killing time

Killing Time – March 27, 2014

killing time

 “A friend to kill time is a friend sublime.”
Haruki Murakami, A Wild Sheep Chase

 I have epic reading in store, my friends.  I have devised not one, not two, not three, it goes on and on like that until we get to SIX epic reading-a-thons.  Had I the time I wanted, I could do each in a few weeks.  Since reality is all like, “hey, pay your rent” and nonsense like that, each might take me up to a year.  Intrigued?  OF COURSE YOU ARE INTRIGUED!!!

Tom Clancy

To honor Tom Clancy, one of my favorite authors of my youth (I favored books with ICBMs), I will read the entire Jack Ryan saga.  I fell off after Red Rabbitt, but I will start at Patriot Games and work all the way through.

Dune

Dune.  Arrakis.  Land of sandworms, spice and as-to-date horrifying movie adaptations.  Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson have done a wonderful job with Frank Herbert’s legacy; finishing the original saga and then adding to it to the point where I believe we’re now up to 16 books.  That’s a lot of spice.


Gandalf, Ian McKellan, Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring

Speaking of literary legacies, no one has kept the work of a progenitor the way Christopher Tolkien has guided his father’s work into several more publications and a 12 volume History of Middle Earth which is a brisk 7,000 pages or so.  I’m taking that sucker down; the only question is which Elven dialect will I choose to read it in, hmmm?

Robert Jordon, Towers of Midnight, Wheel of Time

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time was at one point just below Tolkien to me.  I loved that world and the characters and, yeah, he ripped off Tolkien, but what fantasy writer hasn’t?  He invented the genre!  Jordan lost me at book 10 when there was no end in sight and then his sad passing left me feeling this was just never going to be finished.  But then I was introduced to the even better writer Brandon Sanderson who finished the saga to, most positive buzz, though I’ve tried not to listen.  15 books.  One Man.  Over 20,000 pages.  Going to take that puppy down.

star_wars_darth_vader_ralph_mcquarrie_860e1557ac_desktop_2376x1138_hd-wallpaper-454254

Perhaps the most ambitious of my reading challenges though is Star Wars.  The EU WAS Star Wars for the better part of a quarter century and before Episode VII comes along and obliterates it, I’m going to read every Star Wars book (and many graphic novels) in chronological order from Dawn of the Jedi to Crucible.  It’s 70 something books right now, though it may grow over the reading.  It’s a reading gauntlet like no other.  I am at one with the Living Force though.  My Jedi skills can handle it.


Killing Time milestones this week: The site passed 65,000 hits this week, 2500 comments, and 315 followers just by email!  This is all very exciting except for my traffic, and those of my fellow bloggers here at WordPress has dropped 75% in the last two weeks so milestones may be a bit sketchy until the techies figure out how to reacquaint us with Google.  No new countries this week, including the icy-hearted, cod guzzling stonefaced Greenlandians.  I’m gonna win this stand-off, you know that, right?  Ask French Guiana.  I play dirty pool.

The most viewed post of the week was, for the second week running, Eight New Photos from Batman: Arkham Knight.  I think everyone was just as dumbstruck by that opening trailer as I was.

Books:
The Wheel of TIme Book #0 by Robert Jordan (it begins)
Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void by Tim Lebbon (it also begins)
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs (Peregrine’s Peculiar’s Book #2)

Comics:
Thor God of Thunder Vol. 3: The Accursed
The Unwritten Vol. 8: Echoes


Blu Ray:
The Heat
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome
Seven Psychopaths

TV/HULU:
Parade’s End (HBO mini)

Song of the Week: “Bleeding Out” by Imagine Dragons

Video Game: GAMERSCORE AT 94,733
Rayman Legends on Xbox One
Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox One
LEGO Movie Video Game on Xbox One
Dark Souls II
Soul Caliber V
Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea Pt. 2 DLC
* XBOX Live, gamertag: sleeplessdave; feel free to friend me!
THE ROAD TO 100,000 GAMERSCORE: 5,267 to go!
EARNED 265 ACHIEVEMENT POINTS THIS WEEK

3 thoughts on “Killing Time – March 27, 2014”

  1. As a Dune fanatic, I must disagree about the novels written by Herbert’s son and Anderson. Particularly the Legends of Dune novels. Those books positively clash with the universe Frank created.
    David Lynch’s film has some of the most incredible visuals ever. I don’t know who to blame for the rest of it. DeLaurentis wanted a two-hour film that would be the next Star Wars, while Lynch was aiming for a more faithful take. But Lynch did write the script himself, and most of the film bears his unmistakable stamp. The cable miniseries was OK, it just felt like they weren’t working with the right budget. As soon as Jodorowski’s Dune comes to where I live, I’m there. I’m pretty sure his version would have been much, much worse that Lynch’s, but I can’t wait to get a glimpse of what might have been.


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      1. To each their own. It’s possible I’m too picky.


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