Probably a bad thing for a writer, but I seem to have gone off reading paperbacks, in particular science-fiction and fantasy. Double-bummer for a writer of fantasy. Not sure what the problem is -- or if it can actually be defined as a problem. Just that it is. Been moving towards strange (for me) choices of book.
At the moment, hot from the postbox is a delivery of Pashtun Tales -- a wonderful rich anthology of stories from the afghan-pak border. Skimming a few pages, I dipped straight into the middle of a story of the Parrot and the Starling, and couldn't tear my gaze away. It's very rare of late that I've been able to really enjoy any kind of fiction with passion, but in the lines of that story I felt my soul twitch. The styles, the themes are so steeped in the traditional culture of that region, I didn't have to close my eyes to picture myself there.
The other thing I've been reading lots of is short stories -- mostly drawn from the lastest issues of Interzone, Black Static, Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, and Realms of Fantasy. The stories are so fresh and quixotic compared to the thick, tepid trilogies that seems to be tripping out of publishing houses. But -- confession: I've still to finish reading both of Neil Gaiman's short story collections. Woe me.
There is also a nice backlog of National Geographics stacked up in the corner of my bedroom carpet. A couple of years I ended up doing exactly the same thing I've done this time -- subscribed to a year's worth and due to busy, unforseseen circumstances, left them unread. Didn't renew and spent the next year reading them and making notes. Just watching the mags pop through the letterbox motivates me and maybe a little later than anticipated, I get the benefit of the articles.
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Curse of the Golden Flower starring the bewitching Gong Li
- a wonderfully lavish, sensory-soaked film for visual feasting. The
intricate family drama is delightful, the action a wee bit outdated and
cheesy but overall very satisfying.
Joss Whedon's Serenity - very much with a Buffy-esque feel, with a pinch of Angel thrown in for good measure. Some lovely visual effects and action sequences, but a little too much like small screen than big screen to be completely satisfying.
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A surprise discovery has me putting down American Gods for a break, and re-reading one of my favourite books: The Gun Tree by Zahrah Nasir. I originally read it about a year or two ago and it moved me then in a way few books have.
Briefly, its about one woman's determination to discover the truth of the Russian war in Afghanistan. But more than that its a book about self-discovery, pain, determination, of what it means to be human. In it's pages is the most stark, soulful prose I have ever read. The title itself references a tree growing in the rebel fighters' basecamp, which they used to hang their guns and bullets, when they were not being used.
Here is an exceprt:
It is a unearthly tree to be growing here, to make itself available for this purpose.
...
The sap of a mulberry tree runs in rivers of blood. Crimson, darkly red, and sticky. It scares me.
Still, I sit in its shade, leaning my back againt it.
The gun tree weeps, everywhere there is a knot it weeps.
It weeps rivers of blood.
The mulberry tree is bleeding now. It bleeds in exactly the same way as the man who had just returned from the raid on the convoy. He had lost the upper part of his right thigh.
The tree bleeds in sympathy.
The man bled to death sometime in the night, but the mulberry tree is still bleeding this morning.
I guess trees take longer to die than men.
]]>Flicking through the TV channels one night, I caught Rear Window by accident--the Hitchcock remake of one of my favourite films--starring Christopher Reeve as the wheelchair-bound voyeur.
The first half of the film feels very familiar, with Reeves in Jimmy Stewart's shoes, and Daryl Hannah in place of Grace Kelly, working together well as the couple who become interested in the goings on of the apartments in the opposite building; visible thanks to large, industrial sized panes. With little else to occupy his time, and divert his attention from his incapacitated state, Reeves quickly becomes absorbed by the comings and goings of his neighbours, proving to own a formidable memory and eye for detail. It's this that leads him to believe one of the inhabitants (a curvy blonde whose face we never quite see) has been murdered.
It's after this point that the film departs from its Hitchcock roots. Subsequent events leading to the identification of the murderer and a verification that a crime has indeed been committed aren't so familiar and while there are some nice elements of tension--including the use of technology (emails, the internal wiring of Reeve's apartment) to add fresh drama--cleverly worked around Reeve's own disability, it didn't quite go far enough to create the ensaring detail of Hitchcock's nail-biting original.
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Last night I got round to adding some more detail to the unfinished calligraphy painting that's been lying around for ages. I'm not really experienced with acrylics, (or any paint medium, for that matter) but I did enjoy the slower, more forgiving drying pace over watercolours. The brushes I used were too thick and non-artist types and I did notice the difference. While I got a nice graduation of tone and depth, the strokes were too blunt, and it contrasts badly with the finer detailing of the first sitting. The paint was a problem too. I bought some new tubes and used two different brands--and I'll never do that again. One brand was thinner and brighter than the other. So even though the thicker, denser stuff was actually harder to work with, it gave more satisfying results on paper. But the downside was that it mixed badly with the runny stuff, leaving a couple of messy patches on the paper. I'm hoping to go over all the bits tonight. Cover up the runs and untidiness and use a proper brush and my old acrylic tubes and create a nice level of detailing.
So far the theme is exclusively red and green. I'm thinking of introducing a shade of blue to the central area but am cautious as the red-green combo is visually striking, and adding another colour might just kill that high contrast. I'll follow my intuition and see how it goes.
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You say you want
Your love to work out right
To last with me through the night
You say you want
Diamonds on a ring of gold
Your story to remain untold
Your love not to grow cold
All the promises we break
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
U2 - All I Want Is You
]]>...something interesting about a girl called crimsonsilk... and um, crimsons1lk. The bird's name was twitter and it spoke in tweets of one hundred and forty characters. Or so the story goes. My twitter story is tortured and convoluted and well, a little long in the tooth. Simply, I've decided to close this chapter, actually, this book; permanently this time. Come August 1st, both crimsonsilk accounts will be deleted. And there, at last, is... The End.
Well kind of...enough for a nice, warm, cosy amount of bokeh in the latest garden photoshoot. I only noticed the ants frolicking around on the first flower after I'd taken the shot...and um, I really have no idea what they're up to.
A little bit up, a little bit down, that's the best way to describe the seventh series of Smallville. The intense intra-character interactions that define a lot of the core aspects of the show have been great in places and not-so-great in others. I gotta admit, I was reserving judgement a little, and in the first couple of episodes of the series was pretty non-committal about the whole thing. That all swung around mid-season, building up gradually from it's weak start, and now the crescendo is building for a tantalising finale.
I'm currently on episode 19, with only one more to go. For a moment, watching episode 18, my imagination went away with me and I started imagining all sortsa endings for the season involving CK back on Krypton. It was especially gratifying to see foreshadows of the future Clark used in the tail end of the episode. A nice touch. Another satisfying touch, has been the steady growth of Lex's dark side and his descent into the evil meglomaniac we know he will be. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this next season, plus a resolution to Clana and the emergence of Lois & Clark.
Lastly, it would be remiss of me not to mention the soundtrack this season, which, always good, has been excellent with haunting tracks and lyrics from Lifehouse, Missy Higgins and Vast, but to name a few. I can't wait to see what season 8 brings.
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The box containing all my art equipment came out of hiding this weekend. It felt very strange to pull out all my brushes and sift through the paints and pastels. Even stranger to drag out a notebook and start sketching. This was the result of a half hour of pencil play. I'm planning on continuing to outline the tones and colours in pencil before switching to acrylic. It'll be a challenge but I'm looking forward to seeing it hanging up in my nephew's bedroom when it's done.
Maybe the writing will be next.
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