What'cha doing? meme

[dragonyphoenix]

I’m not sure where I got this. Oooh, I found it. I got it here!

What have you just finished reading?


Understanding Comics
A graphic novel discussing comics as an art form. An oldie but a goodie. Very well worth a read, and I plan to check it out again.

What are you reading now?

John Straley's The Curious Eat Themselves
It's a mystery set in Alaska. I basically read it during commercial breaks if there's nothing else on tv to switch to, so it really hasn't caught my attention.

What are you going to read next?

Homeplace by Beth Massie
This is a horror novel and one of those things that got onto my reading list but I have no idea where I heard of it. The first line goes like this: They waited until twilight to uncover the well.
I don't know much about it, but that line does have me hooked.

What have you watched this week?

I'm watching episodes of Spectacle, which is Elvis Costello interviewing musicians. I had no idea what an amazing singer Elton John is. Tony Bennett was fantastic because, while he was there for his own interview, he also actively showcased other musicians, bringing his own jazz pianist, whom he encouraged the crowd to clap for, and asking of Costello's wife could come up and play piano for him. I just finished the Lou Reed interview this morning. He also brought up another artist, this one a director who made a movie, Berlin, based on some of Reed's music.

What will you watch next?

The Magnificent Seven because I've been on a big Kurosawa kick and that's gotten me watching movies influenced by Kurosawa films.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Magnificent Seven... gosh I have not seen that film in so many years. I need to watch it again.


Gabrielle

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

I've never seen it. I guess I have something good to look forward to then. I'm finishing up the Spectacle disc I'm on, watching interviews with the members of The Police.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Spectacle is a great show - Costello is so obviously a fan of the musicians he brings on, whether they're older or (sometimes much) younger than him. Costello, much like Bowie, has spent his entire career soaking up influences, and here he's paying them back.

I've been on a classic Japanese binge too. I watched Harakiri and Woman In The Dunes recently; both incredible, especially Harakiri which is one of the most vicious deconstructions of the whole idea of Honour and Tradition I've ever seen.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, Costello has obviously immersed himself in music since forever.

I'll check out those movies. I also saw House recently. I was inspired to watch Japanese horror by that bit of it in Cabin in the Woods. House was odd to watch because I knew that foreign movies can be different from Western movies (for instance Bollywood movies will have a song featuring a woman who does nothing else in the movie) so as I was watching I kept thinking things (such as the songs or suddenly having a moment of slapstick) were characteristic of Japanese movies in general! ;-) I didn't realize otherwise until I was watching the special features.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Heh. House is one of my all-time favourite movies. It's so gloriously bizarre. Japanese cinema was never afraid to get weird, but House... jesus.

I recently watched a brilliant documentary series called The Story of Film: An Odyssey, tracking the development of movies from the 1890s up until the present, not just in Hollywood but all over the world, and done with such genuine love and enthusiasm that I now have a list of films to watch that should last me for a few years.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Hey, my library has that DVD. Such a great library! I already have a list of movies to see, from a book written by some guy who reviews films. I think I'll NEVER run out of films to watch! ;-)

[not-vacillating.livejournal.com]

Understand Comics sounds like a good read. Does it focus on some genres/styles of comics in particular, or is it pretty general?

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

It's from 1993, so Understanding Comics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Comics) won't discuss anything since then, but overall it's more general. It's idea oriented. It does address differences between Eastern and Western styles, but the author is an American comic artist.

Wikipedia has this to say, which sums it up pretty well: It expounds theoretical ideas about comics as an artform and medium of communication