No subject heading comes to mind

[shadowkat]

Had a lovely walk today...was 60 degrees in Brooklyn. Didn't walk all the way to the promenade, was too tired. Still worn out from the flu bug that hit me at the beginning of the week. Good news? I think it's almost out of my system now. The long holiday weekend helped. As did taking Thursday off. No more sniffles. No more heavy coughing. Just a slight hoarseness and weariness or laggy feeling. Was most definitely the flu though. And I bet I got it from my workplace. Heh. My workplace. Never thought I'd be using those words. Mustn't take it for granted. Took me too frigging long to get one.

Anywho...back to my lovely walk which landed me in two of my favorite places:
1. the independent book store in my neighborhood (yes we have a Barnes and Noble just four blocks away from it, but I feel the need to keep the indie alive, because B&N is evil). I bought: A. The Annotated Brothers Grimm, edited by Maria Tatar. Lovely book. Been lusting after it for a while now. Completely illustrated. I see it as an investment to give Cedar some day.Here's a little of what the book jacket says about it: " Perhaps most noteworthy is Tartar's decision to include tales that were excised from later editions, including a few bawdy stories that were removed after the Frimms realized that children relished these tales as much as adults did. In restoring the tales, Tatar is able to - in the tradition of Bruno Bettelheim's "The Uses of Enchantment" - examine what has kept the Grimms' fairy tales alive in our imagination and our culture; their ability to speak to our anxities and fears, our desires and our passions, and our unconquerable belief in happy endings."

B. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett.
(Haven't read Prachett before, but this book captured my interest it's about a con-artist cat who helps a bunch of rats deal with an evil menance, incorporating the tale of the pied piper.)

C. A Series of Unfortunate Events :BAD BEGINNING by Lemony Snicket,
which I thought I'd try out for my little niece. Also it had come highly recommended from one of the folks on my friends list.

(I already have the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel book, and I keep attempting to read the thing - it is sitting on my night stand. I can't seem to get past the second chapter. Not sure if this is a mood thing? Could be. It is a "dry" book and right now, I seem to be in the mood for "wet" books. By wet, I mean emotional. Possibly because I spend all day reading contracts and unemotional dry works, and need a break from it? I like her wit, but the dry style is putting me to sleep. Like I said - it's probably because I spend my days analyzing contractual language and business language which is oddly enough very similar in style. I don't think I could read Jane Austen or Proust right now, if my life depended on it.)

2. stop two was at the local comic store - where I hunted for Fables, and Superman:Red Son - but with no sucess. (They asked if it was still in print, I said, I knew it was in print, since friends of mine were reading it. On second thought, that's not exactly proof it's in print - since they're in England.)
Did pick up Tales of the Vampires which is surprisingly good. And it is the graphic novel not the individual issues - in case of confusion. Read the first two tales and was quite impressed. I'll give the writers credit, they've managed to make these vampires more than charactures of evil, they are complex and the evil? Not so clear. Or definite. They've neither romanticized these monsters nor demonified them - they've shone them for what they are, complex.
Also Astonishing X-Men issue 7, which I found to be odd. Not sure where the writer is going with this. IT was confusing in places. Not as good as the first six. But that may just be me. Did enjoy it though. I like comics, they blend both my favorite mediums - art and writing. I think if I could have found a way to write and illustrate comics, I'd have been briefly in heaven.
But alas, my drawing isn't quite up to snuff.

Lovely day ended with me coming home, calling family to wish them a happy new years. All seems well. Am a little concerned about my father - he has a growth between his lung and his chest cavity that needs to come out. It's probably nothing (knocks on wood), but am a little concerned.

Last night - heh, I watched Garden State (god was that an amazingly good movie, really cheered me up for some reason, highly recommend! Made me laugh, smile and be happy. Very reassuring movie. Not at all what I expected. Also enjoyed the deleted scenes, especially the audition. Want the soundtrack!)
Also (in very small timid little voice...lower case tiny letters)saw: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (fears obsessed monty python addicts quoting all the dialogue in bad english accents, stay back! Back! Out! No Monty Quoting!!!)
Funny movie. Would have been funnier - if I hadn't already heard the jokes ten million times, even though only seen movie once. Methinks too many men between the ages of 17-50 have seen this flick and it should be hidden from them for twenty years, before the jokes become cliche. Just a suggestion. Was quite amusing last night though...heh. The knights that say ne. hee. Then went to bed early. So well today. Ta Da.

Comments

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

rahael was able to get me Red Son for Christmas off of Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1401201911/qid=1104625462/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/103-9224735-0016630); it's still in print. In fact, I finally saw it a Barnes & Noble, after unsuccessfully hunting it for months, the day after I'd opened Rah's present.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

All of the 4 Fables volumes and Red Son should be in print. I've gotten them all recently, and the latest Fables, in particular, only came out a few months ago.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah...they just ran out. It's a small comic store and the Xmas holidays sort of left them bereft of copies.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

If you do shop in any of the major corporate bookstores (I know some people don't on priniciple), I've seen all of the books in Barnes and Nobles and Borders.

Astonishing X-Men

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

Ooh I liked this issue! Though maybe I was just really relieved because I was worried at the end of #6 that Emma would turn out to be villianous again. The way I took it this issue was that someone else is definitely up to no good at the school, maybe someone shapeshifty. I also thought that comment near the end that Emma hadn't been listening in was interesting in an issue where we kept hearing characters' inner thoughts. Is another telepath at work? Definitely a set-up type issue, but the last pages where quite chilling to me so I'm really looking forward to this new arc. And of course I loved the Canadian line.

Want to take bets on how sympathetic this new gov't agent Brand is supposed to be? I noticed she got the classic Mal line, "I surely do," which I don't think Joss gives to the purely on the dark side people.

Re: Astonishing X-Men

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I probably should give it a second read-through. The flu took quite a bit out of me, felt like I was walking through a haze all week, part there, part not. Feel that way today too. So that could be it.

The ending was weird. Chilling too. But also weird.
I wasn't sure what I was looking at. The truth?
Or a simulation? Which may have been the point.

Hmmm - how can you be certain Emma hasn't become evil again? This issue doesn't reveal what's going on with her either way. It leaves it unanswered. She also seems to be cut off from her charges - the more she invests in her relationship with Scott. (The way Whedon's drawn the character, she reminds me in some respects a lot of Darla.)

And of course I loved the Canadian line.

LOL! Something tells me that Whedon isn't a huge fan of the Fantastic Four?

Want to take bets on how sympathetic this new gov't agent Brand is supposed to be? I noticed she got the classic Mal line, "I surely do," which I don't think Joss gives to the purely on the dark side people.

I'll give him credit for creating an interesting character. And agree - I don't think she's the bad guy, I think both this character and Emma are misleads. My gut tells me the X-man everyone is so worried about destroying the breakworld, may be
Peter. Be the most ironic and heart-breaking.

Re: Astonishing X-Men

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

I took the ending to mean that Wing is indeed dead but that he was manipulated into suicide to the extent that he may have believed he was outside but was in the danger room the whole time. Could be wrong of course but it had me very intrigued.

I may be jumping to conclusions about Emma but I believed the lines about her not knowing what happened to Wing and not listening in. Of course the question is why would anyone care about Wing? Was it because he was cured or was it so that someone could take his place? In any case way creepy moment.

selenak has a review of the issue too.

Re: Astonishing X-Men

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Except - Wing disappears in the simulation as if he never existed or became a part of it? If he was still lying on the floor of
the room - then sure, the environment was fake, Wing real. But he appears to be absorbed into it? Or did someone tape what happened and put it in the simulation? Wasn't clear.

Question is - did Wing leave with his parents, did he stay, did he die, or did someone make it look like he committed suicide and took him?

Re: Astonishing X-Men

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

I don't have my book with me but I thought the last panel was Wing in the same broken/bloody position on the floor which is now revealed to be the danger room? Must check when I get home.

[graffitiandsara.livejournal.com]

Tis but a scratch. I've had worse.

Wicked, wicked Sara!

She turned me into a newt!

oops...couldn't help myself...nee! nee! nee!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Make that men and women...hee!

Seriously watching it was an odd experience, partly because I was dozing during it and in a haze from the flu and partly because I felt as if I was hearing the echoes of everyone who has quoted bits and pieces of it out of context. Suddenly the bits make sense - as do all those conversations I *never*
quite understood.

This is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This is MP&tHG on drugs....

[cjlasky.livejournal.com]

I've watched Holy Grail at least ten times, and what I love about it most is that its characters are sympathetic, but the satire is utterly merciless. All aspects of the Arthurian legend (and, by association, the self-inflated mythologies of British civilization) are thoroughly cleansed of dignity and pomposity. (I only wish we had a comedy troupe in the U.S. who could do the same with American mythologies...)

[Favorite bit? Peasant Michael Palin lecturing Graham Chapman's King Arthur about the distribution of labor and mocking the Divine Right of Kings.]

Yes, there's still some sketch comedy in it (the bit with the guards in the tower has never worked for me), but for the most part, the movie is focused like a laser.

And yes, MP&tHG is different when you're "altered." I remember watching it stoned, and the final joke--when the intermission music comes on again, and runs for about three minutes before the final fade-out--had me laughing louder and louder the more the music droned on. All other times watching Holy Grail, I only recall mild amusement at that little conceptual joke.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Yep, Tales of the Vampires is pretty good. There's one story which i really despised later on, and the way the Whedon framing narrative turns out annoyed me for reasons you can probably guess, given my prejudices. But I'll write more about it some time today or tomorrow.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Was it The Stacy story? (Which seemed oddly discordant with the rest of the tales, yet intriguing at the same time. Almost as if Whedon was writing about himself or the anti-Buffy.)

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Actually it was the Jack the Ripper story. I felt that it disrespected the victims of actual historical evil (by turning it into a vamp melodrama) in the way Kershner's third Reich story avoided.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Ah.

But all the Ripper tales do that - from the one with Malcolm McDowell Time After Time, to Jack, onwards. To the extent that the story has become almost as cliche as the boogeyman or Dracula. Overtold. To the extent that the true story has become buried underneath the legends.

Was sort of disappointed to see them do it here. They tried to do a new twist on it - but I don't think it worked. Loved the artwork though. The story itself? Forgettable. Shame considering how good the artist was. Brett Facher's stories didn't impress me that much - found them oddly forgettable. Goddard, Edlund and Espenson were the best.

Can't comment on the Third Reich tale - since haven't read it. (Was that Tales of the Slayers?)

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I know it isn't a new thing, but it does irritate me. It feels a bit different when you live a few miles from where it all happened.

Yes, the Kirschner story I referred to is "Sonnenblume" from the Tales of the Slayers comics. I did a thing on it (http://www.atpobtvs.com/existentialscoobies/archives/jan03_p13.html#49) for ATPO, if you're interested.