en-US Thu, 19 Mar 2015 11:48:57 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 87346
In Chekhov's tragi-comedy - perhaps his most popular play - the Gayev family is torn by powerful forces, forces rooted deep in history, and in the society around them. Their estate is hopelessly in debt: urged to cut down their beautiful cherry orchard and sell the land for holiday cottages, they struggle to act decisively. Tom Murphy's fine vernacular version allows us to re-imagine the events of the play in the last days of Anglo-Irish colonialism. It gives this great play vivid new life within our own history and social consciousness.]]> 96 Anton Chekhov 0413774031 Plamen 0
This one is pretty simple and really funny. You have to understand, though, it's quite a black kind of comedy. Most of the humor comes from how out-of-touch almost every character is from reality. Lopakhin is probably the most normal; the easiest to understand: he's looking for money. He's the straight-man to lunatics like Gaev, imbeciles like Firs, and idiots like M. Ranyevskaya.

It's all well and good to feel sorry for these people, but come on, there needs to be a limit. Can you really feel sorry for a slave that pines for his former slavery? Or someone who's head is so far up in the clouds that she gives away the family's money to charity when they're drowning in debt? This family of grotesques can inspire only our ridicule.

The tough part is that they look so prim and proper, especially on stage. We're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, just because they look so fancy and like they clearly have their shit together. They don't. That's the joke. They spent their entire lives feeding off of others, languishing in sloth and obsessing over their misfortunes.

Chekov never intended his play to be a tragedy. ]]> 3.72 1903
author: Anton Chekhov
name: Plamen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1903
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2015/03/19
shelves:
review:
Chekov's works have a reputation of being very sad and very hard to understand.

This one is pretty simple and really funny. You have to understand, though, it's quite a black kind of comedy. Most of the humor comes from how out-of-touch almost every character is from reality. Lopakhin is probably the most normal; the easiest to understand: he's looking for money. He's the straight-man to lunatics like Gaev, imbeciles like Firs, and idiots like M. Ranyevskaya.

It's all well and good to feel sorry for these people, but come on, there needs to be a limit. Can you really feel sorry for a slave that pines for his former slavery? Or someone who's head is so far up in the clouds that she gives away the family's money to charity when they're drowning in debt? This family of grotesques can inspire only our ridicule.

The tough part is that they look so prim and proper, especially on stage. We're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, just because they look so fancy and like they clearly have their shit together. They don't. That's the joke. They spent their entire lives feeding off of others, languishing in sloth and obsessing over their misfortunes.

Chekov never intended his play to be a tragedy.
]]> 420315
Collects Infinity War #1-6, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #7-10 & Marvel Comics Presents #108-111.]]> 400 Jim Starlin 0785121056 Plamen 3
The original Infinity Gauntlet was mainly about power. Who gets to use it? Who has the power to control it, and who deserves it? In the end, Thanos rejects power, Warlock is stripped of it, and any other being is utterly overwhelmed by it, unable to control it.

It's not a theme that is easy to relate to. How many of us have had the chance to wield any kind of power?

Infinity War deals with duality. Not just in the brawl between heroes and hero doppelgangers, but in the tension between Doom and Kang; Magus and Warlock, Thanos and his twin, etc etc. Kang and Doom are essentially the same character; and the faults that they find in each other are the faults that others see in them. Personally, I found their bickering hilarious. Through it, they acknowledge that, at some level, they know they are arrogant, pompous assholes.

Thanos may be reformed, but the way he goes about doing "good deeds" would make anyone's skin crawl. He is as ruthless and callous as before, despite aiding the heroes. He is not above frying a secondary character or two if it means furthering the cause of "good".

It's the same with the Magus. Yes, he wants to destroy the universe, but his plotting and scheming is sometimes hard to distinguish from that of Adam Warlock himself. Isn't Warlock the one who's master plan was to send wave after wave of heroes on what was essentially a suicide mission?

Okay, so there is some goofy shit here. Eternity, the personification of the entire universe, is "unconscious" for a few scenes. Like, he's making a funny face and birds and stars are dancing around his head. Sometimes, the characters talk to each other like they're stoned out of their minds. Capitan America is annoying as all get out. But, come on, it's Infinity War. That's par for the course.
]]> 3.66 2006
author: Jim Starlin
name: Plamen
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2015/03/19
shelves:
review:
A retread of The Infinity Gauntlet, but a more nuanced retread, exploring themes that the original merely glanced over.

The original Infinity Gauntlet was mainly about power. Who gets to use it? Who has the power to control it, and who deserves it? In the end, Thanos rejects power, Warlock is stripped of it, and any other being is utterly overwhelmed by it, unable to control it.

It's not a theme that is easy to relate to. How many of us have had the chance to wield any kind of power?

Infinity War deals with duality. Not just in the brawl between heroes and hero doppelgangers, but in the tension between Doom and Kang; Magus and Warlock, Thanos and his twin, etc etc. Kang and Doom are essentially the same character; and the faults that they find in each other are the faults that others see in them. Personally, I found their bickering hilarious. Through it, they acknowledge that, at some level, they know they are arrogant, pompous assholes.

Thanos may be reformed, but the way he goes about doing "good deeds" would make anyone's skin crawl. He is as ruthless and callous as before, despite aiding the heroes. He is not above frying a secondary character or two if it means furthering the cause of "good".

It's the same with the Magus. Yes, he wants to destroy the universe, but his plotting and scheming is sometimes hard to distinguish from that of Adam Warlock himself. Isn't Warlock the one who's master plan was to send wave after wave of heroes on what was essentially a suicide mission?

Okay, so there is some goofy shit here. Eternity, the personification of the entire universe, is "unconscious" for a few scenes. Like, he's making a funny face and birds and stars are dancing around his head. Sometimes, the characters talk to each other like they're stoned out of their minds. Capitan America is annoying as all get out. But, come on, it's Infinity War. That's par for the course.

]]> 36159 496 C.S. Friedman 0756403146 Plamen 2
1) The story was adapted from the author's weekly D&D group

2) The author was paid by the word

Let me explain. The worldbuilding is awesome and full of really cool ideas. The protagonists travel through a lot of places that all have an interesting character about them. However, the characters themselves are basically lifeless. You've got the Sexy Enchantress who got her powers drained and so is just Sexy and Vulnerable. You've got Count Dracula (who is a literal Count in the story. Not kidding). And you've got a Warrior Priest. Also you have some nerdy dude that is basically worthless, keeps whining about how worthless he is, and then finally offs himself. The characters keep arguing about how much they hate each other, and that the only reason they're on this quest is that they want to do the Sexy Enchantress.

The end is pretty anticlimactic. The author constantly keeps repeating how, in her fantasy land, earthquakes happen all the time. The Enchantress loses her powers after an earthquake. Most magic is done using the "earthfae" (guess when the earthfae is strongest?). Most of the landscapes they go through are created by earthquakes. The cities are all warded against earthquakes, and the ones that are not are shantytowns that are getting ready for the next earthquake.

So guess how the final boss is defeated?

Yep.]]> 3.94 1991
author: C.S. Friedman
name: Plamen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1991
rating: 2
read at: 2015/03/19
date added: 2015/03/19
shelves:
review:
Two things seem obvious about this book:

1) The story was adapted from the author's weekly D&D group

2) The author was paid by the word

Let me explain. The worldbuilding is awesome and full of really cool ideas. The protagonists travel through a lot of places that all have an interesting character about them. However, the characters themselves are basically lifeless. You've got the Sexy Enchantress who got her powers drained and so is just Sexy and Vulnerable. You've got Count Dracula (who is a literal Count in the story. Not kidding). And you've got a Warrior Priest. Also you have some nerdy dude that is basically worthless, keeps whining about how worthless he is, and then finally offs himself. The characters keep arguing about how much they hate each other, and that the only reason they're on this quest is that they want to do the Sexy Enchantress.

The end is pretty anticlimactic. The author constantly keeps repeating how, in her fantasy land, earthquakes happen all the time. The Enchantress loses her powers after an earthquake. Most magic is done using the "earthfae" (guess when the earthfae is strongest?). Most of the landscapes they go through are created by earthquakes. The cities are all warded against earthquakes, and the ones that are not are shantytowns that are getting ready for the next earthquake.

So guess how the final boss is defeated?

Yep.
]]> 408584 Tarot Spells by Janina Renee!

Techniques of using the Tarot cards for magic are fully explained in this book. Also covered are preparations and additions, such as how to add candles, gemstones, colors and crystals to enhance your spell.

But mostly this book is about using the cards of the Tarot to cast spells that will change your life. You'll be able to cast spells to ease stress and increase psychic ability. You'll get a spell to encourage your debtors to finally pay you, and a spell to tap your unconscious mind for knowledge.

There are spells for healing and job hunting, for finding a home and to get more friends. There are spells to bring peace between you and other family members. You'll find spells for business, for success in competition and for courage. The list of spells just goes on and on!

If you have been using the Tarot, here is a chance to increase your knowledge of the power of the cards. The book is illustrated with beautiful designs from the Robin Wood Tarot, but you can use the spells with any Tarot deck. If you want to make changes in your life, here is a way to work magic with no tools other than your Tarot deck. For ease and power, you will want to work with the secrets revealed in this book.]]> 312 Janina Renee 0875426700 Plamen 4
The spells all conform to the same structure: There's an introductory verse, you draw out a few specific cards (2 of Cups if you want to hook up, Hanged Man if you want to de-stress, etc), perform one or two ceremonial actions (Write down a worry on paper and burn it in the fire, for example), and recite the closing verse.

The power of this is that the author encourages you to make all this as simple or complicated as you want. Need a little pause in the morning before you rush to work? Renee can help. Want to do the Lesser Banishing Pentagram before and after each spell? Go for it. For those of us who want to learn a bit more about the occult but find Crowley et al. too technical, this is the book for you. ]]> 3.97 1995
author: Janina Renee
name: Plamen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1995
rating: 4
read at: 2014/04/25
date added: 2014/04/25
shelves:
review:
A very accessible book written around a powerful (though deceptively simple) idea: using tarot cards to aid in positive visualization. As someone who just got a tarot deck last week, I'm basically the definition of beginner when it comes to the occult. Still, I could feel the energy behind the author's seemingly cheesy verses and exercises (the word "spells" makes me think too much of videogames).

The spells all conform to the same structure: There's an introductory verse, you draw out a few specific cards (2 of Cups if you want to hook up, Hanged Man if you want to de-stress, etc), perform one or two ceremonial actions (Write down a worry on paper and burn it in the fire, for example), and recite the closing verse.

The power of this is that the author encourages you to make all this as simple or complicated as you want. Need a little pause in the morning before you rush to work? Renee can help. Want to do the Lesser Banishing Pentagram before and after each spell? Go for it. For those of us who want to learn a bit more about the occult but find Crowley et al. too technical, this is the book for you.
]]> 592167 TRANSLATED BY S. A. HANDFORD WITH REVISIONS BY JANE GARDNER

The earliest eye-witness account of Britain and its inhabitants appears in these famous memoirs.

Between 58 and 50 BC Julius Caesar not only conquered almost the whole of modern France, Belgium and Switzerland, with parts of Holland and Germany, but also invaded Britain twice. It was partly as a piece of personal propaganda that he recorded his campaigns against the various Gallic tribes in Latin; nevertheless these simple, direct and lucid texts are a unique direct source on Gaul in that period and also the only narrative actually written by a great general of antiquity about his own campaigns.

Revised and updated by Jane Gardner, S. A. Handford's translation allows modern readers to grasp the full sense of Caesar's exciting account.]]> 269 Gaius Julius Caesar 0140444335 Plamen 4 4.03 -50
author: Gaius Julius Caesar
name: Plamen
average rating: 4.03
book published: -50
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2012/07/16
shelves:
review:

]]> 8151 292 Vladimir Nabokov 0811216748 Plamen 4 4.02 1932
author: Vladimir Nabokov
name: Plamen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1932
rating: 4
read at: 2012/04/29
date added: 2012/05/07
shelves:
review:
I've never read Lolita, but I got this book as a present, so I figured I'd read it. Nabokov is really good at giving you a full picture of a person with just one very well chosen detail. You can see this especially during the dinner party scene. The story is supposed to be ironic, so it's very predictable and formulaic. However, Nabokov manages to keep the suspense going, and somehow, the plot developments feel surprising, even though in retrospect they're pretty obvious. What may surprise you is the tasteless and shockingly shameless slapstick that comes up near the end. You don't know whether to laugh or cringe. Having read it, I think I'll tackle Lolita next.
]]> 627206 Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain was first published in 1979, it hit the New York Times bestseller list within two weeks and stayed there for more than a year. In 1989, when Dr. Betty Edwards revised the book, it went straight to the Times list again. Now Dr. Edwards celebrates the twentieth anniversary of her classic book with a second revised edition.Over the last decade, Dr. Edwards has refined her material through teaching hundreds of workshops and seminars. Truly The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, this edition includes:


the very latest developments in brain research
new material on using drawing techniques in the corporate world and in education
instruction on self-expression through drawing
an updated section on using color
detailed information on using the five basic skills of drawing for problem solving]]> 291 Betty Edwards 0874774241 Plamen 4 3.86 1979
author: Betty Edwards
name: Plamen
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1979
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2012/05/07
shelves:
review:

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