis. Then Cap, as he's affectionately known, gets frozen, then thawed out later to lead to the Avengers. The trailers also told me there'd be a British love interest and Hugo Weaving delightfully chewing the scenery. I expected Hollywood gun fights and superhero quips, and I got that—but the film was more serious than I'd expected too, and there were some twists and turns in the origin story that I hadn't anticipated.<br />
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The film starts with a modern-day scene in the arctic, the discovery of a downed plane, and a suspiciously familiar shield (if you've seen<i> Iron Man 2</i> and the <i>Captain America </i>trailers). We skip back to 1941 and go through Cap's entire origin story until he crashes the plane. The movie ends with Steve Rogers waking up in a hospital bed and discovering that he's not in <strike>Kansas</strike> the 1940s anymore. Normally I don't have much patience with frame stories like this, because I feel the frame is generally unnecessary, but in this case I like it. That first scene sets up a mystery and a sense of anticipation that lurks in the background for the rest of the film, and the final scene establishes more or less where the Marvel movie-verse is going to go next. Take those scenes out, and you're left with a run-of-the-mill origin story with a definite conclusion that necessitates a lot of explanation when <i>The Avengers</i> comes out. I'd have less patience with a "yeah, so we found him and unthawed him" scene in <i>Avengers</i> than I generally do with frame stories.<br />
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The origin story itself is pretty standard. Steve Rogers tries and fails multiple times to enlist, is taken under the wing of a scientist and brought into a super-soldier program, and proves himself and is rewarded with enhancement. He metaphorically stumbles around a while trying to find something useful to do, then becomes a badass hero who destroys Nazi facilities with a crack team of soldiers. He finally ends up in a one-to-one fight with his nemesis, the Red Skull.<br />
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With the WWII setting, the story could've gone a couple ways I'm glad it didn't. It could've been a really gritty war movie, full of dirt and blood and bodies, and make a statement about how awful war is and how comrades become family, etc. Or it could've been a goofy action film à la Indiana Jones, with campy Nazis who never seem to come close to committing actual atrocities and are basically a tame threat.<br />
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What we got instead was a war movie that pays tribute to how hard and gritty and bleak the war was at times without really getting into it, and a bunch of Nazis that, while kind of goofy looking and ineffectual in the Hollywood way of not hitting targets, did pose a fairly big threat to our protagonists. Their retro-futuristic energy weapons were a large part of that. If they'd just been guys in weird outfits…<br />
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I really liked the retro-futuristic look of the technology. I know that a lot of what I saw in terms of transformation chambers, secret labs, planes, and energy cannons didn't actually exist back then, but it all looked like it could have. I had a bit harder time accepting that with the level of technology displayed in 1941, we haven't come further than the technology seen in <i>Iron Man</i>, though. I mean, there's a proto-type flying car in <i>Captain America</i>! Even if it failed in the film, if Howard Stark could do that then, why does his son only have cars on the market in our universe? Or should I accept that the holograms and AI in<i> Iron Man</i> <i>are</i> in some way the outcome of things Stark Sr. was dreaming up back in the day? I think I'll take that option…<br />
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I nearly bounced in my seat and squeed when the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_cube">cosmic cube</a> showed up near the beginning. I didn't because I was with people who hadn't seen <i>Thor</i>** and didn't want to spoil them. Or scare them. I get the impression that the cube wasn't initially linked to Thor and Asgard in the comics, that maybe it still isn't, but I think it's a stroke of genius that it is in the films. It ties the continuity together, and has implications for <i>The Avengers</i>. I enjoyed the demonstrations of just what the cube's power could do, and I thought everything the Nazis did with it was twice as terrible because they were perverting a holy/alien artifact. Which ties into the Nazi-occult thing, too.<br />
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Individual character time… I liked Cap. I was a little worried going in because I thought he'd be either really naive or too much like a boy scout, but my fears were unfounded. He was a solid, nice, likable guy, but he didn't come off as a caricature. He was a person, a person with his head on straight, and a person who grew up over the course of the film.<br />
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The supporting cast all delivered good performances as well. I'm a little in love with Howard Stark, who has incredible flair and does crazy things like his son does. I'm definitely in the faction who wants him to get his own film. Peggy Carter, the love interest, was good as well. I was glad to see that she got to be active and badass, but wanted to see more of that. It felt like she was sidelined by the men a lot, and yes, I know that's realistic to the era, but … *sigh* I also thought the romance aspects were a little heavy-handed at times, but believable 90% of the time.<br />
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I liked Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull too. He played up the sinister, creepy madness of the character, ending up slightly on the Indiana Jones side of the war movie equation, which is where a villain like him needed to be, I think. This is a comic book movie. The baddies are allowed to be a little unbelievable and cartoonish at times. But damn, he was creepy, and he pulled off the infodump scenes pretty well to boot. My only quibble with Weaving is that he had the worst German accent of any of the German characters. It wobbled. It occasionally went a bit Aussie. The vowels were slightly off most of the time. You'd think an actor of his caliber could do better, especially since he must've had a vocal coach.<br />
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But apart from the Peggy and Red Skull quibbles, this was a solid, enjoyable film. I think my favourite Marvel characters are still Iron Man and Spider-man, but Cap is fun and I'm looking forward to seeing him again in <i>The Avengers </i>next summer. I've got a good sense of his character and background now, and see some possibilities for how he'll interact with the rest of the team.<br />
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* Not that I ever avoid spoilers, really, but I worry whenever I put them in.<br />
** Yes, I <i>know</i>. I plan to fix this soon.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-J3HfllvXWE" width="560"></iframe>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-86241428706377468652011-09-09T12:20:00.000-07:002011-09-09T12:20:12.865-07:00Friday Science Linkage!(a.k.a. Anassa is too tired to think of a better title.)<br />
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I have another post up at <a href="http://scienceinmyfiction.com/2011/09/09/once-molehill-now-mountain/">Science in My Fiction</a> today, this time on mountains, volcanoes, and solar system geology. I highly recommend it, since I'm totally not biased or anything, and then coming back because I've been archiving interesting science articles again.<br />
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One group of mad scientists has recently created <a href="http://io9.com/5830664/this-is-bullet+proof-spider-silk-skin-+-made-from-goats-milk-yes-really">bullet-proof human skin, from spider goats</a>. I'm now envisioning soldiers, stuntmen, and superheroes with this stuff grafted onto their bodies, and will applaud any burn victim who opts for this treatment.<br />
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Another group of scientists have come up with <a href="http://io9.com/5832085/ibms-neurosynaptic-chips-are-the-closest-thing-to-a-synthetic-brain-yet">brain-mimicking computer chips</a>. Robot uprising and singularity ahoy?</div>
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Yet another group of scientists have developed a chemical to make <a href="http://io9.com/5836605/a-chemical-that-can-turn-your-organs-transparent">organs transparent</a>. It's being described as a major medical advance, and I agree.</div>
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And on a societal front, we have research on hyenas that <a href="http://io9.com/5831940/hyenas-prove-that-complex-societies-give-you-big-brains">ties complex societies to intelligence</a> and evidence that <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/16/1415681/human-precursors-went-to-sea-team.html"><i>Homo erectus</i> could sail</a>, because we've found their tools on Crete. And the discovery that dolphins don't whistle, but actually have<a href="http://io9.com/5838407/it-turns-out-that-dolphins-dont-whistle"> "vocal chords"</a> thrills me to no end.</div>
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As does this video, actually. This could seriously revolutionize agriculture, if it takes off.<br />
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And on a more generically inspirational note for genre writers, here's a lecture about unintended consequences of inventions and actions. Everything we do as a society, and everything we create is going to do things we don't want it to, for good and for bad, and really great sci-fi gets that. So watch, and write! (And comment?)<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rGaj2VImQec" width="560"></iframe>Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2524956602794499164.post-62357484299951016922011-08-24T13:55:00.000-07:002011-08-24T13:55:02.599-07:00Originality Is a LieYesterday someone told me there was never anything new on TV and justified the statement by listing shows similar to or which may have influenced a show which shall remain nameless, but which is currently airing and which I'm enjoying. I both agree and don't agree with their statement, but refrained from saying anything to their face about it. I save my best arguments for the blogosphere. Aren't you lucky?<br />
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You see, there are <a href="http://www.ipl.org/div/farq/plotFARQ.html">only so many stories out there</a>. Every show is going to fit into one of those basic plots. And <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage">TVTropes</a> has pretty much proven that there is no truly original idea. Somebody will have used that character, that situation, that trait before you, and hundreds of people will use it after you. It is impossible to be truly unique, especially since art is never created in a vacuum. Also, if you look through TVTropes for any length of time, you realize that some of these ideas go back to <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheEpicOfGilgamesh">the start of recorded history</a>, and probably further back than that. They've obviously stuck around because they strike a chord with people. Why shouldn't we expect people to still use the ideas today? They've been proven to work.<br />
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Like I said, though, I do agree with the "nothing new" statement to a degree. There are an awful lot of crime dramas, and a fair number of legal dramas and medical dramas, on air right now—enough that my reaction to green-lit show announcements is occasionally "oh no, not another one". Even sci-fi/fantasy shows seem to be borrowing from those subsets (<i>Torchwood, Eureka, Alphas, Warehouse 13, Supernatural, Haven,</i> and the upcoming <i>Grimm</i>). Would it hurt the networks, or the cable channels, to give us more shows without an episodic mystery underpinning? And networks do have a habit of copying from each other, which is why we <i>have</i> so many crime-medical-legal dramas, and why there's about to be <a href="http://abc.go.com/shows/pan-am">a show about 1960s stewardesses</a> after the success of <a href="http://www.amctv.com/shows/mad-men">a show about 1960s advertising executives</a>.<br />
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However, I don't write off shows (or films, or books) because I've seen the core plot, or tropes, or formula before. I expect them. I expect that the first film about any given superhero will be an origin story. I except that any team of crime solvers will have a comic relief character, a strict boss, a tough-but-fair type, and a hero. I expect sitcoms to be about slightly dysfunctional groups of people stuck living or working together. I write off shows for lack of originality, or rather, I watch shows that display originality. <i>Supernatural</i>'s kind of like <i>Buffy</i> and kind of like<i> X-Files</i> and kind of like horror movies, but it's also about family and "home", and it has different takes on monsters and an interesting take on religion. <i>Bones</i> is kind of like <i>CSI</i> with more skeletons, but it's focused on the lab people, not the detectives. Basically, I want to see people take the tropes and plots we've seen again and again, and do something different.<br />
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Interestingly, I've seen this "nothing new" argument leveled at TV and movies far more often than I've seen it leveled at books, though the backlash against repetitive stories occurs with both. I know from #ufchat on Twitter (admittedly a very small sample) that people get tired of the same mysteries with the same romances and same monsters. Anything different gets praised or at least mentioned. The publishing industry and reviewers will quite often point out the "different" parts of stories, as will I at my dayjob—and negative reviews are frequently "it's just like X". This happens again and again in film and TV reviews too.<br />
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I'm not sure which of my conclusions is more accurate. Does the ratio of books to shows lower the proportion of negative to positive feedback for books vs. TV? Or are readers less vocal about their dislikes compared to watchers? Are there fewer book reviewers compared to TV reviewers? Is it a mix of all these?<br />
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I'd like to see less backlash against "unoriginal" work, period. Everyone inspires everyone else and everything gets reused. We need to accept that and appreciate the ways creators do new things with old material—because, voice of experience here, that's really <i>hard</i>.Anassahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11554524219883438465noreply@blogger.com1