Red River: Yuri is a Big Damn Hero*

So, I got two new Red River manga (no. 8 & 9) (image anime pavilion)

I like a story in which heroes question their motives or overcome their fears to fight for justice. I like it when they act compassionately regardless of the personal cost.

In these two books, Yuri becomes this kind of hero.

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Book 8: After the attack on her company, Yuri feels compelled to return to Hattusa and report what really happened. She meets a mysterious Egyptian soldier who helps her travel back. But, aside from Prince Kail, no one believes her message.

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Book 9: Yuri has gone to defend her Prince Kail’s reputation from an upstart who claims to be Ishtar. Yuri does not convince anyone that she is Prince Kail’s concubine, and gets thrown into a camp of people suffering from the 7-day fever.

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Prince Kail has gotten past lust or infatuation for Yuri. Now he loves and understands her. This doesn’t mean that he feels compassion for anybody besides her yet. Compassion is probably not a helpful trait for a would-be world conqueror. Still, this is a fantasy, so I have hope.

I found a shrink wrapped copy of volume 16 in the bookstore. When I showed it to my sister, she didn’t even have to read the warning label on the cover. She said, “Ooooh! That means Yuri and Kail get some sexin’ time.”

He only has 6 books to become worthy of Yuri. I wonder if he will manage that in time.

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*Big Damn Hero(s). Reckon you’re not a Browncoat. Text Explanation.

note: books 35 & 36

Simpsons Movie (& the audience)

I actually saw a movie on the big screen this weekend with my friends.  I thought the movie was neither better nor worse than the TV show. I liked the show and I liked the movie. 

Plot: Homer gets a pet pig.

I have to say that Alaska looks beautiful;  hot cocoa looks tasty; I want a spider pig.  In response to Maggie, I don’t see why not.

The audience was almost as entertaining as the movie.   There was audience member, a  man I think, who fell asleep sometime during the movie.  His snores were noticeable to my friends and me because we were sitting in the row in front of him.

During a quiet moment between Marge and Homer, the snores became epic.  A whole section down, somebody asked, “Is he OK?” Fortunately, most of the movie was action-oriented and the snores were less noticeable.

My other favorite audience member was a little girl right in front of me.  She was immersed in the movie, reacting to the jokes and giving advice to the characters.  During the movie’s climax, she could barely keep her seat for anxiousness over Simpsons’ fate.

I was disappointed with the trailers.  Most of them were kids’ movies toward which I feel neutral.  But these all seemed horrible, especially the Hot Rod one.  If the trailer meanders and strains for its jokes…

I will probably see Rush Hour 3.  Like those guys.

Last Wave (1977)

This was odd.  It wasn’t exactly a murder mystery either.

It is set in Australia.  An Australian Aboriginal man dies under mysterious circumstances.  A rather cut and dried lawyer is asked to defend him.  He does and begins questioning the witnesses and his client.  The stories don’t make sense, and he probes further.

There is much more going on than meets the eye going on here.  The developing mood builds with lots of quiet - very effective.  All of the actors and non-actors are convincing and the story-line is ambitious.   The ending was unsatisfying but interesting.

I don’t exactly recommend it, unless you enjoy cinematic oddities.

video of cute baby growling

Michelle of the Underwear Drawer  has started posting her Youtube vids.

Her very cute son Cal is looking at animal pictures.   

She has a funny one of herself examining the Bigaz Burger vending machine at her hospital but I can’t seem to embed it.  My previous overexcited post about the Underwear Drawer.

Theology Girl and Denny the Electrician

I really like Theology Girl’s  blog and I have infinite respect for her Power of Funny.  But this series of posts is something special.

The first post explains how she came to be riding with Denny the Electrician.  It’s an entertaining account of a glitch in her travel plans on her vacation.

part one

The second part is her conversation with Denny the Electrician.  He discusses his philosophy of life.  At the end, Adrienne comments that he adds more value to the world than she does.

I have to say that I wouldn’t have been as sensitive as she was.  I would have just thought, “weird guy” and tuned him out.  She didn’t and I appreciate it.

part two

Thank you for sharing your story, Theology Girl.

part three

Questionable Content: ben & jerry’s not so appealing

Questionable Content – this arc with Hannelore’s mom Beatrice was pretty funny.  This is the beginning. And this is the lowest point and my favorite part.

Or, here is the archive.  Start with “Bad News” and end with “Breaking It To Her Gently.”

Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

I suspect the movie makers were banking on Steve McQueen’s charisma to carry it. Unfortunately, I’ve only seen The Blob.  Perhaps if I watched his other movies – with sympathetic characters – then I would understand. 

Steve McQueen plays a powerful, wealthy and bored businessman, Thomas Crown.  He’s so bored that he sets up bank robberies just for fun.  However, an insurance investigator Vickie Anderson (Faye Dunaway) is on the case and she suspects Crown is behind it.

The first scene in which the man is interviewed for the position of getaway car driver was good stuff.  It was well done and riveting.  I think the movie should have been done about the driver’s story.

The robbery sequence which followed shortly afterward with the split screens was well done too.  I was quite taken with it.

after that…

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My main problem with Crown is not his morals but his perfection.  He’s smart, he’s handsome, he’s rich, he’s daring, he’s athletic, and he’s successful in business.  In dealing with women, he’s confident and seductive.  He robs banks and nobody catches him.

I just didn’t get why I should be worried about him.

I thought for sure that I’d begin to understand why McQueen’s so beloved after watching this movie.  Maybe I should try The Great Escape or The Magnificent Seven.

recap horror and romance book challenge

To recap:

I really enjoyed Watchers by Dean Koontz. Still it was cheating since I’d read other books by him.

I’m glad I finally made myself start Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson because I completely enjoyed it. Again, I’d read books by her before.

I couldn’t find Poppy Z Brite’s Exquisite Corpse and substituted Kathe Koja’s The Cipher which was well done. I don’t rule Koja off my TBR list but she’s kind of low down.

I couldn’t read John Saul though I tried Manhattan Hunt Club and Perfect Nightmare. He writes well but I just don’t like those kinds of thriller stories. I substituted Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce, because I had heard so many positive reviews.

Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly was elegantly written and I plan to read more by her, notably Renfield.

Nora Robert’s Jewels of the Sun was great and I’ve already read the sequel Tears of the Moon.

The romance books left are: Julie Garwood’s One White Rose; Susan Krinard’s To Catch a Wolf; and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind.

I’m going to substitute Rachel Gibson’s The Trouble with Valentine’s Day for her It Must Be Love.

5 Book Challenge Page has links to my comments on the individual books.

trailers: stardust and golden compass

A acquaintance of mine commented that he thought the trailers for Stardust and the Golden Compass made them seem like the same movie.

I don’t remember the books being alike at all, so I hunted for the trailers. I don’t know if these were the ones he saw.

Stardust

and

The Golden Compass

I could see his point. Both are fantasy quests; both have beautiful actresses, Michelle Pfeiffer (Stardust) and Nicole Kidman (Golden Compass), as evil witches. Both have air ships and male actors playing characters of dubious moral quality, Robert De Niro (Stardust) and Daniel Craig (Golden Compass). And they are both coming-of-age stories.

But the books were completely different. One has stars and the other has polar bears.

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Stardust by Neil Gaiman is a charming fairy tale for grownups. A young man named Tristan goes across the forbidden Wall to retrieve a star for his crush. He does find the star and much more than he bargained for. This is a better summary.

I thought his writing was gentler than usual. Nevertheless, it is elegant, ironic and melancholy, like most of Gaiman’s works.

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman is a much grimmer and more elaborate story. Lyra, a little girl, is trying discover what happened to her friend after he was stolen by the Gobblers. The truth is more horrifying than she had guessed. Here is a better summary.

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My acquaintance really likes the Dark Materials trilogy, especially because it’s “pro-atheist.” I didn’t confess that I had only read the first book, despite my sister’s encouragement.

He didn’t know that Stardust is a book too. He had only read Gaiman’s American Gods which he thought was weird.

I am one of the slowest thinkers I’ve ever met. I was wondering, would he like Sandman even though it’s a comic book? Is Gaiman an atheist? I should have said try Neverwhere.

Most of the people I know are Gaiman fans, so I wasn’t prepared. Ever since it was first announced, my sister-in-law has sent me updates on the progress of the Stardust movie. My sister bought me MirrorMask for my birthday and then asked me if I would mind if she kept it.

Maybe Gaiman’s a skeptical pagan…..

Polite Dissent: medic reviews comics

Polite Dissent  is Scott’s blog about medicine and comic books and popular culture in general.  I believe he’s a doctor at a family practice clinic.

Comics and medicine is an oddly specialized topic for a blog but he does an excellent job.  He even answered a question I had about manga and pregnancy.

If you like the TV show House, M.D.,  you owe it to yourself to read his take on the episodes.  He tears apart the medical aspects and explains them in laymen’s terms; and he keeps tabs on the interplay of relationships among the characters.

Most of the modern comic book analyses go over my head, since I don’t keep up.  But the Public Service Announcements he finds in old comic books are great and he critiques their medical content as well.

Don’t forget to check his true life funny medical stories .