Rob’s Comments (group member since Jul 06, 2012)

Rob’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

Feel free to make a new thread to discuss June releases and/or the io9 list. I don't want to clutter up this thread.

Thanks.

I've kind of stopped posting in this thread since I've been sporadic on reviews and such.

I used to care about sharing my reviews and I used to push to read a lot more. Lately I'm mostly doing audio only. I haven't been super motivated to pick up anything in text.

The last book in text was a loan from the library: Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World. I found it alright, but it felt a bit biased and lacking any real "meat", especially given the level of access the author had. Maybe he traded access for any sort of in depth reported. Review

I did the popular recent release: Project Hail Mary, which I enjoyed but with some reservations: review. In general though I think if you liked The Martian, you'll like this.

Right now I'm listening to The Torch that Ignites the Stars, which I'm enjoying. However I'm here for the world building more than anything. The writing is still pretty clunky and in this book in particular the author is constantly reminding you about his companion series.

"Maybe character name will tell us that story later". Which conveniently the author has them do in another book series. Go figure.

It'd be one thing if he did it once, but he's done it several times now.

Summer is on it's way here in the US, what books will you be reading this month?

The month has begun, go forth and discuss!

I should be good for meeting at McGinty's in July.

I'll be in Buffalo during next month's meetup though.

Welcome Ellie

Tassie Dave wrote: "I've heard good things about Piranesi. I liked Strange & Norrell.

Welcome Back Veronica 😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK4_f..."

I was going to be disappointed if that didn't like to that..

Veronica has returned from maternity leave and selected Piranesi by Susanna Clarke as our June pick.

Totally forgot to make an event for May until right now: https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/...

I haven't enjoyed the last 2 episodes nearly as much as the first one or their arc last season.

I agree that it felt like 2 very different stories.

I'm a big Dave Fiolini fan so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm kind of wishing we got an animated sequel to Rebels instead.

My guess is the live action Ahsoka series derailed that though.

Ruth wrote: "Wait... this show is called The Bad Batch??
When Disney+ fired an advert at me on Tuesday I skim read the title and thought it was called The Bad Bitch. I remember thinking that was an unexpectedly..."

The Bad Bitch is airing on Hulu here in the US. Too edgy for Disney+

John (Nevets) wrote: Correction: I guess the movie came out in 1982, I was probably watching it around 1990. And also if you enjoyed it Rob, that’s all that matters.."

Yeah, I was born in 1982..so it's no real wonder I didn't see it back when it came out, and then somehow missed on seeing it until now.

Trike wrote: "I can’t even imagine anyone making Officer and Gentleman today. So many politically incorrect things and so many triggering events. It’s a genuinely dark film, despite that uplifting last scene."

Yeah. It's definitely showing its age a bit.

I was listening to a recent episode of Ty and That Guy and the mentioned an Officer & A Gentleman and I realized I've never watched it. Turns out it's on Amazon Prime right now.

I thought it was pretty good. The training stuff was pretty good (which was the reason they brought it up on the podcast).

I think if you enjoyed them in the final season of Clone Wars, you'll enjoy this series.

Depending on what's available in your area and how worried about spoilers you are, you could maybe wait to subscribe until Loki drops (assuming you're planning on that), or later on during the final month of the series.

Bad Batch is going to run another 15 weeks, so you're looking at a few months worth of subscription if you're watching it week to week.

Tassie Dave wrote: "It's been more than 40 years since I watched "Roots". But I don't remember there being many laughs in it. 🤔

Bit of an unfortunate gaffe there (twice) by Robb. Thankfully Tom corrected it."

I just assumed you all had different definitions of sitcoms back in the 70s

Brad wrote: "I meant wishlists in general, but I have a dedicated kindle books wishlist that I check every day for deals. Seems to be broken on the Amazon app, the mobile website, and the desktop website. Now I..."

I do the same thing..but in a web browser. Works fine for me.

However the cookie or whatever that used to remember how I sorted between wish lists has been broken for months. So I have to tell it to sort every time I look at a a new list.

Mark wrote: "Trike wrote: "“It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.” - Red Sister"

This does seem to be my most popular opener :D"

and for good reason..I knew I was hooked when I read that line..

Yeah the show has me wanting to reread the Six of Crows duology before jumping into the King of Scars duology.

But my reading is down, so I'm not sure I have time. I'm kind of curious if I pick up on stuff I missed the first time now that I've completed the original trilogy though.

For instance I understand that at least some of the characters from the original trilogy show up later and I would not have known who they were when I first read them, but it didn't seem to hurt my enjoyment of those books or confuse me at all.

I'd actually recommend against reading the original trilogy first. I didn't think it was very good. I think the show is doing a better job with the story and characters so far.

I think the Six of Crows duology is worth reading. I'm not sure if I'd read it first or not though as I previously mentioned that book takes place 2 years later so they have basically just pulled an "Expanse" and pulled those characters forward earlier in the show (Expanse did this with Avasarla in season 1 and Bobbie Draper in season 2, plus changed or merged several others).