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Update on Reading/Viewing
May. 24th, 2010 04:03 pmI need to do an update, so here is some stuff.
* I finish reading Pale Fire. Pale Fire is to the Russian Revolution as Slaughterhouse 5 is to the firebombing of Dresden.
* Speaking of getting unstuck in time, I also watched The Fountain, which is a very good and interesting movie about coping with death. And very pretty and a bit historical and science fictiony. I have little to say against it except that Isabella (in the 16th century plotline) falls flat (but she's mostly symbolic anyway). And there is a certain amount of race fail, combined, however, with a genuine interest in non-Western traditions, which mitigates it, I think. The rest is lovely.
* Having seen the Blade of the Immortal anime, I am now catching up on bits of the manga. I doubt I will read the series in toto, but what I am falling in love with, I'm falling for hard. At first, I was a bit blown away that every single person in MoB fandom seems to be a fan of BotI too, but the more I see, the more it makes perfect sense. These stories--despite coming from different media, being aimed at different audiences, having different tones, and accomplishing different things--are of the same soul, which leads me to ask, has anyone (in English) crossed them over? And if not, why not?
* Speaking of MoB, I did catch up on vol. 22 (prologue-ch. 2) and have only been very quiet about it because it didn't do much for me. Part of it I'd read already (Naoe and Irobe, which is nice.) I was expecting more about Nagahide and was, thus, a bit disappointed not to get it. I find the Red Whales a bit dull (or, to take responsibility, have not invested the time in getting to know their panoply of characters), but I did enjoy Takaya bonding with the boy who reminded him of Miya.
* Rewatched some M*A*S*H. It remains one of the best TV series ever made, full stop. It also strikes me that Hawkeye is a pretty direct ancestor of Boston Legal's Alan Shore.
* I have also been watching two other shows I'm keeping mum about: Doctor Who series 5 and The House of Five Leaves. Both are interesting me, but I want to wait till they've ended to make my final assessment.
* I finish reading Pale Fire. Pale Fire is to the Russian Revolution as Slaughterhouse 5 is to the firebombing of Dresden.
* Speaking of getting unstuck in time, I also watched The Fountain, which is a very good and interesting movie about coping with death. And very pretty and a bit historical and science fictiony. I have little to say against it except that Isabella (in the 16th century plotline) falls flat (but she's mostly symbolic anyway). And there is a certain amount of race fail, combined, however, with a genuine interest in non-Western traditions, which mitigates it, I think. The rest is lovely.
* Having seen the Blade of the Immortal anime, I am now catching up on bits of the manga. I doubt I will read the series in toto, but what I am falling in love with, I'm falling for hard. At first, I was a bit blown away that every single person in MoB fandom seems to be a fan of BotI too, but the more I see, the more it makes perfect sense. These stories--despite coming from different media, being aimed at different audiences, having different tones, and accomplishing different things--are of the same soul, which leads me to ask, has anyone (in English) crossed them over? And if not, why not?
* Speaking of MoB, I did catch up on vol. 22 (prologue-ch. 2) and have only been very quiet about it because it didn't do much for me. Part of it I'd read already (Naoe and Irobe, which is nice.) I was expecting more about Nagahide and was, thus, a bit disappointed not to get it. I find the Red Whales a bit dull (or, to take responsibility, have not invested the time in getting to know their panoply of characters), but I did enjoy Takaya bonding with the boy who reminded him of Miya.
* Rewatched some M*A*S*H. It remains one of the best TV series ever made, full stop. It also strikes me that Hawkeye is a pretty direct ancestor of Boston Legal's Alan Shore.
* I have also been watching two other shows I'm keeping mum about: Doctor Who series 5 and The House of Five Leaves. Both are interesting me, but I want to wait till they've ended to make my final assessment.
