#mid year reading wrapup

[kikuism]

mid-year book wrapup!

i've read 24 books so far. i'm reading much slower than i was last year and that's fine with me, i feel like i can actually remember each book i read this year much better.

1) best book i've read so far:

the best books i've read so far are definitely poor things and the library at mount char. for poor things, i totally wasn't expecting to even read very much at all after giving the intro a quick skim....and before i knew it i'd read half the book in one go. it was such a wonderful surprise. i couldn't put it down if i tried. very clever and outrageously funny—biggest surprise of the year for me and i'm very pleased; i'd go so far as to say it's one of my new favorites.

the library at mount char gripped me from start to finish, an andrenaline fueled absurd ride that's tons of fun and which you need to go into blind—reading this deep in the throes of a cold only enhanced the experience. i love a fucked up story!

2) best sequel i've read so far:

i haven't read any sequels so far!

3) new release i haven't read yet but want to:

there are many! here are some—

4) most anticipated release for the second half of the year:

5) biggest disappointment:

ok i am exaggerating a little in regards to the last one but let me explain—

before the coffee gets cold: the biggest disappointment for sure. i wasn't expecting it to be a new fave or anything but i was sure i was going to find this charming and heartbreaking the way so many others did but i just couldn't care for it. i found the execution awkward and clunky which really affected my immersion. it was just so painfully meh.

the secret book of flora lea: didn't go into this with any sort of expectations tbh but considering the subject matter and setting i thought it was going to be at least a little better than it actually was. alas the WW2 englad setting wasn't enough to save this. like it actually makes me mad how stupid and silly the dialogue got toward the end, and don't even talk about the coincidences that wrapped everything up, how convenient *throws refrigerator across the room* at least the descriptions were quite beautiful

the heart's invisible furies: ok now this i admit i went into with some raised expectations bc 1) the goodreads rating, so many people can't be wrong surely? and more importantly 2) this is an epic historical coming of age story set in ireland like hello it was made for me? if anyone was supposed to love this it was me if any book was supposed to be my favorite read of the year it was supposed to be this one but alas. i refuse to repeat the paragraphs i wrote for my goodreads review but my problem was that the balance between comedy and tragedy was handled poorly. any emotional scene was quickly and bizarrely undercut with some poor attempt at humor that made the experience so jarring. and the comedy was so cartoonish that it almost felt satirical but no i was supposed to take all that seriously? and 600 pages of cyril misunderstanding conversations got real tiring after a while it had me gritting and grinding my teeth. this isn't to say there was nothing good about it—i enjoyed the depiction of ireland in the 50s as a complete and complex society filled with all sorts of people just trying to live their lives under the rule of the church. there were one or two moments that made me tear up, and i actually quite enjoyed the first bit with cyril's mother. but ultimately i had way more complaints than praises. this just proves to me that a really good multigenerational story is a feat only few can accomplish (the dutch house ann patchett you will always be famous). sometimes i feel crazy scrolling through all the five star reviews for this book like am i delusional?? did i miss something?? but i stand by my thoughts. and i will say that's a killer title!

6) biggest surprise:

i said it already but poor things! especially since i was adamant on watching the movie blind. but it was available on libby which surprised me a lot bc i expected a huge waiting list at the time, so i borrowed it just for fun and told myself i was just going to read the introduction. it ended up becoming one of my top reads of the year.

and okay fine, the will of the many—i am grudgingly impressed how i couldn't stop reading it, since it's received a stupid amount of hype and it's written by a white man hgkshfhd it was a matter of pride for me

7) favorite new author:

i haven't felt that way about any of the authors i've read so far tbh!

8) newest favorite character:

i don't have one hgkshfj for some reason it's really really really hard for me to have a new favorite Book character. usually what happens is that i like a character and find them engaging (like bella from poor things, or danny and maeve from the dutch house) but to reach Favorite status is a feat that only few books manage. the only series in the last few years that has managed to do that is the locked tomb, what a strong cast of characters wow! it's such a skill to pull off.

9) a book that made me cry:

none of the books i've read so far have made me cry!

10) a book that made me happy:

probably poor things! it's not exactly a feel good cozy book but i had such a a good time with it and i laughed a lot

11) what book(s) do you need to read by the end of the year?

reached the image limit but here are some books i would like to read by the end of the year:

the lion women of tehran

the fifth season

a sorceress comes to call

the night ends with fire

intermezzo

the infernal devices (don't @ me i've been in a situationship with these books since high school....i still haven't read them but everyone says the love triangle in them is off the walls and after watching challengers it made me really want to experience another real love triangle so maybe....maybe this is the year i'll finally pick up clockwork angel)

i tag @schech @matchas @sailermoon @silouvertongues and anyone else who wants to share what they've been reading!

[talenlee]

February 2024 Wrapup

Hey hang on, this month normally fits nicely into the schedule with standard numbers! Who put an extra day in this Smooch Month? I guess that means that this year, the year is just a little extra smoochy! But those four weeks and an extra, they are past us and now it is time to reflect on what happened this month, and what I wrote.

If you check this blog periodically, you might have missed all sorts of interesting articles just because, you know, discoverability is hard.

For once I wasn’t completely hosed trying to come up with smoochy games for Smooch Month! I actually had other things that I think I’m going to bump to next year’s Smooch Month and they’ll be, like, still relevant, how cool is that?

Dream Crush, a voting board game that makes that venerable game mechanic really interesting.

Ouendan (Video), a video article on my beloved videogame Ouendan. This is an update and expansion of an older article. I made a flag transition in this one!

Thirsty Sword Lesbians, a TTRPG about inclusivity that made me feel alienated in how reads and presents its player actions.

Hinedere Beat, a lovely little parkour platformer that made me think about a lot of words I don’t use. This one winds up talking about the Nazis!

That’s not all though, because if you check the Talen and Fox playlist, you’ll find that we also played through The Secret of Monkey Island! We selected that one because, even as a 90s point and clicker, it still represented an interesting take on a character relationship, and a girl who is interested in a boy and it’s clear why.

There were also a bunch of story pile articles, talking about smoochy movies and anime!

D.E.B.S., part of our Positronic Collection viewing. It’s a movie about silly spies, and it’s also actually factually about a queer couple!

Tomo-Chan is a Girl, an extremely mid anime that I appreciate because of how much better it made other mediocre anime look!

A Tail of Love, a Hallmark movie, with Fox as guest spot, which we’re happy to watch this time because it’s just boring and doesn’t feature dog theft.

Insomniacs After School, an anime I really love about two people with a common, down to earth problem, and the way the world looks when you can share it with just one person.

That’s not all the articles you can read (or watch, or listen to!) here on press dot exe! I also wrote about a whole range of other topics, and I think these articles are worth a second look if you missed them!

As it was Smooch month, I wrote about a bunch of stuff relating to romance. I checked out some old media’s examples of that, like in the Transformers episode The Girl Who Loved Powerglide, or the Animorphs shipping couple of Tobias and Rachel in Can A Bird Love a Falcon. I feel like that joke is a little too subtle. I also reflected on a romantic anime of my youth, and how modern discourse are replicating old conversations with The Ranma 1/2 Subreddit is Repeating History, and that then built out idea space for a consideration of the commonality between Homestuck and Ranma 1/2 with Homestuck 1/2. And since we’re talking anime I reflected on how much I liked the anime Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie because of how it represented non-het, non-mono romance even though it absolutely does represent that with The Unhinged Performative Heteronormativity of Shikimori’s Not Just A Cutie.

Rounding that out and with a slightly darker take, I also wrote about my experience observing fundamentalist churches interacting with some of the hardest experiences couples have with Fundie Divorce, and then reflected on the way we’ve been ‘told’ relationships should work with an article about the history of Remote Romance.

Finally, I spent some time on D&D related stuff, looking at Sanders and Danube from Cobrin’Seil as places who could represent Yuri, and the strange commonality of Love Potions as purchaseable devices and what that meant about the world and its economy. I also wrote 4e for Two, as an article about how you might want to arrange the game for a two player experience.

Also, if you’re a fan of my custom magic cards, I put out two articles about this year’s Magic The Gathering set Vox Maxima: cards and story.

This month I made a shirt that tried to wed my familiarity with overly ornate stained glass from Wealthy Church Members’ doors and high-up windows, and also my love for easy geometry.

If you want, you can get this design on a sticker, or a shirt!

February is the last month of summer here, and the weather has become more extreme. Hot days are hotter, and then they’re punctuated with heavy, rainy days. The humidity in my area is a constant part of summer days, because I’m near two bodies of water. The sun hits the water, the water fills the air and the temperature can’t get too high because of that. Means the weather report says ‘oh yeah it’s like 29 degrees’ and that’s not so bad but then you check and it’s 80-90% humidity. The result is now that weather forecasts in my area include the stat ‘feels like’ and that has hovered around the mid 30s pretty consistently.

It’s not like it’s the hottest place in the world — I can just imagine people assering ‘well it’s over 40 in’ — and I don’t care. What I care about is how not being able to sleep has messed with my everything. Sleeping and eating are the two things that I keep thinking about when it comes to this time – I don’t do things that involve cooking heavily in the oven, because of the weather and all, and sometimes I’m up until 3 in the morning just because I can’t sleep and then I spend that time being unhappily watching biblical documentaries. I guess in the context of food I’ve been eating a lot of lentils? I got that point where I stopped buying canned lentils and started buying dried lentils (in a mix) and just keeping a little tub of them in the fridge soaking in water so any time I want to make A Food, I will just grab some of the lentil mix and use that instead of like, minced meat or chicken.

I have however, spent every week of this month aggressively getting words into my literature review, which I glibly call to my friends ‘The Word Pit.’ Every week has had a section drafted, with the attempt to make a schedule that gets my production up to pace for when the semester starts. I feel good about this pace of change, and I feel good about getting this kind of progress going, but it does also mean that every day I feel like I wake up and I have to generate two piles of words and this blog is the much easier one to generate.

Friends have gone through some rough stuff this month. Not putting their stuff on the streets, but it’s happened and I’ve been trying to be there for my friends while also acknowledging that I need to generate a few thousand words a day for an incredibly important project.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[andsalttheearthbehindyou]

November reading wrapup

hmmm pretty good month for quantity but hit or miss for quality, i either loved or hated almost all of these. 💆🏻‍♀️

1. the lover, marguerite duras — tumblr girl classic, ur fav web weaving posts almost definitely feature a snippet of this. like woah 😭 ok very timeless very vivid and real. I did cry.

2. icebreaker, hannah grace — this is EMBARASSINGGGGGG i was going to a hockey game and was like woah let me get into this mindset... into this world… THIS BOOK WAS MISLEADING i thought itd be equal parts hockey world ice skater world equal parts romance and no.. it was nothing of the sort... this was just tooooo porny like WAY too much, even for me. AND I USED TO WRITE SM- *gunshot*

3. throne of glass, sarah j mass — does anyone have any good fantasy series recs that arent this?? like this is what years without winds of winter will do to a woman. im settling for this subpar garbage. but i am gonna keep reading it bc what else do i have, george???

4. mickey7, edward ashton — been on my tbr since rob pattinson was announced to be the lead in this in the bong joon-ho movie… i feel like with the creatives behind it thisll end up being one of those rare bones and all situations where the adaptation is wayyyyy better than the book. but idk. book itself was whatever good concept but didnt even really go anywhere. i thought that i had guessed a twist lie 3 quarters of the way thru but there was no twist literally nothing happened. therefore MID

5. blood meridian, cormac mccarthy — the only other time i had like a visceral tummy churning reaction to a book like this was when i read theons chapters in a dance with dragons 😭😭😭 anyway i like the lack of quotation marks and i also find it easier to write without them SHOOT ME

6. death valley, melissa broder — im really endeared to broder as a writer because i feel like she can only do one thing really well and shes very self aware of that.. which i respect.. also what the protag is going thru here at the start of the book is something ive also gone thru and it felt very strangely accurate and bizarre as a real person reading about a fake person going thru it. and literally within the book the protag references how writers poorly portray their characters accurately 'going thru it' (i keep saying going thru it bcoz im trying not to spoil even tho no ones gonna read my recs ALTHO this one deserves to be read i think) so that was cray and meta but umm what im trying to say is.. melissa i wanted to go to ur book signing i literally had my day cleared in my planner for u. why did u have to cancel the event.

7. indelicacy, amina cain — public announcement i guess but hey girl @noumenongirl i think you would love this one i dont know why but the whole time i was reading i was just like woah she’d love this😭 i liked it a lot

8. the penelopiad, margaret atwood — this is what circe by madeline miller wanted and tried to be but failed tremendously at.....

9. crown of midnight, sarah j mass — was better than throne of glass in the beginning actually but then they halfway thru lost me again..

10. the assassins blade, sarah j mass — im just hate reading at this point like i dont have anything else to do. Celaena youll never be daenerys girl like stop

11. elvis and me, priscilla beaulieu presley — ohhhh…. :,(((( my fav celeb memoir yet i think.....

+ bonus — im gonna add this to my december list but im like 75% of the way with fourth wing rn, good fawking heavens i wishthat grrm could trademark copyright the concept of dragons like i dont think anyone should be allowed to write about DRAGONS only him. like mini spoilers for fourth wing SORRY but WHY DO THE DRAGONS SPEAK ENGLISH, WHY DO THEY EVEN SPEAK AT ALL....cringe. but better than throne of glass at least😭 but it doesnt take much to be better than throne of glass to be fair. OK reading wrapup over.

[annibtj]

what’s the best book everyone has read so far this year?

[ellaenchanting]

Hypnovember Day 18: Monster

Ellen sat in the back room of the coffeeshop quietly sipping her tea. The other members of the hypnosis meet up group were slowly gathering after their break,  chatting and catching up before practice portion of their group officially started. She strategized about what it would be helpful for her to practice tonight. Her traitorous brain eagerly supplied some silly power fantasies. She quickly suppressed them. That kind of stuff wasn’t fair to think about here. It wasn’t everyone else’s fault that she was so warped.

Ellen both loved and hated the group. She wasn’t just into power fantasies- she was genuinely interested in hypnotherapy and doing hypnosis for fun. She had been very surprised to find a local hypnosis practice group existed at all where she could practice her skills and learn more . (It was tiring having to work up the nerve to bug her friends to volunteer to be practice subjects.) Of course, she was the youngest person there and usually the only woman but- that was OK. She had long ago accepted that that most actual hypnotists were middle aged men and she was an odd aberration.

She felt like an aberration in other ways too. Few of the hypnotists here seemed to struggle with nerves in the way she did. Group practice often brought those nerves on . She hated the way they would make her words come out stilted and wrong, her gestures awkward, and her metaphors so mixed up until they ultimately went nowhere. When it got really bad, Ellen’s childhood stutter would return in full force. It felt important and meaningful to her that she got it wrong so often- like she had failed to perform in some cataclysmic way.

 It also felt meaningful when she got it right. Ellen would feel proud of herself  for her mastery of something and then almost immediately the thought would sneak in- “if only they knew”. It’s not that the hypnosis she was doing with the group had a sexual charge- group members ranged from kinda- to very- not-her-type- but she could only imagine the disgust her subjects would feel if they knew the full range of thoughts she had about hypnosis internally. Or, even worse, if they could see her web browser history. How would they feel being taken advantage of by such a perverted monster?

In a lesser but still meaningful way, Ellen also felt annoyed that she had never quite been hypnotized yet despite many, many attempts. Usually practice time involved pairing up and switching turns being the hypnotist and the subject. Ellen would usually go along with others’ inductions and give them some technical feedback afterwards, but the truth was she rarely felt anything besides plain, comfortable relaxation. She knew there was more- she could see it in the reactions of some of the people she hypnotized and the incredible mental feats they performed. She had evidence that this kind of deep hypnosis existed. She just couldn’t access it herself. 

Ellen was shaken out of her reverie by a voice.  

““Hi! I heard your name was Ellen?””

She looked up to see the group’s newest member. He was a little older than her- probably mid- to late-twenties- and had a nice dark beard. When she replied with the affirmative, he extended his hand and shook hers confidently. 

“Hi, I’m John.  Do you have a practice partner yet?” 

Ellen and John socialized a bit before starting their practice. This was normal at the meetings- partially because of mutual nerves but also because everyone  welcomed the  opportunity to geek out about an unusual personal interest. John said that had been doing hypnosis for about 5 years- around the same time she had- but he had already started a stage show and was planning on turning it from a hobby into a career. She was impressed. She found herself feeling surprisingly connected to him. She wondered if he had that effect on everyone he met. If so, it was a neat trick.

When they finally got down to practice, Ellen started by doing a modified Flowers induction. She had come in with the intention of throwing in a lot of language patterns into her induction- she had been drilling her Zeebu cards lately- but an odd change of mood happened as she watched John start to sink into hypnosis. Something about the way he responded to her words, melting and  seeming to almost to throw himself into trance, triggered something in her. She found herself hovering closer to him, her voice going softer as she spoke closer to his ear.

She almost reached out and touched his arm when she remembered- no. That would be inappropriate. She caught herself and reminded herself to be professional. She gave John a few generic positive suggestions and then brought him back up out of trance.

John took a surprisingly short amount of time to recover, his expression showing alertness almost immediately. When she remarked on it, he told Ellen that he was actually a very practiced subject- that he had purposefully worked on his ability to be hypnotized. Ellen hadn’t even known that was possible to do- the research she had read strongly suggested that someone’s ability to be hypnotized was pretty static and unchangeable. She confessed to John that she always had difficulty being hypnotized and envied people who could access that state easily. She worked to keep the longing out of her voice as she described her desire for the experience of knowing she was deeply and truly hypnotized. 

John paused for a moment after she spoke.  He gave her a curious, searching look. Then his face cleared as he seemed to decide on something. 

“Hey, do you mind if I try something a bit different?” he asked.

Ellen nodded. She switched positions with him and made herself comfortable as per his instructions. 

“Can I touch you?” John asked.

All things considered, Ellen thought she hid her spike of excitement quite well. She nodded again.

John started steadily and confidently speaking to her as he traced a finger lightly up and down her hand. He wanted her to focus on the feeling of the finger going up and down, he said. Ellen gamely focused her attention. It felt nice, that light touch.

John continued to talk to her, telling her she didn’t have to worry about going into trance or getting sleepy or being hypnotized- all she had to do was focus on his touch. That was good- Ellen had historically bad luck with those concepts.  She dutifully focused, even as she had some stray thoughts about how amazing John’s voice sounded. John’s fingers started to move to trace her arm up and then back down, all the while continuing to talk to her about focus and enjoying how the touch felt. Ellen still noticed some of the clever words he said, but the specifics were fading. It was all beginning to feel like a general wave of instruction washing over her. She was vaguely aware he was speaking to her more directly now and telling her how good she was doing and enjoyed how pleasant those things were.  Suddenly-

“Sleep!” 

John’s hand grabbed her arm and pulled it gently downwards. Ellen felt her eyes close as her head nodded forward. Her whole body slumped. Fortunately, John was kneeling in front of her and waiting to catch her. Once he did, he took her shoulder and rocked her deeper and deeper into trance with his words and his touch.

It felt amazing- just like she had always hoped that it would. John finally stopped rocking and took her hand. That gesture felt so right and lovely and perfect that Ellen felt herself quietly moan in response.

And then....she noticed she had done it.

Suddenly thoughts flew back into her mind. What was she doing? Did everyone else hear her? Were they watching her now? Were they realizing what a creepy pervert she was?

Ellen violently sat up, opened her eyes, and yanked her mind awake. Shaken, she took a moment to clench and unclench her hands, reminding herself that she had power over them. She was up. She had control of herself. She was OK. 

After a few breaths, she looked around the room and noticed that no one else seemed to be looking at her. She resisted the urge to cry in relief. 

She finally noticed John was there, still on his knees and giving her a concerned look. “Ellen?” he asked firmly. “How do you feel? What happened?”

She took a moment to respond. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to....I made a noise and I didn’t mean to be...awkward. I’m really sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he replied, going back into a more soothing voice. “Being hypnotized feels good sometimes, yeah? It’s ok to enjoy it. Is that what happened? It felt good in..in a way you weren’t expecting?”

Ellen nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m..weird, I didn’t mean to be weird,” she replied, still very flustered.

He looked at her gently. “You’re not...you’re not that weird. Listen, I get you might not want to talk about this here but- we could talk about it after practice maybe? I think we may have some things in common.”

Ellen thought about everything she had seen about erotic hypnosis online. All the misogyny. All of the shame and degradation people wrote about. She pictured the sexy stage show she had downloaded parts of and how much the hypnotist seemed to relish in people’s genuine embarrassment. 

She remembered that she didn’t really know John at all. 

“No!” she replied sharply. Then gentler-  “I mean, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s OK. I’m OK.”

He nodded. “You are, you know. And it’s OK if you’re....if you’re not ready yet to talk about it. But- “ He made sure she was looking at him as he said the next part. “There’s nothing wrong with you. And- if you do ever want to talk more about it or even ask questions, here’s my card. Call me anytime, ok? I mean it.”

He produced a business card out of his pocket. Ellen hesitated, then took it.

Just then, the leader announced that their practice time was over and moved onto wrapup. Ellen waited for everyone’s attention to be gathered, then snuck out the back on the building. She needed some fresh air. She was done with hypnosis for tonight. 

But she thought of the card, still in her jacket pocket, the whole bike ride home.  

[baldursgatekeeper]

It’s been a while! The last monthly wrapup I did was in March, as since then I’d been stuck on the same book (The Story of the Jews), which I finally finished in early-to-mid June and then went on to get right back into reading, getting through four other books during the rest of the month. As you can see, they’re all Jewish-themed, as I really got back into studying and reading about Judaism. Here they are:

The Story of the Jews: Belonging

Covered world Jewish history from the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 to the year 1900.

I had some criticisms of it as I didn’t think it was quite as good as the first book in the series which I hold in very high regard. For instance, there was more of a focus on Western cultures and rich and powerful figures rather than the more global focus and coverage of poor and scholarly groups from the first book.

I still enjoyed it a lot though, it was an engaging and interesting book. I only took so long to read it because it was quite long and I was in a reading slump, not because I wasn’t enjoying it.

To Life!

Illuminated the different ways Jewish traditions and customs can bring joy, fulfilment and celebration into life. It went further than a lot of basic ‘Introduction to Judaism’ books by not just detailing the rituals but showing how they can be meaningful and joyful to you personally.

I bookmarked a lot of pages in this book as the author was constantly surprising me with meaningful and concise statements that really brought out the essence of Jewish life.

I loved this book a lot and it only took me a day to read. It was a great book to get me back into reading and reignite my enthusiasm for learning about Judaism.

On Being Jewish

This book detailed various concepts in Jewish life from the perspective of a Progressive female British rabbi, such as growing up Jewish, attitudes to women, life and death, and social justice.

The book had a great theme of social justice running through it, and you could tell the author was passionate about making the world a better place. It was published in the mid-1990s and showed some social attitudes that were in advance of the rest of society at that time.

While the author had some very legitimate criticisms to make about the Orthodox hegemony in Britain and it’s attitudes to social issues, I think she was rather uncharitable in some of her own attitudes towards the Orthodox, and somewhat undermined the pluralism she criticised the Orthodox authorities for not embracing. Overall though I enjoyed the book. It was refreshing to hear from a Progressive female British rabbi in a genre that’s often dominated by authors who are either Orthodox, American, and/or male.

To Be A Jew

A classic in the genre of guides to Judaism, this book covers in lots of detail various aspects of Jewish life such as the calendar, prayer services, Shabbat, and life occasions.

While I enjoyed learning in detail about the structure of the lives of Orthodox Jews, this book was very non-pluralistic. It covers only Orthodoxy, which would be fine if it was presented as such, but it completely discounts and discredits the other less ritually observant branches of Judaism, dismissing them as inauthentic and spiritually lacking, and presenting Orthodoxy as the only true path.

Also likely due to its position as an Orthodox text written in the 1970s, it displayed some social attitudes that are no longer considered appropriate in wider society. These weren’t a central part of the book, but there were a few offhand disparaging statements about such topics as female rabbis and homosexuality that I didn’t appreciate. I enjoyed the ritual detail of the book but have preferred other more pluralistic texts.

A Guide to Jewish Prayer

This was a very detailed look at Jewish prayer, with sections on such topics as daily and Shabbat services, personal prayer, festivals, a history of Jewish prayer and the siddur (prayer book), and the ritual objects of the synagogue.

While it was sometimes a lot to take in, I enjoyed the great detail and specificity with which the book looked at all aspects of Jewish prayer. I also appreciated the fact that it made sure to cover different prayer rites from around the world in plenty of detail, rather than just focus on the Ashkenazi rituals as many books do.

It did however have the drawback, like the last book, of only focusing on Orthodoxy. Again, this would be fine if it was presented as ‘A Guide to Orthodox Jewish Prayer’, but it claimed to speak for the entire Jewish experience, and made sweeping statements such as ‘all Jews do [x]’. There was a complete lack of acknowledgement or even mention of branches other than Orthodoxy. I liked learning about Orthodox prayer, but I think I’ll seek out more texts that deal with prayer in the other branches too.

So that was June! It was a great month of reading for me, I really got back into the swing of regular reading and finished plenty of books about a topic I’m passionate about. I hope to continue this streak and keep up with reading regularly.

Have you recently come out of a reading slump? Or are you in one now? What are some strategies you use to fight them?

[orendamagau]

Bi-Weekly TV/Movie Wrapup (Part One)

Fallen behind in the world of visual entertainment? Well fret no more as Cal Behrendt take a look at some exciting new shows and movies that have dropped in the last two weeks!

The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards (NBC)

The biggest award show for the television industry, the 2018 Emmys (hosted by SNL’s Michael Che and Colin Jost) were a very mixed bag. Bill Hader and Henry Winkler — who won his first-ever Emmy despite five previous nominations stretching back to 1976 — picked up Emmys for their work in Barry. The Academy finally recognised some of the best talent to grace our screens in a long time, but even a shock mid-telecast proposal couldn't even save a trainwreck of a ceremony.

Even a shock mid-telecast proposal couldn't even save a trainwreck of a ceremony

Arguably the biggest surprise of the night was The Americans picking up two Emmys for its swan song run. Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg picked up the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Emmy for the series finale START. In the same episode, Matthew Rhys finally picked up the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as Phillip Jennings (one of my all-time favourite characters and acting performances). But despite this, the Emmys still dropped the ball in many spots. How the hell did Keri Russell not win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and how did the consensus worst season of Game of Thrones win Best Drama Series ahead of The Americans? To me, nothing was worse so than the awkward-as-hell gags where Che and Jost kept cutting back to Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen — self-claimed Emmy ‘experts’ — throughout the ceremony. These gags were painfully unfunny and poorly timed, and they really took away from the rest of the telecast. It only shined in the unexpected moments, like Glenn Weiss’ proposal to Jan Svendsen, and Sandra Oh awarding the Emmy to LaLa Land after ripping the envelope.

How the hell did Keri Russell not win Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series?

BoJack Horseman Season Five (Netflix)

Everybody’s favourite sad horse show has returned for another season. Once again, creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg and the crew have created a strong season of one of the best shows currently running. Season Five continues to make these characters feel so real that it is hard to believe this is a cartoon about anthropomorphic animals.

Everybody’s favourite sad horse show has returned for another season

The season also hits many topical issues right on the head, from the perfectly-timed examination of #MeToo to casting race-appropriate actors and actresses. Season Five is a perfect addition to a series that seems to get stronger every year. Once again we have a handful of standout episodes, but the episode Free Churro stands high and proud above everything else this show has done. It pushes the boundaries of what an animated show should be doing. If this episode and Will Arnett’s performance don't find their way into the Emmy winners circle in 2019, I will be madder about this than I will be about Twin Peaks' Emmy snubs.

American Vandal Season Two (Netflix)

Also dropping on the same day as BoJack, true-crime mockumentary series American Vandal makes its return. Season Two introduces a new setting and crime, with the crew travelling to Washington to investigate the ‘Turd Burglar’ — a student who is doing crap-filled pranks at St Bernardine’s. It could have easily been a re-tread of the first season, but Season Two expands on a lot of the previous issues to make yet another engrossing season. Not only do we get another fantastic mystery filled with twists and turns, but we also get a perfect examination of high school culture and how, in this social media-driven age, a lot of us feel lonelier than ever. But American Vandal is not content with just doing all that. It also pulls together a number of strong performances to anchor the season: from Travis Tope’s oddly charming Kevin McClain to Melvin Gregg’s MVP performance as DeMarcus Tillman, a basketball prodigy who, underneath the bright and popular exterior, is an insecure individual who just wants to be loved for something other than his basketball. American Vandal Season Two is a fantastic follow-up and shows why this program has quietly become one of the best shows out there.

American Vandal Season Two…shows why this program has quietly become one of the best shows out there.

Also Released:

Maniac Season One (Netflix)

Jonah Hill and Emma Stone star in this Cary Fukunaga-directed miniseries about two strangers who connect during a pharmaceutical trial. Many critics have praised the performances and the direction as well as the overall aesthetic of the series. I think my friend summed it up the best so far: “No idea what’s going on, but Jonah Hill and Emma Stone are great. It is well and truly some weird shit.”

It is well and truly some weird shit.

American Horror Story Season Eight (FX)

The long-running FX horror anthology has returned for another season with the eighth instalment, Apocalypse, which marks a departure from previous seasons. Not only is it set in the futuristic year of 2021, but it crosses over two past seasons — Season One’s Murder House and Season Three’s Coven — into one story. Two episodes have aired so far, and early reviews state that it's another solid entry into the franchise.

The Good Cop Season One (Netflix)

Do you like Josh Groban? Well then, I have the show for you! This Netflix police procedural stars Groban as a cop who goes by-the-book rather than become like his father (played by Tony Danza), who went to prison for being a dirty cop. The Good Cop sees them pair up to solve mysteries in New York, in a premise that sounds as 90s NBC-core as you can get. Most of the reviews I have read have pegged it as pretty mediocre, but if you love shows like Law and Order running in the background while you do other stuff you'll get a kick out of The Good Cop.

A premise that sounds as 90s NBC-core as you can get

Movies

Lizzie (Saban Films/Roadside Attractions)

The story of axe-murderer Lizzie Borden has been covered a lot over recent years. But this biographical thriller directed by Craig William Macneill jumps on top of the crowd, covering the story from a more feminist angle. According to critics, Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart turn in strong performances as Lizzie Borden and Bridget Sullivan respectively, but it appears a common complaint is the story is not as gripping as it could be.

Colette (Bleecker Street/Lionsgate)

Colette follows the life of French novelist Gabrielle Colette, with Keira Knightley taking on the main role. It's directed by Wash Westmoreland, one of the most interesting names in the business,  having directed 2014’s Still Alice. Early reviews have been glowing across the board, with critics praising the performance of Knightley who turns in one of the strongest performances in her career to date. Also praised is the direction and overarching themes of feminism and the battle against misogyny Colette experienced. Colette won’t be released in Australia for a while yet, but keep your eyes open for this film when it does release. It's a potential early Oscar contender.

Early reviews have been glowing across the board

The Sisters Brothers (Annapurna Pictures)

This Western dark comedy focuses on a pair of hitmen searching for a chemist in 1800’s America. It features one of the most stacked acting lists I have seen in a while: John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix take on the titular roles of the Sisters brothers alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Allison Tolman and Carol Kane. Early reviews peg this film as one driven strongly by the Western genre whilst focusing on a strong character study of family and familial relationships. This movie has already picked up an award for director Jacques Audiard, who claimed the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival. This film will definitely be one to watch when it drops in Australia in the near future.

[nedlittle]

mid-year wrapup below the cut!

READ

the worst journey in the world by apsley cherry-garrad: 4/5

silent spring by rachel carson: 3.5/5

the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky (tr. richard pevear/ larissa volokhonsky): 4/5

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong: 4.5/5

little women by louisa may alcott: 3/5

the king of crows by libba bray: 3/5

arcadia by tom stoppard: 3.5/5

TO-READ

in the dream house by carmen maria machado

the enigma game by elizabeth wein

BOOKS I CURRENTLY HAVE IN MY BACKPACK TO TAKE ON MY COMMUTE TOMORROW

moby-dick; or, the whale by herman melville

was tagged by @sappsorrow to post 10 books i want to read in 2020! unfortunately i only own 9 books atm and have already read 5 of them, so most of these are books i'm going to try to read. tagging @rebecca-dewinters @starbuck @lemonysnickit @seasidefanasties @ceilingninja and anyone else who wants to do this

[cover2covermom]

Goodbye July, and hello August!

I cannot believe how quickly this summer is flying by.  One minute my kids are getting out of school for summer break, and the next I am gathering lists for back to school shopping!  July was a crazy month for me, but despite all the craziness I did manage to read 9 books & get a good amount of blogging done!  Yay for productivity!  My biggest news this month is that we bought a new house.  Unfortunately this isn’t a simple move… we are completely renovating the house over the next few months before we move in.  My husband flips homes for a living, and assures me that he can get this done in 2 months.  I’m not holding my breath lol  My goal is to move in before Christmas.  Please send me good vibes for my sanity throughout this process 🙂

Let’s see what I got accomplished in July, shall we?

*Book titles link to Goodreads

» Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally

Feelings in a few thoughts:  hard to follow at times – possibly due to audiobook format?; love this piece of history; because this is nonfiction it felt cold – would love to read a  fictional account; want to see the film adaptation now

» Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

Feelings in a few thoughts: took a little while to get into; strong female lead – strength drawn from her mind; feminist thoughts; political intrigue; HOT love scenes; confusing fantasy elements; will definitely continue on with this series

» Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Feelings in a few thoughts: felt like a bedtime story;  perfect book to read aloud to kids; short & sweet

» Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller

*3.5 Stars

Feelings in a few thoughts: bad-ass female lead; example of how to do the hate – love trope well; witty banter; good concept with fantasy elements; wanted more action out of a PIRATE book; solid read but could have been more

» The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

*3.5 Stars

Feelings in a few thoughts:  outside my reading comfort zone; very much a western; play format? didn’t really understand the intermissions; dry humor – which I appreciated; journey where characters must face adversity along the way; enjoyed how everything panned out in the end – but wasn’t the dramatic ending I was anticipating; slower paced; struggled with my rating – possibly a 4 star book; won’t be for everyone

» Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Feelings in a few thoughts: went in with low expectations, but pleasantly surprised; gave me Wizard of Oz vibes; enjoyed the overall plot – darker than anticipating w/ good mystery elements; writing felt forced at times, like the author was trying a little too hard; too much sensory description – particularly smells; wanted a little more visual world building; wonder if I enjoyed this more because I haven’t read The Night Circus yet?

  » This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

3.5 Stars

Feelings in a few thoughts: gorgeous writing as per expected with Schwab; what makes someone a “monster”?; liked how Kate was rough around the edges; a few YA tropes & clichés; didn’t connect to the story like I did with Schwab’s Shades of Magic series; definitely think this book is leaps and bounds above many of the YA books out there

» Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Feelings in a few thoughts: One of my top reads of 2017; completely mesmerized by this story; Lazlo Strange is my new book boyfriend; unique & fantastical; moral questions; what makes someone a hero? a monster?; NOT a fan of the insta-love but this was my only issue with the book; the ending!  how will I wait for the second book?!

» Enchanted Islands by Allison Amend

4.5 Stars

Feelings in a few words: this book is a gem – I wish more people would give it a chance; technically WWII historical fiction, but doesn’t go into the war much; fictionalized life of real person, Frances Conway; explores different types of relationships & love; espionage story, but not exactly action packed; more drama than I was anticipating; would make a good book club selection

 I am super excited that I *should* be able to hit 100 books this year!  This will be my biggest reading year EVER 🙂

Book Reviews:

 Book Review: The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis

Kids’ Corner: Diverse Middle Grade Books in Review (July 2017) #DiverseKidLit

Book Review: The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Book Review: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Book Review: The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Other Posts:

 June 2017 Wrap-Up + Book Haul

July 2017 TBR

Book Event: Mary Kubica’s Every Last Lie Book Tour

Top 5 Wednesday: Best Middle Grade Books I’ve Read in 2017 (Thus Far)

Book Tag: Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag (2017 Edition)

Book Blogger Recs: Bloggers to Follow for Romance Readers #BookBloggers

eBooks:

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» The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

» The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

» A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

 Physical Books:

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» Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (20th Anniversary – Ravenclaw Edition) by J.K. Rowling

» The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

» Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

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» The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

» Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

» Euphoria by Lily King

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» We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

» The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller

Which books did you read this month?

Have you read any of the books I read or hauled this month?  If so, what did you think?

Did you buy any books?  If so, which ones?

Comment below and let me know 🙂

I talk about all the #books I read & share my #bookhaul in my July #wrapup. #BookBlogger Goodbye July, and hello August! I cannot believe how quickly this summer is flying by.  One minute my kids are getting out of school for summer break, and the next I am gathering lists for back to school shopping! 

[auburnfamilynews]

Samir Doughty was deadly against the Vols.

     War Eagle, everybody! Yesterday, Auburn wrapped up the basketball regular season with a resounding pummeling of the Tennessee Vols, 85-63 in Knoxville. The win came at a good time, breaking a 2 game losing streak, and giving the Tigers some momentum headed into the SEC Tournament in Nashville this week. The win over Tennessee put the Tiger overall record at 25-6, 12-6 in the SEC. Auburn secured the number 2 seed in the tournament.

     With the 2 seed, Auburn will be able to skip the first 2 days of the tournament. On Wednesday, only the bottom 4 seeds play, to reduce the field to 12 teams. On Thursday, the bottom 8 remaining teams play, reducing the field to 8 teams. The quarter-finals are on Friday, as all 8 teams play, to reduce the field to 4 teams. Saturday marks the semi-finals, as the top 4 teams play, and Sunday the last 2 remaining teams will play for the tournament championship.

     Auburn’s next game will be Friday evening at 6:00 PM. Auburn will play the winner of the Texas A&M vs. Missouri game. Should Auburn win that one, they will get the winner of 3 seed LSU’s bracket. The opponent could be 14 seed Vanderbilt, 11 seed Arkansas, 6 seed South Carolina, or 3 seed LSU. Auburn will not have to face regular season champion Kentucky unless both teams reach the final game. I would say that Auburn was fortunate how the seeding worked out. Dangerous teams like Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Kentucky all fell in the opposite bracket.

     The win over Tennessee was a welcome sight. In Auburn’s previous 2 games, stone-cold shooting doomed the Tigers to a loss at Kentucky, and the first home loss of the year, to Texas A&M. At Knoxville, the Auburn shots finally started falling. Samir Doughty led the way with an incredible 32 points.

     Auburn’s game plan seemed to change for this game. Auburn had been either taking a late 3 point shot, or trying to drive to the basket and draw a foul. The issue with this is that Auburn is not great shooting free throws, or 3 point shots this year. Auburn is averaging just 30.6 percent on 3-point attempts, and 67.4 percent at the foul line. Auburn is regularly out-shot in both areas this year. Auburn has been able to get teams in foul trouble, and mount a number of late comebacks. This doesn’t work so well on the road, however. Officials usually favor the home team when assessing fouls. This game, Auburn did a good job mixing in some intermediate shots. This forced Tennessee to double-up defend in the lane, and allowed Auburn to get shooters wide-open looks.

     Defensively, Auburn was able to take advantage of the fact that Tennessee does not have a true point guard. Jordan Bowden is filling in there, and he did have 17 points on the day, but he also had just 4 assists and 4 turnovers. Auburn guards J’Von McCormick and Samir Doughty relentlessly hounded Tennessee efforts to inbound the ball and get it up the court. This resulted in 11 Tennessee turnovers, and it limited Tennessee’s offense, as they were having to struggle to get their offense set up. Auburn also did a great job of boxing out under the basket, and out-rebounded Tennessee 42-26.

     Tennessee was determined to pound the ball inside, and there was a lot of contact in this game. Austin Wiley controlled the lane while he was in there, but spent much of the game in foul trouble. Both Auburn centers Wiley, and Anfernee McLemore fouled out of the game, and Auburn had to finish the game with freshman Babatunde Akingbola in the game. He played the final 6 minutes, had no fouls, and 1 blocked shot, as well as altering a few Tennessee shots.

     Auburn also got valuable bench time from freshman Allen Flannigan, who had probably his best offensive game of the year, scoring 9 points. A couple of his shots were really good floaters from mid-range, with pressure in his face. Flannigan is a key player going into the SEC tournament. One of Auburn’s biggest weaknesses this season has been that head coach Bruce Pearl has been reluctant to rest Auburn starting guards McCormick and Doughty in tight ball games. Auburn will need to get some productive minutes out of Flannigan at guard, to advance very far in the tournament.

     I am hoping for another great year in the SEC, and NCAA tournaments, and that we get chances to celebrate a great bunch of young men this month. The team is going to look a lot different next year, as the team loses McCormick, Doughty, Danjel Purifoy, Austin Wiley, Anfernee McLemore, and likely Isaac Okoro. Of the players that played against Tennessee, Allen Flannigan, Tyrell Jones, Devan Cambridge, Jaylin Williams, Babatunde Akingbola and Jamal Johnson return next season.

The post Regular Season Wrapup. appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.

from Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog http://trackemtigers.com/regular-season-wrapup-2/

[talenlee]

March 2024 Wrapup

Well, let’s see there, gamersmen, what was March all about, now it’s over? Did you check the blog daily? I update it every day. That’s a lie, it updates itself every day. I try to limit myself to writing one thing every day now I have a good solid track laid out in front of me, but there’s always something new here every day. I bet you didn’t see all of them. Oh, you did? You liked the days of March? Well name every one.

What did I write about in my Story Pile articles? Welllll,

Skip & Loafer, a romantic anime about not a romantic relationship!

Bee & Puppycat‘s comics, which left me with an eerie sense of helplessness

Buddy Daddies, a 2023 high water mark anime, in that it’s just mid

the Stephen King movie-of-a-novel Christine, about a powerful woman who is also a car that… fucks?

But hey, you don’t just come here to see me talking about media like some kind of movie blog, despite… my doing that… now… for literally years. Weird. Wild. I sometimes think about how this blog is the longest ongoing project I’ve ever had. Anyway, point is, I talk about games! I talked about games this month! Here are some games I talked about!

Gensou Narratograph, a TTRPG made for god damned aliens who care about such a completely different world to me that I cannot help but be impressed and also never want to play it or touch it. Fun trivia, this article had an entirely benign edit because someone changed their name!

Magic: The Gathering Arena and ten things I wish I knew about it before I started playing it.

Marvel United, a cooperative board game made for people with tons of space and money.

The Beginner’s Guide, an interesting game, but also how people treat authors, including generative media authors.

Cockroach poker, an anxiety engine I love and probably will never get to play again!

Fox and I also spent this month, instead of playing a videogame together, talking about anime from 2023 (part 1, part 2, part 3)! And y’know, I’m coming down pretty firmly on the idea that 2023 was just a worse year than 2022. It doesn’t matter, it shouldn’t matter, but when I say that people want to argue with me, and it makes me even more firm on that opinion. That’s not the only writing that happened, though, no no no!

This month I decided, for some reason, to go in pretty hard on some academic concepts. One of them was an article about how capitalism and play might possibly be completely at odds with one aother, which I wrote in a piece talking about playing for money. But I also decided – in deference to it being the month of GDC, three articles addressing academic concepts from my recent readings. They’re about, in order, the idea of the Cynic’s Cop-Out, which is about how we don’t give up trying to understand one another, the idea of the Author-Function, which is about whether or not work is complete if it’s unread, and the idea of Prototype Theory, which is about what is or is not more or less a fruit. I also decided to bore down into a word choice, specifically, how bored I am with the word ‘Epic’ in my creative space.

Alright, what about some stuff that’s a bit less heavy? Well, I wound up writing articles about the Haka, a war dance my family tend to be racist about, and how all fundamentalism is a liar’s game. Hmm. Wait, that’s not less heavy at all. Let’s talk about games!

Setting aside my strangely feral love for a single Magic The Gathering Alchemy card, a format I actually think is a really bad idea to play at this point, and the Paradox Pokemon (but really I’m just going to talk about the dinosaurs), I did a bunch of digging into stuff in tabletop RPGs. For example, I discussed 4th edition D&D’s relationship to pets and the idea of an ‘action economy,’ and the 3rd edition D&D’s relationship to expendable magical items. While in the D&D space, I dug into the Goblin influences on common language in Cobrin’Seil, and of course, the biggest thing, a big bumper set of articles on the Benign Vampire City-State Hecsenfore, part 1, part 2, and part 3!

This month’s shirt design is a cartoon I drew! It’s of a crab! You can get a sticker of it here!

Alright, the month’s end, the month’s end, what’s happened this month?

My mother had a birthday, like she does every year. So did my father, which he scheduled near hers, very convenient. What’s more, his twin brother had one too, same day, which seems a little unoriginal, but whatever. I called my mother on her birthday, and that’s when I found out that her birthday had been yesterday (because of my embarrassing habit of assuming all my birthday notifications on my calendar are one day out because of all my friends in America). Turns out that day? She fell over, and that’s a big deal because my mother is that kind of age range.

And she just took care of herself.

Semester started, and my first wave of marking for my semester, too. This is always full of a weird tension because on the one hand, students are great and I like when I see them engaging with me. But on the other hand, right now, I’m fresh (like a few hours shy), of doing my first wave of marking for the first assignment and that means today has been full of so much weirdly specific angering. Like pulling apart student writing and looking at it and going ‘why the hell would you say that.’

And that’s not a good place to be, because after I get to that emotional level, I then go out of it, discard that entire mindset, and make sure my marks are all good and my feedback is useful and good and I don’t find myself venting at a student for a behaviour of all students. Right? Like no student is in any way responsible for the fact that they said the same thing that all the other students said that was incorrect. That’s a problem we have in aggregate, that’s something we need to direct them around, that’s a thing we need to route. It’s a sign of something I need to bear in mind for the next crop of students.

But ooooo I’m cross!

It’s also been just absolutely absorbing. Like I’m trying to think about what’s happened in this month that I can talk about that is a meaningful share. Like, a friend of mine got into Blitzball and I’m trying to make sure I show up to their games like I’m a nice good soccer parent. It’s cool! I’m trying to get into a roleplay storyline on Final Fantasy XIV! But if I ask ‘what have I done this month?’ It’s… shopping, teaching, marking, phd writing, shopping, teaching, marking, phd writing, loop loop loop.

Early semester! It’s how it goes.

Oh, and also, at the end of the month, Elli had a sore tummy. This was a whole day’s anxiety for me because he got sick on good friday when all of the vets were closed so we couldn’t readily check if we panicked. Thankfully, his aunt Amber was just the best and helped get us grounded about how to handle things.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[eqtmonline03-blog]

Sensex Opens Flat; FMCG & Consumer Durables' Stocks Top Losers

Asian stock markets are higher today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Nikkei 225 is up 1% while the Hang Seng is up 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.3%. US stocks mostly edged higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rebounding to snap a four-day losing streak, although a drop in Apple kept gains in check.

Back home, India share markets have opened the day on a flat note with a negative bias. The BSE Sensex is trading down by 50 points while the NSE Nifty is trading down by 8 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day up by 0.1%. The rupee slipped to new low of 71.43 per dollar in opening trade.

Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with healthcare stocks and information technology stockswitnessing maximum buying interest. While, FMCG stocks and consumer durables stocks opened the day in red.

In the news from the pharma sector. As per an article in a leading financial daily, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has agreed to acquire 18.8% shares of Israel-based Tarsius Pharma for a cash consideration of US$ 3 million (over Rs 210 million).

One of the company's wholly-owned subsidiaries has agreed to acquire 3,45,622 ordinary shares of Tarsius Pharma.

Tarsius is an early stage research and development company focusing on development of drug candidates in the field of ophthalmology.

Meanwhile, two days after the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) issued six observations related to deficient procedures at Sun Pharma's Halol manufacturing facility, the regulator also turned up the heat on the drug company's Mohali plant in Punjab.

Reportedly, the regulator has started a three-day surprise inspection at the plant on Monday.

The Mohali facility, which belonged to Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, had been under an import alert by the FDA in 2013, two years before Sun Pharma completed its US$4 billion acquisition of Ranbaxy.

Sun Pharma share price opened the up by 0.4%.

To know more about the company, you can access to Sun Pharma's Q1FY19 result analysis and Sun Pharma's Stock Analysis on our website.

Moving on to the news from the currencies space. The Indian rupee on 10 September 2018 ended the session on a record low note of 72.45 per US$.

Multiple factors such as global trade war concerns, selloff in emerging markets along with worries on domestic macro front after trade and current account deficits widened, weighed on it.

The currency did manage to recover from its low points, an intraday low of 72.67 per US$. On Friday, the currency had closed at 71.73 per US$.

Talking about currency wars and the falling rupee, Kunal Thanvi, editor of Smart Money Secrets did a small exercise to understand the impact of the weak rupee on the markets.

Should You Be Worried About the Rising Dollar?

India is a net importer. This means if the rupee is weak, the cost of imports increases and value of the export decreases - resulting in a widening current account deficit.

A high current account deficit also impacts the government's spending power.

Also, companies which import raw material witness pressure on their margins and profitably. Here's an excerpt of what Kunal wrote in the recent edition of The 5 Minute WrapUp:

"So, this looks quite negative on the face of it. So, it's not surprising that markets get volatile when the currency depreciates. Look at Indian rupee against the dollar from 1990. It has deprecated at a compounded annual rate of 5%. Yes, the dollar has been on a winning streak from the beginning. And despite that... the BSE Sensex has returned 14% compounded annually since 1990. Thus, the falling rupee can bring volatility to the market in the short-term. But in the long-term, our market should be fine. This is exactly what I keep in mind when picking stocks for Smart Money Secrets subscribers. I cut out the noise of short-term disruptions and look at the long-term picture beyond."

To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.

This article was originally published in English at www.equitymaster.com

Read the complete Indian stock market update. For the terms of use, go here.

[talenlee]

April 2023 Wrapup

April 2023 Wrapup

It’s a weird relief when a theme month end. Sometimes a theme month is so jammed that I’m glad to have the freedom to post any old stuff I want. Sometimes a theme is so challenging to work with (like, say, romance), that I kind feel like the last few posts are scraping off a very hard surface. Now, I thought that it’d be really easy to make make 30 posts that are mostly just about me, or special, deeply intense interests.

This month did not go as planned.

First of all, the Game Pile. I knew I wanted to cover two of these topics a year out. I knew that when I had ten years behind me, I wanted to review how I treated Bioshock Infinite, an aggressively mid game that, as a work of true art, reflected its culture and values perfectly, in that we all kind of sucked (which was a point I made about Duke Nukem 3D, too). I knew I wanted to make a video out of my article on Volume, partly because I like Volume a lot, partly to make it more shareable to a friend who likes my videos, and also, because Volume has only gotten more interesting with time.

I revisited Dishonored, because I know I love Dishonored, and that meant finding a new thing to talk about, and led to a video on the The Dishonored TTRPG, which I found interesting and engaging and it gave me some solid material to pull apart and explain. Then finally, I had to bring in at least something new this month, and that led me to stumble down an old road looking for creative work I engaged with a long time ago, something that’s been on my mind a lot (for some reason), and that brought me to the article on the Original Starcraft, but really just the map editor.

It’s funny how many RTSes I ‘love’ that I have never finished.

Then we move on to the Story Pile. Again, I had plans ahead of time. I set myself a rule that I had to finish Gideon The Ninth by my birthday. I don’t read enough, I told myself, so I’m going to try out this thing that means a lot to my friends and has that giant looming asterisk over it. I put that off until early April and then I finally read it and man it was great, and then I had to grapple with that asterisk. I’d also set out ahead how I wanted to talk about Lycoris Recoil, as how even a fairly modest fun anime has deep stuff to crunch away on that I find interesting. I also wanted to talk about Unseen Academicals, because it’s an old favourite of mine and it’s about games and about queers taking care of one another and it’s also about being a wonked up monster who has to learn how to be a person.

And I thought I’d have another slot, maybe for a movie I liked or a TV show that I’d enjoy and Summer Time Rendering came out of nearly nowhere and poleaxed me and the anime with a hot lady with a big hammer made me go ‘oh yeah I’ll check that out’ and then I blew through it in three days because it’s so good and well okay, now I had to fill in a slot there in April.

Basically, I had two things I’d never seen before April that became two of my favourite things in April. That’s pretty rare for me!

What about other articles that you might wanna check out, built on my particular interests? I talked about the Confederacy’s currency, and how much a bunch of awful people who sucked ass were bad at even making themselves look cool. I wrote two pieces on the Beastfolk of Cobrin’Seil, because we love furry animal people and we love spaces where they get to hang out and it doesn’t have to be weird. I also did another D&D-based two-parter, on the idea of the Warlock and the Paladin’s relationships to power, and while on the topic of D&D, I wrote about the Epic Level Handbook’s monsters, trying to dig into those interesting ideas that were executed just dreadfully. When reviewing my old work on a horror nation, I struck on something I really liked, which is the folding chair fluorescent tube lighting brain-rotted evangelical magical thinking.

The special the ongoing examination of an OC universe and the connected lore that reminds me of my beloved friends by talking about Ironworks, which means a lot to me because it’s basically treating fanfic my friends and I write together like it’s important. Because it is.

And I guess I should direct attention to the archive dive I did on PC Format magazine, and A Software Pirate Looks At 40. Because I think I’m okay, but man those articles don’t make it seem like I am.

Hey, this is this month’s t-shirt design! I’m happy with it, as someone who seems to just want to recreate the DOOM logo aesthetic in dozens of different ways. I had a little period this month where I just pumped out a few different designs and they went up on Redbubble and will get blog posts later, and haha, then at the end of April, Redbubble may? have screwed me? Oh well. The design is there for now, but I’m definitely thinking about alternate places to put my stickers and shirts.

Man, this month, this month. We dogsat a little dachsund. The weather turned rainy for the first time in a while. I got to play Wingspan with the really neat new expansion that added nectar. I watched a bunch of anime that turns out to be really great, like, 2022 was absurd. I hit a backlog of 40 posts on the blog. I did a bunch of graphic design, I got to play and finish Lunark (more on that later), I marked my students, and I managed to finally get one of those early nights I have been trying to get.

It hasn’t been great. Like, one day this month, Fox said to me ‘I missed you yesterday.’ Like I was in such an isolated, unconnected mood that she felt like I was absent. And that’s, you know, probably not good? And reading back on my writing at the tail of the month I’m kinda struggling with something.

What’s weirder is that I’m writing this as the last thing in the month…

… and like…

I feel pretty okay?

I want to spend the rest of today working on games. I don’t play enough.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Diary #Meta