books, movie

It was obvious that Joss Whedon had fun making a Much Ado About Nothing movie with his friends, but given the existence of the Branagh movie, we didn't really need another one. Did make me wonder if parties at Whedon's house are really like that. Also the casting choice to make Benedict the least-attractive guy in the movie didn't really work for me.

Neil Gaiman's The Ocean At The End Of The Lane is Gaiman being very Gaiman. A fine read if you like that sort of thing which I do, but didn't make me say "wow" or anything.

I had heard good things about E.C. Myers' Fair Coin and it started off very promisingly but then suffered from a case of the author having not quite written the book I wish they would have written. For which it is hardly fair to blame the author, and yet, oh, the ghost of that alternate book. (Sort of ironic for a book about alternate possibilities.) Anyways, the first half had a bit too much embarrassment squick for me; the second half, as the plot moved away from real-world problems into action-y stuff, was not as compelling. I wanted more about Ephraim's relationship with his mom, more about his friendship with Nathan, more reflection about the implications of the coin for people's identity/character. I suppose I would consider writing fic for this universe, actually, if someone wanted it for Yuletide... anyways, not perfect, but fans of YA SF might still want to check this one out.

overripe fruit

So apparently Gaiman is writing a new Sandman story. Is this actually good news? I feel like creators going back to their most well-known early universes rarely produces anything up to the quality of their early works - in fact, I can't offhand think of an exception to this. Anyone?

Here are some of the cases I've already thought about:
Orson Scott Card's "Shadow" books revisiting the Ender universe
Asimov's later Foundation books vs the original trilogy
Vinge's recent Tines book
David Brin's later Uplift trilogy vs Startide Rising and Uplift War
George Lucas's Star Wars prequels
Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

The only counterexample I've come up with so far, after more thinking, is Jo's Boys, which was published fifteen years after Little Men. And I guess one could count the Lord of the Rings vs the Hobbit, although honestly, though it borders on blasphemy, I think a certain amount of Tolkien's later History of Middle-Earth work fits the pattern of "bloated and unnecessary".