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There is, in fact, more to my life than medical stuff, although you wouldn't know it by reading my posts. Here's a start on correcting that.
Reading: I've spent the last few weeks mostly reading all of Ellis Peters' Cadfael novels. It was an odd experience. I liked them, although they're neither strongly plotted nor, for the most part, deeply characterized, and the early ones especially have a cringey level of sexism. Also one book has, of all things, an anti-abortion plot. And while Peters clearly did an enormous amount of research, there are things I think she got wrong (such as the abortion thing, where the discussion has to me--though I'm not an expert--the feel of a modern conservative view rather than a medieval one). For all their flaws, though, the books have a streak of compassionate humanism which is appealing, and at times (often the times when they're most medieval) they touch the genuinely strange and wondrous.
If Peters were just a generation later I would suspect her of having dabbled in early fan writing, because she loves to write what used to be called smarm (heavily homoerotic but officially non-sexual relationships between men). And in one book, her glee at writing homoerotic scenes just leaps off the page, ( Spoilers for something you will probably figure out almost immediately if you read the book in question ) There are some textual references to same-sex desire, as well as one Genuinely Bisexual Character, although we're told that he is bisexual because he is too heterosexual to be in a monastery.
I know there's a TV show with Derek Jacobi, and I've seen bits but I don't think I've ever seen a full episode. Is it worth watching? Is there any actual gay or is that too much to hope for even with a gay man in the lead?
I'm currently reading Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, which is interesting so far. I'm getting the sense that it's going to be one of those books where the main character never gets to have a rest, which is something I increasingly find tiring to read.
Listening: My usual podcasts: This Podcast Will Kill You (excellent podcast about diseases, mostly infectious diseases), Radiolab, Pop Culture Happy Hour, sometimes In Our Time when the topic is interesting enough to make me tolerate Melvyn Bragg, sometimes Throughline. I gave up on Medical Mysteries, despite my interest in the subject, because both the presenters have such affected deliveries that I couldn't bear listening to them. I keep trying true crime podcasts and then quitting them, although I do highly recommend CBC Uncover's miniseries "The Village," which is sober, thoughtful, and responsible about the serial killer who preyed on men in Toronto's gay village, and about the whole context of violence against gay men.
In music, Spotify's algorithm got one right in directing me towards Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman. His latest, a collaboration with Annika Norlin called Correspondence, is stunning. Lekman and Norlin alternate songs in the form of letters to each other, responding to each others' ideas about everything from the fear (and the liberation) of failure, to rape culture, to the history of the song "Silent Night." You can buy it here and no doubt in other places. Here is one of the more stand-alone songs, "Forever Young, Forever Beautiful," a good intro to Lekman's work. I recommend giving the much earlier Lekman song A Postcard to Nina a listen too--it's the song that first caught my ear.
Watching: I haven't settled into anything much since the latest season of Shetland. I've tried a lot that hasn't worked for me, mostly crime shows.
I'm not loving S4 of The Good Place, which seems even more directionless than S3. I can't imagine how they can end the show satisfactorily, unless ( pure speculation, spoilery only for aired episodes of S4 )
I'm nervously looking forward to the final season of Bojack Horseman, which is about to drop. Last season's finale would have made a perfectly good series ending, and it's hard to see what else they can put Bojack through. On the other hand, most of the other characters' arcs feel much less finished, and I'm hoping for good endings, in every sense, for them.
I'm watching the Bake Off, of course, though nobody this year has grabbed my affection the way some bakers have in the past. I like them all but don't have a favorite, except in the sense that some of them are better bakers than others. Also, the challenges have gotten so difficult that I find them kind of stressful to watch. This may be good in a sense, because it means I get less of an urge to bake, and alas my diabetes means that delicious baked goods have to be much, MUCH less of a presence in my diet than they used to be. *sigh* (NB I know sugar substitutes are a thing. I have to restrict not just sugar but all carbs. Believe me, if there was a loophole I would have found it by now. Suggestions not needed, thanks. Commiseration always accepted.)
I want to watch the new Watchmen series, and several other things I'm not remembering right now. Suggestions for good things to read, listen, and watch ARE accepted, gladly.
And now I will end this long post.
Reading: I've spent the last few weeks mostly reading all of Ellis Peters' Cadfael novels. It was an odd experience. I liked them, although they're neither strongly plotted nor, for the most part, deeply characterized, and the early ones especially have a cringey level of sexism. Also one book has, of all things, an anti-abortion plot. And while Peters clearly did an enormous amount of research, there are things I think she got wrong (such as the abortion thing, where the discussion has to me--though I'm not an expert--the feel of a modern conservative view rather than a medieval one). For all their flaws, though, the books have a streak of compassionate humanism which is appealing, and at times (often the times when they're most medieval) they touch the genuinely strange and wondrous.
If Peters were just a generation later I would suspect her of having dabbled in early fan writing, because she loves to write what used to be called smarm (heavily homoerotic but officially non-sexual relationships between men). And in one book, her glee at writing homoerotic scenes just leaps off the page, ( Spoilers for something you will probably figure out almost immediately if you read the book in question ) There are some textual references to same-sex desire, as well as one Genuinely Bisexual Character, although we're told that he is bisexual because he is too heterosexual to be in a monastery.
I know there's a TV show with Derek Jacobi, and I've seen bits but I don't think I've ever seen a full episode. Is it worth watching? Is there any actual gay or is that too much to hope for even with a gay man in the lead?
I'm currently reading Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, which is interesting so far. I'm getting the sense that it's going to be one of those books where the main character never gets to have a rest, which is something I increasingly find tiring to read.
Listening: My usual podcasts: This Podcast Will Kill You (excellent podcast about diseases, mostly infectious diseases), Radiolab, Pop Culture Happy Hour, sometimes In Our Time when the topic is interesting enough to make me tolerate Melvyn Bragg, sometimes Throughline. I gave up on Medical Mysteries, despite my interest in the subject, because both the presenters have such affected deliveries that I couldn't bear listening to them. I keep trying true crime podcasts and then quitting them, although I do highly recommend CBC Uncover's miniseries "The Village," which is sober, thoughtful, and responsible about the serial killer who preyed on men in Toronto's gay village, and about the whole context of violence against gay men.
In music, Spotify's algorithm got one right in directing me towards Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman. His latest, a collaboration with Annika Norlin called Correspondence, is stunning. Lekman and Norlin alternate songs in the form of letters to each other, responding to each others' ideas about everything from the fear (and the liberation) of failure, to rape culture, to the history of the song "Silent Night." You can buy it here and no doubt in other places. Here is one of the more stand-alone songs, "Forever Young, Forever Beautiful," a good intro to Lekman's work. I recommend giving the much earlier Lekman song A Postcard to Nina a listen too--it's the song that first caught my ear.
Watching: I haven't settled into anything much since the latest season of Shetland. I've tried a lot that hasn't worked for me, mostly crime shows.
I'm not loving S4 of The Good Place, which seems even more directionless than S3. I can't imagine how they can end the show satisfactorily, unless ( pure speculation, spoilery only for aired episodes of S4 )
I'm nervously looking forward to the final season of Bojack Horseman, which is about to drop. Last season's finale would have made a perfectly good series ending, and it's hard to see what else they can put Bojack through. On the other hand, most of the other characters' arcs feel much less finished, and I'm hoping for good endings, in every sense, for them.
I'm watching the Bake Off, of course, though nobody this year has grabbed my affection the way some bakers have in the past. I like them all but don't have a favorite, except in the sense that some of them are better bakers than others. Also, the challenges have gotten so difficult that I find them kind of stressful to watch. This may be good in a sense, because it means I get less of an urge to bake, and alas my diabetes means that delicious baked goods have to be much, MUCH less of a presence in my diet than they used to be. *sigh* (NB I know sugar substitutes are a thing. I have to restrict not just sugar but all carbs. Believe me, if there was a loophole I would have found it by now. Suggestions not needed, thanks. Commiseration always accepted.)
I want to watch the new Watchmen series, and several other things I'm not remembering right now. Suggestions for good things to read, listen, and watch ARE accepted, gladly.
And now I will end this long post.
