"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Reviews in Brief: Best of 2013

I never do "Best of" things (well, I do, for Sleeping Hedgehog, at the request of the publisher), but I thought I'd finish of the year's "Reviews in Brief" with one, with links to reviews I've written. That way, I don't have to write a review.

Film:


The big stand-out is Man of Steel: good tight story, well-constructed, and the prettiest Superman ever. Just forget the final fight scene, which could have -- and should have -- been cut.

The Wolverine: Logan actually becomes a person. And they don't try to destroy Tokyo.

Strangely enough (or maybe not), I bucked the prevailing wisdom on 47 Ronin. It occurred to me that it's not a movie about Westerners -- it's about Japanese from the feudal period. Whole different psychology. And Keanu Reeves is spot on.


Music:

My most recent acquisition is Morton Feldman's Piano and String Quartet. Lean, spare, almost fragile, "minimalist" in the true sense -- think Samuel Beckett, or Dan Flavin -- but hypnotic and ultimately, compelling.

Moby's Innocents is pretty much in the same vein, if somewhat richer in resources. Eclectic, quirky, and captivating.

I was going to limit this to things that came out in 2013, but just realized that I'd blown that idea with the Feldman, so here's another one that, although I've actually had the recording for a while, I only really listened to this year: Toru Takemitsu's I Hear the Water Dreaming (and other works). A lot of similarities to Feldman, but some intriguing differences. Worth listening to.


Books:

Head and shoulders above most comics is Alex Woofson's Artifice. Two outcasts find love; it doesn't really matter that one of the is as much machine as anything else.

A new book by Steven Brust is always cause for celebration, and when he's collaborating with another writer -- in this case, Skyler White -- you never know what's going to happen. That's the case with The Incrementalists

Leona Wisoker came out with Book Four of The Children of the Desert, titled Fires of the Desert. It's one of the best fantasy series of recent memory. Or even longer.

One last book: Warren Ellis can do no wrong. He proved it in his run on The Authority, issued this year as Volume 1 in a hardback compilation.

That was fun, for me at least. I may do it again next year.

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