Topic: What are you reading right now?

I haven't read Iam legend vus far, but I did buy rose of blood on barbwire vine(which i haven't got to as of yet. I am presently reading Dead cty and Dead sea both of which are awesome so far.

Hay good to know about Dead City and Dead Sea I will check those out after I finish a few that I am reading now.

I'm reading DUEL, a collection of Richard Matheson stories. Gonna grab I AM LEGEND someways down the line.

Just finished I am Legend. Second time reading it and got a lot more out of it this time.
Reading "Quirkology", all about odd psychological studies but then I've got me "Dead Sea" to read, hurrah! "Rising" and "City" were great and I remember the Doc reviewing this one agggggesss ago. I fast forwarded most of it so I didn't learn anything I didn't wanna.

I'm currently reading "Day by day armageddon" by J.L Bourne. Recommended for every zombie / army fanatic.

I'm reading "See Spot Eat Brains". It's pretty much my level these days

"I am legend." You know, the Will Smith book.

Kidding!

Although, I did enjoy the movie as a remake of Omega Man, itself a very unfaithful version of IAL. Just don't think of it as being the book, and its much better.

I have not seen the one that has Will in it. I do own Last Man on Earth and it was great. I will watch the new one someday but only because of Will my first said he isn't wearing a shirt for part of the movie that’s all I want.

If you look at Will's movie from a stand alone aspect it's not a total crapfest and worth a watch. Just keep in mind, it is NOT true the story.

Right, I'm gonna stick my oar in here and offend a load of people, especially The Doc.

It is next to impossible for anyone to make a film that is totally faithful to a book, any book; they are completely different mediums through which to express a story. The advantage of a book is that you bring your own interpretation and vision of the story; it's collaboration between the author and the reader, something you both create. But in a film you usually have to take what you are given, sometimes good, sometimes bad; there's not much scope for personal interpretation, only taste!
Taking I am Legend as an example, I read the book and on my mind's screen Robert Neville is a white man; I don't think that makes me a racist, it's my default setting because I don't remember any reference to his skin colour. When the film comes out and Will Smith is cast, I could think..Oh That's not right, Bob's white.
So does that mean the film doesn't accurately reflect the book? No.
Ok, what about the modern day setting? The book was written in the 50s but set in the late 70s. Now that's fine for people reading the story, you can use your imagination to clothe the people in bell bottoms, afros, disco outfits and kipper ties but imagine THAT in a film?! It would be a comedy!....Actually, I would like to see it lol. To make a modern audience have an emotional connection with Bob, it was a wise move to bring it into our time. We empathise and feel more connection to people that we are similar to. I found the scenes of an overgrown Times Square really chilling (and thinking How The Hell Did They Do That? Obviously CGI but it was so convincing) having walked up and down there on a couple of occasions (as a tourist, not as a prostitute, I hasten to add).
And reinventing/ remaking stories to reflect the age that they are told in, is nothing new either. When we think of King Arthur, we usually imagine Medieval Knights of the Round Table but in fact the original story originated around 500ad, when the Romans still had a bit of influence in Britain. The film, King Arthur with Clive Owen is probably pretty accurate in it's vision of the "real" Arthur. So storytellers quite often update myths and legends to make them more relevant to their audience.
For me, the book's main theme was the psychological effect of believing that you are the last living person, not the scientific rationalisation of vampirism. That's why I like the book. And that's why I liked the Smith film. I thought they did a good job of showing his coping strategies and the effects of his predicament. The parts I remember most are the deaddog scene and the one where Fred had moved (trying not to do spoilers). They were most memorable for me, the acting and the effects, brilliant. The action scenes were ok (though I did like the group-panting scene, very eerie) and the mutants were pretty poor in execution.
I still thought overall, it was an effective interpretation of the book's main theme (for me, anyway). Still not faithful to the book but good in it's own right. As someone said, don't compare it to the book, just the basic concepts of the book.
Dunno about doing a sequel though....

What do other people think?

Does anyone else want to defend I Am Legend starring WillSmith before The Doc deletes this thread? LOL.

Cor, that was a bit of a Blackempty post, weren't it? lol.

Ps, if you want to see a pretty faithful version of the book, Last Man on Earth is pretty good, dispite everything I've said above!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSsvJ6w1GLk

I thought Will Smith's performance was amazing. He really captured the feeling of someone going nuts from being alone. Someone on some other show mentioned this, and its true - there's a moment in the first half or so of the film where he's at the video store, talking to the mannequins. And at first you think he's just joking around, entertaining himself. And then, very subtly, he shifts to where you realize he's starting to believe they're real. Will Smith was able to bring very small, intimate moments like that to what otherwise would have been a big CGI movie. And that's what made it great.

Again, great as a remake of Omega Man.

Fred your a genius that is that best way I have ever heard anyone explain that. I totally agree with you but didn't have the words to explain it. I have felt that about a lot of movies in the past. I am going to see I am Legend for sure but it won't be just to see Will Smith with out a shirt.

I'm currently reading Stephen King's [i]Duma Key[/i]. Not quite zombie-related, but still horror...

"Fred your a genius"....

As Oscar Wilde may have famously said once....

"Never mistake genius with having too much time to think about crap."

Who is Oscar Wilde?? Sort of freaks me out a bit, that last name is in my family tree. And it has to count for something your brain got around to thinking that well.

Big poof with a club foot....