Crystal Moon

This particular book, The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, by Will Cuppy, was a recommendation from our very own princesslucia, and I must say it was a very good book to read during the middle of a busy period. It was nice and light, and think I can safely say that it wins the prize for Novel with the Funniest Title Ever. Basically, Cuppy takes us through the centuries and explains the way things really happened in the past...and how they didn't work. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a good laugh, but a fairly decent knowledge of history would definitely come in handy.

( A million laughs a minute )

The second "book" I finished this year is called De Historia et Veritate Unicornis (On the History and Truth of the Unicorn): The Facsimile and Translation of an Original Manuscript. Despite it's huge title, this work is only 64 short pages, pretty much all of which contain extremely large, high-quality images. The basic plot is that the author, Michael Green, was approached by a member of a secret society who preserved records of the unicorn, and even had an original spiral horn. Green was asked to translate the manuscripts and publish them, in the hopes of generating more interest in the magic and wonder that is the unicorn. This is clearly not a rocket science book, but I was truly amazed not only at how believable the text was, but at the true feeling of awe and wonder it inspired in me.

( Review )

So I think I have sufficiently calmed down from reading the new Harry Potter book that I can right at least a semi-coherent review. I think I may go back and re-read it quite soon, just so I can get a better handle on some of the details, but for now I think I just need to sit back and absorb.

 
Needless to say, there are SPOILERS behind the cut for the entire book.

 
Got that? SPOILERS!!!  DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE BOOK AND DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!!!

 
Ok, my karma is clear. On we go!

Oh, and be warned...this is long and rambly and...yeah  ^^;;

( Good, Bad and Ugly )

So, I’m afraid I have to squeal about this here, because as much as Mike indulges in my fandoms, he is a guy, and as such he will never be able to truly appreciate the beauty of a good chick flick (or books based on them).

I have just finished reading the first book in the Fitzwilliam Darcy – Gentleman series by Pamela Aidan. This series is basically a re-telling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but from Darcy’s point of view. This first book, An Assembly Such as This, takes us up to the point where Darcy, Bingley and his sisters return to London, and deals a little with their time there. Unfortunately for me, the next two books are not out yet. I though I’d checked on Amazon to ensure that they were, because I *hate* getting involved in a series and then finding out that I have to wait for the rest of the them to come out, but apparently I was mistaken. They seem to have been released elsewhere (perhaps Britain) but the second book won’t be available until October, and the third comes out in January.
 

 This is Bad.

 Why, do you ask? Because I seriously do not think I have ever been so obsessed with an adaptation before in my life.
 

( Why Darcy Rocks My World )

 

Apparently when I get bored, I start thinking too much about things that are just too complicated for my poor brain to handle by itself. I know I’ve already ranted once today, but this is totally different, I swear, though perhaps no less boring to some/many/all of you.

 
As most of you know, I am a devoted Trekkie, and I firmly believe that the answers to life, the universe and everything can be found in both the number 42, and in Star Trek episodes. Even though I’ve seen most of them and Mike is buying them on DVD, we still TiVo The Next generation, because we’re geeks like that. A few days ago, the episode “The High Ground” aired, and, as I was bored, I decided to re-watch it, because it’s always been one of my favorites. For some reason, however, it resonated more with me than it had in the past. Or maybe not more, precisely, but at least slightly differently.

 
The long and short of the plot is this: The Enterprise is dropping off medical supplies to a planet engaged in a civil war. The “rebel” faction, the Ansata, are fighting for independence from the rest of the Rutian planet. Pervious tactics apparently failed, and they have become terrorists, doing whatever it takes to get the Rutians to acknowledge their claim. During the delivery of the medical supplies, an Ansata bomb is detonated and Dr. Crusher demands to remain to tend the wounded. While doing this, she is kidnapped by an Ansata member and, pardon the cliché, taken to their leader, Finn. The Ansata had desperate need of a doctor due to their unorthodox means of transport, a nuclear-powered inter-dimensional device. It allows them to transport unnoticed by Rutian sensors, but it slowly destroys their DNA and kills them.

 
During her incarceration, Beverly becomes sympathetic to the Ansata cause. While she deplores their methods, she comes to understand what drives them, especially Finn. They believe they are fighting a just war for their independence, and have resorted to terrorism because it is the only way to make their voices heard.

 
Beverly is eventually rescued and the Enterprise leaves Rutia, but, as was no doubt intended, the show leaves more questions for its audience than answers.
 

( More Thougts )

 

I just finished watching "Death Takes a Holiday," a 1934 flick where the Grim Reaper decides to take human for for three days to try to understand why humans fear him. He ends up falling in love with Grazia, the lovely daughter of a princess, and thus comes to understand the greatest gift of human life.

I'd never heard of any of the actors before, but I absolutely fell in love with Fredric March, who played Death. He has an amazing voice, which he shifted from a cool, chilling whisper as Death to a deeper, heavily accented voice as Prince Sirki, the human form he adapted. He was also very unstable, which made for interesting twists. You never really knew what he was going to do or how he was going to respond to comments. He had an amazing balance between a selfish immortal who looked down on humans as silly weaklings who wasted their lives and then yet feared Death, and a simple man who wanted to experience love before he, in a way, died. He reminded me more than of bit of a young Christopher Plummer, during his "Sound of Music" days, which is always a bonus. Evelyn Venable totally won me over as Grazia. She was so light and airy and whimsical. She seemed to already have a connection with the "land beyond" - always hearing music and seeing shadows. She claimed to always be looking for something to give her life real meaning, beyond getting married and having children and living in a wealthy home. I must also put in a good word for Sir Guy Standing, who played Duke Lambert, the man to whom Death appeared and ask to remain as a house guest. He was excellent at walking the line between intense fear of Death, and the determination that he protect his family and friends.

Of course, the  dialogue was over dramatic and pretty much all the characters over-acted, but that was style of the day, so I can forgive them. It may be cliche, but I was rather annoyed Death didn't challenge anyone to a chess match *pout*  Ah well. Either way, good movie.

Apparently there was a re-make of the show in 1998 - "Meet Joe Black" - staring Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins. It seems to have rather mediocre reviews, but I really did enjoy the original, so I think I'll take a stab at this one. Brad Pitt never did much for me, but I haven't seen Anthony Hopkins in anything I didn't like.

So, I just finished reading The Da Vinci Code, and all I can really say is...wow. It took me a long time to get into this book, and trust me, you *don't* want to read it unless you can devote at least some time almost every day to it, otherwise you'll start forgetting stuff. Like the name of secret societies and their Grand Master's, the geography of the Louvre, characters' names and positions, and, you know, the plot. And yes, I do speak from experiences ^^;; I guess my main question after coming out on the other side finally, is basically this: Is all this stuff true?

Oh, and if you haven't read the book and plan on doing so, I would advise against reading further. Spoilers and speculations await.

( Ramblings )

So thanks toprincesslucia and the fic she wrote a few days ago, I got interested in Firefly. But since I am poor do to my myriad of Japanese obsessions, I can't afford to buy the series, so I did the next best thing, which was watch Serenity. All I can say is, this is the strangest movie I have watched in a loooong, long time, and that's saying something. Still, I must admit, it was pretty good.

( Thoughts )

Soooo...in my (basically non-existent) spare time, I have been steadily plowing through "The Golden Fleece," a biography of Elisabeth and Franz Joseph of Austria. (For those of you who read this thing consistently, yes, this is the same Elisabeth whose life was chronicled in the Takarazuka show I was babbling about.) As far as bios go, this one was pretty good. Not the best in terms of actual historical writing, as it had no footnotes or the like, just a bibliography at the end, but since I was just reading it for fun, the amusing narrative style used by the author made it a quite enjoyable read. It also allowed me to brush up on my Austrian history, which is basically limited to two places - a history class where I learned I could lay the entire blame for the start of World War I on the shoulders of an Austrian archduke who ended up on the wrong side of an assassin's bullet, and the Sound of Music. This, obviously, was rather better.

I have to admit, it was quite interesting to see the liberties taken with Elisabeth's character in the play. Most things were essentially the same - her fiercely independent character, her love of walking and riding, her obsession with physical beauty - but the main difference I think was in the portrayal of how she ended up the way she did. In the play, it seemed quite obvious that she was the victim, both of a vicious and power-hungry mother-in-law, and of a loving but rather spineless husband who wouldn't lift much more than a finger to really help her. While the character of Sophie, her mother-in-law, was as wretched as ever, I must admit to coming away from the book with a much higher regard for Franz Joseph. His total and utter devotion to Elisabeth rather stunned me, and he came off not so much as weak as compromising. He loved his wife utterly but respected and honored his mother. He merely made what compromises he could.

The other interesting part of the book that was briefly dealt with in the show but perhaps not as much as it could have was Elisabeth's deep obsession with insanity. Her family had a history of mental illness, probably because of such close inbreeding (Elisabeth and Franz Joseph were direct cousins) and she was quite sure that she would end up like so many of her relatives. I particularly loved the description of her cousin Ludwig, king of Bavaria, who was more than a few fries short of a happy meal but apparently had superb tastes in castles. He might have been as mad as a hatter, but part of it came from his determination to flout conventional society, and I highly respect that.

More than anything, the book made me wonder how much of who we are in life comes from ourselves, and how much is shaped by those around us. Elisabeth, I don't think, was vain and selfish by nature, but she came across that way to Austria. Why? Was it because she grew so totally indifferent to her subjects, or rather because she needed so badly to escape the walls she felt were closing in around her? I can't help but ask the same question about people in the world today. Do people act certain ways because they want to or because they just don't care about the reaction, or is there something else driving them in the background?

Although I read this book for the sole purpose of learning about Elisabeth, I think the most amusing anecdote actually came after her death in 1914. When the crown price Rudolf committed suicide with his mistress (which, by the way, was a relief to me in some respects - I really wasn't dealing well with the huge Oedipus complex the poor boy had in the show) Franz Joseph had to find another heir to the throne. He adopted his nephew, Franz Ferdinand, probably the most famous Austrian archduke in history. It turns out that he and his wife only went to Bosnia that day because he and Franz Joseph were arguing. Franz Joseph told him not to go, that it was too dangerous, and Franz Ferdinand basically went just to spite him. After his assassination and the outbreak of war, Franz Joseph apparently spent a lot of time sitting around and wondering why the rest of the world had to go to war just because his nephew had been an over-confident idiot and gotten himself shot. For some reason, looking at WWI like that was just..well...rather funny for me ^^;;

And Luigi! The insanely funny (pun intended) Italian terrorist who stabbed Elisabeth to death with a dirty file just because she happened to be the the only royal personage in the area, and he had to kill *someone.* At his trial, he apparently commented that "a Lucheni would never hurt a washerwoman, but he is happy to do away with useless queens." He was apparently quite proud of his accomplishments, and only deigned to hang himself in prison when it seemed as though no one was paying attention to him anymore. *le sigh* I guess even anarchists need love.

At any rate, book = good. Even if you have no interest in the people personally, it's a good source of Austrian history. I highly recommend it! ^__^

My only complaint? I miss the Death-Elisabeth-Franz Joseph love triangle ^^;