Godipedes, Smiley, Sith and other things

[lathany]

This morning I wandered out to give blood (with Ryan in tow as usual) and it was still pretty mild out there. I like this time of year. I'm not big on the shorter days or the growing cold, but I enjoy the build-up to Christmas and already have an advent calendar and an advent candle. Although it's less fun if I end up with last minute shopping.

Work has been very busy, as I have said before. Consequently, I've started my Harry Potter train-reading season early. However, this was after finishing the last two-thirds of the Karla trilogy:

• The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carré - This is the middle section of the Karla trilogy, has Smiley as a prominent character and is set in Hong Kong. I didn't enjoy it that much. I found the general pace frustrating and it felt too "middle book of a trilogy" in the way that some authors do.
• Smiley's People by John Le Carré - I liked this a great deal more. I particularly liked finally meeting Ann for the first time. I think it's the last book that has Smiley as a main character.

At home, LoveFilms has been providing entertainment.

• Star Trek Into Darkness - Hmm. Pretty to look at, a few good performances (for example, Zachary Quinto) but lacking in new material and some action scenes were sh*t. The huge problem is that it is basically a re-telling of the TV episode Space Seed and it's own sequel Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Also, it's moved Star Trek right into the realm of James Bond. I mean, Spock in a fist fight with a superbeing? Really?
• Los Cronocrímenes (Time Crimes) - This is a tricky one to avoid spoilers completely with, but basically a nice premise and worth a look. To say a bit more, it's a time travel film which is simple and yet effective. Disturbingly the message appears to be - don't help strangers! Also, a lot of vehicles are crashed.

As well as the films, LoveFilms brought us The Killing II. This is about half the length of the original series and features Sarah Lund again (although almost no other actors or characters reappear from season one). I liked it and I felt it worked better at this length as there was less padding and it felt less as though they were making it up as they went along (which were my criticisms of the first series). I think I will be watching the third one at some point.

There has also been roleplaying:

• Folded Edge - Now some weeks ago. The punchline is that we found some of the galaxy's most wanted, only to realise we didn't have a plan for dealing with them. Reagan did escape the space station of her former corrupt employers after compromising her backdoor into their system. However, this is mostly because Sen was there. In other news, Hex is tracking down Treasure's captors and Treasure herself is wondering where Wicked Jay went. Monkey is mainly not talking about a ship being beset with engineering problems. lanfykins wrote about our troubles some time ago.
• 100 Secrets - Again, lanfykins has posted about the game (although not so much about the session). We entered the portal to a desert which may or may not be miles away to the East. We found a temple with a dead Godipede; which was a living Godipede in the mirror world. We also found the army, sadly through being captured by them. Fortunately, not everyone was caught and the others came back for us (namely Lady Patience). It's clear that the Bad Guys (aka people who aren't us) have both Geometry and Mirror World Secrets. We're probably in a lot a trouble, but we need to figure out which direction it is coming from.
• Star Wars - This was yesterday. We boarded a monorail which was promptly attacked by mercenaries because they were after us. There was much cinematic action - in which ao_lai and I seemed to have a competition for who could roll negative for the longest (it's a 2d6 roll where one dice is plus and one is minus) and I think he won although I managed, I think, nine. Anyway, we saved the day, saved the innocents and terrified the Sith planetary governor (who hired said mercenaries). The governor paid us to Go Away, which seemed like a good plan when the huge Hutt ship turned up (also after us - it's that sort of game).

At our twinless half-term, bateleur and I managed a trip to Kew which was sunny and autumny. And there was cake. Plus we also got out for a curry at the rather awesome Baburchi. We keep meaning to take other people there to see it. I had the Lamb Korai and bateleur chose the Chicken Rezoti (I think). We shared them - both dishes were excellent. Next stop Christmas holidays.

Comments

[quiet-dignitea.livejournal.com]

That seems weird to me. I thought in Honourable Schoolboy what was introduced in the first book was finally coming together or becoming relevant, and the story was hitting its stride. Smiley's People, on the other hand, felt to me like it was coming to a conclusion just so it could finally be over, and the structure and logic of it were unsatisfying. That, and I thought Jerry was the most three-dimensional and sympathetic character in the series.