Posts by Heather Gaye
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
My hat! I love this song so much. Latest release from SJD's new album, Songs From A Dictaphone
Video uploaded by Jim Pinckney. -
Why is Dan Brown considered so bad?
OH MY GOD I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT HOW MUCH I DISLIKE DAN BROWN. I read two books to see what the fuss was about. As a maths-lover a lot of the actual content regarding codes and ambigrams was pretty interesting, but...
Both plots were so similar I genuinely felt like I'd read the same book twice. Granted, he's very good at keeping you reading - there's a cliff-hanger at the end of every chapter. But they read like they were never intended to be novels, but movies. & I'm with Hadyn: the characterisation is one-dimensional, & the dialogue is overwrought. Too many god-in-the-machine flashes of inspiration at convenient moments. There's only so many times I can read about a character shouting "but wait! I have the answer!" with associated descriptions of identical emotions. The characters are astoundingly naive for their supposed career experience. It reminds me of let's-pretend games I played when I was eight.
Probably the main thing that grates is that because of the esoteric maths & myths content he's been framed as some kind of historic-intellectual type. Pulp is fine, but pulp pretending to be smart contemporary fiction deserves a good kiwi-style poppy-lopping.
Also, it piques me that he's been mentioned in the same sentence as David Foster Wallace, both being alumni of Amherst. Apparently DB teaches english & creative writing as well. This fills me with dread, just for images of future bookshop shelves filled with identical plots. (Oh, I've been sifting through DFW's compilation of essays: A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, top notch & hella easier to get through than Infinite Jest).
I'm currently reading Foucault's Pendulum on public transport, and aside from the somewhat dry encyclopaedic passages (which may or may not be completely fabricated), it's like the quality original of which the code is a cheap knock-off.
-
Just the audio snippet, but what a fantastic audio snippet!
hahaha, I love the chorus of "shut UP!" accompanying his cry.
-
is there some law that James McAvoy has to be in everything?
WELL, if there isn't there should be. What else has he been in? Aside from that great version of Macbeth? (oh...and Children of Dune, less said the better, methinks)
(starts rampant search of IMDB) -
Bart, many of us might like to see more worthy news, less 'trivia', more analysis, more world events etc etc etc, but I have to ask, in a fully commercial model, where is this imperative of which you speak? The TV stations could get rid of the news altogether if they wanted to, you have no authority - moral or otherwise - to prevent this, or (your copyright aside in this case) from them adopting the E!/Weather model.
Actually, this is a notable point. I think nothing of watching The Simpsons and letting the news fly right by me, so if so many people are far more interested in celebrity affairs than current affairs, then - why are the networks still broadcasting The News?
The irritation isn't the content per se, but the conflict between the content and the packaging - broadcasters provide entertainment (gossip / sensationalism / garbage) but try to frame it as important, or informative, or newsworthy or In The Public Interest. Why is that? To whom exactly are they trying to appeal? They can't - or shouldn't even need to - have it both ways.
-
It occurs to me that I'm more likely to know someone who has a drug problem than someone who's been in a plane crash.
While a plane crash is a pretty thrilling news story, a young person with drug-related troubles is something I can relate to more personally than a plane crash.
Hmm... same, I guess, but it also means the drug thing is less "news" and more naff cliche.
Also, I fly infinitely more often than I do P, so I'm pretty emotionally invested in the plane crash story.
-
Not so deadly at the moment, still trying to reattach my arms to my shoulders after this week's not-so-stunning effort. 8-]
Still, fatness down, fitness up, bruising near-constant. Take that, SPARC!
-
Wierd. SPARC would tell you I'm completely inactive or other because I do a martial art.
Same, but there's no mention of boxing/kickboxing either, so I wager they've filed it under "exercise classes". Pff, tell THAT to the five girls I beat up last week! (zap! pow!)
-
Press Council: complaint upheld.
Codding*ton: they didn't mention the stats at all, so the stats must be correct!
Press Council: didn't want to insult the intelligence of our readers. -
She must have been grouse.
Oh, very good. (applause)