I love my hamster wheel icon
Dec. 19th, 2004 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cleolindaWhee! I got tons of work done on LOTR today, and then I had Vladimir give me feedback on everything I'd written (which was no easy job for, considering that I was feeding him paragraphs upon paragraphs through IM, because it never occurred to me to, y'know, email him a document or anything). Then The Lovely Emily and I went to see the Lemony Snicket movie, which is, quite frankly, the first movie I've seen in a theater since King Arthur all of five months ago, which is just sad. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie--I'd read pretty finicky reviews, and I was expecting total overacting from Jim Carrey, but mostly... he kept the "inappropriate" overacting confined to the early Count Olaf segments, where it kind of made sense for Olaf as a narcissistic actor. When he was doing the whole Stefano/Captain Sham thing, he stayed in character pretty well, so I'm willing to give him a pass. When he is on the ball as Olaf, he's fantastic, and totally wigged me out in the whole dressing room scene near the end when he has all the theater makeup drawn on. The kids are all fabulous, and I'm sort of in love with Liam Aiken now. The movie covers the first three books, but the end of the first has been moved to the end of the entire movie, and there's a bit with the kids stranded in a locked car on train tracks instead that was actually really good. Also: the house on Lachrymose Lake collapsing is way scarier than anything in a kid's movie has any right to be, and I actually started crying during the last scene of the movie. On the other hand, I didn't really like the movie's Mr. Poe--I had always imagined him as being meeker and more of a pushover than just blustery and ignorant--and I wanted the Person of Indeterminate Gender to cut more of a Strong Sad-like figure than just look like Craig Ferguson in half a wedding dress. But, you know, all right. The best gag in the movie is one you might not even notice: a cameo by a famous actor who costarred with Meryl Streep (Aunt Josephine) in a movie about... a child custody battle. Awesome.
A major factor I can't really decide whether I like or not: the movie leaves the story open for sequels, but doesn't seem to assume there will automatically be any. You know--what if this movie flops? So, without actually mentioning the VFD, it sort of solves the mystery of how the Baudelaires' house burned down and how all the guardians are connected... in a way that doesn't really solve the books' mysteries or contradict what we know per se, but... I don't know. It does tell you more than the first three books tell you, however, which I wasn't expecting. All that aside, I felt like the movie did right by the books otherwise, and the costumes and sets--and the credits! Stay for the credits!--are fantastic.
Meanwhile, my parents had the woman who's handing over the reins of the Executive Whatever position to George over for dinner, and she was gone by the time I came back, so I loaded up a plate from the massive amounts of fruit and cheese Mom had left over from the appetizer tray, and I'm camped out in front of the computer again. I swore that I'd get LOTR done this weekend or die trying move on to other movies tomorrow, but... I'm in such a good groove now that I kind of don't want to. Oh well.
The LOTR "Fifteen Minutes" is, as previously mentioned, going really well. It's really loopy, actually--it's ended up with all these weird references (William Carlos Williams, Dylan Thomas, Garrison Keillor, Dr. Seuss, The Matrix, Gladiator, Alanis Morissette, detergent commercials) that kind of span the gamut from low to high culture, and... I guess I could sit around worrying whether everyone will get all the jokes, but really, after I'm done writing sixty pages (!) of script-format parody, there ought to be something for everyone. I figure, not everyone will get every joke, but every joke will be gotten by someone. (Maybe? I hope...?)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 09:40 pm (UTC)I cannot wait to read this. And thanks for the Snicket observations -- I'd been dreading seeing Jim Carrey chewing up the series' lovely Gothic scenery, but it sounds like he doesn't do too much damage.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 09:42 pm (UTC)I figure, not everyone will get every joke, but every joke will be gotten by someone. (Maybe? I hope...?)
That was something I highly valued about the earlier MST3Ks -- sometimes I just laughed 'cause I knew it was funny, even though I didn't get it, and years down the road I'd find that puzzle-piece trivia bit that fit and completed the picture for me, and it was like a little bit of delayed joy from the episode. Running the gamut is a good sign, methinks. (Like I'm not buying a copy?)
And good for you, getting so much done. You'll feel sooooo much better when it's all behind you and OMG IM A WRITUR LOL!!1!twelve!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:39 pm (UTC)Exactly.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:00 pm (UTC)Namarïe,
~Sáthien
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 06:11 am (UTC)Yarha, Where the Women are Strong and the Children are Above Average
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 08:50 am (UTC)Fear no longer.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:31 pm (UTC)I cannot wait to read your book....
*drools in anticipation of the Legolas pretty and Frodo falling jokes*
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:34 pm (UTC)Oh my GOD, so is my 13-year-old sister. You just have no idea -- she is being insufferable. *kills her* But I'm excited that you liked the move -- we're going next weekend and I've been sort of apprehensive until now.
Sixty pages? I cannot wait to read this book, seriously.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:41 pm (UTC)Okay, that's true.Shh. Don't interrupt my bliss. XD
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 10:55 pm (UTC)That's just the way to do it— I love re-reading books to catch the jokes I missed on the first pass. Same thing with great movies. Every time I watch Dr. Strangelove I see something new.
---
You are so, so (so!) right about the credits on Lemony Snicket. They're like the best Flash animation ever created crossed with line art by Charles Addams or Edward Gorey. The movie ought to win some kind of award just for the credits.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 11:29 pm (UTC)So I wouldn't worry too much about putting in those obscure references. It usually makes it more fun :)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 11:29 pm (UTC)Yay for LOTR going well, and yay for Alanis Morissette references! She cracks me up for all the wrong reasons.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-19 11:39 pm (UTC)Still, I'm taking my nephew to see it tomorrow, unless he decides he wants to see "Polar Express" (yet another bastardization of a great children's book). Feh, and feh again.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 12:36 am (UTC)i'm in your fan section cheering you on for this deadline. and if you're worried about some people not getting anything? then they're stupid fatheads that don't deserve your kickass m15m anyways ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 01:51 am (UTC)Just think of it as a pre-written sequel...
Date: 2004-12-20 05:08 am (UTC)^_^
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 05:55 am (UTC)Going to the movie theater is overrated. The last film I saw was Alexander, which was..uh..ok. Not as horrible as advertised, but admittedly I had a pretty good buzz on through the first hour from a fantastic dinner+booze at a restaurant in the plaza.
How can people eat an entire tub of popcorn? I asked for large, but had to stagger through the door to the theater carrying this barrel of popcorn. Jeez. If the movie had gotten worse, I could've hidden in it, buried up to the eyebrows like a frightened alligator.
Yarha, Artificial-Butter-Covered Alligator of the Wild
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 06:01 am (UTC)/nerd mode off
*hug*
Happy Holidays and congrats on your progress. I'm looking forward to reading your book. BTW, when it comes out, can we send our copies to you for autographs? ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 07:44 am (UTC)Re: jokes—I wouldn't worry. There have been so many LotR parodies that the jokes are more or less canon at this point. I mean, there are only so many "sparkly white" jokes one can make about Gandalf before they're all just repetitive, you know?
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:06 am (UTC)The best gag in the movie is one you might not even notice: a cameo by a famous actor who costarred with Meryl Streep (Aunt Josephine) in a movie about... a child custody battle. Awesome.
Yay for Dustin Hoffman! And he was funny, too!
What did you think of the lack of glasses on Klaus?
Oh, and good luck on your book!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:28 am (UTC)*maybe not*
Tis true, though.
*so honored*
...And Cleo's apparently sending me a bundle of Snicket books for Christmas.
*otoh, let's DO hate Vladimir now*
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:32 am (UTC)*fails miserably
:p
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 02:11 pm (UTC)(Try harder!)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 09:51 am (UTC)You can send entire files through IM (People > Send File to Buddy... or if you are already conversing you can go to the nav bar of your chat window -- File > Send File...). It's actually alot faster than email. Hope that helps speed up your feedback in the future. ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 10:59 am (UTC)Power to LOTR in 15 minutes!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 11:44 am (UTC)And hooray for LOTR progress! I can't wait to read it :D
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 12:15 pm (UTC)I think the best part was Sunny's subtitled text. That was so funny at times. Oh, and Klaus' "Are you sure you tied that ribbon tight enough?"
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 12:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 12:36 pm (UTC)Lookit, a LOST quiz! :p
This was mine! MINE! MINE!
LOL!!
YOU LOOK UPON A KATE
Which LOST character are you? (http://www.quizmo.co.uk/quiz.php?quiz=26031)
Sounds like you're on a roll
Date: 2004-12-20 02:18 pm (UTC)P.S. I wanna see Lemony Snicket (whiny voice)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-20 03:23 pm (UTC)