The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya 1

Image via Wikipedia

Loved the 00 episode with the amateur film.  My favorite bits were the slipping cat and the increasingly disillusioned narration by Kyon.

The first episode disgusted me and I’m glad I saw it much later than the other episodes.  I was especially disturbed by the blackmailing of the computer class.  Haruhi with her shenanigans has put Miss Ashahina in a dangerous position. Miss Ashahina is the obviously the weakest link in the chain and she could be the victim of one of the boys in the club striking back at her rather than at Haruhi.  I’m also furious with Kyon – Miss Ashahina needed his help, in fact, she begged it.  He promised her that he would help her.  He failed not because he wasn’t aware that she needed his help or that he was afraid of Haruhi.  He was just too turned on to bother.  This was nearly unforgivable.

(Note: this situation is softened by the end of the series.  It was still unpleasant and I’m glad I watched it out of order.)

Otherwise, I liked the introduction of Yuki Nagato.  That explains why she reads so much – a little anyway.

The final episode has Haruhi signing them up to play baseball.  Everyone is reluctant except for Itsuki Koizumi (I don’t trust him).  It turns out to be a highly entertaining game with everyone playing in character (screaming when the ball approaches or swinging enthusiastically with no results).  I liked this episode and I think the creators do their best work when subverted cliches without entirely abandoning the framework.

It’s a mixed bag but the series is excellent overall.

Wired_Women – more on fan fic

I have tried to understand fan fiction by reading Fan Fiction and Fan Communities and other articles and books.  I read an older account of fans when they were first getting online which gave me a really different picture.

12 Fantasy Books that should be Movies

Earlier, I made a list of 10 science fiction books that shoul d be movies.  Here is my list of fantasy tales.

Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
What:  The daughter of a witch confronts a powerful dragon to save her kingdom.
What’s in it for me:  I want to see Arin fight the dragon with her long red hair swirling around her.
More information.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton
What:  Anita Blake investigates a serial killer of vampires.
What’s in it for me:  Anita Blake deserves a cinematic version – she’s as cool as Buffy but lives in a grownup world.
A review.

Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit
What:  Three children find a magical ring and a mystery.
What’s in it for me:  I want to see the enchanted castle.  Also, I love invisible stuff.
More information.

War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
What:  Eddi, a rock musician,  is pulled into a battle between fairy folk.
What’s in it for me:  The Phouka, yummy.  Plus, I’d like to hear the glamour’d rock show.
A review.

The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
What:  Curdie is grown up and goes to rescue his princess again.
What’s in it for me:  I’d like to see the Grandmother/Eve summoning the birds for battle.
A review.

Half Magic by Edgar Eager
What:  Four children find a magic coin that only grants half a wish.
What’s in it for me:  The tournament would great fun to watch.
A summary.

Ribsy by Beverly Cleary
What:  A dog runs away and then tries to find his way home.
What’s in it for me:  Ribsy is a highly endearing character and I’d like to hear his ‘voice.’
A summary.

Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle
What:  A boy and a unicorn must uncover what historical events caused the present calamity.
What’s in it for me: I want to hear St. Patrick’s rune chanted as a spell for stopping evil.
L’Engle’s book.

Country Bunny and the Little Gold Slippers by Marjorie Flack & Dubose Heyward
What:  A mommy bunny vies for the best rabbit job in the land: Easter Bunny
What’s in it for me:  Seeing the mommy rabbit besting all the arrogant men rabbits in the competition.
more information.

Big Joke Game by Scott Corbett
What:  Boy and his guardian devil(!)  have to survive a living board game.
What’s in it for me:  Seeing the game board come to life.

Clairvoyant Countess by Dorothy Gilman
What:  A clairvoyant woman tracks down a missing woman.
What’s in it for me:  I would like to see an interesting story about esp for once.
A review.

Archangel by Sharon Shinn
What:  A ‘cinderella’ is chosen to be the consort of the Archangel who controls the planet’s climate.
What’s in it for me:  The angels flying.  The angels singing.
A review.

Forget Prince Charming

Forget Prince Charming by Natalie Stenzel

This was a Harlequin Flipside (humorous romance) that I found on my sister’s bookshelf.  She doesn’t generally read romance novels – she prefers fantasy.

Haley is tired of dating faithless hunks.  She decides, therefore, to look for an honest geek.  Unfortunately, her new neighbor Ricky is gorgeous and apparently a playboy.  She vows to fight her inclination to flirt desperately with him each time they meet.

The funniest bit was when she refuses Rick’s invitation to date.  He asks why; she claims it’s because he’s too beautiful.  Naturally, he does not see this as a serious barrier to their relationship.

Overall it was cute but nothing special.

No more furl.net

So, Furl.net the bookmarking site is gone. This distressed me at first since I have about five thousand bookmarks on it. The Furl email suggested migrating to Diigo but they proved to be overwhelmed by new users and couldn’t import my bookmarks.  I’ll check back with Diigo but I want my bookmarks now, so I turned to Delicious.

WordPress offers Delicious as a widget, so I tried them. I’m liking the new system so far, it’s got a bit more flexibility in tagging. I’ve been playing with bundling and cleaning up duplicates and so forth.

Ultimately, I intend to make public worthwhile links to blogs and sites that pertain to comics, romance and fantasy.

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Clan Apis by Scott Hosler

I saw Jay Hosler at a comics convention several years ago.  He was on a panel – I forget the topic – and he had his young son with him.  The kid was supposed to be coloring but kept squirming and trying to get his dad’s attention.  Hosler was patient with his son’s interruptions in that resigned way that parents have.  His comments were very interesting but the main impression that I got is that he’s very human.

The story of Clan Apis is the life of a honeybee named Nyuki.  She is an adorable grub at first,  and asks endless questions of long-suffering Dvorah.  Technically, Divorah is her older sister but she becomes a friend and mentor, guiding little Nyuki through the stages of her life.

Nyuki is a bundle of energy and she lacks common sense and is super confident.  These traits cause her to have more than her share of adventures. As she grows up, she has some tough decisions to make, and she learns some of the hard facts of life in the hive.

She meets and befriends the dung beetle Sisyphus and the flower Bloomington.  She loses friends too.  Old Yeller and Bambi come to mind.

When I was about ten, I read The City under the Back Steps about two human children who shrink and learn about ants.  I read all the nonfiction books about ants I could find for awhile.  I bet that if I had read Hosler’s book as a kid, I’d be obsessed with entomology to this day.

Tons of neato and gross-out facts tucked into an engaging story, what more could you ask for?  Well, on his website, Hosler lists the topics that each chapter of the book covers.

Despite all the excellent scientific bee info, Nyuki’s story remains very immediate and concrete.  She is, not surprisingly, very human.

Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse “The Target”

Image by Thunderchild tm via Flickr

I finally got around around to watching the second episode of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.

Plots: One of Echo‘s clients really loves the great outdoors.

This one was basically “The Most Dangerous Game” with SF garnish.  That’s not my favorite story ever but the garnish made it highly tasty.  Echo (Eliza Dushku) gets to go rafting,  rock climbing, and sleeping in a tent.  Nature Girl!

Again she seems all helpless and again she kicks butt.  Hmmm, where have I seen that before?

Last episode had no humor whatsoever.  But there were a few quips this time.

Topher (Fran Kanz) the mad scientist, in particular, was funny and vulnerable and a tad less annoying than last week.  I might even like him, given a hefty amount of development.

Langton (Harry J. Lennix) is moral, compassionate, and tough.  Oh dear.  He needs to get himself some kind of moral gray area or hangup quick or he’s going to die.  Fortunately, he’s hasn’t found his true love, or I’d have no hope for him.

As for Ballard (Tahmoh Penikett), I liked this assessment by Chris Farnsworth  of his role in this episode:

Quick cut to Agent Ballard, who has a pretty neighbor who makes him lasagna.

Sorry, no time for that, ma’am. I’m busy being dogged.

The little scene with Dominic (Reed Diamond) was a bit shocking.  He’s a mouse dousing himself with fish oil and prancing around in front of the cat.

We also learn that there are villains outside as well as inside the Dollhouse – nice.

Have there been six episodes aired yet?  Anyway, I feel more encouraged about the series now.

episode 1 GHOSTS

episode 2 THE TARGET

episode 3 STAGE FRIGHT

episode 4 GRAY HOUR

episode 5 TRUE BELIEVER

episode 6 MAN ON THE STREET

episode 7 ECHOES

episode 8 NEEDS

episode 9 A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE

episode 10 HAUNTED

episode 11 BRIAR ROSE

episode 12 OMEGA

Snow White – links

Link blogging for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Places to Start

Surlalune Fairy Tales -  the annotated Snow White.

An study guide to Snow White – excellent resource for text and images.

Disney’s Snow White

A review of Disney’s Snow White.

A little girl’s love of Disney’s Snow White.

Bill Thompson’s review of Disney’s Snow White.

Movies

A review of Snow White: A Tale of Terror.

Review of Snow White movie starring Kristin Kreuk.

Images

Images of Snow White.

Snow White wallpapers.

photograph of lovely snow white. Like the black gown she’s wearing.

Angela Ma in stage version of Snow White.

Super cute cartoon of Prince and Snow White by Cippow.

Stylish Snow White by YSA.

Contemplative Snow White by Sorceress Myr.

Books

Ron Charles’ review of Gregory Maguire’s Mirror, Mirror.

Jasmine Greene’s review of Bill Willingham’s Fables: Legends in Exile.

General

Contemplation of the dwarves’ qualities in us all.

Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)

Cover via Amazon

Based on this movie, nobody would have much thought Loretta Lynn would become super-successful.

Loretta (Sissy Spacek) married at age 13 to an older man Mooney (Tommy Lee Jones).  She had many children and settled into keeping house.  She appeared to be destined to fade into housewifely oblivion.

But then her husband bought her a guitar and she started to sing in public.  Eventually, she had herself a demo tape and she and her husband worked really hard to promote it.

According to the movie, her marriage was rocky – sometimes he was supportive and sometimes he dragged her down.

One of the nicest things about the movie was the friendship between Loretta and Patsy Cline.  It was almost a relief to see grown up women become real friends.

The movie inspired me to look up more about Loretta Lynn and I was surprised at how forthright some of her songs were, “The Pill” and others.  I gained a new respect for her.

Miss Potter and this movie have been my favorite biopics so far.

Glory Road (2006)

Cover via Amazon

Basketball coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) sent out 5 African Americans for an important game and challenged some barriers.

The movie felt familiar with had a lot of sport clichés.  The rag tag team being urged on by a tough coach and nobody thinks they can win, etc.

The extras in which the actual players were interviewed were much more interesting than the movie.  It would have been more entertaining to have the story told from the players’ point of view.

Nevertheless, it was a good biopic.  The movie made me understand how he was important in history:  he helped integrate USA sports.  The movie also showed that he was a driven man, hard on himself and hard on his players.