Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

Woo Hoo a book set in Oz, by an Aussie author. Tassie gets a couple of mentions too 😎

I've had this on my radar for a few months since I heard the author interviewed.

The interview did spoil the premise, but I enjoyed it immensely even knowing that. It was a 4½ Star book for me. I finished a few days ago.

Claire G. Coleman is the 2nd Aussie author we've read (Daniel O'Malley "The Rook" was the other).

She is the first indigenous aussie and the 4th Transgender author we've read.

I'm 80% through Terra Nullius and it is excellent. It would make a great pick, if Tom does choose it.

A great book set in Oz. Written by an Indigenous black trans lesbian Aussie woman. It ticks off a lot of diversity boxes.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Hm. Well, I do have a spot in my reading list. And there's a copy at the LA Public Library. Some people say it's not really SF, what's your thoughts? I also hear that it's very important to avoid s..."

Very important to avoid spoilers and it is, most definitely, Sci-Fi.

Started reading Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman

An indigenous aboriginal sci-fi tale about colonial Australia.

This book has been on my radar for a few months and with Tom "likely" to choose this as September's book pick, I thought I'd get a head start. I would have read it soon anyway.

I can't say too much about why it's sci-fi, as that would be a huge spoiler. It's "Rabbit Proof Fence" meets another big movie I won't mention because it is spoilery 😉

Fredrik wrote: "What does chafe is fantasy world maps that seem excessively small or contained, all carved up into small handful of clearly defined states."

They do seem small when compared to places like the US, Canada and Oz. Oz has States that are larger than most countries 😉 Western Australia if it seceded would be the 10th largest country in the world

But when compared to Europe, even today, and over its history. These fantasy maps seem historically normal for most of our pre-technological world.

Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "Nevernever is ridiculous."

I'm used to the word outside of the Dresden books. It is an aussie slang term with 2 very different meanings.

The "Never Never" is slang for the middle of nowhere in Australia. Which is most of central Oz..

It's also a slang term meaning to buy something on credit and pay off in instalments. Put it on the "never never"

Rick wrote: "Full size iPad isn't good for reading (aside from Digital comics). You'd want the Mini which, while a big bigger than the Kindle, is fine to me (but I'm a bigger person, so...). "

I find the 10 inch iPad perfectly fine for reading.

It is a comfortable size and weight for holding and because of my poor eyesight, due to advancing age 😉 , the increased font size I use doesn't look ridiculous on the screen. as it does on a smaller device screen.

I pinched it for another nerdy forum as well 😉

5 points off Trike for complaining 😉

Trike wrote: " I don’t know what the 23rd month is called. Probably something European. "

More like something non-North American 😉

You guys are the outliers (aka weirdos) on the other way 😜

Americans and Aussies don't understand the class system.

Neither country has any class


😉 😜

John (Taloni) wrote: "^ If you want to go totally retro, there's always Pitfall."

I played the hell out of the "retro" games when they were new. I've moved on. I get annoyed at game developers using 8 bit graphics as a design element on games made today because they think it's "cool" and "retro"

I have 1.5 terabytes of storage on my XBone. I want 2021 graphics FFS you wanky hipsters 😉

Trike wrote: "Pretty sure I’ve aged out of FPS, though. Maybe a nice gardening game. Or Watch Paint Dry 3."

There are some relaxing 'walking simulator' games (it's a real genre) available now that are all about the story and the experience. Games like "What Remains of Edith Finch" and Firewatch

I still enjoy a good shooter, but I definitely prefer a game that gives me a break to stop and enjoy the scenery (and breathe) occasionally.

My reflexes are too slow to do online gaming any more against strangers. I, literally, get shot within seconds of re-spawning.

The sort of games I enjoy are the Tomb Raider & Assassin's Creed series. Short bursts of action with long sections where you can explore.

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm now very confused as to how old Tom is!"

He's 8 years and 24 days younger than me 😉

He's 51

William wrote: "Also in Cornwall is Launceston, which you might think is pronounced Lawn-Seston but as anyone from the west country will tell you is pronounced L AA Ns'n."

Tassie's 2nd biggest city is called Launceston.

We pronounce it Lon-Sess-T'n. or using the aussie tradition of shortening words, we just call it Lonny.

A lot of Aussies from the mainland, wrongly, pronounce it Lawn-Seston. We just laugh at them 😉

It was cool to see you idiots on video. 😉 Hopefully I can watch IRL next time and comment.

I'm pretty sure laminating stamps will preserve the stamps, but destroy any future value (you idiots 😉 )

Region locking is a pain in the butt 😉 I don't know why we're not aligned with the British or North American markets.

Many Aussies got our DVD players and games machines chipped to have them unlocked to be able to play movies and games from anywhere.

The DVD and games companies tried to make this illegal, but the courts backed the consumer and made it legal (Except if it is used to play pirated material)

It did void our warranties though.

They also made a sequel in 2003 "Children of Dune"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287839/

I still have the DVDs of both mini series. I agree that Dune (the mini series) is better than the movie. The sequel is a bit meh.

That youtube video is region locked.

Added "Flashforward". A TV series based on the book of the same name.

Edited "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". The movie was only called "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the US and India.

Mark wrote: "The Sword & Laser wiki has a new page that could use some eyeballs..."

Good list. :-) It is amazing how many have been made into media already.

At a quick glance there is only 1 I would add (if I had time). That's "The Sword in the Stone" the Disney version of part of "The Once and Future King"

If you have an Apple device, it's worth checking out the iBook store for a cheaper copy.

On the Australian iBooks store there were 2 different eBooks of Consider Phlebas one was AU$12.99 the other was AU$4.99.

Obviously I bought the version that was 8 bucks cheaper. Everything looks the same as the more expensive version. Different covers and slightly different formatting (in sample versions), but the exact same content.