Tony’s asleep this whole episodes. But William saves it by discussion medical problems. And then we ruin a bunch of media, as per usual. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
Are there any classic novels you would like to see adapted for TV or cinema? –Craig
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Will, glad you got partial good news at the doctor’s. Are they recommending a mechanical valve because it will last longer, do you know?
Tony, I’m on Goodreads too. I’d like to add you to my friend’s list, but couldn’t find you.
I tried reading The City in the City but found it really hard to get into. It was one of those novels that doesn’t explain anything about what’s happening, and the world was so strange I couldn’t figure out what was happening fast enough to follow. I’d like to try and see the series.
I’ve read a lot of the Discworld books, but I’m not quite sure of the series order. I might have read the most in the books about the Watch. But as I’ve said before, Monstrous Regiment is my favorite.
I don’t know if people will read this in time, but there was a call this week to buy books by Black authors to kind of overwhelm the bestseller lists. I finally got “Born A Crime” and a also got a novel by Nalo Hopkinson called “Midnight Robber.”
I think I read the Dark is Rising books a long time ago.
Books I’d like to see made into movies:
There’s a modern day story featuring an older Sherlock Holmes and his female apprentice that is both a mystery story and coming-of-age story that I think would make a good movie called “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.”
There’s a historical fiction series set in Scotland when Mary Queen of Scots is still a child. The first book is called “Game of Kings.” It would make a good TV series.
The Dorothy L. Sayers books have been done on TV but the ones I’d really like to see are the ones with Harriet Vane. Those were done many years ago but were pretty awful.
The Anne McCaffery books would be great.
There’s another fantasy series that would make a great TV series called the Riyria Chronicles. Oh, and I’d also like to see the Brandon Sanderson books set in the later half of his Mistborn world made into a series.
I read the first half of the original Mistborn Trilogy, and the bailed, but I finished reading the plot online. There’s an RPG, and I know there’s a second series. The magic was VERY cool, but the world always felt VERY depressing to me.
Then again, so did Pern…
I had to stop reading the original Mistborn Trilogy as well. Same reason.
The one I’m talking about is the one set 100s (1000s?) of years later. And one very interesting feature is the way in which the events of the first trilogy have come become mythology in this later series.
The later series, which starts with Alloy of Law, also has some pretty devastating things happen to the main character. A lot of this is set up for the third book which explores his relationship with the being who’s directing events. But this series is also hilariously funny a lot of the time, and it explores some interesting things about gender with a character who is a Kandra (one of the shapeshifters). It also ’caused me to have one of the biggest reevaluations of a character that I’ve ever had as the character developed and more was revealed. That’s a really strong aspect with this series.
Hmm… I’m intrigued. May have to check it out.
Jas, I started following you on Goodreads, and it says friend status is “pending”, so check it out maybe.
We are now reading buddies. 🙂
I do this guest lecture on speculative fiction every semester in a colleague’s class in Bioethics. The last couple of times, I’ve been focusing on Black writers and film makers and the whole Afrofuturism movement. I teach a short story by Octavia Butler that is from the same Xenogenesis series as “Dawn.” It’s called “Bloodchild” and I would highly recommend it. PDF here: http://english.ncu.edu.tw/Stewart/Library/ReadingPri/Bloodchild.pdf
The other thing I’ve been showing them is this short film by Wanuri Kahiu called “Pumzi.”
Apparently there is a Foundation movie that’s just about to premiere.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/in-the-debut-trailer-for-apple-tv-s-foundation-a-might-1844122592?utm_campaign=io9&utm_content&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0c_mYg9EFd4BI4mN_mdptnZjon57S7D9FssJ-IQyo259bEEfXr1JOY034
Just found out that another series I really like called The Rivers of London (sort of in the same realm as Dresden Chronicles) is being made into a TV series by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost! Am very excited!
I’ll have to look into these books!
The Audible version is read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and he is soooo good!
This is a bit of an interview with the author, Ben Aaronovitch and with Holdbrook-Smith about a short story in the universe, and has a small bit of Holdbrook-Smith reading. http://zenoagency.com/news/a-rare-interview-of-cunning-aaronovitch/
Tony – was your “Ice Town” comment as relates to William’s friend based on Parks and Rec?
William, glad you’ve gone to the doctor to help ensure your health!
Tony, I understand our comfort levels may be different, but I’ve been going to the main hospital for Physical Therapy since the start of June and have generally felt good about the safety precautions they are taking to ensure patient safety amid the virus. Everyone on the hospital campus needs to wear a mask, adult outpatients can’t bring a guest (this part seems unevenly enforced), and providers are wearing both masks and faceshields.
“Ice Town” as a Parks & Rec reference. Good catch! 🙂
Yeah, I think at this point I’m not scared of going to the doctor anymore because of COVID. At this point, I just know it’s all going to be terrible news, and I’m trying to hold out until my new routine gets my numbers in better shape.
Which is a silly reason not to go, but there we are.
Infrequent contact: Heh, that’s funny (sad?) that William would know it wasn’t me given that when this episode was recorded I had started commenting again and it’s now been ridonkuluously long since I was commenting yet again.
Staying up far too late due to reading + Goodreads:
1. Octavia Butler is a powerful writer.
2. Terry Pratchett/Discworld: As a whole, the series is amazeballs but some are less amazing than others (with book 1 being the weakest).
3. This has happened to me enough times that I have a list of authors I don’t allow myself to read before going to bed; as otherwise I’ll look up from their books and realize it’s like 2-3am.
4. I’ll also note my primary reason for using Goodreads, is not to get recommendations (though that is nice) but rather to keep track of all the books I’ve read.
So William’s heart is less broken than he thought? Well that’s nice.
Hearing William shouting about not being able to see porn, even in this context, was disconcerting.
Russian Doll: I watched a couple of episodes but it’s not the sort of thing Michelle would like and I’ve not felt that motivated to watch more.
Control: I picked that up a while ago on a sale and while I sucked at the combat in it; it was really cool. To solve the combat issue, I ended up using the WeMod tool to cheat my way through the combat. And yes Tony, your character is Jesse Faden.
Mr. Robot: What I’ve seen of it; I liked but again not Michelle’s sort of thing so it’s low on my list of things to watch.
Any adaptation of a “classic” novel, regardless of how you want to define classic, runs the risk of ruining the work either in the effort of translating it to the different formats of movie or TV or in how you choose to update (or not update) older works for modern audiences.
The Dark is Rising: I love these books. I loved them as a kid and I still love them today. I even reread them every few years and have yet to be disappointed in them. I remember hearing about the movie adaptation and initially being excited for it. Then I saw the first trailer for it and lost all interest. And as an side note, IMDB now lists the movie as The Seeker: The Dark is Rising.