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☆ Today is too windy for my taste, but that's all right, because everything is so green. Bright, bright green! The rain we had last night was just what we needed. I shouldn't be surprised that it took until June to get things looking lively over here, but I am, a little. Normally, it doesn't take so long.
☆ I've finally finished reading William Stevenson's A Man Called Intrepid. The more I read about the Second World War, the more I realize that my understanding of it is very shallow. There is just so much information to take in, and it's a little overwhelming. The deeper I get into it, the less I actually know. Well - anyway, it's a pretty good book, though since it's quite old, there is likely a better biography of Sir William Stephenson now, or one that focuses on different things than this book does. Camp X is on my list of "things to read more about some time in the future", too.
☆ While I was getting ready to run out the door to head to work, I had some last-minute flailing because I hadn't decided which book to take with me. So, I grabbed the nearest thing at hand, Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a novel which follows the life of a girl growing up in fourteenth-century Norway. I've been meaning to read it for over a year, so it's nice to finally get to it. Unfortunately: This thing is an absolute brick, because it's actually a three-novel compilation. Whoops. Probably not the best thing to be hauling to work. However! So far I'm really enjoying it, at least, though I'm not very far into it yet. I just wish that I could read it in Norwegian. The translator's notes make it sound as if the original text is a very lovely read: "In Norwegian Undset writes in a straightforward, almost plain style, yet she can be quite lyrical, especially in her descriptions of nature. The beauty of the mountainous Norwegian landscape is lovingly revealed in Undset's lucid prose." ...I expect this book will have a lot of landscape porn. That's right up my alley.
☆ A few neat Mad Max: Fury Road things: first, fabulous fanart of the sandstorm scene, wow.
Also, a neat article on the center frame approach that was taken when shooting the film. I'm so glad for this; the "chaos cinema" approach that is described at the beginning of the article is totally not my bag. I find that it makes the action hard to process. Far better, I think, to know who is doing what to whom at what point in time. So, an approach like this, where everything is deliberately filmed to make the action easy to follow, that's great. It's certainly nothing new - but considering the "chaos" method was used more in some of the more recent action films I've watched, and I didn't like it at all, I really appreciate this more simple approach.
I find this article on the visual effects fascinating. It's a tad long, but read it if you can; it's worth it. There were a lot of really cool practical effects used in this film, but a lot of CGI was also used, and it's amazing to look at the images of the actual landscape in comparison to what it looked like in the film. The part that I find most interesting is the technique they used to shoot day for night by overexposing everything.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3398286.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
☆ I've finally finished reading William Stevenson's A Man Called Intrepid. The more I read about the Second World War, the more I realize that my understanding of it is very shallow. There is just so much information to take in, and it's a little overwhelming. The deeper I get into it, the less I actually know. Well - anyway, it's a pretty good book, though since it's quite old, there is likely a better biography of Sir William Stephenson now, or one that focuses on different things than this book does. Camp X is on my list of "things to read more about some time in the future", too.
☆ While I was getting ready to run out the door to head to work, I had some last-minute flailing because I hadn't decided which book to take with me. So, I grabbed the nearest thing at hand, Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a novel which follows the life of a girl growing up in fourteenth-century Norway. I've been meaning to read it for over a year, so it's nice to finally get to it. Unfortunately: This thing is an absolute brick, because it's actually a three-novel compilation. Whoops. Probably not the best thing to be hauling to work. However! So far I'm really enjoying it, at least, though I'm not very far into it yet. I just wish that I could read it in Norwegian. The translator's notes make it sound as if the original text is a very lovely read: "In Norwegian Undset writes in a straightforward, almost plain style, yet she can be quite lyrical, especially in her descriptions of nature. The beauty of the mountainous Norwegian landscape is lovingly revealed in Undset's lucid prose." ...I expect this book will have a lot of landscape porn. That's right up my alley.
☆ A few neat Mad Max: Fury Road things: first, fabulous fanart of the sandstorm scene, wow.
Also, a neat article on the center frame approach that was taken when shooting the film. I'm so glad for this; the "chaos cinema" approach that is described at the beginning of the article is totally not my bag. I find that it makes the action hard to process. Far better, I think, to know who is doing what to whom at what point in time. So, an approach like this, where everything is deliberately filmed to make the action easy to follow, that's great. It's certainly nothing new - but considering the "chaos" method was used more in some of the more recent action films I've watched, and I didn't like it at all, I really appreciate this more simple approach.
I find this article on the visual effects fascinating. It's a tad long, but read it if you can; it's worth it. There were a lot of really cool practical effects used in this film, but a lot of CGI was also used, and it's amazing to look at the images of the actual landscape in comparison to what it looked like in the film. The part that I find most interesting is the technique they used to shoot day for night by overexposing everything.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3398286.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.