Monthly Archives: February 2014

Max Brooks: World War Z

Book review, World of Books February 26, 2014 Comments: 4

Well, now I certainly understand why people who read the book were upset with the movie. 🙂
After reading the book, I can say the movie is rather loosely based on the book.  I’d say the title comes the closest. 😉

Ok, that was mean of me as I enjoyed the movie and I did recognize some parts of the book that I saw in the movie but really, the movie doesn’t come close to what’s in the book (then again, what movie does?). Actually, it veers off in a completely different way.

But I want to talk about the book and not about the movie. The book I would highly recommend to practically anyone. Because the most important thing that comes out of this book is the rather good (and bleak) depiction of everything that is wrong with the world today.

The story is based on interviews with particular survivors, several years after the end of the World War Z and some of them are actually scum. Not many but there is no problem picking them out. Surprisingly, all of them are either rich or in power! Can you imagine that?wwz

The way the interviews are slowly progressing gives you the image of what and how it all happened.

If you are like me and think that a book that’s based on interviews with people cannot come close to an interesting read that you will devour, well, you would be (like me) very wrong.

It’s fun how the introduction is the explanation on how this book, from the fictional point of view of the interviewer, came to be. And how he had access to many important people after the war.

I don’t want to go into details about the story but what is rather obvious is that Mr. Brooks did some great research in writing it and I, for one, actually learned a lot in general about the world we live in.

The thing is, zombies aside, this book is a very good warning against what we as humans are capable of doing to ourselves, destroying the world we know because of our greed and power cravings.

That is why World War Z is scary.

Justin Cronin: The Twelve

Book review, World of Books February 24, 2014 Leave a comment

It’s been a year since I read The Passage and I’ve been postponing reading The Twelve to closer the release date for the last book (but it’s still not known) and I could no longer wait and had to read it.

There are obvious similarities between the two. The beginning is disjointed and it takes time for the reader to get his bearings because the story is skipping backward and forward and it takes a while before you can connect what happened in the intervening years and how it reflects on the story now.

But you do and you shouldn’t stop reading even if it bothers you.the twelve

We follow the characters from the The Passage five years after the story of that book has happened and even though there is a place where humanity survives, there are hints that all hell might break loose and overtake that little human circle.

Hmm, now that I mentioned hell, I should also mention the fact that God is a big part of the story. Not in the obvious way, but there are references to Peter being a shepherd-like figure, to hearing God’s voice/hints as to which way a character’s life lies, etc. When humanity disappears, turning to God is an obvious choice. And I don’t mean it in a condescending way, we all need some kind of comfort to hold on to.

One thing Mr. Cronin does well is describe what  might be happening in someone’s mind. The description of what goes on in a mind of a crazy person here was unbelievably believable. I hope that doesn’t mean I’m leaning toward crazy?! (since I can imagine it so easily…) 😉

You know, the thing about really good post-apocalyptic books is the fact that they make you aware how much cruelty and pain we inflict on each other and how in any possible scenario of a future apocalypse (except for meteors and stuff like that), we, as humans, will be the ones responsible for bringing about the end of our world. And I really don’t have a hard time believing it after seeing one of the characters pave the road to hell by selecting the so called “good intentions road”. And true to my prediction, he certainly did that.

And here is where it gets both interesting and complicated.

We follow some of the characters from the previous book but we also learn how previous events are going to reverberate down the future and influence our heroes’ lives and choices.

The great thing about Mr. Cronin’s writing is that you really get lost in the story and feel you are truly a part of it. It keeps pulling you in and you are powerless to stop it.

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky – the movie

I've been thinking, World of Perfume February 16, 2014 Comments: 6

I saw it two days ago and I’m still under its influence.

The main thing I got out of that movie is the fact that whoever tried to write a biography of Gabrielle Chanel probably failed. As I haven’t read any of them, I don’t want to sound like I’m passing judgment on books I never read, it’s just that this movie brought to life the complexity of who Coco Chanel was that I don’t think anyone trying to write about her life can encompass her personality and keep true about it.Coco_Chanel_&_Igor_Stravinsky

I’m aware this also sounds very presupposing after only seeing one movie but I’m blaming it on the director (Jan Kounen). After all I’ve read about her and now seeing this movie, all I can say is she was obviously a personality larger than life that kept her thoughts to herself and went through her life doing what she felt she should. Smiling a mysterious, mischievous smile of hers and dropping men to their knees after saying anything in that smoke-battered voice of hers. At least that is how I imagine her after seeing her brought to life by Anna Mouglalis (who was masterful).

The strange thing is, I now think of Igor Stravinsky as a loser. A weak man when it came to women. Again, I have no idea what their relationship was like but the idea I got is that he couldn’t handle her being more successful and well, richer. Men rarely do. 😉 I could be wrong on account of Igor though…

Basically, after seeing this movie, I feel a renewed wish to understand fashion and enjoy it more, but also to smell the original Chanel perfumes – the time depicted in the movie is around the birth of Chanel 5.

But most importantly, I would love to have met her in real life. Woman ahead of her time, one probably reviled by the women of her acquaintance but still strong and successful and enduring.

I wish I knew where women like that get their strength from. So I could find it in myself as well. She might have made some dubious choices in her life, but she made them and went on. We all make mistakes, but ours aren’t made public. How many of us would be willing to forge our way ahead in spite of them?

 

P.S. Even though the movie depicts Stravinsky’s work and worries, I admit, I didn’t really care much for his part, I just loved the way Coco was portrayed. I did enjoy the music in the movie immensely though. 😉

A lingering collection

Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume February 14, 2014 Comments: 20

That is what I have. 
My collection has been growing for years but unfortunately my perfume review output hasn’t. And I can’t get rid of anything I haven’t actually reviewed (unless it’s so bad I never want to smell it again). Or anything I grew out of in my smelling journey. The irony in all this is the fact that for what seems most of my life I’ve been lecturing my mom on clearing her life of stuff she no longer uses, only to end up in pretty much the same mess.
According to my limited knowledge of Feng-shui (very limited actually), the stuff you don’t use but only accumulate weighs down your life energy. As my life energy feels pretty much down most of the time, I’m guessing I did it to myself (well, it’s not really guessing if I’m sure of it). 😉

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So basically, if I don’t want to weigh myself down I have two choices. Start writing even short reviews if I don’t have much to say so I can decide what to let go, or just have a quick smell and let go of at least half of the stuff I have (I’m talking mostly decants now).
Then again, I keep thinking what if there is something of what I let go I later decide I would like to revisit and I no longer have it?

Has anyone faced a similar problem? How do you let go of accumulated perfume which lingers because you never got the time to get to know it?
Should I let it go or still try to get to know it?

I must say, I don’t have such problems with clothes. At least my wardrobe is clear of lingering clothes… 😉

Behind times

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts, World of Perfume February 4, 2014 Comments: 15

It’s not really surprising I’m behind perfume news considering how much free time for it I have (basically none). It’s a busy time at work and after it there really isn’t that much time (or energy) left for anything but bed.

But I don’t want to bore you all with the fact I have no free time, I was more shocked with the fact that pleasantly surprised as I was with what I thought were news about the new Dior Collection Privée Elixirs Précieux (Rose, Ambre, Oud and Musc) – a short Google search showed it was only news to me. 🙂

Even though it is only news to me, I got very excited after reading the French Vogue article where they said they were meant for layering. I must say I have high hopes of them smelling good by themselves and together.

Seeing though that they cost 280 €, I might have to decide they don’t really smell that great… 😉