Rango- The Chameleon in the Wild Wild West

The creators of this movie take the Western Classic to a whole new level. When a lonely pet chameleon lands on the roadside of the Mojave Desert, he finds himself in a whole new world, a world that only existed in his imaginations. After arriving in Dirt, a dilapidated Old West town, he decides to bend his destiny and take on the role of Rango, a dangerous drifter of the West who killed seven brothers with one bullet. The townspeople are elated by his acts of bravery and crown him as the new Sheriff. Rango takes up the responsibility of bringing water and prosperity back to Dirt.
Before I go on to declare my undying love for Johnny Depp, I must say that this character, even though it is an animated non human, was undeniably created, perfectly tailored, just for him. Throughout the movie there were many allusions made to Johnny Depp's previous roles including references to movies like Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and, of course, Pirates of the Caribbean. Surreal dreams that Rango experiences and his other idiosyncrasies all reminded me of my beloved Depp. There might be other references that I missed, and I'd love to know if you spotted any I failed to catch.
Even though the animations were beautiful and the characters were appealing, I felt that the plot was somewhat predictable. But then again, I suppose there is only so much you can expect from a Nickelodeon movie.

Eve Green: a Dream, a Nightmare in the Welsh Highlands

I admit it- I took this book into my hands and I just couldn't stop reading, I was enraptured. The terrible heat of the tropics licking at my skin, clothes clinging to me, I just kept on reading till I came to the last page and heaved a sigh. It took me a little less than a day. Eve Green by Susan Fetcher is a beautiful book, simply because she creates such a magnificent back drop. She's a writer who really sticks to the rule of showing- the color of a flower, the roar of the wind- without merely telling us it is so, like so. The story itself is terrifying. It reminded me of both Ian McEwan's Child In Time and Atonement, as if both stories somehow overlapped somewhere. Spoken in a lyrical and almost childishly enchanting tone by a woman who looks back upon her life and recalls fragments of memories that gradually weave into a sad and mysterious story, it is no wonder that this book won its author the Whitbread First Novel Award in 2004.