sayonara and the reviews of the day ~

word_painting has apparently shut down without notice. it was one of only two writing communities on lj that i was active in. i keep thinking about starting a new community, but i don't know that i have the energy to recruit and maintain ~ and i don't really want a "here: read my whole story and comment" sort of community because i find those to be not very useful.

i was thinking something more along the lines of inkkido and plottingfiction where we can focus on a certain sort of prompts/exercises/questions. maybe stylistics? that's what i seem to be obsessed with personally. or characterization (that would be the most fun). i'll give it more thought.

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halfway through Gunnar's Daughter by sigrid undset (may finish it tonight). for having been written in the twenties, it sure reads like contemporary fiction (which is great!) ~ the story really has grabbed me: Vigdis (daughter of Gunnar) is seduced (and raped) by Ljot (a pig-headed smarmyhead). this sets actions in motion which will surely come to a bad end for him (at least they better!). i'm very taken with undset's frankness and the honesty of her female protagonist (Vigdis weeps to be sure, but she's also full of righteous fury that quickly turns sour). there's some real horror in this book and undset's treatment of the subject of the aftermath of rape is very interesting and realisitic (far more so, it would seem, than j.c. oates's).

also, at the dogpark yesterday there were free trashed-out books and i got a copy of mary doria russell's The Sparrow. i've had a nodding interest in reading it, but since it's science fiction (and over my head), i'd been avoiding it. now i have a free copy, so maybe i'll add it to my list of 50.

: D

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and finally got to watch To End all Wars last night. it's an interesting, but stiff film. it borrows a sort of narrative tact like the one malick used in The Thin Red Line, but here it doesn't entirely work. visually I found it sort of overblown as well and the score, in keeping with excess, was a swell full of violins that occassionally was way over the top. the directing was oddly paced and too willing to show too much torture (which for me sort of watered the effect).

in spite of these criticisms it's impossible not to get caught up in the story of these scottish (and one "yanker") POWs who are pressed into building a railroad for the emperor of japan. and i even felt emotion rise in the big self-sacrifice moment (even if it is telegraphed from the start). excessiveness aside, it was an enjoyable film (can you say that about a movie about torture?) and i liked the epilogue. i don't think it provided anything new to the genre and it treated some of the larger questions (most critically the idea of "justice" with far too broad strokes), but i think it was earnestly intended and certainly tells a story worth knowing. i'm glad i got to see it.



the railway of death

sunday nubby sunday ~

to the question: is it possible to waste an entire day just watching Quantum Leap? the answer is apparently a resounding "yes!"

and i don't even feel guilty about it.

i took a long hot bath, i made a big pot of soup. that's about as much as i've accomplished today.

and apparently the seahawks won the superbowl. yay.

edit: er, i mean the steelers. boo.

: D