April went by pretty quickly, huh?
I spent about a week of it in Atlanta, visiting the campuses of Emory, Georgia State, and Georgia Tech for work. I didn’t see a whole lot of the city, unfortunately, though I did get to sit in a lot of local traffic and visit the downtown aquarium while I was in town. (The former is formidable, ridiculous even, while the latter was a little disappointing, considering how much it cost just to get into the place.) I think I’ve been to Georgia before, this was the first time in a long while that it wasn’t just a short layover between two flights.
Meanwhile in April, I only managed to finish reading one book, Charlie Jane Anders’ All the Birds in the Sky. I didn’t love everything about it, but it was a fun first novel, and I think it successfully merged the sci-fi and fantasy elements in an interesting and unique way.
I also only managed to read twenty-nine short stories, down from my one-a-day average, but that’s only because I accidentally skipped three separate days in the month. My favorites included:
- “Foreign Tongues” by John Wiswell (Flash Fiction Online)
- “Rocket Man” by Lynette Meija (Daily Science Fiction)
- “When Lydia Becomes a Dinosaur” by Rachael K. Jones (Daily Science Fiction)
- “Squeeze” by Rob Cameron (Clockwork Phoenix 5)
- “The Book of May” by C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez (Clockwork Phoenix 5)
- “The Birth Will Take Place on a Mutually Acceptable Research Vessel” by Matthew Bailey (Lightspeed)
- “The Souls of Horses” by Beth Cato(Clockwork Phoenix 5)
- “Origin Story” by Carrie Vaughn (Lightspeed)
- “Everything in Its Proper Place” by Nick McRae (Daily Science Fiction)
- “The Winter Princess” by Amanda C. Davis (Daily Science Fiction)
- “Hands of Burnished Bronze” by Rebecca Schwarz (Podcastle)
I also went to the launch party for Clockwork Phoenix 5, which was a lot of fun, and to the Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading, which was very crowded but also a lot of fun.
In April, I watched eleven movies:
- Little Big Man
"Little Big Man" was pretty okay. Richard Mulligan and Chief Dan George were both good in it.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 3, 2016
- Batman V Superman
Batman V Superman is basically everything I was worried it would be and only very occasionally what I hoped it could be.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 3, 2016
- The Hateful Eight
I hesitate to say The Hateful Eight was a *bad* movie. But I don't know that I'd hesitate for long.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 10, 2016
- Midnight Special
The Midnight Special has a very slow, deliberate pace. Almost definitely to a fault, but I still liked the movie.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 10, 2016
- Now You See Me
Spoiler warning: Now You See Me is ridiculous.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 11, 2016
- The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
I will say, the RZA's enthusiasm for the genre on the commentary track is infectious. https://t.co/7kM9c110Hl
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 17, 2016
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
I'm enjoying Mockingjay Part 2, but it really didn't have to be two movies.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 18, 2016
- Maggie
"Maggie" is so portentous (and pretentious), but damn it if old, run-down Schwarzenegger isn't kind of great in it.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 24, 2016
- Trainwreck
"Trainwreck" is pretty good. It suffers a bit from the Apatow "let's just hang out and improv" approach, but it helps by having a good cast.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) April 24, 2016
- Rope
"Rope" is an interesting experiment, and Jimmy Stewart's good, but I don't think Hitchcock was wrong to feel dissatisfied with the results.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) May 1, 2016
- The Big Short
"The Big Short" is a weird comedy.
— Fred Coppersmith (@unrealfred) May 1, 2016
And finally, in April, I listened to some music: