Got a whole stack of Asimov paperbacks yesterday for about a buck each. Anyone who really knows me would know how excited I get at the sight of paperback editions from the `60s-`80s. You know the type, with yellowed paper and all. And multiple pencil scratches that show that the book has been passed from discount store to discount store.

The books:

Foundation, Second Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Foundation’s Edge, The Stars Like Dust, The Caves of Steel, Nine Tomorrows, Nightfall One, The Currents of Space, Fantastic Voyage, Asimov’s Mysteries, Pebble in the Sky.

Also acquired: an anthology of TS Eliot’s prose, a beautiful and glossy hardcover on Shakespeare’s life, a beautiful hardcover “Complete Works of Shakespeare” in blue and gold. My third “Complete Works” but since the others are back in Malaysia, I feel justified.

I fear I have bought even more than this at a related book-sale during the conference, but hey, it’s already been established that I am a dangerous person to have around during used book sales.

In other news, I watched Persepolis and I hereby dub it the best movie I’ve seen this year. Well, one of the best. May post a review one of these days. Also need to read the graphic novel now.

I am:

• still tearing my hair out over the dissertation
• rereading The Lord of the Rings
• watching season 2 of Alias
• watching season 8 of Charmed
• reading cookbooks and trying out new recipes
• still babysitting a fish and a cat
• reading in the garden

I have:

• spent more time in uni or on uni-related stuff over the past month than I have in an entire year.
• gone for three movies at BIFF: The Owl and the Sparrow, Medea Miracle and Night Watching. I have to say that I enjoyed Night Watching best and thought it was an improvement over The Draughtsman’s Contract, also directed by Greenaway.

I want:

• to finish the blasted confirmation chapter
• to finish AND submit at least 2 short stories by October
• to finish my Earth and Root painting
• to get back to working on The Apothecary’s Box

I am juggling many things right now. I have two weeks worth of laundry that needs to be done tomorrow and might I add, this is the least of my worries right now. Still struggling away at my dissertation’s Chapter One, but I mostly spent the weekend working on MEFF and one of my Lady Dissonance songs, since my creative muse is back and wants some loving attention. I am enjoying the writing of MEFF, particularly since I’m setting it in Brisbane – I’ve been wanting to write about this city since I got here, and it’s good to finally do it.

I regret that my dissertation/confirmation thingie has ensured that I could only see two of the Brisbane Festival’s Under the Radar shows. However, they were two very good shows, so I will be content with that. Both were adaptations of stories by favourite authors of mine. The Lady of the House of Love was a cabaret/storytelling/gothic version of Angela Carter’s tale of the same name. The songs were beautifully haunting (some were quite Tori Amos-esque) and the burlesque elements would have tickled Angela Carter pink, I think. But after rereading the story I still feel that the text is lovelier. Who could blame me

Today, I watched The Baron in the Trees, an adaptation of an Italo Calvino tale. Also featuring music, story-telling and the most exquisite shadow-puppet show. It was truly delightful, and had I not had to rush to do some errands before taking a train to the next venue, I would have stayed to see the set that was behind the screen. We were all invited to do so. But in a sense, I think that may have been a good thing. I really didn’t want the magic to go away. I didn’t want to see the puppets!

The next venue was in Fortitude Valley, and it was a good thing I went early because I found myself going in circles and getting lost! Fortunately, I got help, because Google Maps was confusing when it came to The Valley! Anyway, I watched Medea Miracle, an offering from the Brisbane International Film Festival. It was an interesting take on the Medea story, and Isabelle Huppert was as classy as always. But I was a bit dissatisfied with several things about the movie – most of all with regards to the editing. The “love scenes” annoyed me as they felt inauthentic and as though the director was pushing a trope a bit too far via repetition. I can’t help but feel it could have been a stronger, more intense movie had they been more judicious with the scissors. Having said that, it was a pretty moving story, which really did affect me – I thought that focusing on the diaspora/displaced immigrant potential in the original story was a pretty good idea and pretty effective. I do hope I will one day see Huppert in a movie that truly does her talent justice, though.

I still have to work on that chapter this week, meeting my supervisor on Wednesday, but I’m making up for missing most of the Brisbane Festival by not missing out on BIFF - especially since there is no way I’ll be able to watch anything from Thursday onwards (volunteering at a conference). So I have a ticket for tomorrow as well. Oh dear!

Did I mention that I sprained my ankle in my mad sprint to make it to The Baron in the Trees on time? Yep.

This is for Stace, who said she was having weird visuals of me in a Bollywood movie, after I told her that Pakistani, Indian and Middle Eastern music made me want to dance. And I have been dancing waaaay more than before – mostly because of stress, but also because I feel like dancing more, now that my body feels stronger and my spine seems more stable. Anyway, the above clip is from one of my childhood favourites when it comes to Bollywood movies, Pyaar Ka Mausam. I tend to prefer the movies from the `60s and `70s, when Shashi and Rishi Kapoor were still hawt. Not to mention Amitabh Bachan. The playback singer there is the late Mohammad Rafi, who was responsible for the majority of good/famous Bollywood songs back then. Anyway, this movie was a real tearjerker, I used to cry every time I watched it.

Damn, now I’m missing old Bollywood movies and it’s all YOUR fault, Stace!

I was reluctant to watch this movie, mostly because I loved the book by Neil Gaiman so much*. The novel version of the story contained a dreamlike, ethereal feel that I was sure would not translate well to film. I kept myself away from all the sneak previews online, and remained skeptical.

I am happy to say that my misgivings were unfounded. While the movie doesn’t have quite the same dreamy feel as the book, it is a very good interpretation of the story, and stands on its own merit as a rollicking good fantasy adventure. And look, how could I resist swashbucklers? Pirates in the sky and Robert De Niro, fencing! And wearing a can-can outfit, eh. Other favorites of mine include the scene between Ditchwater Sal and Lamia, the lines the ghostly brothers had and of course, that moment towards the end of the movie when Robert De Niro gets rescued. Classic!

I was recently carping about the lack of “heart” in movies, but this one delivers it to me. Vaughn’s Stardust is a good old fashioned fantasy adventure, the light-hearted kind that still delivers a good message. In this time of movies that, in one way or another are apologetic for magic, it is really soul-heartening to watch a movie that makes no apologies at all for its happy ending, which doesn’t try to be more than what it is (and in so doing DOES become more than what it sets out to be). Also, the director managed to pull it all together without descending into mawkishness or syrupy sentiment. The charm, irony and wit of The Princess Bride comes to mind. And yes, what is a good fantasy movie without classic lines? I am so glad someone realized this. Vaughn layers the whimsy and dreaminess with solid, bread-and-butter elements which end up solidifying the fantasy elements of the plot rather than detracting from it.

And thus, this is an unreserved thumbs up from me for a movie that pretty much made my week.

• I feel obliged to mention here that said book was gifted to me by two of my ex-students from one of the A-level batches I taught a few years back. Which was pretty durn cool, I thought.