Films
1. 300 – Or as I like to call it, More Six-packs Than A Carlsberg Factory. Anyway, don’t let that fool you; it’s definitely a man’s man kind of movie. I went to see this purely based on seeing the trailer and for the fact that there was sod all to watch at the cinema, unless I watched Ghost Rider, which looked really bad anyways. I did not find out till the end of the film that it was based on a graphic novel which explains the direction and the look of the movie – short, sweet and to the point, with a beautiful palette of sharp-edged browns accented with the reds of the Spartan army’s capes.
The plot is not too difficult: 300 Spartan warriors stand against the might of an invading Persian horde far superior in numbers. The fighting is graphic and gruesome – I physically gagged at a couple of scenes – and any other scenes not involving mass slaughter are well-paced and served the purpose of the story. There are a few hammy lines thrown in and some concession is made to emo scenes (what with people dying and all) but they are kept mercifully short and relatively cheese-free. With a lot of ‘epic’ war movies out on the market these past few years, praise is due to the film-makers for bringing something fresh to the mass fight scene, which are quite inventive and do not feel repetitive. Whereas Troy seemed to be merely a platform for Brad Pitt’s and Orlando Bloom’s preening, 300 managed to get their story across, portraying genuine brotherly feeling and manly angst amid the impending doom.
However the film is not all grim and unrelenting. It is darkly humorous with likeable, fleshed out characters, nicely underpinned with a dry narration by Australia’s Hottest Ginge, David Wenham, who seems to have developed an Anthony Hopkins-esque accent since we last saw him in Lord of The Rings. Scotsman Gerard Butler, who I last saw being dashing and heroic in Timeline, does heroic again in an altogether super buff body, playing a most charismatic and forbidding King Leonidas, leading even me to quake in my sandals. The Persians, who compared to the Spartans, are supposed to be pansy waisted boy-lovers still look decidedly fearsome yet decadent with half of them sounding like they had a James Earl Jones voice transplant.
How do I know this was a good film? By the fact that:
a) I was in a good mood afterwards
b) Gagging was induced by violence on screen rather than cringe-worthy moments
c) The bunch of teenagers in the front row (some who definitely don’t look old enough to be 18 and to be allowed in) kept quiet throughout the film and only threw popcorn when the credits rolled
d) I saw two office workers in shirts and neckties bunk off work at 11am to watch the film
e) A bald man in his forties cried when certain people died (or maybe he just had the sniffles)
f) I would watch it again
Books
1. Twilight Eyes - Dean R. Koontz. I actually read this at the tail end of last month whilst sorting out the books prior to us moving house. This copy had my eldest sister's name in it and it was dated '1986, Washington' on the inside cover. A present from our dad most likely, from one of his frequent trips overseas. This book has been in this house almost as long as we have lived here, which accounts for why the story seems very old school. Sort of like an old Stephen King novel.
Its protagonist is a young man who is blessed/cursed with 'Twilight Eyes' - the ability to see 'goblins' disguised as humans whose ultimate mission is the destruction of mankind. Taking refuge in a travelling carnival - because that's where all th emisfits are - he kills the goblins one by one, before joining others like him to wage war on the goblins.
It's an enjoyable enough read, though the plot feels very familiar like I've seen several movies doing the same story.
2. In the Night Room - Peter Straub. Author Tim Underhill is writing a new book. His heroine is about to marry a sinister, powerful man a year after her husband and daughter were murdered. Somehow his creation crosses over to real life, along with the baddies who are after her. But that's not the end of Tim Underhill's problems as a creepy stranger is also out for his blood.
Peter Straub always does solid mystery/thrillers and this is another with slightly off-kilter characters and general weirdness. I felt a bit blah towards the two main characters, not really caring too much about what happened to them but the background of the story was more interesting, in that there's some sort of afterlife for books and all.
3. If You Could See Me Now – Peter Straub. Peter Straub knows how to do psychological horror. He doesn’t need scary monsters to have you hiding under the covers. No, he just messes with your head. Even the title of the book is creepy.
An adult Miles Teagarden returns to the country where he spent most of his holidays as a youth just as the serial killings of several young women begins. Known throughout the small town as someone ‘not to be trusted’ since a mysterious tragedy in his youth, Miles is greeted with hostility by the townsfolk. Is Miles’ own hostility and strange behaviour a response to the townsfolk’s attitude or is he slowly becoming mentally unhinged?
4. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke. There are times when you come across a book which is a total joy to read from start to finish. There are no moments when you are bored, there are no characters you hate, and every situation and consequence seems to fall in place exactly as it should. You don’t feel like you are being condescended to with high-falutin phrases yet you find the flow of the language sleek and elegant. This is that sort of book.
It’s the sort of book where you keep having to remind yourself that it’s not real, that it’s all made up, yet never does it feel like you’re reading some boring old biography or history book.
Kudos to Susanna Clark. I’m looking forward to more from her.
Television
In a moment of weakness last week, I told my sister that I was tired of hankering after Dean. It’s too much to wait around for him every week. He doesn’t even show up every week. I am too old for this. I need a life.
In my book that means getting interested in other things not Dean Winchester. I watched an episode of Family Law and sniffled as a 16 year old boy attempts to gain custody of his two younger brothers after their mother dies of cancer and their bastard of a father leaves them to fend for themselves.
I waited for NCIS to come on because I like to watch the sniping between Tony and Ziva. I still dislike Mark Harmon though – he has only one facial expression and that expression says, “I don’t want to be here.”
I watched Grey’s Anatomy though I switched over to other channels during the excruciating/tiresome bits. McDreamy looks more like McWetrag to me.
I watched Heroes even though I think it’s too slow and had the potential to go the way of Lost. They keep adding more and more characters. There is barely time to develop whatever character they’ve already got before the scene shifts to another character. And I don’t care any stupid problems you have with your wife, Mr Police Officer man. Just get a move on the heroing. Peter Petrelli’s power is wasted on him. Such a cool power should not be wasted on such a wet rag.
I watch CSI Las Vegas. Sort of enjoying it now. Maybe because the geek who was molly-coddled in his youth has been wearing a suit a lot and has been the All-Action hero. Even if he did get beaten badly for it.
America’s Next Top Model Cycle 7 is hotting up now that everyone is jealous/can’t stand Melrose and one of the twins announced that she is possibly gay. Brooke’s face when she heard that was hilarious. Come on let’s bring out the bitch!
1. 300 – Or as I like to call it, More Six-packs Than A Carlsberg Factory. Anyway, don’t let that fool you; it’s definitely a man’s man kind of movie. I went to see this purely based on seeing the trailer and for the fact that there was sod all to watch at the cinema, unless I watched Ghost Rider, which looked really bad anyways. I did not find out till the end of the film that it was based on a graphic novel which explains the direction and the look of the movie – short, sweet and to the point, with a beautiful palette of sharp-edged browns accented with the reds of the Spartan army’s capes.
The plot is not too difficult: 300 Spartan warriors stand against the might of an invading Persian horde far superior in numbers. The fighting is graphic and gruesome – I physically gagged at a couple of scenes – and any other scenes not involving mass slaughter are well-paced and served the purpose of the story. There are a few hammy lines thrown in and some concession is made to emo scenes (what with people dying and all) but they are kept mercifully short and relatively cheese-free. With a lot of ‘epic’ war movies out on the market these past few years, praise is due to the film-makers for bringing something fresh to the mass fight scene, which are quite inventive and do not feel repetitive. Whereas Troy seemed to be merely a platform for Brad Pitt’s and Orlando Bloom’s preening, 300 managed to get their story across, portraying genuine brotherly feeling and manly angst amid the impending doom.
However the film is not all grim and unrelenting. It is darkly humorous with likeable, fleshed out characters, nicely underpinned with a dry narration by Australia’s Hottest Ginge, David Wenham, who seems to have developed an Anthony Hopkins-esque accent since we last saw him in Lord of The Rings. Scotsman Gerard Butler, who I last saw being dashing and heroic in Timeline, does heroic again in an altogether super buff body, playing a most charismatic and forbidding King Leonidas, leading even me to quake in my sandals. The Persians, who compared to the Spartans, are supposed to be pansy waisted boy-lovers still look decidedly fearsome yet decadent with half of them sounding like they had a James Earl Jones voice transplant.
How do I know this was a good film? By the fact that:
a) I was in a good mood afterwards
b) Gagging was induced by violence on screen rather than cringe-worthy moments
c) The bunch of teenagers in the front row (some who definitely don’t look old enough to be 18 and to be allowed in) kept quiet throughout the film and only threw popcorn when the credits rolled
d) I saw two office workers in shirts and neckties bunk off work at 11am to watch the film
e) A bald man in his forties cried when certain people died (or maybe he just had the sniffles)
f) I would watch it again
Books
1. Twilight Eyes - Dean R. Koontz. I actually read this at the tail end of last month whilst sorting out the books prior to us moving house. This copy had my eldest sister's name in it and it was dated '1986, Washington' on the inside cover. A present from our dad most likely, from one of his frequent trips overseas. This book has been in this house almost as long as we have lived here, which accounts for why the story seems very old school. Sort of like an old Stephen King novel.
Its protagonist is a young man who is blessed/cursed with 'Twilight Eyes' - the ability to see 'goblins' disguised as humans whose ultimate mission is the destruction of mankind. Taking refuge in a travelling carnival - because that's where all th emisfits are - he kills the goblins one by one, before joining others like him to wage war on the goblins.
It's an enjoyable enough read, though the plot feels very familiar like I've seen several movies doing the same story.
2. In the Night Room - Peter Straub. Author Tim Underhill is writing a new book. His heroine is about to marry a sinister, powerful man a year after her husband and daughter were murdered. Somehow his creation crosses over to real life, along with the baddies who are after her. But that's not the end of Tim Underhill's problems as a creepy stranger is also out for his blood.
Peter Straub always does solid mystery/thrillers and this is another with slightly off-kilter characters and general weirdness. I felt a bit blah towards the two main characters, not really caring too much about what happened to them but the background of the story was more interesting, in that there's some sort of afterlife for books and all.
3. If You Could See Me Now – Peter Straub. Peter Straub knows how to do psychological horror. He doesn’t need scary monsters to have you hiding under the covers. No, he just messes with your head. Even the title of the book is creepy.
An adult Miles Teagarden returns to the country where he spent most of his holidays as a youth just as the serial killings of several young women begins. Known throughout the small town as someone ‘not to be trusted’ since a mysterious tragedy in his youth, Miles is greeted with hostility by the townsfolk. Is Miles’ own hostility and strange behaviour a response to the townsfolk’s attitude or is he slowly becoming mentally unhinged?
4. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell – Susanna Clarke. There are times when you come across a book which is a total joy to read from start to finish. There are no moments when you are bored, there are no characters you hate, and every situation and consequence seems to fall in place exactly as it should. You don’t feel like you are being condescended to with high-falutin phrases yet you find the flow of the language sleek and elegant. This is that sort of book.
It’s the sort of book where you keep having to remind yourself that it’s not real, that it’s all made up, yet never does it feel like you’re reading some boring old biography or history book.
Kudos to Susanna Clark. I’m looking forward to more from her.
Television
In a moment of weakness last week, I told my sister that I was tired of hankering after Dean. It’s too much to wait around for him every week. He doesn’t even show up every week. I am too old for this. I need a life.
In my book that means getting interested in other things not Dean Winchester. I watched an episode of Family Law and sniffled as a 16 year old boy attempts to gain custody of his two younger brothers after their mother dies of cancer and their bastard of a father leaves them to fend for themselves.
I waited for NCIS to come on because I like to watch the sniping between Tony and Ziva. I still dislike Mark Harmon though – he has only one facial expression and that expression says, “I don’t want to be here.”
I watched Grey’s Anatomy though I switched over to other channels during the excruciating/tiresome bits. McDreamy looks more like McWetrag to me.
I watched Heroes even though I think it’s too slow and had the potential to go the way of Lost. They keep adding more and more characters. There is barely time to develop whatever character they’ve already got before the scene shifts to another character. And I don’t care any stupid problems you have with your wife, Mr Police Officer man. Just get a move on the heroing. Peter Petrelli’s power is wasted on him. Such a cool power should not be wasted on such a wet rag.
I watch CSI Las Vegas. Sort of enjoying it now. Maybe because the geek who was molly-coddled in his youth has been wearing a suit a lot and has been the All-Action hero. Even if he did get beaten badly for it.
America’s Next Top Model Cycle 7 is hotting up now that everyone is jealous/can’t stand Melrose and one of the twins announced that she is possibly gay. Brooke’s face when she heard that was hilarious. Come on let’s bring out the bitch!
Comments
i never could watch Grey's Anatomy, because a) i hated the textbook of its namesake b) McWetrag is not that hunkie, and he looks depressed all the time, i see such depressed and tired people at work everyday and its no novelty!
watching America's next Top Model too. C leaves me alone and knows only to talk to me during ads...
any good cantonese serials on telly now?
Btw i emailed you 1/52 ago.
I agree, Grey's textbook is murder to read. I ran for the hills.
Cantones serials take a lot of commitment. I can only obsess over one TV show at a time.
Email in your inbox already!
Also, I'm going to appropriate "McWetrag" and try to spread it across the interweb.