beauty of chess

I recently went to the Harry Potter exhibit, filled with sets, costumes and prop designs. It wasn't bad, but having attended both Lord of the Rings exhibits at Casa Loma and then the ROM, it had a lot to live up to.

At the end of the exhibit (like every place I've gone) the poor parents were led into one of the most decked out gift shops I've ever seen! The prices were astronomical, and considering the price of admission, I can only imagine the hole slowly burning through their wallets. The only item I would have been tempted to purchase would have been the Harry Potter chess set, I have been searching for an elegant set for years. Unfortunately I found the design rather tacky, and for the hefty price tag attached, I expected a heck of a lot more.

Wouldn't it be great if you could play with a set as beautiful as the Lewis Chessmen? To this day, I haven't seen its equal.

Next up: Tim Burton's exhibit.

Escape vs. Reality

As I sit along the subway, I'm often surprised how many people have turned to teen fiction. Unlike the typical Oprah book club cry-fest, young adult fiction offers a less tiresome investment of time, and the opportunity to escape the mundane realities of life.

It's also a good segue into fantasy and science fiction for the open minded individuals.

If you're like me, you've probably read most of the most popular picks. Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, Narnia, Golden Compass, Artemis Fowl... pretty much everything that has, or will turn into a movie.

The difficulty is finding new fiction that doesn't replicate what you've read.

For the past few years I've scoured the "best lists" and to my frustration, the lists are all the same.

Rereading some classics... and new finds

Battle Royale - Takami Koushun

Shade's Children - Garth Nix

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie

The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin

Still lust for YA Fiction?

Highly recommended by many (I have yet to read) The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

New Mysteries

Took a while to find it. The most recent Marple : The Pale Horse, starring Julia Mckenzie. Not originally a Marple mystery, it's not one of the strongest of her stories. Enjoy! It will be a long wait for any other new mysteries. Part one here

The new face of a hero

Vampires? Old news. During comic con a few panelists and publishers thought that demons and werewolves were the new rockstars of teen angst fiction. Me? I'd say it's all about Angels.

Hush Hush, Sandman Slim, City of Bones ....

If you really think about it, it's all the same isn't it? I never heard of the "Nephilim" until a few years ago, but I can certainly understand the allure. Superhuman powers, immortality, beauty, purity, sexuality, and an endless supply of historical mythology tied in controversy. Mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis and Numbers, the Nephilim are the offspring of Angels and Humans; perfectly shrouded in a comfortable amount of mystery for artistic license.

Sound familiar? Hercules, Theseus, Perseus; the half god bastards commonly celebrated in Greek mythology for their miraculous feats may ring a bell.

I guess it's all about the spin. Recycle, renew, refresh.

Murky Waters

From Deadline.com, Ang Lee has finally picked out his star talent after auditioning a whopping 3000 teenagers. Suraj Sharma will get the chance of a lifetime to play the lead role of sixteen year old Pi Patel in Yann Martel's Mann Booker Prize winning novel.

One hopes that whatever Visual Effects company Fox hires, is up to the challenge, not to mention the director himself. How does one create an entertaining two hour drama with only a boy, a zebra, a hyena, a seasick orangutan, and Bengal tiger in a lifeboat??