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Self Challenge: Tim's 2013 3Ws (Weading Writing Watching)
You know everyone says that Hugh Jackman is not a professional singer but he has done LOADS of Musical Theatre before, most notably in Oklahoma (I have a copy of that stage show on DVD with him playing Curly, was where I came to love the man, before he was even Wolverine :-))
Alright, I'll concede that if you sing and get paid for it, you're a professional singer, but I was thinking in terms of people whose main vocation is singing. A singer that acts, rather than an actor that sings. IYSWIM.
Lol!! I knew what you meant and was just being pedantic :-)
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max BrooksZombies, eBook, 350 pages
You know that scene in Silver Linings Playbook where Bradley Cooper's character gets so infuriated with Hemingway's A farewell to Arms that he throws it through the window? Well that's what i wanted to do to this. Only i didn't because it was on my iPad, and that would be really expensive, yet alone the cost of fixing the window... (2/5)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-War-Z-e...
(Full review on my blog as usual, or click on the Goodreads link)
Tim wrote: "Briefly, it's a historical melodrama about the wretched poor (the miserable ones) in France. It starts in 1815 Toulon and culminates in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris. Law, justice, politics, lov..."Pfft. Understatement.
Life of Pi by Yann MartelLiterary, kindle, 356 pages
Tedious.
Like many, I enjoyed the film and was conned into reading the book. It had "Booker Prize Winner" emblazoned on the cover, and that really should have been warning enough: nothing worth reading ever won the Booker, and this is no exception.
In it's favour, it helped me get to sleep several times.
Currently it's 20p in the Kindle store, which is cheaper than a packet of Nytol.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Of-Pi-eb...
I heartily agree Tim. My son-in-law lent me the paperback. I only pushed myself to finish it from a sense of duty.
I was going to give it 3 stars, but then I realised one of those was effectively for the film, so I knocked it down!In the publicity for the film, they harp on about how the book was considered unflilmable. I can't help wondering if that's because none of the reviewers was able to finish it.
Tim wrote: " Life of Pi by Yann MartelLiterary, kindle, 356 pages
Tedious.
Like many, I enjoyed the film and was conned into reading the book. It had "Booker Prize Winner" emblazo..."
I could have told you not to bother reading the book if I had known you were going to. I read it ages ago and was quite disappointed. Have expected it to be a better film though
Tim wrote: " Life of Pi by Yann MartelLiterary, kindle, 356 pages
Tedious.
Like many, I enjoyed the film and was conned into reading the book. It had "Booker Prize Winner" emblazo..."
Ouch!!!
The Serpent in the Glass by D.M. AndrewsKindle, 234 pages.
On his eleventh birthday, Thomas Farrell finds out that his dead parents have left him a glass orb containing a mysterious serpent, and a scholarship to the Darkledun Manor school for gifted children. But the school turns out to contain a portal into a mystical and mythical land...
My first impression of this book was "Harry Potter meets Narnia", but the more I read, the more i was reminded of Lev Grossman's The Magicians, although for a younger audience. This is aimed squarely at older children, or the younger end of the YA scale. We don't get wizards and magicians, but instead worlds based on myth and legends, with a cast of mystical creatures and things that are not always what they seem.
If I have to be picky, I'd say that the book takes its time to get started, and then when it eventually does get going, it ends. At the end of the book we're left feeling that things have only got started. On the plus side that leaves us longing for more, but on the minus side I feel we could have had more.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Serpent-Glass...
I actually got a chapter edited yesterday, despite the, er, "celebrations", although I dread to look at it this morning...Also, my review of Django Unchained is up on the blog. Not sure I ought to look at that either!
Head is not too bad, but I now have a stinky cold, which is just as bad!Managed to edit two, and rewrite another problem chapter this morning, plus 300 words towards a flashfic that I might put out as a freebie teaser...
Tim wrote: "Head is not too bad, but I now have a stinky cold, which is just as bad!Managed to edit two, and rewrite another problem chapter this morning, plus 300 words towards a flashfic that I might put o..."
Aww, poor Tim! Still you managed to get loads done!
Hope you feel better soon.
Currently sitting in Waterstones cafe feeling the "effects" of some retail therapy... ;)
Tim wrote: "Currently sitting in Waterstones cafe feeling the "effects" of some retail therapy... ;)"Ouch!
What did you buy then???
Nothing "fun", just some half-price bath goop and some shelving. But half the therapy was simply getting out of the house for something I didn't "have" to do...
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper FfordeHumourous fantasy, Audiobook (narrated by Gabrielle Kruger)
This is book three in the Thursday Next series. Swindon has become too hot, and so Thursday decides to hide out in book world, where she gets a job within the Well of Lost Plots (where unpublished novels languish) as part of the Character Exchange Programme, as a character in the unpublished novel, Caversham Heights. (funnily enough, I was in Caversham earlier today...)
We get all the witty dialogue and characters out of classic literature that we've seen in the previous books (not that this, or anything else will ever persuade me to *like* Dickens or Bronte - the horror of them is too deeply embedded), but the discussion on the "had had and that that problem" was simply priceless.
But I knew I was going to like this as soon as Thursday set foot aboard the one-engined Sunderland she called home. Why? Because my mum worked on Sunderlands for Short Bros during the war, and consequently it has long been one of my favourite aircraft, and any book with a flying boat in it (even a non-functional one!) will automatically get my vote!
Fforde's sense of humour tickles me in just the right places, and although I haven't read (and don't necessarily intend to read) all the classics he references, that doesn't in any way diminish the experience. Can't wait for the next one.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Well-Lost-Plo...
So I was re-reading chapter six, and discovered three characters I'd completely forgotten about! Damn, I thought, think they can skulk around in one chapter and not do anything useful? To work I say! I will not have slackers in my book!!
Tim wrote: "So I was re-reading chapter six, and discovered three characters I'd completely forgotten about! Damn, I thought, think they can skulk around in one chapter and not do anything useful? To work I s..."Do you want to borrow GL's whip??? I've used it on a few characters and they really started pulling their weight.
Zero Dark ThirtyI don't often give a movie the full 10, but this controversial film by Oscar-winning action director Kathryn Bigelo is one of the few...
http://timarnot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/0...
Thanks for the review, Tim. :)I'm terribly slow at reading and writing, and too much of a skinflint to go to the cinema too often, but I'm going to try and read more indie authors ;)
Ok, I'm a bit behind with the write-ups (I blame the editing!)Movies:
6. Lincoln (12A)
Spielberg hangs it all out for the Oscars in a Victorian (well it would be if it was in the UK!) version of The West Wing. (8/10)
7. Flight (15)
Denzel Washington gives a powerful performance as an unsympathetic drunk, drug addicted airline pilot. (8/10)
8. I Give it a Year (15)
Rafe Spall and Rose Byrne star in mediocre British Non-Rom-Com with plenty of bad taste jokes that fall flat. Olivia Colman's marriage guidance counsellor is the best thing in it. 6/10
9. Wreck It Ralph (PG)
John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk are the voice talent in this John Lasseter produced Disney animation about a video game character that goes AWOL. Not surprising it's as good as the best Toy Story. Kids'll love it. Adults'll love it. Sweeeeet. (9/10)
Oh, and of course the second draft of Hunted is now done (yay!) and it's going out to test readers. Plus I'm working on designs for the cover...
That's good to hear, Tim. Keep us updated with the covers!I have made it an aim to go and see Zero Dark Thirty, the trailers look fantastic.
It's a cracking good film - well worth the effort :)
I'm full of good intentions though, Tim. I was determined to see Skyfall and the Tom Cruise/Jack Reacher (forgotten the damned title already! tch) film too, and just never got around to them :(
Tonight's movie: Beautiful Creatures. Obviously timed to coincide with the V word day...
Okay given that it's a teenage paranormal romance (fingers down throat as appropriate), it so *doesn't* twinkle like a certain other sparkly series. It has wit and (southern) style and basically avoids the traps that twiglet jumped into head first.
Supporting cast features Jeremy Irons, in a somewhat Frittonesque performance, and the ever brilliant Dame Eileen Atkins doing her best Southern Belle. Oh and Emma Thompson.
Critics slagged it, but what do they know. Full review soon.
Ted. Truly, deeply, irredeemably awful. Didn't watch to the end.
Oops Tim messed up your thread, thought this was Just Watched, soz
Don't worry, much of the reason why I didn't walk out when I saw it at the cinema was because it was raining!
Tim wrote: "Tonight's movie: Beautiful Creatures. Obviously timed to coincide with the V word day...
Okay given that it's a teenage paranormal romance (fingers down throat as appropriate), it so *doesn't* t..."
http://timarnot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/0... for the full review :)
And I snuck Wreck-It Ralph onto the blog too :)Looks like tomorrow I'll be seeing A Good Day to Die Hard (12A? Seriously? For a Die Hard movie? Don't hold out much hope for it then...)
Tim wrote: "And I snuck Wreck-It Ralph onto the blog too :)Looks like tomorrow I'll be seeing A Good Day to Die Hard (12A? Seriously? For a Die Hard movie? Don't hold out much hope for it then...)"
Mhairi said that, while not deep and meaningful, it was full of action. I believe cheese was mentioned as well. ;-P
You don't go to a Die Hard movie for Deep and Meaningful -- Yippie Ky Yay MoFo is about as deep and meaningful as it gets!But I like cheese :)
Film number 11. A Good Day to Die HardOh dear. Oh very dear. Three overblown action sequences and some not very witty quips does not a good Die Hard movie make. Maybe next time (God help us if there *is* a next time) they should get a script...
Better throw in some more books...
From Man to Man by D.E.M. Emrys Short fantasy, kindle, 32 pages.Short, sharp and brutal. This is a nice little introduction to 'D's writing style. It's a self contained short story (32 pages on my iPad) about a man trying to change his life, but finding it hard when coin is short and you have to do... What you're good at.
Nicely written.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0...
Claire and the haircut of Doom by D.D. Chant Short humour, kindle, 12 pages.Okay, really not my thing, but it's DD, it's a squeak under 3000 words, and easily read over breakfast. What could possibly go wrong? (Added to this, I tried to get my hair cut yesterday, but (a) the barber's shop appears to have closed down, and (b) I forgot my wallet anyhow! Just seems rather appropriate...)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0...
Forensics for Dummies by Douglas P. Lyle Reference, paperback, 390 pagesBedtime reading for Socko, and exactly what you need if there's a crime to be written. You can know as much as Ducky about autopsies, estimating time of death, or how about those mysterious tyre/shoe prints? Want to know how/where the fire started? It's all here. Colonel Mustard in the library with the lead pipe... well now you can prove it!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forensics-For...
Lol!Thanks for being so brave, Tim, I hope you don't regret it!!! ;-P
Now I wish I'd added Visigoths and a car chaise!!!
Just goths would be fine - they don't need to be visi ;)
Mockingjay by Suzanne CollinsYA Sci-fi, Kindle edition, 455 pages
17 year old Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games. Twice. And Snow has exacted his revenge by destroying District 12. The few survivors have relocated to 13, the home of the rebellion, and Katniss is called upon to become the Mockingjay, figurehead of the resistance. But at what cost to her? Her friends? Her family? Or is she just a pawn in a bigger Hunger Games that engulfs the whole capitol?
I may have said it before, but Collins is a master (mistress?) of the art of writing a hard and brutal third act. I know I'm a big softie, but even the second time through, I couldn't read the last couple of chapters more than a page at a time. Awesome writing, and upgraded my original rating to 5*.
I really don't know how they're going to turn it into a 12A rated movie though.
Recent reviews: Movies (Hansel & Gretel, Safe Haven, Broken City) and books (Mockingjay) are now up on the blog. :)
And now my review of Oz the Great and Powerful is up. Sam Raimi's tribute/prequel to the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie, starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams and Zach Braff.Shut your eyes and it's definitely Meg Griffin. Meg is the Wicked Witch of the West... Somehow I'm not surprised!
I struggled with it as every time Mila got angry all I could hear was "My hair is inside of you Brian, how does it feel to have a part of me inside of you Brian. I am inside you Brian". Her crazy deranged voice is also her evil and mad voice apparently.
Yes, but also strangely appropriate (well, I thought so! But then I didn't imagine that particular quote...)
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Great review Tim. I loved that film. :-)