Day 131: Just a nice quiet day today. Spent a pleasant afternoon reading in the sunlight.
Photos
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📚 Clarkesworld Issue 204 edited by Neil Clarke
48/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Standout stories this month are Djuna’s “The People from the Dead Whale”, RJ Taylor’s “Upgrade Day”, and Arula Ratkanar’s “Axiom of Dreams” (which also introduced me to some mathematical concepts I didn’t know about).
Year 50 Day 130
Day 130: Today was the first ConCom (Convention Committee) planning meeting for Norwescon 46. It was good to get back into the planning mode with this group of friends, and I feel like we’re off to a good start. Once again, it looks like my job lineup this year is webmaster, social media manager, Philip K. Dick Award coordinator, and Thursday night DJ. Just six and a half months to get everything planned and ready to go!
📚 Grounded by David Bischoff
47/2023 – ⭐️
Uff. Bad enough that the characterizations are off for everyone, especially Picard, and that the threat comes off as a bad B-movie monster. But on top of that, one of the introduced characters is described as “having Autism”, which is presented as a disease in a way that may have been acceptable 30 years ago, but is just offensive now, and, of course, which later gets tied to psychic abilities and is apparently curable. Cannot recommend.
Year 50 Day 129
Day 129: Happy Star Trek Day to everyone* who celebrates!
* Everyone except whoever decided to pull the plug on Discovery so suddenly that they had to re-shoot key moments of the last few episodes to cobble together a series finale instead of a season finale, whoever decided to pull the plug on Prodigy so suddenly that they’re still finishing the second season and hoping that someone else picks it up to broadcast it, and whoever decided that an appropriate Star Trek Day celebration was a 22-minute “special”, the first two episodes of Strange New Worlds on broadcast TV, five “very” short animated bits (only one of which debuts today), and a 25% discount on the online Star Trek store. Seriously, why are the Ferengi Pakleds in charge of this franchise?
(Updated to change Ferengi to Pakleds. The Ferengi are far too profit motivated to do this bad of a job keeping the fans engaged.)
Year 50 Day 128
Day 128: Realized I hadn’t taken a photo for the day yet, started to do so…and my wife decided that she could help out. Nicely done! Now I know how goofy I look when I’m doing this.
Year 50 Day 127
Day 127: Banksy‘s imagery often feels very hopepunk to me.
📚 Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
46/2023 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1992 Hugo Best Novel
Really good continuation of the story from Shards of Honor, even beginning the day after the earlier book ended. Bujold manages to create fascinating, sometimes relatable, and often very flawed characters, and to craft a world that’s an interesting mix of almost medieval feudalism and future technology. For a series I didn’t know anything about and initially approached with a little skepticism, I’m definitely understanding why it got the awards and the good words it has from many of my friends.
Year 50 Day 126
Day 126: The best thing about seeing Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe in London is seeing Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. The second best thing is the souvenir shirts in the gift shop.
Year 50 Day 125
Day 125: I actually got dressed and left the house today! Just a brief run to Target, but hey, it was something to do on the final day before going back to work. And our final Lego vacation memento: Another version of London.