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This Week's Reviews
Apr. 14th, 2013 04:41 pmCircle of Magic Book Two - Triss' Book by Tamora Pierce:
This series of books isn't exactly high literary art - in fact, it's fairly basic as young adult fantasy goes. Four kids with varied magical affinities become friends at mage school and work together to defeat multifarious threats. This time, they are up against pirates who want to destroy the school. I finished listening to the audiobook a couple of days ago, and I've already forgotten what it was that the pirates were actually after. Still, it's entertaining enough as commute distractions go, and it's very well read, with the author narrating and each character voiced by a different actor. The kids are quite appealing, the adult characters get more of a look-in than usual in these types of stories, and there's plenty of excitement. Fun but forgettable.
Oblivion (possibly slightly spoilery):
The trailer for this looked pretty good, and the first half was.
Empire says it better than I could (extracts from a longer review):
"Oblivion has a crowded imagination and an empty heart."
"It blasts you with information in the opening few minutes."
"Day in, day out, [the protagonists] guard the equipment, all alone on Earth in a condo in the clouds, full of hard, shiny surfaces that suggest that in the decades ahead, comfort will become deeply unfashionable."
"It feels real, partly due to being shot on actual locations, primarily in Iceland, rather than via green-screen."
"After this initial onslaught of information, the brakes are pulled on... ...and these scenes, in which very little actually happens, are actually more enticing than the time after the film decides to pile on the plot."
"It is a fine story. Yet it’s so hard to invest in it, because the characters are so flimsy."
"On one level, Oblivion is a strong sci-fi riddle boldly staged, yet that’s only half its ambition. As a story of a man struggling with his place in the world and with the power of love to conquer all, it’s as dry and crumbly as its nuked landscape."
Add to this the fact that the second half was filled without about every hoary old cliche you could care to name and had such blatant gender imbalance in terms of character roles and actions that even I noticed, and it left me wanting to scrub my brain out with a brillo pad.
The Salon Project - Barbican:
On Thursday, Dave and I (and my brother and sister-in-law) went to a fancy event at the Barbican, where we were dressed in period finery and invited to swan around with similarly coiffed and bedecked guests for a couple of hours, interspersed with various bits of entertainment. The costuming aspect of the evening was truly excellent (I lucked out with a dress that was both comfortable and attractive, though I was a little dismayed that they insisted on back-combing my hair), while the entertainment was mixed. The tableau vivant of naked people watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on laptops was very odd, one speaker was so-so while the other was very good, the pianist was fine, but the finale of disturbing film accompanied by loud and discordant noises was something I could really have done without. It was an interesting evening all round, and getting to dress up in awesome outfits is a reward in itself, so I'm really glad we went.
This series of books isn't exactly high literary art - in fact, it's fairly basic as young adult fantasy goes. Four kids with varied magical affinities become friends at mage school and work together to defeat multifarious threats. This time, they are up against pirates who want to destroy the school. I finished listening to the audiobook a couple of days ago, and I've already forgotten what it was that the pirates were actually after. Still, it's entertaining enough as commute distractions go, and it's very well read, with the author narrating and each character voiced by a different actor. The kids are quite appealing, the adult characters get more of a look-in than usual in these types of stories, and there's plenty of excitement. Fun but forgettable.
Oblivion (possibly slightly spoilery):
The trailer for this looked pretty good, and the first half was.
Empire says it better than I could (extracts from a longer review):
"Oblivion has a crowded imagination and an empty heart."
"It blasts you with information in the opening few minutes."
"Day in, day out, [the protagonists] guard the equipment, all alone on Earth in a condo in the clouds, full of hard, shiny surfaces that suggest that in the decades ahead, comfort will become deeply unfashionable."
"It feels real, partly due to being shot on actual locations, primarily in Iceland, rather than via green-screen."
"After this initial onslaught of information, the brakes are pulled on... ...and these scenes, in which very little actually happens, are actually more enticing than the time after the film decides to pile on the plot."
"It is a fine story. Yet it’s so hard to invest in it, because the characters are so flimsy."
"On one level, Oblivion is a strong sci-fi riddle boldly staged, yet that’s only half its ambition. As a story of a man struggling with his place in the world and with the power of love to conquer all, it’s as dry and crumbly as its nuked landscape."
Add to this the fact that the second half was filled without about every hoary old cliche you could care to name and had such blatant gender imbalance in terms of character roles and actions that even I noticed, and it left me wanting to scrub my brain out with a brillo pad.
The Salon Project - Barbican:
On Thursday, Dave and I (and my brother and sister-in-law) went to a fancy event at the Barbican, where we were dressed in period finery and invited to swan around with similarly coiffed and bedecked guests for a couple of hours, interspersed with various bits of entertainment. The costuming aspect of the evening was truly excellent (I lucked out with a dress that was both comfortable and attractive, though I was a little dismayed that they insisted on back-combing my hair), while the entertainment was mixed. The tableau vivant of naked people watching 2001: A Space Odyssey on laptops was very odd, one speaker was so-so while the other was very good, the pianist was fine, but the finale of disturbing film accompanied by loud and discordant noises was something I could really have done without. It was an interesting evening all round, and getting to dress up in awesome outfits is a reward in itself, so I'm really glad we went.
