fajrdrako | Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow....

Sunday afternoon I went with the local science fiction fans to see Sky Captain. I wasn't feeling well, but I wanted to see it... Though my perceptions were no doubt coloured by my headache, stomache ache and an inability to stay awake through the whole thing.

As it was, I liked it. The art deco was terrific. I've never been a fan of the old adventure serials - mostly, I haven't seen many of them - but I could relax and enjoy the mood just fine. I think I've only ever seen Jude Law in Wilde, but I was curious about him because many Dunnett fans have mentally cast him as their Lymond. I've never been able to see it. This time - yeah, I can see it, and Beulah thought it was a great idea: he's good looking and personable enough, goodness knows. But I still prefer Depp for my mental casting. Neither man looks the way I imagine Lymond, but Depp is closer in personality and range. For half the movie Law reminded me of Cary Grant; for the other half, Gregory Peck.

Gwynneth Paltrow was okay. I'm not fond of feisty female reporters of the thirties as a fictional type (hence my traditonal dislike of Lois Lane), and I don't like movie relationships where the hero and heroine bicker through the whole movie. Except maybe in the first Indiana Jones movie. Anyway, seeing no interesting sexual/romantic sparks between them, I was free to romanticise slashily the relationship between Joe (the hero) and Dex (his cohort). I thought Dex was terrific. My favourite line in the movie (paraphrased) has Joe saying, "I can handle this. Dex, what should I do?"

I loved Franky, a role which was basically Angelina Jolie playing a female British Nick Fury. Complete with helicarrier. In fact, throughout the whole movie, the ideas and images I was relating to were things I was familiar with from comics, having mostly not seen the movies that inspired this one.

After the movie, I begged off on going to supper with the SF crowd - disappointing, because I'd planned to join them, but I was feeling out of it. I went home and slept. Thankfully,

walkingowl was in town and brought me chicken soup for supper, which was all I wanted to eat - though she cleverly also brought me rice pudding for dessert, and by the time I'd finished the soup I felt energized enough to eat the rice pudding, too. We watched an episode of Carnivale, the only one I still have on tape, the one where they kill John Hannah, the bartender in Babylon, after the death of Fora Mae. Then we watched the commentary on the DVD of Firefly, the commentary done by Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion for War Stories. I loved it - the commentary was just simply fun, and I adore that episode.

Somehow over the weekend I also managed to read "R" Is For Ricochet by Sue Grafton. I love Kinsey Millhone. In this story, we're dealing with a wonderful new character that we (and Kinsey) like in spite of ourselves - a woman just out of prison who decides to pay back the man who put her there. We also get a gret new guy for Kinsey. What a great book. I can't think what the title might have to do with anything, though.

I finsihed the fourth Gordianus mystery, The Venus Throw, and enjoyed it greatly - especially since it featured Catullus, one of my favourite poets, and Caesar, one of my favourite people. (Not that Catullus was quite as I would have portrayed him - I'd have made him less scruffy - but he was terrific.) Then I started The House of the Vestals, which I like much less, simply because I'm not so fond of short stories (unless they are fanfic, and specifically slash) and I particularly don't like short stories if they are mysteries. I might skip to the next novel in the series. Or a I might not - despite my lack of interest in the short stories, I like the setting and the characters, and it's good to see Gordianus young ago, and Eco as a kid.