You hear that, Mr Andersen?

Based on a Jane Austen pizza.

Friends pointed me at this comment by Ursula le Guin, about the upcoming Earthsea TV adaptation:

http://www.ursulakleguin.com/Earthsea.html

It makes an interesting contrast to the Hellboy commentary. I mean, there are some substantial changes to Hellboy continuity in the movie - the whole "sand-filled clockwork Nazi ninja" thing, for instance, or the addition of psychic powers to Abe Sapien. But Mike Mignola seems happy that the movie is a different entity to the book, and that the essential message hasn't been lost. There's also the fact that Mignola wasn't shut out of the process.

I don't think her announcement necessarily tells me whether it's going to be any good or not - but it certainly doesn't bode well. I'm not sure that I understand why you'd buy the rights to a book or short story, and then want to shut the creator out of the process of making the movie or tv series. Except - I remember watching a documentary on P.L. Travers, and having some sympathy for the people trying to make the Mary Poppins movie. (Then again, what would a movie that she would have approved of looked like? You probably wouldn't have Dick van Dyke trying to be Cockney, for a start... :)

I quite liked Ella Enchanted, though it was another case where the book was obviously a jumping off point, rather than a bible to be written from. From reading the book, you might well expect something along the lines of The Princess Bride (or maybe The Neverending Story?) - a fantasy world that's not Ladyhawke or Willow gritty, but is taking folk tales as its main reference point. Ella has a lot of "modern world through a fantasy lens", and so is much closer in feel to something like Shrek - indeed, some reviews have described it as a live-action Shrek.

I think I'm going to have to see Ella Enchanted again before I decide what I think of it. Some of the things that I like most are the throwaway visual gags - the heroes are at a medieval mall, and get on a set of (obviously wooden) moving stairs. That would be a "heh" moment, but what made me actually smile was that you could see the people underneath the stairs, hauling the wheel that made the steps move. On the other hand, it has tonnes of really good actors who aren't really given anything to do - the excellent Parminder Nagra is pretty much relegated to a "look at how mean the stepsister is" character, for example. On the gripping hand, while there are flaws, I still think it's a pretty fun movie.

***

Someone at work is asking who would win in a fight - a horse-sized duck, or the equivalent weight of horses that were duck-sized. (Consensus in my office is that that the HSD would be able to gobble up the wee horses like so many party snacks.)

This led to discussion of swan-related deaths, and ostrich-related fatalities.

I guess this is what happens when it's so close to Christmas.

***

Is it worrying that I get some of my actual news from The Onion? I mean, I doubt I'd know that Americans are marrying at a later age, on average unless it turned up there - as the article says, "Thank God there's a greater trend I can look to when I ponder my lonely, loveless existence in the midnight hour." ;)

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Only four days until I take a break, hooray! Mum asked for a link to a page of possible Svend presents, so here it is.

Posted by svend at December 14, 2004 9:58 AM