neverwhere (bbc tv series) review

written 23 October 2007

Neverwhere review! (the bbc tv series)

Even though I've only watched a couple episodes from the first few episodes, I don't really like it. I think there's a dvd version of it somewhere, the cover of which neil gaiman was plugging, and I have a feeling he didn't really like the tv version. Even though I like neverwhere a lot, (hence the rereading) the tv version isn't very representative of the book. The user who posted it on youtube even said it was "short-lived".

Firstly, in the book Richard Mayhew is supposed to have a slight scottish accent, in the show it isn't just 'slight'; it's rather heavy, to the point where it sometimes becomes difficult to understand. Maybe it's just me, being not used to various british accents and all, but I think for the show to be accessible to a wider audience the actor playing Richard has to speak clearer.

I quite like the casting of Mr Croup, though, and his voice; he rolls his Rs! And is malevolent :D When I was reading the book I imagined croup and vandemar to sound like snape or morpheus (in the matrix, not sandman) and the guy play Mr. Croup sounds like that!

Though vandemar has the wrong clothes because he looks like someone from Law and Order, back in the 90s, with a white shirt and suspenders, of all things. Speaking of costumes, the Marquis has this cloak (okay) a white flappy shirt (okay) a glittery vest (passable) and khaki pants that look like ballet tights. First things first. Ballet tights are perfectly acceptable on dancers, and serve a functional purpose. But the Marquis doesn't dance, and so they do not have a functional purpose. [right. stupid argument.] I suppose the producers tried to go for the tudor tights-and-bloomers look, but it doesn't work out! I feel like the Marquis is going to do a grande jete any moment, and pirouette arrogantly around richard, who can neither dance nor act.

I think I'm quibbling. The tv series was first aired in 1996, and they had different fashion trends then (the person playing door wears biker boots) and probably different lighting trends then too. The lighting in the series looks over the top, with most of the croup/vandemar scenes in green, and angel islington scenes in red. Oh dear. maybe it's just the video quality. I wouldn't mind just listening to the audio part; it would do very well as an audiobook, thought that rather defeats the purpose of having a tv show.

order of the pheonix movie review

(written 15 July 2007)

Review!! *Spoiler Alert* yeah I watched it :DD haha repetition for emphasis. I likedliked what David Yates (the director) did with the opening scene; it was so big picture and different from other opening scenes and artsy (a little) and epic;- remember harry playing with his wand under the covers? (okay that sounds wrong) But yeah it was macro to micro when previously it was micro to macro.

The dementor thing was good(: and harry's surprise that mrs figg was a squib was played out fairly well. BUT I was kind of miffed they didn't put dumbledore's howler to petunia in it, though it couldn't have taken more than 3 mins [?] or so to develop that plotline and the connection, because it is so vital that the movie-goer realises that petunia isn't as ignorant or one-sided as she seems. Rawr. I mean if they really didn't have time, they could take away the small "harry being emo" part on the hogwarts express which is so useless. As in we already know harry is angsty and mad and all, you don't have to emphasise it so much; and harry isn't the only one being frustrated either- look at ron and hermione. *end of spoiler*
It's getting late, will probably post more later. (I usually don't keep this promise)

(18 July 2007)

OotP review continued! right lets skip skip skip to the part right at the end- you know when harry asks luna about sirius? and when luna is putting up lost notices? and then luna says something along the lines of- "things you have lost may turn up when you least expect them" ( I forgot the exact quote) but she was saying that as a metaphor to her lost shoes/items but also as a reference to sirius, because harry was, at that point, highly distraught about his death. But but at the end of the 5th book it doesn't play out that way, with luna saying that they (her mother and sirius) were just hidden behind the veil, with an implication that they would return. In both scenes, there are ideas that sirius is still alive in some form, although coming back as the form of a ghost would be highly unlikely, when we see harry talking to nearly headless nick at the end of book 5. In the movie, though, the implication that sirius would return is more certain, possibly to enlighten movie-goers who haven't read the books, but also, could it be a subtle hint as to which character gets a reprieve in book 7? Because if they put this teaser scene in the end, might it be significant in later books/movies? (Pirates of the Caribbean 3, anyone?)

Oh and in the scene where sirius dies, do you remember bellatrix saying 'avada kedavra' and then sirius falls over? If you didn't know what avada kedavra meant (i.e. the unenlightened movie-goer) you wouldn't have known sirius was about to die or have understood the gravity of the situation, but probably when harry starts to yell hysterically you know. But in the time frame between sirius getting hit by the curse and harry yelling, you think sirius was just hit by a normal spell that is reversible, because in movies, (especially fantasy children ones), everything becomes right in the end. I think this is very good for people, because it then encourages them to read the book :D and be enlightened.

I was also quite mad when they didn't blow up the huge ministry of magic statue. After they spent so long doing a pan of it when harry goes for his hearing, you might have thought it would become significant later in the movie, but noooo the blowing up doesn't happen, only the glass tiles shatter and harry gets covered in dust- not as dramatic as I had hoped. I mean the statue is symbolic of racial equality in the books, because the magical beings are all looking adoringly at the wizard in the middle, because some wizards think they are better-off than half-bloods. This would add so much more depth and significance to the movie as this prejudice mirrors the prejudice we have today, and is, in a way, a political comment. *end review*

ender's shadow review

(written 24 April 2007)

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

This is one of the few books that I have read that gave me the need to cry. (besides the time sirius feel through the veil) OSC writes from bean's point of view when telling the tale of ender's game, and so there is added suspense because you know what is going to happen. Bean's impoverished childhood makes him emotionally detached, but when he gets to battle school and know more about ender, he almost emaluates him through bean's idolatry. Bean's hunger for and ability to gather information results in him probing into the battle school system, and being able to log in as a teacher. However, he did not play the mind game, and so did not allow Jane to make a philotic connection with him, unlike ender did, and so the teacher know less of his personality. (refer to Xenoxide)

Ender has more emotional understanding than bean, having elements of Valentine's character. Ender is therefore better at leadership and has more likeability than bean, and also had more friends than bean. It comes not as a surprise that ender is chosen to be commmander of Dragon Army, and eventually commander of the fleet sent to extinguish the buggers. Bean is sharper and more intelligent than any of the soldiers, despite being the youngest, and this allows him to grasp new concepts quickly but still have time left over to study earth's political situation and discover locke and demesthothenes, peter and valentine wiggin. It is therefore almost natural that bean was ender's backup, ahould anything have gone wrong, and he also took the role of watching out for other players but still continued to execute ender's strategies when he was occupied.

Bean has the courage and determination to seem brave, despite knowing that the fleet sent to kill the buggers was real, and not just computer graphics on a screen. It made the xenocide all the more chilling, knowing this, with the added emotional attachment, knowing that the fleet was composed of real soldiers being led to their sacrificial deaths by a bunch of children. Towards the end, Bean senses Ender's disppointment and exhaustion, although he doesn't feel it himself. I admire bean for his tenacity and determination to get over his shortcomings, like his size and age, or losing it when he gets nervous (haha a lot like me), making the most of what he has and trying to help and support ender in any way.

Although it felt a little bad-fic-ish in the middle, when OSC was filling up battle school plot gaps, because it sounded very repetitive, this book complements Ender's Game very nicely, especially if you have read Speaker of the Dead or Xenocide. You also get to know why ender is able to develop a philotic connection with the sole surviving bugger queen in this book. I like OSC because he gives a lot of backstory, the kind of thing you look for in fics, just that this is written by the author himself and so is 100% official, and so ruthlessly destroys bad theories. There is MORE backstory in Shadow of the Hegemon, which is sitting very nicely in the school library, a 30-second walk from my classroom :D, just that I'm reading Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Dream Country now, and was reading bio pt things before and the book day book is next in line.

deathly hallows cover review

Deathly Hallows book covers

(Written 31st March, 2007)

When I first looked at the US children's' cover (right), I thought it was the worst cover ever. Honestly, who would have thought of using orange?! However, upon closer inspection of the full US jacket, I found it to be containing several clues.

[Before I launch into a full-blown analysis, take note that this is my own interpretation of the covers and I have never read any editorials or reviews before this to prevent other people from influencing my first impressions of the covers, but be assured that I will go read other reviews when they come out.]

The colours orange and red, are, to a certain extent, clashing horribly. Though the orangey red background didn't look to bad behind what I presumed to be voldemort(or a dementor) who was clad in a black hooded cloak. There are, what appears to be ruins, pieces of splintered wood and cracked stone, at his feet. His long-nailed fingers are facing toward Harry, suggesting that they are/were engaged in a violent duel which involved destruction of buildings. This supports mugglenet's hypothesis that there will be a final showdown between Voldemort and Harry. However, it is not clear in the book jacket who is winning the fight, so I guess we will eventually find out in DH. Harry also appears to be wearing a kind of locket or pendant, which may well be the missing horcrux that R.A.B stole from voldemort. Knowing jkr, it may not be a horcrux at all, but a charm of some kind, but it is highly unlikely that a simple charm would show up on a book cover. In the background, there are tall stone arches surrounding Voldemort and Harry, with what seems like tombstones at the bottom of these arches. This might be the graveyard Voldemort took Harry to at the end of GoF (I forgot its' name!) as it is the only wizard graveyard jkr has introduced us to in the series, and Voldemort or Harry might find connections to the past at their parent's graves. The orange skies may suggest that they are fighting at sunrise or sunset, instead of at night when Voldemort fought Harry in GoF. Taken less literally, it may mean that the fight was passionate and fiery and that there was a lot of magical energy in the air.

In the UK adult version, there is a picture of a gold locket with with an "S" set in emerald jewels, and is what I presume is salazar slytherin's locket, the one which used to belong to the witch Hepzibah. [hbp] The importance of this locket is emphasised as it is shown on the cover, as opposed to any other horcrux. This might also be the locket Harry is wearing around his neck in the US children's cover.

the worthing saga

(written 15th February, 2007)

The Worthing Saga was very lovely and very human; more so than ender's game. It, apparently, stemmed from one of the first SF short stories that osc wrote. It is more science fiction than fantasy,but I still like it lots. It was also the only decent osc book (besides ender's game) that the school library had, besides this long series about american beginnings or something like that. The Saga explores issues of human ethics, especially in the case of Jason Worthing's, the protagonist's, mind-reading abilities. I plan to borrow xenocide from the library after school on friday to keep me alive and sane, and will probaly lend the worthing saga to charisse. This review significantly diminishes in quality compared to luna's, even though this is thicker.

Luna review

22 January 2007

Luna, by Julie Anne Peters, is a literary fiction novel for young adults. Regan, a fifteen-year old girl, has a transgender brother, Luna/Liam. Regan wrestles with the burden of protecting her brothers' secret and is the only one who fully understands who, and why, he is a girl on the inside. Liam is a seventeen year old senior in high school who takes honour papers in Physics, while Regan has trouble figuring out Chem I and her lab partner. When Liam meets another TG, or transgirl, over the internet, he decides it is time to transition. That is, to become a girl on the outside. Will Luna manage to emerge from her chrysalis and reveal herself to everyone who accepts her as a boy? Regan struggles with her brothers' decision and his overeliance on her to keep him protected, all the while juggling school and her personal life.

In my opinion, Luna is ideal for young people to understand and empathise (not sympathise) with transgenders and their personal conflicts. Usually transgenders are regarded as outcasts, ostracised and discriminated against. Young people, especially Singaporeans, need to be more aware of their needs, and it may inspire teens with similar conflicts to come to terms with themselves, or if they wish, transition. I recommend this book to all teens, or maybe even adults who wish to identify with Liam, as it is an enlightening read.