So last few months it feels as if I did not go to as many shows as I usually would, but today I actually went to one.

http://theater.nytimes.com/show/24142/Penang/overview

Great play about vietnam war, well it is really very antiwar and what it does to the soldiers, so I enjoyed it a lot. I am always very impressed with the acting of  the actors who play off off broadway, often more than with the acting of celebrities actors and today was no exception.

I thought the lead actor was superb. Granted doctor did not impress me much, but everybody else did.

I would like to recommend these urban fantasy series  for those who love the genre.

There are three books in the series so far, I started reading with the third, read second today,  and then will do the first one. I know, I know, it was backwards. Hey, I started Dresden files with book 6 :)

I am in love with these series. I mean, I love Kate, she kicks ass (which is not new for the genre, but she is also so so funny), but what I also love is the tension between her and potential love interest, I do applaud the writer (or writers as in this case, the books are done by husband and wife under wife's name) for maintaining the tension so so so succesfully and in such hilarious way too without making them jump to bed right away and making it so believable IMO.

Oooooooo and she had russian adopted father, which to me is of course a very nice touch  of course :)


http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Strikes-Kate-Daniels-Book/dp/0441017029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251859956&sr=8-1

OMG, I only watched few episodes so far, but all glowing reviews and recommendations I had read so far are **right**. This show so rocks!

I watched the first episode yesterday and yes, British tv dramas are yet to dissapoint me, it was so so good.

1. Finally saw Startrek today. Just as everybody who saw it on my list I loved it. I mean, for me it was not a cultural history of my past or present as for some of you guys, I however watched enough original series to at least like Spock and Kirk very much if not to be obsessive fan.

Loved, loved to watch how their friendship was born, thought it was highly amusing sometimes and touching too. Yes, casting was excellent.

Chechov was adorable, but badly overdoing russian accent LOL.

I will watch it again for sure.


2. Saw Avatar photos today as well - run away screaming

So I had mentioned this book recently on the group we all know :) and I figured may as well recommend it here.

Try it, really it is short and easy read, no War and Peace, but it is so well done. Am not promising any satisfaction for the ending of the character arc though, but boy I think you will enjoy the character, who as they say lives and breathes on the pages.

http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/myl/hero.htm

RULES:

Ok, so I am not sure how to screen the comments, so we are going to do it this way. The goal here is to guess the gender of the writer. Please feel free to post to the list whether in your opinion man or woman wrote the following ten quotes. If you do NOT know the name of the book, then feel free to explain why you guessed one way or another (you do not have to). If you DO know the name of the book, please do NOT post it to the list, but feel free to e-mail it to me. My flist is short and I am pretty sure most of you have my e-mail, if you do not have it, please send me a message and I will send it to you.

I will count the names of the books as bonus points if guessed correctly and several people will have guessed the same numbers.

Forgive me if rules are confusing or ineffective, never done it before :)

I have plenty of good books to share, so if several of you guess correctly, do not worry you will all get the prises.

I will leave it open say for a week? I can do it for longer too, or if for some reason all of you decide to answer and I will see it, it will be done earlier.


HERE WE GO. Please remember just say man or woman, not the name of the book and author. Oh, vast majority of these quotes is from fiction, however feel free to not limit yourself to fiction when you are guessing:

1. “I’d have lost it without her. Pillar of strength and calm,” Billy said. He glanced back toward the waiting room and a smile touched the corners of his eyes. “She’s good at setting things aside until there’s time to deal with them. Once things have settled out, she’ll be a wreck, and it’ll be my turn to hold her up.”


2. “It has been some time since that I conceived of any event in this Life, which could call forth, feelings of mutual sympathy. But I know how closely entwined around a parents heart, are those chords which bind the filial to the parental Bosom, and when shaped asunder, how agonizing the pangs of separation”

3. “Men, I understand that you don’t like lice. Well, I don’t like ‘em neither. But this is an urgent business we have in hand: there is no time to ship wash-tubs and boil everything, and to get into Grimsholm you have to look like sloppy-joes, not like man-of-war’s men. I am sorry for it, but there is nothing I can do: it is all in the line of duty. And you need not fear for your hair, so long as you do not put on their hats. A very learned gentleman has told me that these are innocent lice: they go only for your body, never for your pigtails.”

4.

“And the waiting was almost as bad as the heat. Instead of being ready for a fight, with the normal anticipation of victory in battle against half-civilized enemy, the men were quiet, almost nervous, preparing to meet their ends. And Scolville could say nothing to contradict that expectation without insulting his men’s good sense and making himself look like a fool. How was an officer supposed to put heart into his men when every scrap of intelligence numbered at least ten Afghan tribesmen to every British soldier? No amount of pride and patriotism could overcome those odds”


5.

‘He had always respected her for her courage and integrity but now he found himself enjoying her company, partly as fellow traveler but also as a smart and attractive woman, who had faced her troubles and side-stepped self pity. Everything about her indicated a cheerful ability to get up and try again, and again after if need be”

6.

‘I reached the corner, but a swift glance revealed that it was only a blind drive to the back of another building. I was half-turned in anticipation; I had to hurriedly correct and dash across the narrow drive, back to the sidewalk. The street ended at the next corner, where there was a stop sign. I concentrated on the faint footsteps behind me, deciding whether or not to run. They sounded farther back, though and I knew they could outrun me in any case”


7.
“I am not accustomed at this point in my career to having to solicit commissions, but I did tell you that I was between engagements. You might spare my pride and regard that as a hint”


8.

"All that time after you left it was so easy to be pissed at you, to wrap myself in this mantle of betrayed friend and lover, act like you'd done me so horribly wrong, but the truth is... it was all a big fricking cover. Being angry and venting my hurt and frustration at you, was easier than having to admit that it was my fault. I know I'm the one who run you off.


9.

"It amused and touched her to discover this childish streak of vanity in him. But she knew that he would see through her at once if she tried to pander to it by saying anything more flattering than the truth"


Alla:

Okay, I think it is enough for now, was thinking of doing more, but too much typing.

Have fun guessing, if you want to of course :)

So Ralph Fiennes as it turns out is a confessed fan of Alexander Pushkin and his most famous novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”. Who knew…

He apparently wanted to play Onegin so much that he basically asked his sister to be a director for this movie.

http://www.amazon.com/Onegin-Ralph-Fiennes/dp/6305906947/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1234493466&sr=8-1

For those who do not know this novel and basically all Pushkin’s works are very very very important in order to understand the foundation of modern Russian literature.

In fact they had been called a foundation of modern Russian literature and as far as I am concerned for a very good reason.

http://www.amazon.com/Eugene-Onegin-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/review/product/0192838997/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I cannot express how highly I recommend this novel. I mean, I cannot vouch for any of the translation, I know many tried, I do not know if any comes close to show off the beauty of this work. But I am sure as any translation it reflects the original at least somewhat, so yes I do recommend.

So, back to the movie. My hat definitely goes off to Ralph and his sister, no question about it for the extreme faithfulness to the original. I shudder to think what Hollywood would have done here. I am sure it would have a happy ending, most definitely. So, I am glad they adhered faithfully to a story.

Story itself is very simple really. Young nobleman who is extremely bored with Petersburg’s society and does not feel as if he belongs there, arrives in the countryside to manage his uncle (dead) estate. He meets provincial nobles, befriends young poet Lenskiy and meets Larins family with two daughters. Lenskiy loves younger one, Olga. Tatiana falls in love with Onegin, you know, naïve provincial girl, her first love, etc. Tatiana is portrayed as a passionate, sincere soul, so being sincere and all, she writes Onegin a letter and tells him everything and he rejects her, bored with everything, you know?

Being bored and all, one evening Onegin flirts with Olga, Lenskiy calls him out and Onegin, instead of apologizing and all, accepts the challenge and kills Lenskiy. Not because he wanted to kill him mind you, just did not want to challenge tradition and apologize to a kid.

So he goes to travel and then comes back to St. Petersburg. Tatiana married well, became the star in the society and when Onegin sees her, he falls in love, only Tatiana rejects him.

Well, it is pretty much the end of the plot per se. And the movie follows it very very faithfully, and again I give them major kudos for that.

Fiennes IS too old for Evgeniy, Evgeniy is supposed to be in his mid twenties, I think. However, I still think that he hits all the right notes and portrays him very well. Tatiana on the other hand, deep sigh. I mean I disagree with the reviewers on Amazon, who think that Liv Tyler is visually miscast for the part. I thought visually she is perfect. I am sorry, Tatiana is NOT plain, she is not refined, but she is beautiful, young girl coming into her beauty.

But oh dear God, I am sorry for possible offense to Liv Tyler fans I may have on the list, but I think she just cannot act, like at all. Let’s forget all the things she does or not does during the movie, but Tatiana at the end manages to be cold and sad, full of dignity and at the same time revealing her heart all over again and showing that she really did not change much. I am sorry, if Liv would have cried some more, I would not been able to bear seeing it.

So, that I find problematic, her acting I mean. I do have some problems with directing though as well. I mean, as I said, they follow the plot very faithfully, but at the same time I could not shrug the impression that they missed something major. And then I realized – they missed Pushkin. Oh, they follow main plot, but author in the novel, is well, you have to read it to understand, VERY present. His beautiful verse talks about our characters and then he just wonders off to talk say about beauty of the woman’s feet or about the nature or about something else. All those asides are extremely musical, they are fun, for the lack of other word. I do not know how one can present them in the movie, but without them, well the mood is rather melancholic and even grim.

It is a beautiful movie too, they filmed in English countryside AND in St. Petersburg. I definitely recommend it but I recommend the novel more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/northandsouth/

I am sure I will discover one day bad TV series by BBC, but so far it just not happening :-)

What a great movie, oh my god. I mean, I do see Pride and Prejudice influences, but it is different in many ways too and they act well. Loved it, I hope book is just as good :)

Okay, so as some of you may know I am reading these series for young adults about another chosen with special destiny. Well, actually I read three books out of four, then I could not find the fourth book anywhere, and it costs a crazy money on Amazon, since last book only (huh?) is supposedly out of print.

And a kind soul whom I love dearly and now even more found this book for me in the used books store.

Sooooo, of course I looked in the end of the said book and I really liked the ending, REALLY.

And what do you know? Turns out ABC did a TV series last year (?) I believe. It is called "Fallen" too.

And I am reading the interview with the writer and he is saying that sure, there are differences, but not that many, just that they dumped down the violence for TV.

Hm, so I am trying to find the DVD and well, reading the plot of the series and doing a double take, literally.

Now, I did not find the DVD, so I did not watch the movie yet and not sure if I want to now, but if one of you watched it and the plot point I am so annoyed about is really different, please do let me know.

So SPOILERS are to follow.

The books are about a kid who at eighteen discovers that his destiny is well, no less but to grant forgiveness ( God's will of course) to the fallen angels who express that they are sorry for what they did.

Now, I am not claiming to be an expert on christian theology, but I glanced at Wiki to check that I am not crazy and it also said that forgiveness for fallen angels is not possible due to their angelic nature or something like that.

So, what I am trying to say is that it sort seemed obvious to me that while author IS writing about Christian theology in a way, he is not exactly erm... strictly following it. You'd think that's okay in the fiction book, right?

Sooooo, the kid is nephilim (son of fallen angel and mortal woman for those who do not know), and there are many of them, but he is the most powerful, I guess, prophecy child, etc.

And who turns out to be his daddy? But of course nobody less but Lucifer Morningstar. No, it is not hello Luc I am your father, heh. I mean, they do meet, but what is happening to Lucifer is well extremely different from what was happening to Luc's daddy.

Right, so where was I? I promise I will make my point at the end, it is just all this rambling is needed to explain what make me boggle when I was reading the plot of the movie.

See, the emphasis in the books is on how Lucifer is paying for what he did (for rebellion against Allmighty) and paying, and paying, and paying and paying.

Oh, what he did is not justified at all, but well, he is not portrayed as literal devil with horns either.

I mean, it IS fiction after all, not the Bible itself, writer should be allowed, right? Right?

So basically when Aaron (kid, or should I say teenager, after all he is eighteen when we start reading about him, and I do not believe he is much older than nineteen at the end) fulfills his destiny, and ALL fallen angels who are sorry are granted forgiveness and allowed to return to Heaven, and main bad guy is punished, Lucifer is not allowed to return to Heaven... yet.

But not because it is never going to happen, it is just he knows that he has to do a lot of hard work here on Earth, specific work (to help his son with something) and that is a heavy price he is willing to pay to get a chance to apologise to his Father, eventually.

His forgiveness is not precluded at all, unless I am out of my mind and completely cannot read.

So, according to the plot summary of the movie, do you know what happens to Lucifer? Oh, he tries to trick Aaron in redeeming him and well, he is eventually trapped in Hell forever.

Somebody please tell me that that summary was wrong, please PRETTY PLEASE.

I mean, what did they think audience will be offended or something?

UGH.

Oh wow, so I am done with the third season and as you probably know from my last entry, last episode made me very angry. Which means I suppose great acting, but I am almost hundred percent sure that authors of the show do not mean for me to read the characters as I am reading. I am pretty sure that they are supposed to be good guys, who catch the murderers. And who cares how they do it. Right? Right?

not that warnings are needed, but rant again to follow. Heck, I feel better when I type it out :-)

Hmmm, there were some funny things in between this one and the end of the season three, but man oh man, I have not hated a fictional character that much since my hate of one Severus Snape was at its high, heh. At least I am thoroughly satisfied with the end for that one, I sincerely doubt I am going to get something like that here.

So, where to start? Oh yes, the episode where they were investigated the murder of the trainer of personal trainer of incredibly dumb blond (lol) wife of incredibly wealthy man. The funny part was of course them investigating and at the same time undergoing the nuclear weapons training, that was funny, really really funny. And even murderer was funny. So loved that, LOVE that Brenda misses chocolate and cannot have any, very real that feels to me.

And then comes the Death do us apart episode about the death of the divorce lawyer. Oh dear god, half through the first part of the episode I was hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that this will be one episode where Brenda will be wrong. I mean, really I know that she is supposed to catch a bad guy, and that she will continue doing that, but goodness, can't I have just one episode where she gets some much needed humiliation (IMO)? Just one?

LOVED, when the suspect laughed in her face and refused to talk to her, saying that he already called his lawyer and that her act did not fool him.

LOVED and was so so hoping that he will turn out to be an innocent man at the end. LOVED when defense attorney pinned her down on the witness stand that she has no physical evidence.

But of course, no such luck. And erm, never mind that they deemed it is ok to talk to twelve (?) year old girl without anybody present to get the incriminating evidence on her parents.

So, yeah, justice is served?

And then we hae an episode where she and Fritz go home to her parents to get the guy whom they suspect to be involved in the crime.

Weeeeeelll, that is the way to get suspect to confess, sure, just tell him that his brother is dead. By the way, not just say so, but put together a video of fake crime scene. Because see your suspect is so dumb that he will forget that during the half of the episode when he was asking to talk to his brother, you were telling him only when he talks.

Oh and of course, OF COURSE, please do not let this teenager (brother who is supposedly dead) and mind you, innocent, go to children services by fabricating a bizarre story about the weapons.

And so, when older brother confesses, what do you do dear Brenda? Oh right, you let him go to make sure he is to look for killers, then he does your work for you, shoots them and then you shoot him. And then you have a nerve to be upset that you have to tell this kid that his brother is dead?

Sorry Brenda, not buying. Didn't you tell your mom that given a chance you will do it all over again?

I know, I know you can lie to suspect. I still think it is disgusting, but at least it is not unprofessional.

But how dare you? How dare you say that you will do it all over again when you basically kidnapped this boy from the city prizon without any warrant whatsoever?

Oh, and writers, news flash, the idea that first suspect IS your primary suspect worked really really REALLY well in the first Primary suspect. In fact it worked brilliantly. Do you know why?

Because we SAW why police suspected the guy in the first place (was near the crime scene) and even though they did not have the physical evidence initially, they worked painstakingly through every stage, every detail, we saw them brainstorming, we saw police finding the evidence and we saw how they did.

And then Hellen Mirren did her part brilliantly.

In this show I feel it already gets old and fast. Brenda getting her revelations when she talks to somebody about something different gets old too.
I was sort of relieved when I read in one of the reviews about the show that if somebody thinks that this is how police works, they should not think so.

I mean, I know that police can do much worse things even, read in the papers very often, but at least I know that it is well, wrong.

Anybody saw show Shield? I saw it sporadically, yes lots of things made me mad too, but at least I had pretty good idea, that Vic is going to get what is coming to him. Brenda - I sincerely doubt so.

Because Vic also started working and doing the right things, then it went downh

Okay, um, well, I have two episodes left to watch out of seven and actually I am very glad that I am renting it from Netflix first instead of buying right away.

Acting is excellent, from what I understand scenery is very accurate, but um, really read the book first at least.

I get the impression that after the Declaration of independence almost all of Adams' life was the set of dissapointments and I don't know, something close to depression?

I mean, do filmakers mean to tell me that there was no happiness at all in him from what he accomplished? The book had more optimistic moments

And, um, would have been nice to see more of his and Jefferson's great friendship and more of the fallout too.

And another thing, I greatly respect Abigail Adams, I would never doubt her influence and help and sacrifices, but from this movie one would get the impression that without Abigail, well, that Adams would have not been able to accomplish anything.

Again, really, not to take away from her accomplishments, but Abigail correcting her husband's summations? Eh, okay. Abigail telling him how to behave as vice president? At times to me he came out as a bit well dim witted.

Alla

So, many of you know how I feel about Hollywood adaptation of many books I love. For those who do not know, I will happily reiterate. I think that barred VERY few exceptions, they all forgive my language SUCK big time.

But conversation on Yahoo group most of us share made me think about whether there were movies based on the books that I enjoyed more than books and I think I found one.

I absolutely adore Horatio Hornblower A&E channel TV series. However I find the books which they are based on to be significantly less to my taste. I only read half of the book though so my opinion could be skewed, lol. I mean, I would not call books bad written or anything, I do realise that those are classics of naval fiction, I just do not like them. In fact they turned me off so much that because of that I was sort of reluctant to start reading excellent Aubrey Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien. Thank goodness I decided to read them :)

And I know why I love Horatio Hornblower series more, they elevated one of the very minor character in the first book to the status of main character best friend and they had such amazing chemistry if you ask me :) And yes, it inspired humongous amount of slash fanfiction :)

So question to you guys, do you have the movie based on the book that you enjoyed more than the book?

I watched the DVD today with Brandon Fraser.

Don't.

So I did mention that I watched movie I think month or so ago and I liked it fine, but then Horridporrid talked me into reading books. Boy, thank goodness she did :)

I mean first book was hard to read in the beginning, definitely, not just naval terms, but just in general the archaic speech patterns, but then one gets used to them and it is wonderful.

And of course two main characters - captain Jack Aubrey and surgeon and spy Steven Maturin have such an amazing bond of friendship and they are so so well done, I enjoy reading every second of their interactions.

And that brings me back to the movie. Again, this is the situation where if one does not read the books, I can wholeheartedly recommend the movie. I totally realize that it has great and from what I read rather realistic action scenes, beatiful scenery and good acting from the leads. I mean, I loved the doctor in the movie. However, even before I read the books I sadly did not feel much for Russell Crowe's Jack Aubrey and what's more importantly, after reading the books, I have to say - well, no, just no, they do not have that spark, that great chemistry that book characters have.

And I cannot believe that I did not like Jack in the movie and thought him somehow cruel or something. He is well, a teddy bear basically. I mean, he is a great capable very talented commander, but he is, well, a teddy bear.

Nah, I think movie missed the mark as far as heart and soul of the books goes, if the heart and soul of these books is a friendship between these two men.

Alla

HAHA. I know I already squeeed about how much I am crushing on Harry Dresden and his older brother vampire Thomas Raith, but hey I got a new book today and I think I am allowed to squeee some more.

Amazon already shipped Backup to me, the new novelette in the Dresden files universe written from Thomas' point of view and it is so so good, but way too short :)

God, I hope Butcher won't kill Thomas off at the end of the series. Please, oh please dear writer LOL.

http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Literature-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192801449


I highly highly recommend this book, if you have an interest in Russian literature. It is very lovely done and was very interested to see a different view.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/robinhood/

So I started watching BBC series and after first three episodes I am loving it so far.


I wonder though, Robin Hood in all its reincarnations had always been one of my favorite stories, but recently I read that this story is very anticapitalistic and I wonder how you guys feel about Robin Hood in general.

I mean Robin in this show is a noble who is forced into the forest by injustices of the sherif and the stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is more IMO transformed to protecting people of his former village from injustice, but it also includes the stealing part.

But I also am guilty of liking Robin of Loxley who is not a noble at all and who is, you know, does not hesitate to kill and steal, etc.

What do you guys think of this character?

Went to see the show today.

 http://www.irishrepertorytheatre.com/

Was so so satisfied with it - very creative. And again IMO much better than Hollywood.

Alla