“In the Christian intellectual environment of the thirteenth century, apparent conflicts between argumentation in natural philosophy and argumentation in matter sof theological doctrine became exceptionally acute. The newly introduced writings of from the ancients — Greek philosophy and science, accompanied by Arabic and Hebrew commentary — rigorously set forth propositions alien to fundamental dicta of [...]
Posts filed in New Heroes
New people to admire. Like in the “Old Heroes” categories, this mostly applies to characters in books and television shows, but you never know if I’ll some day encounter some real person to be worthy, too. I tend to be picky in these matters, though.
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
1982.
346 pages, Corgi/Random House paperback.
Several thousands of years ago the seven Gods created the world, and chose a people to care especially for. All of them did this, except Aldur, who became the God of magicians. He also created a powerful Orb which the evil God Torak coveted, and later stole. The sorcerer Belgarath and [...]
The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe
2004.
920 pages, Gollancz trade paperback.
An American kid is out walking in the forest surrounding his and his brother’s cabin when he spots a castle in the sky, and follows it. During his pursuit he looses track of where he is, and when night falls he decides to sleep out in the forest. When he wakes [...]
Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi
Published in 2005 by Tor Books. Paperback, 313 pages.
A couple hundred years into the future, Earth is a backwater. Humans have long since mastered interstellar travel, but this technology is kept away from the humans on Earth, whose society don’t really seem much different from that we live in today. Excepting of course that people [...]
Burn Notice, season 1
A couple of months ago, one of my flatmates tipsed me of a TV show called Burn Notice, which he claimed to be some of the best stuff he has seen in years. As this is a guy whose tastes I respect, and who spends most of the day watching TV shows, I thought I’d [...]
Night of Knives, by Ian C. Esslemont
Night of Knives,
by Ian C. Esslemont.
2005.
Bantam Press.
282 pages, hardcover edition.
Even though I enjoyed the book, and ripped through it faster than I have ripped through anything since I had a severe cold about two months ago, I am not sure if I see Esslemont as an independent author. Sure, he is the co-creator of the [...]
Done the Impossible
Stumbled across this on Vuze the other day, and thought I’d better take a look at it, seeing as I reckon myself to be a Joss Whedon fan of sorts.
And it was good. Sure, if you don’t fancy watching geeks rant on about some stupid TV show for one and an half hour, you probably [...]
2007-10-10 — Quote of the Day
The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so,
And will as tenderly be led by the nose
As asses are.
— Iago,
Othello, act 1, scene 3.
Issue 5 — The Chain
My immediate reaction to this issue, is that it is the best one this far.
Because while it lacks those “OMIGAWD!1 IT’S HER/HIM/IT/THEM!!!1″ moments, it was a beautiful and sad story, with elegant pathos and an endearing main character whose name we never even learn.
Quite a treat; if all the “short ones” they intend to stick [...]
A silent prayer of thanks to the patriarchate and all male chauvinists
Oh, patriarchal social structure!
Oh, male chauvinists of the past!
I praise thee!
While thy general wisdom might leave something to be desired, and while I dislike thee quite strongly, thee have done me — and in fact the whole nation — a great service!
And while thy rancid ignorance and silly prejudices have also done us all great [...]
Noooooooooooooo!
Spoiler, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, page 385:
A “Tigana” related “whoa!”
Perhaps it is because I am mentally exhausted after two very long, very straining tours earlier today, but I just had a whole new experience:
I’ve never before — never ever — been touched to tears by exposition just 116 pages into a book. Never. Not until Baerd told Devin of the fate of Tigana and [...]
By popular demand: “Lyonesse” reviewed.
”Lyonesse”
by Jack Vance.
My copy was published by Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks, and the “Lyonesse” trilogy consists of:
– “Suldrun’s Garden”, 1983, 434 p.
– “The Green Pearl“, 1985, 378 p.
– “Madouc”, 1989, 400 p.
In the Cantabrian Gulf, in what is today known as the Bay of Biscay, between Galicia, Aquitaine, Armorica, Britain and Ireland, there was once a [...]
Doctor Who 2005
One of my flatmates claimed that the series featuring Christopher Eccleston as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor, wasn’t all that bad. So now I’ve watched the first episode of this thing — my first encounter with Doctor Who since I accidentally came across an episode from the 70s, a couple of years ago.
And my [...]
“Reaper’s Gale” — about 150 pages in…
I’ve decided (uh…) to take it more easy with this book than I have done with some of its prequels. I finished “Bonehunters” in about three days, for example, and while it was quite fun while it lasted, it didn’t last for very long.
Naturally, how much I have to do with this decision is open [...]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home, part III
Whoa.
And when I was done, Queen’s “You Take My Breath Away” was next in line in my WMP playlist. How’s that for a coincidence?
Half-way evil Willow.
A Angel-Buffy(in-nurse-costume)-Spike dream landscape with barbed wire.
Fi fa fucking fum.
“Ladies and other ladies… the indescribable Rosenberg.” - Xander.
“Well, this is really unimpressive. One attack by the undead and Renee has [...]
Alien: Resurrection
I watched “Alien: resurrection” a couple of days ago, but haven’t gotten around to reviewing it before now. If you plan on watching these movies and dislike spoilers, I advise you to stop reading as this review has to reveal a few of the suspense-creating elements from “Alien 3″.
AR begins in an operating room. A [...]
Alien^3
We also watched “Alien3“, the movie that was intended to the the last of the “Alien” movies.
Once again Ripley wakes from her cryosleep to find that disaster awaits her. Or has already struck, for that matter. The ship she was on at the end of “Aliens” has malfunctioned, and a small emergency escape pod launches, [...]
Babylon 5, season 2
Season two of “Babylon 5” opened with something of an outrage, as they replaced one of the main characters. At first this annoyed me, even though I didn’t think I liked the replaced character much, and the replacement seemed even duller than the original one. However, as time progressed, I realised that both replaced and [...]
Babylon 5 — Season 1
I finished the first season of Babylon 5 last Friday, and so thought I’d try to jot down a few words about it. I’ve done my best to avoid any spoilers, and I like to think that there’s not many of them, and that the few that are, are so vague that they’re hardly spoilers [...]
Posts