There Will Be Spoons

[usuallyhats]

1.) Finished Shades of Grey last night! I was bowling along very happily with it, and then suddenly I got to the end and THINGS HAPPENED and I went agrjiegsnnghdfj!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Now I am reading Bestsellers: A Very Short Introduction, which is interesting, but has decided to separate its paragraphs with extra line breaks rather than indentations, which is making it feel rather disjointed.

2.) Well, this is horrifying: "Jobcentres 'tricking' people out of benefits to cut costs, says whistleblower". (NB I haven't watched the video at the top of the post, since I read this article in the print version on Saturday.)

3.) Lovefilm tells me there is going to be a short wait for more Voyager and has sent me some other things in the meantime, viz.:

3a.) Going Postal! I was not a fan of Hogfather, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Claire Foy and Richard Coyle were both great and I loved their relationship. I also appreciated the sheer quantity of skirt that Claire Foy was wearing. Mr Pump was just lovely. ♥ And Angua was entirely awesome: any scene with her in was automatically a candidate for best thing ever. The one bit I didn't really like was the flashback showing how Moist's con-antics had led to Spike being seduced by the Evil Power of Smoking. (Was that in the book? I don't remember it, but then I am notoriously unreliable.) I am hardly pro-smoking myself, but come on. Other than that it was really good, and I look forward to the next one: I think I heard a rumour that Unseen Academicals was up next, but I may have made that up.

3b.) A:tLA, season three, disc three, aka "The Day of Black Sun part 2" - "The Boiling Rock", aka MAI IS AWESOME, aka OH ZUKO. I was spoiled for Mai's "I love him more than I fear you," but it was still brilliant, especially since it came with a great fight scene and Ty Lee unexpectedly siding with Mai against Azula. Really pleased to see Suki again! I loved the bit where she just got on with the plan while Zuko and Sokka were bickering. Their newfound awkward friendship was great too: "My first girlfriend turned into the moon."/"That's rough, buddy." And I laughed so much at Zuko practising explaining to the Gaang that he's good now, honest. His impressions of Iroh and Azula! ♥ Also in things that made me laugh: that other guy they rescued from Boiling Rock popping up behind the joyful reunions all, "hi, I'm new." That is exactly the sort of thing A:tLA does really well.

4.) Will crossposting this to LJ actually work? Who can say.

Comments

[such_heights]

THAT ARC IS THE BEST PART OF A:TLA. Well, one of. But Zuko being a failboat and being on his knees offering himself up as their prisoner is golden, as is Zuko and Sokka being bros, as is Suki and Mai and Ty Lee all being completely amazing. Shoooow! Will have to flail at you at the weekend! :D

[usuallyhats]

It is all SO GREAT! I love how A:tLA just gets better and better and all the characters keep getting more complex and interesting. ♥

Will have to flail at you at the weekend! :D
Yay! Hopefully lovefilm will send me the last disc before then, so I can flail properly about everything! :D

[lizbee]

I LOVE SO MUCH THAT TY LEE SIDES WITH MAI.

I mean, I've spent a lot of time thinking about the dynamics between the Fire Nation teens, and I think it's interesting that, while Ty Lee is the most sycophantic of the group, she's also the one who resisted Azula's invitation at first, and then supports Mai -- to Mai's absolute shock -- and then tries to get her to escape. Mai was obviously planning a suicide mission, inasmuch as she could be said to have been planning at all. Ty Lee tries to get her out of there.

I JUST LOVE THOSE KIDS, OKAY?

[usuallyhats]

I think it's interesting that, while Ty Lee is the most sycophantic of the group, she's also the one who resisted Azula's invitation at first, and then supports Mai
Yes! I really want to know what's going on in Ty Lee's head, because it is bound to be fascinating.

I really love them all too! ♥

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yes it did work!

As far as I recall, Spike was already a smoker before she met Moist.

I didn't finish Shade of Grey. :(

[usuallyhats]

Hurray! I got the notification, but couldn't load LJ to check...

*nods* I thought so - but the TV version had a flashback showing her taking up smoking as a direct result of Moist accidentally bankrupting her family with his fake bonds, which I wasn't sure was in the book.

Aw, that's a shame. What put you off it? I got more into it as it went on, but I liked it straight away.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Huh - no, I don't remember that about Spike at all. Sounds like "made up stuff"!

I don't know - I think I've some how gone off Jasper Fforde. :( I sort of lost interest after the third Thursday Next book (none of them have lived up 'The Eyre Affair' for me, sadly...

[usuallyhats]

That's what I thought! It was a little heavy handed...

Woe! I know what you mean, though: I've really loved all his books, but none of them have quite made me flail with joy like 'The Eyre Affair' did.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think he may have bankrupted her family, but whether that caused the smoking or not I can't say/remember.

Thanks for the rec! I'll give this one a go; I avoided the other two.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think there's a new Forde out; I must order it at the library.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Considering the anti-smoking sentiment in the UK, I'm a bit surprised they left Spike smoking at all. The bit about her turning to it because the family lost its money (because of Moist) isn't in the book. In the book, the family lost its money because of Reacher; Moist had nothing to do with the smoking habit, and we don't know when or why she started.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Yeah that's definitely heavy handed.

I confess there are some of his books I've not read at all. :(

[usuallyhats]

There is - One of Our Thursdays Is Missing. I'm waiting for the copy in my local library to come back, and then I shall pounce!

[usuallyhats]

Hope you enjoy it! I only got twenty minutes into Hogfather, and didn't bother with The Colour of Magic, but I really liked this one.

[usuallyhats]

I did suspect it might have been a compromise - they could get away with showing Spike smoking, if they made it really obvious that it was A Bad Thing. I understand them not wanting to glamourise smoking, but it ended up being pretty patronising!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I was pretty unhappy with how I felt Spike was patronized all the way through. What happened to the tough woman who fell in love with Moist despite herself? I thought she was treated like a two-dimensional bitch with him bothering her until she gave up, as opposed to someone attracted and hurting and dubious.

Mind you, they flattened his character out a lot too. TBH, I love Going Postal and I wasn't happy at all with the TV version.

Except for Angua. I hope they hire the same actress back for the Watch series.

[usuallyhats]

I don't know, I thought they did a pretty good job with Spike's character overall, though I wouldn't have minded a little more emphasis on the Golem Trust and what it says about her. Agreed that Angua was fantastic though - I'd love to see her in the Watch series, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up just in case.