I used to really dig Tori’s music back in her Little Earthquakes – To Venus and Back days. But after Venus, things just kinda went another direction. Although many say the albums from Scarlet’s Walk onwards are a return to her Little Earthquakes roots, they don’t seem to engage me anymore. (1) Her albums these days are uber long. After some time, every other track just starts sounding like every other track. (2) Her later albums may have returned to her girl-and-piano roots, but they are sorely lacking in edginess. Maybe motherhood has rounded her edges, or maybe age has mellowed her angst and quirkiness. I don’t know.

But I’m not gonna give up on this yet. Who knows, maybe if I spin this when I’m in the right mood, things may just suddenly all fall into place.

My review here: http://10centwings.braveblog.com/entry/23252

I thought she sounds very much like Stacey Kent.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v145/witchazel/?action=view&current=34e1e6fa.flv

I’m not going to pretend that I understood what Auster is trying to tell us through this book. In fact, to be really honest, I am totally clueless as to what this book is about. I had picked up this book thinking it was some sort of suspense novel that will eventually tie up all scattered clues into one satisfying knot (obviously, I’ve not read Auster before). Of course, this was not the case. There’s no denouement to speak of. All the readers are left with are a bunch of clues, and an open ending.

My immediate reaction, upon completing this, was to reread certain parts of the book, in the hope of finding some crucial bits I’ve missed. Of course, I found none. Hence, as of now, I’m still pretty clueless about what’s going on.

It was at Amazon.com that I found out why this book totally lost me. It turned out that many of the characters in this book are actually characters from his OTHER books. So this book works like some kind of inside-joke for his fans, while non-insiders like me are, like how one reviewer put it, left out in the cold.

This book should have come with a warning at the very least.

But that aside, I’ll have to say that the premise is rather interesting. Auster writes brilliantly, so I guess what I’m going to do is to pick up his earlier works, and revisit this novella after I’ve acquainted myself with all the characters that have made an appearance here. Only then will I decide whether or not I like this little novel.

Movies like this make Hollywood blockbusters seem crass and unthoughtful (for lack of a better word). Not everything has to be larger than life or action-packed to be interesting. This movie is about one tiny episode of an ordinary kid’s life, about freezing time (nope, no hollywood styled race-against-time car chases), about magnifying the moment to savour the beauty of it all.

The premise is charming, and the execution well done. It’s thoughtful without being heavy, and there’s daft humour without being overly slapstick.

Imo, much of the beauty lies in Ben’s narration, which reads like a book. While it may be said that a picture speaks a thousand words, beauty may sometimes be more effectively put across through subtler means, like the spoken/written word.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve walked out of a movie theatre feeling truly satisfied with a movie I’ve seen. This movie made me feel good, not in the I-got-high-on-morphine-my-brain-is-numb kind of manner, but more because I was truly enchanted.

This isn’t a good show to catch on the plane. I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud, I had to cover my mouth almost throughout the movie to prevent myself from making any sound.

Thank goodness I didn’t snort.

It’s hilarious.

I am intending to buy one of the Oliver! recordings. But which one would be a better choice? The 1994 London Palladium recording, this 1963 Original Broadway version, or some other version out there?

Let me know what you think!

Not the best movie I’ve seen, but it at least deserves a fan-girly entry:

http://10centwings.braveblog.com/entry/19728

I am not proud to say that I’ve enjoyed a trashy novel, but damn, I did.

Absolutely unputdownable. I completely its 700 pages in one sitting, and ended up feeling very vindicated for our heroine.

I admit I picked this up because Ethan Hawke wrote this.

But I’ve gotta say it was a pretty good read. It was engaging, and had a certain surreality to it.

In fact, I was kind of looking forward to his follow up after having finished this. But I guess in the end he decided to stick to his day job instead.