Grab Bag

[dangermousie]

Mondays. How I love them. Not really. Though I am excited about Veronica Mars being on tomorrow instead of Wednesday. One day less wait to feed my obsession.

I rented Mission: Impossible yesterday, because I am one of the three people in the world who haven't seen it before, and being a methodical girl, I wanted to watch both MI and MI2 before going to see MI3 later this year. Why do I want to see MI3, other than the fact that I like cool fights and explosions? Because I saw the trailer and it has Truman Capote threatening Tom Cruise about hunting down Cruise's gf and hurting her and then killing Cruise in front of her (Capote's thetan count must be unusually high) as Cruise looks manfully ahead, and the whole 'alpha guy must save girl from fate worse than death' is a huge thing of mine, as anyone following my recent Full Metal Panic obsession can figure out.

MI isn't bad (especially on fast forward), but it's making me (for some reason) think of the vastly superior Minority Report (one of my favorite movies. Why does MI make me think of it? No idea, other than the fact that they both start with "M"), and moreover, Cruise did himself no favors with his recent insanity bout of Battlefield Earth adoration, as instead of thinking 'Ethan Hunt. Operative who angsts by clenching his jaw,' I keep looking at him and fighting an urge to laugh and point and instead think "It's Tom Cruise, the lunatic worshipper of a bad scifi author and a member of a hilarity-inducing cult." Though to be sure, that is largely because Ethan Hunt doesn't have much of a character. Tom Cruise's bizarreness doesn't affect me when he plays characters who have more to them (from War of the Worlds or Minority Reports or Last Samurai), but in something this paper-thin, all I see is Cruise. And all I feel is giggles.

Also, not much angst.

In other news, I cannot recommend Thomas Morgan's Bandbox highly enough. It's an absolutely delightful, funny novel set in the 1920s and following the people who work in a glossy magazine which is fighting an upstart competitor. It's hilarious and gorgeously written and I love all the characters.

I am also considering reading The tale of Genji, since I am going to Japan and it's such a seminal piece of Japanese literature, but for now I am going to settle for finishing Yojikawa's Musashi, which is almost as thick and very excellent, and is full of fights and love and philosophy and a LOT of historical 'color' (it is about the legendary swordsman Musashi).

Comments

[danceswithwords.livejournal.com]

The Tale of Genji is an interesting read, not the least because Heian romantic conventions had some very specific characteristics that make Genji, the shining prince and courtly ideal, come across to the modern reader as something of a drama queen and a jerk.

If you do read it, I highly recommend that you read Ivan Morris's The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1568360290/ref=pd_sim_b_4/002-9200268-7812845?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155) beforehand. It's not very long, and gives you the context you need to really appreciate what Shikibu was trying to do with her story and the circumstances under which she wrote it. It also may be useful background historical information if you're planning to visit Kyoto.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't the Morris book spoil the plot of the novel? But yes, I am going to Kyoto so it should be a good read.

[danceswithwords.livejournal.com]

It's been long enough since I read it that I can't remember whether the Morris book discusses specific events of the novel in much detail, but I have a hard time thinking of it in terms of plot anyway because the plot is extremely meandering and somewhat beside the point, in my opinion. But I think a lot of the courtship rituals, the significance of colors in clothing and of the timing of letters sent and received, etc., are going to seem very strange to modern readers, or go over their heads entirely, without a little cultural background.

[ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com]

I'm just excited that Veronica Mars is on a day when I don't have to be a Passover seder. I don't know that I would skip the seder to watch VM, but..it's tempting. Oh, I'm going to hell. I know that.


I do like Minority Report, even though it's Tom Cruise, who I can't take seriously. I used to like him, so it really sucks that I now find him completely ridiculous. This coming from the person who watched "High School Musical" twice today, and three times over the weekend. (It has an actor from VM in it!)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am so excited about VM. I had a VM dream last night, where I was watching the season finale which for some reason was taking place in Vancouver and involved a lot of Logan and Veronica shmoop (though the mystery was completely different, as it involved a Native American experimenting on brains).

[antiqueskies.livejournal.com]

I thought MI was horribly predictable. I guessed the ending within the first ten minutes, and was in no way surprised by how it all went down.

Still liked it, though, and am looking forward to watching the spectacular crap that MI:3 is bound to be.

Also, Tom Cruise is batshit insane. I can't take him seriously since he freaked out on Oprah (who totally looked like she wanted to taz him or something hilarious like that). Pssssyyycchhooo.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, MI is silly but exposions are fun so not too bad.

[antiqueskies.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, yes, explosions make any bad movie slightly better. Plus, Tom Cruise was pretty hot in this one... Less so with the eerily flat, shiny long hair in MI:2.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

I used to sort of be able to take Tom Cruise seriously. Now I can't. At all. I can tolerate him in Last Samurai more than anything else, but that's more because I concentrate on Ken Watanabi than anything else. Every time I see him I'm frightened by that maniacal grin.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Icon! The grin isn't too bad if you don't see it too much (he doesn't smile at all in Minority Report and it's kinda cool). I am shallow, shallow, shallow because no matter how insane, I still find him hot.

[kabutar.livejournal.com]

If you're one of the three, I'm the second one of the three who hasn't seen them :P

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heeee. Glad I am not the only one.

[vanimy.livejournal.com]

Heh. I was not too fond of MI but I loved MI2. Must be John Woo and there being a love story... ;)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am renting MI2 next. Love the icon.

[vanimy.livejournal.com]

Oh, can't wait to see what you think of it. :) And I love the icon too. *misses old!ER*

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yay! You have mentioned few of the reasons why I try to avoid news about personal lifes of the actors as much as possible - because some dodgy goings in their life can sometimes completely spoil their roles for me. Besides the things you have mentioned - I don't really need to know that Tom Cruise is 150 sm tall. Or something like that. I can live without it just fine ;).

I loved "Minority Report", I even liked "Vanilla sky", I have heard some bad reviews about it but because I had not seen the original, "Vanilla Sky" seemed good to me. But Mission Impossible - totally agree, it is definitely one of the films which are not about real people, but about some paper figures.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I liked Vanilla Sky too, and haven't seen the original. Not the best movie ever, but interesting. MI is just a cheesy action flick, which is something I enjoy from time to time.