Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Craptain's blog: supplemental

This is going to sound old and persnickety, but doesn't anyone proofread books anymore? The last few times I've bought a new release there have been several typos in it that I just wouldn't expect to see in a professional publication. Doesn't that piss off the author? Or is it the author's fault? (I can just picture a book signing event with some overzealous fan: "Loved your book, but man - that use of 'here' instead of 'hear' on page 22?! What's up with that? No one even re-read the FIRST CHAPTER before it went to print? Weak! Don't even sign it.")

Speaking of books, I just started The Time Traveler's Wife and I hate to seem like I'm jumping on the bandwagon of "they made it into a movie so now it's cool" but I will jump on the bandwagon of "It was a good price and made my order qualify for free shipping on Amazon." I'll probably end up seeing the movie in about 2-3 years, unless I strongly love or hate the book. Most of the time I have a thing about waiting for the hubbub to die down about something before I watch or read it, but then I end up forgetting about it and/or missing the window of caring (i.e. Titanic. Yep, sorry - no one would shut up about it and it's way too late now.) My mom can't BELIEVE that I haven't watched Grey's Anatomy nor have I read anything by Jodi Picoult or Barbara Kingsolver. Eh. Trying to be rebellious, I guess.

There are definite advantages of watching shows after a decent amount of time has passed though. A good example is Battlestar Galactica. Oh my GODS, I'm frakkin' hooked on that show! (Just started Season 3 - no spoilers please!) But if I had to wait an entire week for the next episode or deal with those end of the season cliffhangers I'd go batty. For a while there I avoided science fiction because it tended to make me think about things that would send me into an existential crisis/death freakout/headache. But we've been on a Sci-Fi kick (and don't you hate that the SciFi channel is Syfy now? Ew.) at our house this summer with watching the entire Deep Space Nine series and also working on The Next Generation AND some of the Star Trek movies (though we of course haven't seen the new one yet) and now BSG. Wow - we're a couple pasty lookin' geeks over here, but it's fun.

So I've really not been making the most of the summer weather, but that's not to say I don't enjoy it. The outdoors never feels so nice as when I'm leaving work for the day. When I shut off the florescent lights and step out of the chilly recirculated office air and into the warmth of natural light, it's wonderful. I get in my car and - if it's not unbearably humid - I soak up the heat that's been captured inside and get all happy-sleepy, like some kind of reptile. (And once I've passed through the hood, I can put the windows down and enjoy the breeze.) Just let it stay in the 70s for a nice long time...

5 comments:

Swistle said...

1. Paul and the two older boys started watching Star Trek JUST AS I CLICKED TO YOUR BLOG. It was at the part where he said "Captain's log."

2. The proofreading thing makes me crazy too, with that same mix of criticism and empathy. I read a book awhile ago where they GOT SOMEONE'S NAME WRONG all through the book. He had a name like Gordon Warren or something, and sometimes they called him Gordon Warren and sometimes Warren Gordon and sometimes Gordon and sometimes Warren, and I COULD NOT BELIEVE this had been allowed to happen. I wanted someone to blame.

3. I like to wait, too. With TV shows, I like to wait to watch them until they're over. It does lead to the problem of no one wanting to talk about it with me (and People magazine no longer doing lots of photos of the hotties I'm now finally drooling over), but it's a worthwhile trade-off for getting to watch it all the way through.

4. I like Jodi Picoult, except for the one about the Amish girl who gives birth, which had an ending SO STUPID AND AWFUL I flung the book across the book and have not forgiven it EVEN TO THIS DAY.

5. The fact that SciFi is now SyFy has caused me to lose ALL RESPECT FOR SCIENCE FICTION. Well, SOME respect. How could this have been allowed to happen?

Swistle said...

You know how I was saying that thing about proofreading? NEVER MIND.

And what I meant, of course, was that I flung the book across the ROOM. Sigh. But see? I CAUGHT IT. And this is not even IN PRINT.

Anonymous said...

I read that Time Traveler book shortly after it first came out, because, you know, it sounded like it would be GOOD, after all the fab reviews. I mean, it was about Chicago and they were artists and librarians and still it managed to annoy me to no end. I HATED it. I don't think I'll be seeing the movie. Still, I would be interested in seeing how you like it. (Don't mind me, I'm just cranky.) I read the first Kingslover too (on someone's recommendation) and didn't care for that, either. I guess I'll just stick with my histories and biographies. Bah. Humbug.

My new late afternoon must see teevee is 'Bones.' How did I not know about this show? It's like CSI, but while it's perhaps even grosser in many ways, it's still more enjoyable. And yeah, SyFy is stupid.

~ Peggasus

Nervous said...

Swistle:
1. Dude, awesome.
2. That's ridiculous and unacceptable!
3. There are a handful of shows that I watch "in real time" otherwise, I'm pretty behind the times (even worse with movies). It's hard to avoid reading about Mad Men and True Blood these days, and I do probably want to check them out... eventually.
4. Ha! I will watch out for that one. I always enjoy your book reviews, btw.
5. Just wrong.
6. You rule. :)

Peggasus: Yeah, I'm not that far into the book so it's still iffy at this point, but I'll probably do a follow up. And hey, cranky is fine - is it about time for the return of basta!?

Blush said...

lol i find myself proofreading my small town shitty newspaper and finding gross mistakes in grammar and spelling. drives me crazy!