Gulliver's Travels
Author: Jonathan Swift
Year of publication: 1726
Plot summary: Gulliver, a ship surgeon living in the early 18th century, recollects his many experiences from his visits to the lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and the land of the Houyhnhnms.
Swift's style of writing is typical of his time; he describes only the necessary, and these descriptions are technical in their nature. Actions are told; but beyond that, Swift is brief and to the point, and Gulliver is a man of reason rather than emotion, as was the ideal at the time. My understanding of Swift's satiric metaphors is very uneven throughout the story. When travelling to Lilliput, he is mostly concerned with the politics of the royal court of his time, a subject of which my knowledge is very limited. In later chapters, however, he discourses the behaviour of ma kind in general, of lawyers, and of all our "vices". These passages could just as well describe circumstances in our society today, and I find myself smiling cynically in recognition of the many hilarious, stupid and sometimes dangerous things we do, while calling ourselves rational creatures. When choosing certain parts, this is as topical today as it was the day it was published.
Year of publication: 1726
Plot summary: Gulliver, a ship surgeon living in the early 18th century, recollects his many experiences from his visits to the lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and the land of the Houyhnhnms.
Swift's style of writing is typical of his time; he describes only the necessary, and these descriptions are technical in their nature. Actions are told; but beyond that, Swift is brief and to the point, and Gulliver is a man of reason rather than emotion, as was the ideal at the time. My understanding of Swift's satiric metaphors is very uneven throughout the story. When travelling to Lilliput, he is mostly concerned with the politics of the royal court of his time, a subject of which my knowledge is very limited. In later chapters, however, he discourses the behaviour of ma kind in general, of lawyers, and of all our "vices". These passages could just as well describe circumstances in our society today, and I find myself smiling cynically in recognition of the many hilarious, stupid and sometimes dangerous things we do, while calling ourselves rational creatures. When choosing certain parts, this is as topical today as it was the day it was published.
The Simpsons Movie
Director: David Silverman
Cast: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and more
Plot outline: When Homer dumps his waste into the lake in Springfield, that's the last straw; Springfield becomes a dangerous polluted area, and the EPA lowers a giant, glass dome over the town. The Simpson family become fugitives. What will Homer do?
The best thing about this movie is that it's almost exactly 80 minutes long. Any longer an it might have felt overdone, over ambitious, and perhaps we would have got bored with it. As it is, standards are kept high throughout the entire movie, with skilfully placed puns and ironies. It feels like watching one long, hilarious episode of The Simpsons, and I mean that in a good way. After all, the episodes are why we love the yellow family, so why not give us what we're used to? The animations have been polished a bit, but apart from that, The Simpsons Movie stays wonderfully 2D. Just the way we want it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462538/
Cast: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright and more
Plot outline: When Homer dumps his waste into the lake in Springfield, that's the last straw; Springfield becomes a dangerous polluted area, and the EPA lowers a giant, glass dome over the town. The Simpson family become fugitives. What will Homer do?
The best thing about this movie is that it's almost exactly 80 minutes long. Any longer an it might have felt overdone, over ambitious, and perhaps we would have got bored with it. As it is, standards are kept high throughout the entire movie, with skilfully placed puns and ironies. It feels like watching one long, hilarious episode of The Simpsons, and I mean that in a good way. After all, the episodes are why we love the yellow family, so why not give us what we're used to? The animations have been polished a bit, but apart from that, The Simpsons Movie stays wonderfully 2D. Just the way we want it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462538/
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
SPOILERS
Author: J. K. Rowling
Year of publication: 2007 (duh :P)
Plot summary: Harry has to deal with finding the rest of the Horcruxes with the help of Ron and Hermione.
The end of this book meant the end of an era for me. I've been patiently waiting for every book to be released, growing up in the same pace as Harry, wondering how everything was going to work out. Now that I have all the answers, I am both pleased and disappointed. Disappointed because after all the speculations, the ending seemed almost tame and cliché in comparison. Pleased because, when it comes down to it, that doesn't matter; I wanted a happy ending. (Although at several points I thought JK was set on killing off everyone except Harry.) Something that also occurs to me is the question of whether I would have been able to understand the many sublime and sometimes complex turns of the plot in this final installment when I was eleven. I think the answer is that I wouldn't have. I also think that Harry Potter is a series you are ment to grow up with, maturing as the books grow more complicated (and as more characters die.) That's when the books will stay with you the longest.
Author: J. K. Rowling
Year of publication: 2007 (duh :P)
Plot summary: Harry has to deal with finding the rest of the Horcruxes with the help of Ron and Hermione.
The end of this book meant the end of an era for me. I've been patiently waiting for every book to be released, growing up in the same pace as Harry, wondering how everything was going to work out. Now that I have all the answers, I am both pleased and disappointed. Disappointed because after all the speculations, the ending seemed almost tame and cliché in comparison. Pleased because, when it comes down to it, that doesn't matter; I wanted a happy ending. (Although at several points I thought JK was set on killing off everyone except Harry.) Something that also occurs to me is the question of whether I would have been able to understand the many sublime and sometimes complex turns of the plot in this final installment when I was eleven. I think the answer is that I wouldn't have. I also think that Harry Potter is a series you are ment to grow up with, maturing as the books grow more complicated (and as more characters die.) That's when the books will stay with you the longest.