Review: Light Boxes

Light Boxes by Shane Jones

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Some books are rather unusual and Light Boxes is one of them. The book is a fantasy in which anything is possible. February has come, but February has no intention of leaving and the towns people of a unnamed town are subjected to an unending spell of chilly weather dominated by snow and ice.
The towns people are late to resist, for how does one resist February? But February, now personified, kidnaps and murders children and the people, led by Thaddeus Lowe and the Solution, a group of men wearing bird-masks, plan a revolt.
But how to revolt against February?
How indeed.
Light Boxes reminded me of a dream I once had when I was feverish. Logic and reason, causality, death and any other rock solid idea are toyed with. People get killed, come to life later in the story, or make themselves even come to life. February is a man who can be killed, but his death will end the month too. But even February isn't February, for he could be someone else. And perhaps the cause of all problems might not be February, but maybe it was the creators that should be blamed.
Shane Jones is not tied down by anything and he does not hold back on style either. Almost any kind or writing style is used and this is supported by the design of the book. Some pages just contain one word, others contain one line, some one line repeated over and over, jet others contain huge letters and some are just notes jutted down.
I personally like this kind of experimental writing and I liked the story, but I can understand that some people find it hugely annoying as it is a unusual book and writing style. I hope other books will follow.






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Review: Being There

Being There by Jerzy Kosiński

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The more books I read the harder it gets to judge a book, despite the cover. It is the same for movies for me, which is why I am happy to be able to write moviereviews at IMDB without having to hand out points.
One such book that is hard to judge is 'Being There'. It is a small book that I got at my local library, which few English bookcases seem to resemble some magical library that is able to conjure up far more books than I was willing to give it credit for based on it's apparent size.
'Being there' grabbed my interest because I know there is a movie of the same name that is based on this book. I haven't seen this movie, and now, after reading the book, I am not sure if I would want to see it because I doubt that it has much to add to it. But then again, maybe I will if I run into it.
'Being there' has got the same kind of atmosphere as Forest Gump has. A middleaged innocent man named Chance - you might see him as innocent as a new born baby - is confronted with the real world after his protector dies.
Chance has spent his whole life as a gardener for this rich man and has never set a foot outside the house. The only way he knows about the world is through the television. On his first trip outside he happens to get hit by the car of Eve Rand, the wife of (another) powerful and rich man, Benjamin Rand. She takes Chance home and so he eventually mingles with the high and mighty through a series of happenstances and mistakes.
His innocence, simplistic look and television knowledge is taken for wisdom or shrewdness and his lack of background and identity become points in his favor in a world where any kind of background can be used against you.
This is basically what the book is about and it is told in a rather matter of fact kind of way. The story is hard to be taken serious and kept light, but sometimes I got the feeling that right below the irony and tongue in cheek humor there is sarcasm or perhaps cynicism lurking.
For instance, while Chance has no proper knowledge of the economy he tells his ideas based on his experiences as a gardener after being asked about it. These words are thus (mis)taken as words of (economic) wisdom and even repeated by the president of the United States on television. The implication is that you don't really need any kind of proper understanding of economics as long as the words sound right and that those who ought to have a deeper understanding actually seem to lack proper judgement. In addition Chance gets invited to a television show and is asked for advise which shows that it is more important to have the right connections than to have proper understanding of the subject. Which might be true, but is sad to hear anyway.
The book is full of scenes born from mistaken communication. At some point this even results in some embarrassing intimate sex scenes, which I found a bit distasteful. I won't go into details.
Overall the book is slightly amusing but also a bit shallow. It's shortness is probably it's saving grace, another hundred pages would probably have seen the plot falter in one way or another. By now it is also something that you probably have seen and read before.
A book for those who like light entertainment. I am not sure if there is anything thing more to it.






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Poem : Never No More.

Review: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by William S. Burroughs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



After reading Junky I discovered this book by Burroughs among the books dubbed as crime novels in my local public library. It was probably labelled as such because there is a murder in it and I don't think the library has a label for literature as such. So it would be the most logical choice from their viewpoint, but somehow this label doesn't fit the book.
From the introduction and comments I gather that Burroughs and the co-writer Jack Kerouac were part of a literary movement called the Beat generation and that this book was written before they became famous. In fact the book was published after they both died because it was deliberately put off. It was the wish of one of the people involved in the murder that it would not be published in his lifetime. It ended up as being published in nobodies lifetime..
The result of the delay at publication was that the book gained a mythical state. Like many things that are unknown it peeks the interest, gains notoriety and heightens expectations.
But what were the results?
The book seems a lot like Junky, with the same down-on-their-luck types as feature in that book, but a little bit less criminal. Most of the people are poor and some are the brink of crime. The best term to define them is: a bunch of freeloaders. They live on the money others make and they get that money by borrowing and not paying back, gaining it in a half legal way or by outright crime. For example: one of the characters pawns the diamonds of a relative, pocketing the money for himself, without letting the relative know.
Most of the book describes this freeloader life from various angles and against this backdrop is set the awkward semi-gay relation between a young man and an older man that finally ends in a death. The book is however not a crime novel. There isn't a real upbeat towards the killing, nor any investigation or anything else that is part of a crime novel. The murder itself and the aftermath actually are only a small part of the book and occur well in the end. It feels almost as and anti-climax when it does, which it probably will be for anyone attracted to crime novels. The murder isn't what the book is about.
But what is?
The charm of the book is the writing, which is to the point and frugal. Just like in Junky there is not a word too much it this book and no beating about the bush. The story is told straight and without any moral justification from the writer. Crime happens, people steal, someone gets robbed. It all is told in the same way as the writer tells that people had a bite, took a leak or banged their girlfriend.
The characters in the book have opinions of course, but nothing is morally weighted by the writer. Everything is told as it happens, to the point. It is almost clinical.
I like the writing style as a way to learn how to write. The shortness of the book combined with a efficient writing style made it readable.
The problem I foresee for me is that much more of this will start to bore. If a bigger book would be filled with just more scenes of freeloading then such book will become a tedious read. It does make me curious about the books that made Burroughs famous. I assume there must be a lot more to them.

www.meritcoba.com





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Review: No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is a twist of fate.
The public library in my home town, with only three bookcases of English books, harbors a few books that have been turned into movies at one time or another.
Perhaps not too surprising considering that the preponderance of crime novels and crime novels seem to be a favorite genre of books to turn into a movie.
And one of them is 'No Country for Old Men'.
It's a depressing title for sure. It invokes the image of cranky oldsters reminiscing how everything used to be better: the milk, the butter, the cheese, the people and the crime.
And it is that kind of book.
It would have been boring, if the writer hadn't employed a few things to keep your attention.
First is the MacGuffin of the story. A man, called Moss, runs into a crime scene and finds a suitcase with a few million dollars. Everyone is dead, nobody knows he is there. What would you do?
Moss takes the money and runs.
But running isn't as easy as he might think. For one, there is family to contend with, and for another, a lot of a other people want that money as well.
One of those is the coldhearted psychopath Anton Chigurh. The man carves a path of dead bodies through humanity. The dead pile up wherever he goes.
Next to him are a lot of shady, often unnamed, types that take potshots at Moss. Most of them are more meat for the meat grinder that Chigurh is. More dead bodies.
Next to those are the authorities, represented by Sheriff Bell, the old man in the title.
The whole story then proceeds along these three lines: Moss, Chigurh and Bell and ends in a tone true to the title: sad. I leave it open how sad exactly.
There is however something problematic with this book. The whole psychopath-goes-wild-theme is somewhat too fabricated. For some reason Chigurh gets away with murdering scores of people without the FBI getting involved. McCarthy paints us a picture of a wacko massacring a lot of people, often in the open, and he doesn't get caught or even suspected and so Bell can exclaim 'this is no country for old men' and ponder quitting his job. I found that a weak element in the book. It is simply unbelievable that anyone can get away with what Chigurh did without the federals getting on his case and someone gunning him down.

Now this all makes for a book that would not have gotten more than three stars from me, if it wasn't for the writing style. McCarthy uses various styles to tell the story. There is the internal monologue of Bell. There is the third person view of Moss and Chigurh and there is the for me interesting style of dialog.
I am used to write dialog like this:
"Where are you driving to?," Merit says.
But McCarthy writes it down like this:
Where you going?
No "", and usually no indicating of who says what. This could become confusing if not handled properly, but McCarthy does as he pulls it off if you pay attention. Sometimes I had to read back a little, but he usually keeps it clean enough so you are sure who is saying what.

For that I am giving McCarthy some extra credits. That is why I give the book 4 stars.

www.meritcoba.com






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Review: The Boys from Brazil

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It happens that the public library of Alkmaar owns a few English books that have been turned into a feature movie. This process from turning a written text into a visual medium has my interest as I hope to learn from others to apply it for myself.
It is my luck that I recently saw the movie "The boys from Brazil" and when I discovered the book - written by Ira Levin - in the library I knew I had to read it.
Mind you, I am not going to take you through a point by point comparison. While this might be of interest to me, this is probably not of interest to you and as such this is not the place for it. Besides, it would require a lot more space and time then I am willing to take up and want to invest. And, as suggested, it might also be of interest to a very small group of people.
This book is in conspiracy thriller. It is the kind where a nefarious organization is planning something bad for the world and only a few 'good' men are willing and able to oppose it. The authorities are ineffectual in these kind of books, either because they don't believe in the conspiracy, are part of it or just too impotent to do anything about it. So it is left to the individual hero to stand up and thwart the bad guys.
In this book the hero it Yakov Liebermann, an aged jewish nazi hunter who is well past his prime. It is the seventies now and a new generation is growing up. The second world war has been over for thirty years and other wars caused the interest in the nazis to fade away. There Vietnam; there is the conflict between the Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab countries; there is the cold war. The world has changed.
Liebermann is an unusual hero, as he is old and has fallen on hard times. But he gets involved nevertheless when he gets a call from Brazil from a young man who is subsequently murdered. The man mentions one name that peeks Liebermann's interest. That is the name Mengele. The Nazi doctor who misbehaved at Auschwitz and is hiding out somewhere in South America.
The investigation then goes underway as Liebermann slowly starts tp uncover the plot. He is however not without help. A lot of people still respect him or feel obliged to help him. With the assistance of these and others he finds out what is behind 'the boys from Brazil'.
The story is an interesting one and although the conspiracy is a bit improbable, it isn't so improbable as to be impossible like other conspiracy are.
What for me makes this book interesting is the way Ira Levin writes. At first I thought he couldn't write proper English, but it seems that he pictures himself how Yakov would have spoken English and thus his English sounds a bit awkward, because Yakov is Austrian. He often uses that in case of for instance Mengele. Although they think and speak in English, they are expressing themselves in a way a foreigner would. Not exactly right.
The writing is also low on explicit violence. While the plot necessarily requires a lot of deaths, these are mostly mentioned or implied. In fact there are only a few described killing scenes.
But probably the best reason are they way he sets up and describes some of the key moments in the story. There is one where Mengele finds out that his plan is going awry. He is good spirits, boisterous, pleasant and then, when he finds out something has gone wrong, the mask comes off and he becomes a violent man.
Also the climatic scene at the end where Mengele and Libermann confront each other is brilliantly setup.
Now to be honest, I have been influenced by the movie. Levin's Liebermann doesn't look at all like Laurence Olivier does in the movie. And every time the image of Olivier set itself over that of Ira Levin's Liebermann in the book.
This even more goes for Gregory Peck, who just dominates the movie as Mengele and thus is the Mengele from the book. The final confrontation in the book is one that occurs between Peck and Olivier.
Now a final note on some of the differences between the book and the movie. There aren't that many, the movie is recently loyal to the book.
However, in the movie Liebermann investigates more or less without many outside help, while in the book he does get help from people. And, as said before, in the book the killings and the killers are mostly mentioned in a offhand manner, while they take some more precedence in the movie.
There is one more thing that makes a difference between the book and the movie. The book works out the plot and the confrontations much better and that is not strange as a book can just take more time to set these things up. What in the movie looks like strange random meetings, is logically setup in the book.
I liked the book and would recommend it if you like conspiracy stories or like to see how books are turned into movies. Ira Levin has a writing style you have to get used to, but once you understand it is a good read.

www.meritcoba.com












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State of Decay: Lifeline

Heading towards trouble.

Overview of the game

I noticed that a certain morbid humor surfaces in State of Decay at times, like the one you can see on the screenshot above or in the graffiti on one of the walls of the base like in the picture below.  The top picture is from the downloadable content(DLC) Lifeline and we are driving towards the zombie infested city of Danforth. 

To keep you in the spirit of things.

Lifeline puts you in the combat boots of the military.  You know, those guys that didn't come across too well in the original game. If they weren't actually the cause of the zombie apocalypse then they certainly could be accused of abandoning the inhabitants of Trumbull Valley (and some of their comrades) to the fate.  Now you  get a chance at  their vindication. 

The add on Lifeline comes with a new map. It is the city of Danforth 

Map of Danforth

Not that you are going to go into the city itself. The red areas are inaccessible, so the map consists mostly of the road around the city and some areas next to it. It is small, certainly as compared to the original game map.

The ring around Danforth. It will be full of hordes later in the game.

Danforth skyline. Oh so quiet.

But while the map is smaller Lifeline cranks up the pressure. From the start you are thrown into the action, not unlike the original game or the previous DLC breakdown, but Lifeline doesn't let up. The game opens with your first character, commander Hawkes, accompanied by two soldiers on a road facing a dozen zombies. And once they are disposed of you are immediately ordered to hurry towards your base to take control of Greyhound One which is about to be swarmed by zombies.

Greyhound One.

After that the game keeps you on your toes by throwing waves of zombies against your base  and each attack increases in intensity. Next to normal zombies, you will be facing  more and more special zombies, called freaks.

And in between these attacks you have to rescue citizens and stray soldiers, gather supplies, build up your base and rescue high value assets.  And since there is a shortage of men and time, you sometimes have to face a choice. Will you rescue a citizen or will you gather supplies?

In the meantime the zombie threat escalates and the zombies grown in number and ferocity throughout the area. You will value your outposts and your Molotovs, which are sometimes the only way to save a citizen or soldier who is being swamped by zombies. Yes, you might have to set them on fire on purpose.

Your base. It looks pretty empty.

There is a small story line available in lifeline and it even gives you different options to end the game. 

Did he say 'nuclear'?

Yeah, I hear you talking.

. 

Criticism of Lifeline: bugs bugs bugs.

A special part for criticism of Lifeline? Well yes, and not because I dislike the game or find it short, which was to be expected of a DLC, but what annoyed me to no small extent were the bugs, some of which were pretty game spoiling.

An example of  this is when during the story line you have to rescue two ladies and then escort them to a house to retrieve some notes. This house is infested and you have to clear out the zombies. I knew this because I had this done in a previous game. What happened however was that the infestation had moved to a house next door for some reason. So I decided to clean that one to finish the mission, but the two ladies refused to come along. So I decided to attack the house with some reinforcements I had called up. I was halfway in when I noticed that the ladies were being attacked and didn't fight back. They died making me fail the mission.

There are many more little annoying bugs. Like you can call reinforcements, a feature that costs a pretty amount of influence, but this failed to deliver three out of five times.  Another bug is the issue where a NPC(non player character) refuses to sit in a car. Yet another is when your NPC doesn't fight and just stands around. 

A more annoying bug was that Vienne Cho in most of my games never appeared on the map. Another bug is that I had Sasquatch disappear after I finished his story line.

Verdict of Lifeline

 I liked lifeline because it put a new twist on the game and makes for a new experience even though 

it is short lived. It is fun to try it a few times to improve your tactics and explore the few options.  

Game spoiler(tactics)

Once you equip your men with grenade launchers, you basically can keep playing the game indefinitely because NPCs never run out of ammo and since there are five or six grenade launchers available you can equip the bulk of your men with them(if you don't put any effort in recruiting new ones) and have them wipe out the waves of zombies. The only time you actually have to intervene is when Big Uns attack as the NPC grenade launchers don't seem to have an effect on them. 

If all else fails:

Sucker Punch: Angel

I couldn't resist to combine this sequence from Sucker Punch to Angel by Massive Attack. Notice the edits. We configured it to have the music match what you see.
Edits done by Taubie.

Henry and Kristl witnessed The Trial (1962)

"Nowadays you can hardly say anything against Orson Welles without
invoking scorn and ridicule," Kristl mused.

"You were going to?"

"Not on purpose, but I feel a bit apprehensive about it. I mean you
have a certain amount of leeway towards almost any other director,
except for Welles.. You have to say he was a great guy.."

"Pff.." Henry said.

"Yeah."

"You do not have to, with me," Henry said.

"Thanks."

"So, I think it is an old boring slow moving that is a bit confusing,
to say the least," Henry said.

"You think so?"

"I mean, black and white in 1962," Henry said.

"Uh, well..is that such a big thing?"

"Yeah.. and no action."

"Okay..I feel compelled to come to the defense of this movie."

Henry smiled, but he hid his smile behind his hand and pretended to
take sip from his tea, "Hot," he remarked.

"Regardless of anything it's at least a decent film, although it seems
to be all over the place," Kristl said.

"It looks like someone pasted a lot of 'scenes' together without much
sense and pawned it off as a coherent movie," Henry said.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"It seems to be quite true to the book.. which means that any coherence
in the movie, or any incoherence for that matter, must stem from the
book," Kristl said.

"Then the books must be a bit of a confusing mess," Henry said.

"Maybe, but I liked the movie, you know. It was surreal, strange and
unsettling. Which seems appropriate to me.."

"Right."

"For the Kafka story that is."

"Oh, did you read it by the way?"

"No," Kristl shook her head.

"Me neither."

"I think that goes for most of the audience," Kristl said.

"Yeah. So how you know it is fitting?"

"Well, other people say so that it is. Except for the ending. Which was
thought off by Orson Welles. He felt it to be more appropriate. It seem
to have to do with the holocaust. I am not quite sure. Seems more that
the end is fitting to a cold war."

"Yeah. But anyway, too old a movie for me really," Henry said.

"I think it's a good movie, but not astounding. Perkins is such a
dubious choice. At times he is really excellent, but at other times he
seems to be a poor choice. He has these wild mood swings. He constantly
hovers between assertive and dejected. It's just odd how he swings from
one attitude to the opposite."

"Heh."

"And there seems to be no development in his character. He just seems
to go from one mood to the other depending on what is fitting for the
scene at the moment. So there seems to be no humanit that drives him,
just like: in this scene he should be angry and in this scene he should
be desperate."

"Ah."

"It is just a bit to fabricated. A very nice fabrication, but a
fabrication nevertheless."

"Like most movies."

"Yup. Did you know someone made a sequel to the trial?"

"Yes I did. Will Eisner made one called the Appeal. In it justice is
done."

"Oh you know.."

"Hey it's a comic. It was Eisner responding to Kafka. While Kafka
painted a surreal world in which a man was the victim of soulless
bureaucracy, Eisner seems to say that in a democratic society 'they'
would not get away with it in the end."

"Maybe someone should make a movie about that?" Henry said.

"Maybe someone will."

www.meritcoba.com

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057427/reviews-108

Empathic Eccentricia: Failing/Fallen words

Dreams in Neon

Dreams in Neon

Recommend to set it to HD^^

Dreams in Neon is a movie made at Insilico in Second Life. Insilico is a vast place covering several so called 'sims' all done in a cyberpunk, near-futuristic style. Music is Max Waves, called Twareg Rose and made for it. Well that is my opinion. P

Well actually I had reserved the music with the idea of using it in a kind of vampire the masquerade: bloodlines way. That is a game in which you have to travel through sewers at one time and far of you hear the sound of chinese/japanes singing. Very eerie.

Henry and Kristl enter the Mists of Avalon (2001)

"So ever read the book?" Henry asked, "Seems like the kind of book you
would have read, in your days..."

Kristl frowned, "My days? Sounds like I have outlived my shelf live. "

"Eh.. Well I mean, from when you were younger. When you read these
books. Fantasy and such."

Kristl gave Henry a look, "Gosh, you are starting to scare me."

"Scare you?"

"Well, you are actually right, I have not read much fantasy for a long
time. I got a bit tired with the copy and paste books that flooded the
market. And we did not have the internet then to figure out the good
from the bad. Or even the mediocre from the bad. You had to read the
blurb and page through the book. Hundreds of them."

"See.. I can listen," Henry smiled sanguinely.

"Oh.. ah.. Well, we might even make a good woman out of you yet."

"Let's not go overboard now."

"But the answer is no. I picked it up once as it had intriguing cover
of a woman riding a horse and holding something up. A staff I think.
Like a magic user."

"And?"

"I gave it a try but never got past the first few pages. Perhaps I had
lost interest in the whole Arthur legend at that time. The Arthur
legend was another dead horse that was beaten ad nausea."

"But did you read it , Henry?" Kristl asked.

"Nuu.. Fantasy is not my kind of thing."

"So what do you think of this women movie."

"Well.. it is a bit quaint."

"Quaint?" Kristl said.

"Well it was nice to see eh the woman side of it all, but it was kind
of uneventful."

"No kick ass girls in this one."

"And full of 'functional' sex and even incest. I mean. It was as if the
whole woman side of the Arthur legend consisted of scheming,
backstabbing, incest and sex."

"Apparently."

"I wonder if it was written by a man.. a misogynistic one, " Henry
said.

Kristl laughed, "I was told Marion Zimmer Bradley was a woman. Perhaps
the book gives a more favorable angle on the story. Turning a book into
a movie usually means that the story has to be condensed and suffer."

"Yeah."

"I wonder if you can follow the story if you do not have some
background information. Like it is never quite explained why Lot hates
Arthur."

"Some things are also strange. Like when Uther Pendragon sneaks into
the castle of Gorlois, disguised as Gorlois, and beds Igraine she gets
knocked up and then marries Pendragon, " Henry said.

"Hmm," Kristl said.

"Strange is also the decision of Morgause to spare Mordred. She first
wants to kill him when he is a newborn baby but when the delirious
Morgaine blurts out he is actually Arthur's son, she spares him..But
why? They say that when Arthur has no sons, they are next in line for
the throne. So why let Mordred live?"

"I got the feeling that much what was in the book could not be put into
the movie and thus we lack events that probably would make the story
more 'sensible'," Kristl said.

"Another strange thing is the passivity of Morgaine. I mean it seems
like almost everything is happening to her and she is a bit helpless in
the face of it. Like oh, right I am taken away to this Island to become
a priestess. Oh right, I have to have sex with this guy in some ancient
ritual. Oh right, I am to be married off to king Uriens."

"Oh wow, that was one of the dumbest scene ever. Arthur discussing with
Uriens to arrange for a wedding and then when they ask Morgaine if she
wants to marry this 'royal person' from Wales, they forget to mention
that is was the father Uriens they meant and not his son. That was so
lame. As if such political decisions were done in such a offhand
manner. I would grant that Morgaine would probably have had no choice,
but the movie suggests it was a mistake and that she could not back out
after it had been arranged for fear of Uriens losing face."

"So?" Henry said.

"To wrap it up?" Krisl queried.

"Still a reasonable movie to watch, I think. Just for the story line."

"And the acting is decent. Not very good, but passable."

"Yeah. But the fighting and magic is lame. It is as if people are
afraid of hurting each other. And that absurd way of fighting of
Mordred. Did he travel to China to learn that tactic?" Henry said and
continued, "And did it not strike you as odd that Morgaine at one time
suddenly became this killer fighter? Throughout the whole movie we see
her never touch a sword and then when she gets ambushed she kills half
a dozen of these Saxon raiders. Wow. Way to go girl."

"I think fighting came natural to women in those days. Men had to work
hard for it," Kristl smiled.

"Yeah.. right. As 'natural' as in that women always hit something when
they park their cars backwards."

"Not much of a 'skill'. And not true at all. A fable. A persistent
recurring one. I wonder if we are still claimed to bump into things
while parking when flying spacecrafts."

"Well fables tend to linger on.. so I guess you are stuck with it one
way or another. It just morphs into something new."

"And no doubt we will be seeing another Arthur legend.. maybe next time
it will be about gay relations."

"Or aliens."

"Or gay aliens."

"Now that is an idea."

Book review: Elke raaf pikt by Jean-Pierre Gibrat(Each Raven picks)

Elke raaf pikt by Jean-Pierre Gibrat
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Introduction

Welcome to my, hopefully short, review of the graphical novel 'Elke raaf pikt' made by Jean-Pierre Gibrat, the title of which could be translated as: each raven picks, the latter word being used as meaning 'to steal' and at the same time as 'the picking of a bird'.
I write this in English incidentally even though this is a Dutch book translated from French. I am not sure if there is an English version out there, but if there is none, it ought to be made as it is a fine example of graphical storytelling.

Below will follow a review in three parts: the story, the graphics and a conclusion. The story part will have a spoiler as I have to say something about the end of the novel, however I will arrange that in a separate section that is at the end of the part discussing the story.

Jeanne and Francois

The story
The story and the characters are neatly done. There are not that many characters in this story and that is actually a pre as now there is time to give each their individuality. The people are also normal people, with their good sides and bad sides and without superpowers or gung ho shoot-em up mentalities. And nobody is dressing in oddly colored tights to fly through the air and beat up the Jerries.
There is even very little violence in this comic and if there is any it is done realistically.

The story tells about Jeanne who gets arrested by the French police. It is 1944 and the allies have just landed in France, but Paris is still occupied and Jeanne is a fix because she belongs to the communist resistance. There is a danger this will be discovered and she will be handed over to the Germans. In the police prison she meet Francois, a small time thief, trickster and crook who helps her escape and arranges a hideout for the two of them.
The hideout is actually a boat called Himalaya which is owned by a family of three. The boat is at the center of the story for most of the time.
The bulk of the story revolves around two issues: Jeanne's search for her sister, who has disappeared and the question who has betrayed her to the police.
In the mean time, Jeanne and Francois develop an attraction for each other.
Gibrat is good at mixing various elements in make an engaging story and he does it quite right, never overdoing it, or having people do unbelievable things.

But there are a few problems with the story(spoiler alerts).

At some point the boat on which Jeanne hides is ordered by the Germans to transport things for them. A soldier is put on board to oversee the activities. This soldier is from Strassbourg, a part of France that was added to Germany. He speaks French therefore even though he is a German. He also has been in Stalingrad and plagues by nightmares, he is also on a boat with the pretty Jeanne. The story seems poised for an very interesting development, with this soldier maybe having conflicting emotions serving the Germans and finding himself on the losing side, but basically nothing comes of it. And that is a pity.

Other characters

Also, at various moments in the story, Gibrat decides to keep the story going by using ‘convenient moments’. For instance at some point the police commissioner who has had Jeanne arrested at the start of the story pops up later in the story to move it forward by helping Jeanne to get into prison so she can meet Francois there, who has been captured by the Germans. It is very strange behavior for a man who previously was depicted as being a coward and opportunist and I find it hard to believe such a person would suddenly decide to help Jeanne. He might have had a volte-face because he needed to switch sides due to the German retreat, but this change of heart fits ill with him also becoming brave enough to help Jeanne while the Germans are still in control.
Another very convenient moment is that at one time allied fighters strafe the boat without killing anyone, but they manage to hit the dead body a German soldier that has been killed by Jeanne previously. So now they can claim he died because of the allied attack, thus having a believable story to give to the Germans about the death of that soldier.
Yet a third strange moment is that Jeanne's sister suddenly appears out of the blue somewhat into the story. As if Gibrat was getting bored with the search or just wanted it to finish so has Jeanne's sister appear at the boat.
Another strange thing is that Jeanne at some point in the story loses a shoe and she walks about with just one shoe for a very long time, even though it would be logical for her to have her shoe replaced.

A last criticism I have is the end of the story. The last page should have been left out. The page before ends with Jeanne alone in snowy cold Paris anxious about the fate of Francois, who has been deported to a camp. Then the last page explains that he managed to escape the camp and is probably Switzerland. It is almost as if this last page was pasted on to the story to make a move happy ending. For the page before it could be that Francois was dead, while the last page makes it unlikely. It is as someone said to Gibrat: look this ending with Jeanne in wintry Paris is not very positive, so let's add another page to give it a more happy ending.

Landscape shots. Note the similarity of the men in the picture at the bottom.

Graphics
The comic is neatly drawn and Gibrat really likes his main character Jeanne who is in the picture most of the time. She is pretty, but he gives her a crooked smile which gives her a kind of unique personality. Gibrat does not shy away from offering detailed pictures of Paris and bars and such. It must have been a lot of work to make some of these drawings.
However Gibrat seems is also somewhat conventional. He keeps the camera mostly level and does not experiment much with unusual angles. He keeps everything in focus. Nor does he go beyond the constraints of the picture. You will not see him for instance use several pictures next to each other to depict one scene. Or have a picture in picture effect. It is neatly arrange, conventional and not very experimental or imaginative.
Another thing is that he seems to stick to a certain of man that comes back all the time, Francois, the german soldier, michel and most men seem more of less have the same overall shape. It is as if he defaults to this shape if he does not need to draw a more typical shape.
There are more typical things like this. Like most german soldiers wear the same kind of outfit. Only in the last page the germans have long coats. It is as if he has drawn a kind of template that he uses most of the time, but only diverts from it when that is needed.
However all of these are just minor points in my opinion.



Conclusion
I really liked this graphic novel. It has believable likeable characters. The occurrences are believable even though there are a lot that are too convenient at times. It is a story that I belief could have happened and very well depicted.

However I hesitate to give it a five stars. This is mostly because I find there are too many convenient moments in the story. In addition Gibrat is just a tad too conventional in his drawings. In all I decided to give it a 4.5 out of 5, which is a 4, round down

This review will also appear on my blog and website where I will add some images from the novel to illustrate some points.

www.meritcoba.com

View all my reviews

Stories of the unreal: Wildlife

Wildlife

A picture I made using Osgrid, Secondlife and real life pictures. The set is made in OSgrid. The animals are from OSgrid. The statues to the right have been made by Laughton Mc.Cry using sculptris. The fish are from the public domain and the advertisement  is from the Library of Congress. The avatar and the spot lights are from second life.  For my next step I want to be able to merge pictures from various sources into an overall picture. That way I won’t be depended on one source.

Henry and Kristl did not last to see 13 Assassins

"Gosh," said Henry.

He and Kristl were both gaping at the large screen that adorned one
side of the wall and which had, mercifully, gone black. A soft sound of
static emitted from the screen. It was the only sound in the otherwise
silent room.

Kristl pressed a button on her wrist watch and glanced at the display.

"Fifteen minutes."

"That long?" Henry gasped.

Kristl nodded.

"Maybe we can skip to the fight, you know the one that is claimed to be
the best since.. Kill Bill?", Henry said.

"I somehow got the feeling that it will be as brutal, sadistic,
gruesome and otherwise revolting as the part of the movie that we have
seen up till now. In fact; I would not want to chance it, even if there
was a small chance that it will turn out to be otherwise."

"Uhm?"

"You think it will?" Kristl stared at him.

"I lost you there... Yet, you know, Kill Bill. It was a great fight
scene. I assume that they mean the fight between the bride and the 99."

"Well the suggestion is there. Assumption and all that."

"It makes me so curious. Just to see if it is really that great."

"The filmmakers would be happy then. They got you hooked by just
alluding to Kill Bill. You immediately draw comparisons. It creates
expectations without actually promising much and thus you want to watch
the movie.Smart advertising."

Henry nodded.

"But just think of this. How many of the movies we have seen started
out one way and then turned into something completely different along
the way?"

"Well.. not that many."

"So what is the likelihood that a movie starting out with one sickening
scene after the other, done in drab colors, populated with
interchangeable characters, done in an unremarkable style and devoid of
humor, will become the opposite in the end? Will become to resemble
Kill Bill?"

"Not very likely..."

"So why should I want to suffer all that just in the forlorn hope that
it might turn out to be different?"

"Eh.. because maybe it will?"

"Okay.. I can not stop you from trying, but I rather watch something
that I like to watch and I think might be watchable till the end. Let's
pop in another movie?"

"We got Azumi and Azumi 2?," Henry smiled at Kristl.

"More Japanese swordplay?"

"Yes. Was that not the reason we actually wanted to watch this one in
the first place: to compare them?"

"That is true."

"Besides.. it has a girl as the lead and.."

"...you like kick-ass girls.." Kristl sighed.

"Nothing wrong with that."

"Only that it is sexist."

"At least it is not grisly."

"As if the one precludes the other."

"Uh? What do you mean?"

"There are some twisted people out there."

"Yeah."

"I hope they remain out there and out of my mind. I find those twisted
images and thoughts disturbing."

"Right."

"One more reason not to watch this movie."

"If you think so. I wish it had a sassy fighter girl..I would have
watched it.. In a skirt that is almost to short.. Like Azumi."

"Pervert."

"Thanks sooo much."

"You are welcome."

www.meritcoba.com

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1436045/

Two Nekos do Second Life -1: Insilico

I recently was in Insilico in Second Life to make a profile picture for Merit. Insilico is a role play place set in a cyberpunk world. For those who do not know what cyberpunk is: it is the world of blade runner.  It is  near future world where advanced technology has become part of human life, but society slowly falls apart. The individual becomes dominant and community suffers. Governments change from providing central services to all, to becoming repressive and undemocratic. On the face of it society still pays lip-service to democracy and equality, but in reality wealth and power determines everything. Central to cyberpunk is the notion that government tasks are being provided by mega corporations. They provide shelter, social services, security, health services, but only to their own employees. Their community is the community of the company and not of society of nationality. Ironically this world does not know discrimination on basis of race, gender, sexual behavior, religion or culture. The only thing that counts is whether one is a employee or not.

While this sounds like a bad world, it is also a world of opportunity. Enterprising individuals can carve out a destiny for themselves and there is still the possibility that the degrading of society can be reversed. Usually cyberpunk world assumes that space exploration has progressed and often planets like Mars have been colonized and often also the larger moons of various solar planets. Intergalactic space travel has not yet been achieved, but space travel in the solar system is well developed and expanding.

This then is the world where Insilico is based. It represent a large megapolis that is reminiscent of the city in Blade Runner, and the cities in Deus Ex, for those who are familiar with these games.  Insilico is truly a beautiful example of what one can do in Second Life and especially with the introduction of mesh the place has achieved a remarkable outlook.

Here are some pictures from Insilico.

This is my avatar Merit. I had her dressed up in a kind of cyberpunk look. This is a Hexatile look from Elixir.

A street at Insilico. Through blade runner the combination of these dark, empty streets combined with the bright  signs have become a kind of trademark. The contrast between the shiny colors and the dark grey streets dominated by towering dark mega buildings create an estranged feeling. It is like this single light bulb in an otherwise dark room. Typical Cyberpunk are the many signs with symbols that  convey no meaning. It is like the Asian text on the signs. People can not read them, they convey no meaning for them.
In Cyberpunk communications have improved, but at the same time it has not.

A bar somewhere in Insilico. Well I needed a closeup from Merit.

Typical Cyberpunk.. A robot looking like an insect is the barman at the Blue Ant bar. Don't you love that.

Somewhere in Insilico is the 7 Seas restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant is made to look like it is underwater. Look at the fishies. I am going to eat you little fishies!

In front of the entrance of the Seven Seas restaurant there are these two blue dragons circles around a large bubble.

Cyberpunk exist of mixing the old with the new, nature with technology. Maybe you remember the artificial snake  from bladerunner? Here is a statue of en elephant. The benches are located underneath a blue ultra modern looking device. No idea what it was for.

The Buddha Bowl is Noodle Bar in Insilico. The mesh stool degraded, but just imagine they are floating. In blade runner there is noodle bar scene. And thus the noodle bar has become a stock item in the cyberpunk world. The dragon like display in the back was beautiful.

Noodle bar close up.

Buddha Bowl Noodle bar.

Atomix Comic a shop for all tastes.. at least as far as the sign above the entrance seems to be saying. An interior shot with a mesh dude standing guard.

Street scenes in Insilico. The makers did their best to capture the mood of a cyberpunk city. Darkness all around, but always offset by sudden bright signs. Perhaps you recall that in Blade Runner there rain seems to fall making the street even more drearier.

At this point I had bought myself some cool cyberpunk glasses.

Even darker and therefore even brighter. A cyberpunk place is actually also a good environment for vampires.


Well uh, a lot of pictures. I hope you liked them. I even got more, but I put them on my website at: www.meritcoba.net.

On the roof:page 8(Xtralife)

On the roof:page 7(Xtralife)

On the roof:page 6(Xtralife)

On the roof: page 5 (Xtralife)

On the roof: page 4 (Xtralife)

On the roof: page 3 (Xtralife)

On the roof: page 2(Xtralife).

On the roof: page 1(Xtralife).

Henry and Kristl space out on The Road(2009)

“Bleak, bleaker, bleakest. Is there a word that would top bleakest?”

“Sunshine,” Henry said.

“Sunshine?” Kristl’s jaw dropped and she gave Henry a look of incredulity.

“Yes. It certainly would top bleakest.”

“I am somehow missing…”

“After the rain comes sunshine. Every dark cloud has silver lining. Come winter, come summer. So despair will inevitably result in..?”

“I am not sure that..”

“Sure you are sure.. look at yourself,” Henry beamed

“What?”

“Well, you are not hesitant to point out that you do not like war, while having spent a lot of time reading about it, watching war movies and writing about it. What would you say would be the lesson from all of that?”

“That war is hell and a waste of time and lives?”

“Sure.”

“So what does that say about this movie?”

“That bleak movies suck, can be turned of f and one goes to watch a bunch of nice movies that have uplifting nice endings and then you suddenly feel a lot better about watching films like,” Henry paused for a moment, “like...romantic comedies.”

“Those would top bleakest to,” Kristl shivered and then continued, “They make me feel down. Like this movie does.”

Henry suddenly rose, walked out of the viewing room and returned a few minutes later with a cup of tea which he handed to Kristl, “Have this yourself a nice cup of tea.”

Tea, Henry knew, was something handy to hand out. Even the most dedicated addict would not turn down a cup of tea and it gave you a nice feel to drink something warm.

“How come you are so..”

“Undepressed?”

“Yes, I mean. Geez,  this movie is.. I mean, well the world turns to shit and everyone is dead or dying and the only livestock that is left to eat are other humans. And even when they are not trying to have you for dinner they want to rob you or profit in another way from you.  And this in a landscape drained of color except for sepia and grim gray. The only thing that is positive is the dedication of the father to the son.  But that is even more depressing as it is either naive or totally at odds with what is happening. So what is the point ? At some they finally end up at a place where we hear the father says that at the other side of the ocean a father and a boy, just like them, are probably sitting and wondering if there is a better place to go? If there is no hope, why not take the gun and shoot your son and yourself before you run out of bullets? If you love him, would you not do that to spare him the suffering that lies ahead? I do not even understand why they would drag on when..,” Kristl swallowed hard.

Henry sat down next to Kristl and put his arm around her and for once she did not stiffen the first few seconds, “Gosh, Kristl it is just a movie.”

“A well acted movie. Well shot. I mean.. look at the cinematography, but in the end it is  not much different from say a movie like…. 'The hobbit, the desolation of Smaug.' Or one of the Lord of the Rings movie  for that matter,” Henry said.

“WHAT?”

“Well, it is about a make believe world, with make believe people, undergoing make believe experiences and acting in a make believe manner.”

Kristl smiled thinly at that, “You can not compare...this to.. It is in a whole different category.”

“Or say.. ‘Go west’, by the Marx Brothers,” Henry continued.

“But that is even… I mean that is an absurd movie.. With absurd people in it..totally wacky.. That is what a Marx brothers movie is..”

“Remember the train station scene you showed me once? It is from that movie”

“Yes.. That is very funny, but...”

“Totally wacky.. over the top nonsense.”

“Yes.. but.”

“Did it make you laugh?”

“well.. yes.. it..”

“Does it make you feel better thinking about it?”

“Yes..”

“Some people have that with romantic comedies.”

“Yes..but...”

“And so... wait.. Listen to this little story?”

“What..”

“A guy is hitting himself on the head with a hammer and in comes another guy who asks him.. why do you do that? Well.. he says, it feels so nice when I stop doing it.”

“That is absurd.”

“So there is your answer.”

“Huh?”

“I feel so undepressed because the movie ended. Somewhat cheerfully than expected. But it is done.”

“Uh.”

“In one movie one actor concludes a process by throwing a ring into the fires of the mountain after being beset upon by evil beings while wandering through a desolate landscape. In this movie they do the same, more or less, except the ring is now a boy and they do not throw him into the fires.. well not literally.”

“That is some comparison.”

“Yup, except this movie is more bleak because no doubt we are in a depression, so movies like these get made, just like we had this upsurge of disasters movie in the seventies of the last century, with earthquakes, meteors and global nuclear war threatening earth. And now we have that again. As sign of the times. But it’s just as much nonsense as any other movie.. including ‘Go West.”

“That one is at least funny.”

“So let’s watch that as an antidote to the bleakness of movies like The Road.”

“Let’s..”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/