I hope you all had a nice holiday weekend. I also hope none of you overdosed on Peeps and chocolate marshmallow eggs. This week's picks have absolutely nothing to do with Easter, though. (Passover maybe...)
Film: The Mist
I want to begin by saying that someone spilled the beans on the ending and that totally pissed me off! But I will never do that to all of you. And I still managed to enjoy the film despite knowing how it ends. If you haven't seen this Stephen King adaptation yet, put it on your list. The story is very compelling and realistic in terms of humanity's issues when faced with seemingly impending death. Unfortunately, the worst in us comes through loud and clear. But then, what would you do in a similar situation? It is mass-hysteria at its best. The effects are actually pretty good as well. Although the creatures are clearly other-worldly, they feel realistic. And of course there is the stupendous ending. Very intriguing and daring. Let's just say that this mist does not come on little cat feet.
Book: Persepolis
If you have not yet read Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel, what are you waiting for???!!! The first part of her work deals with growing up in Iran during the revolution. She goes from being a carefree, young girl in a posh existance to a veil-wearing young woman whose family is constantly worried about imprisonment. As a woman, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like to go from having complete freedom to absolutely no freedom almost over night. Frankly, it's a topic that has scared me since I first read Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale ten years ago. (To this day I keep cash on hand in case I have to run to Canada. Although I have recently been told that $50 may not get me there any more.) The second half of Satrapi's novel is her late-teen years after her parents send her to school in Austria. Very compelling and, again, surprising. As a constant stranger in a strange land, Satrapi tries to fit in. Sadly, she doesn't really succeed and that is what makes this graphic novel so lovely. It's nice to read a story without the traditional happy ending. It's a story I think we can all relate to in some way. Plus, it will 0pen up your eyes to what it is like for the non-militant Islamic people of Iran.
Television
Again, I don't really have anything to report here. Although I did watch the first episode of The Unusuals Wednesday night. It may make the blog in another week or two. Instead, I want to recommend hulu.com to you all. If you've missed the excellent commercials - I love Seth MacFarlane - it's a free website where you can catch the major networks' shows. For example, I missed Fringe last Tuesday - it's back - so I was able to watch it on Friday. There are 30-second commercials that you cannot fast-forward, but they are bearable. This is a great alternative for those of you who, like me, would rather buy new shoes than a TiVO. Now that I can watch television on my own time, I might actually have something to share in this section of my blog.
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13 comments:
Yeah, I need to see the Persepolis movie, although I'd like to read the book too.
Wes Studi is also in the new show "Kings." He still looks very much like he did 15 years ago in Last of the Mohicans!
"A Handmaid's Tale" was just on a few days ago on one of the Starz channels. I haven't seen it in ages! I know it's different from the book, which I only remember a bit, but I know I really liked it. But the movie did keep many of the same basic ideas. (In the book, is it explicitly clear that the society is supposed to be the US as if the religious right had completely taken over?) As I recall, the movie has a happy ending, but it's a little bittersweet now too since Natasha Richardson played the main character.
The movie is going on my Netflix list.
You know, I totally had the hots for Wes Studi. I preferred him over DDL in "Mohicans." I missed the first few episodes of "Kings," but now that I have discovered Hulu, I'll be catching up with the show. I really want to watch it for Ian McShane.
I've never seen the film version of "Tale" but I want to. I should finally get around to it. In the book it is explicitly clear that the religious right has taken over the US, with the exception of a pocket of revolutionaries in the Midwest. The story itself is set in Boston. It's interesting that the film as a happy ending since the book is much more ambiguous.
I hope this isn't a spoiler since I don't really remember it clearly anyway! But I think in the movie, Offred and the chauffeur (played by a young Aidan Quinn) successfully run away together. I'm not sure whether or not they find her daughter or not, but I seem to recall the end of the movie is them out in the middle of nowhere together. Maybe it will be on Starz again and I'll catch the last half this time! (I only saw the first half or so last week when it was on.)
Yeah, the book didn't make it look so good for the main character, did it? It was ambiguous but definitely not very positive.
Really, you don't think DDL is better than Wes Studi? Even with the long hair and all?! YOU? LOL--I always expect him to turn to Ian McShane and start speaking in the third person about himself! It's his voice, it's exactly the same.
OMG DDL is so hot in LOTM! And I like acronyms.
Ha ha, third person: "Uncas' wife, thinking he was dead, became the wife of another."
Hey, I've actually seen the Persepolis movie. Amazing I've seen something you haven't. I liked it a lot, especially the beginning parts about her childhood.
OK, so I finished Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo this weekend (yes, I'm reading two Jane Austen-related books at the same time). It was very good. A quick read and, of course, chock full of JA references (Not as good as Austenland though). Either of you are welcome to borrow it.
I also finally saw Bride and Prejudice, which was pretty good. But, I have to be thankful that my DVR allowed me to FF through the songs. I just couldn't watch them, and I really tried in the beginning. Strange that I can watch 50's musicals til the cows come home, but I can't suffer through a Bollywood number.
Oh, T:SCC's last few episodes were so awesome, Heather! God, I hope they don't kill that show!
All things Marjane Satrapi are amazing. I was fortunate enough to see her as part of the Drew Heinz lecture series last month. The Marjane of Persepolis is the Marjane of real life. She is a very courageous, smart, and funny person.
If you liked Persepolis check out Embroideries. Its not as structured or as plot driven as Persepolis, rather it is a series of sketches about some of the women she has known. There is less about her as a young person, more about her adult life in Iran.
Also, she is currently working on a live action film interpretation of Chicken with Plums. As part of the lecture she said that she would probably never do an animated film again, or at least not until she is old enough to forget how stressful it was to do Persepolis. In fact, she said a lot of the way that the film turned out, in terms of the animation style and who did the voice overs, was a result of her trying to squirm out of having to do the movie. She figured that the best way out was to insist on a lot of unrealistic things, all of which the studio agreed to!
Austenland is the best Austen-fan novel there is.
I'm always imagining how Wes Studi's character in Kings would speak in third person. "Magua will find Ian McShane, and he will rip his heart out, and then he will rip the hearts out of his children, and their children." Can't help it!
Yeah, DDL looks his best in Mohicans. I haven't seen any other movie where he comes close. He definitely needed to play more romantic leads 15 years ago. :-)
DDL looks pretty good in Age of Innocence - but of course in a stuffy, proper way.
Oh, JA Ruined my Life was not meant to be funny, like Austenland. It's sort of serious, actually. But still good.
I have been missing T:SCC since it came back. However, it is one of the Hulu series so I'll be picking it up over the next few months. I'm telling you, Hulu is my new best friend!
DDL had the long hair but Wes Studi was the bad guy. What can I say?
I really bet Marjane would be awesome to see. Her sense of humor must be amazing. I have to say, though, the second part of "Persepolis" was completely unexpected. You expect her to do these great things in Austria and she doesn't. But then you realize how difficult it must have been for her and you (well, at least I did) move from frustration over the opportunity she is wasting to sympathy over her dual life. "Persepolis" really demonstrates the flexibility that graphic novels have in telling a story.
Indeed. Marjane said she chose the format because a good piece of narrative piece of art can be universal no matter what.
She told this story of buying an American comic book about Dracula. She told her friends that she could read English. She figured at the time that since she understood French she could read all languages. She couldn't, but she told her friends that one panel explained that if you want to become a vampire you have to eat raw chicken. She concluded the story by saying, "That's how the summer began...and it ended when we all got worms."
Also, she says the name "graphic novel" was created to make people feel okay about reading comic books.
She's right about the term. Adding "novel" to anything just makes it sound more literary. Of course, the term "graphic novel" implies a story with a beginning and an end as opposed to "comic book" which implies serialization. I guess it's not a bad thing to have a different set of terms.
She said that she felt that the term "graphic novel" makes sophisticated adults feel okay about reading comic books. However she was very non-PC about saying it.
why are you in a quandry over TiVo vs. shoes? buy both! totally worth it!
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