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

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

A US Gallon isn't a Gallon either. A "real" gallon is 20% (Approx) larger than a US gallon.

AndrewP wrote: "you are getting gypped :)"

I know you don't mean anything by it and use it innocently , but that phrase is considered "not politically correct" these days.

It comes from the word gypsy and refers to the out dated stereotype of Romany people being swindlers.

I hope The Calculating Stars wins even though I don't think it was the best book of last year.

I'd have gone for The Fated Sky

I still work in both Imperial and Metric. I annoy my storeman by asking for gear in both systems. i.e 5/8" bolt x 30cm ;-)

Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "A table might be a metre high, but a person might be 5ft4."

This person is 5ft 4 (163cm). Yes I'm a shorty ;-)

I find height easier in imperial . But car speeds and distances I prefer in metric, probably because we changed over in 1971. 8 years before I got my licence.

Iain wrote: "And the GPS saying drive on road at 50 mph.... "

I thought the UK had metric? What's this mph shit? ;-)

At least you didn't have to change which side of the road you drive on :-)

It is a great book. I read it about 5 years ago, really enjoyed it and am looking forward to re-reading it. It is a really fun story, with memorable characters.

I have been meaning to finish the series off. I may just keep going this time :-)

Interesting stat. Even though we get dozens of books nominated each year, the last 3 winning (March Madness) books have been among the first 4 books nominated that year.

2017: Invisible Library the 4th book nominated (by me) :-)
2018 We are Legion (We are Bob) the 2nd book nominated (by John Taloni)
2019 Theft of Swords the 1st book nominated (by Rob)

It must be a Ruths show ;-) I have never seen an episode.

It seemed inevitable, but I'm glad to see Theft of Swords win.

I'll let Rob make the announcement thread. It is his baby :-)

Is it just me or is Daniel a weird looking adult? :-?

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Have you see what he looks like now?"

He is pretty hunky. Did I say that out loud :-?

Dudley also changed a lot. I didn't recognise him in "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" until it was pointed out to me.

Dudley (Harry Melling) now:



Poor Ron just got slightly taller ;-)

They're wizards and witches. I'm sure they could find a way.

There's a lot of room under that Cloak of Invisibility ;-)

Apart from the ones mentioned. These also may be off putting for some viewers due to male-gazeyness, violence against women or sex scenes.

"Good Hunting" has male on female violence, male nudity (fat old man), and attempted rape.

"Beyond the Aquila Drift" has female nudity and a sex scene

"Secret War" has a gratuitously displayed mutilated naked female corpse.

"Alternate Histories" has a sex scene with prostitutes and Hitler. Though nothing can be seen.

"The Dump" has male nudity (old man).

John (Taloni) wrote: "We Interrupt This Broadcast ... And a small quibble with that story."

(view spoiler)[I agree that over that short time scale, a day or 2 from earth, is too short a distance to divert a large-ish rock, but maybe it didn't need to divert it.

If the asteroid was going to cross earth's orbit several seconds before earth got there, then all the nuke needed to do was slow it down enough that the asteroid got there at the same time as the Earth.

A diversion in spacetime, not just in space (hide spoiler)]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Also completed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've never understood the appeal of this series. Stock characters, stock English boarding school situation, stock fairy tale "discovered prince" situation, even some of the tropes of portal fiction."

For old farts like us ;-) the tropes are old and we've been there before (and seen it done way better), but for the age group it was aimed at, this was a gateway book into fantasy and everything was new and shiny ;-)

My gateway book was reading LOTR in the 70s. Before that I was just a sci-fi nerd.

Philosopher's Stone is aimed way younger than the rest of the series. It is a good book, but it isn't a great fantasy story.

I look at those brackets and the best sci-fi series on both sides (IMHO) doesn't stand a hope in hell of getting through.

I'd love to see The Expanse up against Orphan Black. I know it ain't going to happen ;-)

Twin Peaks as Sci-Fi is a hard sell for me. It's fantasy all the way.

A link if you want to see a larger image

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D14Uls6Ww...

Every book we read has varying opinions from love to outright hate. Which is what you'd expect in such a large and varied group.

I'm fine with whichever book wins. I've read Theft of Swords and loved it and will re-read it and TFFLoHA sounds cool.

Ruth (tilltab) Ashworth wrote: "I also like pineapple on pizza. Shrug. "

Nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza, that's a Hawaiian Pizza here. The weird things to put on pizza are olives and/or anchovies (yuck) :-P

Trike wrote: "Iain wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "I can see how Witness can be hard to take. I watched it second to last since it wasn't adapted from anything. I don't get the ending."

[spoilers removed]"

No it’s not."

Isn't it? (view spoiler)[I thought that was what was implied by the snake eating its own tail at the start (One of the 3 symbols each episode starts with)

I took it to mean that it is an infinite time loop. The only difference is that the hunter/hunted and killer/victim swap on each loop (hide spoiler)]

Rob wrote: "Martian Chronicles (2-4 in polls)"

You missed 1. There was a Patreon poll for the July 2017 book pick

It placed 4th (of 4): Lost to The Left Hand of Darkness

https://swordandlaser.fandom.com/wiki...

So Martian Chronicles has been up for selection 5 times:

2nd of 4
4th of 15
4th of 4
2nd of 3
=3rd of 16

Some of the episodes do seem to have been aimed at a male audience, which is a shame as the best episodes are really good and don't rely on "fan service" or violence against women.