Discworld and Deus ex Machinas

Discworld and Deus Ex Machinas; Foreshadowed DEM are still DEM.

So I’ve been reading, well more like re-reading, some of my old Discworld novels recently (ny Terry Pratchett), and something hit me as I reached the book that stopped the manner in which I’ve read them, the onslaught, the flood. The book was Making Money, the second Moist von Lipwig book.
The fact that I’ve read that book reasonably recently probably also had a part in it, as my memory of it was still pretty fresh. But the issue that came up in this book is one that had come up in other Discworld books as well, in a manner at least, but it is in another iteration what makes up for Discworld’s “charm”. The issue is that of Deus Ex Machinas, so to speak.

Discworld books often have iterations and re-iterations of things. We have a specific issue crop up time and time again in a book, and that is part of what makes it “Funny”. Scare-quote funny in parts, genuinely funny in others. Anyway, it is the repetition that gives things power, as we either get the same idea across time and time again in the same manner, or with subtle changes.
The idea that comes up, or the sentence, in The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, for instance was “He  could to take down a dog,” which is usually applies to rats, so it’s quite some feat. At a certain point in the book we’re told that X was strong enough to take down a dog, but Y was strong/mad enough to take down a wolf. And let me tell you, after we read the same sentence time and time again, in the context that this was posted, it made me all teary-eyed. It hit hard, the way that it was changed.

Media Month in Review – October 2009.

So, it’s time to cover what-all I’ve watched/read during the month of October. I’ve went to Icon 2009, the largest Israeli convention of the year, which might get a post of its own. I’ve also begun my third and final year of my B.A., which had been helpful in reading more books.

I am considering every so often perhaps making a post where I give one paragraph to several movies/books I don’t want to talk about at length, but want to give more than a sentence. Opine below.

Uninhibited Media Consumption? Click picture for source.

Read on for my media consumption of lastmonth, which had been quite significant, though I’m not sure if as significant as the spending list. Then again, buying takes less time than consuming what one buys!

August Purchases

So, time to speak of what I purchased, pre-ordered and/or received during August, eh?

RPGs:

•  Bloodstained Stars Limited edition pre-order plus patch arrive in mail.

Miniatures:

• Formula P3 Basic painting techniques DVD arrives in mail.
• No Quarter magazine #25 arrives.
• No Quarter magazine #26 ordered at 15% discount.
• Dingy plastic colour-mixing palette purchased.
• Odor-less turpentine for varnish removal purchased.
• Flesh and Armor washes from P3 ordered. Badab Black and Devlun Mud washes from Citadel ordered. 15% discount.

Books:

• Eisenhorn omnibus arrives.
• Wheel of Time book 8: The Path of Daggers, purchased (not like I could finish book 7 and continue onward otherwise, y’know?).
• Dengeki Hime magazine with Komaki Aika figure arrives (not really a book, but..)
• About $80’s worth of Philosophy books and articles (Kant, Hobbes, Rousseau, etc.) purchased.

Figures:

• Neliel tu Oderschvanck figure by Banpresto arrives.
• Evangelion XXnano figures of Sachiel and Lilith (mini-Rei!) , arrive from Bluedrakon.
• Ymir from Queen’s Blade 1/7 by Griffon arrive from Bluedrakon.
• Shuraki Trinity Box 5 – Rize (1/8) by Good Smile Company arrives, along with Drama CD and art booklet. Spectacular (technically I only got it away from the hands of the customs on September 1st).

Others:

• Gave the comic store old comics for $95 in credit.
• Hyuga Hinata enamel key-chain, for the cute factor.

Conclusion: Month ended with me having some money in the bank. Submitted a resume today somewhere.

My Room, July 2009.

For the Otacool contest ran by DannyChoo, I took some pictures of my room as it looked during July 2009. I actually have pictures of my room from various states of dis-array for at least three and a half years, but here I’ll show you the most recent configuration.

It is I

I think this is a pretty good picture of myself, considering I took it with the camera held at arm’s length. Yes, my beard is red.

Also, before you go further, my room is not messy, it is busy. It’s what you get when you take two rooms’ worth of stuff and stuff them into one room. I know where things are, and aside from my RAM pile, it’s pretty organized, as much as space permits.

Header and Blogroll.

I’m going to postpone the Kannagi post, probably to tomorrow, perhaps to tonight, we’ll see, and instead talk a bit about this blog :)

I’ll begin with the “Blogroll policy”. As you can see, I’ve yet to add a single link to my blogroll, and while I follow several blogs, I don’t link to them yet. This blog isn’t mono-focused on anime, and I fear anime/figure links will overflow.
I am also not always comfortable with a “Link Exchange” as a policy, so I’ll say this simply: If you think my blog is worth linking to it, link to it (and let me know). If I think your blog is worth linking to, I might link to it, I might start another page for the blogroll, we’ll see, and I’ll let you know – without expecting you to recirprocate or getting hurt if you don’t.

Links are an act on the part of the one providing the link; and the “Reciprocacity of Links” makes it feel weird; if you don’t want to link back to me, do I then stop linking to you? Only if you’re a big name like Danny Choo?
I will provide links, I’m undecided on when yet. I think the main site will only link to big and somewhat impersonal pages, with the endless list of blogs getting their own page, where I could also describe the links and categorize them in a manner that will leave me content.

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Anyway, you might notice that my blog has a new header, and it took over 6 hours to get to the final version you see above, so now we’ll discuss its various incarnations and some of the work done on it.

The final header

What I Purchased Recently. Or, I am Poor.

These are the things I’ve purchased over July, ok, the Wave Rei pre-order was today. This is why I am currently poor. The pre-orders are what will keep me poor. There are really nice signed copies of most of Roger Zelazny‘s books on eBay right now, but I’m not bidding. He’s my favourite author.

Figures:

• Yoko Rittona/Littner’s Nendoroid, which had been reviewed.
• Otaku Yuki, which came with Haruhi-chan 3’s limited edition, which had been reviewed.
• Banpresto’s Neliel tu Oderschvanck, not yet received (When I write a review, I’ll tell you what I was thinking…)

RPGs:

• GURPS: Transhuman Space corebook, second hand.
• Messiah Ashcan, second hand.
• Sign in Stranger preview edition, second hand.
• Best Friends, second hand.
• Bloodstained Stars limited ed sourcebook for Burning Empires (technically a pre-order).

Miniatures:

• Epic Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight.
• Epic Supreme Archdomina Makeda.
• Legion of Everblight Blighted Archers, full unit (60% off).
• Blighted Archers’ Unit Attachment (60% off).

Others:

• Tony Taka’s Shining World artbook. Magnificent. Since I dawdled when J-List had it, I ended up paying a pretty penny for it. But it was worth every penny.
• Eisenhorn omnibus.
• Formula P3 Basic miniature painting techniques DVD.
• No Quarter #25 (For the Mk. 1 rules for the Retribution of Scyrah).
• The manga of Haruhi-Chan 3, in Japanese.
• Regular comic haul: New Fullmetal Alchemist manga (volume 19, was great), new Knights of the Dinner Table and Hellblazer (which I finally cut off).

Pre-ordered:

• Rei Ayanami Plugsuit version by Wave (via HLJ) – Late November release.
• Aegis Figma, Persona 3, by Max Factory  (via Hobby Search) – October release.
• Saber Lily Nendoroid, by Good Smile Company (via Hobby Search) – October release.
• Dengeki Hime with Komaki Aika figure – July release, not yet shipped for some reason (via HLJ).