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Jul. 16th, 2023 05:43 pm
This and That
July is winter here in New Zealand and it's windy and cold right now. I have an old, hand-me-down black faux fur coat that comes down just past my waist that I wear indoors over clothes. The fact that it is lined keeps me warm.
What I've Seen
I went to 'Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny' the other day. I wasn't sure whether to go or not, but when I heard it featured a fantasy version of the Antikythera device (a 2,000 year old machine made by Archimedes for moon calculations, found in an early 20th century shipwreck), my history nerd side lifted its head and said 'let's go!'. The film was better than I thought it would be and featured Mads Mikkelson (sp?) as the baddie. I saw the trailer for the new Mission Impossible movie but it left me cold, unfortunately.
We recently had the French Film festival at some local theatres and I saw the docu drama 'Notre Dame on Fire'. It's from the POV of the fire department who had to deal with the fire there a few years ago. Carrying all their heavy fire fighting equipment up narrow, medieval staircases would have been a nightmare. Then there was the melting lead roof that was literally coming down the gutters and had to be avoided too.
What I've Read
At a recent book club meeting a lot of people were recommending fantasy book 'The Fourth Wing' by Rebecca Yarros. I heard it featured dragons (hmm) so I read it and it was a page turner for me. A disabled, bookish woman from a military family is forced to train as a dragon rider. If she survives that, she must try and bond with a dragon. Simone St James writes paranormal thrillers with just the rightest amount of spookiness and her latest one is 'Silence for the Dead'. Set post-WW1, a woman on the run fakes her CV so she can work as a nurse in the countryside. She ends up at a place for soldiers with shell-shock but there's something creepy about the place. Also, all of the patients seem to be having the same nightmare. The book also looks at how shell-shock was seen as something shameful by society at the time, who didn't know better.
What I've Seen
I went to 'Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny' the other day. I wasn't sure whether to go or not, but when I heard it featured a fantasy version of the Antikythera device (a 2,000 year old machine made by Archimedes for moon calculations, found in an early 20th century shipwreck), my history nerd side lifted its head and said 'let's go!'. The film was better than I thought it would be and featured Mads Mikkelson (sp?) as the baddie. I saw the trailer for the new Mission Impossible movie but it left me cold, unfortunately.
We recently had the French Film festival at some local theatres and I saw the docu drama 'Notre Dame on Fire'. It's from the POV of the fire department who had to deal with the fire there a few years ago. Carrying all their heavy fire fighting equipment up narrow, medieval staircases would have been a nightmare. Then there was the melting lead roof that was literally coming down the gutters and had to be avoided too.
What I've Read
At a recent book club meeting a lot of people were recommending fantasy book 'The Fourth Wing' by Rebecca Yarros. I heard it featured dragons (hmm) so I read it and it was a page turner for me. A disabled, bookish woman from a military family is forced to train as a dragon rider. If she survives that, she must try and bond with a dragon. Simone St James writes paranormal thrillers with just the rightest amount of spookiness and her latest one is 'Silence for the Dead'. Set post-WW1, a woman on the run fakes her CV so she can work as a nurse in the countryside. She ends up at a place for soldiers with shell-shock but there's something creepy about the place. Also, all of the patients seem to be having the same nightmare. The book also looks at how shell-shock was seen as something shameful by society at the time, who didn't know better.
