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Mobile Suit Gundam AGE | 2024-12-19
Decent enough season, let down IMO by its generational structure spltting the story into 3 parts and not lending enough time to any one storyline, with a very weak and clichéd villian scheme at the center of it all. A weak storyline can be saved, but he just wasn't diabolical or charismatic enough to make it work! The main AGE gimmick with the Gundam parts being switched out was extremely underused, just didn't feel like it was worth the fuss. Any of the three eras could have been expanded on into their own full show. That said, I did enjoy several single episodes, with my personal standouts being an early one with a space colony core being removed as a lifeboat, and a later one where Kio (Protagonist #3) briefly lives among the enemy and befriends a sickly girl. No inclination to watch again, but not a bad ride.
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Dichronauts | 2024-12-04
| Greg Egan
| link
Another of Egan's geometry themed novels, this one is in a universe where north/south is a "timelike" (not time... sorta, time-like) dimension with unusual geometric properties. Written in an in-universe style, some elements may seem inexplicable until you read the extensive supplementary notes on the authors website. The storytelling is solid, I particuarly liked the conjoined main character, Seth who contains his partner, Theo inside his own skull (!!!) working as an echolocator, really weird stuff! Their back-and-forth bickering was always entertaining and filled in what would have otherwise been stretches of dialogue-less writing. Gracious thanks to the author for leaving a comment on one of my confused twitter posts regarding the geometry.
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Ace Combat 7 - Skies Unknown | 2024-12-02
| PS4
| Namco
Thrilling. Incredibly fun combat flight game, a slightly loony near alternate-universe Sci-fi story (set in then-present 2019), great soundtrack. The plot held my attention, but I did struggle to follow the geopolitics told via hammy comm chatter and interspersed news broadcasts, no matter. Communication discipline does not exist (not a negative, just funny). Features some of the latest and greatest planes from all around the real world, coupled with an eye-popping trademark screen. Strong recommendation.
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The Book of all skies | 2024-11-04
| Greg Egan
| link
A fun exploration of a world splintered over a portal network known as "the hoops", the main character has some substance and I didn't have any trouble getting into her head and personality, but everyone else is a 2D plot accessory at best. The lack of any serious antagonistic forces or hostile characters hurts the narrative in the second half, but the application and discussion of the physics is enjoyable. There's something very romantic about balooning through a portal, I think.
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At the Mountains of Madness | 2024-10-06
| H.P. Lovecraft
| link
The strong, creative imagery is greater than any other merit, has a few too many regrettable info-dump sequences that dispells much (but not all) of the mystery, an unfortunate Lovecraft trait. Liked the detail that goes into the pages on planning and running an expedition. Not deep (Unfortunately!), but lingers on the mind, will be thinking about this one for a long time.
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Hellraiser | 2024-10-05
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The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket | 2024-10-01
| Edgar Allan Poe
| link
Fairly macabre adventure story, some gruesome depictions of piracy, starvation and mutiny, borders on the esoteric at times, not Poe's strongest work, and unfortunately this is his only full-length novel. Would recommend reading his short story "The Maelstrom" and pretending they're part of the same fiction for some extra spice.