All Consuming : Robert Waugh

A review of "Avalon" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:26:29 GMT

by Mamoru Oshii

A movie worth watching for its visual and conceptual aspects. Unfortunately, it lacks in story, which pretty much writes itself from the synopsis: Lone wolf player of virtual reality war game seeks to access dangerous level of game from which others have not returned.

Other writers might have taken this idea and found interesting approaches into the story. In this case the writer seems to have grabbed whatever came to mind first, which is “the obvious.”

And the problem with having a “lone wolf” as your main character… little dialogue and not much action, especially in the beginning. After she fed her dog and checked her mail (no messages) I thought, this is about as interesting as my miserly life. Maybe she could watch a more interesting movie and I could look over her shoulder.

Eventually the story builds a little steam. And I like the movie’s cinematic qualities. But most video games these days have more developed plots than Avalon.

A question I have about "Zatoichi"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 01:21:19 GMT

Zatoichi

by Takeshi Kitano

Not the worst samurai movie in the world, nor the best. But what in Buddha’s name is up with that jive tap dance routine at the end?

Why I recommend "Suicide Club (Suicide Circle)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:10:54 GMT

Suicide Club (Suicide Circle)

by Sion Sono

A movie which leaves me feeling maybe it’s all worth it. All those piles and piles of unimaginative, derivative stories. This one is a detective story. Oh, a horror flick. A family drama. Once the formula is recognized, the obedient ending follows along like a dog’s tail. Not so, Suicide Circle.

Most movies are diversions. People watch them as such. Absorb a little melodrama. Phase back into reality with a souvenir keepsake called “the hook.” When a friend asks, hey is that movie any good, present the hook. Great special effects. Girl saves world. Robot dog. Whatever.

People killing themselves with apparent joie de vivre. I suppose that is the hook for Suicide Circle. Why? Why are they killing themselves? Why so happy? An answer is expected. Detectives throw out dragnets. Strange voices make ominous predictions. Answers never materialize. Instead, the movie turns around and asks, “Why expect an answer? Who are these people to you, and why do you care? Do you even know yourself?”

You. Yes, you. This movie is about you. Suicide Circle asks you to connect to yourself, not the story, not the characters.

Is that the meaning? Is there meaning? The story doesn’t say, but I love the fact that I still have access. I can search for meaning in this movie.

What is this movie about? What are movies? An object shaped like a roll of film. An audience applauding, not a performance, but a true intention. Clues overlooked by the characters, because they are in the movie. But we exist outside the movie. Or do we even realize it?

A review of "Le Concile de Pierre"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:49:55 GMT

Le Concile de Pierre

by Guillaume Nicloux

I call it Stephen King’s Syndrome. The ending murders the mystery. What starts off as chilling horror ends up being a giant spider. Except in this case, the syndrome is not so pronounced and doesn’t kill the movie.

Also suffers from highly predictable reverse-logic morality. If the character seems pleasant and docile, it’s because they’re planning to stick a knife in someone’s ribs and enjoying the anticipation. As for the knife-wielding maniacs, they’re your knights-errant.

That being said, a worthwhile story with high-grade cinematography labeled, “Fabriqué en France.” I only mention the faults because everything else was so perfect, what can you say?

A story about "Back to Black"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 17:14:35 GMT

Back to Black

by Amy Winehouse

My father and I were hauling trash in my truck, and I put this CD on as something he might tolerate. When the first track, Rehab, started he said, “I love this song.” Apparently he’d seen the video on TV and it’s been stuck in his head ever since. This from a man whose music timeline ends somewhere around CCR.

The album feels both old and new. “Instant classic” applies here. Everyone I know loves it, as they should. But I’m still dumbstruck that my father and I both like an artist I first heard on NPR. Inconceivable. Highly illogical. Does not compute.

Why it's taking me forever to finish consuming "The Inland Island"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 01:52:34 GMT

The Inland Island

by Josephine Winslow Johnson

Slowly reading this. Working long hours now. Besides, this book is a draught worth savoring.

Josephine W. Johnson won a Pulitzer for her fiction, but handles creative non-fiction just as well. The Inland Island follows a common format found in nature writing, each of the 12 chapters meandering through a different month from January to December. Short pithy sentences. An amazing vocabulary, employed not for the sake of showing off, but for the poetry of language.

Here nature is imperfect and complete. Despoiled by human concerns and yet undaunted. Johnson writes this memoir from the heart of the Vietnam War. Her anger and desperation turns up on one page or another, but mostly she focuses on the natural world, with teeth, instinct and that mad desire to live on.

Reading this book made me poke a slug’s antenna just to see what would happen. (It retracted back into its gooey head.)

A story about "Ide Fixe (Collected Works of Paul Valery (Bollingen Series XLV), Volume 5)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 20:19:10 GMT

Ide Fixe (Collected Works of Paul Valery (Bollingen Series XLV), Volume 5)

by Paul Valery

I found Idée Fixe and three other volumes of the collected works at the library bookstore. A dialogue between a physician and a man representing Valéry himself discuss, primarily, the idée fixe, or fixed idea. For Valéry, the mind is too dynamic for ideas to truly be fixed. Rather, people who seem fixed on a particular idea are more likely to revisit the same idea again and again. He calls this, rather mockingly, an “omnivalent” idea. Mixed in with the philosophical discourse is quite a bit of intellectual humor and wit. The two characters have a fascinating sense of reality to them. In a way, it’s a classic tale of two very different people brought together by circumstance.

A story about "Galapagos (Delta Fiction)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 04:41:39 GMT

Galapagos (Delta Fiction)

by Kurt Vonnegut

I read this book in my teens somewhere, and picked it up again last week. Amazing how quickly the book goes, how it draws you in. The story is told in a disjointed fashion… as it progresses, Vonnegut tells you what will happen later that day, or a million years in the future, and the suspense is in wondering, how the heck is that going to come about?

A story about "Kafka on the Shore"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:16:28 GMT

Kafka on the Shore

by Haruki Murakami

I’m disappointed with some aspects of Kafka on the Shore, but overall, the novel was worth reading. Since I’ve read nearly every work translated into English, I’ve come to expect the unexpected when I read Murakami. I don’t have that, “what the #@%! is going on” reaction that will keep new readers turning pages. But the concepts are so clearly illustrated in this novel, it’s almost a guidebook to understanding everything else he’s written so far. Like Murakami’s saying, “maybe this is what my way of writing a story is all about.” The writing is weak at spots, and could have used more work, but he is definitely still growing as a writer.

Other Murakami books I recommend are Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,Norwegian Wood, or The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Read all three if you have time.

A story about "Lyon's Pride (Rowan (Paperback))"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 04:57:18 GMT

Lyon's Pride (Rowan (Paperback))

by Anne McCaffrey

How do you contend with a single-minded, non-communicative alien species that has swarmed across the galaxy exterminating all life on the worlds they colonize? Quite handily, actually. Blow up the alien ships with your thoughts, duh.

Lyon’s Pride reads like a soap opera, only without the drama, and minus the conflict… you can’t even keep track of the characters since there are so many of them all speaking to each other from different parts of the galaxy all with their thoughts.

A story about "House Made of Silver"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 21:23:15 GMT

House Made of Silver

by Elizabeth Robinson

I’m unable to conceive what the poet means to articulate, but I do recognize a quality in the words. They may seem random, yet lack the accidental meanings of complete nonsense.

Fortunately the poems are short, so I will have time to reread everything. That will be required.

Like longer poems with pieces cut away from them?

It’s as if she wants to leave no impression. Inserts the word “and” unsupported, where a concept might otherwise have been carried forward.

A story about "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 01:01:56 GMT

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

by Gertrude Stein

Picked this book up for half a dollar today, among several others. Meant to read only the first page, to get a feel for it, but the humor of the book has me hooked. Usually Stein is a bit, um, difficult to comprehend, but this book reads like a charming conversation.

A story about "A Yellow Raft in Blue Water: A Novel"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 02:34:43 GMT

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water: A Novel

by Michael Dorris

When my mother asked for some books to read, I added this book to the stack. I read it in high school, having picked it from a reading list, and 15 years later I can still remember a few scenes, frozen in place. When you think about it, it’s amazing how quickly it appeared on our high school reading list.

My mother was probably drawn to A Yellow Raft in Blue Water ~~- as I was -~~ by the theme of modern Native American life, something we can identify with. Now that she’s finished, I’m starting to reread the book. The structure of the book reminds me of Lee Smith’s Oral History which appeared a few years earlier. I would be surprised if Dorris had not read Oral History before writing A Yellow Raft… not that it matters to the worth of the book. But I do think they make good companions.

A story about "Count Karlstein"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 01:02:10 GMT

Count Karlstein

by Philip Pullman

After Pullman’s fame flamed up, his earlier works made that difficult journey across the ocean into the hands of American booksellers. Count Karlstein lacks some of the intense qualities of His Dark Materials, but it deserves to be evaluated on its own, as an excellent comedy, a farce with hints of his genius.

Theatrical in its comings and goings, but not too heavy on dialogue, Pullman paints some excellent scenery which sets up a wonderful illusion of 19th-century Switzerland.

In the short-term the story offers wonderful surprises, but the ending unfolds much as expected. At times while reading I thought, “Shakespeare would have done something like this.” But in other ways it followed the typical patterns of children’s literature.

A fable and a mountebank’s stage production, with memorable characters and inspired moments, Count Karlstein is worth the price of admission.

A story about "Lyra's Oxford"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Mon, 30 May 2005 00:37:21 GMT

Lyra's Oxford

by Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman is an exceptional writer, with all the little writerly bits you’d expect from an exceptional writer. This tidbit (a short story) should be read after the His Dark Materials trilogy, and I feel the story is incomplete. It needs what came before it, and still needs what will come after. It’s more like the opening chapter to a novel than a complete story. But I’ll take whatever I can get from Pullman.

A story about "Matilda"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Mon, 30 May 2005 00:20:10 GMT

Matilda

by Roald Dahl

Story of an exceptional child who has to discipline her villainous parents.

So far I’ve found it worth reading anything Roald Dahl writes. Funny, cute, imaginative and in some ways realistic while being completely fantastic. Even the villains, as much as you loathe them, are a bit lovable.

A story about "Ella Enchanted (rpkg) (Trophy Newbery)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 28 May 2005 03:55:46 GMT

Ella Enchanted (rpkg) (Trophy Newbery)

by Gail Carson Levine

Took a while for me to realize that the book retells Cinderella. How could I have not noticed? It snuck up on me… ogres, elves, gnomes and mad fairies weren’t in the original tale. Neither the curse… but what was Cinderella’s main fault if not obedience? Fortunately the author keeps most of the familiar bits to the end, adding her own twists.

A story about "The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 28 May 2005 03:31:26 GMT

The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1)

by Lemony Snicket

Yes, a charming tale. The author is a silly man, indeed, and I look forward to reading some of the other books in the series. Must be the masochist in me that likes to read about poor young children under duress and hardship at the hands of an evil uncle. One of those children’s books that acts as propaganda for books and learning, the childrens’ only weapons in their bleak and miserable existence.

A story about "Life of Pi"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 28 May 2005 03:06:57 GMT

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

Starting to “read” the audiobook. So far, a realistic setting with texture and out-of-the-ordinary edges you can take hold of. Literature drawn from life, not from other books.

A story about "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 28 May 2005 02:59:07 GMT

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

by Mark Haddon

A good read, perhaps with a bit too much encyclopedic information (a two-page summary of The Hound of the Baskervilles for example.) Perhaps this reflects the narrator’s autism, or perhaps the author is confused about what makes fiction. I do like the book. I imagine most people would like it. The book doesn’t really say anything profound, but people like puppy dogs, right?

A story about "The Lathe of Heaven: A Novel (Perennial Classics)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Robert Waugh) — Sat, 28 May 2005 02:23:24 GMT

The Lathe of Heaven: A Novel (Perennial Classics)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Classic science-fiction. The exploration of a philosophical dilemma through a crazy hypothetical premise. Here the main character’s dreams alter reality, retroactively. With this premise Le Guin probes our ability to change the world, coming out against those who seek power, and those who want to rid themselves of the responsibility to act. As with her other books, I find a deep connection to the themes Le Guin illustrates.