tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77865940911958604842024-03-14T08:41:17.095+10:00Nylon AdmiralAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.comBlogger873125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-6156319285109040662016-05-18T14:41:00.000+10:002016-05-18T14:41:12.678+10:00Non-fiction mini-reviews: Super Freakonomics and Under the Banner of Heaven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6402364-superfreakonomics">Super Freakonomics</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2009<br />
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<b>My thoughts</b>: If you've watched <i>Orange is the New Black </i>you'll remember the scene where Big Boo comforts Pennsatucky about the children she aborted by citing a study which linked the Wade V Roe case on abortion with the drop in crime 20 years later. I first heard about that link when I caught a snippet of the Freakonomics documentary and after rewatching it with Tom last year I decided I should read the actual book. We don't own the first Freakonomics book, but for some reason we do read the second (which was probably for the best since I hadn't heard of any of the studies/stories that were in this one). The book really is fascinating and super-consumable - I finished it in one afternoon only breaking to run over to Tom and tell him about the latest chapter. I found the "why suicide bombers should buy life insurance" pretty problematic because it seemed like it was essentially just racial profiling with the fancy guise of economic patterning thrown over the top, but the other stories - especially the creative approaches to global cooling - were all creative, funny and fascinating.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10847.Under_the_Banner_of_Heaven">Under the Banner of Heaven</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Jon Krakauer<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2003<br />
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<b>My thoughts</b>: I'm conflicted with how I feel about this book. On the one hand I really love the way Krakauer writes, he has drawn me into so many stories that I don't know I would necessarily find interesting or engaging otherwise. And when he writes about the Lafferty brothers, two brothers who killed their other brother's wife and child because of a 'calling from god', I felt that same sort of pull in his writing. However amidst the story of the Laffertys Krakauer sets out to tell the history of the Mormon church and explain why there are so many fundamentalist splinter groups. This is where I struggled. I am sure there are people who will find this interesting but the history sections, whether it was the content or Krakauer's writing I don't know, just bored me. That said, I am glad I read this book. I have never really known much about the Mormon faith and the short and turbulent history Krakauer paints really lays the ground for the extremist fundamental Mormon groups that spring up every so often. It also gives a side of American history that I don't often hear, and it's amazing to think how lawless* the US was until recently. So read it? I really don't know if it was that Krakauer was tackling too big a project for a book this length and his writing suffered or if the subject just wasn't enough to engage me. If you've read it, I'd love to hear what you thought.<br />
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*In the sense that there wasn't a great deal of unification or concrete army/police forces which led to a lot of chaos,Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-77065086926562048072016-05-10T09:25:00.002+10:002016-05-10T09:25:36.674+10:00Book Review: The Twelve by Justin Cronin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13281368-the-twelve">The Twelve</a></span> (The Passage #2)<br />
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<b>Written by:</b> Justin Cronin<br />
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<b>Published:</b> 2012<br />
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<b>Synopsis:</b> At the end of The Passage, the great viral plague had left a small group of survivors clinging to life amidst a world transformed into a nightmare. In the second volume of this epic trilogy, this same group of survivors, led by the mysterious, charismatic Amy, go on the attack, leading an insurrection against the virals: the first offensives of the Second Viral War.<br />
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To do this, they must infiltrate a dozen hives, each presided over by one of the original Twelve. Their secret weapon: Alicia, transformed at the end of book one into a half human, half viral—but whose side, in the end, is she really on? (Via Goodreads)<br />
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<span style="color: red;">WARNING: WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOOK 1 - sorta</span><br />
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I finished reading <i>The Passage </i>while I traveled around Europe last year, and I made a stop in every book store I found to try and find a copy of <i>The Twelve </i>to read on my flight home. Considering my excitement to read <i>The Twelve, </i>it's maybe a little surprising that it took me over 3 months to finish. But my problem (alongside my general reading block) was the same as the one I had when I read <i>The Passage, </i>1. it's flipping long you guys and 2. the first half is so chaotic and disjointed that it takes awhile to get absorbed into. With that said, I understand <i>why </i>there is so much location and character switching at the start. In both books it sets up the action set pieces of the second half of the novel and it adds a lot of the emotional weight of the narrative, but it also makes it hard to read at a decent clip. My edition was around 700 pages, I think I spent 3 months reading the first 300 pages, and less than a week to read the final 400.<br />
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But the book itself, the book I loved. After finishing <i>The Passage </i>I was so excited to find out what would happen next to the rag tag group of youngsters who seem to succeed against all odds. Would they find and defeat the rest of the 12? Would they live happily ever after? Would they ever see the other members of their little community again? When I first began <i>The Twelve </i>I stumbled a bit because it jumps to 5 years later* and suddenly characters from the first book are dead or missing. And even though I read these two books essentially back to back, I still had to get out my copy of <i>The Passage </i>and see if I missed something. There's also a chapter about a completely separate group of people and I struggled to place that event in the book's timeline, only working it out when the event later becomes relevant to the narrative. So there was some rocky ground there, and if you've had a big gap between reading <i>The Passage, </i>it's probably a good idea to revisit the book (or the wikipedia page) before launching into this one.<br />
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Knowing that the book is the second in a trilogy also causes some issues because it does seem like some parts are stretched out and treading water waiting for the intense conclusion which is surely coming in book three. That's not entirely fair on the book because like I said, after the mid-way point this book actually takes off at a decent clip but there is something ... hesitant? ... about the story. Perhaps that's in comparison to the insanity of the first book or maybe Cronin wanted to focus more in setting up the characters and foundations so that the third book could take off from page one. I don't know entirely and I can't quite put my finger on it because it isn't like there <i>aren't</i> huge set pieces in this book, it just feels like it's holding back.<br />
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I know this has been pretty broad, but it's been so long since I finished the book and I'm actually a little foggy about the details. But I want to get back into blogging more regularly and I felt like getting this review out into the world was probably a good step in that direction. So sorry for the broad and vague review, trust me when I say at the end I really enjoyed the book even amidst the slow and rocky first half and hesitancy.<br />
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*Maybe? It's been awhile since I finished it now and I can't remember specifics. It's definitely a chunk of time anyway.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-30156889241569570582016-04-26T18:31:00.000+10:002016-04-26T18:31:26.406+10:00(audio)book review: The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23555967-the-disaster-artist">The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside <i>The Room, </i>the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made </a></span><br />
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<b>Written and read by</b>: Greg Sestero<br />
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<b>Published: </b>2013<br />
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<b>Synopsis</b>: The Disaster Artist is Greg Sestero's laugh-out-loud funny account of how Tommy Wiseau defied every law of artistry, business, and friendship to make "the Citizen Kane of bad movies" (Entertainment Weekly), which is now an international phenomenon, with Wiseau himself beloved as an oddball celebrity. Written with award-winning journalist Tom Bissell, The Disaster Artist is an inspiring tour de force, an open-hearted portrait of an enigmatic man who will improbably capture your heart. (Via Goodreads)<br />
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<i>“The only casting directors who’d be willing to call Tommy in on the basis of this headshot were the ones curious about what it was like to be murdered.”</i></div>
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Many moons ago, Tom sent me a link to a youtube video which neatly smooshed together some of a film's "best moments". The movie was <i>The Room </i>and the descriptor "best" is ... controversial at best. It is not a good movie, but <i>it is </i>a movie so bad that it's hilarious. </div>
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Soon after that <i>The Room </i>was screened at a little cinema here in Brisbane and we were both hooked. I 100% do not recommend watching this film by yourself or even with a couple of friends. It's a pile of absolute garbage, but as a cinema experience it's amazing fun. There are all sorts of rituals and games that the audience perform through the screening, which aside from being fun to participate in have the added bonus of distracting from the nonsense onscreen.<br />
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When I heard that Greg Sestero (the cheating best friend Mark in the trailer) had written a book about his experience making the film I knew I had to read it. It took me several years but here I am, I have now officially read the book and know the story behind "the greatest bad movie ever made". Or rather, I have listened to the book. If you only take away two things from this review, be sure that they are to only watch <i>The Room </i>in a cinema with a huge group of people (and probably a significant amount of alcohol - I recommend <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gY2P6DC7Io">scotchka</a>) and listen to this book so that you can experience the beauty that is Sestero's Tommy Wiseau <a href="https://youtu.be/e5Vl1DuKmL8?t=128">impression</a>.<br />
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I don't think this book will offer much to people unfamiliar with the phenomenon that is <i>The Room. </i>The hook of the book is a privileged look inside what must have been an unbearable filming process and the man responsible for it. Tommy Wiseau is notoriously cagey about his past and it fuels the mythos that has developed around him and his film. This book further pushes this mythos, detailing all of the secrecy Wiseau maintained during their friendship while also peeling back a few of the layers. But even when something is revealed it's so crazy a story that it's hard to know if there is any truth there at all.<br />
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What is to be known for sure is that the movie must have been horrible to work on. Sestero detailed the lengthy shooting of <i>The Room </i>in painful detail ... painful because it resulted in 2 people taking trips to the hospital and multiple mutinies where large numbers of the crew walked off the set at once. The book alternates between a chapter on the production of <i>The Room </i>and the early days of the friendship that began in a San Franciscan acting class. The early portions of their relationship serve to make a clear foundation for how the production could be such a mess, but it also provides a really intimate look into the permanent state of self-doubt and fear that comes with being a young actor. I may have read the book for the eccentric Tommy Wiseau, but it really lead to a real appreciation for Greg Sestero.<br />
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So if you've seen the film and was attracted to that mess like a moth to the flame then definitely give the book a read/listen. Or if you've seen the film and hated it then maaaybe borrow it from the library and see if you can enjoy the schadenfreude. And if you haven't seen the film, then why are you reading this review? Go find a public screening, laugh at the absurdity and cry at the fact that they're now all probably richer off this terrible movie than any of us could wish to be. <i>Then </i>give the book a read.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-14833042096730233712016-04-04T15:31:00.001+10:002016-04-04T15:31:34.464+10:00Book review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22557272-the-girl-on-the-train">The Girl on the Train</a></span><br />
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Written by: Paula Hawkins<br />
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Published: 2015<br />
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Synopsis: Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.<br />
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And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good? (Via goodreads)<br />
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<i>“I have never understood how people can blithely disregard the damage they do by following their hearts.”</i></div>
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When I was travelling through Europe I found this book in every book store and I nearly bought a copy, but since I was mostly travelling by trains and I wasn't sure if this book was about something evil happening <i>on </i>a train - I decided to not risk suddenly being terrified travelling alone in a strange country and bought <i>The Twelve </i>instead. But I did note it down because I did want to read it, I just wanted the safety of knowing I could avoid trains if I needed too.<br />
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Anyway, this is going to be a vague and short book because like most thrillers, it's best to avoid as many details and story points as possible before heading in. I certainly went into this blind, knowing only what the blurb on the back cover said. And since I really quite liked this book that's what I'd recommend for you too.<br />
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But in case you want <i>some </i>details here we go. The book is about Rachel, a woman who takes a train to and from work in London every day. She catches the same train in the morning and the same one in the evening, and because she follows this routine so regularly she knows exactly where the train stops or slows. At one particular point in her trip, the train slows down beside a series of terrace houses and she's able to glimpse a couple that live in one of them. She doesn't see them every day and she doesn't see them with much detail, but she sees enough to know that they're young and in love. She has a backstory for this couple, careers, names, hobbies - things she couldn't possibly know but which help pass the time and make her feel happy. There is a sense that Rachel is a little lonely, and perhaps she's missing this kind of love from her life. And then one morning while looking out for her favourite couple she sees something. It could be nothing, but in her gut she knows that isn't true. Rachel pulls at this thread and it unravels catastrophically for not only her, but for several other people too. Which people though I can't share without giving away some of the details that should really be discovered on reading.<br />
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I thought the book was pretty well constructed. Hawkins divulges the tiniest glimpses of details only slowly over time, pulling back the covers to reveal things dark or haunted or ugly. I don't mean to sound snobby, but thrillers often follow a fairly predictable path - even if you don't necessarily cotton on to who the killer/monster/villain is. Hawkins plays with all of the typical tools of the thriller, but she also experiments with these tools to construct a thriller that is both fairly traditional and also quite breathtaking. There is a sense of an unreliable narrator within this story, but Hawkins plays with this idea and the effect is rather dizzying. That's all I can say without giving anything away, but if you've read the book I'm sure you understand what I mean here.<br />
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I was a little worried when I began that it was going to be a <i>Gone Girl </i>clone. It's fairly cynical about life and people and love and the characters are all fairly unlikable. I had a couple of moments where I wondered if I really <i>cared </i>why things were happening or where they would go. But the unfolding narrative made me constantly change my mind about characters, for instance new information suddenly giving insight which adds a level of sympathy to a character's previously murky agenda. So even if I didn't necessarily like the characters, I was curious about uncovering the full story.<br />
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So if you've been looking for a new thriller then give this one a shot. It isn't perfect, but as a debut novel I think it shows a lot of promise for Hawkins in the future.<br />
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<span style="color: red;">**I was thinking that instead of writing these vague "things happen, but read it for yourself" reviews I might start writing analysis reviews of thrillers instead. So they'd be aimed at people who had read the book so I could discuss the spoilers and what I liked/didn't like about the </span><i style="color: red;">real </i><span style="color: red;">story. Would people be into this or nah?**</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-38442636721882103782016-03-17T13:54:00.000+10:002016-03-17T13:54:31.822+10:00mini-reviews: Redshirts, Storm Front, Carry On and Flowers for Algernon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13055592-redshirts?from_search=true&search_version=service">Redshirts </a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: John Scalzi<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2012<br />
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<b>My thoughts</b>: This was a book I'd heard a lot about over the years since it was published. Some good, some bad but almost everyone commented on just how nerdy it was. And nerdy it is, it is an incredibly meta joke about Star Trek and the unfortunate role the 'redshirts' play within that series. If you don't have a bit of a history with Star Trek and the preponderance of quick and sudden deaths for newly introduced characters on the show (which series? Take your pick) then I don't think you'll get much joy out of the book. And even being in on the joke as I was, it did feel like the meta jokes took precedence over actual narrative flow and structure at times. Overall I enjoyed the book and had fun reading it, but like <i>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies </i>I did feel a bit like the joke had run its course about 100 pages in.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47212.Storm_Front">Storm Front</a></span> (Dresden Files #1)<br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Jim Butcher<br />
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<b>Published in</b>: 2000<br />
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<b>My thoughts</b>: I actually read this ages ago, but never got around to finishing a review for it. It's a lot of fun, it's about a modern day magician living in Chicago and working as a P.I. Harry Dresden is sarcastic, grumpy and a little bit incompetent, but also clearly was a much better person and magician at an earlier point in his life (we learn a little about this as the book goes on). There's a lot of rules to how magic is used in this particular world and it's governed by a magical community who stamp down pretty heavily on anyone with a history using black magic, as Dresden once did. This makes Dresden's life and career very tricky when a murder is committed and it looks to both the magical and non-magical communities as though Dresden is the prime suspect. I do intend to read some more of these books, apparently they get really good from about book 7. That doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement of the next 6 books I have to get through, but if they're at least at the quality of this first novel I think they'll be interesting enough to take along on holidays or long rides on the train.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23734628-carry-on">Carry On</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Rainbow Rowell<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2015<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: I'm a little scared to say (in front of all of you, my fellow RR fans) that I wasn't too excited for <i>Carry On. Fangirl </i>was easily my least favourite of Rainbow's books so I wasn't sure that this book would deliver anything I was after. I was pleasantly surprised. I probably won't head back to reread it like I will <i>Attachments </i>or <i>Eleanor and Park, </i>but I found it funny, heartwarming, compelling and narratively sound (which sounds douche-y, but considering it was essentially Drarry fan-fiction I wasn't sure it would really stand up as a story of its own). I liked this a lot more than the extracts in <i>Fangirl </i>led me to believe I would enjoy it, so my sincerest apologies to Rainbow for daring to doubt her.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18373.Flowers_for_Algernon">Flowers for Algernon</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Daniel Keyes<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 1958<br />
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<b>My thoughts</b>: Though I hadn't read <i>Flowers for Algernon </i>before last October, I knew the story pretty well and as there were at least 2 shows (<i>It's Always Sunny, The League) </i>last year which spoofed the concept, I figured it was time I read the source material. <i>Flowers </i>is fairly short but it hooked me in from the start. Telling the story of a man with below average intelligence the book is written from his perspective literally, taking an epistolary approach to tell Charlie's story as he undergoes surgery and testing to increase his intelligence. You end up incredibly close to Charlie because of the way it is written and it is a real gut punch to interpret things about his life that he's never been able to recognise because of his intelligence and general innocence. It's a very simple story but the takeaway is huge and immensely emotional.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-47402707591833808182016-03-16T12:22:00.002+10:002016-03-16T12:22:54.083+10:00Trailer: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="448" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tV_IhWE4LP0" width="800"></iframe><br />
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I feel like it was only yesterday I heard that they were making <i>Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children </i>into a film and now we have a trailer? I wasn't <a href="http://kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/my-holiday-reads-bunch-of-mini-reviews.html">super impressed</a> with the book when I read it, so I don't really mind the obvious changes to the characters and plot because I hope they've been made to fix some of the roughness of the book. But I imagine if you were sucked in with Ransom Rigg's story you might have some mixed feelings, so here's hoping the changes are for the best. Also I feel like this is the first time I've seen Eva Green in a non-villain role? Which I am totally on board for, even if at the back of my mind a tiny kernel of distrust leaves me waiting for a duplicitous switch half way through the film.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-85063384086913377742016-03-03T14:31:00.000+10:002016-03-03T14:31:06.401+10:00Holiday Photo Diary: New Mexico and the Grand Canyon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Guys! I had the most wonderful time travelling around the South West! So for anyone not in on the whole backstory, I had a conference to attend in Albuquerque and I decided to make a trip of it and bring Tom along. We rented a car in Texas and hit the road and traveled across to <b>New Mexico</b> and hit <b>Santa Fe, Bandelier National Monument</b> (<b>Los Alamos</b>), <b>Albuquerque</b>, <b>Roswell</b>, <b>White Sands National Monument</b>, <b>Las Cruces</b> before driving into <b>Arizona</b> and up to the <b>Grand Canyon South Rim</b>. And after that it was a drive through the desert to <b>California</b> and back on a plane to Australia. So obviously LOTS happened. The best thing though was how different it was from our previous US trip. Not only were we in a different section of the States, but we were travelling differently and aiming to see a different side. Outside of San Francisco (which was only a pit stop before the airport) we didn't really see any big cities this time, but we did get a chance to see so much more of the stellar US outdoors. And even though we did see a teeny bit of snow up around Santa Fe and in southern Arizona, this time we were seeing a totally different type of American winter. Loved it. Absolutely loved it all. Since I'm cramming everything into a single post I'm going to leave my description short and let the photos do the talking. But I will happily deconstruct the holiday in the comments section and give countless recommendations or chat about the best parts of my holiday (oh, perhaps Tom proposing? :P).<br />
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Santa Fe:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Took a brief stop on route 66 on our way to Santa Fe</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our stunning home away from home</td></tr>
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Bandelier National Monument:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I fell in love with the colours and textures up around Bandelier</td></tr>
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Albuquerque:<br />
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Roswell:<br />
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White Sands:<br />
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Grand Canyon:<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-87394554145973881942016-02-27T14:00:00.000+10:002016-02-27T14:00:19.482+10:00Holiday Photo Diary: Germany (Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg) Germany was sort of my home base as I traveled through Europe. I stopped at Cologne on the way through to Prague, spent some time in Berlin before heading into Scandinavia and stopped into Hamburg before making my way to my final stop in Amsterdam. I'd spent most of 2015 learning German on the Duolingo app so it was one of the countries I felt most comfortable in, language wise, which was was a welcome relief while travelling by myself.<br />
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I mentioned being sick at the start of my Prague visit, and sadly it was at its worst in Cologne. I had caught an overnight bus from London so I was tired, stressed and aching. The train station in Cologne is huge, but I think there are maybe 4 seats in the whole place so I wandered around the area before trying to grab a seat in Starbucks to warm up and rest my weary bones. Sick or not, the cathedral was seriously stunning.<br />
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Berlin was also amazing. My photos make it seem a little grey and morose, but it certainly felt brighter and more exuberant in person. I was staying in Mitte, which put me in the perfect positon to visit all the iconic sites from world war 2. I have so much respect for the Germans and their absolute refusal to hide from their history. It's a dark and devastating past and you can't walk down a street without a reminder of exactly how horrific it was, but at the same time the city is so alive and positive. I took another one of the free walking tours which started at the <b>Brandenburg Gate</b>, and went past the <b>Reichstagg, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Hitler's Bunker </b>(or rather the carpark that sits there today), <b>Luftwaffe HQ, Checkpoint Charlie, East Side Gallery </b>and some other spots. The tour guide was fantastic and gave us a great history of Germany both pre- and post- WWII. I did tours through a few different companies, but I did a few through Sandemanns and I wholeheartedly recommend their free walking tours. Such an excellent way to get your head around the city and some free advice on what you should visit and what can be skipped. After the tour I took a train out to Sonnenalee to get a tattoo by the amazing <a href="http://jackpotdw.tumblr.com/">Daisy</a>. She's actually from my home town (small world or what?!) and if you are anywhere near Berlin pay her a visit. Her line work is so delicate and her style is incomparable. After my tattoo session I went down to the turkish markets that are in the area. If I lived in Berlin I would buy all of my food there, it was all so mouthwatering. There are non-food things for sale too, but honestly I was so hungry that they were basically blurs as I hunted down the food stalls.<br />
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The next day I started with a coffee and a walk through the <b>Tiergarten</b>, the large park right beside the Brandenburg Gate. It's a gorgeous park, but it's also home to a lot of monuments commemorating people who were persecuted during WWII. My favourite monument was probably the one commemorating the persecuted homosexuals, it's a grey block of concrete with a small screen on one end which screens a short film of two men kissing. It's so simple but it's so deliberate and unapologetic and I loved it, I can't really explain it any better than that. I had signed up for a tour out to the <b>Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, </b>which took up the majority of my afternoon. It was such a raw experience, it paralleled the visit Tom and I took to Hiroshima a few years ago. One of the most mind-boggling aspects was getting off the bus and seeing all of the houses buttressed against the camp. I can't imagine trying to live a regular life with such an unavoidable reminder of human suffering outside of your window. I think it'd probably be incredibly humbling, but I don't think I'd be strong enough. The tour guide sat with each person individually on the train back into Berlin and helped us find somewhere to visit to help balance out the experience of Sachsenhausen and I really appreciated that. He also gave everyone a list of books and movies about the concentration camps that he recommends, both fiction and non-fiction. He really went above and beyond the usual tour guide role.<br />
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In direct comparison to my rather somber Berlin visit (I swear it wasn't all WWII and concentration camps!), I spent my day in Hamburg literally just hopping between Christmas markets. It was divine. They opened at around 10, and there were at least 4 within a short-ish walk from each other. I started at the <b>Weisserzauber </b>markets on the edge of <b>Binnenalster, </b>where I drank mulled wine at 10.30am and then had to make a beeline for some bratwurst because it went straight to my head! The next market was at the <b>Hamburg</b> <b>Rathaus </b>(town hall). These markets were absolutely packed full of people and I shuffled along with everyone drinking hot chocolate and buying little handmade Christmas decorations. Each market had their own souvenir mugs and by the time I made my way back to the hotel my bag was clinking from all of the cups I had purchased. There was a parade of dancing children and small floats riding around the streets and it was the cheeriest parade ever. There's something about Wham Chistmas carols and snow machine and dancing gingerbread which makes my heart shine.<br />
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Actually I lied, I didn't spend my whole day at the Christmas markets. I did spend most of my day there, but I spent the afternoon at the <b>Museum Für Kunst und Gewerbe. </b>They had an exhibit of 'jugenstil' or the art nouveau movement which was a nice compliment to the Mucha museum in Prague. I also got to see some exhibits on modernity and fashion and interiors, islamic art and flatstock gig posters. And when I went to find a bathroom I found a group of 6 little girls dressed like Marie Antoinette dancing in a alcove. It was basically the most perfect museum ever. They also had a local artist market in one section and I'll tell ya, if I had the money I would have bought my weight in hand-dyed scarves, jewelry and pottery.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cologne Cathedral</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The memorial is said to be inspired by the Jewish cemetery in Prague, which incidentally Hitler wanted to conserve as a museum of the extinct Jews. Just in case you didn't already think he was an awful, awful, awful person.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brandenburg Gate</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Memorial to the Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism, Berlin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My new tattoo!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">East Side Gallery, Berlin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas parade in Hamburg, complete with snow machine!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Binnenalster</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rathausmarkt</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-11430231736167904932016-02-20T22:51:00.000+10:002016-02-20T22:51:07.084+10:00Holiday Photo Diary: AmsterdamBy the time I got to Amsterdam I was pretty exhausted and the weather seemed determined to make my sightseeing as complicated as possible. Grey skies, persistent rain and wind so rough that umbrellas were impossible. But I persevered and saw as much of the sweet gingerbread city as I could before I had to just give up and retire to a coffee shop for a few hours to dry off.<br />
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I went to the <b>Rembrandt Museum, </b>which is basically his house refitted as it was when he lived there. Your entry includes an audio tour and you can get some insight into the artist and the man. They were able to furnish his house partially by looking at the paintings which used his house as a setting, but also from when he lost his money and they repossessed all of his things. Which is such a depressing idea, but hey, at least we get a glimpse into how his kitchen, drawing room and student studios were set out! They also have demonstrations of the etching process he used for his prints. I didn't make it to any of the other museums because the rain brought the crowds in droves, but I did take a walk down to the museum district to take a look from afar.<br />
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The next day was my last day in Europe and I started it with a walking tour around the area. I walked through the <b>red light district </b>(I actually walked through it the night before, but was so focused on getting out of the rain I didn't even notice!), past <b>oude kirk, the Dutch East India Company Headquarters, Neuw-markt square, Nieuwe kirk, the Beginhof </b>(a convent) and even got a cheese tasting. The tour ended at <b>Anne Frank's House, </b>which again I didn't end up going into because of the massive, massive crowds. Note to future travelers, everyone in Amsterdam loves museums so plan ahead! I went over to the <b>Film Eye </b>after my tour ended. It's across the river from central Amsterdam, but there's a free ferry that runs between the two sides. You've got to love the ease and availability of European public transport. Film Eye is a phenomenal modern building which regularly screen films (sadly I couldn't get into one that day) but it also has exhibits on film directors, films, genres and general film content. An excellent way to spend a cold and wet day in Amsterdam. Second only to shoving <b>stroopwafels </b>in my mouth until I make myself sick.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stairs in Rembrandt's home</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Student studio at Rembrandt's home</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-10923242808958699132016-02-13T22:15:00.000+10:002016-02-13T22:15:00.598+10:00Holiday Photo Diary: Scandinavia (Odense, Copenhagen, Malmö, Lund)This post will be my smallest holiday diary because I went from my conference in Odense to spending time with some friends in Sweden, so I didn't really do the usual tourism and photo deal. But it was lovely and you'll have to take my word for it.<br />
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The conference was in <b>Odense, </b>the home of Hans Christian Andersen. I was only there for the days of the conference so I didn't get a chance to visit his home or the museum, but there were statues and memorials for him dotted around the whole town. If you ever take a trip to Denmark I highly recommend stopping in to Odense. It's about an hour or two outside of Copenhagen and utterly charming. We had a conference dinner at the restaurant <b>No 61 </b>in the centre of town and it was a mouthwatering Danish meal. On another night I went to <b>Christian Firtal, </b>a brewery in town, with a couple of other attendees. It was a perfect hideaway and I had a beer called Hoppy Christmas - perfect place is perfect.<br />
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After the conference I caught a train up to <b>Lund</b>, Sweden where a couple of my friends moved a few years ago. It was the first time I met their gorgeous little son, and together we walked around the pretty town of Lund and caught a train out to <b>Malmö</b> (about 45 minutes) to visit the town squares. I wish I'd had more time to really explore Sweden. Next time for sure. After an night of catching up and reading their son Mister Men and Little Miss books, we caught a train out to<b> Copenhagen</b>. Little kids means that everything takes a lot longer so I didn't get to see a lot of Copenhagen, but we did take a stroll past <b>Tivoli Gardens</b>, the amusement park, and down to <b>Nyhavn, </b>the 17th waterfront entertainment district populated with colourful buildings.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The quiet little street I stayed on in Odense</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My home for the conference</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hoppy Christmas, <span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">Christian Firtal</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking through Lund with my pals</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malmö</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nyhavn, Copenhagen</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-79161100812274190102016-02-05T14:00:00.000+10:002016-02-05T14:00:28.119+10:00Holiday Photo Diary: EnglandMy actual first stop on my whirlwind trip was England, i.e. the place Laura lives. I did a whole bunch over this week, a trip up to <b>Bristol</b> to visit one of my oldest friends, visits to the <b>Science Museum</b>, <b>Buckingham Palace</b>, <b>Covent Garden</b> etc etc but really this week can be summed up by two thing: LAURA and HARRY POTTER!<br />
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Laura and I caught up over three days, first we went to <b>Covent Garden</b> for Shake Shack and a trip to the <b>Science Museum</b> for the Cosmonauts exhibit, which was basically us walking around the exhibits and Laura reporting on how attractive she found various Russian astronauts and communists :P<br />
Day 2 we played ultimate tourist. We met at <b>Green Park</b> and walked and walked and walked, occassionally stopping to snap photos of <b>Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare's Globe</b> (which was the first time Laura had visited it!), <b>The Tower of London</b>, <b>The National Gallery</b>, and all of the many other attractions dotted along the walk. We ended up at the<b> British Librar</b>y which was around the corner from where I was staying. It was such a perfect place to end the day and honestly we spent as much time in the gift shop as we did in the <b>treasure collection</b>. If I had all the money I would buy all the store. All of it.<br />
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And then it was time for Harry Potter. So a little background. For my birthday Tom bought me a gift ticket to cover my entry to the HP exhibit and issue number 1 was that these gift tickets don't have a serial number that you can simply enter online to redeem. No, you have to call and book your entry time or wing it and hope that you can get it. So thank god I had Laura to act as my secretary/booking agent and settle this all on her end. Problem 2, when we went to book the damn place was going to be closed for the ENTIRE TIME I WAS IN ENGLAND. They were literally like the only 4 days they close, which they use to switch over to Christmas. A frantic rearrangement occurred and I stayed on in London an extra day simply to see Harry Potter. CHRISTMASSY Harry Potter. Worth it.<br />
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The place is phenomenal. Not only was I completely surrounded by Harry Potter paraphernalia but it was such a cool little blast of information about all the behind the scenes aspects of the films. The blueprints for all of the buildings and small-scale models were definitely my favourite part. What I would have given to work on those films! We also had the obligatory butterbeer at the food court and I almost ordered the butterbeer ice cream as well, but even mid-Harry-Potter-happiness-coma I could recognise how terrible an idea that would be. And then we spent a lot of time in the gift shop where I contemplated buying a whole lot of stuff I really didn't need and didn't particularly want to cart around with me for another three weeks in Europe. Tempting though.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bristol Waterway</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banksy in Bristol</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There was something going on when Laura and I were playing tourist. I don't think we ever worked out what exactly it was though?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two babes meeting in the flesh!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She made it to the Globe. Finally!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dumbles!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Such amazing detail!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snowy Hogwarts</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-32325121981009932012016-01-30T18:59:00.000+10:002016-02-03T09:13:06.593+10:00Holiday Photo Diary: Prague and Kutná Hora <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So those of you who are friends with me on Facebook and Instagram will know that I spent three weeks in November travelling around Europe. I was attending a conference in Odense, Denmark but really this trip was a way for me to celebrate finishing my PhD and finally make the trip over to Europe.<br />
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Prague wasn't my first stop on the trip but of all my stops this was the place I was most desperate to visit. I literally made my trip as complicated as possible so that I could spend some time in this beautiful city. Sadly I was dead sick when I arrived, so my first afternoon was basically a short walk along the river before collapsing in my bed and overloading my system with vitamin C.<br />
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Day 2 began with a free 3 hour tour hosted by my hotel which led me around the main sites in Prague. This trip was the first time I took part in any of these free tours and I have to say they're a brilliant way to get your bearings in a new town and cross off a few of those must-sees (which might not necessarily be sites you want to spend a lot of time at). The tour trekked through the old and new towns, past the <b>astronomical tower, the Jewish cemetery, Wenceslas square, Charles Bridge, the Dancing House</b> - all with a local giving us the history of the area as we went. I felt pretty confident making my way around the city after that tour and I used that quick tour to decide on the areas I wanted to explore in more detail. After the tour I went into the castle proper and visited <b>Strahov Monastery</b> and the <b>Vitrus cathedral</b>, which has a stained glass window designed by Mucha. I love the architecture in Prague so much, it was easily the grandest and most beautiful city I visited in Europe (no offence everyone else).<br />
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Day 3 was a national holiday in Prague and my museum day. I walked along the river to the <b>John Lennon tribute wall</b> and paid respect at the French embassy opposite. This was only a couple of days after the Paris attacks and it was so moving to see these gorgeous tributes of flowers, letters and candles in each city I visited. After this stop I headed across to the <b>Kafka museum</b> which, guys, you've got to visit if you're in Prague. It isn't really a <i>museum </i>museum, but more an experimental art space and installation to display Kafka's work and explore his life. There's also a brilliant pixelated moving statue outside the museum which needs to be seen rather than described. There's a little book store around the corner called <b>Shakespeare and Sons </b>(<b>Shakespeare a synové</b>) which is also worth a drop in. After Kafka I visited the <b>Mucha Museum</b> which again, not really a museum but more of a gallery space. I love Mucha, I could have stood and stared at the Sarah Bernhardt pieces for hours (*ahem* and perhaps I did). I finished the day with a walk up <b>Petrin Hill </b>where I saw the<b> memorial to the victims of communism</b> and walked up to the <b>Petrin Lookout Tower </b>which gave the most beautiful view over Prague. Seriously, this city is out of this world stunning.<br />
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Day 4 I left Prague and travelled out to Kutná Hora with a girl I met at my hotel. Kutná Hora is a small town about 45 minutes outside of Prague. It's a pretty unassuming place but it's home to the <b>Sedlec Ossuary</b>, the chapel of bones. It's absolutely stunning and completely macabre. There are four pyramids of skulls and bones in the corners of the underground room and the rest of the room is literally crowded with skulls formed into crests, candelabras, words and embellishments. It's amazing. About 10 minutes further up the road is the proper town of <b>Kutná Hora</b>, a small medieval town with the original buildings still standing. It's very small and doesn't take long to explore, but it makes a charming accompaniment to the Ossuary.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-80140071426773611762016-01-26T10:21:00.002+10:002016-01-26T10:21:32.644+10:00Time Suck Mini-reviews: True Crime Books and ComicsI'm going through something of a true crime bender. I read Ann Rule's <i>The Stranger Beside Me </i>while I was in Europe and before I knew it I was reading true crime comics, watching documentaries and listening to podcasts. True crime isn't outside of my interests, but I've never really gone this gung-ho before. So rather than make this a true crime blog for the forseeable future (although I think I'm getting too angry and sad to keep this up much longer) I'm going to squeeze them all into a couple of posts (one for the content I've read, one for the content I viewed), both for my sanity and yours.<br />
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<b>What I've Been Reading: </b></div>
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<i>The Stranger Beside Me </i>by Ann Rule.</div>
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This was the book that kicked off this cycle, although in fairness I was probably primed for it by listening to <i>Serial </i>last year. <i>The Stranger Beside Me </i>is the story of Ted Bundy, the man and the murderer. However, as seems to be a bit of a trend for me in the true crime I pick, this book tells the tale of author Ann Rule's relationship with Ted Bundy. Beginning when she was an aspiring writer penning the occasional article for true crime magazines, Ann Rule also worked at a helpline with the young Ted Bundy. He was (if I recall correctly) about 15 years her junior, but they became close friends almost instantly. As Rule's writing career began to take off and she was hired to write a book about the series of murders that would be tied to Bundy. This connection made it increasingly difficult for Rule once it became clear that Bundy was not only the key suspect but the perpetrator of the 30+ rapes and murders committed across the country. I found Rule's writing to be compelling and her reenactments of the crimes really captured the methodical and sadistic nature of Bundy. However, I actually struggled with the personal element of the book by the end. It seemed to me, based on the accounts in her book, that he was clearly using her because of her connection to the police. While she said they were close, the only personal anecdotes involving interactions outside of work begin after he starts his murders (or around the time of the first murder). So either they weren't as close as she thought and he manipulated her in the same way he manipulated his victims, or she left out some compelling evidence that they were anything more than co-workers who chatted in their downtime on late night shifts. Tne subheading of this book is "the shocking inside story," but Rule is guarded in providing too many personal details, so I don't know that we really get much of an inside story at all. And without any real divulgence of personal details, we also don't get any real introspection about the relationship. If you're going to make the story personal, <i>make it personal. </i>Otherwise just write a compelling story of Ted Bundy and his crimes - which is already 80% of this book. I also think her personal involvement muddies her perspective somewhat. She struggles to separate the Ted she knew and the Ted who committed the murder and that gives way to a lot of waffling over certain decisions like him breaking out of prison - which to most people is a pretty clear sign of his guilt. She also gets to the end of the book without straight up stating that he is guilty, rather she frames it as he was convicted of the crimes, which to me - coupled with the other way she discusses the case - suggests that she thinks he may be innocent or wrongfully convicted. I think she went through a lot of confusion and mixed emotions about his involvement and subsequent conviction and I think the book would have benefited greatly if she had either fully opened up and made it a personal account of a woman who was friends with a serial killer up until their conviction (she sent him lots of money and letters while he was in jail leading up to the trial) or an objective account of a horrific serial killer. In the end it flitters a little between the two and is weaker for it.<br />
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<i>Green River Killer: A True Detective Story </i>written by Jeff Jensen, illustrated by Jonathan Case. </div>
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Last year I read the graphic novel <i><a href="http://www.kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/graphic-novel-mini-review-29.html">My Friend Dahmer</a> </i>and really dug the idea of true crime comics. Obviously they aren't going to be as dense with detail and information as a normal true crime novel, but they have the potential to tell a much more personal angle than you typically read in this genre. <i>Green River Killer </i>was a title that came up every time I looked for a follow up to <i>My Friend Dahmer </i>but it wasn't until today that I found a copy. It's written by Jeff Jansen, the son of Tom Jansen - the cop who spent over 20 years on this case. It takes place over several decades, though it is set primarily 2005 when Jansen and several other police officers were stuck in a room interviewing Gary Leon Ridgeway about his murders for a controversial plea deal (he'd get life in prison, no death penalty). Ridgeway had confessed to being the Green River killer, but remained vague and cagey about the details of his crimes. The plea deal meant that he had to give them information about several murders he says he had committed that the police had never uncovered, but when they would take him to the locations he disclosed he'd clam up or only give details that were well known by the public. Was he playing with them or could it be that he<i> wasn't </i>the serial killer he confessed to being? (surprise, he was a killer but he had disassociated from that past 'Gary'). The book flashes back to some of the key murders in Ridgeway's life, such his first attempted murder in 1965 of a young boy, and the murder and bizarre presentation post-mortem of the victim Christine King. But more often than not the book presents the victims of Ridgeway as in flux, hair styles and clothing changing in each sequential frame because to Ridgeway these women held no real importance - there was no real reason for him to remember them. All told, Ridgeway murdered at least 48 women and teenage girls primarily between 1982-1984. Ridgeway picked prostitutes as his victims because they were easy to lure and kill, because he knew society didn't care about them. He would pick up prostitutes and take them either to his house or the woods and if they didn't 'love him right', he would murder them. There is even one occasion depicted in the book where Ridgeway picked up a girl with his son in the car, although it isn't made clear if this was one of the women he killed or one lucky enough to get away. It's also unclear whether Ridgeway continued murdering up until his capture, but if he did he didn't continue at the same rate as his early period in the 1980s. The fact that the book takes place 20 years after that initial period makes for a compelling narrative because we are likely seeing a man who considers his murders the acts of a different version of himself, an earlier Gary. In all of the interviews and encounters he separates himself, while also never denying that he did commit the murders. He talks of it all being so 'long ago' and yet for the police who interview him, the details of his brutality are seared into their memories. This book isn't just about Gary Leon Ridgeway and the Green River murders though. It is also a loving tribute for a son who respects his father and his father's dedication to find answers for the families of the women lost. Aspects of Tom Jensen's own life - his marriage, his police officer re-tests - are juxtaposed against the case investigating the murders and Ridgeway's recollections of the murders. This case, like his marriage, family and the endless renovations on the family home, was his life. And it's surprisingly beautiful to find this tribute entwined among such horror.<br />
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<i>Torso </i>written by Brian Michael Bendis, illustrated by Marc Andreyko.<br />
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<i>Torso </i>is less the personalised account of a relationship with or connection to a murderer and more a semi-fictionalised retelling of a particularly grisly cold case. It's like a short <i>From Hell </i>in that sense. Taking place in 1930s Cleveland, <i>Torso </i>explores the Torso serial murders amidst the turbulence of Eliot Ness's installment as Safety Director and depression-era America. Ness was a prohibition agent in Chicago, so his arrival in Cleveland is depicted in reflection to the murders, as both shook the police force and public to their core. The murders are horrific, someone decapitated and dismembered at least 12 victims from Cleveland's "shanty town". Much like the Green River Killer, the murderer targeted these people because they were easier to miss, both because of their transient nature and their position in society. The comic follows the popular theory that a Dr. Sweeney (named Mr Sundheim in the comic) but towards the end diverges completely from fact and re-imagines a much more action-packed finale. It's a riveting read but it's also pretty obvious that it isn't based in reality, which conflicts with the earlier portions. One thing the comic did that was really interesting was juxtapose illustration with photos from the time (see above). This makes for an interesting visual. They seem to primarily be photos related cirectly to the case and, in fact, at least one photo used is an actual crime scene photo of one of the victims. It makes it hard to separate from the reality of the situation, that while the comic is interesting and action-packed it is still a retelling of a series of murders which were never solved. Not as consistent as <i>Green River Killer, </i>but an interesting experiment in true crime comics nonetheless. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-18688943008544564722016-01-04T16:46:00.000+10:002016-01-04T16:46:59.824+10:002016: A Year of New Beginnings<br />
Happy New Year everyone!<br />
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It's been a little while since my last post, but in my defense 2015 was insane. Even once the insanity boiled down and I managed to get some reading done blogging was the last thing on my mind.<br />
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But now it's 2016 and I want to blog again, so blog I shall! I decided to set myself a few little resolutions for my blog and reading life this year, and we'll see how I go by the time December rolls in.<br />
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*<b>I don't have to write a review for every book I read</b>. This is a big one for me, and I think it was one of the reasons I faded out of blogging last year. This doesn't mean I'll only be writing glowing reviews for books I love, but I'm not going to force myself to get a review out if a book doesn't inspire me to write about it.<br />
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*<b>I will write a brief summary about each book though.</b> At the end of each month I'll write a little wrap up post where I yay/nay the books I managed to read, whether I wrote a review or not.<br />
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*<b>I am on a book buying ban for all of 2016</b>. I have so many unread books on my shelves and the library is pretty splendid, so no more book purchases. I can do this!<br />
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*<b>Diversify</b>. I am going to read at least one diverse book/comic each month.This means an international author, a female author, a LGBTIQ author, or non-fiction.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-91419521085528906722015-11-04T14:33:00.001+10:002015-11-04T14:33:26.673+10:00Graphic Novels #35<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16132075-nemo">Nemo: Heart of Ice</a></span> (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen special #1)<br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Alan Moore; <b>Illustrated by</b>: Kevin O'Neill<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2013<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: I usually avoid these types of specials and one-shots because they rarely capture the magic of the original. But <i>The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen </i>is the kind of series that I think could have benefited from being more serial in nature, so I decided to give this one a go. The story follows Nemo's daughter, Janni Dakkar, as the new captain of the Nautilus. Feeling jaded and a little constrained by her father's legacy, Cap'n Nemo II decides to take on the one expedition that her father failed, a trek through Antarctica. Nemo and her crew are being followed by these evil inventors, and there's something about an African Queen I didn't quite understand. I don't know if these are threads of a story I haven't read or if it's as disconnected as it felt to me, but I didn't quite grasp the over-arching storyline. That being said, when I concentrated just on Nemo II and her journey with her crew, I really enjoyed it. It's like a comic version of the old Tarzan pulp novels and the art style reflects this very well. As is Moore's want, there's also a Lovecraftian supernatural aspect to the story which I especially enjoyed. It's very short, but very readable.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5805.V_for_Vendetta">V for Vendetta</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Alan Moore; <b>Illustrated by</b>: David Lloyd<br />
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<b>Published;</b> 1982<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: I can't believe it's taken me this long to read <i>V for Vendetta</i>! I was a little lukewarm about the film, but I felt like the comic was a much more complete story. While it's a heftier comic than some of the ones I review on here, it really doesn't take much time to get through at all - it's immensely consumable. Dystopia is where Moore really shines, and the simple art with muted colouring really suits the story being told here. That being said, since it's an early book by Alan Moore some of the writing and ideas aren't as solid as is could be. Some threads are left hanging, others are wrapped up a little too neatly and it does get a little tell-over-show sometimes (I think Moore likes a good monologue). An absolute must-read for Moore, dystopia and political comic fans.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-14320534872218636172015-10-07T11:17:00.000+10:002015-10-07T11:17:31.710+10:00Locke and Key: the audiobook <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So this isn't actually a review, that will come soon, but I wanted to get a post out about the audiobook adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's graphic novel ASAP. Why? Because until November 4th, you can download the audiobook for free. <a href="http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/FREE-Locke-Key-Audiobook/B00YI1CTVU#publisher-summary">FOR FREE</a>.<br />
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I'm sure some people are a little curious as to how you translate a primarily visual medium to an entirely audio one. This adaptation of Locke and Key is very similar to the audiobook for Neil Gaiman's <i>Neverwhere. </i>It's less an audiobook and more an audioplay. Each chapter (which loosely corresponds to an issue of the comic) is introduced by a narrator who sets the scene in a few lines, after that it is made up entirely of dialogue between the cast. The production so far is incredibly well done and the cast is sensational. Tatiana Maslany, Kate Mulgrew, Haley Joel Osment (I think this is the first acting gig of his I've seen/heard since <i>The Sixth Sense!</i>), and Joe Hill himself all star in the audiobook along with a bunch of others. According to audible there are over 50 voice actors all told, so that gives you an idea of the scale of this project.<br />
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Anyway, if you've been looking for a new audiobook or have always been interested in checking out <i>Locke and Key </i>but wasn't too keen on comics then I highly recommend you get this while it's free.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-13554817552271028182015-08-31T13:00:00.001+10:002015-08-31T13:00:13.430+10:00Book Review: Queens of Noise by Evelyn McDonnell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14865302-queens-of-noise">Queens of Noise: The Real Story of The Runaways</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Evelyn McDonnell<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2013<br />
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<b>Synopsis</b>: In four years the teenage members of the Runaways did what no other group of female rock musicians before them could: they released four albums for a major label and toured the world. The Runaways busted down doors for every girl band that followed. Joan Jett, Sandy West, Cherrie Currie, lead guitarist Lita Ford, and bassists Jackie Fox and Vicky Blue were pre-punk bandits, fostering revolution girl style decades before that became a riot grrrl catchphrase.<br />
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The story of the Runaways has never been told in its entirety. Drawing on interviews with most of this seminal rock band’s former members as well as controversial manager Kim Fowley, Queens of Noise will look beyond the lurid voyeuristic appeal of a sex-drugs-rock ’n’ roll saga to give the band its place in musical, feminist, and cultural history. (Via Goodreads)<br />
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I have well and truly dropped the blogger ball this month. I have been extremely busy with uni work and life stuff, but it's sad to see so few posts up on my blog! So here is a quick review to add another post to my meager blog offerings.<br />
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Where to start? I came across this book when Jackie Fox (first bassist of the<i> Runaways</i>) made headlines the other month accusing their manager of raping her while she was in the band. I had long been a fan of the music of <i>The Runaways, </i>but outside of knowing that they were teenagers and hugely influential on future female bands I really didn't know much about their formation or the scandals that followed them pretty much from the start. Jackie Fox's statement, and the subsequent fallout from her other bandmates, led me on a wikipedia binge which ended with a visit to Goodreads. The main reason I decided on <i>Queens of Noise </i>over one of the autobiographies is that I hoped it'd be a broader look at the band, rather than prescribing to a certain person's memories and perspectives. Given how many fights and court cases this band has fought since the 1970s, I just don't know how much weight those autobiographies can be given.<br />
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Unfortunately that wasn't what I got. Generally speaking, I didn't get any insights in this book that I couldn't find on wikipedia or fan websites. It covered the highs and lows of the band, but it didn't really introduce any new perspectives or stories. McDonnell may have been backed against a wall, so to speak, because it seems from the interviews included in the book that she didn't really get access to all of the band and the ones willing to talk were the ones who have <i>always </i>been willing to talk. In terms of this complaint, if you haven't really read anything about this band then I don't think the content will be a problem. It's comprehensive and it covers a lot, from their lives before the band to their careers afterwards. If you have, like me, done some internet searches on the band then don't expect too much from this book.<br />
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Another issue I had was the quality of the writing. McDonnell has had a lengthy career as a journalist but when I started reading this I turned to my mum and said "this reads like someone's Masters thesis". Low and behold, that's exactly what this book was. I've read a lot of book which have begun as a Masters or PhD thesis, but the successful transitions are the ones which eliminate the unnecessary academic framework. McDonnell frames the formation of the band around academic discussion on Los Angeles in the 1970s in terms of "four ecologies"*. It's quite interesting stuff but it's introduced early in the book and then never really adds any real context or depth to the girls' stories. Does it really help for a music fan to know that certain girls grew up in "autopia" or "surfurbia"? This broad academic framework has a very specific purpose in academia, but this isn't a book advertised to music academics, it's a book for fans of the<i> Runaways. </i>And considering how often McDonnell refers to the biopic starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, it's clearly a book created for young new fans of the band who want to know more about the real life women who inspired the film.<br />
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But outside of the academic framework at the start of the book, the writing is pretty sub-par.There is a lot of groan-worthy, overly descriptive language typical of a feature article:<br />
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"Laying down the chinka-chinka guitar rhythms of the band's dirty rock sound, Joan Jett is already Joan Jett: a cute but dark-eyed tomboy in a custom, red catsuit - gymnast meets race-car driver - and, of course, boots. She has outlined her Cleopatra eyes in dark liner and sings with the sexy bravado of one who was once painfully shy"</blockquote>
This is sandwiched between McDonnell's most overused stylistic choices, 'to' comparisons:<br />
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"To this day, he speaks a sort of tourette's jive that's a crucial link in the lineage from the Beats to Jack Bruce to Tom Waits to Wildman Fisher to David lee Roth to Perry Farrell"</blockquote>
What does this mean? What exactly is she comparing? The way they speak? Were they all influenced by Kim Fowley (who this quite is about) and how he spoke? Was he influenced by them? To comparisons are fine in moderation, but they are incredibly overused in this book. It just ends up reading as lady and as though she's wanting to prove her credentials, "look at all these things I know! Seven degrees of musical Kevin Bacon!" The final straw, for me, is that McDowell doesn't view this story objectively. Her person opinions on events that occurred and people that were involved came through so strongly. When discussing a somewhat controversial interview that music manager Danny Sugarman conducted with the<i> Runaways </i>McDonnell writes:<br />
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"Sugarman was a shitty writer and drug addict who thought he was a rock star and died married to Fawn Hall of Iran-Contra infamy"</blockquote>
Look, his article was garbage and lewd but there's a way to say that without bringing your own personal opinions on the guy into the story. And what does it matter if he was a drug addict - so was just about everyone in the<i> Runaways!</i><br />
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But perhaps the biggest straw for me is the sympathy McDowell has for Fowley, the man who Jackie Fox accused of raping her. Throughout the book there are interviews with crew, journalists and musicians who say that Fowley was a creep and aggressive and abusive towards the girls. While I don't think it was McDowell's responsibility to address all of the rumours, especially when there was conflicting stories or a lack of evidence, but she follows so many of these moments of criticism with some really gross explanations for why Fowley isn't so bad. I.e. it was the 1970s and tonnes of men had sex with underage girls. Heck, Roman Polanksi "got busted" for having sex with an underage girl**. Or modern society has a different definition for what constitutes predatory behaviour. Or he was a freak, and was an easy target because of this. It just comes across as so apologetic, especially since she failed to be objective throughout the book, like she'd met him and liked him and didn't want to face the idea that he wasn't the charming and weird guy in a salmon coloured suit she envisioned.<br />
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So at the end of the day this book just didn't deliver what I was hoping for. It'd be fine for a complete <i>Runaways </i>novice or younger reader as it reads pretty well in spite of my issues with style and it does cover the details about the formation of the band, career highlights and band fights. It does paint some interesting pictures of the 1970s L.A music scene, but these are too few and far between for my liking. A resounding meh, from start to finish.<br />
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<i>*It's based in architectual and cultural studies stuff. </i><br />
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<i>**This upset me the most. She didn't address that he was arrested and found guilty of raping a child before fleeing the country. She simply mentioned he was "busted". ugggggghhhh</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-43249314539178003142015-07-24T17:13:00.000+10:002015-07-24T17:13:37.736+10:00Book review: Red Dragon by Thomas Harris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28877.Red_Dragon">Red Dragon</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Thomas Harris<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 1981<br />
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<b>Synopsis</b>: Will Graham stands in a silent, empty house communing with a killer. An FBI instructor with a gift for hunting madmen, Graham knows what his murderer looks like, how he thinks, and what he did to his victims after they died. Now Graham must try to catch him. But to do it, he must feel the heat of a killer's brain, draw on the macabre advice of a dangerous mental patient, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and follow a trail of microscopic clues to the place where another family has already been chosen to die--and where an innocent woman has found the Dragon first. (Via Goodreads)<br />
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<i>“It's hard to have anything isn't it? Rare to get it, hard to keep it. This is a damn slippery planet.”</i></div>
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Tom and I started Bryan Fuller's series <i>Hannibal </i>when we heard it had been cancelled. We'd both been wanting to watch it for awhile, but we have so many ongoing shows we watch that it was kind of exhausting to add yet another one to the list. So the cancellation, though very sad (more so now that we know how great the show is), let us feel like we could finally make the commitment to the show. After we finished each episode, I'd look up the AV club review and see what people had said. One thing I hadn't really expected was a continued discussion on how faithful to the book(s) the show is, especially since it takes place prior to the events of the Harris novels. </div>
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Interest piqued, I decided to find out for myself. What I discovered that the TV show is very clever at weaving lines and references from the book into the show, but also, this book is hella cool.</div>
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For those of you who have watched the TV show,* <i>Red Dragon </i>takes place four-five years after any events in the show (maybe longer? It's 4 years since Hannibal's capture in the book but I don't know when/if Hannibal will be caught in the show). After catching and then nearly dying at Hannibal Lecter's hand, Will Graham has removed himself from the FBI and settled down and married. He's still troubled by his days in the FBI, but he finds a quiet satisfaction working with his hands and not empathising with serial killers for a living (whodathunkit?). Oh wait, did I say he was content? Enter Jack Crawford, desperate for Will's insight into a new serial killer known as the Tooth Fairy. </div>
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At the new moon, the Tooth Fairy kills an entire family. The deaths are quick and mostly painfree, except for the mothers who seem to receive the lion's share of the aggression and attention. Graham is called in to try and make the connection between the two families that no one else has been able to find, but in involving himself in the case he throws his fragile life into a tailspin. His new family is tense and close to falling apart, as is his sanity. Working in pursuit of a serial killer can't be easy on anyone but for Will it seems extra destructive. At one point Will visits the imprisoned Hannibal Lecter to try and get his perspective and this terrible toll on Will is explained, the line between killers and Will is especially thin. Will is gifted (cursed?) with the ability to empathise completely which obviously causes pain, but it also blurs the line about Will's self. Is he able to empathise on a purely scholarly level, or is it because he's the same as them, evil and destructive like them? </div>
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The narrative is primarily framed around Will, however there are chapters that travel back to the Tooth Fairy's (aka Red Dragon, aka Francis Dolarhyde) childhood and adolescence, or spends time with him as he goes through his daily routine and gets ready to attack another family. There is also a section or two framed around Hannibal Lecter and Jack Crawford or other smaller characters, to help fill out the story without having Will inserted into every single scene. As the book gets closer to its final act, the Dolarhyde chapters increase and we see his fractured sense of self and mental instability which is often mirrored against Will. It becomes a story that's both about the hunt for a serial killer and an introspection into the psyche of people who live on the fringe of society.</div>
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Lest those of you who watch the TV show think that this aligns with TV-Will...hold your horses. While his ability to empathise with killers is a part of his character and a leading role in his fragility, Book-Will does a lot more detective work than TV-Will ever does. While he certainly gets a "feeling" that he can't define through actual evidence, he also has an eidetic memory which helps greatly as he spends hours upon hours sifting through evidence. There's a stronger foundation of reality in <i>Red Dragon </i>than in the show, which tends to favour aesthetic and theme over narrative stability.</div>
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I found the ending a little unsatisfying. I didn't have an issue with the events themselves, but they were written in such a vague way that I actually wasn't entirely sure what I was reading at first. My other major problem was the absolute lack of female characters in the book. There were two, I think, maybe three. I could have forgiven the small number if they were at least characters with some depth, but I found them decidedly lacking.Ultimately though, these two issues weren't strong enough to effect my general enjoyment of the book and I'll definitely be seeking out <i>Silence of the Lambs </i>when I'm next at the library. Goodbye Will.</div>
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<i>*Yes, I know that there is a film adaptation of </i>Red Dragon<i>. No I will not comment on it or refer to it in the review because it is NOT GOOD.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-6685590901555481412015-07-15T20:23:00.000+10:002015-07-15T20:23:31.082+10:00Book Review: The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9542439-the-lady-of-the-rivers">The Lady of the Rivers</a> (The Cousin's War #3)<br />
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Written by: Philippa Gregory<br />
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Published: 2011<br />
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Synopsis: Jacquetta, daughter of the Count of Luxembourg and kinswoman to half the royalty of Europe, was married to the great Englishman John, Duke of Bedford, uncle to Henry VI. Widowed at the age of 19, she took the extraordinary risk of marrying a gentleman of her household for love, and then carved out a new life for herself. (via Goodreads)<br />
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<i><span style="color: red;"><b>*mild spoilers below, but really, it's based on a historical event so this shouldn't be news to you*</b></span></i><br />
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<i>“Any woman who dares to make her own destiny will always put herself in danger.”</i><br />
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I don't tend to read it too often, but I really do love historical fiction. There's something about reading a fictionalised account of a family or event from long ago which just ticks a lot of boxes for me. <i>The Lady of the Rivers </i>is actually the third in Philippa Gregory's <i>Cousin's War </i>series, but it's a prequel that takes place during the years prior to and during Henry VI rule. It focuses on Jacquetta, a real life fascinating woman, who began her life in English-occupied France, the daughter and niece of Luxembourg royalty (and a Goddess), before marrying one of the most powerful men in England, John of Lancaster.<br />
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Jacquetta is a perfect character for this type of book because while she's involved in a lot of the critical events that led up to the Cousin's war, she's removed enough that the book isn't just another rehash of a very famous family feud. Instead we see life on the outskirts, how her first husband ruled France and how he tried to guide his young nephew, the king. We see the early days of Henry's rule and the follies of youth as he and his young wife play favourites in court and have zero understanding of how to run a castle, let alone a country. And we get a little insight into raising a child (or 14 as is the case with Jacquetta) during these tough and troubled times, especially as a lady of the court who is forced to spend months away from their children. This peripheral view, I imagine since I haven't read the following two books, also helps to set the scene quite well for the really character-driven narrative that is to come*. <br />
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One of the best things about this book was how focused it was on women in this era. Through Jacquetta and the women in her life, we see how few options they had. And not only did they have far fewer options in life compared to men, but their futures were largely out of their control. If they were from wealthy families like Jacquetta, their marriages were often to form alliances or to solve land feuds. Jaquetta's first marriage to John of Lancaster is never consumated, instead she is an object for him to use. Jacquetta, as their family myth says, is gifted with the "sight" because their oldest ancestor was the water goddess Melusina. John, obsessed with alchemy, wants Jacquetta to see the future in a mirror and help him guide his nephew to success and prosperity. And while her talents puts her in his favour, as the reader sees with Jacquetta's brief interaction with Joan of Arc and another woman of the English court, this favour can quickly turn sour when it no longer works in someone's favour. A talent at forecasting the future or making herbal remedies quickly becomes signs of witchcraft and can lead to an unfortunate end tied to a stake. In a less supernatural sense, a woman failing to give her husband a child and heir just as quickly turns from favour. It was a time where women were balancing on a tightwire, hoping to keep their husband, their father, their brother, and their King happy.<br />
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In spite of this, Jacquetta, and several other women in the book, are shown to be independent and strong characters. They make themselves heard and they make their own choices, even though they face dire consequences. After John's death, Jacquetta marries his squire and almost loses everything in the process. But her marriage is one of love, and not only do they survive, they rise high in the court. Henry's wife and Queen, Margaret, is ruled by her emotions and is a passionate and fiery woman. Many of her decisions could have risked her her crown and her head, but she lives as she pleases regardless. Joan of Arc, although only in the book for a short while, is an absolutely beautiful and principled girl. Her trial and death is utterly heartbreaking, and the weight of it effects Jacquetta long after it happens. The women are the focus of this book, so we see a lot less of the wars and fighting than many books that deal with this era typically show. This I am eternally grateful for because, ugh, I don't need more battle scenes in my life. I get enough of them in <i>Game of Thrones </i>thank you very much.<br />
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Now this isn't to say this book is perfect. It falls into many of the holes historical fiction struggle to deal with. There is an insane overuse of titles in the book. Every time John is mentioned, it is "John of Lancaster, first Duke of Bedford". While I know it's hard to keep on top of all the characters, especially since they all seem to be called John, Richard, Edward and Henry, but when you have a 10 page chapter that only involves a discussion between Jacquetta and her husband, I think the reader can be trusted to understand which John this is. It also struggles at times with covering <i>so much. </i>I loved that it gave glimpses into life in court, away from court, during pregnancy, during birth, during war etc etc, but this did mean that sometimes things were fairly shallow in their depiction. A few times Jacquetta brings up her pregnancy and then gives birth 200 words later and then you don't hear of the child for another 40 pages. A tightening of the focus, just a bit, may have helped here. Building on this...I hated Margaret. She was an insipid and obnoxious brat who plunged two countries into ruin because she wanted to play favourites at court and didn't have a proper grasp of money or time. Because the book is so focused towards the women in the narrative, all of the blame ends up heaped on her shoulders, probably unfairly, while Henry is barely discussed or depicted as a pious and naive young man. Because Jacquetta is one of her ladies in waiting, we spend <i>so </i>much time with her, especially as the country falls into war between the two factions of the family. I didn't like spending so much time with her scheming, although I guess there wasn't a lot else that could be depicted since we were following Jacquetta. But to further infuriate me, the book depicts Margaret as this horrendous woman but then Jacquetta will dote on her or excuses her terrible actions. I couldn't get a read on how Jacquetta truly felt. When she talks about a shallow or dangerous decision made by Henry and Margaret, is she simply being nice because it's her job to be loyal, or does she truly not understand/care how terrible that decision was? Jacquetta was shown to be so intelligent before this part of her life, and suddenly I couldn't tell if she was playing it safe or naive or foolish or simply blind. At the end of the book I was firmly on the York side, which I don't think was Gregory's intention.<br />
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Problems aside, I did really enjoy reading this book. I spent most of my first day up the Coast with Tom with this book in one hand, and my phone in the other googling names so I could work out everyone's relationship. English family trees give me such a headache! I loved that this book introduced me to a new badass woman in history. Because Jacquetta most definitely was a badass. This book sadly doesn't cover the later years of her life, but she ends up accused of witchcraft (hence the supernatural elements threaded through this book) and manages to escape with her life. And as a mother of 14** it's really beautiful to see how much she fought for her kids and for them to have the best in life. Other accounts of Jacquetta that I've read since tend to depict her as this grabby power-hungry woman who used her children to rise up in station, and maybe she truly was the 15th century version of Kris Kardashian but I much prefer this version. She fought for and risked everything for all of the people in her life, even those like Margaret who perhaps didn't deserve her love and loyalty. Melusina would have been proud.<br />
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<i>*Like I said in the intro, this is actually the third in the series and a prequel, but from what I've read about the other two books it does sound like they are more tightly written in terms of focus. </i><br />
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<i>**I really should fact check this, it's either 12 or 14, but I've already sent the book back to the library and I'm LAZY.</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-58834648733248497462015-07-11T13:34:00.001+10:002015-07-11T13:34:48.979+10:00Graphic Novel review #34<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mt0QX0nfQqU/VWujJ0-3rHI/AAAAAAAAT2I/xKQxeaT9gCk/s1600/cinema%2Bpanopticum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mt0QX0nfQqU/VWujJ0-3rHI/AAAAAAAAT2I/xKQxeaT9gCk/s320/cinema%2Bpanopticum.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/634790.Cinema_Panopticum">Cinema Panopticum</a></span><br />
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<b>Written and illustrated by</b>: Thomas Ott<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2005<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: I first came across Thomas Ott through his illustrated cover for Shirley Jackson's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89724.We_Have_Always_Lived_in_the_Castle?from_search=true&search_version=service_impr"><i>We Have Always Lived in the Castle</i></a>. I love his scratchboard art style, it adds an enormous amount of visual complexity to his stories, which is necessary since they are entirely wordless. <i>Cinema Panopticum </i>follows a girl at a fair who can't take part in any of the activities on offer because she doesn't have enough money. She finally finds the Cinema Panopticum tent, which has 5 movie boxes that are cheap enough for her to afford. Each movie is another short chapter, and the stories are all fairly dark and foreboding, although some are laced with a wicked wit while others are just downright heartbreaking. It's only a short little book but it packs one hell of a wallop.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10886051-birds-of-prey-vol-2">Birds of Prey: The Death of Oracle</a></span> (volume 2)<br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Gail Simone; <b>Illustrated by</b>: Adrian Syaf<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2011<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: I picked this up thinking it was the first volume (I hate when they don't number the spine!) but even so, it clearly sets out all of the major players and recent events at the start of each issue, so that presented no real issue. The story is interesting enough, Oracle (Barbara Gordon, now in a wheelchair) has garnered a little too much attention as a tech-genius and her enemies are now doubling-down on trying to eliminate her. Not only is Oracle a credible threat in her own right, but as Oracle she monitors and supports countless of other heroes so any threat on her life has a knock on effect. The rest of the Birds of Prey are tasked with trying to save Oracle while also having to come to grips with their own dark pasts. This is my, to my knowledge, first Gail Simone and ... I didn't love it? It's a solid story and the characters are well-developed but it didn't wow me. But an (almost) all female team of heroes, some of whom began as anti-heroes or dabbled with villainy, is too good a concept for me to give up on after one middling edition. I'll give it at least one more edition and make my mind up then.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47725.Neil_Gaiman_s_Lady_Justice">Lady Justice</a></span> (volume 1)<br />
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<b>Written and illustrated by</b>: C.J Henderson; Fred Harper; Daniel Brereton<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2008 (though the collected comics are from the 90s)<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: Ugh, this is a good example of making sure you read the fine print. In case you can't see in the cover image, Neil Gaiman's name is written above the title. Awesome!, I thought. Turns out it's not written by Gaiman but merely based on a character of his, and loosely, so very loosely. The concept itself is kinda awesome (kudos to Gaiman). Lady Justice appears to women who have been wronged and implants them with her powers, making them her physical avatar. They then have the power to gain justice for the wrongs they've experienced. The first issue is very violent and very bloody, but when Lady Justice leaves her avatar and the woman cries for her to stay saying she "did everything L.J asked of her," Lady Justice replies that she didn't say how the justice should be meted out and that "the blood and violence was entirely her choice, and she should beware that she isn't revisted in the future by another Lady Justice avatar"*. This I actually really dug, but this story was completely destroyed by the following two or three stories which were equally as bloody and equally as violent. What happened to choosing how to deliver justice? Or that the justice should be proportionate to the crime? I think there was one which actually had the bad guys going to jail instead of dying, but plenty of other people had died by this point. It's just all so pointless. The art is also very '90s pornographic superhero style. Huge gravity defying boobs, tiny waists and the women are always walking on tip-toes. Pass if you ever see this guys, HARD pass.<br />
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*my paraphrasingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-32107693864940921822015-06-16T13:13:00.001+10:002015-06-16T13:14:46.048+10:00Book Review: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1898.Into_Thin_Air">Into Thin Air</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by:</b> Jon Krakauer<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 1997<br />
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<b>Synopsis</b>: On May 9th 1996, five expeditions launched an assault on the summit of Mount Everest. The conditions seemed perfect. Twenty-four hours later one climber had died and 23 other men and women were caught in a desperate struggle for their lives as they battled against a ferocious storm that threatened to tear them from the mountain. In all, eight climbers died that day in the worst tragedy Everest has ever seen. <br />
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Jon Krakauer, an accomplished climber, joined a commercial expedition run by guides for paying clients, many of whom had little or no climbing experience. In Into Thin Air he gives a thorough and chilling account of the ill-fated climb and reveals the complex web of decisions and circumstances that left a group of amateurs fighting for their lives in the thin air and sub-zero cold above 26,000 feet - a place climbers call 'The Death Zone'. Into Thin Air reveals the harsh realities of mountaineering and echoes with frantic calls of climbers lost high on the mountain and way beyond help. (Via Goodreads)<br />
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<i>“With enough determination, any bloody idiot can get up this hill ... The trick is to get back down alive.” </i></div>
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A handful of years ago I read Jon Krakauer's <i>Into the Wild, </i>and shortly after the film adaptation came out. Both caught me at a point in my life where I was first experiencing life as an adult and trying to work out what kind of future I wanted to lead. Christopher McCandless' decision to strip himself of material possessions and trip through the wilderness spoke to me on a very deep level, but the book captured all the very real, and frankly terrifying, consequences that can accompany that sort of lifestyle if you don't actually plan things out. I earmarked Jon Krakauer as an author to read more of but for whatever reason, 19 year old me never followed up with his books.<br />
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A couple of months ago I actually saw a review for his book <i>Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town </i>and earmarked that as a book to request from my library. I haven't gotten around to that yet, but it rekindled my Krakauer interest for the first time in years. And then I saw the trailer for the upcoming film <i>Everest </i>which is based on this book.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JnaopfyC-Qk" width="640"></iframe><br />
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The trailer reminded me of that outdoor wonderlust I experienced when I first read <i>Into the Wild, </i>and once again there seemed that there was an intense mother-nature-is-not-your-friend theme running through it. I bought it immediately, and once I started reading I could not stop.<br />
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I finished this book with a heavy heart. I actually can't remember a time a book made me feel this weary. I cried and felt numb for a good few hours after I put the book down. It was one of the most emotionally exhaustive experiences I've ever gone through that wasn't <i>actually </i>something that was happening to me.<br />
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Here's the thing though, I wasn't emotional because of the loss of life during this Everest climb. Well, I was but that wasn't really what made me feel so damn tired. It was the whole story of Everest. The fanaticism, the commercialism, the risks, the waste and the lack of humanity that people climbing Everest seem to have.<br />
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There is a point early into their climb where Jon remarks on a bundle he sees in the snow along the path. It's the dead body of someone who died making the climb a couple of decades before him. That just seemed so emblematic of how dehumanising this endeavour is. A person died to climb a mountain, not because they needed to for survival but because they wanted to be able to add their name to the list of people who had. And when they died, they get left by their peers like the trash and the old oxygen tanks. "<i>The slopes of Everest are littered with corpses" </i>writes Krakauer at one point, and he isn't exaggerating. One in four climbers have died trying to reach the summit of Everest, and yet it's become a tourist attraction that people with barely any climbing experience pay tens of thousands to do. It's just. so. stupid.<br />
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At another point, Krakauer writes: <br />
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“<i>It was titillating to brush up against the enigma of mortality, to steal a glimpse across its forbidden frontier. Climbing was a magnificient activity, I firmly believed, not in spite of the inherent perils, but precisely because of them.”</i></blockquote>
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And I get it, I really do. I can completely understand the draw of wanting to climb Everest. But the toxicity that surrounds mountains like Everest is everything I hate about humanity. People charging $65,000 to guide you up to the top of the mountain, but not making sure their charges are at a particular level of climbing skill or athleticism. It's so greedy, and when the death toll is so high, it's just a really ugly sight. It makes me think of Gollum and the ring in <i>Lord of the Rings. </i>Reaching the summit is everything, and if that means you leave a person dying on the side of the mountain, like some Japanese climbers did in 1996, then that's what you do. I can't even imagine how terrifying it is to die alone on the side of a stark and baron mountain after watching two people leave you where you lay, because giving you their oxygen means that they wouldn't be able to make the trip up to the top. How can a person actually do that? And I can't imagine how heartbreaking it is to have a loved one die on Everest, and have their body sit where they died until someone pushes it down a ravine or covers it with rocks. It's just so utterly lonely an image.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oXh1TIFw5wE/VX6QV7iZ9pI/AAAAAAAAT3A/qawoJRvb-k4/s1600/david_tennant_ugly_cry.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oXh1TIFw5wE/VX6QV7iZ9pI/AAAAAAAAT3A/qawoJRvb-k4/s1600/david_tennant_ugly_cry.gif" /></a></div>
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While the book itself is primarily about the horrific storm that hit in 1996 and cost 8 people their lives, it's also broadly about the curse of Everest. Krakauer weaves in stories about the climbing history of Everest and the famous stories of men and women both succeeding and failing to reach the summit over the last 100 years. He was originally employed to climb Everest to write an article about the commercialism of the many guided tours going up the mountain each season. But at the end of the day, this commercialism both is and isn't the cause of the wanton loss of life. People were dying well before climbers got the clever idea of leading packs of people up the mountain for $30,000. But the people dying were typically people who had mountaineering experience and who knew the risks of climbing a mountain as high as Everest. As the trailer above points out, once you hit a certain point your body is literally dying. Nowadays, people climbing the mountain are often people who have the money to. They may have some climbing experience, but they're ultimately paying for their guide to get them to the top no matter what. And this is where things turn ugly. When they start their preliminary climb, Krakauer notes that many people in his group have only rudimentary climbing skills and had only climbed one mountain (and not one on the scale of Everest) in the year earlier. They were all in good shape, but as he explains, climbing a mountain isn't about being in shape. It's about the instincts you need to have to problem solve and anticipate the numerous issues you're faced when scaling a wall of ice and snow. When you then toss in the issues of sleep deprivation, sore and wasted muscles, injuries and the brain fuzziness that comes from being withheld necessary oxygen, the issues caused by this lack of experience are vastly intensified. How can you trust being tied to someone who hasn't climbed a mountain before? Or who hasn't experienced oxygen deprivation?<br />
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<i>"This forms the nub of a dilemma that every Everest climber eventually comes up against: in order to succeed you must be exceedingly driven, but if you're too driven you're likely to die"</i></blockquote>
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The book is a fascinating look at both mountain climbing as a career or hobby and the magical draw of mountains. It's so ruthless and competitive and heartless, but it's also this amazing depiction of human endurance and determination. It's horrifying because there are so many examples in the book of how dehumanising this experience is, but it's compounded by the fact that at the back of my mind a little part of me gets it, and i'm disgusted by that. You finish the book feeling the weight of every decision, good and bad, that was made on that mountain. This book might sound like it has a very small base of people it'd appeal to but I came away from it feeling like my eyes had been opened to a whole new view of humanity. Because Krakauer was both a climber with relatively decent experience but also one of the novices joining a guided tour I've discussed above, he offers a very unique perspective into this world. He understands climbing and he understood his limitations and that he probably shouldn't have been there, but as a climber he was also under the spell of the mountain and the desperate need to conquer something that has foiled so many. It's both hard to watch, and hard to look away.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-46291518731881199352015-05-29T13:16:00.001+10:002015-05-29T13:16:25.433+10:00Graphic Novel Mini-reviews #33<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wrfRUwFDCtg/VTWa-c4i7LI/AAAAAAAATn0/H5OdzPcA1dU/s1600/chew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wrfRUwFDCtg/VTWa-c4i7LI/AAAAAAAATn0/H5OdzPcA1dU/s1600/chew.jpg" width="204" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7870457-chew-vol-2">Chew: International Flavor</a></span> (Volume 2)<br />
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<b>Written by</b>: John Layman; <b>illustrated by</b>: Rob Guillory<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2014<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: I read the first volume of <i>Chew </i>aaaaaaages ago, but I never got around to buying the second volume. God knows why because these comics are side-achingly funny. To recap a bit, Tony Chu is a cop who is cibopathic - meaning that he can get the "history" of something by tasting it. Yes that means he can tell whether that black market chicken soup is made with real chicken, yes that means he also takes the occasional bite out of a dead person. It makes for some disgusting moments (especially when you factor in a boss who hates him) but they're always hilarious. In this volume Tony finds himself on a little island renowned for its lax chicken laws, something which attracts everyone from his chicken-chef brother and a host of tourists and chefs to the island. But it turns out the chicken isn't actually chicken, and perhaps some of the chefs aren't here of their own volition. Throw in a vampire, a bionic partner, a host of cibopathic-style specialties and you've got the best cop comic written about illegal chicken ever. EVER.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23546848-thor-vol-1">Thor: Goddess of Thunder</a></span> (volume 1)<br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Jason Aaron; <b>illustrated by</b>: Russell Dauterman<br />
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<b>Published:</b> 2015<br />
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<b>My Thoughts</b>: Lady Thor!! YES! I put off reading this run until the first volume came out because I instinctively knew that it'd be one that would make me sad if I couldn't just read through a big chunk of it. Basically, male Thor has become unworthy of wielding Mjolnir and a secret female has picked it up and been transformed into the female incarnation of Thor. Who she is out of Asgardian armour we don't know (yet) but what we do know is that she knows male Thor to some degree. There's a really interesting discussion about what makes a person Thor, is it a mantle that can be adopted by whoever holds Mjolnir or is it intrinsically tied to the man who originally held that name. And are you worthy of the name <i>just </i>because you can hold the hammer, or does the name hold another measure of worthiness? The comic subtly plays with male vs female expectations within the comics world, weaving it into the broader story while never making it <i>the </i>story. I'm not familar with Russell Dauterman's other work, but his illustrations in this volume (all but one issue) are really evocative and beautiful.<i> </i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18528141-cat-person?from_search=true&search_exp_group=group_a&search_version=service">Cat Person</a></span><br />
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<b>Written and illustrated by</b>: Seo Kim<br />
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<b>Published:</b> 2014<br />
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<b>My thoughts</b>: A few weeks ago Tom and I headed down to the Gold Coast to attend the final weekend of their film festival. We had some time to spare before seeing a movie, so we ended up popping into a library and having some reading down time. I picked up <i>Cat Person </i>because, duh. OF COURSE I picked up a book that was clearly written for me. It's a short collection of 1-4 panel comics created by Seo Kim. In direct contradiction to the title, the cat comics are only actually a small part of the book. The comics are broken into 4 autobiographical sections about her love life, her cat (I want to say Jimmy?) and her life as an illustrator. It's really cute and relateable, but it's probably not made to be read front to back in one sitting like I did. It's the kind of book that you flick through and read a couple of comics every now and then.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-37383931420350417252015-05-28T11:48:00.002+10:002015-05-28T11:48:38.174+10:00Movie Trailer: The End of the Tour (2015)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="510" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fqUa5sYHC9s" width="854"></iframe><br />
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I am still yet to read a David Foster Wallace book so I'm probably not the intended audience for this film, but I actually really dig this trailer. I grew up loving films like <i>Almost Famous </i>and this trailer has a similar vibe, except with a writer in the role of the majestic musicians which is just an awesome thing we should see more often. The film is based on David Lipsky's (Jesse Eisenberg's character) book <i>Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself, </i>a non-fiction account of the 5 days he spent road tripping with DFW. Since I don't know either of the men as people or as writers I can't attest to how on point this trailer is, but even if they're only broad interpretations of the real men they're portraying I think this could potentially be a really interesting movie.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-5093705489344551202015-05-18T10:10:00.001+10:002015-05-18T10:10:46.488+10:00Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17231.Darkly_Dreaming_Dexter">Darkly Dreaming Dexter</a></span><br />
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<b>Written by</b>: Jeff Lindsay<br />
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<b>Published</b>: 2004<br />
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<b>Synopsis</b>: Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep's clothing. He's handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He's a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened -- of himself or some other fiend.(via Goodreads)<br />
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<i>“Really now: If you can't get me my newspaper on time, how can you expect me to refrain from killing people?”</i></div>
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When I started watching <i>Dexter </i>I had no idea it was based on a book series. I distinctly remember my mum bringing the dvd of the first season home from work one day, and us then spending an entire Sunday watching through the whole show. Actually, that might be the first example of me binge watching TV and it's all my mum's fault. That's a load off my shoulders. </div>
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Anyway, I only found out it was based on a book series a few years after it began airing on TV when the author, Jeff Lindsay, came to the Brisbane Writers Festival. I sat in on a few of his talks and thought he seemed fascinating and really interesting and made a mental note to actually read one of the <i>Dexter </i>books. And then the TV show started (in my opinion) to go downhill and I swore of Dexter, and moved on to <i>Breaking Bad </i>and <i>Game of Thrones </i>and whatever else began at about the same time. Cut to 2 months ago when I was killing time in a charity shop and found a copy of <i>Darkly Dreaming Dexter </i>for a wallet-busting $2. All of my promises to read the series flooded back and I decided to give book Dexter a go at redeeming his reputation after TV Dexter did such a dismal job.</div>
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If you've seen the TV show, this first book follows the first season fairly closely. We get introduced to Dexter and the folks of the Miami-Dade police department and the crux of the novel follows the "ice truck killer" (although it's never called that in the book) and some exploration of Dexter's childhood and how Harry's code (i.e. you're going to kill anyway, so kill bad guys) began. There's some interesting parallels drawn between the two killers and their styles, and reading about a serial killer through the eyes of another serial killer is quite an interesting perspective to take.<br />
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There are some clear differences between the book and the series and they boil down to two things. First, the characters. Deb is still his sister, Masuoka (Masuka in the show) is still creepy and Doakes doesn't like Dexter, but LaGuerta is quite different and Angel is a medical examiner, rather than a cop. Dexter's relationship with Rita is also a very minor part of the book. The second actually builds off the first, and it's that this is almost entirely Dexter's story. The book rarely delves into the other characters outside of conversations they have with Dexter or if he happens to catch them looking at him. This makes a lot of sense given that he's meant to be a sociopath and he's depicted as quite egocentric, but the great thing about expanding the view outside of his POV in the show, is that we are reminded that, oh yeah, he's a goddamn monster.<br />
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The idea to only kill bad guys in an interesting one. It sometimes feels like Dexter has a superpower, and instead of channeling it towards evil he uses it for the good of the city. When you hear him talk about Miami and the decay that has set in, the drugs and gangs and murder, it's hard not to think that he's doing the police a solid. Clearing the trash that they can't legally touch because of tricky things like evidence and motive. But it's a lot like Walter White in Breaking Bad. Sure, he's doing it for his family! He wants them to have money to survive after he dies of cancer, so selfless! So loving! Then you remember he's cooking meth, and that there are probably a lot of families being destroyed because of that meth, and a lot of lives cut short because he's decided that this is the best way he can provide for his family. Dexter's code to kill the big bads is nice in theory, until you remember he's a serial killer. HE MURDERS PEOPLE. Who is he to decide someone deserves to die? Who is he to decide that a rapist should disappear into a bunch of garbage bags, rather than see the inside of a court room. Who made him judge, juror and executioner? Because otherwise he'd kill decent people? That's not really much of an option. That's one reason I wish the books pulled back from his perspective a bit. He refers to himself as not human countless times, but without a proper outside perspective it's hard to step back and actually see him as the monster he says he is.<br />
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The book is a really easy read. I don't love Jeff Lindsay's writing style, it's quite stilted at points and some of Dexter's dialogue just didn't work for me. I also found all of the characters quite flat, but it's hard to say whether this is intentional because the book is being told from the perspective of a sociopath, someone who admits to neither caring nor understanding the way people think and act. All in all it makes for a quick and entertaining read, I just don't know that I'll bother reading any more unless I can find similar deals at the charity shop.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09259549933849264277noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7786594091195860484.post-18299578259267706432015-05-13T11:59:00.000+10:002015-05-13T11:59:53.374+10:00Pages to Panels: Another Bookish Guide to Getting into Comics (5)It's been awhile since I posted a <b>Pages to Panels</b>, and since I'm so sketchy with reviews right now is a doubly good time to share.<br />
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Like my first <b>Pages to Panels</b> post, this one is to help match your (book) reading style with some popular comics. Some of the series are ongoing while others have already been completed. One of the toughest things I find with comics is waiting for new issues (I just want to read them NOW) so if you're like that then I recommend going for some of the options that have already been completed.<br />
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So here are another three series I think you should <i>all </i>be reading. If you want to go back to some of my earlier <b>pages to Panels </b>posts, the links are all at the bottom of the page.<br />
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<b>1. <span style="font-size: large;">Fatale</span> - Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips (5 volumes, completed)</b><br />
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I reviewed the first volume of <i><a href="http://www.kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/graphic-novel-mini-review-19.html">Fatale</a> </i>awhile ago and was absolutely captivated with the effortless blend between horror and noir. It's astounding how well it was done and it was subsequently added as further proof in my very long "Ed Brubaker is a comics god duh" list. The horror elements of this novel are very Lovecraftian but when I was trying to decide on a single book/story to add to the banner it occurred to me that I felt like threads of <i>The Mist </i>were present in it. Not in any narrative sense but thematically or stylistically? I'd have to reread <i>The Mist </i>to work out why it jumped out at me as an obvious comparative choice, but in my gut it feels right. That said, the horror isn't really present in the graphic novel, at least not in the first few volumes. It's almost more that it's something that's hovering around the corner that keeps catching the corner of your eye when it adjusts its position.<br />
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</b><b>Similar comics you might also like</b>: <i>Neonomicon </i>(Alan Moore), <i>Batman Black and White </i>(various authors), <i>Dead Letters </i>(Christopher Sebela)<br />
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<b>2</b>. <b><span style="font-size: large;">Doom Patrol </span>- Grant Morrison, Richard Case (6 volumes, completed) </b><br />
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I've mentioned it before but Grant Morrison is weird. But he's the best kind of weird, he opens up your head and forces in all these absurd and fractured concepts that make you look at things differently. Doom Patrol is a comic for the untraditional. The heroes aren't your standard Supermans or Aquamans, they're a motley crew of damaged and unexpected heroes. There's a sentient street, a schizophrenic, a robot and a lot that can't really be explained with a single word. Similarly, the villains aren't your run of the mill variety. My favourite were probably The Brotherhood of Dada, which features a villain who has every power you haven't thought of. The book does a great job of subverting your superhero expectations and will keep your forever on your toes. <br />
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<b>Similar comics you might also like:</b> <i>Animal Man</i> (Grant Morrison), <i>Top 10</i> (Alan Moore), <i>Deadpool </i>(various authors)<br />
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<b>3. <span style="font-size: large;">The Wicked and the Divine </span>- Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (1 Volume, on going)</b><br />
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Now before all of you <i>American Gods </i>haters write off this comic, the main reason I used it as a comparison is because of the way it utilises mythology. Where <i>American Gods </i>used myths to reflect on culture and cultural identity, <i>The Wicked and the Divine </i>uses it to look at popular culture and celebrity status. If you didn't like <i>American Gods </i>I think you will still like <i>The Wicked and the Divine, </i>and if you don't I doubt it has anything to do with a Neil Gaiman novel. In <i>WicDiv </i>12 Gods from the pantheon (which Gods changes every cycle) return to Earth every 90 years to live again. During that time they inspire and distract and torment and are credited as a critical component of societal progress. In this iteration the Gods have come back as musicians (hence the Bowie comparison above, who Lucifer is directly modeled off) except this time an internal conflict has erupted between the Gods. The art and character design in this comic is exceptionally well done. There's a level of minimalism in the panels which keeps the highly saturated colour choices from becoming overwhelming, as well as keeping the focus on our Gods. I think the second volume has either just been released, or is about to be.<br />
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<b>Similar comics you might also like:<i> </i></b><i>Unwritten </i>(Mike Carey), <i>Saga</i> (Brian K. Vaughan), <i>ODY-C </i>(Matt Fraction)<br />
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Read my previous Pages to Panels posts: </div>
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<a href="http://www.kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/pages-to-panels-bookish-guide-to.html">Pages to Panels: A Bookish Guide</a> (1)</div>
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<a href="http://www.kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/pages-to-panels-bookish-guide-to.html">Pages to Panels: Superheroes </a>(2)<br />
<a href="http://kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/pages-to-panels-new-comics-to-jump.html">Pages to Panels: Jump Right In</a> (3)<br />
<a href="http://www.kfmurphy.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/pages-to-panels-linkage-4.html">Pages to Panels: Linkage</a> (4)</div>
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