March 01, 2010
Family(minusGirl)Reaction: Lovely Bones
I didn't go see this b/c of an irritation I had with the book. Reading how much my parents liked it made me decide to check out showtimes...and it's already left Chicago completely. Must not have done that well, but as you can read below, they thought it was great.
DadReaction: Did not read book. Thought it sounded too creepy. Must say though: this movie is transcendent. You're really upset at the start and it takes you on a journey of reconciliation that's so odd, so unusual--I thought, anyway--i just don't get why only Tucci got a nomination (for a NOTHING part). Peter Jackson must wonder what he has to do anymore. I mean, King Kong was the movie of the year when IT came out. Not that this one is tops, but c'mon, guys, it's so well done, so unusual, so powerful, it deserves a nod. A lot of the movie was the kid, though--really good casting. But everybody was good.
MomReaction: Your Dad would put it in the top 10 of the year. I liked the way it used horror movie techniques, music that makes you think something is going on, anticipation, really well and it was never a trick, something did happen. I also thought that you went from something that tore your heart out and then saw redemption--hard won. The family did get back to being able to love each other and live, even though something terrible had happened. And the bad guy was identified and died in a very fitting way. The between world was very interesting too.
This movie was complete. It expressed real pain and hurt as well as love, abiding love. And it had a depth that nothing else I saw this year had. So, much as I loved Julie and Julia and Avatar and Inglorious Bastards, I think this had everything they had and more. It was at a completely different level. I think it was too bad only Stanley Tucci got nominated. Although it would be fair to call this an ensemble. Peter Jackson deserved a nomination.
And the setting/background, and special effects ( maybe the category was visual effects) deserved mention in nomination. Your dad just mentioned adapted screenplay as well. Mark Wahlberg was as good as I've ever seen him, lots of emotional depth and even a kind of beauty. Maybe even Susan Sarandon as best supporting actress.
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À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for February.
Bought:
- The First Rule; a Joe Pike Novel, by Robert Crais
Read:
- The First Rule; a Joe Pike Novel, by Robert Crais (iPhone/Kindle)
- Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth 1), by Terry Goodkind (re-read)
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (re-read)
- Black and White, by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge (library)
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February 28, 2010
Sci Fi: Black and White, by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge
A superhero novel. Reads like a comic book except, you know, there are no drawings and there's lots of text. Two young girls, schooled at the same superhero "academy", now diametrically opposed. Flashes back and forth between their current conflict and their school days.
Lots of fun. Go Jet! Go Iri! I want to be their #3.
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Ben Gibbard, you've got a musical doppelganger.
Listenin' to Owl City "Ocean Eyes" a lot this month. Sounds just like a new Postal Service album. And by "just like" I mean, if you didn't know different...
A little less angst-y. And with occasional female vocals chiming in.
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February 13, 2010
Big Screen: A Single Man
Oh so very arty, Tom Ford.
But unfortunately not enough plot and sense to back that art up. Pretty to look at. But lots of holes. (Every gay male is an adonis. Oh wait, that's true, right? Haha. The bar down the street has the same bartender now that it had 16 years ago. Colin Firth ages but his partner doesn't. Etc, etc.) And the whole "he's grey with misery" but "now he pinks up, alive with life" camera/film technique got old, pretty fast.
But there was lots of nice grain and soft light. And pretty pretty boys. Mmmmmm Matthew Goode. (I highly recommend the film "Imagine Me & You" (available on DVD. a very favorite.) if you want to see him get to do more than he does here.)
It vaguely reminded me of the book "The Line of Beauty" by Alan Hollinghurst (read back in 2004 so my memory of it is quite vague indeed) but that may just be b/c of the whole gay melodrama more than anything else (set in totally different times).
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February 11, 2010
Fantasy: Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth 1), by Terry Goodkind
Re-read.
Wow, I had totally forgotten about the crazy masochistic torture stuff in this book. I also forgot about that whole whiney mcwhinerson section with Kahlan. I would like a clearer picture of how old Richard and Kahlan are supposed to be as this series begins.
Love the rules around magic in this book. All the use of webs. And Kahlan's power. ESPECIALLY in Con Dar.
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February 06, 2010
Mystery/Fiction: The First Rule; a Joe Pike Novel, by Robert Crais
I got too bored with Elvis Cole to read anymore of those* but good grief I love me some Joe Pike. It's possible I love Joe Pike more than Jack Reacher^ even because it just seems like while Jack Reacher would be my big brotherly uncle type, Joe Pike would be you know more interesting to me in the sack. Plus I TOTALLY want his tattoos. Totes.
He's hot, and also the coolest customer out there (never lets himself lose his temper which you do occasionally see from Reacher), the mystery is interesting, there's some lies/twists/turns but not so many that you want to hang yourself. And at the end, as in the first Joe Pike-centered book, there's that hint of more humanity than one would guess...
Oh, Joe.
p.s. I read this in bed on my iPhone when I couldn't sleep. :) Then I couldn't sleep because I couldn't stop reading.
*Joe Pike was originally the sidekick in the Elvis Cole series. This is the second Joe Pike-focused book. I don't remember Elvis appearing in the first book (did he?) but in this one he gets to be Joe's sidekick instead.
^The Jack Reacher series is by a different author, Lee Child. If you type either of their names into that search box on the right, you'll get a few hits.)
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Fiction: Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde
If you think the Tuesday Next books are too gimmicky, then you're going to want to avoid this one as I believe it blows that series out of the water gimmick-wise.
While I did enjoy some of the events of the ending, I really had to force myself to get there, and honestly that's not something I really like to do when I read these days. Yes, I used to be a "have to finish everything I start" reader but now I'm an "hey I'm old and there isn't that much time and I don't want to die not having gotten to read as much GOOD stuff as possible so if it sucks, I'm stopping" reader.
This is a society based on color and the color that you can see is therefore the color that you "are" and the amount (percentage) of that color you are able to see determines your prestige, and both those items determine your EXACT position in society. What jobs you can have, who you can marry, etc. The world is ruled by a certain book of rules and infractions/demerits are cumulative. So what's the obvious thing right? Time for a revolution.
A lot of really obvious metaphor here. I remember I loved the first two Tuesday Nexts, didn't care for book 3, thought book 4 was OK...and just did not need to read more. (He could have stopped at one and had a really original book out there. Did he have to play it out?)
This series I am going to stop at book 1 as it's already boring me... In addition, at least the Tuesday Next books made you think about other great books, or google names that you couldn't place to figure out where in literature they were from. None of that extra in this one. (And it's definitely going to be a series, the names of the next two books were listed in the back.)
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YA/Fiction: Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
Powerful book. Told in a long reveal, it takes a while to know what's truly going on, although as an adult I had a pretty good idea (would kids jump to the right conclusion? I don't know).
A lot of nice metaphorical work throughout the story, mirroring the evolution of the main character (particularly in the conception of the tree, and in the naming/recognition of a certain character).
I'm interested to check out her other books, looks like she's written a ton of stuff.
[Apparently there was a movie (Lifetime?) of this, but when I used this book for my media mini-study in my middle school curriculum class, the people in my small group who had seen it said it wasn't anywhere near as good as the book. Why had they seen it? Oh that class is chockfull of undergrads. Bunch of 22 year olds who apparently watch Lifetime teen movies! Heh.]
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Fantasy: The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
The first part of Book 12 of the Wheel of Time series, which will be split into three (I call it 12a). For however much these later books cover such small amounts of time, and how at least one main character always seems to vanish for a book (in this one, Elayne and Lan do not actually appear although they are of course talked about), and how much you fear that the ending won't live up to that great end of days that's been talked about the whole series long... I still really love a lot of these characters and still enjoy reading about them and thinking about their interrelationships. Still love the Aiel and their crazy ways. Enjoying Suian Sanche more than I would have thought. Mat! is all over this one. You know I love Mat! Some nutty Black Friend reveals! There's a lot to enjoy. Now 12b, hurry up.
p.s. I thought Sanderson did a fine job of writing both in his own and in Jordan's voice. There were a couple instances of "huh didn't he just use that exact phrase to describe someone a chapter ago" but other than that, I thought it flowed just fine and all the pivotal characters still felt "right."
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YA/Fantasy: The Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink
Not badly written. The stuff with the little brother is poignantly told. Some of it is quite spooky.
On the other hand, this felt like a book in which very little happens other than the reveal of the ancient curse/prophecy...and it just...ENDS. Very much a "book 1" but even in a series, shouldn't each book have its own purpose? I felt like this one really tailed off at the end in setup for book 2.
There's something to be said for cliffhangers.
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Fiction: Man Walks Into a Room, by Nicole Krauss
I really had to force myself through this one. It's a bit cold and most of the characters I found extremely difficult to connect with (or even to want to).
However, I absolutely adore (ADORE!) her next book "The History of Love" and I would highly recommend you read that one (instead of this OR any other book!). (Search this page for the title or author to hear my enthusiasm. It was one of my very favorite reads of 2005.)
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February 01, 2010
Updated Musing
I've changed my mind on Company of Thieves, the lead sounds EXACTLY like Erin McKeown. Is it her? I should google it. As Sashi would yell at me if I asked him, "GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND."
Eh. Maybe later.
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DadReaction: Nostromo, by Joseph Conrad
Our November challenge book. I had to leave Dad in the lurch on this one, I just had too much school work in November (with finals in the beginning of December) to undertake this one.
Dad: It was harder to get into than I expected / I remembered really liking Conrad. It was one of those sort of prescient things that could be so easily adapted: a South American country gets sucked into the capitalism of the West, because of its resources. Of course, this starts warping the society there; you're watching it happen.
It's an interestingly written book: always taking some weird perspective, lots of flashbacks, leaving things behind. You know ahead of time who makes it and who doesn't, because he tells you throughout the text. Odd hero as well: he won't marry the right chick / her dad kills him. Very odd ending for a book about something else
Worth it but I did have to flog through it.
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À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for January.
Bought:
- None!! (None other than school books, anyway.)
Read:
- Night Child, by Jes Battis (library)
- This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper (library)
- Lonely Werewolf Girl, by Martin Millar (library)
- A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle (re-read)
- The Prophecy of the Sisters, by Michelle Zink
- Man Walks Into a Room, by Nicole Krauss
- Shades of Grey, by Jasper Fforde (library)
- Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
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January 23, 2010
Fantasy: Lonely Werewolf Girl, by Martin Millar
This book is fantastic. The characters are hilarious and deep and interesting and quirky and the plot is both silly and serious and there's love stories and friendships and fights and just so much to love.
There were two small things that I felt were a bit surprisingly ... dropped off at the end (lacking sufficient explanation as to their closure). But that did not stop me at all from loving the ending the rest of the characters get.
Kalix is a fantastic character. I would be sorely tempted to use that name for my firstborn, were there going to be one (there isn't).
Highly recommended from me to you. (Recommended to me by someone on Flickr after they saw I had read and enjoyed The Good Fairies of New York.)
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Big Screen: Sherlock Holmes
It was entertaining and fun and weirdly action-packed and RDJ and Jude Law have nice bromantic chemistry and the steampunk-ness of it all was visually stimulating.
But it had little to nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes. I mean, my god, people, if you're going to make a movie about Sherlock Holmes, a GREAT PLOT SHOULD BE THE POINT. This movie really falls short there.
So you know, go to it to have fun. But not to find yourself intellectually challenged. As the real Sherlock Holmes, at his best, always does.
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Big Screen: Daybreakers
I loved it. It's creepy and icky and SUPER GORY and it actually kind of ANNOYED THE FUCK OUT OF ME when some Zombie-dressed people (I'm not joking about that) laughed at stuff that was super gory when it clearly was NOT funny. It's super imaginative and interesting and totally worth seeing in the theater. And Ethan Hawke is actually pretty good in it and so is Sam Neill. The dude who plays Ethan Hawke's brother is yummy. FYI. If you, say, need for there to be a yummy boy for you to be interested.
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Best of November
The best movie I saw in November was nonexistent. :( Waah! I had no time to go to the movies! Too much studying to do!
The best book I read in November was a tie between two books by the same author Fire and Graceling by Kristin Cashore. They were FANTASTIC!!
The best gig I went to in November was the only gig I went to: it was Joseph Arthur and he was amazeballoons. Just overflowing with talent and creativity.
My favorite tunes in November, besides Joseph Arthur who I listened to constantly all month, were songs featured on my favorite show Sons of Anarchy like "Mary" by Patty Griffin and a cover of "Ruby Tuesday" by Katey Sagal. I also listened to a lot of Matt Hires, with some Shwayze thrown in for good measure.
Random personal highlights: Finally meeting Mary and Doug in person! YAY! Going to observe at classmates' schools: Freaky but good. My cousin Leslie visits!
Lowlights? Studying, writing, studying, writing, studying, writing. School is exhausting.
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Best of October
The best movie I saw in October was a tie between two Chicago Film Festival Flicks: SPY(IES) (ESPION(S) en francais) and Fish Tank. But I also really loved Whip It! and Zombieland.
The best book I read in October was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson, a fantastic end to his trilogy!! And I also loved Liar, by Justine Larbalestier and The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean.
Random personal highlights: Chicago Film Festival. Dinner with the McCains (no, not THOSE McCains, my Chicago McCains). Getting our rooms reserved for Dragon*Con! PIE SHAKES ROAD TRIP!!! FTW!!! Jazz at the Cultural Center. Dinner at Meera & Ross' new place. Francesca stops by!!
Lowlights? Lots of frustrating emails trying to get my life at school straightened out. Always being given the runaround.
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