Sunday, January 25, 2004 :::

la.

books:

the da vinci code, dan brown. yeah, i know, best-seller, etc., probably someone's already told you to read it. i enjoyed this a lot. it's very well researched and fast paced, although i have heard some people commenting on the poor quality of the writing. which, whatever. stylistically it has some weak points, but i'll take substance over style any day, and i very much recommend this book.

the sandman companion, hy bender. if you're a sandman fan, you'll like this. it's a lot of interviews with neil and others involved with sandman.

tommy's tale, alan cumming. i read this awhile ago and forgot to mention it. i probably wouldn't have picked it up if it hadn't been written by alan (<3 alan) but i ended up enjoying it. the back cover compared it to "a bisexual about a boy" and it definitely did remind me of about a boy, a lot. it's a bit more... explicit, i suppose, than stuff i usually read. (i had no idea, for example, that one could ingest cocaine through one's anus.) still, though, a fun read, and surprisingly touching.

movies:

big fish: somehow from the commerical i saw i got the idea that this was about people who lived underwater. um, but, it's not. still good, though. different from other tim burton movies... more sentimental, but not to the point of being sappy. very funny in places, and very intricately woven together. (also ewan mcgregor + southern accent = hott.)

mona lisa smile: fuck you, i liked it. i heard sooo many bad things about this, but a couple friends and i decided to go see it anyway. it's not as cliche as i thought it would be, and it definintely had some interesting twists. i think the reason some people didn't like this is because it was clearly trying to be a Great movie, but it fell a bit short. nonetheless, though, good. also tori amos was in it ^_^

music:

avenue q obcr: so, so much love. oh, man. hilarious and heartwarming and very...reminiscent of my own life, in places. good music, great lyrics. it reminds me of urinetown a bit, just in the sense that you're like, "it's about what?" and then you go and it's wonderful and funny but also touching. (i hate the word "touching" but there ya go.)

random:

the state of the union. (alternate version). teehee.
::: frowled ~renata~ at 4:30 PM

Sunday, January 11, 2004 :::

okay, i just finished the watchmen by alan moore and... apofjsa[kdgsrg. can't believe i hadn't read this before. (or, considering the difficulty i had in actually getting my hands on a copy of it.. i can ^_^) but yeah. it's incredibly intricate and intense and amazing. it starts out a bit slow, but it's the kind of thing where as you get farther in, you want to re-read the beginning because you find things out that make you look at things in an entirely different light... and just... oh man. this is the kind of book that will make you gasp audibly while you're reading it and make you want to re-read it the minute you've put it down. <3.
::: frowled ~renata~ at 5:19 PM

Friday, January 02, 2004 :::

(*frowl* this is my 3rd attempt at this post. raaar. *kicks safari*)

anyway, giant post-holiday post! yay!

movies:

rotk: c'mon, if you haven't seen this already, you're never going to.

my blue heaven: i was coerced into watching this last night, but i actually rather enjoyed it. not a great movie, but pretty good. steve martin (a young steve martin) plays a con man in the witness protection program, and rick moranis is his fbi agent. amusing antics ensue.

neverwhere: so happy i finally got to see this! *flail* very well done, especially on a relatively low budget. some low points (ie... the beast of london is rather laughable, and the random dream/pain/door-opening sequences are pretty much all the same thing. very versatile footage.) but mostly amazing. mad, mad props to paterson joseph (the marquis de carabas), who was absolutely perfect. (this is weird for me, i want to say he's just like in the book, but i suppose it would be more accurate to say the book was written just the way he played it.) gary bakewell (richard) was v. cute and scottish. aww. the dvds also have a fun neil interview. (but beware, the cameraman got a little bored with neil just sitting there, so he's all "angles! zoom! zoooom! whee!" it's a little seizure-inducing.)

cds:

everything to everyone, barenaked ladies: honestly i was disappointed with this. i <3 bnl and i was looking forward to a new album, but on the first listenthrough this didn't really grab me. i'll give it another try, but meh. (it's not bad, mind you, but at this point i don't like it nearly as much as i do their older stuff.)

idiot express, stuart davis: don't get it unless you're a hardcore fan. it's his 2nd album, and he's grown so much. even between this and self-untitled (his 3rd album) the difference is noticeable. has some good stuff, like the studio "it's all just because" and "1-976-BUY MY LOVE"... but like i said, for the hardcore fan.

out of range, ani difranco: mmm, ani. lots of good stuff here.

books:

black orchid, neil gaiman: oh wow. his first american comic. very keen. very twisty-turny, plotwise. a very... i don't know. ecological superhero mystery? is how i would categorize this. question mark included. gorgeous dave mckean art, too. especially black orchid herself... wow.

chasing dogma, kevin smith: interesting. a lot of this is in dogma or j&sbsb but some new stuff, and explains some loose ends. i love the intro by alanis morisette. i'd put this with idiot express in the "hardcore fans only" category.

the dark knight returns, frank miller: okay, i've read more than comics this break, i swear. but anyway. i was in a batman kinda mood and i saw this at the library, so i said, okay. interesting. very dark, very well written. there's one page in particular that sticks out in my memory... it focuses on this one woman in the subway, and it talks about her life and her job and.. it's very sad, and you really feel for this woman. and then she gets killed by a villain. and it's just very different from a lot of other superhero stuff where people just die and you don't really think about it, you know? my biggest issue with this is part 4, the dark knight falls... i mean, i was with this, i was really liking this, and then you get to the end and you're like.. "what?! no really, what the hell? are you serious?" but overall i still recommend it.

1984, george orwell: never read this in school, but i wanted to. so, i did. you should too, if you haven't.

the world and other places, jeannette winterson: interesting short stories. she had some really cool ideas, but i was sort of put off by her style of writing. it's very unique, you might like it. it's very poetic prose, but i don't know, it just didn't really do it for me. i still enjoyed the book, though.

anna in the tropics, nilo cruz: this was fascinating, i really want to see this now. as with most plays i'd probably say it'd be better live, but it was a good read. (i still hate anna karenina, though.) it's about a cigar factory in.. the 20s i think? and it's, yeah, very different.
::: frowled ~renata~ at 1:53 PM