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Fair use at risk in the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
So, my problem with The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t so much the politics (esp. the silly “I don’t want to add a new kind of four-megaton atomic bomb to the atomic arsenal, so I will deny the world clean energy!” schtick). It was the treatment of the stock fraud. Even those folks who just lost $400 million are getting the chance to unwind some of the trades, and they legit made those trades even if that was a software problem. I’m pretty sure that trades carried out by force and fraud can be unwound, even if that required litigation in some cases. Here’s an extra line that would have helped: “We’re working on it, Bruce, and it should be resolved in a few days, but for now your major accounts are frozen.” Then all hell breaks loose and it’s never fixed. But no, they had to go for the cheap laughs of the towed car and the cut electricity—because the power company totally knows when you’re out of money and cuts you off before the next bill is due!
Kristen Cashore, Graceling: Katsa’s Grace (supernatural ability, limited to certain people who are identifiable by their different-colored eyes) is incredible fighting ability, so she’s used as a weapon of terror by her uncle, the king of one of seven related kingdoms. She’s also secretly working for the Council, a group she created to do good where she could. When she rescues a kidnapped man and encounters a Graced man who’s almost as good a fighter as she is, her life starts to change. Katsa’s struggle with control, and her disgust for her own violence even as it is a useful tool both for her goals and for others’, is compelling, and there was a spoilery plot twist that complicated her original account of the way the world worked in a way I found really interesting. And I liked the romance!
George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons: I’m in a weird place with these books, because I no longer really like the grimdark crapsack world thing, but I’m invested in some of these characters, so I read on, cringing. I couldn’t believe that [spoiler] apparently died (and with Martin, appearances may well be reality, though we didn’t see the whole thing, so I live in hope) while [spoiler] is still alive! Also, I am inordinately fond of the several-times-used trope in which one character makes decisions based on the belief that another character is someplace/is with someone in particular and in fact is completely wrong about that other character’s situation, just because communications are so bad. Cellphones: not just useful for Romeo and Juliet! Anyway, yes, if he lives long enough to write another book, I will read it.
So, my problem with The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t so much the politics (esp. the silly “I don’t want to add a new kind of four-megaton atomic bomb to the atomic arsenal, so I will deny the world clean energy!” schtick). It was the treatment of the stock fraud. Even those folks who just lost $400 million are getting the chance to unwind some of the trades, and they legit made those trades even if that was a software problem. I’m pretty sure that trades carried out by force and fraud can be unwound, even if that required litigation in some cases. Here’s an extra line that would have helped: “We’re working on it, Bruce, and it should be resolved in a few days, but for now your major accounts are frozen.” Then all hell breaks loose and it’s never fixed. But no, they had to go for the cheap laughs of the towed car and the cut electricity—because the power company totally knows when you’re out of money and cuts you off before the next bill is due!
Kristen Cashore, Graceling: Katsa’s Grace (supernatural ability, limited to certain people who are identifiable by their different-colored eyes) is incredible fighting ability, so she’s used as a weapon of terror by her uncle, the king of one of seven related kingdoms. She’s also secretly working for the Council, a group she created to do good where she could. When she rescues a kidnapped man and encounters a Graced man who’s almost as good a fighter as she is, her life starts to change. Katsa’s struggle with control, and her disgust for her own violence even as it is a useful tool both for her goals and for others’, is compelling, and there was a spoilery plot twist that complicated her original account of the way the world worked in a way I found really interesting. And I liked the romance!
George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons: I’m in a weird place with these books, because I no longer really like the grimdark crapsack world thing, but I’m invested in some of these characters, so I read on, cringing. I couldn’t believe that [spoiler] apparently died (and with Martin, appearances may well be reality, though we didn’t see the whole thing, so I live in hope) while [spoiler] is still alive! Also, I am inordinately fond of the several-times-used trope in which one character makes decisions based on the belief that another character is someplace/is with someone in particular and in fact is completely wrong about that other character’s situation, just because communications are so bad. Cellphones: not just useful for Romeo and Juliet! Anyway, yes, if he lives long enough to write another book, I will read it.
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As much as I loved Graceling, though, Fire made me feel things and think things so hard that I still tear up during Certain Scenes on my bajillionth re-read. And Bitterblue, the end of the trilogy that just came out, is probably one of the most important books I've read in years. I spent three solid hours babbling half-in-tears at my Very Patient partner after reading that book. Holy shit.
(Sorry, I just have, like, all the feelings about those three books. I'll stop now.)