Your inconstancy doth strike my heart / With ire, that doth make me sick

I was so angry when I finished If We Were Villains, I was ready to angry-rate it. But I won’t. It wouldn’t be fair to disregard the initial elation I felt, the enjoyment the book gave me until it became a major irritant. I loved a third of it, two thirds irritated me, and the last third (or so) I downright hated.

The thing is, the biggest fault of this book is that it did not turn out as good as I wanted it to be. As good as it could have been.

Shakespeare. Elite university. Life on campus. A group of close friends. A Crime.

One third in and I was crazy about it. I loved it. Couldn’t put it down. Was even ready to use that horrible word unputdownable when describing it. But then it happened. Inconsistencies. In everything. Story. Characters. Relationships. Everything.

As inconsistencies kept piling up, I kept hoping they will be miraculously resolved. But they were not. You cannot resolve inconsistent characterization. You cannot resolve the fact that important things are glossed over and a leaf fluttering in a crisp autumn breeze gets a full page.

Shakespeare was awesome for most of the book, as he usually is. The way his work was connected with what was going on, with what the characters were feeling was great. But it grew tedious, because the stuff it was connected to was no longer worthy. So to speak.

The writing was really good and, for the most part, it kept me going. It is the reason I’ll keep an eye out on books by M. L. Rio. I especially loved the fact that the colour red is at one point described as being arterial. One of my favourite syntagms. (Which is also used in The Last Action Hero).

The thing I hated the most, and which made me knock off a star is Oliver Marks, the MC and narrator.

At first I felt he was too perceptive for a male. Yes, yes, I know. But what I don’t know are men who notice the shade of make-up a women is wearing (dark plum purple), or a man who would say “fifteen-inch heels” instead of “high-heels”. But that wore off soon enough and I came to accept it as a me-problem, not a book-problem. However, it was soon replaced by a bigger problem.

THE FOLLOWING IS SPOILERISH, ALTHOUGH NOT REALLY.

Oliver is portrayed as a nice-guy.

“You know, everyone calls you nice,” she said slowly, expression drawn and thoughtful. “But that’s not the word. You’re good. So good you have no idea how good you are.”

But he is not nice, not really. For example, when he goes home he finds out his sister has an eating disorder which is so severe to warrant hospitalization. His parents inform him that this means they will no longer be able to pay his tuition. His reaction is to get really really angry at his parents, and at no point in the book does he express concern for his sister.

Ok, I’m not being fair. The master of words does react with: “Right. That’s … awful.” But that’s before he finds out about the tuition: “You’re telling me I have to drop out of Dellecher because Caroline needs some celebrity doctor to spoon-feed her?” That’s nice, Oliver.

Additionally, here we found out that his parents are paying 20.000 dollars (per annum, I guess) for him to become an actor. Which came like a huge surprise to me, because at the very start of the book Oliver tells us the following:

“Seems like just yesterday my dad was shouting at me for throwing my life away.” ….

My father, even more staunchly opposed than most, refused to accept my decision to waste my university years.

“Art school” alone was enough to provoke my rigidly practical father.

Apparently, it provoked him into supporting his son in pursuing his dream, even though he thought it was not the best choice. That asshole. How dares he.

And then that father goes on to point out that “your sister’s health is more important than us paying twenty thousand dollars for you to play pretend”. Horrible person. Atrocious. And other synonyms.

I was going to get into the characterizations of Richard and James, Fillipa, Meredith, and Wren. But I won’t. It would take ages, and would boil down to them all being either inconsistent or sketchy, or both.

In the end, I didn’t angry-rate the book. I just angry-reviewed it.

The Power of the Way (and of Stupidity)

Being in Ursula-mode, I decided to take a little detour and read her translation of the Tao Te Ching, a book (and philosophy) on which many of her work (and life) greatly relied upon. Unthinkingly, I bought the book on Amazon (Kindle edition) and proceeded to read it. And much of it was unreadable. At first, I thought that the text of The Way is not meant for the feeble-minded such as I.

But then I decided (THE AUDACITY) to start blaming it on the translator. I was surprised that Ursula had done this. Because, aside from being obfuscated, half of it is in prose, the other half in verse. And the verse is meh. And very … male. A bit belligerent even. None of these are exactly Ursula’s TMs. So, I downloaded a sample of Stephen Mitchell’s translation and read his introduction. Then I compared the available Stephen chapters with Ursula chapters, and Stephen was more Ursula than Ursula, esp. with his interchangeable use of he/she pronouns – respecting the fact that there is no gender in the original text.

Then, instead of doing the smart thing, I went on to read about Ursula and Tao Te Ching, about her process and how in fact she came to “translate” the text (not being able to read Chinese). The first article I read said that her text is exactly what the book I was reading was not.

Ursula herself said that:

“I wanted a Book of the Way accessible to a present-day, unwise, unpowerful, perhaps unmale reader, not seeking esoteric secrets, but listening for a voice that speaks to the soul.”

Then came the comparison of her rendition and previous translations. Naturally I decided it was time to check who the translator of the book I have purchased is. James Legge (1815-1897) who is also mentioned in the article (not in a good way).

It would appear I am, in fact, feeble-minded.

However, my feeble-mindedness did end up resulting in something awesome. Having read Legge’s translation, I am able to appreciate Ursula’s rendition of the Tao Te Ching which reaffirmed my undying love and respect for the woman. Reading Legge’s translation was a torture. Reading Ursula’s rendition was a joy. Proving that translation is not work, its artwork. It’s not a love affair, it’s a marriage. Ursula’s comments about her “translation” prove that a text is a live thing, and that meaning is malleable.

Customarily, one would end with the quote from the book, not of author’s notes and footnotes, but you know… Ursula…

“My version of the first four lines of the second verse doesn’t follow any of the scholarly translations, and is quite unjustified, but at least, unlike them, it makes sense without horrible verbal contortions.”

“I think a Confucian copyist slipped the king in. The king garbles the sense of the poem and goes against the spirit of the book. I dethroned him.”

“The confusion already existed when the Ma wang tui version was written, and there seems to be no way of sorting it out now except by radical surgery.”

“A clear stream of water runs through this book, from poem to poem, wearing down the indestructible, finding the way around everything that obstructs the way. Good drinking water.”

EDIT: It. Is. Not. (Wholly). My. Fault. When you find Ursula’s translation on Amazon and click on the Kindle edition the bookseller extraordinaire sells you a different fucking book. (I’d honestly prefer it was my stupidity that lead to this and not capitalism).

Breaking the Dawn

Got a splitting headache. It’s six in the morning and I just got “home”. The quotation marks are irrelevant. I don’t remember when was the last time I felt such a sudden urge to write something down, without actually having anything to write. Maybe it’s just a need to prove that I am coherent enough to hit the keys in the appropriate order to form actual words.

Drank a lot tonight. I guess. But it wasn’t really a lot because here I am on the precipice of dawn, sitting on a strange terrace writing nothing in particular. I tried to read, however it seems that my impressive headache is more conducive to writing than it is to reading. Something which I find utterly interesting, but do not feel the need to delve into the issue.

Got out of my routine. Feels good. But it lacks something. He knows who he is and where he is.

I’m trying to follow my own train of thought and it invariably wanders back to the windy, desolate night and the flickering lights at the entrance of the supermarket. It wanders back to the silence.

Beyond the dark there is a world which I cannot see.

I’m a bit drunk right now, in case you did not realize, and I’m trying to write it off, the fuzzy feeling in my head. Never liked it much, feeling muddled. Understandable, having in mind that my greatest fear is losing my mental acuity. It’s a bit pathetic that I would actually resort to drinking substantial quantities of alcohol, having that in mind. But I’m weak as the next person. Maybe more.

I do like the cold. I feel comfortably numb.

I really should go to sleep now. Dawn is breaking.

Oh, look. I’ve written another non-review!

My compulsion to write about Interstellar is as strong as my disinterest for it. I cannot explain it. I normally don’t judge things I have not experienced. I think that is irresponsible. Still, here it goes. From the moment I saw the trailer for Interstellar I hated it. I just hate it with the entirety of my being. It’s prejudiced and pathetic to have such powerful feelings about something you haven’t given a real chance. But it’s there.

Where does it come from? It comes from an impression there’s an overwhelming perception of Christopher Nolan as an artisté (yes, artisté not artist) who hides his enormous artistic sensibilities behind blockbusters such as Batman and Inception.

That’s a load of crap. I’ve seen every single movie he’s made after Memento (not Interstellar, obviously) and I think most of them are pretentious and suffer from illusions of grandeur. I liked Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises not so much. I absolutely loved Inception. Memento is one of my favourite movies.

I do not think he’s a genius writer/director who’s shaken the industry to its core with his treatment of abstract ideas. I think he’s a guy who takes great actors, a lot of special effects and spins them around some emotion or idea in a visually impressive way. It takes mad skillz to do that, undoubtedly, but it does not make him a genius.

I’ve stumbled upon a great article about the “Christopher Nolan Disease” which Sady Doyle defines as:

“…a saddening affliction, most common among blockbuster film directors named Christopher Nolan, in which vast, immersive, awe-inspiring worlds are created solely in order to tell the same damn story over and over again.”

Maybe I’m wrong and misguided, maybe most people think he’s overrated. There is a lot of criticism of his status as “one of the most influential directors of the new millennium” in the very article that calls him just that. I do however feel the need to point out the nascent nature of the new millennium.

I do know that I hate Interstellar and I felt a need to share that.

Announcing The Stage to Screen Blogathon!

The Rosebud Cinema

Rachel’s Theatre Reviews and I are co-hosting
The Stage to Screen Blogathon
which will take place from
October 17 – 19, 2014!

View original post 542 more words

From Rags

I’ve read a total of 66 pages and it was enough for me to conclude that this book will never get To Riches.

Jaxxon is a young woman who has been in foster care, together with her sister Leah and Connor, a boy of 16 with which she has shared a single kiss when she was fourteen. Connor left, never to fulfil his promise and come back to her. Through shitty plot development, they once again come together. Immense sexual tension was supposed to ensue, but there was none of it due to ineptness of the author.

Jaxxon, the protagonist, is a derisive, obnoxious woman. Her homicidal tendencies are supposed to show us how tough and unrelenting she is, I guess. To me it was just freaky and made me a little bit scared. Let me illustrate:

“She wanted to be away from both of them so she could alone enjoy the fantasy of slaughtering them in their sleep.”

I think that’s just sick. 

Now, about that sexual tension between Connor and Jaxxon. There is none. There is just talk about how there’s a lot of sexual tension that everyone can see (except the reader ).

“The sexual tension was so thick it was almost visible.”

~ Key word ALMOST.

“He was itching to touch her, hold her, kiss her, drive himself into her.”

~ The pinnacle of sexual tension in From Rags.

What I particularly detest is the fact that Jaxxon saying “No” is not taken into consideration, because let’s face it, Connor knows what she really wants because he kissed her once when she was 14.

“The angrier she got the more she bloody aroused him.”

~ Very healthy,

I’ll finish with my favourite sentence:

“She was concerned that she might be turning into a eunuch.”

In summation, if you want to read a book which has undergone dubious editing, which deals with an implausible attraction between two thoroughly unlikeable characters who share no chemistry, From Rags is the perfect book for you.

Abby… Normal?

Anatomy of Reading

Two days ago I finished reading Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheusby Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and once again I noticed something – if this book had been written in the 21st century it would have been done as at least a 4 part series with 400 pages per book. This way it was a 230 page single volume book.

There’s so much that happens in this book – years and years of action, murder after murder, investigations, trials, imprisonments, travels and exploration. Now, Mary had the good luck of living when she lived, because the resulting book is fast paced, not tiring, easy to read and fun. If, instead it had been written by a modern writer the first part of Viktor’s education and research would have been done in such detail (and on at least 500 pages) that after the “it’s a live!” moment the average reader would have…

View original post 405 more words

Dark World Eye Candy

As a fan, I find it hard to curb my enthusiasm about the upcoming sequel. Understandably, I cannot avoid a post with those shiny new Empire covers.

Some deviant artwork to brighten things up…

I know there’s only a few people out there who prefer Thor to Loki, but we as a minority have our rights 🙂

Let us all forget about Batfleck and look forward to the new Thor movie, shall we?

Related articles

• Thor: The Dark World – Lots of new photos and Empire covers (liveforfilms.com)
• ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Unleashes Twenty New Images And A Video (upproxx.com)

Russian Winter Triumphs over Olympism?

Maybe you’ve heard of something called the Olympic Charter? Well, it is the codification of the Fundamental Principles of Olympism, apparently.  The Principles tell us that Olympism is a philosophy of life, that is “seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.” It’s goal is to “is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

And my favourite:

Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

Stephen Fry at a protest in London over gay rights in Russia. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA (source: theguardian.com)

Allow me to state a few more facts.

August 9th

The International Olympic Committee is waiting for more clarifications from the Russian government on the anti-gay law that is overshadowing preparations for the Winter Games in Sochi, IOC President Jacques Rogge said Friday.

August 16th

The United States Olympic Committee, seemingly backtracking on an earlier statement – and now outright contradicting the International Olympic Committee – says Russia’s draconian new anti-gay law is inconsistent with fundamental Olympic principles.

August 22nd

Russia has given assurances its anti-gay “propaganda” law will not affect the Winter Olympics, says International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has released a statement saying it is content with the reassurances given by Russia over an anti-gay law signed in June for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

August 23rd

A decree banning demonstrations and rallies has been signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and will take place over the duration of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

I think Freddie wants a word with you.

I had a dream
When I was young
A dream of sweet illusion
A glimpse of hope and unity
And visions of one sweet union
But a cold wind blows
And a dark rain falls
And in my heart it shows
Look what they’ve done to my dreams

Related articles

• Russia ‘gives anti-gay law assurance’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Russia vows not to discriminate during Sochi Olympics (cbc.ca)
• Russia assures IOC of no discrimination against gays in Sochi (globalnews.ca)
• Putin signs decree banning protests in Sochi around Olympics time (ctvnews.ca)
• Winter Olympics 2014: Russian officials say anti-gay law won’t spur discrimination in Sochi (wjla.com)
• Russian Deputy Prime Minister Defends Anti-Gay Law In Letter To IOC (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Rogge criticises Isinbayeva remarks (bbc.co.uk)
• BREAKING: US Olympic Committee says Russia anti-gay law “inconsistent with fundamental Olympic principles” (americablog.com)
• Russia’s anti-gay laws vs. the Olympic spirit (thenewstribune.com)

Is Korean Top Gear Funny in Korea?

I have no idea.
In Top Gear (BBC) talent meets true love and passion, and utter understanding of what each segment of the audience wants. They took a topic which is interesting to a small part of the population, and made it appealing to a wider audience – people who don’t care one bit about cars. Sounds simple enough, but using a niche to appeal to a wider audience is, I believe, a bitch.
Here’s how Koreans do it.

I have no idea how popular Korean Top Gear is. I’m wondering, is the Top Gear concept as appealing to the Koreans as it is to us who have grown up in an anglo-infested entertainment world?