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The prodigal uncle gets married
So my uncle C. is getting married at the age of 50. Well, he'll be fifty-one when he actually ties the knot, but that's close enough, I suppose. I can't call him the black sheep of the family, because my father's family seems to consist entirely of sheep who desperately want to be black. They're like a swirling vortex of dysfunction. Anyway, I always assumed he would stay a bachelor forever, since "commitment" is a four-letter word to him, but he's finally found himself a girl to whom he's ready to commit, it would seem. I don't especially like her, but if she floats his boat, then more power to them both. It'll be a little weird to have an aunt who's almost exactly my age (she's a bit over two years older than me), but since I only see my uncle maybe once a year, I can't see how that could ever be a big problem.
Most of the family never made it to the barbecue yesterday (it was put off by a day due to rain) which was too bad. This meant a lot to Uncle C., and I think he was disappointed that the family put in such a poor showing. My family and my Uncle V.'s family were there, and the rest was all my future aunt's family and their friends from work. I rediscovered that I have nothing in common with any of them, and that small talk is excruciating when the other person stops talking after two sentences. I'm no good at small talk to begin with, so I depend on small verbal cues from the other person in order to keep going. (e.g. "You watch horror movies? How interesting! I have a friend who's into that as well. What movies have you watched recently?")
I finally got into a conversation with my cousin's new boyfriend, who's a very nice guy. He's an actuary (is that even a word in English?), so he tends to be very literal-minded and not all that prone to flights of fancy. Still, he was the one person there who seemed to want to string more than two sentences together, and then we started talking theatre and the history of Montreal, and it was all good.
The wedding is set for next autumn. I'll be interested to see if they can last out the year. Lord knows, Uncle C. isn't known for his staying power.
In other news, I managed to get a slight tan while I was there, even though I wasn't trying for one. Better than looking like a ghost with a sleeping disorder, that's for sure.
Saturday was spent doing quiet things, and at the end of the day I joined![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
luvenditti for dinner and a movie. Dinner was rushed, due to time constraints and a waitress who didn't understand the concept of "We have to leave very soon!" but the movie was fun. We met up with sandman7 to watch it, as I understand he's a big fan of the filmmaker in question.
As for me, I had never heard of this poor fellow before. Or, if I had, it was in a different context and I never put two and two together. I was simply going to see a movie based on a book that I really, really liked, which was Howl's Movingf Castle. I have since decided that I should see this fellow's other movies, since I rather liked the artwork and, while I kept twitching about the changes to the story, I liked some of the interpretive twists in the film.
I hold to my theory that no movie is ever as good as the book, and this was no exception to the rule. I was particularly disappointed in the Howl character, who was portrayed as much nicer, much more mature, and definitely less selfish than in the book. Oh, and very anti-war. Which, frankly, is a mischaracterization when compared to the book. Not that Howl is particularly pro-war, mind you. He just doesn't care, as long as nothing interferes with his quiet little existence.
Also, Calcifer kind of got on my nerves, which was too bad. He's my favourite character in the book, and somehow I never saw him as "cute." He's a powerful fire demon, for crying out loud! Mind you, the "new" Calcifer grew on me as the movie progressed. He definitely wasn't the book-Calcifer, but he was an interesting character in his own right.
As I mentioned before, some of the interpretation of the backgroud material was particularly interesting. A lot of the pseudo-mechanical, proto-industrialised and oddly futuristic stuff combined with actual magic was a really nifty twist on the book, which makes everything feel like you're in a small English village sometime in the 1800's. I especially liked the way that Howl's castle was portrayed, even though it was nothing like how I'd imagined it.
I can't even begin to tell you how funny the dog was. Yes, there was a small terrier-like thing, with oddly-shaped legs and a completely bored expression the entire time. It's entire mode of communication seemed to be huffing soundlessly: "HHH!" It killed me. I laughed so hard that I cried. I'm not usually a huge sucker for the comic animal sidekick, but this one just took the cake.
I'll admit that I kept waiting for the explanation of what was happening, which never took place. In the book things are explained very clearly, whereas in the movie the audience is just supposed to accept everything at face value, which I found more than a little frustrating. Why Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste is never specified, why she can do the things she does is never specified, and why she's the only one who can help Howl and Calcifer is never explained either.
Oh, and way to neuter the big bad. The Witch of the Waste was pathetic. Amusing, but pathetic. Rendered harmless early on, she becomes a joke almost until the end, when she shows a bit of spark right before lapsing back into jokedom. In the book she was a total badass, and I was disappointed that they didn't keep that.
Honestly, I found the original plot much better than the new We-must-stop-this-pointless-war plot. And the whole thing about Howl turning into a monster without a heart was a lot more subtle in the book. Meh.
I think I probably would have found the movie a lot more satisfying had I not gone in with the expectation that it would, on the whole, be following the storyline I knew. It was only very loosely faithful to the original, and decided to go off on moralistic tangents now and then, which I found just a bit irritating. Nothing too terrible, but mostly it went against all my expectations, which is probably why I was so disappointed.
So, yeah. On the whole, a good movie, but as a story by itself, not when taken in the context of the book.
Most of the family never made it to the barbecue yesterday (it was put off by a day due to rain) which was too bad. This meant a lot to Uncle C., and I think he was disappointed that the family put in such a poor showing. My family and my Uncle V.'s family were there, and the rest was all my future aunt's family and their friends from work. I rediscovered that I have nothing in common with any of them, and that small talk is excruciating when the other person stops talking after two sentences. I'm no good at small talk to begin with, so I depend on small verbal cues from the other person in order to keep going. (e.g. "You watch horror movies? How interesting! I have a friend who's into that as well. What movies have you watched recently?")
I finally got into a conversation with my cousin's new boyfriend, who's a very nice guy. He's an actuary (is that even a word in English?), so he tends to be very literal-minded and not all that prone to flights of fancy. Still, he was the one person there who seemed to want to string more than two sentences together, and then we started talking theatre and the history of Montreal, and it was all good.
The wedding is set for next autumn. I'll be interested to see if they can last out the year. Lord knows, Uncle C. isn't known for his staying power.
In other news, I managed to get a slight tan while I was there, even though I wasn't trying for one. Better than looking like a ghost with a sleeping disorder, that's for sure.
Saturday was spent doing quiet things, and at the end of the day I joined
luvenditti for dinner and a movie. Dinner was rushed, due to time constraints and a waitress who didn't understand the concept of "We have to leave very soon!" but the movie was fun. We met up with sandman7 to watch it, as I understand he's a big fan of the filmmaker in question.As for me, I had never heard of this poor fellow before. Or, if I had, it was in a different context and I never put two and two together. I was simply going to see a movie based on a book that I really, really liked, which was Howl's Movingf Castle. I have since decided that I should see this fellow's other movies, since I rather liked the artwork and, while I kept twitching about the changes to the story, I liked some of the interpretive twists in the film.
I hold to my theory that no movie is ever as good as the book, and this was no exception to the rule. I was particularly disappointed in the Howl character, who was portrayed as much nicer, much more mature, and definitely less selfish than in the book. Oh, and very anti-war. Which, frankly, is a mischaracterization when compared to the book. Not that Howl is particularly pro-war, mind you. He just doesn't care, as long as nothing interferes with his quiet little existence.
Also, Calcifer kind of got on my nerves, which was too bad. He's my favourite character in the book, and somehow I never saw him as "cute." He's a powerful fire demon, for crying out loud! Mind you, the "new" Calcifer grew on me as the movie progressed. He definitely wasn't the book-Calcifer, but he was an interesting character in his own right.
As I mentioned before, some of the interpretation of the backgroud material was particularly interesting. A lot of the pseudo-mechanical, proto-industrialised and oddly futuristic stuff combined with actual magic was a really nifty twist on the book, which makes everything feel like you're in a small English village sometime in the 1800's. I especially liked the way that Howl's castle was portrayed, even though it was nothing like how I'd imagined it.
I can't even begin to tell you how funny the dog was. Yes, there was a small terrier-like thing, with oddly-shaped legs and a completely bored expression the entire time. It's entire mode of communication seemed to be huffing soundlessly: "HHH!" It killed me. I laughed so hard that I cried. I'm not usually a huge sucker for the comic animal sidekick, but this one just took the cake.
I'll admit that I kept waiting for the explanation of what was happening, which never took place. In the book things are explained very clearly, whereas in the movie the audience is just supposed to accept everything at face value, which I found more than a little frustrating. Why Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste is never specified, why she can do the things she does is never specified, and why she's the only one who can help Howl and Calcifer is never explained either.
Oh, and way to neuter the big bad. The Witch of the Waste was pathetic. Amusing, but pathetic. Rendered harmless early on, she becomes a joke almost until the end, when she shows a bit of spark right before lapsing back into jokedom. In the book she was a total badass, and I was disappointed that they didn't keep that.
Honestly, I found the original plot much better than the new We-must-stop-this-pointless-war plot. And the whole thing about Howl turning into a monster without a heart was a lot more subtle in the book. Meh.
I think I probably would have found the movie a lot more satisfying had I not gone in with the expectation that it would, on the whole, be following the storyline I knew. It was only very loosely faithful to the original, and decided to go off on moralistic tangents now and then, which I found just a bit irritating. Nothing too terrible, but mostly it went against all my expectations, which is probably why I was so disappointed.
So, yeah. On the whole, a good movie, but as a story by itself, not when taken in the context of the book.
I know what you mean about aunts like that!
Re: Howl's Moving Castle
no subject
That said...
"You watch horror movies? How interesting! I have a friend who's into that as well. What movies have you watched recently?" :D Sorry, couldn't resist. Don't mind the goofball in the corner...