something queer going on

Thanks to a friend of malnpudl's, I have a functioning computer again. It's a somewhat old and creaky computer (how old, you ask? well, its hard drive capacity is a whopping 25 GB), but it works.

Because of my old computer metamorphosing into a brick, I didn't get internet access set up in my new apartment, and I'll probably wait a while longer on that. It seems silly to get expensive home internet for this computer, and I'm trying to be financially responsible and not buy a new computer until I have a reasonable amount of savings (= the cost of the computer plus a month's rent), which will take a while. So my online time will still be intermittent, but at least now it will be at my convenience and not dependent on when the library is open and has a computer available.

I've been sitting at Starbucks for the last couple of hours, using their wifi to download things the computer needed, like the up-to-date version of Firefox and some antivirus software (I grabbed Avast, which is free but which installed Google Chrome all of its own accord, damn it). And VLC player! I will be able to watch movies and TV shows again, yay!!! Acquiring (*ahem*) them will be another matter, but at least I can watch what I already have. I haven't even been able to watch DVDs, since I don't have a TV and always just played DVDs on my computer, and I was surprised by how much I missed watching things after a couple of weeks.

In my computerless state, I've been reading a lot of books about paleontology, a few about the Second World War (I've gone through everything worth reading at the library, alas), and failing to read fiction. I tried Felix Palma's A Map of Time but gave up about halfway through, since I didn't care about any of the characters and the plot read to me like one of those "science fiction influenced, but really it's Literature" novels produced by people who hold sff in contempt and thus don't actually know anything about it, and raved about by reviewers who also don't know or read sff and mistake well-worn tropes for groundbreaking genius. I badly want to read C. J. Sansom's Dominion, an alternate history of the "the Nazis conquer Britain" variety, but it seems like it won't be available in the US until next year. *weeps*

I also saw Star Trek: Into Darkness. About which I can say that Benedict Cumberbatch was a pleasure to watch, as always. As for the rest, well . . . I'm not even a huge Star Trek fan, but apparently I'm enough of one that I can get angry about the ridiculous amount of violence, and the sidelining of all the reboot characters I actually like, and the unearned (oh, SO unearned, SO VERY VERY unearned) climactic moment(s). Anybody seen any good (by which I mean smart and critical) reviews of the thing that you could link me to? (BTW, I'm trying to avoid being spoilery, so if you happen to comment with spoilery details, could you ROT-13 them or grey them out or something for the sake of the unspoiled?)

And last but not least, I'm in time to wish a happy birthday to the marvelous halotolerant! I promise that someday I will actually post a story for you.

Here are my answers to this meme: Name a character I've written about, and I will tell you three things that I think are essential to keep in mind when writing that character.

verasteine asked about ( Edgar Wield from Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe novels )

dolores asked about ( Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer )

mcicioni asked about ( Robbie Lewis )

sallymn asked about ( James May )

lemposoi asked for ( Leonard McCoy from Star Trek: TOS )

In other news, today at work we had a mandatory 7 am meeting. And I'm scheduled to work from 12:30-9:30 pm. And I slept really badly last night, in part because I was worried about oversleeping, missing the meeting, and getting fired. Not looking forward to my shift, oh no.

Spoilers under the cut for "The Lights of Zetar," "Requiem for Methuselah," "The Way to Eden," and "The Cloud Minders."

( click here to read )

Spoilers under the cut for "Plato's Stepchildren," "Wink of an Eye," "The Empath," and "Elaan of Troyius."

( click here to read )

Discussion (with spoilers) under the cut about "And the Children Shall Lead," "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" and "The Spectre of the Gun."

( click here to read )

I've now finished season two in my TOS viewing, although I skipped "The Omega Glory." Life's just too short to watch aliens say the pledge of allegiance.

Spoilers for "The Ultimate Computer," "Bread and Circuses," and "Assignment Earth."

( click here to read )

Since the last batch contained two episodes I really adored, I guess it's only fair that this one has two episodes that skeeve me mightily. Preserves the balance of the universe or something.

Spoilers for "The Gamesters of Triskelion," "A Piece of the Action," "The Immunity Syndrome," and "A Private Little War."

( read more )

Spoilery discussion of "The Apple," "The Doomsday Machine," "Catspaw," "I, Mudd," "Metamorphosis," and "Journey to Babel."

( click here to read )

I've finished season 1 of TOS! I think I've gotten used to British-length series, because 29 episodes seemed like a lot. Not necessarily in a bad way, but still a lot.

Spoilers for "The Devil in the Dark," "Errand of Mercy," "The Alternative Factor," "The City on the Edge of Forever," and "Operation: Annihilate." ( click here to read )