Non-Amazon Book Tracking and Buying

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Two small steps away from relying on Amazon for bookish needs:

I’m moving my book tracking away from Goodreads in favor of The StoryGraph. Not quite as full featured (yet), but gaining features, and doesn’t pump your data into Amazon’s systems. And if you don’t want to lose your Goodreads data, no worries! The StoryGraph can import it. Here’s my profile.

For a while now, I’ve been ordering new books from Bookshop.org, which allows you to to choose an independent bookstore (ideally, one near you) to get a cut of every purchase you make. Sure, you’ll probably spend a little more, and your books won’t always arrive on the very day they’re released, but if you can afford a couple more dollars per book and a few days before you dive in, it’s well worth sending your money to small independent bookstores instead of Amazon.

For used books, if local used bookstores aren’t an option (which currently is very pandemic-dependent), I’ll order from Powell’s whenever possible.

Little things, perhaps, but they make me feel better about how I choose to spend my money.

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The Matrix Resurrections: Why the Matrix movies never stopped being relevant:

The Matrix has a complicated legacy. It’s probably the most influential American movie since Star Wars came out in 1977 (and it is now almost exactly as old as Star Wars was when The Matrix came out), and it’s by far the most popular piece of art created by trans people. But its sequels were divisive, and its ideas about questioning reality have influenced political reactionaries in dangerous ways. Now, with a fourth film in the series coming out on December 22, it’s time to go back … back to the Matrix, across five eras of the franchise’s history.

The Anonymous Sister

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A hundred million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister.

While McClane’s wife is in the first couple films, and his kids are in several, to my memory, this is the only mention of McClane’s sister in the entire Die Hard franchise.

I figure this is because thanks to his smart-ass, cocky attitude, she never got along that well with her older brother, and then after he got famous for being all macho at that terrorist thing in LA, it was even worse. All anyone ever wanted to talk to her about was her annoying older brother, and she was just so over it. Then again at the airport, and yet again in New York? That was just too much, and she finally changed her name and cut off contact entirely. He could pretend to be a superhero all he liked, but she didn’t have to be a part of it – and after hearing about what he ended up putting her niblings through, she was even more sure she’d made the right decision.

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The peril of “normal” Christmas activities in space:

So, what would really happen if you tried to have a completely “normal” Christmas aboard the ISS – one with exploding crackers, gaudy tinsel and an unwholesome quantity of Christmas pudding? And how do astronauts celebrate it in reality? From run-away champagne to turkey cooked in a “briefcase”, welcome to the sheer chaos of a festive gathering while in orbit.