Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Books 1 - 3

The Bad Beginning, By Daniel Handlier (Lemony Snicket hereon in) (1999)

It's an archetypal tale to say the least; three children from well off parents are orphaned and are forced to live with their "uncle" (Fourth cousin three times removed, or third cousin four times removed; it's unsure) Count Olaf, who is after their tremendous fortune.

Overall, a bit deadpan and depressing for a children's book, although in this one it manages to balance the seriousness of the topic with the unconventional and dare-I-say slightly British tone that comes across in the book. The now famous style is that of a journalist with connections to the orphans, with hidden secrets about their lives ready to tell in this series.

The Bad Beginning sets the series off well; good characterisation, good plot, and a sense of loose comedy to the whole thing, despite wearing a shroud of deppression.

The Reptile Room, By Lemony Snicket (1999)

The plot thickens as the next guardian of the Baudelaires is chosen, and they are sent off to live with their herpetologist (studies snakes) "uncle" Monty. A rather benevolent fellow, and preparing to go off with the trio to Peru.

That would have gone to plan, if this series' frequent formula didn't require that Count Olaf appear in a paper thin disguise and con, murder and/or dazzle their guardian. In this case, he disguises himself as a herpetology assistant and kills Monty with a fork to imitate a snake bite. Terrible.

This series is unique not only for its strange style of writing but also for the many adult themes and literary references scattered about. It perhaps reinforces the moral that the well-read are the more morally guided: but also makes it accessible to older readers.

The Wide Window, By Lemony Snicket (2000)

Oh dear. It's book three of thirteen and already there's a drab lake filled with meat-eating leeches, a hurricane warning and a woman afraid of falling fridges.

Perfect material, then, for Handlier's unique style of a mix of faux-concern and deadpan humour. And that still shines through, despite being one of the more deppressing earlier books, with irony and absurdity everywhere, blended perfectly with the dark nature of the book.

This time the three are sent to live in a rickety old shack barely holding onto the side of a cliff, with their "Aunt" Josephine, whose husband died because the leeches in the lake sensed he had eaten recently and ate him. She later dies the same way, mainly because of a newly disguised Count Olaf as a sailor type; with some new henchmen in tow.

A good end to the introductory period of the series, it works well because the next book is less deppressing!

Overview

The introductory period of the series does well to establish the writing style and elaborate references of Handlier's work, as well as introducing the formula which will most definately be broken later on.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The images were removed from this article because it was garnering an unfair amount of coverage for its images alone. 

Review: Doctor Who: Vincent and The Doctor

Richard Curtis of Vicar of Dibley, Love Actually, Notting Hill and The Boat that Rocked fame presents a powerful and moving insight into the trials and tribulations of Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh.  It returns to the core of Doctor Who's historical record while still imbued with the Richard Curtis charm and his ability to stir great emotion. The story is noticably less about the "big bad alien" and more about the emotional and chronological banter between characters, meaning that plot is firmly shoved aside.

On a trip to a French art gallery, The Doctor and Amy notice an alien being in the window of a church painted by Van Gogh. After bantering with a brilliant Bill Nighy as the Curator, they travel back to 1890, where they discover a broken and confused man. The monster in question is a space-bug-scavenger-prototype, and in this case serves to act as a metaphor for his mental state. Because of Van Gogh's unique mental state, he is the only one able to see the creature, leading to some invisible faffing around.

After a brilliantly subtle tale that explores the full psycology of Van Gogh, there is a tragic end sequence for the alien and then there is a wonderfully heartwarming scene where The Doctor introduces Van Gogh to the 2010 gallery, and Nighy expresses his life-long admiration.

While the action may be a little pushed back to make way for the character drama, this is no bad thing. The true plot is Van Gogh's altering psyche, and the alien threat serves only as a motivational tool for The Doctor to show Van Gogh how special a being he really was/is. This is of course a brilliant move by Rich Curtis, who does character drama better than anything else.

Next week, The Doctor acts as a Lodger with James Cordon. Lets hope he had no part in writing the damn thing.

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Review: Paolo Nutini (2/2): Sunny Side Up

Sunny Side Up - Paolo Nutini (2009)

Nutini crashes back and blows his first album into insignificance. It's got a big deal of Nutini charm as well as some experimentative changes to genre and some powerful vocals from Paolo. 

Consistency is as good as ever, with the sheer effort put into it sounding breathtaking. And yet you can also hear that he's enjoying every word.

Particular gems? They're all brilliant, and I can't pick out a single one that i would hold above the others.

Next week I have The Script and then I lay off the music for a while.

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Review: Harry Potter (6/7): Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, By J.K.Rowling (2005)

The last two books form their own finale, but in my opinion HPHBP is the better of the two. Strong, powerful, and although muddled by unecessary romantic subplots, it provides some of the best moments in the series.

Of course I am perhaps a little biased. This was the first book that I read soon after release, and on holiday at that. It's certainly an interesting book, and the series turns into an aging wine with all of its features blooming and wrinkling.

Alright, the basic plot is as follows: Everyone's taken their heads from their arses and saw that there's some funky shit going on in the world. Meanwhile, Voldy acts like a brooding serial killer and starts attacking non-magical people. Dumbeldore is understandably pissed and so starts training up Harry because he's the Chosen One etc. and in the end is killed by an Antihero.

Oops Spoilers! To be honest, I feel incapable of describing the next book without using spoilers, so I might as well start here.

Elsewhere in this story there are around four romantic subplots, each more awkward and unnecessary than the last. Maybe it's a way of identifying that they're getting older, but I just don't see it. She has done a good job representing the irrationality and short standing nature of teenage relationships, but this doesn't complement the overall sense of tension that results from the return and exploits of Voldemort.

Anyway. A good book, if spoiled by a few trivial things, and we get, erm, serious next tommorrow with the finale.

Review: Harry Potter (5/7): Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, By J.K.Rowiling (2003)

The longest book in the series at a whopping 800 pages, I don't feel that Order of the Phoenix deserves its length, which seems to drag on and on. The plot basically follows the (spoiler warning) full return of Lord Voldemort at the end of the last book. Basically Harry, his close friends and the powerful headmaster (Dumbeldore; an extremely important character that I feel ashamed for not having mentioned) are the only ones who believe that he is back. Cue torturous reign of horror on the edge of society, bubbling over into the fore-ground just when it's too late to do anything.

The titular Order is a group of "goodies" that are fighting against Voldy, and play a major part in the beginning of the book where Harry faces trial for using magic to stop a dementor that attacked his cousin and he while walking about before meeting a squib. And if that made sense to you, I'm so, so sorry.

Ok, I'll admit that there are a lot of aspects of the plot that I don't mention here. It gets rid of the one-sided potential of the earlier books while building a lot of tension for the serious danger that one can feel coming from the threat of Voldy's armies. So far the books have painted Harry as Jesus and Voldemort as Satan (more of these religious connotations on Sunday), and this is the first book that actually gets to the point where she is obliged to say, "Well everyone's human in the end heh heh".

Again, the prose is beautiful and detailed in a way that doesn't deter from the story. One can feel empathy for the characters, and that is perhaps the most important aspect. One feels frustration at the world's misbelief of Voldemort, and that's just brilliant.

I notice that in the reviews of book 2 through 4 I say that the next book is serious. Just to clarify; we get serious next week! :L

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Review: Paolo Nutini (1/2): These Streets

These Streets - Paolo Nutini (2006)

Paolo Nutini (from hereon Paolo) is a Scot-Italian, whose exterior appearance matches that of a busking student. Like Mr. Blunt, he too has the novelty factor of a voice that has an unusual pitch; thankfully this time, it is down rather than up. Paolo, a 22 year old, sounds like a balding middle-aged man.

Not that that's a bad thing, by the way. It is, to be brief, fucking brilliant. The songs are instantly memorable in a warm, fuzzy kid of way, and imbued with a sort of brief sincerity that matches if not excelling that of dear Blunty. He's also Scottish, and therefore a member of the second-best race of peoples ever.

The album's consistency is brilliant, with excellence throughout. The strained croonings mean that you feel the effort behind every syllable, every efforted word. Particular greats are, "Jenny Don't Be Hasty," "Rewind," "These Streets," and "New Shoes".

Did I mention that the album was triple platinum? While Paolo hasn't had brilliant chart progress, he has been loved by the critics, like myself. Everything he sings is song not only with a passion but a shy humility and charm that makes it an absolute pleasure to listen to.

Brilliant. Simply Brilliant.

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Review: Harry Potter (4/7): Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, By J.K.Rowling (2000)

Things get series in this fourth installment, a transitionary novel of sorts from the lgihthearted nature of the first three novels to the darkness of the last three. Its plot is mainly independant; a legendary tournament between the three great wizarding schools that somehow Harry is elected for, because he's somehow extra-speshuw and then there's this whole revelation and a really important plot point that I don't feel at liberty to mention.

Rowling tormented her fans by saying that a character would die, and she was right, although it was luckily a character we hadn't heard of before this book (he was played by Twilight's Edward Pattinson in the film version, and was accordingly wooden). It also features some important last-three-book features as well as pay-offs for some of the features introduced in earlier books.

Erm... not a lot to say, really. As I remember, the story and writing quality was as excellent as one comes to expect from Rowling. Especially the climax sequence, which had a great sense of tension to it. I've always viewed this book as the story between two trilogies, and as that device (and an independant tale) it works very well.

Tommorrow, we get serious with Order of the Phoenix.

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Review: James Blunt (2/2): All the Lost Souls

All The Lost Souls - James Blunt (2007)

James Blunt is back after his three-year success bath; this time with the novelty worn down with some decent sandpaper. James is still his madcap, high-pitched, clear-cut self, except this time he's lost the newbie appeal of the fallen soldier who can sing a bit.

Nothing really stands out on the album; it's the same as before, sincerely heartfelt ballads that pull on the heartstrings. There's nothing particularly moving in the album, nothing that has any deep meaning.

If you love Blunt, then there's more of his trademark catharsis for you to enjoy. If you're looking for something as special as "You're Beautiful", or "No Bravery" then you'll be sorely disappointed.

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Review: Harry Potter (3/7): Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, By J.K.Rowling (1999)

Here we take a step back from some of the bigger mythology and focus more on character, something Rowling does well. What results is perhaps one of the more intelligent books in the series, if not the most excitable.

The only book in the series that doesn't feature Lord Voldemort, PoA instead makes a villan of Harry's godfather, who supposedly betrayed his parents to Voldemort thirteen years previously. When it is revealed that this dangerous criminal has escaped, Harry is recognisably angry about it. And so follows a tale of misdirection and, strangely, time travel, in which our characters are much further explored as people.

When I began reading Potter the third film had just been released, and so my memories of it are sketchy. The book has less action or grand majesting rambling; just a lot of extra, accumulating detail and character drama. Like previous books, elements important later on are introduced here, and will continue to be introduced even in the final book.

This is the end of the introductory period of books; the end of the innocence of Harry and his friends. The next book is transitionary, into a more mature story, and this is one last savoury pocket of the innocent adventures that came beforehand.

What struck me is that there is no climax. The story doesn't seem to build; it just rolls on and the period that one may call a climax is too far from the end of the book. That's my only gripe with it, however.

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Review: James Blunt (1/2): Back to Bedlam

Back to Bedlam - James Blunt (2004)

He's not called a "soft rock" musician for nothing; as noted by many of his critics at the time, James' unique selling point is his brilliant voice, which easily reaches into low tenor without sounding like a British Michael Jackson.

Most if not all of his songs are attempts at emotional ballads, and for me they work. Maybe I'm too kind to the posh bastard, but he actually does a decent job with what he's been given; realistic but slightly flowery love songs, most of which deliver the right punch to be entertaining. Some of them are based on past relationships; one song ("No Bravery," a personal favourite from his works) is based on the dissolution of Yugoslavia, and is bloody depressing.

One of the things that makes the songs so powerful is perhaps another asset of the British clear-cut voice, although on this occasion is sounds as if Blunt has been licking the Queen's arse serving his country for years. And, as comes with the accent, some of the songs are witty. For example, in "Wiseman" James is questioning a woman and for some reason is telling her about how the biblical three wisemen live in, "a semi by the sea" and that she should access her place in life. Complete and total pig swill but also witty humour.

James is part of my first double bill this week because as a child I was indoctrinated into the James Blunt Cult (that's a tongue twister that can have some unsavoury results) and so I've decided to actually listen to his second album, which I shall be reviewing tommorrow.

So, in summary: completely bonkers powerful tear-wrenching dramatic light rock with a toff's accent and a voice that would shatter a wine glass. Brilliant.

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