Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi
Right, so Comic Con posts are in the works, but I want to make a quick post about two upcoming films that have caught my eye this evening: Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi. Two very different films, both based on best-selling novels – novels that I had never heard of before (much to my chagrin, I can assure you, after seeing the respective first trailers for each film).
Now, I know the Life of Pi trailer has been out for a few days at least, but it’s only this evening that I’ve had the chance to sit down and take a look at it. In short, it looks spectacular. This is based on a 2002 novel written by Yann Martel:
The story of an Indian boy named Pi, a zookeeper’s son who finds himself in the company of a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck sets them adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
This is an impressive first trailer which manages to show the grandeur of the film. The first thing I think you’ll notice is that, if anything, this will be a film full of visual spectacle. A glowing whale in the middle of the ocean? I’m in. Okay, okay… Actually I was sold at the idea of a boy stranded on a boat with a tiger, but by the time the glowing whale showed up my jaw had to fall open at the beauty of that shot alone and I was all-in. I will most definitely be in theatres come November to check this out.
The next film is Cloud Atlas, based on the novel by David Mitchell. I had heard news of this film earlier in the year due to the fact that it has been written and directed by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer, the director of Run Lola Run. This film was immediately fascinating to me based on the description alone:
A reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan’s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified “dinery server” on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific Islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation — the narrators of Cloud Atlas hear each other’s echoes down the corridor of history, and their destinies are changed in ways great and small.
I’m utterly fascinated by interlocking stories, and when each one spans different eras of time, I’m positively sold. Just trying to wrap my head around the scope of the novel is hard enough to do, but to think of it being organized into a film is simply mind-boggling.
Originally, 22 production photos were released via Entertainment Weekly. The first thing I notice is Tom Hanks and Halle Berry inhabiting multiple roles. And apparently each cast member plays multiple roles in the film. I’m now even more intrigued. I’m also fascinated as to whether or not Hugh Grant is really looking that old or if that’s the work of make-up and lighting, but I digress. This seems like a sweeping scope of a novel and I’m impressed that such a seemingly high-concept work is being transferred to the screen.
And now, after a 5-minute trailer being posted over at JoBlo.com, I’m thrilled it has been because it looks confusing, brilliant, and wonderful:
Now, I can tell you for sure that I will soon be running out to pick up both books to add to my already large pile of reading. Has anyone read either novel?
2012
I Apologize For Living In Procrastination Nation
The first thing you’ll learn about me is I’m a horrible blogger.
I admit, I have very little discipline. And I’m one of the worst procrastinators you will meet.
I would guess this has been made evident by the fact that you haven’t seen a new blog post from me in two weeks – even though I did say I would be featuring some posts about my time in San Diego for Comic Con. Although I will attempt to defend this somewhat by saying that a) I was too busy with Comic Con to actually blog about it in real time (everyone tells you how much fun it is, but no one tells you just how exhausting – in the best way possible – it is) and b) as soon as I got home I had a hell of a week filled with long days back at work to make up missed hours, car troubles to deal with, and then major problems at home in which we were stuck with no running water for just over a weekend and I ultimately had to stay at my sister’s house for a few days just to have access to a shower.
I’m the kind of person that needs her time to recharge after being around a lot of people and experiencing a lot of big things within a short amount of time. I barely got that time. I had an amazing vacation and then was immediately thrust back into the real world of adult problems and work. And the real world sucks. Especially when you’re stuck with your period while dealing with it all and stuck in a depressive funk (sorry any boys wandering around, but I am a female, and let’s just face it – that shit sucks).
If you follow me on Twitter you’ll even have noticed that I’ve been rather silent other than to make a few replies to friends and retweet a bunch of shit. When I need to withdraw from the world, I refuse to leave Twitter, but I usually don’t have much to say so I just reblog news and things people far more interesting than me have to say. When my feed is nothing but retweets, you’ll know I’m in a funk.
Anyway, within the next few days you should indeed be seeing some actual updates from me. I’ll do a write-up on my time at Comic-Con. Obviously any of the news that came out of SDCC is by now old news, but all I have to write about is my experience and thoughts on things anyway, so hopefully it’ll still be interesting to you. If not, it’ll be interesting to me so it’ll be written down anyway and hey – this is my blog so there!
Also, I’m super behind on comics reading. I held onto the money for SDCC and didn’t buy my books for about 3 weeks until I got back from my trip. That’s dangerous for me. This is 3 weeks of books piled up in my pullbox:
I have read a couple of issues, but still have quite a bit to catch up on. And I have a pile of books to read as well that I picked up at SDCC. Perhaps there will be some posts coming up in the future about comics and books and all that good nerdery.
And I’m really going to try to work on that procrastination problem.
2012
Welcome to Geek In Progress!
Today is finally the day! As dear Ms. Frost so eloquently says above through her word bubble – hello world! And welcome one and… well, yeah, it’s probably just one of you. Welcome anyhow! Geek In Progress is the name of the site and my name is Abbey, the dandy writer of these here fine upcoming posts. If you’re here, it means that you likely know me through whatever various means. Or maybe those people shockingly showed their love for me and sent you here for some reason. If that was the unlikely case, how nice of them and how nice of you for listening to them!
If you haven’t already figured it out, this is a personal blog with an emphasis on my love of all things geek: comics, superheroes, movies, television, books, sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal, etc. I’ll send out reviews, thoughts, ideas, recommendations and whatever else I deem worthy to write down. You might even learn about my life (as will I hopefully – notice the “in progress” part of the title). In fact, I guarantee it (sorry).
I can tell you right now that any posts for the next week will revolve around my experience as a first-time traveler and first-time attendee of the mecca of geek-dom that is San Diego Comic Con International. As I type this I am mostly packed and ready to leave early Wednesday morning (in about 28 hours!) for my first real adventure. Stay tuned for that fearless reader.
By the by, you’ll notice there isn’t much in the way of content yet, especially on the About Me page. That stuff will come in time. Specifically after I return from my trip. But my goal was to open the website to the public before I left for my trip, and so here we are. I do hope you come back to check it all out in the future.
The Girl With The Avengers Tattoo
Abbey. 25. False redhead. Geek extraordinaire. Forever trying to find her place in life. Usually found with her nose in a book or comic. Can otherwise be found shouting at her television or in her local movie theatre. Likely to jump into a fangirl frenzy at the slightest provocation.
Looks for the TARDIS on every street corner, still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter, and hoping Director Fury will walk through her door at any moment with a proposition for his super secret boyband... More?