Links and Stuff
This week, I play with mirrors, pick up birds, and get lost in translation. But first, it’s March already, my birthday month (search the blog to find out exactly when–I’m sure I mentioned it somewhere)! It’s the month spring begins and the clocks change (at least for those who participate in such things). Time has flown, and speaking of flying, let’s dive straight into this week’s…
Legend of Zelda Update
I continued my journey through “Wind Waker,” guided by SecondBorn, by tackling the third of the four temples/dungeons: The Earth Temple. This was the first time in the game I’d had to solicit help from another character, namely Medli. She’s a Rito, and hence has a beak and is able to sprout wings and fly. With Medli on my shoulders, she can fly me places, which came in very handy in the Earth Temple. The item I acquired that I needed to complete the temple was a mirror shield. Many of the puzzles in the temple depend on finding light sources and reflecting light. Medli has a mirror, so on occasion I needed to position her in such a way that light bounced from her to me, then from me to wherever the light needed to go.
There were some nasty bad guys in this temple, but the final Boss battle caught me a bit off guard. It involved fighting a giant spirit, or “Poe,” called Jalhalla, whose translucent form would make me giddy if it landed on me, causing me to run into giant spikes that circled the walls of his lair. The only way to fight him was to make him tangible, which I could only do by… yes, shining light on him. I could then pick him up and throw him against the spikes, which caused him to break apart. The trick then was to try to destroy the parts before he pulled himself together again. I watched FourthBorn do this battle a few days before, and she sailed through it in minutes. “Can’t be too bad,” I thought. Ha! It took me a lot longer, and cost me a lot of life energy before I finally defeated him. It didn’t help that after the first few rounds, the light source kept moving, so I was having to dodge out of Jalhalla’s way while looking for the light.
After my performance in that skirmish, SecondBorn doesn’t hold out much hope for me surviving the last temple and the final battle with Ganon. We shall see…
Other Stuff
It seems Barnes and Noble is planning to open hybrid stores that incorporate elements of both the brick and mortar and the online experience. The Publishers Weekly article didn’t go into a lot of detail, so I’m not exactly sure how they intend to blend physical and digital. They already offer free wi-fi throughout their stores, so I’m not sure what other “digital” things they could provide. I read that Amazon are opening some brick-and-mortars that will offer things like the ability to have your purchases shipped for free to a store for pickup. I don’t recall if B&N already do something like that. I guess we’ll have to wait and see for the details.
I’ve also been reading positive news about paper book sales that indicate people are far from going totally digital. Publishers are reporting good sales figures, which is great news for regular bookstores. Sure, Amazon can ship books to you, but as long as people want the physical product, brick-and-mortars can couple that with an atmosphere: coffee, chairs, book signings, readings, and events.
Someone posted this link on Twitter to an article about book translation. I’m sure my lack of fluency in a modern language puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to non-English authors, so I was very interested in this article. Whenever I read Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, I wonder if I’m getting the original author’s voice, or the translator’s. I trust the translator is accurately communicating the author’s intent, but is it possible to convey the nuance and texture of the original language in a foreign translation? I’m not sure the article answers that question, but it’s a fascinating read, anyway.
This week I finished reading COP TOWN by Karin Slaughter. Those of you who read my Bouchercon articles last October will know I saw Karin on one of the panels, and got to meet her briefly afterwards. She was one of the best panelists of the event, I think, which does dispose me to want to read her books. COP TOWN is essentially the story of two female police officers in Atlanta in 1974. One of the cops is a rookie, the other has been on the force for a few years, and both her uncle and brother are police officers. Together these ladies have to deal with the sexism, racism, and inefficiencies that surrounded police work in the mid-1970s, while helping to hunt down a cop killer. It’s not a comfortable read. Karin doesn’t glory in sex and blood, but she tells it like it is (or was, in this case). There’s profanity, adult themes, and violence, but if you can handle that, it’s a good read. I particularly appreciated the way Karin managed to conjure the atmosphere of 1970s Atlanta. That must have taken some research. Four out of five Goodreads stars.
And finally for this week, a quick A-to-Z 2016 Blogging Challenge update: I have written all 26 of my articles! Now I’m itching to share them with you… but that’ll have to wait until April. Look out for my theme reveal later in the month.
How has your week been? Anything interesting to share? Any thoughts on the above? Zelda tips?
Colin, I knew you had reviewed Cop Town as I saw you reference it when I was on page 8. So I had to wait till I finished it before I could check out your review. No spoilers as it turned out, so I guess I could’ve stopped by earlier.
I’m sure if I had met her on a panel (gosh, I envy you Bouchercon!), I would be pre-disposed to like her too. As it is, I didn’t meet her and I was disappointed in the book. You’re right that it was difficult to read some parts. The blatant racism was particularly bothersome to me as was the sexism and homophobia. Obviously I wasn’t in Atlanta in 1974, so I can’t judge the accuracy but I have to think and hope that it was exaggerated. It was just so heavy that it made the entire read too unenjoyable for me.
I did enjoy reading it to discover how she successfully did certain things, so I appreciated the fact that she writes well, sets up her plot and characters well and delivers the story. She did a good job of painting the main characters. But the ultimate cop killer could have been any of a number of people so there wasn’t much opportunity to figure that out as you went along.
Anyway, always enjoy reading you whether it’s here or at Janet’s blog — especially at Janet’s blog where your wit and storytelling rise so high. You’ve been on a flash fiction roll of late, my friend! Keep that going — it’s hard!
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, John. It must be really hard to write this kind of book, where the culture is so pervasively racist and sexist. For honesty, you have to write it like it is, and I’m sure Karin didn’t enjoy that aspect of it. However, I liked that her main characters managed to rise above it. Difficult reading, though, certainly.