Friday, September 30, 2005
Googling Kingsport
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Book/Movie News: Coen Brothers to Direct No Country for Old Men
Shew law... Let's hope this actually happens.
Variety has reported that the Joel and Ethan Coen have "signed on" to make the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's latest novel No Country for Old Men.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/12517129.htm
Variety has reported that the Joel and Ethan Coen have "signed on" to make the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's latest novel No Country for Old Men.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/12517129.htm
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Book Review: The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Writing Style-7.5
Originality-7.0
Plot-6.6
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.7
Overall-7.0
This was a surprisingly fun read. There are many books that are sometimes a chore to read but then you really appreciate them after you are finished, and then there are books that are super fun to read but then you don’t feel like you got much out of the whole experience when you’re done and looking back on it. This book is more of the latter.
I’m not real sure what the point of the book is. Basically, it is about three very different women who became friends in college and have kept in touch since. They were brought together and have kept up with one another mainly through their relations with a fourth female named Zenia. Zenia is a pretty bad person. She tricks each of the three women into letting her into their lives (and their houses) and then steals their men.
The book is almost simply a character study of the three women. One is a very intelligent, scholarly person who is a history professor that focuses on military history. The second is kind of flighty, works in a new age type of shop, and believes in astrology, eastern mysticism, that kind of stuff. And the third is also intelligent, but more street smarts than scholarly. She is very successful in business and has a high-powered CEO type of job. Each of them has an intriguing story from their past that perhaps sheds light on their current relationships and the way they lead their lives.
So, it seemed almost as though the point was to study these three women and the shortcomings that they perceived in themselves when reflected against the superior (in terms of “winning”, meaning fooling them and stealing their men), but duplicitous, Zenia.
It should be pointed out that we never learn exactly who Zenia truly is. She morphs into whatever the other person wants her to be. She changes into whatever will gain trust or pity or whatever she needs in order to get her into each of the women’s good graces. She will also become whatever each of the women’s spouses or lovers want her to be to make them fall in love with her.
I kept waiting for an epiphany about what Atwood might be trying to say with this novel but it never really came. One particular excerpt stood out in which I thought there might be something to grasp hold of.
[“The Other Woman will soon be with us,” the feminists used to say. But how long will it take thinks Roz, and why hasn’t it happened yet?
Meanwhile the Zenias of this world are abroad in the land, plying their trade, cleaning out male pockets, catering to male fantasies. Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it’s all a male fantasy: that you’re strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren’t catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you’re unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur. The Zenias of this world have studied this situation and turned it to their own advantage; they haven’t let themselves be moulded into male fantasies, they’ve don it themselves. They’ve slipped sideways into dreams; the dreams of women too, because women are fantasies for other women, just as they are for men. But fantasies of a different kind.]
There is also an epilogue in which Atwood talks briefly about the purpose of The Robber Bride. She talks about how feminism should not just be about how women can be just as good at anything as men, but how they can also be really bad and do dastardly things.
[“Where have all the Lady Macbeths gone? Gone to Ophelias, every one, leaving the devilish tour-de-force parts to be played by bass-baritones.” Or, to put it another way: If all women are well behave by nature—or if we aren’t allowed to say otherwise for fear of anifemaleism—then they are deprived of moral choice, and there isn’t much left for them to do in books except run away a lot. Or, to put it another way: Equality means equally bad as well as equally good.]
But it seems to me that there already exists a sexy bitch man-eater stereotype in literature that male authors masochistically love to write about and other feminists typically rant against. So, I was kind of confused by this because Zenia is precisely this type of character. I felt that the novel was more about the 3 women as contrasted with Zenia and their flaws in dealing with her which are a result of their early (childhood) experiences with men and end up allowing Zenia to steal the men that they are currently in a relationship with.
Regardless of what the book is about or what it says to you as a reader, it’s a riveting read. Atwood is a phenomenal writer and the book was really a page turner for me because she is such a good storyteller that it really didn’t matter that the plot is jumpy and I couldn’t find a consistent theme.
Everyone MUST read A Handmaid’s Tale at some point as it is destined to be a classic. So, if you haven’t then start there. But, if you have read it, then don’t be timid in picking up The Robber Bride. Its quality shit.
Originality-7.0
Plot-6.6
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.7
Overall-7.0
This was a surprisingly fun read. There are many books that are sometimes a chore to read but then you really appreciate them after you are finished, and then there are books that are super fun to read but then you don’t feel like you got much out of the whole experience when you’re done and looking back on it. This book is more of the latter.
I’m not real sure what the point of the book is. Basically, it is about three very different women who became friends in college and have kept in touch since. They were brought together and have kept up with one another mainly through their relations with a fourth female named Zenia. Zenia is a pretty bad person. She tricks each of the three women into letting her into their lives (and their houses) and then steals their men.
The book is almost simply a character study of the three women. One is a very intelligent, scholarly person who is a history professor that focuses on military history. The second is kind of flighty, works in a new age type of shop, and believes in astrology, eastern mysticism, that kind of stuff. And the third is also intelligent, but more street smarts than scholarly. She is very successful in business and has a high-powered CEO type of job. Each of them has an intriguing story from their past that perhaps sheds light on their current relationships and the way they lead their lives.
So, it seemed almost as though the point was to study these three women and the shortcomings that they perceived in themselves when reflected against the superior (in terms of “winning”, meaning fooling them and stealing their men), but duplicitous, Zenia.
It should be pointed out that we never learn exactly who Zenia truly is. She morphs into whatever the other person wants her to be. She changes into whatever will gain trust or pity or whatever she needs in order to get her into each of the women’s good graces. She will also become whatever each of the women’s spouses or lovers want her to be to make them fall in love with her.
I kept waiting for an epiphany about what Atwood might be trying to say with this novel but it never really came. One particular excerpt stood out in which I thought there might be something to grasp hold of.
[“The Other Woman will soon be with us,” the feminists used to say. But how long will it take thinks Roz, and why hasn’t it happened yet?
Meanwhile the Zenias of this world are abroad in the land, plying their trade, cleaning out male pockets, catering to male fantasies. Male fantasies, male fantasies, is everything run by male fantasies? Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, it’s all a male fantasy: that you’re strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. Even pretending you aren’t catering to male fantasies is a male fantasy: pretending you’re unseen, pretending you have a life of your own, that you can wash your feet and comb your hair unconscious of the ever-present watcher peering through the keyhole, peering through the keyhole in your own head, if nowhere else. You are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur. The Zenias of this world have studied this situation and turned it to their own advantage; they haven’t let themselves be moulded into male fantasies, they’ve don it themselves. They’ve slipped sideways into dreams; the dreams of women too, because women are fantasies for other women, just as they are for men. But fantasies of a different kind.]
There is also an epilogue in which Atwood talks briefly about the purpose of The Robber Bride. She talks about how feminism should not just be about how women can be just as good at anything as men, but how they can also be really bad and do dastardly things.
[“Where have all the Lady Macbeths gone? Gone to Ophelias, every one, leaving the devilish tour-de-force parts to be played by bass-baritones.” Or, to put it another way: If all women are well behave by nature—or if we aren’t allowed to say otherwise for fear of anifemaleism—then they are deprived of moral choice, and there isn’t much left for them to do in books except run away a lot. Or, to put it another way: Equality means equally bad as well as equally good.]
But it seems to me that there already exists a sexy bitch man-eater stereotype in literature that male authors masochistically love to write about and other feminists typically rant against. So, I was kind of confused by this because Zenia is precisely this type of character. I felt that the novel was more about the 3 women as contrasted with Zenia and their flaws in dealing with her which are a result of their early (childhood) experiences with men and end up allowing Zenia to steal the men that they are currently in a relationship with.
Regardless of what the book is about or what it says to you as a reader, it’s a riveting read. Atwood is a phenomenal writer and the book was really a page turner for me because she is such a good storyteller that it really didn’t matter that the plot is jumpy and I couldn’t find a consistent theme.
Everyone MUST read A Handmaid’s Tale at some point as it is destined to be a classic. So, if you haven’t then start there. But, if you have read it, then don’t be timid in picking up The Robber Bride. Its quality shit.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Holy Moly: These are my 200 Favorite Movies Of All Time (at the moment)
Alright, I tried to actually rank these as quickly as possible and not think too much about it. I'm probably forgetting something, possibly several films, but I've tried to be pretty thorough. Also, this is a snapshot of my mood right this instant; I reserve the right to change my opinions hourly without notifying anyone.
Fire away.
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
- Star Wars – ALL of them
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Matrix Trilogy
- All the Pretty Horses
- A Clockwork Orange
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Office Space
- O Brother, Where Art Thou
- Lost In Translation
- Full Metal Jacket
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Magnolia
- Gladiator
- One Hour Photo
- All the President’s Men
- The Sixth Sense
- The Royal Tenenbaums
- The Shining
- Dr. Strangelove
- Pulp Fiction
- Harold and Maude
- High Fidelity
- Memento
- The Straight Story
- The Thin Red Line
- Batman Begins
- Donnie Darko – Director’s Cut
- Closer
- Tombstone
- Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
- A Very Long Engagement
- The Last of the Mohicans
- Fahrenheit 9/11
- Rushmore
- Amelie
- A River Runs Through It
- Braveheart
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Apocalypse Now
- Wedding Crashers
- The Fog of War
- Friday
- Raising Arizona
- Legends of the Fall
- Sideways
- The Quiet American
- Unforgiven
- Sling Blade
- The Ring
- Trainspotting
- Dances With Wolves
- In the Bedroom
- Love Liza
- Schindler’s List
- American Beauty
- Glory
- Amadeus
- Hard Boiled
- Best In Show
- Saving Private Ryan
- L.A. Confidential
- Austin Powers – the first two
- The Princess Bride
- A Christmas Story
- Fletch – 1 and 2
- Billy Madison
- Cold Mountain
- A Man on the Moon
- The Big Lebowski
- Blade – 1 and 2
- The Sweet Hereafter
- Elizabeth
- Chasing Amy
- October Sky
- Punch Drunk Love
- The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- Beloved
- Whale Rider
- The Girl with the Pearl Earring
- The 40 Year Old Virgin
- Contact
- Platoon
- Friday Night Lights
- American Splendour
- Seven
- Life is Beautiful
- A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- Lonesome Dove: the miniseries
- Romeo and Juliet
- The Good Girl
- Happy Gilmore
- Dead Man Walking
- Top Gun
- You Can Count on Me
- Tommy Boy
- Falling Down
- Requiem for a Dream
- X-Men: 1 and 2
- The Apostle
- Bowling for Columbine
- Shrek: 1 and 2
- Roger and Me
- Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
- About A Boy
- Y Tu Mama Tambien
- About Schmidt
- Black Hawk Down
- Traffic
- Touching the Void
- The Insider
- Happy Endings
- Far From Heaven
- Dangerous Liaisons
- Gattaca
- Kids
- The Man Who Wasn’t There
- Sexy Beast
- Ghost World
- Big Daddy
- Monster’s Ball
- Shattered Glass
- Hero
- The Constant Gardener
- Bad Santa
- Just Married
- Garden State
- Mr. Deeds
- Dumb and Dumber
- Liar, Liar
- There’s Something About Mary
- Minority Report
- Space Balls
- The Wedding Singer
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Reservoir Dogs
- Clerks
- Face Off
- November
- Fearless
- AI
- Forrest Gump
- The Color Purple
- Boogie Nights
- So, I Married an Axe Murderer
- 12 Monkeys
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- The Waterboy
- Hustle and Flow
- Starship Troopers
- The Exorcism of Emily Rose
- I, Robot
- Talk to Her
- Mallrats
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
- Gettysburg
- Dogma
- Erin Brockovich
- Gods and Monsters
- Leaving Las Vegas
- Shadowlands
- Naked Gun movies
- Way of the Gun
- Being John Malkovich
- Indiana Jones movies
- Philadelphia
- Three Kings
- Run Lola Run
- Boys Don’t Cry
- Sweet and Lowdown
- Airplane
- As Good as it Gets
- Total Recall
- The Others
- Good Will Hunting
- Affliction
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
- Die Hard
- Amistad
- The Hours
- Of Mice and Men
- The Terminator – 1 and 2
- Air Force One
- Junebug
- Batman – the first 3
- Meet the Parents
- Cast Away
- Muppets movies up to about 1995
- What about Bob?
- The Red Violin
- Chevy Chase Vacation movies
- Primary Colors
- The Rock
- The Perfect Storm
- Crash
- The School of Rock
- What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
- Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
Monday, September 19, 2005
Googling Kingsport
Check out the middle picture under "More pictures from austin" a little more than half way down the page.
http://www.castdiv.org/spring05.htm
http://www.castdiv.org/spring05.htm
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Book News: And Movie News Too
I’ve noticed that there are a great number of movies coming up that are based on some pretty good books. Here’s a look at some of them, with links to the books on Amazon:
The Good Woman – Based on the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere’s Fan. Stars Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, and one of my favorite actors recently, Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1905432127/qid=1126637951/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Everything is Illuminated – Adapted from the bestselling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Stars Elijah Wood.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060529709/qid=1126638022/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Capote – This is about Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, In Cold Blood), played by another of my favorite actors, Philip Semour Hoffman (Magnolia). It’s centered around Capote’s researching of the true crime classic In Cold Blood.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679745580/qid=1126638083/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Jarhead – Based on a bestselling memoir of the same name from a former Marine writing about his experiences in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky), Jamie Foxx, and Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743235355/qid=1126638131/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Based on C.S. Lewis’ book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0007117248/qid=1126638388/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Memoirs of a Geisha – From the book by Arthur Golden. Stars Ziyi Zhang (Hero, Crouching Tiger), Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger). See my book review for more.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679781587/qid=1126638426/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Brokeback Mountain – Gay cowboys!! From the story by E. Annie Proulx (The Shipping News), screenplay by Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment), directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger). Stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Really looking forward to this one.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1857029402/qid=1126638589/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
All the King’s Men – From the book by Robert Penn Warren (#8 on my top 100 books list). Stars Sean Penn (as Willie Stark) and Jude Law and Kate Winslet, as Jack and Anne I would think. Also eagerly anticipating this one.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156004801/qid=1126638708/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
A Scanner Darkly – Yet another Philip K. Dick book adapted to a movie. How rich would that dude be if he was alive? Some Dick adaptations have been huge stinkers and some have been pretty good. This one looks like a winner. From the previews, it’s some sort of weird animation where the actors look just like themselves (which is probably a pretty good metaphor for phildickianess). It stars Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. as I recall.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679736654/qid=1126638751/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Oliver Twist – From Dickens. Directed by Roman Polanski (Statutory Rape). Stars some kids and Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast, Ghandi).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812580036/qid=1126638809/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Pride and Prejudice – Based on Jane Austen’s. Stars Keira Knightley.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553213105/qid=1126638854/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Walk The Line – Ok, this isn’t based on a book, but I’m stoked about it so deal with it. Joaquin Phoenix is Cash, Reese Witherspoon is June Carter. Have you seen how good they look in these roles from the pictures for this movie?
The Good Woman – Based on the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere’s Fan. Stars Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, and one of my favorite actors recently, Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1905432127/qid=1126637951/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Everything is Illuminated – Adapted from the bestselling novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Stars Elijah Wood.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060529709/qid=1126638022/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Capote – This is about Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, In Cold Blood), played by another of my favorite actors, Philip Semour Hoffman (Magnolia). It’s centered around Capote’s researching of the true crime classic In Cold Blood.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679745580/qid=1126638083/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Jarhead – Based on a bestselling memoir of the same name from a former Marine writing about his experiences in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the first Gulf War. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal (October Sky), Jamie Foxx, and Peter Sarsgaard (Garden State).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743235355/qid=1126638131/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Based on C.S. Lewis’ book.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0007117248/qid=1126638388/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Memoirs of a Geisha – From the book by Arthur Golden. Stars Ziyi Zhang (Hero, Crouching Tiger), Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger). See my book review for more.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679781587/qid=1126638426/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Brokeback Mountain – Gay cowboys!! From the story by E. Annie Proulx (The Shipping News), screenplay by Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment), directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger). Stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Really looking forward to this one.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1857029402/qid=1126638589/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
All the King’s Men – From the book by Robert Penn Warren (#8 on my top 100 books list). Stars Sean Penn (as Willie Stark) and Jude Law and Kate Winslet, as Jack and Anne I would think. Also eagerly anticipating this one.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156004801/qid=1126638708/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
A Scanner Darkly – Yet another Philip K. Dick book adapted to a movie. How rich would that dude be if he was alive? Some Dick adaptations have been huge stinkers and some have been pretty good. This one looks like a winner. From the previews, it’s some sort of weird animation where the actors look just like themselves (which is probably a pretty good metaphor for phildickianess). It stars Keanu Reeves and Robert Downey Jr. as I recall.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679736654/qid=1126638751/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Oliver Twist – From Dickens. Directed by Roman Polanski (Statutory Rape). Stars some kids and Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast, Ghandi).
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0812580036/qid=1126638809/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Pride and Prejudice – Based on Jane Austen’s. Stars Keira Knightley.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553213105/qid=1126638854/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/103-0079012-9551017?v=glance&s=books
Walk The Line – Ok, this isn’t based on a book, but I’m stoked about it so deal with it. Joaquin Phoenix is Cash, Reese Witherspoon is June Carter. Have you seen how good they look in these roles from the pictures for this movie?
Review: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Writing Style-6.9
Originality-7.0
Plot-6.9
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.5
Overall-6.8
This is a nice, easy read about a fascinating culture.
Apparently the author (who’s from Chattanooga, by the way) has some degrees in Japanese art and history from Harvard, or something like that, and spent ten years doing research for this novel. His primary source, a real life geisha, has since denounced this book and written her own. Of course, by my way of thinking, just because a primary source denounces something doesn’t automatically debunk it. I mean this person has something at stake in the issue so they might have a strong bias away from the truth to cover their own ass so to speak. Sort of like Darwin denouncing evolution on his deathbed.
As for the fictional story, it’s quite nice and keeps the plot flowing. There’s not really a central, conventional love story which might be your first instinct to expect.
There’s really not any value judgments made towards the culture either. I like one part where the main character rebuts western dismay that geisha exist by saying that western women are geisha as well they are just not as upfront and honest about it.
The story is chronological starting with the main character as a very little girl, approximately age 5. It tells the story of how she becomes a geisha and her transformation from resisting it to embracing it. Then when she’s older she has several “love” interests vying for her attention and services. Finally, she becomes a very famous popular geisha.
The best part of the book is revealing this geisha world though, not really the story. It’s kind of a weird concept. It explains that geisha are not prostitutes and explains the differences, though, like most things in life, there are many shades of gray here. It goes through how geisha are trained, how they earn money, how they live, how they entertain, etc.
Basically, a geisha’s job is to entertain men at parties. They are trained to dance, sing, play stringed instruments and drums, and serve tea (there is a lot more to formal tea ceremony than just making tea and pouring it). They are adept at telling stories and making small talk in social situations and flirting. Pretty much they are just pretty things that entertain the men and make them feel good. I won’t give too much away because I think a big pull for reading the book is the curiosity at what a geisha is and does.
I’m looking forward to the movie coming out this winter with those two women who are in every Asian movie that makes it big in America, Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh.
Originality-7.0
Plot-6.9
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.5
Overall-6.8
This is a nice, easy read about a fascinating culture.
Apparently the author (who’s from Chattanooga, by the way) has some degrees in Japanese art and history from Harvard, or something like that, and spent ten years doing research for this novel. His primary source, a real life geisha, has since denounced this book and written her own. Of course, by my way of thinking, just because a primary source denounces something doesn’t automatically debunk it. I mean this person has something at stake in the issue so they might have a strong bias away from the truth to cover their own ass so to speak. Sort of like Darwin denouncing evolution on his deathbed.
As for the fictional story, it’s quite nice and keeps the plot flowing. There’s not really a central, conventional love story which might be your first instinct to expect.
There’s really not any value judgments made towards the culture either. I like one part where the main character rebuts western dismay that geisha exist by saying that western women are geisha as well they are just not as upfront and honest about it.
The story is chronological starting with the main character as a very little girl, approximately age 5. It tells the story of how she becomes a geisha and her transformation from resisting it to embracing it. Then when she’s older she has several “love” interests vying for her attention and services. Finally, she becomes a very famous popular geisha.
The best part of the book is revealing this geisha world though, not really the story. It’s kind of a weird concept. It explains that geisha are not prostitutes and explains the differences, though, like most things in life, there are many shades of gray here. It goes through how geisha are trained, how they earn money, how they live, how they entertain, etc.
Basically, a geisha’s job is to entertain men at parties. They are trained to dance, sing, play stringed instruments and drums, and serve tea (there is a lot more to formal tea ceremony than just making tea and pouring it). They are adept at telling stories and making small talk in social situations and flirting. Pretty much they are just pretty things that entertain the men and make them feel good. I won’t give too much away because I think a big pull for reading the book is the curiosity at what a geisha is and does.
I’m looking forward to the movie coming out this winter with those two women who are in every Asian movie that makes it big in America, Ziyi Zhang and Michelle Yeoh.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Googling Kingsport
How cool is this? Check out the staff editors.
http://www.theatlantic.com/a/masthead.mhtml
Pick up a hard copy sometime and look at the masthead in there. She doesn't just work for the online version.
You go girl.
http://www.theatlantic.com/a/masthead.mhtml
Pick up a hard copy sometime and look at the masthead in there. She doesn't just work for the online version.
You go girl.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
This is weird
Check this out. Notice the starred reviews at the bottom of the page.
http://books.filemaker-pro.us/the-hound-of-baskervilles.25112.html
http://books.filemaker-pro.us/the-hound-of-baskervilles.25112.html
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Review: Of Love and Dust by Ernest J. Gaines
Writing Style-7.1
Originality-7.3
Plot-7.5
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.7
Overall-7.2
This book, much like A Gathering of Old Men by Gaines, makes you feel the weight of hopeless oppression and gives you a kick ass character, or a gathering of old kick ass characters, to root for in their fight against it.
I can’t say enough good things about Ernest J. Gaines based on these two books of his that I’ve read. I really love them. They are fun to read and you learn a lot about the white-cajun-black social hierarchy of his native Louisiana.
I’m a big fan of local color and dialect and these books have plenty of it.
Of Love and Dust is about a character, Marcus, who is bonded from jail by a plantation owner who his (Marcus’) mother worked for for 40 years. Marcus is being tried for murder even though the other guy pulled a knife on him first.
The rest of the book is about Marcus’ effect on the lives of the people at this plantation. The narrator is someone who has worked on the plantation for many years and has promised Marcus’ mother that he will look after him there.
Marcus is much more rebellious and stubborn than anyone else that has worked there and this gets him in trouble in a hurry with the Cajun foreman, Bonbon.
Fans of southern and/or African-American literature MUST check out Ernest J. Gaines. I think A Gathering of Old Men is a little bit better, but not much. Either way you can’t go wrong. Check him out.
Originality-7.3
Plot-7.5
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-6.7
Overall-7.2
This book, much like A Gathering of Old Men by Gaines, makes you feel the weight of hopeless oppression and gives you a kick ass character, or a gathering of old kick ass characters, to root for in their fight against it.
I can’t say enough good things about Ernest J. Gaines based on these two books of his that I’ve read. I really love them. They are fun to read and you learn a lot about the white-cajun-black social hierarchy of his native Louisiana.
I’m a big fan of local color and dialect and these books have plenty of it.
Of Love and Dust is about a character, Marcus, who is bonded from jail by a plantation owner who his (Marcus’) mother worked for for 40 years. Marcus is being tried for murder even though the other guy pulled a knife on him first.
The rest of the book is about Marcus’ effect on the lives of the people at this plantation. The narrator is someone who has worked on the plantation for many years and has promised Marcus’ mother that he will look after him there.
Marcus is much more rebellious and stubborn than anyone else that has worked there and this gets him in trouble in a hurry with the Cajun foreman, Bonbon.
Fans of southern and/or African-American literature MUST check out Ernest J. Gaines. I think A Gathering of Old Men is a little bit better, but not much. Either way you can’t go wrong. Check him out.
Review: Atonement by Ian McEwan
Writing Style-7.4
Originality-7.2
Plot-7.0
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-7.0
Overall-7.0
This was a beautifully written, well-crafted, solid novel. I had heard nothing but good things about it so I was pretty excited about reading it. It wasn’t earth-shattering or anything, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The novel consists of three main parts and an epilogue. It’s a story about, you guessed it… atonement. The first section was my favorite for some strange reason, even though the second section is a World War II war scene and the third section essentially reveals everything and wraps the story up. The first section is a quiet scene that introduces these wonderful characters and their innocence and youth. And really the novel turns out to be about this innocence when the main character, a young girl in the first chapter, screws up royally because of her innocence and youthful imagination.
The themes are complicated by the fact that the main character is also a burgeoning writer. Her writing allows her to progress through her stages of atonement.
The first scene also contains one of the greatest love scenes I’ve ever read. Here are some excerpts:
‘As their faces drew closer he was uncertain enough to think she might spring away, or hit him, movie-style, across the cheek with her open hand. Her mouth tasted of lipstick and salt… …They felt watched by their bemused childhood selves. But the contact of tongues, alive and slippery muscle, moist flesh on flesh, and the strange sound it drew from her, changed that. This sound seemed to enter him, pierce him down his length so that his whole body opened up and he was able to step out of himself and kiss her freely. What had been self-conscious was now impersonal, almost abstract.
They were beyond the present, outside time, with no memories and no future. There was nothing but obliterating sensation, thrilling and swelling, and the sound of fabric on fabric and skin on fabric as their limbs slid across each other in this restless, sensuous wrestling… …Cumulatively, these bites aroused him and enraged him, goaded him. Under her dress he felt for her buttocks and squeezed hard, and half turned her to give her a retaliatory slap, but there wasn’t quite the space… …They were clumsy, but too selfless now to be embarrassed. When he lifted the clinging, silky dress again he thought her look of uncertainty mirrored his own. But there was only one inevitable end, and there was nothing they could do but go toward it.
They held their breath before the membrane parted, and when it did she turned away quickly, but made no sound—it seemed to be a point of pride… …Instead of an ecstatic frenzy, there was stillness. They were stilled not by the astonishing fact of arrival, but by an awed sense of return—they were face to face in the gloom, staring into what little they could see of each other’s eyes, and now it was the impersonal that dropped away… …Nothing as singular or as important had happened since the day of his birth… …Finally he spoke the three simple words that no amount of bad art or bad faith can ever quite cheapen… …He had no religious belief, but it was impossible not to think of an invisible presence or witness in the room, and that these words spoken aloud were like signatures on an unseen contract.
They had been motionless for perhaps as long as half a minute. Longer would have required the mastery of some formidable tantric art. They began to make love against the library shelves which creaked with their movement… …He forced himself to remember the dullest things he knew—bootblack, an application form, a wet towel on his bedroom floor. There was also an upturned dustbin lid with an inch of rainwater inside, and the incomplete tea-ring stain on the cover of his Housman poems.’
Really this is a fine read. I think I expected a little more with as many good things as I had heard about it. And it felt like the writing in the latter two-thirds of the book wasn’t as passionate as the first section. But, hey, you could do much worse than reading this book.
Originality-7.2
Plot-7.0
Literary Merit(whatever that means)-7.0
Overall-7.0
This was a beautifully written, well-crafted, solid novel. I had heard nothing but good things about it so I was pretty excited about reading it. It wasn’t earth-shattering or anything, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The novel consists of three main parts and an epilogue. It’s a story about, you guessed it… atonement. The first section was my favorite for some strange reason, even though the second section is a World War II war scene and the third section essentially reveals everything and wraps the story up. The first section is a quiet scene that introduces these wonderful characters and their innocence and youth. And really the novel turns out to be about this innocence when the main character, a young girl in the first chapter, screws up royally because of her innocence and youthful imagination.
The themes are complicated by the fact that the main character is also a burgeoning writer. Her writing allows her to progress through her stages of atonement.
The first scene also contains one of the greatest love scenes I’ve ever read. Here are some excerpts:
‘As their faces drew closer he was uncertain enough to think she might spring away, or hit him, movie-style, across the cheek with her open hand. Her mouth tasted of lipstick and salt… …They felt watched by their bemused childhood selves. But the contact of tongues, alive and slippery muscle, moist flesh on flesh, and the strange sound it drew from her, changed that. This sound seemed to enter him, pierce him down his length so that his whole body opened up and he was able to step out of himself and kiss her freely. What had been self-conscious was now impersonal, almost abstract.
They were beyond the present, outside time, with no memories and no future. There was nothing but obliterating sensation, thrilling and swelling, and the sound of fabric on fabric and skin on fabric as their limbs slid across each other in this restless, sensuous wrestling… …Cumulatively, these bites aroused him and enraged him, goaded him. Under her dress he felt for her buttocks and squeezed hard, and half turned her to give her a retaliatory slap, but there wasn’t quite the space… …They were clumsy, but too selfless now to be embarrassed. When he lifted the clinging, silky dress again he thought her look of uncertainty mirrored his own. But there was only one inevitable end, and there was nothing they could do but go toward it.
They held their breath before the membrane parted, and when it did she turned away quickly, but made no sound—it seemed to be a point of pride… …Instead of an ecstatic frenzy, there was stillness. They were stilled not by the astonishing fact of arrival, but by an awed sense of return—they were face to face in the gloom, staring into what little they could see of each other’s eyes, and now it was the impersonal that dropped away… …Nothing as singular or as important had happened since the day of his birth… …Finally he spoke the three simple words that no amount of bad art or bad faith can ever quite cheapen… …He had no religious belief, but it was impossible not to think of an invisible presence or witness in the room, and that these words spoken aloud were like signatures on an unseen contract.
They had been motionless for perhaps as long as half a minute. Longer would have required the mastery of some formidable tantric art. They began to make love against the library shelves which creaked with their movement… …He forced himself to remember the dullest things he knew—bootblack, an application form, a wet towel on his bedroom floor. There was also an upturned dustbin lid with an inch of rainwater inside, and the incomplete tea-ring stain on the cover of his Housman poems.’
Really this is a fine read. I think I expected a little more with as many good things as I had heard about it. And it felt like the writing in the latter two-thirds of the book wasn’t as passionate as the first section. But, hey, you could do much worse than reading this book.
Friday, September 02, 2005
Googling Kingsport
