Have you seen Kick-Ass yet? If not, why the hell not? It’s an awesome movie and everybody should go to the cinema to watch it (see my review here). If you have seen it and thought it was as awesome as I did, you might want to get your hands on this movie/comic tie-in (actually… on second thought, you should go and get the comic first, read that, and then this).

Kick-Ass: Creating The Comic, Making The Movie is a gorgeous book about how both the comic and the movie were developed. Mark Millar mainly tells the tale of the entire process, but throughout the book you get snippets from tons of others who were involved in the comic or the movie. You get to read about the collaboration between Millar, Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, how they created the movie script while the comic wasn’t even finished yet. How the casting went for all the different characters. And how the look for the movie and the comic was created.

Visually this book is full of eye candy. There’s early concept art for both the comic and movie, from costume design to set design (it’s fun to see the thought processes behind the difference between the comic and movie outfits of Big Daddy and Hit Girl). Pieces of storyboards and sketches. Photos of the sets and during the shooting. There’s tons of it.

I had as much fun reading this book, as I had watching the movie and reading the comic. It’s not a boring read at all, which admittedly a lot of movie tie-ins are. It’s great to discover what goes into making a comic/movie like this, yet how different it was because it was independently made without a studio. One thing though: there are spoilers in this book for the movie and the comic (specifically the differences in plot between the two); I suggest reading this once you seen/read both.

If you loved Kick-Ass as much as I did, then this book is a must-have for your library. It’s a great read, and something every Kick-Ass fan should own.

Kick-Ass: Creating The Comic, Making The Movie is available on Amazon.co.uk for £9.79 and on Amazon.com for $13.20.

I’ve always liked the idea of movies and comics telling different parts of the same story, but I can’t think of many that have pulled it off properly (the one that comes to mind that didn’t work was Southland Tales. That movie doesn’t make sense at all, but apparently you have to have read the prequel comic before it…).

With Star Trek we first got the sort of prequel comic that explained the events before the movie (but still set in the future). It worked out great, giving a more detailed backstory for the fans who wanted to hear more about it, without it being a prerequisite for the movie. Now a new graphic novel is being released titled Star Trek: Nero following the character of Nero and his crew in the time between the destruction of the USS Kelvin and the reappearance of the Narada in the new timeline (so pretty early on in the movie).

Thanks to the wonderful guys at Titan, I’ve gotten a couple of copies to give away to my dear readers! To enter fill in the form below with your details and answer the question “What is your favourite Star Trek show or movie?” (Don’t forget to hit the Submit button!) Sorry to disappoint my international readers, but this competition is UK only. Entries must be in before Tuesday March 30th 16:00.

I’ve never really watched the original (never had the patience for it), but have seen most of everything else. My favourite was Deep Space 9, despite never watching it completely, cause the Dutch channel it was on messed up the programming (showing episodes in the wrong order, going on breaks and then starting up again without any announcements, causing me to miss episodes… and no internet to find out what I was missing). I always thought I’d watch it properly once I had the time, but still haven’t got around to that. Birthday present idea for next year perhaps?

Love this:

A striking shelving unit designed to maximize display areas through a variety of spaces. Irregular and asymmetrical shelving sections opens up the possibilities for a less traditional display of objects.

I think it’s more designed to hold ‘objects’. You know, one of those sitting room pieces for people that doesn’t actually contain that many books, but more “stuff”, like cases and pricey art? But still I can imagine having this bookshelf filled completely with actual books. The taller compartments would be perfect to larger comic books, or a stack of books on their side.

The downside? It’s $3975.

Episode 165: “We are young, we are strong”

I loved Kick-Ass, and can’t wait for everyone else to see it (see my review here)! The red carpet premiere is in a couple of hours at London’s Leicester Square, so in honour of that, here’s the music video from Mika’s Kick-Ass title track:

I kind of like the song, but I hate the clip. When I first heard it during the end credits after watching Kick-Ass, it felt as if it fit with the movie. But this clip?? Nope, not liking it at all.

In a time of war and doubt, Gull is an oracle. Daughter of a slave taken from fallen Troy, chosen at the age of seven to be the voice of the Lady of the Dead, she is destined to council kings. In the last shadowed days of the Age of Bronze, one woman dreams of the world beginning anew. This is her story.

I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I picked up this book. ‘A story set in Ancient Greece’ was all I thought, but slowly I started realizing it was more than that. The fall of Troy, black ships, Prince Neas aka Aeneas… this was a retelling of the Illiad! I was already invested in the story, but somehow knowing what this story was based on, made it all the more fascinating (plus the puzzle geek in me revels in the fact that I figured it out myself).

Graham manages to weave a tale out of the different sources we have about that Greek period; it’s partly based on the Illiad, but also on archaeological discoveries of what we know about Troy and its fall. For instance, Troy is never mentioned in this book; it’s Wilusa as what the people of that time would have called it. Another cool change I found was that in the Illiad Aeneas and his fleet travel to Carthage… but Carthage wasn’t founded until 400 years later. Graham solves this by having them visit Egypt instead, yet still maintaining the story line of what happens in Carthage.

The main character (and narrator) is Gull, who as a child is chosen to serve the Lady of the Dead and soon becomes Pythia, the oracle of the Lady of the Dead, receiving visions about the future. Her story is what makes this so compelling to read; instead of a dry boring narrative of the Trojan war and Aeneas’ escape (what the Illiad basically is), we get to see everything through the eyes of this girl Gull and everything comes to life.

One thing I also liked was that while it was set in a more ‘real life’ Greece than the Illiad, there were still hints of divine guidance. Gull has visions of the future, and hears the Lady of the Dead council her. But everything is through her. We get to see how she believes she has visions, but it’s all in her mind. I kind of liked this ambiguity in our main character; is it real or is she just crazy?

Black Ships was a surprisingly good read; if you like ancient Greece and it’s mythology, or fantasy without too much magic and elves, this book is for you. There already is a followup book coming out called Hand of Isis, but like Black Ships it’s a standalone book.

Black Ships by Jo Graham is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.99 and on Amazon.com for $7.99.

Lately I’ve been addicted to Castle, mainly because of the brilliant Nathan Fillion. I was delighted to discover that his in-show character’s latest book Heat Wave has actually been published!

Awesome! Must get my hands on this. It’s available on Amazon for $12.97 (US) or for £9.49 (UK).

Loving this table with a corner specially for books and magazines:

It’s available on ExclusivelyHome.com for $1900.

Via double takes

When we moved to our new apartment a year ago, the one major thing that was lacking was shelf space. Now I’m not the best person when it comes to interior design. Somehow I’m a little bit too logical and practical and always go for the solution which makes sense space and money wise. And of course the same happened here.

I bought a huge bookcase from IKEA (120cm wide, 40cm deep and 192cm high) which could fit 3 rows of books on one shelf. Awesome, I thought. Very space efficient and the maximum cost vs shelf space solution. But it was really way too large and bulky; it took too much space up and actually only fitted on one spot in the entire house. Plus there were 2 rows of books which I couldn’t see or reach! I’m enough of a book addict that I want to SEE my lovely books.

So when we realised that we needed a new mattress we thought we might as just as well order a couple of new book cases. I actually went for the same IKEA system, but ones that were half as deep (only 20cm vs 40cm):

These are perfect for my books! I need a couple more shelves, but I love how flat these shelves are. I’ve got 3 bookcases now in total (the 2 you see above and exactly the same one against another wall) and there’s most than space for all my books.

The bookcase is £35 on IKEA and comes in 4 colours.

As I said in previous posts, I’ve got some catching up to do with old blog posts. Remember I organized a Blogger’s Secret Santa last December? Well, I ended up getting this wonderful book:

Awesome, right? I still haven’t had time to read it, but it contains some of the essential Philip K. Dick stories: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which Blade Runner is based on), Martian Time Slip, Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and A Scanner Darkly.

Thanks, Secret Santa!

My arm is finally starting to feel better, and I’m slowly getting back to sitting longer behind my laptop. It’s still not completely healed, but it’s much, much better than the past couple of weeks. I’ve got so many blog posts to catch up on: my final movie and book reviews of 2009, the Secret Santa I organized and more.

Here are some short review of books I read last year:

A Song of Ice and Fire – George R R Martin

Ages ago I tried reading A Game of Thrones and just couldn’t get through it. When I heard HBO was making a TV show out of them I knew I had to give them another try. Maybe I was too young the 1st time around, cause this time around I loved the books. The story, the characters, the world, everything is so detailed and built up, I think I might be spoilt for other series. I still have to read the fourth book (A Feast For Crows), but the first three are amazing.

I’m now so looking forward to the HBO show, I just hope they get this right. This is the type of fantasy TV show I’ve been hoping for; something that’s more like a costume drama, just not set in our world.

A Game of Thrones (UK, US), A Clash of Kings (UK, US), A Storm of Swords (Book 1 UK, Book 2 UK, US), A Feast For Crows (UK, US).

The Nightwalkers  – Jacquelyn Frank

I really enjoyed these books, it’s again a cool different type of world. In this case it’s set in our world, but with demons, vampires and shapeshifters. The demons (with which the series starts) are the most interesting species with the characters each having elemental powers. The series starts off pretty cool, with some revelations being made over the demons and their back history. There are 5 books in the Nightwalkers series (Jacob, Gideon, Elijah, Damien, Noah) from Jacquelyn Frank. The story continues in her next series Shadowdwellers, about the 4th species in that world, but these 5 form a complete story.

Jacob (UK, US), Gideon (UK, US), Elijah (UK, US), Damien (UK, US), Noah (UK, US)

The Black Magician Trilogy – Trudi Canavan

I read this series a couple of years ago… and absolutely hated it. Well, I liked the premise, but somehow at the time I just didn’t like the ending. Re-reading it now though makes me realize how your tastes do change through the years. This time around I loved every bit of it.

The trilogy is about Sonea, a young girl who lives in the slums and finds out she has magical abilities. But as long as the city can remember only people from the upper classes have been found with magic and have gone on to train at the Guild. The first book drags on a bit and it only really becomes interesting once Sonea is actually at the Guild learning her powers. There are some cool concepts in here, like the way the magic works.

The Magician’s Guild (UK, US), The Novice (UK, US), The High Lord (UK, US)

Heart Fate – Robin D. Owens

The 7th book in the Heart series from Robin D. Owens. I didn’t love this book as much as some of the previous ones, but still an enjoyable read. Heart Fate is about Tinne Holly, the younger brother of Holm Holly (who was the hero in book 3) and his heart mate Lahsin Yew.

Heart Fate (UK, US)

Fire Study – Maria V Snyder

I loved Poison Study and Magic Study (the first two book from this series) and had been looking forward to their conclusion for ages. I won’t say anything about the plot, cause I’d otherwise spoil the first two books too much. Yelena is a great character and it’s cool to see how much she grows during the series.

I liked Fire Study, but somehow at the same time I was a bit disappointed by it. I think I just wanted it to be more than it was; with characters and a world this rich, I was expecting a grand emotional finale. It’s sort of there, but it’s missing that special something that makes me fall in love with a book.

Fire Study (UK, US)

The Rogue Hunter, The Immortal Hunter – Lynsay Sands

Two books from Lynsay Sands’ new Rogue Hunter series; it’s basically a continuation of the Argeneau series (same world, same recurring characters) only she ran out of Argeneau family members to write about.

The first books from the Argeneau series were hilarious, they’re the funniest romance books I’ve read. But the last couple ones… meh. They’re still okay, but I’m missing the funny in them. The Rogue Hunter has some cute moments in it, but most of the plot is pretty boring. The Immortal Hunter, however, gets interesting again, setting up a new main storyline and mystery. I can’t wait to see how this continues.

The Rogue Hunter (UK, US), The Immortal Hunter (UK, US)

The Tamir Triad – Lynn Flewelling

I’m a fan of Flewelling’s other series, The Nightrunners, and was curious to see more of one of the stories we heard about in there. This trilogy takes place a couple of hundred years earlier, when the country Skala is being ruled by an usurper king. For Skala to prosper though, there must always be a Queen on the throne, so the current king is secretly murdering his own female king to protect his own reign. Following prophecy, two wizards spellbound a princess at birth, with a glamour to disguise her, making her look like her dead (sacrificed) brother. The girl grows up believing she’s a boy…

The premise of this book is pretty unique, yet without interesting characters this could have failed completely. The characters and the world that Flewelling has created are fascinating; I sped so quickly through these books, I just wanted to know what happened to them as quick as possible. Great books, I recommend them to anyone who wants a cool new fantasy world.

The Bone Doll’s Twin (UK, US), Hidden Warrior (UK, US), The Oracle’s Queen (UK, US)

The Summoning Series – Robin D. Owens

I read the first two books of this series in early 2009 and finally got around half a year later to finish this series. The books are about the world of Lladrana, where forces of darkness have invaded. The different factions of the world resort to their final option: Summoning their prophesied saviours from the Exotique land aka Earth.

Each book is about the summoning of a human to this strange world where they each discover they have magical abilities. What I loved about these books was how unpredictable they were; they didn’t follow the standard romance formula. Plus it’s got a great fantasy story with lots of magic and talking hamster!

Protector of the Flight (US), Keepers of the Flame (US), Echoes in the Dark (US)