NON-FICTION: What a Wonderful World: One Man's Attempt to Explain the Big Stuff by Marcus Chown

Image from Amazon.com

At a glance: humour, non-fiction, science (& assorted other subjects)

From Goodreads:

Why do we breathe? What is money? How does the brain work? Why did life invent sex? Does time really exist? How does capitalism work - or not, as the case may be? Where do mountains come from? How do computers work? How did humans get to dominate the Earth? Why is there something rather than nothing?

In What a Wonderful World, Marcus Chown, bestselling author of Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You and the Solar System app, uses his vast scientific knowledge and deep understanding of extremely complex processes to answer simple questions about the workings of our everyday lives. Lucid, witty and hugely entertaining, it explains the basics of our essential existence, stopping along the way to show us why the Atlantic is widening by a thumbs' length each year, how money permits trade to time travel, why the crucial advantage humans had over Neanderthals was sewing, and why we are all living in a giant hologram.*

* took the liberty of adding two commas.


Luna comments

I've read three of Chown's books, & they all have clear & simple explanations. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

But previously, he'd been explaining quantum physics. (Well, that was the subject matter of Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You and We Need to Talk About Kelvin, which were the two other books of his that I'd read.) In this book, he delves into various other subjects, including: history, economics, biology. & quantum physics - that's there too.

So this book is really good if you want to just get a general understanding of a range of topics. Even if you're the type who thinks that science isn't the thing for you, I'd still recommend it because this book is really about explaining [a part] of everything that makes the world what it is today. Of course, nothing to our current knowledge can really do that, but this is a pretty good attempt. How can it not be fascinating, to see all the tools and paints used to create this big picture?

Closing

I don't really have much to say. It's really good. Read it =]

MOVIE: Big Hero 6

Image from Wikipedia

At a glance: Disney, futuristic, children's, humour, action


Summary

Hiro Hamada is a child prodigy with seemingly no direction in life until his brother, Tadashi, introduces him to the inventions being created in the laboratories of Tadashi's college. Amongst other things, he meets Tadashi's project - a personal healthcare robot by the name of Baymax.

Determined to get into said college, Hiro conceives of microbots - tiny robots which easily assemble and disassembled based on his thoughts - and presents the project to the Professor Callaghan. Professor Callaghan is impressed, and invites him to join the school.

On the same night, an explosion destroys the building, taking along with it the Professor, Tadashi and all but one of Hiro's microbots. However, the behaviour of Hiro's last microbot indicates that there are still other microbots in existence. As Hiro goes to investigate, with Baymax in tow, he starts to suspect that the explosion is not an accident, and sets out to find the one responsible for his brother's death.


Luna comments

It's a Disney animated movie. I'm a big fan of Disney animated movies, as are a lot of people I know. I really really enjoyed this!

I did really think the setting is awesome - both the idea & the execution. San Fransokyo. This is most probably because I'm Asian myself (even if I'm not Japanese), & so I really appreciate the effort they put into the film to make it an integrated eastern-western society. The cherry blossoms are a nice touch (though if you want to be cynical, you can also say that that's probably the cheapest & fastest way to make allusions to another culture), some of the architecture does give off the feeling of East Asian influence, & the number of East Asian-looking characters is pretty high. & it's not all East Asian- & western-looking character either - there are hints of different races in there. (Of course, this is easy for me to say, because I can consider myself as part of the 'included'.) In fact, most of the 6 heroes look like they're from different ethnic backgrounds.

The city of San Fransokyo - Image from Disney website

Okay, obviously not everything works out smoothly. The first few shots show so many Japanese signs I can't read them fast enough, & yet everyone speaks English, complete with mannerisms & slang of every other children's or young adult movie made in America. In fact, a lot of writing is still in English (e.g. Baymax's display screens). The names are all spoken with American pronunciations (so the protagonist's name is pronounced by almost everyone as HEE-roh & not hi-ro). The characters also act pretty much exactly the same way as you'd expect if they were Anglo-American. I don't have a problem with that. It's just an observation.

Yes, this is ultimately for an English-speaking audience, & for them, too many Japanese insertions would probably make the movie too jarring. Besides, this is still evidently set in America or some similar country.

That was a longwinded way of saying that I can see the work done to try to infiltrate the movie with East Asian touches.

& then the other thing is that this movie is not only more diverse than most in terms of the racial distribution, but also in terms of the body builds of the characters. One of my first thoughts, when I saw Aunt Cass, is that the females in this film are much chubbier than the females in a lot of other animated films (& I don't mean that in a negative way). Their proportions are closer to 'thin person' than 'toothpick'. Their heads are still massive though. Also, the males in this film seem to be the least bulked up. So that was nice.

Otherwise - it's a Disney film. So the animation is beautiful by default, & it's funny. =]

I really liked the characters as well. They're probably a bit stock-standard by now, but they're still likable.

Correction: Hiro is in a large part quite a typical protagonist, but I think he's a little less innocent & a little darker. The movie starts off with him winning a load of money from gambling, which even he acknowledges is "illegal" but "lucrative!" I think that made him a little more interesting. I also liked the closeness between him and his brother, & seeing how Tadashi's words shape Hiro's character.

Baymax is just cute =] & huggable. & often inappropriate for the context. It's hard talking about the character of a robot as robotic as him, but you can call him caring & loyal because that's how he was programmed. I also liked the relationship between him & Hiro, even though I found it a bit too similar to that of Hiccup & Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon 2. (It doesn't help that the characters have certain similarities too, although Hiccup is more heroic & has the very righteous air to him).

I also really like the character of the brother, even though he doesn't have much screentime.

The other characters are also pretty cool, but typical. There's a timid guy, a seemingly ditzy girl, a don't-mess-with-me-I'm-tough girl, & a guy made of pure weirdness. The much cooler thing is that they're 'nerds' & not really action heroes, but make up (kind of) for their weaknesses by using their inventions. Although in this film, cleverness is really just a stepping stone towards owning awesome gadgets, I still feel as if academic intelligence is portrayed in a definitely positive light, which is nice to see.

To me, what let the film down the most is the plotline. It was quite straightforward. Which isn't to say that it's not good - it's a suitable plot for this type of movie. I guess the mistake I made (once again) is that I expected a plot on the level of intricacy of Wreck-It-Ralph, which was not a good bar to set. But that's more in hindsight - I enjoyed the movie heaps when I was watching it.

There were some moments, though, as in almost any (American? sorry...) movie, which were a bit...doubtful. For example, the classic: we've no time to waste, so let's just show off this super-awesome thing we can do - by running super-fast in the opposite direction - before going off to do whatever it is we have to do! & the other: I have a plan! *does not try to immediately put the plan into action*

But because we're all so used to it, it's just something we have to get over in any film, enjoy the effects & the suspense, & then erase from our memories in order to ensure that we are left with the most coherent & logical sequence of events that the film can give us.

My favourite parts

• The opening scenes - Hiro's bot fight followed by the chase that ensues
• Introduction to Baymax
• The fight on the deserted island

Closing

I liked it! I'm also an oversized, overaged child, but it was really good! It was cute, pretty, entertaining, funny, & had a cool team. Highly recommended =]

FICTION: The Devil's Intern by Donna Hosie

Image from Goodreads

At a glance: paranormal, young adult, humour 


From Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Mitchell discovers a time-travel device that will allow him to escape his internship in Hell's accounting office and return to Earth, but his plans to alter the circumstances of his own death take an unexpected turn when his three closest friends in Hell insist on accompanying him back to the land of the living.

Luna comments

Four years after his death, Mitchell Johnson works in Hell's accounting department as an intern. The excessive number of deaths causes chaos as The Devil tries to reduce costs. (That's not important to the plotline, but I found it funny.) Life in Hell isn't all that interesting, & he finds himself missing being alive. But, in overhearing his superiors' plans for cost reduction, Mitchell discovers that his boss has a Viciseometer, a time-travelling device that he can potentially use to prevent his death.

Tagging along with him are his friends: Alfarin, Elinor & Medusa, all looking for a chance to change their deaths as well.

I picked this book up from my library after reading the description, which made the book sound a lot better than it does from the brief summaries above. It's now in this funny place where it's not as good as I hoped (or, more accurately, it's not the story I thought it'd be), but I'm not disappointed, either. I quite enjoyed the climax & the ending.

The plot started off almost typical. Nothing unforeseen really happened - it started off with visiting the characters' deaths in turn & viewing them. To be honest, after they left Hell & went back into the world of the living, I spent about half the time wondering when it'll get to the good part. I only kept reading because it wasn't that I couldn't stand reading it any more.

But then things start to come together. There are allusions to time paradoxes, & the way the 'past' & 'future' are intertwined when time travel happens. I found the the last quarter of the book very interesting, because that's when I started to get the sense of wanting to know the answers. It's a real shame that the hint of there being a much bigger picture wasn't introduced earlier (or it could have been that I was too obtuse to pick up on it).

The characters felt rather average - I won't say that the characterisation was poor, but nothing about them really stood out. (This may or may not be an aftereffect of recent anime-watching, in which the story is much longer & more visual & hence characterisation may be 'easier'.)

Oh, I also found it pretty funny. That's always good =]

Closing

I really liked the premise of this story, & I do think that the story itself is interesting - it just spent a while actually getting to the interesting bit (for me, anyway).

But, having said that, apparently this is the first in a series. Now that I know how everything's set up, I'm rather keen to see where Hosie will go next.

TV SERIES: 刁蛮公主 (My Bratty Princess)

Image from Chinese Wikipedia

At a glance: comedy, historical


From DramaWiki:

Situ Jing, a mischievous free-thinking lady, and her companion, A Lian*, go on a series of adventures. She does not know that she is a princess of the former royal family. To protect her family's reputation outside the home, Situ Jing dresses as a man and calls herself Xiao Long Xia. Concerned about the plight of the refugees which the officials have been ignoring, she comes up with various schemes to help them.

Emperor Zhu Yun has been steadily working on consolidating the empire that his father had left him. A monk once gave him a puzzle, telling him that whoever solves it will help him with the problems of the empire. He escapes from his palace to wander around the city with his companion. He befriends Xiao Long Xia after he realizes that the money she has conned and stolen from others is being spent on the refugees. When Xiao Long Xia solves the puzzle, he decides to maintain closer ties with her.

The Lord of Yunnan's sister was the previous queen who drank poison and died when the last dynasty was attacked. His son, Bai Yun Fei is betrothed to Princess An Ning, sister of Emperor Zhu Yun.

An unlikely friendship develops between the Emperor, Xiao Longxia and Bai Yu Fei, each pretending to the others to be someone else. Palace and court intrigues, rebellion and assasination plots abound.

* Edit made from "A Ling" to "A Lian"


Luna comments

I really liked this show. I also have a lot of problems with it. But I enjoyed it a lot.

The summary above is a pretty good introduction to the three main characters, who basically drive the story. The remainder are about: how a rebel group tries to use Situ Jing to restore the old dynasty; how the Lord of Yunnan tries to get out of his marriage; how the emperor deals with the power-hungry, corrupt, selfish, opportunistic vultures who are his court officials.

So, what I liked about it - it's funny! Comedy almost always guarantees that I like something, as long as it's done in a style of humour I'll laugh at.

& it's not funny just because of visual humour or because of the dialogue & witty remarks. There are those, too, of course, & they're funny, but the funniest parts are where people get entangled in other people's plots. It doesn't sound funny, but it is. There's good use of dramatic irony. =]

The emperor is also very smart, and the scenes with him in them are amongst my favourites. I also think that the actor did a great job in his role - his facial expressions really suit the stuff he's doing. When he's being sneaky, he turns away and smiles. When he's trying to manipulate other people, he can pull off all sorts of performances, pretending to be any/some combination/all of the following: crying, defeated, angry, clueless, frustrated, so on. & no matter what he does to the people, they can't do anything but swallow their defeat and smile at him.

I think I might have watched the show entirely to see how he made everyone dance around him.

The other characters were...alright, I guess. Situ Jing is a pretty cool character - she's independent, smart, adventurous, & she sneaks out of home because she gets bored. Typical for a fictional female, but this series did it well enough. I think what ruined her for me was the way the characters kept praising her - because I like her, but I don't think she's that awesome, even though I guess she actually is, given the time period.

So, the emperor made the plot very interesting. The dynamics between him and the two other main characters are also very good, because at the start they're all concealing their identities & you can see them being wary of each other, trying to figure each other out, but being good friends at the same time (because they were all supporting the refugees).

I felt that once their identities were revealed, though, their dynamics weren't so interesting any more. From that point on, though, the more political side of the plot gets thicker & then you see the emperor pulling off more of his tricks. So that kind of made up for it.

I do have a lot of things I didn't like about it, which can be summarised as: illogical bits, lame bits, anachronisms, & too much praise of the lead female.

Illogical bits are within the plot, so I don't want to go into them. There were a few eyebrow-raising moments, but I'm okay with those because they don't overall ruin the awesomeness of the emperor, whom you may remember is the primary reason I watched this.

Now the anachronisms are a little more interesting. For one, I have no idea what happened with the costumes because, as little as I know about the Chinese costume & its differences throughout time, I swear that a lot of the female costumes are wrong. Why would they do that?! It couldn't be that the costume department was too cheap to get some legitimate-looking hanfu? This grated on me for the whole series.

& the second...there was a prison scene in which the servant brought in snacks, & one of the snacks was...biscuit rolls. Truthfully, I don't know whether they had biscuit rolls 500 years ago, but it...was strange. I think they were the chocolate variety, too. So, umm...

There are lame bits. Really fake laughter. I won't go into that, but that seems like staple in more recent Chinese TV series.

& then there's way too much praise for Situ Jing. It seems that everyone (except her parents, who get into trouble because of her antics) talks about how good she is & how she lives her life to the full. Which I'm okay with, for the first few times, but not after fifteen episodes. The way they praised her made it more unconvincing, in the way of - if you really believe that she's so cool, then don't you think you'd have convinced me by now?

Anyway. Aside from those things, I quite enjoyed it. Because of the emperor. He's too cool. Yes, he's in an all-powerful position & everyone has to obey him, but that doesn't necessarily secure his rule. So it's very interesting to see how he sets the field up for himself. The only thing I can imagine being even cooler is if there were two people like him in the same show, & they were pitting themselves against each other.


Closing

I highly recommend this, because I highly recommend watching the emperor at work, & he comes with the rest of the show.

MOVIE: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Image from Wikipedia

At a glance: comedy


From the official website:

Get ready for the most wild and adventure-filled Night At the Museum ever, as Larry spans the globe, uniting favorite and new characters while embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever.

Luna comments

I think this is one of those stories that highlights the big difference between movies and books. If this was a novel, I don't think I'd enjoy it. As a movie, though, I did - probably mainly because it was comedy. There's a lot of visual humour, and I found it very funny.

I like museums, too, so that's another plus for the setting =]

Aside from that, though...there's not much to say about the film. I liked it, that's all. The plot isn't anything really special - there's a very simple problem, and they have a very simple solution (that takes a bit more work to get it to work). It's a rather simple "Do this, do that, some complications thrown in" sort of film. There's nothing to love or hate about the story. To me, it's just a sort of background on which to hang the comedy, & that's okay with me.

Similarly, the characters aren't very interesting or very dull. They're what you need for this film to work, & that's okay too. & of course, there's some requisite stuff about the importance of relationships and friendships thrown in - the sort of thing I'd get sick of from overuse, if I didn't feel bad about getting sick of it. I did, however, like the father-son dynamics between Larry Daley and Nick, especially the look, no plans, dad! attitude from Nick and Larry's stressed-father antics.

The ending is also a nice, fitting conclusion to both the movie and the series. =] (Surely they're not going to be like Toy Story 3 and pull out a fourth movie. This ending feels too final to have anything else added.)

My favourite parts:

• The cat video
• The familiar Roman city
• Sir Lancelot's nose

Closing

It's a light film with a pretty straightforward and typical plot, but quite funny =] It's good for when you don't feel like taking anything seriously. 

FICTION: The Last Knight by Hilari Bell

Image from Amazon.com

At a glance: young adult, fantasy, humour


For Goodreads users: the book page is here


From Amazon.com

Need a Hero?

You've got one in Sir Michael Sevenson.

Although there hasn't been a knight errant in over two hundred years, this young noble has decided to revive the trade. He's found himself a reluctant partner in Fisk, a clever rogue who has been given the choice of serving as Michael's squire or going to jail for a very long time. Now Michael and Fisk are on a quest to right wrongs, protect the innocent, and make the world a happier place.

It's not going to be easy. On their first attempt at rescuing a damsel in distress, they break a lady out of a tower, only to discover she was there for good reason: awaiting trial for poisoning her husband. Now the would-be heroes must find Lady Ceciel and return her to justice or be condemned themselves.

Luna comments

The edition I picked up didn't even have a blurb. Where one should have been, the publisher decided to reproduce the opening paragraph, & I borrowed the book purely based on that.

Which is to say, I really like the tone of the novel. It's narrated in alternating POVs, so we get a glimpse into the sharp, street smart mind of Fisk, as well as the very noble and naive world view harboured by Michael. Michael does everything based on morals and honour, while Fisk tags along more or less because the law requires it. Both of these characters are very interesting in their own way, and that clash of personalities leads to some of the most interesting character dynamics that I've seen in the books I've recently read.

The story is set in a medieval-like world in which there is magic. There are magical creatures and plants, and people with various Gifts. These are rather typical in fantasy, so the idea doesn't take too long to grasp. I did like the little detail with the two moons in their world, which Bell often refers to. It gives a sense of "familiar, yet very different".

The plot somewhat resembles that of a 'questing'-type story, but it has a certain element of mystery surrounding Lady Ceceil and the circumstances of her husband's death. I enjoyed reading through Fisk and Michael's adventures, and the longwinded path they took to arriving at the conclusion.

Things to look out for

• Fisk, when he's getting ideas or planning or cheating people
• Character interactions between Michael and Fisk

 
Closing

I quite liked this =]