Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Books and movies on the train and plane

I am barely able to stay awake past 8:30 p.m. and waking up at 4:30 a.m. still. And I figured why push it. I have had two really fantastic mornings of eating a full breakfast and slowly drinking coffee while reading or writing. Yesterday morning I finished a paper before class. Since I've been reading and watching a lot (due to time on the train and plane) I thought I would rate the various things I've read and watched mostly so I can remember it.
  • Movie: "Ultraviolet." I liked it. It's a sci-fi fantasy movie based off a comic book or graphic novel of some sort. I think? Liadian do you know? It's one of those women kick butt movies. I wonder why it seems a lot of mo's like sci-fi, graphic novel stuff? Curious. I totally do.

  • Movie: "He loves me, He loves me not." Yuck! I did not like it one bit. I watched it with j one night but stopped watching 1/3 of the way through. She finished it by putting in her earphones while I read "Tipping the Velvet" instead.

  • Book: "Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters" which I think I listed earlier on my lesbian book list. E sent it with me and I read it in three countries (on the train and the plane). I related to the character Florance most of all, but still not all the way. The other characters I couldn't relate to as well but I found it really fascinating to be inside their minds for a bit. To wonder at the lack of choices they had and the choices they made. Combining it, with Amsterdam, and conversations with j was fascinating. It is a bit, um, erotic at times. And my arms went numb a couple times which happens when I am feeling strong emotion. I hoped so much for the characters I don't think I would have done well if it hadn't ended how it did.

  • Book: "Save your Own by Elisabeth Brink". I actually have the last few pages to read in this book but generally it was pretty good. I liked the idea of a story about a girl working on her ph.d in religion while finding ways to save her own virgin, over thinking, self. If there's more to say when I'm done I will. For now it was a fast read. There are lesbian characters in it but it's not at all a lesbian book. And it's the authors first book so...

  • Book: "Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis". What to say, what to say.... Well there were quite a few lines that were provocative. I brought the book with to leave with j. And along the way read most of it, sometimes aloud with her. This is where we got that paragraph we talked about (see previous post). I like how non-judgmental (especially for his time) Lewis is in terms of marriage and relationships amongst other things. The book is both thought provoking and at times I felt the age of the book. Meaning, male language, assumptions that aren't true today, and some stereotypes. But overall it was totally interesting to have along as a conversational partner.

3 comments:

Liadan said...

It's heavily inspired by SF comics / manga, but it's not based on a particular one. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia the premise is from an 80s gangster movie.

I think a lot of the SF appeal is that it lets you imagine a future where being a 'mo is unremarkable, and gender isn't such a Huge Freaking Deal, above and beyond the usual escapist appeal to anyone who's socially rejected.

The appeal of comics is probably the accessibility, in that anyone can make their own through underground stuff (or now, webcomics) and they're approachable on an intellectual level in a way that literature or art by itself isn't.

titration said...

liadan: How educational you are. :) The beginning of the movie was all comic book or graphic novel pages so I guess that's where I figured that it was based off that. Hmmm. I'm going to have to look into webcomics...

Zuzu said...

Have you seen the TV series Tipping The Velvet?? I think it's available on Netflix. Very racy (especially part two!)