Whoa.
Whoa...
Just watched the first episode of Dr. Who season 4.
Whoa.
Yeah. It's that good. I think you should start watching Dr. Who if you haven't yet. This might be the best show on TV right now.
Also, just saw Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and that's also really good. Some great storytelling, combined with original characterization and some nice surprises. Definitely one to see.
Also: Lost? It wasn't doing so hot for a while there, but I must admit catching up online all at once helped to put things together, and now I'm back into the swing of things.
And Supernatural last night--also quite hilarious.
And Ugly Betty--still pretty good.
Are we seeing a pattern here? I'm getting out of the house tomorrow.
Actually, getting out of the house and doing a bookstore event. If you're a teacher in the Seattle area (or anyone in the Seattle area interested in books), stop by the Northgate B&N tomorrow afternoon. Sasquatch Books will be there earlier in the afternoon, and I'll be there representing Mirrorstone from 2-4. Have a good weekend!
It's days like this that I miss living in Chicago, where they dye the river green in celebration. (Also, notice the white clock tower on the far left in the background? That's one tower of the Wrigley Building, which I used to work in. It's like stepping back in time in that building.
But last night my roommate and I watched Waking Ned Devine (me for the first time, she for the umpteenth time) and it was definitely a good substitute. Hilarious. I think all my favorite movies have quirky old men in them--for example, Return to Me is a favorite probably because of those funny old men.
So, let's talk about quirky characters in storytelling, especially in books for children and young adults. How can a quirky character, perhaps an older person like in the two movies I just linked, bring life to a story while still being a story about the child character?
I can think of two main examples which show what I'm trying to talk about--Holes and A Long Way from Chicago. Let's start with A Long Way from Chicago, by Richard Peck. This is actually one of my favorite books, and I'll tell you it has nothing to do with the narrator. A Long Way from Chicago is one of the best examples I can think of where the character you most connect to isn't a child. While the narrator Joey is a child, and the story is seen through his eyes (and in the sequel A Year Down Yonder, his sister Mary Alice's), Grandma Dowdel is the most interesting person and she's the cause of all their adventures.
In Holes, the story of Kissin' Kate, while not about an elderly person, is a story set in another time--and a story that is also integral to Stanley's journey, though we don't know how until much later in the story.
Waking Ned Divine doesn't really fit in this category of older people helping drive the story of the younger--Jackie is the instigator and main character all along--but it did make me think of how often in children's literature we focus on the child to the exclusion of older adults. It's important to get the kids away from the parents, for example, to help them have autonomy enough to do whatever the story requires. Don't get me wrong--I love this plot device, and I know that kids love it. But I do think that there's a place for amazing stories that include older people and people of previous generations, and that those two books are perfect examples of how that can be done while preserving a narrator that the child reader will identify with.
You have to admit: Grandma Dowdle rocks. That's one hilarious story, and not just because she reminds me of both my grandmas and my great-grandma, with a shotgun thrown in.
Especially resonant because the same week that I went to see Ocean's 13, my roommate and I were starting (again) on Angel season 1. As my roommate said as we were giggling over it, "yet again, there's a perfect example of people who have too much time on their hands." And we thank them. :D
I'm trying to pack for my trip and deciding that once again, I have no idea how to pack light. I have a choice between three different books for the flight, plus four movies (I take my laptop whenever I travel, might as well bring a movie). I of course must bring
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melissawriting's lovely Wicked Lovely, which I've been working on since ALA Midwinter. I'm about 3/4 of the way through and must know how it ends! I only read it at night as I'm drifting off to sleep, because I've been both sick and busy, so it's taking me forever.I also have
metteharrison's The Princess and the Hound in ARC that I want to read, but haven't gotten to yet. She is a Utah author, so perhaps I should also take it in honor of my Utah trip. She's not going to be at LTUE (as far as I know, at least), but it's that whole connection thing. The other choice is a book called Nobody's Princess another ARC from Midwinter, that I picked up mostly for the cover--combine the title with the stance of the model on the cover and it just makes me giggle. It's about Greek gods, so I'm not so sure I'll be all that into it (just not my thing), but I might be pleasantly surprised. I was going to give it to zeliot if it didn't grab me, but sadly she won't be making it up this weekend after all. (I'll let you know what I think, though, and if it'd be up your alley, zeliot.)I know I won't get through all 3 books, but I might just finish Wicked Lovely and start another one. The movies, well, I might just bring them all. One, you never know when you might like a quiet movie alone, and two, you never know when you might need a great girls' night movie. I just got Bride and Prejudice for myself for Christmas, so that's my latest fun thing (and it brings up good memories, too--watched it the first time at Cascadiacon with zeliot and
raisinfish). My perennial favorite Frank Capra movie, You Can't Take It with You, is due for another watching (I think I've worn out My Favorite Wife, so it's out of the rotation for a while). And I just treated myself with a little babysitting money to National Treasure, which I don't care what anyone says, it's a great movie, and Goonies, which I've loved since the 5th grade at Brandy Wheeler's slumber party. The latter two I haven't opened yet, and I might just let them have their maiden voyages on this trip.And don't even get me started on the swag I'm bringing. I have to bring an extra suitcase every time I go to LTUE, between bringing friends swag with my product points and all the bookmarks, flyers, ARCs, and samples I bring for the con people. Thankfully, that means I get to leave the contents in Utah and fly back much lighter. Well, but this time I'm taking my Star Wars minis back with me. The product room was sold out, so I said I'd bring my full set (that I won for employee appreciation week) to get a chance to finally play it with someone. So let's hope I get the chance, or that's just one more thing I'll be carting around!
I'm still waiting, at nearly midnight, for my laundry to finish. Perhaps I should have thought of doing that yesterday, seeing as how the cab will be here to pick me up at 5:50 a.m. I hate early-morning flights. I'm a late-night packer. I have such a hard time making decisions, that I end up staying up entirely too late the night before, and finally end packing about 2 a.m. I leave the full suitcases right by the door, toiletries and all, because I'm so afraid of oversleeping that I take my shower the night before so all I have to do is jump up, dress, and run out the door if necessary.
The idea, if you didn't know, is that Harold Crick wakes up one morning to hear Emma Thompson's voice narrating his life. He's an IRS agent, and his life is extremely boring--lives alone, no friends, counts his brushstrokes when brushing his teeth, etc. A few days after he starts hearing the narrator, she says, "Little did he know, [something something about an event] would lead to his imminent death."
There is so much meta-fictional stuff here that my Victorian children's lit teacher in grad school would have had a heyday with. Then again, it would be interesting to compare this movie to Veronica Mars's narration, as well. What an interesting twist on the breaking of the narrator-reader wall. "Slippage" was my Victorian teacher's favorite term, and what slippage was here! But it wasn't the usual kind, the kind that breaks the wall between the reality of the book and the reality of the reader, which was so prevalent in Victorian children's lit. Instead, it broke the boundaries between the narrator and the character, in a very obvious way (a way another friend terms "pretentious," saying that the movie was too self-aware, yet I think was that way on purpose).
Anyway, great movie. Funny and original. Highly recommend it for the lit geek and non-lit geek alike.
- Mood:
chipper
What's really funny about this movie is that it's just SO bad. It's a 1930 movie with a little snazzier set and a really--REALLY--bad story. See, in this 1980, the government tells you who you marry. "It's a great social experiment, like the Volstead Act!" quoth one minor character, one of those "modern women" that men still hate (I suppose they weren't too far off on that prediction). One of the girls works for a doctor (in a ridiculously spare "uniform") that brings back a guy who was hit by lightening in 1930, who works as the "give me the good old days" foil (he says that several times).
This is no social commentary, that's certain. Everyone is still very white, and men fill the (male) doctor's theater in watching them bring the man from 1930 back to life. "So women are still causing trouble. You'd think in 50 years they'd find a good substitute for them!" says the drunk 1930s guy--drunk on Prohibited booze, now in the form of a pill. Everyone still talks as if they were in 1930--well, as if they were in a 1930 movie, with the fake British refined accent. Even the fashions are 1930 with a slight twist--all the men still wear suits, just that one breast goes all the way across instead of buttoning in front; all the women in dresses, just slightly more scantily clad. Oh, and the music is still the warbling orchestral-accompanied singing of a 1930 movie.
What can you expect of a movie but for it to reflect it's time, I suppose, but I expected more out of a post-Time Machine world. I mean, Wells wrote that a good 35 years before this movie.
I find it hilarious, however, that the father's name is MP3. And the bright spot is the best friend (played by Frank Albertson), who is the only actor in the movie who acts a little more naturalistically, like a more modern actor (and with a good American accent). He actually looks uncannily like Andrew McCarthy.
And THEN, a mysterious figure shows up, telling the leading man he can solve his problem. Ack, I can't watch this anymore. But the review on the main IMDB page says they apparently go to Mars, too, in a scene cheesier than silent movies years before. Ah, the mysterious man is an inventor, Z4, who has invented a PLANE who will let someone investigate the great mystery that is the planet Mars--thus solving the main character's problem: the government ruled against him marrying his sweetheart because he wasn't distinguished enough compared to his rival.
And apparently the guy from 1930, El Brendel, does a great "hat sequence," which I suppose is coming up in a moment. I can't believe I'm still watching this.
ETA: Oh, I guess the dad's name is actually MT3. Kinda spoils the fun.
I'm trying to get a sense of what children's and young adult books have been optioned for movies in the next few years. What are the up-and-comers?
Also, what other fantasy movies, movies based on comic books, science fiction movies, etc. will be coming out in the next few years?
I'm just curious, because the trend seems to be more and more each year.
I can think of a few:
the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, spring 2007
His Dark Materials--which has had perpetual director problems--by Philip Pullman
XFiles 2 is in talks
KITT2000 (Knight Rider! Yay!)
Wonder Woman/Joss Whedon
Shazam!
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Spiderwick Chronicles and Artemis Fowl (by 1. Holly Black and Tony DiTerlezzi, 2. Eoin Colfer)
Edited to add:
Meet the Robinsons, based on A Day With Wilbur Robinson, written and illustrated by William Joyce, set to be released by Disney in 2007
Dinosaur Bob, by William Joyce
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. LeGuin, in production by Studio Ghibli (yay!) and due out sometime next year, as far as I can tell
Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, reported to be out next year sometime
the Alex Rider books, by Anthony Horowitz--first one due out in the U.S. near Labor Day, but to be released in the U.K. in July
The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper, allegedly coming out in December (but can't find anything to back that rumor up)
apparently there's also a new picture book named Punk Farm that's supposed to be made into a movie
Spider-Man 3
Superman Returns
Ghost Rider
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
Cars
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3
The Power of the Dark Crystal. Sequel, 2007. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.
Prince Caspian, summer 2008
7/26/06 ETA: Mel Gibson picks up Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty
... what else? (I'm looking for stuff coming out, not ones that have already come out like Holes.) Also, I'm curious when they'll come out, so I know when to expect them!
I'll add to the main list as I get responses. I've also asked a "collective mind" aka child_lit for help. If you ever need booklists or any number of lists of other things, child_lit is amazing in its response. And they have great discussions of children's literature, too. (It's a listserv run out of Rutgers, or at least, the last time I checked it was, though they've had new servers sometime recently. Anyway, if looking for good children's lit conversations, google "child_lit" and "Rutgers" and I'm sure you'll find them.)
All the while, my cat knocks over boxes in the other room, and I think he's going to kill himself one of these days.
But back to the drama of being twelve. The documentary is actually a good introduction to the social hierarchies of twelve-year-olds, laying it out in concise vignettes of what it's like to be popular, a jock, normal, slightly lower than normal, and on through to the bottom rung. For anyone who lived through junior high, you'll probably cringe to watch it but nod all the same.
I haven't gotten beyond the first scene of the Musketeers movie, because I had to pause it to rescue the cat (I heart DVR/Tivo/whatever you call it). But the opening scene hasn't impressed me so far. I think my radar for openings has really fine-tuned since my first days as a slush reader. If I'm not hooked right away, I'm bored. However, hooks for me in movies are different than I might expect of books--see: my passion for the BBC production of Persuasion, for which I think I've only met five people in the world who love it as much as I. Anyone else who has seen it tells me it was too boring to get through. I doubt in a book I'd be as hooked by men rowing an admiral to his ship to say the war is over or a middle-aged baronet being told he must retrench. I think it's the Chopin soundtrack that does it, really.
That's what I *should* be watching right now. I've just inspired myself.
- Mood:
nerdy
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