"We are noodle folk. Broth runs through our veins." "...So he's Guy Eldoon?"
01 Wow, it's been...almost two months since I posted last. Um, hi?
02 Two months of no internet means I read a bit more. Still plugging away at Proust and the Squid. The Smith College Used Book Sale came and went, and while I didn't get as many books as I did last year, I still got plenty. Picked up a couple more Iris Murdoch books, a few Japanese books, a bunch more history books, and a few odds and ends, including a book on all the words that have fallen out of use in the English language (I should start posting definitions) and a reprint of a bestiary from...the 1600s, I think? Filled with lions and dragons and such. The best books had to have been the ones with newspaper clippings and such in them; it seemed like every other book I picked up had something tucked away in it. My favorite was the copy of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with a playbill from a production in the '60s and the newspaper write-up for that show. My favorite book so far that I've read from this year's haul, and highly recommend, if you can find it, is I See By My Outfit by Peter S. Beagle. Cross-country on a scooter, and not necessarily for the usual beatnik reasons. Makes me want to drive cross-country, actually.
Finally got Nation and bought the last Percy Jackson novel when the lovely Rae stopped by. Overall I liked both books a lot.
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian: Okay, call it cliche or stereotypical or what-have-you but I absolutely loved every bit about Hestia being the last, since she's the goddess of the hearth, and the whole thing with keeping Hope/Pandora's Box with her. I just. Should have seen it coming a mile away and I was still enchanted by it. Didn't peg Silena to be the spy (was actually thinking it was Annabeth, for no real reason other than I like ridiculous plot twists and the chapter titled "I Get Dumped") and that felt...a bit of a cop-out? Kinda? Like why would you continue to spy for the guy who killed your boyfriend? There's probably a mention of her being blackmailed or something, or threatened with exposure, but c'mon.
I really, really liked Luke being the sacrificial hero, though. Part of me feels that yes, it is cliche - giving the bad guy a chance to redeem himself, but I loved the psyche-out - no, it's not the main character who's the sacrifice. He's got to not be a glory-hound and I really liked that, especially considering how Greek heroes weren't exactly known for being humble. Probably could have had more oomph to it, but the idea was good.
Nation: I...I'm torn on this one. Needs more footnotes. It's still the same Pratchett I know and love - the same humor, the same satirical observations on human behavior and society, the same frank yet understated depictions of human life (like when Mau finds the bodies of the villagers and buries them at sea. Pterry always gives just enough detail, just enough description, that you get it without being inundated by it. Always reminds me of this one quote from Night Watch when Vimes is talking to young!Nobby at the food counter. Nobby mentions not wanting to go to jail, because his dad's in there, and Vimes has this passing remembrance about how Sconner used to break Nobby's arms. There's no outward change in their conversation, no pity or sympathy in Vimes' demeanor that wasn't already present, but for some reason it's always stuck with me).
Yet....I wonder if it's just because I haven't read Equal Rites or Small Gods in a while, but it feels preachy for a lack of a better word. Moreso than Pratchett normally is. Granted, the novel deals heavily in belief, in faith that is challenged by horrific grief - so yes, there is going to be a tighter focus on that. And there is the one character - the older man whose name escapes me at the moment - to supposedly balance Mau's lack of faith, but really he comes across more as a frustrating force chained to ancient traditions. It felt a bit heavy-handed at times, and a bit more heady than what I'm used to from the Discworld books - which is funny to say, because there's really little difference - Pratchett deals with similar issues in the DW books that he did in Nation, with the same frank appraisal. So I really don't know why the tone struck me as different, but it did. Maybe I just need to read it again.
I was so pissed Daphne and Mau didn't end up together in the end dammit Pratchett why do you always have to be so damn realistic The epilogue had me giggling. There's real life, and there's the story, and I think it's almost inherently human to want the story to trump real life. I have to give Pterry kudos for keeping Mau and Daphne's relationship realistic, but at the same time I'm going argrrhgrjghlfkdlkdammit.
03 Saw Up. I think I just need to accept that Pixar movies will always, inevitably, make me cry at one point or another during the course of the film. Good movie, but what the hell were the badges at the end. My brother and I sat through the entire credits (we always do, he's a former film major, comes with the territory) and there was definitely an Atomic Bomb patch. What in the world do you do to get that one.
Also saw Frost/Nixon, Kung Fu Panda, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day and Definitely, Maybe. Loved all three. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed the first one - documentaries are not my thing - and also how sympathetic I felt towards Nixon at the end of the film. Kung Fu Panda, omg, I have such a weakness for animated movies and pfffft the one-liners had me lollin' so hard. I know I am so late to that party - it's been out for how long now? - but gaaaaaaaah so fun. Miss Pettigrew, oh my god, even if you don't really like romantic films this one is just. So awesome. Got my dad to watch the ending with me, it was hilarious. Definitely, Maybe is just. So droll. And. Hits all the buttons I don't like to acknowledge I have for romantic films.
04 Am addicted to Rachel Yamagata's Elephants and Vienna Teng's Stray Italian Greyhound. Why can't I pick one musical depiction of love and stick with it? Oh and, Stray Italian Greyhound? Totes an Edgeworth or Franziska song.
05 Dreamwidth - worth it? Yay? Nay? Ehhhh...? Not that I have a code or anything but I'm curious
06 Played Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego? for the first time in years. 8Dbb Am now plagued by cross-over bunnies. Halp. AND OMFG I WANT IT TO BE WINTER. I WANT GYAKUTEN KENJI WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT TO CALL IT. JUST. GIMME. AND LAYTON TOO.
07 I am so behind on every manga title. Upside though, I am now marathoning Ergo Proxy. Woot!
08 Self, finish those damn Night Watch icons. Do it.
09 How is everyone else doing?
02 Two months of no internet means I read a bit more. Still plugging away at Proust and the Squid. The Smith College Used Book Sale came and went, and while I didn't get as many books as I did last year, I still got plenty. Picked up a couple more Iris Murdoch books, a few Japanese books, a bunch more history books, and a few odds and ends, including a book on all the words that have fallen out of use in the English language (I should start posting definitions) and a reprint of a bestiary from...the 1600s, I think? Filled with lions and dragons and such. The best books had to have been the ones with newspaper clippings and such in them; it seemed like every other book I picked up had something tucked away in it. My favorite was the copy of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with a playbill from a production in the '60s and the newspaper write-up for that show. My favorite book so far that I've read from this year's haul, and highly recommend, if you can find it, is I See By My Outfit by Peter S. Beagle. Cross-country on a scooter, and not necessarily for the usual beatnik reasons. Makes me want to drive cross-country, actually.
Finally got Nation and bought the last Percy Jackson novel when the lovely Rae stopped by. Overall I liked both books a lot.
Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian: Okay, call it cliche or stereotypical or what-have-you but I absolutely loved every bit about Hestia being the last, since she's the goddess of the hearth, and the whole thing with keeping Hope/Pandora's Box with her. I just. Should have seen it coming a mile away and I was still enchanted by it. Didn't peg Silena to be the spy (was actually thinking it was Annabeth, for no real reason other than I like ridiculous plot twists and the chapter titled "I Get Dumped") and that felt...a bit of a cop-out? Kinda? Like why would you continue to spy for the guy who killed your boyfriend? There's probably a mention of her being blackmailed or something, or threatened with exposure, but c'mon.
I really, really liked Luke being the sacrificial hero, though. Part of me feels that yes, it is cliche - giving the bad guy a chance to redeem himself, but I loved the psyche-out - no, it's not the main character who's the sacrifice. He's got to not be a glory-hound and I really liked that, especially considering how Greek heroes weren't exactly known for being humble. Probably could have had more oomph to it, but the idea was good.
Nation: I...I'm torn on this one. Needs more footnotes. It's still the same Pratchett I know and love - the same humor, the same satirical observations on human behavior and society, the same frank yet understated depictions of human life (like when Mau finds the bodies of the villagers and buries them at sea. Pterry always gives just enough detail, just enough description, that you get it without being inundated by it. Always reminds me of this one quote from Night Watch when Vimes is talking to young!Nobby at the food counter. Nobby mentions not wanting to go to jail, because his dad's in there, and Vimes has this passing remembrance about how Sconner used to break Nobby's arms. There's no outward change in their conversation, no pity or sympathy in Vimes' demeanor that wasn't already present, but for some reason it's always stuck with me).
Yet....I wonder if it's just because I haven't read Equal Rites or Small Gods in a while, but it feels preachy for a lack of a better word. Moreso than Pratchett normally is. Granted, the novel deals heavily in belief, in faith that is challenged by horrific grief - so yes, there is going to be a tighter focus on that. And there is the one character - the older man whose name escapes me at the moment - to supposedly balance Mau's lack of faith, but really he comes across more as a frustrating force chained to ancient traditions. It felt a bit heavy-handed at times, and a bit more heady than what I'm used to from the Discworld books - which is funny to say, because there's really little difference - Pratchett deals with similar issues in the DW books that he did in Nation, with the same frank appraisal. So I really don't know why the tone struck me as different, but it did. Maybe I just need to read it again.
I was so pissed Daphne and Mau didn't end up together in the end dammit Pratchett why do you always have to be so damn realistic The epilogue had me giggling. There's real life, and there's the story, and I think it's almost inherently human to want the story to trump real life. I have to give Pterry kudos for keeping Mau and Daphne's relationship realistic, but at the same time I'm going argrrhgrjghlfkdlkdammit.
03 Saw Up. I think I just need to accept that Pixar movies will always, inevitably, make me cry at one point or another during the course of the film. Good movie, but what the hell were the badges at the end. My brother and I sat through the entire credits (we always do, he's a former film major, comes with the territory) and there was definitely an Atomic Bomb patch. What in the world do you do to get that one.
Also saw Frost/Nixon, Kung Fu Panda, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day and Definitely, Maybe. Loved all three. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed the first one - documentaries are not my thing - and also how sympathetic I felt towards Nixon at the end of the film. Kung Fu Panda, omg, I have such a weakness for animated movies and pfffft the one-liners had me lollin' so hard. I know I am so late to that party - it's been out for how long now? - but gaaaaaaaah so fun. Miss Pettigrew, oh my god, even if you don't really like romantic films this one is just. So awesome. Got my dad to watch the ending with me, it was hilarious. Definitely, Maybe is just. So droll. And. Hits all the buttons I don't like to acknowledge I have for romantic films.
04 Am addicted to Rachel Yamagata's Elephants and Vienna Teng's Stray Italian Greyhound. Why can't I pick one musical depiction of love and stick with it? Oh and, Stray Italian Greyhound? Totes an Edgeworth or Franziska song.
05 Dreamwidth - worth it? Yay? Nay? Ehhhh...? Not that I have a code or anything but I'm curious
06 Played Where In The World is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego? for the first time in years. 8Dbb Am now plagued by cross-over bunnies. Halp. AND OMFG I WANT IT TO BE WINTER. I WANT GYAKUTEN KENJI WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY WANT TO CALL IT. JUST. GIMME. AND LAYTON TOO.
07 I am so behind on every manga title. Upside though, I am now marathoning Ergo Proxy. Woot!
08 Self, finish those damn Night Watch icons. Do it.
09 How is everyone else doing?