...and am I the only one that really, really wants someone--anyone!--to to wipe that smug facade of false moral superiority off Daala's face by reminding her that she used to be in charge of the Sun Crusher project? Sun Crusher. It did exactly what it said on the tin, only with more supernova. You want to charge someone with "reckless endangerment of a population"? Who was it who built a genocidal superweapon and then let a teenager steal it and use it to kill millions? Can someone please explain to me how Daala is the Chief of State, rather than facing a war crimes tribunal? We're talking about somebody who was not only evil, but so incompetent at it that other writers had to retcon in brain damage to explain it. To put both of those things in perspective: the only battle where she didn't lose and get at least one of her ships wreaked in the process was the one where she slaughtered some unarmed colonists.

Can we get at least one snarky remark on the subject? Pretty please?

Other than that, a decent book. I think I've figured out what they're up to with the overarching plot of the series, and it's moderately interesting.

....Of course, it's no Aaron Allston. :-)

Louisiana JP denies interracial couple marriage license "for the sake of the children"

See what you started when you started passing judgment on who can marry who, California voters?

(Now with added alliterative appeal.)

As some of you know, I go through books at an impressive rate during the slow parts of my work shift. I have a hard time finding enough new reading material to keep myself supplied.

Well, I finished my last library book on Saturday even though I tried not to.* (Tamora Pierce's Terrier. My first experience with anything by Pierce. Not bad.) I've been making do with an RPG rulebook and a security gear catalog. (I needed a new pair of boots. Really good boots.) So if I'm not going to re-read Wraith Squadron for the twentieth time... I could really use some suggestions for books I could read. Any thoughts?

I'm very big on fiction. My reading habits tend towards science fiction and (to a lesser degree) fantasy, but not exclusively so. A good sense of humor certainly helps, but is not a must, so long as the story is good. It doesn't have to be fiction, but that's usually the best for drawing me in and keeping my awake and entertained through the long hours of the night. Plenty of non-fiction has proved equally gripping. (Georgia Diary, Shake Hands with the Devil and Your Inner Fish to name a few.)

There's more books out there than even I could read in a hundred lifetimes... but how do I know what's good? I could use you guys' help with that.

Thanks.



*I wasn't able to avoid finishing it. Aside from it being decently compelling, I was also exhausted on Saturday. Too tired to try and pass the time by writing or to stay coherent without something to occupy my mind. I got two hours of sleep, then spent eight hours with my friends gaming, then eight hours of work. And then on my days off I completely failed in my plan to catch up on lost and my plan to finish rewriting that story I've been working on. I swear, this weekend either I finish that damn story or it finishes me.

By some strange confluence of coicidence, tonight I ate chocolate chocolate-chip cookies and drank dark lager with a friend who was wearing all black while watching Noir in a dark room.

Apparently I had a theme night without even realizing it.

Oy. That was not a good weekend. At least I'll have overtime pay and holiday pay coming to me....

I'm really having to rush to finish a whole season-long boxed set of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine before it has to go back to the video rental place.

It's worth it, however. Deep Space Nine is awesome and could beat up any other Star Trek and make it cry. Series-long story arcs, consequences for actions, moral quandaries that aren't hand-waved away, more character development for even the minor characters than any other series gave most of their main characters, the best space battles of the entire franchise, and the Defiant is the most badass starship the Federation ever built. Intelligent writing that didn't require the characters to act like idiots to move the plot forward: every time the friend I was watching with would go "Why don't they just do _____?" one of the characters would make the same suggestion.

I'm digging the nostalgia factor, but I'm also finding so much more than I was able to appreciate back when it was first on the air. This is a pre-Farscape scifi series with a lot of continuity and serialization and interpersonal conflict and shifting allegiances. Those are rare.

And the spaceships explode very prettily.

*I come into work and relieve the guard before me*
Him: "You know what I need?"
Me: "A drink?"
Him: "I need a droid that understands the binary..."
In Unison: "...language of moisture vaporators."
Him: "And I'm not settling for one that just worked on binary load lifters, either."
Me: "As well you shouldn't."
Him: "But what I could really use is a drink." *heads off to the bar*
-Proof that there are nerds working security


"I read that they're in talks with Speilberg to make [the Halo movie], but I'm not sure how that would work. The guy doesn't have a face!"
"Well, in the books he has a name and a face, so they could give him one for the movie, too."
"Wait, there are Halo books and you've actually read them? Man, they should make your kind wear special hats."
"Look who's talking."
-The same guard and me, at another shift change


"All the librarians have to be armed when they're on duty, of course."
-1635: The Dreeson Incident by Eric Flint and Virginia DeMarce


"Okay, robots should not do cocaine. Especially not Tachikomas. They're hyper enough as it is."
-My friend, regarding a comedic scene from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex


"When it comes to the safety of your family... don't you want to put yout trust in a swordsman who has shoes?"
-the swordsman's manager from Ashes of Time Redux


"He's quite the salesman."
-My friend on the above quote


"Is it just me, or is this movie a bit confusing?"
"A bit.... Wait! Have we ever seen the brother and sister in the same place at the same time?"
"...No! No we haven't!"
"Okay, now it makes sense. ...and has gotten considerably weirder."
-My friend and I on Ashes of Time Redux


Hacker: "I want to hack into his computer."
GM: "Okay. You easily break into his computer. All you find is his porn and his blog."
Me: "Heh. You should put his porn on his blog."
Hacker: "Oh, I am so doing that!"
-actual in-character conversation from last week's Shadowrun game

I was informed bynevermore999  that there's a five page preview of Batgirl #1 online, if anyone's interested.

The narration sounds like it's probably Steph. I'd be cool with that, since I like Steph, especially if Cass was still around training her and backing her up. The theory that there might actually be a whole team of Batgirls has been proposed, but I'm filing that one under "too good to be true" for the moment.

Of course, knowing DC, it could be a character that doesn't talk like that at all, just really badly written.

I’m not watching much TV of late. Aside from the fact that it’s summer, with a lot of shows on hiatus or cancelled, it’s also a bit tricky when you’re usually getting ready to head off to work at 9:45 p.m. And truth be told, there’s not a lot of stuff on that I even like.

 

Still, I have managed to catch a few things…

 

 

( One new, one ressurected, two that never died, several dead and making me nostalgic, one finished and still beloved. )

 

Anyway, sleep time. A friend is coming down from Bellingham to wake me up much too early so we can go to the lake.

...it's because it's damned hard to get any sleep during the day in a brick building with no air conditioning and there's record high temperatures.

I'm about ready to go see a movie in theaters just for the A/C.

Very small week this week. Only one book I subscribe to came in, and that was Booster Gold.

So, this month in Booster Gold... I don't give a shit. No, really, I just don't, and I suspect you don't either. They used time travel to rehash storylines from 20 or 30 years ago, as they've been doing since this damn series started, and it's not particularly interesting or fun. Remind me again why I handed over $3.99 for this?

Oh, right. Because the back-up feature is Blue Beetle.

So, this month in Blue Beetle, the story was too short and a little predictable in places (let's face it, you knew the daughter was involved as soon as she was mentioned), but quite entertaining and somewhat original. All the things that the main feature that I was forced to also buy to get it was not.

I was hoping that the return of Batgirl was this month, but it turns out it's next month. Damn. Although with covers like this, I suppose I shouldn't be getting my hopes up at all. (Oh, for pete's sake, tell me they're not bringing back the yellow boots. Fuck you and your nostalgia, Dan Didio. They were retarded in the '70s and they're retarded now.) Remember the early part of the decade, when Batgirl first came out as an ongoing series and she was not sexualized at all and her costume actually fit the "terrifying creature of the night" motif of the Bat-Family and her sexuality was a non-issue? Kiss that goodbye, apparently.

I need to cleanse my palette with some Usagi Yojimbo or something... DC is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

Now what was it I was I forgot to do today? My first day off in weeks where I don't have a houseguest sleeping on my couch, don't have to host a gaming session, don't have friends coming over to burn through my supplies of beer and anime, haven't been awake 30 hours straight and didn't sleep through the entire day? The only day off I get because of the overtime they need covered. What was that thing I was planning to do today that I can't really do tomorrow?

Oh, right. Finish revising that short story that's been sitting around on my hard drive for months.

::headdesk::

It'll get done one of these days, I swear.



(Anyway, I'm going to try turning in before the sun comes up for a change. Twelve hours of sleep will just about cover the sleep I shorted myself the last couple days.) 

Except for life_on_queen , who gets a belated "Happy Canada Day". I bet you thought we forgot, but we didn't. We just put off celebrating it for three days so we wouldn't have to throw two parties. We're cheapskates like that. :-)

...but things got busy. If I ever again agree to work overtime and to run a game on the same day, please shoot me. (Err... just not with a rifle, please.) I slept through Monday. Yes, all of Monday.

I put the complete run of Moribito up on my Mediafire account, to help somebody who was looking for it, so I figure I should make it available to everybody. As I've mentioned before, it's an extremely good series, one of the few with an unquestionably-badass and practically dressed female protagonist. It's based on a novel, written by an anthropologist, and the theme of how conquering cultures absorb indigenous cultures and heritage is lost runs throughout, amidst the devious scheming and fast-paced action. I actually think the adaptation is better than the original book, with more plot and character development. The second book is out now, too, and I enjoyed it immensely. I hope it gets adapted as well.

I still have Noir on there as well, although anyone with Netflix who can borrow the DVDs cheaply would probably be better served by doing that: eight years ago video files off the internet didn't look as good as they do now. I've already said how much I think you all would enjoy this series, so I won't reiterate.

Anyway, off to work. Again.



(Are those gray hairs in my beard? I'm strangely unbothered by the thought for a 27-year-old.)

It's been an unusual week.

( Polter-Cow visits, gaming and sleep deprivation. )
( An old friend visits, beer, Star Trek, and general nerd stuff )

( Casual sexism and magazine publishers )
( Amazon delivers: TSCC, Moribito, GITS:SAC )

Anyway, off to work again.

Just started the 26th hour of my day. Very tired. Worth it, though. Had fun. And managed to get my new computer built before I went to work. I can burn DVDs again! And no longer need to aim a giant fan through my open computer case to keep it from crashing. No more lagging, either. Or having to boot up twice to get the motherboard to find the hard drive. (Man, my old computer really sucked by the end there. It's a miracle it still worked at all. Why am I so hard on equipment?) Triple core CPU. Very badass.

I could swear I had something more substantive to say, but... tired! And I'm going to be doing at least another 24 hour day tomorrow, if not 30+ hours. The guys want to game in the morning after I get off work.

Although it wasn't bothering me when I went to sleep yesterday, my left eye has been kind of sore all day today. Somewhat light-sensitive, too. The bruise under my left eyelid has changed from a nickel-sized blue spot to a purple and red semicircle under the whole eye. That could make things awkward at work tomorrow night.

It all started Monday night, a couple hours after I got back from going to see some (not very good) bands play in Fremont with some friends in what was not exactly a celebration of my birthday. One of my friends and I went to the pizza place on the corner for something to eat. There were some belligerant drunk frat-boy types there, harrassing everybody and trying to pick a fight. Attempts to talk them down proved futile. When they started getting physically aggressive, I started dialing 911. I got hit the first time because I was calling the police. It was annoying, but didn't do any damage. I got hit the second time by a different guy because I'd pinned the guy who hit me the first time against the wall with my forearm across his throat. I would also categorize that one as mostly annoying. Somewhat later I got hit the third time, by the first guy again, because I was pulling him off my friend who the two of them were trying to pummel. That one actually hurt, and gave me this black eye. The police showed up around this time.

Anyway, we're pressing charges against those assholes, and the security camera and employees at the pizza place will back up our side of the story. I hate that shit like this happens in my neighborhood. I hate that these people think that they can get drunk and do whatever the fuck they want and it doesn't have consequences.

I haven't been in a fight in a long time. I've determined that I'm pretty rusty. And they're not any more fun with age.

...is agreeing to work a sixth day in a row in a week with almost-90-degree temperatures in a building where the air conditioning hasn't been run all weekend when you only own five UnderArmor HeatGear shirts and no quarters for laundry. Oh, and you waste the time that you could have spend getting quarters and doing laundry because your friend comes over (waking you up) and wants you to watch Gungrave with him and hear his theory about the ending of Noir that he tried to tell you yesterday afternoon when he woke you up with a phone call but you were trying to counterargue while half-asleep and making no sense told him to tell you in person the next day instead.

Oh, and you forgot you were going to write something about that book on paleoanatomy you read.

Just felt like griping. Enjoy your evenings, see y'all in the morning when I'm sweat-soaked and tired. And older. Frelling birthdays.