First, <no idea what was here. It’s lost to posterity.>
Second, I must write a half-book review. Half-book? Year, the book was so uninteresting I didn’t finish. I tried three times to wade through the muck and give it one last chance, but it just wasn’t good. I wanted it to be good. But it wasn’t. That book is Brisingr, the third (of four) books in the Eragon series. It’s almost like someone else wrote it. The writing is stilted, the style is pedantic. It’s all in good technical form but there is nothing of value to read here. I give up. I don’t give up on many books. Usually, I slog through until the end. I made it through page 392 of this disaster before throwing in the towel. Here’s another series I hereby abandon. High Fantasy and I didn’t like it. Bad news. Skip this one.
I did buy a new Mercedes Lackey book and a Terry Pratchett Book. Expect reviews of those early next month. They’re plane books. That is, I’ll probably read them on the plane to/from my convention. Unless I finally get to be on the same plane as Murph and Vanessa. Then I’ll probably terrorize the flight crew and they’ll push me out over the Rocky Mountains 🙂 They’re great folks. I hope it works out. We’ve tried before but as a pilot/flight-attendant combination it’s hard for them to book the flight they want.
Lastly, I want to plug a fantastic television show. I first watched it a few weeks ago, quite by accident, on BBC America. I had nothing to do, the above book was sucking ass, and needed to kill some time. Nothing was on TV and I figured whatever was on BBCA was what I’d watch — it’s my channel of choice for ‘whatever’ when I need something. The show is called Skins and is unique in that it’s about high school (ugh) but the actors are all in the right age range. You don’t get some 32-year-old pretending to be 16 (the actors are all 18 to 20 in series 2): I hate that. The plots are detailed and overly-drama just like real high school. Yeah, it’s a soap opera and I love it anyway. I am hooked. Seen four episodes so far, including the finale of the first series which has a beautiful ending. The characters do an “Almost Famous” like bit where everyone starts singing “Wild World,” the Cat Stevens hit, as they go about their business. Sid has a great voice and none of the characters are lip-syncing. That’s really them. It’s just so well done. I’ve watched this episode THREE times already. I am such a girl ::laughs:: There’s lots of nudity (blurred out in the US of course), swearing (whomever makes up the ‘beep’ rules is an idiot), and fun to be had for everyone. I’m buying it on DVD when it comes out next year. 9 out of 10 rating.
Lastly, I am soliciting opinions. I am toying with getting a small tattoo on my shoulder (the right one because it’s the good one). It’d be the size of a half-dollar or smaller (actually the size of the Sacagawea dollar) and look like this without the shadowing:
So whatcha’ all think? I finally saw someone with a GOOD Panther tattoo and asked where it came from and who the artist was.