Retro Reviews: The Fisher King

You could call Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King a mess and you would be right. But then that would be sort of par for the course for a Gilliam film, who is as much an over-reacher, over-imaginer, and over-everything-er as directors come. Restraint is not one of Gilliam’s strong suits, and thus his films aren’t for everyone. In the case of this film though, the overflow, the manic and mad approach to the film work effectively in bringing to life what is as close to a modern fairy tale as films come.

Retro Reviews: The Terminal

I’ve recently been reading Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert (Ebert is the film critic that I want to write like, and reading his classic reviews has revealed a love for film that many snarky critics sadly lack. The book is great, and I got it for free when it was being given away as a digital download. Sadly though it’s DRM’d grrr and only reads on the Adobe desktop reader, can’t be read on my ebook reader) and one of the essays there is about how Tom Hanks became the most likable actor in America. It chronicles his rise from young comedian on Bosom Buddies to winning over the country with the string of films A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, and Forrest Gump. The essay ends at the height of Gump, but having witnessed Hanks’s career beyond we can all see that he remains likable, affable, and often lovable. Heck you can’t stop feeling the tears from your cheeks in those last moments of Saving Private Ryan.

Retro Reviews: Talladega Nights

I’ve always wanted to write reviews about older movies. Older meaning anything that isn’t showing in theaters anymore, be these film classics from the 50s to stuff I just saw a few years ago. This Christmas I got a pretty good haul of films in, and have been spending some time watching them with the sis. So here goes. These retro reviews will come intermittently (I hope). And now, Talladega Nights:

The Javier 2010 Book Purge

Right, so here’s the list of books. If you want to borrow them, just comment here, PM, email, text whatever. I’ll set it aside and then hopefully we can meet up soon so I can give it to you. Unahan na lang (as if mag-aagawan sa mga libro ko ‘no?). You can keep ‘em as long as you want/need. My only condition is that in the off chance that I need to write a paper or reference the book or something, I can get it back from you. Sana oks lang.

Christmas Party Dress-Up

As I type this I am wearing my Green Lantern Power Ring and getting used to having the clunky plastic thing on my hand. It’d be easier not to wear it, but hey, it’s not every day that I get to wear a Power Ring and not be thought of as exceedingly weird (now only marginally).

450 Copies in Three Months! How awesome is that?

The first thing I have to do here is thank everyone who helped with The Kobayashi Maru of Love. The people who worked on it, the people who kept me working at it, the people who show up in the book, and the people who have bought it and read it and encouraged their friends to buy it and read it.

In three months since the launch I have dispatched 450 copies. Granting for maybe 20-30 that were given away as thank yous, review copies, and gifts, that’s still more than 400 sold. Which I think ain’t bad for an indie published book without any traditional distribution.