Susan Hated Literature

Dir & Writ: Jonathan King

• Nathan Meister … Henry Oldfield
• Danielle Mason … Experience
• Peter Feeney … Angus Oldfield
• Tammy Davis … Tucker
• Glenis Levestam … Mrs. Mac

This is the story of Henry Oldfield, son of a prominent sheep farmer in New Zealand, who, following a tragic incident in his childhood, suffers from a fear of sheep. He returns to the farm to sell his share of the family property to his older brother Angus. But while there is discovers the terrible secret… Angus has been experimenting in order to create a new breed of sheep, The Oldfield, but things go a little wrong and before you know it the mutant killer sheep are terrorising the land.

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Book 3 in the Temeraire
Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0345481305
DDC: 813.6
See also: LibraryThing ; Wikipedia entry ; aarti chapati

The hot wind blowing into Macao was sluggish and unrefreshing, only stirring up the rotting salt smell of the harbor, the fish-corpses and great knots of black-red seaweed, the effluvia of human and dragon wastes.

I can’t say very much about the plot of this book without giving away plot details from Book 2. I enjoyed this more than the second, maybe because I read it straight after and so was more in the mindset of the books, or maybe because I liked the story better, or maybe simply because it is a better book. Whatever the reason, if you liked the previous two books in this series you’ll want to read on.

We get yet more adventures from Temerarie and William, but we also get to see more of the world that Novik has created. Plus feral dragons and Temeraire’s desire to get home and help free British dragons from their almost-slavery.

I think my favourite character of this book is the new dragon Iskierka, although she isn’t a major character Show Spoilers ▼

she is pretty forceful. If the series continues in this manner, light adventure, then I’ll continue to read along.

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Book 2 in the Temeraire series
Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0345481291
DDC: 813.6
See also: LibraryThing ; Naomi Novik’s LJ ; Sandstorm Reviews

The day was unseasonably warm for November, but in some misguided deference to the Chinese embassy, the fire in the Admiralty boardroom has been heaped excessively high, and Laurence was standing directly before it.

In the first book of this series Novik introduced the slightly alternate Napoleonic world she had created; one with dragons used as instruments of war. In this book the action moves to China. Temeraire is a Chinese dragon, not only that, but a Celestial, the breed of dragon reserved for the Imperial family, and the Chinese are not too happy that William Laurence is his captain. And from a diplomatic point of view the English government want to keep China happy, even that means sending Temeraire off to China. And because a dragon won’t easily be parted from his captain, that means that Laurence must go too.

I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as the first one, they spent far too long at sea on the transport, and although some of it was entertaining, I felt that it wasn’t as engaging as the first book. Nevertheless it is still very enjoyable and well worth the read.

Novik does a good job in expanding her ‘verse, the Chinese have a very different outlook on dragons, and this begins to impact on the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, with Laurence wondering if perhaps the dragon would be better off staying in China.

I may not have liked it as much as the first, but I’d still recommend it.

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Dir: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Writ: Michael Arndt

• Abigail Breslin - Olive
• Greg Kinnear - Richard
• Paul Dano - Dwayne
• Alan Arkin - Grandpa
• Toni Collette - Sheryl
• Steve Carell - Frank

Families are a source of much amusement and not a little tragedy. Especially when your father is a motivational speaker, whose “9 steps to winning� doesn’t seem to be working, your uncle is an attempted suicide, and your brother is a wannabe fighter pilot who has taken a vow of silence and so hasn’t spoken in months. Not to mention a heroin snorting grandfather. Not exactly the most functional of families. But when Olive, a little girl who dreams of winning beauty pageants, gets a chance to compete for the Little Miss Sunshine title, the entire family is forced into helping her achieve her dream.

I don’t want to give away too much about this film. In a way the plot isn’t really important. Instead it is the characters that are important. Their relationships with one another, and their quirks and faults.

I really enjoyed this film, it is funny and moving at the same time. Yes every now and then things get a little too “kooky�, but at the same time it all works. The humour is great, one-liners and visual gags. The situations are somewhat forced, but it doesn’t really matter. It all works.

There is also a satirical aspect to the film, but it isn’t particularly cutting satire, it is all good humoured and just plain nice. On the surface it seems as though it going to be a dark comedy, but although there is death, and suicide, and even a hint of paedophilia, but it isn’t dark. Not really. It is too good natured and feel good to be dark in the strictest sense. It takes the middle ground, but it isn’t a middle of the road film.

I enjoyed every moment of Little Miss Sunshine; from the out and out funny moments to the touching, moving moments. Highly recommended.

IMDb | Inside Pulse | jane dark’s sugarhigh

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• Matt Damon …. Wilhelm Grimm
• Heath Ledger …. Jacob Grimm
• Monica Bellucci …. Mirror Queen
• Lena Headey …. Angelika

Well, this’ll teach me not to keep offline copies of my reviews won’t it. The original had been eradicated from web-land, so my poor memory will have to come up with another review of this film.

I really enjoyed this film, possibly because I’d read so many bad reports and people giving out about it. Okay, so it wasn’t perfect, but it was more than entertaining. Ledger and Damon were good in their roles as brothers out to con their way through life. Maybe the Italian torture fella was a little over done, but I was in that sort of a mood and found him funny.

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dir. Guillermo del Toro

Starring:

* Ron Perlman - Hellboy
* John Hurt - Professor Bruttenholm
* Rupert Evans - John Myers
* Selma Blair - Liz Sherman
* Karel Roden - Rasputin

Before I had heard about this film I had never heard of the comics, never really heard of the character of Hellboy at all, so I wasn’t “mad fer it.” But, after hearing a few positive reviews I decided I’d have to check it out at some stage. Then the trailers put me off, did anyone else get them in blocks of three? And I know that most everyone has praised del Toro’s Blade II, personally I preferred the first. Ah well, the film was on at the right time so I popped along.
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