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Exterritorial (2025)

When a soldier's son vanishes at a US consulate, she illegally remains on the premises to search for him, unknowingly entangling herself in a dangerous conspiracy.

In the evening Alice, Esme, and I watched Exterritorial. The movie was OK and I give it a 6 out of 10.

Madouc

Wicked King Casmir cannot control Madouc, the wild and willful changeling secretly switched at birth with Prince Dhrun, rightful heir to the throne. So Casmir ordains a quest: whosoever brings him the Holy Grail will have Madouc for his bride. But the fairy-born princess chooses to decide her own fate, and sets out with a stable boy to find the grail herself. Meanwhile, a spiteful wizard seeks to undo the spell that prevents the war-torn Elder Isles from sinking into the sea.

The third volume in Grandmaster Jack Vance’s Lyonesse trilogy brings the epic tale of the Elder Isles to its magnificent and melancholy conclusion. Madouc won the World Fantasy Award for best novel.

In the afternoon I started in Madouc by Jack Vance, the final book in the Lyonesse trilogy. My copy of the ebook came with a great image cover by Luc Desmarchelier.

Scarface (1983)

In the 1980s, a determined criminal-minded Cuban immigrant becomes the biggest drug smuggler in Miami, and is eventually undone by his own drug addiction.

In the evening Alice, Esme, and I watched Scarface. Although a bit slow at times I liked the movie and give it a 7 out of 10.

iHostage (2025)

When a gunman enters an Apple Store in the heart of Amsterdam, the police face a delicate challenge to resolve the standoff. Based on true events.

In the evening Alice, Esme, and I watched iHostage. I liked the movie and give it a 7 out of 10.

The Green Pearl

In the second volume of the Lyonesse trilogy, new threads are woven into the epic tapestry begun in Suldrun’s Garden. While war rages across the Elder Isles, King Aillas’s true love, Glyneth, is carried off to a parallel world by an amoral magician in the pay of the wicked King Casmir. Meanwhile, a sorceress’s malice, condensed into a green pearl, passes from hand to hand bringing poignant misery to whomever it touches.

Jack Vance conjures up a tale of war and politics, magic and derring-do, presented in the inimitable style that has made him one of fantasy’s acknowledged grandmasters.

In the afternoon I started in The Green Pearl by Jack Vance, book 2 in the Lyonesse trilogy. My copy of the ebook came with a great cover image by Luc Desmarchelier.

macOS showing the wrong time

Today I noticed that the time on my Mac Mini Late 2014 (Yes, it's still running) was way off. So I used the sntp program to reset it as follows:

sudo sntp -sS time.apple.com

Options:

  • -s: OK to 'step' the time with settimeofday(2).
  • -S: OK to 'slew' the time with adjtime(2).

Two minor tumblelog updates

Today I pushed two minor updates of tumblelog to GitHub. The first update was to version 5.3.8:

  • Reduce calls to log() by using the quotient rule: log(a) - log(b) = log(a/b)
  • Make get_month_names more efficient

The second update was to version 5.3.9:

  • Use constants (Perl) or Enum (Python) for states in collect_days_and_pages

As always, the latest version is available at GitHub.

Less log

Today I used the so called quotient rule for logarithms: log(a/b) = log(a) - log(b), to eliminate a call to the log function twice in the tag cloud algorithm I use in tumblelog.

Another small tumblelog update

Today I pushed another small tumblelog update with the following changes:

  • Remove Sass related file (not needed)
  • Python version: don't append empty string if a literal equals None
  • Python version: check if an article heading contains any text

As always, the latest version is available at GitHub.

Flight Risk (2025)

A pilot transports an Air Marshal accompanying a fugitive to trial. As they cross the Alaskan wilderness, tensions soar and trust is tested, as not everyone on board is who they seem.

In the evening Alice, Esme, and I watched Flight Risk. I liked the movie and give it a 7 out of 10.

A small tumblelog update

Today I pushed a small tumbelog update with the following changes:

  • Make Dockerfiles more robust
  • In Python version: sort inplace (2x) in collect_days_and_pages
  • Use slices instead of a todo counter
  • In Python version: Use or instead of and in conditional

As always, the latest version is available at GitHub.

Suldrun's Garden

Take a doomed princess, a dispossessed prince and a wicked king, a vengeful magician and a melancholy witch; now add faeries, ogres, changelings, scheming barons, wanderers who are not what they seem, robbers, orphans, and a race of hardbitten warriors at war with all humanity. Stir in politics, intrigue, plots and assassinations, battles and sieges, then set it all to simmer in a mythical archipelago across the western sea before the time of Arthur.

Jack Vance draws together the threads of fairy tale and pagan myth to weave an epic tapestry of adventure and intrigue in the Elder Isles. The result is a masterpiece.

In the afternoon I started in Suldrun's Garden by Jack Vance, book 1 in the Lyonesse trilogy. My copy of the ebook came with a great cover image by Luc Desmarchelier.

The Asutra

Gastel Etzwane and his army of Brave Free Men have driven the Roguskhoi from Durdane, only to discover that Durdane is but one tiny front- a testing ground- for an implacable enemy intent on subjugating all the worlds of man. Gastel and his people are in no position to resist, but must find a way to escape a slave army, forced to fight a war that is not their own, and defeat the Asutra!

In the afternoon I started in The Asutra by Jack Vance, the final book in the Durdane trilogy. My ebook copy came with nice cover art by Konstantin Korobov.

Companion (2025)

A weekend getaway with friends at a remote cabin turns into chaos after it's revealed that one of the guests is not what they seem.

In the evening Alice, Esme, and I watched Companion. I liked the movie and give it a 7 out of 10.