Letters From Iwo Jima and Ash

I went to see Letters From Iwo Jima and I have to say this was a great movie. Shot from the Japanese perspective and filmed in muted tones, this movie really stuck with me. From the Japanese nobles (some who behave nobly while others do not) to the regular enlisted men, Clint Eastwood draws great performances from his cast in what could have been a traditional war movie. In some ways, it still is a traditional war movie (Come on! As soon as I saw the horse, I knew he was toast, it was just a matter of how it would happen) and in the scene when the Japanese soldiers realize that in some ways, the Americans are just like them-hard-working, brave and committed to their cause. Ken Watanabe was very good as the general who knows his cause is doomed and yet does his best to protect his men and give them the best chance they have to win, while Tsuyoshi Ihara and Kazunari Ninomiya as Baron Nishi and Saigo are both excellent-Ninomiya is particularly good as the drafted Saigo, who just wants to get back to his wife and child and is saved three times by a combination of the General intervening and pure luck.

I also read the Book of Ash: The Rise of Carthage. I wasn't too sure when I started this book that I would like it, although it looked interesting. It's the story of a female mercenary in Medieval times-not too long after the time of Joan of Arc. This book is alternative history, but it's a little strange, even for alternative history. By that I mean it is interrupted periodically by academics who are quibbling over historical documents that in the beginning are classified as documents but by the end of the book are being reclassified as fiction-which turns their whole belief in Ash (the titular mercenary) as a real person into a fictional character. As this book is pure fiction, I'm wondering why the need for the quibbling academics? It really breaks up the pace of the book ends up being more annoying than intriguing. My friend Y tells me that this device is used in the second book in order to further explain how this world became an alternate universe to our own, but is that really necessary? Just say it is what it is-there's no need for an explanation, but if you need one, just toss in a sentence or two-there's no need to continually interrupt the pace of a well-written book with this stuff.
I'm reading the sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends right now-called You Suck, a love story and it is hilarious. It's another Christopher Moore book I'll be sorry to see end. More on Moore later....