The title is basically a reference to one of the best movies of all time, Back to the Future. The sequels get a little weird, but whatever, still amazing. In fact, after Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I'd say Back to the Future is probably the next best set of movies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaISqa-6hBk = one of the best songs ever). Ghostbusters after that, maybe?
But I digress. I said to myself that I was going to talk about some books, so I decided to talk about two, in this post: The Matarese Circle, the blog's namesake, and The Shadow of the Wind...a very interesting gothic/mystery/romance novel. I never thought in a million years I'd be into something like THAT, but I guess anything can catch your attention.
Anyway, The Materese Circle. Written by Robert Ludlum in 1979, the novel follows two spies, Brandon Scofield of the CIA and Vasili Talenikov of the KGB. Sworn enemies for life, the two have crossed paths many times with varying degrees of success, and each confrontation has made their relationship (as awful as it is) even more personal, with family and friends frequently getting in front of each other's crosshairs as they try to kill the other. During the course of the novel, Talenikov stumbles across a clandestine circle of international killers, called the Matarese, who have infiltrated corporations and government to nearly the highest level. Scofield and Talenikov, the most talented agents each side has to offer, are forced to put aside their differences and work together to take down the Matarese Circle. It's full of action and craziness, lots of guns and car chases and beautiful women, but also lots of intrigue, plot twists and betrayals...on both sides. The book is a little dated, to be honest, but that is to be expected of a book that was written in 1979. It's incredibly dense, so if spies and detailed thrillers aren't your cup of tea, then you shouldn't be reading this. Having said that, Ludlum also wrote the Bourne Identity (another great novel, which is also wayyyy better than the movie, as a single novel and as a series), so if you're into that sort of thing, then read away!
The Shadow of the Wind, written by Carlos Ruis Zafon (I'm missing the appropriate accents on his name here, apologies), is a fantastic novel. It is completely different from the stuff Ludlum writes, which is why I was shocked to find I absolutely loved this book. The story follows a young boy who reads a book, 'The Shadow of the Wind', authored by one Julian Carax. The boy, Daniel, decides to take it upon himself to find out more about this fantastic author, only to find that someone has been collecting Carax's books and burning them, throughout the years. While embarking on his quest to find out more about Carax and the mysterious figure, Daniel finds out about friendship, love and many other things along the way. It is set in Barcelona, Spain, before/during/after World War II, and so provides for a very interesting set piece. I have to say, I did not do the book (either of them, actually) justice by describing them in the way that I did, as they are much better than my awful ramblings about them, haha.
Regardless, go out and read them! gogogogogo! I also saw the movie Training Day the other night, starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. I have to say, that was a great movie. I mean, I already love Denzel, so its not like there was a reason for me to like him even MORE, but he truly is a great actor. I mentioned it in a previous post, but he's set to play Scofield in the upcoming movie adaptation of The Matarese Circle, so you know it'll be a good movie. I mean, heck, The Book of Eli was an awful movie, but the only thing that made it even a LITTLE watchable was the fact that Washington was in it. Speaking of movies, the Oscars are coming out soon...but, no, this post has already gone on far too long. Maybe another time =P
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The Pro Bowl!
wow, so I completely forgot there was a blog attached to this account. I guess that shows how much I actually care, hehe. Considering the last post was in September of 2009, I suppose that the level of caring would pretty much equal zero.
Anyway, for the one or two readers who DO frequent upon this site by pure chance, a blog you should visit is: http://mteoblog.blogspot.com. That site is actually the reason I ended up back on my OWN blog, if only because the author of that other site is a friend of mine, so I logged on to follow him...and voila, The Matarese Circle still exists. How weird.
Regardless, I figured I should make a post or SOMEthing. At the time of posting, the 2011 NFL Pro Bowl is being played in Honolulu, Hawaii; the Pro Bowl is the NFL (National Football League)'s annual All-Star game, where the best of the best play on one of two teams, arranged by conference. I normally pull for the AFC, if only because the Patriots (my favourite team) are part of the AFC, and they have quite a few Pro Bowlers this year...and of course, the one year I sit down to watch the whole thing, the AFC gets slapped up so badly that it's 42-0 before half-time. That is legitimately awful. The one saving grace is that Tom Brady isn't part of this debacle, but then again, its not as if the Pro Bowl was ever a truly serious thing. They have a rule that doesn't even allow you to blitz defensive players! That's the most useless thing ever, and you also have to play a 4-3 defensive set...which is also useless, considering that Bill Belichick is the AFC coach, but he loves to blitz AND uses a 3-4 defensive set. So basically, the AFC is getting curb-stomped. Ah well.
To move on to next week, the Packers and Steelers are playing in Arlington, Texas for Super Bowl XLV. 45, I think? Anyway, it should be a good game. I'm happy the Jets (jest lol) didn't win, I just can't stand Rex Ryan. He now has time to get a GODDAMN SNACK! (best flash game ever: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Tauntr/goddamn-snack-time-with-rex-ryan) For the first time ever, my Super Bowl prediction was right! I mean, I did say that the Steelers would be the no. 6 seed with the Packers being the no. 1 seed in their respective conferences, which was pretty much completely untrue, but ah well, I still claim victory!
But, woo, sports. I intended this to be a blog about books and what not, so I guess I completely failed at that. I suppose I can still occasionally review books, as I have read some pretty good ones as of late, so...I guess we'll see. Back to watching the Pro Bowl!
Anyway, for the one or two readers who DO frequent upon this site by pure chance, a blog you should visit is: http://mteoblog.blogspot.com. That site is actually the reason I ended up back on my OWN blog, if only because the author of that other site is a friend of mine, so I logged on to follow him...and voila, The Matarese Circle still exists. How weird.
Regardless, I figured I should make a post or SOMEthing. At the time of posting, the 2011 NFL Pro Bowl is being played in Honolulu, Hawaii; the Pro Bowl is the NFL (National Football League)'s annual All-Star game, where the best of the best play on one of two teams, arranged by conference. I normally pull for the AFC, if only because the Patriots (my favourite team) are part of the AFC, and they have quite a few Pro Bowlers this year...and of course, the one year I sit down to watch the whole thing, the AFC gets slapped up so badly that it's 42-0 before half-time. That is legitimately awful. The one saving grace is that Tom Brady isn't part of this debacle, but then again, its not as if the Pro Bowl was ever a truly serious thing. They have a rule that doesn't even allow you to blitz defensive players! That's the most useless thing ever, and you also have to play a 4-3 defensive set...which is also useless, considering that Bill Belichick is the AFC coach, but he loves to blitz AND uses a 3-4 defensive set. So basically, the AFC is getting curb-stomped. Ah well.
To move on to next week, the Packers and Steelers are playing in Arlington, Texas for Super Bowl XLV. 45, I think? Anyway, it should be a good game. I'm happy the Jets (jest lol) didn't win, I just can't stand Rex Ryan. He now has time to get a GODDAMN SNACK! (best flash game ever: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Tauntr/goddamn-snack-time-with-rex-ryan) For the first time ever, my Super Bowl prediction was right! I mean, I did say that the Steelers would be the no. 6 seed with the Packers being the no. 1 seed in their respective conferences, which was pretty much completely untrue, but ah well, I still claim victory!
But, woo, sports. I intended this to be a blog about books and what not, so I guess I completely failed at that. I suppose I can still occasionally review books, as I have read some pretty good ones as of late, so...I guess we'll see. Back to watching the Pro Bowl!
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