• Comics Read

    Pax Romana

    Pax Romana by Jonathan Hickman Format: Trade Paperback Comic Published: 2008 Publisher: Image Comics I’ve been hearing about Jonathon Hickman since I started getting back into comics. He’s was touted as a wonder child in the indie comic scene and has now been brought into Marvel. This is the first comic of his I’ve read, and I’m looking forward to picking through the rest. Pax Romana begins 40 years in the future, when the Catholic church has lost most of its followers. The Vatican has finally embraced technology and have managed to unlock the secrets behind travelling back in time. They decide, in typical churchy fashion, that they know enough…

  • Books Read

    The Subtle Knife

    The Subtle Knife (audio) by Philip Pullman Published: 1997 Narration:Philip Pullman, Full Cast This was my first full cast audiobook, and I didn’t think I’d like it at all, but it really worked. The voice acting was all great, apart from the guy voicing Lee Scoresby sounding like he was trying to do a bad impression of John Wayne. The also started each chapter with ear-piercingly bad music, which I assumed was BBC stock music from the 70s, but it was apparently composed just for this book. Those are minor gripes, though, in what was otherwise a great production. The story starts with a new character – Will, a boy…

  • Literature

    Ian Fleming Interviewing Raymond Chandler

    Here’s a cool interview someone dug up from from 1958. It’s Ian Fleming (author of the James Bond novels) interviewing Raymond Chandler (author of the Philip Marlowe novels), and it’s apparently the only recording of Raymond Chandler’s voice. It takes place one year before Chandler’s death and six years before Fleming’s death. It’s fun listening to two friends and authors, who will both still be widely read over fifty years later, discuss their insecurities and disect their protaganists. They mainly praise each other, but Chandler does tease Fleming a bit on a couple decisions he made with Bond. It’s especially interesting to hear them reference future works when we now…

  • Film

    The Hobbit

    Peter Jackson has released the first of a series of video logs chronicling the shooting of The Hobbit. I have very fond memories of this book from my childhood, even more than The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’m looking forward to seeing the final product, even if it has to be in 3D. [via]

  • Books Read

    Cat’s Cradle

    Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Published: 1963 My third Vonnegut book, and a strong contender for my favourite. Of the three, this is his most straight-forward book as far as the plot is concerned – straight-forward for Vonnegut at least. The story begins with the narrator, John, setting off to write a book on what important Americans did the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. He focuses on Felix Hoenikker, a fictional physicist who developed the bomb, and while interviewing his co-workers and children, he learns that the scientist may have left behind a substance that could threaten life on earth. Cat’s Cradle centres around the juxtaposition…

  • Literature

    The Hundred Martyrs to Democracy

    I finished Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut the other day. I unfortunately haven’t had a chance to write about it yet, but I thought I’d pop on to share this quote. This particular bit feels like a precursor for Slaughterhouse 5, which was written six years after. This comes from an American ambassador giving a speech to the fictional Caribbean nation San Lorenzo, memorializing the hundred soldiers they lost during the war. They became known as The Hundred Martyrs to Democracy (lo Hoon-yera Mora-toorz tut Zamoo-cratz-ya in the native tongue). “We are gathered here, friends,” he said, “to honor lo Hoon-yera Mora-toorz tut Zamoo-cratz-ya, children dead, all dead, all murdered…

  • Film

    The Monster of Nix

    The Monster of Nix, the highly anticipated animated musical by Dutch artist and filmmaker Rosto, is nearing completion. The 30 minute long, existentialist fairy tale will hit the screens Spring 2011. What excites me about this project is that it features the voice acting of Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits! It’s worth keeping an eye on just for that. [via]

  • Literature

    Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Rules for Writing Fiction

    Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action. Start as close to the end as possible. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of. Write to please just one person. If…

  • Brain Food

    Late Resolutions

    I’ve been thinking about goals lately, mainly because it’s a lot easier than trying to achieve them. I missed out on the whole New Years thing, being sans blog at the time, so I thought I’d make a few late (and admittedly slightly wimpy) resolutions for the remainder of the year. It might be fun to check in every now and then and see what progress I’ve made. So at the end of 2011, I want to: Be 10 lbs lighter – I spent last spring mountain biking and being relatively fit, relative to previous years anyway. Since then, a combination of laziness and health issues (the health issues being…