After reading Layer Cake earlier this week, I decided to rewatch the movie. The screenplay was written by J.J. Connolly, adapting his own novel. Although the convoluted plot has been much simplified and somewhat rearranged, it’s still complex and tricky to follow. Most of the humor is gone, as director Matthew Vaughn didn’t want to make Lock Stock III. It’s more of a straight thriller. The Cockney is toned down, making it easier for a non-UK audience. And Daniel Craig is somewhat older and calmer than the narrator of the book.

The film succeeds both in its own right …continue.

The unnamed nar­ra­tor—My name? If I told you that you’d be as clever as me—is an up-and-coming London drug dealer who wants to retire by his thirtieth birthday. He’s pro­fes­sion­al, low-key, and a little bit cocky, and he has every chance of pulling it off. He re­luc­tant­ly does a favor for the crime boss Jimmy Price and suddenly his plans are derailed. Double-crosses, snitches, betrayals, murders, hold ups, and stings ensue. There’s little honor among thieves, save for our hero’s immediate circle.

It’s easy to see why Layer Cake …continue.

I rode Seattle’s new Light Rail system for the first time yesterday morning. I walked to the new Beacon Hill station. It took me just over 20 minutes at a brisk pace, so I’m not likely to walk there often. I could have taken the 60 bus to the station, but it only runs every 30 minutes.

When I got to the Beacon Hill station, I couldn’t figure out if my book of $2.00 tickets for Metro bus tickets were valid on the train or not. The first three workers I asked didn’t know either. The cop I asked said “yes”, so I took the elevator 167 feet down to the platform and rode the train into …continue.

Tonight was the annual Irish Night at the Mariners and we bought tickets for $11.

Even after 20 years in the States, I still know next to nothing about baseball. I picked up a copy of the Baseball Field Guide before last year’s Irish Night, and found the first chapter very helpful in explaining the basics. I re-read it last night and it helped me follow tonight’s game.

Neither the Mariners nor the White Sox could score a run. Inning after inning the game went on, zero-zero. No one had scored by the bottom of the ninth, so play continued. A tenth inning. An eleventh. We called it a night and took the new Light …continue.

After crusading financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist is convicted of libel, he re­luc­tant­ly agrees to in­ves­ti­gate the 40-year-old dis­ap­pear­ance of the teenaged Harriet Vanger for her great-uncle Henrik, a rich in­dus­tri­al­ist. He is aided by the antisocial hacker Lisabeth Salander, the eponymous tattooed girl.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was published shortly before Larsson’s untimely death, and later became an in­ter­na­tion­al bestseller. It’s a classic locked-room mys­tery—Har­ri­et dis­ap­peared from a sealed-off island full of the extended, ugly Vanger clan. It’s an indictment of the Nazism buried not …continue.

Torchwood began as a more adult spinoff of Doctor Who, but came into its own right in its third season, the five-part mini-series, Children of Earth.

One day, all the children of Earth freeze up and announce, “we are coming” over and over, before carrying on unawares. The aliens known as the 456 are announcing themselves. What soon becomes apparent to the audience is that the British government had dealings once before with the 456 back in 1965—and they don’t want it to be known. They attempt to destroy the Torchwood team, blowing up the immortal Captain Jack Harkness, to keep …continue.

For four thousand years, the gods have dwelt in human form amongst the people of Myrillia, rooted to the very land. When the goddess Meeryn is found murdered and the disgraced Shad­owknight Tylar de Noche is found at her side, mirac­u­lous­ly healed of his maiming, he is accused of being the godslayer. He escapes and uncovers a dark conspiracy of corruption and evil.

As an exercise in world building, this book succeeds. For example, the gods’ humors—blood, seed, menses, sweat, tears, saliva, phlegm, and yellow bile and black bile (“piss and shite”)—are collected by …continue.

A century and a half ago, the believers in the Black Road were forced into exile. Now, in some bloody surprise attacks, they’ve conquered the Glas Valley. The story is largely told from the viewpoints of three brother-sister pairs: the young leaders of the Black Road attackers; the adolescent nephew and niece of the thane of the Lannis-Haig Blood; and a warrior of the Kyrinin race and his sister. Each side believes that it is in the right: the clash between two human cultures was inevitable, as is the war between the …continue.

Ararat is vast, unknowable, unmappable, home to many living gods who make their presence felt. Arjun comes from his far-distant home, seeking the Voice, the god that abandoned his people. He arrives as the Bird sweeps through the great city, trans­form­ing it by its passage, only to be captured in the warship Thunderer. A boy, Jack, also captures part of the Bird’s power as he flees the workhouse.

Gilman has created a city rem­i­nis­cent of China Miéville’s New Crubuzon, a vast baroque tapestry of neigh­bor­hoods, ruled by heavy-handed oligarchs squabbling to enlarge their fiefdoms. Miéville …continue.

Out of his mind with grief after the senseless murder of his wife Helen in What Came Before He Shot Her, Detective Su­per­in­ten­dent Tommy Lynley has been walking along the Cornish coastline for weeks when he stumbles across a dead body. Re­luc­tant­ly, he becomes part of the police in­ves­ti­ga­tion. Half the village seems to have a motive for killing the victim. Old slights and recent fights have festered, pitting family members against each other.

Elizabeth George is noted for the depth of her char­ac­ter­i­za­tion. Even the supporting characters are well-drawn, complex in­di­vid­u­als. But …continue.