Anduin

Is this a remake of the original with Ciri as Charlton Heston? That's the vibe it gives me. Anyway, naturally it comes out when I'm travelling. If I get the chance, I might go and see it. British and Irish people. Is there a cinema locations/times site I should bookmark on my phone?

Contract, of course. As for physically, maybe he doesn't have any good ideas? That's never stopped some writers, though. :)

2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees are announced! The two that stand out, Cher and Ozzy. While I'm not into Cher's music, she's been an icon as long as I can remember. And Ozzy? He helped create a whole genre! Heavy metal may have formed without the original four members of Black Sabbath, but not in the form we recognise today. In fact, I'm a little surprised that neither Ozzy or Cher were in before.

Yep, everyone says that about Shang-Chi. It's great until it isn't. :)

I've come to see what the prequels are doing, but I'll never love them. Still, other people are allowed to have nice things. Good for them.

That's a surprise. I'd always read you too young to have a partner of retirement age.

More Welsh castles today, but I really wasn't in the mood. Instead I tried Hominids by Robert J Sawyer. I've enjoyed it in the past, but I can't remember much about it. The premise: an alternate universe where homo sapiens apparently never evolved, the world is dominated by neanderthals. Somehow, one gets transported to our own world. There's some cultural stuff, maybe the author's own feelings on how the world should be run. But then there's a sexual assault. Not by or on the neanderthal. I used to have a higher tolerance for that. Over the years, I've gotten more sensitive. No personal experience, thankfully. Nor anyone I know. Just... internet osmosis. Further, I can't remember what relevance it has to the plot. Surely there's some, but I'm not sure I want to continue. Anyway, I put the book down. Will I pick it up again? I don't know. Instead, I'm reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos. A very literary space opera. I'm up to the Rise of Endymion, the last book. Interestingly, the villains are the catholic church and artificial intelligence. Both of which I don't like in the real world. But in this case, I know they're going to get their comeuppance within the next 500 pages. And I can put up with it better.

Thanks, I'll keep those in mind.

Great news!

Castles of Wales, by John Paul Davis. You'll never guess what it's about. There are some English castles too, that are relevant to Wales. The border region was all very complicated for a couple of hundred years. Told you you'd never guess. :) I'm not very far into the book, but so far it looks like most were damaged and rebuilt over the years, and/or haunted. I want to visit one that's authentic to the time it was built, and preferably not haunted thanks. There must be one.

I found HP pretty readable way back when, even though I was too old to be the target audience. With the new TV series coming out, I thought I'd try Percy Jackson. No thanks. Maybe it's because I'm even older, or perhaps it was written for an even younger audience. Both? Anyway, I agree that JKR is a terrible person and that PJ is just all right.

Shadowlands, by Matthew Green. Places in Britain that have for one reason or another disappeared. Every place had a different reason. One was a piracy hub that suffered revenge. One got trashed by storms and fell into the sea. One became a military training ground. One island, the inhabitants just didn't eat right and eventually gave it up. One Welsh village was drowned in the name of progress. I didn't finish that chapter, it pissed me off too much. All were good and the book is worth a read, but the island of Hirta in the Outer Hebrides was the most interesting. They mainly ate the local sea birds. That was it, for multiple generations. Some other food, but nothing approaching a well rounded diet. Which led to unhealthy babies, population decline, and so on. Eventually they had to move to the mainland or elsewhere in the world.

I just find it frustrating. Would it kill them to do two minutes of research? Further, I wonder what else they've been sloppy about. Even outside that, was that the fanservice trailer? Oh, nostalgia. Oh, old characters coming back. Is that the best they have to offer?

A second ice age. Really? What terrible science. Did you know that the world is still in its fifth ice age? Amazing what just two minutes on Wikipedia will tell you. Yes, this movie is clearly fantasy. But when you refuse to do even the slightest bit of research, someone who actually does the research will call you out and be repulsed rather than entertained by the trailer. A new ice age. Another ice age. While we're technically still in one, I can accept a little wiggle room on that front. Unless in the world of Ghostbusters, the world only had one ice age, and there's no ice currently at the poles. But if that's the case, shouldn't the sea levels be higher? Unless the world had less water to start with than our own. Unfortunately, I'm no geoscientist, I can't speculate on how different the world would be with less water. In short, it's annoying.

There was only one season. The last episode was rushed, because the show was cancelled. Yeah, I agree that Espenson is goo, just an unlikely pick given her normal field. Still, people need to work. :)

It's been 14 years since Caprica started. The Spaceshipper says it was yesterday, 22 January, IMDB says it was 2 February. Either way, I watched it, I thought there were some great bits, but the whole thing didn't really come together. There was turmoil behind the scenes, wasn't there? The show was on its third showrunner by the time the first episode actually aired? Jane Espenson was a surprising choice, she's always been more of a comedy person to me. Something as serious as BSG/Caprica seemed like a bad fit. Anyway, 14 years. Wow.

Dial Hand Soap?

I imagine you'd have to take a large step. Maybe there's some way of turning the floor off. "Computer. End program."

Treknology in real life! Between the volume and this HoloTile, Disney are going to create a holodeck. Seriously, just look at it! Next up, some kind of matter replicator. I suppose that 3D printing is an early form of that technology.

I have never heard another pronunciation than zoo-ology. Have you actually heard zo-ology? Do you use it? Given I say zoo-ology, I'm going to say ignore those kids.

So this is cool. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra perform the Rings of Power theme live. They do a lot of fantasy music, including the LOTR music. I hope they do some more ROP music.

I usually prefer the B&W costume, but this one doesn't quite work. She looks like she spilled white paint on herself.

Thanks, I might give both of these a look.

In preparation for a British and Irish trip, I thought I should catch up on some history. First, A History of Scotland by Neil Oliver. Frankly, it's depressing. Lots of kings and wars, very little about the actual culture. Then I read his Wikipedia page. Looks like I don't need to give him a second thought and don't need to finish the book. That's nice. I may report back on whatever the next book in the pile is.

I remember it being some good lighthearted fun. Nothing too serious. Enjoy!