Boogeymen, TNG #17 by Mel Gilden. It's certainly a book.
So What Are you Reading?: Generations
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Historical accuracy is not being claimed. It's all just an excuse to have a character experience a lot of the same types of adventures that Verne wrote about, not saying that there was anyone in France actually having the surname Nemo, let alone one who went on a hot air balloon ride and saw fantastical sea creatures.
I never said it was. I said that, given the etymology, history, and story purpose of the name "Nemo," which literally means "Nobody" and was used by both Odysseus and the Nautilus's captain to convey anonymity, it's a strange creative decision on Anderson's part to pretend it was somebody's real name.
Yes, obviously, but the character could've easily been given a different name. The point is that, of all the possible names that Anderson could've chosen to be someone's real name, "Nemo" is the most laughably incongruous choice he could've made, given its meaning and literary history. It's like saying that The Time Machine was based on the real-life exploits of a man named Tim E. Traveller.
Mary Poppins, by Pamela Lyndon Travers.
Having seen the movie for the first time only weeks ago (I'd seen clips of it, including the "Uncle Albert" scene, but never the entire picture), I am rather curious to know why Travers had such a bee in her bonnet about it. Particularly given my well-known revulsion regarding "revisionist Oz."
So far, the only real difference is that there are only half as many kids in the movie, but they accompany her on her "day out" with Bert, which the movie covers in much more detail.
I don't see any stakes being dropped to zero (the way the 1939 "Wizard of Oz" movie did by reducing it to a dream-fantasy), and I don't see any utterly pointless changes (can you say "ruby slippers"?), and neither do I see notions of good and evil turned inside out (as in Wicked).
Having seen the movie for the first time only weeks ago (I'd seen clips of it, including the "Uncle Albert" scene, but never the entire picture), I am rather curious to know why Travers had such a bee in her bonnet about it. Particularly given my well-known revulsion regarding "revisionist Oz."
So far, the only real difference is that there are only half as many kids in the movie, but they accompany her on her "day out" with Bert, which the movie covers in much more detail.
I don't see any stakes being dropped to zero (the way the 1939 "Wizard of Oz" movie did by reducing it to a dream-fantasy), and I don't see any utterly pointless changes (can you say "ruby slippers"?), and neither do I see notions of good and evil turned inside out (as in Wicked).
Just hit the halfway point in "The Count of Monte Cristo". I found book with illustrations from 1888 that has really added so much to this reread. Another thing I love about this book is getting to dive deep into maps and art from the period. It has added so much this time to get deep into the references Dumas makes.
Hmm. The "Uncle Albert" scene (Chapter 3 of Mary Poppins) is somewhat changed from the book to the movie, but not, I think, in ways that change the meaning. And let's face it, those references to "laughing gas" would have never gotten past the Hays Office. And even the "wooden leg named Smith" joke came straight from the book.
Finished Survivors by Jean Lorrah. A great Tasha Yar story. Highly recommend.
Halfway through Mary Poppins. Three chapters that don't appear in the movie (although perhaps there are a few allusions to them). Still nothing to indicate that there was anything to the bee in Travers' bonnet.
Since my last post I finished Doctor Who: The Last of the Gaderene, and read the Farscape 25th Anniversary Special, which featured a short story by @KRAD, and then the third of issue of the Lower Decks ongoing comic that just came out yesterday, and the Voyager MU comic, Mirrors of Smoke.
My thoughts on each of them
Last of the Gaderene: It was good, it really captured the feel of that era of Doctor Who
Farscape: A nice collection stories, my biggest complaint was that they were all too short. @KRAD's stories was my favorite, tied with one other story.
Lower Decks #3: A ton of fun.
Now, I decided to get back to the Star Trek: SCE series and jumped back in where I left off with Here There Be Monsters also by @KRAD.
My thoughts on each of them
Last of the Gaderene: It was good, it really captured the feel of that era of Doctor Who
Farscape: A nice collection stories, my biggest complaint was that they were all too short. @KRAD's stories was my favorite, tied with one other story.
Lower Decks #3: A ton of fun.
Now, I decided to get back to the Star Trek: SCE series and jumped back in where I left off with Here There Be Monsters also by @KRAD.
Still in Mary Poppins. I've now read quite a few chapters that didn't make it into the movie (other than as throwaway references in unrelated scenes, like Mary's ability to communicate with animals), and I've seen a fair amount of grumpiness on the part of Mary that didn't make it into the movie, but nothing so far that falls into the categories of dropping the stakes, pointless change for its own sake, or turning morality inside out.
And I've got some more books on the way, including three rather rare works of children's lit: Escape, by Ben Bova, The Lion's Paw, by Robb White, and a "Junior Elf" picture book, Alexander Kitten.
And I've also paid through the nose for a copy of Joan Morris's memoir, Let Me Sing and I'm Happy, and I've put The Director Should've Shot You on my Chromebook.
And I've got some more books on the way, including three rather rare works of children's lit: Escape, by Ben Bova, The Lion's Paw, by Robb White, and a "Junior Elf" picture book, Alexander Kitten.
And I've also paid through the nose for a copy of Joan Morris's memoir, Let Me Sing and I'm Happy, and I've put The Director Should've Shot You on my Chromebook.
"Movies would be better if they shot less film and…
The term film "shoot" has been the subject of jokes, like this one in 1938: "Winchell thinks Hollywood should shoot fewer pictures…
The Director Should Have Shot You came up in another thread (the Vonda thread) earlier this week, and it came up in this very thread back in August.
Alexander Kitten is the story of a little orange kitten who thinks it's his duty to drive off any creature that's different from himself. And he gets his comeuppance from everything he tries to drive off, and he gets a talking-to from his grandfather. Given its lesson, it's a book that a lot of people should have learned. Especially a lot of people who wield a great deal of political power.
Alexander Kitten is the story of a little orange kitten who thinks it's his duty to drive off any creature that's different from himself. And he gets his comeuppance from everything he tries to drive off, and he gets a talking-to from his grandfather. Given its lesson, it's a book that a lot of people should have learned. Especially a lot of people who wield a great deal of political power.
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Finished Mary Poppins. I certainly see that Disney cherry-picked the episodes to be included in the movie, pulling in "The Sweep" from (according to Wikipedia) the second book (and conflating him with Bert), and apparently creating the whole episode of the bank-run and its aftermath from whole cloth, but I find nothing to justify Travers' well-known bee-in-the-bonnet about the movie. Certainly nothing that lowered the stakes (if anything, Walt raised the stakes!), or everted morality, or was changed just to show off Technicolor (and let's face it, hating animation, but writing an episode -- the entire second chapter -- that could not [even today!] be brought to the screen any other way, is hardly just cause for complaint). Neither do I see the sort of tail-wagging-the-dog situation that exists with Oz, especially given that Travers and her illustrator continued to write Poppins novels up until the illustrator's demise, and revised Chapter 6 herself twice to address complaints about racist stereotypes. So while the 1939 MGM Oz remains a hatchet job, Travers' bee-in-the-bonnet about Disney was merely a case of an author being too possessive, and too quick to take offense.
Next up, I think, is ADF's The Director Should Have Shot You. Simply because it's an e-book (the few hardcopy editions that exist are insanely expensive), and none of the books I ordered through Alibris (or through the Juilliard Store, in the case of Joan Morris's memoir) arrive for a few days.
Next up, I think, is ADF's The Director Should Have Shot You. Simply because it's an e-book (the few hardcopy editions that exist are insanely expensive), and none of the books I ordered through Alibris (or through the Juilliard Store, in the case of Joan Morris's memoir) arrive for a few days.
Jim Henson Presents is an anthology comic of the properties BOOM! has licensed. One of the covers to the first issue has The Storyteller and Moya, and when I saw that I imagined how cool it would have been to have John Hurt narrating Farscape.
Finished up the Marvel Trek miniseries 'The Untold Voyages' which ended up becoming a personal favorite through its use of the TMP to TWOK timeframe and the way it hinges on a lot of thematic stuff that comes to head in the films themselves.
In terms of literature, I'm working through Spock's World by Diane Duane, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
In terms of literature, I'm working through Spock's World by Diane Duane, and A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.
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