Of all the versions of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” that I have seen so f![Much-Ado-About-Nothing[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-D3D9kXBMIj0/Uq9m3g3Zl2I/AAAAAAAABfk/eZQFq8pvdwc/Much-Ado-About-Nothing%25255B1%25255D%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800 "Much-Ado-About-Nothing[1]")
ar, old and new, classic and modern, my favourite has to be Joss Whedon’s! I watched it some weeks ago for the first time, and a few nights ago again. I never thought I’d enjoy a version more than the digital theatre one with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, but I liked Joss Whedon’s even more than that! It’s just too cute! =D
Of course Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon also created their own version of “Sigh No More”, the famous soundtrack of Much Ado [with Shakespeare’s own lyrics!]. It’s quite nice, definitely the nicest version of it I’ve heard. =)
Meanwhile, in my so called “parallel reading”, I finished reading one of the most amazing, most brilliant non-fictions I’ve ever read. “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is must read for anyone who has an interest in thinking / learning about how the world functions!
I came across this book completely accidentally, and it truly took my breath away. And now I think I’m going to read the rest of what the same author has written…
![url[1]](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-EVquTDkmR8c/UoTGLZFOO8I/AAAAAAAABWg/q6e9I4NCAqk/url13.png?imgmax=800 "url[1]")
Couple of weeks ago I finished reading Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol“. I’m big enough a fan of his writing I would say, and had already read everything else he had written a![url[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-6ZVtpQj7HwY/UoTF9D_-tCI/AAAAAAAABWY/THLdprjEXSA/url12.png?imgmax=800 "url[1]")
long time ago [before the Da Vinci Code movie was made…], but somehow never got to this one. When I heard the news that “Inferno” was finally released, I picked up “The Lost Symbol” and pretty much devoured it!
Plot-wise this was probably not my favourite Dan Brown book. That however does not mean that I didn’t enjoy the book. It just means that this book was even more of a textbook than his previous ones. Generally Dan Brown has the tendency of teaching through his books and getting many messages through. In “The Lost Symbol”, there is simply much more of that, than story telling. That being said, I really found what was being “thought” quite interesting, and in some ways very much in line with my own way of thinking. So I did in fact enjoy the book quite immensely.
Now, finally to “Inferno”. =)
I read the book “Life of Pi” a few years back, due to the suggestion of one of my profs. I
enjoyed reading the book quite immensely, and felt quite moved by it. Somehow I felt a lot of connections between the life of Pi and the life of myself. The book is definitely one of the best I’ve ever read.
When I heard that “Life of Pi” was made into a movie, and especially after reading up on the crew and the cast, I figured this is probably not yet another case of a really good book being mutilated into a movie. The book, as deep and wonderful as it is, it also tells a very simple story which I didn’t imagine would be too hard to make into motion picture. And then I saw the trailer, and I knew that I absolutely had to see the movie.
As it turns out, the movie is indeed a very good adaptation of the book. Aside from remaining completely faithful to the book, the visual aspects of the movie are quite marvellous, and the music is breathtaking. And I’m also very happy to see that they didn’t try to somehow hollywoodize the whole thing. =)
So for anyone who is a fan of the book, as well as anyone who’s never heard of it before, “Life of Pi” is totally recommended. Best if you actually go to a movie theatre and see the 3D version, as there are some truly spectacular scenes in there. I enjoyed it very very much. =)
It’s a pretty long list of reasons why I’ve always been a huge fan of Tolkien’s books, one of the main ones being the way there is a million and one story lines happening parallel to each other. There’s a lot of important information, as well as major and minor characters in each of these streams, contributing to the depth and the complexity of the story as a whole, and making the whole Tolkien universe a lot more of an intriguing place.
That is why, when the 3 Lord of the Rings movies officially took over the world, I was one of the very few people not to be that big of a fan of them. I did of course enjoy watching the spectacular visuals of the movies and many other great aspects of them. But my problem was with the amount of information, story pieces and even some very significant characters [Tom Bombadil being the best example] that were removed, in order to fit books of that magnitude into 3.5 hour movies. In my opinion, these modifications have altered the story line, and have caused irreparable damage to much of what Tolkien was trying to communicate through his stories.
When last year I read that for the single “The Hobbit” book, three movies were in production, I had to smile. I’ve been very much looking forward to seeing the movies, and last week I finally got to watch the first part, “An Unexpected Journey“. As I suspected, having considerably more time means that the movie is a lot closer to the book than the LOTR movies. The important parts are all there, and the story hasn’t really been altered in any way. And then there’s of course all the visual gorgeousness and the lovely scenery, and the truly awesome collection of actors and actresses. On that note I must say I’m really happy with the choice of Martin Freeman as Bilbo, him being one of my favourite actors and completely perfect for the role too. Oh, and was anyone else excited to see “Being Human”s Aiden Turner as Kili? =D
So all in all finally there’s a Tolkien book made into movie that I’m happy with. Now waiting impatiently for the 2 remaining parts….
Couple of nights ago I finished reading “A Dance with Dragons“, book 5 of “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. Meaning that now I have to wait till next year 
[supposedly] to get my hands on the next book. Too much of a bloody cliff hanger…. *sigh*
Well, it’s been quite a trip. It’s an amazing universe GRRM has created, with characters that are believable and understandable, and plots and events that are impossible to predicts. Everything can happen, everyone can die… and apparently everyone does die… =P Heroes make disastrous mistakes and the most brilliant set ups go gloriously wrong, and then the devil saves the day….. And you can’t put the bloody book down. =)
Oh, and regarding the TV series… as great as the series are, they’re not nearly as good as the books, so if you’re a fan of the TV series just go and read the books… Especially in the more recent episodes the TV series has been deviating more and more from the books, somehow annihilating some interesting aspects of the story line.
So, now I’m going to go about finally finishing Codex Alera [which I’ve been stretching as much as I could! =P]. And after that… we’ll see.
A friend was asking me today if I finally read “Inheritance“, the last book in the “Inheritance Cycle” by Christopher Paolini, and what I thought about it. I remembered I 
never wrote anything about it…
So yes, I read Inheritance some months ago and actually like it quite a bit too. As I wrote here before, the trilogy was not exactly among my favourites. But the 4th instalment really did save the whole thing. Even though the very end left me somewhat unsatisfied, but the 4th book was able to give a new depth and direction to the cycle.
I truly enjoyed reading the 4th book, and now I’m hoping that Christopher Paolini will, as he said, at some point go back to Alagaesia and show us a bit more about the future of the main characters. I don’t want to give spoilers here since a couple of friends are going to read the book soon, but lets just say that I would like Eragon to reconsider his choice of residence location eventually. 😉
![url[1]](http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Q97MLtzNQDE/UR7A1c-t75I/AAAAAAAAA7M/lBSAX06z-us/url%25255B1%25255D%25255B7%25255D.png?imgmax=800 "url[1]")
