Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Pattern Recognition

Friday, March 11th, 2005

Ho sweet.. this has made my day.. William Gibson’s book is going to be a movie. Ok this normally means bad things on the big screen.. but I have faith that Peter Weir will do a great job. While I was reading this book, I saw it as a movie in my mind. Can’t wait to see it!

New Book.. aka Presento

Sunday, January 23rd, 2005

Sooki-chan brought a new book to read. It is called “Stray Dog of Anime : The Films of Mamoru Oshii” and I have read two chapters so far and learnt heaps more about one of my faviourite directors of all time.

The summary on the back cover:

Upon its US release in the mid-1990s Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamoru Oshii, quickly became one of the most popular Japanese animation films, or anime, in the country. Despite these accolades, Oshii is known as a contrarian within anime, a self-proclaimed “stray dog”, with a unique cinematic vision. Working in both live-action film and animation, directing everything from absurdist comedy to thrillers to meditations on the nature of reality, Oshii defies the confines of genre and form. Stray Dog of Anime is the first book to take an in-depth look at his major films, from the early days working on Urusei Yatsura to Avalon, his most recent feature. Ruh details Oshii’s evolution as a director, paying special attention to his personal style and symbolism, resulting in a unique guide that will appeal to anime fans and cineastes of all kinds.

I first fell in love with Oshii’s film making with the first Patlabor movie. As many friends know about me, I love complex film and storys. I love to think, and sometimes a film that makes me wonder afterwards, and question things. There have been a few films in my time that have done this to me, and Oshii always does it. I only wish I had the imagination and the artistic skill to do something remotely amazing like Oshii. Sarfice to say, I am going to learn lots about him from this book.

Goodies in the mail and next audiobook choosen

Monday, January 10th, 2005

Today finally got session 2 & 3 of Babylon 5. So more tv vegging comeing soon once all the current work is cleared to a point I can see the light again.

Also just choosen my next audiobook to grace my ears: Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood

Summary

In Oryx and Crake, a science fiction novel that is more Swift than Heinlein, more cautionary tale than “fictional science” (no flying cars here), Margaret Atwood depicts a near-future world that turns from the merely horrible to the horrific, from a fool’s paradise to a bio-wasteland. Snowman (a man once known as Jimmy) sleeps in a tree and just might be the only human left on our devastated planet. He is not entirely alone, however, as he considers himself the shepherd of a group of experimental, human-like creatures called the Children of Crake. As he scavenges and tends to his insect bites, Snowman recalls in flashbacks how the world fell apart.