ichinichinemasu

estirose

( Babbling about a possible new version of the AO3 scam )

rocky41_7 posting in

books

Today I wrapped up Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer, a horror/sci-fi novel with fantastical (?) elements about a biologist exploring a very unsettling landscape.

There are no names given in this book—the narrator and protagonist is simply "the Biologist," and she refers to her other three teammates by their job titles as well. Locations outside of the place they're exploring—Area X—are not given either, but the world is implied to be much the same as our own, with Area X a troubling and relatively recent anomaly. A private company hires the Biologist and her colleagues to venture into this strange place and take notes. They are the 12^th such expedition.

I appreciate that much of the horror in Annihilation isn't in-your-face: it's the slow build of things that are just off. This quiet and subtle approach means that when something extreme happens, it feels extreme. The Biologist and her colleagues know that Area X is dangerous before they venture in, but even so, they are unprepared for how and to what degree. VanderMeer's portrayal of how trust frays among relative strangers under these conditions felt realistic.

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unshelved_feed

Posted by Gene Ambaum

/2015-3-5

https://www.unshelved.com/2015-3-5

This classic Unshelved strip originally appeared on Thu, 05 Mar 2015.

Unshelved comic strip for Thu, 05 Mar 2015

/2015-3-5

https://www.unshelved.com/2015-3-5

libitina

Shows to watch
Friday night - War of Faith
Saturday 11am - The Heart Killers
Saturday 2pm - My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho
Sunday 1pm - Apothecary Diaries
Sunday 2pm - ~~Moon Embracing the Sun~~ Jack & Joker

Things to do
Have tea with Egyptian friend to exchange stuff (Sunday night?)
buy some groceries and work snacks from Aldi
get cash / deposit a check
pick up my laundry
buy gas (for the car)
Ask neighbor if he will help clear the plants out of my alley and backyard (in exchange for cash)
gardening! (there still are some plants not in proper pots)
Keep sewing my red SCA dress
package up the dried herbs so you can harvest more herbs to dry
package up craft swap things to mail to people!

Things to cook/eat
Clear room to put pickled things in the refrigerator
eat pickles?
start another jar of cucumber pickles
Do I want to try making cabbage kimchi?
marinate tofu for dinners (try making spicy tofu with the chinese soybean paste in the sauce)
eat butternut squash!
make paste to take to work for some book repairs!

dinosaur_comics_feed

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4364


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why didn't frodo just bounce the ring on a series of trampolines to mount doom??

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August 8th, 2025

August 8th, 2025: This weekend I'm at DUBLIN COMIC CON - hope to see you there! I've never done a comics show in Ireland so I am VERY EXCITED.

– Ryan

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4364

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3126/

You say no human would reply to a forum thread about Tom Bombadil by writing and editing hundreds of words of text, complete with formatting, fancy punctuation, and two separate uses of the word 'delve'. Unfortunately for both of us, you are wrong.

https://xkcd.com/3126/

unshelved_feed

Posted by Gene Ambaum

/2015-3-4

https://www.unshelved.com/2015-3-4

This classic Unshelved strip originally appeared on Wed, 04 Mar 2015.

Unshelved comic strip for Wed, 04 Mar 2015

/2015-3-4

https://www.unshelved.com/2015-3-4

unshelved_feed

Posted by Gene Ambaum

/2015-3-3

https://www.unshelved.com/2015-3-3

This classic Unshelved strip originally appeared on Tue, 03 Mar 2015.

Unshelved comic strip for Tue, 03 Mar 2015

/2015-3-3

https://www.unshelved.com/2015-3-3

rocky41_7 posting in

books

"There was a wall. It did not look important. It was built of uncut rocks roughly mortared. An adult could look right over it, and even a child could climb it. Where it crossed the roadway, instead of having a gate it degenerated into mere geometry, a line, the idea of a boundary. But the idea was real. It was important. For seven generations there had been nothing more important than that wall."

I knew this book was going to hit hard from the opening paragraph above, and it did not disappoint. I've enjoyed Ursula Le Guin's work before--The Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorite books—and I absolutely see why The Dispossessed is considered one of her crowning pieces. The setting for this book is a planet and its moon—Urras, the planet, is a lush world not dissimilar from Earth, which is home to several capitalist countries and at least one socialist country; and Anarres, the moon, which is a dusty, resource-scanty place home to a society of anarchists who fled from Urras just under two hundred years ago. The core of the novel concerns Shevek, a theoretical physicist from Anarres who chooses to relocate to Urras.

Le Guin captures truly great sci-fi because this work is so imbued with curiosity. Le Guin is asking questions at the heart of any great sci-fi work: What defines humanity? What can we achieve, and how is it done, and what does that mean for society? What is society? What does it mean to be alone? What does it mean to be part of a whole? To me, sci-fi can't be truly sci-fi without a measure of philosophy, and The Dispossessed has this in droves.

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