Today's accomplishments

Today I socialised with some of my favourite people, who are briefly home from being all emigrated to England-land. I formatted and submitted an interview for the Tor.com column. I searched after Koan inscriptions, mostly fruitlessly, but I have some references to track down. I'll probably need to ILL them, worse luck. I exercised: mile in 10:10, treadmill; 12km in 32:15, exercise bike; benchpress, 2x8 @ 20kg+bar, 1x5 @25kg+bar, 1x5 @27.5kg+bar; bicep curl, 3x8 @18kg (9kg/arm). Some more messing around with free weights. Cooldown run, 0.5 miles in 5:10.

Linkies for fun

Science confirms reading literature is good for your brain:

Moreover, the study showed that simply by asking the readers to alter their method of reading--from “leisure” to “analytical”--they could drastically alter the patterns of neural activity and blood flow within their brains. The study could have implications in the way reading affects the brain and how we train our brains to be better at things like concentration and comprehension.

Jo Walton, Death, Gods, and Repartee: Roz Kaveney's "Rituals":

Roz Kaveney’s Rituals occupies a very interesting space that not much else has been interested in exploring. It’s a little like Good Omens, and a little like Waiting for the Galactic Bus, and now that I have three of them I can declare them a genre—and say this is a splendid example of “Witty Blasphemy.” Or maybe “Adorable Blasphemy” would be a better name?

Genevieve Valentine, Dredd:

Its questionable moments aside, it's solidly written, and sometimes even approaches poignance. (Once, Anderson and Dredd break through the wall onto a small balcony; the lingering, silent shot of Mega-City at night is beautiful and calm...until Anderson realizes there's no exit and they'll have to go back the way they came.) If you can handle a body count in the hundreds, lovingly-detailed gore, and a movie in which heroics are proven useless in the greater scope, it's got some clever moments, more tension than many other SF action flicks, and smart lead characters on both sides of the fence.

Books 2012: terrible tie-ins

Books 2012: 170-172


170. Sabine C. Bauer, Stargate SG-1: Transitions. Fandemonium, 2011.

A solid (for Stargate) and appealing story, set post-Season 8, and starring in addition characters from Stargate: Atlantis. Bauer is one of the better writers still working in the Stargate universe, and while I do not heap high praise upon the book, it was a safe, comforting, and entertaining read.


171. J.F. Crane, Stargate SG-1: Sunrise. Fandemonium, 2011.

This particular tie-in fell down on giving the main characters some reason to be emotionally invested in the new-and-fucked-up-planet-of-the-week. Not utterly terrible, but not particularly stand-out in any way, either.


172. Amy Griswold, Stargate SG-1: Heart's Desire. Fandemonium, 2012.

Good character work, solid scene-setting, decent tension. It is let down by a less-than-awesome climax, but up till then, an entertaining story.

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Yeah, I needed undemanding stories. Probably still do. But alas, I should endeavour to focus on my work.

And now I cease to spam LJ.