posted
So, yeah. I saw some threads from a while ago. But one was about Thorn's trip and what he should take on vacation. And the whole what have you been watching thread is much too long for me to really want to read. Soz.
Anywho. What's everyone reading? What movies have you peoples been into recently? TV?
Books that I have read, bought, or been given recently (or all of the above):
Reading:
Empress by Shan Sa. Apparently this girl has been published since the age of 9. NINE. The book is good, if not a bit too wordy at times, but then I like tales of Chinese history type fiction. It's all about a girl who grows up to be...you guessed it: Empress of China during (I think)the Tang Dynasty (no, not the drink).
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson Actually, I bought this book when it came out originally, but haven't read it yet. Then A found the "Special Illustrated Edition" and bought it for me. Which is what and why I'm now reading it. Pictures make things purdy. :s
Just finished reading:
Marley & Me by John Grogan (he writes for a nationally known local newspaper)
It's the story of the "life and love with the world's worst dog." It's fabulous. I laughed and got very teary eyed. Even if you've never owned a dog (or pet for that matter), I highly recommend this book. It's great. In fact, I think you should all go out and get it right now.
Recently read (like within the last 6 months to a year):
The Genius Factory by David Plotz It's regarding "the curious history of the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank". Very interesting.
Freakonomics, which I think everyone has heard of. Good book, though A and I found it to be a bit tedious in spots.
Started reading:
Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century by Mark Leonard, but since I had classes I just didn't have the time for it, and lent it to a friend, who still hasn't returned it. But, I know where she lives. muahahaha.
Xmas pressie from A:
Glass Soup bt Jonathan Carroll If an artist were to draw this book, the artist would have to be Dali. It's the most surreal book I've read in forever. If ever.
Getting ready to read:
The Book of Loss by Julith Jedamus Japan 10th Century. Love, loss, regret, and some other emotions.
Read:
Memoirs of a Geisha before the movie came out, b/c I wanted to see how they compared, and the book had been sitting on our bookshelves for ages. It's a must read...doesn't sound like a man wrote it at all.
That's all I can think of right now.
Movies (which you can all google, as I['m getting tired of typing...nails a bit too long right now):
Started watching House of Fury (Hong Kong kick ass movie). Seemed like it would be fun, but then it just stopped working. Sigh.
Oldboy (a must see)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengenace
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (these thress movies were a trilogy of sorts)
Jet Li's Fearless. LOVED it. He kicks ass! (and I just think he is so cute )
Jackie Chan's New Police Story (very good)
Sorum ( a bit slow, but good)
il Mare (which is a Korean movie that Hollywood just remade into Lake House starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullocks. slow, but a nice love story)
Movies lined up to see:
Marebito
A Touch of Zen
The Promise
The Myth
Master of Flying Daggers (which I think is supposed to be a comedy, making fun of House of Flying Daggers, but I can't read the back of it,as it's not in English, or the little bit of French and Chinese that I know. Which really isn't that mcuh, lol)
The White Dragon
TV:
Lost (Love this show, can't wait til next season.)
posted
I read Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates as it was out on a table in Borders and I remembered Mr Benway saying I reminded him of Switters, the leading man.
I enjoyed the book and felt flattered at the comparison(was I meant to?). Although he was a bit peado.
I read the Maradona autobiography(good!), Lord Rochesters Monkey(boring!), and Blindness by Saramango(brilliant and a bit disturbing!).
Things I have learned from the above, Maradona is funny, Lord Rochester is not so funny and if everyone went blind we would be in a whole world of shit. Literally.
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posted
i've been reading various books but the one that is haunting me the most at the moment is
Conversations With the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer
for those of you that have read jane green or jenifer weiner you might, like me, expect a light chic-penned feel good novel. however i've had to put the book down at times because of ms palmers very realistic dialogue concerning the modern female ideal and image. i'd recommend for anyone looking a little motivational push without all the psycho babble
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quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: Welcome back, TMO's laziest poster.
Why thank you, Mr. Mask.
But, you try typing with too long nails, when you're used to relatively short nails. (b.c the last three times I've gone to the salon, I've forgotten to get them cut)
I can't even begin to tell you all of the typos I've had to correct.
Good thing I'm going to get them chopped off this weekend.
edit: if you're nice, perhaps after i've gotten them shortened, i'll expand on the movies. but i really do need a nap. i was up half the ngiht taking care of my brother and his not-girlfriend. i'm on one hour of sleep and need to rest up before class. so
posted
hallo hallo Amy. Yes stil watching stuff from the East, although anime more than anything else at the moment. Just obtained something called Haibane Renmei that's supposedly influenced by the benway-recommended Murakami novel "hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world". Haven't started watching it yet though, as I've got something called Paranoia Agent to get through. Same dude who directed Perfect Blue, which you may have seen.
Not bothered about Jet Li. I've seen a couple of his films but while he's good at fighting, the films themselves have been fairly generic and uninspired. Kiss of the Dragon was one of them.
Marebito is excellent. Won best picture at Raindance festival here in London a couple of years back, and I was lucky enough to catch it then. Shinya Tsukamoto is very good in it. Certainly, it's a more interesting and challenging film that Ju-on.
I think that the last Japanese horror I watched was a film called 'virus' or something similar, and it was about a 'thought virus' breaking out in a hospital. Kind of interesting, but too similar to Garth Merenghi's Dark Place, and not in a good way.
And, I'm not reading anything at the moment. Haven't picked up a book and really got stuck in all year. This is mostly because there aren't any bookshops next door to where I work any more. I should probably have a go on Amazon, as there've been a few books in Boldtype that have interested me recently. Actually I saw a program last night that was based on a book, and it seemed interesting. The book is called 'And they walked into the sunshine' or something, and is about how the University anti-Vietnam war movement grew in the States. In reality, I'll probably just buy a load of old pretentious wank that I'll never pick up, and carry on playing Animal Crossing / staring at my own warped reflection on the tube.
eta: what a dismally bland post that was. Sorry TMO. *shoots self*.
[ 27.06.2006, 09:52: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
quote: After the March 16 attack, he wrote in his diary: "I carried out sacred experiments today to confirm how fragile human beings are... I brought the hammer down, when the girl turned to face me. I think I hit her a few times but I was too excited to remember." The following week, on March 23, he added: "This morning my mom told me, 'Poor girl. The girl attacked seems to have died.' There is no sign of my being caught...I thank you, God Bamoidōki, for this... Please continue to protect me."
posted
I've been reading the Phillip Pullman's dark materials trilogy, just finished the Amber Spyglass which is the second book.
Also just read The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night Time which is ace. You may already know of this book but its written from the viewpoint of an autistic boy
quote:Originally posted by bluefairy: I've been reading the Phillip Pullman's dark materials trilogy, just finished the Amber Spyglass which is the second book.
Apparently, Billie Piper is leaving Doctor Who to play Sally Lockhart in a dramatisation of Pullman's other (superior) series of books.
not...
You reached over with your hand and knocked my Jap over
posted
hmn... I think a lot of us have heard of that one actually bluefairy. It was quite a famous book.
I have actually finished some books this year. Three to be precise.
First one: Bret Easten Ellis: Lunar Park Throughout this novel I remained completely confused. In fact the only time things started to make sense was when he mentioned Patrick Bateman and then five minutes later I was lost and bewildered again. I carried on reading because American Psycho is like my all time favourite book. Eventually finished. Remained confused. Read some stuff on the internet. Realised I am actually very very stupid.
Second one: A million Little Pieces - James Frey Ah this is more like it, easy reading, simple style which sometimes grates sometimes grates. I cast TMO's own Vikram in the starring role as James. Verdict. Alright.
Third one: My Friend Leonard - James Frey Follow up from the first book as we wonder around with James apres rehab. More of the same but shorter and now I know the characters so I'm straight into this one. Even gave up some quality xbox time to read this in the lounge. Verdict: very enjoyable.
not...
You reached over with your hand and knocked my Jap over
posted
quote:Originally posted by Dr. Benway: well done for reading lunar park anyway, IAN.
quote: waste of time, 20 Oct 2005 Reviewer: A reader This book is utterly bleak and, i'm afraid to say, utterly pointless. It seems as if the writer has been watching too many supernatural movies. The plot is ridiculous and when you finally reach the end of Ellis' rambling, you leave the book completely unsatisfied. This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read.
posted
I've been making my way through In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell. For the last couple of weeks I've had this in my briefcase alongside We Can Remember it For You Wholesale, a collection of Philip K Dick short stories, figuring that on the occassions when I didn't fancy Russell, I could satisfy myself with some Dick. Amazingly, though, the Dick has remained unmolested, apart from when I needed something easier to swallow.
Anyway.
The Bertrand Russell's proven to be a - to me at least - surprisingly readable and energetic series of essays taking the psychic temperature of the nation in - think - the 40s. Much of it still rings true, and most of it provokes argument. Warning to Benway and AMP: Russell does use an incredibly relentless and unemotional logic in laying out his argument, which may cause you to become distressed.
On the downside, he's prone to making crazy generalisations and savage, widespread criticisms. It kind of loses him credibility, although it's often done for the sake of being funny, which is a noble enough cause, I suppose.
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posted
yes, I read Russell as part of my degree. He does indeed use cold, calculating logic, but it's hard to discuss theories of causality and determinism without it.
posted
As for 'watching', on Sunday I watched Citizen Kane, which I picked up in the HMV sale for a meagre £2.99. It's been over ten years since I first saw it, and I think my 15 year old self found it a bit difficult to get to grips with. I'd pretty much dismissed it as a film of historical importance only, with no worth beyond the fact that it signified the introduction of things like non-linear narrative and deep focus, into the mainstream Hollywood cinematic lexicon.
Watching it again though, fucking hell did I underestimate this film! Every single shot is magnificent, from the peeling back of the layers of Xanadu, to the opening newsreel that tells you everything and nothing, to the fantastic composition of the scene where the family arranges Charles's future as he plays in the background, it goes on and on and on. A genuinely breathtaking tour de force of considered and effective filmaking binding with a great script to produce a cohesive examination of the kind of territory explored in Heart Of Darkness.
The film also fires off good ideas like superhero films spunk out gene-mapping credits sequences. There's the breakfast table montage, the camera panning through the opera house, the newsreel, the reflection of the nurse in the snow globe, the shot of the wife, with the medicine in the foreground. It's terrific!
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posted
FUCK!!! I could really have done with seeing that. Don't suppose anyone recorded it did they? I'm trying to research the porn industry at the moment and that sounds like it would have been perfect. I've dedicated about 18 years to intensive research of the output, but I'm currently on the look out for good behind-the-scenes stuff.
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posted
I ALSO watched a film called "Barefoot Gen", has anybody else watched this? Well, for the uninformed, it's an anime film based on some very famous manga books. The books were written by a man called Keiji Nakazawa who survived Hiroshima when he was a kid. The books and the film (which is a condensed account) tell the story of life before, during, and after the bomb.
Quite a different style of anime to what you get these days, this thing was knocked out in 1981 I think. It feels rougher and more natural than a lot of modern stuff. The voice acting by the kids is especially well done, and the character of gen (he's barefoot because he's part of a poor family) is rounded and believable. The scenes of the bomb itself, and the state of the town and people once the radioactive dust settled is as grim as you're likely to get, and even though the film is only like a 12 cert or something, the sense of horror is conveyed brilliantly. Babies sucking on dead mother's radioactive tits? Soldiers suffering from bleeding anuses due to fallout? Bodies being piled up and burnt? Lovely. Makes the bomb bit in terminator look about as horrific as a warm breeze on a summer morning.
I would say that it's worth checking out even if you're not an anime fan.
[ 30.06.2006, 05:53: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
It was really good, loads of John Holmes footage, and the interesting revelation that he was a compulsive liar. It was good because by the time it ended, any notions of his life being cool or glam had been kicked to the kerb. I got the impression that the film "boogie nights" probably put a positive spin on things.
[ 30.06.2006, 05:59: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
posted
That's really maddening, because I was planning on writing a thing about a pornstar who's a compulsive liar and as it progresses the notions of glamour and success would be gradually kicked to the kerb. So this could have been *quite useful*.
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posted
The first Superman film was on Sky the other night - it was lovely. I don't think I'd ever quite appreciated the subtlety and range of Kidder or Reeve's performances. Lois and Superman's 'date' was terrific, genuinely enchanting cinema - made you realise how charmless and irritating the current crop of superhero films are by comparison.
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posted
It's a great comic performance - she mixes the brassy-reporter-dame stuff with a convincing vulnerable side; it's pitched at adults, too, which is refreshing for that sort of movie - she gets a couple of properly filthy double-entendres.
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posted
I've started to read the da-vinci code, just to see what the hype's all ab out. Suffice to say, not even a literary spakker like me could fail to realise just how poorly written, plodding and clicheed this book is. Soul crushing stuff. I pity anyone who enjoyed it.
Althoguh to be fair since the last book I read before it was Dante's Inferno, it's not hard to see why it may not live up to expectations.
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posted
I don't know...I enjoyed the da vinci code. It was a very fast, fun read. Saw the movie, and I'm really really attracted to the albino monk. I feel like I shouldn't be, but he's hot. Then I saw him on ellen, and that sealed the deal. Apparently he's married to Jennifer Connelly. Like you all care. Meh.
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posted
Watched Lord of War on Sunday and it felt a bit undercooked, partly due to the script and partly down to the directing.
It couldn't seem to decide whether it was some kind of savage attack on the arms trade or just a black comedy. They missed a lot of opportunity for drama, and some times it just seemed like a documentary on how it all works rather than a piece of drama. It was pretty bleak, though, and parts of it were great (like the opening montage of a bullet going from production, to shipping to between the eyes of a soldier.
But that just about sums it up: the directing was good in terms of visuals, but not really particularly clever at illustrating anything. A topic like the arms trade offers - surely - a lot of opportunities for making stark points through the use of visual metaphors, astute editing etc and I didn't really pick up anything from that. Instead it just gives that job to a script which often seems only to want to maneuver people into a position so they can explain the issues at hand. In one really clumsy sequence Ethan Hawke goes "That's a rescue helicopter is it? What about those missiles over there going to the same address?" and Cage goes "You know as well as I do that shipped seperately there's nothing illegal about these items." "Well, that's a loophole in the law that needs to be changed," "Yes but as of today that loophole is still open." The sequence stops just short of Ethan Hawke turning to the camera and going "You can log on to amnesty international dot com to get that loophole changed". I mean you get the idea. It's very laboured and quite tedious. There are a few good lines - like an Interpol guy shoving a gun in Cage's face and him replying "Ooo! The new MP5! Do you want a silencer for that?" But that's the best it ever got - when it was just being a silly comedy about an arms dealer. The script never seemed to pitch much higher than that, and revelled in moments like Cage reeeling off weapons features and behaving like a car salesman. Even the miserable last quarter just felt like the bit in a Jim Carrey film where the jokes stop and he realises - gasp - it's better to be honest and love your family.
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posted
I've recently finished The Time Traveller's Wife, and shed a tear, even though I found it essentially unsatisfying. I never really felt the wife was a rounded character, and was defined by being married to a time-traveller, and as being a wispy artist moping in a studio. The 'wacky japes' the couple get up to with their friends seem a bit false too. But the main character was very engaging, oddly, for someone who travels through time uncontrollably.
Now I'm back to ploughing through the last quarter of Human Traces. By missing out any of the lecturing, and just reading the sex scenes, I should be through it in a trice, however.
posted
Watched Factotum this weekend. Besides confirming my opinion that Lili Taylor is the most desirable woman in Hollywood, it made me realise that I have to read some Bukowski if I wish to hold my head high in the literary salons of the West Riding.
So, TMOers, since you are, of course, the most well-read posters on t'internet, recommend a place to start. Novels or short stories, you decide.
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