one of these days...

[lyssie]

1. I just watched The Krotons (I'd listened to it at work, prior to this, and I don't know how much was really gained by having the visuals...). The one thing that really really struck me, though, was that Eleven and Two have a lot of similarities--just. In the way they move. And once or twice, the way Pat Troughton phrased things (intonation, etc), was so terribly Matt Smith's Doctor. Which it's really the other way round, I guess.

2. The Magic Mousetrap is becoming one of the Big Finish audios that I really like. It's ridiculous and silly, but really serious at it's core, and I love the subversion of the ye olde Seven Manipulates Everyone trope.

3. Speaking of that Team Tardis (Seven, Ace and Hex), they really need to go hang out with the Leverage crew for a while and topple some totalitarian governments together. (yes, I know that DW is fictional in Leverage-verse.) They're all very good at that sort of thing.

(I may have given Live 34 yet another re-listen, and it's amazing and all of the things I love about the Virgin NA era distilled into radio broadcasts in a way sure to make me gleeful and geeky, and CHARLOTTE IS THE BEST EVER and should one day be a companion, and maybe go on awkward dates with Hex a few times. Someone make this happen)

4. Why yes, work has been absolutely mind-numbing shite over the last several weeks. I sit in conference rooms, generally alone for the bulk of my utterly fucking pointless day. This is the biggest fucking waste of time and money, EVER, but some idiot VP in upper management decreed it, so I am stuck until September.

(also, one of the people involved in our project told me the US has 51 states. WHY ARE STUPID PEOPLE ALLOWED TO LIVE. I just. No. NO. WHY.)

5. Book update, while I'm thinking about it.

Read:
Nocturne (4th book of Indigo) by Louise Cooper (re-read; I finally realized I'd have to just skip the hell out of Infanta and its meh-ness)
Troika (5th book of Indigo) by Louise Cooper (re-read; the angst in this one is soooo delicious. unf.)
Revenant (7th book of Indigo) by Louise Cooper (re-read; Book six didn't impress me the first time through.)
(ok, and there I stalled, because Aisling is all about people who are not Indigo, and even if it ends excellently--er, for some definitions, remember that I like my tragedy--it still means a slog through mediocrity and people I give no fucks about)
Fire Watch (short stories) by Connie Willis (I didn't read all of them)
The Silicon Mage by Barbara Hambly (re-read)
Dog Wizard by Barbara Hambly (re-read)
Stranger at the Wedding by Barbara Hambly (re-read)
And then I re-read about four chapters of The Silent Tower, just to round out my love affair.
Oath of Gold by Elizabeth Moon (except the torture bits, because, ew; re-read)
Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon (yes, I read them out of order; re-read)
Divided Allegiance by Elizabeth Moon (well, about three-fourths of it. It gets eye-rolly towards the last bit; re-read)
Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon (I'd heard there was a new trilogy, so I started it. It was very full of dudes.)
Kings of the North by Elizabeth Moon (that said, I do like the setting; also, there were star-crossed princesses. Pity they weren't a focus.)
Echoes of Betrayal by Elizabeth Moon (otoh, I prefer books to have an ending and not just stop in the middle of the scene. wtf. Seriously, the book does not have a proper ending, it just stops. Very annoying.)
Blackout by Connie Willis (annoyingly, this one also just stops, and I hate the way every. single. chapter. ends with AND NOW SOMETHING DIRE! to pick up again with the thing not being DIRE at all. sigh; and I sort of want to punch all three of the leads in the face. They're all about five and terribly smug and childish--and not smug in a good way)
The Death of Sleep by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye (nothing like planet pirates and space opera to cleanse the palette)
Sassinak by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon (it's a bit like reading Sheepfarmer's Daughter, just in space and with slavery and pirates instead of elves)
Sir Sham by Marian Devon (re-read, it was sort of a cleanser after the five years of John Rogers' blog I plowed through)
Mrs. McVinnie's London Season by Carla Kelly (re-read, and I think I re-read it last year, too. Oh well)
With This Ring by Carla Kelly (definitely a re-read from last year, but this is one of my favorites of hers)
The Lady's Companion by Carla Kelly (re-read, though it's been a very long time. I remember not liking it very much the first time, and perhaps it's because not a lot happens? I don't know. It was a fine book this time through)

Attempted:
All Clear by Connie Willis - Perhaps, when I'm less annoyed at the summary I read on wiki, I'll go back. I just. It was sooo drawn-out and had the same issues as Blackout, and I just. didn't. care.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

1-3 (all things I would like to see/listen to some time!)

4. I am sorry about that. :-(

But mainly 5:

I didn't know anyone else had ever read Indigo!! I mean, logically, I knew someone, somewhere must have done, but I've never met anyone who talked about them. I had 1-5 as a teenager and read them and read them. Clearly, I am in lacking in taste because I liked Infanta very much - 3-5 were my favourites, though I was less keen on Inferno. I didn't find the last three for ages, so I have less feelings about them (although I don't remember anything about book 6, so you are probably right). I didn't mind Aisling as much, but lack of Indigo was sad. I finally rescued my copies (they were lent to my friend, who ten years later returned them to my parents and in a complicated series of events accidentally went to my sister in London instead of to me, where they nearly got sold in a car boot sale), so I am intending to reread them soon, hopefully, if my brain will oblige. Maybe I will adjust to the right and proper views... ;-)

I did read as many of her others as I could, but I never quite liked them as much. The Time Master Trilogy is the one everybody seems to know, but I was never really that comfortable with it. (I think you can tell that it was reworked from an early thing in some ways). Although I did like The Chaos Gate trilogy part better. She is so hard to come by even here in the UK, though, and I gave away even the couple of extra books of hers I had. (I gave away so many books when I had little space and I regret and mourn pretty much all of them forever. Except the ones I don't.) It's still sad she died recently - she really wasn't that old. (Louise Cooper, I mean.)

Actually, my reasons for wanting to re-read was because I wanted to write fic about Indigo and Grimya wandering the world together. (Though not bestiality, just Indigo&Grimya true love and friendship and stuff). My brain won't quite oblige yet, though.

Anyway, forgive my excitement, but, as I said, I've never seen anyone else talking about them - even if people know who Louise Cooper is, it's always The Time Master trilogy and never Indigo.

ETA: I'm sorry, I'm babbling at you (again). Sorry. I am a) still slightly more weird and light-headed than I realised and b) as I said, have had no one to talk to about those books for nearly 20 years. But sorry. /o\

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

Rambling is ok! Rambling is awesome. (and I sort of miss the culture where rambling happened all of the time)

I think I've grown... pickier. And Infanta is all about the long game, and I am so much a Gimme Now! type, that I just... get bored easily? (and yet, give me ten-episode Troughton-era, and I am fine hrm).

AND I LOVE Indigo and Grimya,and how they are BFFs and sisters in a way, and how they are the only ones who really GET each other. (and I love the way the series ends. Even at the age I was when I first read it, I was like, "FUK YAH" about it)

I think my favorites are 4, 5 and 7. And 1,2,3,8 and 6 are all sort of intermingled as to when I like them better or worse.

I should re-read Aisling, it's been ages, and I'd probably like it just fine. I just made the mistake of skipping to the end and then arbitrarily deciding I did not want to re-read it.

the theme of the series about redemption and finding out about oneself--I loved the turnabout in 7 (I think it was in 6, too, where Nemesis turns out to be... not what Indigo first thought)--really resonated with me back in the day. And it's still totally relevant now, and I would dearly love some sort of mini-series based on the books with, like Cate Blanchett as Indigo (and I just thought that up, and it is an amazing idea---even if Angharad is in her late teens/early twenties in the beginning, Indigo sort of ages after the Tower of Regrets falls--and Blanchett could pull it off, I think)

c'mon, tv execs, you could get nine miniseries out of this thing. All like Game of Thrones or whatever. (then again, there's not a lot of sex, drugs and torture in the books)

As for Cooper's other works, I think I glanced at one of them, but I don't think I've ever read them? Indigo basically hit all my buttons, back then. And I didn't really feel like I needed anything else.

(I think I have part of the Time Master trilogy kicking around somewhere)

[thisbluespirit]

AND I LOVE Indigo and Grimya,and how they are BFFs and sisters in a way, and how they are the only ones who really GET each other. (and I love the way the series ends. Even at the age I was when I first read it, I was like, "FUK YAH" about it)

Oh, yes - I had books 1-5 only for so long that I was really annoyed by how the later 3 turned out. Which is another reason, I'd really like to re-read them.

And, heh, what's the point in re-reading a book if you don't want to? There are so many other books out there and life's too short! The ending is the bit that matters; you're right. I think I kind of mostly liked the blue cover. *cough* (It was blue!)

I would have read more of her books, because Indigo was the first adult fantasy series that I really latched onto and didn't seem to built of the cod-Tolkien three-book doorstop about a bloke with a sword mold, but she was really hard to get hold of and generally has been. I've just looked at her wiki page, and the other one I really liked was Mirage. I also enjoyed The King's Demon, and The Chaos Gate Trilogy (and the Daughter of Storms trilogy for YA, I liked better than the main Time Master trilogy). I unfortunately gave Mirage and The King's Demons away about ten years ago because I liked them too much. (I am really logical about these things. *rolls eyes*)

I'd be interested to know what you thought about the Time Master trilogy, because that's the one people tend to know and like, but I just didn't get on with it and I'm not entirely sure why now. I did really like the second TM trilogy - The Chaos Gate trilogy and really wish I owned it. (I'm sure these things'd be on Amazon, but I still can't read that much, so I save my spare pennies for other things at the moment.)

(Sorry about the delayed reply - life happened. But that's the other good thing about LJ conversation, isn't it? They stay where they are till we've finished with them.)

[aralias.livejournal.com]

i also really like the magic mousetrap - and am thinking perhaps i should give live 34 another chance - as i really wasn't NA-savvy at the time i ehard it. im still not, but slightly more so now.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I suspect it's half nostalgia, a bit of loving the format, and a lot of love for the whole Evil Planetary Government trope (for serious, Happiness Patrol is still one of my favorites, too)--especially with the toppling of said EPG (I love toppling bad governments--I think it's wish fulfillment for all the crap going on in real life).

I also love the media aspect of it--how the winners totally control the spin on everything (because it's certainly something going on even in this day and age).

I keep finding new (horrific) connections to make when listening to Live 34. I also love how bad both Ace and Seven are at denying they know each other. "I know... a Professor, if that's any help?" Oh, Ace.

I think Hex is the best of the three of them at keeping that relationship secret.

erm, and that is a lot of love.

[fahrbotdrusilla]

Puerto Rico voted yes to becoming a state last election, congress hasn't done anything about it though.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

This is true, but it doesn't quite count (how odd to think there might be a new state in my lifetime!)