'The Children of Húrin'

Review

The Children of Húrin

by JRR Tolkien

book

2007

I just love it how things are released after someone's death, in fact, a significant time after someone's death. It only goes to show how immortal their presence is, the long lasting imprint a person has made on society and culture. I'm sure there will be more Lennon tracks. Tolkien wrote so much, and in fact so many variations of his tales that I can't remember what's "official" and what's not. But when you're talking about The Children of Húrin, a tale taken from the First Age of Middle-Earth, it's kinda like trying to pick details out of Greek mythology.

This is my favourite tale taken from the Silmarillion. It nestles in amongst a few of the other grand tales, ones constantly referred to in Lord of the Rings as points of historical reference. In this version, Christopher Tolkien has published his father's piece as it was written, and flows like a more solid storyline rather than the Silmarillion's version which is a bit like the Old Testament. It's a tale of fate, destruction and the downfall of a family. It is epic in its scope and has the power of a Shakespeare/Bronte classic. Might be a gentler introduction into the Middle-Earth history rather than diving headfirst into the Silmarillion. I wasn't disappointed.

'Zodiac'

Review

Zodiac

2007

I went into this film not knowing anything about the story or whether it was based on a real case file or not. All that I knew was that it went for 2hrs and 37mins and I'd best plan my pre-movie toilet break wisely. This was a great film and I was captivated most of the time. Like most crime movies of the genre (you could really tell it was made by the same guy who did Se7en) you find things out slowly along the way, and the police act only as fast as our recognition skills can handle, so you feel like you're really solving it yourself. I'd pay $9 on tightarse Tuesday any week to feel like I'm an intelligent crime solver.

Packed with name actors and some memorable performances, I was really impressed with the overall feel of the movie. A bit gruesome in parts and they rely on tense scenes rather than people jumping out from behind doorways for cheap cinema thrills. The costumes/props of the period (60s and 70s mainly) was done really well, except for Jake Gyllenhaal's hairdo which didn't change over the course of 3 decades (kinda like mine!).

'28 Weeks Later'

Review

28 Weeks Later
aka 28 Panning Shots of an Empty London Later

2007

Zombie movies are fun. This wasn't exactly the follow-up film I was expecting but still had a bit of a laugh. It didn't have half the impact of 28 Days Later, and seemed to not be able to get past the empty London shots, scene after scene. Or replaying that successful track from the first film, 'Shrinking Universe' by Muse. It was cued in all the right spots and added the drama needed to let us know it was serious business going on, all this zombie killing.

An ok film but I doubt I'd ever watch it again.

Cheers Coke

In my break at work I've been having a Coke to myself, one of those little bottles (390ml?) for a nice $1.50 from the nearby drink machine. Pretty good price, who'd kick up a stink?

I must say that I did when I pulled my bottle out of the machine only to see it was one third full. Couldn't believe it. So I bought another one, wrote down the machine number and Coke hotline and trundled off to spend the rest of my break having a little chat with their representatives. The funny thing was it must happen all the time b/c the people on the phone were so willing to give me a refund I was informed a cheque would be out in the mail shortly.

To make it even more uncomfortable, another dropped from the machine a few days after that and it was about 60% full. This time I wasn't having such a good day and called up letting them know what crap machines they had, surely with all the money they make... etc etc. Hehe. Well, you're messing with a man's Coke here. Come on. lol

Last week I received 2 money orders (days apart) each for AUD$5.00 and a letter of the most sincerest apologies. The letters were so different from each other, making me think there was no template someone just signed and that these poor devils were forced to write a whole letter just to send me out $5 for my lil bottle of Coke. Imagine that.. "Yes sir, we understand you were frustrated by our vending machines...". Haha.

So $10 will get me a nice meal up at the Vietnamese takeaway with a few cold rolls for the next day. Thankyou!

Wordplay

Wordplay

dvd (2006)

I never thought I'd be on the edge of my seat watching a movie about crossword puzzles. And rocking on the edge of the couch scoffing into a jar of pickled onions I felt like my eccentricity paled in comparison to these fantastically minded wordsmiths. My goodness.

Wordplay is a film about about that aspect of our culture that sits somewhere in the Arts or TV section of the paper, that part of our lives that makes us want to fill in the blanks and nut something out. It's all about crossword puzzles and the interesting people who challenge themselves with them. And not only do they test their own minds but all compete in a championship, held the same time every year since the 70s.

I thought it was a brilliant film. It had me laughing and drawing closer to the endearing qualities of these full-minded individuals. It reminded me of Spellbound, the documentary about children who compete in spelling bees. I felt like the main focus of the film was that no matter who we are or what we do, when we're doing a crossword, we're all the same: bent over a piece of paper trying to fill in the boxes. Fantastic.