Time for another update methinks.
Firstly, in the last blog update I said I intended to read more this year. Since then, I have completed a whopping total of three whole books! Go me. I finished The Man Who Never Was (see the last update) and then read The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby. It's a collection of columns about reading from The Believer magazine. It's easy to read and funny and helpfully contains samples of several of the books he discusses. He's also not allowed to say anything bad about the books he reads, so it's refreshing to read some upbeat and constructive criticism.
I then moved on to The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson, which cost me the huge sum of thirty-pence from the Library surplus stock. It's a great book; the style is distinctive yet simple to read. There is a blurb from Stanley Kubrick on the cover which says that the book is, “Probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered,” and while I'm more than happy to agree with that (though how much I know about the 'believability of the book is open to debate >_>.) The characters are well drawn and the dialogue flows and it just feels like such a good account of the psychology of a criminal. I'd recommend it at any price, especially so for 30p.
I have several books which I might read next, including Boxer, Beetle by Ned Beauman and Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates (brought after watching Revolutionary Road, an excellent movie adaptation of a Yates book of the same name – and another book that I also want to read.) I also have How to Be Good by Nick Hornby (brought while reading Spree) and a free copy of Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, received as a free book on World Book Night.
Finally, a colleague leant me a non-fiction science book about Chimpanzees. Not the sort of book I'd pick up by myself, ever, but I'll give it a go at some point. I'm concerned though, because the colleague in question lent me the book because I said I'd never cried at a book and she said that this book was guaranteed to make me cry. So, to recap, she lent it to me because it's going to make me upset, not because she expects me to really enjoy it. See why I'm a little dubious?
Anyway, to keep a little tally (for my own sanity as much as anything else), Books Read 2011:
1. Horus Rising by Dan Abnett
2. Confessions of a Conjuror by Derren Brown
3. The Man Who Never Was by Ewan Montagu
4. The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
5. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
I went to an excellent gig on Tuesday night; a German metal band called Accept supported by a Swedish band, Wolf. Wolf were a great support band and have some tracks I really like; including All Hail Ceasar, Voodoo and Whisky Psycho Hellions. Though if Wolf were good (and they were) then Accept were incredible. They're supremely talented across the board and every member of the band gave an almost faultless performance. Overall, it was one of the best gig's I've been too.
Since my last blog update, I've watched more and more and more and more and more and wrestling – or more (and more and more etc etc) Puro to be precise. I haven't watched any 'western' wrestling at all (though I do have some Best of Johnny Saint's to be working through). I've watched too much Japanese wrestling over the past few weeks to comment on everything; so I'll comment on the stuff I've really enjoyed.
Firstly, AJPW Triple Crown: Suwama (c) vs. Masakatsu Funaki (October 24, 2010)
I know next to nothing about current day AJPW. In fact, I've barely seen any AJPW, period.
I knew OF Suwama and Funaki but I had to wiki them to get any real sense of who they were. The point stands - I know nothing about AJPW. And I really, really, REALLY enjoyed this. Funaki working the leg of Suwama was precise and logical and well built; and they managed to trade big moves and strikes at the end without going into 'over-kill.' It was never WHITE HOT great, but the crowd were hot and overall the match was a fine balance of power and strikes and logical submissions that made it feel like a 'fight.' Proper big title defence feel to it, and a certain 2010 MOTY contender.
And from NOAH: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. KENTA, January 15th 2011
Until this, it'd been about two years since I watched any NOAH and, and loved this. They just gleefully slap (and kick) the shit out of each other, and work a precise and energetic sprint. The match contains some brutal strikes and a good flow.
And from DDT: KO-D Openweight Title: Daisuke Sekimoto vs. HARASHIMA (July 25th 2010)
I enjoyed this, from what bits I've seen of Sekimoto (this and his CHIKARA matches) he seems to be a good power-worker with a lot of potential. Another long title match and this has a nice 'big' match feel; and they kept the interest levels up throughout. I didn't always buy Sekimoto not murdering HARASHIMA with his power in some places, but more often than not the action was believable and both men delivered. Good stuff.
Those were but three of the millions* of matches I've watched since the last blog update – I've been watching lots of NJPW (as ever) and KENTA vs. Takayama got me looking into more NOAH and I've got tonnes more to be working through.
On a final note – and to stick with wrestling – I've only just discovered Zack Ryder's Youtube show, Z! True Long Island Story. It's creative and hilarious in places and is pitch perfect for the character. I happened across episodes five and six and watched them first – they're a good a place as any to start and they contain a couple of jokes which run over from episode five into six. Well worth checking out.
And, that'll be all. Still trying to think of s good sign-off line. Ciao for now!
* Approximate estimate.
No comments:
Post a Comment