What are you reading?

[Overread]

VidThreeNorth I think one key thing with the original Ghost in the Shell film is that it makes use of a lot of silent story telling. The scent you point out of the Major waking up in a dark room with almost no detail save for the light from the window and then leaving. I can see how you would think its an empty scene, however to me its telling us a part of her story, its showing, in a way, how empty her life is. Her home is just a place she sleeps in, there's no comforters, no company, no decorations or distractions. It's an empty room which is suggestive of the empty feelings that she's full of.
We get the same with the 10 minute song and silent part of story telling again in the middle of the film (a scene which I utterly love). Again we get hints and glimpses of the world around (mood setting) but also of her. There's that sense of her seeing her body as a product, a machine, a face that's replicated the world over and sold on a shelf. Again highlighting this empty feeling and her confusion about her own existence.


My feeling is that the story we get in the film is very much the end of her character story arc. The Stand Alone Complex series is "better" in that it starts the story telling much earlier and we see far more of her slide into depression and isolation. Personally I've always been rather fond of the fact that elements of both the SAC series and the two films actually link up rather well and explain each other. The only oddity is Togasa who in the film is a rookie to the unit, whilst in the SAC series he rises, by the second season, to be organising the team. Yet many of the events and the general story flow of the SAC series build themselves really well into leading into creating the Major character who appears in the first film.

But the Ghost in the Shell productions on TV are confusing. There's the original two films; then the Stand Alone Complex series and then a more recent "origins" style series of animated adventures. Each one is technically in a unique world setting (ergo they are not formally meant to link up). Ontop of that is the original Manga (something that I've dipped into but really need to get further with reading); which is again in its own continuity.

 

[zombiesniper]

Has anyone said "My camera manual." lately?

 

[Overread]

Has anyone said "My camera manual." lately?

Bah not until Canon makes a 7DMIII and I find a rainbow and a pot of gold to afford it ;P

 

[snowbear]

"The Acadian Exiles: A Chronicle of the Land of Evangeline" by Sir Arthur G. Doughty.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

VidThreeNorth
. . .

The thing that annoyed some Shirow fans is Ohshii's portrayal of Motoko as being "empty" at that point in her life. Shirow didn't really seem to intend that. In the manga, she has friends, and an active life outside her job. Neither was her main home particularly "empty". When she joined with the Puppet Master, Shirow took pages with a long discussion between them. She was not someone "at the end of her life" or destitute in any way. That makes her choice, perhaps, one of bravery, or maybe profound curiosity.

Actually, I don't mind it. But it makes me wonder if Ohshii is a particularly "angsty" person, or whether he just thought it would be easier for a movie audience (who only gets to see an hour or two of a person's "life") to accept.

Ironically, I think Motoko would fit well in one of Heinlein's later stories.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Has anyone said "My camera manual." lately?

I did, but I think it was in another topic. Unfortunately, there is not really much beyond installing the batteries in some modern manuals.

 

[dxqcanada]

Instructions on how to set the tension of a Speed Graphic focal plane shutter ... which are not really clear.

 

[Overread]

VidThreeNorth
. . .

The thing that annoyed some Shirow fans is Ohshii's portrayal of Motoko as being "empty" at that point in her life. Shirow didn't really seem to intend that. In the manga, she has friends, and an active life outside her job. Neither was her main home particularly "empty". When she joined with the Puppet Master, Shirow took pages with a long discussion between them. She was not someone "at the end of her life" or destitute in any way. That makes her choice, perhaps, one of bravery, or maybe profound curiosity.

Actually, I don't mind it. But it makes me wonder if Ohshii is a particularly "angsty" person, or whether he just thought it would be easier for a movie audience (who only gets to see an hour or two of a person's "life") to accept.

Ironically, I think Motoko would fit well in one of Heinlein's later stories.

I suspect it was easier for him to present that kind of idea in the short time frame of the film. Having her full of life and love of life and then suddenly throwing it away could be quite a major ending, but its also rather a sudden move with so little character development time. Interestingly though the way she acts in the SAC series broadly follows a similar path; perhaps not quite as desolate as the film portrays, but you can certainly see herself closing off avenues and contacts and, if not losing a love of life; at least withdrawing more into herself with conflict about her self identity.

I also thought that there's an interesting sub-plot in the SAC series in that the "puppetmaster" is half said to have been born in the web; whilst in the SAC series her once lover does throw himself into the void of nothing (or at least that was his intention before it all failed). So you get some sense that she's not jsut running from herself but perhaps running toward that.

 

[Fred von den Berg]

SPQR, from Mary Beard.

 

[RVT1K]

The Crucible of Creation, The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals

by Simon Conway Morris

Nerdy paleontology stuff focusing on the development of very early life based on discoveries made in Canada in an area know as the Burgess Shale.
Far deeper than you can get in popular-science articles but not as dry as a text book.



Another book I read on the subject was Wonderful Life, The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould.

In an odd coincidence, the other day we were watching one on the episodes of Ken Burns' "Baseball" series and S.J. Gould was one of several people featured to tell their baseball stories.

 

[Warhorse]

Dark Sacred Night - Michael Connelly

 

[AlexNillson89]

The Thirteenth Tale
I really loved the atmosphere of the book and the little mysteries too. I believe I know how it ends and what happens (and who's who)

 

[NancyMoranG]

Dark Sacred Night - Michael Connelly

I really like his books!
Just saw yesterday he is involved with filming tv series on the Lincoln Lawyer character. Not played by Mcconnahey on tv.
No cross character appearances because Bosch is another 'network', and joked it would take the Supreme Court to get the networks to allow it.

 

[Ysarex]

 

[MaryJ92]

I enjoy reading mostly non-fiction on nearly any topic, but since I have just been into some books on photography, I thought it might be fun to share with each other what we are reading lately.

I just finished "The photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately began reading it a second time. Excellent writing, illustrations, examples, and thought process. Less than exemplary editing, but that is their business, not mine.

Currently I am reading "Photography Your Way" - A Career Guide to Satisfaction and Success, by Chuck DeLaney. This was published in 2000, so some parts of it are quaintly outdated, but there is a wealth of information that remains current, or that will probably never be outdated. For instance; the author gives his advice on building a business that can easily be translated to be relevant to building nearly any business, not just that of photography. It is very well written, and I have noticed only one typo so far.

As for other photography books, I read "Nikon Speedlight Handbook" by Stephanie Zettl. This one can be used as a reference, and so I have consulted it several times whenever I have a question for which I need a refresher.

My other interests include architecture, politics, social studies, yoga, and more. I keep up with current events by reading a semi-monthly news and commentary magazine (not the one you think), websites, and of course, TPF.

If you would like to share your latest reading material, please tell us!

I am reading Pride and Prejudice. Absolutely in love with this love story! I think I watched the movie 4 times and it is my second book reading!