Reading, Listening, Watching

[purplecat]

Reading: Han Solo at Star's End - the last of the books I weeded out and decided to read during the great reorganise. So far I'm enjoying this better than Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I suspect, in part, Han Solo is an easier character to work with if you simply want to write a yarn. The story is set in a region controlled by "The Authority" which is set up as a kind of Corporate antagonist controlling a region of space independent of The Empire. Subsequent developments in the Star Wars universe make this seem unlikely, but one can see the sense behind the choice at the time.

Listening: Thirteen Minutes to the Moon has been forced to delay its final episode because its presenter is a doctor specialising in ICU, respiratory medicine and strategic planning. Strangely, he has more important things to do right now than voice over a podcast about Apollo 13.

Watching: or, perhaps, not watching. I joined in for the Doctor Who Rose tweetalong but found following the tweeting rather difficult (I'm clearly too old for this), so I have not joined in any of the others. I am dismayed however, by the vitriol being directed towards Emily Cook from a small number of high profile places. It seems very dog-in-the-mangerish to criticise someone who is doing something that is helping many people just because she is not doing it in quite the way you would personally like her to do it. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS.

On a smaller scale a weekly Primeval watch along has started on Zoom. I signed into this frantically last night (frantically because I didn't remember it was taking place until the last minute and then couldn't find the DVD). Tame Layman joined in. Fortunately he wore headphones (to better hear the DVD audio) and so was spared much of our commentary. He expressed a desire to participate in future watchalongs in his capacity of "Dinosaur Expert who doesn't hear all the drooling about pretty boys".

Comments

[daniel-saunders.livejournal.com]

I wanted to do the tweetalongs, but (a) find watching TV and being on the computer to be mutually exclusive activities and can't do both at the same time (like many people on the autistic spectrum, I'm bad at multitasking) and (b) find three quarters of what I find on Twitter to be so dispiriting that I just avoid it, even though the other 25% is interesting, relevant or funny. I've tried being selective, but total abstinence is the only thing that's worked for me in the long run, sadly. I wasn't aware of the criticism of Emily Cook; some fans can be very small-minded.

I'm really out of the loop on TV stuff so lately I've been watching Life on Mars, which I missed first time around. I'm enjoying it a lot. I feel bad for missing it the first time around, but then I wouldn't be cheered up by discovering it now. I'm also revisiting Star Trek: Voyager which I haven't seen for twenty years. It's objectively not that good, but strangely charming, mostly because the main characters are so likeable (even though, arguably, the premise called for more conflict). It's certainly relaxing, undemanding television.

[fredbassett]

LOL, he's very welcome to join us! It'll be fun.

He can educate us about dinosaurs and he can ignore our taste in men.

The only reason Mr FB isn't joining in is that the caving club have virtual pub quiz nights on Tuesday at the same time.

[purplecat]

Oh! I'm glad its alright. I was a little alarmed when he wandered past and was suddenly all "Oh! I'll join in" - partly my fault because I was so last minute I'd not forewarned him.

And he'll enjoy the whole being knowledgable about dinosaurs thing.

[fredbassett]

The more the merrier!