Julian Yap

Reading notes: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

2009-12-25T23:25:31Z

Wolf Hall is sort of a prose response to A Man for all Seasons. It's the story of Thomas Cromwell, described by many as Henry VIII's political fixer, a real historical fixer and one of More's enemies in the play. It's a really good book, with great 16th Century details, and I definitely recommend it to anyone, and especially to any fans of the medieval period or historical literature in general.

Avatar

2009-12-20T01:13:03Z

So Matt Funk moved to town recently and today, geeks that we are, the two of us went to watch Avatar in 3D.

To start with the good: the visuals were stunning. Possibly even better than The Lord of the Rings. Just unbelievable. I completely forgot that 90% of what we were watching was probably computer generated. In fact, I was particularly impressed by the facial features on CGI characters. And the 3D was just astonishing, and used to remarkable effect. If you go watch it, I highly, highly, highly recommend you try to catch it in 3D. And the action scenes were tons of fun, answering the age old question "Who would win in a fight? A horde of dragons or a squadron of helicopters?" And a fight that can only be called "The end of Aliens round two."

On the other hand, the plot was, admittedly, kind of campy, and very predictable. And, as I suspected, anyone who studies colonialism will have issues with the show. Since I'm not a terribly critical viewer (I failed to realize that there was a message behind Crash when I saw it), there were probably other things that I missed, or that I could criticize if I thought about it more.

But in a very real way, to ask "is Avatar a good movie or a bad movie?" is to totally miss the point. Avatar Is a stupendously awesome movie. Makes me wish that James Cameron had directed and produced the Star Wars prequels, because, y'know, he gets it, and he doesn't try to make the movie anything more than great science-fictiony fun. And at that, he succeeds in spades.

Asking my friends-list

2009-12-15T22:46:32Z

So, I've been trying to remember the title of a book I read a little while back. I apparently didn't put it in my LJ, and trying to google it based on the things I know about it has totally failed.

That said, my friends-list is filled with remarkably well-informed readers, so perhaps you can help me.

The book in question is a short novel about this guy with no super-powers who lives in a city filled with people with super-powers. He ends up dating this woman with super-powers who is then hypnotized by her ex-boyfriend so she can't see him and thinks he has disappeared.

Anyone?

Buy Books, Do Good!

2009-12-14T20:15:15Z

So, some of you may be looking for presents this holiday season. If so, might I suggest going to Small Beer Press and buying some of their excellent books? Run by the incomparable Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, Small Beer Press puts out wonderful editions of some really great books that you're not going to get anywhere else. Of particular note, I think, are Kelly's own books, a special limited edition copy of Ellen Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword, Mockingbird by Sean Stewart, and Interfictions 1 & 2 which I am required by law to shill. I'd also recommend taking a look at and their wonderful series of Peapod Classics, done in the style of those old Pengiun Classics, which are just great fun. Oh, and Kalpa Imperial translated by Ursula LeGuin. Okay, actually, there are just too many cool things to name.

So where does the doing good part come in? Well right now they are holding a crazy once-in-a-lifetime sale on all its books, in support of Franciscan Children's Hospital in Boston, where their baby has been residing for some months.

Kelly is a much better writer than I am, so I'll let them tell you the whole story themselves.

Go to the sale here.

And one to grow on

2009-12-11T15:57:47Z

So one of the things I love the most about reading is when you start a book intending to read a few pages, and then end up going right through the whole thing without putting it down. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I never begrudge the lost sleep. One of the nice things about YA books is that they take a little less time, so you don't end up staying up quite as late.

This is all in the way of a prelude to my favorite YA book of the year When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. It was an exceptional novel in a year I read many many good YA books (including Dealing with Dragons and How I Live Now). I actually stumbled across it yesterday when I was trying to find lists of books that had come out in the 2000s and found it on a slew of "Best YA books of 2009" lists. I picked it up on my Kindle in the evening, started reading it just before bed, and finished at 1 in the morning.

It is also, unfortunately, one of those books where the less I tell you about it the better. So, in brief, the book is about a 12 year old girl growing up in 1970s Manhattan, whose favorite book is "about a girl named Meg--her dad is missing, and she goes on this trip to another planet to save him."

Anyway you should read it.

Edit: It is possible that the book is actually Middle Grade. But I'm somewhat fuzzy on the YA/Middle Grade divide

Books of the Decade?

2009-12-10T23:16:27Z

So, havenstone just put up this list of his favorite movies of the Oughts, and while I know the decade isn't over till the end of next year, I thought I'd join in the fun and come up with my favorite books of the last 10 years. Like Joel, I expect someone to write me back to tell me about an excellent book that I've forgotten. I'd also love to hear other people's lists.

So, Top 10 books of the last 10 years:

1)The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2)Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
3)The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson (Yes, I'm counting the whole thing as one book)
4)The Life and Times of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M.T. Anderson
5)No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
6)Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
7)The History of Love by Nicole Kraus
8)The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon
9)Gilead by Marylinne Robinson
10) A tie between Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Liberation by Brian Francis Slattery.

Of course, that's just my fiction list. I'd need to think a bit before I put together my nonfiction list but it probably includes The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup by Susan Orleans, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver, The Places in Between by Rory Stewart, and, of course, Opium Season by Joel Hafvenstein; but I know for sure I'm forgetting something there.

If I could break out YA books into another list, I'd have to make a whole list just for M.T. Anderson (especially Whales on Stitlts and Feed) and I would definitely add The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whelan Turner, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, and can I put in Bone by Jeff Smith?

Ah Internet, you can be so funny

2009-12-01T21:45:19Z

So I saw this image on glvalentine's LJ, which made me laugh out loud for a good five minutes. I don't know if anyone else will find it as funny as I do, but I thought I'd share.

Young Adult Fiction Reading Guide from Tor.com

2009-11-19T23:11:55Z

So, I know a lot of my friends read YA, so I thought it would be helpful to folks if I posted links to Megan Crewe's YA reading guides from Tor.com, where she tries to guide you to the YA books you might like based on what sort of fantasy and science fiction you like. Based on the books she recommended that I've read it looks like she's got pretty good taste. I'd particularly second her recommendations of Feed, by MT Anderson (probably my favorite YA author), and the Attolia books (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia) by Megan Whelan Turner (tied with Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books for my favorite YA series).

Anyways, here are her guides to Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Standoff

2009-11-18T20:17:19Z

So, I've just been informed that Standoff one of my favorite, canceled-before-its-time shows is now available on Hulu in its entire run, which is fantastic since it isn't (yet) available on DVD.

Standoff is sort of Moonlighting meets The Negotiator. The show follows the activities of a LA based FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit. In particular it focuses on the two lead negotiators, Matt Flannery (played by Ron Livingston) and Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt), who are partners, and who are also, as revealed when the show begins, sleeping together. Each episode revolves around the main plot of a hostage situation and the subplot of Matt and Emily's relationship. Of possible interest to Firefly fans, the always impressive Gina Torres also stars as Matt and Emily's boss.

Anyway, the show was smart and tense and sexy, with exciting plots and great acting, and it completely baffles me that it got canceled midway through its first season. If you're looking for a show to watch, for free, I'd definitely recommend it.

Lev Grossman's The Magicians

2009-11-13T16:25:02Z

Gina G. describes The Magicians this way: "it's as if Audrey Niffenegger took the ideas of The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter and turned them into a modern American story for adults." And she's not wrong. And if that's not enough to get you to read it, I'm not sure what is.

It's not a perfect book, the main character is a little emo for my tastes, for instance, and it does partake of as of much of the conventions of contemporary fiction as it does of fantasy fiction, which I can see not sitting well with some people. But overall, I was extremely impressed.

(Edited to add) charlie_ego, I'd be really interested to see what you think about it, if you get a chance to read it.

What if. . . The Beatles had gone on SNL?

2009-11-10T20:47:31Z

Chris Bird (AKA MightyGodKing) is better known for his comic pieces, See, e.g.MGK Versus His Adolescent Reading Habits. But his most recent blog entry, a little alternate history where the Beatles accepted Lorne Michaels' generous offer to appear on Saturday Night Live is a special sort of awesome.

Various Random Thoughts on a Saturday Afternoon

2009-11-07T23:19:30Z

1) There were clementines in the store today! I love clementine season. The batch I got are a little sour, but I'm just happy they're in stores.

2) Speaking of fruit, did you know that pears are delicious? After over 2 years of being unable to eat apples or pears, this is quite the revelation.

3) NPR informs me that it is Joni Mitchell's 66th birthday today. In celebration I have put on Blue, Ladies of the Canyon and Hits.

Avatar

2009-11-05T03:31:14Z

So, I like James Cameron movies and I'm really looking forward to Avatar. But even now I can see that anyone who studies Colonialism in Science Fiction is going to have a field day.

Heteroween

2009-10-29T20:02:54Z

Ganked from my cousin Karsten's Facebook feed: Dan Savage's always unique perspective on Halloween.

Though, I must say "Sexy Cadaver" does seem to be taking the "Sexy 'Noun'" thing too far. What was it Joel always said? "Necrophilia means never having to say... anything."

Bruce Lee plays Table Tennis

2009-10-22T13:38:55Z

... Or as we call it in Mandarin "ping pang"

Of course, being Bruce Lee, he does it with a pair of nunchucks.

It's apparently some sort of Nokia ad in China, but it is also frickin' awesome

A Game of Thrones

2009-10-19T18:58:54Z

So, I saw this today on Tor.com, and I figured other people might be interested. HBO's adaptation of A Game of Thrones starts production next week, starring Sean Bean as Eddard Stark and Jennifer Ehle as Catelyn Stark.

Who knows how it'll turn out, but, hey ~~Sharp~~Boromir and Elizabeth Bennett, are a pretty good start.

This is pretty cool

2009-10-14T18:57:31Z

Liu Bolin, a Chinese artist who literally disappears into his photos.

Not that I've been watching TV

2009-10-08T21:01:50Z

But I've been hearing good things about Glee all over the place. I thought the first episode was really disappointing, and I have heard some bad things about it from friends. Is anyone still watching it? Any reports?

Let's Ride Bikes!

2009-10-04T16:11:40Z

So I finally learned to ride a bike over the summer. Despite really enjoying it, I've mainly stayed on nature trails and a tiny amount of mountain biking because I am scared to death of cars when riding my bike. Anyway, friends of mine ride in the New York MS bike ride every year, and I thought it would be nice to join them and see what road biking was like. So, hoping I wasn't gathering too much hubris, I signed up for the 30 mile ride. Now some of you (named Jen) may think that that was a really wussy distance, but in any case, it's the longest I've ever gone.

And it was fantastic! I loved it so much. Even though the gearing on my bike wouldn't actually shift on hills, it was still a blast, and now I really want to do it again! I'm thinking there must be easy rides in Austin, and the Bay Area, and I think next year I'm going to sign up to do the 66 mile ride. Anyone interested in joining me?

50 Neat Billboards

2009-10-01T14:56:48Z

There was a poem I read in high school that went something like:

I think that I shall never see
A billboard as lovely as a tree
Perhaps, unless the billboards fall,
I'll never see a tree at all.

Which the internet tells me was written by Ogden Nash. So with apologies to Mr. Nash, you should check out this site with pictures of 50 really cool and clever billboards. Plus, the site is by a Singaporean, so that's a bonus.

But while Mr. Nash may be proved wrong in this instance, always remember: "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker"

If I was in New York, I'd totally go to this

2009-09-24T03:22:12Z

Fellowship of the Ring with Live Orchestra

Reread: Nation by Terry Pratchett

2009-09-20T02:14:40Z

You know that feeling you get when you've just finished a book that really managed to get inside you? That tingling feeling in your soul that it ended perfectly and yet you wish it hadn't ended at all?

Yeah.

Click here to donate to the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

Capsule review: The City and The City by China Mieville

2009-09-08T19:28:13Z

If Jorge Luis Borges decided to write a police procedural, it would look a lot like China Mieville's The City and the City. If you think you'd like that, then you should definitely check it out.

Arrrgh!

2009-09-05T01:52:41Z

Goddamn airlines.

Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of America

2009-08-31T01:25:25Z

So I'd been putting off reading Liberation by Brian Francis Slattery, for some time now. A friend of mine got me a galley copy, and it had been sitting on my shelf for over a year, unread. While, I'd liked Spaceman Blues, Slattery's first book, I didn't love it (Sorry, Brian!) and so while I kept meaning to read Liberation it kept getting bumped back in the queue by other things. This, as it turns out, is a huge shame, because Liberation is one of the best things I've read all year.

Liberation is set in the America of the Very Near Future, where the dollar has collapsed, and with it, the American government. Slattery does an excellent job of expounding on the repercussions of the crash and exploring this brave new world, without getting bogged down in either pedantry or travelogue. The book is fast paced, a delight to read, and more than a little less "science fiction" given the events of the past year and our "Great Recession"

But the best thing about Liberation is that it sings. Slattery is a musician and this shows up throughout the book. There's a musical metaphor on almost every page, and more than that the prose itselfis lyrical, running with an easy rhythm as if Brian Slattery was some sort of bluegrass prophet of the apocalypse.

Which, perhaps he is.