media

[vaznetti]

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. Poor Stephen! Although he was the obvious candidate to die in some stupidly heroic and self-sacrificing manner. Sometimes I think that for all his many skills, there is a reason that Stephen was still a research assistant, after all this time. I am very glad that Helen made it through the season, as she is far to interesting a character to kill off. And I loved her final scene, at the graveyard, with her identical army.

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.

Comments

[kellychenault.livejournal.com]

Saw Night Watch and enjoyed it very much (in a movie theater, no less!) and keep meaning to see Day Watch.

So many movies...so little time.

[vaznetti]

I enjoyed Day Watch -- I think it's a slightly better movie than the first. And you might want to check out the books -- I know that they're available here in the UK in English.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I have Imperium but still haven't gotten around to reading it. I'm really looking forward to it - especially after the woeful job Rome did with Cicero.

[vaznetti]

I secretly like the decision to end in 64 -- it's a kind of perfect moment. And the First Catilinarian Conspiracy is a huge deal in the story, which also pleases me.

[cofax7]

I saw the first 3 or 4 episodes of Primeval S2 and then forgot to catch up again. So they killed off Stephen? I find that... okay, really. He was the least interesting of the characters, although he had room to grow if they'd chosen to go that way. I'll have to hunt down some torrents.

I really need to pick up those Day/Nightwatch books; I've heard so much about them in the last few years.

[vaznetti]

Well, Stephen is dead to the limited extent that anyone can be considered dead while the timeline is being manipulated by Helen Cutter. But he did manage to go out in a typically heroic, stupid and man-pain-filled manner, so I thought it was very much in character.

The world of the books and films is really interesting -- but I'm not sure the style really lives up to the content.

[aceofkittens.livejournal.com]

Off topic, but the latest post in the Lymond LJ group is one for you to answer, since you love that "watch his hands" quotation and I can't think of the section it's in right now.

[vaznetti]

Answered -- to the best of my ability, given that I'm here and my books are there. (I didn't quote the scene, because I don't remember it word-for-word.)