Acting as a media filter (or: recs and reviews)

[petronia]

31_days, a fic theme community created by pornkings: each theme corresponds to a specific day of the month (in this case, August) and participants will have to follow this theme/day calendar when posting their submissions. Like a lunatic I am convinced that I can do this with Mirage of Blaze. After all one can start writing well in advance, even though one cannot post until the specified day. I wish I'd read further in the main series so as to have more characters to torture draw on, though. The side stories are going fast but I have to wait until tomorrow to hit Amazon, so I can toss GB 31 in the order.

girlmod: Chynna Clugston-Major's lj (for joliefolie's benefit *g*).

In Return for Grace, by gisho [GetBackers]. Ren and Toshiki, on Mugenjou and themselves.

Five Things (Shohoku), by tintenfic [Slam Dunk]. There's nothing bare about essentials, it's just that they make everything else look cluttered.

Karaoke Terror: this is a stupid title. The Japanese title is 昭和歌謡大全書, which means something along the lines of The Complete Showa Songbook. According to the credits at the end most of the songs were from the Showa 40s, i.e. sixties commercial pop. Golden oldies. Not that you couldn't tell this from the film itself. ^^;

It's possible to read this film cogently as an extrapolation of Fight Club (it's based on a novel by Murakami Ryu). The question it asks is, basically, why should young men have a monopoly on un/misdirected rage and alienation from unthinking consumerist society? Why not women in early middle age, say? Late in the film one of the characters says something to the effect of, "No matter sex or age, as soon as you stop evolving and become self-complacent, you turn into an obasan." The obvious thing is that this was happening already: both groups (youths and divorced ladies going on forty) are amoral hedonists [1] who are marginalised and held in contempt by society, no matter their purchasing power, and do not even realise their resources have been left untapped until they encounter a goal on which to truly "concentrate". Frankly, at the end of the movie the Midoris are further along the road to self-actualisation than Matsuda Ryuhei's character. The women channel their rage into communication and catharsis, the men just (re)act because they feel threatened. And yes, a great part of the threat is the fact that the opposing team are females with no motivation in life other than self-gratification, and possess the power and freedom to accomplish that goal (up to and including revenge/honour killings). The shopkeeper character's rants makes the subtext clear, if nothing else.

Lacks something to be a truly "wow" film, but worth a look-see if you like black comedy/social satire.

[1] Thus, golden oldies karaoke. The women go to host clubs and sing the songs unironically, the guys drive out to a deserted pier and sing them ironically as part of an elaborate cabaret show with traumatizing costumes. All to pass the time naturally.

Howl's Moving Castle: I thought it was common knowledge that I've never read Diana Wynne Jones but I still shock someone every time I say it. ^^; I'll have to read the book now to compare, anyway. This was beautiful as all Miyazaki films are beautiful; to say it wasn't Spirited Away is unfair, given that insofar as I'm concerned nothing is Spirited Away except Spirited Away itself. I can't judge the adaptation per se of course but I did have problems with the pacing. I expect Ghibli films to "breathe", to be unhurried, but this one felt like the script couldn't cram it all into the given time. Or like the last scene of some of Shakespeare's comedies - "Okay okay, is everyone married yet? A dance ensues!"

I liked the war drama aspect. And Howl is ♥. XD

Comments

[ahsirakh.livejournal.com]

And Howl is ♥.

Howl is, like, so much crack.

... that sounds wrong. >.>

[corneredangel.livejournal.com]

...but is *so* right. Especially later on, once shit *really* starts getting weird.

[corneredangel.livejournal.com]

I liked the war drama aspect.

Not sure if you know, but the war drama aspect is *completely* Miyazaki. And, I guess, substitutes for the one part of the book that was *completely* Western/tied-to-Western-reality.

Frankly, I get the feeling that Miyazaki cared for the 'war drama' part far more than he did for anything else, and had been looking for ways/"reasons" to animate or tell this particular Story, that he'd been carrying around in his head and his notes for ages.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Hmm, the last scene did run a bit quick in the book, but to me it didn't feel harried (in the book that is, I haven't seen the film yet).

Yeah, Ghibli films do tend to feel unhurried and nicely paced to me. So I'll watch out for that.

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

[ WARNING: LOTS OF MINOR SPOILERS FOR BOTH BOOK/MOVIE ]

the last scene from the book doesn't exist in the movie. XD Actually the whole thing is very, VERY different. Miyazaki added in a war for no discernable reason, turned Sophie into a kind of wussy, quiet, homemaker version of Nausicaa, made Michael a little boy (to make them seem like a "family" maybe?), cut Sophie's sisters and the associated romantic/plot wackiness out, and made the Witch of the Waste a kind of sympathetic figure. Oh, and Wizard Suliman's somehow an old woman now. And Calcifer's from NYC. XD

I really like parts of the movie a whole lot (green slime scene is still in, BEST SCENE IMHO, and the old-lady-race which I cannot describe is fairly awesome, and a bunch of the scenes near the beginning are cool), and the music and art are of course gorgeous (though Howl does NOT look like I always imagined... I mean HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THAT HOT).

I asked my friends (who saw the movie before me and still haven't read the book) if Howl still saves Sophie and there's that whole cute scene, and they're like "well, he saves EVERYONE and SACRIFICES HIMSELF and blah blah so it is BETTER" and then when I saw it I was like "what the hell is that?" I also just did NOT feel the romance, at all, in any way. Supposedly they are in love by the end, but I just couldn't see it? Also, Sophie's curse fluctuates with her mental state, which is a kind of neat idea, but also makes her seem a lot less cool somehow... XD; Oh, and they cut the bit about Wales, but I didn't really like that bit so I don't care. XD

Oh, and you won't believe how Prince Justin finally shows up. >_>; It's like "hello, deus ex machina much?" That bit is like the book only totally not. >_>

I need to find my copy of the book so I can loan it to someone this weekend...

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Calcifer is from NY? I guess that means in the Japanese version he speaks Osaka-ben? I guess Miyazaki read the second book and was inspired to put in the war that had happened between books one and two? Weird. Hmm, I guess I should view the movie as something merely "inspired" by HMC the book rather than as an adaptation.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

There's a second book? XD; (If I read more than the one DWJ book, could you suggest to me which ones and in what order? I really know nothing.)

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

;_; Of course you must read more than one DWJ book!!!

Okay. :D She writes mostly stand alones, so you can pretty much pop in. I'll list my favorites as good places to start.

Howl's Moving Castle is a good place to start. The sequel, Castle in the Air is not as good, but is still worth reading. In any case, these are very short books.

My favorite stand-alones are: Dogsbody (a story about a celestial being in the body of a dog), the Homeward Bounders (a story about a boy doomed to eternal exile which is rather... indescribable), A Tale of Time City (a story about a city existing at the end of time), Archer's Goon (set in what feels like seventies Britain), Power of Three (set in what appears to be some ancient Britain), and Hexwood (a darker story than the others, involving a bizarre mix of sci-fi and mock Arthurian mode). As these are stand alones, they are all good places to start.

Then there's the Chrestomanci books. They can actually all be read alone, and I read them totally out of order, but the publication order is Charmed Life (vaguely Edwardian setting), then either Magicians of Caprona (set in the Italy of that same world), Witch Week (set in a Britain somewhat like our own, except with witch hunting), and the Lives of Christopher Chant (set chronologically previous to Charmed Life).

Her other series is the Dalemark Quartet, which does sort of need to be read in chronological order. However, I don't think it's a good place to start because I wouldn't really put these books in the top place as far as DWJ's works go, except for the Spellcoats.

[serendip.livejournal.com]

You've never read DWJ? And I still talk with j00? XDDDDDDDDDDD

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

I was similarly incredulous. XD

[moderntime.livejournal.com]

I thought it was common knowledge that I've never read Diana Wynne Jones but I still shock someone every time I say it. ^^;

That person would be me this time! Heavens, girl, get yourself to the "J" section of your local public library now!

Thanks for linking 31_days, I have signed up.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

There was never any Diana Wynne Jones in any of my public libraries, which is precisely why I haven't. ^^; But I'll go look for her in the bookstore, once I'm done hiding from the rampaging hordes of Harry Potter fans this weekend.

[ayabai.livejournal.com]

"Okay okay, is everyone married yet? A dance ensues!"
XDDDDDDDDDD

sabinaaaaa~~~ can i switch places with tongari for cover duty for bb shousetsu?? have had no time for anything but moving-to-japan-at-the-end-of-the-month duties (since i found out, like, a week or two ago that i'm going), but people who have done the program i'm going on tell me i'll have a ton of free time in august. free time for DRAWING! lol

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Okay, I asked tongari and she said it's fine, no worries. Take care, eh? ♥