Party pooper LJ!

[wiseheart]

Well, folks, it seems that LJ has decided to crash our birthday party - the original post is no longer visible. But I still have most of the comments in my inbox, and will re-post the original entry and list the available comments with the simple mentioning of the names, if it's all right with you. If not, tell me, and I'll delete yours.

We won't allow LJ to crash our party!

Original post

Hi folks! *waves*

Time is flying by, isn't it? It's that time of a year again - I'm getting older. In this case, I'm turning 56 on October 9, which means I'd have been retired for a year already, back under the old regime. Women could retire at the age of 55 back then. So I've decided to ignore all that fantastic headway we've supposedly made towards democracy in the last two decades and have considered myself retired for the last year, blithley overlooking the fact that I'll have to work another 6 or 7 or only God knows how many years.

So, let's party! Last years virtual birthday party yielded 943 comments on 7 pages, which won't be easy to top, but we're good, aren't we? WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN BREAK THE 1000-COMMENT-BARRIER! So, let's give it a try! In the recent years, it has always been great fun, so let's have fun again!

You're all cordially invited to help yourself to a slice of virtual cake of your choice. If you want to post your favourite recipe in a comment, be my guest. If not, just drop by and say hello.

Cheers!

Note: The party will be closed on October 9, at midnight, sharp.
Join us and have fun! Feel free to start any thread, any topic you want; we can discuss it, mock the general stupidity of life and laugh at it.

Last count was 1328 comments on 6 pages.

NB: Shoud the original party post mysteriously reappear, I'll delete this one.

Comments

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
Another book thread Because we need more top-level comments and
because I am curious: What is the latest book you read?

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

and jenn_calaelen replied:

Currently reading: Lord Of The Rings

Before that: Beauty and the Werewolf - Mercedes Lackey (fun, light series of stories in a fairy tale world where a force tries to shape people's lives to tales... and Godmothers and other characters try to control their own lives... ;) - very much comfort light reading...)

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I replied to this saying:

I think I am due a re-read of Lord of the Rings, though I find I don't have nearly enough time to read even the new (to me) books.

"fun, light series of stories in a fairy tale world where a force tries to shape people's lives to tales"
That sounds like an intriguing concept; I will have to add it to my ever growing to-be-read list!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

To which jenn_calaelen responded:

The first one in the series is The Fairy Godmother, but it is a fairly loose series (some characters show up multiple times but the focus characters are different in each book)

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

sammydragoncat said:

Haven't had a lot of time to read lately - I reread a mystery novel The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry, but for a new read it was TITANIC: Float Me Through The Deep by Frank Diaz de Leon - not what I generally read, but I'm related to the author, so it was kind of mandatory.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

wiseheart told us:

One of the "Mission Gamma" series, I don't remember which one. This is an excellent series of DS9 novels - basically an 8th season, just in written form. altariel wrote the one taking place on Cardassia.

I don't really like the OCs - IMO the really interesting ones were killed off right at the beginning - but Ro Laren as the new security chief of DS9 is wonderfully done, and so is Nog as the new chief engineer, and poor Kira has to run the station while excommunicated by her own clergy... very interesting.

The only OC I like is the Andorian science officer. What the series writes about the Andorians doesn't really fit "Enterprise", but that series was one big canon rape, so I happily accept the book version of the blue guys. Just as I did with Diane Duane's version of Romulan culture versus that horrible "Nemesis" movie.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
This sounds intriguing, I shall add it to my mental to-be-read list.
Sadly that list seems to grow much faster than I have time to read
books...

And yes, Enterprise was annoying in its inability to stick with
canon. I don't mind prequels, but if you want to set a new series in an
established universe you have to stick with what has already been
established about that universe. If they wanted free rein to invent new
things and not be tied down by the known history, they should have made
another sequel. Don't get me started on the latest 'Star Trek' film,
which I feel is Star Trek in name only and that just to draw in the ready
made audience of trekkers.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

wiseheart:
We are in total agreement about the film. The only good thing was how
Chris Potter managed to copy Shatner's hysterical mannerism - I was
rolling on the floor! Zachary Quinto wasn't a bad Spock, if only they had
given him a better chance to shine.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
Ah yes, I was indeed quite impressed that they had found someone to play
Kirk who managed to be annoying in the same way as Shatner! Quinto could
indeed have been a good Spock, if they weren't so busy re-writing what
Vulcans are like. I really, truly hated the romance between him and
Uhura!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

wiseheart:
Gah, don't even remind me! The Uhura actress was terrible. And Karl Urban
really wasn't McCoy.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
and what on Earth (or any other planet!) were the doing with Scotty?
Here, quick, have some chocolate to forget it all!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

wiseheart:
They all acted as if Classic!Trek would have been a parody. Well, it
wasn't - if one ignored Shatner's godawful acting, that is. But the other
actors were great. I even liked Chekov, although poor Walter Koenig
didn't really got anything substantial to do, upt to the films.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict's response was:

Set in Stone by Robert Goddard. I was looking for a new (to me) crime writer while rained out in the Lakes, and thought someone had recommended Goddard. I hope I was mistaken, because I hated it. It's a mix of supernatural with cold war spy thriller, both handled very clumsily, & the two themes didn't mix. The narrator is talking to his deceased wife, which wasted a lot of words in boring nothings.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
Do you like Dorothy Sayers? If so I can recommend Ngaio Marsh. The
books of hers that I have read are similar, though not quite as literary
as the Lord Peter Wimsey ones.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict:
I'm very fond of Sayers, yes. I've tried one by Ngaio Marsh, and wasn't
impressed (can't recall which) -- is there one you particularly
recommend?

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
I have only read two, but was happy enough with both of them. The one I
liked best was Surfeit of Lampreys.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

espresso_addict:

I will look out for it. (Actually I might already have a copy, as I've
inherited my father's books, and he was a crime novel fan, though I can't
recall him reading Marsh.)

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

I also answered my own question saying:

And I will answer my own question: Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon, Brett Mathews and Will Conrad, which is a paperback compilation of a three issue comic book series set between the end of Firefly and the beginning of Serenity if we count graphic novels. If we are sticking with words only the latest book I read is Eldest by Christopher Paolini, which is the second book in a fantasy series with dragons and dragon-riders. It and the first and third book of the series were birthday presents from my sister. They are good, especially for being written by such a young person. I believe Paolini was 15 when he wrote the first book and 19 when he finished the second. The books are a little derivate, with a lot of elements borrowed from other science fiction, but the world that Paolini has built is quite complex and holds together very well. The thing I like the least is the juvenile romance subplot, but I can forgive it given the author's age and that the hero involved is also of a similar age.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

to which badly_knitted replied:

I haven't finished a book for a while - the last one I started turned out to be really boring so I gave up halway through. Currently reading The Whisperers by John Connolly, one of his Charlie Parker private investigator books. They tend to edge into supernatural territory and I always enjoy them. This one is well up to his usual standards.

I usually read SF or Fantasy, but it's good to have a change occasionally.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

and wiseheart said:

I read Eragon and Eldest but wasn't very fond of them. Eragon I liked in places (rare and far in-between places) because it was what a young boy would write. Eldest I found a rather tenous (sp?) read. I never brought up the effort to even start Brisingr.

But some of my students like them, and hey, if they bring the new generation to reading, then I'm all for it.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

solanpolarn:
I think I would definitely have liked them more when I was younger. I
would especially have loved the fact that they were so long, giving me
lots of reading ahead. These days I have trouble starting thick books,
because I have so little time to read in that I generally won't be able
to finish it in a reasonable time.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

rcfinch told us:

Yesterday I started reading a Danish thriller titled 'øjesten' (with a capital ø which I don't know how to make).