while they did live happily ever after

1) I read Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex, and I don't have nearly as much to say about it as I did about The Time Paradox. This is not to say I didn't enjoy it; I laughed at least once a page, because Colfer was playing fast and loose with hilarious dialogue and hilarious side characters and even point of view--often he would describe something with a particularly nice turn of phrase, and in the next line have the current POV character think something along the lines of if I'm saying things like that, I must be suffering from oxygen deprivation. The writing and the plot were much, much tighter than TP, like you could really feel his growth as a writer and the editor's steady hand working upon the novel.

That being said, it was almost too short; it felt, like A Conspiracy of Kings, as if we were being handed an incident full of important information that would unfold in the denouement, packaged within an entertaining adventure, letting us spend time with all of our favorite characters but really just setting the pieces for some grander showdown in the future. (Hint: All the even-numbered books in the series have involved Opal Koboi, and the next, allegedly final, book is going to be number 8, if you can imagine it.) I loved seeing Holly and JULIET yay Juliet and Butler and Mulch and Foaly (out of his element!) and Artemis again, and they were all wonderful, and at the end of the book I wanted--more. There were so many little things that still needed exploring--not that the book doesn't tie together, but rather that things are changing and we're stopped before everything really starts rushing to a head.

I do take issue with the fact that Artemis is allegedly celebrating his fifteenth birthday at the beginning of the story, because he was fifteen back in The Lost Colony. Of course, my dad pointed out to me that the target audience of this series is probably still 12-14-year-old boys, despite the fact that the series is ten years old and those of us who were twelve when we started reading are now twenty-two and still shipping Holly/Artemis like burning. And the series has grown up, too, though perhaps not as noticeably as say Harry Potter; the central themes in The Time Paradox were certainly older, perhaps in some ways too old for a fourteen-year-old to grasp; it's one thing to read about a character reflecting on personal change and growth and the choices you make to get there, and quite another to really have a grasp on how that's happened in your life. And the humor has gotten a bit more complex too (see: I-see-what-you-did-with-that-POV), even if Mulch is still around for the fart jokes.

Anyway, it was a fantastic little yarn, but mostly I am just impatient for the next one.

( SPOILERS )



2) I rewatched Music and Lyrics the other night, the cute little rom-com with Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant that Malone and I started watching at home one night, got about thirty seconds into the music video, and stopped and waited until Mom was around to watch it with us. The whole theme of creation and music isn't as deep as the theme of creation and writing is in Stranger Than Fiction--this is a rom -com, after all--but what impressed me this time around was Hugh Grant's acting job. He is very...adult, in this film--he knows where he is in his life and he's comfortable with who he is and what he's doing, and I especially liked that he is a musician, and he shows it--in quiet little ways, like the way he sits down at the piano in his apartment or in the store, like it's something he's infinitely familiar with. And even though he's "just" a pop music star, he writes his own stuff--he knows how music works, knows how to put it together, and it's all just...there. I just...really liked his character, and thought he did an understatedly phenomenal job of playing it.



3) I started rewatching Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon last night but stopped right before the final battle because I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it through without sobbing and because I needed to go to bed (woe, the adult schedule).

( musing on the movie )



4) I have started reading The Demon's Lexicon because the library had it (and the sequel), but I am apparently Not In the Mood. Partially because I am reading a book called The Wall of Fame and it contains some truly atrocious metaphors that ought to be taken behind the publishing house and shot repeatedly, and partially because I have trouble getting into "tough" characters like Nick, and mostly because reading about Nick and Alan makes me think about Felix and Mildmay and, well, Felix and Mildmay are a really, REALLY hard fictional brotherly relationship to beat. Like, nigh-impossible. Especially after Corambis and their exchange of brotherly affection. (FELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIX MILDMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY I JUST WANT YOU BOTH TO BE HAPPY FOREVER AND I FEEL LIKE IT IS OBTAINABLE AND THIS JUST OVERWHELMS ME WITH RELIEF, I LOVE YOU BOTH SO HARD.)

(yes, Jade just said she loved Felix. It--sometimes these things happen.)

( gems from aforementioned Atrocious Metaphor Book )




5) To end on a positive note: I made myself dinner and ate it and now am full of food! My fish is still alive! (His name is Ron, for those interested. My first dog was named Fred, and then one of my sisters got a gerbil and named it George, and our first betta fish was named Percy, and I think another gerbil was named Charlie, so...he is red and beautiful and I will post pictures.) My apartment is an utter mess! Ingrid Michaelson writes beautiful songs! Quark drew the picture that was in my head because she is awesome! crisium_rising writes THE MOST AMAZING Dragon Age fanfic ever! The libraries here have BOTH Virtu and Mirador (I literally gasped when I turned the corner and saw them both in their hardbacked glory on their shelf) AND they have lots of sartorias's novels (I brought home A Posse of Princesses and am.very excited about reading it! My books fit on the bookshelf! My apartment door locks! There are trees and mountains around!

Life is good. :-)