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Thursday, November 5th, 2009
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11:47 pm - What the Hell Was That??
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| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
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11:57 am - Sci-Fi and Stuff
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So, last night I decided to finally give up on Orcs. Really, it was going nowhere after the first two of three novels in this omnibus edition.
So I chose something else. And this morning, talking to the busriding young SF reader,, there was this exchange:
She: Are you rereading that?
Me: No, actually, I've never read Hyperion
She: (Eyes wide) You've never read Hyperion???
Me. Yeah, I get that a lot. It was this or Ender's Game../
She: (eyes narrow)
Me: Yeah, I get that a lot too....
She: I always thought Ender's Game was best if you were in middle school.....
So the idea is to finish Hyperion by next Thursday. We'll see.
In other news, I can tell you, thanks to the Seattle Public Library, I can tell you The Black Hole isn't as bad as I remembered it.
It's actually a lot worse.
Crypto "V"??"
Anyone watch V last night?
Anyone find it as crypto-right wing as I did?
current mood: geeky
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| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
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2:32 pm - It's Good to Be Grumpy.
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| Monday, November 2nd, 2009
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9:53 am - Talking to the Younger Generation
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(before I sink to the bottom of monthly statistics)
So, there lives in my building and rides my bus a tall blonde 20-something pseudo-nerd.
(you know me, I make friends wherever I go...)
This morning, after plowing though some Diana Gabaldon time travel romance last week her dad gave her, today she sat down with what was clearly was an old SF pulp cover, and lo and behold, it was The Caves of Steel!
Me: Gotta love the classics.
She: I love classic Sci-Fi - nobody cares about computers and everybody watches TV.
We had a short discussion about classic SF and sexism. ("I love classic Sci-Fi - even if it is totally sexist!" which led to a short exchange before her stop on Heinlein and sexism, my contention being that yes, he's sexist, but he's unorthodox about it in his later stuff, what with his strong female characters who are still in many ways male sexual fantasies).
She never heard of the Foundation series. I strive to educate....
current mood: geeky
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| Thursday, October 29th, 2009
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1:14 pm - Book Blogging - Orcs
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So I finished the second Lost Fleet novel last week, and, hoping for something scary for Halloween, I picked Stan Nicholls' Orcs off the shelf.
(what I think I'm really interested in is The Dwarves by Markus Heitz, since I have a much greater affinity for Dwarves than Orcs, but I feel the need to clear this off my shelf first before a new book)
Frankly, it doesn't live up to its hype.
The orcs just aren't terribly interesting or different than human characters we've seen a thousand times before. They, in fact, appear completely human, in speech and behavior. Tolkien's orcs - hell, Peter Jackson's orcs are more interesting. (ok, their evil overlord is fairly gruesome, but almost cartoonishly so, eventually, and they don't like her anyway.)
There's nothing really wrong with the book, it just isn't terribly sophisticated. Mathew Woodring Stover does better with similar themes. Glad I got it at Half-Price.
Shoulda gone with Woken Furies. Takeshi Kovacs is much scarier than these clowns.
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| Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
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4:29 pm - Just Seen
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"I'm A Marvel, I'm a DC" takes on the whole "Disney Buys Marvel" thing:
Ok, it's old, but I only just saw it, and I include it for my regular readers, one of whom will like the Lion King parody, and the other of whom will like the last bit (probably the first bit too).
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| Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
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12:14 pm - I Came, I Saw, I KICKED ITS ASS!!!!
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This just in:
"![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) oldmangrumpus:
Your portfolio has come back from the second reader and is a Big Fat Pass. Yay!
The report is
attached for your review. Good job!"
Not only that, but - as I kinda hoped - the second reader was my cataloging prof,
who said:
"A very impressive portfolio; the
sophistication and maturity of your work really shows how you have exceeded the challenges and goals you set for yourself. Much growth is
demonstrated in your portfolio. Congratualtions."
She also gave me a whole bunch of "outstandings" (I only got
"Satisfactory" for "practical-Service" - I can live with that)
WAAAHHHOOOOOOO!!!!
current mood:  relieved
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| Monday, October 19th, 2009
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9:36 am - Approaching Equilibrum
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... or, my weekend three ring circus of stress.
1) I finally got my Portfolio in and accepted. I'd finished it (to my satisfaction) and my advisor said that since she had a class, she'd back to this on Saturday afternoon.
So I waited.
And waited.
And it was Sunday, and I waited.
Finally at 4 PM I sent her an e-mail asking if no news was good news or bad news, and she said "thank you for reminding me - I had forgotten, I'll get on this right away!" and 45 minutes later I got a reply with proposed changes. So I get those in. This morning at 6 she said it was "handed in" and just recently I was e-mailed that it's listed as "accepted" and awaiting the dreaded "second reader" (who hopefully won't ask for much, or anything).
Why do people always forget me?
2) this means I also spent a lot of my stressed-out weekend watching the lectures and doing the homework I didn't do for last week, getting everything done by 12:40 AM this morning.
3) there was a power outage in my building, possibly caused by a downed street-powerpole, and definitely enhanced by a Seattle City Light truck in the neighborhood. This ended up causing all sorts of freakyness with my iPod because the computer its attached to and where iTunes is, and my digital cable box seems to have reset itself, which (upside) the "missing" channels have appeared on it and more, while (downside) on the digital TV - on which I stupidly hit rescan without meaning to - the "regular" cable stations look degraded.
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| Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
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7:35 pm - I'M FREAKIN' OUT!!!!!
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Well, the first draft of the Portfolio Text came back, with the proviso that every section needs to be expanded.
EXPANDED???? It was all I could do to write this! (the simple truth is I really don't want to do this, nobody ever does, it's a waste of time, and it's all bullsh!t anyway)
Brevity is a problem I've had since I started this program; when you work in profession where you are forced to stay between 500 and 2000 characters, you learn to be brief. Anything more is wasteful and unnecessary.
Haven't even started on the HTML yet... wahhhh
Must Get This Done.....
current mood: Freaking Out!!
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, October 11th, 2009
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10:00 pm - It was A Beautiful Fall Day
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So naturally I it spent inside, writing my portfolio.
Well, at least I got the text done. I think. We'll see what my advisor says.
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| Friday, October 9th, 2009
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12:07 pm - The Reality Behind the Nobel Prize
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| Thursday, October 8th, 2009
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1:04 pm - The Cross - It's Not Just For Christians Anymore!
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| Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
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8:27 pm - I Am.... Dracula
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Just finished the novel The Historian, the first novel by Elizabeth Kostova, a literary novel about Dracula. Actually not all that bad, but at 640 pages it's a big beast, which unfolds at a leisurely, Victorian pace.
After The Geographer's Library, I was turned off by literary novels, because while the historical chapters of that book were colorful enough, the "domestic" portions were very whiney - "should I leave my comfortable dull existence or not?"
The Historian, by contrast is more wide ranging and more evocative of place. It was a bit too long, but otherwise very ... seasonal. The vampires are actually evil and unsympathetic (what a concept!) and packed full of history and world travel.
Now on to the book club's next pick - World War Z!
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7:55 pm - Decisions, Decisions
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Ok, the "culminating experience" here at the UW iSchool - for one of my years - is the "portfolio"
Turns out I was a little late getting started and talking to my advisor.
So I have a decision - pull a complete portfolio - website and all - out of my procrastinating ass in about a week, maybe less.
(Pro -this costs me no money, and I will be DONE this year!
Con - I need to seriously haul ass,, and my advisor is very busy this term, so there is no room for error)
OR
Wait until next term, which will cost me the price of a single credit, probably as an independent study, since you have to be registered for at least one credit when you do the portfolio, which itself is not a class or credit.
(Pro - well, I'll have plenty of time.
Con - $$$ and time. Crap!)
(the third option, go for the new "Culminating experience" class starting next term, my advisor was cold on, as this is just starting out and probably has plenty of bugs. And is more expensive)
AAAGGHHHHH!!!!
Advice?
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
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9:59 am - Getting Pissed Off
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My rarely spiking Offense-o-meter is starting to peak.
Maybe I haven't had enough fiber. Or sleep. Or my shoes are too small.
Why is it every "Arab" is played by an Indian (or South Asian?) And positive roles, I mean, like Sayid on Lost or the "Arabs" on the recent NBC comedy Community.
Meanwhile, the most prominent Arab American on the screen gets to play a character of indeterminate ethnicity with a the connotations of being neutered: Monk.
What is it, are real Arabs just not "dark" enough for narrowminded idiotic TV producers?
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| Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
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8:20 pm - The Pleasures of Unexpected Cable TV DVD
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But first, retail!
Had to get new shoes today.
I really hate buying shoes. My feet are not recognized as a "size" by most shoe makers (shoe companies that can't really decide on shoe sizes); my feet are both too small and a bit too wide. So it makes trying to find shoes a bit of a scavenger hunt.
I also don't consider shopping a recreational activity.
My idea of a perfect shoe shopping experience?
An attractive woman (possibly redhead): "Good morning, sir! Here are the shoes you wanted!"
Me: "Can I try them on?"
Saleswoman : "of course, sir!"
Me: "Wow, they fit perfectly!"
Saleswoman: " Have a nice day!"
The reality is somewhat different. I have to hunt first for something I like (do they make sense in a city where it rains for nine months?) then I have to see if they have the right size, which is usually disappointing. Or I can go straight for the "right" size at places that actually organize that way. Then I have to try on things to see if they actually fit (one foot is slightly larger than the other). Add to that stupidly choosing the wrong pair of shoes and socks, as well as impeding the natural progress of a father and his two little chaos engines, and it wasn't all that fun. But at least I got three pair of discount shoes at an outlet mall, two which are waterproof and one is athletic shoe comfortable.
And now, on to TV!
I've been watching The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells on DVD (hey, it was cheap at Amazon!), which was a three part Hallmark miniseries I'd never even heard of before (hey, it's not like I watch the Hallmark Channel). Basically, each night did two of Wells' short stories, which a fictionalized Wells (and his charming, brilliant, and no-nonsense girlfriend Jane) inserted into them to make them look as though they really happened to Wells. The first two nights were interesting enough - you can see where some of the ideas of Wells' novels came from in these stories - but it was the last night that really was the best, which included an off-beat, charming love story in the first, and in the second, Wells tries to foil a bioterror attack (considering this series seems to have aired a month before September 11th, it was weirdly prescient) with hilarious results (yes, I wrote "hilarious"). Just for the last part I highly recommend it. Yeah, it's hoaky in places. And the special effects are not "spectacular" but they wisely chose stories that for the most part didn't rely on overwhelming special effects. But in the final analysis is was charming, and certainly better than a lot of network TV I've seen.
current music: Mythbusters
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| Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
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11:33 pm - School Starts
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And Fall arrived right on Monday.
Good news - my GPA is untouchable.
Yup - another pass-fail class. Looks like an easy enough class. Three papers (about things I actually can understand), no end of term project, no group work.
Oh, yeah, and the Portfolio has to be done this term, but ...
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova has picked up - after the first 200 pages.
Watching the intensely upbeat commercials for Spike Jonez upcoming Where the Wild Things Are, I've become concerned about the infantilization of American popular culture. Thank god for Guillermo del Toro.
current music: Colbert Report
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| Monday, September 28th, 2009
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12:29 pm - Did You Finally Get a Job?
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| Sunday, September 27th, 2009
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9:45 pm - Foolscap The End
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Today was a bit more bits and pieces, including a good Nanobites brunch and my being the "buyer" for Amy Thompson at the auction (eep!). At least I didn't screw up the order. And I unexpectedly ran into a children's book author again.
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6:52 am - Yesterday at Foolscap
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Met a lot of people, heard a lot of things. Interviewed jaylake about his book "Mainspring", which is the Bad Hobbits' current book.
---
Me: I thought there must have been a mistake that I was on that panel - I mean, I was the only one who's not a writer.
twilight2000: Oh, no. We wanted someone wasn't a writer on the panel for that.
Me: Really?
twilight2000: Oh, yes. We had to turn people away from panels this year.... which is great because the con-com didn't have to be on as many panels!"
--
So there.
The trip home unfortunately was marred by a really drunk, beery guy at the Montlake station taking the 48 back home. Seriously, he made Tom Waits sound sober.
But I made out pretty well at the Book Box, even if mostly sequels (including one on my list). So naturally once I got home I started reading - and not book I got, but (thanks to one panel) one sitting around forever, but not one that I'd mentioned, The Historian, good for the (hopefully) approaching Autumn and Halloween.
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