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Picked up the Lego Star Wars Mini-figure Dictionary: Updated & Expanded mainly because of what came in it.

HeavyArms wrote: mainly because of what came in it.

Words. They are indeed awesome, but they tend to come in most books.

I'm on the final disc of the final Game of Thrones book, and Grandpa Martin's just messing with us now. Aaaargh!

I finally got to the point in the book where

SPOILER! (select to read)

Joffrey choked, hahaha

. Knew it was coming, so it was more of a "oh, so that's how it happened" moment than anything else. Ditto Red Wedding.

I just finished the last existing book. Aaaargh! Great book, lots of stuff happening, and lots of stuff I did not see coming.

Except winter. I had kind of expected that winter was coming. One of the characters had foreshadowed that briefly in book 2.

I've just finished reading The Battle For Bond, about the legal wraggles between Ian Flemming and Kevin McClory over the authorship of Thunderball. Mostly a fascinating read (the chapters about the actual making of Thunderball take up to much of the book to tell well documented elsewhere anecdotes that don't really relate to the main subject).

McClory was clearly as dodgy as hell, but equally genuinely wronged by Flemming and friends (as was the guy who did the actual writing of the proposed Bond movie that became the book, Jack Whittington. Him not seeing any money from either the final version of Thunderball or Never Say despite the screen credit and being key to McClory's court defence is one of the way's Kevin was a dodgy chancer), the documented evidence of Flemming lying in court makes for a rather sad read (ie: Saying he didn't regard there being any legal issues over the use of material from the script when letter's to his publisher had he warning of the possibility months beforehand). It's also interesting that the entire Shrublands sequence- which I like but which is also complete padding- was put into the book by Fleming to try and disguise/downplay the amount of other people's material he used.

It was also interesting that Fleming's idea for Domino- as an undercover English policewoman- was basically Gala Brand by another name (the final version being the suggestion of others. Confusingly they also changed the name of the character but Flemming changed it back for the book, again partly to try and make the source less obvious). She's really had no luck getting into the films has she?

McClory himself remains a fascinating figure throughout. As the book points out, he made so much money from the film of Thunderball that he was basically made for life and could have financed any film he wanted. But he blew it all on increasingly expensive and increasingly desperate attempts to cling onto that one injustice done to him years before. It'd make a great film, he even does the full on Citizen Kane thing of having a massive mansion (the one used at the end of Never Say Never for the pool) that's fallen into ruin and full of relics from his glory days.

Recently bought WWE 50, a book that details the 50-year history of the WWE.

Notabot
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeavyArms View Post
mainly because of what came in it.
Words. They are indeed awesome, but they tend to come in most books.

Meh, it's really all about pictures and the mini-figure.

Finally finished book 3.

To my Mr. I say thusly: . YOU KNOW WHY.

Just finished reading the Princess Bride to the daughter, and I was reminded of two things that bugged the crap out of me. While the book adds several interesting bits to the story, Goldman's "I'm just abridging another guy's book" thing starts to wear thin after the second or third multi-page aside. More of the page count is devoted to the fake story of the book than to the book itself.

Additionally, while Buttercup could hardly be described as having a ton of agency in the film, she's even worse in the book. In the movie, she's just someone things happen to, but the book compounds this by having her be incredibly stupid as well. Most of her dialogue with Westley consisted of questions and "But I don't understand. Oh, Westley, please explain it to me." Great frickin' role model.

Well, if I ever had any intention of reading TPB you've just put me right off. I was already worried it would tarnish my rose-tinted memories of the film.

I've recently finished The Lovely Bones. It was an emotional experience and a difficult read in places but also quite beautiful. I'm glad I read it.

Well, don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like about the book. It builds upon the characters and concepts in the movie quite well. Honestly, those're really the only two issues I have with the books. As long as one skips over the random asides Goldman makes and doesn't try to hold Buttercup as a role model, it's still a good (if much shorter) book.

Terome of this parish has self published a collection of his (well, two other people are involved, but they don't post here and thus aren't as cool) Shark of Wisdom comics:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shark-Of-Wisd ... D100102%26

It's completely nuts (probably not one for people who like a linear plot), giving you all the experience of LSD without having to take any LSD. The Gazza Strip chapter especially tickled me for its full on insanity. If you like his posts, it's well worth a punt.

If you don't like his posts, it's worth a punt so as to make him rich and stop him caring about this place any more.

A YouTube personality, Colleen Ballinger recently released an in-character (Miranda Sings) 'self help' book titled Selp-Helf, a copy of which recently found it's way in to my possession.

In a surprise move, the local mall got the Go! Calandar Store in very early(usually they show up in October), and this time, along with lots of calendars, gifts, and assorted Doctor Who stuff(Doctor Who Monopoly? Doctor Who Trivial Pursuit? Really BBC? Really?), they got in a lot of books. Some bargain, some not. So I picked up.....

Tales of Ancient Egypt, by Roger Lancelyn Green

and

Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse, by A.L. Kennedy. Drosten's Curse looks like it's set during the Fourth Doctor's era(from the description of the Doctor I found), but some of the things said or thought by the Doctor and lack of a companion, plus the description of the collapsed and unconscious Doctor lying in a multi-coloured heap after he passes out initially made me think Sixth Doctor. Admittedly this is after a quick skim.

Just finished Rick Perlstien's The Invisible Bridge; the fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan.

It was as good as his previous book, Nixonland.

HeavyArms wrote:A YouTube personality, Colleen Ballinger recently released an in-character (Miranda Sings) 'self help' book titled Selp-Helf, a copy of which recently found it's way in to my possession.

Not my cup of tea, but enjoyed Hannah Hart's (and would be interested in something more prose than captioned photos). Mamrie Hart's (which is prose) wasn't bad but suffers a bit for being autobiography from someone who isn't particularly old. Just started Felicia Day's. Contemplating picking up a copy of Neil Patrick Harris's, which is done in the style of a gamebook.

Finally finished The Winds of Winter, am now sad I don't have a go-to book for those periods when I want to read. But at least now I can "binge-watch" Game of Thrones without wondering if doing so will spoil anything.

Sades wrote:The Winds of Winter

Apparently I own a TARDIS. A Dance With Dragons, you dumbass.

Edit: Was lent a copy of The Enchantress of Florence. Sounds "interesting" (oh ho ho ho, Goodreads). Therein: Problem solved!

Just finished BRIAN BLESSED'S autobiography. I was initially worried by the "With" credit for another writer on the copyright page, but it's very clear from the text that--other than inserting the odd bit of clarification (I can't imagine Brian knows or cares Anthony Coburn went on to write the first Doctor Who story for example) this is clearly just transcripts of long rambling monologues done with Brian with almost no alteration at all.

And it's brilliant.

Exhausting (especially if you follow the advice he gives at the start and imagine his voice at all times), but brilliant.

As with many actorly autobiographies it's basically about how great the subject is; he's always giving people advice that is always right, and he seems to constantly be having to keep the heavy boozers of the '70's in check with threats of a beating (he seems to have gotten a few gigs simply because no one else could make Peter O'Toole behave). But because it's Brian Blessed you accept every word of it.

Indeed, you accept everything he says even though if anyone else was saying it you'd assume it was a massive piss take. You can remember being born Brian? OK, I'll accept that. You can read people's minds when in a meditative trance? Well, why not. You gave Hong Kong back to Chinese rather than just hosting the show? Sure. You're really a very subtle and quiet actor who finds it a challenge to be bigger than life? Hmm.

And of course, the Flash Gordon chapter is glorious. My favourite story being helping Max Von Sydow (who he had of course given exactly the right advice to earlier on how to play Ming) deal with a young naked woman in his dressing room bath that wanted to be ravaged by evil.

It's actually heartwarming how much he embraces the whole "GORDON'S ALIVE" thing, considering it's not a film he's dependent on (though he's also quite cheerful about the fact that most actors want to be in Star Wars and Harry Potter because doing the signing circuit is a good pension plan) he greets demands for it from sources as varied as a Russian submarine crew at the magnetic North Pole to David Cameron having him shout it at the cabinet to people just doing it in the street with love.

I hadn't realised how much of a Star Wars fan he was as well (though he assures us he never dressed as a "Bloody Wookie"), and his enthusiasm for making the Phantom Menace and having long chats with George Lucas about space and time almost made me forget what an awful film it is (though we do once again get confirmation that Lucas doesn't bother to direct actors. Though with Blessed that's not much of a problem).

Only real shame is there's no mention of Blake's 7 (which, considering he plays a character who shouts so loud he explodes I expected to be a shoe in) or Doctor Who (beyond an anecdote about knocking out Peter Capaldi when making Tom Jones).

Actually, I don't think I've ever seen him talk about Mindwarp despite usually being very up for talking heads stuff, does he not have good memories of it?

Picked up Star Wars: Before the Awakening, an anthology book that acts as a prelude to The Force Awakens, focusing on Finn, Poe Dameron and Rey. It's fairly short and has illustrations for some of the scenes.

Found a Lego Batman Visual Dictionary from 2012 recently at Big W, which included an Electro-suit Batman mini-figure.