literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Who is the Valonqar?
Spoilers ahead for both the books and the show! Game of Thrones is back in our lives once more. The first episode of Season 7 has graced our screens, and what an episode it was! From the North to the South, and the East to the West, we are more certain than ever that nobody is safe.
By Charlotte Williams8 years ago in Geeks
A Review of 'Clarissa' by Samuel Richardson
At around 1,431 pages, Clarissa or The History of a Young Lady beats out Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (826 pages), Bleak House by Charles Dickens (813 pages) and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (955 pages) for the title of longest book I have ever read. Such a tome seems like an overwhelming task to get through but fortunately they are often divided up into a number of sections, each a mini book in themselves. How I got through War and Peace was that I would read a section and then take a break for a few week and repeat until the book was finished. I am going to do the same for Clarissa.
By Rachel Lesch8 years ago in Geeks
Cops, Mystics, and Steampunk
One is often told not to judge a book by its cover. Yet when it comes to The Precinct, however, that was precisely what caught my attention. Perhaps that it isn't surprising given it is a graphic novel and that it was the combination of its artwork of a late nineteenth-century policeman with a mechanical arm with a woman wearing a vaguely Victorian yet mystic outfit along with the book being given the subtitle “A Steampunk Adventure.” Intrigued and one library checking out later, the results were definitely fun, to say the least.
By Matthew Kresal9 years ago in Geeks
Hunting Lila Book Review
Hunting Lila, written by Sarah Alderson. Published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd, a CBS company in 2011. This book is the most amazing book I have ever read! Well, at least one of the most amazing books I've read this year! Not only did it get me hooked on the characters it also had me turning page after page wanting to know what happened to Jack and Lila! What would happen with Alex? Suki? Demos?
By Leigh Hobbs9 years ago in Geeks
Akira—How the World Fell in Love with an Incomplete Masterpiece
In 1988, the world was treated to the stunning marvel that is Akira. Critically acclaimed, and celebrated the world over, Akira has become a staple of cult cinema and anime. Based on the seminal Manga of the same name by Katsuhiro Otomo, and more commonly referred to as the stack of phone books most collectors of such material have in the top corner of their libraries. The film has garnered much respect for its visuals, style, and compelling story. It was revolutionary in its creation, even from a technical standpoint. Having all new colours created for the process of cell colourisation, particularly in the films numerous nighttime scenes, and its use of pre-recorded dialogue, something that while standard in the west, was and still is, consistently uncommon in the east.
By Mikayla J. Laird9 years ago in Geeks
Saddest Deaths in the Harry Potter Series
J.K. Rowling, the literary genius behind the Harry Potter series has a talent for writing tragic death scenes. As any true Harry Potter fan knows, the series is full of sadness. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was an absolute bloodbath. I still get emotional when I think of how some of these characters passed away. You would think in a fantasy magical world there would be an easy way to prevent death or to bring people back to life, but there isn't. We all know how using Horcruxes worked out for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Rowling seems to have enjoyed making her readers cry because the deaths in the series are absolutely gut-wrenching. Here's a reminder of the most upsetting deaths in Harry Potter, in case you had forgotten what it was like to cry. WARNING: this post includes spoilers!
By Madeline Basirico9 years ago in Geeks
The Many Versions of Cinderella
I have always been fascinated by fairy tales. Like many other children, Disney cultivated a love of classic stories. When I got older, I became more curious in hearing the original fairy tales, before Disney changed them. I loved learning the differences between versions, and even versions from different cultures.
By Amora Jones9 years ago in Geeks
American Cinema, Technology and Cyborg Embodiment
Wall-e (Benjamin A. Burtt) is an animation about a robot named Wall-e the last of his kind whose ‘directive’ is to clean the earth because it has become uninhabitable for humans. Wall-e has developed emotion over the years, which is shown by his collection of objects he likes, such as lighters, bulbs and videos of musicals. One day, a spaceship drops off another Robot; Eve (Elissa Knight) who Wall-e quickly falls in love with. Her ‘directive’ is to find life on earth, which she finds after Wall-e shows her his collection, as a plant is part of his collection. Eva holds the plant in a compartment and shuts down. Wall-e looks after her until eventually, she is collected by a spaceship. Wall-e chases it and holds onto the outside of the spaceship. They are taken to the mothership where all the humans have escaped to due to the global warming back on earth. All the humans have become obese and forgotten how to walk as they have been on the ship for 700 years. The plant goes missing as the autopilot has taken control of the ship as classified information is later revealed; the planet Earth is no longer safe. Also, a robot character Auto (MacInTalk) has actually been feeding the humans, human because after 700 years there would be nothing else on the ship to eat and there were no farms visible throughout the film. Nevertheless, the captain (Jeff Garlin) realises that Auto has been controlling the ship since the beginning and regains control. He returns everyone back to earth because he realises that life is sustainable again because the plant has survived. Wall-e and Eve find the plant and take it to the Holo-Detector chamber while the pilot fights off and switches off auto. They return to earth, start farming and rebuilding a society on their home planet.
By Victoria-Louise Sweet9 years ago in Geeks
Jorge Luis Borges, the Maker
As a long time fan of comic books, fantastical situations, and trips into the unknown, the work of Argentine literary master Jorge Luis Borges should become everyone's obsession. Why, you ask? In many ways, his work left not only an indelible mark on the literary world but also on the wider world of arts and entertainment as well. The work of director Christopher Nolan with films such as Inception, Memento, and The Prestige resemble some of the best Borges stories such as "The Garden of Forking Paths" and "The Aleph". His works are full of duplicity and metaphysical mysteries as much as they are filled with the symbols that he was obsessed with, namely mirrors, infinite libraries, and planes of existence that may or may not exist. Take into account as well the time Borges was born (1899) and you begin to see just how amazingly futuristic they were in depicting the world we are living in today. Perhaps one of the reasons Borges had such a far-reaching vision of things material and immaterial is the fact he was such a bibliophile. He famously said that " I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library". He spent thousands of hours in those hallowed places when he became head of the National Public Library in Buenos Aires in 1955, writing many of his immortal stories during this period.
By Ryan Madej9 years ago in Geeks
