Of course it’s been something like a year since I said “oh I’m totally going to post again” so I need to care less about things and actually just do it. To that ilk, here’s some recent media I’ve been consuming lately.
- Carl book
- Three body problem
- The gunslinger
- Population 11
Book – Dungeon Crawler Carl
I don’t remember where I heard about Dungeon Crawler Carl, probably a podcast. It’s hard to describe without spoiling too much, but it’s basically a way to bring a Dungeons & Dragons campaign into “real life” in as realistic a way as possible. It’s done not too badly all things considered. The one worry I have about it is that it feels like there will be the equivalent of a season 1 cliffhanger because the time between what is the “end” of the ticking clock set up in the book isn’t anywhere near compared to how many pages I have left in the book.
It’s a nice easy read, fun and ridiculous in a popcorn way. I’d love to see a movie adaptation of this as well, honestly John Cena and his comedy acting chops would be a perfect casting. Oh and the main character (so far) has spent the entire book in his underwear and barefoot (and accompanied by a fluffy cat). Hard to argue with that really.
Not done yet, but about 75% of the way through.
TV – The Gentlemen
The short version of this show is “super rich guy who’s in the army so he can kick ass as well as being super good looking as well as rich cause he’s a literal Duke inherits his super rich family’s estate and finds out it’s used to sell a ton of drugs and has to deal with that, but also manages to get himself involved in every step of the way even though he keeps on saying he wants out.”
It’s good. I want to say that the “hey look at these rich people” part is what I imagine the series Billions to be like, but I’ve never seen it. Finished in a satisfying way as well, and will obviously be getting a seson 2. Good drama, blood and guts and action with great characters that get slowly flushed out as the season proceeds.
TV – Population 11
This one‘s got whatshisface from Superstore and a couple of others, playing a slightly tougher character (but not all that much) on a trip from America to a tiny backwoods town in Australia after his father passes away, for mysterious reasons and meets up with people who are random, or aren’t, in a town of literally 11 people. It’s fun and easy to consume so what do you have to lose? You may need to get a VPN or something to watch it because it’s out of Australia.
TV – The Three Body Problem
This was based on a book that I heard of through a podcast as a really good hard sci-fi novel that’s worth reading. I did try to start but the first few pages lost me. Having watched a couple of episodes now I can probably go back and have less of a “WTF is going on” feeling reading it. My lovely wife isn’t seeming interested at all though so it’s up to me to sneak this in on my own TV watching time, so it’ll take a bit longer.
Seems like the Chinese Nationalists aren’t super thrilled with how they’re represented. I just finished episode 2 today and it was pretty great. The story so far definitely isn’t something that I anticipated.
Book – The Gunslinger
This is a book I’ve re-read more than a few times, but something about the current ones on my list (including Dungeon Crawler Carl, for all my pontificating above about how good it is) just wasn’t grabbing me so I went back to this old favorite. It’s a short but but I’m most of the way done (this is saying something for someone who reads maybe 1-3 books a year (if that)) and can’t wait to hit book two and three.
When I first discovered the series it was really only the first three books that were even available. There was a six year break between books three and four and in that time I have to admit I lost some of the thread and never was quite grabbed as much as the first three. I can say I “read” all of them, with a mix of physical and audio book, but I can’t say I can tell you anything about them 🙁 Maybe if I do a full run through in order I’ll be able to keep it all in my head. Or if I go mad and follow one of the suggested reading orders online (which also includes a huge chunk of King’s other work that dips it’s toes into the world of the gunslinger and the Dark Tower). If so, see you in a few years.
Book – Project Hail Mary
OMG I almost forgot this one. Speaking of my complete lack of reading these days, one book I did power through not once but twice is Project Hail Mary. This is by Andy Weir, of The Martian fame.
I will say nothing about the book other than to say that you should go into it 100% cold. Not even reading the back cover, an abstract, anything. If you like The Martian (book or movie) or are a fan of hard sci-fi, try it out. I keep on wanting to say “go into it cold because…” but I don’t even want to say why you should other than you should. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.
