Keeping Occupied

[the_rck]

We rented Mercury Rising on Friday but didn't watch it until Sunday. I found the solution to the plot rather unbelievable. Actually, I found the whole plot unbelievable. I could accept the kid's being able to read the NSA's code, but the response didn't make sense to me. Killing the kid didn't necessarily make the code more secure since what one person can do another somewhere might duplicate. Also, mightn't he have been a potential asset in dealing with other codes? I'd have wanted to find out. Besides, the danger wasn't that the child could read the code but that someone might find out that he could.

When we returned Mercury Rising, we rented A.I. We'd wanted it on Friday, but all the copies were out. Scott actually fell asleep while we were watching the movie. It was just for a few moments, but it was more than long enough for him to lose track of the plot. As we watched the movie, I kept waiting for utter disaster to strike because the texture of what was presented was so totally distopic. The ending left me with a what-the? reaction. I had the impression that they were trying to manage both happiness and tragedy without quite getting either.

Sunday afternoon, we ended up with the SciFi channel on while they were showing Star Trek VI. There's just something about William Shatner that bothers me. He reminds me of my father (he reminds my sister, Laura, of Papa as well, so it's not just me). It's more true of how Shatner appeared in Generations, but once I'd made that mental connection…

I haven't been doing all that much reading recently. I've picked up a number of books and then put them down again without getting anywhere. I read Simenon's collection of short stories, Maigret's Pipe, and enjoyed it. The stories were pleasant. I'll have to try some of Simenon's novels to see if I can enjoy his longer work. I also just finished Laurell K. Hamilton's first three Anita Blake novels, Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, and Circus of the Damned. I think she just wants me to have read Hamilton so that I can participate when she and Matt start discussing the novels. I have a sense that she's sharing the pain. I'd avoided the series before since it didn't sound at all like the sort of thing that I'd enjoy. And it isn't, not really. I'll go on so that I can participate in the discussions; Hamilton's not something that I hate, just not my normal fair. I sort of feel like I'm wading through something that goes on a bit too long.

I've been borrowing LunarGeography's Ruroni Kenshin DVDs. I watched the first eight episodes again last week, and LunarGeography lent me 9-17 at the same time she loaned me the Hamilton book. One of the DVDs was still shrink wrapped which felt very odd when it came time to pull the DVD out to put it in the player.

Comments

[ceara.livejournal.com]

If you don't like Hamilton now, don't even bother to keep reading. They don't get any better. I'm still reading them, but I think only through inertia.

[the_rck]

I'm trying to decide if knowing what people are talking about when they discuss Hamilton is worth the effort of reading her books. I don't hate them; they just feel like they move too slow and too fast at the same time.

But hey, I read four Dragonlance novels in college just so I'd know what people were talking about. It's not a huge investment of time, really. The three Hamilton novels only took me, at most, 3 hours each.

Of course, I am wondering if three is enough to follow the discussion adequately...

Re:

[ceara.livejournal.com]

It depends. The later books are almost pure erotica, not much plot involved. But some of the intervening ones change things somewhat from the early series.