Tales From Outer Suburbia and Hercules

The Arrival by Shaun Tan is one of my all-time favourite books.  It has no words in it, but the story it tells in its pictures is powerful and emotive.  Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan is somewhat different, in that it combines pictures with short pieces of narrative text, making up a book of short stories that are by turns chilling, heart-warming, funny, sad, and all really, really weird.  He's a talented guy, that Shaun!


On a completely different note, I went to the cinema this morning (going to the cinema in the morning feels weird) and saw the new Hercules film, and really enjoyed it!  It's hugely entertaining, and very, very funny.  Rufus Sewell and Ian McShane, in particular, obviously had a lot of fun making it, and they both made me laugh out loud multiple times.  Some of the action was a bit harsh on the horses, and I would have preferred Atalanta to actually have proper armour instead of her mid-riff baring leather ensemble, but overall it was a lot of fun.  Check your brain at the door, and just enjoy the giggles - though I did like the presentation of reality versus legend, which added a bit of unexpected depth, as well as some additional humour.