kitties and greeks and classics and westerns and soul reapers and stuffs
The kitty has found a home. It seems that because they have 2 female cats, my parents just assumed the new one was a she, but they found out yesterday that it's a he. Anyway, he now has a home. With about 7 other cats. One of whom looks just like him(except this one IS a female) who was found the same day, 20 miles away. *shakes head*
Work lightened up a bit this week, but that basically means that it'll get really, really busy sometime this week or next week.
As I already went on quite a bit about Saiyuki earlier this week, I'll spare you a rehash(for now) and move on to the other stuff...
Novels:
"Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel" by Lisa Cach(romance) It...it...it's fiction me...seriously...the girl has Wonder Woman nighties(I want!) reads a lot, lives online, and when making a collage of things that "feel right" it's mostly of period pieces, mostly british productions, predominantly featuring Ioan Gruffud decked out as Horatio Hornblower. Now, she DOES have this odd Oprah fixation, but I can look past that...Oh, there's also a rather fun and cute Cinderella/twisted-My Fair Lady plotline too, and a guy in a kilt, but fiction-me is the most important part.
"Lion of Macedon" by David Gemmell(historical fantasy) *sniffle* I told Damon that Gemmell died earlier this week, and when I saw him again yesterday, he asked if I was going to tell him that Santa Claus was dead too, or something(it took several minutes to convince him that it wasn't an ill-advised joke on my part) Anyway, very good book. probably challenges "Dark Moon" as my favorite of his stand-alone books. It's about the life of Parmenion, a general/mentor of Alexander's(as in, "The Great") As, historically, Parmenion is more of a role than a person, Gemmell had a lot of leeway, and he used it well. It's also, apparently, a prequel to "Dark Prince." Which, naturally, isn't available here(but while talking, DAmon said he had it, so YAY! on that front)
"Brightly Burning" by Mercedes Lackey(fantasy) This poor book has been languishing in my backlog for about 2 years now. I basically binged on Lackey's Valdemar books for a while, then got sidetracked by her urban fantasies and then the historical fantasies and got this one just after the Valdemar binge. Not my favorite of her Valdemar books(I'm partial to "By the Sword" and the "Mage Winds" trilogy, though I haven't read all the Valdemar books yet) but a good one, though it takes a bit longer than most Lackey books to get going. Basically the story of what happens when life regularly screws over a nice, shy guy with lots and lots of power.
Comics:
Bleach Vol 2-14: Ooooooh...I have become so hopelessly addicted to this. And oooh does the end of Vol 14 leave off in an evil spot...The first six books(more like 5 3/4) books where it was basically Rukia and Ichigo hunting down hollows and going to school were good(with the addition of Uryu helping jump start things in Vol 5) but when the other soul reapers show up in the tail end of Vol 6 and the attention shifts away from the hollows to the soul reaper's society(think medieval japanese court w/ powers and you'll have a decent idea) is when it really takes off(and just after that is when the art starts getting much better) Also, why oh why must my favorites keep trying to kill each other...at least Ichigo/Uryu and Ichigo/Renji are past that(after too much blood and skewering to be good for my heart in the latter case...thank goodness Magatsu in "Blade of the Immortal" helped prepare me for these things) Hopefully Renji/Uryu won't get too serious if they go at it...
Age Of Bronze #23: Sigh...it took me around 6 weeks to 2 months to get ahold of this...if other people who read it also have that much trouble getting it, then no wonder Shanower is having to consider switching to trades-only. A good issue, odd that it has Achilles on the cover, but he's nowhere to be seen inside. That's actually a good thing, as, while the Greek camp is fun and all, we don't get to see enough of what's going on in Troy, so this was a nice break from that.
Gargoyles #1: *whew* I was slightly nervous about this one, but it was good(and also took too long for me to get ahold of! But not as long as AoB) As advertised, it follows the first bit of season 3 about as I recall it, as Weisman was involved with that, and I'm looking forward to seeing what original stuff it'll have. No Fox, Owen, Baby Xanatos or MacBeth, but I guess I can't have EVERYTHING I want in the first issue(but I should!)
DVDs:
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.:The Complete Series: About 4 discs into this. It's as good as I remember, though I'd thought Dixie was in it more and had forgotten how much I like Socrates(or maybe being 12 years older lets me appretiate him more...probably that...) This show is proof that you CAN make a deliberately anachronistic show work when played straight(as opposed to blatantly anachronistic and not caring) but only if you know the material so wel that you could make the show meticulously accurate, right down to whether it rained in detroit that day. It's a western with sci-fi elements(they're only just becoming more obvious...if I recall the eventual revelations correctly, it involves time travel) and modern sensibilities played completely straight, and it works almost perfectly(once every few eps, it'll be slightly too clever, but that only ever lasts a few moments)
Captain Blood/The Sea Hawk: Or "Errol Flynn's pirate movies"(if he has other's on DVD, TELL ME!) I wasn't completely sure about these...I've loved Flynn's "Adventures of Robin Hood" since...uhm...birth? Potty training? Somewhere around there, but until now, it was the only one of his movies I've seen. Fortunately, I love them both. "Captain Blood" isn't as smooth as "Sea Hawk" or "Robin Hood"(but then, I think I read somewhere that it was also Flynn's first major role) but was quite, quite good and fun. And it had Olivia DeHavilland. "Sea Hawk" largely took the elements of "Robin Hood" that worked(including a lot of the cast, but NOT DeHavilland, though the cast thing likely has more to do with studios at the time than anything else) and puts them at sea. Heck, some of Flynn and Brenda Marshall's conversations were highly reminiscent of Robin and Marian's in "Robin Hood." However, instead of detracting from the movie, it made it better(but also left me with a serious hankering to rewatch "Robin Hood") Also of note: yes Hollywood, fun yet serious historical movies ARE good. Next up will be the westerns in my set(both of which have DeHavilland...how is it possible that they WEREN'T deliberately paired...) NOTE: Amazon still has the signature collection for $30
Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / Libeled Lady / Stage Door): Thankfully, "Dinner at Eight" was completely standalone in its suckage and I loved all three of these.(Though "Philadelphia Story" is my favorite of the movies in the set) "Bringing Up Baby" was a little different from how I'm used to seeing Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, but was quite a good bit of madcap fun. "Libeled Lady" was one I was uncertain about, but Myrna Loy and William Powell made it my favorite of these 3, and makes me really want the "Thin Man" movies. "Stage Door" is probably about as much girl power as you could get in the 30s, and handles some serious issues admirably, while still being a comedy. Were I to rank the movies in this set, it'd go "Philadelphia Story" "Libeled Lady" "Stage Door" "To Be or Not To Be" and then "Bringing Up Baby." "Dinner at Eight" I shall henceforth try to regret, and "Bringing Up Baby" is better than any modern attempts at slapstick. Watching these, I finally realized why why I loved the classics and "Remington Steele" so much, but can't stand most modern comedies. Currently, Hollywood assumes we have to brain, and so they rely on dirty jokes and physical(often uncomfortable-to-watch) humor. The classics(and Steele and a few others) however, assume that intelligent beings are watching, and the humor is largely reliant on quick wit and intelligence, and the actor's ability to deliver the lines with good timing and the proper "oomph" with the physical and slapstick parts as the backup. Sadly, this set isn't hugely discounted anymore...
Work lightened up a bit this week, but that basically means that it'll get really, really busy sometime this week or next week.
As I already went on quite a bit about Saiyuki earlier this week, I'll spare you a rehash(for now) and move on to the other stuff...
Novels:
"Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel" by Lisa Cach(romance) It...it...it's fiction me...seriously...the girl has Wonder Woman nighties(I want!) reads a lot, lives online, and when making a collage of things that "feel right" it's mostly of period pieces, mostly british productions, predominantly featuring Ioan Gruffud decked out as Horatio Hornblower. Now, she DOES have this odd Oprah fixation, but I can look past that...Oh, there's also a rather fun and cute Cinderella/twisted-My Fair Lady plotline too, and a guy in a kilt, but fiction-me is the most important part.
"Lion of Macedon" by David Gemmell(historical fantasy) *sniffle* I told Damon that Gemmell died earlier this week, and when I saw him again yesterday, he asked if I was going to tell him that Santa Claus was dead too, or something(it took several minutes to convince him that it wasn't an ill-advised joke on my part) Anyway, very good book. probably challenges "Dark Moon" as my favorite of his stand-alone books. It's about the life of Parmenion, a general/mentor of Alexander's(as in, "The Great") As, historically, Parmenion is more of a role than a person, Gemmell had a lot of leeway, and he used it well. It's also, apparently, a prequel to "Dark Prince." Which, naturally, isn't available here(but while talking, DAmon said he had it, so YAY! on that front)
"Brightly Burning" by Mercedes Lackey(fantasy) This poor book has been languishing in my backlog for about 2 years now. I basically binged on Lackey's Valdemar books for a while, then got sidetracked by her urban fantasies and then the historical fantasies and got this one just after the Valdemar binge. Not my favorite of her Valdemar books(I'm partial to "By the Sword" and the "Mage Winds" trilogy, though I haven't read all the Valdemar books yet) but a good one, though it takes a bit longer than most Lackey books to get going. Basically the story of what happens when life regularly screws over a nice, shy guy with lots and lots of power.
Comics:
Bleach Vol 2-14: Ooooooh...I have become so hopelessly addicted to this. And oooh does the end of Vol 14 leave off in an evil spot...The first six books(more like 5 3/4) books where it was basically Rukia and Ichigo hunting down hollows and going to school were good(with the addition of Uryu helping jump start things in Vol 5) but when the other soul reapers show up in the tail end of Vol 6 and the attention shifts away from the hollows to the soul reaper's society(think medieval japanese court w/ powers and you'll have a decent idea) is when it really takes off(and just after that is when the art starts getting much better) Also, why oh why must my favorites keep trying to kill each other...at least Ichigo/Uryu and Ichigo/Renji are past that(after too much blood and skewering to be good for my heart in the latter case...thank goodness Magatsu in "Blade of the Immortal" helped prepare me for these things) Hopefully Renji/Uryu won't get too serious if they go at it...
Age Of Bronze #23: Sigh...it took me around 6 weeks to 2 months to get ahold of this...if other people who read it also have that much trouble getting it, then no wonder Shanower is having to consider switching to trades-only. A good issue, odd that it has Achilles on the cover, but he's nowhere to be seen inside. That's actually a good thing, as, while the Greek camp is fun and all, we don't get to see enough of what's going on in Troy, so this was a nice break from that.
Gargoyles #1: *whew* I was slightly nervous about this one, but it was good(and also took too long for me to get ahold of! But not as long as AoB) As advertised, it follows the first bit of season 3 about as I recall it, as Weisman was involved with that, and I'm looking forward to seeing what original stuff it'll have. No Fox, Owen, Baby Xanatos or MacBeth, but I guess I can't have EVERYTHING I want in the first issue(but I should!)
DVDs:
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.:The Complete Series: About 4 discs into this. It's as good as I remember, though I'd thought Dixie was in it more and had forgotten how much I like Socrates(or maybe being 12 years older lets me appretiate him more...probably that...) This show is proof that you CAN make a deliberately anachronistic show work when played straight(as opposed to blatantly anachronistic and not caring) but only if you know the material so wel that you could make the show meticulously accurate, right down to whether it rained in detroit that day. It's a western with sci-fi elements(they're only just becoming more obvious...if I recall the eventual revelations correctly, it involves time travel) and modern sensibilities played completely straight, and it works almost perfectly(once every few eps, it'll be slightly too clever, but that only ever lasts a few moments)
Captain Blood/The Sea Hawk: Or "Errol Flynn's pirate movies"(if he has other's on DVD, TELL ME!) I wasn't completely sure about these...I've loved Flynn's "Adventures of Robin Hood" since...uhm...birth? Potty training? Somewhere around there, but until now, it was the only one of his movies I've seen. Fortunately, I love them both. "Captain Blood" isn't as smooth as "Sea Hawk" or "Robin Hood"(but then, I think I read somewhere that it was also Flynn's first major role) but was quite, quite good and fun. And it had Olivia DeHavilland. "Sea Hawk" largely took the elements of "Robin Hood" that worked(including a lot of the cast, but NOT DeHavilland, though the cast thing likely has more to do with studios at the time than anything else) and puts them at sea. Heck, some of Flynn and Brenda Marshall's conversations were highly reminiscent of Robin and Marian's in "Robin Hood." However, instead of detracting from the movie, it made it better(but also left me with a serious hankering to rewatch "Robin Hood") Also of note: yes Hollywood, fun yet serious historical movies ARE good. Next up will be the westerns in my set(both of which have DeHavilland...how is it possible that they WEREN'T deliberately paired...) NOTE: Amazon still has the signature collection for $30
Classic Comedies Collection (Bringing Up Baby / Libeled Lady / Stage Door): Thankfully, "Dinner at Eight" was completely standalone in its suckage and I loved all three of these.(Though "Philadelphia Story" is my favorite of the movies in the set) "Bringing Up Baby" was a little different from how I'm used to seeing Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, but was quite a good bit of madcap fun. "Libeled Lady" was one I was uncertain about, but Myrna Loy and William Powell made it my favorite of these 3, and makes me really want the "Thin Man" movies. "Stage Door" is probably about as much girl power as you could get in the 30s, and handles some serious issues admirably, while still being a comedy. Were I to rank the movies in this set, it'd go "Philadelphia Story" "Libeled Lady" "Stage Door" "To Be or Not To Be" and then "Bringing Up Baby." "Dinner at Eight" I shall henceforth try to regret, and "Bringing Up Baby" is better than any modern attempts at slapstick. Watching these, I finally realized why why I loved the classics and "Remington Steele" so much, but can't stand most modern comedies. Currently, Hollywood assumes we have to brain, and so they rely on dirty jokes and physical(often uncomfortable-to-watch) humor. The classics(and Steele and a few others) however, assume that intelligent beings are watching, and the humor is largely reliant on quick wit and intelligence, and the actor's ability to deliver the lines with good timing and the proper "oomph" with the physical and slapstick parts as the backup. Sadly, this set isn't hugely discounted anymore...