Tonight, I Dance With Dragons!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! MY COPY OF A DANCE WITH DRAGONS IS FINALLY HERE!



IT'S A BOUT TIME, GEORGE R.R. Martin!

Now PLEASE don't take this long to finish The Winds Of Winter!

PS: At a total of 1016 pages, this book is gonna break my back if I carry it around to read....

Winter Has Come. HEAR ME ROAR!

I personally think that George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice And Fire series is one of the best fantasy series EVAR. Now, if only he'd finish the damn thing already, it might well be THE best ever. Best of the rest, I mean. LOTR still rules.

Anyway, when I heard that HBO was making a TV show out of the series, I was skeptical. Hollywood haven't actually had a good track record of adapting fantasy series' into TV shows (remember the Earthsea disaster?), and if they can't even get a CHILDREN'S FANTASY NOVEL like Earthsea right, what are the chances of them getting a series as expansive and deep as A Song Of Ice And Fire right?

The first worry I had was when they called it 'Game Of Thrones', without the 'A Song of Ice And Fire' in the title, or even the 'A'. C'mon lar, 'A Game Of Thrones' sounds much better than just plain old 'Game Of Thrones' right?

Anyway, yesterday I managed to catch the pilot episode of the series, and somehow... it was kinda underwhelming. But that was probably because I had completely forgotten just how slow-moving the beginning of the series was, especially before the action moved from the cold frigid environment of Winterfell to King's Landing. That doesn't excuse the rather uninspiring opening titles though...

But anyway, my memory of the series slowly started to come back as I continued watching the show - and I remembered just how tragic a lot of the book was. Just knowing how some of these characters would end up eventually was enough to give me a sense of dread. But made me curious as to exactly HOW they would pull the whole thing off.

The show certainly doesn't cut any corners - the set is marvelous, the costumes are great, and they don't skimp on the language or the er... sex scenes.

Oh, and House Lannister certainly don't disappoint. Jaime Lannister is suitably jockish and cocky; while the best casting in the show has to be Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister - you immediately take a liking to him, and this was great for me because he was my favorite character in the books anyway.

I do have a few complaints though. One - Lena Headey just seems a little too head strong and tough-looking to be a convincing Cersei Lannister. But considering how utterly evil and power-hungry Cersei is, I suppose Headey should be able to pull that part of the character off. Just that I always pictured her as a more er... blonde, doll-ish, mean cheerleader type of bitch, and not well, a former Sarah Connor.

Also, the Stark kids seemed a little too unremarkable at first. I suppose it's just the first episode and we'll probably get to know them and recognize them better, but for now, it's a bit hard to tell between Jon Snow and Robb Stark. Sean Bean is great as Lord Eddard Stark though. And you can totally see what Catelyn Stark is capable of in the future, even in this brief one episode.

Across the Narrow Sea, Daeneyrs Targaryen is shaping up nicely (and I don't mean her body shape, which she reveals more than one time in that first episode). And Viserys really is a bastard.

Oh, and one more thing - what the fuck is with all the hoo haa over the supposedly anti-feminist elements in the show? If you'd actually bothered to read the books or heck, the Wiki on the series, you'll know that the books are populated with really, really powerful women; women who will eventually dominate and shape the series. Sure, there's some gratuitous nudity, and in the beginning, the women are largely portrayed as submissive and expandable, but isn't that how Mad Men is like as well? So just because it's 'fantasy', it's not ok? Geez.

Anyway, I'm definitely gonna give this series a chance, especially since I know what an awesomely brilliant story it becomes as it progresses along. My one concern is that other non-fantasy viewers might not give it the chance to grow it deserves.

As for the books... bring on A Dance With Dragons, George, I want to read more NOW NOW NOW!

Cersei Disapproves.

Dufflepuds! Reepicheep! (And some dodgy green mist)

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of the Dawn Treader
Not a review.
Movie number 3, based on book number 5.
The first Narnia was not bad, but too LOTR-ish.
The second Narnia was so-so only.
This third Narnia is probably better than the other two.
But not by far.



It's got ships! Sea serpents!
Slavers! Dragons! Minotaurs!
Strange stars floating down from the sky!
Dodgy gold statues!
And the greatest enemy of all...
Er... some sort of green mist. WTF.



It's also got that kid from Son of Rambow,
(Which was a damn good movie, go watch it!)
He was suitably annoying as Eustace,
But pretty damn good as well.
The other two kids were so-so only,
Just like how they were in the first two.
Ben Barnes was still not bad though.



DUFFLEPUDS!
I LOVE DUFFLEPUDS!
But why they don't look as cute here. :-(
And we didn't get to see much of them either.
Bah.
But at least we got more REEPICHEEP!
Reepicheep rocks.



I thought it stayed pretty true to the book though.
Ok, maybe not ENTIRELY.
The key elements were there,
But they changed how things worked,
And even added a pretty star coming down from the sky.
(Ben Barnes would've felt right at home)
Oh, and all the religious allegories.
Even more so than the first two actually.
Just thought you should know.



But at least the movie was ok.
Not great, but at least it was entertaining.
I hope it's the last one though.
I don't really wanna watch a movie with Eustace as the lead.
(though they DID throw in a reference to Jill Pole in the end)
(Hmmmm)

Harry Potter & The Bloody Pointless Part One

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part One
Harry Potter & The Movie Not Review, Part One
Harry Potter & The Bloody Pointless Part One



Harry Potter & The Deadly Serious.
Harry Potter & The Darkly Sorrows.
Harry Potter & The Bleakly Hollow.
Harry Potter & The Dramatically Slowest.
Harry Potter & The Two Part Cash Cow.
Harry Potter & The 2 1/2 hour Trailer



Harry Potter & The Dolby Stereo.
Harry Potter & The Dobby Whatfors.
Harry Potter & The Harry Potters.
Harry Potter & The OMG THIS IS TAKING FOREVER!



Ok, it's not THAT bad.
In fact, it's actually like the book.
Some good bits here and there,
A lot of sitting around in tents,
At least 450000 pages / 45 minutes too long,
And a lot of bloody pointless scenes.



There was a serious lack of Severus though.
Snape was AWESOME in that brief (and chilling) opening scene.
Then... habis. No more Snape.
Saving Snape for the next one is it?
Good to have more Bellatrix though.
Helena Bonham Carter is awesome.



Ooooh, Emma Watson. Hot.
Cleavage = 8 = just right.
She's legal now, so it's ok to give a a cleavage rating.
Not digging her new tomboy look though.
(Not in the movie, of course)
But she's still hot.
BTW, why is Harry taking his shirt off all the time?
Should give Emma Watson the clothes stripping duties.



Seriously, couldn't they have made it just ONE movie?
Then they could have done away with this one.
Condense everything into one movie,
More action, less pointless chatty scenes.
Then again, they're doing that to The Hobbit too.
Oh dear.
Oh well, at least this wasn't in 3D....

Percy Jackson ain't no Pussy Potter wannabe

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Not a Review.
Yes, another adaptation of a kid's fantasy book.
By Chris Columbus samore.
Another Harry Potter wannabe?
Well, yes, and no.



Movie's not bad actually.
I've always liked Greek gods,
Zeus, Poseiden, Hades, Athena, Hermes etc.
And Greek mythology as well.
There's Medusa, Persephone, Hydras...
What, no Cerebus?
Oh, Columbus did it in Harry Potter before.



It's got er, James Bond as a centaur.
(At least he doesn't sing)
The Bride as a er... severed head.
Boromir as the King of Gods,
Steve Coogan as Hades!
And that Stella chick from CSI: NY as Athena



It's actually not bad.
Not a disaster like The Dark Is Rising.
About the same standard as The Spiderwick Chronicles,
But not as good as say, Harry Potter 3.
It's better and less BORING than Harry Potter 1 & 2 though.
Which were done by Columbus, BTW.



Sure, it's a bit predictable,
But I got a kick out of the Greek myths being 'modernised'
And Steve Coogan was a hoot as Hades.
The three leads a bit annoying though.
And the chick wasn't very hot also.
(Rosario Dawson as Persephone was though)



And it was good enough that after the movie,
I actually went and bought the book.
Like I said, I'm a sucker for Greek mythology.
And I'd take this over Twilight anytime.
At least no one sparkled in THIS movie...

Parody It Like Pratchett!

Heads up, Pratchett fans. IT's that time of year again!

Yes, our beloved nutty writer will be releasing a new DISCWORLD book next month!



Ok, that is one ugly ass cover. Forget that one. I'm getting THIS one instead!



As you'd probably noticed from the above cover, the story's apparently gonna parody FOOTBALL, so this should be one cracker of a book. My money's on the Librarian being the goalkeeper.

I wonder what position Rincewind's gonna be in though. And will he be running away from the ball a lot? Count on it.

Keep Some Dragons for Me, Ms. Robin Hobb.

Ooooh, there's a new Robin Hobb book! And it's a new trilogy!

It's out now in MPH and Kinokuniya. I saw it the other day after a tip from a colleague, but it's the end of the month and I'm broke... WAAAA!

Ah, she's going back to dragons after mucking about with forest mages in the last trilogy, Should be interesting...

RIP: David Eddings, Creator of The Belgariad, Lord of the Mallorean, and Scribe of Fun, Frivolous Fantasy

R.I.P.
David Eddings
(1931–2009)

I remember the first time I read a David Eddings book. It was the rather unimaginatively named Pawn of Prophecy that I had bought for cheap at a MPH warehouse sale. Sheepishly, at the time my idea of great fantasy outside of LOTR was stuff like Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. So in an attempt to try other authors, I decided to get Eddings' book.

I couldn't put it down. And when I finished book 1, I immediately rushed out to get book two. and three. and four. and I didn't stop till I'd read every book he'd published at the time, from The Belgariad and The Mallorean all the way to The Elenium and The Tamuli.

And from there, there was no stopping my hunger for fantasy books, and I read everything from Jordan to Feist to Martin and more. And I credit Eddings for starting me down this obsessive fantasy reading path.

I have to admit his writing wasn't perfect though. He DID write The Belgariad as a way to make some money after all, resulting in the fantasy equivalent of the airport novel. But his books are usually such rip-roaring, fun adventures that you didn't really care that he reused his characters and recycled his jokes, plots and plot devices over and over again.

If you haven't started reading fantasy, try The Belgariad. It's so much more fun than contemporary airport novels, and you certainly will have a lot more fun reading it than those bloody Dang Brown books.

Sadly, Eddings has gone to the Place Which Is No More, to join his beloved wife Leigh who also co-wrote most of his books with him.

So, rest in peace, David Eddings, Creator of The Belgariad, Lord of the Mallorean, and Scribe of Fun, Frivolous Fantasy. May the Orb of Aldur guide your way.

Kiddy Book Movies Make Pretty Good Posters

This year there seems to be quite a number of movies based on kiddy books. And they've got some really nice posters I wouldn't mind hanging on my walls...

There's Coraline, of course



And then there's these awesome posters for Spike Jonez's Where The Wild Things Are:



Go check out the trailer for this movie. It gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling inside. :-)

Then again, the Harry Potter ones are the usual unimaginative ones with each of the cast just standing there doing nothing, in poses that is supposed to look 'cool' kononnya...



That said, Emma Watson IS growing up to be quite the hottie...