posted
I thought that wasn't out till the end of the month?
I sort of went off 100 Bullets after Book 8. That whole story was brilliant, but it really started to slide for me. It suddenly seemed to get absurdly mysoginistic, and there was a sudden sense that the characters weren't doing anything when they were off page. They just seemed to sit waiting in hotel rooms until the story chose to focus on them. Also, I had a sense that stuff was being added in just to stretch it out to 100 issues.
Without spoilers does it bubble up to a satisfying ending?
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quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: I thought that wasn't out till the end of the month?
I sort of went off 100 Bullets after Book 8. That whole story was brilliant, but it really started to slide for me. It suddenly seemed to get absurdly mysoginistic, and there was a sudden sense that the characters weren't doing anything when they were off page. They just seemed to sit waiting in hotel rooms until the story chose to focus on them. Also, I had a sense that stuff was being added in just to stretch it out to 100 issues.
Without spoilers does it bubble up to a satisfying ending?
At volume 9 I realised it was no longer satisfying as an episodic read, so I sat it out until the series concluded. I got volume 13 last week and started re-reading the whole run on Thursday evening. I fucked my leg playing tennis at the weekend, so I had the perfect excuse to spend three days on the sofa doing nothing but reading.
Some of the problems you mention I recognise. I still don't think Azzarello realised the whole thing was going to run to an epic 100 book arc. So, we've got 13 families, 7 Minutemen, agents, warlords, wildcards, bit players... I'm sure Azzarello initially thought these would be interesting background colour, or a potential pool of characters to dip into if things were lagging, not that he's have to introduce, realise and pursue stories for all of them. So, there are dips, there is 'off-screen' downtime, the tone is occasionally uneven. The much-lauded dialogue does sometimes clang. There is some misogyny (but then, everyone's treated pretty shabbily). There's the late introduction of characters D'Arcy, Slaughter and Rothstein which seems a bit contrived and rushed. There's Echo and the painting. But, my overriding impression, having completed the whole thing, is of admiration and satisfaction. Some of the segues and narrative tangents are obviously there to illuminate or colour pre-existing themes or motifs or to provide foreshadowing for forthcoming threads. By about volume 10 I realised that there was no point in trying to second-guess motives or even attempting to keep any sort of track of where allegiances lay or who was on whose side. This was double-, triple-, quadruple-... whatever-cross. Trust no one. Except Graves. Graves never lies. Some big players go down at unexpected times and the whole thing barrels along to a frenetic, bloody conclusion. There are a handful of unexpected survivors.
I'd say read it. Definitely. It's like The Wire but for comics.
quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: It suddenly seemed to get absurdly mysoginistic, and there was a sudden sense that the characters weren't doing anything when they were off page. They just seemed to sit waiting in hotel rooms until the story chose to focus on them.
Thinking about this... it seems to emulate the formula of a lot of hard-boiled novels. The bankrobbers hang out by the pool until the money runs out then they plan another heist. The broads get slapped about and hide the guns. It's lazy, I know, but it's true to the pedigree of the tale.
posted
Oh I'll definitely get it, if only to complete the collection. Once I've read it, I'll probably start the whole thing from the beginning and read it in 'one go'. It's just that it felt like it went from being my favourite thing ever to a bit 'meh'. But there's no question mark over whether I'll finish it.
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Octavia
I hate Valentine's Day. Stupid commercialised crap
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I read the first couple, then decided to stop and wait till the whole series was finished and do the lot in one go - looking forward to it.
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I was going to read it but I was talking to Thorn over the weekend and he said he thought it was a bit too complex for me and I'd probably be better off with some Dan Brown.
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quote:Originally posted by Cherry In Hove: I was going to read it but I was talking to Thorn over the weekend and he said he thought it was a bit too complex for me and I'd probably be better off with some Dan Brown.
posted
Did anyone else see 'Manson' last night? The testimony of Linda Kasabian was interesting, but the docudrama bits were ropey and their Charlie was pathetic.
quote:Originally posted by Darryn.R: was it worth it or not ?
Yyyyyyyyyyyyyes... just. If only for the Kasabian testimony. There's so much else about the show that sucked, though. It was obviously made on a shoestring, so they didn't bother licensing any genuine 60s music (no, not even 'Helter Skelter'). Every time they have to set the scene, for a be-in or an orgy or a freak-out, they crank up this godawful library music of wah-wah guitar and phased sitars. The chief injustice is to Charlie, though. He should sue. They've cast a skinny, ruggedly-handsome surfer with zero personality, in the scenes where he's turning the Family on and 'blowing their minds' it's just a beard spouting bolocks. I mean, I know Manson was spouting bollocks, too. But he was (apparently) doing it with his pinball, leprechaun, psycho-energy charisma. If you check out some of his interviews on Youtube you'll see what I mean.
posted
Went to see District 9 today with my mum and sister. We all enjoyed it very much. Slightly heavy handed in the first 20 minutes or so, and the mockumentary style was hit and miss, but once it started mixing the styles and telling a real movie story, it came into its own and hit a lot of the right notes.
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posted
Benny: No Hero and Crossed are fantastic, requiring a strong stomach. I'm hooked. Thanks again for those. (The package you sent had the return address obscured with a postal label, email me your address if you'd like me to mail you back something to read)
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I really want to see District 9 and The Hurt Locker.
I saw Inglorius Basterds on Saturday. I kinda liked it, but it's very uneven, if the whole film was on a par with the opening chapter it would be glorious. Cristoph Waltz' performance as Hans Landa is worth the price of admission through.
I watched all of Dollhouse which I enjoyed a lot, and which I thought improved throughout throughout it's run. Although I can't help thinking that Echo's original personality appears to have been a bit of a twit.
Most recently I've been watching True Blood, HBO's Southern Gothic Vampire series, which is highly enjoyable, even if the supporting cast of characters are far more interesting and appealing than the ostensible leads.
Oh yeah, and I kind of accidentally, and against all my better judgement (such as it is), ended up getting into Supernatural.
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quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Benny: No Hero and Crossed are fantastic, requiring a strong stomach. I'm hooked. Thanks again for those. (The package you sent had the return address obscured with a postal label, email me your address if you'd like me to mail you back something to read)
BM - glad you're liking them!
Crossed has some amazing moments of disgusting shock contrasted with some genuinely moving and beautiful moments.
H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
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Muse, at The Den, last Saturday.
University Challenge, for the geeking.
The Gadget Show, even though Jason What'sHisFace is quite annoying, and John Thingummy looks and sounds like a geography teacher. I always enter the prize draws, because I really really feel that my life is missing 3 huge TVs etc etc
Private Practice, because I'm a girl.
True Blood, for the gore and sex.
The Dragon Keeper, by Robin Hobb, which I read at a romp yesterday.
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quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: University Challenge, for the geeking.
I highly recommend continuing the geekery on BBC Four, with the 'highbrow' quiz show Only Connect. Instead of picking questions from 1-6, teams (with names like The Chessmen and The Rugby Boys) have to choose a Greek fucking letter. "I'll have, erm... Gamma please!"
It's utterly preposterous in its attempts to appear cultured. But it is hosted by everyone's favourite intellectual dominatrix, Victoria Coren - buttoned up to the chin in something demure.
H1ppychick
We all prisoners, chickee-baby. We all locked in.
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...and that reminds me to add (although it's finished now)...
The Supersizers
which has been an excellent opportunity to squee over every right-minded woman's favourite TV cuddle-monkey. Giles Coren, that is. Not Sue Perkins. Although I'm sure she has a lot to offer on that front too.
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posted
i saw district 9 and thought it was excellent. good old wickers. I also saw my first 3d film recently, 'the final destination'. They give you a pair of glasses like the ones that ronnie barker had on the two ronnies. Before the film starts it says 'please put your 3d glasses on now'. Once the film starts, lots of things coming flying out at you. Final Destination is probably a good choice for a 3d film as it enabled the film makers to concentrate solely on delivering spikes, knives, scissors, saws, nails, poles, tires, blobs of blood, crash debris, bones and bit of broken glass. Things are constantly being shoved in your face. The weird thing is that it all has a slightly tilt-shift photography feel to it, in that on a normal screen an axe flying towards the camera looks quite big - it is obviously big enough to be visible by the audience, and gets bigger as it approaches the camera. But with 3d, things get smaller as they come 'out' of the screen, so for example a car is powering along a race track but because the nose is hovering about 10 inches from your face, it feels totally tiny and undramatic. an axe, btw, would be similar.
But even with smallish objects popping out at you, something feels weird, and it's quite distracting, and it doesn't feel like you're watching a film so much as looking at the sailboat in a magic eye picture. It's like.. yeah.. that's interesting, but it's also eyefucking and not really delivering much in the way of rich information. My eyes always felt like they were fighting to work out what was going on. I had a massive migraine later that day.. don't know if it was connected. The film itself outside of all this silly business was pretty weak for the most part, but I enjoyed the final act. It went very meta and self-exploratory in a jokey way, and disassembled the 'final destination' myth and story structure enough to make it seem like a fifth film would probably have to be based around a bunch of kids staring in a final destination film, like in Scream. A large portion of the final act involved people in the cinema watching a 3D film, but the 3d film they were watching looked all blurry on the screen like how a 3d film looks without the glasses, and I liked that touch.
anyway, final destination was pure shite compared to district 9. Halo fans will probably enjoy d9 - there's at least one scene in there that feels like it's straight out of the third game. The aliens looks very arbiter-ish indeed. You can see that the work that Neil and Paul did on the Halo film has been repackaged for d9.
I also watched The Slumber Party Massacre. Written by a woman as a critique of slasher films, directed by another woman and treated as a straight slasher by the studio, it's a weird film at times, but generally fun, and there's boobs.
posted
i am reading a book about the post cold war US Nuclear arms business. Stuff to do with R&D, factories, bunkers, missiles silos, command centres etc and how they're all changing and coping with the shift in how nukes are used as part of the strategic + tactical plan. interesting if you like things to so with nuclear weapons. which i do. so, for me it's interesting.
posted
I am going to se District 9 tonight, so it had better be good. On a related note I bought The New York Trilogy at the weekend on the basis of you lot banging on about it, so that had better be good as well.
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