Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Nothing New Dept.

Another favorite book of mine is coming to the big screen! Ursula Le Guin's Tales from Earthsea mostly comes from The Farthest Shore, but will include material from the other two books, as well. I love that poster -- alas it doesn't make a good PC wallpaper. The director, Goro Miyazaki, is the son of Hayao Miyazaki, whose Spirited Away knocked me over about a year ago. More than LotR or the Narnia stories, Le Guin's Earthsea books stand as my favorite fantasy books. I don't often admit it because they are written for kids, or because they are short, or because so many people have never heard of them. I found them powerful and evocative; the importance of being close to nature speaks to my own values.

Now, why did I begin with "another favorite"? Well, I loved the Narnia books through about high school, when I started to understand that some of those weird bits were Religion, and decided I didn't need all that. Still, I revisited them every couple of years: comfort reading, I call it. The L,W,W movie disappointed me because it wasn't what I've been picturing since, oh, 1975. On the other hand, because I walked in knowing that it would not look like I had always pictured, the H2H2 movie did not let me down; nearly all of DNA's books are My Favorite.

Capital City weather: 30s, mixed precipitation
On the Muzak at Ukrop's: "Get Down n Boogie"
From Plan 9: Buckaroo Bonzai on DVD, to replace the VHS tape; Nanci Griffith's "One Fair Summer Evening" on CD, to replace my original cassette

Oh, wait, I know what's new: a great Sunday visit from CNB -- thanks for the lovely Xmas presents! Gee, that's one shiny ring that you've got.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

May we ask our hostess' view on the recent SciFi Channel production of "Legend of Earthsea"? http://www.scifi.com/earthsea/

P-Max

Lisa said...

Ah! Your hostess has never in her life paid for television, so did not view said feature. The teen lit listserv that hipped me to the new movie had nothing nice to say about it, though.

P.S. What's this white stuff in my garden? When I went to bed, there were daffodils and grape hyacinth out there.

Daniel said...

Oh, y'all did get the white stuff. We didn't, though it was hyped a good bit.

I hate grape hyacinths. I have no idea why I planted some bulbs in my garden eleven years ago, but I did, and now--despite my best eradication efforts--they haunt my spring every year.

Despite my childhood (eternal?) geekiness, I never read the Narnia books. When the movie debuted, I thought that I should see it because I hadn't read the books, but then thought that I should probably read some of it first, and then promptly didn't read OR view, so I'm still in the cold. Yet, I rather resented the Balto City Paper's hipster-kid assessment that the movie and the books rely on "a British Empire that is long gone." NOTHING in Baltimore needs to feel superior to things that are supposedly long gone... but then, the same hipster kids feel that they're trapped in a "small town," so, um, whatever. I'll go to see the movie.

Daniel said...

...also: Lisa, whenever I see CNB, I think of a large impressive skyscraper on Broad street! CNB, you are now eternally associated with an Art Moderne phallic symbol in Richmond. :-)

Anonymous said...

Daniel - are you referring to the really hideous Man/Woman statue near the railroad station in B-More? Its so awful and yet I can't look away. Reminds me of something from a "Zippy the Pinhead" cartoon. Yes, yes, it always goes back to comic references for me. I'd like to be mo' PO-MO, but I sadly can't keep up with the irony.

On a possibly surprising note, I haven't read the Narnia series either. I suspect that I will like it, 'cuz generally I dig the fantasy literature. Jason, who is not a fantasy guy, (he has fantasies, but we won't go into all that right now....), has read all of the books, and really likes them. I'm not sure if I should clue him in to all of the religious references, and C.S. Lewis' struggle with the dogma of Christianity. We have 4-5 books on the subject here in my library, at the Catholic school.

Thanks for the props on my ring! :-) It sho' is sparkly!

Not having cable you are missing out on the wonders of South Park and the Scientology scrap between the creators of S.P. and Tom Cruise. I sense this will only lead to more hilarity and mayhem on the show, but more likely a really ugly, expensive lawsuit that will resolve nothing, and will upset the balance of the show.

Anonymous said...

And special, for Daniel:

"I'll Scott your Fitzgerald!"

"I'll Ernest your Hemingway!"

And my fave...

"I'll John your Steinbeck!"

Daniel said...

Actually, I was referring to the spectacular 1930 skyscraper on Richmond's Broad Street, the CNB building...Central National Bank, that is(was).

Well do I recall the evening we spent driving, when our hostess became so enraptured/horrified with "Man/Woman" (which we locals call the Trainsvestitute) that we decided she was too busy Lisa-ing her Kroll to follow conversation.

Lisa said...

Durn you all can go off on tangents! All I was gonna say was, Yes, I make myself laugh by calling Ms. Berard by her bank-like initials.

How can you hate grape hyacinths? They are wonderfully rustic and natural -- oh, I see.

Fringe Element Enthusiast said...

I don't really have a comment, I just want to see if the list of comments can get into the double digits....someone respond for that nice 10!

Lisa said...

I'll be your 10. Ew, wait, am I my own 10??

Fringe Element Enthusiast said...

You are my ELEVEN! ;-)

Daniel said...

I'll eleven YOUR ten! Oh, crimony, we DO spiral out of control.

I dunno. Grape hyacinths just seem like these farty little things that have a pretty color but aren't as nice as real hyancinths or as charmingly wild as, say, violets or daisies. Neither wild nor formal. They don't compute.