|
Another Howl fan! Mei-chan, did you read Castle In the Air yet? It's billed as a sequel, which I guess it is in a technical sense, as it takes place after the first book. It's more 'another book in the same universe', to my mind. But it's good.
So last Sunday I went to see 8 Women. From the preview, I had the idea that it was going to be like a cross between Clue and Gosford Park. And it was. Remarkably so, in fact, though with that little twist of just plain weird that so often crops up in French films. The movie begins... with the arrival home from college of the eldest daughter Suzon. We're introduced to a good number of the 8 women before we discover that the only male in the house, dad/husband/son-in-law, has been stabbed and is dead. The phone line has been cut and a snowstorm has cut them off from the outside. So the women spend the day sniping at each other, airing everyone's dirty laundry and digging up quite a few secrets that should have remained secret. (Which include, among other things, affairs, illegitimacy, lesbianism and theft.) From my perspective, the acting was really very good, as was the script. There were only one or two spots where I felt jarred by an unreasonable or unlikely action. It's not something I'm going to need to see again, though, which is similar to how I felt after seeing Gosford Park.
The movie did, however, make me very much want to be able to play Clue. (And is indirectly the origin of the post from earlier this week.) It also sent me on a Miss Marple spree, which has expanded to a general run on Agatha Christie, which has reminded me that I wanted to learn how to play Bridge. (So I downloaded a program to work on that.) And I think I also need to see the movie Clue again, so I'm going to have to stop by the store and pick that up.
This is pretty cool.
I hate it when...
...I have a million things I could be doing, yet I am so overwhelmed by that fact that I sit around doing nothing in particular rather than picking something and getting started on it.
I don't understand the tone of this article. [The article is about PBS airing more animated shows vs. live action shows for children.] Througout the article there is this constant undercurrent of hostility towards animation. I came away with the impression that the author felt these shows were no good simply because they were animated. Cartoons are worthless! This is really troublesome, especially since the article was probably attempting to highlight several points that are actually important: 1) To be educational, you need to have a balanced mix of pro-social programming (ie, programs that teach people how to get along and behave themselves) and informational programming (ie, programs that teach you how to count and speak spanish). 2) You shouldn't take a good idea and run it into the ground. Of course, item 2 is not a lesson that anyone seems to understand. Land Before Time XXV, coming soon to a video store near you. Find it on the shelf next to Snow White 2: Dopey's Revenge.
The thing is, Arthur is really a wonderful show. And the books themselves are pro-social, so that's where it came from. When they made the Magic School Bus into a cartoon, they kept the theme of those books too -- science facts and information.
Mrs. White, in the hall, with the SHOES!
I also got a package in the mail that I'd forgotten about. It's a DVD of the first episode or two of a J-Dorama. It was so long ago when I ordered it (from Technogirls) that I forget what it was called. Maybe I'll manage to get some time to watch it this weekend.
Am nearly done with school foo for the week... at least pressing school foo.
So I can get back to the PS2. When last I left my poor gang, they were trying to decide where to go next. To the Coliseum to fight another cup, or to press on and go to Atlantica. Or I could toss it all over and attempt for the fifth or sixth time to figure out the gummi ship building system. I thought it would be like a puzzle but instead it's a maze of controls that I can't seem to comprehend. Okina showed me his UberGummiShip that like, blasts anything just by looking at it. I still can't even attach one frigging block properly. Sigh.
One assignment down, 3 to go!
Aside from the fact that I had to infect the laptop with RealPlayer, I really really like that I can download files of the Japanese tapes and listen to them at home. It was such a huge PITA to go to the language lab at UMN. It was a huge PITA to listen to the actual tapes from Harvard (so much so that I only ever listened to one.)
Well, it was officially announced on the mailing list, but it's not up on website yet. But Shoujocon is moving to the end of August next year, and moving to the Hilton in Rye, NY. Rumors persist that Otakon will stay at the end of July, and Comic-con is moving to July, and AnimeExpo is in July... so. August it is.
| 
