I realize I’m probably the last Stephen King fan on earth not to have read his epic tome The Dark Tower, but I’ve become a huge fan of the series.
I’m sitting on Rose Madder for some reason. I just can’t bring myself to read it. A story hurts to swallow, but I really should read it. I used The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three (Book II) as a distraction from that one.
It worked.
I finished roughly half the book the first night I cracked it open. Then I polished it off the next day (Saturday). OUTSTANDING book. I have no idea what I love about the universe King created in that series, only that I do love it. I love the idea of a gunslinger-knight, and the whole idea of “the world has moved on” running through it. I love the familiar weirdness of it. A parallel, but not duplicate, of our world, where paper and gold are roughly equivalent in value. It’s an awesome idea, and mixes gunfights with sorcerers and monsters and demons. Awesome.
Now, however, I need my next fix. This is like crack or meth. I can’t stop now. And I don’t know how many books in the series the little pukey library by us is going to have. This one was larger than the last one, and involved a lot more of our world with theirs, but was a neat idea. It’s dramatically different than King’s other works, too. And he executed it so well.
I tried to choke down a collection of ghost stories, too. They ranged from Victorian to mid-80s era stories, and some of them were okay, but it wasn’t great. I think I’ll stop with that one. I have to see what else is in my book bag to read. And they’re all due back pretty soon.
I also sat through The Descent, a horror movie about a pack of girls who go spelunking in the Appalachian mountains. Of course they have a cave-in which traps them below, and they have to spelunk their way out of unexplored caverns. There’s a lot of relational things involved too, and underground eat-you-if-they-catch-you things. Yes, it had flaws. I won’t go into them all, but some of them included monsters evolved to live underground which ONLY use echolocation to find prey, which are unable to tell the difference between the texture of slimy wet cave-rock and human hair, which cannot detect the heat of a torch despite the dwelling in a cool, damp place, and those same creatures being completely blind but emerging to find food above ground. I’ll stop there, I think.
Overall, not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but not the best either. I give it a four of ten rating. The girls weren’t all that hot, either. They could’ve mustered a point for hotness, and maybe another point if the ending hadn’t been so lame. So I’ll stand by my four, but it could’ve been a six. Too bad.
Anyway, we had a quiet Mother’s Day, because I got a migraine and told everyone to shut up. I feel like an ass for ruining it. My son and I are going to make it up to Mom by doing the dishes tomorrow.
How was your weekend?
-JDT-
All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.
Related articles by Zemanta
- Repo Director Brings Horror To Mother’s Day (cinemablend.com)
- King’s clown horror heads to film (news.bbc.co.uk)
- The Stand, playing out on Twitter (tins.rklau.com)
DarcKnyt 
I saw The Descent, too! The flaws were numerous, but hubby ended up having a nightmare about the creatures and woke up in a cold sweat. I have to bust your balls about the “hotness” comment. The ladies weren’t supposed to be “hot,” by which I can only assume you mean their boobs weren’t big enough or they didn’t pout at the camera, or something, because they were athletic, confident, attractive women, not sex kittens. They fit the story.
You know, I had a nightmare about an episode of The Simpsons and The X-Files one night several years ago; I’m not one to talk. As for hotness — bust all you want. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I stand by my sexist comment. NOT HOT. 😛
The Dark Tower books…It’s crack, indeed. Now go back to the olden days, when there were only three published and I had to wait seven years to read the fourth. I’m sure that seven years was mostly like any other, but I remember it as dark and lonely.
Yeah, that’d be bad. In that regard, I’m VERY glad I waited until it was completed to start it. Whether my paltry library has them all remains to be seen.
I read every book Stephen King has ever fancied himself to write. LOVE HIM. A couple were out there more than usual, but then again he is too sometimes. I was not a huge fan of the Dark Tower series. Just not his syle. Maybe that’s why some people liked it! 🙂
Penelope, welcome, and thanks for commenting! Yes, I adore King’s work too. He’s the writer I’ve always aspired to be. But, he does sometimes disappoint me with his over-the-top-big-finishes, which can (and have) ruin an otherwise brilliant story. But he is my favorite; always was, always will be. I loved TDT, though; and it’s odd because I can’t say why. Classic King prose, interesting and different setting, VERY different storyline. Love it.
I sounded cranky up there, didn’t I? I wasn’t, just joshin’ ya.
Pff, stop. You’re fine, it didn’t sound cranky, and even if you were bein’ snarky, I missed it, so there. Relax; you’re among friends here.
Not sure if this was a new episode or a rerun, but last night’s episode of The Family Guy was three quick parodies of some of Stephen King’s stories: Stand By Me, Misery and Shawshank. It wasn’t very funny.
Too bad. Then again, I’ve never found The Family Guy very funny.
Thanks for all your sweet comments. I really need to start reading again…I have been so crabby lately! Books always help!
Hope you’re doing better, hon.
1.) I actually spent six months of my life going through the Dark Tower series in its audiobook format. What a wild and crazy trip it was. I am interested in hearing what you think of the ending when you get there. I was happy with it but then again I dedicated ‘CANADIAN GIRLFRIEND’ to my Mom so my perspective is skewed.
No, DT rocks. On THAT, you’re okay. The mom thing? Not so much.
2.) THE DESCENT rocked… I didn’t see any of the flaws you pointed out, maybe it is because there is still a part of my brain that doesn’t sees DOCTOR WHO and KOLCHAK as high art.
I loved Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I haven’t seen it since I was a kid, but it was awesome. Doctor Who I don’t follow, so I can’t say. The Descent? Meh. But, hey, that’s why they make chocolate AND vanilla, right?
3.) I used to love FAMILY GUY and while they can still hit it out of park once in a while but it feels to me like they’re coasting somehow. That being said I think that the writing on AMERICAN DAD is hillarious and the scripts are very well put together.
I dunno; I’m sick of politics, especially in my cartoons. I just want amusing, and I get an agenda everywhere, and it’s usually counter to what I believe, so screw it. If I want to get pissed off I’ll join a debate club. That’s just me, though. And you’re not alone in believing it’s a funny show.
4.) There is no #4
Now, THAT’S a brilliant point. 😉