Papa Hemingway wishes he could create complex emotions from simple sentences, simple characters, and their simple conflicts in the way that Joe Coomer does in A Flatland Fable. The end is a little Hollywoodized the Natural for the cynic in me, and there is a TERRIBLE SECRET to be revealed**, but overall the book is solid.
** plus a codicil to the secret that I had guessed was going to be the original terrible secret
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Bone Dance: A Fantasy for Technophiles; Emma Bull; 1991
Other people's head trips are no fun to read about.
This started off promisingly, with a post-apocalyptic world in which our hero makes a living as an Indiana Jones / Humphrey Bogart-type scavenging for old media (VHS and audio cassette tapes, vinyl, etc). I thought the author was even trying to do something literarily clever by never addressing the main character's gender (one of the antagonists finally acknowledges this on page 102 of the 2009 Orb paperback printing, right at the end of Card 4: Behind), but this turns out to be an important plot point. Then it turns into another Loa fest; oh, they were so popular in the late 80's / early 90's.
This started off promisingly, with a post-apocalyptic world in which our hero makes a living as an Indiana Jones / Humphrey Bogart-type scavenging for old media (VHS and audio cassette tapes, vinyl, etc). I thought the author was even trying to do something literarily clever by never addressing the main character's gender (one of the antagonists finally acknowledges this on page 102 of the 2009 Orb paperback printing, right at the end of Card 4: Behind), but this turns out to be an important plot point. Then it turns into another Loa fest; oh, they were so popular in the late 80's / early 90's.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Funny Face (1957)
Setting aside the 30-year age gap between Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, and the 1950's condescension toward a young woman's ideals, this isn't a bad little musical. For me, it suffers most because of all the years I've listened to Ella sing the standards. Fred and Audrey have perfectly pleasant voices, but when you listen to Hepburn's and Ella's versions "How Long Has This Been Going On?", it seems wrong to even use the verb compare. It's the same with "Funny Face" and "S'Wonderful".
On the plus side, Astaire still moves really well for a 58 year old, and his dance sequence in the courtyard of Hepburn's hotel is the highlight of the film. He and Hepburn have a cute, but otherwise choreographically unremarkable, dance together in a darkroom while they sing "Funny Face" (this is now my second-favorite darkroom scene, right after the on in the Great Muppet Caper). Ginger Rogers Audrey is not. Hepburn does some modern dance. And they're together again for "S'Wonderful", which is mostly interesting because they dance onto a little raft which floats across a stream, while some harried production assistant tries to get some swans to swim through the shot.
On the plus side, Astaire still moves really well for a 58 year old, and his dance sequence in the courtyard of Hepburn's hotel is the highlight of the film. He and Hepburn have a cute, but otherwise choreographically unremarkable, dance together in a darkroom while they sing "Funny Face" (this is now my second-favorite darkroom scene, right after the on in the Great Muppet Caper). Ginger Rogers Audrey is not. Hepburn does some modern dance. And they're together again for "S'Wonderful", which is mostly interesting because they dance onto a little raft which floats across a stream, while some harried production assistant tries to get some swans to swim through the shot.
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