I.
I've finally seen "Wonder Woman" (it did come out later in the Netherlands and then I was travelling and had no time to breath). I left in love - it was a flawed movie (that boat trip was just hilariously wrong), but oh, did it do things right. I did stay out of the overall discussion, for various reasons, but two thoughts that I keep coming back to.
1. Am I happy that they went for the "wrong war". I am so, so, so tired of American stories using WWII as a backdrop. I know that it is part of the history of the character, but well ... Sometimes, if we tell the stories anew, we need to change them.
2. When writing this, I am sitting on a plane, the passengers boarding walking past me on the way to their seats: people flying from Munich to Amsterdam, from Germany to the Netherlands. And it brings it home once again: Gal Gadot would stand out among them - for being somewhat darker, somewhat different, foreign enough to be seen as "not one of us". Is it my own experience talking? Perhaps. I'm pretty sure they have not thought of this, making an American movie. But to me, with my experience of being the other in Western Europe, with the movie taking part in UK, Belgium and France, with Gal Gadot's own Israeli background, this is an Jewish woman, a woman representing an ethnic minority, a woman representing a certain Middle-Eastern look that would draw racism and discrimination, being powerful on screen. This gives me so freaking many feelings.

II.
American Gods. (Thanks, giallarhorn!) I'm two episodes in and I love it. I found the Bilquis sex scene less impressive than the online discussion let me to believe, but it *was* well done. The casting so far has been superb - different from what I thought (in my imagination, Shadow was rather Native American than black), but working in a way that is definitely overwriting my assumptions. The only thing I wish for were proper prononciation for the Zorya's names, especially among the Zoryas and Czernobog. But oh well.

III.
They did change Druckfrisch to a bi-monthly schedule, didn't they? I am so freaking sad about it, it still is perhaps the only German TV show worth watching D:

IV.
Also seen the two first seasons of Voltron. Meh. I will give it another try - in the end, the next season has Lotor. But so far it gives me zero feelings. It does certainly not help that even as a kid, I loved the vehicle Voltron version a lot more than the lion one. I'm kind of sad about this - I really wanted something else to be fannish about (not that I grow tired of Marvel/Loki but I have the distinct feeling that the whole universe goes into a direction I do not like). Oh well.
(Both Wonder Woman and American Gods are too good. Fannish needs a story with enough holes to feel them up with imagination but at the same time not enough to totally throw me off. I'm strange like that, it's hard to get me there, only very few shows ever managed.)

Crossposts: http://pax-athena.dreamwidth.org/777244.html. There are comments over there.

( world, politics, meCollapse )

***

( glasses; recs for lenses?Collapse )

**

( Dr. StrangeCollapse )

**

( Midnighter&ApolloCollapse )

No, this is definitely not the entry I wanted to be writing. I want to sound enthusiastic about the movie and the comic because they are both great, but it's all a grey fog right now ...

I.
This was a warm winter: I feel like I haven't had enough of my warm sweaters -- partly because I spent almost half of it traveling (5 weeks Europe, another conference, New Orleans), leaving out of a single suitcase. I used the heavy facial cream, the one that saves me when my skin starts flaking because of the cold, only twice or thrice. I almost miss the snow but I also enjoy the days when it smells like spring. And in a week, I will be packing the first suitcase to send back to the other side of the Atlantic: snow shoes and winter jacket and the chunky sweaters that are for the coldest days.

II.
Once I mended a piece of clothing, I feel extra attachment to it. It's almost a "I saved your life, so you better stay alive for really long". Does anybody else feel the same way or is it just me being strange?

III.
If you want a really sweet movie (with some amazing British English), go watch "Saving Grace" (2000). I feel this need to go and search for more movies with Brenda Blethyn.

VI.
If you want an amazing science fiction story (length-wise a novella, I guess?), Cory Doctorow's "The Man Who Sold the Moon" (available in full length online) may be for you. I cried like crazy over that thing - it does have a few heavy handed moments but given how they all come from either stoned people or teenagers, they feel just as real as the rest of the story. Hard science fiction, perfect characters, burning man, Theo Jansen (I so need to manage to be in den Haag for summer next year if/when his strandbeests [not a typo] walk the shore; there has been a happening in the Peabody museum last year, but I missed it) ... This one just works.

V.
Any audiobook recs? My preferences is for British English speakers, unabridged text, and comfort reads or detective stories. I'm still listening my way through Terry Pratchett but I came to realize that there is not an endless supply of those books left. Still enough for several years given how much I listed to, but, but, but ... (This is me, my perception of time is rather skewed.) And I am really asking for audiobooks, not books that may be nice as audiobooks. I have several ideas there (Stephanie Plum), but the audio samples did not work for me.

Is Tuesday night too late to talk about the weekend? Especially one where nothing happens? Oh, but I am too late to everything anyway, so:

• I've seen the newest Mission impossible. And while I am decisively meh about the movie (why does it get all the good reviews?), I am very happy about Ilsa Faust. (She could SO stand for a character of mine. Actually for two. Only red hair in both cases, longer in one, shorter in the other. Just the right mixture between kick-ass heroine with actual muscles and 40ies/50ies Hollywood star. I have no idea what suddenly happened that I see people who would actually fit my characters ... Two within what, a few months?!)

• We also got caught up in conversation afterwards and since we did not actually want drinks, we somehow ended with espressos. Mind you, good espressos, I haven't had a good espresso for ages. Just ... Half past midnight is not a good time for an espresso. It took a while to get asleep and given how this was not quite my usual crowd, I also spent too much of that extra awake time being anxious especially given how the conversation went great but serious places and I spent too much time gripping for right words. Writing is so much easier than talking in a foreign language!

• I spent the rest of the weekend mainly reading - finished Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin". Atwood and I, we are not going to become friends, I am afraid. No matter how much I want to. It just rubs me the wrong way when a writer trust my intelligence as a reader so little. And makes science fiction references, but does not go all the way (the "left hand" discussion? And she very definitely knows of LeGuin's work there and it is relevant to more than one topic in the novel).

• Which also reminded me that the neighbors downstairs are moving out - and the landlord's mother moves in. More anxiety D: I don't think he is going to throw us out; I mean, he seems a fair guy and he warned the folks downstairs several months in advance. But ugh ... I really got to love the location and the very idea of the possibility of a move (because it *is* his mother I will be living directly above) makes me all kinds of anxious. It's enough that one of my roommates will move out at some point this fall since his wife is finishing her PhD and moving to Boston from somewhere in Connecticut. I mean, he is not a perfect roommate (he kind of manages to like it summerly warm in winter and winterly cold in summer?), but we get along without conflicts and his wife makes me try her home-made Indian dishes when she comes visiting.

• I knew that the limit on one of the credit cards was going to get up. And then they wrote me this e-mail of "we've looked at your payments and your score and give you double the credit line you were supposed to get". Mind you, double the credit line, not double the increase. It will never stop feeling strange to have more than two monthly salaries in form of credit in my pocket. I now consider whether I shall call them and try to convince them to waive the fee - or to transfer me to another card, one without fee. On the other hand: who knows whether I will keep the card for longer than another year at all?

• I made chicken hearts! It was supposed to be three portions, two of them for weekday lunches. Well, I ate two of them. So good! I really need to remember more of the good old unfancy foodstuff.

• Have I recommended Olga Grjasnowa's "All Russian Love Birch Trees"? ("Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt, German review here). No? Yes? Anyway: it's a great book, kind of relevant to the last post, in terms of what it's like to be someone with a "migration background" in German society today. I'm reading her other book at the moment and highly enjoying it.

• I also have this pair of earring that have some sentimental value, but are absolutely not my style: filigree red gold - very Russian. I may have finally found a way to wear them that is not totally off. I hate having dead weight things, but there are some that are small and have that the sentimental value ... (Another is a red gold Magen David pendant that I got as a present.)

So well ... I guess this was a first. The first time I binge-watched a show. And a really good show. I started on Saturday, with 3 episodes. Naively thought that it was a total of 10, realized at around 11 PM Sunday, half-way into episode 10 that this could not be the end. And had to finish it. In parts because I could not imagine watching it home on the tiny 11 inch monitor - I needed the whole 85 inch beauty in 4k.

The thing is, I don't feel fannish about in, now in the way I feel about the universes that leave a ton of holes in its fabric to fill out by the reader/watcher. It's the other kind, the (better?) kind where I want the canon as it stands, this shiny thing that I can admire and love and recommend to other people who like action-packed superhero stories of the more violent kind.

There are plotholes - [Spoiler (click to open)]I don't quite understand how Fisk got where he is; Wesley's fatal mistake was a stupid one; we could have done without the old heartless but perhaps not so heartless mentor (although I suppose that this is the part where people familiar with the comics may strongly disagree); also where is the Avengers/stark tower in the NY skyline? - but honestly? This is a squee post. Let me squee.

Let me also start with my wishes for the next season: all the things Vanessa. In excruciating detail. Also, more half-naked beaten up Matt - no, I did not get enough of it! How could I?

Things I love, in a random order and spoilery - and most likely by far incomplete:

( a ton of squeeCollapse )

Or to sum it up: YAY! Also: Don't underestimate a 85 inch TV that can do 4k. I was sitting on the couch some 1.5 meters in front of it and the image was so clear that my glasses actually made a difference.

[Mainly written on train from Methuen to Boston today morning. I kind of have the feeling that it has too many typos, but am too brain dead to hunt for all of them. See the fact that I got into bed at half past three and had to get up at 7 to be at work on time to take care of my student and actually do work.]

I don't watch much TV/movies. But sometimes (usually when I have to iron, as is the case this weekend) I feel like watching something. And observing which movies I enjoy, there is a pattern. OK, there are several patterns. But the one pattern I want to indulge in more, are "awesome action women". Note that I am not saying awesome action movies or even good action movies (and not "unproblematic movies", unfortunately). I will watch and enjoy watching something very campy if it also contains an awesome lady in a tight leather overall that actually covers her boobs kicking ass.

Let me give you some examples: Hanna (have you watched it? No? You should!), Underworld Trilogy, Dredd (the 2012 movie - so no, the woman does not have to be the title character; and high rating are not a problem at all). Back when I was watching TV in Germany - so at least 11 years ago now - , I used to love Cutthroat Island (so fluff is great, too) but haven't seen it for at least 12-14 years and only roughly remember what it may have been about. And let's, of course, not forget the awesomeness that are Trinity in Matrix or Maria Hill (seriously, don't forget Maria!) and Natasha Romanoff (although I haven't fully warmed with her yet, I need to re-watch the movie) in the recent Captain America.

So: any recs?

Things that are on netflix are a big plus, but really, just shoot. I will also gladly - so gladly - take a look at more international productions. I am not going to promise that I am going to watch every one of them, but I want to have a list I can go back to when I want to watch something (and have time to).

I.
So, Snowpiercer. If you want a one summary, it would be unsettling.

The strange mixture of extremely realistic violence, the narrative structure of a comic book and pulp tropes hits like a ... train. Yes, this is a good image. Somewhere along the fight scenes I felt like leaving the theatre and I am not that squeamish. Afterwards, I've been searching among the - admittedly rather low - number of movies I've seen for something comparable. Kill Bill comes to mind, but the violence in Kill Bill follows the same narratives, is somehow cleaner. But this ...

The overall effect is eerie. Intense. Not a movie I want to see soon a second time just for the fun of it, though I may revisit it with friends at some later point. With friends who have also seen it once and want to discuss details. But it's not a movie I want to think about too much right now, alone, to be honest. And yes, very much a recommendation. Even though I expect some people not to like it (I don't even know whether I liked it; but I like that I have watched it). But it's worth trying.

(I wonder what it feels like for someone who is less familiar with comics; whether they feel the dissonance or whether parts of the story - Curtis confession monologue, for example - seem just over the top.)

Another observation: as much as I loved the American audience (although I am not sure it has something to do with the culture in this case) on other occasions, I disliked it this time. They tried to laugh. The hard thing about this movie is: there are no funny scenes. Yes, he slips on the fish, but it is one of the most intense scenes, not even a hint of humor there. Trying to laugh is a panicky reaction to things happening on the screen that make you feel sick. Another movie - and yes, a good popcorn comic book movie and I do love those - would make you laugh to make it bearable. Snowpiercer does not. And as much as I am the one to ask for humor otherwise (there is a scene in "Schindler's List", rather at the beginning, that made me laugh out loud and than choke crying) in Snowpiercer the lack of it is strength. An audience's laughter never felt so forced to me as this time.

II.
I had my 6-month-review. It went very well. But I need to publish. Preferably yesterday. Cue new approach to work, slightly inspired by seidenstrasse: first thing after reading through the preprints are X hours of work on my paper(s). Everything else, especially work for collaborators, comes after. This will mean a lot of bad conscience because I will be letting people down (I am scientifically socialized as an extreme team player, which is now working against me). But there is no way around it. I am really looking forward to the science. But: bad conscience! Ugh!

III.
I have a name!

Now I am the first one to admit that I haven't written anything for years. It's rusted and if I try, the sentences come all crooked, missing the rights words, languages bleeding into each other.
Still, it does not mean that the stories aren't there. And sometimes the right things come together - a movie I have seen, stories I have read, a tone of voice, a gender-flipped fanart, the small insights into the Boston/Cambridge start-up scene I got when searching for a new room at the beginning of the spring. And there it is, a story in my head.

The world is an incoherent mess that I will not bother you with. But the characters and the emotional highs and lows, the temporal structure of the story (and here I am missing the right English word: "Zeitebenen" it would be in German; but then again, if I try to think this whole story in German it sounds off; I stumble over missing words left and right) - there are five or six, same characters at different age, with the dynamics changing as there is so much more difference between 16, 20 and 22 vs. 24, 28 and 30 - and the sins of the parents that get the catastrophe that will end this particular world rolling, they all are here.
There is Ana, with her "fuck off"-attitude, too much money and too much ideas, an extrovert engineering-genius, contemptuous of her classmates when younger and of competitors when older, olive-skinned and short, chubby people may have said when she was younger but they would not dare to say it to her face even then, not because she is half-human half super soldier (or whatever else, the world is an incoherent mess, but that's OK), the last one, but because she is Ana. There is Luke, who is anger and violence, violence and anger, who will rub every scratch until it turns into a pestering wound, who thinks himself very complex but it actually surprisingly simple. I like this two because they are so much out of my comfort zone when writing; people I would hate to meet in life. And there is a third one to complement the trio: a presence, broad-shouldered, unwavering. Where his half-brother is barbed wire, he is shatterproof glass; where his best friend vomits ideas into the world, he carefully places his and nurtures them into life. Matthew is much closer to who I am comfortable writing - yet it took me three months to come up with a name that would be right, that would fit the feeling I have of him. (And yes, biblical names in a story that is pure science fiction.)

So yes, I have a name; one that stuck me on the way to work, let me walk another block just to wear down the excitement of having a name.

(I am torn: I wish I still had the writing voice, I wish to feel like writing. Yet ... it's not like I would have time to anyway, so perhaps it's better that I never feel like writing the stories down, like shaping the dreamscapes into worlds that could survive on paper. But they still bring me endless joy, even when they are as bleak as this particular one.)

-- Ian McDonald, "Tendeléo's Story" --
*
I've seen "Only Lovers Left Alive". Which was good. Not necessarily a flawless story, but I got what I went for: characters that push just the right buttons and a long love, a relationship that started long before the story and will continue long after, and that was never questioned. (There are too few such relationships in fiction, I'm always searching for them - if you have recommendations, whether books or comics or visual media, they are always welcome.) That was amazing. Who cares about the rest?

**
I've also seen NT's "King Lear". And that one ... Something was off. I mean, the acting was superb. But something was off. Directing? Stage? Costumes? Music? I'm not sure.
The sad thing is that I've seen a play of Shakespeare's butchered in A.'s theatre back some 9-10 years ago. I don't remember which one, but after seeing this, I'm pretty sure it was "King Lear".
Still the acting was superb. And perhaps it was just my mood. I went home and had one of those ugly crying breakdowns because I felt so lonely. Absolutely unrelated to the play or anything that actually happened that days or that week.

***
Part of it is, of course that I was running this series of talks over the last three days. I was not alone, but as my co-organizer (and I like him for that a lot!) said to me, I did the lion's share of work. It still wasn't that much, but ugh, I'm an introvert. Standing in front of an audience introducing people; being nice and talkative and professional in between is just not me. I also gave a talk myself. I had a lot of science-y and science carrier-y conversations with colleagues, not all of them pleasant.
I had - independently from the talk series - the chance to pitch my work to a really amazing scientist (I got what I wanted out of it, but I don't think it went extremely well; then again, I was the last appointment on a day when they had a break-less schedule from 9:15 am to 6:15 pm, with a big colloquium they gave, a working lunch and something that looked very much like a working dinner in between, so I should perhaps not expect a ton of enthusiasm for small projects of a postdoc).
I learned a lot, I will have to make adjustments, but it's nothing critical, I think. So the general feeling of inadequacy is just be being tired, the kind of exhaustion that comes, for me, after the high of being social. Knowing this does not make it better, though. I had a bitter phase yesterday night when not even my stories were a safe place; when it all felt badly written (not written, never written - thought out? planned? plotted?); petty struggles, cardboard characters, not enough real pain, not enough real suspense. I cannot get into the heads of my characters and if I do, they feel too much like me. (Part of it being that I read/am reading a really good story; superb characterization, or at least one that does the right thing for me now; also goes to the kind of dark place that I feel I cannot reach in writing.)

****
It's suddenly spring outside. Streets full of cherry flowers. I miss real parks, though. What they call squares in this city are big intersections. What they call parks, are fields (grass, if you are lucky; sometimes concrete) to play team games. I need places to go for walks that do not bring me past clothes and book stores.
But as said: this is just my inner exhaustion talking. Time to do something against it, time to re-charge, or it will not go away.

The moment that the NT live show that was sold out just a few days ago is suddenly is not sold out any more. And you buy the tickets, not thinking, more or less out of reflex. And then think about the fact that you actually don't have time, because it's in the middle of a symposium you organize (where one of the other two organizers suddenly got a job somewhere else and has to leave). And a talk during this very symposium the day after the show that you still haven't written. But yeah: King Lear!

Also: The last book I read in 2012 was Olga Grjasnowa's "All Russians Love Birch Trees", which was one of the best books that year - hell, perhaps the last years. And it seems it's available in English now. So: book recommendation here. I think, my review for the book is my most liked review on Goodreads - even though it's in German, for a book that is not one of your usual best-sellers.

Also: plans for scone baking and "Only Lovers Left Alive" made. Yeah!

Also: found this great section in an article on Philosophical aspects of modern cosmology


Also: Whole Foods actually sells black (beluga) lentils. Yum, yum, yum! I was very sad without them; black lentil salad is my go-to for when I don't know what to make for lunch for work.

Also: I read up on NuSTAR (wikipedia|NASA ) and it made me realize how wee tiny the satellite actually is. 350 kg! And so many hopes on its shoulders given what the funding and therefore the chances for new instruments look like.

Also: there is actually a documentary on Alejandro Jodorowsky's never made "Dune"-movie. I ... may need to see this. Jodorowsky! Moebius! Dune! (Even though I never was so much into Dune, I do recognize why people are, what it means for SF, and what potential there is.) What happened to me - I never ever go into cinema, and now I may end up going three times within 7 days? And actually may have another invitation that I will not join for? Also: I need to iron this weekend, so there will be another movie. Or a series. Hm.

-- Taking a lie and making it the truth. Telling a story to the Universe so utterly, cosmically perfect that for a single shining moment the world believes a man can fly.

- Al Ewing, Loki: Agent of Asgard #1 -
In (slightly) fannish news:

I.
I have seen Coriolanus! Which I highly enjoyed, especially given how much the play itself was very political or rather about someone who does not know how to handle politics. This never fails to get me. I can also very much recommend the Arden Shakespeare version of the play - the commentary is both great and hilarious (disclaimer: I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I'm on the way there). I may have even went to see it a second time today, if I did not have a talk on Wednesday, which I did nothing for because I spent the last week and especially the weekend in a corner being miserable for no reason. And if I did not forget my wallet at home today - I have both my ticket and the keycard for the institute extra in my jacket, so yeah, I can actually leave my flat without my wallet and get into work. And not be able to buy a last minute cinema ticket.

II.
I have finally seen the last episode of Sherlock! Mary! Mary! I've been slightly spoiled for the last episode, so I did not want to tell you how much I fell in love with her during the first episode already, but now I've seen all three and I can tell you: I love Mary. Also: the mind palace sequence when Sherlock [Spoiler (click to open)]gets shot is one of the most amazing sequences I've seen on screen in ages. Like: whoah. WHOAH! I have all kinds of feeling. And I've been thinking a lot whether this would have worked in a book (no) or in a comic (no, I don't think so) - perfect use of the medium to show just the perfect scene.

III.
This is a tor.com article on Sherlock vs. Elementary, which is not a topic I'm having an opinion on since I have not yet seen Elementary (I want to, but you know how it works with me - see how long I needed to watch the three Sherlock episodes) and which [the article, not the series] I don't think to be particularly good. But it touches a point that I wanted to write about anyway: it's not about worshipping a character. It's about relating and identifying (about what I did call "wearing a trickster god's skin" just a while ago). Now we may end up having a longish discussion why I end up identifying with the emotionally unstable / unavailable / damaged male characters on one hand and with strong women on the other and it has a ton of both personal layers and media/depiction of gender roles layers to it, but yeah ... I may want to sit down and disentangle this at some point - or not, because it would also mean going all the way into my own stories and who wants to read about characters that only exist in my head (but who are so, so, SO important). But anyway, I stumbled over the article and I wanted to point this direction out.

IV.
And since I'm using and AoA citation as title (and icon) and am linking to tor anyway, here is another candy.
Sad thing though: even AoA does not make me feel the way DC comics make (made?) me feel; the was Hush (I, II) made me feel; the way Trinity (I, II) made me feel. Oh well, perhaps I'm expecting too much from just one single volume as opposed to a 12 (or even 52) volume storyline. Not that AoA isn't amazing in a way, it is as the link clearly shows, I'm just yet lacking the overwhelming emotional response I want to have!

1 book recommendation:

• "Трудно быть богом" aka "Hard to be a God" aka "Es ist nicht leicht, ein Gott zu sein" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. I have no idea why the thing is not properly translated into English and not still in print. Well OK, I do have an idea why, by the naive part of me does not want to believe it. Anyway, easy to find online, amazing piece of social criticism. (Though caveat here: "Roadside Picnic" is still better. But that's the difference between good and mindblowing and I did recommend "Roadside Picnic" already)

2 film recommendations:

• "Dredd" (the 2012 movie) - if you think one can not pull off one of the most violent comic adaptations without gender fail, this movie will prove you wrong. Also: great storytelling (simple story, compellingly told), perfect cast.

• "End of Watch" - just watch it (preferably with subtitle if you are not a native speaker). Seriously. It is different, both in term of the way of storytelling (I know, I just used the same word above, but I guess this just what I need in movies) and in terms of performance - and I don't even get all the social cues in there, but was told they all sit.

3 questions to ask yourself:

• Do you want it?

• In a year, will you be telling people about it?

• In a year, will you regret that you did not do it?

I.
I really love how CEA is actually called CEA² now, because it turned from "Commissariat à l’énergie atomique" to "Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives". And no, I still don't speak French. Anyway:

Win: two weeks in Paris (one week working with French collaborator on super cool™ paper, one week conference).

Fail: trying to find a hotel which is a) at least along the train line to the bus stop to CEA² Saclay (who builds such a giant research facility into the middle of nowhere?) b) affordable, but still habitable for two weeks. Though I might finally have something.

II.
Why is Hanna not more well known? Yes, it has plot holes like whoah, but every Hollywood action movie does, too. Otherwise: a well told story, very cool fight scenes, nice fairy tale allusions, a few very funny moments, great actors. It passes the Bechdel test over and over [Spoiler (click to open)](I love the fact that it's not Sophie who gives Hanna away, even though she has seen her newfound friend kill a man just a few hours ago). And it does - with Erik, Hanna herself and Marissa - service three of my favourite character tropes. And has a fascinating father/daughter relationship in it.

III.
52buecher [in German, sry] - I like this community and post there every second month (January & February, March & April, May & June), but it's kind of a bit dead. Play along?

IV.
New glasses are on the way! It's indeed much nicer - if one can somehow afford it - to get one's glasses done not at one of the big chains, but at a local, engaged optician. I've interacted with all three people working there now and all were competent, fun and nice.
Being me with my usual extra wishes, I combined the frame of one manufacturer with the glass shape from another, which I then wanted to be slightly changed but was not sure how. So they made trial glasses in two different shapes so that today I could try them on and decide which one I want to actually have, with the extra work costing me exactly nothing. And then the guy (who turned out to be the owner) spend certainly half an hour taking all the measurements in terrible details (including testing 3D vision) and with a lot of fun once he found out that I'm a physicist and therefore understand what wave fronts are and how they are used to measure the exact shape of my eyes. And he did not try to sell me the most expensive lenses!