Pink Panther day & reading
Well, not really, but local tv showed three old Pink Panther movies today. I only watched the last two films, A Shot in the Dark and The Pink Panther Strikes Again and just caught some glimpses of The Pink Panther.
It's been some years since I saw any of the film, but they were as hilarious as ever. Peter Sellars' dead-pan face and his brilliant physical comedy work incredibly well, and it's hilarious to notice how Inspector Clouseau's accent keeps on getting worse the longer we go on the film series :). "A rüm?"
It's funny how the same jokes seem as funny as ever, even though they are repeated from one film to another. For example, the viewers are just expecting for Cato to show up at the worst possible moment and to jump on Clouseau. Or for Clouseau to fall or jump down the stairs. Or for Inspector Dreyfus's (Herbert Lom - another brilliant performance) twitching eyelid. Very funny stuff, I say!
Reading
41. Lisa Kleypas: It Happened One Autumn
This is part two of Kleypas's "Wallflowers" quartet. In this story the brash American heiress Lillian Bowman meets her match in the snobbish and insufferable Lord Westcliff, whose best friend got married to the first of the Wallflowers in the previous book. I've liked most of her romances very much (with some exceptions), but this fell a bit flat to me. It was an ok read, not bad, but not really good either. I just hope the next book, The Devil in Winter is going to be better. Which might very well be true, at least based on the raves it's been getting at the romancenovels group.
42. Megan Whalen Turner: The King of Attolia
I think I would have gotten more out of this book if I'd read the first two books (The Thief and The Queen of Attolia) before this, but even with only vague memories of the other two, I really really enjoyed reading this book. I thought for a while, whether I would order it in hardcover or not, but in the end succumbed to temptation. After reading the book, I don't doubt that decision at all :).
In the book, a young soldier named Costis, despite his reluctance, is drawn into close contact with the new king of Attolia. His attitudes toward the king reflect the low opinion most people in court hold towards the new king, but slowly he starts to understand the king better and to see the difficulties of his position. Great book!
43. Neil Gaiman, Yoshitaka Amano: The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (graphic novel)
44. Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner, Teddy Kristiansen: Sandman Midnight Theatre (graphic novel)
I enjoyed both of these additions to Gaiman's Sandman mythos, but neither of them wowed me as much as the original series did. I enjoyed some of Yoshitaka Amano's artwork in The Dream Hunters, but not all. Still, it was fun to read the adapted folktale combined with some beautiful artwork.
In Sandman Midnight Theatre, I really enjoyed the artwork, but thought the story ok. I enjoyed reading it, but will not rush to buy my own copy of the book.
It's been some years since I saw any of the film, but they were as hilarious as ever. Peter Sellars' dead-pan face and his brilliant physical comedy work incredibly well, and it's hilarious to notice how Inspector Clouseau's accent keeps on getting worse the longer we go on the film series :). "A rüm?"
It's funny how the same jokes seem as funny as ever, even though they are repeated from one film to another. For example, the viewers are just expecting for Cato to show up at the worst possible moment and to jump on Clouseau. Or for Clouseau to fall or jump down the stairs. Or for Inspector Dreyfus's (Herbert Lom - another brilliant performance) twitching eyelid. Very funny stuff, I say!
Reading
41. Lisa Kleypas: It Happened One Autumn
This is part two of Kleypas's "Wallflowers" quartet. In this story the brash American heiress Lillian Bowman meets her match in the snobbish and insufferable Lord Westcliff, whose best friend got married to the first of the Wallflowers in the previous book. I've liked most of her romances very much (with some exceptions), but this fell a bit flat to me. It was an ok read, not bad, but not really good either. I just hope the next book, The Devil in Winter is going to be better. Which might very well be true, at least based on the raves it's been getting at the romancenovels group.
42. Megan Whalen Turner: The King of Attolia
I think I would have gotten more out of this book if I'd read the first two books (The Thief and The Queen of Attolia) before this, but even with only vague memories of the other two, I really really enjoyed reading this book. I thought for a while, whether I would order it in hardcover or not, but in the end succumbed to temptation. After reading the book, I don't doubt that decision at all :).
In the book, a young soldier named Costis, despite his reluctance, is drawn into close contact with the new king of Attolia. His attitudes toward the king reflect the low opinion most people in court hold towards the new king, but slowly he starts to understand the king better and to see the difficulties of his position. Great book!
43. Neil Gaiman, Yoshitaka Amano: The Sandman: The Dream Hunters (graphic novel)
44. Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner, Teddy Kristiansen: Sandman Midnight Theatre (graphic novel)
I enjoyed both of these additions to Gaiman's Sandman mythos, but neither of them wowed me as much as the original series did. I enjoyed some of Yoshitaka Amano's artwork in The Dream Hunters, but not all. Still, it was fun to read the adapted folktale combined with some beautiful artwork.
In Sandman Midnight Theatre, I really enjoyed the artwork, but thought the story ok. I enjoyed reading it, but will not rush to buy my own copy of the book.