Hibernation Fun
The week was dreary and rainy and cool, so indoor work & play took precedence over most other things. Here be the entertainments of the moment:Books:Lady Bridget's Diary, Maya Rodale. Cottony, fluffy, and brain-free.Trial by Fire by Dr. Charles E. Gannon, who I met through Wordfire Press booth at WorldCon. Conversing with him about Science Things and Culture Stuff was one of the many high points of my con. So far the book is the high point of my wee, and I have two more to enjoy after it.Television:The Miss Fisher Mysteries. The 20's costumes! The 20's sets! The snappy dialogue! The smoldering tension between Miss Fisher and Inspector Robinson! The locations I recognized! Social Commentary! ALL-CAPS SWOONING EXCITEMENT.Ahem. High recommend, unless you're looking for convoluted mysteries. These are all classic character-driven whodunnits with locked rooms, evil villains & dramatic reveals.Marvel's Luke Cage (as opposed to someone else's Luke Cage? I dunno.) Base impression: gritty noir. The violence was bloody, on a par with Daredevil. The story had glorious depth and was filled to the brim with delights. (The music. Oh! The music was purely wonderful.)I could ask for villains who don't quote scripture as they commit cold-hearted, evil acts, and I could wish for less anti-science bullshit, because those tropes are hella awful, but...but...could not ask for a better hero. BULLETPROOF BLACK MAN IN A HOODIE.They totally had me there. Toss in a muchly-female-cast of unique and identifiable characters, all presented without forced "Why They're Female" backstories, add smashing good writing and acting, and I'm willing to swallow the bitter annoyance of the "scientists" who spout off idiotic canards, misconceptions, and moronic gibberish ten minutes with Google could have prevented.I'll swallow it, but it still tastes disgusting. Equating scientific method with unthinking devotion to rules and procedures is as dangerous as it is fallacious. You want more anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers? Because this is how you get anti-vaxxers and flat earthers.(why yes, this is a red-button temper topic for me. What tipped you off?)Movies:Noah. Heh. Hrrrgggle. Heeheeheeheeheehee. So badness. Such wrong. Swords and sandals epic meets 21st century action aesthetic with a generous CGI budget. I had to watch it because Russell Crowe, but even his pugnacious scowl couldn't keep me from giggling.All the Rest of the Stuff
- Gave this blog its first annual housecleaning (I erased 100+ random graphics I'd collected and never used, re-organized menus, went through tags and categories, did some planning, blah, blah, boring blah)
- The usual Daily-Weekly-Monthly Commitments
- Baked cookies, made applesauce, pork roast & cole slaw, wrote up a spice purchasing wish-list, and generally had fun in my kitchen.
- Scheduled two book promotions and bought ad space with the year's ebook "profits"
- brought in rosemary pots for the winter and cut a bunch of peppermint to dry.
- Polished up a bunch of draft posts on writing/philosophy/advice/world-building. I have material scheduled twice a week nearly to the end of the year. Huzzah for authoring.
That's all the sharables for now.