The Night of the Awards

I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated... So here's a little something.

Let's take books first for a change. I've recently read Eva Ibbotson's Magic Flutes, which I found from Wikipedia as I was going through the list of things inspired by Mozart's fantastic opera. The book tells the story of two people - funny enough, I can't remember their names anymore. However, the male protagonist is a foundling, brought up by a relatively poor woman in London. He falls in love, but the girls family doesn't exactly like his origins nor situation when it comes to money. So, he starts working hard to earn money and reputation to be able to marry the woman he loves. The female protagonist, on the other hand, is the last descendant of an Austrian noble family. She has left her life of rumbling splendour to do what she loves; she works backstage at a little opera company in Vienna. The protagonists naturally meet, and you can probably guess the rest when I tell you it's a romance.

      I liked it, it was a quick read and rather entertaining, seeing as I've been to Vienna once myself and some of the places mentioned were familiar. The main characters weren't that interesting, but then again, they usually aren't. One of the minor characters appealed to me quite a lot, but it might have been because he liked his dogs. (I find myself fond of men who like dogs, like the prince in Deerskin!)

After that I read Melissa Anelli's interesting book called Harry, A History: the True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon. I'm a heavy potterist myself, having grown up with the books (I was nine when I read the first one and just about 17 and a month when the last one came out), and Anelli is the webmistress of the fansite the Leaky Cauldron. The book is everything the title promises - there's the history of Harry Potter, both of writing and publishing, different sorts of people and cultural side-effects (such as bands and my old-time love, fanfiction) and the life of a fan. The things that stuck with me? Laura Malory, the woman who spoke for banning the Harry Potter books from schools. Anelli's meetings with JKR herself. The unity the fans felt at conventions and other meetings of that sort. I was frequently in need of handkerchiefs, being easily moved.
    As I already said, an extremely interesting book. There's so much I didn't know, for I started to find myself interested in fan culture only about a year or two ago. If you're a potterist, you'll probably cry too. The nostalgia is amazing.

So there's what I've last read. I think. Now I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice, because I wanted to see whether I'd write my essay about it. Turn out the answer is no. I'll probably end up choosing Northanger Abbey anyway. :P

Tonight is the night of the Oscars! I was supposed to go to a friend's to stay up with her - it airs at a time slightly inconvenient, 3-7am between Sunday and Monday - but as she's very busy tomorrow, one of my other friends is coming over to my place. I've got pizza coming, she'll bring some snacks, we'll watch a movie before the pre-Oscars stuff starts (around 1am) and then stay up. Needless to say, I will be skipping Latin tomorrow afternoon. Luckily the introductory course to areal and cultural studies ended last Friday.

I've been under a severe Lynch fever for a couple of days, due to the new interview! (It can be found at Camorr) Let's hope that Republic of Thieves will be out this year! ^^

Have a fun March, everyone!

Love, Wilzo

Revelation!

I simply have to share what I realised a short while ago.

I've been re-reading the Lies of Locke Lamora, as I just got it back after about 3-4 months. Couldn't keep my hands off it, really, I've missed it terribly even though I read RSURS in the meanwhile. I also just finished the Blade Itself, and so have a very fresh feeling of it.
Now, I found out about both Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie in an SFX books special. (I've been trying to figure out when I bought it, but can't find any sort of year in the actual magazine. But as there were the first pictures I ever saw of the first Twilight film, I'm guessing it was summer 2007.) There's a list of "the top 100 sf and fantasy authors of all time", and Lynch and Abercrombie are numbers 88 and 81, respectively. In the bit about Lynch his books are recommended for people who like Abercrombie, and vice versa. Abercrmombie's bit even starts with the words: "The UK's answer to Scott Lynch".

That naturally made me suppose that their stuff was somehow similar to each other. A stupid idea, but it stuck to me. Now that I have read both, however, I find that I enjoy Lynch far better than Abercrombie. The reason for this took a discussion with a friend and a rant to my brother.

To the actual point, then. Joe Abercrombie writes what I (perhaps wrongly, as I have all the fantasy sub-genres nice and muddled in my head) would categorize as swords-and-sorcery. He writes about people who are not beautiful, not perfect, and not Chosen Ones. They are regular people facing problems that are quite ordinary, such as wars between nations and power-hungry superiors. There's absolutely no fault in this, on the contrary, I quite support this kind of fiction. It's brutal, it's conniving, and often unfair, but so is real life.
But what I miss in Abercrombie is the wit. That's what Scott Lynch has, and that's what I enjoy. As an admirer of Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Ellen Kushner, Terry Pratchett and, as much as I can be without having read too much of his works, P.G. Wodehouse, I just love word-play and the sort of flowing of language that I think all of the authors mentioned above have mastered. Lynch writes the most amusing dialogue, and I find myself grinning half the time, not because something funny happened but because someone said something in a way that tickled my fancy. But Lynch also has the not-very-pretty characters with flaws - I was very pissed with Locke in RSURS - although he does not display them as prominently as Abercrombie does. In the Gentleman Bastard sequnce there's both sword-and-sorcery (though very little actual sorcery, which pleases me, too) and mannerpunk. And I love the combination.

Another reason I prefer Lynch might be that when I finished the Lies I felt I could either continue of leave it at that and be satisfied with it. With only two books of seven out it's a tad early to say, but at least these two have plots of their own that get completed when the book ends, but under them lies a larger picture that will slowly unfold as the series progresses. It's something like the plotting in Harry Potter - you can read the books as individual stories, if you really insist, or you can see what the significance of the earlier books is in relation to the on-going plot.
With the Blade Itself, and with A Game of Thrones, I was almost frustrated when I realised the book ended and the story was still wide open. It's a matter of preference, of course, but I'm too impatient to wait for three or more books before something gets settled. (A reason I tend to steer away from long series. I started the first Wheel of Time a long, long time ago, got bored on page 10 and quit it. It was probably a wise decision with my attention span.)

If somebody finds this, and they have read the authors concerned, I'm sure to get very angry mail. Now that I've tried both Lynch and Abercrombie, I see they are nothing alike, but the comparison has been in my head for so long now it's hard to get rid of it. But I'm positive that in time I'll be separating the authors comfortably from each other. But for now, I'm a total Lynch-fan, unless someone can point out something I really missed in the Blade Itself.

Now I'm going to go read Lies again. If you're a fan, too, you may want to visit Camorr
Great people, interesting discussion, fairly active with the little members there are. Or at least the little active members there are. We always need more! :D

"We'll take the next bus, destination: setting sun"

The entrance exams were a week ago, and I've been enjoying my vacation since. Life seems slightly empty now that I don't have to study anymore, but I'm trying to fill it up with random stuff.


Here's what I've gotten to keep me busy:

So I finally started watching Star Trek TOS, though I'm doing it in the wrong order - I've watched almost half of the second season and none of the first. I don't think that matters, though. ^^ It's very enjoyable, at the moment my favourite episode is I, Mudd. The crappy special effects are wonderful! :D Can't wait for the next movie, which will be out in June 2012, according to IMDb.


The Privilege of the Sword is something I bought just because you can't get it from any library here. Ellen Kushner is one of the guest authors coming to FinnCon in July, so I decided it would be wise to read some of her works. I've browsed the book and read the first page, and I think I'm going to like it. Maybe not Lynch-like-it, but enjoy anyway.

Those are what I've been reading lately. I've had the Mammoth Book of Fantasy since April and I still haven't finished it. -_- At the moment there are some 100 pages to go. The short stories are not bad, but it's a little hard to concentrate when there's no continuous plot. But I've been introduced to some authors I hadn't heard of or known I might be interested in them, such as Michael Moorcock or Patricia McKillip.

The Tough Guide, then. I had to order it, but haven't regretted for a second. It is constructed like any travelling guide, and if you're familiar with the fantasy genre, you'll laugh like hell all the way through it. I've earned some curious stares giggling in the bus. Diana Wynne Jones is actually one of my favourite authors, even though I've read very little by her.

Oh, movies! There isn't much to tell, I'm afraid. The latest one I've seen is Bright Star, and I can recommend it to anyone who likes Austen. It was very interesting, beatiful in colour and full of drama. What impressed me the most, however, was possibly the choice of soundtrack during the credits in the end. But I'm not going to spoil that to anyone who might stumble upon this blog.

And what became of my Bastards and the Knives? Well, it seems to have finally arraived at the bookstore, but the one I ordered (the cheaper paperback version) won't be in until November. I'm going to go there today to see whether they have it shelved, but most possibly won't purchase it yet. I guess I can wait, I already have a pile of books to read this summer. Just for fun, let's list them:
1) The Mammoth Book of Fantasy
2) Ellen Kushner: The Privilege of the Sword
3) Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility (or Pride and Prejudice, if I can find my copy)
4) Joe Abercrombie: Blade Itself
5) finnish rereading Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

I have a busy week ahead of me. I'm going dancing today and tomorrow, on Wednesday we'll go see the Prince of Persia with a couple of friends, on Thursday there's the picnic with friends, only Friday remains free. I think I'm going to gym then, but we'll see.

Maybe that will suffice for a while. I'll be back, hopefully a little sooner this time. :)

~Wil

And the Oscar Goes To...

It has apparently been a while since I've last written... Please excuse me. ^^;

First of all, I want to tell me opinion about the movies I've seen.
The Wolfman would've been alright if they hadn't felt the need to scare the audience every five minutes. The movie itself isn't scary, and even though there were some intestines dropping out from people and severed arms and such, it wasn't disgusting. So, the director had to resort to sudden movements and semi-unexpected loud noises. It took half the experience away, having to keep your guard up in anticipation of a hairy creature jumping from some direction roaring loudly. The music gave it's cues, of course. Plotwise I liked the thing, though I'm still pissed at the woman involved and what happened with her - it would never work that way! Casting was great, Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins did great.

Men Who Stare At Goats, then. I thought they would've had more fun with the whacky, psychic soldiers, but sadly they didn't. It was amusing, and I did laugh, but it wasn't exactly the film experince of the year. Even Ewan McGregor didn't save this movie for me, though it made me giggle hearing him ask "What's a jedi?" I'm not sure most of the audience got the irony, but then again, why should I care? I had fun.
But I'm not going to see that movie again. Jeff Bridges was good, George Clooney was good. Not much more to say about it, I'm afraid.

I also went to Orion to see Pillow Book for the first time. It was strange, and I think it requires several reruns before you really get it, but I fell in love with McGregor's jealous/mad Jerome. If only he didn't attempt to speak other languages... French was alright, but I think he tried Japanese - and if that was Japanese, he shouldn't speak it.


The release of Scott Lynch's third book, the Republic of Thieves, has been postponed again. They're talking 'bout spring 2011, which for me seems way too long. I hope at least Bastards and the Knives is on schedule this year.

The Academy Awards are tonight, and I'm as excited as perusual. This year is a little different - I've never stayed up with so many friends! Usually I've been by myself or one friend at most, but this year we're going to be four or five! :D I'm looking forward to it, it's nice to have company. Here, far far away from Hollywood, the gala starts around 3am, so watching it live is always a little task. I, however, enjoy seeing everything there is, and not the shortened, subtitled version you can see two days later.

I wish best of luck for Mr. Tarantino and his crew. If Christoph Waltz doesn't get an Oscar, no one deserves it.

Five Books

Today you’ll get a glimpse of what I read. Here are five books from my bookshelf that I have enjoyed reading.

1) Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

This book is simply hilarious. There are three plotlines; the first contains a devil and an angel, the second a Witchfinder Private and a witch and the third a boy, his friends and his dog. It’s 1995, and the Apocalypse is just around the corner.

I bought this book as a Pratchettist. Back then – in 2004 – my English was really bad and I gave up after 80 pages. Two years later I picked it up, read it laughing hysterically and decided it was worth reading again. Now it has been 5 or 6 times, and I intend to read it again. You simply can’t get bored with Aziraphale and Crowley, or the Apocalyptic Horse Persons in their civilian lives.

383 pages. My copy is starting to look slightly dishevelled. I had to fix the corners with tape this year to prevent them from peeling.

 

2) Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

To my shame I have to admit I only read the book after seeing the movie a couple of times. But I prefer the original work – it’s more complicated and has finer details. (Though I really enjoy Miyazaki’s version, too.) I own the book in two languages, but last time I read it (which happened a week or so ago) I found that it lost some of its funniness in Finnish. My favourite bits are all of Howl. Who wouldn’t enjoy “Chapter Fourteen, in which the Royal Wizard catches a cold” or said Royal Wizard bursting in at early morning, drunk.

It just keeps getting better and better. It was off my Favourite Books –list for a while, but made its return.

302 pages. I love my cover, for some reason. Maybe I have too many books with sensible covers.

 

3) Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow

Werewolves in modern day Los Angeles. Written in free verse. It’s very hard to describe this book, but if you’re a fan of werewolves, you need to read this. None of that walking-on-two-legs nonsense. It’s interesting, intense and beautiful. Far too few people are aware of this masterpiece. I happened to see it in the New Titles section at the bookstore, and got it for Christmas after hinting about it to my dad. I read it straight away, and then slowly again through this year.

313 pages. The cover is just beautiful.

4) The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

I bought Interview with the Vampire in Madrid 2006, and have been reading Rice since. Lestat has probably been my favourite, though I never got through the whole series. (There are 10+2 books, I’ve read 6.) It’s intriguing, flowingly written – and been too long since I read it. I fell in love with Rice’s vampires and can’t take this Twilight crap going on. (No offence – had Twilight become a hit a couple of years earlier, I would’ve been into it.)

I’m not going to say much about this now, because it has really been quite long since I read this book. However, I’m planning on rereading it after Christmas, mostly because I’m going to read Eclipse and am going to need proper vampires after that.

599 pages. I have the three first books with these covers. I like them a lot.

5) Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Book two of the Gentleman Bastard sequence. I would’ve loved to put the first book of the series, the Lies of Locke Lamora, here, but I don’t own it. Yet.

RSURS contains a lot of piratism. And card-sharping. And Gods, did I love it! After reading LoLL last summer I began craving for more, and finally bought this second book a few months ago. (There is one copy of this one in all the libraries on the area, and there were 11 reservations. I would’ve taken about a year to get my hands on it otherwise.) I wasn’t allowed to read it before I had finished my exams, but then I devoured it in four big gulps.

Scott Lynch is a brilliant author who has fewer readers than he should. This isn’t your goody-two-shoes Harry Potter, poor-in-language-and-characters Twilight or noble-serious-good-versus-evil Lord of the Rings. (Again, don’t get me wrong; I’m a potterist as well as a LotR-fan) This is something else, and I wouldn’t let kids aged fourteen and under read this stuff. It’s violent, harsh and very foul mouthed, and I love all those traits about it. (Not to mention interesting world and witty conversation.)

628 pages. Third book is on its way, there are going to be seven parts altogether, and novellas. This cover is so beautiful, and I’m aiming to get my Lies with the beautiful cover as well. I’ll post a picture when I do. 

That’s it for now. I’m leaving.

 
With love,
Wil