"Tis better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all? No. Tis better to have never met certain people in the first place."
-Kurt Daniel Glowinski
I'm not up at all on current poetry. I don't usually find it all that interesting, and because of that, I've no idea how to evaluate what's good and what's bad. Most people will yap at you that it's all subjective anyway until you say you like ________ poet, and then they'll loudly call you on your stupidity.
I stick to reading poets who are dead.
Still, let me take a moment to recommend Narcissistic Personality Disorder by that guy I just quoted above. I've no way to tell whether this set of poems is particularly good or not, but I can say that they will speak to anyone who has been in a relationship with a chronic narcissist. For those who have been, perhaps it will speed the healing process to know that you are not alone. For those who haven't been, maybe you will see how abusive relationships like those hold together. Or maybe the poems will be useless to you.
Poetry's pretty useless anyway. Unless it's Dr. Suess.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Legacy of Susan Kay - this is a terrible title
Most medium-to-hardcore Phantom fans have read or tried to read the novel Phantom by Susan Kay. It's a tricky book to find; eBay or finding a stray copy on Amazon is usually your best bet. I happened to chance upon a copy at a secondhand bookstore one magical summer.
I was entranced with Phantom, which is a "biography" of Erik, starting from before his birth, and going through his childhood, his life as the Phantom and his affair with Christine, to after his death.
If you find it and read it, have a box of Kleenex handy.
Susan Kay has only written one other novel, that was actually published before Phantom, and is even harder to find, called Legacy. The story of Legacy is as follows:
I was entranced with Phantom, which is a "biography" of Erik, starting from before his birth, and going through his childhood, his life as the Phantom and his affair with Christine, to after his death.
If you find it and read it, have a box of Kleenex handy.
Susan Kay has only written one other novel, that was actually published before Phantom, and is even harder to find, called Legacy. The story of Legacy is as follows:
Phantom - Erik + Queen Elizabeth I = Legacy
I'm being glib, it really is a good book. I can't help comparing it to Phantom, though, and I have to say that in the five year gap between novels, Susan Kay really honed her craft.
I can't complain about the subject matter. I love history, and Elizabeth Tudor is a fascinating figure, and real, unlike Erik (I can tell the difference every now and again). I kept having issues with the narration though, which prevented me from breezing through the book in a day like I did with Phantom. I could also be slightly biased towards the subject matter in Phantom, but like I said, the Tudors are an interesting set.
The issue seemed to be that the book hovered between using a (with apologies for sounding like a prat) limited third-person omniscient narrator and an objective third-person etc. etc. So while the pronoun usage, in theory, placed the reader in the minds of different characters, one always felt divorced from the action of the story, and this left some important moments of the story feeling rushed, or the impact lessened. Towards the end, it also seemed she was trying to build Elizabeth up to be an unreliable narrator, but I couldn't tell if this was deliberate, or just a result of the narration issues from all the way along.
Being a historical book, of course I can't resist nitpicking at a few points. If you, dear reader, actually intend on exerting the energy to find Legacy and read it, you might want to stop here. Spoilers. No, it doesn't matter if you're already familiar with the story of Elizabeth Tudor, you want to stop here.
Are we all sorted out now? Good.
Legacy is very accurate, to my knowledge, though I would be the first to say that I am not an expert. Two fairly significant issues jumped out at me, however:
1. There is a suggestion towards the end of the book that Elizabeth was actually the daughter of Anne and George Boleyn. Based on every source I've ever read, that is absolute bollocks, and really didn't add anything to the story to suggest it. Matter of fact, it pissed me off about fifteen pages from the end. Taking liberties with history in fiction can be forgiven, sometimes, if it actually adds something worthwhile to the story. Having Elizabeth spend six hundred and fifty pages fighting to keep the throne because the Catholics think she is a pretender and a bastard, and then telling the reader, "Hey check it out! They're right! PWNAGE"? It defeats the purpose of the character. You've just invalidated six hundred and fifty pages of your own work, and the time it took your reader to read them. Good job.
2. Elizabeth is described as being very naturally beautiful well into her forties and fifties in Legacy, and her appearance gradually changes to being very mannequin-like due to wigs and cosmetics as she ages. This is not the case. Elizabeth I suffered through a bout of smallpox in 1562, when she was 29. This left her scarred, and she began to use heavy make-up from that point forward, which hastened the loss of her hair, so by her mid-thirties there would have been nothing natural left about her beauty. This was not an unusual case in her time, but in Legacy, Elizabeth comes through the bout of smallpox miraculously un-scarred, and actually marvels at her unbelievable luck at having done so. A major inaccuracy like that is annoying enough, but more to the point, why change it? It doesn't add anything to the story, and in fact it would have been more interesting to read about Elizabeth's struggle with her vanity; historically that's one of the interesting points about her.
And those are my gripes.
For all my complaining, I still loved Legacy very much. Whoever finds my cold corpse one day will have to pry both it and Phantom out of my dead arms with the jaws of life. I'm sure it will find it's way into my regular book rotation. Just not for a little while.
I can't complain about the subject matter. I love history, and Elizabeth Tudor is a fascinating figure, and real, unlike Erik (I can tell the difference every now and again). I kept having issues with the narration though, which prevented me from breezing through the book in a day like I did with Phantom. I could also be slightly biased towards the subject matter in Phantom, but like I said, the Tudors are an interesting set.
The issue seemed to be that the book hovered between using a (with apologies for sounding like a prat) limited third-person omniscient narrator and an objective third-person etc. etc. So while the pronoun usage, in theory, placed the reader in the minds of different characters, one always felt divorced from the action of the story, and this left some important moments of the story feeling rushed, or the impact lessened. Towards the end, it also seemed she was trying to build Elizabeth up to be an unreliable narrator, but I couldn't tell if this was deliberate, or just a result of the narration issues from all the way along.
Being a historical book, of course I can't resist nitpicking at a few points. If you, dear reader, actually intend on exerting the energy to find Legacy and read it, you might want to stop here. Spoilers. No, it doesn't matter if you're already familiar with the story of Elizabeth Tudor, you want to stop here.
Are we all sorted out now? Good.
Legacy is very accurate, to my knowledge, though I would be the first to say that I am not an expert. Two fairly significant issues jumped out at me, however:
1. There is a suggestion towards the end of the book that Elizabeth was actually the daughter of Anne and George Boleyn. Based on every source I've ever read, that is absolute bollocks, and really didn't add anything to the story to suggest it. Matter of fact, it pissed me off about fifteen pages from the end. Taking liberties with history in fiction can be forgiven, sometimes, if it actually adds something worthwhile to the story. Having Elizabeth spend six hundred and fifty pages fighting to keep the throne because the Catholics think she is a pretender and a bastard, and then telling the reader, "Hey check it out! They're right! PWNAGE"? It defeats the purpose of the character. You've just invalidated six hundred and fifty pages of your own work, and the time it took your reader to read them. Good job.
2. Elizabeth is described as being very naturally beautiful well into her forties and fifties in Legacy, and her appearance gradually changes to being very mannequin-like due to wigs and cosmetics as she ages. This is not the case. Elizabeth I suffered through a bout of smallpox in 1562, when she was 29. This left her scarred, and she began to use heavy make-up from that point forward, which hastened the loss of her hair, so by her mid-thirties there would have been nothing natural left about her beauty. This was not an unusual case in her time, but in Legacy, Elizabeth comes through the bout of smallpox miraculously un-scarred, and actually marvels at her unbelievable luck at having done so. A major inaccuracy like that is annoying enough, but more to the point, why change it? It doesn't add anything to the story, and in fact it would have been more interesting to read about Elizabeth's struggle with her vanity; historically that's one of the interesting points about her.
And those are my gripes.
For all my complaining, I still loved Legacy very much. Whoever finds my cold corpse one day will have to pry both it and Phantom out of my dead arms with the jaws of life. I'm sure it will find it's way into my regular book rotation. Just not for a little while.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Rock-a-bye baby
Anyone else experience night terrors? They're really most uncomfortable. Even the ones that involve you waking up and seeing Hannibal Lecter in your bed, and quoting Dante to you over a string quartet.
Especially those ones.
Next time, I'll put on the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack before I go to sleep. Maybe I'll wake up next to Johnny Depp.
I can dream, can't I?
Apparently I can.
That's the point.
Get it? Funny, huh? Get it? Do you?!
I need a hobby. Like writing or something.
Especially those ones.
Next time, I'll put on the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack before I go to sleep. Maybe I'll wake up next to Johnny Depp.
I can dream, can't I?
Apparently I can.
That's the point.
Get it? Funny, huh? Get it? Do you?!
I need a hobby. Like writing or something.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
How I'll Spend My Summer Vacation
One convention that's grown on me a lot the last few years is Fan Expo, which takes place in August at the Metro Convention Centre. It's basically a giant geek mall you pay for the privilege of shopping at, but there are usually good movies showing, and cosplay to really marvel at. Alright, so I'm easily entertained.
On that note, one of the guests this year is the director of Cannibal Holocaust. I don't know if any of you reading this (except for me) have ever seen Cannibal Holocaust. If you haven't, I don't recommend it. If you have, perhaps you'll understand when I say that this year I think I'll throw some extra incentive on top of my registration fee for the privilege of kicking the guy in the nuts.
Buzz Aldrin's going to be there too, but I won't kick him. Unless he slaughters a turtle or cuts off a monkey's face between now and then I guess. I must admit my hypocrisy in that I still won't kick him even if he stabs a giant spider, but what can I say, I'm not perfect, just arachnophobic.
On that note, one of the guests this year is the director of Cannibal Holocaust. I don't know if any of you reading this (except for me) have ever seen Cannibal Holocaust. If you haven't, I don't recommend it. If you have, perhaps you'll understand when I say that this year I think I'll throw some extra incentive on top of my registration fee for the privilege of kicking the guy in the nuts.
Buzz Aldrin's going to be there too, but I won't kick him. Unless he slaughters a turtle or cuts off a monkey's face between now and then I guess. I must admit my hypocrisy in that I still won't kick him even if he stabs a giant spider, but what can I say, I'm not perfect, just arachnophobic.
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