What are we reading?

[Alethia]

at the moment i'm flipping through the collected works of matthew brady, lotsa great stuff to see and extraordinarily interesting to read of the history behind each photograph.

[03]

example magazine

[Redlum]

Just finsihed The Lovely Bones. Look forward to seeing how PJ and his cronies handle the adaptation.

Now reading Frank Capras autobiography. Great read. Some really classic "old Hollywood" stories. Particularly those involving Mack Sennett.

[Film Student]

Anyone read David Thomson's "The Whole Equation"?

The girlfriend got it for me for V-Day, and only a few chapters into it... Entertaining and well-written, but a bit smug and scattershot so far...

[pete]

the short stories of vladimir nabokov.

[Film Student]

Since this is Columbus Day... a few quotes from the first pages of A People's History of the United States...

"They would make fine servants . . . With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want (1) . . . As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts" (2)
[

Columbus, on the Arowak Native Americans]

"The Indians, Columbus reported, 'are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone....' He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage 'as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves as they ask.' He was full of religious talk: 'Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities.'" (4)

"They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives . . . they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor." (4)

"Total control led to total cruelty. The Spaniards 'thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.' Las Casas tells how 'two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys.'" (6)[/list:u]

JB,  about 100 pages into this as well, and I'm just amazed... With each page I scoot a little more to the left...

[SHAFTR]

Since this is Columbus Day... a few quotes from the first pages of A People's History of the United States...

"They would make fine servants . . . With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want (1) . . . As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts" (2)
[

Columbus, on the Arowak Native Americans]

"The Indians, Columbus reported, 'are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone....' He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage 'as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves as they ask.' He was full of religious talk: 'Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities.'" (4)

"They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking Indians as captives . . . they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for sex and labor." (4)

"Total control led to total cruelty. The Spaniards 'thought nothing of knifing Indians by tens and twenties and of cutting slices off them to test the sharpness of their blades.' Las Casas tells how 'two of these so-called Christians met two Indian boys one day, each carrying a parrot; they took the parrots and for fun beheaded the boys.'" (6)[/list:u]

JB,  about 100 pages into this as well, and I'm just amazed... With each page I scoot a little more to the left...

I read Columbus 4 Voyages, crazy stuff.

[kotte]

The Film Director's Intuition: Script Analysis and Rehearsal Techniques

One of extremely few books that actually talks extensively about the most important part in filmmaking: The characters, the people that plays the characters, imagination, intuition etc etc.
I've read a lot books on films and filmmaking but this is hands down the best one yet. Inspiring, empowering, a psychological jourbey into your characters, your actors and not the least yourself. Get it!

Platform
by Michel Houellebecq

Insane and hilarious. Perhaps not the depth of Atomised but still a thought-provoking philosophical journey. Again the main character is called Michel. But this Michel engages in sexual tourism in thailand. I've reached the middle so there's yet lots to discover but I like it. Some might see it as depressing and pitch-black. I do too but I see it as ironic. I can't see an actual person with the intelligence to write a book like this to have that kind of outlook on life.

[kotte]

I just finished Platform. There is a powerful sentence in the last chapter that sums it up.

If I allowed passion to penetrate my body, pain would follow quickly in its wake.

It's sad how true this quote rings in reality...

[rustinglass]

[Ravi]

White Mughals by William Dalrymple

[MacGuffin]

[ono]

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch.  Thanks, Mr. Kotteeeeeeh.

[kotte]

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch.  Thanks, Mr. Kotteeeeeeh.

So what do you think about it?

[A Matter Of Chance]