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 =]

ANIME: サイコパス (Psycho-Pass)

Unit One - Image from Wikipedia
From left to right: Kogami, Tsunemori, Ginoza, Kagari, Kunizuka, Karanomori, Masaoka

At a glance: futuristic, dystopian, mystery, cyberpunk, crime, sci-fi, some NSFW scenes, recommend 18+


Summary

In this highly developed world, people's mental health and tendency for crime are measured by the Sybil System. Of the most interest to this story is the measurement of the Crime Coefficient, which when too high indicates a person has a high probability of committing a crime. Such people are rehabilitated, or failing that, locked up or killed.

Akane Tsunemori is a newly-appointed inspector to Unit One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. Soon, a certain pattern of deaths emerges, all pointing at a man who's criminal tendency cannot be measured by the Sybil System and so goes unpunished for his crimes. It is then for Unit One to go after him and capture him.


Luna comments 

I will be referring to all characters by surname.

I'm been putting this off for so long (about two weeks now) because there's so much I could say about this anime. I was at a complete loss over where to start, because there was so much I liked about it. Usually, I'm squeamish about the sort of violence & gore that's in this, but the concept, plot, setting & characters ultimately meant that I stuck to it.

In the meantime, I also watched Psycho-Pass 2, but I'll keep this review strictly for Psycho-Pass.

The setting of the world is rather easy to explain - it's technologically advanced, holograms are everywhere, & a centralised system makes measurements ('Psycho Pass') of all citizens, which include things like their Crime Coefficient, their Hue, & then data analysis on the history of their measurements. I really liked how bits & pieces of the world are revealed throughout the series, & I like how the technology is woven into every aspect of their lives, from holographic room designs & clothing changes, to the various hi-tech stuff they do inside the Public Safety Bureau. There's always something to serve as a reminder that it's a different world.

I thought every single character was done really well, or as well as they could have been given their screentime. I chose the picture above in particular because it features the members of Unit One, all of whom are awesome. I can talk about their awesomeness forever, so I'll restrain myself & talk only about the three most important ones.

Tsunemori is an awesome character. She has a lot of positive aspects - so many that, had the story been poorly written, she could easily have been a Mary Sue. But she doesn't give off that feeling. She starts off as a newly appointed inspector, innocent & naive & presumably blissfully ignorant of the violence & brutality that she eventually encounters throughout the series. She's the bordering-on-typical incredibly good character, in that she doesn't want to kill anyone no matter what the circumstances are. In the first episode, she acts in a way that simultaneously shows her potential while also casting doubt on her ability to pull off her role in public safety. But over the series, she becomes a seasoned & capable inspector. In hindsight, I think that her character development is done very very well.

You may now think that Tsunemori looks like a stereotypical character. I'd say that she plays a stereotypical role, but not necessarily a stereotypical character. & perhaps she is a stereotypical, but the way she's been characterised makes her quite different, or at least a distinct character in her own right.

Continuing on with being stereotypical - there's Kogami! The broody, silent, intelligent, observant one with a certain dark spot in their past & an obsession stemming from that. Someone who almost seems to have lost their purpose in life (except for that obsession) until, one day, some special person (Tsunemori) re-ignites a spark in them. Despite being so much like a character out of a YA novel, he's much more interesting than that - or maybe, as a general rule, his kind of character is interesting by default, no exceptions. I ramble. So much of the plotline revolves around some detail of him that, ultimately, I felt that he was the real centrepiece character of the anime, despite his relatively pitiable screen-time.

Another reason was that I felt he represented the dilemma of the world of Psycho-Pass. He's obviously one of those 'good characters with a dark side'. What do you do with a someone who's quite capable of squishing you like an ant? Are you sure you're comfortable with leaving your life or death at the hands of someone like that? Are you sure you're comfortable knowing that you'll live as long as they're happy to let you?

The villain, Makishima, is probably the most interesting, at least out of these character descriptions. He loves old literature, frequently quoting from them. He's also extremely twisted, & seems to commit crimes (read: murder) out of a cold, detached curiosity of human behaviour - it's like a game to him - how would you react if I did this? He's also charismatic & super-intelligent. All these things work together to make him very...creepy, for lack of a better word. Makishima is an interesting villain because he is so scary & so capable.

On the flip side, I found his character a bit weird. Maybe he's just so twisted that I can't work him out - I find him very intelligent & logical, & yet some of his decisions are hard to square with his sort of character. Even in the end, considering everything, I wasn't sure if I understood what it was that he wanted. So he's an interesting one to puzzle over.

Although the individual characters are awesome, what I liked most about Unit One is the feeling of family. It's hard to explain, but despite their roles & the fact that we only really see them at work, their interactions give off the feeling that their relationships are not merely professional - they actually do care for one another in a personal way. Which I liked =]

The plot is very good. Not only is the story engaging, but it also highlights the far-reaching effects of having a society stabilised by the Sybil System, even though it only ever deals with the police's point of view. The pacing is quite fast, & most if not all episodes end not necessarily on a cliffhanger, but somewhere that makes you (me) want to watch the next episode immediately. (Isn't it good that all the episodes are out?) Some of the criminals are pretty twisted, even more so than the twisted criminals you may see in contemporary police dramas & series. As the story goes on, you can see that that, too, is a side effect of the effectiveness of the Sybil System.

Initially, the story starts off as 'just' police detectives tracking down suspects using technology & intelligence, but when Kogami is pitted against Makishima, the battle of the brains becomes more intense & suspenseful. Things get ugly, people get hurt.

I really like how things all came together in the end - the plot, setting & characters - & contributed to the bigger picture of what is the Psycho-Pass society.

My favourite parts

•  I LIKED EVERYTHING...though I wouldn't have minded if it was less gruesome in places. (Also I can't do this without risking spoilers)
  

  

Closing

Watch it! It's really good!

It raises some interesting questions about what sort of choices we want to make about our lives - the sort of society we want to live in, the trade-offs we make to live a stable life sufficiently free of uncertainty, a person's nature against their free will, the value & necessity of negativity, & what exactly is the point of 'crime', 'law' and 'law enforcement'.

So, ultimately, a very thought-provoking watch. Highly highly highly recommended! For those old enough, anyway.

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.

ANIME: 絶園のテンペスト (Blast of Tempest)

Image from Zetsuen.net
From left to right: Fuwa Aika, Takigawa Yoshino, Fuwa Mahiro, Kusaribe Hakaze

At a glance: anime, fantasy, mystery, some probably NSFW moments/scenes; 24 episodes (20-min each)


From Aniplex USA:

One day, a sorceress princess was stuffed into a barrel and banished.
One day, a single girl was suddenly murdered, and the culprit still runs free.
And one day, a battle spanning time and space over magic and revenge began!
Sanity and madness, sense and intelligence, self-confidence and convictions.
The tragic tale of this irrational world starts now.

The Kusaribe family is a family of sorcerers under the protection of the “Tree of Origins”. Their princess, Hakaze Kusaribe, was the greatest sorceress of their family. But Samon Kusaribe, a member of their family seeking to resurrect the “Tree of World's End”, a tree that opposes the “Tree of Origins” and controls the power of destruction, stuffs her into a barrel, and banishes her to a deserted island. From the deserted island, she sends a message out to sea, which is picked up by Mahiro Fuwa, a young boy who's sworn vengeance upon the criminal who killed his little sister, Aika. Mahiro agrees to help Hakaze under the condition that she find Aika's killer with her magic. But once Mahiro's best friend and Aika's lover, Yoshino Takigawa is rescued from danger, he too gets dragged into this tale of revenge.

Luna comments

I'm referring to the characters by first name, because their last names are rarely used in the anime.

The plot was pretty good, once I got over the slightly strange idea of two all-powerful trees. I think that the foundation of the plot is the weakest thing in this anime, but I liked the actual plot & everything built around it, so I can forgive that. It's pretty interesting how they linked all the different plot elements & characters together. I do also have a minor gripe with the idea that the 'Tree of Genesis' preserves the logic of the world - I feel that order would have been a more appropriate word (but that might have been just an issue with the subtitles of the English-sub I watched).

My absolute favourite thing about this anime is all the characters (& there are no shortage of major characters, even if there are only really three main characters). I'd recommend this series even if everything else is rubbish (which is fortunately not true), because the characters are so interesting.

There is no true villain in this series. Even though you have various people & groups who work against each other, they each have their own justifiable rationales for doing what they did. There are lies, deception, manipulation, betrayal & mental sparring sessions, but I didn't think any less of the characters because of their underhandedness. In fact, I think it's amazing how they managed to make none of the characters naive & innocent (okay, maybe one), but they're all sneaky in their own ways. Each character felt different & unique.

I especially liked the contrast between the two main characters, Mahiro & Yoshino. They're in a strange, accidentally-friends-but-not-really sort of relationship. Mahiro is impulsive & driven by his desire to avenge his little sister's death, which makes him indifferent to anything else happening around him, even the possibility that the world would be destroyed. For me, this usually makes a character unlikable, but he was interesting because this made him a real wildcard in terms of other people's plans.

Yoshino, on the other hand, is quiet, rational, sensible & altogether very likable. He tags along because he didn't want to leave Mahiro alone, & then gets roped into this massive adventure.

Unfortunately, I felt that Hakaze, the main female character, was a bit lacklustre compared to her fellow characters. Not that she wasn't a good character, but she was less satisfying to watch.

& finally, I like how the only person who can save the world comes in the form of a bumbling, nervous, wimpy boy who's a bit overwhelmed by his own powers. (For some strange reason, he's the only major character who's not on the poster.)

The other characters are also interesting, but I'll leave it there.

In hindsight, I feel that the pacing is a little off (even though I had no such feeling while watching). The story splits into two very neat halves. The first half of the story is very fast-paced; the second half is still fast, but not as much, & I also felt that the tension was maintained better in the first half. Having said that, the characters are more interesting in the second half =]

My favourite parts

• Mahiro & Yoshino's confrontation with Samon
• Flashback of how Mahiro & Yoshino met
• Timing of the title screen in episode 15
• Episode 21

Closing

Watch it, even if it's just for the characters =]

ANIME: 言の葉の庭 (The Garden of Words)

This is also known as Kotonoha no Niwa , which is the romanisation of the Japanese.

Image from official website
Where he tries to make shoes for her. Click for larger image. Isn't the art so pretty?

At a glance: drama, romance, contemporary; movie (46 minutes)


Summary from the English website:

When Takao, a young high school student who dreams of becoming a shoe designer, decides to skip school one day in favor of sketching in a rainy garden, he has no idea how much his life will change when he encounters Yukino. Older, but perhaps not as much wiser, she seems adrift in the world. Despite the difference in their ages, they strike up an unusual relationship that unexpectedly continues and evolves, without planning, with random meetings that always occur in the same garden on each rainy day. But the rainy season is coming to a close, and there are so many things still left unsaid and undone between them. Will there be time left for Takao to put his feelings into actions and words? Between the raindrops, between the calms in the storm, what will blossom in THE GARDEN OF WORDS?

Luna comments

The first thing that strikes me about this film is how incredibly well-presented it is, especially in the artwork and the soundtrack. As you can see above, the artwork is ineffably beautiful. It's realistic, but also has a certain element of fantasy in it, even though the story is firmly rooted in the real world. There's an insane amount of detail (unfortunately I didn't watch this in very high resolution) but also softness in the pictures. The central setting for this film is the garden (the Shinjuku Gyoen), but the way the artists have drawn it makes it almost like a magical, otherworldly place. The rainy scenes are drawn especially well.

There's a subdued & bittersweet tone to the movie. The pace of the story is rather slow, which I actually didn't mind in this one - for one, it suits the story, & for two, it gave me time to absorb the imagery & the music.

The plot is centred around the Akizuki Takao, the 15-year-old serial truant (only on rainy days) & Yukino, the 27-year-old woman who keeps skipping work. Both of them are lonely in their own lives, & come to enjoy each other's company. There's something really...nice, for lack of a better word, in the simple interactions that they share. He's very mature for his age; she feels a bit lost & childish for hers. I like how I didn't even feel the massive age gap between them, & I also liked how they didn't even know very much about each other all the way through. I guess that this film, for me, seems to strip away all the things unnecessary to a fulfilling relationship (not just in the romantic sense) with other people.

My favourite parts

• Anything that takes place in the garden
• The final scene before the song & credits

Closing 
I would recommend this show purely for its artwork; fortunately, it has the rest of the goods to match =]

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.

FICTION: Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

Image from Amazon.com

 
At a glance: horror, paranormal


For Goodreads users: the book's page is here


From the publisher:

Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Columbus, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring wardrobes, shattered Brooka glassware, and vandalized Liripip sofa beds—clearly, someone or something is up to no good. To unravel the mystery, five young employees volunteer for a long dusk-till-dawn shift—and they encounter horrors that defy imagination. Along the way, author Grady Hendrix infuses sly social commentary on the nature of work in the new twenty-first century economy.

A traditional haunted house story in a contemporary setting (and full of current fears), Horrorstör comes conveniently packaged in the form of a retail catalog, complete with illustrations of ready-to-assemble furniture and other, more sinister accessories. We promise you’ve never seen anything quite like it!

Minor edits made e.g. spacing between words.


Luna comments:

This story started off really well. Four paragraphs in, I felt the need to text my friend (who had recommended it) & tell her how much I was already enjoying it. The writing was funny & satirical, & it imitates the Ikea catalogue as well as a book can. I really liked the satire in the book, which was kept up even after the bulk of the funny part was over.

So it was a bit sad that the author couldn't keep up that tone once the plot gets started - which is perfectly understandable, mind you, because I don't think a horror story that makes you chuckle every two lines is going to work too well. & the tone didn't really come back in the resolution, probably because it'd be wrong for the atmosphere. So I wish Hendrix kept it up, but I can understand why he didn't.

I didn't actually care for the plot very much. It's basically about the creepy history of the site upon which Orsk (the Ikea rip-off furniture store) is situated, & I felt that there wasn't very much going for it except the author trying to squeeze out all these terrifying situations. (Hendrix doesn't mind jabbing a few barbs about the endless culture of work, though. I didn't mind, but I would if it had been a different topic he was jabbing at, so there's a warning.) I did like the parallels he drew between the current furniture store &...whatever there was beforehand. I don't want to spoil it.

Having said all that, though, I was most disappointed (not in a bad way, though, because I don't like horror) by the fact that no part of the book scared me, & I've been freaked out by books that aren't labelled as horror (most notably: Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co series). Maybe it's because the expectation was there for this book. So I don't like horror as a genre, but I was disappointed I didn't feel the horror. Hmm. There were some graphic moments though.

I think the thing I most enjoyed about it was the way it's set out like an Ikea catalogue (as mentioned above). It has a store map & introductions to various furniture items. Even in the story, there were constant references to locations in the store. The setting and worldbuilding was done really well for this story. I think it works so well partially because of Ikea's uniqueness & the strong impression it leaves in my mind, so that reading the setting of Horrorstor felt like a familiar experience.


Closing

I began this with too many expectations, I think. If I hadn't, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But it was good, as it was =]

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 =]

MUSICAL: Wicked

I finally got around to watching this, after "Defying Gravity" first took (a fraction of) my grade by storm, once upon a time in high school.

Image from Ticketmaster.com.au website

From the Australian official website

Awe-inspiring and spectacular, WICKED is the untold story of the witches of Oz. Long before Dorothy dropped in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the enthralling story of two unlikely friends and how they became the wicked witch of the west and Glinda the Good. 

So it's a good idea to know the story of The Wizard of Oz, because this musical is adapted from the novel which justifies the actions of the 'villain'. (If you're interested, that's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire)


Luna comments

A note on musicals

This is the first professional musical I've watched, & it doesn't disappoint. In fact, it did the exact opposite, & I've been obsessing over the soundtrack ever since.

Wicked is about a witch, Elphaba, who was born green & unsurprisingly subject to discrimination because of it. She eventually befriends Glinda, the popular girl, and they take sorcery classes together. Meanwhile, the animals of Oz are losing their powers of speech. Elphaba sets out right things. (Except you can probably guess that it didn't turn out well, since she ended up as the villain.)

Before the first time I watched musical, I had doubts as to them - really, a story being told while the people burst into song every so often? How does that even work? But every musical I've watched since tells me that it does work. It's just a different way to tell a story.

So if you haven't watched musicals before, Wicked wouldn't be a bad place to start =]

The actual musical

A list of the things I liked most about it: the humour, the music, the props. More on those later.

The thing about the musical is that it's very fast-paced, and so it breezes over certain things - most notably, Glinda and Elphaba go from hating each other to being best friends in the span of about two scenes. I could keep up partially because I've read the novel. So from a novel-reader's point of view, that isn't done too well. (From a musical-goer's perspective, well, I haven't been to enough musicals to say.) Having said that, I prefer the plot of the musical over the plot of book, perhaps because I like the simplicity of the musical plot.

I really liked the characters in here. I didn't think I would, because you start with somewhat typical raw materials from a very typical sort of YA high school story: 1x withdrawn, rejected girl (Elphaba); 1x popular bubbly queen bee (Glinda); 1x handsome, charismatic young man (Fiyero). Despite this, I ended up quite liking the characters and their interactions, especially how Glinda and Elphaba came to be friends. Some things also hint to me that, even at the start, Glinda isn't the airhead that the musical initially presents her to be, but that's up for interpretation.

But, since it's a musical, it's probably best to dedicate more attention elsewhere. Like humour, music and props!

The musical was surprisingly funny. Even though I'd heard some of the songs before, I didn't expect it to be so light-hearted, because the novel was heavy.

Now the props. One can practically see the dollar signs on stage. There's so many props and so much detail in the props that there was no hope of catching it all. There's a dragon, numerous lights, nice backgrounds. My favourite of them is Glinda's bubble =] (I didn't know it was a bubble until Elphaba said so, much much later, so I don't think it hurts to say so here.)

And finally the music - the highlight of the whole thing. I'm not a seasoned musical-goer, as I've already said, but I think that Wicked deserves the hype. One thing that amazes me is how much better and entertaining songs sound when you watch them performed live, compared to listening to live recordings. It's hard to describe music, but I guess I can say that I think they really do depict the emotions and thoughts of the characters very well. If you're interested, the WICKED official Australia website even links to the Soundcloud for the original Broadway cast recording. Altogether, it sounds EPIC. =]

Lastly - I think it's rather sad that the musical is almost an independent thing to the cast, & that even if I watch it again, it'll be a different combination of actors & actresses on stage. The cast can be replaced, but it's the same musical. So I want to note that I really like the cast I watched (Jemma Rix, Lucy Durack, Steve Danielson, Edward Grey, Emily Cascarino, Glen Hogstrom, Reg Livermore, Maggie Kirkpatrick) =]

My favourite parts

• All the songs, but I'd make a special note of: "Dancing Through Life", "Popular", "Defying Gravity" and "For Good".
• Glinda and her bubble =]

Closing

If you like music and pretty costumes, I think you should watch it. If you're mentally adventurous, I think you should watch it. Musicals are on the expensive side of things (especially if you start comparing it to novels or movie tickets), but it's worth it.

May the songs stick in your head the way they're sticking in mine.