Ilford in Conversation: Marking Two Years of Genocide: Courage and Sacrifice

Titles aside, this was actually a conversation between Leanne and Ibtihal Aboussad, famous for making that stand against Microsoft, her employer at the time. Today's talk showed that Ibtihal wasn't just full of hot air, but a principled, thoughtful and meticulous activist who is very clear on what she sees as our responsibilities in this world we find ourselves in.

Leanne deserves some credit too, being a host asking some decent questions while making us all forget exactly how young she is. Of course, as is par for the course, the lowlight of the session was the audience Q&A with the usual droll and self-serving questions being asked. Thankfully it didn't make up the meat of the talk.

For a last minute gathering the space worked well, and I look forward to the next one. 

Book: Isles of the Emberdark, Brandon Sanderson

In many ways Emberdark is the opposite of Wind and Truth, the last "main" Cosmere novel that I read. It's concise (well, relatively anyway), it doesn't hold back on the fun - it even goes to a pretty extreme length to catch the reader up in the form of recounting the previous short story set in First of the Sun in the form of flashbacks.

The characterisation falters at times (I've somewhat given up on searching for this in the Cosmere now) but the story and worldbuilding is more than enough to carry it all through. Yes, there are implications and teases, but these seem far more respectful of the reader than they do elsewhere - I suspect due to the shorter length of this book.

Emberdark has quickly become one of my more favoured Cosmere novels and reminds me why I've put so much into this universe so far. Recommended.

Film: The Long Walk

Sometimes a film just needs a single concept to focus on and do well with. You can't really get more simple than a film about walking - you won't find any twist or complication or multi-faux-dimensionality here.

As such, there's really not much to talk about either. If you want a solid buddy movie about men bonding over a shared mission, then this is it. It's pacey, concise and to the point, and the 110 minutes seems far short than it was. Recommended.