Thursday, February 19, 2009

Fair Enough, Fahrenheit!



Hey Howdy, 'tis Thursday, and a good one at that, aye!

My 50th day in a row blogging, woot woot!

Went into the rug shop today, got some things accomplished. Working on the website some more, have a new "to-do list" and lots of plans for cool new features. It'll be a lot of work, but I think it will be worth it.

Started a new book last night, called The Darkness That Comes Before, by an author named R. Scott Bakker. Book one of a series called The Prince of Nothing. I tell ya, I sure hope it gets better than the writing in the interminable Prologue. Remember a week or so ago, when I was complaining about how odd names usually are in Fantasy Epics? Well, I think this one takes the cake, when it comes to weird names. Here is a scan of the very beginning of the book. I had to scan it because the names have weird symbols over some of the letters that I can't replicate here.



I kid you not, that is how the book begins. Does that even remotely hook you? How do you like those names, lol? I tell you, Bakker's writing is cliche and pedestrian, to be polite. Check out the following selection, which is representative of the type of bland nonsense I've read thus far:

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After a time the hearth fire burned low, and the two of them sat silently, listening to the gathering fury of yet another storm. The wind sounded like mighty blankets flapping against the walls. Outside the forest groaned and whistled beneath the dark belly of the blizzard.

"Weeping may muddy the face," Leweth said, broaching their silence with an old proverb, "but it doesn't cleanse the heart."

Kellhus smiled in reply, his expression one of bemused recognition. Why, the ancient Dunyain had asked, confine the passions to words when they spoke first in expression? A legion of faces lived within him, and he could slip through them with the same ease with which he crafted his words. At the heart of his jubilant smile, his compassionate laugh, flexed the cold of scrutiny.

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O M G

Are you kidding me? Did this tripe really get published? What a steaming pantload.

And yet, it was highly recommended by many people on the forums I lurked in. On the cover of the book itself is a quote by Steven Erikson, by all rights a respected author of the genre. So I can only assume that it gets better. So against my better judgment, I will continue reading it tonight. If it continues to reek of mediocrity, I shall place it back on my shelf, next to The Briar King, and try something else. You know what Polonius said... "To thine own shelf be true". nyuk nyuk nyuk

I guess everyone can't be a Rothfuss, Martin or Abercrombie.

I have another of My Favorite Scenes for you tonight, this time from Saving Private Ryan. I also signed up for a Viddler account, so that the clips can be viewed larger than the postage stamp-sized window they're been locked in to this point.


Hopefully, that will provide better results. If not, I can try YouTube, I suppose...

I'm going to call it a day, then, and go get some editing done for Piranha. Don't want to piss off my best cleint. I need the income...

Here's another funny bit from White Ninja:



Until tomorrow, no, you cannot smell my feet. Now stop asking!

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