Internet hell

[rachelmanija]

The day before last I couldn't access the net through my normal DSL connection. Today the computer says it's connecting to wireless, but won't let me actually get online. No idea what's going on, but I don't see how I can fix it before I move. (I'm typing from a net cafe in my new neighborhood.)

Last night branna and I went to see Howl's Moving Castle. I thought it was splendid right up to the last five minutes, which were not awful but were less than splendid-- I haven't re-read Castle in a while and it's in a box right now, but my recollection is that the book concludes with a long scene in which everything is explained, whereas the movie doesn't explain the HUGE matter of Sophie's age curse-- well, I figured it out, but I think that was because I read the book-- and the identity of the scarecrow is out of left field, and I am pretty sure not Wynne-Jones' explanation.

Still, I think she must be pleased. The opening shot is pure magic, and the bio-mechanical Baba Yaga castle is an astonishing invention, as is Howl's magical temper tantrum (which seems to have really confused some critics.) I look forward to hearing the Japanese cast, although I generally liked the English one. Lauren Bacall and Jean Simmons were great, of course, and Christian Bale was so startlingly masculine-sounding, given the androgynous bishonen beauty of the Howl design, that it created kind of a cool effect. I bet the Japanese actor sounds much more boyish. Billy Crystal as Calcifer was funny but too Catskills for the character-- the line where he makes what ought to have been a very creepy suggestion to Sophie fell completely flat. I am very curious to hear the Japanese actor.

Comments

[sdn.livejournal.com]

she is pleased.

i refuse to see it until i can see a subtitled version. i have said this over and over on lj because i am trying to wash the horror of billy crystal as calcifer out of my brain.

[rilina.livejournal.com]

I had much the same reaction to the last five minutes and to the juxtaposition of Bale's voice and Howl's appearance.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Billy Crystal as Calcifer was funny but too Catskills for the character

Too Catskills? That's not a term I've heard before. (I mean, I definitely gather he was too hammy for the role as many people have said so, but now I want to know about the Catskills!)

[sdn.livejournal.com]

this will shed some light.

http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1995-96/95-062i.html

[marith.livejournal.com]

this will shed some light.

http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1995-96/95-062i.html

And the student was enlightened. I've driven through the Catskills and seen the motels, but never thought of them as part of an ethnic subculture before. Thanks!

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

They may have cancelled the connection earlier than you told them to -- I had that problem with one of my moves. Or possibly two.

Thank goodness for net cafes.

I still haven't made it to Howl. I keep debating whether I should go tonight or wait a bit longer.

[larryhammer]

In the book, the scarecrow turns out to be nothing more than a symptom of Sophie's magic. No identity at all. (Reread it last month.)

---L.

[branna.livejournal.com]

_That's_ what it was! I'd been racking my brain trying to remember what it really was, but all I could remember was that it was something other than what the film had shown me.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Wait, I thought it held part of the prince; the parts the Witch wasn't using to make her Perfect Man.