Saw Superman vs. The Elite
For the Bookclub, we’re preparing to watch a show that has one of the worst parentheticals you can possibly have: Over There (Part One).
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
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Saw Superman vs. The Elite
For the Bookclub, we’re preparing to watch a show that has one of the worst parentheticals you can possibly have: Over There (Part One).
So… what are you reading and/or watching?
Comments are closed.
it turned into a discussion of the Habsburgs
Incest?
Yeah, and money.
Has there ever been a work of fiction where the Habsburgs are the good guys? Not William Tell, for sure.
Hey, somebody has to run the Empire.
Just watched Superman vs The Elite. You going to share your thoughts?
Oh yes. I also have a handful of thoughts about Spirited Away though… maybe I can figure out how to interweave them.
I’ve seen a fair amount of Miyazake because my son’s a big fan. I’ll be interested in what you have to say.
On a purely visceral level, I loved it. On an intellectual level… well, I’ll put that in the essay.
Fluff, and my management textbook, that’s what I’m reading. I read Martin’s (edited) Aces High this week. That series is growing on me, maybe I won’t wait 2 years between volumes next time.
I’m also about halfway through Justified. As divers hands told me, it DOES just keep getting better. Margo Martindale is a damn fine actress. After that, I’m going to try the first season of the Gilmore Girls. You know, in my copious free time.
I read the first issue of Incorruptible and the second book of The Sandman (The Doll’s House – I haven’t read Preludes and Nocturnes yet). Impressions:
– Incorruptible is fun, although you guys are right that it’s nothing overly special. I still enjoy it, because my favourite stories are often ones with themes of repentance, redemption, reformation, forgiveness, etc. My main issue with it is that the books are so short, which is aggravating when you’re relying on library books – it’s like having to check out a book one chapter at a time.
– The Doll’s House is, as Jaybird said, on a completely different level from Incorruptible. The first thing that struck me is how well it uses the medium (Watchmen was similar in this respect). There are a lot of things that it gains from being a graphic novel, things you wouldn’t get it it was a regular book. The costumes for each era in “Men of Good Fortune” are communicated much faster and more clearly through art than they could be through text description. But not all of the advantages relate to the art.
The echoing of the background dialogue between the 14th and 20th centuries in “Men of Good Fortune”. The constant use of synonyms for “kill” and “die in casual conversation throughout the section on the serial killers’ convention (“that was when Harry killed the lights. I could’a died”… “journey was a real killer”…”wouldn’t be seen dead here”… “chocolate fudge whip is to die for”) is something that would almost inevitably come across as gimmicky in a regular book, but it works here. It’s the little things that couldn’t be done subtly in a regular novel because that medium forces the writer to draw attention to them rather than just leaving them there.
The quality of the art itself varies; Rose’s hair colour isn’t always consistent even between one panel and the next, and her features vary quite a bit as well. Some panels work, some just look off. But Dream is well done (in the modern day, he looks kind of like Edward Scissorhands without the, y’know, scissor hands). He’s also wonderful as a character; he comes across as someone who’s become a little more attached to mortals than is prudent for him. He’s a little like Discworld’s Death in that sense.
As with Watchmen, I’m pretty sure there are some significant things I’m missing. The meaning/significance of the Chantal and Zelda dreams passed me by. And I’m definitely missing some of the implications in the ending sequence between Dream and Desire (who is Unity’s father? I suppose Desire can be male or female as s/he pleases, but is it her or someone else?).
Oh!!! (Claps hands together)
I’m so pleased! I was worried that A Dolls House would be offputting. As for Dream and Desire… well, there’s this other story that I’d need to tell you before I could tell you about that one. I’d probably need to tell you a different story before that one too…
It’s probably easier to just hold my breath and hope that you get to Season of Mists soon at which point I’d be able to exhale long enough to tell you that you pretty much have to read everything.
Which won’t be helpful because you’ll already know that.
Without saying too much, I am so happy someone is reading Sandman for the first time, and I agree that the medium plays to Gaiman’s strengths (or he plays to the medium’s strengths, whichever way it works).
missing some of the implications in the ending sequence between Dream and Desire
V qba’g erpnyy Havgl’f cneragntr orvat va dhrfgvba, engure Zvenaqn’f (Ebfr’f zbgure) jnf; Qrfver encrq Havgl fb gung vs Qernz jrer gb xvyy Ebfr, ur jbhyq or fcvyyvat Snzvyl oybbq, na npg gung unf frirer pbafrdhraprf sbe gur Raqyrff.
Before you rot13 that block of text, you may be interested to know that it involves some *SERIOUS* spoilers (like MAJOR ones) for Book 9: The Kindly Ones.
There are a lot of seeds strewn about in these books.
Hey JB – zl pbzzrag fnlf abguvat gung Qernz qbrf abg ng gur raq bs Gur Qbyy’f Ubhfr. Qernz npphfrf Qrfver bs gur frghc, naq zbgvingvba, naq nyyhqrf gb gur artngvir pbafrdhraprf bs Qrfver’f cyna (unq vg cnaarq bhg). Fb V qvqa’g pbafvqre vg n fcbvyre. Ohg jvgu lbhe nqqvgvbany pbagrkg, vg znl or bar abj. 🙂
That’s the problem with discussing spoilers. To just say “there’s a spoiler” makes genre savvy people start looking for potential ways that the story is going to mess with them allowing less genre savvy stories to be outsmarted when, without the spoiler warning, the story could just go along its merry way.
It’s like the oracle telling neo to not mind about breaking the vase.
Before I posted, I checked Doll’s House, to make sure I was not saying anything that’s not there at that book’s conclusion – my comment just repeats Dream’s accusation. But it’s a minefield for sure.
This is why my writeup basically consists of variations on ‘Come on, come on! READ it already!!!’
If I could somehow get those entreaties to come across in a Gilbert-Gottfried-like needling tone, it would be perfect.
BTW, did you ever see the Neo/Office Space mashup on YouTube?:
http://youtu.be/XkDHDYy_9cE
Oh, jeez. This is one of those things that so completely flew over my head the first fifteen times I read it that, when I finally read it again, I was shocked to see that it was right there.
So I’ll try to stop talking before I spoil everything.
(Yeah, that’s an awesome one.)
Don’t feel bad. I can’t believe how well the whole thing fits together. Sounds like you’ve read the series as often as I have, and I am always making new connections each time I do. There really is that much there.