news from me, at last
22 Mar 2006 12:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salineaYeap, I know I've been very bad about posting, and about commenting as well, and answering comments as well. Very sorry for that.
My try-out period at work has ended, and they're keeping me. Yay. Which means I won't have much more time for hobbies related stuff, but which means I have money and can start planning vacations.
I'd really, really like to go to the US that summer. Meet some people, and hopefully go to the World Con in LA since I missed the one in Glasgow last year. And maybe go to an Anime con of some kind (but not AX, Maya, because July wouldn't fit the planning :( ) For that I need to check out prices of everything and see if I can afford it (can you see I'm bad at planning stuff ?)
On the other hand, there's been talk of a meeting between the ASOIAF folks at Barcellonna in May but I don't know if that's still up the air ? Anyone got information on that ?
On books : I finished reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, and I rather liked it. It's full of his usual quirky sense of humour and random interesting facts. The pacing is rather slow, but the story is engrossing nonetheless, with many upturns of events and twisted intrigues that the characters witness.
The story takes place in Europe (mainly London, Amsterdam and Paris) between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, and basically describe the avent of Modernity with the shifts of paradigms related to science (sorry, "Natural Philosophy"), budding finance and paper-money, and politico-religious struggles of power.
Yeah, no less.
The main characters who witness and take part in these events are Daniel Waterhouse, son of Puritain leader of the English Civil War, a Natural Philosopher member of the Royal Society; Jack "Half-Cocked" Shaftoe a Vagabond whose picaresque and cunning adventures have been made into a book called "L'Emmerdeur" in France; and Eliza, a former slave in a Turkish harem turned spy and speculator. They are likeable, but a bit too stereotypal. Daniel has a tendancy to be too much of a klutz and sounding like the indecisive hero of a romantic shounen, Eliza too much the Geek's wet-dream of a beautiful & intelligent woman, and Jack... actually Jack is pretty much the best character. Isaac Newton and Leibniz also features as important protagonists of the story (they're fun).
Apart from names borrowed from the Cryptonomicon, there is not a gram of Science Fiction to the story. However, as a historical novel, it does have a Sci-Fi touch to it, in the way it observes events in the way that new inventions (technological, cultural or economical) change the world. The setting is richly detailed, from the most gritty ubiquity of syphillis and vivisection experiments, to the complexe and silly intrigues at courts. It's one of those books where you learn plenty of strange, ecclectic and interesting facts while still managing to be fun, amusing, and adventurous.
I look forward to read the sequel, Confusion, as soon as I finish re-reading Mary Gentle's Book of Ash.
On Roleplaying Games, I've started reading Mage : the Awakening (which I'd found in bargain sale) and so far I'm quite disapointed. Should have left on my first impression and never buy the stuff no matter the price. The writing is dull, the setting uninspiring, the splats boring and flat and I'm missing the concept of Paradigms. I hope the magic system will redeem the whole thing by giving me something to steal to add to Mage : the Ascension games.
Exalted v2 is out, I know I'm going to have to buy it next Saturday. Especially since I went to see the movie Wu Ji yesterday which was very fun and pretty and made me want to create a kick-ass Air Aspected Dynast using a Martial Art based on fans very, very much. Then again when does watching a kung fu movie doesn't make me want to play Exalted ? XD
I also watched a French animated movie this week end : Renaissance. The aethetics was very interesting : only black and white, very stark contrast but a lot of work on textures and shapes to make it "visible". The futuristic Paris it shown was especially interesting. However the story, something noir and low key Sci-Fi, was very unoriginal and the dubbing particulary bad.
That's it for now.
My try-out period at work has ended, and they're keeping me. Yay. Which means I won't have much more time for hobbies related stuff, but which means I have money and can start planning vacations.
I'd really, really like to go to the US that summer. Meet some people, and hopefully go to the World Con in LA since I missed the one in Glasgow last year. And maybe go to an Anime con of some kind (but not AX, Maya, because July wouldn't fit the planning :( ) For that I need to check out prices of everything and see if I can afford it (can you see I'm bad at planning stuff ?)
On the other hand, there's been talk of a meeting between the ASOIAF folks at Barcellonna in May but I don't know if that's still up the air ? Anyone got information on that ?
On books : I finished reading Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson, and I rather liked it. It's full of his usual quirky sense of humour and random interesting facts. The pacing is rather slow, but the story is engrossing nonetheless, with many upturns of events and twisted intrigues that the characters witness.
The story takes place in Europe (mainly London, Amsterdam and Paris) between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th, and basically describe the avent of Modernity with the shifts of paradigms related to science (sorry, "Natural Philosophy"), budding finance and paper-money, and politico-religious struggles of power.
Yeah, no less.
The main characters who witness and take part in these events are Daniel Waterhouse, son of Puritain leader of the English Civil War, a Natural Philosopher member of the Royal Society; Jack "Half-Cocked" Shaftoe a Vagabond whose picaresque and cunning adventures have been made into a book called "L'Emmerdeur" in France; and Eliza, a former slave in a Turkish harem turned spy and speculator. They are likeable, but a bit too stereotypal. Daniel has a tendancy to be too much of a klutz and sounding like the indecisive hero of a romantic shounen, Eliza too much the Geek's wet-dream of a beautiful & intelligent woman, and Jack... actually Jack is pretty much the best character. Isaac Newton and Leibniz also features as important protagonists of the story (they're fun).
Apart from names borrowed from the Cryptonomicon, there is not a gram of Science Fiction to the story. However, as a historical novel, it does have a Sci-Fi touch to it, in the way it observes events in the way that new inventions (technological, cultural or economical) change the world. The setting is richly detailed, from the most gritty ubiquity of syphillis and vivisection experiments, to the complexe and silly intrigues at courts. It's one of those books where you learn plenty of strange, ecclectic and interesting facts while still managing to be fun, amusing, and adventurous.
I look forward to read the sequel, Confusion, as soon as I finish re-reading Mary Gentle's Book of Ash.
On Roleplaying Games, I've started reading Mage : the Awakening (which I'd found in bargain sale) and so far I'm quite disapointed. Should have left on my first impression and never buy the stuff no matter the price. The writing is dull, the setting uninspiring, the splats boring and flat and I'm missing the concept of Paradigms. I hope the magic system will redeem the whole thing by giving me something to steal to add to Mage : the Ascension games.
Exalted v2 is out, I know I'm going to have to buy it next Saturday. Especially since I went to see the movie Wu Ji yesterday which was very fun and pretty and made me want to create a kick-ass Air Aspected Dynast using a Martial Art based on fans very, very much. Then again when does watching a kung fu movie doesn't make me want to play Exalted ? XD
I also watched a French animated movie this week end : Renaissance. The aethetics was very interesting : only black and white, very stark contrast but a lot of work on textures and shapes to make it "visible". The futuristic Paris it shown was especially interesting. However the story, something noir and low key Sci-Fi, was very unoriginal and the dubbing particulary bad.
That's it for now.
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no subject
Date: 22 March 2006 11:47 am (UTC)Join. THE POWER OF...THE FROGS...COMPELLS YOU.
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Date: 22 March 2006 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 22 March 2006 09:09 pm (UTC)4 to 8th May.
Not at all likely for me, but got secret plans for 2008 ;)
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Date: 22 March 2006 09:36 pm (UTC)Humm... I'm not really interested in London, and I guess it's too late to book the hotel anyway... I guess I'll pass.
What happens in 2008 ? ^^
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Date: 22 March 2006 11:00 pm (UTC)July 4 - July 13, 2008
Guest at Semana Negra, Gijon, Spain
Northern Spain, seems workable!