Why I don't like Tyler Shields V.2 (and an apology for V.1)

http://ladybitsandbobs.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/why-i-dont-like-tyler-shields-v-2-and-an-apology-for-v-1/

My Reaction to 'The Great Gatsby Trailer'

When I hear the title ‘The Great Gatsby’, several things come to mind. The first is my A-Level literature teacher – Eileen Cheers. Eileen was an old woman, pushing on retirement, with the most perfect reading voice I have ever heard. She read the book out softly, in a husky whisper. It made you feel sleepy, relaxed – it took you back to your Grandmother reading you stories just before bedtime.

The new Great Gatsby trailer however, is anything but a relaxed affair. This is Moulin Rouge having a love child with your bookcase, all to the soundtrack of Jay Z and Kanye West. Not surprising when you consider Baz Luhrmann is the director to this new adaptation. While other directors have gone for smooth jazz and subtle glances, Mr. Luhrmann has done a 21st Century translation. He gives us decadence, hip hop, debauchery - Leonardo De Caprio's face.  

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited, and a little bit scared. Excited in the sense, the trailer has built this up to be an exciting affair. I’ll be going into the cinema expecting scantily glad women scissoring in large martini glasses. And scared because that’s what I might actually get. Scared that in among the bling and the show girls, the soft, heart aching life story of Gatsby will be lost under boob glitter.  

Hopefully my fears won’t come true. I sheepishly admit to squealing a little when the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. That faithful bit of imagery that has helped me, and countless other A Level students get by in an exam. And then of course there is Carey Muligan, perhaps my favourite actress of the moment.

If there is anyone that can portray subtle heartbreak it is she. Where Grazia admit to having doubts of whether Carey could pull off the role of Daisy, I have always had an unwavering faith in her ability to pull off this iconic role. As I watch her films, I’ve noticed more and more, what it is that makes her my personal favourite.

It’s her ability to make the audience love her.

While other, more conventionally ‘sexy’ actresses walk onto the screen and ooze sex appeal. Carey steps into a film, merely stares into the camera, whispers one or two lines and POOF we’re in love. In Drive, when she lay in the hallway, staring up at Ryan Gosling we could feel that tug on our hearts. She is not merely an object to be lusted after, as so many actresses are, but a fragile little bird that we want hold in our hands but can’t for fear we might crush her.

Instead, like the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg we are forced to watch her. And watch this space for the release in Christmas 2012. 

My Reaction to 'Casual Vacancy'

Today J.K Rowling announced the title of her new book: Casual *snort* Vacancy. Here’s what we’re in store for:

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

When Barry Fairweather, when BARRY, BARRY – B-ARRY, dies. Barry – Harry. I see what you did there Rowling. I can only hope this is intentional, otherwise you may have just revealed your odd character fetish for men with names ending in ‘arry’. Also a preoccupation with these people dying. But less about my Rowling fetish speculations and more on... this news/revelation in general. 

If you have access to the internet, and have visited any review/news site that is even slightly inclined to nerddom, you will know people are losing their shit. Finally a replacement for the lighting shaped hole in their hearts! I myself am I huge fan of the Harry Potter franchise. While I find the movies a little lacking, the books are a tangible relic from my childhood. I remember Order of the Phoenix coming out one weekend and by the time I returned to school on Monday I had devoured the whole thing. Oh how I gloried in the power of the spoilers! Being one of the few people to have read the massive slab of a book, I would hang over people and whisper cruelly ‘Oh you like Sirius, do you? Attached are we? Oh you poor, poor soul... Muwaha!’

I have a lot of the actors on twitter. I know most of the spells, have spent hours, even days, considering which house I would be sorted into (I’m still torn between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff), and can do I an almost perfect Bellatrix impression – ‘itty, bitty, POT-TAH!’ So am I excited for Rowlings new book? 

Not really. 

I have to be honest with you, this extract doesn’t get my heart pounding. If this was the blurb to any other book that didn’t have ROWLING stamped over the top, I wouldn’t give it a second glance. If anything it sounds a bit... cliché. ‘Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.’ This to me reads like something off of Fictionpress. An okay fictionpress story, that gets a couple dozen reviews, but isn’t anything too special.

Maybe my standards are too high, maybe I’m expecting too much from Rowling. But I don’t let my love of the Potter fandom blind me to Rowling’s faults. Because looking back at her work, it isn’t the best writing. She doesn’t summon outstanding imagery, sometimes the dialogue is a bit wooden, the prose a bit stilted. Writing isn’t Rowling’s strong suit.

However, what she does do well is create a world we can escape into with ease. No fan of Harry Potter can say they’ve never spent an afternoon imagining what it would be like to be a wizard. You picture yourself in those iconic robes, consider which wand to buy, imagine what class you would excel in. This is the real pleasure of Rowling’s work. This is what makes her an outstanding author.

So for me to see her write something revolving around a... village, I can hardly say my heart is pounding. Maybe she’ll prove me wrong. Maybe this village will be the new Hogwarts. Maybe I’ll spend hours thinking ‘what Pagford pub would I have a drink in?’ But at the moment this seems unlikely that’ll I’ll get lost in the world of Pagford.