as promised, here’s a link to Up dharma Down. i’ve been listening to their debut album fairly constantly, putting it on the spinner whenever i decide to put anything on. it oddly reminds me of Iain Ballamy’s music for Mirrormask, which i utterly loved (i mean the movie; i’ve yet to hear the soundtrack CD, although from the bits in the movie, i’ll probably love that as well), even though Up dharma Down don’t have any saxophones in the mix (or, at least, i don’t hear any), and they’re actually, well, very different.
i really hope having the DVD out will generate enough interest to get Mirrormask on the big screen, even if only in the "art film" theaters.
not likely.
i’ve seen Mirrormask a total of three times in four days, although the first time didn’t count because i found myself too wasted to stay up through the whole thing (having had a crap day at work, and having just seen V for Vendetta that same night), and the third time i had the commentary track on. it’s an absolutely lovely film, easily one of the best i’ve seen ever.
V for Vendetta was, at last, a worthy adaptation, imho, of an Alan Moore graphic novel. i should have known better, but walking into the theater, i’d expected something very much like a Wachowski film, but found, not unpleasantly, something much more cerebral, less visually flash. in fact, the most Wachowskiesque moments in the film were the ones that mostly didn’t work for me, and there weren’t a lot. except for the violent bit towards the end where V slaughters the fingermen, when he spouts my favorite one-liner from the whole movie (sadly, it’s the most obvious one to like as well. if you’ve seen the trailer, you should know which one i’m talking about).
the ending was magnificent, though it seemed much too definitively optimistic to be completely true to the spirit of the original novel, which felt more open-ended despite having a completed story arc. and some essential bits were left out.
i’ll say no more. read the book, see the movie.
and in my final act of self-subversion, i’ve once again violated my self-imposed book-and-cd ban when i got the recently published paperback of Jeff Vandermeer’s groundbreaking City of Saints and Madmen. i have the hardback, which failed to sell respectably when it was released locally, killing my hopes of ever seeing it again or any other work by Mr Vandermeer in local bookshops, and so was thoroughly impressed that the paperback managed to break into the local market. like Mirrormask, i’m hoping the paperback release will generate enough interest to bring more of Mr Vandermeer’s work into the local market. he is a truly astonishing writer, though i’ve not read more than this one book.
this is the single strangest work of literature i have ever read, and, from what i’ve learned of its history, has the odd tendency to change ever so slightly with every edition that sees publication. the main differences i’ve spotted so far between this paperback ed and the hardback is 1) lacking a dustjacket, the paperback also lacks the literal cover story from the hardback, and 2) the paperback features a more complete "translation" of the code that makes up "The Man Who Had No Eyes", while not bothering to re-print the original code. which would be frustrating for readers who pick-up the paperback alone, since there are "mistakes" in the "translation" that can only be corrected by cracking the code yourself.
nonetheless, it’s a worthy addition to any library, particularly if you can’t get your hands on the hardback.
to any would-be reader of the book, i must offer this caveat: while it is a collection of stories, the book cannot be truly appreciated until it is devoured whole; or, at least, devoured enough to give you an idea of what it’s really trying to go on about. each story, on its own, might seem, at best, a mediocre, if strange, odd, far-out, unique (and other words for weird), piece of fantasy. but once you’ve swallowed enough of it, you begin to see… well, more, than you’d expected, i expect.
