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Book Recs/Movie Recs, 4/14/11 (w/ Bonus Magazine Side Note!)
Thursday, April 14th, 2011 07:11 pmIn Books:
One of Our Thursdays is Missing, by Jasper Fforde: I splashed out for an autographed, hardcover copy of this and my money was not wasted! The momentum lost in the previous volume of the Thursday Next series is handily picked up by this installment! And I hadn't realized until I read this book just how much I missed Thursday... which is ironic, considering that Thursday is not the main character of this story. That is, in typical Ffordian fashion, she is and she isn't. I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, and so I will simply state that there is meta-meta-meta-plot in this, as well as meta- and meta-meta-meta-meta-, and it is sublime. There are all the wonderful little touches that The Eyre Affair had in spades; there are more fictional references* than I can shake ten bundles of sticks at; and for the first time, Fforde tackles fanfiction and includes NaNoWriMo. I was not disappointed! An excellent read!
* Including a Dr. Who reference! Of fanfiction of Thursday Next and the Doctor vs. the Daleks! Awesome, I tell you!
In Movies:
Tangled: I really appreciate the way the writers of this movie reinterpreted the classic Rapunzel storyline in regards to the healing tears. The original version of this plot element (the Witch made the Prince fall from the tower into thorn bushes, where his eyes were plucked out; he wandered friendless and alone for several years until he heard Rapunzel's singing; and upon their reunion, her tears healed his eyes) is exceedingly old school fairy tale creepy, emphasis on the creep. I also really loved the way that the animal characters were animated; the horse, in particular, seemed to have been drawn from the Chuck Jones school of animation and his expressions were meticulously rendered in their full comedic glory. It was also nice to have animal minions who weren't instantly marketable (at least, not in the traditionally cutesy way of Thumper and Flounder.) But most of all, I loved that the heroine of the story was an artist, and she used her art to interpret the world around her and express herself (and one of her most important revelations comes from her studying her creative output and thinking, not just magically knowing). This movie was very misrepresented by the ad campaign; at the time, I wrote it off as a silly, kiddie puff-piece, an exercise that I would someday have to sit through as a parent. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case.
Bonus Magazine Side Note!:
Bitch magazine surveyed its readers and asked what TV Father Figure you would prefer to have from a list that included Ron Swanson (Parks and Rec), Jack Donaghy (30 Rock), Don Draper (Mad Men), Rupert Giles (BtVS), and William Adama (Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.) among others. Unsurprisingly, Giles was the heavy favorite, with 50% of the vote. I suppose, yes, given this list, that's probably who I'd vote for. But when I think of TV Father Figures, I can't help thinking that I'd really choose Commander Sisko of Deep Space Nine, who, although awfully busy with the running of the station and various missions on the Defiant, was a committed and attentive father, who nurtured his son's budding journalism career and genuinely cared about the other people he worked with as well.
One of Our Thursdays is Missing, by Jasper Fforde: I splashed out for an autographed, hardcover copy of this and my money was not wasted! The momentum lost in the previous volume of the Thursday Next series is handily picked up by this installment! And I hadn't realized until I read this book just how much I missed Thursday... which is ironic, considering that Thursday is not the main character of this story. That is, in typical Ffordian fashion, she is and she isn't. I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, and so I will simply state that there is meta-meta-meta-plot in this, as well as meta- and meta-meta-meta-meta-, and it is sublime. There are all the wonderful little touches that The Eyre Affair had in spades; there are more fictional references* than I can shake ten bundles of sticks at; and for the first time, Fforde tackles fanfiction and includes NaNoWriMo. I was not disappointed! An excellent read!
* Including a Dr. Who reference! Of fanfiction of Thursday Next and the Doctor vs. the Daleks! Awesome, I tell you!
In Movies:
Tangled: I really appreciate the way the writers of this movie reinterpreted the classic Rapunzel storyline in regards to the healing tears. The original version of this plot element (the Witch made the Prince fall from the tower into thorn bushes, where his eyes were plucked out; he wandered friendless and alone for several years until he heard Rapunzel's singing; and upon their reunion, her tears healed his eyes) is exceedingly old school fairy tale creepy, emphasis on the creep. I also really loved the way that the animal characters were animated; the horse, in particular, seemed to have been drawn from the Chuck Jones school of animation and his expressions were meticulously rendered in their full comedic glory. It was also nice to have animal minions who weren't instantly marketable (at least, not in the traditionally cutesy way of Thumper and Flounder.) But most of all, I loved that the heroine of the story was an artist, and she used her art to interpret the world around her and express herself (and one of her most important revelations comes from her studying her creative output and thinking, not just magically knowing). This movie was very misrepresented by the ad campaign; at the time, I wrote it off as a silly, kiddie puff-piece, an exercise that I would someday have to sit through as a parent. I was pleasantly surprised to find this was not the case.
Bonus Magazine Side Note!:
Bitch magazine surveyed its readers and asked what TV Father Figure you would prefer to have from a list that included Ron Swanson (Parks and Rec), Jack Donaghy (30 Rock), Don Draper (Mad Men), Rupert Giles (BtVS), and William Adama (Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.) among others. Unsurprisingly, Giles was the heavy favorite, with 50% of the vote. I suppose, yes, given this list, that's probably who I'd vote for. But when I think of TV Father Figures, I can't help thinking that I'd really choose Commander Sisko of Deep Space Nine, who, although awfully busy with the running of the station and various missions on the Defiant, was a committed and attentive father, who nurtured his son's budding journalism career and genuinely cared about the other people he worked with as well.
