Because You Demanded It!
Seriously. There was a demand. And who am I to deny such a request?
Reading: A Secret Atlas, by Michael Stackpole. Sorry, New York Times Bestselling Author Michael Stackpole, as the cover to every novel he's put out since 1998 will attest. Write one Star Wars novel and you're Ghu's gift to the sci-fi literary scene. The book's good, but I honestly prefer the pre New York Times Bestselling Author Mike Stackpole to the current one. His writing style has gotten a bit more formulaic, and he's developed some curious tics. Still, he's published way more books than me, and I still like the bulk of what he puts on the page.
I'm also reading Gettysburg, by William Fortschen and Newt Gingrich. Yep, that Newt. This is an alternate history take on the high water mark of the Confederacy, one that starts with Robert E. Lee actually listening to his right hand man, General Longstreet, and pulling a victory out of the battle at Gettysburg. This, of course, throws all sorts of things out of whack as people that died end up living, people that survived end up dying, and the War Between the States taking a major lurch in favor of the Confederacy. The duo just recently published a sequel, Grant Comes East, in which, well, Grant comes east to take on the victorious Army of Northern Virginia. The writing is decent - I've read some of Fortschen's stuff before and I think you can tell who did most of the actual grunt work on this - the ideas are interesting, and I've always been a fan of the alternate history genre. I'm eagerly awaiting the eight book in Harry Turtledove's massive alternate 20th Century history series that began with The Great War.
Listening To: Lucana Coil. They're Italian, and sort of a mix between Soundgarden and a much less angsty Evanescence. I've found two CDs so far and love 'em both. They seem to be in big with the goth crowd, as I glommed onto them when I heard one of their songs on the soundtrack to Troika's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines PC game.
Also listening to Garbage - Bleed Like Me. Better than last time out's beautifulgarbage but still not as good as 2.0, which remains the quintessential Garbage CD in my opinion. That new Beck CD is floating around out there, but I haven't heard any of the songs on it and I'm kind of hit or miss when it comes to Beck.
Watching: Lost, whenever there's a new episode on. ABC is sure spacing this thing out. Which is a mistake, I think, because with so much going on on the island and with as many dangling plotlines as there are it's damned frustrating to wait three weeks for more details. I think the story will make a lot more sense when the DVD set comes out in September. Then people can sit down and watch larger chunks without the better part of a month in between.
Alias is still running it's uninterrupted season. I don't know if it's the move to Wednesdays, the arc of this season, or what, but I've been finding it difficult to maintain interest this year.
Stargate, Atlantis and Battlestar are all on reruns until July. I still find it amazing that the best night of TV all week long was Friday on basic cable.
Haven't been to the movies in a long time, so nothing to report there. I really should go see Sin City, as it is an important part of the culture of Geek Nation, but I haven't felt the inclination just yet. Hitchhiker's is coming up, as is the Last Movie of the Greatest SciFi Franchise Ever, so there'll be things to do this summer at least.
Playing: Probably not too much more Final Fantasy XI, but that's a whole 'nother post. (Which you will more than likely be subjected to tomorrow or Monday.) In lieu of that, if I can ever find a copy of World of Warcraft, I might - just might - give that a spin. I've got plenty of games on the 'to be played pile', however, starting with Jade Empire and trailing down to stuff released way, way back in 1999.
So all right, then.
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