Multimedia completion.

I didn’t get to as many as I wanted to in the last 2 months. With all the trips and constant working, it’s been hard to get any time in at all. If it wasn’t for the mobipocket on my phone I probably wouldn’t get any reading in.



#12, Baen’s Universe series 1 issue 5. Stranger in Paradise was interesting. Slow boat colonization followed up by rediscovering all the old colonies. Marklord Pete has a wierd dystopian future where trademarks and intellectual property have run wild. I could have done better has a bizarre sort of time war where they prepare by shoring up the gene pool and abilities of the people in the past. Demonstration day is another time travel bit, with mad scientists. 

On the fantasy side, Pawns Gambit is a fairy tale told from another perspective. A common thing to do in fantasy. The Spiral Road is a dystopian scifi fantasy that ultimately involves bringing medicine during a war. On the classics, Research Alpha is a childhood’s end sort of tale with forced evolution involved. The serials… Slan hunter is interesting. Fish Story continues to not be my kind of story… 

On the new authors side, I really enjoyed Storm Warning. It was definitely written to build up the amateur radio community though. Old folks home is clever, and the goblin hunter story tends to get annoying…

#13, Baens Universe series 1 issue 6. Crawlspace is another Rats/Bats/Vats book. Newts is one of the more annoying stories I’ve read in awhile, kind of an anti-heinlein sort of book where the rebels trying to save their land are evil and the Progressive democrat types are the heroes. The Ten Thousand Things story is about using memory downloading to come to terms with the departed. 

On fantasy, Quantum Cafe is as much an Anti-callahans/anti-spider-robinson as Newts is an anti-heinlein. Sir Hereward and Mr Fitz Go to War Again is quite interesting, going back to the old timey ideas of regional gods, some malevolent.

Classics, Gnarly Man is the story of a Neanderthal who somehow never died…

Serials, Another blah Fish Story update, but it’s starting to turn Pyramid Scheme on me. Ancient ones continues to be fun, but getting ever more punny as it goes along. Slan Hunter gets really campy.

New authors, New Moon is about a botched moon landing attempt where the apollo 11 astronauts end up dying. Common Ground is a weird sort of first contact story with the people on the international space station.

#14, Resonance. A wierd little book. You spend the first 1/5th or so wondering if this guy is completely bonkers or not, the next 2/5ths looking at different theories about how the world works, and the last 2/5ths trying to save all of the universes… Worth reading.

#15, Thraxas, Take a seedy sam spade type detective, make him a lousy wizard, and then toss him in a fantasy town. It’s a lot of fun.

#16, Thraxas and the Warrior Monks, same as above, still fun. 

I’m a bit into Dance of Time and year 2 of baen’s universe, will comment on those later. I’m currently wading through YET ANOTHER FISH STORY INSTALLMENT. Argh. I’m not into fishing, I’m not into beer, the only saving thing in the whole series is the tiny fragments of mythologies jammed in.

I may have forgotten some…

DVDs…

#17, Moon Phase episodes 1-13. Made by Shaft, but not as bad as PaniPoni Dash. Vampires, hidden amongst the public in ways that would only work in Japan… By putting cat ears and whiskers on to hide the long fangs… Watched this on Hulu.

#18, Gurren Lagann. This is now my clear favorite for giant robot anime series. It’s just so over the top insane, and the whole drill/spiral/evolution theme worked well for the series, against an enemy that decided to halt their evolution.

#19, Elfen Lied. Another harem anime sort of thing, excessive violence and fan service. If the storyline wasn’t as interesting as it was, I probably wouldn’t have finished it.

#20, Mahoromatic Season 1. Why do I let my friends talk me into watching these. *sigh* 

#21, Deathnote series. Finally finished it. Man it dragged a bit when Mallow and Near first appeared, but the ending made up for it. A battle of wits between 4 geniuses at various points in the series, all with their own little quirks.

#22, Vandread Second Stage. Finally one recommended by friends that didn’t make me regret watching it. It was my favorite giant robot… at least until I finished Gurren Lagann…

#23, Ark. A korean 3d movie. I can never quite get into these, but this one wasn’t too bad. 

#24, Parallel Dual. It’s OK. interesting ideas, but definitely a little too Harem-ish for me.