Two things No Award loves: squids and literature. So, of course, we combined them!
Author: Liz Barr
Words written. Opinions expressed.
No Award reads books (over and over again)
One of the things we hear a lot from the YA and Middle Grade authors of our acquaintance is that one of the best things about writing for young people is that they don’t just read a book once. They’ll revisit it again and again, and their reactions to it change as they grow.
It’s been a while since we were part of the young reader demograp
hic, but we still have favourite books or series that we reread — and also works that we used to reread, but have now moved on from. Let’s talk about some of those books…
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Hugos 2016: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Uprooted is one of those hugely popular books that just left me … cold.
It won the Nebula. Lots of my friends loved it. (A handful disliked it, or liked it with reservations, reasons for which I’ll discuss below.)
I found it hugely derivative, with an unpleasant hero and more rape attempts and general rapeyness than the book actually needed. (Content warning ahead.)
all that glitters is linkspam
Psychic Snail Sex Couldn’t Replace the Telegraph, But One Frenchman Sure Tried
…wait, what?
Benoît and Biat had determined that snails, once mated, remained not only monogamous but, through the exchange of “sympathetic fluids,” bound in a lifelong telepathic bond. Poke a snail with an electrical current in one location, they decided, and its partner, however distant, would react in kind as a result of a phenomenon they termed “escargotic commotion.” By placing a letter next to each snail, this evolutionary loophole could be exploited to transmit messages at the speed of thought, across any distance.
SCIENCE*
* Not really.
Abigail Nussbaum has a roundup of the curiously muted critiques of Captain America: Civil War.
Suburbs in the Sky: High‑rise commission flats and the Melbourne imagination – a little piece on gentrification and class in Melbourne’s inner north
THE GREATEST ARTICLE ON MEDIUM EVER: I Am A Cyclist, And I Am Here To Fuck You Up
Here’s how I’m doing it: I am squeezing between your passenger side door and the curb. I am riding a hill slower than you would like me to. I am taking a second to gain momentum at the stop sign. I am doing all of this on purpose, to make you hit me, so you will be late again and it will be my fault. That is my goal, dream, purpose, the thing for which I was thrust from the womb and into this blinding sunlit world. I will only be happy when my bones are ground to dust in the road and my flesh has adhered to the asphalt and you are late for your 9:00 Meeting with the Board.
GLORIOUS, thanks to Friend of No Award Rivqa for making sure Steph saw this very important article.
OMG: Astronomers crack the secret of this gorgeous poem by Sappho
This is a super interesting piece on a state of transience enforced by our government: Noncitizens Down Under: How Migrant Belonging is Changing in a Nation of Immigrants
Plagiarism in the productivity community (I LOVE THE INTERNET): The Case of the Plagiarizing Productivity Pundit
The day we discovered our parents were Russian spies — this one’s for you, fellow Americans fans!
There’s a protest happening right now in Melbourne’s City Square, some updates:
Homeless people camp out in Melbourne’s city square
Conversations with Melbourne’s homeless protesters
Those occupying the space were happy to chat; that is, once I’d assured them that I don’t work for the Herald Sun. They explained that it was an article published in that paper, making unfair and sweeping accusations against Melbourne’s homeless for being aggressive, that was the catalyst for their decision to occupy the Square.
They’re tired of not being respected — a word that came up over and over with everyone I spoke to — as if, because they’re homeless, they have no right to it.
Homeless protesters vow to continue demonstration after authorities break up camp in Melbourne’s CBD
Transportational shenanigans
Melbourne is a wonderful city with an extensive public transport network and traffic infrastructure.
Which means there are plenty of opportunities for things to go hilariously wrong. (“Hilarious” in the sense of there being no serious injuries, we’re not complete monsters.) Here’s a round-up of recent events:
Hugos 2016: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Once again, I’m attempting to read as many Hugo nominated works as I can stomach, review them here, and vote according to merit. Luckily, I have a really good library.
When I was twelve or thirteen, I read 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I didn’t like it. The first two thirds were okay, but then we hit the hallucinatory journey through the monolith, and although I lacked the appropriate vocabulary at the time, I thought it was a load of wank. My reading that year was equal parts Asimov and McCaffrey, and I didn’t have the patience for hallucinogenic metaphysical trips. (Spoilers: I still don’t.)
On the other hand, I adored 2010: Odyssey Two and 2067: Odyssey Three. I read my dad’s copies until they fell apart — there was something reassuring about them, with their spaceships full of multicultural, variously-degrees-of-stereotyped civilians and military officers. They were just simple enough for a young teen to understand, with occasional flashes of complexity that made me feel like I was reading proper literature. I even rented the 2010 film adaptation on VHS (it was my introduction to Helen Mirren, who played the commander of a Soviet space ship).
Which brings us to Seveneves.
(Spooooooilers ahead!)
Things I have learned since breaking my foot
Six weeks ago yesterday, I broke my foot. Suffice to say, it was a learning experience, and the main lesson was, breaking your foot is terrible, don’t do it.
Here are some other things I’ve learned.
(Note: post contains X-rays of feet — I don’t know if anyone else out there has lifelong Issues with foot bones, but we thought we should give a heads-up just in case.)
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No Award goes to the movies: Captain America: Civil War
I’ve been trying to consciously uncouple from the Marvel universe for a few months now, so I was probably the wrong person to see Civil War. Especially because the main reason I’m breaking up with Marvel is that I found myself seeing a movie once, strongly disliking it for its lack of concern for female characters, then seeing it again with my expectations lowered accordingly. I was not only rewarding bad behaviour, but I was paying good money to do so.
(The other reason was the announcement that, while the Australian taxpayer would be funding Thor 3, at the same time, funding for Screen Australia and local stories was being cut.)
All this is to say that I agreed to see Civil War with very low expectations, and then I got spoiled for the plot and lowered them further, and I was still disappointed.
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the value of the lady dollar
If you’re going to release shoes celebrating an iconic female character, you’re probably not even going to stop and wonder if they’ll be available to women. Because that’s a no-brainer, right? Obviously they’ll be marketed to everyone.
Reebok celebrates Ellen Ripley by selling her shoes in men’s sizes only
Tomorrow, When the War Began
Tomorrow, When the War Began is a YA novel (which became a series, which spawned a sequel trilogy) about a group of teens who are off camping in the bush when Australia gets invaded over a long weekend/show weekend, and what they have to do when they find themselves suddenly living in a warzone.
In 2010 it was adapted as a movie; it has just begun showing on ABC3 as a six part series, presumably just adapting the first book.
We’re gonna review ALL SIX EPISODES, with weekly updates. Starting here, where we discuss our complicated history with the world constructed in Tomorrow, racism, and the importance of fire safety.
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