A Lear of the Steppes (The Russians) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: A Lear of the Steppes
Series: (The Russians)
Author: Ivan Turgenev
Translator: Constance Garnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 214
Words: 66K
Publish: 1870

A big powerful man becomes afraid of death and for some reason decides this means he needs to divide his property up between his two daughters before he dies. He has stipulations so he can still live the quality of life he wants. Surprise, surprise, once the girls get the power, don’t obey any of the stipulations and eventually drive their father from the house. He goes all Hulkmode and literally tears the house apart with his bare hands and then dies.

I have not read King Lear. Given that I’ve stopped my reading of Shakespeare (probably for good), I suspect I never will either. I’m not sure that making comparisons between the play and this book would in any way make this better. Throughout this whole book I kept questioning why Martin Harlov (the “Lear of the steppes”) did anything that he did. It made zero sense from beginning to end. In other Russian novels I have felt like the story has exposed me to a mindset completely different to my own, thus broadening my own horizons. Not so in this case. It just felt like Harlov was a complete fool and I cannot abide fools.

I was glad he got his comeuppance at the hands of his terrible daughters. I was glad when he was sitting in the mud, having been pushed out of the house. I was glad when he fell off the roof at the end and died. He deserved every single instance of what he got, because he was a fool. It wasn’t enjoyable to behold and I have no idea what Turgenev might have been trying to say with this book. Maybe that Russian men are fools? That would fit with everything I’ve read so far :-/

Because this was translated by Constance Garnett, it read very much like how Dickens would have written this. I really enjoy that style of writing and that is the main reason this got 3.5stars from me instead of less.

While this is a shorter work of Turgenev’s, I certainly wouldn’t recommend starting here. Unless you enjoy being befuddled and forced to question what this book was meant to convey.

★★★✬☆

From Grokipedia

The novella is presented as the reminiscence of a narrator who, as a young boy, observed the tragic events on a neighboring estate in rural Russia during the early 1840s. Martin Petrovich Harlov, a gigantic and domineering landowner, decides to divide his entire estate equally between his two daughters, Anna Martinovna and Evlampia Martinovna, while he is still alive, interpreting a prophetic dream as an omen of impending death.   He formalizes the transfer in a ceremony witnessed by local officials, the priest, and others, reserving for himself only a modest room, a small monthly allowance of ten rubles, basic food, a carriage with an old mare, and the services of his young page-boy Maximka. Almost immediately after the division, Harlov's son-in-law Vladimir Sletkin, who had married Anna Martinovna, assumes effective control of the property and begins systematically dispossessing Harlov with the daughters' acquiescence.  The mare is sold, Maximka is apprenticed elsewhere, the allowance is reduced or withheld, Harlov's possessions are taken, his living space is encroached upon until he is relegated to a lumber-room, and he is left unshaven, ragged, and increasingly neglected. Harlov endures the escalating humiliation in proud silence, refusing to beg or complain despite invitations from the narrator's mother to seek refuge on her estate.  When his room is permanently seized and he is expelled into the rain and mud, he flees on foot to the narrator's mother's house, arriving soaked and broken. After being cleaned, clothed, and offered permanent shelter, a cruel taunt about having no roof over his head ignites his fury, and he storms back to his former estate.  There, he climbs onto the roof of the house he had built and furiously tears it apart with his bare hands, ripping down boards, rafters, and the chimney while chanting and defying pleas from his daughters and threats from Sletkin. During this destructive rampage, Harlov loses his balance while shaking the final gable, falls heavily with a beam, and sustains fatal injuries including a fractured skull and broken ribs; he dies shortly afterward, uttering fragmented last words referencing his prophetic dream. In the aftermath, Evlampia Martinovna renounces her share of the estate, takes only a small sum of money, and departs forever, while Anna Martinovna and Sletkin retain full control and prosper on the property.

• The Russians

• Leo Tolstoy

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• Ivan Turgenev

• Nikolai Gogol

Dragons for Sale (Groo the Wanderer #53) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot, by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Dragons for Sale
Series: Groo the Wanderer #53
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K
Publish: 1989

Groo is still running after Chakaal and just won’t leave her alone. They run across dragons that are attacking people, even though dragons are usually docile. Turns out Groo’s old “buddies” Drum and Pal are taking baby dragons and mistreating them so they become ferocious and then selling them as guard dragons to various towns. Chakaal decides to put an end to their business. Groo is clueless as usual but Drum and Pal know the jig is up, so they run away on a ship, only to have Groo come after them, with all his “ship sinking” ways :-D Everyone, including Chakal & Rufferto, think Groo drowned. Chakaal goes off on her own and Rufferto mourns on the sea shore, only to have Groo come out of the ocean in the last panel.

Thank goodness. It seems this is the last issue, at least for a while, with Chakaal in it. I was thoroughly tired of her by this issue and she was only introduced in issue 50. All the side characters (except Rufferto the dog, who I actually really like) need to be limited to maybe two issues. After that, they outstay their welcom in my opinion. Keep Groo the main thing!

★★★✬☆

• All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Xuthal of the Dusk (Conan Chronicles #5) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Xuthal of the Dusk
Series: Conan Chronicles #5
Author: Robert Howard
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 40
Words: 13K
Publish: 1933

I always enjoy when a Conan story dips its toes into the cosmic horror side of things. This time around Conan has to face off against “Thog”, a humanoid frog god of another dimension, who is also a thinly disguised version of Tsathoggua, who was created by Clark Ashton Smith in 1929 and used by HP Lovecraft in his Cthulhu mythos in 1931. This Conan story was published in 1933, so good ol’ Tsathoggua was definitely hitting it off with readers. Unlike Lovecraft, where his human characters fail and shatter before such a creature, Conan fights the thing to a standstill, sticks his sword through its head and throws it down a well that leads to the original dimension where it came from. Now that is how you do heroic. It’s also why I don’t really consider Conan stories to be true “cosmic horror” stories. As I’ve stated in the past, Cosmic Horror is about the despair of nothingness and the utter futility of resistance. You don’t really get that vibe when the main character is sticking a sword through the supposedly unkillable god’s face, hahahahaha.

But that is a BIG part of why I like these original Conan stories so much. Conan is indomitable and his fighting spirit is never quenched. He represents the drive of humanity to never give in, to never give up and that yes, you can overcome almost anything. Every man has a bit of that “barbarian” buried at varying depths inside of himself, even those so-called beta males, and deep calls to deep.

This was originally titled “The Slithering Shadow” when it was published in the Weird Tales magazine in 1933 but somehow got an alternate title in future publications. My guess is that “Xuthal” sounds way more exotic and that the original title might have led people to think it was about The Shadow, that big nosed avenger of Justice ;-)

★★★✬☆

From Wikipedia.org

Conan and his ally, Natala the Brythunian, are the sole survivors of Prince Almuric's army which swept through the Lands of Shem and the wilderness of Stygia. With a Stygian host on their heels, Almuric's soldiers had cut their way across the kingdom of Kush, only to be annihilated near the edge of Stygia's southern desert.

In the resulting conflict, when the Stygians and Kushites surrounded the trapped remnants, Conan sliced his way through the Stygian militia and fled on a camel, with Natala, into the southern desert. For days, the two pushed on, seeking water, until their camel died. Then, they continued on foot.

When their canteen is empty, Conan prepares to slay Natala in an act of mercy-killing. However, they spy the distant city of Xuthal. Eventually, Conan and Natala enter Xuthal while pursued by an entrance guard. They soon encounter Thalis, a beautiful Stygian mage, who reveals the history of her fabled city and the existence of Thog. Thog is a monstrous demon from the city-states of ancient Valusia, his current form summoned by the sorcerers of Xuthal from the darkness between the stars. For an ageless time, Thog has haunted the depths of Xuthal in search of living flesh to support the continuing manifestation of his body on the physical plane.

Thalis falls in love with Conan and, to eliminate her rival, kidnaps Natala in the hopes of sacrificing her to Thog. Thalis first strips Natala of her tunic and flagellates her with a jewel-handled whip. Thog suddenly appears, snatches Thalis, and devours her. The demon returns for Natala, but Conan intervenes and saves her. Conan fights Thog with all his might, but is scarcely harming the demon's supernatural form, while receiving hideous wounds in the coils of its pseudopods and tentacles. However, Conan manages to pierce what he perceives as the head of the monster and throws it down a well. Conan frees Natala, who sets forth to help him, but he is rapidly dying. Fortunately, the Brythunian girl soon brings him a jade goblet full of golden wine, retrieved from a room with a dreaming woman of Xuthal in it. The beverage proves to be a life-giving elixir briefly mentioned by Thalis in a previous conversation, which miraculously heals all of Conan's wounds. Finally, the couple retrieve enough food and water for their journey through the rest of the desert. The two depart while Natala jokingly blames Conan for having aroused Thalis' lustful nature. He retorts playfully about the jealous nature of women.

• The “Essential Conan” Trilogy

• All of My “Conan the Barbarian” Reviews

• All of My “Conan Chronicles” Reviews

Finest Hour (Warhammer 40K: Astra Militarum) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Finest Hour
Series: Warhammer 40K: Astra Militarum
Author: Sam Ryan
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 42
Words: 13K
Publish: 2025

A lot happens in these 40 pages. It all centers around the “Colors” of a regiment, a flag of honor. One of the Sergeants starts with it in the beginning of the story and every time someone has it, they die and someone else picks it up to continue the charge against the Chaos Cultists who have infiltrated an ice world. One new conscript runs away and leaves his comrades and leaders to die. In the end, he picks up the Flag and takes it back to the regiment while they are retreating. He is given a hero’s welcome and thus a coward is turned into a hero.

I think the flag went through about five different people? It’s even used as a weapon to kill a Chaos cultist at one point. Then coward boy uses it as a tourniquet on a Kreig soldier and carries him to the retreat point and everyone thinks he did it on purpose (saving the flag that is). The kreig soldier dies so nobody knows the boy was a coward who let everyone around him die.

That juxtaposition of cowardice and perceived bravery is a big part of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It’s not just the humans either, as I’ve seen that literary tendency in the Tau and the Necrons. Little doses of it are tolerable but it gets rather depressing in novels or in a series.

★★★☆☆

From the Internet

The narrative follows newly conscripted Cadian infantryman Mathias Thorne during a brutal betrayal by heretic forces. As the Astra Militarum takes heavy casualties, a combined force of Cadian, Elysian, Krieg, and Vostroyan troopers mount a desperate counteroffensive.

The story focuses on a symbolic regimental banner passed from one dying soldier to the next in the chaos of battle. When the flag lands in Thorne's hands, he must summon the courage to carry it back to Imperial territory

• All of My Warhammer 40K Reviews

Mana Flare - MTG 4E

 

I love this card for how it looks. It captures that essence of so much power that it is literally bursting forth!

Sadly, once AGAIN (for about the 100th time) this is another card that I simply could not get to work for me, not even when I returned to Magic in 2013. I'd build a deck around it, have everything all lined up and then when I would play, my opponent would always benefit more from this card than I did and beat me to a pulp. And this time it wasn't a fun beating, but simply frustrating. I could see my path to victory, but so could my opponent and they always got there first. It didn't take very many games before I gave up the deck and using this card at all. But I do like looking at it, which is good :-)

The Final Chapter (Resident Evil #6) (2017 Movie)

 

Movie Details:

Title - The Final Chapter
Series – Resident Evil #6
Director – Paul WS Anderson
Release – 2017
Rating – R
Time – 1hr 47min

My Thoughts:

Man, this movie had the potential to be one of the best RE movies and a great ending to the franchise. Unfortunately, it was ruined by two things.

First, the directorial choice to use a LOT of shaky cam footage during the fight scenes and also something that I learned is called a “quick cut”. Basically, the camera switches viewpoints throughout a fight every 5-15seconds. It is meant to increase the feeling of “action” but the reality is that it totally defeats the purpose of a fight, because you as a viewer can’t actually tell what is going on in said fight. You get this “idea” that two people are beating the snot out of each other but there is no coherence or order to it at all. Combined with shaky cam footage (simulating someone holding a camera in their hand and thus “shaking”), it is almost nausea inducing. There were a couple of times I had to stop watching the movie because I was so upset that I couldn’t make sense of the fighting going on.

The second thing that ruined this for me was the cutting of certain scenes which would have made things make sense. In this movie, it is made to look like one scientist invented the T-virus to cure his daughter of progeria (the disease that ages someone at an accelerated rate), which directly contradicts what is shown in the second movie Apocalypse, where a third scientist invented the T-virus for HIS daughter. The reality is that the first scientist appropriated the T-virus from the third scientist and that irons out ALL apparent storyline contradictions. The problem is, that was never shown in this movie and you’d never know it unless you read the novelization of the movie or the Wiki page (synopsis included below). So there appears to be this HUGE plot hole, so big that even I noticed it and it ruins the flow of the movie. What makes it especially egregious is that a 30second clip of the first scientist appropriating it from the third scientist would have solved it all. 30 SECONDS!!!!!

Other than those two things, this was a great movie. The previous movie ended with everyone preparing for a fight at the White House, only it was a trap by Wesker and the Umbrella Corporation but Alice survives. She’s contacted by the Red Queen AI and told humanity is on the edge of being wiped out but that there’s an airborne cure back at the Raccoon City Hive. So Alice has to go back to where the story started and fix everything. It was great! The movie ends with Alice finding out she’s a clone but just like Pinocchio she gets memories and becomes a “real girl” and the anti-T-virus is released and the world is now on the path of being saved. And Alice is still on her mission to kill all T-virus infected monsters, wherever they may be.

At the beginning of the movie we see a battle between Alice and that flying monstrous badboy. After that, the monsters are everything we’ve seen in previous movies, just in greater numbers. There’s no Nemesis or Tyrant, or even a Super-Licker (yeah, yeah, whoever thought that name up was NOT in top form that day). I guess the point here was that humanity was its own worst enemy so most of Alice’s opponents are humans. I prefer monstrous monsters thank you very much.

I enjoyed what I could of this movie and it didn’t ruin the franchise as a whole for me. I just feel that a couple of “easy” changes would have made this movie so much better. With that in view, I tried to watch a director commentary on the movie, hoping that maybe Anderson would explain his choices. Sadly, there was only a commentary track called “Retaliation” where Jovovich and Anderson briefly talk about various scenes in the movie where Anderson had really pushed Jovovich to the edge in terms of physicality. It was supposed to allow Jovovich to “retaliate” against Anderson in a fun loving way. There were very few instances of this and ended up being more about them talking about their daughter (who played the Red Queen and young Alice in this movie) and some personal reminiscences. It was extremely disappointing especially since we’d gotten commentary tracks (even if I didn’t care for some of them) on all the previous movies, and given that RE6 made almost 350million on a 40million budget, well, it felt very cheap on their part to not make the commentary track happen.

Overall, I enjoyed the franchise as a whole as a series of action movies. There were big holes to ignore but if you could, it was fun. I was able to (mostly), hence my buying the bluray collection :-D

Considering that I’ve just reviewed six movies in six months, I think I’m going to take a break from reviewing a movie for a bit. When I feel inspired, I’ll choose something else and probably let you know in a Circum et Pervagatus post.

Synopsis from Wikipedia

Synopsis - click to open

Dr. James Marcus, the founder of the Umbrella Corporation, had a daughter, Alicia, who was dying of progeria. Desperate to save her, Marcus confiscates an untested embryonic Umbrella project—the T-virus—created by his colleague Dr. Charles Ashford and uses it on Alicia and others with the disease. After one child treated with the virus becomes a zombie, Marcus immediately orders the project terminated, all data on it destroyed, and forbids Ashford from ever pursuing it again, devastating Ashford, who needed the T-virus to save his own daughter Angela.[a] Marcus's partner, Dr. Alexander Isaacs, has Marcus murdered by Albert Wesker, adopts Alicia, and takes over the Corporation.

In the present, Alice awakens in the ruined White House, after Wesker betrayed her.[b] The Red Queen appears and tells her she has 48 hours to infiltrate the Hive, a facility beneath Raccoon City. The Umbrella Corporation has an airborne anti-virus that can kill every zombie but is waiting for the last few remaining humans to be wiped out. As her body carries the virus, Alice does not expect to live after the mission.

While traveling, Alice is captured by Isaacs, learning the "Isaacs" she previously killed was a clone.[c] She escapes his convoy and reaches Raccoon City, where she meets a group of survivors: Doc, Abigail, Christian, Cobalt, Razor, and Claire Redfield, who survived the attack on Arcadia.[d] Isaacs' convoy approaches, trailed by a horde of zombies. Alice and the group defeat them and retrieve Isaacs' few human captives, though Cobalt dies in the process. Alice and the crew enter the Hive, where Wesker is in control. He releases mutated guard dogs, killing Christian and a freed captive.

The Red Queen appears to Alice and explains that her program is in conflict, as she can never hurt an Umbrella employee but also must value human life. She plays a video of Isaacs explaining to Umbrella's executives a plan to release the T-virus, cleansing the world of humanity and leaving many of the rich and powerful—including the company executives, stored in cryogenic capsules in the Hive—to rebuild the world. The Red Queen warns Alice that someone in her group is helping Umbrella.

The group encounters traps that kill Abigail and Razor. Alice and Doc plant bombs throughout the Hive taken from the leftover equipment by the first Hive team,[e] and confront the real, tech-upgraded Isaacs. Doc turns out to be Umbrella's spy, and Claire is captured by Wesker. A cryogenic capsule releases Alicia Marcus, Umbrella's co-owner and Marcus' daughter. Isaacs and the Red Queen reveal to Alice that she is actually a clone of Alicia. Isaacs plans to eliminate the pair and assume control of Umbrella. Alicia fires Wesker, allowing the Red Queen to terminate his protection program and crush his leg with a security door. Doc tries to shoot Alice, but his gun is empty—as Alice had earlier deduced his treachery—and Claire kills him. After giving Wesker a deadman's switch to the primed bombs, Alice and Claire pursue Isaacs while Alicia uploads a copy of her childhood memories.

Isaacs, Alice, and Claire fight. Isaacs overpowers them at first, but Alice manages to activate a grenade in his pocket and kill him. She escapes to the surface with the anti-virus, but Isaacs reboots and catches her before she can release it. Before he can kill her, the Isaacs clone from the convoy arrives and kills him, believing himself to be the original Isaacs, before being devoured by the undead. Alice releases the anti-virus, killing all of the zombies around her before she passes out. Wesker simultaneously drops the deadman's switch, destroying himself, Alicia, the Hive, and the hibernating elite.

Claire wakes Alice, who survived because the anti-virus killed the T-virus within her body, not the healthy cells. The Red Queen uploads Alicia's childhood memories into Alice, granting her a childhood. With the anti-virus being carried by the winds, it will take years to reach all corners of the globe, and until it does, Alice vows to continue her mission.

• Resident Evil
• Apocalypse
• Extinction
• Afterlife
• Retribution
• The Final Chapter

Imperatoris Chronicorum V

 Most of this week has been taken up with preparing for Mrs B's trip to visit her family. She does so much around our place that when we started planning out the week for when she would be gone, I suddenly realized how much I was going to have to take on. So of course I "encouraged" her to do as much as she could ahead of time so I wouldn't have to, hahahahaa. Being Mr B to her Mrs B is fantastic.

The other thing I concentrated on was sleeving up the latest iteration of Magic the Gathering. This set was all about Marvel Superheroes and Villains.

Each deck consists of 100 cards, so that's a total of 400 cards. That's a lot of work. I've done this before with other sets (Warhammer 40K, Lord of the Rings, etc) and always had someone else to help me. I did one deck each evening and let me tell you, sitting in a hard backed chair putting little pieces of cardboard into little pieces of plastic was boring. Satisfying but boring. It was like doing laundry. It needs to be done and I do it every Sunday, but I do NOT look forward to it :-D

Now, I do get to put those little pieces of pretty cardboard into little pretty pieces of plastic. I could just use just black sleeves, but half the fun is getting a sleeve color to match the deck. I've got Green for the Dr Doom, Blue for Fantastic Four, Black for Wakanda Forever and Silver for the Avengers. The little touches, while not necessary, really move this from a chore to a FUN chore, hehehehe.

The second part of deck'ing is the case you put them in. I usually use clear cases so I can see the Commander, ie, the face card of the deck. However, for these specialty releases, I like to play the decks only against each other. I only play the Warhammer 40K decks against each other, the Lord of the Rings against each other and now, just the Marvel Heroes decks against each other. My problem is that I have a cupboard of over 50 commander decks. Pawing through 50 decks isn't fun and really ruins the pre-game vibe. So these nice green deck cases are easy to see and pick out for when I want a little Magic Marvel action.

On Wednesday, as chronicled by AAA (that stands for Awesome As Alex), Canada set itself on fire and then invaded the United States. The sky was filled with smoke. The picture above is one my coworker took at 10am on the jobsite we were working at. We worked for an hour or so, then went inside one of the buildings that had AC and just breathed clean air for a bit. We could taste it and feel it coating our throats. It was extremely unpleasant. Thankfully it cleared up by Thursday and it was blue skies then.

And now it is Friday evening and Mrs B has arrived safely at her destination. I had the day off since I had to take her to the airport early and I picked up some Mr Mac's Cheeseburger Deluxe . It might be summer, but when I go batch'ing it, Mr Macs is essential to my single's lifestyle. The other essential part of my single's lifestyle will be to live the next week exactly the same as I always do. Just by myself.

I have a feeling I will be talking to myself, out loud, a lot over the coming week. The tv will also be on most evenings to give me the sense that I'm not by myself, even though I know I will be.

Lest you think I will be a sniveling wretch, let me assure you that I won't be. I will enjoy this truly alone time, because I know it isn't permanent. It has a specific end date and so I will be soaking in the solitude like Superman soaking in the rays of the sun :-D

See you all on the flipside.