Cover via Amazon

Lawrence of Arabia

You should know

So?

Image via WikipediaIt looks like I forgot to do a 4-year index back in April, and these indices do make it easier to find things, so let's get back on track.

Books

Fiction

Graphic Novels

Nonfiction

Food and drink

Delaware

Massachusetts

New Jersey

New York

Ontario

Pennsylvania

Recipes

Movies

2006

2007

2008

2009

Internet

Video

Music

To Do and See

Massachusetts

New Jersey

New York

Ontario

Pennsylvania

Television

Image by moby74 via Flickr

Books

Fiction

Graphic Novels

Nonfiction

Food

Delaware

Massachusetts

New Jersey

New York

Ontario

Pennsylvania

Recipes

Movies

2006

2007

2008

2009

Internet

Video

Music

To Do and See

New Jersey

New York

Ontario

Pennsylvania

Television

Cover of The Simpsons Movie (Widescreen Edition)Updated 1/2/10

I've reviewed quite a few things along the way, and most of the stuff I've encountered has been largely positive, but with qualifiers: you should see this movie if you like mindless summer flicks; you should read this book if you like historical biography, and so on.

There are a few things, though, that I recommend across the board; I may not expect you to completely agree with me, but I think you should -- no, must -- at least check them out.

Must read

Must watch

Must...eat?

Must.... other, I guess

You can get reviews of the newest and hottest books, movies, and restaurants anywhere, but where do you go to hear about chain restaurants, library finds, several-year-old DVDs, or even tourist traps? Just because it's old or ever-present doesn't mean it's not new to you -- and you deserve to read the reviews in advance even then. So if it's new to me, I'll tell you what I think.

Who am I? I'm Laura, a married New Yorker and sometime cube monkey.  Old posts follow me from being in a long term, often long-distance relationship, and through my engagement.  They also follow me from when I lived in Philadelphia (where I grew up), and on several vacations, as my now-husband and I love travel and good food.  As for occupation, you can go back to when I was in grad school, and watch me put up with periods of unemployment and cube-monkey-ism.

If you look over to your right, you'll see a Twitter feed.  Feel free to follow me -- among other things, I post there when I post, and when I update old blog posts.  And if you want to know a bit more about me, personally, check out my other blog at Life is (not) Boring  -- or, if you're really patient with sporadic updates, check out my thoughts on writing at Writers Write.

And enjoy browsing!  I'd love to know your thoughts on some of the things I've tried and shared -- especially if they've changed since I've been there.  Thanks!

Cover of Up (Single Disc Widescreen)

So?

Image via Wikipedia

Star Trek

You should know

So?

Image by Foenix via Flickr

Watchmen

First off, let me emphasize that this is not a kids' movie.  Yes, it was based on the graphic novel, but that's not a kids' books, either.  There is violence, sex, sexual violence, lots of murder, bad language, bad music, and a moral ambiguity that never takes a break.  If your 8-year-old can handle that, awesome.  If not, don't blame me; I warned you.  But it's rated R for a very good reason.  This is not one of those movies where they add the s-word to get a PG bumped up to a PG-13 and attract the 18-35 crowd.  This is a real, actual R movie.

OK, that's out of the way.

So, having said all that, I want to add that for the most part, I really did enjoy the movie. I never expected it to be exactly the same as the book.  For one thing, I was spoiled as to the ending.  For another, the book is long, and even with the movie as long as it is (162 minutes), something had to give.

I did find that having read the book filled in some blanks.  There were a few moments  that were a little unclear to Chris that made sense to me since I had the context.   So on the off chance you haven't heard already, the film takes place in a world where superheroes -- or, at least, costumed vigilantes -- are very real.  And illegal. Former heroes essentially have three paths they can take.  They can work for the government, like The Comedian.  They can flagrantly break the law, like Rorschach.  Or, they can retire, and either capitalize off their past, like Ozymandias, or just walk away from the whole thing, like Nite Owl.   But then, costumed heroes start turning up dead, leaving those who survive to face their demons and avenge their colleagues.

And by the way?  It's 1985 and the United States is counting down to nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

We open with a great montage that explains the alternate timeline we're dealing with, showing the heroes who have gone before; some are dead, others are retired.

As we proceed through the narrative line, we begin to fill in the blanks and learn more about the characters and what makes them tick.  Why is Silk Spectre so angry at her mother?  How did Dr. Manhattan gain superpowers (he's the only one who actually has them)?  What makes a hero?  What makes a villain?

I mentioned above that something had to give.  In the original text, much more attention is given to the backstories of the first generation of heroes.  This is not strictly necessary -- the opening scene really covers the major points -- but it does provide a lot of information.  Likewise, there is quote a bit more information about Ozymandias's post-hero activities -- he's a massively powerful businessman (it would not surprise me if it turned out he was a partial inspiration for David Xanatos).  Finally, there's a complex subplot invlving a man who runs an newsstand and a boy who buys comics there, which revolves around a comic within the comic (which is available on a direct-to-video DVD and will be a feature when the movie comes out on video).

Image by Craig Grobler via Flickr

Rating

The rest of the Internet

Beware of spoilers...
Andy at Selections From the Scrolls of the PlatinumWarlock deems Iron Man the superior superhero movie, but The Dark Knight the better movie.
Michael Clayton and moviejohn at BlogCritics wax enthusiastic, while Craig Lyndall warns against overhype.
The IMDb and Wikipedia pages.

Image via Wikipedia