Comments | zakarntson: Reviews - Two Books, Two Movies

zakarntson

Reviews - Two Books, Two Movies

Feb 05, 2007 13:09

No time for personal computer use means I'll be updated very infrequently. Thanks to Google Docs, I can write a few words a day and come up with a viable journal entry in a week or two (the body of this current entry was last edited 5 days ago, says the Google).

( On with the reviews! House of Leaves, Blindsight, An Inconvenient Truth, Ice Age )

books, movies, review

Comments 16

wahcrysob February 5 2007, 21:48:28 UTC

Tales Before Tolkien, collected by David Day? I absolutly loved the collection.

zakarntson February 5 2007, 22:29:59 UTC

That's the one!

I'm on Puss-cat Mew right now, which I'm enjoying more than the previous stories. I'm interested in reading the American stories, wondering if they'll be something more.

To be fair, though, I've already read enough Lord Dunsany to be spoiled by that master of early fantasy.

wahcrysob February 7 2007, 14:37:07 UTC

Puss-Cat Mew was probably my favorite piece in the collection. It's been a couple years since I read it actually, so I don't want to suggest things that aren't going to be as good as I remember them, but there is certainly some grand stuff in there. Are you just reading them through in the order their presented? Because if so, and if that's what I did (I'm pretty sure I did) then they should generally be stronger as you continue.

zakarntson February 7 2007, 19:29:23 UTC

Puss-Cat Mew is definitely better than the previous ones. I do like that it's pretty brutal (children being eaten off-camera, like). My bias could be cultural: To me it the fairy tales read like re-packaged re-tellings. I'm guessing they may have been "updated" for the Victorian reader with sly commentary on social issues?

Or they've just been "Disney-fied".

And yes, I'm reading them in order. I like to read things in chronology of creation date, so it's nice to have the collection organized in that way. I'll keep reading and post a review later.

aefre February 5 2007, 22:12:14 UTC

Have you heard the companion album that goes along with House of Leaves? If you have iTunes at work, check out the album Haunted by Poe in my shared iTunes list ("Slightly Used Music"). She is Mark Danielewski's sister.

zakarntson February 5 2007, 23:16:21 UTC

I'd heard of the album, and was curious. I'll have to figure out how to install iTunes (it's an Apple product, so it should be easy, right?) so's I can give it a whirl.

Thanks!

Did you like the book? Because I'd love to talk to more folks about it. There were parts I liked, just not enough that I'd recommend it. I'd sooner offer Jorge Luis Borges' Collected Fictions for literary manipulations. I haven't read much modern horror, so I can't recommend anything in that direction.

jakefish February 6 2007, 09:31:57 UTC

Ice Age eats ball, but does give me ammunition for my "they-don't-make-GOOD-CG-cartoons-anymore-they-just-make-as-many-as-possilbe" stance. Seriously, have you seen the trailer for the new Ninja Turtles movie? I feel embarrassed for the animators. There should be someone onboard each project whose job is to say "This looks like shit compared to Toy Story, and Toy Story is 12 years old!".

zakarntson February 6 2007, 18:20:45 UTC

CG is cheaper, in some ways, than traditional animation. That and the Hollywood bandwagon phenomenon.

I have to say I like the look of the new Ninja Turtles, since it goes back to the original comics. But I haven't seen much other than a fairly short teaser.

(The comment has been removed)

wahcrysob February 7 2007, 14:43:46 UTC

In the proud tradition of QuickTime, I simply cannot watch the whole trailer without having to wait for it, so I got to the point where they're just going to spit names and crap at me.

Having grown up with the show and the movies, butnot having read any of the comics, I really don't see a problem with it. I'm not entirely happy with the designs, but I don't see how it could be much more campy than the movies, which I adore.

Thread 5

princezilla February 7 2007, 08:52:05 UTC

I'm reading those Warhammer books you gave me, my god they're good! I'm glad I bought Dawn of War, cause otherwise I'd order the trable-top box game online.

Good stuff!

Keep the reviews coming, good read!

zakarntson February 7 2007, 19:36:04 UTC

Dawn of War is SOOOO good. I wish I had the dough to grab the new Tau & Necron expansion.

I read the first couple of chapters of the first WH40k book I got you. It seemed pretty awesome. Especially for game fiction. If you finish them by Luke's wedding, can I borrow them?

princezilla February 7 2007, 21:35:37 UTC

Definately! I'll probably finsih them up pretty quick.

There is this one scene that talks about Horus painting his own armor. I couldn't help but think it was some marketing ploy to get all the readers to pain miniatures. Pretty wicked...

The writing is pretty good and the author filled it with enough Warhammer stuff to really feel like an authentic source book article.

zakarntson February 8 2007, 18:36:58 UTC

That's what I liked most, the attention to little details. There's so much history in the WH40K universe. I think it may be the best collaboratively-created universes of all time. Somehow, even with the drive to make things "gameable", Games Workshop has managed to keep its world very compelling.

The Warhammer Fantasy, not so much for me. Every time they come out with a Black Gobbo covering Fantasy stuff, I mostly gloss over it (skavens and ogres being the exception).

Thread 6