Thinking Trademarks, Symbols and Logotypes: Design by Thinking
Book
This volume profiles 150 trademarks, symbols and logotypes from around the world giving examples in...
Zaha Hadid, Judith Turner: A Dialogue
Joseph Giovannini, Zaha Hadid and Judith Turner
Book
The juxtapositions of Zaha Hadids architectural models and drawings and Judith Turners photographs...
Foundation Drupal 7: Learn How to Use the Drupal Framework to Quickly Build Feature-Rich Websites
Book
Drupal is a content management framework that powers web sites from simple online brochures to more...
Manabeshima Island Japan: One Island, Two Months, One Minicar, Sixty Crabs, Eighty Bites and Fifty Shots of Shochu
Book
More than just a Japan travel guide, Manabeshima Island Japan paints a colorful and entertaining...
Paper Girls: Volume 1
Cliff Chiang, Brian K. Vaughan, Matthew Wilson and Jared K. Fletcher
8.4
Rate It
Book
From Brian K. Vaughan, #1 New York Times bestselling writer of SAGA, and Cliff Chiang, legendary...
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Murder of Crows (The Others, #2) in Books
Jul 16, 2020
This picks up not long after the first one. Meg is still working in the liaison office, accepting parcels for the Others in the courtyard and getting over the events of her almost dying. As a cassandra sangue - a blood prophet, she still has the urge to cut when pins and needles sensations take over her body and in doing so she sees black feathers in snow - Crow feathers. It foretells a coming war between humans and the Others and by reading some of their history, I am definitely on the Others side in this.
There's also a few scenes involving Meg's old handler. It seems he still wants her back and the Others are determined to track him down as his crimes and those like him escalate to almost unforgivable proportions.
The author doesn't mind writing some gory scenes and towards the end of this book, it was a little graphic in the violence.
One thing I was hoping for - a romance between Meg and Simon - seems to be brewing. It's a little awkward because Meg's never had a relationship before and isn't sure how to interact with him and Simon has never really done anything with a human before so they both try and stay as friends, though feelings are clearly starting to emerge.
There's something with this series. It hasn't completely grabbed my attention - I sometimes skip paragraphs! - but I want to read it and when I am reading it, I find it hard to put down. I want these characters to defeat every obstacle, I want them to be on top, to win.
I will be continuing the series at some point.
Designing San Francisco: Art, Land, and Urban Renewal in the City by the Bay
Book
A major new urban history of the design and development of postwar San Francisco Designing San...
First Films of the Holocaust: Soviet Cinema and the Genocide of the Jews, 1938-46
Book
Most early Western perceptions of the Holocaust were based on newsreels filmed during the Allied...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Sin City (2005) in Movies
Jan 7, 2021 (Updated Jan 11, 2021)
The main positives are of course the cast, and the style.
The cast is stacked - Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Michael Madsen, Clive Owen, Micky Rourke, Jessica Alba, Elijah Wood, Powers Boothe, Devon Aoki, Rutger Hauer, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carla Gugino, Jaime King... that's a fair ensemble if you ask me.
The style is of course a huge part of Sin City. It's neo noir black and white with splashes of colour translate perfectly from page to screen. 15 years later, the effects still look pretty decent and the overall look of the film is practically watching the graphic novels come to life, a strength that is bolstered by the cast involved.
It has a cheesy yet engaging screenplay - the runtime clocks in at over two hours, but never gets boring (just about), and the constant growly voiceovers and on the nose script beats could have potentially been laughable in anyone else's hands, but Robert Rodriguez somehow gets away with it.
The comics ultraviolence is well realised - the movie doesn't shy away from the grimness of proceedings. Some of the content however feels a little problematic in this day and age. The whole thing is plagued by a steady stream of misogyny, which would have probably been toned down if released today, but in my opinion, it's never glamorised. 95% of the male characters are grim shitbags, and the audience know it well.
I understand why a fair few people have an issue with Sin City and it's content, but personally, I find it to be a unique film with plenty of positives, a project that respects it's source material, and just about manages to avoid falling inside of its own arse.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Videodrome (1983) in Movies
Sep 8, 2020
The Plot: As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn (James Woods) is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend (Deborah Harry) auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.
Distributed by Universal Pictures, Videodrome was the first film by Cronenberg to gain backing from any major Hollywood studio. With the highest budget of any of his films to date, the film was a box-office bomb, recouping only $2.1 million from a $5.9 million budget.
Now considered a cult classic, the film has been cited as one of Cronenberg's best, and a key example of the body horror and science fiction horror genres.
The basis for the film came from David Cronenberg's childhood. Cronenberg used to pick up television signals from Buffalo, New York, late at night after Canadian stations had gone off the air, and worry he might see something disturbing not meant for public consumption.
After the box office success of Scanners, Cronenberg turned down the chance of directing Return of the Jedi, having had no desire to direct material produced by other filmmakers.
When it came to casting the character of Max Renn, Cronenberg chose James Woods, who was a fan of Rabid and Scanners and met with the actor in Beverly Hills to offer him the part, and liked the fact that Woods was very articulate in terms of delivery.
Its a excellent movie and a must see, same with david cronenberg's early horror films.