Book #32: Wool and Iron Man 3

[thistlechaser]

Wool by Hugh Howey.

1) Unfortunately this is only a short story, not a book.
2) It's free! Only the ebook version is free, but it's only available in ebook format, so! Click the link above to get it!

Holy cow, this was a good book story. The problem is, I can't explain too much about it without spoiling it. (And oh how much there is to be spoiled!) Something happened and people (all of humanity?) are living in silos. No one can go out. Generations have been living inside them. Someone discovers something which makes her question everything about their life inside.

Think you know how this story goes? You do not. :D

For such a short book, it sure did take me on a loop. "Oh, THIS is what's going to happen!" "...no, wait, THIS is happening!" "WAIT, THAT is what happened?" "...Oh my god, no, it's THAT!"

I loved the ending so amazingly much. This may be my favorite book story of the year.

---

I finally saw Iron Man 3. I've been paranoid about downloading things lately (my ISP has sent me a couple "We caught you" threat-filled letters), but I really wanted to see it and so I risked it this time. I think I'm likely the last person to have seen it (of the people who want to see it), but I'll put my thoughts behind a cut just in case.

All in all, I liked it, though it wasn't my favorite of the Iron Man movies. I think I liked it better than 2 (I disliked 2 quite a bit). Unlike the first movie, 3 has no rewatchability for me.



Usually I dislike "kid sidekick" characters, but I liked the one in IM3.

Other reviews mentioned being (upset|happy about) the extra suits blowing up -- I had no reaction to it at all. He can build more as needed.

Thanks to the fic I've been reading, one of the scenes I had the most feelings over was the one where his house was blowing up and all the bots were sliding off into the ocean. I'm really glad to have read the story about what happened to them, how they were rescued and reunited with Tony.

I don't know why, but before seeing the movie, I had thought I'd hate the Mandarin bad guy. Turned out I loved him (the actor-played version). The "real" Mandarin guy did nothing at all for me as a bad guy.



Like so many other comic book movies, the plot tended to fall flat for me, but I loved the characters. I hate the first Iron Man movie's plot, but I can watch it again and again because Tony is so amusing.

Comments

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

I loved Wool too! I got it for Kidlet, and ended up reading it myself too. Kidlet has read it twice and has constructed his own silo in Minecraft, ahaha.

You can get the first 5 stories in Wool together in one book. That way it reads more like a novel, with that first story as a prelude. The second 3 stories are in another book, and the author is coming out with the third compilation later this year. The rest of the story is just as good, with plenty of unexpected twists.

I have not seen Iron Man 3, and don't really plan to. But...the bots! Nooooo!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm glad to hear the other stories are just as good! I was worried about ordering them because I didn't think they could live up to the first one.

Don't worry! The bots are just fine now! (http://archiveofourown.org/works/783448) (If you ever have time to read a fic. :P At least it's very short!)

[resonant.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of getting a VPN to avoid ISP snooping. What region are you in?

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Would that work? I use BT protection (Peer Block), but I heard that is no longer any protection at all (which my threatening letters seem to confirm).

NA (west coast).

[resonant.livejournal.com]

It should work - I'll give it a try.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Let me know how it goes! I did some poking around after I left my comment; I'm not sure if I do enough downloading to justify a monthly fee. Maybe when Game of Thrones comes back onto the air. (One of my two letters was about GoT, I think the other one was Avengers -- some popular movie.)

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

From my experience, if you leave the torrent seeding after it's actually downloaded, that's when they catch you. I stop the torrent as soon as it's finished downloading (I have my torrent app configured to do it automatically) and I haven't had any threatening letters for a long time now.

Of course, this is probably helped by my download speed which means that most TV episode torrents finish in 15~30 minutes. So it's a fairly small window of time that they need to scan to be able to spot me.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

That's what I figured as well. I know you're supposed to let it run and seed others, but I figure the less I'm connected to it, the less time they have to catch me.

Contradicting that, I wonder if my download speed tips them off, too. I can download a movie in 15 minutes or so -- who would need to download so much in such a short time other than someone who is getting media? So sometimes I think I should throttle my download speed... but then that means I'd be connected to it longer.

How many letters total have you gotten? I've had two, but I read posts online that people got dozens with no ill effects. (But I also read posts where someone got one and had their accounts terminated...)

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

I think I've gotten two letters a number of years ago when we were using a different ISP. Maybe one since we switched ISPs and then I changed my download habits.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I've changed my habits a lot, too. I used to download everything and anything that caught my eye (half the time I wouldn't even watch it), now I'm downloading next to nothing. It's a shame, but at least we can still download some things!

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

We're able to record most of the series that we want to watch from cable TV in HD so I think that's why we don't download much anymore. I believe there is only one series which shall go unnamed that we still download because we're not subscribed to that channel. If it was provided at a reasonable price for download, I would probably do that instead. But... :P

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

For sure. I'd be willing to pay a per episode price, but I've subscribed to that whole channel in the past, and it just wasn't worth it for me. I hope one day they'll offer it that way -- I'd think they'd have to gain more than they lose from it...

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I remember going to see Iron Man 3, and ebonlock making very concerned noises about how they were going to handle the Mandarin given how he is represented in the comics. Understanding her concerns but having no personal attachment to the comics, I thoroughly enjoyed how they dealt with it in the movie. :D

Otherwise, your assessment matches mine for the most part: enjoyed it better than 2 but I don't feel it has much re-watch.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

The Mandarin being an actor really worked for me. Not only did he remind me of Johnny Depp, but he brought a breath of fun silliness to the movie. The real Mandarin was really flat and boring to me, so the fake one helped a lot.

Funny, reading the wiki page, the comic book Mandarin sounds a lot more interesting than the real movie one, too. Was ebonlock unhappy with the movie version?

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I was very unhappy with IM3 on a variety of levels, the Mandarin being just one of them :( I don't require the movies follow the comics religiously but I do hope they'll maintain at least the spirit of the original comics and IM3 was the first of the Marvel films that really didn't do that for me. Interestingly I think Thor 2 is going to be closer to the original comics and I may not like it as much as I did the first film (which was *way* off from the comics but made loving nods towards Shakespeare so I was cool with it).

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ah hello! Welcome to my LJ! In this case, I'm certain that I'm lucky that I don't read the comics -- I just accept the movies as-is (and generally grumble at how flat and boring most of the bad guys are).

I don't think hoping they'd follow the spirit of the comics is unreasonable at all. I'd guess there are at least as many comic book readers as non- watching the movies, no reason to annoy them.

Okay, wow. On a side note: I went to wiki to check the next few upcoming movies. Ant-Man is getting one in 2015. I haven't liked anything of what I've seen of him thus far (two different animated series). I hope the movie is able to change my opinion (since he and Wasp Girl whatshername are joining the Avengers, I think?).

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Jan, yeah the two of them are supposedly joining the team which just makes me groan. The only time I kind of got into either of them was in the Ultimates series where Hank was an abusive husband and Jan dumped his ass for Steve eventually. Given that (supposedly) Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch also appeared in Ultimates and are supposed to be in the next movie too I wonder if they'll be mixing in any of the Ultimates-verse stuff. If they throw in any of the Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch incest stuff I will *howl* with laughter :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha! Somehow I doubt they'll include the incest stuff, though I'd be laughing right along with you!

So many new people joining the Avengers. I really hope Marvel can make me love them all first. :/ I'm trying to be open minded, but most of me is going NO NO NO, EVERYTHING'S PERFECT AS-IS.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Grumble. I just got an email: Bluelight Cinemas is getting IM3 on Friday! If it had come one day sooner, I would have held off and gone to see it there.

Wait, it said Friday, but it came today... I assume it meant today.

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Wool recommendation. I just finished the Part One book on the train ride into work this morning and the twist at the end was great. I almost didn't see it coming. :)

I've bought the 5 book omnibus. For just shy of $4, that's a good price even though they are more novellas than books.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I loved the twist so much! It was so very, very perfect. :D And thanks for reminding me, I still need to buy the others. Doing it now!

Edit: By the way, I heard they're making Wool into a movie! While it won't be as fun since we know the twist, I'm still interested to see what it will be like.