Inputs....
[ please excuse any sort of errors- typing this EARLY after a crappy night sleep as there's a couple of things that I've been meaning to post]
Book 10( 9 was 1984 even though I didn't label it as such) was Five Fates. This was an interesting read in the fact that the book started with a two page 'openning' to a short story about a guy getting killed at a Euthanasia Center and then had five writers( hence the title Five Fates) describe WHY the guy was there and what happened next. Yeah I find it amusing that all of the stories take place AFTER the guy gets injected with deadly chemicals. The authors were Keith Laumer, Poul Anderson, Frank Herbert, Gordon Dickson and Harlan Ellison.
I think my favorite of the five was Keith Laumer but that's not a huge surprise- as I do like some of his other work and he seems to be amusing. I was surprised that Ellison's work reminded me of Bester- with the use of having the type be laid out on the page in a pattern/shape to better tell the story.
Book 11 was The Further Adventures of the Joker. I picked this up as I needed a book on the train to NYC and I didn't want to commit to anything MAJOR- as I was sorta hoping to get my Dad to buy me the latest Harrison Hardcover( which I bought from Amazon when I got back). It was printed in 1990- and I hadn't read it since then. I figured since the success of re-reading 1984, and the appeal of reading a collection of short stories on the train... this was the one.
I thought it was interesting that I only remembered two stories stories- the first by Joey Cavalieri and the second by Eward Bryant and Dan Simmons. I don't know why the Joey Cavalieri stayed with me as I much prefered several other stories- like the one by by Eward Bryant and Dan Simmons and another by F. Paul Wilson. The biggest let down was the fact that only two stories mention other characters besides Batman, Joker and Gordon. One as it focuses more on Gordon trying to best Joker, while Batman is on 'vacation' as he's busy as Bruce Wayne, has Barbara as a heavy supporting character- even if she doesn't do anything Batgirlesque... The other one has Joker kill a bunch of kids and Batman SERIOUSLY thinks of killing the Joker. In this story, Best of All by Marco Palmieri, has Batman in the batmobile with Joker and Batman goes through the list of the horrid things that Joker has done- including the death of Jason. What I thought was actually the most noteworthy part of this story is the 'origin' of Joker it gives. That's one of the fun things about the Joker, being crazy he should have multiple origins and not the Alan Moore origin( even if Moore is one of the best comic book writers)... well in this story, it's suggested that Dr. Thompkins is Joker's mother and that she had him committed as a child AFTER he killed his father( because dad caused mom a miscarriage). This story was worth re-visiting after Dr. Thompkins killed Spoiler... while I still disapprove of DC having done this, it makes more sense if you think of Dr. Thompkins being a little bit crazy herself... and maybe she was following in her SON'S footsteps by killing a Robin.
Movies- want to mention a few movies that I've seen recently due to friends/netflix:
1) The Warriors. Man this is a GREAT movie. Forget the 300, rent the Warriors for your Greek stories. Can you DIG IT!
The story is an 'updated'( 1979) verison of a Greek story where a legion ended up behind enemy lines and had to travel leagues so that they could get to the Sea/Home. I saw this months ago, and kept meaning to mention it here. One of the things that I really dug( and I dug it all) was the comic book trasitions. THIS is how Lee should've 'comiced' the Hulk instead of his artsy fartsy multi-cells/scenes...
2) An Inconvenient Truth- I really liked this movie. This was the Al who should've ran for office in 2000- not the one that listened to all his 'advisors' and got Libermann to be his vice president... That said, I don't want Gore running in 08 because of An Inconvenient Truth, I prefer him as Citizen Al and hope that he keeps shinning a light on the dangers the Earth faces.
3) Yes Minister- This is a brit tv series from Britian in 1980 and is one of the reasons I switched from Greencine to Netflix was because Netflix had this and Greencine didn't. I found it esp. amusing because of W. The premise is that James Hacker has just become Minister following his party winning the Prime Ministry. Hacker is put in charge of a department and regularly bumps heads with Sir Humphrey Appleby. Sir Humphrey is a carrer bureaucrat, so him and Hacker bump heads about what the government SHOULD do, and what it CAN'T do... And I say I find it amusing post W., because in the U.S. government- Sir Humphrey would have been fired as soon as he disagreed with Hacker and replaced by Frank Weisel- the guy who ran Hacker's PR.
4) Showgirls- Never have I seen such ANGRY boobies. The boobs were angry... as was the rest of the the body... Seriously I was surprised that Elizabeth Berkley didn't break off MacLachlan's wee wee in the pool scene. I think Berkley even made Gina's boobs angry as they seemed alot more mean then they were in Bound.
Music:
Since I've mentioned books and movies- I feel I must mention MUSIC. In specific Evil Dead the Musical is coming out on DVD at the end of this month. I thought of PRE Ordering it as soon as I saw it... but was reminded that it's in the red zone near my b'day so I should wait until after my b'day in case someone is nice enough to buy it for me... though it's gonna be tough to wait.
Tv:
Lastly want to mention some TV viewing
1) Scrubs... as I've said to Evan, sort of mad at Scurbs and thinking of dropping it as it had an episode 'proving' God... and I just don't think a show with Dr. Cox and his lovely wife should be dealing with God
2) The Riches... starting with the stuff that just isn't cutting it for me... I liked the Riches but not enough to KEEP watching it. Something just isn't clicking. I blame it on the fact that it's happening in the South and there just aren't enough characters I LOVE or HATE. Nobody really inspires me to wonder what happens next? Esp. as I keep cringing every time I see Izzard trying to be a lawyer. It should be obvious to his coworkers he's full of crap... And in a dog eat dog office where you end up firing a person when you come in... I just don't get it.
3) Dresden Files- this is on Sci Fi and like the Legion; it's growing on me. I didn't like it at first because I feared it veared too much from the books... but when I saw an episode actually based on the first book- I really dug it... So I'm trying to keep up with Dresden Files
4) as I'm going from bad to good... the best show right now- which prolly is gonna be canceled in 3 weeks... is Andy Barker P.I. It is just the FUNNIEST thing I've seen in a while( well since last year's My Name is Earl)... I fear cancellation as they moved it from the hit heavy Thrusday lineup to the dead zone of Saturday Night.
And that's it for now... Gotta book. I do want to say I think my book reading has suffered due to sooo many different inputs. Back when I was a kid I could read like a book a day but that was a) because I was going to school- which was a lot less demanding for me then work( as I only did enough to get by). b) didn't have my own tv until I was a teenager c) didn't have a vhs player until college( and I was an early adapter there) d) computer likewise didn't appear until college; and took a while to get INTO computer games.... and e) vid games... which while I had an atari in high school... often just don't call to me save for spurts of getting a NEW game and for a few weeks until I get tired of the game...
Book 10( 9 was 1984 even though I didn't label it as such) was Five Fates. This was an interesting read in the fact that the book started with a two page 'openning' to a short story about a guy getting killed at a Euthanasia Center and then had five writers( hence the title Five Fates) describe WHY the guy was there and what happened next. Yeah I find it amusing that all of the stories take place AFTER the guy gets injected with deadly chemicals. The authors were Keith Laumer, Poul Anderson, Frank Herbert, Gordon Dickson and Harlan Ellison.
I think my favorite of the five was Keith Laumer but that's not a huge surprise- as I do like some of his other work and he seems to be amusing. I was surprised that Ellison's work reminded me of Bester- with the use of having the type be laid out on the page in a pattern/shape to better tell the story.
Book 11 was The Further Adventures of the Joker. I picked this up as I needed a book on the train to NYC and I didn't want to commit to anything MAJOR- as I was sorta hoping to get my Dad to buy me the latest Harrison Hardcover( which I bought from Amazon when I got back). It was printed in 1990- and I hadn't read it since then. I figured since the success of re-reading 1984, and the appeal of reading a collection of short stories on the train... this was the one.
I thought it was interesting that I only remembered two stories stories- the first by Joey Cavalieri and the second by Eward Bryant and Dan Simmons. I don't know why the Joey Cavalieri stayed with me as I much prefered several other stories- like the one by by Eward Bryant and Dan Simmons and another by F. Paul Wilson. The biggest let down was the fact that only two stories mention other characters besides Batman, Joker and Gordon. One as it focuses more on Gordon trying to best Joker, while Batman is on 'vacation' as he's busy as Bruce Wayne, has Barbara as a heavy supporting character- even if she doesn't do anything Batgirlesque... The other one has Joker kill a bunch of kids and Batman SERIOUSLY thinks of killing the Joker. In this story, Best of All by Marco Palmieri, has Batman in the batmobile with Joker and Batman goes through the list of the horrid things that Joker has done- including the death of Jason. What I thought was actually the most noteworthy part of this story is the 'origin' of Joker it gives. That's one of the fun things about the Joker, being crazy he should have multiple origins and not the Alan Moore origin( even if Moore is one of the best comic book writers)... well in this story, it's suggested that Dr. Thompkins is Joker's mother and that she had him committed as a child AFTER he killed his father( because dad caused mom a miscarriage). This story was worth re-visiting after Dr. Thompkins killed Spoiler... while I still disapprove of DC having done this, it makes more sense if you think of Dr. Thompkins being a little bit crazy herself... and maybe she was following in her SON'S footsteps by killing a Robin.
Movies- want to mention a few movies that I've seen recently due to friends/netflix:
1) The Warriors. Man this is a GREAT movie. Forget the 300, rent the Warriors for your Greek stories. Can you DIG IT!
The story is an 'updated'( 1979) verison of a Greek story where a legion ended up behind enemy lines and had to travel leagues so that they could get to the Sea/Home. I saw this months ago, and kept meaning to mention it here. One of the things that I really dug( and I dug it all) was the comic book trasitions. THIS is how Lee should've 'comiced' the Hulk instead of his artsy fartsy multi-cells/scenes...
2) An Inconvenient Truth- I really liked this movie. This was the Al who should've ran for office in 2000- not the one that listened to all his 'advisors' and got Libermann to be his vice president... That said, I don't want Gore running in 08 because of An Inconvenient Truth, I prefer him as Citizen Al and hope that he keeps shinning a light on the dangers the Earth faces.
3) Yes Minister- This is a brit tv series from Britian in 1980 and is one of the reasons I switched from Greencine to Netflix was because Netflix had this and Greencine didn't. I found it esp. amusing because of W. The premise is that James Hacker has just become Minister following his party winning the Prime Ministry. Hacker is put in charge of a department and regularly bumps heads with Sir Humphrey Appleby. Sir Humphrey is a carrer bureaucrat, so him and Hacker bump heads about what the government SHOULD do, and what it CAN'T do... And I say I find it amusing post W., because in the U.S. government- Sir Humphrey would have been fired as soon as he disagreed with Hacker and replaced by Frank Weisel- the guy who ran Hacker's PR.
4) Showgirls- Never have I seen such ANGRY boobies. The boobs were angry... as was the rest of the the body... Seriously I was surprised that Elizabeth Berkley didn't break off MacLachlan's wee wee in the pool scene. I think Berkley even made Gina's boobs angry as they seemed alot more mean then they were in Bound.
Music:
Since I've mentioned books and movies- I feel I must mention MUSIC. In specific Evil Dead the Musical is coming out on DVD at the end of this month. I thought of PRE Ordering it as soon as I saw it... but was reminded that it's in the red zone near my b'day so I should wait until after my b'day in case someone is nice enough to buy it for me... though it's gonna be tough to wait.
Tv:
Lastly want to mention some TV viewing
1) Scrubs... as I've said to Evan, sort of mad at Scurbs and thinking of dropping it as it had an episode 'proving' God... and I just don't think a show with Dr. Cox and his lovely wife should be dealing with God
2) The Riches... starting with the stuff that just isn't cutting it for me... I liked the Riches but not enough to KEEP watching it. Something just isn't clicking. I blame it on the fact that it's happening in the South and there just aren't enough characters I LOVE or HATE. Nobody really inspires me to wonder what happens next? Esp. as I keep cringing every time I see Izzard trying to be a lawyer. It should be obvious to his coworkers he's full of crap... And in a dog eat dog office where you end up firing a person when you come in... I just don't get it.
3) Dresden Files- this is on Sci Fi and like the Legion; it's growing on me. I didn't like it at first because I feared it veared too much from the books... but when I saw an episode actually based on the first book- I really dug it... So I'm trying to keep up with Dresden Files
4) as I'm going from bad to good... the best show right now- which prolly is gonna be canceled in 3 weeks... is Andy Barker P.I. It is just the FUNNIEST thing I've seen in a while( well since last year's My Name is Earl)... I fear cancellation as they moved it from the hit heavy Thrusday lineup to the dead zone of Saturday Night.
And that's it for now... Gotta book. I do want to say I think my book reading has suffered due to sooo many different inputs. Back when I was a kid I could read like a book a day but that was a) because I was going to school- which was a lot less demanding for me then work( as I only did enough to get by). b) didn't have my own tv until I was a teenager c) didn't have a vhs player until college( and I was an early adapter there) d) computer likewise didn't appear until college; and took a while to get INTO computer games.... and e) vid games... which while I had an atari in high school... often just don't call to me save for spurts of getting a NEW game and for a few weeks until I get tired of the game...
Labels: 50 book challenge, Netflix
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