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This work week was not five days long. I'm pretty certain somebody crammed an extra 70 or 80 hours between Tuesday and Thursday. It feels like this past Monday was two weeks ago, or more.
Which I suppose is typical of a Friday evening. But anyway.
I'm very tired, and not feeling particularly clever at the moment. (Well, I'm never clever. Although sometimes I rhyme accidentally. Even so I feel even less inspired than usual this evening.) So here's a random assortment of stuff that's going on, of interest to nobody but me.
I saw Source Code last night. It was fairly decent. I've always liked Jake Gyllenhaal and Vera Farmiga. (Am I the only person who remembers "Roar"? That's one that fares much better in memory than it does under actual rewatching.) The final scenes of the movie, however, take a weird abrupt left turn that left me completely confused. But otherwise is was pretty decent, like I said.
I was under the impression this was yet another film somehow inspired by a Philip K. Dick story. I'm not finding much online to support my misconception at the moment. But I was able to convince myself it had a hint of a Philip K. Dickian vibe. Or so it seems to me, speaking as somebody who has almost never been able to finish a PKD story. The stories and novels defeat me when the metaphysical whinging gets a little thick. And that's a shame, because I really enjoy the ruminations on identity and fate and what-does-it mean-if-I'm-not-who-I-think-I-am. Maybe the problem is that I'm just not smart enough to read PKD, or my attention span is too short, or both. So I need to be spoon fed the metaphysical whinging, in smaller easily digestible chunks. Source Code achieves a whiff of that through the layers of mystery surrounding Jake Gyllenhaal's character: where is he and why doesn't he remember anything?
Although, as PKD "inspired" movies go recently, I liked The Adjustment Bureau more. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt had phenomenal chemistry in this one. Sparks, sparks, sparks. Which was essential for the movie to work. I liked this one quite a bit. Who are the secret masters who control our fate? And what almosts and maybies lie waiting for us behind every missed bus? What ghostly might-have-beens, what happily-ever-afters, what tragedies hide behind every untied shoelace, every spur of the moment whim? I'm a sentimental person so this movie hit my sweet spot.
I do think that my favorite PKD adaptation from recent years (can I claim to have one, if I've never read the original source material?) is A Scanner Darkly.
More random stuff that's not about movies: I need to get two aspen trees removed from my yard. They've been on life support the past couple years, but the very cold, very dry winter was the killing blow. And then the constant incessant OMG will it never stop I'll go mad if it doesn't spring winds have killed the trees into a state of being even more dead. If trees have levels of deadness, these are at the top. Not just mostly dead. The wind has been so insane (as it is every springtime here in New Mexico; not my favorite aspect of the place) that the boles of the trees have actually begun to splinter and crack. So they have to come down soon.
And that saddens me. These trees stand right outside my office window. Removing them will significantly degrade my view. And I can't afford equivalent replacements. I'll have to by something smaller and be patient while it grows tall enough to give my second-floor windows a leafy vista. Bummer.
More random stuff: My house is finally back to normal after the pipe broke back in February. Yeah, it took a while. (I did at least get the pipe fixed right away. It's not like I've been living without running water for all this time. I'm not that lazy and squalid.) But I was waiting on getting a rug returned-- I have a large area rug (on long-term loan) that got soaked by the water leak, and it had to go out for special cleaning. It's nice to have something soft between my feet and the brick floors again.
More random stuff: I have no idea what I'm going to cook for dinner tonight. I think a salad is in the offing.
Close PermalinkI hear you. I got Glee... er brain sucked last night watching Glee. Then I heated up a slice of pizza and made a salad, and sat and stared at the TV. I need to get back to Mass Effect 2, but I've been too tired to shoot straight, and the bandages on the fingers are irritating.
Maybe today I'll be more useful. Though I did finish writing up the interview with George.
I hear you. I totally hear you.
Sad to hear about your trees - leafy vistas are a pleasant thing.
Ditto on PKD; it's not as much the metaphysical whinging for me, though that does factor, as the proliferation of adverbs and clunky writing. Wish I could like him, and just can't.
I don't think that Source Code was PKD in origin. I saw it last week and can see how the "not knowing quite where people are" theme has some PKD similarities though. I enjoyed the movie, the end was an interesting twist.
I've never been able to really get into PKD novels. They always seem a bit dry. I usually actually like the movies better. Especially Blade Runner. Some of his shorts have stuck with me. I read "The Father Thing" when I was around 11 and recall being paranoid for awhile.
It's good for a house to be back in a semblance of order. We redid the kitchen this winter and were without a kitchen sink for about 3 weeks. I caught myself several times nearly pouring a glass down the "sink."
I'm glad to know I'm not the only person who never got into PKD. For a long time it seemed like I was the only person who wasn't a fan. I always feel like a complete philistine when I admit at conventions that I've barely been able to finish any PKD stories.
The real aficionados tell me I shouldn't make up my mind until I've read Ubik. Hmmmm.
Unwalkers interview [English | French ]
Interview with Speculate! Podcast Interview with Adventures in SciFi Publishing
Ian Tregillis on the Sword and Laser Podcast
Ian Tregillis on John Scalzi's The Big Idea
Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with SFRevu
Interview with Mad Hatter Book Review
Interview with Apex Books
Interview at Literary Musings Interview with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
An interview with the authors of Busted Flush at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview with Travis Heermann at The Write Line
9-way interview with the contributors to the Wild Cards novel Inside Straight at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Interview in the February, 2008 newsletter of the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
An extended interview with Ian Tregillis by Ty Franck, on www.wildcardsbooks.com.