I've never really read much Neil Gaiman before -- I'm not a particular fan of the Sandman series, for which he is most known. But I know some people who are big fans, so I respect his work at least. Neverwhere is only the second Gaiman book I've read (well, third maybe, I think I read that thing he co-wrote about the apocalypse), and I'm pretty much satisfied so far.
Neil Gaiman does fantasy. Not medieval fantasy or sci-fi or anything like that, but fantasy in modern-day settings. Neverwhere takes place in London, a place with which the author seems intimately familiar. Except that his fictional London is divided into two cities - London Above, which is the normal everyday London, and London Below, a temming network of underground locations where people fall through cracks and disappear. Something like that.
Our protagonist is an ordinary guy, who meets a resident of London Below, and is thereupon plunged into it's mad, mystical world, where the familiar laws of reality seldom seem to apply. The plot is nothing extraordinary, one you may have read in some form or other: Our intrepid hero meets an interesting cast of unlikely allies and they band together on a quest, ultimately saving the universe. Something like that. It's Gaiman's writing that stands out though; his flowery prose and florid descriptions brings the fantasy world of London Below to life, presenting a striking contrast to the protagonist's boring life in London Above.
All in all, a good read. Nothing extraordinarily deep, but enough to make me interested in reading more Gaiman.
You are reading the posts under the category 'Weblog' during the month of September 2005. There are 7 posts in this category. You can also subscribe to the RSS Feed for 'Weblog'
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I saw an interview with Manny Pacquiao on Rated K, apparently after his celebrated win last Sunday. Korina referred to him as a millionaire because of his share from the match, but Manny said he's going to be giving a lot of it away. People told him to donate to Katrina, but he says there are also a lot of needy people in his own country so he's giving to them first. He's giving away food and stuff to poor people in his hometown.
Man, that guy's got heart. No wonder he's a local hero.
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One of the things I've been wanting to do during this hiatus was to watch more movies -- we've got a ton of DVDs downstairs I haven't seen yet. Since I had just finished the fifth book of Stephen King's western fantasy , I started this task with Sergio Leone's western opus, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
I haven't watched many westerns before. This is probably the first one I completed. And you know what it reminds me of? Dragonball. Ages of staring at each other, hands hovering over your guns, ending in two seconds of gunfire. I know they're a lot more speak-y in Dragonball, but it gave me the same feeling...the anticipative build-up and the big, explosive finish.
God, that was a long movie. I think it clocked in at 2:45 or so. It was mistake to watch this movie in late afternoon, as I started getting drowsy towards the end.
I've never seen Clint Eastwood this young before! But he reminds me of how I usually visualize Roland of Gilead. And the impossibly good shooting in the movie seems characteristic of Roland's gunslingers as well.
Good movie, though longish.
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"There will be water if ka wills it." - Roland of Gilead
I had a Powerbooks gift certificate the other week, and the Powerbooks at Megamall happened to have a sale, so I took a look around. And lo, I was lucky enough to find a copy of the fifth book of Stephen King's epic western fantasy, The Dark Tower. It was a huge book, larger than my copies of the first four, but with the same cover style and by the same publisher, so it was the copy I wanted. I spent less than a hundred pesos on it.
And so it was that I once again journeyed into the world/s of the Dark Tower, following the path of Roland of Gilead and his ka-tet of gunslingers along the path of the Beam, heading inexporably towards the Dark Tower.
The Dark Tower series has always been a weird sort of hybrid. Primarily a western, set in a fantasy multiverse which intersects with multiple versions of our own reality, Roland and his posse find themselves facing robots, bears, wizards, psychotic trains, undead and such. This time they face "Wolves", an unknown new enemy who plague a farming community along the path of the Beam. Like any good RPG-party, the gunslingers decide to offer aid to the people of the Calla, though not all would accept their help. In exchange, they are granted the power to travel back to New York, the nexus of all New Yorks, where they must protect the Rose, an incarnation or manifestation of the Dark Tower.
The one thing I did not like about this copy: It had illustrations. Normally, that would be a good thing, but I find I did not really want to know what Roland of Gilead looked like, even to another person, as it spoiled my own vision of what the book tells me. That's how good the series is -- it's the type of series where you form your own version of it in your head and you are completely drawn into its saga.
As always, the book is dark and compelling. Despite the hectic work schedule last week, I finish the thick book in less than four days, and the volume ends in cliffhanger, as the ka-tet is broken. Two more books to go before the end of their quest; I can only hope the last two come out in my preferred format soon.
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My hiatus involves quite a bit of TV of course, especially since I get some idle time while waiting for installations/formatting/downloads to finish. Today, for the first time in maybe twenty years, I saw an exciting action-packed episode of the A-Team!
For those not in the know, the A-Team was a bunch of rogue ex-commandos who usually acted as mercs, fighting for good, beating bad guys and saving the day. In the parlance of Roland of Gilead, gunslingers.
The A-Team TV series was most famous for having as one of its cast the now-popular-on-the-internet tough-talking, fool-pitying Mr. T . I also particularly like the antics of their resident screwball flyball, "Crazy Man" Murdock.
I remember that Marvel even had an A-Team comic book out when I was a kid; I had an issue or two. I'm tempted to go out and look for copies of those now. :D
It was a good episode too, but ended with a cliffhanger. It's a good thing I'm free to watch the next episode tomorrow. :D
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