Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’
- In: Tom Godwin
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Hey, so sorry to tell you, but it already looks like 2020 is going to be a thinky year for me. Thought experiments, taking things apart to see how they work and then trying to put them back together, connecting things that are really obscurely connected, asking questions and not caring about the answer, and then getting bored and moving onto the next thinky thing.
Let’s start with a famous short story called “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin, published in 1954. The story is available to read free online, at Lightspeed Magazine.
If you’re not familiar with this story, you’ll want to go read it at Lightspeed before reading the rest of this post, because there are major spoilers ahead. If you liked it so much you want to own it in print, Baen Books published a nice collection of Godwin’s short fiction*. I’m not at all ashamed to admit that “The Cold Equations” is the only short story in the collection that I’ve read.
“The Cold Equations” gets a lot of discussion because of how cruel the physics of the story is, does the stowaway deserve what happened to her, engineering that’s too stupid to be negligent, etc. Those reasons, and plenty more, is why we still enjoy talking about this story more than 60 years after it was written.
If any of that sounds interesting, I recommend this excellent post (warning, major spoilers) on Tor.com by James Davis Nicoll. The Wikipedia page for “The Cold Equations” also has some interesting material about how when editor John Campbell bought the story in the early 50s, he pushed the author to change the story so that it didn’t have a happy ending.
Many articles and think pieces online like to take this story apart because of, to misquote Derek Kunsken’s The Quantum Magician completely out of context, “the math was inescapable”. (damn do I love that line)
To me, “The Cold Equations” is nothing more than The Trolley Problem thought experiment with very thin veneer of a plot. What’s the trolley problem? To steal directly from Wikipedia:
And since you are barreling down the tracks at the speed of a well, speeding train, you only have a few seconds to make your decision. nice, huh?
For a more entertaining introduction to The Trolley Problem, I recommend you watch season 1 and 2 of The Good Place**. they have a little too much fun visualizing that you have a split second to make your decision.
Anyway, what does any of this have to do with “The Cold Equations”?
SPOILERS , if you haven’t already read the short story:
Behold! my favorite things of the year! I didn’t formally review most of these items, my brain just hasn’t been wanting to write reviews for a while. But I read (or watched) them! And loved them! and maybe you’ll enjoy some of them too.
The Quantum Magician (2018) and The Quantum Garden (2019), by Derek Künsken. Space opera, con artists, human asshole-ness and hubris write large, genetically modified sub-species, and really old anger, what’s not to love? The Quantum Magician got such an emotional reaction out of me (the kind of reaction that makes me want to hug the author because they are brilliant!) that beyond the review I had some shit I needed to unpack. After that first volume, I wasn’t sure the author could top it, so I went into the sequel, The Quantum Garden with worries it would just be more of the same. Spoiler: the second book is even better than the first! it is super different than the first, it’ll blow up your brain in the best way possible. I don’t know how many books are planned for this series, but these first two remind me a little of Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastard books. the first book focuses on the con and the crew and their mission, and has you cheering on every page. The second book has a tighter focus, and that “I thought winning would taste better” moment, and it hits you smack in the feels the whole way. And then holy shit that twist!!!! Anyway, if you like books that are smart AF, this is your series.
And Shall Machines Surrender (2019) by Benjanun Sriduangkaew – Apparently I like quiet stories. I don’t know if this novella is meant to be a quiet story, but it was lovely and quiet for me. AIs don’t have to raise their voices to show you how powerful they are, you know? An ex-lover doesn’t have to raise her voice to tell you she’s sorry, or that maybe she isn’t, right? I like the idea of a city that is run by and designed for AIs, and they let humans live there because, I dunno, they think we are entertaining? Oh yeah, and they like to become hybrids with us, sometimes. It’s the highest honor to become a haruspex – a person who is a physical host for an AI mind. So why are haruspices committing suicide? Orfea came to the AI city to start her life fresh. All she wants to do is get a job, pay her rent, and live a quiet life. And how is she supposed to do that, when the two people who know all her secrets waltz back into her life? If you like quiet romance / mysteries that are beautifully written, this is the novella for you. Yes! this is a romance! and a very hot one at that.
All Clear (2010) by Connie Willis – If you remember the entire scifi community screaming their heads off in spring of 2010, it’s because Connie Willis published Black Out in February of that year. It ended on a cliff hanger. There was no way of knowing if anyone was going to survive the next few chapters, and people were apparently, super pissed. In October of 2010, the 2nd part of the duology, All Clear, was published. I like to imagine that the world was quiet for a week or two, as scifi fans devoured All Clear, and laughed at their friends who were fans of the show “Lost” (oh, you think that’s a cliffhanger?). After that week, after everyone read it, everyone wept. All Clear had me so pissed off. not because i had to wait to read it, but because of that never-ending chase around the church / drive to the hospital / what other stupid things can get in our way because this is starting to feel like a farce scene. it couldn’t have been more than 50 pages but it felt like forever. And then at the very end, at the museum. I cried buckets, it was like I was gripping this stuff so inside me, and then it all came rushing out and I couldn’t control it. I was also really mad at myself for getting all worked up over that scene that had annoyed me so much, I felt like by complaining about it, I was shitting on someone’s memory. Anyway, if you love perfectly researched history, beautiful writing, characters you will care about so much that you get pissed off when things get in their way, if you crave stories that show you how wonderful humanity can be, Blackout / All Clear is for you. Did you read Willis’s The Doomsday Book? Did you cry at the end? You’ll cry more at the end of All Clear. Oh, you read all of those books and didn’t shed a tear? um, ok.
The Poppy War (2018) by R. F. Kuang – Little orphan girl qualifies to attend an elite school where a)she won’t have to see her awful adoptive parents ever again if she doesn’t want to and b) she gets to learn magic and how to fight her country’s enemies. What is this, Harry Potter? or maybe Name of the Wind? hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! oh, that was a good joke! Poppy War was my Baru Cormorant, my Machineries of Empire of this year. That it to say, this is the book that broke me. I appreciated the super fast pace of the book, that every scene, every sentence moves the story forward in a meaningful way. Doesn’t hurt that I loved the characters and loved the world. This book is brutal, in every sense of the word. The beginning got plenty of chuckles out of me, the end made me want to puke and crawl into a cave and never come out. If you’re a Rin who wants to grow up to be a Jiang, this is the book for you. if that made no sense at all, go read my review. If you’re interested in knowing what my reviewing style is, that review will show you. There is a sequel! One day I’ll be ready to read it.
Ivory Apples (2019) by Lisa Goldstein – This was one of my feel-good books of the year. well, it isn’t a “feel good” book, but I felt really good while I was reading it. Eldest sister Ivy is barely a teenager when her father dies, and she and her sisters are given into the care of her father’s friend Kate. Ivy and her sisters know their family harbors a secret, they were just so young when they learned about it that they don’t really understand what the secret is. Kate will do anything to learn the family’s secret. I’m purposely being super vague, can you tell? If you like mythology, and stories about sisters, and magic that can be beautiful ,and gorgeous storytelling, if you want a story that leaves you feeling better about the world instead of worse, Ivory Apples is for you. I had fun with hot takes in my review, too. I must have been feeling very snarky that day!
Monteverde: Memoirs of an Interstellar Linguist (2005, translated to English in 2016) by Lola Robles – I love language. I love how we shape how we communicate, and how our languages shape us. This short novella is basically a plot that has been written around a thought experiment. Rachel Monteverde, a terran linguist, is sent to visit a colony planet that was separated from the rest of human civilization for generations. There are two human cultures on the planet, one of whom revels in the bright colors of foliage and nature patterns and have the verbal mannerisms to match, and another culture where everyone is blind due to a genetic defect. The groups just do not understand each other at all! Rachel doesn’t care about their trade squabbles, what she does care about is getting recordings of their languages, and thinking about how and why the two groups have such different languages and experience the world in such different ways. If you are a language and communication nerd like me, this is the book for you. I even reviewed it for you!
Vigilance (2019) by Robert Jackson Bennett – Gah, this is a hard book for me to talk about, even though I reviewed it. It’s everything I hate about violence stories, turned on it’s head (which is a good thing), and talking about this book gets me too close to the knife’s edge of getting pulled into political conversations. (but it’s just a book! Andrea, why are you getting so worked up about this?? Can’t you just enjoy things for once?) Vigilance is what happens when businesses realize they can monetize fear and mob mentalities. Where Capitalism and “you too could be the star of a reality show!” meet, you have Vigilance. This novella is vicious, you should read it. I really hope that reality tv producers and tv network head honchos never get their hands on this book. Because then they’d make a movie out it. And then someone else would be like “this is a damn brilliant idea! Let’s make this a real TV show!”, and that would, um, not be good.
Death’s End gets an honorable mention for the last hundred pages or so. It was SUCH a slog to get there, but the end really was so, so, SO, amazing.
Another last minute honorable mention is Yoon Ha Lee’s short story collection Conservation of Shadows. I’m only about half way through the collection, but damn, every page is perfection and I’ve already come across stories I can’t wait to read again. Also, the word escritoire needs to come back into fashion.
And here is my Favorite non-book stuff of this year. Also, I watched a lot of Netflix this year.
The Politician (tv show) – ah, this show is so ridiculous and so over the top! it makes fun of soap opera tropes, it makes fun of how in tv shows high school students never seem to have homework or classes, it makes fun of rich California kids, and the best part? Ben Platt singing. Also? the art direction (i don’t know if that is the right word) was pure perfection. If you’ve got Netflix, watch this show. After the first episode you’ll be like “what the hell did I just watch?”. keep watching.
The Good Place – Season 3 hit Netflix this summer, and you bet I binged it. Janet and Jason forever! thanks to this show, I’m now more than a little obsessed with The Trolley Problem. This is my fave show because when I saw the first season, I badgered my parents to get the discs on Netflix, and they did. and then because they have cable, they got to see the 3rd season on tv before I did, and we badgered each other about it and teased each other about episodes we hadn’t seen yet. My parents have drastically different tastes in what kind of TV shows they like to watch, so I loved that this show let me bond with both of them.
Dark – if you want a time travel thriller that might also give you nightmares, or if you want to scare your kids into never going into dark caves by themselves, this is the TV show for you. An import from Germany, the dubbing is just so-so, but I was able to get used to it pretty quickly. Now that I’ve seen both seasons and am reminiscing on the first few episodes of season 1, the only spoiler I’ll give you is the people who are quietest, those are the people you should be listening to. The characters who seem to be in love with the sound of their own voice? don’t listen to them.
Into The Spider-Verse – So far I’ve only gotten to see this movie once, it’s gonna be one of those movies that I just keep adding back to my Netflix DVD queue. I should remind everyone that I’m not into Superhero stories or Marvel or DC stuff, that stuff just isn’t my thing. That said, I loved every single thing about Into The Spider-Verse. Every scene, every line, every detail, even the references that I didn’t get, even the famous people whose voices I didn’t recognize, I loved every second that I got to spend watching this movie. Also? OMG the visuals and the music and how perfectly it worked together. That scene at the end? It was a supernova ballet, and I loved it and I can’t wait to watch this movie again! I don’t even care about Spiderman, and I loved this movie!!
There you have it! That’s my favorite stuff that I consumed this year.
Can’t wait to see what 2020 brings!
A bucket of mini-reviews
Posted on: December 7, 2019
Woah! How did it become December, like, when did that happen?
I could put myself under a ton of pressure to write thousand word reviews that won’t get read . . . or I could write some low-pressure mini-reviews.
Mini reviews it is. (I mourn my loss of review-writing motivation. I really do)
Here are some mini-reviews of books I read this year and enjoyed. If you read them, I’d love to know your thoughts! If you aren’t familiar with them, do they look interesting?
The Quantum Garden by Derek Kunsken – the direct sequel to Kunsken’s break out novel The Quantum Magician. I am a sucker for heist stories, and I am a sucker for when the con artist gets conned. This second novel in the series is quieter than the first, less action, less gigantic set pieces. And in the quiet spaces, we really get to know Bel and Cassie, and the family they came from. I’m not going to give away any plot points, because if you haven’t read the first book they won’t make any sense. If you like smart science fiction, if you like physics that is on the edge, if you like stories about science meets capitalism and human greed, and oh, if you’re looking to scratch your Locke Lamora itch, this is the series for you. Seriously excellent in every possible way. Def gonna want to reread this and tease out all the cool dimension hopping physics and cultural and family obligation stuff, and just totally cool shit on every page.
And Shall Machines Surrender by Benjanun Sriduangkaew – I loved this book. It was fun, it was super sexy, the characters were great, I enjoyed the story, I loved the idea of a sanctuary community that is run and governed by AI’s who rebelled against their human owners. But this isn’t a story about AI’s, it is a romance. Orfea and Krissana have history, oh do they have history. And the only thing they have more of than history is chemistry. If you don’t like romance and sexytimes getting all squished up in your scifi, this isn’t the book for you. Enjoy ultra smart scifi characters who also get to have romantic relationships and sexytimes? This novella is the gift you give yourself. Even better news? Sriduangkaew recently published Then Will the Sun Rise Alabaster, which is same world, different characters. This is a huge sprawling space opera world that Sriduangkaew has created, there are endless stories she could tell.
Indelible Ink by Matt Betts – Ok, so I read this one a few months ago, and don’t remember a ton of the details. I remember that it had a rough start, but found its bearing pretty quickly, and that I enjoyed it enough that I’d read it again. Deena has some hella cool superpowers that she can sort of control, her story line felt X-Men and edgy, as if she was some mutant kid who got recruited into Magneto’s crew and didn’t really know what was going on. I remember really liking her as a character and rooting for her. And there was this crazy twist at the end that came out of left field, but at the same time made a ton of sense because there had been some clues all long. Yep, just gonna have to read this one again. If you can find a copy of this book, I recommend it.
You ever have one of those weeks where you feel like you got absolutely nothing done? Yep, this past week felt like that. But? only three workdays this week, and then a 4 day weekend full of food, shopping, more food, reading, and general chillaxing! And I’ll be doing all that shopping online while wearing pajamas.
what have I been up to lately?
I did end up setting aside the Robin Hobb book. Not so much a didn’t finish, as a I’m not in the mood for this right now. and I did start reading The Quantum Garden by Derek Kunsken. I’m only about 100 pages in, but what a ride so far!
I picked up a book of short stories called Flying Carpets, and I’ll admit I was drawn to this book because of the cover. Got to meet the author at a local event, and when she said “magical realism”, I was sold. I’ve read the first few stories so far, and they are quite enjoyable.
And speaking of short stories, I was flipping through the table of contents of the absolutely massive The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer, when I realized this tome has some favorites that I haven’t gotten to read in a really long time, such as “Standing Woman” by Yasutaka Tsutsui , “Sandkings” by George R R Martin, and “Gorgonoids” by Leena Krohn. There’s also “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, “The Poetry Cloud” by Cixin Liu, “Blood Music” by Greg Bear, “Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Terius” by Jorge Luis Bores, and about a million more. Hard to believe a the paperback of this costs less than $30! Yes, I am recommending this as a gift to your science fiction loving friends!
On the non-bookish side of life, if your planning a holiday Game of Thrones binge watch, make sure you have matching liquor and beer.
And when you’ve got rice, some veggies, and some high quality tinned fish, dinner can come together in 5 minutes.
Mackerel over rice with corn, green olives, and scallions. This photo doesn’t do it justice, this plate was to die for.
What have you been reading, watching, drinking, eating, and enjoying lately?
Happy Almost Weekend!
Posted on: November 14, 2019
Woohoo, it’s almost the weekend!
What are you up to this weekend? What are you planning to read? Planning to watch anything cool on TV or listen to any audiobooks or podcasts? Did you have any luck with Disney+?
I’ve been enjoying all the #SciFiMonth posts and twittering, it’s just a super nice happy group.
What have I been reading?
I’ve been reading Renegade’s Magic by Robin Hobb. This is the last book in her Soldier Son trilogy. I started reading this trilogy I dunno, 8 years ago? maybe longer ago? I had a too-intense reaction to the 2nd book and couldn’t even pick up a Robin Hobb for a long time.
(side bar – when authors book their books out into the wild, they have ZERO control over how people react to them. Have you ever had an unexpected emotional reaction to a book? What happened)
it’s been long enough, I’m ready to finish this series. Luckily, there is some helpful background early on in Renegade’s Magic to fill me in on earlier details that I’ve forgotten. Unluckily, the book is just so-so. Nevare and his alter-ego are sharing his body, and Nevare needs to decide if he’s going to try to stay his separate self, or if he’s going to merge with his alter-ego so that the two of them can become whole. Ok, so I can tell you right now that this book is going to end with him merging back with himself, because Robin Hobb books are pretty much about facing the part of you that you are ashamed of, and accepting that part of yourself. But does that mean I’ve got 500 pages in front of me of Nevare trying to decide if he’s going to merge with himself or not?
I’m impatient.
Because I have a copy of Derek Kunsken’s The Quantum Garden and I really, really, REALLY want to be reading that!!
I predict I will set Renegade’s Magic down as a “read some other time”, and gleefully pick up The Quantum Garden. oh wait, do I want to reread The Quantum Magician first? I want toooo!!!!!! That book is definitely one of my favorite reads this year, but William! i don’t know if I can go through that again!
What have I been watching?
I had a four day weekend last weekend so I binge watched Maniac on Netflix. This is not a good show, but it has moments of brilliance. It is trying to be sort of Philip K Dick-ish? Where some characters aren’t sure what is reality and what isn’t. And like a lot of PKD novels, about 1/3 of the way through, what plot there is, it goes out the window.
The show takes place in a near-future alternate Earth. No cell phones, but other technologies exist that are supposed to make life easier. Someone had some fun designing sets and architecture and such.
Don’t watch this show for the plot, because there really isn’t one. Do watch it for the batshit crazy acting. Emma Stone is her as always amazing self, Jonah Hill is subtle and compelling, and I’m pretty sure they just told Justin Theroux to be as intense and insane as possible, and chew as much scenery as possible. Did people expect that Theroux would steal every scene he’s in?
seriously. Justin Theroux, just watch this show for him.
What have I been listening to?
I’m enjoying This Podcast Will Kill You. I’m a jerk and listening to the episodes in any order I damn please. Listening to the Cystic Fibrosis episode was fascinating (chlorides! protein channels! big bags of fluid!), educational, and humbling. If you like science (and what scifi fan doesn’t like science?) and think biology and infectious diseases is cool, this is the podcast for you.
What have I been cooking?
I took what has become my favorite gluten free bread recipe and accidentally wrecked it. Bought some buckwheat flour on a whim, and by the way the buckwheat pancakes were delicious. I figured the GF bread recipe would work just fine if I swapped half the 1to1 GF flour buckwheat. hahahaha NO. the bread smells good, looks kinda weird, and tastes really dry. I learned my lesson! guess I’ll have to just enjoy delicious buckwheat pancakes and not use it in bread.
How about you? what have you been up to?
What’s your favorite science fiction theme, asked another SciFi Month participant.
Without a doubt, my favorite science fiction theme is First Contact. What will we say to aliens when we meet them? How will we communicate? How will we be understood? What if they are incomprehensible?
I really dig the “communication” part of first contact stories. Of course we’re going to try to talk to aliens! Of course we will wildly misinterpret everything they say! And of course we have the ego and the hubris to have no idea that we are misinterpreting everything, because the first time a xenobiologist or xenolinguist admits they are “approaching this problem with the mind of student”, some idiot will say “are you saying you’re too dumb to be here?” and that will be the end of the conversation and the beginning of the misinterpretation. More on the tip of that iceberg at the end of the post.
Anyway, I love me some first contact stories, and if they touch on language, all the better!
If you like that too, here are some recommendations that may be of interest to you.
Arrival – When aliens arrive and start giving us their written language, a linguistics professor is brought in to translate. What she sees makes no sense, and when the symbols are finally translated, it is more than just language and sentences. She’s literally able to see the events of her life in a new, and sometimes frightening way. This movie is based on the short story “The Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. I’m a sucker for visuals and effective pacing, and I have a major thing for linguistics. I enjoyed the short story and LOVED the movie.
Babel 17 by Samuel Delany – All the linguistics fun of Arrival, plus a bucket of super cool characters, a wild adventure, and smart people talking about smart things. Did I mention the main character is a poet? I vaguely remember in the movie Contact, there is a line “they should have sent a poet”. Well, Delany did. You’ll like this one, I promise.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – are you in the read-along for this? What do you think so far? Yeah there is aliens in this book and first contact! The Sparrow is probably the most unexpected first contact book ever written. It’s weird, because we don’t actually learn much about the aliens. Well, we see a lot, and figure out a lot of what their saying, but it always seemed to me that what the humans had so much trouble with was the paying attention and actually listening part. So in a way, they do learn, only after it is too late.
Defenders by Will McIntosh – so, we meet aliens, and they can read our minds. We don’t quite understand their invasion or what they want, so humans make the group decision to freak the hell out. We design and build cyborgs to protect us. And then we win the war against the alien invaders. So what to do with all these cyborgs, who have been programmed to protect against an invader that isn’t a threat anymore? I appreciate that McIntosh talks about the aftermath of a failed alien invasion.
District 9 – When the aliens visit, their mothership hovers above Johannesburg, and doesn’t move. Nothing happens for months. When our military cuts into the ship, we find starving creatures, so we “rescue” them. And put them in a “refugee camp”. It gets so much worse and more dehumanizing from there. Every time I see this movie it is harder to watch, because I know what’s coming. And every time I watch this movie I enjoy it more, because maybe there’s hope that humans won’t always be shit heads.
Blindsight by Peter Watts – just an excellent book, all around. This was the book that got me turned on to the idea that humans think we are really good at communication, but we are actually quite terrible at it. The aliens lurking at the edge of solar system might really not want to talk to us. Or, in a weird way, maybe they are just saying hello? There’s probably no way to know. If you like edge of your seat scifi thrillers, this is the book for you. Also, scientifically possible vampires.
The Visitors by Clifford Simak – I just read this last week! The most peaceful alien invasion story I’ve ever read. The aliens come, and they just sit in the woods and in some farms. They literally just sit there. They eat some trees. A few cars accidentally get eaten. The aliens don’t talk to us, they don’t communicate at all (or do they?). Before leaving they give us a gift, something they think we will enjoy having. It is a gift that could destroy our civilization as we know it. At first, I thought these kind aliens were giving me a “yes, there really is a free lunch!” type story, and then when I got to the end of the book I realize that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Have you read any of these books or seen any of these movies? What did you think of them?
What are some of your favorite first contact books and movies?
What fascinates me about First Contact stories, is that when it comes down to it, those stories are not about the aliens. They aren’t about how humans will interact with, communicate with, be judgy about, or be accepting of aliens. First contact stories are a mirror for how we interact with each other. They mirror how we communicate with each other, how we judge each other, how we accept (or don’t. Or eventually come to accept) anyone who is different from us. Like many science fiction themes, First Contact stories show how humans can normalize certain types of reactions to anything that is new, or different from what we are used to.
I don’t know if it’s brilliant or depressing that we need science fiction to show us that humans have a habit of being assholes to each other.
Never in a million years did I ever think I was going to say I was proud of Kim Kardashian. Scroll to the bottom for that bombshell!
What have I been reading?
Finished Benjanun Sriduangkaew’s novella And Shall Machines Surrender, and freakin’ loved it. My brain still doesn’t want to write long reviews, so I put a short review on Amazon. If you like some, any, or all of these things, this novella is for you: Beautiful writing, tight plotting, show don’t tell, cyberpunk, when AIs don’t need humans anymore, AI run cities, AI and human melds, and super hot sex scenes.
Finally finished Death’s End by Cixin Liu. Those last few chapters, HOLY SHIT! but man it was a lot of boring to get there . Had a great conversation with my dad about the series. I love how this series has become our family reading club book!
Also finished The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang. It was. . . meh? I’m really happy it was a novella. I will say that the further I got into it, the more I liked it, but I won’t be continuing with this series.
Started reading The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust. What a blast! It’s Brust’s take on The Three Musketeers, except more banter, more humor, and everyone is offended by literally everything, so there are duels like every 3 pages. There is also this parody thing going on with the narrator. And, um, Sethra Lavode is . . . young-ish? It is super fun. Luckily, there is like 5 books in this series, so that should keep me busy for a little while.
Went on a little bookstore adventure today, picked up:
Hild by Nicola Griffith – this has come highly recommended! I was surprised to find it in general fiction, i thought this was a spec fic book?
Ismail Merchant’s Indian Cuisine – lots of easy recipes, nothing intimidating.
How Language Began by Daniel Everett – I’ve been hooked on the Lexicon Valley podcast, so I’m all about the history of languages right now!
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper – I have no idea if this is good or not, but I liked the cover art. And it looks super different than everything I’ve been reading lately, that alone is a big plus.
Speaking of podcasts, I discovered “This Podcast will Kill You”, I think they talk about poisons? I’ve only listened to the episode about Aspirin and holy shit it was fascinating! Now i kinda wish my commute was longer, so i could listen to more of this? no, really, NO I do not want a longer commute! Goal in life is a shorter commute!
oh, what did we cook this weekend? Made the world’s most delicious shrimp and noodle stirfry, it was one of those stirfry’s where you throw a bunch of deliciousness into a wok, and then throw noodles and some sweet chili sauce in, and surprising no one you end up with a delicious stirfry. Made a quinoa sorghum salad with mint lemon dressing for something healthy to snack on at work, Tonight we are making Curry Rice, which is one of my fave autumn dishes. I’ve blogged about this dish before, but imagine a beef stew, but it’s made with curry gravy. Buckets of spices, buckets of ginger and garlic and hot peppers and onions, and you serve it with rice and yogurt. my mouth is watering!!!
Apropos of nothing, I am annoying that one of my fave kitchen / small home decorating sites, thekitchn, is now like 80% advertising posts for Costco, Trader Joe, and Aldi. Like, i like those stores? but I also prefer content that is cooking, kitchen techniques, and small home decorating. I actually do not give a shit about how the different pumpkin spice things at Aldi compare to those at Trader Joe.
Same as The Kitchn is being taken over by thinly veiled advertising for Costco, Aldi, and Trader Joe, Buzzfeed is being taken over by less thinly veiled advertising for everything Kardashian. three cheers for click bait?
I never in a million years thought I’d say I’m proud of Kim, but I’m proud of her. Ten years ago, if anyone had told her what her child could or could not, or should, or should not do, she’d have stretched it out over a season of her stupid TV show, and then divorced the guy. She must have learned how to #adult, since now she’s willing to have a conversation about it, willing to hear the other person out, willing to not turn it into huge drama.
Yes, it is super sad that I’m proud of her for the teeny tiny act of hearing her husband out, not making money off the drama, and making her relationship more important than them disagreeing over something. But still, I’m proud of her. She’s solving problems through discussing things, and trying to understand the why behind why people feel the way they do. Kim, you’re all grown up!
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