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shadowkat1. Just finished watching the pilot to the new series Killer Women - which is an adaptation of an Argentine series by executive producer Sofia Vergara (the actress from Modern Family), starring Tricia Helfer (Six from BSG), Marc Blucas (Riley from Buffy - and almost unrecognizable - he's turned into a good actor by the way), Mike Trucco (also from BSG), and another couple of actors that I recognize but can't place.
It's sort of a mash-up of "In Plain Sight" (the Mary McCormack series) and Ricardo Rodriguez movies. I'd say more Rodriquez than Quentin Tarantino, although they do have a similar style, but Rodriquez is a bit more pulpy. Rodriquez was behind the flick Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Was rather surprised by it - it's actually a lot of fun, and the characters are engaging as well as moderately realistic. Plus the female lead is a strong one.
Tricia Helfer plays Molly Parker, a Texas Ranger who plays the trumpet in a band and can rope a steer. She's sassy, smart, and tough. There's a back story that I won't spoil, and a romance that is interesting. Marc Blucas plays the romantic interest - and he's surprisingly good in this - and almost unrecognizable. Mike Trucco plays Molly's brother - whom she is currently staying with.
The cases of the week center on female killers - whom Molly tracks down. The gist is that women do not kill for the same reasons men do - they kill out of love not hate. And the style is sort of gritty - realism, with splash of Quentin Tarantino/Rodriquez cheeky humor.
The violence unlike most of these series - is taken seriously, but you don't feel hammered over the head with it or pummeled. It's sort of fun, but not quite as over-the-top as Django Unchained.
Overall, I recommend it. Will definitely be watching this one.
2. Wed Reading Meme:
Favorite Book of 2013?
I don't really have one. I suppose if push came to shove...I'd state Privilege of the Sword, it's the one I found the most memorable. With possibly the Captive Prince a close second.
Just because they were different, and to an extent commented on the romance trope.
Current Book that I'm reading?
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarity - a best-selling Australian author. Sort of hard to describe without giving away the plot. It's about three women, Cecilia, Tess, and Rachel. And told in their perspectives, through a third person close stream of consciousness style. It's an internal book - you spend a lot of time inside people's heads and a thoughtful one. Moriarity examines the messy emotions that humans have. Guilt, jealousy, envy, rage, fear, cowardice...all come to the fore. It's hard to hate anyone here. There are no good guys or bad guys, just people.
Over 20 years ago...a young girl, Janie, is strangled in a park. Her murderer has never been found. Rachel Crowley, her mother, yearns for closure. Tess Curtis upon the discovery that her husband has fallen in love with her best-friend and cousin, has taken her son and moved in with her mother, Lucy. She is also becoming involved with an ex-boyfriend, who it turns out was the last person to see Janie alive. Cecilia Fitzpatrick has it all - a loving husband, three beautiful daughters (one of which is obsessed with the Berlin Wall), and a thriving business - selling Tupperware. That is until she unearths a letter than her husband wrote to her ages ago...and everything she thought she knew about her life begins to come into question, and slowly unravel.
What's fascinating about this book - is Janie is not painted as either saint nor monster, but merely human, with human failings. And her murderer is much the same. What we see unfold in Ms. Morarity's novel is the causal relationship of events...how each person's choices, some seemingly mundane, cause a sort of ripple effect. In addition the writer deftly delves into the moral ambiguity of the crime, and what if any punishment should be doled out - or if simply trying to live with it is punishment enough. No clear answers are given.
A book you want to discuss as you are reading it and long after.
What I'll be reading next?
Don't really know. I choose books by intuition now or mood. It's whatever feels right at the time. Right now, I'm tempted by another book by Liane Moriarty, but I may go with Eleanor Parker's Fangirl instead, or flirt again with Philip Meyer's son. There's also the sci-fi novel that my brother gave me for Christmas. And David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, which I've been meaning to read.
3) As an aside on books? Did you know they are making Michael Faber's sci-fi horror novel Under the Skin into a movie starring Scarlett Johannson? Now this is one book that I don't think I could watch a film version of. The book was disturbing enough, there are visuals in my head from that book that I'll never be rid of. Why would you make a film out of it?
Actually, there's a certain number of books that I really want to be made into films and never are, and various books that I think are either unfilmmable or should not be made into films - that weirdly are. What's up with that? One more thing I can't control obviously. There are so many - that's my New Year's Resolution - to not worry about the things I have no control over. Sweating them is a waste of time.
Books I wish would be made into movies but aren't:
* Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
* The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett
* The Vicky Bliss Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters
* The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (we did get a brief series...but that hardly counts)
* The Rachel Morgan Mysteries by Kim Harrison
* Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
* The Secret History by Donna Tartt
* The Astonding Adventures of Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon
* Curtain by Agatha Christie
* The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
* The Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (although it may be impossible)
* The Sculptress by Minnette Walters (actually any of her books)
* Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts (about a female jewel thief - exception to the rule for romance novels.)
Books that I do not want made into movies:
* Under the Skin by Michael Faber
* The Sparrow and The Children of God by Maria Doria Russell (so far not)
* The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
* The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (unfortunately)
* The Great Gatsby (also unfortunately)
* The Sun Also Rises (unfortunately)
* Anne Rice's Vampire Novels - they made bad movies
* Fifty Shades of Gray (unfortunately - I really don't think erotic romance novels make good movies - not enough plot for a movie.).
What books have you read that you do want adapted into movies and which ones, would you prefer not to be?
It's sort of a mash-up of "In Plain Sight" (the Mary McCormack series) and Ricardo Rodriguez movies. I'd say more Rodriquez than Quentin Tarantino, although they do have a similar style, but Rodriquez is a bit more pulpy. Rodriquez was behind the flick Once Upon a Time in Mexico. Was rather surprised by it - it's actually a lot of fun, and the characters are engaging as well as moderately realistic. Plus the female lead is a strong one.
Tricia Helfer plays Molly Parker, a Texas Ranger who plays the trumpet in a band and can rope a steer. She's sassy, smart, and tough. There's a back story that I won't spoil, and a romance that is interesting. Marc Blucas plays the romantic interest - and he's surprisingly good in this - and almost unrecognizable. Mike Trucco plays Molly's brother - whom she is currently staying with.
The cases of the week center on female killers - whom Molly tracks down. The gist is that women do not kill for the same reasons men do - they kill out of love not hate. And the style is sort of gritty - realism, with splash of Quentin Tarantino/Rodriquez cheeky humor.
The violence unlike most of these series - is taken seriously, but you don't feel hammered over the head with it or pummeled. It's sort of fun, but not quite as over-the-top as Django Unchained.
Overall, I recommend it. Will definitely be watching this one.
2. Wed Reading Meme:
Favorite Book of 2013?
I don't really have one. I suppose if push came to shove...I'd state Privilege of the Sword, it's the one I found the most memorable. With possibly the Captive Prince a close second.
Just because they were different, and to an extent commented on the romance trope.
Current Book that I'm reading?
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarity - a best-selling Australian author. Sort of hard to describe without giving away the plot. It's about three women, Cecilia, Tess, and Rachel. And told in their perspectives, through a third person close stream of consciousness style. It's an internal book - you spend a lot of time inside people's heads and a thoughtful one. Moriarity examines the messy emotions that humans have. Guilt, jealousy, envy, rage, fear, cowardice...all come to the fore. It's hard to hate anyone here. There are no good guys or bad guys, just people.
Over 20 years ago...a young girl, Janie, is strangled in a park. Her murderer has never been found. Rachel Crowley, her mother, yearns for closure. Tess Curtis upon the discovery that her husband has fallen in love with her best-friend and cousin, has taken her son and moved in with her mother, Lucy. She is also becoming involved with an ex-boyfriend, who it turns out was the last person to see Janie alive. Cecilia Fitzpatrick has it all - a loving husband, three beautiful daughters (one of which is obsessed with the Berlin Wall), and a thriving business - selling Tupperware. That is until she unearths a letter than her husband wrote to her ages ago...and everything she thought she knew about her life begins to come into question, and slowly unravel.
What's fascinating about this book - is Janie is not painted as either saint nor monster, but merely human, with human failings. And her murderer is much the same. What we see unfold in Ms. Morarity's novel is the causal relationship of events...how each person's choices, some seemingly mundane, cause a sort of ripple effect. In addition the writer deftly delves into the moral ambiguity of the crime, and what if any punishment should be doled out - or if simply trying to live with it is punishment enough. No clear answers are given.
A book you want to discuss as you are reading it and long after.
What I'll be reading next?
Don't really know. I choose books by intuition now or mood. It's whatever feels right at the time. Right now, I'm tempted by another book by Liane Moriarty, but I may go with Eleanor Parker's Fangirl instead, or flirt again with Philip Meyer's son. There's also the sci-fi novel that my brother gave me for Christmas. And David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, which I've been meaning to read.
3) As an aside on books? Did you know they are making Michael Faber's sci-fi horror novel Under the Skin into a movie starring Scarlett Johannson? Now this is one book that I don't think I could watch a film version of. The book was disturbing enough, there are visuals in my head from that book that I'll never be rid of. Why would you make a film out of it?
Actually, there's a certain number of books that I really want to be made into films and never are, and various books that I think are either unfilmmable or should not be made into films - that weirdly are. What's up with that? One more thing I can't control obviously. There are so many - that's my New Year's Resolution - to not worry about the things I have no control over. Sweating them is a waste of time.
Books I wish would be made into movies but aren't:
* Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
* The Chronicles of Lymond by Dorothy Dunnett
* The Vicky Bliss Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters
* The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (we did get a brief series...but that hardly counts)
* The Rachel Morgan Mysteries by Kim Harrison
* Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
* The Secret History by Donna Tartt
* The Astonding Adventures of Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon
* Curtain by Agatha Christie
* The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
* The Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (although it may be impossible)
* The Sculptress by Minnette Walters (actually any of her books)
* Sweet Revenge by Nora Roberts (about a female jewel thief - exception to the rule for romance novels.)
Books that I do not want made into movies:
* Under the Skin by Michael Faber
* The Sparrow and The Children of God by Maria Doria Russell (so far not)
* The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
* The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (unfortunately)
* The Great Gatsby (also unfortunately)
* The Sun Also Rises (unfortunately)
* Anne Rice's Vampire Novels - they made bad movies
* Fifty Shades of Gray (unfortunately - I really don't think erotic romance novels make good movies - not enough plot for a movie.).
What books have you read that you do want adapted into movies and which ones, would you prefer not to be?
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no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 07:23 am (UTC)I remember rather liking the film version of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, but it's been years since I saw it (and I saw it before I read the novel, too).
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Date: 2014-01-10 01:10 am (UTC)The film version of Unbearable Lightness of Being was in part affected by who I saw it with - it was back in college. They said..."I can't get over the unbearable heaviness of this movie" - all I remember outside of that is Daniel Day Lewis, and the gal with the hat.
The book however...has a fascinating bit that I've never forgotten, and is not in the movie, because it surprised me when I discovered it in the book - which is about how "sharing a common musical history" is important. It really delved into the transitional and temporariness of relationships and what attracts us to each other, and what makes them last. The movie didn't get there - mainly because it was a movie and more plot oriented.
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Date: 2014-01-09 07:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-09 10:21 am (UTC)Not always the best written series out there, and Lackey is far from perfect, but her characterwork has also been strong. And on top of that, it would be awesome even if just for it's LGBTQ representation alone, show a few of the main characters as poc (like say Alberich or Skiff), keep Talia as the main character, and it would instantly work for a movie.