Buys
Because I enjoyed Tim Callahan's Grant Morrison: The Early Years, I was disappointed (though understanding too) that he didn't feel he had enough of a handle on The Invisibles to even attempt a second volume of critical analysis. Patrick Meaney steps up with Our Sentence Is Up: Seeing Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. Snatched it.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is the precursor to his star-making Snatch, and just about as stylish if not as slick. While Snatch is a lot of fun, I also thought it was overwrought, overcomplicated and gimmicky. Lock Stock is more raw and indie, and its story is easier to follow, and is all the better for it. The underworld dark comedy of errors is about four friends who end up with an unpayable debt at the poker table and endeavor to steal what they need. And then there's the antique guns from the title, and a massive stash of weed, and six groups of people who have or want one of the other or all of them at any given time. Good fun, though I'm glad Ritchie eventually dialed down his style in later films like Sherlock Holmes. The DVD has a short, marketing-based featurette and text screens that instruct you on how to understand and speak "rhyming cockney". By the end, I could at least do the former.
Books: Finished Book 3 of the Elric Saga (as determined by the DAW/Berkley series) , The Weird of the White Wolf, and as with the previous book, it actually features three short adventures. In the first, Elric returns to Melniboné and more or less wipes out his ties with Book 1. The second sends him on a quest to find an ancient book. And in the third, he faces a God of Chaos. All three (and the non-Elric prologue as well) share a theme. In each, the hero is led to adventure by a woman. The prologue would have her be untrustworthy, but this is ambiguous. Each story in turn features treachery, but it can't be laid at the woman's feet, at least not directly. The book also introduces Moonglum who looks to be a fun and useful companion for Elric, who up until now has been switching every couple stories. While I would have hoped for a more unifying narrative, Moorcock's prose and imagination have kept me reading. However, I'll have to take a break to wait for the next three books to arrive through the mail.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
III.i. Briefings - Fodor (2007)
III.i. Briefings - Tennant (2009)
III.i. Briefings - Classics Illustrated
Because I enjoyed Tim Callahan's Grant Morrison: The Early Years, I was disappointed (though understanding too) that he didn't feel he had enough of a handle on The Invisibles to even attempt a second volume of critical analysis. Patrick Meaney steps up with Our Sentence Is Up: Seeing Grant Morrison's The Invisibles. Snatched it.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is the precursor to his star-making Snatch, and just about as stylish if not as slick. While Snatch is a lot of fun, I also thought it was overwrought, overcomplicated and gimmicky. Lock Stock is more raw and indie, and its story is easier to follow, and is all the better for it. The underworld dark comedy of errors is about four friends who end up with an unpayable debt at the poker table and endeavor to steal what they need. And then there's the antique guns from the title, and a massive stash of weed, and six groups of people who have or want one of the other or all of them at any given time. Good fun, though I'm glad Ritchie eventually dialed down his style in later films like Sherlock Holmes. The DVD has a short, marketing-based featurette and text screens that instruct you on how to understand and speak "rhyming cockney". By the end, I could at least do the former.
Books: Finished Book 3 of the Elric Saga (as determined by the DAW/Berkley series) , The Weird of the White Wolf, and as with the previous book, it actually features three short adventures. In the first, Elric returns to Melniboné and more or less wipes out his ties with Book 1. The second sends him on a quest to find an ancient book. And in the third, he faces a God of Chaos. All three (and the non-Elric prologue as well) share a theme. In each, the hero is led to adventure by a woman. The prologue would have her be untrustworthy, but this is ambiguous. Each story in turn features treachery, but it can't be laid at the woman's feet, at least not directly. The book also introduces Moonglum who looks to be a fun and useful companion for Elric, who up until now has been switching every couple stories. While I would have hoped for a more unifying narrative, Moorcock's prose and imagination have kept me reading. However, I'll have to take a break to wait for the next three books to arrive through the mail.
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
III.i. Briefings - Fodor (2007)
III.i. Briefings - Tennant (2009)
III.i. Briefings - Classics Illustrated
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