Kino No Tabi, by Keiichi Sigsawa

The Beautiful World 1: Kino No Tabi is a very strange book. It's about a girl named Kino and her talking motorcycle, Hermes. The two travel around visiting these weird city-states, where aspects of the world are taken to strange extremes.

The first story, "Grownup Country," is set in Kino's homeland, where all 12 year olds are required to undergo an operation to become grownups. Then there's "The Land of Shared Pain" where everyone has become an empath, which causes everyone to become hermits, because people don't want to know each other's emotions. There's "The Land of Majority Rule," where democracy is taken to a frightening extreme that leaves only one survivor. "Three Men on the Rails" is a story about three elderly men and their futile and pointless jobs. "the Land of Peace" is about a very horrible place full of awful, awful people. "Coliseum" is about a country where people are required to fight for citizenship.

While this book may be strange, it's very compelling. I'm definitely going to try and read the rest of the books in the series, and maybe find the anime. I give this one five yo-yos.

For Once, I Have Something Nice To Say About A Horror Movie

It's very rare that I rent or buy a horror movie and actually end up liking it. Revenge of the Rats has proven to be the exception. It's foreign, German in fact, and some of the dubbing is a bit odd, but it's not bad. Really the only thing I didn't like was the utterly predictable part with the dog; a little girl loses her dog in a tunnel full of killer rats, and the damn thing miraculously turns up alive at the end of the movie.

The movie is set in Frankfurt, where there has been a garbage strike during a record heat wave. The city has become infested with rats. Not just ordinary rats, either. These rats carry a mutant strain of meningitis and become vicious whenever anyone tries to clean the city. I liked this a lot. It's actually worth more than the $5 I paid for it.

If for some reason you wanted to look this movie up in the IMDB, it's listed under its German title, Ratten - sie werden dich kriegen! I'm not sure why it isn't listed under it's English title as well, but it isn't. Anyway, I liked this move a lot. I give it four and a half yos.

In Soviet Russia, Night Watches You!

I decided to try reading a little foreign fantasy, namely Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch. The first time I heard of this book was when I saw a copy of the DVD of the movie adaptation and saw it listed as "based on the international bestseller" (or whatever). My first thought was, "Wow, I didn't know they were making a movie based on a Dicworld novel!" Then I read the back and realized it wasn't. Sigh!

A lot of people seem to like this book. All the reviews on Amazon were four or five stars. Reviewing is largely a matter of personal opinion, and in this case my personal opinion is that the book ain't all that great. There are several reasons why I didn't like the book. First off, there are major differences between Russian and American culture, which makes it a bit difficult for an uniformed American, like myself, to follow the action.

Then there's the names. Everyone one seems to be referred to by at least two of them. It's not hard to figure out that Olga and Olya are the same person, but how in the heck am I supposed to know that Gesar and Boris Ignavich are the same person?

I also didn't like the tone. It might just be that I've been in kind of a bad mood these past few days, but this book seemed depressing as Hell. From what I understand (and remember that I don't normally read Russian novels), Russian novels are usually depressing.

The book isn't all bad though. The plots, though a bit confusing, is very interesting. It's all about the light wizards of Night Watch trying to maintain the balance with the dark wizards of Day Watch. The characters, especially the protagonist, are very convincing and interesting. If you like Russian novels and fantasy, you should probably read this one.

If you like Russian novels or fantasy--but not both--you still might want to read this one. I didn't like it, but I didn't really think it's terrible. Actually, I think it's a bit above average. That's why I give Night Watch three and a half yo-yos.

A Horror DVD I Actually Kind of Liked

I was at WalMart the other day and I picked up a couple of DVDs from their 2/$11 bin. They were both Japanese horror stuff. I've watched the one called J-Horror Anthology: Legends. Judging from the Amazon reviews (2 one star, 1 two star, and 2 five star), most people either loved this DVD or hated it. I just sort of liked it.

The DVD is made of six short segments, which appear to be from some sort of Japanese anthology series (like The Twilight Zone). From a strictly "are they scary" perspective, they're not all that great. Of course, from that perspective almost no horror movie is that great since none of them scare me. The only one that even came close for me was "she Bear," which is about two schoolgirls who get chased by a demoniacal woman with a teddy bear.

"Nurarihyon" wasn't even remotely scary, but I don't think it was supposed to be. It's about a boy who befriends a mischievous spirit. "Yamaba" is a pretty generic story about some kind of evil spirit. "Peony Lamp" is a fairly decent story about a samurai and the ghost that loves him. "Heartbroken Trip" is a decent story about a woman who goes to a haunted hot springs. "Lost Souls" was pretty spooky, but confusing.

I should point out that this DVD isn't dubbed; it uses subtitles. I would have liked the DVD if the subtitles weren't so crappy. They aren't at the "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" level of Engrish, but they sure were pretty bad in spots.

With the sub-par subtitles, and the varying quality of the stories, I give J-Horror Anthology: Legends three and a half yo-yos.

Wow!

I just finished The nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino, and I am very impressed. I'd never actually heard of Calvino before, but I stumbled across this book at a book sale, and since it was only $1, I bought it. Now I feel like one of those people who by an old painting in a junk store for a few bucks and later on find out it's worth thousands of dollars.

Before I get any farther I'd like to point out that these stories were originally written in Italian, and this edition is translated. I can't say with absolute certainty how much of my enjoyment comes from Calvino and how much comes from the translator. I'm going to assume that most (if not all) of it comes from Calvino.

This book contains two fantasy novellas. The first is "The nonexistent Knight," the story of an animated suit of armor called Sir Agilulf. He is a paladin in Charlemagne's army, who gained the knighthood by rescuing a noble virgin from rape. Another knight claims that the noblewoman was not a virgin and therefore Sir Agilulf is not a knight. So, Sir Agilulf goes off to search for the woman.

"The Cloven Viscount" is the story of a viscount who is bisected by a cannonball during a war. Only his right half returns home, but that half is evil. He sets about being wicked and eventually falls in love. Soon his other (good) half returns and falls in love with the same girl. Eventually, they fight it out.

Both stories were exciting and humorous. I found all the characters to be interesting and well fleshed out. My favorite character had to be Sir Agilulf's squire Gurduloo, who seemed to be either a lunatic or a nature spirit. I also found it interesting that Calvino made the viscount's left half the good half, when the left is usually viewed as sinister; it makes me wonder if Calvino was left handed.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this book. It gets 5 yo-yos.


Up next, I'll be reading Brian Lumley's Vamphyri!. If anyone has any suggestions on what I should read next (see previous post), please leave a comment. In fact, if anyone is reading this, please leave a comment.