Dec. 23rd, 2018

rattfan: (Default)
Not so hot today, it maxed around 33-34^C.  Caught up on some sleep.  Still coughing and not very energetic, so just as well there were no actual plans.  I put some more things into a box (the contents of the desk drawers)  and ironed a couple of items which will get me through the last days I need to work before my break.

Also spoke to M by phone but didn't visit since I'll be around there on Tuesday for lunch.  [Note:  Don't forget the Nandos.]  

While ill, I've been resorting to Prime Video (still on the free trial) and Netflix for entertainment.  Have watched The Quiet Place, which I really enjoyed.  Vicious aliens infest Earth - Alien Space Bats! - which can't see but have super hearing, so surviving humans use sign language and keep ve-ry quiet.  Except when they don't, of course, such as when treading on an exposed nail or having a baby.   Genuinely tense and excellent creatures, IMO.  I'd watch a sequel. 

Netflix had a movie which appeared similar, Bird Box, where the alien nasties make anyone who looks at them kill themselves.   Nice little plot twist at the end but although I like Sandra Bullock and she did very well in this, there really wasn't much tension in it.  I also can't believe blindfolded people could land as many hits and be as effective as they're shown to be here.  Years ago when I did ju jitsu, the sensei did this to us - for his own entertainment, I think - because we were bloody useless when we couldn't see.  In this movie, one scene has them driving a blacked out car and relying on the GPS.  Seriously?  You're going to believe the GPS?   Still, the bit where they lurch to a halt, belting into a concrete pillar outside the grocery store and the voice says, "You have arrived," that was pretty good.

From these, I looked for Kindle books where humans are an endangered species and found almost invariably, these concerned vampires and werewolves, who are definitely not an endangered trope these days.  Still, I found Dying Bites by D.D. Barant to be reasonably entertaining.  FBI agent kidnapped to another reality where only about a million humans survive.  I'd call that paradise, pretty much, certainly way better for the planet, if the numbers weren't made up by vampires, weres ....and golems.  The reasons for the agent's abduction sort of make sense, though the occasional references to Australia were rather painful, making it clear the author had never been here.  Luckily those scenes weren't the main story.   The plot was very Lovecraft derivative, using actual Elder God names, far as I could tell, so I wouldn't go beyond reasonably entertaining and maybe between two and three stars for the author.

I'm working tomorrow, then need to visit M on X Day.  Hopefully will be able to catch up with friends at some point though if there are any social things happening between now and New Year's, I don't know about them.  Have been occupied with getting over the lurgy this week.  On XE I will read my X present, as yet unknown - thank you, Fred Mouse! - because I won't open it until then, in true Icelandic tradition, where they give each other books for Christmas.



Profile

rattfan: (Default)
Alex Isle [Rattfan]

March 2025

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
1617181920 2122
23242526272829
3031     

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 10th, 2025 10:10 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios