DRACULA - A SUBJECTIVE REVIEW

I kind of intended to finish The City of the Straight this week and report on my findings but I was distracted by my Gothic holiday reading. Yay for Popular Penguins at a Perfect Price. Last night I stayed up far too late finishing Dracula, an irrefutable nexus of popular culture. You see I didn’t want to leave a vampire at large in my head, he had to DIE. Do you know the difference between horror and terror? If you’re only vaguely aware, it is, put simply, thus; terror is the dread of what will happen and horror is the revulsion at what happened. And along with romance are both the staple of Gothic literature. I wouldn’t say that such is to my liking but I had read Frankenstein some time ago, and hoped it would be of the like; almost a classic and totally different to the current popular interpretation. It certainly was more gruesome than I expected. As I was reading it I began to pick up missing links in the world of stories. I imagined connections between the Hannibal Lecter films (I don’t claim to have seen those films mind), Faust, the delicately balanced Låt den rätte komma in (foreign language bonus :O), the Pre-Raphaelites, and thanks to that scatter shot of knowledge known as Wikipedia, the thinking of Gothic Revival, to quote; “The ruins of Gothic buildings gave rise to multiple linked emotions by representing the inevitable decay and collapse of human creations”,  such decay (or reclaim) of creations has always interested me, though in manner of positive/scientific emotions (is that possible?), and in no way anarchistic. (I think this book has caused me to affect an archaic accent, it’s written, for the most part, in the form of journal entries by the varied Victorian protagonists). I thought it odd, possibly even a mistake, that the lead antagonist was instantly introduced and for the first part so close and constantly revealed to the initial hero. But then the genius of it dawned on me as the dread of his unknown and murky movements haunted the better part of the following passages. Sadly the end seems rushed/pedestrian (:D) in my opinion, and lacks the symbolism of the first three quarters. I think the writer, cherry old Bram Stoker, lost his way, when, in the last act, Count Dracula lost the majority of his omnipotent like powers and the vital atmosphere disappeared. Yet, in short; great for late night reading and essential to pop culture junkies.

BELMONT TANIWHA AND MOA

THE BIG LITTLE CAPITAL THAT HAPPENED

Over the last two weeks I have seen kaka parrots on three occasions. In the city of Wellington. The first sighting was of a solo bird flying overhead in the suburbs. Such a funny shaped bird, the parrot. And today, in the Botanical Gardens, a group of four kakas were, in all appearances, playing with a group of four or more tuis in a flowering kowhai tree. Can the Zealandia sanctuary be thanked for this? I felt a little wistful seeing this tree on public grounds practically teaming with native birds, fooling about in a type of short lived harmony. Was this what New Zealand wildlife was like before the native species become depopulated. What would it have been like if Huia and Moa had been added to the event? Last weekend, at a family event, my father gave me a book by Alan Mulgan. It’s basically a running together of the various settlement histories (both Maori and British) in the Wellington region, more of an overview than an academic study. None the less, it’s still fairly un-biased, I think. I’ll have to confirmed that though, since, when I was talking to someone about it, and used the word “campaign” to describe Te Rauparaha’s move down the west coast, they laughed at the word. (This book, by the way, is one of those rare off hand “oh he might like this” gifts that is actually precious and interesting. Thanks dad. Yeah :) ) Combining my progress so far with this book, the unruly waka taua of the RWC opening navigating the bottomless green of the Auckland harbour, and the native bird invasion, has got me peering “down the foggy ruins of time” and wondering what they were all up to back then?

The beginnings of this city now look so random, rushed and uncertain. It seems like Wakefield sailed up and said yeah that looks good. Why not Nelson? More sun, more flat land? Hopefully the rest of the book will shed some light. I’ll get back to you. Maybe.

Gills Sans much?

Te Aro Flat and Mt Cook, about 1840

LIST OF FIFTY FILMS

What a funny week. Partly because of that tv series Community. Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Ken Jeong and Chevy Chase are just amazing. After watching a few episodes everything is so funny for the following couple of hours. Donald Glover so unexpected,  Alison Brie working so many dimensions into the stereotype, Chevy Chase’s pathetic self parody, Ken is a comic genius, the scripting is fluid, very audience and self aware, it feels like they’re sitting there in the room watching it with you as they’re writing it. Incessant references. There are  a few continuity issues here and there but I guess that comes with the territory. Being a comedy and all. Who ever reinvented Chevy is a genius as well. I used to not like him that much. But, in this, he has some of the funniest moments.

So much happiness.

I don’t really have anything real to say this week so here’s a list of films that will help you win friends and influence people. Actually, in true newbie form, these are my favourite films in order of importance. I can vouch for each of these films.

You know it’s handy to have such a thing to keep the film buffs I MEAN FREAKS >:| off your back. Telling you how to think about everything and being so dismissive. By the way it wasn’t an easy task to hit fifty. And I must confess that I have never seen Metropolis but I imagine I have, and I imagine it would be in my top fifty. One day I will see it… Embassy? I’m asking you with my brain. Ranking is fairly accurate. Same with the year.

LIST OF FIFTY FILMS

1. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo) (1966)
3. Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in) (2008)
4. Rashomon (1951)
5. The Mirror (Zerkalo) (1974)
6. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
7. Moon (2009)
8. Korkoro (2009)
9. Stalker (1979)
10. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
11. Rear Window (1954)
12. The Host (Gwoemul) (2007)
13. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
15. Unbreakable (2000)
16. Spirited Away (2001)
17. District 9 (2009)
18. Henry V (1989)
19. Dont Look Back (1967)
20. Metropolis (1927)
21. Schindler’s List (1993)
22. Duck Soup (1933)
23. Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West) (1968)
24. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
25. The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005)
26. Shawshank Redemption (1994)
27. Darjeeling Limited (2007)
28. The Thin Red Line (1998)
29. Black Hawk Down (2001)
30. No Country For Old Men (2007)
31. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
32. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
33. Elephant (2003)
34. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
35. City of God (2002)
36. House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu) (2004)
37. Rushmore (1998)
38. Fight Club (1999)
39. Lessons of Darkness (1995)
40. Psycho (1960)
41. Once Were Warriors (1994)
42. Night and Fog (Nuit et Brouillard) (1955)
43. The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) (2009)
44. Three Colours: Blue (Trois Couleurs: Bleu) (1993)
45. Gattaca (1997)
46. Gladiator (2000)
47. Peter Pan (2003)
48. Gerry Maguire (1996)
49. The Lost City (2005)
50. The Iron Giant (2000)