So, I have to say that I really like Google’s cache. Using Google’s cache, I was able to get all the rest of it back, which makes me very happy. I have all my posts back, and I think I’ve got all the settings back as they were now, too.
I managed to get some of my posts back, but only a couple more. It’s something though. Now back to finding a way to schedule updates….
So, I just nuked my database, and had to restore from an old backup. I lost a lot of blog entries doing it, too. Woopsie. Well, I suppose that will teach me to back up more frequently and not be so stupid. I wonder if there’s a plugin to back up my blog every time I make a post…. I’ll have to look into doing that, because I sure don’t want to do that again. Grumble grumble. Oh well …
So I finished this book, finally. I’m normally a pretty quick reader, but this was a book my wife and I were reading together. We both enjoyed it, but doing it this way slows us down a bit. My overall impression of the book is that it’s definitely a second-to-last book in the series, and a good one at that.
Jordan has spent most of his previous books creating this world where all the characters live, and creating many intertwined, conflicting plots. With all of this comes the need to create many, many characters to be involved in all of it. What results is one of the most complicated stories I’ve ever read. Jordan carries it off well, though, in all of his books. I’ve never felt so completely overwhelmed by the size of the world of the Wheel of Time that I stopped caring about one character, or a specific plotline. In truth, one of the most frustrating things about these books has been my desire to follow a plot through to the end when the book leaves it and goes to follow another. That happened in this book, just as it has in most of the other books in the series, but that’s a good frustration, it means I stayed engaged throughout the book.
Also typical of Jordan’s writing is the way the book progresses. It begins more slowly than it ends, building up the various plots it deals with over the course of about 80% of the book, and then in the last 20% of the book, he reaches the climax of the conflicts, resolves them, and moves on. One of the major differences in this area from Jordan’s other books is that I believe this book closes with fewer open plots than it began with, which hasn’t happened (to my recollection) since The Eye of the World. That was a bit refreshing, and is the major reason that I say it definitely reads like a second-to-last book. This book had the feel of tieing up plot lines that lead characters to where they must be before the last battle, and setting the stage for the great, final conflict. For anyone who hasn’t read it yet, I highly recommend doing so.
The only complaint I have about the books is that they’ve finally reached a level where there are so many characters that I know I’ll need to consult a character database or quickly re-read all of the books right before A Memory of Light is released. This isn’t a bad thing, really, it’s the natural result of writing as extensive as this series has been, and I wouldn’t ask for it to be different, really. It just gets a little overwhelming at times.
Now it’s time to get started on “The End” from A Series of Unfortunate Events
Cars really is a great little flick. Yeah, I know, it’s old news, but with a 6-month-old son, watching movies on DVD is usually the only way we can see them. I really enjoyed the movie, it was a bit slow to start, but once it got going, it was quite entertaining. Plenty of nods to other movies by Disney/Pixar, it was fun. Sure it was predictable, but do you really watch movies by Disney/Pixar for plot twists? I know I don’t. I watch them for a few good chuckles and all-around entertainment, and that’s what I got from this movie. It was a good flick.
