Things that are Worthwhile...
...and things that are Not: a Review Entry.
I haven't posted here in a while, and even in this entry you're still not going to get anything substantive about my life. Instead, I'm going to review some of the various movies/books/videogames I watched/read/played over the summer. Let us begin.
The Sandman graphic novels- WORTHWHILE. My only experience with graphic novels prior to this summer were a handful of Tintin books, which are also good but not quite in the same league. Thus, I was eager to accept Kaitlyn's proposal to tradeborrow my entire complete Terry Pratchett collection for her complete Neil Gaiman collection. The Sandman series is good because Gaiman treats the material as he would treat it if he were writing it in novel form; he doesn't fall into any of the comicbook tropes. The story is intelligent, mature, and thrilling, while also partaking in a uniquely Gaiman-esque mythos. My only complaints are these: a.) Gaiman delights in nasty violence and will extend such sequences well beyond the necessary storytelling point and b.) three of the books in the series are short-story collections which I find to be hit-and-miss. The final book, Endless Nights, is arguably the worst in the series. Still, I would recommend the Sandman books to anyone who has ever read or thought about reading a graphic novel.
House of Cards miniseries trilogy- WORTHWHILE. This is a trilogy of British miniserieses (miniserieses?) each lasting four 50-minute episodes. It follows the rise of a Shakespearianly sinister member of parliament in his rise to power. It is well written and well acted, an altogether charming romp through British politics. And the soliloquies are great. If you have netflix, this is offered for free to watch online.
There will be Blood- NOT. I must have gotten a defective copy of the DVD through netflix. The setting was beautiful, the acting was good, the atmosphere was great, but our copy seemed to be lacking a plot. At least there was blood.
No Country for Old Men- WORTHWHILE. Having just watched here will be Blood and knowing that this was the other "best film of the year," I watched No Country for Old Men with some trepidation. Luckily, this movie did a much better job of justifying its accolades. It actually had a plot, along with its interesting characters and great atmosphere. I'm still not sold on the ending, but I suppose it's what you get when you base a move on a book by Cormac McCarthy. Am I the only one who thinks a movie of The Road is a really bad idea?
Orson Scott Card's Keeper of Dreams- WORTHWHILE-ish. This is Card's latest collection of short stories. I, as you know, am an avid fan of Card's short stories (finding them to be consistently better than his novels), and this book failed to disappoint. The problem was that 1/2 of the stories areoriginal and very engaging short stories, 1/4 of the stories are Card's own fanfiction for his own novels, and 1/4 of the stories are in the section "Mormon Stories" and therefor not the be touched. Still a good book, but if you don't have a Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in your pocket, wait until it comes out in paperback.
The Third Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever- NOT (unless you are Carl). If you didn't the First chronicles (which you didn't), you won't like the third. The problem with these last two books is that you don't get the sense that they're going anywhere. In the first trilogy, each book had its own plot, and all three plots built together into the plot of the whole unit. You felt like there was a victory at the end of each book. In the Second and Third chronicles (a trilogy and quadrilogy of books, respectively) the plot wanders from place to place with the characters never really accomplishing anything. Also, in the Third chronicles the main character actually gains a certain amount of magical ability, which leads to a very troubling case of power-creep, with every challenge the protagonist faces having enough power to level a village. I'll keep reading them (the last two books have yet to be written) because I want to see how the hell they get out of the mess they're in now, but you won't. Unless you'rw Carl. Also, if you're Carl, you'll appreciate the glee I felt when she played the Nom card (which I totally saw coming).
The Works of Kim Stanley Robinson- WORTHWHILE. Perhaps you have heard me speak of the Mars trilogy, a series of books which begins with colonists being sent to Mars and ends with epic factional warfare. The reason I like Robinson is this: he thinks in terms of vast movements but writes in terms of individual characters. Just now I'm reading his The Years of Rice and Salt a sort of alternate historical novel which stipulates a black plague which kills all of Europe's population, allowing for global Islamic dominance. Despite its progress through 500 years of history, it follows the stories of individuals in a series of time periods, ingeniously peppering in historical details. A very good read.
Assassin's Creed- ????. Bought it with some birthday money, installed it on my computer, played through the first mission, started to understand the somewhat mind-boggling control scheme, and then ran into a graphics glitch which impeded all future progress. I still firmly believe that my graphics card is not bad, it's just misunderstood. At any rate, Assassin's Creed doesn't work on my computer.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin- WORTHWHILE. I downloaded this for free from GameTap as a sort of consolation prize after Assassin's Creed failed to work. It is an old (2002) third/first person shooter/stealth game with graphics which could politely be labeled as "good for their time." The charm of the game is the open-ended feeling to the missions: the game gives you a situation, a target, and some guns, and lets you take whatever course of action you like. Want to go into the mansion with guns blazing? Go for it. Want to kill the mailman, don his clothes, gain access to the mansion, kill a bodyguard, don his clothes, to get close to the target? Sure. Want to just sneak past everyone? Why not? It feels a lot like a table-top RPG, in that you can try whatever you want.
Aarojessian's website Gloria- WORTHWHILE, but too slow. Post, damnit.
The musical Camelot- NOT. The music is run-of-the-mill, the plot is meandering, the characters are annoying. It is neither intelligent nor romantic. Give it a pass and watch Guys and Dolls instead.
THE END
I haven't posted here in a while, and even in this entry you're still not going to get anything substantive about my life. Instead, I'm going to review some of the various movies/books/videogames I watched/read/played over the summer. Let us begin.
The Sandman graphic novels- WORTHWHILE. My only experience with graphic novels prior to this summer were a handful of Tintin books, which are also good but not quite in the same league. Thus, I was eager to accept Kaitlyn's proposal to tradeborrow my entire complete Terry Pratchett collection for her complete Neil Gaiman collection. The Sandman series is good because Gaiman treats the material as he would treat it if he were writing it in novel form; he doesn't fall into any of the comicbook tropes. The story is intelligent, mature, and thrilling, while also partaking in a uniquely Gaiman-esque mythos. My only complaints are these: a.) Gaiman delights in nasty violence and will extend such sequences well beyond the necessary storytelling point and b.) three of the books in the series are short-story collections which I find to be hit-and-miss. The final book, Endless Nights, is arguably the worst in the series. Still, I would recommend the Sandman books to anyone who has ever read or thought about reading a graphic novel.
House of Cards miniseries trilogy- WORTHWHILE. This is a trilogy of British miniserieses (miniserieses?) each lasting four 50-minute episodes. It follows the rise of a Shakespearianly sinister member of parliament in his rise to power. It is well written and well acted, an altogether charming romp through British politics. And the soliloquies are great. If you have netflix, this is offered for free to watch online.
There will be Blood- NOT. I must have gotten a defective copy of the DVD through netflix. The setting was beautiful, the acting was good, the atmosphere was great, but our copy seemed to be lacking a plot. At least there was blood.
No Country for Old Men- WORTHWHILE. Having just watched here will be Blood and knowing that this was the other "best film of the year," I watched No Country for Old Men with some trepidation. Luckily, this movie did a much better job of justifying its accolades. It actually had a plot, along with its interesting characters and great atmosphere. I'm still not sold on the ending, but I suppose it's what you get when you base a move on a book by Cormac McCarthy. Am I the only one who thinks a movie of The Road is a really bad idea?
Orson Scott Card's Keeper of Dreams- WORTHWHILE-ish. This is Card's latest collection of short stories. I, as you know, am an avid fan of Card's short stories (finding them to be consistently better than his novels), and this book failed to disappoint. The problem was that 1/2 of the stories areoriginal and very engaging short stories, 1/4 of the stories are Card's own fanfiction for his own novels, and 1/4 of the stories are in the section "Mormon Stories" and therefor not the be touched. Still a good book, but if you don't have a Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in your pocket, wait until it comes out in paperback.
The Third Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever- NOT (unless you are Carl). If you didn't the First chronicles (which you didn't), you won't like the third. The problem with these last two books is that you don't get the sense that they're going anywhere. In the first trilogy, each book had its own plot, and all three plots built together into the plot of the whole unit. You felt like there was a victory at the end of each book. In the Second and Third chronicles (a trilogy and quadrilogy of books, respectively) the plot wanders from place to place with the characters never really accomplishing anything. Also, in the Third chronicles the main character actually gains a certain amount of magical ability, which leads to a very troubling case of power-creep, with every challenge the protagonist faces having enough power to level a village. I'll keep reading them (the last two books have yet to be written) because I want to see how the hell they get out of the mess they're in now, but you won't. Unless you'rw Carl. Also, if you're Carl, you'll appreciate the glee I felt when she played the Nom card (which I totally saw coming).
The Works of Kim Stanley Robinson- WORTHWHILE. Perhaps you have heard me speak of the Mars trilogy, a series of books which begins with colonists being sent to Mars and ends with epic factional warfare. The reason I like Robinson is this: he thinks in terms of vast movements but writes in terms of individual characters. Just now I'm reading his The Years of Rice and Salt a sort of alternate historical novel which stipulates a black plague which kills all of Europe's population, allowing for global Islamic dominance. Despite its progress through 500 years of history, it follows the stories of individuals in a series of time periods, ingeniously peppering in historical details. A very good read.
Assassin's Creed- ????. Bought it with some birthday money, installed it on my computer, played through the first mission, started to understand the somewhat mind-boggling control scheme, and then ran into a graphics glitch which impeded all future progress. I still firmly believe that my graphics card is not bad, it's just misunderstood. At any rate, Assassin's Creed doesn't work on my computer.
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin- WORTHWHILE. I downloaded this for free from GameTap as a sort of consolation prize after Assassin's Creed failed to work. It is an old (2002) third/first person shooter/stealth game with graphics which could politely be labeled as "good for their time." The charm of the game is the open-ended feeling to the missions: the game gives you a situation, a target, and some guns, and lets you take whatever course of action you like. Want to go into the mansion with guns blazing? Go for it. Want to kill the mailman, don his clothes, gain access to the mansion, kill a bodyguard, don his clothes, to get close to the target? Sure. Want to just sneak past everyone? Why not? It feels a lot like a table-top RPG, in that you can try whatever you want.
Aarojessian's website Gloria- WORTHWHILE, but too slow. Post, damnit.
The musical Camelot- NOT. The music is run-of-the-mill, the plot is meandering, the characters are annoying. It is neither intelligent nor romantic. Give it a pass and watch Guys and Dolls instead.
THE END