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spooky_miss) wrote2011-01-04 11:13 am
spooky_miss) wrote2011-01-04 11:13 am
Books One and Two, Films One to Five
Book One – Elizabeth Costello by JM Coetzee
Source: Library
Challenge? 1001 Books To Read Before You Die, Round The World (South African author), Nobel Author, Author surname (C)
Decade published? 2000s
Rating: 7 / 10
This book tells the story of Elizabeth Costello, an elderly Australian author, as she travels around giving talks to certain book festivals and at universities. Oh and on a cruise ship too! I’m not sure what I really think about this book. I do like JM Coetzee’s style of writing, but I found the character of Elizabeth Costello quite selfish and unlikeable, and some of her ideas a bit weird – comparing people killing animals to eat to Nazis killing Jews in the Holocaust??? In the book it was like she was deliberately saying controversial things because she was getting old and didn’t care what people thought any more, but it didn’t make her a very nice person, so I didn’t really enjoy reading about it. It also had a weird bit at the end where she had to state her beliefs before being allowed through a gate – I thought that was maybe her being allowed into heaven or something? But it got a bit confusing at the end. I would read more books by this author, but didn’t particularly enjoy this one!
Book Two – Heard It In The Playground / Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg
Source: My own bookshelf
Challenge? Poetry, Children’s Books
Decade published? 1990s
Rating: 9 / 10
I’ve decided to re-read the children’s books I used to love when I was younger, but as they only take a couple of hours to read I’m going to make 2 books equal one book on my book list! I’m also trying to read more poetry this year. These are two volumes of poetry, set in and around schools. The poems are really great, and really stick in your mind – even though I hadn’t read them for years and years as I was reading it again I knew them all! Highly recommended if you have children!
2 / 120 books. 2% done!
Film One – Bill Bailey’s "Dandelion Mind"
This is Bill Bailey’s newest stand-up DVD. It has his normal mix of songs, jokes, and great humour. I am biased as Bill Bailey is my favourite comedian, but this is just great! Sometimes his jokes take a while to grow on you, but I was smiling and laughing all the way through this (which I felt a bit silly about as I was watching it on my own, in a house on my own, but it really did make me laugh out loud!). There is a great version of “Cars” by Gary Numan in French as well! As on all his DVDs, there are a couple of extra features as well, and one of them is a documentary about when he toured the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, playing small halls and community centres. It was good as it gave you a sense of what he is really like (a really nice person, basically!) as it showed him greeting the people in the venues, discussing the food he got given in each place, and sights they saw on the way. Overall this is a great dvd, great if you need cheering up as you’ll be smiling from the beginning to end! :) 9 / 10
Film Two – Blades of Glory
This is one of the pile of dvds that I’ve had for ages but haven’t watched yet (currently 25 dvds – I think I better get on with it before I buy some more!). I’m not usually sure about films with Will Ferrell in them – some of them are great, but others are just stupid, and I really disliked Napoleon Dynamite, that the other guy was in, so I wasn’t sure whether this would be any good – I only bought it as I like to watch ice skating! I was pleasantly surprised though, and thought this was really quite good. Its about two rival skaters who get banned from the men’s competition for fighting and so come back as a male doubles pair. Theres obviously loads of arguments and fights between them, but eventually they work it all out. Theres also another skating pair who are their rivals, and their sister who falls in love with the Napoleon Dynamite guy’s character (can’t remember his name, haha). Its all a bit silly, and the costumes are just great, haha, but generally a nice funny film. Recommended! 8 / 10
Film Three – Wimbledon
This film is actually better than I remember it being! Paul Bettany plays a British tennis player, who has never really got anywhere, and who is playing his last Wimbledon, where no one expects him to do very well. He meets a young tennis player, played by Kirsten Dunst, and through falling in love with her he starts to do really well, and she starts to do really badly, and gets knocked out of the competition much earlier than expected. Theres also some great supporting characters like his family, including James McAvoy as his brother who is always betting against him! It has a typical, and very predictable, ending, but I found myself really getting into it even though it wasn’t a proper tennis match or competition, haha. Good if you like tennis or slightly soppy love stories!! 7 / 10
Film Four – The Intepreter
I wasn’t sure if I’d like this film, as I’m not too keen on Nicole Kidman as an actress, and haven’t seen anything else with Sean Penn in it, but I did quite enjoy this film. It is about Nicole Kidman who works as an interpreter at the UN in New York. When going back to the interpreting booth late at night to get something she overhears something about a leader being assassinated. She tells her superiors, but not until the next day, which makes them suspicious about whether she is lying. The film then follows them investigating her, and her background and the claim about what she heard, which is related to a corrupt African nation. Theres a bomb on a bus, which kills one of the major players in the African nation’s government, and then the police uncover lots in her background which may give her a motive to dislike the leader involved. I usually can’t see things coming in films like this, so others might not find the ending as surprising as I did, but I did think it was good. There were some hints at a romance between Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn’s characters, which was a bit annoying and not needed, and also some hints at a backstory for Sean Penn’s character to do with his wife dying, but I didn’t think that really added much to the story. Overall, it was ok, but not brilliant. 7 / 10
Film Five – Toy Story
This is an absolute classic! I thought the animation might look a bit dated after all the advances made over the years, but it didn’t at all. It tells the story of Woody and the other toys who belong to Andy, and their worry about new toys as it’s Andy’s birthday. Andy gets Buzz Lightyear for his birthday, and everyone (apart from Woody!) is very impressed by him, and he for a while seems to be the “favourite toy”, which obviously Woody doesn’t like either! The story follows their rivalry, and their trip to Pizza Plant (where the aliens are introduced, yay! :D ) where they get taken by evil next door neighbour Sid, who attaches Buzz to a rocket. As Andy and his family are moving on that day, Buzz and Woody have to get back to the house, and end up using the rocket to zoom over the moving truck and into the car, next to Andy who is really happy to see them again after he thought he’d lost them! Its such a lovely story, with some great characters, highly recommended for everyone! 9 / 10
I watched a really lovely programme about Pixar on BBC3 last night. It was called Pixar's best 25 moments, but it also had about how the company developed, how they thought of the ideas, and had lots of interviews with people who have done the voices about how Pixar works and has developed. It was really lovely, and really showed how highly respected Pixar's work has become. Just lovely! Its available on the Iplayer now, watch it! :)
Source: Library
Challenge? 1001 Books To Read Before You Die, Round The World (South African author), Nobel Author, Author surname (C)
Decade published? 2000s
Rating: 7 / 10
This book tells the story of Elizabeth Costello, an elderly Australian author, as she travels around giving talks to certain book festivals and at universities. Oh and on a cruise ship too! I’m not sure what I really think about this book. I do like JM Coetzee’s style of writing, but I found the character of Elizabeth Costello quite selfish and unlikeable, and some of her ideas a bit weird – comparing people killing animals to eat to Nazis killing Jews in the Holocaust??? In the book it was like she was deliberately saying controversial things because she was getting old and didn’t care what people thought any more, but it didn’t make her a very nice person, so I didn’t really enjoy reading about it. It also had a weird bit at the end where she had to state her beliefs before being allowed through a gate – I thought that was maybe her being allowed into heaven or something? But it got a bit confusing at the end. I would read more books by this author, but didn’t particularly enjoy this one!
Book Two – Heard It In The Playground / Please Mrs Butler by Allan Ahlberg
Source: My own bookshelf
Challenge? Poetry, Children’s Books
Decade published? 1990s
Rating: 9 / 10
I’ve decided to re-read the children’s books I used to love when I was younger, but as they only take a couple of hours to read I’m going to make 2 books equal one book on my book list! I’m also trying to read more poetry this year. These are two volumes of poetry, set in and around schools. The poems are really great, and really stick in your mind – even though I hadn’t read them for years and years as I was reading it again I knew them all! Highly recommended if you have children!
Film One – Bill Bailey’s "Dandelion Mind"
This is Bill Bailey’s newest stand-up DVD. It has his normal mix of songs, jokes, and great humour. I am biased as Bill Bailey is my favourite comedian, but this is just great! Sometimes his jokes take a while to grow on you, but I was smiling and laughing all the way through this (which I felt a bit silly about as I was watching it on my own, in a house on my own, but it really did make me laugh out loud!). There is a great version of “Cars” by Gary Numan in French as well! As on all his DVDs, there are a couple of extra features as well, and one of them is a documentary about when he toured the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, playing small halls and community centres. It was good as it gave you a sense of what he is really like (a really nice person, basically!) as it showed him greeting the people in the venues, discussing the food he got given in each place, and sights they saw on the way. Overall this is a great dvd, great if you need cheering up as you’ll be smiling from the beginning to end! :) 9 / 10
Film Two – Blades of Glory
This is one of the pile of dvds that I’ve had for ages but haven’t watched yet (currently 25 dvds – I think I better get on with it before I buy some more!). I’m not usually sure about films with Will Ferrell in them – some of them are great, but others are just stupid, and I really disliked Napoleon Dynamite, that the other guy was in, so I wasn’t sure whether this would be any good – I only bought it as I like to watch ice skating! I was pleasantly surprised though, and thought this was really quite good. Its about two rival skaters who get banned from the men’s competition for fighting and so come back as a male doubles pair. Theres obviously loads of arguments and fights between them, but eventually they work it all out. Theres also another skating pair who are their rivals, and their sister who falls in love with the Napoleon Dynamite guy’s character (can’t remember his name, haha). Its all a bit silly, and the costumes are just great, haha, but generally a nice funny film. Recommended! 8 / 10
Film Three – Wimbledon
This film is actually better than I remember it being! Paul Bettany plays a British tennis player, who has never really got anywhere, and who is playing his last Wimbledon, where no one expects him to do very well. He meets a young tennis player, played by Kirsten Dunst, and through falling in love with her he starts to do really well, and she starts to do really badly, and gets knocked out of the competition much earlier than expected. Theres also some great supporting characters like his family, including James McAvoy as his brother who is always betting against him! It has a typical, and very predictable, ending, but I found myself really getting into it even though it wasn’t a proper tennis match or competition, haha. Good if you like tennis or slightly soppy love stories!! 7 / 10
Film Four – The Intepreter
I wasn’t sure if I’d like this film, as I’m not too keen on Nicole Kidman as an actress, and haven’t seen anything else with Sean Penn in it, but I did quite enjoy this film. It is about Nicole Kidman who works as an interpreter at the UN in New York. When going back to the interpreting booth late at night to get something she overhears something about a leader being assassinated. She tells her superiors, but not until the next day, which makes them suspicious about whether she is lying. The film then follows them investigating her, and her background and the claim about what she heard, which is related to a corrupt African nation. Theres a bomb on a bus, which kills one of the major players in the African nation’s government, and then the police uncover lots in her background which may give her a motive to dislike the leader involved. I usually can’t see things coming in films like this, so others might not find the ending as surprising as I did, but I did think it was good. There were some hints at a romance between Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn’s characters, which was a bit annoying and not needed, and also some hints at a backstory for Sean Penn’s character to do with his wife dying, but I didn’t think that really added much to the story. Overall, it was ok, but not brilliant. 7 / 10
Film Five – Toy Story
This is an absolute classic! I thought the animation might look a bit dated after all the advances made over the years, but it didn’t at all. It tells the story of Woody and the other toys who belong to Andy, and their worry about new toys as it’s Andy’s birthday. Andy gets Buzz Lightyear for his birthday, and everyone (apart from Woody!) is very impressed by him, and he for a while seems to be the “favourite toy”, which obviously Woody doesn’t like either! The story follows their rivalry, and their trip to Pizza Plant (where the aliens are introduced, yay! :D ) where they get taken by evil next door neighbour Sid, who attaches Buzz to a rocket. As Andy and his family are moving on that day, Buzz and Woody have to get back to the house, and end up using the rocket to zoom over the moving truck and into the car, next to Andy who is really happy to see them again after he thought he’d lost them! Its such a lovely story, with some great characters, highly recommended for everyone! 9 / 10
I watched a really lovely programme about Pixar on BBC3 last night. It was called Pixar's best 25 moments, but it also had about how the company developed, how they thought of the ideas, and had lots of interviews with people who have done the voices about how Pixar works and has developed. It was really lovely, and really showed how highly respected Pixar's work has become. Just lovely! Its available on the Iplayer now, watch it! :)