THe Book-it we have here doesn’t really have any prizes except being able to say you read 50 books in a year.  I suppose if you want to, you can make your own prize levels if you so wish.

This year I’m also going to attempt to review books that are new to me.  I have a few books I tend to re-read every year so I won’t be reviewing them unless someone specifically asks me what I thought.

The Book-it runs from Jan 1 to December 31, and the goal is to read 50 books.  The guidelines for books are that it be able to be bought on its own (Short stories can only be counted as individual books if you bought it separately. A book thats a collection of seperate short stories is 1 book, not whatever number of shorts it has).  Text books can count if you do alot of reading in it (so no to math books, but lit books would count.  I’m counting my history books this year).

Graphic novels if they have a good bit of text to go with them can count. Comic books don’t.

There is a sort of cheat system I’ve developed.  ONe semester I had to read a bunch of selected readings.  It wasn’t a full book so I didn’t feel I could count it as a book, so I develped a method so that they can count.  Basically 5-10 of those can count as a book as group.  It depends on the length.  Shorter ones have a higher group #, longer ones smaller.

I’ll have a page with a list of books that I have read.  As well as my 100 movies goal.

I’m always open to book recommendations if you have any.

My Uncle believes that we are related to the people who guarded Constantinople (Great job, guys) and a ‘Vampire’ (If only I could unsee what I googled there).  I know my friend found our family coat of arms, so that disproves the Vampire Theory (of which I am glad)

My one friend is Irish-Italian.  Her family (especially the Italian side) are very much in touch with their ethnic heritage.  I don’t really have that same connection.  My aforementioned Uncle likes to claim he’s Greek while forgetting the rest.  My Father (his brother) likes to claim the German.  My mother’s family is primarily Irish but they don’t really celebrate in any particular Irish way.

I kind of wish I had that connection, those traditions.  Sure, my family has a set of their own (like Pork and Sauerkraut  with mash potatoes at New Years and watching the Christmas Claymation movies) but it doesn’t have that history.

I suppose since I’m mostly Irish, I should connect with that more, but I don’t.  Nor German, and I sometimes forget I’m Greek too (why couldn’t I have inherited those genes?  Would have liked not to be so pale).

My sister and I joke that we are Euro-mutts as we pretty much the UK and two other European countries.   I guess there is too much there to hold on to any particular group.   So I suppose I’ll stick to being just a plain American for now.

This was a good movie.  It had a good plot, had hints of romance but didn’t over do it, had good visual effects and it was part of a franchise I happen to love.

The only issue I had with this movie was the computerized Jeff Bridges (Clu).  When the character was standing still, it was hard to discern it was computerized, but whenever he spoke and you were in a close up or he moved in a close up there was this slightly inorganic movement that didn’t match up.  It wasn’t anything major but it did remind you that this wasn’t completely Jeff Bridges.  (Wonder what he thought of his CGI younger self).  Although to be honest, this might just be on purpose to show that Clu was a program, not just a clone of Kevin Flynn.

Also, Tron has taken styling tips from The Stig. (Not really an issue just wondering if they ran out of a effects budget to create a CGI Tron)

The music was also good, and I like the improvement on the lighting effects (still has the idea that its not very bright in Grid-land, but

This isn’t a particularly good review, I realize that.  Its just something to get me back into writing in this blog.   As you can tell I haven’t posted since February (How is that possible?!?)

Next review I do will be better, I hope.

I enjoyed the movie.  I’ll give it a B.

Cutting this because, well, SPOILERS.

For the most part I enjoyed this movie.  Would probably watch it again.  It didn’t make me want to run out and get a comic, or even wiki it and find fanfic.

The Good Parts:

Ryan Reynolds.  I’m shallow enough to admit I find him attractive, and this movie feeds my flyboy addiction (John Sheppard, Tom Paris, Harmon Rabb).  I think he is also a pretty good actor.

The Romance

The idea that people who knew him well would be able to look at him, even with the facemask and be able to say “That’s Hal”.  For some reason I can suspend my disbelief about people flying due to superpowers, but not my idea that if someone they knew well was looking at them they wouldn’t notice because of a stupid mask.

Only Batman can get away with that people.  And thats only because he actually covers most of his face.

The Bad Parts

The CGI was really…..computerized.  I understand some was needed (obviously, sometimes make-up just doesn’t cut it) but some of it looked very video gamey, and less realistic then I have come to expect.

The Bad Guy.  My friend and I had the thought that he looked a little too much like Galatus from Fantastic Four.  (which of course was even more true when Ryan Reynalds flew up into him).  He even had a messenger.  The only difference appears to be that Pallex (sp?) has a face.   And some kind of objectivity other then “oooo…yummy world”.

I enjoyed the romance but I think it could have been toned down a bit.

I think there seems to be a piece missing in the middle.  He goes from being an outwardly snarky confident guy to being Mr.” I’m afraid, but I can admit  it and be a better person”  rather quickly.  I would have liked to have seen that develop more.

Did I miss a scene where he figured out something was up at the lab?  As far as I knew, Hal wasn’t aware of the lab.

Frank Lloyd Wright

“Designers provide ways into—and out of—the flood of words by breaking up text into pieces and offering shortcuts and alternate routes through masses of information. (…) Although many books define the purpose of typography as enhancing the readability of the written word, one of design’s most humane functions is, in actuality, to help readers avoid reading.”
— Ellen Lupton (Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students)

“Typography needs to be audible. Typography needs to be felt. Typography needs to be experienced.”
— Helmut Schmid

” Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. “

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

” Every designer or photographer should have an ongoing conversation
with the word editor –- you are all journalists. “

Roger Black

” Drawing is what I always loved the most. I discovered drawing type
is drawing in a very pure form. Because a type designer does not draw letters.
A type designer designs words and words are structures that contain patterns
of black and white shapes, form and counterform.
It is a game that deals with space and rhythm.
Which is precisely what, for me, is the essence of drawing. “

Cyrus Highsmith

This year I’m attempting a modernized version of the Persephone myth.  It involves immortals, mortals and a bad guy or two.  There is a bit of romance, some comedy and some action.  It is not a fanfic, so it might be doomed from the start, but I am trying.

I’m creating a playlist as I go for when I’m writing, usually reserving an hour before bed for the rush to the goal line.  Anyone have any tips they learned about writing?

Spoilers beneath cut.

This episode for me was lackluster.  It showed us that Lex is not yet dead, Tess may be a good guy, Oliver and Chloe love each other, Lois loves Clark, but Clark still needs to grow up.  All of which is good.  However the actual plot of the episode seemed more glamour shots to make the “FINAL SEASON” look pretty amazing going in. (yes, anyone else notice the big emphasis on the Final season aspect?)

I felt there was so much of the episode missing.  Where was the rest of the Justice League?  Why didn’t they show Chloe’s thought processes when it came to using Dr. Fate’s mask to learn about Oliver.  How did she get them to trade?  For that matter, who the hell are they?

As a Chlollie Shipper, (and I mention again that I hate mash-up names, but it serves my purpose here) I was pleased by the music choice at the end when the two passed each other, and the acting was great in that scene.  Next week better have alot of the fall out because seriously that was the only scene in the entire episode I found particularly memorable.

Another question – why did Lois run and hide when she realized that Clark was going to be ok?  For that matter, how did she know which building to find him at?  Why didn’t Clark question the fact that a dagger that had been deeply embedded in his abs suddenly was out and tossed several feet away.  Daggers aren’t known for thier ability to leave the victim.

Did I mention I felt half the episode was left out?

I thought this was the end of the story (though I wanted it to continue, as it was (and is) my favorite sci-fi series), but as I was wondering through the book store a few years back, I stumbled upon ‘Pegasus in Space’.  I noticed the name Peter Reidinger, a name I recognized from the Talent series as Rowan’s boss and Father-figure. So I picked it up, but I never ended up reading it till recently.

I took the first two books of the Pegasus trilogy out of the library and started to read.  The first book was published in 1973, years before the Rowan et. al were published.  It continued short stories that set up the universe in which the Rowan existed.  Granted there were a few elements of the story that I had to pause and look up *cough*IBMcards*cough* because I had no idea what they were, but  I enjoyed it.  The first story was about Henry Darrow, the first man to have his ‘Talent’ measured scientifically.  How he formed the Center for Parapychics which was the fore-runner of the FT&T organization that exists in Rowan’s time.

The second story told how his successor dealt with the issues facing the early Talents in both measuring their limits, and discovering what kind of Talents were there.  It introduced Dorotea, who actually is seen in the second and third books.  The third story was how the Talents got their protection from the law and how to deal with rouge talents when they hadn’t figured out a true way to test everyone, and the fourth was a story about an empath who had the ability to change the emotions of the crowds around her.

All interesting, but for the most part separate stories, despite the fact most of them mention the Center and Daffyd op Owen, Darrow’s successor and the grandfather of Rhyssa who becomes important in the later books.

It would have been a good book on its own, and I have a feeling that was the original plan, given the amount of time between To Ride Pegasus and The Rowan.  TRP was published in 1973 as I previously stated, and The Rowan as well as Pegasus in Flight were both released in 1990. The 90s were mainly spent releasing the Rowan sequels and finished up in 2000 by the final Pegasus book, Pegasus in Space.   Or maybe she choose to write them all, and then edit them and release them through that decade.  Who knows

So next we are onto Book # 2, Pegasus in Flight where we finally meet Peter, the great-great grandfather of the Peter in The Rowan and Damia He’s a paraplegic 15 year old who is found when he travels outside his body to escape the confines of his injuries and meets up with Rhyssa  Owen.  Takes them awhile to figure out whose meeting her and how.  But they find him at a Jerhattan hospital (I believe Jerhattan is what happens when Manhattan becomes too big and consumes New Jersey.  Would end all those Ellis Island fights though) and learn he has this unique ability to use generators to assist him when he does telekinesis.

The rest of the book explores what he can do with his powers, including giving himself (and those around him) the impression of moving, even though he can’t feel anything below his neck. It also explores the crime in Jerhattan including a child smuggling ring which the Talents with the help of a young girl name Tirla are able to defeat.

That was my one iffy part in the book.  Tirla is a twelve year old girl. The man she supposedly has a  connection with is in his early thirties, maybe late twenties.  I can’t remember if they stated.  But nonetheless, its quite a age gap at that age.  But apparently they have a connection, so when Tirla turns 16, which apparently is the age of Consent in Jerhatten for marriage) they get married.  She did this before with Afra/Damia, but Damia was 19 when they even brought that up, even though Afra had been thinking along those lines since she was 16.  But 16 is different from 12.   Luckily that does not play a big part in the book.  It was just something I wasn’t too comfortable with. 

Book #3 picks up where 2 left off, with the Padrugoi Space Station complete.  However they have a fight with Ludmilla Barchenka who gave them lots of problems in the previous book, but that chapter is closed, and we proceed to skip a few years till Peter is now 18, Tirla 16 and they are joined by another child, Amariyah who has an affinity for growing things that might be her ‘Talent’

We continue to see Peter test his limits, sending things further away, then heavier things, till at the end he is able to send a ship to its destination at Capella (Future home world of Afra Lyon).

I liked the series, though I think there could have been more.  It seemed kinda rushed towards the end, trying to fit in everything Peter has to do to set up things for his Grandson et Al in The Rowan.  I also think that the times were altered a bit in the last two Pegasus books to fit their later pubish date.  The first book takes place in the 90s, and book 2-3 takes place in the 2080s, which sounds a little more reasonable given that obviously we aren’t crowded or have a large population problem like the book states (for example, New York City is still what it is and not Jerhattan where private property is no longer allowed due to the population problem (only non-profits like the Center can own property.) )

I recommend all three, and I suggest after you read them you read the second half of the series.