Hiatus!

Sorry for the delay between posts, everyone. I have to apologize! My life is in some jumble -- nothing serious, just the usual! I'll be taking a short hiatus but I'll be reading and writing in the meanwhile. I've given myself a deadline until the end of the month, but my return may be earlier than that! I just need to get some priorities out of the way first before I recommit to this, but I promise you that my sass will stay! :)

Thanks for understanding and fare thee well!

Rose

Review: Supermarket [Graphic Novel]

Supermarket by Brian Wood, Art by Kristian

November 8, 2008 by IDW Publishing

[Goodreads][Amazon]

Summary:

In the future world of Supermarket, it's the literal truth. Legitimate and black-market economies rule the City, overseen by the vying factions of the Yakuza and Porno Swede crime families. Convenience store clerkette and 16-year old suburban wise-ass Pella Suzuki suddenly finds herself in the middle of it all, heir to an empire she couldn't possibly inherit, but hitmen on both sides aren't taking any chances.

Review:

Okay, I admit it. I'm a huge nerd, geek and what-have-you but this is the bookish world in the internet-universe and I know I'm not the only one who reads graphic novels, comics and manga. I grew up around illustrated stories, got into graphic novels when I was fairly young and I love a good story that's narrated with great art. To those people who aren't giving the comic book world a chance; you're missing out.

Say you love yourself some dystopian fiction, enjoy stories about the mafia, and hell, maybe you secretly love watching those Fast and Furious movies... Supermarket is a mighty fine graphic novel. I want to emphasize the word graphic too, because the art in this book does not follow the standard superhero-graphic-novel style. The colours are bright and well-thought out and each page is eye-catching without being offensive. The drawings themselves are look simply illustrated but in fact have a lot of character. The art reflects well on the urban adventure of the story and the artist has an excellent grasp of design. 

The story is fantastic. Money rules the world that Brian Wood created and Pella Suzuki, the main character, is caught in the middle of a gang war with two crime families. On one end, there's the Yakuza... on the other? Porno Swedes. That's right. You heard that right, Porno. Swedes. Do us all a favour and don't try and Google that, alright? Anyways, I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that the elements of story and art are meshed together in holy matrimony and it's a great read. People tend to think that words with pictures are childish but I digress, they stimulate how a story can be told and can even enhance the reading experience. This graphic novel isn't like the Archie comics you read as a kid. It's well-thought out; there's a deep story, there's a message, dark themes and if this were put into motion picture? I would rate it for teens and over considering the violence involved. 

Supermarket is exciting, bold and colourful. 

Rating: 4/5 Bookworms

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books Featuring Travel In Some Way

In no particular order...

1. American Gods by Neil Gaiman - Travelling around the US in search of other Gods? Okay, sounds good, where do I sign up? I honestly think this is the perfect road trip book. 
2. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut - I think this book is kind of ridiculous and that's why I love it so. Also, time travelling counts, right?
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - I honestly think this book is just going to be on every list I make because it has so many elements of everything. Can you tell it's a favourite of mine? Yeah, probably.
4. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carol - Okay, yeah, the entire story is kind of an acid trip but hey! I relate travelling to adventure, and this is one hell of an adventure.
5. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - It's obvious to me that some of the best travelling happens in classic children's stories. Peter Pan is one of my favourites for it has a little bit of everything and I love it!

I know no one minds, but I could only think of five. I'm quite content with this list and my only regret right now is not having enough coffee to go into more detail.

Movie Mondays: The Princess Bride

Gosh, I read some really fun books and watch some really good movies for this new segment. I'm pretty stoked about it, aren't you?

This week I decided to go for The Princess Bride [imdb]. Mostly because the book has been unread and sitting on my shelf for about two months and it's about time that I got right down to it. The best of it is that this is a perfect summer read for me -- casual, satirical, and light-hearted.

So I'm going to go right out and say this… it's a rare case where I watch the movie before the book, but hey, it happened. I watched this movie for the first time sometime in my youth -- I believe a TV station was broadcasting it at the time and I didn't even know that a book existed until well into my teen years. I'm not unhappy that I read the book after seeing the film, but I am in fact, content. I think if I didn't imagine Andre the Giant playing the character Fezzik then I would feel like something would be missing from my life somehow.

I think, honestly, that the movie did a fantastic job at adapting the book and that the book filled in the things I desired from the movie -- backstories of Inigo and Fezzik and how Humperdinck came to choose Buttercup for his wife and other such information. The adaptation was insanely spot-on and the dialogue is nearly identical to the book. I felt that the characters were actually written for the actors that portrayed them. Of course, Goldman, the author, is also a playwright and screenwriter so I'm sure he felt he had certain people in mind as first-choices. Andre the Giant as Fezzik remains to be my favourite role from anyone, ever. Of all time. Especially after seeing this (Warning: ALL THE FEELS.) And let us not forget that no one else can say the famous line: "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die" quite like Mandy Pantinkin. The very thought of any other person than Wallace Shawn playing Vizzini? Inconceivable!

Okay, I'm done quoting. I swear, I'll stop. Really.

It's not often that a film is better than the book, mostly the book is almost always better but in this case? Neither are true. They are equal in what they give to the audiences and both are companions to one another. The compliment each other brilliantly and as most of you have almost seen the movie well before reading the book, I highly encourage you to do so! Reviewing these two together has actually been a pleasurable experience and I've only done a few book reviews that I've been so proud of and this is honestly one of them.