Morris - A Life with Bells On

I really want to see this:
http://www.morrismovie.com/
(the trailer on the site is a bit slow to load but you can load it and then watch again.)

[ACTUAL EMBEDDED VIDEO REMOVED BECAUSE IT AUTO-PLAYED AND ANNOYED THE HELL OUT OF CASUAL VISITORS. SEE THE WEBSITE FOR THE VIDEO - PLEASE]

An article is at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1120586/I-thought-Morris-dancing-weird---Now-I-know-fun-bells-on.html

So far it doesn't seem to have general release - boo hoo. Please let it be shown in Yorkshire.

Morris - A Life with Bells On

I really want to see this:
http://www.morrismovie.com/
(the trailer on the site is a bit slow to load but you can load it and then watch again.)

[ACTUAL EMBEDDED VIDEO REMOVED BECAUSE IT AUTO-PLAYED AND ANNOYED THE HELL OUT OF CASUAL VISITORS. SEE THE WEBSITE FOR THE VIDEO - PLEASE]

An article is at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1120586/I-thought-Morris-dancing-weird---Now-I-know-fun-bells-on.html

So far it doesn't seem to have general release - boo hoo. Please let it be shown in Yorkshire.

Book Log 6/2009 - Gale Force

Rachel Caine: Gale Force
#7 in the Weather Wardens series.

I’ve been reading the Weather Warden books for a few years now and each time I think heroine Joanne Baldwin is about to come to the end of her trouble Ms Caine drops her in it again. In fact – it’s becoming a tad predictable. That doesn’t mean to say that this isn’t an enjoyable read. Plot happens. Lots of plot. I tuned pages fast and read this in one sitting. It fairly romps along at a great pace with a fair amount of slick dialogue which occasionally veers a bit towards the chick-lit end of the spectrum, but I can cope. It qualifies as ‘comfort reading.’ Open a Weather Warden book and you know what you’re in for. Maybe that’s not always a good thing, bit it's not always bad, either.

The Weather Wardens have powers over earth, weather (air and water) and fire. For centuries they have been saving mankind quietly by reducing the power in hurricanes, the spread of forest fires and the devastation of earthquakes. Yeah, what we get are the reduced versions. Most Wardens only have one power. Joanne Baldwin has all three, though she still a bit shaky with her earth powers - they’re new. Wardens used to have enslaved Djinn to help them, but the Djinn shook off their slavery a few books ago and are now, at most, independent contractors and, at worst, still mightily pissed off with mankind.

Jo is about to marry her Djinn lover, David, who manifests in human form as just about the hottest male on the planet, but neither the two factions of Djinn nor her fellow Wardens think this particular mixed marriage is a good idea. As far as the New Djinn go it’s a temporary aberration for maybe sixty years max (Jo, after all, is mortal and David is not), but the Old Djinn have got a big problem with it. Not – at it turns out – as big a problem as ‘The Sentinels’, a renegade Warden organisation not above terrorism using antimatter that the supposedly all-powerful Djinn can’t even detect. So Jo and her fellow wardens have a problem and what better place to set a trap than the wedding of the year (or millennium, come to that).

But my big grouch is that this is only half a book. By the end of it we’ve discovered who’s behind the Sentinels, but not done anything about it. It’s not a cliffhanger ending, but it has lots of loose threads and firmly pushes you towards the next book in the series. I know this is great business, Ms Caine, but just for once can we have a happy-ever-after? Please.

Also after seven books a heroine who cares almost as much for her fast car and her Manolo Blahniks (horribly uncomfortable looking designer shoes for the uninitiated) as she does for saving the world can get a bit samey. It was cute in the first couple of books, but by now I would have thought Jo might have got her priorities sorted out after several major battles.

I sound as if I didn’t enjoy this book, that’s not the case, but I do have a caveat: it’s not for people who have not read all the previous Weather Warden books. If you’ve enjoyed the others, odds-on this is for you.

Book Log 6/2009 - Gale Force

Rachel Caine: Gale Force
#7 in the Weather Wardens series.

I’ve been reading the Weather Warden books for a few years now and each time I think heroine Joanne Baldwin is about to come to the end of her trouble Ms Caine drops her in it again. In fact – it’s becoming a tad predictable. That doesn’t mean to say that this isn’t an enjoyable read. Plot happens. Lots of plot. I tuned pages fast and read this in one sitting. It fairly romps along at a great pace with a fair amount of slick dialogue which occasionally veers a bit towards the chick-lit end of the spectrum, but I can cope. It qualifies as ‘comfort reading.’ Open a Weather Warden book and you know what you’re in for. Maybe that’s not always a good thing, bit it's not always bad, either.

The Weather Wardens have powers over earth, weather (air and water) and fire. For centuries they have been saving mankind quietly by reducing the power in hurricanes, the spread of forest fires and the devastation of earthquakes. Yeah, what we get are the reduced versions. Most Wardens only have one power. Joanne Baldwin has all three, though she still a bit shaky with her earth powers - they’re new. Wardens used to have enslaved Djinn to help them, but the Djinn shook off their slavery a few books ago and are now, at most, independent contractors and, at worst, still mightily pissed off with mankind.

Jo is about to marry her Djinn lover, David, who manifests in human form as just about the hottest male on the planet, but neither the two factions of Djinn nor her fellow Wardens think this particular mixed marriage is a good idea. As far as the New Djinn go it’s a temporary aberration for maybe sixty years max (Jo, after all, is mortal and David is not), but the Old Djinn have got a big problem with it. Not – at it turns out – as big a problem as ‘The Sentinels’, a renegade Warden organisation not above terrorism using antimatter that the supposedly all-powerful Djinn can’t even detect. So Jo and her fellow wardens have a problem and what better place to set a trap than the wedding of the year (or millennium, come to that).

But my big grouch is that this is only half a book. By the end of it we’ve discovered who’s behind the Sentinels, but not done anything about it. It’s not a cliffhanger ending, but it has lots of loose threads and firmly pushes you towards the next book in the series. I know this is great business, Ms Caine, but just for once can we have a happy-ever-after? Please.

Also after seven books a heroine who cares almost as much for her fast car and her Manolo Blahniks (horribly uncomfortable looking designer shoes for the uninitiated) as she does for saving the world can get a bit samey. It was cute in the first couple of books, but by now I would have thought Jo might have got her priorities sorted out after several major battles.

I sound as if I didn’t enjoy this book, that’s not the case, but I do have a caveat: it’s not for people who have not read all the previous Weather Warden books. If you’ve enjoyed the others, odds-on this is for you.

Book Log 7/2009 - Legacy - Sharing Knife #2

Lois McMaster Bujold: Legacy
Sharing Knife # 2

The continuing adventures of Lakewalker, Dag Redwing Hickory and his ‘farmer’ wife Fawn Bluefeld, following on directly from the events in ‘Beguilement’ which ended with Dag and Fawn’s wedding at the Bluefeld farm, having more or less overcome her family’s objections. Now they’re off to face Dag’s family which is going to be a much more difficult sell because the Lakewalkers think they’re a cut above, magically, that is, and that the rest of the world – farmers whether they farm or not – are a bunch of ignorant ingrates.

Lakewalkers can sense ‘grounds,’ that’s life-energy to you and me, and they are dedicated to killing ‘malices’ – power-hungry entities that pop up out of the ground, and blight everything around – including people. Only Lakewalker magic can kill a malice, they’re immortal and immune to everything but specially prepared bone knives imbued with mortality. Nothing is more important to Lakewalkers than this duty and their whole way of life is dedicated to supporting their patrollers. It’s a tight knit little community that Fawn walks into – hoping she can impress Dag’s harridan mother. She doesn’t and neither does Dag who, it seems, is the son who can’t do anything right. Dag’s brother Dar is as much of a problem as his mother. Luckily there are one or two patrollers that Fawn met in ‘Beguilement’ who, while not openly accepting of their marriage, are not hostile to Fawn and so the couple settle down to married life with the threat of an investigation into the validity of the marriage.

Dag shows his mettle, grows in talents and, in saving others, manages to get himself into malice trouble again. Only with Fawn’s help does he get out of it, but despite proving herself over and over again, she’s never going to be able to make Yorkshire Puddings like Mother makes. Dag solves the problem in his own way which lead them nicely forward to the much anticipated third book in the series, ‘Passage.’

Everything I said about the first book in The Sharing Knife sequence stands here. Well-written, well-rounded characters and if the plot is less than action-packed, the dramatic tension remains high. We learn more about Dag, his first marriage, and some of the reasons why he never followed through and became a captain, despite that being his obvious destiny in his younger days and one of his obvious talents. The fact that he cares so much about others is one of the appealing things about him. Dag doesn’t – in any way - consider himself above farmers. Dag and Fawn are an engaging couple deliberately mismatched for extra interest and cultural misunderstandings.

If you’re looking for the kind of pace Miles Vorkosigan keeps up, you may need to look elsewhere, but this series is on a par with Bujold’s Chalion novels for character and interest. Her writing never disappoints, whatever the style.

Book Log 7/2009 - Legacy - Sharing Knife #2

Lois McMaster Bujold: Legacy
Sharing Knife # 2

The continuing adventures of Lakewalker, Dag Redwing Hickory and his ‘farmer’ wife Fawn Bluefeld, following on directly from the events in ‘Beguilement’ which ended with Dag and Fawn’s wedding at the Bluefeld farm, having more or less overcome her family’s objections. Now they’re off to face Dag’s family which is going to be a much more difficult sell because the Lakewalkers think they’re a cut above, magically, that is, and that the rest of the world – farmers whether they farm or not – are a bunch of ignorant ingrates.

Lakewalkers can sense ‘grounds,’ that’s life-energy to you and me, and they are dedicated to killing ‘malices’ – power-hungry entities that pop up out of the ground, and blight everything around – including people. Only Lakewalker magic can kill a malice, they’re immortal and immune to everything but specially prepared bone knives imbued with mortality. Nothing is more important to Lakewalkers than this duty and their whole way of life is dedicated to supporting their patrollers. It’s a tight knit little community that Fawn walks into – hoping she can impress Dag’s harridan mother. She doesn’t and neither does Dag who, it seems, is the son who can’t do anything right. Dag’s brother Dar is as much of a problem as his mother. Luckily there are one or two patrollers that Fawn met in ‘Beguilement’ who, while not openly accepting of their marriage, are not hostile to Fawn and so the couple settle down to married life with the threat of an investigation into the validity of the marriage.

Dag shows his mettle, grows in talents and, in saving others, manages to get himself into malice trouble again. Only with Fawn’s help does he get out of it, but despite proving herself over and over again, she’s never going to be able to make Yorkshire Puddings like Mother makes. Dag solves the problem in his own way which lead them nicely forward to the much anticipated third book in the series, ‘Passage.’

Everything I said about the first book in The Sharing Knife sequence stands here. Well-written, well-rounded characters and if the plot is less than action-packed, the dramatic tension remains high. We learn more about Dag, his first marriage, and some of the reasons why he never followed through and became a captain, despite that being his obvious destiny in his younger days and one of his obvious talents. The fact that he cares so much about others is one of the appealing things about him. Dag doesn’t – in any way - consider himself above farmers. Dag and Fawn are an engaging couple deliberately mismatched for extra interest and cultural misunderstandings.

If you’re looking for the kind of pace Miles Vorkosigan keeps up, you may need to look elsewhere, but this series is on a par with Bujold’s Chalion novels for character and interest. Her writing never disappoints, whatever the style.