The Farthest Shore

“For a word to be spoken, there must be silence. Before, and after.”

Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea

I was saddened to learn from my friend Chris on Tuesday that veteran science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin had passed away.  Not surprised - when someone has reached the age of 88, the news of their death is unlikely to be surprising - but certainly sad.  Ursula K. Le Guin was a remarkable presence in the world, and her departure is an enormous loss.

I've given a lot of thought about what to say in regards to Le Guin's passing, and it all seems clichéd and banal in the light of her personality and her work.  She was a powerful, brilliant, imaginative, thoughtful, witty, evocative author whose writing was both moving and literally thought-provoking. Much of her work fell under the umbrella of fantasy or science fiction, which is why I had the good fortune to discover her, but so much of it defied definition.  Regardless of genre, her skill and craft as a writer was extraordinary, with not a word wasted or misused, and the world of letters - and the world in general - is diminished by her departure.

If you have not had the pleasure of reading anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, I strongly recommend that you do.  It doesn't matter what.  A quick search through Google™ will give you a list representing her more popular pieces, but that's just a guideline, reading anything that she wrote will be equally rewarding.  I suspect that her shopping lists were probably more entertaining and absorbing - and better written - than a lot of books by better known authors.  The only introduction I will give her is from her own words as used in introducing another author:

Here are
Some real stories.

  - Sid

Seriously, can you imagine?

"Aliens, I would be, like, the best person ever with the aliens, unless they were illegal
aliens from Mexico, or Haitians..."

  - Sid

(I generally don't just repost things from the internet, but, again, seriously, how in the world would this scenario play out?)

Credit to: The Gentleman's Armchair.

Or Vanilla Coke and Barbecue Lays.

 

Sigh...

As we get into the dark and the wet that characterizes winter in British Columbia, after a challenging year of work, with another challenging year looming in the future, there are days when I just want to stay home, drink tea, eat cookies, and read comic books.

  - Sid

"Begun the Clone War has."

 

Most people have the misconception that cloning produces an exact copy
of a person, when in reality, Original Taylor couldn't stand hockey.

  - Sid

P.S. Seriously, though, this is one of the great pop culture scientific misunderstandings. Unless you have technology to record and rewrite someone's consciousness and memories, all you get a new person who looks the same. In fact, without some careful DNA manipulation, you don't even get a close match - which is why siblings who share a common genetic source don't look exactly the same.

"Let the past die."

This is not going to go the way you think!

Luke Skywalker, The Last Jedi

(Nota bene: There are some spoilers in this posting.  Some people might consider them to be large spoilers, but from a certain point of view*, they're actually quite small.  Regardless, they are spoilers.)

So, at last**, my comments on The Last Jedi. 

It was okay.

For a Star Wars movie, that's an epic condemnation. This is one of the longest running and certainly the most profitable franchises in the history of franchises - in fact, you can almost consider it to BE the history of franchises - and as such, the expectation is that it will entertain, astonish, and touch the audience.

Which it does, from time to time. Sadly, it also confused and irritated, which is not a good combination for any movie.

To be fair, there were parts of this movie that I loved. It's full of excellent performances and great bits of sly humour, much of which comes from Luke Skywalker.

I was unexpectedly touched to see Luke return to the story. It’s been 34 years since Mark Hamill last played this part, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of the naïve farm boy from Tatooine remained in his performance, and disappointed to discover that he's unlikely to appear in the next film.  It would have been gratifying to see Luke's character develop based on his experience in this episode, perhaps finally fulfilling his destiny and bringing balance to the Force.

In his absence, there are other candidates for the role of redeemer. The Force-powered long-distance relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey was brilliant, and the chemistry that builds between the two characters bodes well for the conclusion to the trilogy.  Kylo Ren is one of the better parts of the movie: the character showed unexpected depth, and in some ways I'm finding his story to be more interesting than Rey's. And, yes, the question of Rey's background is answered, in a fashion that perfectly matches the theme of this movie and sets the character free.

In fact, that's the most unexpected thing that this film does: it deliberately cuts ties to the past.  As characters from the other movies become fewer and fewer***, we are presented with a story that, as Luke says, will not go the way that we think.

However, the good parts of The Last Jedi are strongly overshadowed by the flaws, large and small.

The plot has a terrible Rosebud**** error, where a character has knowledge that he is explicitly unable to have based on the timeline of the film, and a pointless subplot regarding an authority struggle in the Resistance that seems to take place only for the purposes of conflict between characters.  People have done their best to explain these problems, but really, if your plot points need defending after the event, something has gone a bit wrong with your story.

Similarly, the Canto Bight sequence has been strenuously debated after the fact. I appreciated the points being made in the segment, but let's be honest, it did nothing to advance the plot - if anything, it took up time that could have been better spent elsewhere, perhaps with Luke and Rey.

 

There are also a lot of little problems, things that don't quite work:  Maz Kanata's odd cameo (who IS holding the camera for that?); the sudden discovery that light speed vehicles can be a weapon, Phasma's wasted potential as a character; Snoke's back story; people flipping over between shots; and a score of other flaws and missed opportunities.

And, last and least, the blatant children's-toy-marketability of the porgs was almost insulting.  Ewoks were bad enough, Jar Jar Binks is legendary for the negative fan response that he received, but porgs were such obvious product placement that they might as well have been drinking Coke™.

Large and important things happen in The Last Jedi, and it beautifully sets up the question of what will happen next.  And it's already made well over a billion dollars - $1.27 billion at the time I'm typing this, a huge success by any standard.  I just wish that I'd liked it more.

  - Sid

*  Did everyone see what I did there?  If not, Google away, it's an Obi-Wan Kenobi joke.

** https://theinfiniterevolution.blogspot.ca/2016/03/is-it-okay-to-call-you-bill.html

*** With that in mind, I was surprised that they didn't take advantage of a clear opportunity to remove Leia from the story.  Shooting for The Last Jedi had finished several months before Carrie Fisher's death at the end of 2016, but post-production on the film didn't finish until September of this year.  That would have given them lots of time to do a minor rewrite, one that would have actually made a lot of sense, building on the events of The Force Awakens to further establish Kylo's desire to turn his back on the past and be his own person. It's admirable that instead of taking the easy way out, the producers decided to leave Ms. Fisher's last performance untouched.

**** In case you're not a movie scholar, in the film Citizen Kane, a reporter spends the entire film trying to determine the significance of Kane's final word:  "Rosebud".  Unfortunately, he dies alone, and as such, no one would know what he said.  Various people have tried to explain this in various ways over the years - and various people are trying to explain the flaw in The Last Jedi in a similar fashion.

"Time to leave the battlefield."

 

"A life this long – do you understand what it is? It’s a battlefield, like this one… and it’s empty. Because everyone else has fallen."

The Doctor, Twice Upon a Time

And so, with the 2017 Doctor Who Christmas Special, we say a poignant, introspective goodbye to Peter Capaldi's Doctor: not fighting the Cybermen, not struggling with the Daleks, not foiling an evil plan, but simply hoping to save a life that would have been lost to the tyranny of war, mixed with the Shakespearean question of whether to be or not to be.

The episode introduces the idea that a Time Lord might deliberately refuse to regenerate, and by so doing, succumb to whatever death has initiated the process.  It also sharply reminds us of what the Doctor has lost over time, the manner in which both friends and foes have fallen by the wayside, finally leaving nothing but memories - a metaphor which is clearly illustrated by the avatars generated by the memory-harvesting Testimony, a ship created by scientists in the far distant future.

As Bill Potts' glassy avatar reflectively points out during the episode, letting go of the Doctor is hard.  It's been fun watching Capaldi and the writers move his Doctor away from the stiff, formal character of his first appearance, adding sunglasses, hoodies and Doc Martins to his wardrobe, and the electric guitar* to his repertoire. (Not to mention his increasingly unruly hair as the series went on.)

It's been equally rewarding to admire Capaldi's skill as an actor. I've talked before about the partnership between writer and performer, and the writers' need to work with each new actor's specific talents while being faithful to the character of the Doctor.  In Capaldi, the writers were presented with an experienced actor who had obviously developed his craft over time, and took full advantage of Capaldi's impressive ability to imbue his performance with emotion and power.

That ability was immediately evident in his first full episode, where his contemplations on the process of re-creation and replacement resonated strongly with the Doctor's own existence, and the writers were smart enough see what they'd been given and to take advantage of it. Capaldi's tenure was marked by resonant soliloquies and emotional monologues, or exchanges such as his epic, unforgettable rant on war from The Zygon Inversion in his second season.


Capaldi's final scene pays tribute to both his Doctor, and the Doctors who had come before him.  He finally decides to give in to regeneration, and as he readies himself for the change, he delivers a reflective, touching retrospective on how the next Doctor should lead his life, followed by the long-awaited appearance of Jody Whittaker, whose first word as the Doctor is, quite aptly, "Brilliant..."

 

One could assume that the Doctor's youthful regeneration is an unconscious response to his decision not to end his existence, and perhaps this will be addressed in the new season.  Sadly, we will have to wait a while for the answer to that question, or indeed any questions about the new Doctor.  The BBC, after presenting the most anticipated regeneration in the history of the show, decided that they should wait until the fall of 2018 to start the new season of Doctor Who.

 

Wait, did we not just go through exactly the same process waiting for the 2017 season? (Because there wasn't one in 2016?)  Coincidentally, Game of Thrones has also delayed their next season  - until 2019 - and both shows are doing a reduced number of episodes.  Ah, the confidence that all of these people have in the loyalty of their fandom - hopefully it's well placed.  Careful, though:  the Star Wars producers seem to be fully capable of popping out a movie once a year like clockwork, and it's a well known fact that the Dark Side has cookies.

Not a threat, just a warning...

  - Sid

*Which he comes by honestly - it's a well known part of Capaldi's biography that he was in a punk band called Dreamboys with Craig Ferguson (yes, that Craig Ferguson) circa 1980.

Called it.

From now on, we're Terrans. Decency is weakness and will get us killed and the lives of everyone on this ship and the Federation are at stake. So you do what you must, whatever you must, to anyone. 

Captain Lorca: Despite Yourself, Star Trek: Discovery

And there you have it, the mid-season premier of Discovery: mirror universe, little goatees for everyone, as predicted.  Long live the Terran Empire...

- Sid

Indigo III: My secret country.

 

 “Most of us, I suppose, have a secret country but for most of us it is only an imaginary country. Edmund and Lucy were luckier than other people in that respect.”

C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 

Having tried two different routes to replacing my Narnia books at Indigo, I shrugged my shoulders and moved on - life is short, and there's always something else to worry about.  In my case, it was apartment hunting.

Karli and I live in an older three-story walkup, and whereas we're in a great neighbourhood which is located within easy walking distance of the ocean, the building itself leaves something to be desired.  As such, we've been looking at other residential options in the greater Vancouver region. Having found an interesting option on Craigslist™ earlier this week, we made an appointment for noon Saturday.

A couple of days later, Karli pointed out to me that she'd done a search on the Indigo™ site, and the missing books from the local branch's Narnia selection were available at their Metrotown location.*

"Thank you, love, but that's a bit of a trip just to make up a set of books. It's really not that big a deal."

She replied, "Yes, but we're going to be right near there on Saturday looking at an apartment." 

Bingo.

We looked at the apartment this morning (which we ended up not applying for - great apartment, wrong location for us) and then made our way to the nearby Indigo/Chapters store.  Karli managed to find the single copy of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe that they had in stock* (located on the regular inventory rather than the $6 book table) and I found all but two of the other books, two which had been well stocked at the other store.

As it turned out, the books were not only on sale at six dollars each, but three for ten dollars, and a friendly checkout clerk very kindly pro-rated my five books so that the entire stack only cost me seventeen dollars.  (Thereby redeeming Indigo's reputation more than a little.) A quick lunch, then back to our local store, where I was able to purchase the remaining two books (and a copy of Tarzan of the Apes to legitimately qualify for the 3 for $10 pricing.)

Skimming through the books, I felt a strong sense of nostalgic pleasure. Narnia was my first introduction to fantasy - my first secret country, to quote C.S. Lewis - and in spite of all of the competition that it's had over the decades, it still holds a special place in my heart.  I'm going to add my seven new copies to my 2018 Resolution reading list - I've re-read them many, many times over the years, but it's always a pleasure to visit a place that I think of as my home.

  - Sid

* This is exactly the sort of thing that makes Karli such a treasure as a companion.

If at first.

 

A couple of New Years' back, I confessed to having been a lazy geek, and resolved to do better.  To be truthful, as with many New Year's resolutions, results have been mixed, and I've decided that it's time to formulate a more specific plan to address my shortcomings in the area of geekness.

To be fair, it's not as bad as I make it sound.  I've certainly managed to keep up with the major genre motion picture releases*, and even attended a couple of the less successful films, such as Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner 2049, not to mention outright mistakes like Alien: Covenant.

However, I feel that a more dedicated geek would have taken a look at The Dark Tower, War for the Planet of the Apes, or Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets**, and I agree with my girlfriend Karli*** that not seeing Hidden Figures was a mistake on my part - which I plan to address now that it's on Netflix™.

(Just for the record, I have no regrets about skipping The Great Wall or The Mummy, but I'm open to arguments to the contrary.)

 

Sadly, my record for television series is abysmal.  Of course I watched Doctor Who, and both Star Trek:  Discovery and Stranger Things 2 made the viewing list, but there have been a lot of things like The Orville, Legion, The Dark, The Handmaid's Tale, the whole Daredevil / Jessica Jones / Luke Cage / Iron Fist / Defenders thread, and a host of other programs that probably deserved some attention.

I've also developed a significant reading backlog.  Now, before you panic, don't worry:  I still read as much as ever, but it generally involves ebooks on my iPhone.  But I've never stopped buying  books - real books, paper books - and as a result, I've got a substantial stack in the study at home.

So, part of this year's resolution is to get rid of that particular pile of paper, although, to be honest, pending the space for another bookshelf, those books will just go into the stacks of books that I have read.  Still, it's the thought that counts.

Having laid out the problem, what's the solution?  For the books, my plan is to read at least one paper book every week.  Some of that will replace iPhone reading on the bus, and some of it will replace time spent looking at internet trivia on my iPad before going to sleep - a price I shall gladly pay, to quote the Solomon Kane movie.

It's a bit more challenging to schedule TV time.  When she agreed to move in with me,  Karli*** warned me that she watches a lot of television, and over time we've developed a system where we spend time together after work, then take a little time on our own where she watches television in the living room and I retire to the spare bedroom to play games, surf the Net, and, of course, work on blog postings.

However, she also sometimes visits her friend John on Sunday nights (ironically, to watch either Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead, both of which I should probably be watching) or spends time at her sister Stefanie's place (for The Bachelor/ette, which, to be clear, I feel absolutely no desire to watch), and going forward I'm going to schedule TV viewing during those time slots.

And that's the plan!  Wish me luck - I think we're all too aware of how quickly the spirit of a New Year's resolution collapses under the weight of everyday life.  Hopefully this will be easier to stick to than those damn gym visits.

  - Sid

* Interestingly, if you search Google™ for "2017 movie releases", Thor: Ragnarok is listed as a comedy.

** I will be taking care of that last one in the near future, regardless of the less than glowing reviews of the film.  I actually own Ambassador of the Shadows,  the Valerian and Laureline graphic novel by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières that provided part of the basis for the film, and the trailers intrigued me in terms of how Mézières' artwork was translated to the big screen.

*** As previously, my gorgeous girlfriend Karli, to be accurate.

Let's all just get along, okay?

"Who's the new guy?"

- Sid

P.S. If anyone from Funko™ reads this, it is challenging to get the laser rifle to stay in the Lone Wanderer's hand. CHALLENGING.

Indigo Fail II: Close but no cigar.

She remembered, as every sensible person does, that you should never never shut yourself up in a wardrobe.

 C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Hello again, Indigo.  So I thought to myself, "Wait, maybe they have all of those Narnia books for sale online.  That would be cool, because really, I did like the cover art."

Unfortunately not, as it turns out, but I feel I should point out that Pauline Baynes illustrated the Narnia books rather than wrote them, although I'm sure she'd appreciate the vote of confidence if she were still alive.

I'm a bit sad that no one at Indigo has noticed that this is wrong. It's understandable to me that the people entering data into the catalogue don't necessarily need to know anything about literature, but surely there must be some kind of approval process in place - hopefully involving someone who is paying attention and cares about this sort of thing.

Or not.

- Sid

Indigo Fail I: All for one, one for all.

Hello, Indigo.  Just a quick note - if you want to tempt me into spending $42 on replacing my beloved 37 year old boxed set of Narnia books, which are sadly suffering from split spines and loose pages, you need to have all seven books for sale, not just four.

- Sid

P.S. And you can't even blame this on people buying books because of movies, because then Prince Caspian wouldn't be available, and The Horse and His Boy would.

So there.

Geekmas 2017: And to all a good night.

 

It's an interesting exercise to make a list of shopping suggestions for Christmas.  On one hand, it's just a practical thing to do.  People are often at a loss when it comes to choosing gifts for the holiday season, and being able to anonymously read a list of affordable suggestions helps to take guesswork out of the process. 

On the other hand, it closes the door on creativity:  here's the list, choose an option.  But even if someone doesn't want to buy something from the list, it points them in the right direction, just in case they were entertaining ideas involving, I don't know, sports tickets or bottles of top shelf tequila.

With those two options on the table, the most unexpected result is C, none of the above. Karli and I went to a pre-Christmas get-together at her father and stepmother's on the 23rd, and although I was grateful for the gifts I received, they were a bit generic in nature:  socks, gift cards, chocolate, a cell phone charging shelf, and so on.  Given that this was exactly the sort of situation for which I'd created my list, it was a bit of a letdown to see that nothing had made the cut.

And that's where perfect girlfriends come in.  When I unwrapped my gifts from Karli on the morning of the 25th, I was thrilled to see that she'd chosen the items from my list that I most wanted to receive:  The Handmaid's Tale, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story*, a blu-ray copy of Rogue One, and the Fallout Power Armour action figure.

And, AND, she got me a waffle maker!!!  I'd love to say it's a clever tie in with Stranger Things and Eleven's Eggo™ fetish, but really, we just like waffles.** (Thereby proving that going rogue can be just as rewarding as sticking to the wish list.)

Thank you again for everything, Karli. As always, words fail to express how happy I am that you've chosen to be with me. I'd also like to thank the people who gave me Amazon and Indigo gift cards, trust me, they'll be put to good use. And the chocolate, thanks for the chocolate!

In conclusion, I'd like to wish a merry Christmas to anyone reading this - I hope your holiday season has been as happy as mine.

- Sid

* I've been casually skimming through Sean Howe's history of Marvel, and just on the basis of looking at random pages, I'm fascinated - it's definitely next on the list when I finish what I'm currently reading. (More on reading plans in my New Year's posting.)

** And it made perfect, delicious waffles right out of the box, no teething pains or setup issues.

Geekmas 2017: "Rebel Rebel, how could they know?"

I received an early Christmas gift tonight from Karli - a little something to accessorize my outfit for The Last Jedi tomorrow afternoon!  Thank you very much, my love, it's perfect!

  - Sid

Tonight, the part of Snoke will be played by...

 

Wait, what if it's Krennic?

Supreme Leader Snoke, that is, the mastermind behind the First Order in the new Star Wars trilogy - what if he's Krennic? When I was listing previous villains that might be Snoke, I completely forgot about Rogue One.

Makes no sense, though - there wasn't even a hint that Krennic might be a Force adept, not to mention having the base on Scarif pretty definitively blown up by the Death Star.  On that basis, you might as well have Snoke turn out to be Grand Moff Tarkin (he said, looking around hopefully).

No? Oh well, back to the drawing board...

- Sid

pReview: The Last Jedi

 

So - large and exciting plans for the holiday season?  Personally, I'll be starting my Christmas break with a trip to the Scotiabank theatre this Friday to see The Last Jedi with Karli and her squad. It is my fond hope to avoid any spoilers for the next four days*, so if you've seen the film, please keep any comments generic.

Normally, I don’t mind having a little information going in:  for example, when I saw A New Hope in theatrical release, I'd already read the novelization (which I still own, although it's in rough shape) and probably a couple of issues of the Marvel comic book adaptation. However, in this case, I’m doing my best to learn as little as possible about the film, simply because I’m expecting - or at least hoping - to be surprised by answers to some of the questions raised by The Force Awakens.

First, the big question, the one that should probably be the focus of The Last Jedi: what has Luke been doing since the Battle of Endor?  Yes, we’ve gotten hints about the Knights of Ren, and obviously something went horribly wrong in Luke’s attempt to recreate the Jedi, but it’s been 30 years - what else has happened in Luke’s life?

 

I'm very curious about this, because life has not been kind to Luke Skywalker. In the first installment, Luke is the New Hope, and the assumption is that it’s him, rather than his father, who is the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force - and where does it get him? 

Poor Luke:  lied to by Ob-Wan and dragged into a conflict of galactic proportions, he ends up maimed, scarred, and a witness to his father's death, the father who still remains the poster child for the Dark Side 30 years after his death. It's impressive that Luke would have attempted to revive the Jedi after everything he's been through in their name, and heartbreaking that his attempt was a failure. Looking at his life from that perspective, it’s not surprising that Luke would bitterly turn his back on everything and everyone - how much disappointment can one person handle?

 

Second, I think we’d all like to know who Rey is – or, more accurately, who her parents are. There’s been a certain amount of speculation that she’s Luke’s daughter, although I don’t see that as being likely, in spite of her extreme reaction to Luke’s long lost lightsaber and the proven tendency of the Skywalker children to be discovered on desert planets. I suspect that if Rey was Luke’s child, it would be immediately obvious to anyone with even hint of Force abilities, let alone her cousin and her aunt. 

Perhaps Obi-Wan Kenobi’s grandchild? Hmmm. Possible but a bit of a stretch, given that there’s not even a hint that old Ben ever decided to ignore the Jedi injunction against attachment after the fall of the Republic.

All that being said, let’s not forget this useful exchange from Spaceballs:

Dark Helmet: Before you die there is something you should know about us, Lone Star.
Lone Starr: What?
Dark Helmet: I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate.
Lone Starr: What's that make us?
Dark Helmet: Absolutely nothing!

Let’s face it, it’s a big universe, it may well be that Rey’s back story is solely one of abandonment, rather than abandonment by someone we know.  Obviously, she has to be someone’s child, but not necessarily the child of someone named Skywalker.

Similarly, are we going to discover that Supreme Leader Snoke (worst villain name ever, by the way) is actually someone from the other movies, like Emperor Palpatine or even Anakin Skywalker?  Both seem equally unlikely, but there aren’t really a lot of other options if they decided to go that route – who else could it be? There actually aren't that many choices for a returning villain.  Snoke’s brutally scarred visage suggests that there has to be some kind of significant back story involving lightsabers and/or explosions, or else why bother having him look like that? 

Both of these questions share the same characteristics: the plot seems to demand some kind of significance for both the puzzle of Rey’s heritage and the mystery of Snoke’s injuries, but none of the options seem to make any sense.

Personally, I'd like there to be no connections with anyone, with just as much of a clean slate as possible for the new characters.  The death of Han Solo in The Force Awakens sends a clear message, and that message is that this is not your father's Star Wars - or his lightsaber.

  - Sid

* We really need to establish a baseline for this. Is four weeks a good spoiler buffer?  At what point can we assume that plot details are common knowledge?  For example, if anyone reading this was previously unaware that Darth Vader is Luke's father, my apologies – but it’s been 37 years, that has to be old news by now.

Geekmas 2017: The system works.

December 15th, 2017: departmental Christmas potluck lunch and Secret Santa gift exchange.

  - Sid

Geekmas 2019?

 

 

 “You’ll want all day to-morrow, I suppose?” said Scrooge.
“If quite convenient, sir.”
“It’s not convenient,” said Scrooge, “and it’s not fair. If I was to stop half-a-crown for it, you’d think yourself ill-used, I’ll be bound?”
The clerk smiled faintly.
“And yet,” said Scrooge, “you don’t think me ill-used, when I pay a day’s wages for no work.”
The clerk observed that it was only once a year.
“A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December!” said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to the chin. “But I suppose you must have the whole day. Be here all the earlier next morning.” 

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

In the process of doing research for this year's Geekmas posting, I was pleased and excited to see a new William Gibson book in the "Inspired by your browsing history" section of my Amazon.ca home page.  I thought to myself, "Yep, that's going RIGHT onto the Books part of the gift list.  Maybe more than once, I can make it look like a joke if I ask for it twice."

However, I was disappointed to realize that Agency was being released on the 25th of December. I'm a big fan of Mr. Gibson and his work, but seriously, Bill, who releases a book on December 25th?   Would you not want to catch the Christmas shopping crowd?

...no, wait, December 25, 2018!  2018??

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR ADVANCE PURCHASING OVER 13 MONTHS IN ADVANCE????

I can't decide if that's ridiculous or impressive - perhaps both. Regardless, I'll confess that I did wonder if I could have it delivered on the 25th of December, there is an option at the lower right that asks, "Want to receive this the day is comes out?"

I was actually a bit relieved to discover that Amazon doesn't deliver on Christmas Day - after all, it is only once a year, Mr. Bezos. 

  - Sid

Mirror mirror.

 

“After this, it’s a whole new chapter for Discovery.”

Captain Lorca: Into the Forest I Go, Star Trek: Discovery 

For the most part, I've enjoyed the first nine episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, and I was pleased to discover (no pun intended) that they'd been extended to a second season.  Regardless, I feel that I should make something clear to the producers of the show now that we've seen the mid-season cliffhanger:

IF YOU SHOW ME ONE ALTERNATE CHARACTER WITH A LITTLE GOATEE NEXT YEAR, I WILL DROP THIS SHOW LIKE A HOT POTATO, GOT IT?

Understood?  Splendid.  I just wanted to make sure we were all clear on that.

Thank you.

  - Sid