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I had managed to resign myself to not seeing this week's SCC until next Sunday (and oh how tempting it is to click on all those links!) -- but I forgot entirely that I'd be missing a new episode of Jericho, as well. Hm. I may need to take action, although I may wait until I get home and see if I can watch it on the CTV website.
I did see the last episode of Primeval, without having seen any of the earlier episodes -- BH was patient with my questions, although I think it helps that the show is not really all that difficult to follow. ( spoilers to follow )
We also debated the Helen Cutter vs. Irina Derevko match -- Irina is smarter, I think, but Helen's secret weapon is dinosaurs, which may trump everything else. And someone should write a Primeval/SCC crossover, since time travel (and it's inherent potential to change both past and future) is kind of a big deal in both.
* * *
We also watched Day Watch; it's kind of neat that the movies here have diverged so far from the books. I'm not sure which I prefer -- the movies can be unnecessarily boggling, at points, but there's usually a through-line for the plot hidden in there, and although the world of the novels is a little richer, there's something about the style I find really grating. I'm not sure whether the problem is in the original text or in the translation; I suspect that it's the original style, and that it sounds much less annoying in Russian than in English.
* * *
So far, I am not doing any of the work I brought with me. Maybe this afternoon?
* * *
I read Robert Harris Imperium, and liked it very much -- it's the story of Cicero's career up to his election to the consulship in 64. Harris may be something of a hack, but he's a very good writer and the book is mercifully free from major howlers. I think it helps that Harris is honestly interested in politics, and I think he does a nice job catching the balance between the failures and the successes of the Roman system. He makes it seem modern in some ways without ever losing sight of the ways in which is isn't at all. It also helps that Harris finds politicians interesting, and particularly, that he finds Ciceo worthwhile -- he works in fragments of Cicero's speeches and letters very neatly. The narrator is Tiro, Cicero's secretary (in these years still a slave); if the book has a weakness, it's that we never get much sense of who Tiro is as a person: he's totally devoted to telling Cicero's story.
It's apparently part of a proposed trilogy, which may explain the end-point (literally, at the election itself). You can see he outline of what's coming, but I did wonder how the end would read to someone who doesn't know how that story plays out: triumphant or troubling?
All that said, I really enjoyed the book, and would recommend it.
I did see the last episode of Primeval, without having seen any of the earlier episodes -- BH was patient with my questions, although I think it helps that the show is not really all that difficult to follow. ( spoilers to follow )
We also debated the Helen Cutter vs. Irina Derevko match -- Irina is smarter, I think, but Helen's secret weapon is dinosaurs, which may trump everything else. And someone should write a Primeval/SCC crossover, since time travel (and it's inherent potential to change both past and future) is kind of a big deal in both.
* * *
We also watched Day Watch; it's kind of neat that the movies here have diverged so far from the books. I'm not sure which I prefer -- the movies can be unnecessarily boggling, at points, but there's usually a through-line for the plot hidden in there, and although the world of the novels is a little richer, there's something about the style I find really grating. I'm not sure whether the problem is in the original text or in the translation; I suspect that it's the original style, and that it sounds much less annoying in Russian than in English.
* * *
So far, I am not doing any of the work I brought with me. Maybe this afternoon?
* * *
I read Robert Harris Imperium, and liked it very much -- it's the story of Cicero's career up to his election to the consulship in 64. Harris may be something of a hack, but he's a very good writer and the book is mercifully free from major howlers. I think it helps that Harris is honestly interested in politics, and I think he does a nice job catching the balance between the failures and the successes of the Roman system. He makes it seem modern in some ways without ever losing sight of the ways in which is isn't at all. It also helps that Harris finds politicians interesting, and particularly, that he finds Ciceo worthwhile -- he works in fragments of Cicero's speeches and letters very neatly. The narrator is Tiro, Cicero's secretary (in these years still a slave); if the book has a weakness, it's that we never get much sense of who Tiro is as a person: he's totally devoted to telling Cicero's story.
It's apparently part of a proposed trilogy, which may explain the end-point (literally, at the election itself). You can see he outline of what's coming, but I did wonder how the end would read to someone who doesn't know how that story plays out: triumphant or troubling?
All that said, I really enjoyed the book, and would recommend it.
