Fiction log - July 2011

Fiction books
James D Macdonald, Debra Doyle. The Confessions of Peter Crossman
Charles Stross. The Fuller Memorandum
Ursula Vernon. Digger Volume Six

Non-fiction books
(none)

( short, screen, and stage )

( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
David A MacIntee. First Frontier

(no subject)

Boy, I'm behind on LJ posting.

It's not just that it's taken me a week to do this month's fiction log; Swancon was in April, and not only haven't I done a report, I haven't even done the usual "I guess I won't be doing a report this year" post.

Other things I haven't mentioned:

* The Rep Club's latest production, which we've been rehearsing since April, and which opened on Thursday.
* The Rep Club's next production, which will mark the Club's 80th birthday, and will be directed by a professional director, Ray Omodei, who used to be a member of the Club many years ago (though not, I think, quite 80).
* Recent developments at the Toastmaster's Club
* A week of theatrical workshops I recently attended

(no subject)

My default screen version of The Wizard of Oz, even ahead of the famous 1939 movie, is an animated series that used to be on just before I went to school, which adapted not only the original novel but three of the sequels.

In the course of an Oz-related project I've been engaged in recently, I've been doing some reading about it. It turns out that it was actually a Japanese anime, but the company that did the English dub also redid the opening and closing titles to make it not look foreign.

It also turns out that the episodes of the English-language version are being streamed in rotation on the distributor's web site - and the episodes currently available are the first five of the series.

It holds up quite well so far. The animation is a bit less smooth than I remember, and the dialogue rather more than a bit less smooth (I note with suspicion the presence of an Educational Consultant in the end credits), but I'm enjoying it. I think I might have suspected it of being anime if I hadn't already known; some of the character designs have that look about them, and there's a very characteristic facial expression some of the characters get when they smile.

If you're interested in watching it too, and you're particular about beginning at the beginning, give it a look soon; I'm not sure precisely when they'll switch to the next set of episodes, but this set have been up nearly a week, so I suspect it won't be long.