Very Lazy Saturday

[crossover_chick]

Largely due to two factors:

-->I ended up sleeping until 11:15 AM (this is a rare occurrence -- usually I'm up by 10:30)

-->I went straight on TV Tropes after watching the Nostalgic Critic (review of Labyrinth, which looks like one hell of a weird-ass movie), and you know what happens then

So yeah, not a lot going on today. I did get a few things done, though:

-->Started Chapter 6 of "Remembering You" -- doing this from Victor's perspective was a good idea, methinks! It feels good to write for him again. Debating throwing Mr. Tailor (a reporter from the Illustrated, you'll see him when I post Chapter 2) into the mix just for funzies -- or at least as a post-argument surprise for Victor. Could be funny -- we'll see.

-->Vacuumed the upstairs hallway -- Mom did the downstairs yesterday, so that's all good.

-->Played some Portal -- I have gotten the dual-portal version of the gun and flung myself around a fair bit. I'm going for the "Camera-Shy" achievement if possible -- I just like destroying the cameras whenever I can. XD You have to get 33 though, so we'll see. The puzzles aren't too bad, though I admit since I've watched walkthroughs I have something of an unfair advantage. We'll see how much good it does me in later stages, though.

And, of course, now is the time of late-night replies to RP stuff. So I'd better get cracking! Night all!

Comments

[whitedove01s]

I can vouch for Labyrinth being extremely weird. XD

[gigs_83]

I love Labyrinth (AL knows Jareth, naturally) and I want to rewatch it but I'm not sure I can handle the Toby crying scenes now. Those kinds of scenes affect me now, being a mother and all.

Anyways, managed to breed the Surprise. It will hatch tomorrow. So I used the Roses to get the Delight (Squee) and Melancholy (named Misery since the description says that it likes company). There's a Double for today only.

Also built Secundus!AL's house in Sims. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow.

[crossover_chick]

Yeah, anything with David Bowie, Jim Henson, and George Lucas would kind of have to be, I suppose. :P

[crossover_chick]

Yeah, I think you've mentioned that before. . .and awww, yeah, I'm sure they would. *pats* Everything changes once you've got a little one of your own. . .

Good for you -- I have been having absolutely NO luck in that area. I'm probably going to have pay up sooner rather than later. *sigh* And yeah, I saw -- not enough, Backflip, not nearly enough. Did max again, though, so there's that.

Nice! I'll look forward to it.

[whitedove01s]

Don't forget the design work by Brian Froud. And the first draft of the script was written by some guy from Monty Python. XD Really, you should try to see it sometime. It's surreal as all heck, but...

I'm guessing you haven't seen The Dark Crystal, either..?

[crossover_chick]

I probably should, though it's a matter of finding the time and then actually USING said time. . .

Nope! It's safe to say that if most people are nostalgic about it, there's a good chance I've never seen it. XD

[whitedove01s]

The Dark Crystal is possibly even better than Labyrinth, IMO (tho Labyrinth might have the better soundtrack), if you can stand that the whole cast is 'muppets'... The trailer doesn't do it justice, tho it does show off a few nice bits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF-53aIU5aY
Here's the intro of it, which is better than the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFrHOCwrMYQ

I'd also nominate 'The Neverending Story' for watching, but honestly the book is better... if you can ever track it down. (I'm lucky enough to have a copy if the Evil Overlord hasn't ruined it, bicolored red and green text and all :) ) And most of the sequels are best avoided... *sigh* Only the first one has any decent connection to the book, drawing in a few ideas from it they left out of the first film.

[crossover_chick]

O.o It certainly looks freaky-deaky. . .but then again, that was the 80s for you. :P Gotta give Henson and his cohorts props on their character design, at least!

Oh, The Neverending Story I HAVE seen, though I don't remember it very well. . .never came across the book version, though. Heard about the two-colors thing for the different story layers, though, which is pretty cool. :) I think I actually managed to see TNS2 first, though -- no idea how, but I have fond nostalgic memories of it, even if it isn't really a good movie. XD

[mosaic_archive]

Froud did most of the chara designs. Henson just made muppets out of them. Any time you hear of something that Brian Froud did design work in, expect some very strange otherworldly stuff. XD Honestly, if they did a live action/puppet version of AMG Alice, he'd be a guy to definitely try to get on board. The styles would mesh very well, and I think you'd like his stuff because of that. Sadly I don't think he's done any movie work since CGI became a big thing.

The book came first (and was originally in German, tho my copy's in English). The first movie really only covers the first few chapters or so of the book, and then they just took some of the bigger details from the rest and re-padded it a lot (since some of the original plot didn't fit any more with dividing it into two stories and two separate journeys) to come up with the second film. I prefer the book simply because the story's more concise in it's original form and there are parts of it that make a good deal more sense.

[crossover_chick]

LOL, I see -- and yeah, he probably would be! Apparently American's in talks to actually get the film rights so he can see about doing a movie, so hopefully he knows the guy's name. Rather sad that he was more or less kicked out by CGI. . .computer-generated stuff can be really cool, but there's something to be said for puppetry and practical effects. I've heard it said that that's a big reason the original Jurassic Park still holds up so well -- it's a mix of practical stuff and CGI, and that makes it all feel that much more real.

I think I read that somewhere. . .and yeah, usually the book's always better than the movie. There's always something they leave out or change and it just throws everything off. (My personal rare exception is Coraline -- while I like both book and movie, I think the movie actually handled Coraline's character better. Paced better too.)

[whitedove01s]

I think the best newer movies, visually, use both... and have the sense to know the limitations of each and what they're best suited for. Example being that a Boojum would likely best be done with CGI. Not likely to have any direct contact with it, and various motions and floating would be harder to do with an animatronic of any sort without it actually looking faker, while CGI could fade around the edges and look more ghostly. And some of the more surreal skies and backdrops would have to be at least partly CGI and greenscreen work.

I'd love to see Froud get his hands... or sketchbook... on a lot of the scenery, props, and weapons though! The stuff that a live action chara would have to actually touch at some point. Games don't usually get into really really fine details (limitations of processing, keeping lag down, etc), and making those just a bit otherworldly is where the guy always excelled.

I think a lot of newer books get written with at least a half-idea that there might be a movie, which helps a little... but not always. (Case in point the Harry Potter books... the movies are good visually, but the amount of stuff left out... you shouldn't have to read the books to understand the movies, but with those you do... Editing Hack Job done with a blunt axe...)

They actually didn't do TOO horribly bad splitting Neverending Story into two movies, just that... it loses a lot when the story is meant as one. Including, ironically, the reason for the title! In the sequel they try to blame that on some words from Bastian's mom, instead, in a soppy moment... In the book... you have this 1,001 Arabian Nights-ish bit where Bastian keeps leaving things behind him that are starting new stories in the fantasy world he's in, with the narration just saying that that's 'another story to be told another time'...

Most of the second half of the book is Bastian trying to find a way home after he's dropped into a fantasy realm, and (if you remember any of the second film) it's implied he's not the first... and that if he loses all his memories (which he loses one every time he makes a wish), he can never leave. He also can't leave until he's FINISHED all the new stories he started, or unless someone agrees to finish them in his place. Which is a bit of fridge horror in wondering how many missing person cases, especially missing kids, essentially got sucked into this book and never got back out.

For the films... they split it up, blamed the memory loss on a bad guy whose part was a bit more minor than that, and shoehorned in some after-school-special morality bits to, I guess, make it more appealing to audiences. It's one of the few films from when I was a kid that I'd actually LIKE to see a modern remake, providing they could try sticking to the book and not end up shoehorning in some of the kind of things they do these days... and yeah, I think Froud would be a guy to call in there, too. XD

[crossover_chick]

Yeah, exactly. Boojums probably would best be suited for pure CGI -- I mean, they're an enemy, Alice would have to fight them, but they're best hit by stuff that works from a distance anyway. The only "practical" part about them would be their screams. And the backgrounds -- well, Tim's Alice has shown you can do some cool stuff with CGI in that area. Hell, his Red Queen's castle already looks like it belongs in McGee's Alice's world.

Oooh, yeah -- I bet he'd do fantastic versions of all of Alice's weapons. We've got "toy" Vorpal Blades out already that are beautiful (I've got the mini version), and an actual teapot-version of the Teapot Cannon, but how about the Jackbomb, or the Jabberwock Eye Staff? That would be awesome.

From what I understand, there is one almost-completely-on-the-money book-to-movie adaptation out there, and it is Holes. Lot of dialogue taken straight from the book, follows the plot pretty much exactly, only possibly-major deviation (haven't watched or read it) is one character not losing a lot of weight and that was to protect the kid actor's health. So there's that. (And yeah, I knooooow -- I always felt the series fell down completely when Prisoner of Azkaban NEVER TOLD YOU WHO THE MAURADERS WERE. I mean, seriously.)

*snork* Yeah, that is a point. . .of course, they couldn't actually do a movie with an infinite running time, but you think they could have done something a little more similar to the book. . .then again, I think people get pissier with movies that leave plot threads hanging than books. *shrugs*

I remember some (though now mostly from the Nostalgia Critic's review of it), but wow, that is freaking creepy. Especially when you consider not all of Fantasia is welcoming/safe. . . Poor Bastian. Amazing world to explore, but not an enviable situation to be stuck in.

That I do remember -- Lady Magic-Wipe-On-Face or whatever her name was. :P It would be cool to see it done again in the 2010s, but I'm not sure I'd trust them not to go completely insane on the special effects and forget there was a story there at all.

[whitedove01s]

Exactly. Background tends to be divided into 'the stuff too far away for the characters to touch', which is a good CGI target - pan shots of areas, surreal skies, etc; and 'stuff charas might touch' like the maze walls in Queensland.

*nod* I think part of the difficulty was that the books were being written while the movies were being made, so the editors didn't know which plot points were going to be important later. Except that they did have Rowling consulting, and while she bothered to correct them on a line that would have contradicted Dumbledore's sexual orientation (something only hinted at through the books and never really critical to plot), she never bothered with a 'oh, you might want to leave a mention of that in, it's important later' on a bunch of stuff.

As for that... I think part of the reason is that books make you imagine the scenery and voices and action. You expect to put some brain effort in on your own side, and thus when there's a loose end it's easier to think about it and what it might mean. With movies... people tend to expect to turn their brains off and be spoon-fed the story, so then a piece is missed most get more fussy about it. And comic books are somewhat in the middle... they give you the basic visuals, but they're closer to books than movies IMO, just with a lot of illustration.

I also think that book adaptions would be a good time to bring back Serial Films, or done as miniseries rather than movies. One chapter to a shorter-than-feature-length video, and there'd likely be no need for hackjob editing.

Xayide, yeah. Bookwise, she was just a minor nuisance, taking advantage of Bastian and the situation for her own reasons. As it turns out, the Wiki page gives a pretty good synopsis of the book, where you can see where the story that was stretched through the first two films was more cohesive:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Neverending_Story

I'd be afraid they'd either do that, or do something purely to be edgy... like making a lot of the younger charas older so they can try to put in sex scenes and so on. Or both. I could just see some hack writer pulling a 'two guys can't be friends without being gay' with Bastian and Atreyu (never mind that the latter was actually courting a girl before his adventures started in the book)

... and I just read far enough down to notice that the writer of the Neverending Story SUED over the hackjob the films did, and requested they at least change the title, but lost the lawsuit. :/ From the looks of it, his rights to his own work have pretty much been completely stolen.

[crossover_chick]

Oh, you should see some of the skyboxes in the original Alice -- I'd love to see the swirling tunnel of the Fortress of Doors on the big screen. Or Tundraful from the sequel. . .or oh man, Cardbridge. . . As for the mazes, you'd want actual foiliage, but all dried out and crunchy, and maybe shot a bit like the maze in HP and the Goblet of Fire was. I remember that being fairly creepy.

She also managed to save Kreacher because without him you'd never get an important flashback in Deathly Hallows, but yeah -- one wonders why the hell she never said "Okay, what the HELL are you doing with Patronuses in PoA, they're not supposed to be just BRIGHT LIGHTS." Or got them to stop making Ron just the comic relief when he's a lot more important and competent in the books. . . Hmph. I was on the edge of my seat during the final battle in DH2, because I was utterly furious at the idea that they'd take the big Nagini slaying moment away from Neville. I know they didn't, but I couldn't trust them after they fucked up the bit with him coming to help Harry in Order of the Phoenix.

Yeah, I suppose that's true. Then again, I probably don't have a good perspective on it -- being a fanfic writer primarily for movies (and video games), I consider it part of my job to explain the plotholes and loose threads. :P So a lot of it probably depends on just how imaginative you are anyway.

That would be a good idea -- most books probably would benefit from something with multiple episodes, rather than having to be crammed into 2 hours or less.

*readen* Ahh -- it does feel kind of like two books in one, but I guess with something like The Neverending Story, that's kind of the point. :P Sounds like a good read, though -- maybe I can track down a copy. (And of course I'd want one with the multi-colored text option, because neat.)

Ugh, yes. >( Though I'm not entirely sure they'd go for the gay option -- I get the feeling a lot of hack writers are in fact kind of homophobic. On the other hand, somebody who thinks they're being "progressive" could do it really, really poorly and offend just about everybody. . .

Aw, yeah, I see -- that sucks. :( Poor guy. *checks his Wikipedia page* . . .And he died in 1995, so even if a better version came out, he wouldn't be able to enjoy it. *sigh*

[whitedove01s]

I've seen a few from letsplays.

*nod* I know what you mean. The movies are good to look at for visuals sometimes, but just So Much Fail in the content.

Admittedly, I based my idea on semi-normal people watching movies from the Evil Overlord. She bitches VERY loudly whenever there's complicated plot because she 'doesn't want to think' when she's watching TV. Stuff like that bores the heck out of me. Even shows that we both watch, I can't talk to her later if I think I've noticed something or have an odd theory, because she'll be all "I didn't bother to remember that, I just watched it to look at that guy's ass."

Yes, they would.

*nod* It did have a definite two-parts, but the movies were a bad hack job. Good luck on finding it, it really is worth reading at least once. I lucked out and got mine from a library booksale. Half.com has it in 1993 paperback for less than $2, but that wouldn't have the bicolor text. I think that was something just done in the first English editions.

Damn... I just checked. The 1983 edition I got currently sells on Ebay.com for $75-$100. The Evil Overlord better not have ruined it. (And when I find it again, that one's going in my room where it's safer... tried to look for it, but I was 'in her way' and got bitched at)

Yeah, I dislike when anything is shoehorned in badly, but certain issues are twice as bad that way because it usually ends up being the exact opposite of showing any kind of sensitivity.

*nods* Apparently the rights to it are in a tangle, too... which may be for the best. It's all a sad mess.

[crossover_chick]

Ah good, so you know what I'm talking about. The game may be 15 years old by now, but some of the graphics do still hold up wonderfully.

Indeeeeed. I went from being so excited when the first came out to so annoyed when the last did. . . *sigh*

Ahhh, I see. I'm not entirely sure if that's the norm either -- my family's the kind who does like to talk about the movies we see -- but I suspect people like her make up a decent amount of the population. Some people just want to sit there and see butts, I suppose. :P

*nods* More room to breathe plotwise.

Too bad, really -- if you did it right, it could be amazing. And thanks -- maybe I can find a copy at one of the local bookstores. Bicolor isn't a necessity, but it would be nice. We'll see.

Holy crap -- yeah, fingers crossed! Here's hoping you can rescue it sooner rather than later.

Yeah, I know. It's -- problematic. Some people can do it, but it can be a real shitstorm done poorly.

Bleh. Yeah, very sad. Guy and his book deserved better. :(