Historical Collection from the British Library

The past few weeks I have been slowly but surely acquiring yet another obsession: an overwhelming desire to comprehend the history, genealogy and archaeology of Northern Ireland. And with some degree of synchronicity, several people referred me to different volumes in a series being developed : the Historical Collection from the British Library being reprints of volumes which have been and ought to still be important references works.

The Library is gradually digitising their historical collection. For important works these have been re-published in this digitised form; that is the digital images of the pages are reproduced in book form. As a result you get all the imperfections of the original versions faithfully reproduced including pencil notes and even treatment records from the archivists. According to the blurb, over 65,000 volumes of 19th Century works have already been digitised.

The two that interested me were

• one on Carrickfergus - where we now live: once the capital of the North, the town has an engrossing story to tell and this book dating from 1823 has some wonderful gems just waiting to be discovered
• the other, documents an Ulster parish, Donaghcloney & Waringstown where both our families seem to hail from, at least back to the 18th Century. This one dates from 1898 and contains much folklore and aural history now sadly lost 

These are fascinating books in their own right but if either have relevance to your own life-story, they must surely be essential additions for your bookself. Rather interestingly these books claim to have been printed by amazon.co.uk

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Toy Story 3 (3D)

All us grown-up boys and girls wanted to see this one.

In the good old days when effects were done by stuntmen and cartoons were made by Disney, we would sometimes measure films by the number of lumps they would bring to your throat. A 3 lumper would have grown men weeping in the aisles; surprisingly I cannot recollect anything that strong. Of course, for film makers and TV creators, this was their goal - strong emotional content was their yard schtick, their reality.

More recently films are targeted at more sophisticated audiences where the quality of CGI wins or some other billion dollar spectacular effect grabs the headlines; not at all like the European minimalist offerings such as Lars von Trier's Dogville. Especially in the world of animation where grown ups and children must be satisfied both at once; when adult jokes can make parents guffaw while their children roll on the floor laughing. Admittedly quite a feat. Well this one had to be something special as the third in the series to earn the acclaim it was receiving and not be a pattern story sequel.

Quite happy to award this 4 stars: but it just goes to show that films are just as different from one another as are sheep and goats or apples, pears and oranges. Toy Story is no Rashomon is no Inception and films can be so wonderfully entertaining

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Rashomon

By way of celebrating Akira Kurasawa's birth in 1910 - more an excuse I guess: who needs an excuse to see/show these films - the QFT offered a short season of films; almost a "Best of" of his early work. The only one we were able to get to see was "Rashomon"

Even more than "Seven Samurai", this film provided so much fuel for subsequent Holywood Westerns it is very difficult to watch without being reminded of what came after. The film is littered with what we now think of as movie cliches; made so by the excessive use in Holywood films generally. Once you start to recognise these devices it can be a fun game counting them off as they appear and listing them after the show.

Even with these distractions, the film still stands up today: filmed in black & white, with Japanese subtitles, traditional Japanese music, no fancy martial arts, not even a hint of clever stunts and, of course, not a smell of CGI. Still a terrific action film.

When this was first released on an unsuspecting American public in 1951/2, hardly surprising it took the country by storm (check out Wikipedia). Everything magically works together: invention complementing the story-line, action sequences balanced by slow, interior sequences all the while building on the characterisation of main players.

Spectacular still and all the better seeing it on a big screen.

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Inception

This was getting rave reviews by the critics except for a few twats who slated it; we now know who not to listen to when it comes to reviewing films. Ru and I decided to take advantage of the Odyssey's cheap Tuesday night and take in a Chinese at the Red Panda for good measure.

Tuesday rolls around and off we trot to the Red Panda. Turns out their early evening special is an "all you can eat" deal served from a special menu rather than a buffet. Sounded like a good deal so we tucked in to some delicious food. Sadly the restaurant was busy and service slow so we had to leave early to book in for the film. This was a bad idea: should have bought tickets on the way in. They were sold out for the early showing. We had to book for the later one and hang around drinking beer in the sports bar downstairs, playing pool and reading posters on the wall. Its not the best bar in the world. Eventually we were able to head up for the film.

Despite our preparations we were still late and the cinema was already pretty full. We were forced down to first few rows at the front, so close to the screen it wasn't possible to see the whole thing without moving your head. Turned out to be much better than it seemed though. Not one for retelling the story - you can get that anywhere - instead a few comments on what made this film stand out.

Our seating: there is a moment near the start of the film as the whole premise of the story-line is being built up and members of the gang recruited; sitting in a Parisienne street cafe and reality starts to be manipulated. On screen, buildings and masonry reforms itself and reality gets bent out of shape. Sitting so close to this was an awesome experience - a visual treat, because we could not see the whole screen at once, we had to keep looking round catching glimpses out of the corner of an eye

Audience Participation: viewing the action as we did made the experience seem even realer as if we were experiencing it directly. This sense of participation was even stronger as the story progressed. The director held nothing back demanding the viewer to keep up with the story. This was by no means a passive film; the complexity of the plot and the whys and wherefores of what was happening on screen - frequently discontinuous - either had to be accepted at face value to be rationalised later or understood in the complexity of the narrative(s). I am sure the pace of the story disguised one or two weaknesses in the plot but being forced to run with the story as it raced along, without question helped and probably encouraged a believability in what a pretty outrageous idea. This felt so like a true story for my own imagination; and there's a conundrum for you. Wicked!

Awesome Action: although there is plenty of CGI effects, they tend to be offered exactly as what they are: fantastic gimcracks showing off what can be done. And the are impressive. But what really brought the film alive were several of the action sequences - perhaps assisted by CGI to heighten the sensation. Reportedly the best of them all  had no assist, it was the real deal - a fight sequence in the corridor of an hotel but the hallway was spinning and tumbling as the protagonists fought with each other.

Best film I have seen in a long time.

 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

Wonders of Wonders: the QFT offered us a pair of tickets to see this film because I was able to use Google and discover that Werner Herzog's full name is actually Werner Herzog Stipetić. So we both dutifully appeared ready to be entertained.

Well, thats not strictly true. While P had no idea who Herzog is, Nicholas Cage was not her favourite screen actor. I would even agree to that. As we sipped a beer and glass of wine in the QFT Foyer, the trailers running on the wall above us billed the film as a modern day thriller (+5) but a little over 2 hours running time (-5).

The film doesn't seem that long, bouncing along at a rare old pace. Nor did a rather gaunt Cage irritate with his mannerisms; in fact he was pretty impressive in the role. Lots of strong performances from the rest of the cast too. Val Kilmer was especially good, I thought. Much of the value of these performances undoubtedly comes from Herzog's story-telling technique where the narrative is revealed through the actions of the characters; rarely are we told explicitly motivations or rationale. Sometime events are dropped in without warning and we take a few moments to place them into context; frequently this just enhances the story-line, filling in back-stories and giving the whole film a depth and personality all its own. And of course, demanding that we participate in the story telling.

Occasional scenes do not come up to the mark, usually when the film is taking a breath and the pace slackens for a moment and Cage's believability cannot quite make the adjustment. Or the plot falters slightly and we accidentally get a sense of artifice.

Still, a pretty good yarn well worth seeing. Already won 3 awards in Dublin, Toronto and Venice: one for Cage and two for Herzog - gets the balance about right. One of Cage's better performances  and yet more evidence of Herzog's skill - if we needed it.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Anatoly Karpov & Anatoly Matsukevich: Find the Right Plan

Claims to offer a solution to a difficult problem for average club players: how to construct an effective plan and how to identify when the time is right to charge. An ambitious task!

John Steinbeck: Sweet Thursday

Chosen at random from slim pickings available at Bangor Library: no, not the best method for choosing a good read. As it turns out, this book returns to the scene of Cannery Row, the only Steinbeck I read in the 60's and so long ago, I have no idea what it is about.

This novel takes place in the same location with basically the same characters but after the 2nd World War which seems to have barely affected the Cannery Row cast except for a change of ownership in the local grocery and the Bear Flag whore-house. The new owners are just as colourful as their predecessors it seems. The story revolves a new tenant in the street, Suzy, adopted by the Madame of the brothel.

Steinbeck's laconic style is wonderful to read and how he constructs the story, sucking the reader in, is pure magic. The characterisation is effortless and we learn almost everything through the dialogue of the characters and their interaction. Positively spectacular!

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lcd soundsystems: daft punk is playing at my house

Accidently came across this on RadioIO
Positively wicked!
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Henning Mankell: Sidetracked

My first Mankell and my first Wallender.

Mankell came to my notice through a series of 10 novels by the Swedish husband & wife team of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö and their wonderful creation Martin Beck. Wallender arrived then on our TV screens - first with Kenneth Branagh and later an original Swedish series.  After all this, I had very high expectations for this book - though any Wallender would have suffered the same.

Thankfully, it did live up to expectations and closer to the Swedish series as well despite the gloss of the BBC productions. It was a very long read especially compared to the Martin Beck series but well worth it.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

 

Paul Auster: The New York Trilogy

A strange book or collection of 3 novellas which are all inter-related.

"City of Glass" - a rather surreal gumshoe story that never quite resolves itself

♥ ♥ ♥
 

Gimenez & Romero: Plone 3 Cookbook

Another great book from Packt on Plone; up until now I have usually got the PDF versions of their Plone books reckoning that it would be more useful to be able to cut and paste from an on-screen version. For this volume I decided it would be much handier to have a desktop version to leaf through and cherry pick.
✔✔✔✔
 

Yasunari Kawabata: the Master of Go

I decided to learn how to play Go a while back. 'course the first thing we should do is:

1. go online to Amazon
2. search for a training manual
3. buy, read and digest

During the process I came across this book; on the back it quotes "One of modern literature's greatest, most poignant elegies". Who could ignore that? So it got added to my shopping cart along with the "Learning Go" book.

But something must have been lost in translation with this book or am I just not getting it.

It is very easy to read being pretty close to journalese. The story is attractive and engaging; the characters too. And of course there is an indeterminate depth echoed by the Go match we are following. But sadly it did not work for me.
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Asimov's Science Fiction

One of the beauties of having a Kindle is being able to subscribe to magazine subscriptions and get them delivered effortlessly over the Interweb.

When I discovered the available subscriptions I immediately signed up this one and it has never disappointed yet. Regularly includes novellas as well as short-stories and even the odd article by luminaries such as Sturgeon.

Of course, it helps if you are a science fiction fan  and an old school one to boot; the style of the stories are mainstream SF just as Isaac would have written himself. No sword wielding nor magick, just plain ole SF spaceships and aliens.

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