Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

In the review on the back cover of this book it is said to be somewhat similar to "Master and Margarita" by M.Bulgakov as a book redefining old stories. You see, the characters mentioned in the title are the three wise men that came guided by a star to look at the newborn king. In this book though they didn`t start the journey because of no king - Gaspard was unhappy after he found out that his white slave lover was cheating on him with another one of her kind; Melchior`s museum of art was destroyed by religios people; and Balthazar wasn`t even a king he was running away from his uncles people who were trying to kill him (an evil uncle once again!). On their journey all of them met one another and they also visited king Harod in Jerusalem, who was the one telling them to go and look at the newborn Jesus. And that`s what they did; and another king (prince actually) also wanted to see Jesus, being sent there by the same Harod. But he was late. There`s nothing extremely great about this book - it is a nice tale about the past, but definetely not groundbreaking, despite some interesting spots, for example the problem was Adam and therefore God as well black or not.

Herman Hesse is one of the titans of 20th century literature. And being a titan he`s to heavy for me to be able to cope with. For example, this novel in question. I started reading it quite a lot of times before I actually was able to finish it. And not that it is very boring or something like that, it`s just hard to read. The main hero - the Steppenwolf is a man who metaphorically is a steppenwolf - a lonesome stranger in the modern society, but who enjoyes clean bourgeoisie and stuff connected with that. Harry Haller is his name. His own biography supposedly written by himself tells us how Harry wanted to enter a bizarre theatre, which can only be entered by paying with your mind for that ("Eintritt kostet den Verstand"). And there was a young female person who tried to cure Harry, to help him enjoy life and to prepare him for entering the theatre just so that he can kill her. And a jazz musician who seemed to be a primitive person but was in deed the owner of the strange theatre, in which Harry could see how he was constructed. It`s not that easy to describe anyway, and it`s not that easy to understand.

Could this actually be true? A relatively new German book has fallen in my hands, and it is written by one of the masters of modern German literature. Oh, joy, oh, happiness! The only problem with the book is that it isn`t interesting. There`s this guy Arne, about whom until the end of the book we don`t know what has happened to him, but Hans, his former roommate is collecting all Arnes stuff to put it into a big box. And this stuff brings up memories. Memories how Arne came into Hans`s family after his own family had died, how the boy (~13 years old) fell in love with Hanses sister, who didn`t care for him. How he lost his interest for school, tried to become friends with the gang of Hanses brother Lars, but failed at that. How he got very ill and how his granmother visited him. Lots of stuff about sea and sailors can be found here, since the action takes place in Hamburg and Hanses and Arnes fathers were ones mates on a ship. Anyway, sailor literature isn`t my forte, therefore I can not judge this book especially hard, but there`s nothing really to be remembered in here.

Nu, beidzot, līdz ar "Empyrium" beidzas mana trakā iepazīšanās ar doom/goth/death metāla žanriem (vismaz uz kādu laiku)... un labi, ka tā. Protams, Empyrium nav sliktākā grupa, kādu man jebkad ir nācies dzirdēt, bet īpašas simpātijas pret viņu spēlēto daļēji simfonisko doom metālu manī nav radušās. Un vispār man darbā ir šausmīgi smagas austiņas, kas nospiež galvu, vajadzēs nākamnedēļ pāriet atkal pie vieglākā austiņu modeļa, kas tik lielas ciešanas nesagādā. Nekā, ko par šo albūmu teikt, man gan nav :)

Mazliet interesantāks darbs par "Delo", bet tikai mazliet. Šoreiz lugā vismaz parādās kaut kas līdzīgs sižetam un atkal jau žanrs ir komēdija. Es, protams, saprotu, satīra un tā tālāk, bet tas viss man atgādina "Revidentu", kuru būtu rakstījis kāds cilvēks ar vidēji statistikā sētnieka dotībām literatūrā. Galvenais varonis inscinē savu nāvi, lai izvairītos no kreditoriem, bet visļaunākais viņa ienaidnieks viņu tomēr atpazīst un atmasko (apmērām tā). Patiesībā gan no komēdijas te nav ne miņas, ne tur ko smieties, ne ko, vienkārši laika nosišana sabiedriskajā transportā, nekā vairāk.

Now we are hooked on classics. And who can be a bigger British classic than Mr. Dickens? Only the metre Shakespear himself, but he`s too goddamn old. David Copperfield once was a sensation, and it does have its strong points even now. In this huge novel we get to follow the life of a boy who has it tough from the beginning. His father doesn`t come back from the war before David is born. His mother marries a villain who driver her into the grave, and leads his stepson into physical work at a very small age. David escapes and runs away to his grandaunt, a very interesting person, who because of some strange reason dislikes donkeys more than anything (how can a person be so rude not to like those adorable creatures)! After that his life improves a little, David goes to a good school, meets the Nora - the girl of his dreams (who`s quite childish and stupid), marries her, has problems because of a guy named Uriah Heep ("July Morning" - you got to know that song), his wife dies, he marries the one woman that had loved him his entire life (Agness, the daughter of an influential lawyer that once offered David a place to live). The ending is certainly banal - the good characters live happily ever after, the bad ones are punished (even the ones that certainly would have escaped from that), but that goes without saying for such a moral work. But it`s still worth reading, especially if you have a good taste in classical literature.

Do you sometimes wonder, what would happen if something didn`t happen? For example, if the Red Socks hadn`t won the world series back in 1985 or Michael Jackson had changed his sex and not his skin. And this is a play about what could happen if Romeo and Julia hadn`t died at the end of Shakespeare`s play. Can you imagine both of them at the age of fifty having occasional nervous breakdowns, cheating on one another and cursing the day they met? Ephraim Kishon could do just that, and he even wrote a play about it. This is supposed to be a farce, and that it is, but it isn`t particulary funny. There`s the ghost of good ol` William floating around and cussing because they never died, unlike he told them to. There`s Romeo making love to his favourite hot-water bottle, and driveling after Julias 90-year-old nanny. There`s Julia who`s lover is hunder years old monk. And even Shakespear`s ghost seduces Romeo and Julias fourteen year old daughter. I guess, the idea of showing what is and what should never be was a good one, bet the way Kishon brings it to life isn`t very close to perfection.

Ich habe keine Ahnung, worum es in dem Buch geht - fuer meinen Verstand ist es zu verwirrt. Das Buch besteht aus drei "Erzaehlungen" - "Der Puck", wo ein Junge in ein Hockey-Puck sich verwandelt, "Die Wasserfallfinsternis von Badgestein" macht ueberhaupt kein Sinn, aber die Titulgeschichte ist eine Erzaehlung von einem Leselosen Mann (was bedeutet denn das?), der von einer Buecherfuerstin in ihr Schloss eingeladet ist, damit er gesund werden kann. Ich glaube, dass nach so einem Buch sogar ich leselos werden kann.

Hārdroks agrīno Queen stilā ar ne pārāk pārliecinošiem vokāliem, tīri normāliem, bet ne izciliem ģitāras soliņiem un nelielu Black Sabbath imitāciju. Oriģinalitāti gribu!

This is a memory from the joyful days of childhood. Everybody loves Roger Rabbit, when he`s little. And not without a reason - this film is a perfect example of usage of mixed animation and live actors. There are toons in this world, there are people, there are those, that follow Mohammed (no, don`t think about the latter category). So, the owner of the Acme company is murdered by a toon and Roger Rabbit is blamed for that for that guy played pattycakes with his wife. A toon hating cop tries to solve the case. The plot isn`t very smart, and that`s not a problem, it`s a movie for children, for christsake! But what counts is that it features cartoon characters from both Warner Brothers and Disney production - you can actually see Duffy Duck and Donald Duck sharing the same stage. But the humor isn`t particulary great. Except for a few funny sexual references most jokes fall flat for me. No, I must admit that it sounds funny "Is that a rabbit in your coat or are you just happy to see me?" - I don`t know how this was admitted in a family movie, or: "I have the lust of a fifty year old but a dinky of a three year old". That`s - if you`re in for animation, watch it; otherwise - beat it.