First off, a slew of Charlie Chaplin shorts: Sunnyside I don't really remember. Hot Finish had car racing and Chapin in a villain role. Pretty cool. The Immigrant was wonderful, starting on a rolling ship at sea and ending in New York in an awkward money situation in a restaurant. The Adventurer had some fun chases and a repeated gag of jumping from a second floor balcony. The Cure had the best drunk :run up the stairs always almost but not quite falling" I've ever seen, followed by a few "I feel like I'm still in the revolving door" spins. The man was a physical genius, no doubt about it. Easy Street about life in the slums was a good one as well.
One Bollywood movie: Izzat ki Roti. I'm only remembering flashes of it now, and I'm fairly certain I fell asleep before the end. I think it was another one of those where the whiplash changes from zany comedy to bloody violence just lost me.
All About my Mother by Pedro Álmodovar I really loved. It has such a big heart and shows so many complex but ultimately accepting family relationships. It was very sweet, in a good way.
The Imaganarium of Dr. Parnassus was The Awesome. Colin Farrel, Jude Law and especially Johnny Depp stepped in for Heath Ledger so wonderfully the film was almost an homage to him. But even outside of Heath, the wagon that transforms into a stage, the strange world behind that stage, everything was so cool. And every film I see Verne Troyer in, I love him just a little bit more. He makes a great foil for Dr. Parnassus here.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang I've been meaning to see, oh, since it came out in theaters. It was fun, with lots of great lines. Kilmer and Downey should totally do another buddy film together; they have great chemistry. (Now I'm wondering who Downey doesn't have great chemistry with...)
And a few biopics with lots of song and dance numbers: Beyond the Sea about Bobby Darin and De-Lovely about Cole Porter. They were both good. I'm going to score Beyond the Sea a touch higher for its use of music, but De-Lovely tops for story. Of course Darin died young, and Porter lived at least three lifetime's worth. Another version of Cole Porter's story was Night and Day with Cary Grant. A little less edgy (or true to life) than De-Lovely, but it's hard to beat anything when it has Cary Grant in it.
One more biopic I caught on cable, Valentino. This thing started at 11:30 at night and I stayed up to see it all the way to the end, and that's saying something. It had a strange quality to the directing, almost Gilliam-esque in places, but was interesting. Which reminded me that I've never really seen a Valentino movie all the way through...
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Books in May
In May I wrapped up the last of the Bronte novels. Villette by Charlotte Bronte dragged a lot in the beginning, then got very engrossing near the end. I'm going to have to tackle all of her books again some day after I've learned a little French; she puts entire paragraphs in French and doesn't translate. A sentence or two I can guess the gist, but whole paragraphs? Emily Bronte only ever wrote Wuthering Heights, which I read back in my teens. It's a tickle to read it again post-Jasper Fforde. Anne Bronte was apparently the religious one of the three; Agnes Grey comes across to me as very moralizing. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall I liked better. You'd think a novel about the long-suffering wife of a narcissist alcoholic (and possible heroin fiend) would have even more heavy-handed moralizing than the story of a governess in charge of a bunch of ingrates, but I actually found it very human and with a still-contemporary feel.
After all that reading of books more than a century old, I gorged on new releases from some of my faves. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman... well, what can I say? My Kindle version is underlined like crazy now, this book had so much wonderful writing in it. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik is the latest Tremeraire novel. I liked it better than the last, which I felt wandered too much. This one has a stronger, more relentless plot: Napoleon invades England and the British army is driven back to Scotland. And the next book is set in Australia: I'm geeked already.
Helpless by MJ Pearson was all kinds of awesome. Oscar Wilde's trial makes the perfect backdrop for this story about the love that dares not speak its name, in this case a love triangle where someone is not to be trusted, but which one? And since this is Pearson, the historical details are delightful and perfect, and the secondary characters are rich and often laugh out loud funny. I had to wait awhile for this one to come out, but it was worth it.
Still reading about writing: Word Work by Bruce Holland Rogers was a fun read, more about process and lifestyle than about the mechanics. Rogers is one of my favorite short fiction writers, and the only short-short writer I consistently like; getting a little glimpse into how he approaches writing was enlightening. More work, but worth it, was The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth. It took me a few months to get throught it, but mostly because there were so much here I needed to stop and let it soak in, really think about it. Anyone interested in the old show vs. tell debate, particularly if you like me are a bit cynical about rules cut in stone, I highly recommend this book to you.
And lastly, Hindi: An Essential Grammar by Rama Kant Agnihotri. A nice overview. Grammar, like math, I find I understand best if I have multiple people explain it from their own unique perspective (in case you're wondering why this seems like the fourth or fifth Hindi grammar I've read in the last year). This is thorough and points are clearly explained, but it's meant to be used in a classroom with a teacher; hence, none of the exercises have answers. So for the self-taught, I'm afraid RS McGregor is still the best bet.
And now for a few of my favorite quotes from the month:
No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato, to be planted in mould, and tilled with manure. - Charlotte Bronte, Villette
I'm part of the world, and I love every grain of sand and blade of grass and drop of blood in it. There might as well not be anything else, because these things are enough to gladden the heart and calm the spirit; and we know they delight the body. - Philip Pullman
And here am I, my hands red with blood and shame and wet with tears, longing to begin telling the story of Jesus, and not just for the sake of making a record of what happened: I want to play with it; I want to give it a better shape; I want to knot the details together neatly to make patterns and show correspondences, and if they weren't there in life, I want to put them there in the story, for no other reason than to make a better story. - Philip Pullman
"...he just doesn't talk much. He can, of course, he's not dumb or dumb, if you get my meaning, he just doesn't say much. But when he does-"
Douglas was amused. "It's bound to be wise and profound?"
"Oh no, absolute drivel, usually."
Donnie rolled his eyes and spoke at last. "Orange," he said. - MJ Pearson
He seldom deigned to notice me; and, when he did, it was with a certain supercilious insolence of tone and manner that convinced me he was no gentleman; though it was intended to have the contrary effect. - Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey
"It is I who left them," was the smiling rejoinder. "I was wearied to death with small talk - nothing wears me out like that. I cannot imagine how they can go on as they do." - Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
What meaning would it have to say to Joyce that he has asked for "too much" cryptoanalysis in Finnegans Wake? Too much for you and me, perhaps, and we may find ourselves ultimately repudiating, on moral grounds, an author who excludes practically everyone. But not too much for Finnegans Wake. Who would bother about Finnegans Wake at all if it were not packed with Finneganswakism? - Wayne C. Booth
"Where does he live?" Temeraire asked, interrupting; he felt that anyone who did not have time for politics must be rather sensible. - Naomi Novik
After all that reading of books more than a century old, I gorged on new releases from some of my faves. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman... well, what can I say? My Kindle version is underlined like crazy now, this book had so much wonderful writing in it. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik is the latest Tremeraire novel. I liked it better than the last, which I felt wandered too much. This one has a stronger, more relentless plot: Napoleon invades England and the British army is driven back to Scotland. And the next book is set in Australia: I'm geeked already.
Helpless by MJ Pearson was all kinds of awesome. Oscar Wilde's trial makes the perfect backdrop for this story about the love that dares not speak its name, in this case a love triangle where someone is not to be trusted, but which one? And since this is Pearson, the historical details are delightful and perfect, and the secondary characters are rich and often laugh out loud funny. I had to wait awhile for this one to come out, but it was worth it.
Still reading about writing: Word Work by Bruce Holland Rogers was a fun read, more about process and lifestyle than about the mechanics. Rogers is one of my favorite short fiction writers, and the only short-short writer I consistently like; getting a little glimpse into how he approaches writing was enlightening. More work, but worth it, was The Rhetoric of Fiction by Wayne C. Booth. It took me a few months to get throught it, but mostly because there were so much here I needed to stop and let it soak in, really think about it. Anyone interested in the old show vs. tell debate, particularly if you like me are a bit cynical about rules cut in stone, I highly recommend this book to you.
And lastly, Hindi: An Essential Grammar by Rama Kant Agnihotri. A nice overview. Grammar, like math, I find I understand best if I have multiple people explain it from their own unique perspective (in case you're wondering why this seems like the fourth or fifth Hindi grammar I've read in the last year). This is thorough and points are clearly explained, but it's meant to be used in a classroom with a teacher; hence, none of the exercises have answers. So for the self-taught, I'm afraid RS McGregor is still the best bet.
And now for a few of my favorite quotes from the month:
No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato, to be planted in mould, and tilled with manure. - Charlotte Bronte, Villette
I'm part of the world, and I love every grain of sand and blade of grass and drop of blood in it. There might as well not be anything else, because these things are enough to gladden the heart and calm the spirit; and we know they delight the body. - Philip Pullman
And here am I, my hands red with blood and shame and wet with tears, longing to begin telling the story of Jesus, and not just for the sake of making a record of what happened: I want to play with it; I want to give it a better shape; I want to knot the details together neatly to make patterns and show correspondences, and if they weren't there in life, I want to put them there in the story, for no other reason than to make a better story. - Philip Pullman
"...he just doesn't talk much. He can, of course, he's not dumb or dumb, if you get my meaning, he just doesn't say much. But when he does-"
Douglas was amused. "It's bound to be wise and profound?"
"Oh no, absolute drivel, usually."
Donnie rolled his eyes and spoke at last. "Orange," he said. - MJ Pearson
He seldom deigned to notice me; and, when he did, it was with a certain supercilious insolence of tone and manner that convinced me he was no gentleman; though it was intended to have the contrary effect. - Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey
"It is I who left them," was the smiling rejoinder. "I was wearied to death with small talk - nothing wears me out like that. I cannot imagine how they can go on as they do." - Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
What meaning would it have to say to Joyce that he has asked for "too much" cryptoanalysis in Finnegans Wake? Too much for you and me, perhaps, and we may find ourselves ultimately repudiating, on moral grounds, an author who excludes practically everyone. But not too much for Finnegans Wake. Who would bother about Finnegans Wake at all if it were not packed with Finneganswakism? - Wayne C. Booth
"Where does he live?" Temeraire asked, interrupting; he felt that anyone who did not have time for politics must be rather sensible. - Naomi Novik
Monday, June 14, 2010
Fantastical Visions V Update
My second short story sale was to Fantastical Visions V, an anthology from Fantasist Enterprises. They are currently doing a fundraiser to raise the money to get the publishing process started (damn you, economic downturn!). It works like public television: the more you contribute, the nicer the thank-you gift. All the details are on the Kickstarter page. I've also added a widget to this blog page to track how we're doing towards the goal.
The story I have in this anthology is one of my favorites of my early works, a sword and sorcery type fantasy tale where the magic is based on string theory. I intended it to be the first of three stories, with the second set in the present and the third in the future. Of course that's the thing, there are always more ideas than there is time to write. At any rate, I hope you will check out the link. Thanks!
The story I have in this anthology is one of my favorites of my early works, a sword and sorcery type fantasy tale where the magic is based on string theory. I intended it to be the first of three stories, with the second set in the present and the third in the future. Of course that's the thing, there are always more ideas than there is time to write. At any rate, I hope you will check out the link. Thanks!
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Movies in April
Very busy, lots of writing getting done around these parts. Got a little sidetracked from the WIP by a flash fiction competition at SFFEditors, but I got a pretty cool little story out of it (and got to read some even cooler ones). I'm still on track to wrap this thing up by the end of June, provided I work very, very hard.
At any rate, I'm a bit late recapping the movies from April, but there weren't too many. In the Charlie Chaplin category, A King in New York was perhaps too didactic. Being written after he had left the US, it is a bit too much about how one can read and think about communist theories without being a communist, and reading and thinking about lots of things is good. There is a funny bit when the title character goes out to the movies and then to a dinner club. A Woman in Paris is another late Chaplin, one he wrote and directed but didn't appear in. It has a very Russian literary sort of feel. So, yeah, a bit of a downer. Limelight was wonderful. I do believe this is the last film he made before leaving the US; it's a story of a young panic-prone dancer and an old alcoholic comic. It also features a cameo by Buster Keaton. If only they'd done a whole film together, a buddy film. That would have been something to see. We also watched three shorts: The Good for Nothing, Charlie's Recreation and Work. Very much minor works, and one of them had been given a descriptive narration that just pissed me off. I can see what's happening here and can tell the characters apart all on my own, thank you very much. Not sure who's idea that was.
One more Hitchcock: Notorious. A film which up until now I only knew as the source for one of the scenes in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. (Also, I think the little girl in The Lake House is watching it in her hospital room). You can't go wrong with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. We actually watched this twice; the first time through none of us spotted Hitchcock's cameo. So of course we had to watch it again to find him.
This is It, the Michael Jackson documentary of the tour that never was. It was like the special features for a really awesome concert DVD that never was. I felt bad for those young dancers, who came so close to sharing a stage with their idol and then had it snatched away.
Red Cliff is a Chinese film by John Woo, or rather two films that tell one story. And what a story it is, an epic battle in the three kingdoms period with gorgeous sets and costumes and one slow reveal of an enormous armada of ships that felt like John Woo one-upping Troy. More like ten-upping; it's an awesome shot. I also loved the fight scenes that just flirted with the beginnings of wu xia moves. No one did anything too unbelievable, but you could see where the soldiers watching the heroes fight would imbelish their feats in the telling. This is long but so worth seeing.
The Men Who Stare at Goats was delightful but strange. At the end of it I wasn't sure exactly what I had just seen, but I liked it. It has a Coen Brothers vibe but a lot more unanswered questions than the Coen Brothers usually leave.
Just one Hindi film, Pyaasa, from Guru Dutt, the director of Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam. This shares that films gorgeous melancholy. It's like Southern gothic, only Indian, if that makes sense. Guru Dutt was the Orson Welles of India, writing, directing and starring in his films. It's a shame he died so young, he told some achingly lovely stories.
OK, wrapping up this month with a number from Swades, a movie I saw back in February, but this number has hung with me. Here's Shah Rukh Khan, teaching a village about astronomy and breaking down the segregation that divides them, all in one song and dance to an AR Rahman song:
At any rate, I'm a bit late recapping the movies from April, but there weren't too many. In the Charlie Chaplin category, A King in New York was perhaps too didactic. Being written after he had left the US, it is a bit too much about how one can read and think about communist theories without being a communist, and reading and thinking about lots of things is good. There is a funny bit when the title character goes out to the movies and then to a dinner club. A Woman in Paris is another late Chaplin, one he wrote and directed but didn't appear in. It has a very Russian literary sort of feel. So, yeah, a bit of a downer. Limelight was wonderful. I do believe this is the last film he made before leaving the US; it's a story of a young panic-prone dancer and an old alcoholic comic. It also features a cameo by Buster Keaton. If only they'd done a whole film together, a buddy film. That would have been something to see. We also watched three shorts: The Good for Nothing, Charlie's Recreation and Work. Very much minor works, and one of them had been given a descriptive narration that just pissed me off. I can see what's happening here and can tell the characters apart all on my own, thank you very much. Not sure who's idea that was.
One more Hitchcock: Notorious. A film which up until now I only knew as the source for one of the scenes in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. (Also, I think the little girl in The Lake House is watching it in her hospital room). You can't go wrong with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. We actually watched this twice; the first time through none of us spotted Hitchcock's cameo. So of course we had to watch it again to find him.
This is It, the Michael Jackson documentary of the tour that never was. It was like the special features for a really awesome concert DVD that never was. I felt bad for those young dancers, who came so close to sharing a stage with their idol and then had it snatched away.
Red Cliff is a Chinese film by John Woo, or rather two films that tell one story. And what a story it is, an epic battle in the three kingdoms period with gorgeous sets and costumes and one slow reveal of an enormous armada of ships that felt like John Woo one-upping Troy. More like ten-upping; it's an awesome shot. I also loved the fight scenes that just flirted with the beginnings of wu xia moves. No one did anything too unbelievable, but you could see where the soldiers watching the heroes fight would imbelish their feats in the telling. This is long but so worth seeing.
The Men Who Stare at Goats was delightful but strange. At the end of it I wasn't sure exactly what I had just seen, but I liked it. It has a Coen Brothers vibe but a lot more unanswered questions than the Coen Brothers usually leave.
Just one Hindi film, Pyaasa, from Guru Dutt, the director of Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam. This shares that films gorgeous melancholy. It's like Southern gothic, only Indian, if that makes sense. Guru Dutt was the Orson Welles of India, writing, directing and starring in his films. It's a shame he died so young, he told some achingly lovely stories.
OK, wrapping up this month with a number from Swades, a movie I saw back in February, but this number has hung with me. Here's Shah Rukh Khan, teaching a village about astronomy and breaking down the segregation that divides them, all in one song and dance to an AR Rahman song:
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