Kyoshi

congrats on the deal. i'm very sorry about your father.

I'm finding the conversation very interesting because I've always wondered how it gets decided that movies are impactful/audiences actually connect with them, because I must be one of few people who were genuinely waiting for this film. My whole family, in fact. We've already had repeat watches because we genuinely enjoy the franchise, can connect with the strong environmental themes, and are eagerly awaiting the so-called Ash people rumoured for Avatar 3. This isn't directed at you, but I personally find most of the criticism against the franchise rather lazy, like one guy made a bunch of bullet points against it and now everyone just sort of picks from that list to argue why the movies are "bad." Stuff like "can you even name the main character at the top of your head?" The answer doesn't matter IMHO. My favourite book of all time is "The Remains of the Day" and I kid you not when I say I couldn't name the main character two weeks after putting it down. Bit it still remains the most profound story I've ever read. I guess what I'm trying to say, in a roundabout way, is that people might simply enjoy the franchise. At least enough to explain the ridiculous box office numbers. The story is "simple," sure enough, but some things, IMHO, are allowed to be. I'm South African, my history dictates that I NOT have to imagine overly complex motivations for human cruelty. Humans are shit, for the most part. Especially when you factor in capitalism. A lot of mines and petroleum companies STILL have to be bullied into prioritising human life and the environment over money. Just a year ago (IIRC) the Wild Coast was in danger from Shell. There's nothing complex about that. If someone wrote that story, it really would be that straightforward. So I guess the "it's too simple" argument kind of baffles me.

Thank you so much!

The international booker noms are out apparently. But every link I clicked wanted cookies or something, and I feel I've given enough cookies for one lifetime. Maybe in my next life.

... and this is why I'm staring a #ReleaseTheNamiAndWeiCut campaign.

i also wanted more prax, but more just because i really liked the character, i didn't care if he would add anything to the series. i just wanted a "keeping up" sort of thing. "where are they now?" same with avasarala's family. at least one throwaway line about how her descendants are doing. i think if kit's chapters went to mei and nami, i might have actually cared more for them, as opposed to slogging through just because i understand that something huge will result from them. maybe establish that kit is living on that other world through convos on the ship and that would be enough to justify alex leaving sol; also establish alex hasn't kept in touch with kit, build up the guilt throughout the book until at the end he has no choice but to follow his son, even though we never meet kit so to speak. imho we really didn't need kit's chapters. mei and nami forever woohoo!

Like everyone, I struggled through the beginning (new characters I didn't particularly care about because they didn't get as emotional an introduction as Maneo, Fillip, Prax, etc.; and not really knowing what the primary goal for most characters was from the beginning) ... but once it got going, it was really amazing. I loved the ending a lot. But I also felt really sad for Amos. Everyone he knows eventually dies. The one complaint I had was that I was really hoping for a Fillip chapter (keeping fingers crossed that one of the novellas/short stories will address this). And maybe a Prax chapter to kind of tell us how the inner planets (relative to the gates) experienced this whole thing, the same way Amos gave us insight after the Free Navy attacked Earth. I can't believe I have to wait for March to get the complete short story/novella compilation.

Those who qualify: https://commonwealthfoundation.com/commonwealth-short-story-prize/ the deadline is 01 November.

Ah! Makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the clarification.

I don't know how to check book sales and so forth, but the tweet has gone unchallenged. And maybe this says more about me and my ignorance, but I'd never heard about him until yesterday when he was announced as the winner.

Bittersweet for sure. Unless they try to be (extra) edgy next year by giving it to him anyway (crossing my fingers). Just saw on twitter Abdulrazak Gurnah has sold only 3000 copies of his books worldwide, combined.* The Swedish Academy is sketchy for sure, but I can't say I'm not also really happy about this one. *of course one has to take into account the accuracy of twitter claims.

another vote for the first one.

Just checked and from what I can see on wiki, I got the standard order this time. My Volume 1 order was very crazy though, like they were just throwing everything at me randomly. Didn't even think there might be different orders until I came to this thread, then I felt like I was in one of the episodes.

Just kind of stumbled onto this on Netflix, meaning I've just binged everything. Anyway, I'm sure I'm being profiled because my Volume 1 Episode 1 was Three Robots, and my Volume 2 Episode 1 was Automated Customer Service. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

congratulations! all the best going forward.