Three
Blanche Mottershead is a lesbian archeologist played by Alex Kingston, and yet there does not seem to be any Doctor Who/Upstairs Downstairs crossovers.
Is anyone else following the tennis? Has anyone else seen the photos/video of the post-match hug between Djokovic and Wawrinka? (A google image search might be interesting to people.) One of the things that I love about sport is that we images of physical intimacy between men. It's sad that we mostly only get that in contexts that are safe for masculinity, like sports, but still, it's delicious to see.
Two books this week:
The Hobbit!
I found the ending hillarious. I'm not quite sure why, but I laughed. I am now reading Kate Nepveu's re-reading of the Hobbit on tor.com. Things happened that I didn't remember, which was nice. The only thing that really annoyed me about the film, in terms of how it adapted the book, is the way the Arkenstone looked. The Arkenstone is supposed to white, and it is actually one of the few things descibed to me that I had a clear picture of.
Okay, so not much in particular to say about the book. The narrative voice is interesting. Apparently CS Lewis's influence was instrumental in getting Tolkien to finish LoTR, so it's not too surprising that the narrator sounds a lot like the narrator of the Chronicles of Narnia.
I think I first heard about this book during the RaceFail. NK Jemisin recommends it several time on her blog so having read most of that while I was recoverying from surgery put it strongly omy radar again. It is a great book and I think everyone should read it!
I found it very easy to read. Not in terms of what it says, although, having read a lot of stuff about race and racism over the last four years now, none of it was very difficult. But the writing flows very easily and Dr Tatum is straightforward in her points and light humoured in her use of illustration. I've read a lot of academic stuff recently and it is rarely compelling the way this is.
I read it in part learning about race relations in the US (and thinking only vaguely about how such things apply to Australian race relations, and more concretely about my own Racial Identity Development), and in part thinking about how to write characters of colour and racially diverse societies in secondary world fiction. It certainly made an interesting companion to The Hobbit!
I've seen this film once and a half and I put it on this afternoon as I was doing some tidying/cleaning. Much I like and much I find annoying. I think that, unlike The Hobbit and, particularly, The Hunger Games, it tries to film the book rather than retell the story in a film format. I think the film should start with the letters, rather than the prologue-ish first chapter of the book. The Dursley's are exaggerated characters in the first few books, which does not suit the tone of the end of the series. I think you can reduce their roles in the first film, certainly, without losing much of the story at all. It would give a bit more space for Hagrid to become someone Harry will follow and lie for in their first meeting! I have more thoughts. Once I've written my play adaptation of Les Miserable and the novelisation of Gosford Park I can start work on writing a new HP film. This will of course be different from the tv series adaptation, which will have everything from the books!
Mostly I was thinking they were such wee things!
I am trying to find a Harry Potter fic. Implied (unrequited, I think), Remus/James. Remus sends Hagrid a photo he took of James, a close up at the beach. The photo reveals the takers admiration and love for James, but Remus figures that Harry will just think Lily took it.
Anyone remember?
Please come to the dreamwidth post of this entry! There are
comments
Is anyone else following the tennis? Has anyone else seen the photos/video of the post-match hug between Djokovic and Wawrinka? (A google image search might be interesting to people.) One of the things that I love about sport is that we images of physical intimacy between men. It's sad that we mostly only get that in contexts that are safe for masculinity, like sports, but still, it's delicious to see.
Two books this week:
The Hobbit!
I found the ending hillarious. I'm not quite sure why, but I laughed. I am now reading Kate Nepveu's re-reading of the Hobbit on tor.com. Things happened that I didn't remember, which was nice. The only thing that really annoyed me about the film, in terms of how it adapted the book, is the way the Arkenstone looked. The Arkenstone is supposed to white, and it is actually one of the few things descibed to me that I had a clear picture of.
Okay, so not much in particular to say about the book. The narrative voice is interesting. Apparently CS Lewis's influence was instrumental in getting Tolkien to finish LoTR, so it's not too surprising that the narrator sounds a lot like the narrator of the Chronicles of Narnia.
I think I first heard about this book during the RaceFail. NK Jemisin recommends it several time on her blog so having read most of that while I was recoverying from surgery put it strongly omy radar again. It is a great book and I think everyone should read it!
I found it very easy to read. Not in terms of what it says, although, having read a lot of stuff about race and racism over the last four years now, none of it was very difficult. But the writing flows very easily and Dr Tatum is straightforward in her points and light humoured in her use of illustration. I've read a lot of academic stuff recently and it is rarely compelling the way this is.
I read it in part learning about race relations in the US (and thinking only vaguely about how such things apply to Australian race relations, and more concretely about my own Racial Identity Development), and in part thinking about how to write characters of colour and racially diverse societies in secondary world fiction. It certainly made an interesting companion to The Hobbit!
I've seen this film once and a half and I put it on this afternoon as I was doing some tidying/cleaning. Much I like and much I find annoying. I think that, unlike The Hobbit and, particularly, The Hunger Games, it tries to film the book rather than retell the story in a film format. I think the film should start with the letters, rather than the prologue-ish first chapter of the book. The Dursley's are exaggerated characters in the first few books, which does not suit the tone of the end of the series. I think you can reduce their roles in the first film, certainly, without losing much of the story at all. It would give a bit more space for Hagrid to become someone Harry will follow and lie for in their first meeting! I have more thoughts. Once I've written my play adaptation of Les Miserable and the novelisation of Gosford Park I can start work on writing a new HP film. This will of course be different from the tv series adaptation, which will have everything from the books!
Mostly I was thinking they were such wee things!
I am trying to find a Harry Potter fic. Implied (unrequited, I think), Remus/James. Remus sends Hagrid a photo he took of James, a close up at the beach. The photo reveals the takers admiration and love for James, but Remus figures that Harry will just think Lily took it.
Anyone remember?
Please come to the dreamwidth post of this entry! There are
comments