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a pox o' both your houses
This will not be the greatest entry ever; I ignored my lists for a bit and now I don't remember what I wanted to write about any of these. :X So - books!
17. The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession With Virginity is Hurting Young Women, Jessica Valenti
I was pretty happy when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_wykydtron lent me this, because I enjoyed Valenti's previous books but when this one was released I was broke. xD; The Purity Myth is more academic than either Full Frontal Feminism or He's a Stud, She's a Slut, which I was really happy to see, and also I feel it takes a whole bunch of issues and ties them together a lot better than either of her previous books. So yeah, this book is about the virgin/whore dichotomy, but it also manages to be about a whole lot more.
18. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman
So I have this tendency to seek out the original stories behind all the movies I watch, even if that means reading a four-hundred-page biography just to see how accurate The Duchess is. xD; Not that reading this book was a chore - it actually turned out to be really enjoyable! The writing style manages to convince you you're reading a novel that just happens to be true, haha. Well, to be honest, I was bored by the longer political passages, but the rest of it was really interesting. Oh~ that crazy eighteenth-century nobility! ;)
19. Achilles, Elizabeth Cook
This novel is short enough that I read it in an afternoon, but now I kind of wish I'd savoured it a bit more, because it was so much better than I'd thought it would be! It's written in a poetic style that I'd thought would get tiresome really quickly, and to be honest I think it would have had this book not been about my favourite subject, but as it was I loved it! Another thing I kind of loved is that this book was obviously intended for the Trojan War fangirl, although I feel bad admitting I loved that because I'm sure these same characteristics would make the book really frustrating for anyone not as crazy about the Trojan War as I tend to be. Characters appear without introduction, there are lines here and there whose only purpose is to make obscure references ... Cook basically expects her readers to have a strong knowledge of the Trojan War, it seems, and if you don't then that's too bad. I got a taste of this medicine in the very last chapter of the book, which is all philosophical and randomly about John Keats (who?), but let's just pretend that last chapter doesn't exist. >:/
This is the first novel I've read that starts with Odysseus in the Underworld, and almost the second to feature Achilles the necrophiliac, but luckily it changed its mind. :X It also continues my beloved trend of Helen-whom-no-one-understands and Paris the jerky idiot, so yeah I was pretty pleased with it. xD I want very much to recommend this book, but that recommendation would have to be accompanied by a P.S.: "Read a bunch of other Trojan War books first." ^^;
Movies!
38. Romeo and Juliet, 2004
After the greatness that was Orestes, I went in search of more Japanese theatre and found this, once again starring Light as the title character. xD; One thing I liked about this version is that it really emphasized how young Romeo and Juliet are, to the point that their ridiculous youthful enthusiasm turns the balcony scene into a funny scene, something I hadn't realized was allowed!! One thing I didn't like about this version is its Mercutio. He's fine, he's just not at all the way I picture Mercutio. So. :X
39. Love*Com, 2006
She's tall! He's short! How can they date without being made fun of?!?! So you'll forgive me if I started watching this movie expecting the shallowest thing ever. And it kinda was, but it was also a movie that embraces its ridiculousness and in the end I LOVED IT! xD I mean, it features a fourth-wall-breaking karaoke sequence, so I feel quite confident in saying that this movie's target audience was: me. xDDD
40. Elizabeth: The Acclaimed Saga of England's Virgin Queen, 2002
A four-part documentary series. Not much to say about this except that I found the facts of the Earl of Essex story more interesting than the fiction of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, and you all know how annoyed I get when the taking of creative license results in a story that's worse than the original!! D:<
41. The Great Yokai War, 2005
I got this out hoping for a fun family fantasy film of the sort that seems to be my guilty pleasure, but omg it was so much more disturbing than an American movie of this genre would ever be allowed to be. o_o Also, Agi was the coolest character in the movie and I was pretty annoyed that she only got about half as much screentime as she should've, and then had a really lame death. Also also, I think my enjoyment of this movie would've been much improved if I had a better knowledge of Japanese folklore, but even if I did I'm still not sure I would've liked it ... :/
42. Romeo + Juliet, 1996
I had a blast watching this with betaraider, but in the end I have no idea whether I liked it or not. I even rewatched parts of it by myself in an attempt to figure it out. I think my problem comes from the fact that the opening scenes really annoy me - all the ridiculous camerawork and random fast motion in the gas station scene and the first scene at Juliet's house -, but once the movie starts calming down I ... think I like it? What I can say is that, in this movie, the tone for Mercutio's death scene is exactly how I've always thought it should be, and I think this is the first time I've seen that. And I think Mercutio's death is my "Romeo and Juliet" equivalent of Hector's death, in that if you get it right I feel bad criticizing anything else. :X I also thought Tybalt's death scene was well done - I didn't like when they repeated lines in other parts of the movie, but in this scene I loved that they had Romeo shouting "either thou, or I, or both, must go with him" over and over. So that's almost an entire arc of the movie that I really liked, even if I'm still undecided about the rest of it! :X
43. Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, 2005
I feel this movie made up for The Great Yokai War in that the cool characters actually got some screentime! And I was pretty thrilled that the boring love story at least had an ending that wasn't cliché. This movie also features Tokugawa Ieyasu and everyone's favourite teacher from Gokusen, and I apologize to everyone but I'm pretty sure I was more excited to see the former. xDD;
17. The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession With Virginity is Hurting Young Women, Jessica Valenti
I was pretty happy when
the_wykydtron lent me this, because I enjoyed Valenti's previous books but when this one was released I was broke. xD; The Purity Myth is more academic than either Full Frontal Feminism or He's a Stud, She's a Slut, which I was really happy to see, and also I feel it takes a whole bunch of issues and ties them together a lot better than either of her previous books. So yeah, this book is about the virgin/whore dichotomy, but it also manages to be about a whole lot more.18. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman
So I have this tendency to seek out the original stories behind all the movies I watch, even if that means reading a four-hundred-page biography just to see how accurate The Duchess is. xD; Not that reading this book was a chore - it actually turned out to be really enjoyable! The writing style manages to convince you you're reading a novel that just happens to be true, haha. Well, to be honest, I was bored by the longer political passages, but the rest of it was really interesting. Oh~ that crazy eighteenth-century nobility! ;)
19. Achilles, Elizabeth Cook
This novel is short enough that I read it in an afternoon, but now I kind of wish I'd savoured it a bit more, because it was so much better than I'd thought it would be! It's written in a poetic style that I'd thought would get tiresome really quickly, and to be honest I think it would have had this book not been about my favourite subject, but as it was I loved it! Another thing I kind of loved is that this book was obviously intended for the Trojan War fangirl, although I feel bad admitting I loved that because I'm sure these same characteristics would make the book really frustrating for anyone not as crazy about the Trojan War as I tend to be. Characters appear without introduction, there are lines here and there whose only purpose is to make obscure references ... Cook basically expects her readers to have a strong knowledge of the Trojan War, it seems, and if you don't then that's too bad. I got a taste of this medicine in the very last chapter of the book, which is all philosophical and randomly about John Keats (who?), but let's just pretend that last chapter doesn't exist. >:/
This is the first novel I've read that starts with Odysseus in the Underworld, and almost the second to feature Achilles the necrophiliac, but luckily it changed its mind. :X It also continues my beloved trend of Helen-whom-no-one-understands and Paris the jerky idiot, so yeah I was pretty pleased with it. xD I want very much to recommend this book, but that recommendation would have to be accompanied by a P.S.: "Read a bunch of other Trojan War books first." ^^;
Movies!
38. Romeo and Juliet, 2004
After the greatness that was Orestes, I went in search of more Japanese theatre and found this, once again starring Light as the title character. xD; One thing I liked about this version is that it really emphasized how young Romeo and Juliet are, to the point that their ridiculous youthful enthusiasm turns the balcony scene into a funny scene, something I hadn't realized was allowed!! One thing I didn't like about this version is its Mercutio. He's fine, he's just not at all the way I picture Mercutio. So. :X
39. Love*Com, 2006
She's tall! He's short! How can they date without being made fun of?!?! So you'll forgive me if I started watching this movie expecting the shallowest thing ever. And it kinda was, but it was also a movie that embraces its ridiculousness and in the end I LOVED IT! xD I mean, it features a fourth-wall-breaking karaoke sequence, so I feel quite confident in saying that this movie's target audience was: me. xDDD
40. Elizabeth: The Acclaimed Saga of England's Virgin Queen, 2002
A four-part documentary series. Not much to say about this except that I found the facts of the Earl of Essex story more interesting than the fiction of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, and you all know how annoyed I get when the taking of creative license results in a story that's worse than the original!! D:<
41. The Great Yokai War, 2005
I got this out hoping for a fun family fantasy film of the sort that seems to be my guilty pleasure, but omg it was so much more disturbing than an American movie of this genre would ever be allowed to be. o_o Also, Agi was the coolest character in the movie and I was pretty annoyed that she only got about half as much screentime as she should've, and then had a really lame death. Also also, I think my enjoyment of this movie would've been much improved if I had a better knowledge of Japanese folklore, but even if I did I'm still not sure I would've liked it ... :/
42. Romeo + Juliet, 1996
I had a blast watching this with betaraider, but in the end I have no idea whether I liked it or not. I even rewatched parts of it by myself in an attempt to figure it out. I think my problem comes from the fact that the opening scenes really annoy me - all the ridiculous camerawork and random fast motion in the gas station scene and the first scene at Juliet's house -, but once the movie starts calming down I ... think I like it? What I can say is that, in this movie, the tone for Mercutio's death scene is exactly how I've always thought it should be, and I think this is the first time I've seen that. And I think Mercutio's death is my "Romeo and Juliet" equivalent of Hector's death, in that if you get it right I feel bad criticizing anything else. :X I also thought Tybalt's death scene was well done - I didn't like when they repeated lines in other parts of the movie, but in this scene I loved that they had Romeo shouting "either thou, or I, or both, must go with him" over and over. So that's almost an entire arc of the movie that I really liked, even if I'm still undecided about the rest of it! :X
43. Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, 2005
I feel this movie made up for The Great Yokai War in that the cool characters actually got some screentime! And I was pretty thrilled that the boring love story at least had an ending that wasn't cliché. This movie also features Tokugawa Ieyasu and everyone's favourite teacher from Gokusen, and I apologize to everyone but I'm pretty sure I was more excited to see the former. xDD;