The Dilemma of a Reader

I’ve been vehemently against eReaders since Amazon.com introduced the Kindle those years ago. I thought the e-ink technology was amazing–I’m on the computer most of the day, and despite what anyone thinks, reading on a backlite screen for as long as I read books would kill my eyes. It wasn’t that that bugged me about the Kindle–it was the fact that it took away the physical book. I don’t know about you guys, but I get very attached to books I love–so much so that I have to have them near me at all times, or I feel odd. For instance, when I was reading Kraken instead of putting it in my door with my purse, I had to keep it out on my desk, so I could see it at all times. That’s just how I am. It’s like everything I love about the book I pour into its physical presence, and I’m afraid if I leave it, it will disappear. Obviously, this attachment doesn’t always happen, but it’s one of the things I love about reading and books in general.
I always figured eReaders were for the people that were more casual readers–the people who picked up a book once in awhile to read and didn’t experience the attachment I felt to the majority of the books I read. Anyway, that was until I started hearing about the Kobo (I still have a part-time job at Borders.. for now). … Continue Reading

In London, a Kraken is Stolen..

Cultists. Gods. A giant squid. London. War. The end of the world. These are the things that make up China Mieville’s most recent work, Kraken.

It all starts when the giant squid at the Museum of Natural History in London disappears without a trace in the middle of the day. The tank he had been kept in intact, no indication as to how or why. The museum curator, Billy, who had preserved the squid, finds him gone and is thrown into an alternate London of cult gods, magic, and war.

There’s the Tattoo, who is forever confined to Paul’s back as a moving, speaking tattoo. There’s Goss and Subby who are the most dangerous assassins that appear periodically throughout London’s history–their names fearfully whispered in the dark alleys. There’s Collingswood and Baron, two cops dedicated to the cultist dealings in London. There’s Fitch and Saira, two Londonmancers who are connected to the city by their magic. There’s Dane, an exiled warrior for the Church of the Kraken who becomes Billy’s unlikely partner. There’s Wati, the leader of a union made up of magical familiars. There’s Grisamentum, enigmatic and dangerous. There’s Simon, a dedicated Trekie who has killed himself multiple times through his knack, and is now haunted by ex-hims. There’s Marge who’s just looking for her lover. And, of course, there’s the Kraken, the God who is stolen.

Billy is thrown into this world in London full of strange characters who possess a unique knack–abilities that use magic to perform special acts. No one knows why, but everyone can feel the world spinning out of control. The End is coming, and it’s up to Billy, Dane, Wati, and the others who understand what’s coming to stop it. But as the story unfolds, and the day gets closer, truths are uncovered that overlap, shift, and change like the tide. Until the last moment, no one is sure what’s going to bring about the fire that devours existence and memory.

Once again, China Mieville proves his inventiveness in creating worlds entirely unlike anything seen before. The characters in Kraken are quirky, funny, and real, despite their strange abilities. It has the elements of all great Mieville works–the city as a character, magic that is steeped in unorthodox ideas, the darkness of an urban landscape, and an ingenious plot that builds a world from the ground up, always surprising with each new turn of the page.

Meaning vs. Merit

Note: I apologize if this post offends anyone, I really hope it doesn’t.

The other day I noticed an acquaintance of mine had become a fan of “Plugging the gulf leak with the works of Ayn Rand” on facebook. As part of a challenge I have set out for myself (reading one classic per letter of the alphabet based on the author’s last time) I am in the process of reading Atlas Shrugged (my R).

Now, I’ve only gotten about halfway through it, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. When I was expressing this to a coworker, he said “I refuse to read any of her works because I can’t stand the people who think like her.”

Both of these occurrences made me go “woah, back up.” … Continue Reading

My Lost Thoughts

Yup, I’m going to throw my ideas out into the world about the recently ended TV series Lost like everyone else on the planet. If you plan on watching the series, I wouldn’t read any further. If you don’t, none of this will make sense to you.

And without further ado..

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Dear Red Pyramid, I really tried to like you

Ugggh. I’ve been attempting to force myself to finish the Red Pyramid for the last week now. I’m sitting at about 150 pages left and I just can’t force myself to pick it up, even in the subway I just let it sit in my bag with my lunch. So be warned, this isn’t a full review (though I really don’t think my opinion will change with the end).

Based on my last post about it, it probably seems like I wasn’t giving it much of a chance. But I really tried to like it–I still am. I WILL finish it, but it’s going to take some forcing on my part.

… Continue Reading

the City & the City

China Miéville is one of my favorite authors and someone who I admire greatly. His novels, particularly Perdido Street Station and the Scar, are brilliant works of urban fantasy, or as Miéville calls it “weird fiction.” His other work I’ve read, King Rat, was much more subtle and reserved than his later works. Personally, I believe the Scar to be his most brilliant piece of writing and one of the most brilliant pieces of work I have ever read in my life. It was almost as far-flung as Perdido, but it’s structure, story, inventiveness, and characters were on a scale I’ve yet to see most established writers achieve. In his most recent novel, the City & the City, he pulls back a bit, but his incredible inventiveness is still present and in full force.

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Ponyo

When Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, the first (and only, so far) non-English animated film to win, it was a huge breakthrough for anime in the United States. Since then, the animated films of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki have gained widespread acclaim. I just watched Ponyo a few days ago, and though I really enjoyed it, I don’t think it was quite up to par with the other Ghibli films I have seen. Granted, I haven’t seen their whole library, but my absolute favorite films have been Spirited Away and Grave of the Fireflies.

Ponyo was a beautifully animated film (like a Ghibli film wouldn’t be), and the story was very cute. It is about a young fish who hopes desperately to become a human. She falls into the hands of the young Sosuke, and her love for him allows her to become human.

Grave of the Fireflies was the most moving animated film I have ever seen, hands down. If you have not see it, I urge you to–I would consider it even more moving than most live action films as well. Spirited Away was just a great story all around. In terms of story and emotional investment, I felt Ponyo lacked both–but I also feel that it was meant for a much younger audience, so I can’t complain too much. It was still a great film, and still much better than most American animated films.

If you’re looking for a great introduction into Studio Ghibli’s works, I would suggest watching Spirited Away first. And if you’re up to watching one of the most depressing and moving films ever created, watch Grave of the Fireflies. If you’re in the mood for something cute, Ponyo.

Adobe vs. Apple, the Saga

I don’t know how many of you are tech-crazy like I am, and this might be a bit off topic, but I figured I’d post it anyway, because I want to rant. And we’re all creative people here, and I’d like to think this stuff should be important to everyone.

I’ve been following this feud for quite some time now. If you don’t know about it, it’s between the two giants, Adobe and Apple. Apple purposefully left out the ability for the iPhone and the iPad to support Flash, because Apple felt Adobe’s monopoly of the technology was unfair (says the company who is actively pursuing a monarchy on all mobile and desktop computing..). Ok, I’ll give them that. However, that won’t last much longer now that HTML5 supports a Flash-like capability (though, will it replace flash? No, but that’s another story). Yes, Adobe has a monopoly over video and animation on the web.

But here’s the issue.. … Continue Reading

Will Riordan Score Another Hit?

So in a couple weeks (read: May 4th) the first book by Rick Riordan since the success of Percy Jackson will be released: the Red Pyramid, the first book of the Kane Chronicles, a trilogy.

The story follows the two semi-estranged Kane siblings, Sadie and Carter, as they take on a quest to stop the Egyptian god Set, who was released by their father. To save their father who has been banished by Set, they must travel across the world and find out the secret to their family’s history that dates back to the time of the pharaohs.

I’ll be picking this up the day it comes out. Why? Because I’m very interested to see if this book lives up to Percy Jackson. I could be totally wrong (and I hope I am), but I have a feeling it’ll fall short by quite a bit.

Not to say that Percy Jackson is a great piece of literature, because it isn’t. But it’s entertaining, clever, and better than a lot of IR/YA stuff out there. I always really liked Percy Jackson because of the integration and adaptation of the Greek myths into our world today–some of the ways the Greek ideas/people were modernized were pretty clever, and I really enjoyed that. Plus the story was, like I said, entertaining and there were quite a few times where I was caught by surprise by a plot twist.

I’m hoping that this novel will be a step up for Riordan, that his characters will be stronger and his detail more flushed out, but at the same time I’m worried about him churning another one out so quickly after such a successful series.. sometimes that’s the perfect recipe for failure.

OMG!!1!!111 Blizzard announces awesomeness.

April first has always been a big day for Blizzard Entertainment. They make it a point to make huge announcements on this day, like last year when they announced World of Warcraft game coming to consoles in the form of Molten Core, a game built exclusively for the Atari 2600. Anyone can see, with the concept art matching the screen shots so amazingly, that this was going to be a great game.

Well, they’ve outdone themselves again this year, announcing a new equipment rank system for WoW players and two mobile games that are sure to be hits.

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