the Dalaverse

Wheeee, "Princess of Thieves" is on. Okay, so it's a silly little made-for-TV movie, but I still adore it. Keira and horses and a super-slashy Robin Hood and Little John. Fun for the whole family.

Today when I got home from work, the first thing I thought of doing was popping in PotC. Again. They hospitalize people for this kind of problem, I believe. I think I'll resist as long as possible until I have several hours to kill, because it popped into my head to do my own commentary. Keeping myself amused is one of my chief goals in life.

I'm trying to figure out what to write next. It's funny, suddenly having no direction. Lots of fic to catch up on first, though. Movies to rent, movies to see -- got Mom to agree to "The Notebook" tomorrow, because she refuses to see "King Arthur" (Richard Harris purist). Did see "Fahrenheit 9/11" (spelling? dunno). I thought I had recovered sufficiently, but then Tracey brought it up today and I ended up arguing rather too passionately with my mother. Anyway, it was...an experience. The Iraqi woman crying out to God affected me most strongly because none of the reviews I read mentioned it, as opposed to the seven minutes of silence from Bush and the woman from Flint.

Heh. I think Ms. Knightley is taller than her male costar and it's only his poufy hair that hides it.

Eeee! This is the slashiest scene in the whole movie! "Maybe he means Phillip the mapmaker." AWESOME.

I think I'll rent movies tomorrow -- "Peter Pan" and "Secret Window" (it's out now, right?) most definitely. Also want "Sayonara" in tribute to Marlon Brando. I love that book. It's short, unlike most of Michener's stuff -- not that I have anything against lengthy novels, it's just that I can never finish his novels because he keeps going on and on in the history of the place. I had this problem with both The Source and The Covenant -- they were fantastic for the first three hundred pages, but then it started to feel like they were repeating themselves. He's Daddy's favorite writer ever, though, so I've never admitted to not finishing those two. I have a lot of reading to catch up on, actually. About the last third left in Master and Commander, plus most of the stuff I've bought over the past year, and I'm always in the process of rereading Tamora Pierce. It's The Realms of the Gods at the moment. I started over with Alanna once I'd finished Trickster's Choice, figuring I'd take my time for a rehashing of the Kel books, then hit TC again just before the second one comes out this fall. Alanna is still my favorite in terms of characters and plot (George! *swoon*), but the technical skill of Pierce's writing has definitely improved over the years -- Lady Knight shocked me with how good it was. I love all the books to death, but I can be objective about them too -- the earlier writing isn't the highest quality, even if they're engrossing stories. The Immortals had a looser focus and the primary romantic relationship came pretty much out of nowhere. While Kel isn't my favorite Pierce character, the Protector of the Small series is definitely Pierce's best work. I'll have to wait for the second half of the Trickster duology to come out before I can judge it, because it's not a complete story all on its own.

How on earth did that short little note turn into me waxing on about Tamora Pierce?

....I think I have to go read TRotG now. I hope they never Hollywoodize these books -- I don't think they're quite well-known enough, but with the Harry Potter movies and now A Series of Unfortunate Events, a closer inspection of contemporary children's fantasy might very well turn up some scripts. They're more likely to make a TV miniseries, which would actually please me more. NBC had a couple of years where it turned out some genuinely good fantasy specials -- "Gulliver's Travels" was the first, and I remember being so excited about it. I still have it on tape and watch it now and then. "The Odyssey"...well, it kind of sucked, but that's okay, because "Merlin" is fantastic. And "The 10th Kingdom," for that matter. I don't think they did a fantasy miniseries last year, but I can't remember. The market's certainly more open now after LotR. What was I rambling about? Tamora Pierce books as a miniseries rather than a theatrical release -- the obvious benefit is the extended length (though that didn't help "Mists of Avalon" *shudder* God, not even the pitch-perfect casting of Anjelica Huston and the adorableness of Michael Vartan saved that steaming pile of crap). The special effects budget would be somewhat less than satisfactory, but I'd understand and forgive it because it was TV. I would much rather have a decent script and half-assed effects than the other way around (George Lucas, I'm coughing in your fricken direction). I'd be horribly picky about casting though. Alanna would have to be perfect. And George too (GEORGE! *faint*). And while I don't care about him the way I care about the other two, it would take a pretty deft actor to keep Jonathan from sliding into total asshole territory.

Ooooh, I do love to cast books. But I could go on for hours about the Tortall universe, so I'll save that for a rainy day. Don't even get me started on His Dark Materials (although I would have picked either Keira Knightley or Evan Rachel Wood for Lyra, if I could magically de-age them a bit). I remember reading that they turned it into a play in Britain. Don't know how it well it did, but the idea is kind of iffy.

I think I've spammed enough for the day, what with the four "Collide" posts (though it was way more before I figured out that the LJ site would let me put more text behind a cut tag than Semagic would. Screw you, Semagic).


ETA: Accidentally posted this to pirategasm. Deleted it right away, but still? Dumb. Ass.

EATA: TWICE. I DID IT TWICE. Don't let me reproduce.