One of the disadvantages of writing about things that require some thought is that I sometimes get into a groove that takes me places unexpectedly. Of course, when you’re on a deadline of at least a post a day, you might end up running around in a cul de sac and find the time is gone and your thoughts are still a bit scrambled.
I have a few such posts floating around on my drive, but they’re not quite ready yet. Bear with me as I polish those up a bit, and take a look at a few quick reviews I’ve got on hand…
Homeland. Awful. But Good.
I just finished the first season of the show Homeland on Netflix, and, as you can see from the title of this section, I’ve got mixed emotions.
If you were to take just the action and suspense, it might rank high. If you were to take the actual plot? Oh my goodness it is abysmal. It is so filled with holes and poor writing that I was ready to give up on it plenty of times.
But like I said, It’s saved in part by the action and suspense – and the acting. I’ve been a huge fan of Damian Lewis since his absolute heroic portrayal of Major Dick Winters in Band of Brothers (gotta watch that again). Plus if you listen to him outside of the show it’s kind of freaky to hear him speak his native British English although he’s best known for his American characters. And of course, Claire Danes was incredible. I’d not seen her before, but her portrayal of a woman suffering from bipolar disorder was stunning.
But oh, the writing. Not so much the dialogue, but the constant drumbeat of plot impossibilities – I don’t even want to go into them here. Let’s just say that a discerning viewer will constantly find himself saying “never happen” throughout.
Will I watch more?
Yeah.
But only because sometimes second seasons will sometimes takes a bounce.
The Wheel of Time – A Fantasy Series worth the massive amount of time it’ll take…
I am slowly making my way through Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Jordan (pen name of James Rigney, Jr.) rivals Tolkien in some respects – no, he didn’t go so far as to invent whole languages, but the depth of the world he created in the series is incredible. And the story is interesting enough to keep me going.
I will also say that the battle at the end of book 6, Lord of Chaos, is reminiscent of those we see in today’s superhero movies. But of course, so much cooler in the imagination.
Now this is gonna take some time. Lord of Chaos was over 40 hours as an audiobook. Most of them are in the 36-hour neighborhood. And there are 14 total books (Jordan died after 11, but his notes were used to produce the last “book,” which was so hefty they broke it into three). I’m just starting book 7, plus you know I’m reading other books too, so it’ll be a while. Just know that it’s an excellent series and I recommend it.
And apparently the series is set to come out on Prime sometime soon.
Inedit Malt and Wheat Beer
I was walking through the Emart a couple of weeks ago and saw this beer in a distinctive flat black can. It was surrounded by beers under 3,000, but this one was 3,500. I could read that it came from the Damm brewery in Barcelona and was designed by a renowned chef, so I decided to give the one can a try. It turned out to be very smooth and delicious, and I liked it enough that when I saw it at Costco for 16,990 a six, I picked it up. It’s one of those that will sip rather well on special occasions.