Neuropath
by Scott Bakker
2008.
306 pages (with afterword).
Orion TPB.
“Only a small fraction of your brain is involved in conscious experience, which is why so much of what we do is unconscious. The bulk of your brain’s processing falls outside what you can experience; it simply doesn’t exist for your consciousness, not even as an absence. That’s why [...]
Posts filed in Whoa
An exclamation expressing, amongst other things, surprise and awe. I could probably have covered it by using several other categories, but where’d the fun be in that? I mean, this way, I can use them all! :D
Neuropath by Scott Bakker
A TV Dante
My sister is one of the most important students at NTNU’s Department of Nordistics (or whatever) and Literature, primarily through her role as founder of the departemental body responsible for arranging events related to the relevant field of study (primarily Nordic linguistics and literature, as well as literature in general). Yesterday, she had arrange a [...]
I still don’t quite believe my own eyes…
Because of the extensive coverage of the American presidential election in the last couple of weeks, I’ve suddenly found myself wanting to see the complete West Wing series — of which I’ve seen the occasional season, but never the whole shebang. Subsequently, I go to Amazon.co.uk, search for “west wing”, and get this as one [...]
Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
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 [...]
A Plague! A Plague on Our Houses!
In my Last.fm shoutbox, I was recently asked by one of my readers to post more frequently in my blog, and seeing as your whim is my law, I bring you this: an essay of sorts about the last topic you’d expected me to write about!
One of the things you might not know [...]
Oh. My. Fucking. Gods.
I just found out that there exists a British television show from 1990 where Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry plays the parts of P.G. Wodehouse’s Wooster and Jeeves. Naturally, all my viewing plans and schedules have been postponed until I’ve downloaded and watched all four seasons.
Not that that means much — I’ve hardly watched any [...]
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; [...]
Wastin’ money
Be that as it may, seeing as I don’t think I’ll fail any of my exams, I decided to take a quick trip downtown, to visit my favourite purveyors of fine leisure activities.
The first of these was Avalon, also known as Gotham. I was primarily looking for John Scalzi’s Ghost Brigades, but it as turned [...]
Rip it apart and start again
One of the many reasons to look forward to Ripper.
As for Brian K. Vaughn’s (first, but hopefully not last) run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer “Season 8″ comics, the best compliment I can give is that I hardly noticed — if indeed I did notice at all, which is doubtful — that this wasn’t written [...]
Beowulf
Beowulf, the movie adaptation of the Old English poem, was a fun experience, especially as it was the first movie I’ve watched in 3D.
I only knew of the content of the poem from John Gardner’s Grendel, which is told from (surprise) the monster’s point of view, and that one pretty much ended with Grendel’s death, [...]
Security precautions
“We stood in the center of a football field-size dome that the Consu had constructed not an hour before. Of course, we humans could not be allowed to touch Consu ground, or be anywhere a Consu might tread; upon our arrival, automated machines created the dome in a region of Consu space long quarantined to [...]
Veronica Mars, season 3 ep. 9…
Spoilers inside.
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…
2007-11-10 — Quote of the Day
“The council of Constance (1414-1418) ended the schism. The three popes were all deposed. The famous eighteenth century historian Edward Gibbon described the case against one of them, John XXIII: ‘The most scandalous charges were suppressed; the vicar of Christ was only accused of piracy, murder, rape, sodomy and incest;…’”
— H.G. Koeningsberger,
Medieval Europe 400-1500, [...]
Norske språklyder
Jeg kan hverken fatte eller begripe at Gudene har sett med slik velvilje på meg, og latt noen skape dette fantastiske programmet, utelukkende for min convenience. Jeg føler meg som universets navle. Eller, navler er egentlig ikke så jævla tøffe. La oss gå for øyesten.
Ja, øyesten høres bedre ut. (Ikke dermed sagt at det er [...]
Deadwood, season 1
Incredible.
At times I thought it lacked a bit more obvious season plot arc, and I’d liked to see Bullock being more active, rather than just reactive, but those are just about the only objections I have to the show.
Amazing setting, mindblowing characters, spiffy dialogue, and a delightfully rancid humour. One of the best shows I’ve [...]
Love In Rainbows
It’s been over four years. There have been times when I’ve almost given up hope. But on Monday, all my prayers (well, at least some of them) were answered.
Too bad I won’t get my hands on the physical record before some time late in December, but at least the digital version’ll be avaliable in five [...]
Ullr, the onion of war!
From Wikipedia’s kenning article:
Bárum Ullr, of alla
ímunlauks, á hauka
fjöllum Fyrisvalla
fræ Hákonar ævi;
nú hefr fólkstríðir Fróða
fáglýjaðra þýja
meldr í móður holdi
mellu dolgs of folginn
Simply based on meaning, i.e. without kennings, the passage runs: “Accursed King Harald! We carried gold in our arms during all of Hakon’s life; now the enemy of the people has hidden gold in [...]
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, [...]
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