Just finished vol 2 and vol 3 of Batmanga. DC has been working on translating the Batman manga from the 60’s. It is an interesting mix of the classic campy tv show Batman and Speed Racer/Astroboy type bad guys. More fun that I thought it would be.
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Not reading, but watched the '66 style Batman: Return o the Caped Crusaders. Kids enjoyed it. I kept getting my suspension of disbelief broken by West and Newmar’s aged voices, I still had fun.
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For those casting around for something to read, T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon) is serializing her new novel Summer in Orcus on the web: Summer In Orcus – Red Wombat Studio
Pull quote:
“It’s Wes Craven meets L. Frank Baum, or Narnia for those of us who
thought Narnia smiled without showing enough of its teeth.” ~KB Spangler, Digital Divide
Well, it’s not too dark yet and I’m liking it a lot so far.
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So I am finally reading The Girl With All The Gifts… About 3/4 through… Anyone else start reading this recently? I can’t help but picturing the girl in my head as Eleven from Stranger Things. Is it just me?
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Awesome book, and soon to be a film.
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Third book in the trilogy, and so far just as far out as the others.
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Here is how they cast it, FWIW… I haven’t read it yet, but it sounds like an interesting book and may do that soon.
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I really, really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.
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I’ve heard good things about the film…
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I’ll add it to my list of books to pick up soon!
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I’ve been avoiding the trailer for fear of seeing anything I haven’t read yet… I am guessing my mind’s eye has been tainted by (a) having recently watched ST, and (b) the fact that they shaved her head in TGWATG.
It usually doesn’t bother me when characters in movies don’t match up with how I pictured them when reading the book. Probably because it almost never matches up. The only time it did was when reading Harry Potter. I always pictured Snape as Alan Rickman when reading the books (long before the movies came out).
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Oh! Sorry! Check it out when you’re done, for sure!
Right now, I’m re-reading American Gods and I’m seeing the characters now as the cast. I always saw Shadow as more of a typical biker type, now I see Ricky Whittle and Mr. Wednesday is Ian McShane (because of course).
I always pictured Snape as Alan Rickman when reading the books (long before the movies came out).
I know, right? The role was made for him!
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Almost wonder if Ms. Rowling was picturing him in her mind as she wrote the part…
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Could be. I’d write an entire book series just for the chance to meet and hang out with Alan Rickman (or would have, before he died).
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Two reads. The one that’s not escapist entertainment is in a spoiler.
Little Hands Clapping by Dan Rhodes. The story is mainly set in a German museum dedicated to the act of suicide. Created by a well-meaning woman seeking to cure visitors of self-destructive thoughts, it has, instead, become a home for all sorts of sinister characters: a dangerously apathetic caretaker; a cleaner and child-abuse survivor who believes she is damned to hell; various Europeans wanting to end their lives; and a psychopathic doctor named Ernest Fröhlicher (literal English translation: Serious Cheery).
[details=“The Information Diet”]This is a political read. I didn’t expect it to be: I thought it would be an argument for reduced newsmedia and screen media consumption to improve mental health and social relations. Instead I read a lot about Howard Dean (author Clay Johnson worked on Dean’s 2003 Democratic Party primary) and Roger Ailes. I learned Roger Ailes was key to transforming failed 1960 Presidential candidate Richard M. Nixon into two-term winning President in 1968 through media image makeover. Roger Ailes went to Fox News channel, one of several US 24/7 News channels. That much programming time can’t deliver news 100% of the time, so there’s a lot of spin. With the proliferation of media filtering options like RSS Feeds, partisan channels, websites and online news portals, cable comedic news shows, podcasts, et cetera infotainment consumers engorge on non-nutritive rhetoric and become ‘information obese’, similar to how a heavy diet of processed, non-nutritive foods and sugar contributes to physical obesity and metabolic syndrome,
“Just as food companies learned that if they want to sell a lot of cheap calories, they should pack them with salt, fat, and sugar—the stuff that people crave—media companies learned that affirmation sells a lot better than information.”
I’m still working through the book, which I hope will have some willpower suggestions for resisting the dopamine hits of checking screen media for instant messages, emails, RSS notifications, and for cultivating the skill assets of media and data literacy.
[/details]
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Just finished up my re-read of American Gods this week. I’m amazed how topical it feels. I think I should write up something about it.
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Apparently Rebecca Solnit is giving Hope in the Dark away for free right now:
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On paper, I just found my copy of “Democracy in the Streets” from Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago by James Miller, which I lost right after I bought it. (Hurray for fall cleaning!) It’s a fun and insightful read about Students for a Democratic Society.
As audio, for when my eyes are too tired, I am finally checking out Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine.
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Not yet. All of those books are sitting there making me feel guilty. I haven’t had the opportunity to sit down and concentrate on them. Currently reading Stranger in a Strange Land.
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