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blodeueddSo, what did I watch and finish reading this week?
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland:
It's CLAMP, it's plotless, it's twelve minutes of a Generic Whiny Schoolgirl running away from sexy ladies in revealing clothing who want to get to know her better.
Good points: if you like busty CLAMP females in skimpy outfits, this was tailor-made for you! The Chesshire Cat was particularly sexy, I thought, and it's a shame we didn't get to see more of the Tea Party.
Bad points: the Queen of Hearts has no forehead! That relentless 80's beat that doesn't let up for twelve and a half minutes. Also, have I mentionned that this thing is under thirteen minutes long? I knew it was short and basically plotless, but I was thinking it was between 20 and 30 minutes.
Final verdict: 7/10, I guess.
Kissing Jessica Stein:
Generally, agressively neurotic characters irritate me to no end, but in this case, Jessica managed to win me over after an uncomfortable first five minutes, and then I liked her. I probably would find her tiresome in real life, though.
The promotion for this movie suggested it was a "lesbian movie", but it really isn't. While the story is ostensibly about Jessica and Helen's romantic relationship, it really is about Jessica's personal journey. She finally learns to try something new, even though she doesn't know whether it will work out or not; that the thing in question hinges on her sexual identity isn't really important, to my mind. It could have been the same story with her getting into a relationship with a man who was, say, paraplegic, or of a different race/culture (and not simply "not Jewish", like Helen: maybe a recent Muslim immigrant from Somalia, or something?). For Helen, on the other hand, it is about sexual identity, and I was glad that she got a happy ending.
Since this movie was presented as a romantic comedy (more or less), I was glad when the usualy clichés didn't come to be. When Jessica and Josh are on the rooftop during the wedding, I was wincing in anticipation of the "Helen happens upon them just as Josh is kissing Jessica" moment. But it didn't happen! At least not like that. What would have been the typical misunderstanding in a lesser story wound up being the turning point for Jessica's character. The kiss was the moment when she finally came to a decision (more than when she invites Helen to the wedding, I feel) about how she was going to lead her life. And since Josh had been drawn as the typical guy-who's-the-right-one-for-her-but-she-can't-admit-it, it was refreshing to see both those characters help each other evolve without ending up together as a couple. Of course, the ending leaves us with that possibility, but it's not tied up in a "they lived happily ever after" way, which I liked.
I really enjoyed how Jessica and Helen's relationship was portrayed. Even though you have a feeling they won't work out as a couple, you can't help but root for them (because they're so funny and cute together!), and it was heartbreaking to see them fall apart, even though it was for the best, and they both moved on to better things.
Final verdict: 8/10
One of requested Christmas books, and well worth it!
Perdido Street Station (China Miéville):
This was... damn good. DAMN good. I know it created quite a stir when it came out, and in the past few years, I've seen it referenced constantly as an example of excellent modern fantasy.
I'm sure you can easily find plenty of reviews that go into details of the plot, so I'll just note a few of my observations. Cue bullet points!
- As a main character, Isaac manages to be both unusual, in that he's an overweight, middle-aged scientist who tends to obsess about his research and is in love with a non-human artist, and completely appropriate hero material. I especially liked how his evolution was charted: his involvement started out because of his scientific curiosity, but when things went awry, his reactions were very believable. At first, he wanted to avenge his friend, and also escape from the militia, but he didn't feel more than an abstract sense of responsibility for the situation. Then, once he was confronted with Lin's apparent death, he was forced to make a decision: he could run away, leave the city and start over elsewhere, since he didn't technically owe New Crobuzon anything, or he could stay and fight. He chose to stay, but it was more his promise to Yagharek -- and, more importantly, his desire to see if his crisis engine really worked -- that kept him there. At the very end, when he learns the truth about Yagharek, it makes complete sense for him to leave. Most importantly, though -- and this is a reflection of his maturity and his single-mindedness -- Isaac, once he's decided to stay and see things through, does not whine, nor does he waste any time angsting or moaning about his plight, even when he had no other option but to resort to what is essentially human sacrifice.
- Lin's fate was doubly cruel for everyone involved, and I cried for her and Isaac, but I must admire the explanation for why she turned and looked, even though Isaac had told her not to. In fact, until that point, I'd more or less forgotten that Lin knew nothing about the slake-moths.
- While Isaac, Lin, Yagharek and even Lemuel and Pengefinchess were well-drawn and three-dimensional, I feel as though we never really got to know Derkhan Blueday as much as I'd have liked. We know facts about her, but I never really understood her motivations. As an art critic, and as a critic of the government, her actions make complete sense, and her friendship with Lin and Isaac (not to mention the fact that she's now wanted by the militia) certainly are reason enough for her to stick with Isaac until the end. Unless we did get an explanation, and I completely forgot about it, we don't know her background, so I assume she came by her beliefs through observation and critical thinking. In fact, there's only an allusion to a past affair with another woman, and even that was from Lin's point of view. I always got the feeling Derkhan could have been fleshed out more, and even the (few) passages from her point of view are not enough to get into her head. Even her horror at being forced to select a sacrifice seemed removed. We see her actions and her emotions, but I never got a true sense of the person beneath them.
- New Crobuzon is wonderfully rendered, and how delicious is it to have a map that one can pore over? Although, in one instance, the story didn't correspond to the map, when a character is said to be walking north toward a district, when the map would have us believe the district in question is to the west of where the character is at that moment. Still, the descriptions of the city made it into as important a character as Isaac, and it's a place I'd really like to revisit. A bonus was that the names of the streets and districts were all easy to remember, seeming typically English and French-derived (Sobex Croix) as they were.
- It's an undoubtedly cool title, but I don't think it's really appropriate. Perdido Street Station may be the heart of New Crobuzon, but hardly any of the action takes place there, apart from the final showdown that isn't quite so final after all. I suppose New Crobuzon doesn't roll so easily off the tongue.
- The different species managed to be alien, yet realistic. The Weaver was fascinating -- can I have more? It was a shame we didn't get to see more of the garuda, or the vodyanoi, or any of the other xenians (we did see a fair bit of the khepri, to be fair). Even the Remade, though not technically xenian, were fascinating, and I'd love stories about them. On the whole, this was a stupendous exercise in world-building, and offered continual glimpses of all sorts of tantalising things, and I include in that not only the various sentient and non-sentient species of Ragamoll and beyond, but the thaumaturgy and science and the constructs as well. And who could forget the Bones!
- My one complaint about the plotting has to do with Jack Half-A-Prayer, who is basically a deus ex machina. He's brought up from time to time, often in conjunction with the Eye-Spy killer (who is real, and whose identity we figure out later) as a kind of urban legend. Indeed, until he suddenly pops into the story at the very end, I took him to be some sort of folkloric demi-god figure. At least his offer to Yagharek showed him to be more than a pointless caped crusader.
- When an author uses uncommon words, they tend to leap off the page at me. In this case, though it was by no means the only example, I noticed the word "inveigled" several times in the first half of the book, sometimes more than once within the same chapter. In the last 200 pages, at least, it wasn't used at all, unless by then I'd grown immune and failed to notice it.
Final verdict: 9/10 on its own merits, 9.5/10 for the enthusiasm and curiosity it stirred in me.
The reason I didn't have more tv and/or movies to review this week is that I started watching Prince of Tennis, so I'm in it for the long haul. I won't say anything about it yet, except that I don't CARE what the dialogue actually was, those subtitles should have read:
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because I know something you don't."
"Oh? What's that?"
"I'm not right-handed!" WHAM!
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland:
It's CLAMP, it's plotless, it's twelve minutes of a Generic Whiny Schoolgirl running away from sexy ladies in revealing clothing who want to get to know her better.
Good points: if you like busty CLAMP females in skimpy outfits, this was tailor-made for you! The Chesshire Cat was particularly sexy, I thought, and it's a shame we didn't get to see more of the Tea Party.
Bad points: the Queen of Hearts has no forehead! That relentless 80's beat that doesn't let up for twelve and a half minutes. Also, have I mentionned that this thing is under thirteen minutes long? I knew it was short and basically plotless, but I was thinking it was between 20 and 30 minutes.
Final verdict: 7/10, I guess.
Kissing Jessica Stein:
Generally, agressively neurotic characters irritate me to no end, but in this case, Jessica managed to win me over after an uncomfortable first five minutes, and then I liked her. I probably would find her tiresome in real life, though.
The promotion for this movie suggested it was a "lesbian movie", but it really isn't. While the story is ostensibly about Jessica and Helen's romantic relationship, it really is about Jessica's personal journey. She finally learns to try something new, even though she doesn't know whether it will work out or not; that the thing in question hinges on her sexual identity isn't really important, to my mind. It could have been the same story with her getting into a relationship with a man who was, say, paraplegic, or of a different race/culture (and not simply "not Jewish", like Helen: maybe a recent Muslim immigrant from Somalia, or something?). For Helen, on the other hand, it is about sexual identity, and I was glad that she got a happy ending.
Since this movie was presented as a romantic comedy (more or less), I was glad when the usualy clichés didn't come to be. When Jessica and Josh are on the rooftop during the wedding, I was wincing in anticipation of the "Helen happens upon them just as Josh is kissing Jessica" moment. But it didn't happen! At least not like that. What would have been the typical misunderstanding in a lesser story wound up being the turning point for Jessica's character. The kiss was the moment when she finally came to a decision (more than when she invites Helen to the wedding, I feel) about how she was going to lead her life. And since Josh had been drawn as the typical guy-who's-the-right-one-for-her-but-she-can't-admit-it, it was refreshing to see both those characters help each other evolve without ending up together as a couple. Of course, the ending leaves us with that possibility, but it's not tied up in a "they lived happily ever after" way, which I liked.
I really enjoyed how Jessica and Helen's relationship was portrayed. Even though you have a feeling they won't work out as a couple, you can't help but root for them (because they're so funny and cute together!), and it was heartbreaking to see them fall apart, even though it was for the best, and they both moved on to better things.
Final verdict: 8/10
One of requested Christmas books, and well worth it!
Perdido Street Station (China Miéville):
This was... damn good. DAMN good. I know it created quite a stir when it came out, and in the past few years, I've seen it referenced constantly as an example of excellent modern fantasy.
I'm sure you can easily find plenty of reviews that go into details of the plot, so I'll just note a few of my observations. Cue bullet points!
- As a main character, Isaac manages to be both unusual, in that he's an overweight, middle-aged scientist who tends to obsess about his research and is in love with a non-human artist, and completely appropriate hero material. I especially liked how his evolution was charted: his involvement started out because of his scientific curiosity, but when things went awry, his reactions were very believable. At first, he wanted to avenge his friend, and also escape from the militia, but he didn't feel more than an abstract sense of responsibility for the situation. Then, once he was confronted with Lin's apparent death, he was forced to make a decision: he could run away, leave the city and start over elsewhere, since he didn't technically owe New Crobuzon anything, or he could stay and fight. He chose to stay, but it was more his promise to Yagharek -- and, more importantly, his desire to see if his crisis engine really worked -- that kept him there. At the very end, when he learns the truth about Yagharek, it makes complete sense for him to leave. Most importantly, though -- and this is a reflection of his maturity and his single-mindedness -- Isaac, once he's decided to stay and see things through, does not whine, nor does he waste any time angsting or moaning about his plight, even when he had no other option but to resort to what is essentially human sacrifice.
- Lin's fate was doubly cruel for everyone involved, and I cried for her and Isaac, but I must admire the explanation for why she turned and looked, even though Isaac had told her not to. In fact, until that point, I'd more or less forgotten that Lin knew nothing about the slake-moths.
- While Isaac, Lin, Yagharek and even Lemuel and Pengefinchess were well-drawn and three-dimensional, I feel as though we never really got to know Derkhan Blueday as much as I'd have liked. We know facts about her, but I never really understood her motivations. As an art critic, and as a critic of the government, her actions make complete sense, and her friendship with Lin and Isaac (not to mention the fact that she's now wanted by the militia) certainly are reason enough for her to stick with Isaac until the end. Unless we did get an explanation, and I completely forgot about it, we don't know her background, so I assume she came by her beliefs through observation and critical thinking. In fact, there's only an allusion to a past affair with another woman, and even that was from Lin's point of view. I always got the feeling Derkhan could have been fleshed out more, and even the (few) passages from her point of view are not enough to get into her head. Even her horror at being forced to select a sacrifice seemed removed. We see her actions and her emotions, but I never got a true sense of the person beneath them.
- New Crobuzon is wonderfully rendered, and how delicious is it to have a map that one can pore over? Although, in one instance, the story didn't correspond to the map, when a character is said to be walking north toward a district, when the map would have us believe the district in question is to the west of where the character is at that moment. Still, the descriptions of the city made it into as important a character as Isaac, and it's a place I'd really like to revisit. A bonus was that the names of the streets and districts were all easy to remember, seeming typically English and French-derived (Sobex Croix) as they were.
- It's an undoubtedly cool title, but I don't think it's really appropriate. Perdido Street Station may be the heart of New Crobuzon, but hardly any of the action takes place there, apart from the final showdown that isn't quite so final after all. I suppose New Crobuzon doesn't roll so easily off the tongue.
- The different species managed to be alien, yet realistic. The Weaver was fascinating -- can I have more? It was a shame we didn't get to see more of the garuda, or the vodyanoi, or any of the other xenians (we did see a fair bit of the khepri, to be fair). Even the Remade, though not technically xenian, were fascinating, and I'd love stories about them. On the whole, this was a stupendous exercise in world-building, and offered continual glimpses of all sorts of tantalising things, and I include in that not only the various sentient and non-sentient species of Ragamoll and beyond, but the thaumaturgy and science and the constructs as well. And who could forget the Bones!
- My one complaint about the plotting has to do with Jack Half-A-Prayer, who is basically a deus ex machina. He's brought up from time to time, often in conjunction with the Eye-Spy killer (who is real, and whose identity we figure out later) as a kind of urban legend. Indeed, until he suddenly pops into the story at the very end, I took him to be some sort of folkloric demi-god figure. At least his offer to Yagharek showed him to be more than a pointless caped crusader.
- When an author uses uncommon words, they tend to leap off the page at me. In this case, though it was by no means the only example, I noticed the word "inveigled" several times in the first half of the book, sometimes more than once within the same chapter. In the last 200 pages, at least, it wasn't used at all, unless by then I'd grown immune and failed to notice it.
Final verdict: 9/10 on its own merits, 9.5/10 for the enthusiasm and curiosity it stirred in me.
The reason I didn't have more tv and/or movies to review this week is that I started watching Prince of Tennis, so I'm in it for the long haul. I won't say anything about it yet, except that I don't CARE what the dialogue actually was, those subtitles should have read:
"Why are you smiling?"
"Because I know something you don't."
"Oh? What's that?"
"I'm not right-handed!" WHAM!
