Stieg Larson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Well now, this caused some debate.

Yet another Swedish crime author. And yet more bloodshed to stain that calm Swedish landscape.

I really enjoyed this and most folk must agree given the recent release of the Hollywood film of the same name. But, there are those that disagree...

• Some folk reckon it is sexist and demeans the status of women with the characterisation of the "girl" with violent sex scenes being plain gratuitous
• In a World Book Club edition, Henning Mankell slated Stieg Larson as a dreadful writer and didn't consider him to be in the same league as the great and the good (such as himself, we presume). Sheesh, just as well Stieg ain't about to hear him. 

Still a good read!

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2600: The Hackers Quarterly

Another magazine I discovered while browsing the Kindle subscriptions listings was this fella. Its been published in hard-copy for quite a while but with limited distribution; being on the Kindle must have changed all that.

It makes no claims to be anything other than what it is: hackers from around the world sharing their experience with a few tips and heads-up for good measure.

You really do need to be a geek to appreciate this one though. Still what with

• the hackers collective known as Anonymous, 
• attempts by all sorts of "free world" democracies trying to cobble the masses with SOPA, PCIRA, ACTA and the likes,
• the hyperbole vented at Wikileaks and Pirate Bay  (if you are not blocked)
• leading to the creation of the Pirate Party

it is essential that we all raise our awareness of what is going on and not tolerate the powers that be infringing on our privacy and worse.

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Asimov's Science Fiction

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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

This Thai film won the Palme d'Or at 2010 Cannes Film Festival and various folk have raved about it; but not everyone would agree.

If you do get a chance to see this, take it - but go prepared ... check out the Wikipedia review for some context perhaps. It is a very gentle and subtle film about the transition we will all make.

The film's story arose from a 1983 book written by a Buddhist abbot about a local (to Isan, Thailand) man who claimed he could clearly remember his own past lives. Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul uses the book as inspiration for the film's sensibility often featuring content in scenes or episodes as the eponymous Uncle Boonmee approaches his own death. Shot mostly on location in Isan, close to the border with Laos and scene of considerable violence in the late 20th century.

This is the superficial story-line and the film gently allows Boonmee to die after recalling his past, often in quite surreal episodes. The film's objective might be to examine this strange transition between life and death - this is articulated quite clearly in dialogue - but there are depths and chasm's waiting for the unwary. Some of this subtlety is lost to non-Thai audiences as references to old Thai TV shows misses us completely - such as the caricatured monkey ghosts whose shining red eyes apparently revealed TV monsters hidden to disguise the poor costumes. Other allusions might pass you by altogether too but there are plenty of clues remaining to point you in the right direction. But one or two remain stubbornly opaque, such as the .. um .. catfish - perhaps only understood by the real Boonmee.

Another layer to add yet more complexity, are the various technical tricks with sound editing, filming styles and even the film medium itself directly enhancing the whole experience. Multiple viewing will definitely be rewarded until this film becomes part of your own past life.

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Full box Object
IFrame image Text link Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives [DVD]

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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