Cleolinda everywhere

I'd like to clarify something about asking y'all to boycott The Seeker : I have no problem with changing things from books to movies in general. Y'all know how I championed Stardust this summer; I actually thought that the changes, of which there were many, worked really well in the context of a film, and that everything that needed to be there was still there. I've actually gone to the mat defending various Harry Potter omissions and alterations (you may remember how much I loved Prisoner of Azkaban); I actually liked the Arwen additions in Lord of the Rings; and I'm more than willing to give the His Dark Materials adaptations the benefit of the doubt until we see how they handle the religious themes. I'd even be okay with them soft-pedaling or even omitting that element if they did it in a way that (somehow. I know, I know, I don't know how either) made sense. I know saying that will probably cause bedlam in the comments, but you certainly get my point: filmmakers who seem to respect the books as books, which are not movies, but try to adapt them as gently as possible to film anyway are okay with me. I know that the anti-religion element is so key to His Dark Materials, but I also can't imagine an American movie aimed at kids where characters set out to "kill God." I mean, I'm sorry: I don't see that happening. So the the level of respect and fidelity with which the HDM filmmakers try to get around that sociopolitical impossibility, that's what I care about.

And then... there's The Dark Is Rising. There's just a level of contempt for the entire undertaking that floors me. To wit: ( Oh, god. That means I might have to do a sequel )

( The rest of the linkspam! )

So I had another bizarro dream last night, and I know how much y'all like my dreams, or at least the opportunity to describe your own:

( So at some point, there was a vampire )

( Linkspam! )

You know how you see a movie when you're very young, and you kind of remember key parts but not much else, so when you see it as an adult it's like you've never seen it before? Yeah. One of the Encore channels has been having a Dirty Dancing marathon today. ( I carried a watermelon? )

(By the way: the writing of this entry just now was interrupted by my mother dragging me downstairs: "Look! THE STARS ARE MOVING!" "What? God, the moon is bright--" "They were MOVING! Back and forth! Like this, and then back like this, and then--" "I see stars. Twinkling. That's all." "They were MOVING!" "Well, look, if the aliens come tomorrow, you can tell me you told me so till the cows come home. Where's the Advil? I'm going back inside.")

So, until I came down with a splitting headache roughly around the time I was marched outside to stargaze, I've spent the last couple of days feeling weirdly giddy. I mean, really happy. Which is great; I just can't explain why. I mean, not that I need a reason to be happy--that sounds terrible--but you know how you'd normally describe a pleasant default state as "content"? This is actually happy. I feel like I have some kind of wonderful secret I'm keeping, or like I'm in love (and it's neither, trust me). It's just so giddy and persistent, I can't explain it. Maybe it's all the vitamin D I'm getting from being out in the sun swimming. I don't know.

On the downside: I'm still having weird spells of fatigue (am I coming down with happy cancer or something?), and my little Zen mp3 player has gone missing, although I keep it religiously in a white tote bag with all my current writing. If you have any search-and-discover gnomes, send them my way.

( Eh, the linkspam )

ONOZ WHERE DID LJ GO? Via: status.livejournal.org: "LiveJournal is down. There has been a power outage at our data center. We are working as quickly as possible to restore service." Meanwhile, an email from SixApart says that "The Web 2.0 datacenter 365 Main, in the heart of SOMA, just lost power. Sites that are affected include Craigstlist, Technorati, Yelp and all Six Apart properties, TypePad, LiveJournal and Vox." Also: Power Outages In San Francisco Bring Down Major Websites.

Meanwhile, I don't even want to get into what happened last night, except that it involved an hour and a half of my mother, my stepfather, and myself beating the bushes out front and cursing at each other. Goddamn cat.

Stop your sobbing! More Potter to come: "J.K. Rowling tells TODAY she will write an 'encyclopedia' on characters" (MAJOR SPOILERS; includes the name of the character who was going to die but got a reprieve). ( Spoilers )

Potterspam: ( spoilers, including casting for HBP )

Linkspam proper: ( Read more... )

So I saw OOTP again on Thursday, because I am just that big a loser. My mother wanted to--well, she wanted to see Transformers, but my sister wanted to take a friend of hers to see OOTP, and obviously she can't drive while she's on painkillers, so my mother got shanghai'd into seeing Harry Potter instead. Fortunately she liked it, although she said she wished she'd known she was going to end up seeing it in the theater, since she would have rewatched GOF in that case. She's a casual DVD viewer of the series, really; never touched the books in her life. Anyway, I did notice that, ( the slightest of spoilers )

God, I hope I'm not coming down with something. I've been chilly and achy and tired the last couple of days.

Linkspam: ( Oh, the girl in the towel! )

Our long national nightmare is over: ( Plus the Golden Age trailer, POTC3 pics, and My Thoughts on Movie Violence )

Smashup 2006 Update: Sister Girl, while sore and headachy, seems to be fine. We did hear from Sgt. Campus Guy, however, that they put Mr. Magoo's [real] name into the system to look for his expired license, and he wasn't even in there. They're now not even sure he ever had a license. The car can't be fixed until Wendy the Insurance Investigator gets over to the lot tomorrow to look at it, but she's going tomorrow, I think. I'm not entirely sure how they're going to fix it, but I'm assuming it's going to involve a door transplant, a hood graft and maybe an oil transfusion. Maybe they can get Rocky in there to assist.

Paramount ditches Tom Cruise. My favorite part about this story is that they don't even try to make up some "creative differences" excuse or let him say that he's leaving amicably or whatever. No, they bust right out with "His recent conduct has not been acceptable."

And then they go sign a deal with the South Park boys.

Clive Owen and his Raleigh beard on the cover of GQ. Plus, more pics from The Golden Age. Also, I went to the main page for the movie on that site, and the dated news entries seem to indicate... well, she ain't no Virgin Queen, is all I'm saying. But then, I guess we knew that from the first installment.

New pics from Marie Antoinette. The Vogue scans: so pretty. In fact, I'm gonna lay my bets down now: Marie Antoinette for Best Costumes 2007. Hell, it would win Most Costumes hands down.

(I want to live in a world where I can wear this dress so bad.)

Better pictures of the first six Lost action figures.

Live rattlesnakes released during SOAP showing. I'm hearing, however, that it was really more like one snake, and it was Arizona, so it was more like our friend the chipmunk just wanting to get out of the heat and catch a species-appropriate movie.

Speaking of which, Snakes on a Plane may not be a nature documentary. "Some of the animation was quite impressive, but their actual behaviour - leaping at people's faces and hanging on - was totally wrong. The posturing was a bit silly, too. Snakes very rarely hiss with their mouths open unless they are threatened. The highlight was seeing a giant Burmese python bare its teeth and growl like a rottweiler. They haven't got any muscles in their lips! They couldn't bare their teeth if they tried."

Survivor to divide teams by race; nation shocked that show is apparently still on air. Whee! It's the Happy Fun Segregation Hour!

To freshmen, Google was always a verb. Or, How to Feel Old in 475 Words.

Brendan Fraser to star in Inkheart. I haven't read these books, but I hear they're good...?


"Harry Potter V: K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Yeah, this one's a little gross. I really don't need a press release about how Loving and Tender Harry's first kiss is. I'll take it on faith, thanks.

Trailer for Little Children, with Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, and Patrick Wilson; brought to you by Todd Field, screenwriter/director of In the Bedroom, "That Guy Who Played the Piano in Eyes Wide Shut," and voice of Ol' Drippy on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. (Yes, I am available to write trailer scripts, thanks for asking.)

(What, you think "IN A WOOOORLD" writes itself?)

Have y'all been following the saga of Aldo Kelrast over on Mary Worth and/or the Comics Curmudgeon? Because it's like some unholy combination of The Gift of Fear and The Golden Girls or something. Unholy and awesome.

Hey! I didn't know they had a Weird US TV show! Hey! It comes on tomorrow morning, too!

Okay, this one's a little complicated, so put your reading glasses on. Forbes posted an article (which, as I understand it, is no longer there) about how men shouldn't marry career women. (Gawker's take: "Shocker: Forbes Recommends Trophy Wives.") Someone on JournalFen grabbed the text before it went down, but the short version is, career women make bad wives because they're too busy to wipe your ass on a daily basis and also, their actually leaving the house makes it more likely that they'll find someone who is not, in fact, a total dicksmack. I wish I was kidding, but I'm kind of not. The Forbes forums go up in flames. Forbes takes the article down (HA ha!), but the board posts remain. Best response, female (long format): Pwnt in nine easy steps. Best response, male (short format): "I like it when guys like you say things like this in public. It makes it easier for guys like me to get laid. Thanks, man, for taking one for the team." For the win!

ETA: wakuchan says it's been reposted--this time with a rebuttal.