Pandemic Journal, Part 18: Not the January I Had in Mind

 

We made it to the end of January 2021 ... and well, shit. Right after I posted my last batch of pandemic journal entries, a bunch of terrorists/insurgents/whatever attacked the US Capitol. A week later Trump was impeached (again) and another week after that he actually left office.

But the worst part of the month for me: I broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder on Jan. 15. It could be worse. But it's no picnic. Not what I needed for the beginning of this new semester.

But I did get to go to online Chattacon, so that was... honestly kinda weird, but fun.

Pandemic Journal, Part 17: Memes for the Holidays

2020 brought us many things: a pandemic, elections, upheavals, and... my pandemic journal, which continues here with my entries from December 2020 (and one from January 2021). I have also been collecting memes that amused me for the last month or so. Maybe some of them will amuse you, too. In any case, let's hope 2021 will be a better year!

2020 in Hindsight

                      

What a fucking year. At the beginning of 2020 I was looking forward to a year of tenure and travel. Here, at the end, I’m looking back on a year of turmoil.

Sequels of McDune: Hunters of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

                                             

All of these things are true in my opinion: 

• People are too hard on the Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson Dune books (aka, "McDune").
• The books are nowhere near as good as Frank Herbert's originals.
• I enjoy the McDune books the same way that I sometimes enjoy McDonald's (or really Taco Bell for me) even though I know it's not good.
• It's fun to learn what happened immediately after the last Frank Herbert book even if I know it's neither the same nor as good as what Frank would have written.

The Epistemology of Evil Twins: The Dark Half by Stephen King

                                         

Only Stephen King could write a book with the somewhat silly premise of an author's pseudonym coming to life .... and make me believe it so engrossingly. 1989's The Dark Half isn't one of King's "A List" novels (it's not up there with The Stand, IT, or The Shining), but I think it's underrated.

This is also one of King's most epistemological novels (along with The Dead Zone), so let's call it... the epistemology of evil twins! (Epistemology, or theory of knowledge, is the part of philosophy that studies knowledge: what it is, how you get it, whether you have as much of it as you think, etc.).

Twelve Nights of Christmas Horror Movies, Part Two

 

In "Twelve Nights of Christmas Horror Movies, Part One" I discussed a bunch of Christmas horror movies. And now I'm going to discuss a bunch more!

I ended up watching more than 12 movies, but I liked the title, so what are you gonna do? Besides, sometimes I watched more than one per night. Maybe you will, too.

Later Explorations of Earthsea: Tehanu and Tales of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

 

I've been a huge fan of Le Guin's science fiction for about 20 years, but I didn't start reading the Earthsea books until a few years ago. I recently moved these two later books in the series --Tehanu and Tales From Earthsea--to  the top of my list to prepare for an online discussion of the Earthsea books (info here).