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

Sunday, November 23, 2003 :::

Hee! The NBCR of Little Shop of Horrors has bonus tracks of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken singing early versions of some of the songs, and they're hilarious. (And they also make me feel a LOT better about my current drafts of several MAA songs. :D)

This new revival sounds like great fun. I'm already predisposed to loving this cast, as Seymour is played by OBC Urinetown "Bobby" Hunter Foster, and Audrey is played by OOBC Bat Boy "Shelley" Kerry Butler. W00t! But I must say I miss Audrey's lisp, which was a complete given in every stage version of LSOH I've seen. Oh well.

I don't have the original stage recording to compare it to, but if you love the show and only have the movie soundtrack, it's a worthy addition. I love "Mushnik and Son" and all the other shows that weren't used in the movie. And the diction! Praise the lord, the diction! I can finally understand lyrics that have puzzled me since I first heard the songs ten years ago!

So yay. Faaaaaabulous musical. Great recording. I think I still prefer the film version (Rick Moranis as Seymour? Steve Martin as the sadistic dentist? And lisping Audrey? Booyeah.), but this version is still crazy fun. Hurrah!
::: frowled Priscilla at 11:38 PM

Thursday, November 20, 2003 :::

whoa. well, let's see what i have on my to-review plate.

capturing the friedmans: this was really interesting. it's a documentary about this family where the father and son were both accused of child abuse... i don't know. it was really sad, and did a good job, i thought, of showing all sides of the story. it had some funny moments too, so it wasn't like... total downer.

the hobbit (cartoon): i had never seen this before. all i have to say, really, is this: drugs were definitely involved with the production.

the 10th kingdom: the ultimate mary sue, and a few hours too long. still, though, wolf is pretty hot. get a weeklong rental and watch it with some mocking friends.

1602 #1-4: the history nerd in me (what am i saying? the history nerd that is me) loves this. your history nerd probably will too. if you don't have a history nerd, your comic book nerd will prolly like it too.

stuart davis, bell: totally rockin'. it's all about "sexy messiah" but the other songs are grood too. (a few free mp3s at stu.com so you can hear for yourself!)

tori amos, tales of a librarian: oh, man. swooooooon. the book nerd in me (she gets on well with the history nerd) totally loves that she categorized the songs by dewey decimal. the new songs are great, i love what she's done to the old ones (mostly... not sure what she was thinking when she did that to "mary", but i'll deal.) i'd heard bad things about "professional widow", but it's just armand's star trunk funkin' mix, which i like. sometimes. the dvd is great too, love the live videos, especially "honey" and "northern lad". if you're a new tori fan, go for it. if you're an old tori fan, go for it. if you're not a tori fan, buy it and become a new tori fan.

jill sobule, the folk years: 2003-2003: i love jill sobule. so, so much. highlights include her cover of "survivor" (the destiny's child song, as you've never heard it before), "don't drop dead", and "war correspondent". more great folk-rock from one of the coolest chicks around.

let's see. have i not done
neil gaiman, endless nights yet? honestly, what's wrong with me? this rocks 5 ways from wednesday. helloooo, it's by neil gaiman. sheesh, you people. did you really need me to tell you it rocks? i think not.
::: frowled ~renata~ at 7:15 PM

Friday, November 07, 2003 :::

The Matrix III. The entire movie was one massive "laughing while Haldir dies" moment. It really wasn't that bad, it was just absolutely laughable. And I know I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning and say "THAT was the ending? [Unprintable word]!"

So much thoughtful conjecture and tireless research. So many fascinating theories. And that's what the Wachowski Brothers give us. Okay, come to think of it, I believe I've reached "unprintable word" status already. The first movie was "Wow! What cool ideas! And what fabulous special effects!" and the second movie was "Wow, there are no new ideas. And those special effects were cool but could have been better executed!" And the third movie is "Wow! No new ideas at all, next to nothing new in the special effects department, and a sudden obsession with the CONQUERING POWER OF GREAT AND T00BY LUV <33333

I think the one redeeming aspect of that movie was the split-second, blink-and-you'll-miss-it poster in the subway advertising "Tasty Wheat". MOUSE SPEAKS TO US BEYOND THE GRAVE OF THE LIFE-AFFIRMING MERITS OF VILE BREAKFASTLIKE SUBSTANCES. Dude, that would have rocked.

Citizens of Zion: Woe! How can we possibly last against such odds?
Mouse: Fear not, for I return from the dead with my Tasty Wheat!
Citizens of Zion: We are saved!
Neo: Gawrsh, Trin. (hur hur) I lurve yew.

It's just one of those instances where the fans could have written it better. A bit like the Star Wars prequels, but not quite as drastic. You just want to say "No! Bad Wachowski brothers! Sit! Stay! Hand over manuscript NOW and be good boys and we'll call you when we have a good plot worked out. Here, have a biscuit."

Wah.
::: frowled Priscilla at 12:21 AM

Tuesday, October 14, 2003 :::

"Kill Bill" is one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Of course, I've seen very few movies recently, but still. (Intriguingly enough, I realize that the last movie I saw was "Pulp Fiction." Ha! Also very good.)

It's very violent, but most of the time it's done so comedically that you're too busy making "The Black Knight always triumphs!" jokes with your neighbor to be squicked. Most of the gore is blood, but it's more of the "spurting" variety. You won't be left with an overwhelming number of gruesome images. Any gratuity is done to black comedic effect. The fight scenes are very well choreographed. It was probably the first fight scene I've ever seen in which one person has fought against a huge number of people and I didn't get the sense that the majority of people was holding off attacking so that the girl could pick them off one at a time.

The cinematography is excellent. Especially apparent in the second half, it's shot to resemble Japanese animation. There are hints of impossible stunts, but it the fight sequences remain on the most part grounded in reality. The style of storytelling is also a treat. It has a sort of looping style -- it goes off on tangents to explain backstory, then springs back to the main plotline. It's very refreshing, very grounded, and very humorous.

My only complaint was the ending. When I went into the theatre, I didn't realize that this was Part 1 of 2. As the credits started to roll, I felt unfulfilled. The story had not fulfilled it's promise! The audience was left asking "And then what happened?" But based on the way events had transpired throughout the film, I found myself with a self-created, self-imposed sense of resolution. I had a good feeling of what would happen next, or what possibly could happen next if the story had been continued. What a brilliant choice for the director! Right then, I absolutely loved the ending. I was therefore incredibly irritated when my friends told me that this was only the first half. So is my ending not good enough for you, Mr. Tarantino? Oh well. If he wanted to finish his tale, I would rather the story be drawn out to its current pace than to have all five murders compressed to under two hours.


In sum, "Kill Bill" receives:

3 9/10 Percys out of four.
::: frowled Priscilla at 11:48 PM