2020.07.24 Time is Relative

Lunchtime doubly so.

Greetings once again from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

Yeah. I said “tomorrow” last time. I forgot. I’m trying, but you may have noticed, time has ceased to have any meaning.

So. Books. I finished THE LADY OF THE LAKE, Andrezj Sapkowski. The final book in the Witcher series. (Well, there is a standalone novel that takes place before the others that I’ll get to at some point). It gets weird. In a good way, but it’s definitely quite different from the other books in the series. I would be lying if I said it was my favorite in the series (in fact, it’s probably ranked at the bottom) but it was very good and was a fitting end to the series. I guess I should probably finally play The Witcher 3 now.

I am about halfway through The Silmarillion. I never would have expected to like it this much? It’s extremely dense but I’m finding it a very enjoyable. This epic, mythic history of a fantasy world is pretty neat. (There are definite chunks of Judeo-Christian analogues that pop up, but I’m just doing my best to ignore it and enjoy the elves.)

Currently Reading: A FEAST FOR CROWS, George R.R. Martin

2020.07.22 It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This

Ugh. 9 days since last blog? Not cool. I didn’t intend for this happen. Just like it was easy to keep blogging every day (even if I had nothing particularly notable to talk about) when I had momentum behind it’s become all too easy to be swept up in the momentum of inaction. Hopefully that changes today.

So, what’s been going on? Well, for starters the new game from Sucker Punch came out. GHOST OF TSUSHIMA. I’d been eagerly awaiting this game since I first saw it announced at E3 2017 (I think it was 2017? the year when herded a bunch of games journalists through a weird stage show with folk music..). Now I’m deep into the game and I’m absolutely loving it. It’s the most I’ve enjoyed a game in a while. It’s exactly the kind of game I wanted at this time. It’s not ambitious or ground-breaking in ANY way. It does precisely NOTHING new and pretty much lives by a design philosophy that peaked around the time of something like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood… BUT, it feels like the most perfectly executed version of “one of those” I’ve ever played. It’s a big open world, scavenger hunty collectathon checklist, but with a good story AND a feudal Japan samurai setting. It’s pretty much crack to me. I’ve probably played close to 15 hours and am still fairly early in the story since I’m just spending all my time exploring the map and doing side quests. I am so happy it turned out how I hoped.

Ok. Let’s agree to meet back here again tomorrow and I can talk about books or something.

Currently Reading: FEAST FOR CROWS, George R.R. Martin

2020.07.13 Mariah Carey

I’ve been on a Fantasy kick.

I’m even reading the Silmarillion. I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s an absolute SLOG to read and it is the most “homework” like thing I’ve read for pleasure in a long time, but I love all the world-buildy, fiddly-ass bullshit of it. It also really lays out on front-street a lot of the stuff I find very frustrating and problematic about The Lord of the Rings mythology, though. I like that story and find the universe and it’s myth very interesting and borderline fun to read about, but for a guy who spent some time in his day fighting fascism he sure has a lot of it in his mythos. Any time there are “favored” or “chosen” races you should have klaxons going off.

I’m toying with the idea of diving too deep into Elder Scrolls lore videos now too… I don’t have the time or patience to actually PLAY any of those games, (the few times I’ve played Skyrim I got bored after about 25 minutes) but I love complicated fantasy universes. I don’t play World of Warcraft anymore, but I sure like reading books and encyclopedias about its universe. I should really read the 2 Song of Ice and Fire books I haven’t gotten to yet so I can pick up all the maps and encyclopedias and whatnot that surround them and not risk spoilage.

Currently Playing: “Fantasy” Mariah Carey.
Currently Reading: THE SILMARILLION, J.R.R. Tolkien

2020.07.10 No Blogs Please. It’s a Waste of Good Suffering

It’s been a minute!

That was unintentional. I am cross with myself as I had until recently been very good about maintaining a daily schedule on this here blog. Well, what’s done is done. Time to shake off the complacency and get back to (work)daily blogging. Give these ol’ fingers a stretch. I’m sure lots of good stuff has been happening.

I started watching Attack on Titan. I’m nearly finished the first season and I absolutely love it. I haven’t been this thrilled and entertained by a series since maybe the miniseries pilot of Battlestar Galaactica or the first season or two of Homeland? It’s not that it’s necessarily the greatest show I’ve ever seen, but the action is exciting and relentless, the characters are engaging and the ending of each episode always leaves me desperate to watch the next one. “Just one more episode” led me to binge the first 19 episodes in 2 days. I hope the series sustains that level of hype.

I’ve been watching a YouTube channel that produced extremely detailed and lengthy (and tremendously well produced) videos about the DUNE novels. Each video basically retells and summarizes each of the novels in the original Frank Herbert series (I see there are also some videos on the extended universe by his son, but I’m a lot less interested in those). I’m reminded how much I liked those novels and perhaps am due to reread the whole series? Just as soon as I finish the 3 or 4 epic fantasy series I just loaded onto my phone… (so 2026).

Speaking of fantasy novels, I finished BLOODY ROSE by Nicholas Eames in a day and a half. I just devoured it. It’s an absolute delight. The second in THE BAND series it follows the band FABLE on their adventures through the arena circuit, on a quest to kill a giant monster and ultimately into a battle for the fate of the entire world. I loved the way it built on the first novel KINGS OF THE WYLD while being a very stand good stand-alone novel itself. The characters and situations were equally exciting and hilarious. I’m amazed how well Eames balances the tones and the mixture of epic sword & sorcery drama and very funny (and reference/easter egg laden) comedy. I highly recommend both books.

That’ll do for today I reckon. See you on the far side of the weekend.

Currently Playing: Phish Jams Compilation 2011-2015
Currently Reading: THE LADY OF THE LAKE, Andrezj Sapkowski

Read Icculus in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama

1 Light Novel and 4 Volumes of Manga this week

RECORD OF LODOSS WAR: THE GREY WITCH, Ryo Mizuno
WITCH HAT ATELIER VOL 2, Kamome Shirahama
WITCH HAT ATELIER VOL. 3, Kamame Shirahama
DEAD DEAD DEMON’S DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION, Inio Asano
DEAD DEAD DEMON’S DEDEDEDE DESTRUCTION, Inio Asano

Lodoss War was fun, I actually think the anime adaptation was better, but I enjoyed reading the book as well. Disappointed the further volumes haven’t been translated and released in English.

Witch Hat is a good story about a young witch apprentice, the best thing about it is the absolutely GORGEOUS artwork. Such beautiful detail and incredible backgrounds. That would be enough, but the story is also pretty engrossing and the cliffhangers each volume has ended on have been very good.

I’m a big Inio Asano fan, NIJIGAHARA HOLOGRAPH is one of the best graphic novels I have ever read and this series about a group of high school girls living in a Tokyo 3 years into an alien invasion. A gigantic flying saucer hovers above them and occasionally releases smaller saucers. The news is constantly abuzz with discussion of the invaders and the potential for armageddon and against this backdrop we get a real existential slice of life drama/comedy about these girls day to day lives. I’m loving it.

2020.06.18 I Have Seen the Light (novels)

I’m getting close to the end of THE INSTITUTE by Stephen King, but I’ve mostly just been reading light novels. They’re the perfect things for the current state of my brain. They’re fun, they’re short, they’re easy to read and they’re easily available digitally.

I watched the finale of Kakushigoto. I really enjoyed the whole series. It was both very funny and quite sweet. The way they gave little tiny hints throughout the series about what had happened to the main character was handled well and the finale was different from what I expected without feeling like it cheated or anything. The basic premise of the series is that a mangaka doesn’t want his 10 year old daughter to find out that he draws a manga for a living and so the episodes are usually farces about him getting his comic drawn with his team of assistants while keeping Hime from finding out the truth. It’s worth a watch.

Abbott and Costello Meet Read Icculus

Despite spending much of the week recovering from surgery I read way less than I should have! YouTube and Anime largely monopolized my time, but I did manage to finish a short Light Novel and a Manga omnibus

RASCAL DOES NOT DREAM OF BUNNY GIRL SENPAI, Hajime Kamoshida
THE FLOWERS OF EVIL – COMPLETE VOL. 1, Shuzo Oshimi

RASCAL is the light novel source material that was adapted into my favorite anime of the last few years (with the same title). It’s almost impossible to describe, but it’s basically a sort-of science fiction romantic sort-of comedy about a high-schooler named Sakuta and the titular bunny-girl Mai. Sakuta encounters Mai in a library as she is wearing the eponymous “bunny-girl” outfit (that for some reason is extremely big in Japan?) and discovers that somehow he is the only one who can see her. The novel plays out as they develop their relationship and attempt to get to the bottom of what is causing her to disappear from the collective memory of everyone around her. I wouldn’t have thought a series like this would grab me as much as it has, but I love everything about it. It’s cute, it’s funny, it’s touching and it’s clever and conceptually original and deep. I eagerly await both the second novel and the first volume of the manga adaptation.

FLOWERS OF EVIL is one of the most uncomfortable reading experiences I’ve had in a comic. I can only read one or two chapters at a time before I need to put it down. It’s about a high-schooler who, in a moment of degenerate, teenage weakness, steals his crushes gym clothes. Unfortunately for him he is witnessed in the act by a classmate who I can really only describe as the embodiment of pure chaotic evil? She’s seriously a terrifying character who proceeds to TORTURE our protagonist. It feels dark and surreal in the way that David Lynch films do. Taking the angst and darkness that many of us feel as teenagers coming to terms with who we are and our place in the world and manifesting all that as horrific, nightmares that only continue to mount and cause you to squirm in your seat. Highly recommended if you can handle it.

Road to Read Icculus

Slipped my mind on friday to do this one up.

Read three quick and dirty crime novels this week before my brain shifted gears and I started spending more downtime watching movies.

THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE, Ed McBain
THE BLACK ICE SCORE, Richard Stark
THE SOUR LEMON SCORE, Richard Stark

GUTTER AND THE GRAVE was my first McBain I think. It was exactly the sort of fast-paced and grim book I needed at that moment. Going to finally dive into some of the 87th precinct books this year I think. It was also great to dip back into the fairly sizable collection of the Hard Case Crime imprint. I love what they do.

The two Starks were volume 11 and 12 of the Parker series. Parker is my favorite series of criminal novels ever. THE HUNTER placing high on my list of favorite novels of all-time. Black Ice was not as good as they usual are, there were some things to do with race that have aged poorly, but Sour Lemon was a great return to what I love about these novels. Just the unstoppable force that is Parker chasing down a guy who screwed him and stole money from him. I started DEADLY EDGE which is the 13th in the series, but have barely begun. Movies have begun to interfere.

Thinking I might start recapping the week’s movie watching too, just as soon as I think of a stupid series title I like as much as Read Icculus.

2020.05.25 Dispatches From the Wasteland – Entry 50

50 of these things. Torn on whether to continue. At a certain point when does it stop being a weird series and just become what every day just is now?

Greetings from my hovel on the shores of the Bow.

Picking up some older crime novels this week. Was having trouble getting into Mona Lisa Overdrive so rather than keep pushing against it I’ll probably just put it down for a while and pick up what is coming quickly and easily. I find that this happens with my reading habits pretty regularly, I’ll read a bunch of different things and then suddenly find myself stalling out and unable to really click with much. Then I tend to plow through a half-dozen crime or mystery novels and that usually gets me rolling again. I was able to get a bunch of the Richard Stark PARKER novels on audiobook so I’ll probably do a few of those, maybe a Maigret or two.

Currently Playing: They Might Be Giants – “Glean”
Currently Reading: THE BLACK ICE SCORE, Richard Stark

Read Icculus Goes to Camp

Two books this week:

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, Edgar Rice Burroughs
EVERY TOOL IS A HAMMER: LIFE IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT, Adam Savage

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT was bad. It was boring. The main character was a dickhead and the heroine was the most damsely damsel who ever did damsel. An adventure book on a secret hidden land with dinosaurs and submarine battles shouldn’t be boring, but holy shit this was.

EVERY TOOL’S A HAMMER was outstanding. The title made me a *little* nervous it would end up being kinda “self-helpy” but it’s not. It’s really just a bunch of stories and ideas about Adam Savage’s philosophy of making things. It was incredibly informative and inspiring and Adam Savage seems like the good guy you hope he is.