Current location:	basement
Current mood:	calm
Entry tags:	books, movies

The Natural Products of Library Visits Are Book Reviews
Ugh, sometimes I seriously hate going into a reading trance. I keep meaning to do all these things, and instead I get sucked into a book or online. Somebody stop me before I read again! Heh. But really, I just finished On Killing yesterday, and today I finished Bambi Vs Godzilla, so it's book reviewing time!

Bambi Vs Godzilla was so-so; I expected it to be more about the movie industry, but instead it was just David Mamet's ramblings. They were tentatively connected to movies, but mostly they were just fancy boring writing. And the chapter Women, Writing For was essentially "Good writers can write both sexes; now I will complain about political correctness oppressing me." Which was both boring, annoying, and left me completely unsympathetic. The section of genre felt like total fluff to me. I still felt like I had to finish the book, because occasionally there were a few nuggets of what I thought the book would be about, but OH my GAWD it was painful to read it! I mean, I don't mind tangents and randomness, but most of Mamet's tangents were either boring, obnoxiously pretentious, or both. So I was relieved to reach the end of that book. I've got another book about the movie/TV business, so I'm hoping that one will be better.
On Killing was way way better. But the chapter On Killing In America (about desensitization in media) seemed totally out of date to me. How could he not mention the Saw series? And IMO virtual reality helmets aren't replacing the computer/TV screen anytime soon. Plus he analyzes horror films as if all viewers are seeing it one way and as if there are no anti-killing messages embedded alongside pro-killer messages in horror films. Discussion of the Saw series and similar movies would have been way more appropriate, but then I think he'd have to get into oppositional messages to these movies in media. Another thing he never goes into much depth is sexual assault, rape, and murder of intimates (family or sexual partners). Except for this chapter, the book is mainly about killing during wartime by soldiers. Desensitization to violence really deserves a book on its own. On Killing In America could have connected the book's research on killing by soldiers during wartime to murder more effectively if it had considered murder as well as wartime killing by soldiers, but I guess there are other books dealing with murder out there. Still, I would have preferred a more elaborate and detailed report on murder by this author, because his take on killing seems less sensationalized than many other writers out there. In other words, I trust this guy's expertise and don't want to have to go looking for another author.

 I really liked the book. It was generally informative, and the author's tendency to repeat information and assure the reader that things will be covered in more depth in another section of the book didn't detract from this. I kind of wish there had been more information presented in the book (particularly things that touch on sexual violence and murder, as I said), but I suppose the book sparked my interest, rather than failed to answer questions that I already had prior to the book. On Killing has also made action sequences and violence in movies more interesting for me because of what they say about how close combat typically goes- ie, bashing or slashing motions rather than stabbing. It puts fencing in a different light too.
Hmm.... what else have I been doing.... Oh, I watched Garden State. I wouldn't have, if it wasn't a.)late, b.)a present, and c.) the only thing my brother and I could agree to watch. (Tess of D'Urbervilles was on TV!) But it wasn't disappointing or anything! It was kinda of cute, kind of nice.