it's a cold...cold summer...
Jul. 19th, 2010 12:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
WTF is up with the price of glasses? Why the hell are they so freaking expensive?? I decided to get a new pair last week, and with the frames I picked out, with the thinnest possible lenses, and the best anti-glare coating, it came out to be $568! WTF? And I've heard of others who've had to pay even more than that. (With my vision plan I ended up having to pay "only" $388.) Seriously, it's highway robbery! They're bits of wire and plastic and glass! That's it! How is it that you can get a freaking awesome computer for like $400 these days, yet glasses (the "technology" for which has been around for hundreds of years, so you would think they've found cheaper/more efficient ways to make them) can still cost this much? Not to mention, people typically keep their computers for ~3 years, I don't know anyone who gets a new computer every year. And yet vision prescriptions can change very easily from year to year (even if not significantly)! This is another reason (other than comfort/better vision) that makes me just stick with my (hard/gas permeable) contacts.
I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. About a third of the way in, the novel suddenly became a very quick read. Up until that point it was still kind of hard to orient myself and get interested in the characters/various plotlines. It was a decent read, but I'm not sure what about it made it so incredibly compelling that it broke through the "translation barrier."
Frankly, while the mystery of Harriet Vanger was interesting, the "investigation" and the conclusion were not. The investigation basically involved contrived luck and the idea that the initial thorough investigation team missed something incredibly 'obvious.' Or even if you don't think it's that obvious, it still wasn't like some amazing leap of logic or intuition. It was so contrived that a) Henrik Vanger wouldn't have asked to see ALL the photos available from that day, given how long he'd obsessively spent on the mystery; b) that there happened to be someone taking a photo of what Harriet was looking at right at that precise moment; c) that Blomkvist was able to track down the people in the photo; and d) that they would still have the photo they took! Because they just HAPPENED to be on their honeymoon. Puh-leaze.
And I'm sorry, but the fact that the culprit was Martin Vanger was just so ... unbelievable. Oh yes, on top of being the CEO of a huge corporation, he was also in his spare time being really meticulous about keeping track of all his potential victims, then kidnapping them and torturing them, etc. Plus, the revelation simply wasn't gasp worthy. I guess it was supposed to be because he seemed like a decent guy and Blomkvist liked him, etc.
I find the Salander character kind of annoying, maybe because I'm not like her at all. But I think it's mostly because her characterization is inconsistent. She's shown to be one way, and then other times we see her act totally "out of character" in the way she speaks to people and reacts to things.
As for Blomkvist, he's all right, but a major Gary Stu. Every woman wants to sleep with him, he's so incredibly likable and upstanding, and he's a journalist too.
I hate -- really, really hate -- the relationship between Berger and Blomkvist. It goes against everything I believe in about relationships. They're friends with benefits, with nothing more, but nothing less, either. Apparently they're just going to stay what they are, forever, but not in a romantic way at all, ruining my views about their relationship, as well as their relationships with other people. Blah.
All that said, I'm looking forward to the other books. I liked this book more than my above commentary shows, I think. It's probably *because* I'm not that invested in any of the characters or relationships, I can just enjoy it for what it is. Looks like they're all mysteries -- just hope the next one is a little more fleshed out, since he's gotten all the characterization backstories out of the way.
This weekend I made some delicious pesto from the basil in my garden. It's just not growing fast enough for me! Even though it's back in the 60s today, the last week or so has been really great, weather wise. I hope it stays like this for another two months, at least. A few little tomatoes are coming in, but they seem stalled in their growth. >< I have a ton of flowers on my various tomato plants now, but not very many of them have turned into actual tomatoes yet.
I have now seen the cat that's been molesting the catnip. And oh. my god. It's ENORMOUS. The catnip plant never had a chance. The other morning I saw what I thought was a cat perched on this ledge near the SFG. I looked and looked and was like, is that a cat? Or is it a really big rock that I've never noticed before? And I thought I saw a bird perch on it, so I was like, oh, must be a rock or something. When I came back from taking Talis on his walk, it was still there, so I was like, yeah, a rock. And then it moved. And lifted its head up. And I saw then that it was just a really, really big cat. It's like 3 times Jaime's size, I swear. He's cream colored, mostly, which would explain the cat hair I've found on the catnip plant, with dark fur on his head and paws. I can't get over how big he was. I went out in the yard and he left soon thereafter, nervous about me I guess.
TV Show Meme: Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Dollhouse
I was really, really excited about this show. The premise seemed AWESOME. And it was Joss! And Eliza! It seemed like it was going to be a guaranteed success. I don't know who to blame for why it didn't live up to expectations. I'm least inclined to blame Joss, who's proven himself time and again with Buffy, Dr. Horrible, Firefly, etc. The network, which didn't seem to "get" the vision and wanted to dumb it down? I know that was a big part of it. When are those fuckers going to learn to just leave genius alone?? Eliza, who it turns out, can't act her way out of a paper bag? Unfortunately, this was fairly significant as well. It turns out she can play the badass girl with a chip on her shoulder, but that's about it. The rest of the cast was good, with the exception of the dude playing the FBI agent. I ending up liking him in BSG, but he was all wrong for Dollhouse. At least, from my viewpoint. Not only was I not into the actor, the character in general was pretty annoying and useless. Plus, I have to say, the way they were handling the premise wasn't at all what I envisioned in the beginning. It didn't really make much SENSE, and I'm not sure if that's because of Joss's vision or because of what the network had done to eff it all up.
I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. About a third of the way in, the novel suddenly became a very quick read. Up until that point it was still kind of hard to orient myself and get interested in the characters/various plotlines. It was a decent read, but I'm not sure what about it made it so incredibly compelling that it broke through the "translation barrier."
Frankly, while the mystery of Harriet Vanger was interesting, the "investigation" and the conclusion were not. The investigation basically involved contrived luck and the idea that the initial thorough investigation team missed something incredibly 'obvious.' Or even if you don't think it's that obvious, it still wasn't like some amazing leap of logic or intuition. It was so contrived that a) Henrik Vanger wouldn't have asked to see ALL the photos available from that day, given how long he'd obsessively spent on the mystery; b) that there happened to be someone taking a photo of what Harriet was looking at right at that precise moment; c) that Blomkvist was able to track down the people in the photo; and d) that they would still have the photo they took! Because they just HAPPENED to be on their honeymoon. Puh-leaze.
And I'm sorry, but the fact that the culprit was Martin Vanger was just so ... unbelievable. Oh yes, on top of being the CEO of a huge corporation, he was also in his spare time being really meticulous about keeping track of all his potential victims, then kidnapping them and torturing them, etc. Plus, the revelation simply wasn't gasp worthy. I guess it was supposed to be because he seemed like a decent guy and Blomkvist liked him, etc.
I find the Salander character kind of annoying, maybe because I'm not like her at all. But I think it's mostly because her characterization is inconsistent. She's shown to be one way, and then other times we see her act totally "out of character" in the way she speaks to people and reacts to things.
As for Blomkvist, he's all right, but a major Gary Stu. Every woman wants to sleep with him, he's so incredibly likable and upstanding, and he's a journalist too.
I hate -- really, really hate -- the relationship between Berger and Blomkvist. It goes against everything I believe in about relationships. They're friends with benefits, with nothing more, but nothing less, either. Apparently they're just going to stay what they are, forever, but not in a romantic way at all, ruining my views about their relationship, as well as their relationships with other people. Blah.
All that said, I'm looking forward to the other books. I liked this book more than my above commentary shows, I think. It's probably *because* I'm not that invested in any of the characters or relationships, I can just enjoy it for what it is. Looks like they're all mysteries -- just hope the next one is a little more fleshed out, since he's gotten all the characterization backstories out of the way.
This weekend I made some delicious pesto from the basil in my garden. It's just not growing fast enough for me! Even though it's back in the 60s today, the last week or so has been really great, weather wise. I hope it stays like this for another two months, at least. A few little tomatoes are coming in, but they seem stalled in their growth. >< I have a ton of flowers on my various tomato plants now, but not very many of them have turned into actual tomatoes yet.
I have now seen the cat that's been molesting the catnip. And oh. my god. It's ENORMOUS. The catnip plant never had a chance. The other morning I saw what I thought was a cat perched on this ledge near the SFG. I looked and looked and was like, is that a cat? Or is it a really big rock that I've never noticed before? And I thought I saw a bird perch on it, so I was like, oh, must be a rock or something. When I came back from taking Talis on his walk, it was still there, so I was like, yeah, a rock. And then it moved. And lifted its head up. And I saw then that it was just a really, really big cat. It's like 3 times Jaime's size, I swear. He's cream colored, mostly, which would explain the cat hair I've found on the catnip plant, with dark fur on his head and paws. I can't get over how big he was. I went out in the yard and he left soon thereafter, nervous about me I guess.
TV Show Meme: Day 11 - A show that disappointed you: Dollhouse
I was really, really excited about this show. The premise seemed AWESOME. And it was Joss! And Eliza! It seemed like it was going to be a guaranteed success. I don't know who to blame for why it didn't live up to expectations. I'm least inclined to blame Joss, who's proven himself time and again with Buffy, Dr. Horrible, Firefly, etc. The network, which didn't seem to "get" the vision and wanted to dumb it down? I know that was a big part of it. When are those fuckers going to learn to just leave genius alone?? Eliza, who it turns out, can't act her way out of a paper bag? Unfortunately, this was fairly significant as well. It turns out she can play the badass girl with a chip on her shoulder, but that's about it. The rest of the cast was good, with the exception of the dude playing the FBI agent. I ending up liking him in BSG, but he was all wrong for Dollhouse. At least, from my viewpoint. Not only was I not into the actor, the character in general was pretty annoying and useless. Plus, I have to say, the way they were handling the premise wasn't at all what I envisioned in the beginning. It didn't really make much SENSE, and I'm not sure if that's because of Joss's vision or because of what the network had done to eff it all up.
