General Geekiness

Burn baby, burn.

General Geekiness

Why this time?

Well, as you may recall, I’ve never finished reading Pride and Prejudice. Until zombies came into the mix. Then I read it in two days.

Ah, the zed-word. I haven’t enjoyed a zombie romp this much since Shaun of the Dead.

If you aren’t familiar with the idea, a few months ago a guy named Seth Grahame-Smith decided to expand Jane Austen’s classic to include scenes of zombie mayhem. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as the book is aptly titled, “transforms a masterpiece of real world literature into something you’d actually want to read” (so claims the back of the book).

The book is good, silly fun. Somewhere around the introduction of ninjas it goes from silly to purely ridiculous. Even I, a lover of the silly and taking a joke one step too far, thought this was over the top. Seriously, Grahame-Smith. Choose ninjas OR zombies. Not both. And if you’re going to have people running around chopping off heads with Katana swords, at least have someone mutter “There can be only one.” That would’ve made me laugh even harder.

I also felt that having the zombie plague be around for over fifty years removes some of the urgency that is the zombie apocalypse. I think that the springing up of the undead would have paralleled even more humorously with the budding, blooming relationships between the various characters.

P&P&Z was still quite funny; my favorite part is the reader discussion questions at the end of the book.

While I enjoyed it, I’m a bit dismayed at the other Supernatural Works of Jane Austen. There’s Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, as well as Mr Darcy, Vampyre. I’m sure more will follow. Note that I have not read these, only that I’ve heard of them (and in the case of Mr Darcy, Vampyre picked it up and couldn’t find a blurb about it, so I promptly set it down). While I enjoyed P&P&Z, it should stand alone. When others try to capture the original magic, most often it just falls flat.

Enjoy one last bit of zombie/classic mash-up awesomeness.

Attachments

General Geekiness

It’s interesting how one can form attachments based on a book read or topic researched.

I read a newspaper article today about the wife of a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne. While I don’t believe he was in Easy Company (the company Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose focuses on), I still felt a rush reading the article, as though I were reading about someone I knew peripherally.

I guess that just says how good a writer Ambrose is.

Oh the humanity!

General Geekiness, The Twirl and Swirl of Letters

District 9, the new movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, is a remarkable film. A friend and I saw it this afternoon; I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew the very basic premise; these aliens (nicknamed “Prawns”) get stuck in Johannesburg and are trying to get home.

I enjoyed it; the first hour or so features fingernail violence and vomiting (two things that made me watch my palms for a few minutes), but the story is good and the main characters are sympathetic.

What got me the most was the parallels between the two main characters, the human Wikus van de Merwe and prawn Christopher Johnson. While I won’t go into the specifics of the story, both characters share a similar motive: they both want only to return home and back to the lives they knew.

Wikus is an intriguing character, in the fact that you begin by being annoyed with him, but by the end, you root for him. He’s not entirely good; he’s selfish, cowardly, self-serving government flunkie. But that’s okay. By the end of the movie, I was quite fond of him.

The film isn’t without its flaws. There are plot holes, obvious social commentary (not that it isn’t well done, it’s just readily apparent), and some faulty logic (how Wikus gets with the prawn is a bit contrived).  If the viewer suspends logic for a while, goes along with the ride, and just looks to be entertained, District 9 is the movie for you.

The ending is left open for a sequel, but I don’t think one is necessary. Sometimes open endings are the best ones; they let you draw your own conclusions.

Of course, high tolerance of fingernail violence is key.

Why I Belong in Literary Hell

General Geekiness

Heh, I’m so rotting in literary hell for this. Which level, I’m not quite sure.

Movies I Prefer to the Books They’re Based On:

Atonement. Loved the movie. I thought it was beautifully shot, lovely costumes, great soundtrack, good acting. In the book? Well, I was bored stiff. I didn’t care for McEwan’s writing style; it was too flowery and overly descriptive for my liking.

The Princess Bride. The movie is so classic, it just wins. And in the book, the author’s butting in is annoying.

The Princess Diaries. The book doesn’t have Julie Andrews.

Bridget Jones’s Diary. Colin Firth + Hugh Grant + wimp fight> book entertainment value. I enjoyed the book. Wimp fight on screen is just awesome.

And the ultimate reason why I belong in literary hell…

Pride and Prejudice. Either the BBC one or the 2005 one. Try as I may, I just can’t stomach Jane Austen. I like her story lines. I like her characters. I dislike her writing style. I realize that she lived/wrote during the Regency so her style isn’t exactly modern. But there are PLENTY of books I enjoy from before or just after that time period.

Books, books, more books, and yardsales.

General Geekiness

I love books. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has followed this blog.

Every few years, though, I go through necessary purges. I acquire books. I hoard them. I keep them locked up in a plastic box and forget about them.

We decided to have a yardsale this weekend. My contribution? Close to two hundred books.

As I was going through them, I smiled. Looking at the random collection of books I have, it comes as no surprise to me that my current WIP (or, research in progress) is set in WWII. I forgot how much I loved that era during elementary school/middle school. Its amazing how much I forgot over the years!

And yes, I’m selling them all.