[*] Phoenix by Chuck Palahniuk. ★★★½ -- He's back to his dark world in this new short story. Every book he writes is more disturbing and creepy than what came before, and this continues that trend.
I Saw the Devil (4.5/5)
Dredd (4/5)
MIB 3 (3.5/5)
Troll Hunter (3/5) Senna (4/5) I never followed F1 and was born in 88 so I was too young to really know or appreciate Senna anyway. Movie made me completely admire the man and get heartbroken by the end anyway. Great stuff.
Books
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. (3.5) Caught by Halen Coben. (2/5) Angels of the House (3.5/5) The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo (3.5)
[*] Moonrise Kingdom. ★★★★ -- This is West Anderson's second most accessible film behind The Fantastic Mr. Fox. A moving love story of two misunderstood and troubled kids. The island cinematography was simply beautiful.
I Saw the Devil (4.5/5)
Dredd (4/5)
MIB 3 (3.5/5)
Troll Hunter (3/5) Senna (4/5) I never followed F1 and was born in 88 so I was too young to really know or appreciate Senna anyway. Movie made me completely admire the man and get heartbroken by the end anyway. Great stuff. Zach Galifianakis, live at the Purple Onion (3/5) loved the onsight bits (which I usually hate) the stand up was fine but too heavily edited and Zach often made references to things we didn't get to see which was silly.
Books
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. (3.5) Caught by Halen Coben. (2/5) Angels of the House (3.5/5) The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo (3.5)
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Ground Zero (Repairman Jack #13)
Last Argument of Kings
Movies:
Total Recall (2012)
Looper
Troll Hunter
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist
Dredd
Django Unchained
Zero Dark Thirty
The Crazies (2010)
Fright Night (2011)
Limitless
Primer
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
Dream Home
Taken
Star Trek (2009)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Woman In Black
My Scary Girl
Following
Fido
The Bigfoot Hunter: Still Searching
The Jeffrey Dahmer Files
Sunshine
Moon
Tarzan of the Apes, by Edward Rice Burroughs (271)
Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy, by James Stark (258) [529]
The Mark of Athena, by Rick Riordan (586) [1115]
Challenging Casanova, by Andrew Smiler (204) [1319]
Great Singers on Great Singing, by Jerome Hines (358) [1677]
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder (417) [2094]
Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino (165) [2259]
Sonnets: From Dante to the Present, edited by John Hollander (256) [2515]
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Alexander Solhenitsyn (178) [2693]
The Complete Dinosaur, Second Edition, edited by Michael K. Brett-Surman, Thomas R. Holtz Jr., and James O. Farlow (1181) [3874]
The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche and Other Odd Acquaintances, by Peter S. Beagle (180) [4054]
Unearthing the Dragon: The Great Feathered Dinosaur Discovery, by Mark Norell (244) [4298]
A Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter M. Miller (334) [4632]
Maria Callas: A Musical Biography (224) [4856] [*]"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity, by Beverly Tatum Daniels
[*]The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien
[*]Oddly Normal: One Family's Struggle to Help Their Teenage Son Come to Terms with His Sexuality, by John Schwartz
Batman & Robin: Batman Reborn (Vol 1), by Grant Morrison
The Annotated Hobbit: The Hobbit, or, There And Back Again, by J.R.R. Tolkien
To What Miserable Wretches Have I Been Born: Revenge Poetry for Babies and Toddlers, by Suzanne Weber
T. rex: Hunter or Scavenger?, by Thomas Holtz
Akira (Vol 1 - 6)
The Lord of the Rings [*]Sharaz-de, by Sergio Toppi
Movies
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2001: A Space Odyssey
Aliens
Django Unchained
The Abyss [*]The Animatrix
[*]The Amazing Spider-Man
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition
The Rapture of the Nerds (A) [*]Wool - Part One (B)
[*]Nebula Awards Showcase 2012 (A-)
[*]Ready Player One (A+++)
Movies
Brave (A-)
Bruce Almighty (A)
Chronicle (B)
Dr. Strangelove (B)
Minority Report (B+)
Paranorman (A-)
American Pop (C+)
The Color of Magic: Night 1 (B+)
The Color of Magic: Night 2 (B)
Wool was alright. Too short to really be released on its own, and I don't think I'll be paying for the sequels. The Nebula book was good, but suffers the inconsistent quality and style of any anthology. Still, I like fantasy and sci-fi, so it was worth reading.
Then, I read Ready Player One. Wow. That was probably one of my favorite reading experiences ever, and decidedly so far this year. I got through the entire thing in an afternoon, and actually just finished it about 10 minutes ago. It was fantastic, and I want more books like it to be released and be in my hands right now. Heartily recommend.
Keep an eye out for the Wool Omnibus going on sale again. I was able to pick it up for $1.99, and it contains parts 1-5
Each subsequent part is much longer than the 1st, and well worth the read.
Wool was alright. Too short to really be released on its own, and I don't think I'll be paying for the sequels. The Nebula book was good, but suffers the inconsistent quality and style of any anthology. Still, I like fantasy and sci-fi, so it was worth reading.
I think Wool is best realized in the Omnibus edition of the first 5 parts. The individual pieces don't really work well as individual books, but together they are much more than the sum of their parts and it was one of my favorite things I read last year.
That said, I absolutely despised nearly everything about Ready Player One (definitely would be at the top of my list of worst things I read in 2012), so our tastes might just be on different sides of the fence.
Then, I read Ready Player One. Wow. That was probably one of my favorite reading experiences ever, and decidedly so far this year. I got through the entire thing in an afternoon, and actually just finished it about 10 minutes ago. It was fantastic, and I want more books like it to be released and be in my hands right now. Heartily recommend.
I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I have no trouble motivating myself to read one book per week, but sitting through a one-and-a-half-hour movie is like mental torture.
Urgh...
I Saw the Devil (4.5/5)
Dredd (4/5)
MIB 3 (3.5/5)
Troll Hunter (3/5)
Senna (4/5)
Zach Galifianakis, live at the Purple Onion (3/5)
End of Watch(3.5/5) Side By Side (3/5) I feel like the movie was a little too biased (there are some major supporters of film that they didn't get to talk about it) and Keanu wasn't the best interviewer. More often than not, I feel like he was leading them into certain answers by the way he phrased his questions. I wish he would have just said "How do you feel about x" instead of "All these people say x, y, z and you agree?" But definitely a good start for anyone not really aware of the Film/Digital debate.
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo. (3.5) Caught by Halen Coben. (2/5) Angels of the House (3.5/5) The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo (3.5)
Books
01. Slaughterhouse V - Kurt Vonnegut Jr
02. after the quake - Haruki Murakami
03. The Meaning of Life - Bradley Trevor Greive
04. 2 B R 0 2 B - Kurt Vonnegut
Movies
01. Goodfellas
02. King of Kong
03. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
04. Looper
05. Horrible Bosses
06. Shower
Books
Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal
A Lost Lady by Willa Carther
Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
Embassytown by China Miéville
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
El Filibusterismo by Jose Rizal
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
Goodbye, Columbus by Phillip Roth
The Game by Neil Strauss
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Movies
Rashomon (1950) dir. Akira Kurosawa
Raising Arizona (1987) dir. Coen brothers
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) dir. Terry Gilliam
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) dir. David O. Russell
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) dir. Drew Goddard
Argo (2012) dir. Ben Affleck
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) dir. Katheryn Bigelow
The Legend of the Drunken Master (1994) dir. Lau Kar-leung
José Rizal (1998) dir. Marilou Diaz-Abaya
Lincoln (2012) dir. Steven Speilberg
Ran (1985) dir. Akira Kurosawa
1. The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett ★★★★
2. The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett ★★★★
3. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain ★★★
4. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ★★★★
5.-6. Fear and Loathing in America (Gonzo Letters) by Hunter S. Thompson ★★★
7. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban ★★★★★
8. Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. ★★★
Movies
1. Rango ★★★
2. Hell is for Heroes ★★★
3. Barton Fink ★★
4. Rope ★★★★
5. How to Train Your Dragon ★★★
6. The Trouble With Harry ★★★★
7. Beasts of the Southern Wild ★★★
8. Thirteen Assassins (2011) ★★
9. The Dhamma Brothers ★★
10. Jack Taylor: The Pikemen ★★
11. Jack Taylor: The Magdalen Martyrs ★★
12. Jack Taylor: The Dramatist ★★
13. Jack Taylor: Priest ★★
14. Sharpe's Eagle ★★
15. The Seventh Seal ★★
16. Zero Dark Thirty ★★★
17. Kill List ★★
18. Harakiri (1963) ★★★★★
19. Death at a Funeral (2007) ★★★
20. Shadow of a Doubt ★★★
21. Beware of Mr. Baker ★★★
22. Synecdoche, New York ★★
23. The Snowtown Murders ★★
24. Astral City: A Spiritual Journey ★
25. Sanjuro ★★★★
26. Side Effects ★★★★
27. The Princess and the Frog ★★★
28. Beautiful Creatures ★★
29. Brewster's Millions (1945) ★★
30. Oslo, August 31st ★★
31. The Anna Nicole Story ★
32. V for Vendetta ★★
33. The Birds ★★★
34. Flight ★★★
35. Robot and Frank ★★★
1. First Channel (Sime~Gen 3) by Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg ★★★½
2. Doctor Who: Devil in the Smoke by Justin Richards ★★★ (05 Jan)
3. Mahogany Trinrose (Sime~Gen 4) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg ★★★★ (10 Jan)
4. Channel's Destiny (Sime~Gen 5) by Jean Lorrah and Jacqueline Lichtenberg ★★★★ (16 Jan)
5. RenSime (Sime~Gen 6) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg ★★★★★ (19 Jan)
6. Ambrov Keon (Sime~Gen 7) by Jean Lorrah ★★★★½ (22 Jan)
7. Zelerod's Doom (Sime~Gen 8) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Jean Lorrah ★★★½ (26 Jan)
8. Personal Recognizance (Sime~Gen 9) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg ★★★★½ (26 Jan)
9. The Story Untold and Other Sime~Gen Stories (Sime~Gen 10) by Jean Lorrah ★★★★★ (26 Jan)
10. To Kiss or To Kill (Sime~Gen 11) by Jean Lorrah ★★★★★ (29 Jan)
11. The Farris Channel (Sime~Gen 12) by Jacqueline Lichtenberg ★★★★½ (01 Feb)
12. Pulling Up Stakes by Peter David ★★★ (02 Feb)
13. Pulling Up Stakes 2 by Peter David ★★★ (03 Feb)
14. The Drowning City by Amanda Downum ★★★★ (07 Feb)
15. Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina ★★★★ (09 Feb)
16. Her Own Devices by Shelley Adina ★★★½ (09 Feb)
17. Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina ★★★★ (13 Feb)
18. Ensign Flandry by Poul Anderson ★★★ (22 Feb)
19. Boneshaker (Clockwork Century 1) by Cherie Priest ★★★½ (25 Feb)
Currently reading: Clementine (Cherie Priest), The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
Movies
1. Blue Streak (1999) ★
2. Knowing (2009) ★★★½
3. Point of Entry (2007) ★★ (11 Jan)
4. Ghostquake (2012) ★★½ (11 Jan)
5. Stripes (1981) ★★★½ (13 Jan)
6. 12 Disasters (2012) ★★ (13 Jan)
7. Wild Hearts (2006) ★★★½ (13 Jan)
8. Accused at 17 (2010) ★★★ (17 Jan)
9. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007) ★★★★ (19 Jan)
10. Because I Said So (2007) ★★★ (19 Jan)
11. Dream House (1998) ★★ (20 Jan)
12. Recreator (2012) ★★ (20 Jan)
13. It's Complicated (2009) ★★★½ (21 Jan)
14. Wreck it Ralph (2012) ★★★★★ (27 Jan)
15. Absolute Zero (2005) ★★½ (30 Jan)
16. The TV Set (2006) ★★★★ (30 Jan)
17. The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008) ★★★½ (02 Feb)
18. The A-Team ★★★½ (2010) (02 Feb)
19. Mary Higgins Clarke's Try To Remember (2004) ★★★ (07 Feb)
20. Predators (2010) ★★★★ (09 Feb)
21. Dark Storm (2006) ★★★ (10 Feb)
22. Die Hard 4.0 (2007) ★★★★ (10 Feb)
23. Changing Lanes (2002) ★★½ (11 Feb)
24. Premonition (2007) ★ (11 Feb)
25. Maternal Instinct (2008) ★★½ (14 Feb)
26. Knight and Day (2010) ★★★½ (16 Feb)
27. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) ★★★½ (21 Feb)
28. Playing House (2006) ★★½ (23 Feb)
29. Leprechaun (1993) ★ (25 Feb)
30. Tenth Circle (2008) ★★½ (27 Feb)
31. (Unknown Title) ★★½ (27 Feb)
32. Walled In (2009) ★ (27 Feb)
In the "Unknown Title" a woman (a teacher or counselor for troubled teens) has her career systematically destroyed by the jealous woman who became obsessed with her husband when they were flirting online. The stalkers online name was Hotstuff, and I think her initials were AJ? So far, I haven't found the title of this thing - I don't suppose anyone else recognises it so I can fill in the blank? :|
Graphic Novels
1. Girl Friends Vol.1 ★★★★ (13 Jan)
2. Girl Friends Vol.2 ★★★★ (13 Jan)
3. A Bride's Story Vol.4 ★★★★★ (07 Feb)
4. Soulless Vol.2 ★★★★ (08 Feb)
5. Ampney Crucis Investigates: Vile Bodies ★★★★★ (11 Feb)
6. Ikigami Vol.8 ★★★ (12 Feb)
7. Dawn of the Arcana Vol.7 ★★★ (15 Feb)
8. Durarara!! Vol.1 ★★★★ (15 Feb)
9. Durarara!! Vol.2 ★★★★ (15 Feb)
10. Durarara!! Vol.3 ★★★★ (15 Feb)
11. Durarara!! Vol.4 ★★★★ (15 Feb)
12. Dawn of the Arcana Vol.8 ★★★½ (16 Feb)
13. One Piece: Baroque Works 13-14-15 Omnibus ★★★½ (16 Feb)
14. Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro Vol.3 ★★★★★ (17 Feb)
15. The Books of Magic ★★★★ (19 Feb)
16. Super Spy by Matt Kindt ★★★★★ (24 Feb)
I'm separating Graphic Novels out so I don't have to count them as books
Comments
I've been skimping on the updates so far, so a new month seems like a good excuse for one.
I've really struggled to 'score' the books I'm reading, yet I've found ranking and scoring films rather easy. I'm surprised I've watched quite as many films as I have, but listing them all has made me realise that when I watch films with other people I can end up watching some real dross :|
Books
1. The Heroes
2. The Dispossessed
3. In the Garden of Beasts
4. Foundation
5. Foundation and Empire
6. Second Foundation
7. Wilderness: A Novel
8. Foundation's Edge
9. Foundation and Earth
10. Make Room! Make Room!
Movies
1. Dredd
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. Headhunters
4. Chronicle
5. The Hunger Games
6. Wrath of the Titans
7. Quantum of Solace
8. The Immortals
9. Skyfall
10. Margin Call
11. Shooter
12. The Naked City
13. The Maltese Falcon
Games
1. Borderlands 2
2. Heavy Rain
3. Far Cry 3
4. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Books:
1: Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
2: Tunnel Vision - Sara Paretsky
In process of reading:
(3): Sociolinguistics. A Reader and Coursebook - Nicolas Coupland and Adam Jaworski
(4): M is for Malice - Sue Grafton
Movies:
1: Frankenweenie
2: Inception
3: Shutter Island
The Hobbit (23/01/13) - JRR Tolkien -3/5-
The Coma (23/01/13) - Alex Garland -5/5-
Movies
Bronson (01/01/13) -4/5-
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring EE (05/01/13) -5/5-
The Adventures of Tintin (10/01/13) -4/5-
Star Trek (10/01/13) -4/5-
The Amazing Spider-Man (12/01/13) -2/5-
Drag me to Hell (15/01/13) -3/5-
Moonrise Kingdom (02/02/13) -5/5-
Super 8 (03/02/13) -3/5-
Wreck-it Ralph (12/02/13) -3/5-
Cry Baby (14/02/13) -1/5-
A Good Day to Die Hard (16/02/13) -1/5-
Frankenweenie (28/02/13) -4/5-
Sin City (01/03/13) -2/5-
My Name Is Bruce (01/03/13) -2.5/5-
[*] Persuasion by Jane Austen. ★★★ -- A difficult read, but that's to be expected when reading something from the 1800s. I wasn't crazy about the focus on people's dispositions or status in life, but that's merely a product of the era. Jane Austen couldn't write an action sequence to save her life, and the one attempt to add that element to the mix was disastrously comical. Having said that, the very few scenes featuring the two protagonists are stellar. The letter Captain Wentworth writes to Anne confessing his love to her is among the most beautiful passages in the English language.
The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From the Front Lines by Michael E. Mann
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
Movies:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Django Unchained
Contact
Les Misérables
Zero Dark Thirty
Batman: Year One
Mystery Men
The Dark Knight Returns Part 1
The Dark Knight Returns Part 2
Well compared to January, February was a disaster as far as books go. Work pretty much killed most of my reading time. The Looming Tower was fantastic, however.
[*] Breaking Dawn, part 2. ★ -- I took one for the team to save you all the pain. My wife is a big fan of the series, and I've dutifully seen each and every one. This one was the worst, by far. Millions of dollars tossed into this film for it to feature a slightly Mongolian-looking CGI baby. Unreal. My wife is a big fan of the books, and she said this deviated quite heavily from the source material. I haven't read the books, but if the dialogue is lifted from them then allow me to go on record and say they are hot garbage.
"Why do we need this bed? Vampires don't need to sleep."
"It's not for sleeping."
Aaaaaaand we're done here.
----------------
EDIT: *break, break* How should I go about reading/counting the Wool stuff on Amazon? I just read a very interesting take on it on Slate and now I want to give it a shot. Slate's Wool review.
Should I just pick up the omnibus covering parts 1-5 and count that as two books (since it's 550 pages)? Or are folks counting them individually?
EDIT: *break, break* How should I go about reading/counting the Wool stuff on Amazon? I just read a very interesting take on it on Slate and now I want to give it a shot. Slate's Wool review.
Should I just pick up the omnibus covering parts 1-5 and count that as two books (since it's 550 pages)? Or are folks counting them individually?
Movies:
1. Batman Begins (w/ commentary)
2. The Perfect Human Diet
3. Looper
4. John Dies At the End
5. The Price of Pleasure
6. Let's Talk About Sex
7. The Dark Knight Returns pt 1
8. The Dark Knight Returns pt 2
9. Batman: Year One
10. Rec 3: Genesis
11. Life is Beautiful
12. Street Angel
13. Cosmos ep. 1
14. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
15. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
16. Indiana Jone and the Last Crusade
17. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Books:
1. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla
2. Einstein: His Life and Universe
3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Hobbit [*]Argo
[*]Django Unchained
[*]Skyfall
[*]Safe
[*]The Campaign
[*]The Man with the Iron Fists
[*]Dredd
[*]The Fifth Element
[*]Good Will Hunting
I liked the first book back when i was 13 years old... I don't know if this is due to my age, but this book sucked. It was close to unbearable. ONly good thing about it is that it is short and can be read in about an hour, so you don't waste a lot of time reading it.
Long Price Quartet remains to be one of the freshest and most innovative fatansy series I've read in a long time. Every book is better than the one before which didn't seem possible after the outstanding first two books.
Seven Samurai was a great movie. Sure a little overacting here and there but it didn't feel like 3 1/2 hours at all.
Update long overdue, need to pick up speed on reading. I attended a Best Picture Showcase screening for all the Best Picture Nominees, which was really fun and gave decent progress for movies
Rokal - 3/50 books | 16/50 movies
Books
Devil in the White City
[*]Dresden Files: Grave Peril
[*]Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Movies
Wreck-it-Ralph
Looper
Django Unchained
Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead
Young Adult
[*]Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
[*]Amour
[*]Les Miserables
[*]Argo
[*]Cabin in the Woods
[*]Beasts of the Southern Wilds
[*]Life of Pi
[*]Lincoln
[*]Silver Linings Playbook
[*]The Avengers
Update long overdue, need to pick up speed on reading. I attended a Best Picture Showcase screening for all the Best Picture Nominees, which was really fun and gave decent progress for movies
I loved it. Ironically the sections of the book that detail the challenges & triumphs in planning the faire turn out to be much more interesting than the sections about Holmes (the serial killer). Not to dismiss those sections as uninteresting or poorly written, the logistics of the faire just seemed incredible looking back. It's the first piece of historical media that I've consumed in a long time that actually made me want to continue learning about the subject matter after I was done.
1. never let me go by kazuo ishiguro
2. the left hand of darkness by ursula k. le guin
3+4. middlesex by jeffrey eugidenes (533 pages)
5. nothing to envy: real lives in north korea by barbara demick
6. a life too short: the tragedy of robert enke by ronald reng
7. sputnik sweetheart by haruki murakami
8. good omens by terry pratchett & neil gaiman
9. pale blue dot by carl sagan 10 + 11. a feast for crows by george r. r martin (684 pages)
Films -
1. the bicycle thief
2. brokeback mountain
3. the thin blue line
4. mission: impossible
5. life of pi 3d
6. the girl who leapt through time
7. les miserables
8. mean streets
9. ocean waves
10. kill bill vol. 1 & 2
11. jiro dreams of sushi
12. mission: impossible 2
13. a separation
14. tangled
15. queen of versailles
16. django unchained
17. searching for sugarman
18. cache (hidden)
19. prometheus
20. the lives of others
21. wreck it ralph
22. amour
23. argo 24. paris, texas
25. to the wonder
26. wings
27. the passion of joan of arc
28. cloud atlas
29. sunrise a song of two humans
paris, texas is a strange film about a mentally lost man reappearing after four years and trying to reunite with his estranged son and daughter. i loved the languid pace and how beautiful and painterly texas looked in it.
pale blue dot uses the famous picture of earth as a tiny speck of dust from the edge of the solar system as a jumping off point for a jumbled collection of pieces about mans relationship with the galaxy. sagan is an excellent writer and i found his call for exploring space as a positive, unifying act that gives us purpose as a species stirring. i was also fascinated by the bits where he took me through the ways scientists discovered what we know about the solar system. didn't care for some of the speculative chapters about the chances of terra-forming planets and averting asteroid attacks though.
to the wonder is a film about a relationship from the perspective of a very passionate, romantic woman with some religious themes too. its basically pure malick style with the voiecover, shots of natural beauty, lack of traditional dialogue and that's hypnotic and so beautiful here - between this and paris, texas i want to move to southern usa nowww - but the themes didn't resonate much with me emotionally or intellectually. maybe something i'd enjoy more if i were 40.
wings is an epic silent war film about two ww1 pilots in love with the same girl. despite this they develop a friendship with keeps threatening to but unfortunately never actually turns into full on romance, still it all leads to some fun over the top melodrama. my favourite thing about it was all the shots of planes flying, even if loads of the effects were very lo-fi when they put a camera on a plane and watched other bi-planes swoop over the clouds in unison it was quite beautiful.
finally read a feast for crows. i really liked it, the approach of only having half the characters in it was a bit weird at first but most of the leads in it were my favourite characters and i enjoyed following their arcs more than the central song of ice and fire conflict which was only on the periphary in it. i loved seeing more of the world of the series with lots of new perspectives and having a slower book after storm of swords in which so much stuff happened it was almost overwhelming.
i thought cersei's story was amazing in particular and this is totally gimmicky but it really got to me when arya and sansa's names changed in the chapter titles
the passion of joan of arc was intense and powerful. it's a very simple story about the events of joan's trial, the way she is tricked into incriminating herself up to the eventual burning, but the combination of the incredible performance by falconetti (where does she produce all those tears from?) and the claustrophobic use of closeups really draws you into the emotions of the situation. the whole film feels remarkable ahead of its time for 1928.
