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Weekend reading and watching
Jun. 13th, 2005 08:49 amHowl's Moving Castle was playing at the Tara (and not the Landmark, surprisingly). We caught it on Saturday, and I liked it quite a bit. I suspect I'll like the subbed version even better. Although it's hard to go too wrong with Jean Simmons and Lauren Bacall.
Sunday, we used another freebie coupon to rent the director's cut of Donnie Darko, which, unlike Garden State, did not disappoint. Damned fine (and damned fucked-up) film. That said, looking at the IMDB list of differences between the director's cut and the released cut I can't imagine how anyone who saw the original liked it. The stuff that was cut was, imho, essential to the movie.
We also watched, of course, the latest eps of Teen Titans (fun, but not special, and it breaks into a serious story arc), and JLU (damned fine -- possibly the best animated series on TV at this point).
I also finished Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear. by Jim Steinmeyer, a magician and trick designer who's worked with pretty much all the big names in the industry. This book isn't about today's magicians, though, but about the magicians who led the surge in popularity in Britain and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It explains a bunch of tricks and standard props, but it's fascinating for the insight into the minds of these men, with their breakthroughs that overlapped "real" science and the jealousy and competitiveness that drove them all. Houdini, Maskelyne, Selbit, and their brethren come across as human, flaws and all, but are still clearly geniuses. It's just a damned fun read. Anyone who enjoyed The Turk will enjoy this one.
Currently between books, but I'll be reading a novella of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
murnkay's on my busride home tonight.
Sunday, we used another freebie coupon to rent the director's cut of Donnie Darko, which, unlike Garden State, did not disappoint. Damned fine (and damned fucked-up) film. That said, looking at the IMDB list of differences between the director's cut and the released cut I can't imagine how anyone who saw the original liked it. The stuff that was cut was, imho, essential to the movie.
We also watched, of course, the latest eps of Teen Titans (fun, but not special, and it breaks into a serious story arc), and JLU (damned fine -- possibly the best animated series on TV at this point).
I also finished Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear. by Jim Steinmeyer, a magician and trick designer who's worked with pretty much all the big names in the industry. This book isn't about today's magicians, though, but about the magicians who led the surge in popularity in Britain and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It explains a bunch of tricks and standard props, but it's fascinating for the insight into the minds of these men, with their breakthroughs that overlapped "real" science and the jealousy and competitiveness that drove them all. Houdini, Maskelyne, Selbit, and their brethren come across as human, flaws and all, but are still clearly geniuses. It's just a damned fun read. Anyone who enjoyed The Turk will enjoy this one.
Currently between books, but I'll be reading a novella of
murnkay's on my busride home tonight.