A.S. Byatt's The Biographer's Tale is a thin book that took me far too long to read. Byatt is not easy reading, by any stretch, and she's very hit and miss with me. However, even when she misses, I can't blame the writing, or the book, because she's just so damn good. Biographer's Tale is somewhere in between for me. I didn't devour and love it, like any of the four books in the Virgin in the Garden series, but I didn't roll my eyes like I did reading Possession. It's an odd book, that makes your brain scream "meta," even as it denounces post-modern theory, which becomes a bit meta in itself! See? Screaming brain. Problem is, I'm really big on narrative and character, and Biographer's Tale lacks both for the first half of the book, and good sized sections afterwards. So, while I deeply admire and appreciate the work itself, it's something that would have been better foisted upon me in an English lecture, rather than something for leisure. An excellent scholarly review of The Biographer's Tale can be found here.
Speaking of meta, The Guardian's digested read of Don DeLillo's new one, Falling Man, is hilarious.
I don't see a lot of movies, but I can't wait for the North American release of Control, Anton Corbijn's biopic of Ian Curtis. Looks like everyone at Cannes is loving it, but I'd see it if it got terrible reviews, just because everything Corbijn shoots is gold to me. If you're not aware of his name, you're surely aware of his work. He's worked very closely with Depeche Mode for many years on videos, album covers, and promotional photos. He's done my favourite series of Morrissey (shot for Details magazine in... hmmm, 1994?). Perhaps his best known work is the cover of U2's Joshua Tree album (and by "best known" I'm really saying "best selling").While googling for one of those Moz images, I came across this quiz from the CBC:
Bigmouth Strikes Again: Test Your Knowledge of Morrissey. Awesome.
I scored 9 of 10, because one of the questions is really about Coupland, and not Morrissey. Also, the quiz is too easy. Heh.
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5 comments:
I am absolutely dying to see Control. I've been waiting for this movie to be released for fucking ever.
I also scored 9/10 on that Morrissey quiz, and the one got wrong was the Coupland questions. Yes, that quiz was faaaar too easy, but fun nonetheless!
Jonathan Ross (why do I think u r British?) always says Mowwassy and I can't look at his name without milingthinking Mowwassy.
What is it about established 60+-aged authors always declaring the death of POMO, deconstruction and all their cousins and kidlets... I heard Atwood doing that awhile ago and though, hmmm, that set off a firecracker in the POMO chat rooms about the priviledge location of her statement...that said, I sort of liked Possession.
I'm Canadian, but my Dad is British. I do tend to react to the world in a cold Brit sort of way.
The phrase "POMO chat room" makes me feel a bit ill. DOWN WITH POMO!
I've never been able to nail it down exactly, but I feel we're livin' in a POMO world, whether we like it or not.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury I give you the Idol contest, Ben Mulroney, William Shatner. And yes, u r right, it's enough to make you sick.
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