The next episode of True Celebrity Fiction is up. Click here to read.
I'm starting a new semi-weekly feature at yesbutnobutyes.com called True Celebrity Fiction. Part One is up now. Click here to read the whole comic.
My first new article at yesbutnobutyes.com:
Top 10 Albums You've Never Heard
You might know a guy who knows a guy who has a bootleg; you might have downloaded some low-quality mp3s; you might have actually dreamed that you heard these but these are 10 albums that never got released so trust me: You Never Heard Them.
http://www.yesbutnobutyes.com/archives/2007/01/top_10_albums_y.html
If I were to chart my reading habits over the last three years there would be a clear divergence between quality and quantity I think. Having looked over this list compared to last year's and the year before the list keeps getting longer but the number of great books has gotten to the point where really only the first two on this list could be considered great. Too many comic books and too much working on the computer until my eyes bleed is probably the reason I haven't read too many substantial books this year and most of the novels on this list are audiobooks. Anything with a (GN) is a graphic novel but I excluded any trade paperbacks that just collect ongoing comics. Anyway, enough of the preamble, here they are from best to least best:
Click here for "Books I've read this year"
I haven't been updating the blog much recently with my ongoing documentation of all the media I've been consuming but I will at least keep up with my usual year end lists. The first being my 10 favorite albums I listened to this year (not all of which came out this year by the way). In no particular order:
1 Black Angels - Passover
2 Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
3 Cat Power - The Greatest
4 Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
5 People in Planes - As Far As The Eyes Can See
6 Elbow - Leaders of the Free World
7 Mates of State - Bring it Back
8 Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
9 Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
10 Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
More photos on Flickr. Click here.
Christopher Nolan is proving to be one of the most exciting and reliable directors we have today. He has yet to make a bad movie and even though I had some problems with The Prestige it was an incredibly well-crafted film that had me riveted the whole way through.
The story is about the career-long conflicts between two turn of the century magicians in England played by Christian Bale (Batman) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine). Like we haven't longed to see those two go at it before. Bale and Jackman give great performances as does Michael Caine (Alfred the butler) as Cutter the engineer. A tragic accident during a magic trick involving a water tank claims the life of Jackman's wife and sets off the vicious the antagonism between the two magicians. As they try to one-up and sabotage each other's acts we get a glimpse into the unseemly backstage-view of 19th century magic seeing how some of these tricks are performed. Both magicians are obsessed with their craft and will play very dirty to get ahead.
The problem I have with the film is the very end which involves a couple of twists that I won't spoil here. One of them however is pretty obvious if you watch closely (like they tell you to do at the beginning of the film). The other seems to go against the sensibilities set up by the film, introducing an otherworldly element that, although thought-provoking and interesting, disregards the nature of illusion for the sake of science fiction.
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