Month: February 2015

Hook (1991)

I loved Hook when I was a kid. I am so, so, so glad I didn’t hate it when I watched it again. If it’s cheesy, then at least it’s still my kind of cheese.

I remember the terror of Peter returning home to find the house broken into and scarred by a rip in the wall made by Hook’s hook.

Probably when I saw Hook as a kid, it was about the evergreen joy of flying and the dubious joy of slapstick, whereas now it’s more about Peter’s relationships with the other characters.

The plot, an exploration of fatherhood and missed chances, reminds me of the song “Cat’s in the Cradle” sung by Harry Chapin.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/hook/id531610019

Happy year of the Caprinae!

year-of-sheep-goat
in Chinatown

According to the Chinese zodiac, most of 2015 is the year of the 羊. The word 羊 (‘yáng’) can refer to both sheep and goats, hence the confusion over what to call this zodiac year in English (sheep/goat/ram). Wikipedia kindly informs me that the most accurate translation of ‘yáng’ would be Caprinae, a Latin word corresponding to the biological subfamily that encompasses sheep and goats.

Therefore, I wish you a happy year of the Caprinae.

Strikingly similar…

I just read Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint. My paperback has a shiny, metallic bluish cover depicting the character Elizabeth, who looks spunky. I went to put the book back on the shelf and look for another to attack next and discovered another Charles de Lint book. Also blue. Also depicting a spunky teenage girl. Titled The Blue Girl. For a moment I thought the publisher had perhaps retitled the work for the paperback edition, and that thus I unknowingly had bought two copies of the same book.

If they had done that, I wouldn’t blame them, or even think them sneaky… it would be my own fault, same as it was when I wound up with two copies of the same book, one orange and one brown, one purchased in 2005 and the other in 2007, about writing.

But no. Apparently Charles de Lint has written two entirely different blue-themed books featuring two entirely different spunky teenage girls. That’s a relief.

Kudos to Scott Fischer for the cover of Little (Grrl) Lost and to Cliff Nielsen for the cover of The Blue Girl. I know Cliff’s name because of some excellent Madeleine L’Engle covers. May your revenue stream never run dry, Cliff.

Lots of Robin Hoods

For a while now, I’ve had two Robin Hood mass-market paperbacks on the same shelf (one by Roger Lancelyn Green and one by Howard Pyle). Just now my spreadsheet told me I also have one by Henry Gilbert that I bought in 2010. My copy of Green is from 2008 and Pyle must have been before July 2004. So I have three versions. Plus Robin McKinley’s Outlaws of Sherwood.

I also have three movie versions: Disney, Elwes and Flynn. And a 2006 TV series from the BBC!

Reflections

Reflections at Keppel Bay
Reflections at Keppel Bay

Although I’m sure the architect would be horrified to hear it, I always think of this as “that condo near West Coast Highway that looks like french fries.”

http://www.reflectionsatkeppelbay.com.sg

There are so many new buildings in Singapore that some of them of course have strange designs, but I like The Interlace better. I also like its website better.

http://www.theinterlace.com/