Summing up the past few weeks in fiction
Catching Fire: Even better than the book, though I think my previous knowledge of the book enhanced the experience, which might be cheating. They managed to avoid the rehash and instead expand the universe. The casting is still great, even if Finnick doesn't quite have the sexual presence of the role (but then, he's not my physical type, which may affect my viewing), and Gale is still a non-entity. Jena Malone is delightful as Johanna. :-) There are some individual scenes where I thought they made an odd choice (Wiress' "tick tock" didn't come off as shocked so much as gimmicky), but for the most part, they were spot on: touching, suspenseful (even though I knew what was coming up), engaging. And it didn't feel long at all. At one point I started feeling that I might need to use the bathroom soon and glanced at the watch - that was two hours and twenty minutes into the movie.
Gravity: Very beautiful, and remarkably exciting for a film thats pretty much an hour and a half of Sandra Bullock vs. space. But then, space scares me so much even the first five minutes before all the bad shit started happening had me going "OMG OMG how would anyone voluntarily expose themselves to this, it's SO SCARY!" It does drag a bit, but not much.
Had some pitfall clichés, not least starting off with Bullock, Clooney and a South Asian guy we never get to see the living face of - gee, I wonder who's going to die first? - but an enjoyable experience nevertheless.
Almost Human: I saw the pilot, and it made me wish that we could mix-and-match characters and shows, because I'd love to see Dorian in some show, but not in this one, and definitely not with John, who wasn't enjoyable at all.
Recent development on Haven: Lots of interesting things happening in the plot, and the AU ep was delightful. It's all being rather overshadowed, though, by the two mantras I keep repeating to myself: "Please renew the show!" and "Please don't kill Jennifer!"
Recent development on Once Upon a Time: More of a tangent, really. I realized that while I vaguely knew what Peter Pan was about as a kid, my first proper exposure to it was the movie Hook when I was eleven or twelve. (I did read the book, but I think that was later, or maybe as a result of seeing the film.) And when that film was out, there was an article in the girly magazine I read, "Are you a Wendy or a Tinkerbell?" which talked about why Peter Pans make rotten boyfriends. Now, that magazine was a load of tripe in general, but it did succeed in making me feel that Peter Pan was an insufferable little dick. (I think it may also have affected my view of the Doctor, especially Ten!)
So OUAT has been pretty good in confirming my bias, and particularly in this latest ep, which was nice. Still, though, I felt that the ep was better in theory than on the screen. As others have pointed out, they kept having conversations of the "as I've said offscreen..." kind, most glaringly when the characters repeated info about Storybrooke that they could only have heard from Ariel, only they hadn't heard it from Ariel. Not sure whether handing important plot points to half-assed writers is a waste, or if it's a pretty good idea because as long as you have half-assed writers, you may as well stick something of interest into their stories.
Lev Grossman's The Magicians: I made a post on Tumblr explaining my main problem with this book. (Spoilery!) It's a well-written book, it really is, and the exploration of magic is very solid and interesting. But one thing that has always put me off mainstream fiction is ennui. Sure, there are boring things in life, but if you're reasonably well-off and healthy and still can't think of a single activity you enjoy or person you love, then either you need some Prozac or you need to shut the fuck up.
Now, add magical powers to that ennui, and it becomes downright obscene. Oh, you've got a level of privilege that makes Ivy League graduates look like indentured servants, and you're still bored? Shut the fuck up, Quentin.
Granted, the book is aware of what a whiny brat he is, but since everything is told from his perspective and we're never really given insight into anyone else (because he doesn't care about anyone else) that doesn't help much.
More books: I'm currently reading Sergei Lukyanenko's The Twilight Watch, but I'm not far enough into the book to give any verdict. Apart from that, I've mostly been reading children's books, of which I'd cautiously recommend Barnhemmet by Cecilia Lidbeck and A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean, and definitely recommend L'autobus di Rosa by Fabrizio Silei (available in Swedish, but perhaps not in English).
My true love, as usual, though, is the picture books. Jon Klassen has a short new hat book called This Is Not My Hat, which may not be as delightful as I Want My Hat Back but is pretty good never the less. Nick Bromley and Nicola O'Byrne have made a cute book called Open Very Carefully, which tears up the fourth wall and is great fun at storytime, as a crocodile makes it into the story of the Ugly Duckling and we have to get him out. And the always amazing Charlotte Gastaut has a new Cinderella out (in French and Swedish, but not, it seems, English), with gold-spangled illustrations that make the kids sigh in happiness.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/622155.html and has
comments there.
Gravity: Very beautiful, and remarkably exciting for a film thats pretty much an hour and a half of Sandra Bullock vs. space. But then, space scares me so much even the first five minutes before all the bad shit started happening had me going "OMG OMG how would anyone voluntarily expose themselves to this, it's SO SCARY!" It does drag a bit, but not much.
Had some pitfall clichés, not least starting off with Bullock, Clooney and a South Asian guy we never get to see the living face of - gee, I wonder who's going to die first? - but an enjoyable experience nevertheless.
Almost Human: I saw the pilot, and it made me wish that we could mix-and-match characters and shows, because I'd love to see Dorian in some show, but not in this one, and definitely not with John, who wasn't enjoyable at all.
Recent development on Haven: Lots of interesting things happening in the plot, and the AU ep was delightful. It's all being rather overshadowed, though, by the two mantras I keep repeating to myself: "Please renew the show!" and "Please don't kill Jennifer!"
Recent development on Once Upon a Time: More of a tangent, really. I realized that while I vaguely knew what Peter Pan was about as a kid, my first proper exposure to it was the movie Hook when I was eleven or twelve. (I did read the book, but I think that was later, or maybe as a result of seeing the film.) And when that film was out, there was an article in the girly magazine I read, "Are you a Wendy or a Tinkerbell?" which talked about why Peter Pans make rotten boyfriends. Now, that magazine was a load of tripe in general, but it did succeed in making me feel that Peter Pan was an insufferable little dick. (I think it may also have affected my view of the Doctor, especially Ten!)
So OUAT has been pretty good in confirming my bias, and particularly in this latest ep, which was nice. Still, though, I felt that the ep was better in theory than on the screen. As others have pointed out, they kept having conversations of the "as I've said offscreen..." kind, most glaringly when the characters repeated info about Storybrooke that they could only have heard from Ariel, only they hadn't heard it from Ariel. Not sure whether handing important plot points to half-assed writers is a waste, or if it's a pretty good idea because as long as you have half-assed writers, you may as well stick something of interest into their stories.
Lev Grossman's The Magicians: I made a post on Tumblr explaining my main problem with this book. (Spoilery!) It's a well-written book, it really is, and the exploration of magic is very solid and interesting. But one thing that has always put me off mainstream fiction is ennui. Sure, there are boring things in life, but if you're reasonably well-off and healthy and still can't think of a single activity you enjoy or person you love, then either you need some Prozac or you need to shut the fuck up.
Now, add magical powers to that ennui, and it becomes downright obscene. Oh, you've got a level of privilege that makes Ivy League graduates look like indentured servants, and you're still bored? Shut the fuck up, Quentin.
Granted, the book is aware of what a whiny brat he is, but since everything is told from his perspective and we're never really given insight into anyone else (because he doesn't care about anyone else) that doesn't help much.
More books: I'm currently reading Sergei Lukyanenko's The Twilight Watch, but I'm not far enough into the book to give any verdict. Apart from that, I've mostly been reading children's books, of which I'd cautiously recommend Barnhemmet by Cecilia Lidbeck and A Dog Called Homeless by Sarah Lean, and definitely recommend L'autobus di Rosa by Fabrizio Silei (available in Swedish, but perhaps not in English).
My true love, as usual, though, is the picture books. Jon Klassen has a short new hat book called This Is Not My Hat, which may not be as delightful as I Want My Hat Back but is pretty good never the less. Nick Bromley and Nicola O'Byrne have made a cute book called Open Very Carefully, which tears up the fourth wall and is great fun at storytime, as a crocodile makes it into the story of the Ugly Duckling and we have to get him out. And the always amazing Charlotte Gastaut has a new Cinderella out (in French and Swedish, but not, it seems, English), with gold-spangled illustrations that make the kids sigh in happiness.
This entry was originally posted at http://katta.dreamwidth.org/622155.html and has
comments there.