I've been reading heaps recently, so figured I'd gather some reviews.

Last two books I read were Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (there's a good review of it here by the New York Times) and Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton, which I've rambled about below...

Guilty Pleasures is the first book in the Anita Blake, vampire hunter, series that my sister has become completely hooked on recently. Yesterday I went out and bought the first couple of books as a Christmas gift for her and figured I might as well read them first – it’ll give us something to talk about when I’m next in Christchurch, and I’m always interested to see what she’s reading.

And my first impression? This is Buffy for adults (a compliment!). The main character is 20-something Anita Blake, a professional ‘animator’ who raises zombies for a living (because it’s easier – for example – to ask the dead directly about some contentious section of their will rather than spending years trying to resolve the issue in court, right?) while hunting vampires for the police on the side. She’s competent, trigger-happy, and just a little bit snarky. It’s an entertaining combination.

The book itself is simply written, penned in short, punchy sentences. I’ve never read anything else by Laurell Hamilton so I’m not quite sure if this was meant to be reflective of Anita’s personality or is just the author’s writing style. Either way, it works. The plot also contains the standard dark sexual undercurrents found in most vampire novels – definitely a relief after Twilight! Overall, a very decent read.

I haven’t updated my livejournal for months – terrible. Meant to do it earlier this week but my laptop got stolen (ahhh, don’t you love vapid flatmates who leave their windows unlocked when they’re not home?) and it’s been quite difficult finding the time to come into university to sit online. Oh well, at least it's Christmas soon.

Otherwise I’ve mainly just been reading heaps, and working my way through the pile of DVDs that dr_sponge lent to me months ago. Just finished Requiem for a Dream actually – and now have that moody violin theme stuck in my head. Yay?

Okay, this is really cool: it's a representation of the actual shape of the Earth, otherwise known as it's geoid.



I am so loving my GIS paper. We spent class today drawing maps of campus and talking about how people remember landscapes (by using internal abstract plans or just recalling landmarks) and yesterday we spent an hour looking at what makes a good and bad maps. Joyous Geekery!...

I had ridiculously high expectations for this movie, which I didn’t really expect to be met. But the sixth book was one of my favourites, and this instalment was directed by David Yates, who did a good job with the last one...

( HP6 Review: Beware Spoilers )

CORALINE: Beware slight spoilers in the second paragraph in you haven't read the book.



Based on Neil Gaimen’s book of the same name, this film tells the story of Coraline, a pre-teen girl with blue hair, and the creepy otherworld she discovers after moving into an aging Victorian house with her parents. This stop-motion animation was directed by Henry Selick, the same guy who did the Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, so it should be no particular surprise that the film has the same gothic sensibilities of its predecessors. Coraline, however, lacks the same dark whimsy of the Nightmare Before Christmas: her real world is dull and grey, her otherworld spectacular but slightly eerie and, as the plot progresses, quite terrifying. It’s definitely a lot of fun.

One thing I found quite interesting was how, in the real world, Coraline’s father was the (rather under-skilled!) family chef. This was reversed in her otherworld, where Coraline’s Other-Mother was the family’s domestic Goddess: merrily haunting the kitchen for a large section of the film, whipping up sumptuous meals for her daughter. It’s something I’m not quite sure how to interpret – did Coraline actually want her mother in a more traditional role, or was it just creepier to show a supposedly solicitous, ‘perfect’ woman morph slowly into something else?

The movie is playing as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival, and will probably come back afterwards. It’s already out on DVD in America.

I'm reading Dante's Inferno at the moment - just reached the 7th circle of hell. It's pretty entertaining if slightly dense at times, hence my time wasting with the quiz below...

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

And according to another silly quiz, my sin of choice is wrath. No surprises there, lol.

I’m currently revising for a human geography paper I took that was loosely Auckland themed (and terribly frustrating, but I won’t rant about that...).

One thing I will rant about, however, is the stupidity of the ‘creativity index’ created by Richard Florida to measure the ‘creativity’ of a city. Basically this involves collating the ‘bohemian,’ ‘gay,’ and ‘diversity’ indexes for a region. So the more high-tech workers, musicians, artists and gay people, the more creative it will subsequently (supposedly) become.

Oh, and this is desirable because ‘creative people’ boost a city’s economic development. So just attract more of them into your town and everything will run smoothly, no need to focus on sewage or infrastructure. Hummmmm. Right.

I’m not sure if I’m more offended by the idea that us lesbians are more ‘creative’ than the majority of the population or the fact that Auckland still has a similar policy. It’s flawed on so many levels.

My geography lab this week was on cafes in Auckland, which meant delicious overindulgence in caffeine for credit (yay! even though the lab is only worth 6%...). I had to visit two coffee shops: one 'pure' space and another 'hybrid'. Isn't academia brilliant?

Ended up visiting Gloria Jean inside Borders for the hybrid space - which was surprisingly nice for a chain. Although after sitting there for about ten minutes I began to notice how carefully constructed their 'second-hand' look was; they'd dimmed the lighting slightly to make it seem cozier than the rest of the store and the (seemingly mismatched) fabric on the armchairs matched some of the padding on the wall. Hummmmmmm. It made me want to leave (and I would have if I I wasn't reading Dearly Devoted Dexter hehe) since I really dislike marketing and fake comfort.

Which I suppose Dexter is also an expert in, but that's besides the point.

It's been ages since I've posted anything here - I've kinda been neglecting my dear lj recently aside from its handy French communities. But I'm bored at work and excited about books, so...

City of Glass is finally out!
I was killing time in the university bookstore today when I saw it being put out of the shelves, and swiftly snatched it out of the hands a somewhat bemused employee. It's ridiculous to be so excited by a book that I don't even expect to be that good (and especially for the third in a series that I barely remember the plot of) but Cassandra Clare once wrote HP fanfic and her work is decent urban fantasy, if a bit cliche at times. So yay. Hopefully I can find time to finish it this week XD

I also ordered Banewreaker from Borders last week, and am just starting chapter three.
And yes, it is fantastic. The prose so far is standard Jacqueline Carey, by which I mean grandiose, epic and entirely delectable. Now the story is getting started properly I can't wait to finish it, although the idiot who wrote its blurb should be shot; it makes the novel sound like the worst type of derivative blather yet three chapters in I can't wait for more.

Now if only Isobelle Carmody would hurry up and write Darkbane I could finally die content.

So. I finally saw Waltz with Bashir, almost a month after the film opened at work to rave reviews. And I have to say, after seeing the movie for myself, that its many accolades are well earned. Written, directed and produced by Ali Folman, the film centres on his experiences of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, blocked for twenty years by the horrors he witnessed/ participated in.

( The movie starts slowly, unwinding with hauntingly realistic animation in shades of yellow, black and grey... )