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spooky_miss) wrote2010-05-15 11:25 am
spooky_miss) wrote2010-05-15 11:25 am
Books Forty and Forty One, and Films 28 and 29
Book Forty - On The Road by Jack Kerouac
This is obviously a classic novel, so I'd heard a lot about how great it was - and I was really disappointed. It tells the story of Sal Paradise as he goes across America, a few times, and to few different places, and all the friends he meets and things he gets up to on the way. Maybe it's because I'm not into books about disaffected youth (I was disappointed by Catcher in the Rye too), I really wasn't that interested in what he was doing. He just seemed to arrive in one place, stay there for a while, run out of money, and try to get to another place. Actually one aspect I did like was the descriptions of the work they did to earn money - sounds a bit weird, but that was one of the things I really liked about The Grapes of Wrath, how they actually were able to survive, and those bits of this reminded me of that. Apart from that I didn't think it was too great, it seemed a bit pointless him going from place to place, and his friends weren't particularly likeable or anything. The style was ok, but it was just the content I didn't really like. If you want to read a road trip novel read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas! :) Not really recommended, unless you're trying to read the Top 1001 books you should read before you die! 4 / 10
Book Forty One - Hitler and The Holocaust by Robert S Wistrich
This is one of the books I've had for years, since I studied the Holocaust at uni, and didn't get round to reading at the time. It is a non fiction account of how the Holocaust started, with the history of anti-semitism in Germany, how Hitler came upon his theories about Jews, what happened in countries other than Germany, and the reaction of Britain and the USA all discussed. It was quite heavy to get through, but it was very good. It was very clearly laid out how Germany came to have its anti-Jewish laws etc, and why Hitler thought it was a good idea. The chapters on the actions of countries other than Germany, and then on Britain and the USA were quite shocking in how some of them had so little involvement in getting the Jews out of Germany and the occupied countries, even though they knew they were being killed! The whole book was shocking really, when it described the numbers of Jews taken from each place, how they were fully integrated into society in some cases and were still killed. The refusal of the Pope at the time to condemn the Nazi actions was shocking as well - but I think theres another book on that I might read! It good as when it came to key phrases in Nazi policies - for example there was one which said something like "in one way or another we will get rid of the Jews" - it had the German phrase as well, which I liked. Overall I would recommend this to anyone with more than a casual interest in the Holocaust, and a background knowledge of what happened, as although it does describe what happened, its useful to know a bit more about it to put it in context. 8 / 10
Film 28 - Hunger
This film was brilliant. In the same way as Requiem for a Dream is brilliant, but you never ever want to watch it again as it is just so horrible at the same time. It described what happened in the Maze Prison in the 1980s when the hunger strikes were taking place, focusing on Bobby Sands and his death. It was an extremely arty film, with very little dialogue - apart from the famous scene which is a 17 or 18 mintute long shot of Bobby Sands talking to the prison priest and explaining why he is going on a hunger strike. The first part of the film followed "normal" life in the prison, and I admit this is the only film that has ever made me feel physically sick! The first few scenes were in cell where the inmates had smeared their own excrement on the walls - and it showed him doing it, which actually may have been a bit much. Then it showed a bit of how the guards treated the prisoners, and showed a prison guard getting shot while visiting his mother at an old people's home, which I didn't understand at first, but then after reading up on the subject I think it was to show how so many of the prison guards were shot by people on the outside. After the scene with Bobby Sands and the priest the film then focused on Bobby Sands and his hunger strike. The actor playing him - Michael Fassbender - lost so much weight to play this part, so it looks very realistic, which in a way contributes to how horrible it is. It shows how he becomes more and more ill until his death. Some reviews of this film have said that it makes you feel sympathy for the Irish terrorists - but I don't agree with this. I confess to knowing nothing about this event until I saw this film (and looked up more information on the internet afterwards), I didn't know why he was in there, why any of them were in there, yet I still felt sympathy for him. Sympathy for him as a man, not a terrorist. It made me feel terrible that he felt that to starve himself to death was the only way he could achieve what he was aiming for. I definately recommend this film, although not for those with weak stomachs, as it was quite disgusting at first. 9 / 10
Film 29 - Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball
After watching Hunger I needed something to cheer me up, and this definately worked :) The Secret Policeman's Ball was a series of comedy gigs put on in the late 70s and early 80s to support the charity Amnesty. They feature the best of the best - Monty Python, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, and then later on Rowan Atkinson, Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders, Lenny Henry etc - and this is a documentary with people who were on it reminising (hmm..not sure thats spelt right!) about it, with lots of clips from the shows. It featured the best performance of The Parrot Sketch - where Michael Palin just can't stop laughing - which makes me laugh just thinking about it! It also has some bits of Peter Cook, who I had never really seen perform before the dvds I have of these shows, and he is just great! I need to get more dvds of his I think. A great documentary, its really funny :) Recommended to anyone who appreciates good comedy! 8 / 10
I also caught up on "A Passionate Woman" which we had recorded from the TV a little while ago. It was great. Billie Piper played a young woman in the 50s who had an affair with a man who was shot by his wife when she found out he was having an affair, and then Sue Johnson played the same character in the 80s, still with her husband and still thinking about the other man she loved. All the actors were excellent, and it was a great study on "love" and why you stay in your relationships.
I'm currently reading "Birdman" by Mo Hayder, which although its good, I always think Mo Hayder's books go into a little too much detail about the sick side of the serial killers, instead of just focusing on the police investigation. I have read another of her books before, and I thought it was just that one, but its the same in this one too. But it is still good despite that, and, as with most crime books, I'll probably finish it today or tomorrow!
Slimelight again tonight - woo! :) I've been quite a few times recently, which is great! I really love it, now they've improved and refurbished bits of it its probably my favourite club. The mix of music is great, the drinks are cheap, it goes on for a good amount of time - and with an added bonus that tonight there are going to be five bands on - four goth bands before, and then XP8 during the night. The main goth band is Voices of Masada, playing their last gig (so I hope they aren't *too* good so that I feel bad that I've missed them before, haha), and I'm also looking forward to seeing The Mumbles, which is a band of a guy I used to talk to on vampirefreaks. They also fully show their influences - their record label is called "Mumbling Release" - I wonder where they got that from! :D
This is obviously a classic novel, so I'd heard a lot about how great it was - and I was really disappointed. It tells the story of Sal Paradise as he goes across America, a few times, and to few different places, and all the friends he meets and things he gets up to on the way. Maybe it's because I'm not into books about disaffected youth (I was disappointed by Catcher in the Rye too), I really wasn't that interested in what he was doing. He just seemed to arrive in one place, stay there for a while, run out of money, and try to get to another place. Actually one aspect I did like was the descriptions of the work they did to earn money - sounds a bit weird, but that was one of the things I really liked about The Grapes of Wrath, how they actually were able to survive, and those bits of this reminded me of that. Apart from that I didn't think it was too great, it seemed a bit pointless him going from place to place, and his friends weren't particularly likeable or anything. The style was ok, but it was just the content I didn't really like. If you want to read a road trip novel read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas! :) Not really recommended, unless you're trying to read the Top 1001 books you should read before you die! 4 / 10
Book Forty One - Hitler and The Holocaust by Robert S Wistrich
This is one of the books I've had for years, since I studied the Holocaust at uni, and didn't get round to reading at the time. It is a non fiction account of how the Holocaust started, with the history of anti-semitism in Germany, how Hitler came upon his theories about Jews, what happened in countries other than Germany, and the reaction of Britain and the USA all discussed. It was quite heavy to get through, but it was very good. It was very clearly laid out how Germany came to have its anti-Jewish laws etc, and why Hitler thought it was a good idea. The chapters on the actions of countries other than Germany, and then on Britain and the USA were quite shocking in how some of them had so little involvement in getting the Jews out of Germany and the occupied countries, even though they knew they were being killed! The whole book was shocking really, when it described the numbers of Jews taken from each place, how they were fully integrated into society in some cases and were still killed. The refusal of the Pope at the time to condemn the Nazi actions was shocking as well - but I think theres another book on that I might read! It good as when it came to key phrases in Nazi policies - for example there was one which said something like "in one way or another we will get rid of the Jews" - it had the German phrase as well, which I liked. Overall I would recommend this to anyone with more than a casual interest in the Holocaust, and a background knowledge of what happened, as although it does describe what happened, its useful to know a bit more about it to put it in context. 8 / 10
Film 28 - Hunger
This film was brilliant. In the same way as Requiem for a Dream is brilliant, but you never ever want to watch it again as it is just so horrible at the same time. It described what happened in the Maze Prison in the 1980s when the hunger strikes were taking place, focusing on Bobby Sands and his death. It was an extremely arty film, with very little dialogue - apart from the famous scene which is a 17 or 18 mintute long shot of Bobby Sands talking to the prison priest and explaining why he is going on a hunger strike. The first part of the film followed "normal" life in the prison, and I admit this is the only film that has ever made me feel physically sick! The first few scenes were in cell where the inmates had smeared their own excrement on the walls - and it showed him doing it, which actually may have been a bit much. Then it showed a bit of how the guards treated the prisoners, and showed a prison guard getting shot while visiting his mother at an old people's home, which I didn't understand at first, but then after reading up on the subject I think it was to show how so many of the prison guards were shot by people on the outside. After the scene with Bobby Sands and the priest the film then focused on Bobby Sands and his hunger strike. The actor playing him - Michael Fassbender - lost so much weight to play this part, so it looks very realistic, which in a way contributes to how horrible it is. It shows how he becomes more and more ill until his death. Some reviews of this film have said that it makes you feel sympathy for the Irish terrorists - but I don't agree with this. I confess to knowing nothing about this event until I saw this film (and looked up more information on the internet afterwards), I didn't know why he was in there, why any of them were in there, yet I still felt sympathy for him. Sympathy for him as a man, not a terrorist. It made me feel terrible that he felt that to starve himself to death was the only way he could achieve what he was aiming for. I definately recommend this film, although not for those with weak stomachs, as it was quite disgusting at first. 9 / 10
Film 29 - Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball
After watching Hunger I needed something to cheer me up, and this definately worked :) The Secret Policeman's Ball was a series of comedy gigs put on in the late 70s and early 80s to support the charity Amnesty. They feature the best of the best - Monty Python, Peter Cook, Alan Bennett, and then later on Rowan Atkinson, Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders, Lenny Henry etc - and this is a documentary with people who were on it reminising (hmm..not sure thats spelt right!) about it, with lots of clips from the shows. It featured the best performance of The Parrot Sketch - where Michael Palin just can't stop laughing - which makes me laugh just thinking about it! It also has some bits of Peter Cook, who I had never really seen perform before the dvds I have of these shows, and he is just great! I need to get more dvds of his I think. A great documentary, its really funny :) Recommended to anyone who appreciates good comedy! 8 / 10
I also caught up on "A Passionate Woman" which we had recorded from the TV a little while ago. It was great. Billie Piper played a young woman in the 50s who had an affair with a man who was shot by his wife when she found out he was having an affair, and then Sue Johnson played the same character in the 80s, still with her husband and still thinking about the other man she loved. All the actors were excellent, and it was a great study on "love" and why you stay in your relationships.
I'm currently reading "Birdman" by Mo Hayder, which although its good, I always think Mo Hayder's books go into a little too much detail about the sick side of the serial killers, instead of just focusing on the police investigation. I have read another of her books before, and I thought it was just that one, but its the same in this one too. But it is still good despite that, and, as with most crime books, I'll probably finish it today or tomorrow!
Slimelight again tonight - woo! :) I've been quite a few times recently, which is great! I really love it, now they've improved and refurbished bits of it its probably my favourite club. The mix of music is great, the drinks are cheap, it goes on for a good amount of time - and with an added bonus that tonight there are going to be five bands on - four goth bands before, and then XP8 during the night. The main goth band is Voices of Masada, playing their last gig (so I hope they aren't *too* good so that I feel bad that I've missed them before, haha), and I'm also looking forward to seeing The Mumbles, which is a band of a guy I used to talk to on vampirefreaks. They also fully show their influences - their record label is called "Mumbling Release" - I wonder where they got that from! :D
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hunger sounds good but i think it would be a bit too graphic for me. i can handle gory horror movies but i can't do realistic stuff - iykwim.
hope you have fun at slimelight!
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yeah slimelight was brilliant :D
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