Books I am looking forward to in 2010

Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk - Chuck tackles the real life story of  Lillian Hellman lover of Dashiell Hammet 

Havoc by Chris Wooding sequel to the frankly marvellous Malice - why have they been keeping me waiting for a whole year???

The Road, Bad Blood and Chasers - the first three Being Human books.  I've never been tempted to read a Doctor Who novel but having been a fan of Being Human from the pilot stage it only seems right to read these

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak - The Book Thief was a joyously depressing read can this one live up to it?

Play to Kill by PJ Tracy - The mother and daughter writing team bring the Monkeewrench gang back after an absence of about 3 years - what took you guys so long?

Where are the Na'vi's genitals?

I didn't really want to see Avatar.  Like Titanic the hype of people claiming it to be the greatest film ever and its huge box office success sort of put me off.  I didn't want to see Mamma Mia for the same reasoning.  I think that I may be a snob in that case and may need to see someone about that.  But an invite to go to the cinema with a good friend and my first 3D experience since Children In Need 1993 and their Doctor Who Special Dimensions in Time, prompted me to see Avatar

And so to the film, well it's good, not bad at all.....greatest film ever?  I doubt it.  What struck me most while watching it was how it reminded me so much of other things.  Aliens is one of my favourite films so I couldn't help but see some of the similarities - the loaders have morphed into gun toting marine outer armour, there is even a classic bitch line 'GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH'  is lovingly replaced by 'YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH A GUN BITCH'.  The plot, bad guy infiltrates the enemy only to find himself on their side and also falling in love with one of them in the end is not original and certain plot points fly out of no where but what truly sells the film to you is the visuals.  The world of Pandora is beautiful and fully realised. The venus flytrap plants on a grand scale, the masses of Na'vi and their language, the floating islands, the animals, all in all very good

Other things that Avatar made me think of was Billie Jean (Jake and Neytiri walking on dayglo moss), Can You Feel The Love Tonight (Jake and Neytiri running through the jungle at night), the animals made the noises of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park and other have pointed out similarities to Fern Gully and Dances With Wolves, but enough about the actual film what about the viewing experience of 3D

Here's a picture of me wearing the rather fashionable Real D glasses. Well the 3D was impressive, the Real D 3D trailer was most impressive and as the film progressed you did get lost in the 3D and towards the end it was less noticeable.  But I found the 3D glasses most uncomfortable both to wear and on my eyes.  I'm hoping that I will get more used to it as I think that 3D cinema is a good experience but how will it translate to the DVD market.  Surely most of Avatar's massive takings is down to people wanting to experience the 3D effects, has home 3D technology caught up enough to allow people to truly experience it on their screens at home?  Time will tell

Until the next time

Spotify Playlists

One of my greatest distractions in life seems to be Spotify.  I was one of the lucky few in England to get spotify with free membership during the window they had open.  Now you can only get it through premium membership, or get the free version that I have by being invited by someone who pays for premium.  So unfortunately I have no free memberships to invite you with.

However if you do already have spotify then you will know how flaming marvellous it is and one of the grand features is that you can create your own playlists and share them with others, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of my playlists with you

1980's
1990's
and finally my Dance playlist