2008.
536 pages (Gollancz Fantasy trade paperback).
“Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.”
— Paul Gaugin.
This being the opening quote of Last Argument of Kings, the concluding volume in Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law series, one can perhaps perceive that this is a bleak affair. As I remarked in my reviews of the first [...]
Posts filed in Regret
An important part of the human psyche. Those who claim otherwise should ask themselves how we, as a species, learn things, and whether regret is in any way related to adapting to new surroundings.
Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
The definition of preaching to the choir
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Seriously, I don’t know why these people bother. I mean, I agree with much of what the guy said, but jeez, does he honestly believe he is going to win many religious people over by antagonising them? Is this rational behaviour?
And what’s up with the islamophobia of these prominent atheists?
(On a concluding note, I’d like [...]
The Sword and the Sorcerer
The Sword and the Sorcerer is one of the many fantasy movies produced in the early 1980s, most of which have in common that they are so full of cheese and plot-holes you might think they’re Swiss.
In this particular case, the plot revolves around the kingdom of Eh Dan (Edain, anyone? Or Eng Land?), peaceably [...]
Some things I suspect I believe to be true
About eighteen months ago now, I realised I’m a materialist; I believe that everything in this world is matter, that there is no such thing as spirit, that what others might perceive as “spirit” can be explained materially. And for some thirteen, fourteen months, my Christian flatmate Håvard has challenged me on this.
To him there [...]
Superhero Movie
Rather out of the blue, I ended up seeing Superhero Movie with a friend last night. And man, am I sorry. But I’ll get back to that. First, a plot synopsis.
Rick Riker is Peter Parker, only more (exaggeratedly) so and with more unmotivated and unfun slapstick accidents happening to him. He is in love with [...]
This does not bode well…
I was in Molde yesterday, to have dinner with a buddy of mine from high school, and somehow at least two thirds of the four hours we spent together were spent talking about World of Warcraft, which said buddy, like so many others, had been pretty much addicted by the last couple of years. Personally, [...]
Curses! Or constructing next term’s schedule
I checked my course registration page at NTNU (ooh!) about an hour ago, and much to my delight I discovered that I’ve been registered for not two but three courses this spring, and that these three combined fill my required term quota of 30 study points.
English Linguistics gives me 7,5 points if I pass it; [...]
Concerning music and laziness…
I used to like Minor Majority. I considered them to be one of my favourite Norwegian bands of all time, and there were few things in the world that could soothe me and calm my nerves more effectively than the first couple of chords of “Think I’m Up For You And I”. And the album [...]
Oh, the shame! The shame!
During my medieval history exam on Monday, I managed to confuse the Battle of Poitiers with the ditto of Agincourt.
I feel like I’m going to melt; at least that would allow me to forget that a professor of history will read my mistake and shake his head in disappointment and disbelief at my folly…
Valentine
Heh, one of my flatmates and I just spent the last couple of hours taking cheap shots at Valentine, a rather silly slasher movie from 2001.
A bunch of snotty girls have picked on a nerd all through elementary school, until they in 9th grade get the kid sent away to a mental institution by claiming [...]
I feel mighty clever!
Because, you know, it took my until yesterday to think of subscribing to TOotS and xkcd through RSS…
The Crow
I watched The Crow earlier tonight, and I have to say I very much doubt that it would be as famous as it is today if Brandon Lee hadn’t met such an unfortunate end during the shooting of the movie. Cos boy, this was mediocre stuff.
First of all, the plot. Eric Draven, only described as [...]
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 [...]
2007-09-30 — Quote of the Day
I snatch a time when I crouched outside the meadhall hearing the first strange hymns of the Shaper. Beauty! Holiness! How my heart rocked! He is dead. I should have captured him, teased him, tormented him, made a fool of him. I should have cracked his skull midsong and sent his blood spraying out wet [...]
Gudenes Fall
Gudenes Fall, by Cornelius Jakhelln.
2007, 428 pages.
Now, this might be a little weird. Gudenes Fall (The Fall of the Gods) is a book that most likely never will be translated into English, and yet, I choose to review it in English. But hey, my English is still worse than my Norwegian.
In the year 1000 AD, [...]
Movies Galore: A Summary
It’s nearly two months since my last movie review — a review, I might add, where I was unreasonably hard on the reviewed movie, as the fact that I’m in a foul mood shouldn’t really count against it. Anyway, since then I’ve watched a lot of movies: excellent movies, great movies, good movies, mediocre movies, [...]
Van Helsing
For some insane reason (I believe it’s called “my sister” ), I’ve just watched “Van Helsing” for the third time or so.
And while it was a decent enough action flick the first time around, it’s not a movie you’d want to watch again. The thrill of that first viewing is no more, as you know [...]
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 [...]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I finished the book five minutes ago, some 18 or 19 hours after I found it in my mailbox. I’ll try to review it, and I’ll do my best to do so without any spoilers, but for those who doesn’t want to know a godsdamned thing, I’ll hide it. Naturally, there will be spoilers for [...]
Sunshine
Perhaps the only advantage of having to depend on a small town cinema during summers: I get the opportunity to watch movies I missed when they were screened in Trondheim. As was the case of “Sunshine“.
In 2050, the Sun is about to stop burning, and a crew of astronauts and scientists are sent out to [...]
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