salambo: high priestess of ancient carthage (gustave flaubert)

"the best historical novel of all time", says the dust jacket. well, if it's by flaubert, and it's "the best historical novel of all time", then i think it's only fair i gave it a chance. i couldn't finish it. not long after i started reading it i remembered why i don't like historical novels that much: it always seems like the story itself is an excuse in order for the author to show us how much research he has conducted. the rather lengthy and numerous descriptions of buildings, tools or garments seem to be the main focus of the book, and not the story itself. maybe historians  marvel at the accuracy of the data, but for me this is just dull academic wank.if at least it was interesting academic wank... but no, it's dull, dull, dull!!! maybe the second part is really exciting. i will never know.

Rating: 2/10

paranormal activity 2 (tod williams)

well, obviously, don't watch this if you didn't like the first installment. but if, like me, you actually rather enjoyed it, this will not disappoint you. the idea of a prequel situated immediately before the first one works really well. like in the first film, almost every character is mostly annoying, but at least they are not trying to record every second of their lives with a handycam. the idea of the cctv works much better as a concept. i made the mistake of watching the extended version, and that meant i had to endure a rather long intro where i just found myself thinking 'oh, please, let something happen soon!'. anyway, once everything starts going belly-up, the story actually gets really good. my favourite bit is the kitchen cupboards violently opening themselves all at once... oh, and the cctv footage of the swimming-pool robot going for a stroll. but, whatever happened to the doggie? they never say!
on a side note, i watched this like a month ago, but completely forgot to write the review about it, and this is the first time something like this happens to me... maybe it was a ghost?!

Rating: 7/10