Media Consumption

Media Consumption
It was a grey, rainy, horrible (in lots of ways) weekend, so we spent just about all of it holed up in the house.* We read, worked on our hobbies (me: knitting; the Snook: Warcraft and homebrew), and watched a lot of movies.

• Twilight. Yeah, I finished this teen-vampire-romance less than 48 hours after I started it, and IT ROCKED. I sighed a lot. It’s just so shameless in the way that it creates the ultimate “safe” bad boy: an incredibly beautiful vampire who’s sworn off human blood (and presumably all other icky urges) and wants nothing more than to hold his girlfriend and heave meaningfully, yet who could also snap and kill her at any time. It’s like someone went into my 16-year-old brain and turned it into a book! And yes, I fully realize that I’m going to have to read, like, Crime and Punishment to make up for this ridiculous indulgence.
• Emma. This was the Kate Beckinsale version, and I have to say that I didn’t like it very much. It was so dreary. This Emma was very snobby and unlikeable. (Ma Snook and I discussed it on the phone tonight and she agreed with me, going so far as to call our heroine “bitchy.”) The real problem, though, was Mr Knightley. He was old and not very handsome, and when he reminded Emma (just after she accepted his proposal!) that he held her in his arms as a baby, it just seemed way creepier than it did coming from Jeremy Northam. So I’m sure the Austen purists will be horrified, but I have to say I still prefer the Gwyneth Paltrow version. I like my Austen light and bright and sparkling.
• Om Shanti Om. Despite receiving some bad news in the middle of it, this film was still able to make me smile. I’d never seen a Bollywood film before, and this one is apparently the biggest hit ever. It’s a spoof/homage to the entire genre, and it features cameos from literally dozens of famous Bollywood stars. Of course, we got maybe 5% of the jokes, but it was still fun. And DUDE, if you’re a straight woman (or a gay man), you have to see the Dard-E-Disco bit. Shahrukh Khan is apparently, like, the Brad Pitt of India, and he only gets those abs out on special occasions. Phwoar!
• Steamboy. Oddly, the Snook (who is usually the bigger animé fan) lost interest in this one before I did. I guess I’m more of a steampunk fan than I like to admit. I thought the story and the artwork were great, but yeah, I got bored during the long third act where it just seemed like crap was blowing up. And his Dad’s horrible freaky hair is going to give me nightmares for a long time.
• Persuasion. This was the more recent version with Sally Hawkins. I really liked it! (But hmm, it definitely wasn’t light and bright and sparkling. What do I like about my favorite Austen adaptations then? Shamefully, it appears to be handsome leading men. Captain Wentworth was double-plus dreamy.)

* I did make it out for a 5 mile run on Sunday, which helped my mood considerably.