Paris, Candy, Midnight

I'm off to Paris in a couple of days, and watching this film Wes Anderson directed for Prada has put me right in the mood for France.

The actress who plays Candy, Léa Seydoux, also plays a part in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, another great film with Parisian vibes.

So if you'd like to go to Paris, but aren't able to, you can still visit it in your livingroom whilst watching these two films. It's like you're there yourself!

Escaping the Summer Heat - Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim (2013) Directed by Guillermo del Toro

While most people couldn't be happier that it's finally starting to look like summer, all I want to do is escape the heat as much as possible. One of the best ways to do this, I find, is by going to the cinema, where the airconditioning is keeping things cool and there is something on the screen to entertain you. So off I went, to see Pacific Rim.

I'd read some reviews online and all of them agreed that Pacific Rim is a fun film. And I couldn't agree more with them; Pacific Rim is great fun to watch. There is great banter between all the characters, and even though they don't all get along all the time, we know they love each other deep down (Newton and Gottlieb, anyone?). Besides that, there are awesome Australians, wicked Russians, cool Chinese triplets, and a very bad-ass Idris Elba. Not to forget the giant aliens and ginormous robots (seriously, those Jaegers are big!).

Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako (Rinko Kikuchi)

But the best thing about the film is the connection between Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam) and Mako (Rinko Kikuchi). Raleigh is the beaten down veteran, trying to get to the top again and Mako is the newbie, who wants to be given the chance to prove herself. These two clearly care about each other. They refuse to let the other give up and help each other to keep fighting. Co-pilots of a Jaeger need to have a special connection, and these two are most certainly Jaeger-compatible.

If you want to be entertained, go see Pacific Rim. I could write a long essay about the strengths and weaknesses of this film, but all you really need to know is that this film is fun, fun, fun. All Pacific Rim wants to do is provide you with some good entertainment. And let's face it, that's why we go to the cinema; to be entertained.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Published by Arrow Books / Random House

Let's start by saying that Ready Player One is a very geeky book. It is a science fiction novel chuck full of references to eighties popular culture, and every page is filled with names of video games, films and obscure bands from that decade. Whilst it might seem odd that a story set in the future is so focused on the past, it does a beautiful job of highlighting one of the main reasons why people read (and enjoy other narrative media): escapism. And this book is sure to provide you with some nice hours away from the real world.

Ready Player One is set in a dystopian future, where earth is incredibly polluted and the majority of the people live in dangerous campervans camps, known as the Stacks because of the towers of campervans just waiting to collapse. To escape this depressing reality, people log in to the OASIS, a virtual world made up of thousands of different planets that combines elements from Second Life with World of Warcraft, and spend their lives there. Most people have lost all hope, but there is one thing that keeps people going: the quest for Halliday's Easter Egg. James Halliday is the creator of the OASIS with no living heirs. After his death, a video is released in which he explains that he has hidden easter eggs throughout the OASIS in the shape of keys and portals, and that whoever manages to find all three keys and to go through all three portals will inherit his fortune and controlling stake in GSS, the company that owns the OASIS. To help people Halliday has put Anorak's Almanac online, a diary in which he has written down all his thoughts and which is the largest reference book to eighties pop culture. The book begins five years after the start of the Hunt, and so far, no one has managed to find the first key.

Our protagonist, Wade Owen Watts or Parzival, as his OASIS character is called, is a gunter, an egg hunter. Like most people in this world, he is dissilliusioned by reality. In the real world, he is an orphan who lives with an aunt who hates him and he has no real friends. He spends most of his time in the OASIS, and even goes to school there. Wade has no money, and therefore he can't afford any special features or even transportation to other planets inside the OASIS. Because of this, the odds are very small that he will find any of the eggs. But, as a true underdog, he eventually solves the first riddle and manages to be the first to collect the Copper Key. From this point onwards, the race is on!

I cannot begin to say how much I enjoyed reading this book. Wade is a very likeable character with a great sense of humour, and as a reader, you want him to win the Hunt. The other characters are great fun to read about as well, and Cline provides some great sidekicks and enemies for Wade to interact with. Cline's writing style pulled me in right from the start; at times I was so invested in the story and the race for the keys that I had to calm myself down before I read on. Besides this, all the eighties references are a great aspect of the book; even though I hardly recognized half of the names being thrown at me, it just adds a great atmosphere to the book because you associate a certain feeling and vibe with the eighties.

There was one point in the story where it slightly lost me; the point after Wade has cleared the first portal and sort of moves on from the underdog position. Part of his charm is that he finds the first key against all odds. After finding the first key, he makes money by signing sponsorship deals and with this money, Wade buys all this state of the art equipment. At this point, it felt like he was no longer an underdog and he had become a bit more arrogant. Luckily, once the Hunt continues, this feeling went away and I found myself rooting for Wade again.

This book has it all; not only is it great escapism, it also provides a critical view on the role technology plays in our everyday lives. I was surprised to find out that Ready Player One is Cline's debut novel, as it is such a good read and written in such an amazing voice. I would highly recommend this book to everyone, whether you like sci-fi or not. That's because this book is not about spaceships or virtual realities, it's not even about eighties references; it is about great characters you come to love and who you want to cheer on throughout the entire book.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars