The Eleventh Hour

Just whipped up a quick book trailer for Jeff Hirsch’s debut novel, The Eleventh Plague.

It was agreat read and I really wanted to do another book trailer… try out some different flava’s, y’know!

The song in the background is Stem/Long Stem/Transmission 2 off of DJ Shadow’s AMAZING album, Endtroducing. Check out the full song here on the Youtubes.

Hope you like my latest creation:

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic incident

Colfer, E., & Parker, N. (2004). Artemis Fowl: The Arctic incident. New York: Listening Library.

Listening to this audio book was my first dip in to the ocean of the Artemis Fowl empire and I am glad that I finally got my feet wet! I think a lot of guys will especially enjoy rooting for Artemis Fowl because he’s a good guy, for the most part, but is forced by the circumstances of his life to play that bad guy… until the REALbad guys show up! Action, emotion, a whole lot more action, some gripping characters, and then even more action is what one should expect from reading/hearing this book (and, I suspect, others in the series).

Nathaniel Parker’s narrate’s in a good range of character voices which is a bonus to the fact that he has a great speaking voice in general. So, I was pleased to see that he narrates other Artemis Fowl audio books.

However, when I do get another Artemis Fowl book (which I will be doing soon!) I will be getting a paper copy…unless I am going on a road trip, or out to a cabin in the woods. Why? Well, personally, I am very easily distracted. I listened to most of this book on my computer which means that after about 30 minutes I was listening to the book and playing Euchre or poker online, checking my e-mails, Facebook, and Twitter, and surfing around the web. The parts I listened to on a CD player lead to me sweeping the floor, folding my laundry and cooking. The story was interesting, but the format was the gateway to distraction… which means if I might want to reconsider using it as road trip material 😛

For a taste of the story and of Nathaniel Parker’s narration go to Youtube

Memories

Ōtomo, K. (1995). Memories. London: Mash room.

This DVD is comprised of three anime shorts: Magnetic Rose, Sink Bomb, and Cannon Fodder. At 15 years Memories is hardly contemporary, but I’d be willing to argue for its classical qualities. Every fan of modern manga and anime must know the name Kagoshimo Otomo, and fans with depth will have seen this for sure.
The animation is excellent, albeit slightly choppy/stilted in action scenes, but I feel that that’s kind of a feature of anime style anyway. Everything is unique about these works; each story stands out with its own distinct atmosphere, every character is a new person, and every setting its own place. In addition to this there is a central theme that pervades each short. The unifying thread throughout this DVD is that war is brutal, stupid, and futile. Whether you’re destroyed in space, turned into a biological weapon, or spend your days blasting a city of cannons at an unseen enemy, Mr. Otomo is sure we remember that war is not the answer.