Marple Revisited; When the Mirror Crack’d

{ September 4, 2009 @ 2:26 pm } · { books }
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Out flew the web and floated wide
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,” cried
The Lady of Shalott.

“The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side” was published in 1962, but it wasn’t til 1980 that a movie adaptation was released with Angela Lansbury starring as Miss Marple. This novel was most famous for the use of Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem, “The Lady of Shallot” which was quoted several times throughout the story.

I first read this novel in 2003, and recently started on my Christie mania again. Hence, the title “Marple Revisited”. This novel isn’t one of my favourites, the actions only started in the second half of the book. As usual in any Marple titles, the focus is not really on the murder itself, but rather on the small, gossipy village called St. Mary Mead, and on “human nature”.

The “Lady of Shallot” in this story refers to Marina Gregg, a famous American actress who had recently come to live in St. Mary Mead, when her husband bought over Gossington Hall. Fans of Christie would remember this from an earlier novel, “The Body in the Library”.

The first tragedy happened during a cocktail party at the Hall, when Heather Badcock died after drinking a poisoned cocktail. Everyone assumed the poison was originally intended for Marina, but further developments in the story revealed a dark past of Marina’s; who was the person who wanted her dead? Was Heather’s death really just a mistake on the murderer’s part?

The story picked up some pace in the second half, where another two characters were murdered. First was Ella Zielinsky, the secretary to Marina’s husband. Giuseppe, the butler, was shot after he tried to blackmail the murderer. Several chance words from the witnesses put Miss Marple on the right track; but what was the connection between these facts? Could the solution really be that simple?

“The Mirror Crack’d” closes with the death of Marina herself.

He said, “She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.”

**P.S. I hope I didn’t spoil the story too much in writing this review! For those who haven’t read the story, enjoy! :-)

top 3 yaoi couples in yamane ayano’s manga!!!!

{ July 18, 2009 @ 3:22 pm } · { manga and anime }
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updates updates!!! so i’ve been totally addicted to yaoi recently. been searching thorough youtube, and found a video dedicated to ayano yamane-sensei’s works. woot woot!!!!!!! damn hot bishies~ and to think that i had no idea she’s the author of “ikoku irokoi romantan”!!!! one of my favs :D after all, who can resist captain al valentino?

so here’s the top 3 couples of my choice… out of ayano yamane-sensei’s works. all three are from series (not one-shots)… and included are the descriptions of the series ^^

#3 viewfinder series~ “flower on the high loft”
manga only, status completed 18 chapters, CD drama
ASAMI RYUICHI xxx LIU FEILONG

they just make a perfect couple don’t you think? the main couple in the viewfinder series should be asami XXX takaba akihito, but i just couldn’t resist doing this!!! i love feilong too!!! and i feel he should be coupled with asami, since they have a dark love-hate relationship… and their story is a bit complicated (which just makes it more interesting than the straightforward relationship of asami-takaba). when i started on this series, i wasn’t sure who would be the seme and uke in their relationship, since both of them are so… egoistic? and they wanted to kill each other. but after reading chapter 13 i knew… feilong is soooo uke-ish when it comes to asami. yay!!!! ;-) and did i mention that takehito koyasu is the seiyuu (voice-actor) for asami in the CD drama? omg he’s just so unbelievable!!!!!!!!

#2 ikoku irokoi romantan~ “a foreign love affair”
available in manga and OVA 1-2
ALBERTO VALENTINO xxx OUMI RANMARU


the classic “seductive italian men” story. i’ve mentioned a lot bout this couple in the other posts, but here’s a summary;
oumi ranmaru, the son of a yakuza leader, travels to italy on a cruise ship to get married to a woman he does not love. while on the costa altista cruiser he met the captain, al valentino. after having a one-night’s affair with him, ranmaru leaves the ship, only to meet al later in the story (in OVA2) when ranmaru got kidnapped and sold!!!! well as you can guess, they got together after that :-)

#1 crimson spell
available in manga only, status ongoing with 23 chapters so far
HALLWILL xxx PRINCE VALDRIGUE

set in a fantasy world where magic, warlocks and beasts are common. one of those “heroic prince saves the kingdom” plot. and a forbidden relationship between a prince-cum-demon and a beautiful-mysterious wizard. oh, don’t forget a perverted-rabbit-beast who never fails to make me laugh. throw all these together and you get “crimson spell”!!!!!

happy “belated” july!!! :D

{ July 11, 2009 @ 1:59 pm } · { personal }
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whoa its finally the seventh week of my second semester in uni!!! so tiring~ just finished my mid-term chemistry test this morning ;-) still have a full biology report to complete and a major maths test is coming up next friday (and my first public speaking test!!!!)

just an update on what i’ve been doing lately:
1. study study study!!!!!
been doing lots of experiments lately… and endless reports :-(
biology test ===>> bad results. plant reproduction isn’t exactly my best topic
just a few pics of me in lab:


dissecting a goat’s heart!

2. active yaoi-hunting!!!!!
yay finally maiden rose OVA subbed is available on youtube! well this was bout a month ago…

and the shoujo animes i’ve watched currently:

suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu second season. yay!


paradise kiss

3. hooked on ragnarok online RPG game

my high-wizard just reached the max level 255 last week… of course i’m using a private server ;-)
currently i have a stalker and an alchemist… might stop playing after sometime

4. been doing a lot of programming lately, using the visual studio C++ language. fuh~ feels like banging my head on the wall each time i got a programme wrong. and the BIG assignment is coming up! omg!

next on my list; watch out for my silver-purple new hairstyle next week after my exams! decided to do something crazy for once :D

yaoi mania! some manga titles?

{ June 7, 2009 @ 3:58 pm } · { manga and anime }
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i’ve just finished “winter cicada” OVA3 today! to all yaoi fans, i wonder which one is the saddest and most tragic yaoi ever… my guess would be either “ai no kusabi” or “winter cicada”. i suppose many of us cried at the end >.<

recently i was on a yaoi-hunting mission. i lost count on how many titles i’ve watched and read these past few days. so i decided to write a post on this; to introduce some of the most wonderful titles ever! reading yaoi doesn’t mean you’re a sick pervert or have a twisted mind. its just another genre of manga that some people enjoy. i’ve forgotten some titles though… but here are some of my favourites:

junjou romantica (pure-hearted romance)

arguably one of the hottest and most sought-after titles in this genre. JR is the one that really introduced me to yaoi (before this i was hooked to just shounen-ai) the story is divided into three couples

junjou romantica couple: usami akihiko XXX takahashi misaki

junjou egoist couple: kamijou hiroki XXX kusama nowaki

junjou terrorist couple: takatsuki shinobu XXX miyagi you

hyakujitsu no bara (maiden rose)

my latest craze!!! cute yaoi with serious issues. taki is an army general from a noble family who is forced to lead the armies out to war at his young age; while klaus is a knight sworn to protect taki. i especially love the chibi special version at the end of the OVA! totally hilarious. not to mention there’re some really good love scenes…

ikoku irokoi romantan (a foreign love affair)

sizzling hot~ ranmaru is the son and heir of a yakuza family who is forced to marry a woman he has known since childhood, kaoru, for the sake of peace between the two powers of the japanese underworld.

while on a cruise trip to italy, ranmaru met a dashing italian, alberto valentino (better known as al), who is crazy bout anything japanese. when ranmaru was kicked out of his room on his wedding night (OMG!), that was his beginning of his friendship (err, courtship?) with al. towards the end of the first OVA, we found out that al was actually the (gay) captain of the ship! the second OVA takes place after the first, where ranmaru was reunited with al, and features a daring and heroic rescue from al when ranmaru was kidnapped and sold!

freezing flame (manga only)

one of the lesser-known titles. freezing flame has not been made into an anime, and from what i’ve observed, not many people have heard bout this series. but i’m totally in love with one of the main characters, mimuro yoshitaka!!! like JR, there are three couples involved, with yoshitaka and hirose katsumi being the main couple in the first arc of the series.

to all yaoi-lovers, i hope that you can recommend me some good ones! i shall update the post constantly to add in new titles ^^

major eberbach~ eroica yori ai wo komete

{ June 2, 2009 @ 12:35 pm } · { manga and anime }
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first of all, i would like to wish a very “HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY” to our dear major eberbach!!! ok so i’m two weeks late…. its supposed to be on the 15th of may. god knows how old is he’s going to be this year, since the manga, “eroica yori ai wo komete”, or better known as “from eroica with love”, debuted more than 30 years ago (i think it was in 1976). here are some pages from the translated english version:



“from eroica with love” is a manga series which centres around the two main characters; dorian red gloria, the earl of gloria who is also an art thief, a hedonist, and a perverted homosexual who’s constantly chasing after good-looking guys in the story. the two people closest to him are mr.james, his stingy accountant who loves living a miserable life, and mr.bonham, his right-hand man who’s always helping his lord to steal precious art pieces

the second character would be major klaus heinz von dem eberbach, an officer in the NATO intelligence, headquartered in bonn, west germany. also known as iron klaus, the tough no-nonsense secret agent who is much feared by the neo-nazis from east germany, and the KGB from the soviet (russia). he has a group of subordinates, whom he calls agent A-Z a.k.a. the alphabet soup

i took a quiz in the fansite http://www.fried-potatoes.com/Eroica/index.php to see which group i belong in! of course, i cheated to get myself into the NATO group……





Okay, so James Bond I’m not. I can look forward to tedious stake-outs, abusive superiors, and three-minute potty-breaks. But I believe in my cause — I’ll be a force for good, righting wrongs and recovering more capsules of microfilm than the Major has ‘issues’.



Curious to know where you belong?

Take the Eroica allegiance sorting quiz at fried-potatoes.com.



currently there are bout 34 volumes of “eroica” translated into english, but i’ve managed to read only up to volume 12. and i must confess that i’ve fallen in love with the major’s character. i’ve enjoyed the side stories in “eroica” greatly as they show the more gentle side of the major. he could be a really funny man! (well as long as there aren’t any KGBs around). the entire series is made up of the exciting adventures the earl and the major went through. chasing each other around the globe, they travelled to dozens of exotic locations, the major to carry out his missions, with the earl at his heel (either to steal some valuable paintings or just to annoy the major)

i’d say that “eroica” is one of the best manga series i’ve read so far, and i thank my friend who introduced it to me. coming up next would be a review on “der freischuetz”, a one-shot manga featuring major eberbach in his coolest-ever mission!

a murder in three acts

{ May 15, 2009 @ 3:26 pm } · { books }
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its been some time since i read this book, but i thought its worth mentioning in my monthly reviews for agatha christie. after rummaging in the old bookshelf i finally found this! i still remember (happily) its the second agatha christie title i bought with my own money back in 2005 (i paid RM12.50 for it after discount). so to fans of christie, i present to you my review on “three-act tragedy”.

first act, suspicion
this is the opening to the “drama” in crow’s nest, the official residence of a famous and popular actor, sir charles cartwright. thirteen guests were invited to a dinner, among them mr.satterthwaite (whom readers will remember from previous christie titles) and hercule poirot, the famous belgian detective. sir charles was in his usual acting mood without realising it himself (according to mr.satterthwaite, a keen observer of human nature). and before the end of the dinner, the local rector, rev. stephen babbington, dropped dead after drinking a poisoned cocktail.

second act, certainty
act 1 closes with sir charles’ leave to the south of france, apparently the result of his unrequited love for miss lytton gore (another guest at the ill-fated dinner). the second murder took place at roughly this time, when sir bartholomew strange, a highly-respectable nerve specialist was murdered by poison in his own house in yorkshire. coincidentally (apparently) all the guests who were present in crow’s nest were also there when sir bartholomew dies (with the exception of poirot, satterthwaite and sir charles). foul play was immediately suspected among the guests, and the three men started an investigation (with the help of the over-energetic miss lytton gore). sir bartholomew’s butler became the prime suspect after his mysterious dissappearance.

third act, discovery
the suspects were interviewed, one by one. sir charles and miss lytton gore finally make plans to get married (much to mr.satterthwaite’s delight) another victim was discovered, a patient in sir bartholomew’s ward. the story goes fast-pace towards the end, but poirot was convinced that there was something important that he has missed all along the investigations. at his wit’s end, poirot relaxes his mind by building a card-house (with a deck of happy families cards!!!!) when a chance word from miss lytton gore made poirot jump up in agony. “oh, but i have been blind- blind….”

conclusion
the ending is pretty much the same as the other christie titles… with all the suspects gathered in one place and poirot unmasking the murderer. i should have seen the identity of the murderer earlier (since the whole story was told in acts, it gives an impression of a drama being played, so readers should have known who the main actor was), only that it seems impossible at that time. but then again, i have to remind fans of christie that in many of her works, the murderer is often a character in disguise (a hint ot those who haven’t read this book!!)

the drama concluded with poirot’s complaint that he might be the victim by chance (much to his horror!!)

full metal panic: 1st season+TSR+fumoffu

{ May 10, 2009 @ 4:04 am } · { manga and anime }
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yay! just finished FMP: the second raid (TSR), and short OVA episode 14 bout a month ago!!!!!!! i’ve been a fan of FMP since 2 years back; but couldn’t find TSR anywhere, so i watched it on youtube. and i’m in love with sagara sousuke!!!!! not to mention leonard testarossa, the hot ”whispered” guy who appeared in TSR~ and chidori kaname is cute as usual~ :D

 

 i watched FMP fumoffu first, followed by the first season, and finally TSR. its been a wonderful and enjoyable journey for me as i follow sagara and chidori’s adventure through the tokyo jindai high school where sagara gets into trouble everyday, the remote deserts of helmajistan where sagara and his comrades battle insane villains, the tuatha de danaan (submarine where sagara works) and finally, to hong kong where the last battle in the series takes place. and chidori and sagara have discovered their love for each other!!!!

FMP is a shonen anime which chronicles on the life of sagara sousuke, a sergeant in service of mithril, an organisation which fights for peace in the world. a 17-year-old guy who has spent his whole life on battlefields, sagara found himself unable to adjust to the life of a “normal high school student” in his latest mission to protect chidori kaname, a “whispered” candidate who has extraordinary knowledge and power over the “black technology”. in order to ensure her safety, sagara entered the tokyo jindai high school as a student (and chidori’s classmate), only to get into trouble everyday with his “war-crazed mind”.

chidori kaname, on the other hand, is the most popular girl in school, tough and loud. initially regarding sagara as “nothing but trouble”, she started to develop feelings for him over the six months they spent together in school before sagara was abruptly withdrawn from his mission, thus separating them. in the final episode of TSR, chidori goes to hong kong to find sagara, where he fought the enemies and killed them once and for all. it was a happy ending~ sagara returns to his life with chidori in tokyo, occasionally going for another mission. sigh~

an important aspect in this anime is the use of AI robots  in combats instead of a direct battle between two sides. the ECS mode allows the AI to become invisible in battlefields; and the “lambda driver” allows the pilots to control their AI with their minds. duh~ don’t ask me, i don’t know anything bout robots. in short, this anime focuses a lot on the technology side~ that’s why it’s considered a shonen anime despite all the lovey-dovey things going on between sagara and chidori. not to mention the intense scenes; people getting shot and limbs flying all over, and a part where an officer got his throat cut clean through. yikes!

some other characters in this series include kyoko, chidori’s best friend; teletha testarossa, sagara’s captain who’s in love with him; melissa mao and kurz weber who are sagara’s comrades. also, leonard testarossa !!!!!! :D  

the moving finger- a christie psychological thriller?

{ March 30, 2009 @ 11:12 am } · { books }
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Focusing more on the “human nature” rather than on the murder itself, “the moving finger” is sort of a psychological thriller which ends, as always, with the main character finding his true love after “successfully solving” the case (typical Christie story!)

Jerry burton, the main character in the story, had been wounded in a flight accident and retires shortly to lymstock, a small town in the country, where he gets involved in an exciting adventure of anonymous letters and murders.

Miss jane marple appears briefly in this case, towards the end of the story where she successfully indentified the real culprit of the murder. Basically, the whole case is focused on the “anonymous letters” circulating in lymstock. When mrs. Symmington, the wife of the local solicitor apparently committed suicide after receiving one of them, burton starts to investigate the matter, not long before another body is discovered.

 “The moving finger” is somehow different from the other crime fictions Christie had written. The murder itself is quite simple and straightforward, but foul play was not suspected until much later in the story. Instead of the usual methods of investigation (e.g. clues, suspects, motives, alibis, etc) miss marple delves into the psychological nature of the crime: what was the real reason behind the letters? Was it suicide, or murder? Were the letters intended to induce fear in the victims, or were they used to cover up something much more sinister?

 “The moving finger” only appeals to those who are looking for a light, not too complicated crime fiction. Hardcore fans of Christie would be quite disappointed in it. Personally I have always preferred hercule poirot but for beginners, this might be something really worth looking.

VK season 1~ vampires are hot!

{ March 7, 2009 @ 2:36 pm } · { manga and anime }
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yay! finally i finished watching vampire knight season 1. gonna start on VK guilty (season 2) next week. i’m currently on the VK manga volume 1, and what i can say is… kuran kaname is the hottest vampire i’ve ever seen!

cover characters: zero kiryuu, yuki cross and kaname kuran

yay! hottest vampire~ kaname kuran!!!!!!

zero~ he’s cute too

yuuki cross~ torn between two love?

chairman cross~ eccentric guy

members of the night class~ all vampires (creepy)…..

 

i must confess that VK is one of the most decent “vampire animes” i’ve watched in a while. some of them are so lame that i couldn’t be bothered to get past the second episode. i prefer yaoi stuffs to vampires, anyway. so when i read a review on VK a few months ago i decided to give it a try (in case they have some really hot bishies in there)

VK is a story which mostly revolves around the three main characters, yuuki cross, kiryuu zero, and kuran kaname (hot vampire!!!!!) set in the cross academy, an established boarding school which is divided into the “day class” (ordinary students) and the “night class” (vampires). i guess you could call it a love-triangle-affair story between the three. personally i’ve always preferred [yuuki XXX kaname] as compared to [yuuki XXX zero], but i guess most of the fans like zero more. i mean… zero’s hot, but somehow i find kaname more attractive (dark-haired protagonist with unbelievably good looks, a dark past and cunning mind)~


OP of vampire knight season 1 episode 1~

fans of the series would notice some differences between the manga and the anime~ first there’s the order of the events which is slightly different. and zero and kaname’s characters are somehow lighter in some parts of the manga, as compared to the anime where they’re all serious-looking. and i suppose zero looks way hotter in the manga with the bloody rose (his vampire-killing gun)….

a poirot case: peril at end house

{ February 27, 2009 @ 2:45 pm } · { books }
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the good old captain hastings is back; and once again poirot is thrown into an exciting new mystery, which is not very unlike the others in terms of the settings. beautiful women, money, drugs, and of course, murder. ta-da! and i present to you yet another of papa poirot’s “triumphs”; peril at end house

[spoilers]

old friends were on a holiday trip at the cornish resort of st.loo, when poirot made acquaitance with a young, attractive girl, nick buckley, the mistress of end house (which is located on the cliff overlooking the sea). a casual remark on how she (nick) had escaped death 3 times within a week aroused poirot’s curiosity, and he was determined to protect nick after discovering that someone had attempted to shoot her while she was talking to poirot and hastings (there was a bullet hole in her hat).

fast forward to the main point. having been convinced by poirot that her life is indeed in danger, nick telegraphs to her cousin, maggie buckley, to come and stay with her. during the night of the fireworks, maggie was killed, in what appeared to be an accident since the one targeted was nick. there were a few suspects; charles vyse (nick’s cousin), freddie rice (nick’s best friend), jim lazarus (guest at the house), commander george challenger (who was in love with nick) and mr. croft (a lodger at end house). to be absolutely sure of nick’s safety, poirot arranges for her to stay in a nursing home, only to have the murderer strike again by sending a box of poisoned chocolates to nick.

poirot was puzzled by the case; he felt that all along there was something important that he had missed. poirot gathered all the suspects together at end house (along with inspector japp, a good friend of poirot) and eventually revealed that the culprit was… nick herself! she had staged all the murder attempts on herself to convince others that her life was in danger, but in truth she wanted maggie dead so that she could inherit the money from maggie’s dead fiance. michael seton, the heir to a vast fortune, had died in an air crash, leaving everything to his fiancee, magdala buckley (maggie), without knowing that maggie and nick actually share the same first name! the murder was in fact, to remove maggie so that nick could inherit seton’s money, since he was a good friend to her to begin with (it makes me wonder, is there anything like a good friend who doesn’t even know your real name?)

the story was a bit confusing, especially bout the two “magdala buckley”s part. christie had a reputation of producing complicated solutions to her mysteries, and the murderer often turned out to be the one least suspected. of course, i do enjoy christie’s works immensely, but sometimes it seems a bit absurd that the murderer
1. is one of the main characters in disguise (as in three-act tragedy and death in the clouds)
2. is the apparent victim (as in death comes as the end and a murder is announced)
3. had committed the murder under impossibly bizarre situations (as in death on the nile)

in any way, christie is a master storyteller who had written many wonderful crime novels which her fans all over the world had enjoyed. “peril at end house” may not be her best work but its still quite an entertaining read. next i will be writing reviews on “ordeal by innocence” and “hercule poirot’s christmas”

p.s. to all readers i apologise for my bad english in writing this review

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