Sunday 26 April 2009

Now that I understand this right

A busy two months have passed. Moving is allegedly only second to divorce when it comes to stress. I can only imagine, especially as my move hardly constitutes as truly 'moving' - most of my worldly possessions fit in eight boxes, lacking in real furniture, delicates and/or heirlooms. I don't plan to divorce any time soon.

Between packing, relocating, unpacking (sorta), cleaning, tidying, and settling, I've found virtually no time to think about writing anything remotely creative... an ideal that is surely proving this blog to be a complete fallacy. Instead, I've read a magnificent total of one fantasy book, become obsessed with a major US television series, played several games on my PC (for many many hours), laughed/cried at the Detroit Pistons, and listened to lots of Nas. (Of course, I'm choosing to ignore the immense amounts of work I've partaken in.)

The book was 'Iron Angel' by Alan Campbell. It's the sequel to his well-received debut, 'Scar Night', and the middle title in the Deepgate Codex trilogy. Scar Night was one of those novels I thought was genius until it began to lose its way somewhere during the climax; an unfortunate situation that happens all too much throughout myriad modern creative endeavours (the video game BioShock jumps to mind), and which always greatly depresses me. However, I'm happy to report that Iron Angel, whilst flawed, is an impressive comeback. Although it is overly burdened with 'middle book' syndrome - lacking any true resolution - and feels strangely disconnected from Scar Night, Campbell pulls no punches when expanding upon the excellent mythology hinted at in the previous title. I look forward to the concluding chapter, 'God Of Clocks'.

Much more of my time was spent watching the re-imagined series of Battlestar Galactica, as I'd bought the 'complete' boxset a while back - the inverted commas being indicative of the falsehood inherent in this claim. The set is in fact the first three seasons (along with the preceding miniseries) plus the first half of the fourth season. Of course, I was well aware of this deficiency before I invested, but cannot help feeling Universal is being unreasonably cheeky with its claim of 'Seasons 1-4'. C'est la vie.

The 'show' itself has had me hooked for the past month. The first two seasons are gritty, exciting, and, to my surprise, emotionally exhausting. I loved almost ever minute; especially William Adama and Saul Tigh - defo my two favourite characters. However, the third season is very wobbly. It has its high points, such as a run of episodes shortly after the season's opening, but is generally messy and ridiculous. In particular, the finale blows. (Oh dear, this appears to be another candidate for total-climax-failure...) Thankfully, the final season feels a little stronger, yet this will have to await true judgement as the second half will only be available come June. Fingers crossed.

Okay, I did plan to share my thoughts on Arx Fatalis, Fallout 3 and Nas, but I'm starting to lose the will. And I didn't really want to talk about the Pistons anyways. I'm feeling far too upset about the season in general. Plus it appears the Hawks are about lose to Miami. Boo. So I'll save my remaining commentary for another day. Probably in about three months or so. In the meantime, Firefly awaits.

1 comment:

Alanna said...

nice one on the not planning to divorce any time soon