Thursday, January 01, 2009

Happy New Year

Last night was a very sedate evening. Jennifer and I watched three episodes of the original Twilight Zone, and two episodes of the original Star Trek. On TZ we saw Art Carney become Santa Claus, Agnes Moorhead repel tiny invaders, and Robert Redford as Death. On ST we saw one of my favorite episodes, "A Piece of the Action". Seeing Kirk and eventually Spock talk like '20s gangsters becomes hilarious, as is Kirk driving a manual transmission.

Then we played "Life" and "Perplexcity". Jennifer beat me good at "Life", and I ran the board in one turn on "Perplexcity" which is like "Trivial Pursuit". All the while listening to classic rock on satellite.

And then I tried to read Paul of Dune. I've stopped after four of the little chapters that Herbert and Anderson write. All I can think as I'm reading this is "Where's the tension?" I've read all of the Dune books so far, including the originals, and so I know what's going to happen. I just can't bring myself to care what happened one year after the fall of Emperor Shaddam IV, when I know in a few years Paul and Chani's son Leto will be born. And then Children of Dune and the rest will take off.

I enjoyed the two prequel trilogies, and the wrap up of the series, but I think it's time for Brian Herbert to let his father's legacy lie now. Move on and write your own stuff.

And so on this first day of 2009, I pledge to finish Serenity Found and Jumper, and then I'm going to re-read my Roger Zelazny.

I shall also endeavor to post every day.

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