"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect." - Stephen Wright
So, finally I decided it's time to do a little post again. It's been a long time, I know, but I couldn't help it! I'm so overloaded with work I simply don't have the energy to write, nor the time. Or if I did have the time, I couldn't write anything with a clear conscience knowing there's work to be done - and it won't get done if I'm writing my stupid blog.
I won't go into details of what's keeping me busy as it's all work-related and not within the general topic of my blog - nor do I want to tell too much about my work anyway in public. Let it be said, however, that I am currently working on a number of things in which I have no prior experience so it's been a hell of a learning process to get all things sorted - and going back to fix things I did poorly not knowing better. Well, maybe next year when I'm given a project such as this, I will be better prepared.
Anyway, today is Friday and though I plan to come to work tomorrow - again! - I think I can take one half an hour to update on things. Friday means, in theory anyway, that I can take a bit easier and relax. Hah, we'll see about that.
Mostly things are the same in Hong Kong. Our whole office is packed with work at the moment, but aside from that things haven't changed much. Markus now lives far enough from my place, apparently enjoying his time (read his blog: he's the happiest and most up-beat person I have ever met! /off sarcasm)! Other than that, my free time is mostly about balancing time between dosing off at my laptop or going out with Chi. Both OK options.
For a long time I've been reading a lot of books, and for a while I had a higher goal for it too! See, I wanted to read books that had movie adaptations made of them - just so I could finally take part in conversations of "which is better: the book or the movie?" and actually know what I was talking about!
So, about what I found:
I started with Michael Crichton's books (surprisingly many books of his are adapted into movies), and I actually read most of his work. Jurassic Park, albeit a really good movie does not come even close to the depth of the book! I couldn't believe the book could be so much better but it was! Usually what I have is a good book and a crappy movie - much like it was with one other Crichton's movie adaptations, Congo. The sequel to Jurassic Park, Lost World was, as a book, almost even better than the first one - while the movie already was going down. Actually, the movie and the book have basically nothing in common. I can't understand why they'd make all those changes from the original work, which just made so much more sense. Other books with movie adaptations from Crichton: Eaters of the Dead (13th Warrior), Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Timeline, Rising Sun, and some others I probably forgot.
With Crichton, every single movie adaptation was worse than the book. Jurassic Park as a movie was great, but not as great as the book.
After I ran out of Crichton books to read, I started with Bram Stocker's Dracula. Again, as a movie, Coppola's version with Gary Oldman, Keanu Reeves and other people I don't remember by name, is totally awesome! I through-heartedly enjoy the movie every time I see it. And until I read the book I thought it's the best thing ever! Ha, fooled I was! Read the book, damnit, it's so much better!! The plot-line is roughly the same as in the movie, but it's in so much depth, the characters are better (not as shallow as in the movie) and it has a lot of cool details that keep you reading the pages way past your bedtime.
After Dracula, I came to the possibly worst book I have read all this year. I mean, it's a classic and highly appreciated work of literature, and has one of the world's most famous protagonist and arch villains. However, what every book-enthusiast has missed is that the book sucks like nothing has sucked before. I'm talking about Shelley's Frankenstein. It's crap. I should watch the movie (it's been so long since I last saw it) so I could finally say I've seen a movie that was better than the book. The problem with Frankenstein is that you don't really give a damn about anything that happens in the book. You don't care about the main characters, you don't care what happens to them, and you don't give a damn about the personal hell of Victor Frankenstein. Love of his life dies at the end half of the book (sorry for the spoiler); by the time it happens the reader knows exactly what will happen - and when it does happen, it's said in just a few sentences. There's no emotion to it. "Whoops, she died. Oh, well.. let's keep going." This repeats all-through the book. You are not surprised, you are not connected to anything. I bet the movie is better.
After being betrayed by man-made monster, I decided I'll go back to Vampires. I watched the movie Interview with a Vampire and finding it an excellent movie I though the book must be even better! I was right, and now as I'm just finishing the book - first of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles - I can't wait to read the rest of the Chronicles.
Vampires are cool and saying that probably makes me goth. But being goth is better than being a damned emo.
"All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand." - Stephen Wright
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