7 Quick Takes Friday vol. 30

Welcome Conversion Diary readers!

1.     My first item was going to be a complaint about J.K. Rowling expressing regrets about the romances in Harry Potter, but as you know, that turned into a post of its own (which I just shamelessly promoted).

2.     I’ve started reading A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs this week, and am absolutely loving it! It’s like a breath of fresh air to one used to sifting through postmodern leftist nonsense to get at some small kernel of truth or virtue. Burroughs splashes things like “a gentleman doesn’t lie, even to save his life” right there across the page! And the story and characters – the gentle Sola, the fierce, yet admirable Tars Tarkis, beautiful and spirited Dejah Thoris – are delightful. I’m engrossed in the story now, and looking forward to seeing how it turns out. This is real literature, this is!

3.     I’m also still reading My Bondage, My Freedom, by Frederick Douglass, Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales and Aristotle’s Ethics. I have a vague idea that the same person isn’t really supposed to be reading those four particular books all at the same time.

4.     On the writing front, I’m still plugging away at Lost City, which is progressing quite well. My present strategy on this one is that I have about three or four previous drafts in various states of repair. So, I take the bits that I like from those drafts (mostly from the most recent one) and paste them into the current one, then fill in between. It’s working pretty good; I just pasted in a description of a fishing method that uses trained rhamphorhynchuses (little pterosaurs) after the manner of falcons; they fly out, scoop up a fish, and return to drop it in their owner’s bucket. More traditional fishermen hate people who practice this method, and vice versa (that gives you an idea of the kinds of things I put in the book).

5.     I just learned we’re scheduled to get our second Godzilla trailer one week from today! That news is awesome enough to warrant its own take. As I said in my rundown of the teaser: I’m looking for a clearer shot of the title character and/or the enemy monsters, a better sense of the story, and, most importantly, a hint of the atomic ray (ideally, the final shot of the trailer will be his plates just beginning to light up). Yes, I’d say I’m fairly excited about this movie.

6.     Speaking of movies, I’m pleased to see that The Lego Movie is getting very positive reviews thus far. I’ve been looking forward to that one, and from the sound of it, it was worth the wait. I’ll probably make time to go see it this weekend, so look for a review next week!

7.     Apparently, someone stole my credit card information, so I had to cancel it and get a new one. What does someone buy with a stolen credit card? $70 worth of Green Tea. Yes, for real; that was the transaction that made the bank suspicious. Something tells me I wouldn’t get along with this thief on a number of levels.

Vivat Christus Rex!