At Long Last, An Update!
Jan. 2nd, 2004 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteHi everyone, and happy new year! Been ages since I updated my journal, as I have been very busy, with a lot going on at work; not one but two headcolds (one of which is still clogging my noggin); a trip to New Orleans; and just a large number of things to keep me busy.
In fact, I really don't have time to post today, either, but as my boss is out and the phone is not likely to ring much today, I am grabbing just a little time to say a few things...
As noted, we were in New Orleans, with Batya's sister and her three kids (all under 4!) to see their grandfather. A word of advice: don't travel with three children under 4 at once. As adorable as they are, they can be too much. But this trip was about seeing Grandpa Zolly, as he's called. The sad fact is that he can no longer travel, and the sadder fact is that he may not be much longer for this world. Thus, we went, and I think it did wonders for his spirit. To see his eye light up on seeing his newest great-grandson for the first time was worth all the schlepping.
Batya's father's parents are both remarkable, unique products of the little-known Jewish community of New Orleans, he only a resident since childhood but she a true daughter of the South, with ancestors in New Orleans since 1840. Being with them in their home, with the flavor of the old South imbued somehow, was wonderful. I'm glad I married into such an amazing and offbeat family, and I'm proud to know such wonderful people.
Now on to the pop culture beat, featuring the return of a certain king, Donald Westlake, Orson Scott Card and "Sherlock Holmes meets Mary Sue."
ROtK:I think that we were the last fen to see Return of the King, not getting around to it till yesterday. So you've probably all read everything you want to about this film. But I'm gonna say a few things anyway.
This is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, and that alone makes it worth seeing. That is also has heart and soul and great performances and stirring battles and moments makes it all the more worthy. While I still think that Fellowship was the best of the three LotR films, RotK comes close to equalling it. Certainly the small but persistent flaws I found in TTT are gone, replaced by a more even pacing, with fewer jarring changes or addition, and with enhanced roles for characters who seemed poorly used before. The vast scope makes this perhaps a little harder to relate to than the smaller battles of Fellowship, but in general I found this to be stirring, moving, and true to the book.
What stood out? The beacons across Gondor. Pippin's song. Eowyn's big moment. Merry and Pippin's reunion. Gimli, still a bit funnier than he should be but no longer the butt of the joke. Denethor's madness. Gandalf as leader. Sam vs. the spider. Gollum's final moment falling into the pit. The coronation. Old Bilbo's last adventure.
And now there is nothing else to wait so eagerly for. Yet. Jackson has shown what can be donw with cinema to create new worlds. There are plenty of books that would work as well, or better. All it takes is a vision. Me, I want to see the Foundation Trilogy (not the sequellae). A very different kind of story, but one as worthy of the epic treatment.
Oh, and we saw the oddest assortment of trailers. No Spider-Man, but Punisher (ick!) No Harry Potter 3, but The Mask Returns (why?). We got a preview for a somewhat interesting sounding SF film but it stars Ashton Kutcher, so does it have a chance of being good? And there was a short preview for I, Robot, a mock commercial for a a robot servant that ended by telling the viewer "3 Laws Safe." Intersting to hear the smattering of giggles, indicating who's familiar with the source material. Gotta say, if the films gets the 3 Laws right, it may be good.
Books: Donald Westlake, the master of the comic crime novel, tried to write a political satire of sorts in the 2002 novel "Put a Lind On It." A career crook is cajoled by the President's re-election committee into helping them, but he isn't letting things stay as simple as that. While perfect for airplane reading, it is essentially Westlake lite, where the efforts to satirized the political system are trite and mundane and where even the caper is rather standard Westlake fare. Happily, even lite Westlake is well-written and the main character is engaging and even sympathetic.
Orson Scott Card gave us "Ender's Game," so it's probably fair to hold him to a high standard. It's a standard that he does not live up to in "Seventh Son," the first in his ongoing Alvin Maker series. This series takes place in a world where magic works, and also where Cromwell's forces remains in control of England. Into this world is born a boy with remarkable gifts. Alas, one of those gifts is not a strong personality. It says something that I've alreadt forgotten Alvin's last name. While the backdrop of a 1800 America where the South is the last bastion of the British crwon and where one of the states in the Union is a native American state is interesting, the foreground story is pretty bland. And this book is essentially set-up, with Alvin's fate set in motion but little else happening. I have no interest in seeing how this sotry develops. Card can do better.
Lastly, there is the matter of "The Beekeeper's Apprentice," wherein an aging Sherlock Holmes inexplicably takes on a young apprentice, a smart and sassy teenaged girl, wherein that girl slowly becomes Holmes' partner and equal. Author Luarie King does manage to get Holmes' voice right, but everything is wrong. for the main player her is Mary Russell, a young woman who does not have all the symptons of Mary-Sue-ism, but who feels like one most of the time. She's as smart as Holmes, sees through his rough and cold exterior to the warmth within, and is also an orphan, a Jew, and taller than average. She stands out way too much to be believable. Never mind that at no moment do I understand why Holes takes her on as his student.
Much more doesn't work here. King unfortunately subscribes to the notion that Watson was a bumbling fool (something I don't thing the original stories indicate). She creates a couple of rather middling mysteries that don't require the skills of a Sherlock Holes to solve, and then spends the bulk of the book on a pedestrian revenge tale with a solution of no merit at all.
Apparently, these books - there is of course a series - have a large following. I would suggest, though, that you'd be better off reading the origianl Conan Doyle stories.
That's it for now. Be well, y'all!
In fact, I really don't have time to post today, either, but as my boss is out and the phone is not likely to ring much today, I am grabbing just a little time to say a few things...
As noted, we were in New Orleans, with Batya's sister and her three kids (all under 4!) to see their grandfather. A word of advice: don't travel with three children under 4 at once. As adorable as they are, they can be too much. But this trip was about seeing Grandpa Zolly, as he's called. The sad fact is that he can no longer travel, and the sadder fact is that he may not be much longer for this world. Thus, we went, and I think it did wonders for his spirit. To see his eye light up on seeing his newest great-grandson for the first time was worth all the schlepping.
Batya's father's parents are both remarkable, unique products of the little-known Jewish community of New Orleans, he only a resident since childhood but she a true daughter of the South, with ancestors in New Orleans since 1840. Being with them in their home, with the flavor of the old South imbued somehow, was wonderful. I'm glad I married into such an amazing and offbeat family, and I'm proud to know such wonderful people.
Now on to the pop culture beat, featuring the return of a certain king, Donald Westlake, Orson Scott Card and "Sherlock Holmes meets Mary Sue."
ROtK:I think that we were the last fen to see Return of the King, not getting around to it till yesterday. So you've probably all read everything you want to about this film. But I'm gonna say a few things anyway.
This is one of the most beautiful movies ever made, and that alone makes it worth seeing. That is also has heart and soul and great performances and stirring battles and moments makes it all the more worthy. While I still think that Fellowship was the best of the three LotR films, RotK comes close to equalling it. Certainly the small but persistent flaws I found in TTT are gone, replaced by a more even pacing, with fewer jarring changes or addition, and with enhanced roles for characters who seemed poorly used before. The vast scope makes this perhaps a little harder to relate to than the smaller battles of Fellowship, but in general I found this to be stirring, moving, and true to the book.
What stood out? The beacons across Gondor. Pippin's song. Eowyn's big moment. Merry and Pippin's reunion. Gimli, still a bit funnier than he should be but no longer the butt of the joke. Denethor's madness. Gandalf as leader. Sam vs. the spider. Gollum's final moment falling into the pit. The coronation. Old Bilbo's last adventure.
And now there is nothing else to wait so eagerly for. Yet. Jackson has shown what can be donw with cinema to create new worlds. There are plenty of books that would work as well, or better. All it takes is a vision. Me, I want to see the Foundation Trilogy (not the sequellae). A very different kind of story, but one as worthy of the epic treatment.
Oh, and we saw the oddest assortment of trailers. No Spider-Man, but Punisher (ick!) No Harry Potter 3, but The Mask Returns (why?). We got a preview for a somewhat interesting sounding SF film but it stars Ashton Kutcher, so does it have a chance of being good? And there was a short preview for I, Robot, a mock commercial for a a robot servant that ended by telling the viewer "3 Laws Safe." Intersting to hear the smattering of giggles, indicating who's familiar with the source material. Gotta say, if the films gets the 3 Laws right, it may be good.
Books: Donald Westlake, the master of the comic crime novel, tried to write a political satire of sorts in the 2002 novel "Put a Lind On It." A career crook is cajoled by the President's re-election committee into helping them, but he isn't letting things stay as simple as that. While perfect for airplane reading, it is essentially Westlake lite, where the efforts to satirized the political system are trite and mundane and where even the caper is rather standard Westlake fare. Happily, even lite Westlake is well-written and the main character is engaging and even sympathetic.
Orson Scott Card gave us "Ender's Game," so it's probably fair to hold him to a high standard. It's a standard that he does not live up to in "Seventh Son," the first in his ongoing Alvin Maker series. This series takes place in a world where magic works, and also where Cromwell's forces remains in control of England. Into this world is born a boy with remarkable gifts. Alas, one of those gifts is not a strong personality. It says something that I've alreadt forgotten Alvin's last name. While the backdrop of a 1800 America where the South is the last bastion of the British crwon and where one of the states in the Union is a native American state is interesting, the foreground story is pretty bland. And this book is essentially set-up, with Alvin's fate set in motion but little else happening. I have no interest in seeing how this sotry develops. Card can do better.
Lastly, there is the matter of "The Beekeeper's Apprentice," wherein an aging Sherlock Holmes inexplicably takes on a young apprentice, a smart and sassy teenaged girl, wherein that girl slowly becomes Holmes' partner and equal. Author Luarie King does manage to get Holmes' voice right, but everything is wrong. for the main player her is Mary Russell, a young woman who does not have all the symptons of Mary-Sue-ism, but who feels like one most of the time. She's as smart as Holmes, sees through his rough and cold exterior to the warmth within, and is also an orphan, a Jew, and taller than average. She stands out way too much to be believable. Never mind that at no moment do I understand why Holes takes her on as his student.
Much more doesn't work here. King unfortunately subscribes to the notion that Watson was a bumbling fool (something I don't thing the original stories indicate). She creates a couple of rather middling mysteries that don't require the skills of a Sherlock Holes to solve, and then spends the bulk of the book on a pedestrian revenge tale with a solution of no merit at all.
Apparently, these books - there is of course a series - have a large following. I would suggest, though, that you'd be better off reading the origianl Conan Doyle stories.
That's it for now. Be well, y'all!
