Book Clubs (Animal Farm and Vellum)Animal Farm has come and gone. For those of you who were reading along, I hope that you found your time in Orwell's elegant and terrifying parable insightful. I haven't read the book since I last taught it in summer school something like 8 years ago, so I was STOKED to be back on the Manor Farm for two months. It was as good as I remember, and it remains an accessible and vivid masterpiece. December 1 we started reading Hal Duncan's esoteric masterwork VELLUM. I am at the midpoint of the book right now, which is right where we are supposed to be for an end-of-January completion target. Not sure if anyone is reading with me or not, so I am not yet sure if there will be a face-to-face book club chat at the end. If there is, I'll add the details to the Book Club page ASAP. I did speak with the author today, and he confirmed that the best place to read ERRATA, a collection of four Vellum-adjacent short stories, is in between Vellum and Ink. Since Ink is our NEXT book club title, that means if you have and wish to read Errata, you'll want to try and wrap Vellum a bit early to make room for it. I think I'll be doing that! Comics Clubs (New Warriors and Ex Machina)I finished the New Warriors Volume 1 1-26 read right on time, and man... that book is still so much fun. Practically perfect in every way, there is no greater rosetta stone to understanding who I am and what I am all about that the stories of that wonderful team. I regret not keeping going to finish out Volume 1... but there's always next year! The reading of Ex Machina (all 50 issues and all 4 specials) is starting TODAY, and I powered through the first 12 issues or so. This book is SO DANG AWESOME. Very much a product of it zeitgeist, I love its raw assault on the political establishment while also unveiling a series of progressively flawed characters that I still root for... something Vaughan has made a hell of a habit of doing over his career. We have through the end of March on this read, so I am tracking to finish quite early. If you read them, I'd love to chat about it! Game Clubs (Battlestar Galactica and Spiralchain)So, the December game club didn't happen. Again. Sigh. The January club was to be a playtesting of the Spiralchain Board Game, but I am going to delay/postpone that event. The game is getting some graphic design upgrades from Andrew right now, and I don't want to play it again until we have those components in hand. So stay tuned. Movie Clubs (Whiplash and Call Me By Your Name)Whiplash club didn't happen (no RSVPs). So our trial run of Wednesday night movie clubs is not doing so well... BUT! There are already two RSVPs for Call Me By Your Name, and I am going to harass more of you to come! Wednesday, January 16th at 7:30 in Ankeny. It's an amazing movie, and I hope you will come watch with us! I'll make a cocktail! TV Clubs (Gargoyles and Babylon 5)Gargoyles wrapped up this past week, and MAN, IS THAT SHOW STILL AMAZING. I can't recommend it highly enough. As soon as I finished Hunter's Moon, I immediately scooped up my 'Clan-Building' graphic novels and read those... and then 'Bad Guys'... but now the stories of the Gargoyles are done again. It's sad... but I am so happy I took this time to check back in with the Manhattan Clan. Tomorrow, the Babylon 5 watch starts. I'll be watching the original broadcast version of the pilot movie (The Gathering) for the first time (I have only ever watched the Special Edition, and even though I know it is the author's preferred edition, I want to see the other one just once!). We will be watching B5 for the rest of BD365... so it's never too late to start. I hope you will join me, because it is, without question, the greatest TV show in the history of ever (to me). The StinkersYou'll probably notice that Dinner Club and Theatre Club didn't get a recap. They are sort of dead-on-arrival right now. And the Badges are looking close to joining them. As I transition my mindset to being more about enjoying the universe and sharing my enjoyment with others, I am moving away from some of the artificial incentivizing stuff that was baked into the BD365 concept at the beginning.
Simpler is better, you see. And simply put... I want to live my life, not spend all of my time cataloging the ways in which people did or did not engage in that process with me. Hopefully you will still take part in the various events of the festivities... not for a badge or for a special award... but because it's fun to do so. So... I'll see you all around... and hopefully, I'll see you all SOON.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJeremiah L Schwennen (Jeremy) is the curator of this bizarre experience. If you don't know him, you probably won't enjoy this very much... Archives
February 2019
Categories |