Friday Night Lite

[fredericks]

thefridayfive asks:
1. What book or books were special to you in your childhood?
2. What was particularly special or memorable about those books?
3. Have you re-read any of them as an adult?
4. If so, were the books as good as you remembered them?
5. What do you think about movies being made out of children's classics (like the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of The Rings, etc.)?

1. and 2. I have a couple of "special childhood books". One set was the Dragonlance books. They were the first bit of fantasy novels I'd manage to get my hands on. I'm pretty sure the first book I glanced through was War of the Twins, although the one of the trilogy that had Raistlin holding Crysania on the cover was the one that first caught my eye (dude! as if that wasn't teh hotness). Thus began my journey down the road of the fantastic.

The another set I read over and over again was Laura Ingall's Little House on the Prairie series. I just thought it wonderful to follow the life of this woman from early childhood until well into her marriage. And what young het girl didn't want to find a man like Almanzo in her life?

Another? I just recalled this: D'Aularie's Book of Norse Gods. I loved that book. I'd borrow it over and over again from the library. After making my way through the entirety the first time and finding myself gobsmacked by Ragnarok in future readings I contrived to stop right before Balder got hit with the mistletoe. Revisionist resmishionist.

3. and 4. I've re-read the Little House series and I've flipped through the D'Aularie when they started reprinting it recently. The simplicity of Little House shines through a bit more, and the cynical adult in me gets annoyed with how *perfect* Pa Ingalls is, but it's still a good read. Both of them are. Sorry to say I haven't re-read any DL in at least 8 years. I have half a mind to pull out my books again, particularly as they're making the animated film.

5. Why the hell not? Movies are made out of everything else. As long as the viewer goes in there not expecting their mental pictures to play out on the screen things'll be fine. Of course, I do hesitate - I hope the animated DL, for instance, doesn't run shipshod over the characters - but it's nice to know the work is making itself available to a wider audience.

---

I went to pick up some more isoniazid today, a reminder that I have five (eight?) more months of the sobriety and the nightly dosing (it's quite obvious I'm not on the Pill, right?). The new center in Jamaica is nifty, as the patient load is small enough that there was *no wait*; just mosey on up to the nurse's office, weigh in, sign a couple of times, get two bottles. Oh, and scratch off a chance ticket. One of the more hilarious things I've encountered: the Chest Center uses lotto-like scratch off tickets as incentive to get TB patients to return. The nurse sort of pushed the paper at me while she finished up her work on the PC and I eyed it suspiciously before asking WTF. The prize, apparently, is $100. I didn't win, sad to say. They certainly know how the uninsured lower classes like their lotteries, don't they?

Yesterday was an unofficial "Make Up for Lost Time" day, as I went to see two movies. Well, first I went to visit my aunt. I still have my issues with her, but it's nice to get her perspectives on things sometimes. As I couldn't get myself to leave the house before 11:00 I didn't have time to go with her to the Thai restaurant I like. We made do with sharing one of Starbucks' chicken salad sandwich (honestly, the bread is the *best* part of that thing) and shooting the shit for 30 minutes or so. I told her about dad's seizure and confided in her that I thought grandma chose not to come to my graduation out of spite. No bullshit from her, just snark and laughter.

After that I headed up to Hunter to meet with X. and an acquaintance to see "The Illusionist". I'd become interested in it from the tone of the lone commercial I'd seen. I'm a sucker for period pieces and magic, and the muted almost sepia tones of the film drew me in. Before the movie rolled, though, we were privy to a preview of the new NBC show "Heroes". Color me an unabashed comic book fan but I really liked what I saw. It does seem like it'll have to have a major arc format, ala a bastard child hybrid of "Babylon 5" and "Lost". And like the latter it'll keep viewers in the dark as to what precisely is going on. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, all I knows is that I wants to see superheroes do stuff. Occasionally make things go "boom" and fight the good fight, things of that nature. I'm keeping my eyes out on TWoP and the NBC site to make sure I know what's going on.

But "The Illusionist" - first thing out of my mouth as the credits began to roll was "that was cute". I couldn't think of a better way to describe it. Not particularly deep, not particularly moving. It looked purty, I give it that much. And (surprise surprise!) Jessica Biel wasn't annoying. I'd heard word about Edward Norton's performance being excellent...but I kept saying to myself "the man *really* can't make emotion play on his face": he has like one generic sad face that gets a lot of play in the course of the film. And his voice is thisclose to being a constant monotone. But the film wasn't bad at all. Paul Giamatti was AMAZING. He was the backbone of the movie and, boy, things were just shiny when he was onscreen. I'd say it's one of those films you can really wait to see until it's on video. I suppose it'd make a nice romantic date flick, if you're into such things. I'm not, hence my "cute" assessment.

Next film I caught was the FMA's "Conqueror of Shamballa". I'd seen it via YouTube almost immediately after I'd finished watching the last episode (also via YouTube). I wasn't too happy with the way things had worked out but I figured I wasn't adverse to watching the movie on the big screen, particularly with other fans. A couple of people over at TWoP's FMA board from NYC planned on meeting up to watch the movie and I said why the hell not? I'll join up. When I got to the theatre I only found one other person from the board, a young man who made ME look like a damn social butterfly. This kid wasn't terribly chatty and just not fun company. I was all set on heading over to a Starbucks or something afterward and bonding over our love of anime (well, FMA at least) but I sort of hustled this dude off after he showed no interest at all in lingering. I would have been offended if I didn't think he was 17.

Seemed like all the people in attendance were around the same age. I stood at the entrance of the theatre waiting for the other person who said he/she'd come (mind, this person initiated the meet-up in the first place but couldn't bother to try to find us) and watched all these kids dressed in FMA shirts and costumes pass me. Don't get me started on the noise that went on during the show. I'm obviously not fanish enough when seeing Roy in the credits doesn't make me want to yell and clap. And because of the age of the audience I'm pretty sure most of the themes and plot points of the movie went over viewer's heads (refraining from being specific because I don't want to spoil those interested). The end of the evening wasn't was enjoyable as the beginning, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

I still have to clean my room. Joy. I figure I'll also write out some "Thank You" cards to mail out to family in appreciation of the various ways people helped me while I was going through nursing school. Eh, I'm certain I'm doing that solely as an excuse to use my DC comics stamps. The picture doesn't do those babies justice.

I'm looking forward to being able to sleep without being woken up by an alarm.

Comments

[ex-chose.livejournal.com]

I've been intrigued by "the illusionist" when I saw a preview, but now I'm not so sure I want to bother seeing it.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I would say save your money and check it out when it comes out on video. It's not one of those films that have enough zip and boom to justify paying $10 to see it on a big screen.

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

I'm having a hell of a time working up the enthusiasm to even go to the movies anymore. I want to see a few things but when it comes right down to it I just end up going home and watching free anime on the computer. I did watch "The Libertine" the other night and got a good chuckle out of a few scenes. The FMA movie was OK, I wish there had been more Roy, there's never enough of him for me! I wasn't so keen on the ending of the movie or the series. My friend tells me the manga is completely different so I may have to start reading it. It's wonderful not to have to wake up to an alarm isn't it?

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I want to see The Libertine too, if only for Johnny Depp. Was it any good? A few chuckles doesn't necessarily make a worthy film, right?

I heard the manga and the show deviate after episode 25. That's about the time I started feeling like the WTF factor increased. I mean, I liked Pride but mainly because he was cool. When you think about it his purpose really wasn't explained (although I liked the way he made Ed think). Just a whole bunch of WTF moments...gah, it's always Nazis, isn't it?

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

we just saw the illusionist! i'd go with the "it was cute" assessment. el bosquecito is a big fan of stephen millhauser (who wrote the story on which the film was based) and he was a little more critical. millhauser tends to write about ambition, art, creation, and the ways in which the first can mess with the second and the third...so it was pretty obvious to him that the romantic plot was pulled out of the scenarist's ass. the eye candy ran high and mighty, giamatti kicked ass and took names (his success always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside), and while biel wasn't nearly as annoying as she could have been, i kind of wish they'd cast sarah polley or samantha morton or someone. i kind of wish antonia could have seen it -- i think she would have loved it. oh well.

(i still can't wait for the prestige, though i'm a bit iffy about the changes in the film. the book's amazing, though.)

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

giamatti kicked ass and took names (his success always makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside)
Can I get an "Amen" and "Halleluia". Completely amazing on his part. Hee. Is it wrong that I'm all blushy because you sort of felt the same way I did about the movie? The filmie concurs! Me is so smart! *grin*

I could have seen anyone else in Biel's role. It really didn't call for much in terms of actress strength...although maybe that has to do more with Biel's middle of the road performance more than anything else.

[captainschlumpy.livejournal.com]

No, it wasn't very good. Johnny Depp was good, John Malchovich (sp?) was good. The movie was pretty much crap. It was dark and everyone mumbled and the plot was non-existent. Skip it. Johnny spends most of the movie looking greasy and then he's so far gone with syphilis that he's just gross to look at.