eveninghawk’s links

A couple of months ago my friend Brad sent me a book. I’d been tied up reading other things and didn’t have a chance to read it until Sunday, and I finished up last night. David Sedaris’ Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is a lot of fun. It gave me the chance to see another person’s family dramas and get a good laugh at the same time.

It’s exactly what I needed to run into, since I’ve been feeling a little frustrated, or like I was taking crazy pills. It’s not just me, lots of people have this insane circus going on.

Observations on sibling communication were excellent, but I had two favorite bits in the book. One was the discussion of who Santa Claus is in the Netherlands (that excerpt was read on NPR), I laughed so hard that my mother really thought I was losing it. The other was the recount of his brother’s wedding. I won’t really go into details, because I would hate to spoil the book for everyone. It’s full of many excellent chuckles and insights, and well worth the time to read.

I finished reading Life of Pi today. The story was an excellent exploration of animals, zoos, and religion. It would make more sense if you read it I suppose.

There were so many poignant moments in the book that I don’t really feel like I can pick out one, but there is a point that I thought was a lot of fun… the idea that you have to tell people what they want to hear in order for them to accept it.

Last night I watched the last DVD in the Samurai X collection, titled Reflections.

All I can say is that the writing was good, it was a romance that was utterly tragic yet beautiful, and the artwork was great. One of the things I’ve really appreciated about the whole OVA/movie thing is that there’s a different artistic approach in each of them, a different style with the same characters, so a different visual exploration in each piece.

This last one was particulary neat because there are flashbacks to stories that take place in the original series (which I realized is airing Saturday nights on Cartoon Network at 10:30PM). The flashback is all reanimated using the style in Reflections, so it has a new feel, a new perspective.

Reflections is certainly more serious than the original series, as is the whole OVA collection, and I think it’s a fantastic set. The start with the history of Kenshin, and then an exploration of the final redemption of the character.