Reading Update: Book Comps

I always write about the interesting books I've read lately. Usually I do so a couple months after I've actually read them, when I've forgotten many details and my initial reactions. 

I thought for my book comp study, I'd try to write soon after reading the book. Though I'll also talk about how effective these compare to Evva's story.

I spent about five hours in the bookstore, reading book backs. Everything kinda blended together after a while, so I don't always remember why I chose these books. But I have now read (or listened to) all of my selection. Though there are a couple additional books from some of these authors that I may end up trying.

It turns out that some of these books are actually too old for effective comps. I didn't think to look at the publication date. I skipped books that I knew were older, and for some reason assumed that the  other books were new. Oops. 

 

Forestborn, by Becker

I think I chose this book because it had people that can turn into animals. Which actually is irrelevant to Evva's story, though it isn't uncommon in her world. Either way, this book ended up not being a helpful comparison. The world, magic systems, and characters were too different. I want to check out the second book in the series though. I need to know what happens!

Carry On, by Rowell

I picked this book in the hope that I could compare their magic school to my magic school. And I think I can use this one. It's only a little bit of a stretch.  Carry On very clearly makes fun of Harry Potter. It even uses direct references, like how the headmaster ignored him all year long. It's funny. This book references a lot of past events, which would usually be tedious. But because it echoes Harry Potter, it works. You can use your imagination to fill in the gaps, often with humorous results. A lot of people are pissed at the lack of diversity in Hogwarts - both in race and identity (I heard an author call Rowling "she-who-shall-not-be-named). So Carry On addresses that. 

I like the way spells work in Carry On. Words and phrases become magical when people use them a lot. The more popular a phrase is, the more powerful the magic. 

I liked Baz pretty much the moment he arrived. I guess because he's set up to be some villain, but it turns out that he was a victim (though he does admit to having done some nasty stuff). 

Imagine that Harry and Draco were roommates. And Draco was a vampire. And he was secretly in love with Harry. 

Heaven help me. I've stepped into a vampire romance. 

And I really enjoyed it. I almost never like "normal" romances, let along vampire romances. (as I'm doing the final edit of this post, I'm half-way through book 2)

I'm kinda heartbroken that Carry On is actually too old to really work as a book comp. I don't think you're supposed to use later books in a series, but I might try to do that anyway???

Elatsoe, by Little Badger. 

I wanted this to be one of the first books I read, because it seemed like the best option for a book comp. And indeed, their world and magic will be a good comp. 

It's a cool book. I do love the world, and the way it follows American Indian magic. My main complaint is that the character dialogue doesn't always seem to fit the mood? Like making silly jokes when they're in great peril. (It has something of a middle-grade feel, though it is listed as young adult). 

I also read A Snake Falls to Earth, by the same author. It doesn't fit quite as well as a comp, but I may need to use it because it's more recent. This one feels a little more middle-grade than Elatsoe. But it's sweet, and I am a sucker for animal people.

Graceling, by Cashore

This one didn't turn out to be a helpful book comp. It was interesting, though I'm not sure yet if I'll read the next book. 

I listened to the audio version of this one. It was really distracting because it was a "full cast" audio recording. Which meant that each character had their own voice actor. I did get used to that eventually, but the music always caught me off guard. The melodies could be super dramatic. And sometimes they didn't at all fit the tone. Like cutesy music when someone was thinking about attacking a little kid? 

The character goes through some really extreme struggles about deciding whether or not to enter into a relationship. After days of agonizing about it, I was kinda shocked to see that she didn't even start small. She went in about as far as she could, from the start. Which seemed pretty out of place to me. The villain seemed over-powered too.

Draw Down the Moon, by Cast and Cast

This one wasn't helpful either. From the beginning, it felt like the book was centered around a messed-up version of Hogwarts. The writing style was strange too. There are two POV characters. They mostly alternate chapters, written in first person. But their voices were so similar that I often had to stop and figure out which POV I was reading. The POV problem wouldn't have been a problem for me if it had been written in third person, but in first person there was no name to orient to. And first person should have more voice in it since you're in their heads. And some of the writing was blunt and clumsy, along the lines of, "you'll lose your cushy job if anything bad should happen to me. You don't want that, do you?" I'm not interested in reading more.

Every Heart a Doorway, by McGuire

Another one that isn't a helpful book comp. It was a fascinating concept. Kids sometimes fall into other worlds such as Alice in Wonderland, or the Greek underworld. Then sometimes those kids make it back to our world, but are desperate to return to the magic one. So this book takes place in a home for kids that are having trouble re-adjusting to the normal world. 

I liked the concept, though I wish it had focused more on the kids healing and moving on. Instead it turned into a series of murders. And it was strange to me that the main girl got back to her fantasy world. I expected this to be about finding your place in this world. Not escaping to another world, to literally be a statue in someone's garden. Oh well.

The Kinder Poison, by Mae

I assume I chose this book because the main character can talk to animals. Though she doesn't make too much use of that gift - indeed it's seen as rather useless. She was kind of hard for me to get a good grasp on. At first she seemed like a reckless sort, willing to risk everything to go to a fancy party and try fancy food. Then she ended up kinda overly compassionate, even saying that it puts her own survival at risk. Compassion is important. Imperative, even. It's the basis for this whole book. But something about how they handled it felt strange. But maybe that's because this is just book one. I'm undecided if I'll read on.

The concept echoed that of A Song of Wraith and Ruin.

Goose Girl, by Hale

Once again, I think I chose this one because of the "talking to animals" magic. I was mostly hoping to find some magic systems I could compare to mine. This is a retelling of a fairy tale. I liked it. but it turns out it's far too old to be a comp anyway. I'll try some other books by this author and see if I have any luck.

Love and Other Wicked Things, by Harms

I think I picked this one because of the nature magic. Though it was too much of a romance to be helpful to me. It had a nice cozy feel to it (when things weren't dangerous).

 

Dreams Lie Beneath, by Ross

I forget why I might have chosen this one. It didn't end up being helpful. It did have a cool concept: Once a month, nightmares come to life. Damn, what an idea. The plot and characters could have been a little more gripping. I was kinda disappointed to find that it was a revenge story. I could immediately tell how it would unfold. And I think that turning your heart to stone should have actual consequences. It didn't seem to change her at all. And oddly enough, this is the second book on this list where the protagonist is stabbed through the chest, but is magically saved. 

Infinity Alchemist, by Callender

I think I chose this one to check out the magical school. But the school and world wasn't at all like mine, and it was too romance-heavy to be a good comparison. The ending was kind of confusing. So, Ash just went into early retirement or something? It feels so strange that after all of his aspirations he'd just want to go chill in a cabin.

The Luminaries, by Dennard

I'm not sure why I chose this one. But I do find it odd that two books on this list have to do with fighting nightmares that come to life (I liked the nightmare system in Dreams Lie Beneath better). Maybe the "fighting demons" part is what made me look into this? Well, I suppose the protagonist's eagerness to enter into a demon mission could compare. Especially since both of them don't really understand what they're getting into.

 

Man Made Monsters, by Rogers

I must have picked this one because of the American Indian characters. But I don't think a collection of short stories can be a comp for a novel. And these were more like horror stories, which probably doesn't help either.

Accents are Cool

Might as well continue talking about actors. Because I've been watching a lot of cool behind-the-scenes from movies lately, and I still have a couple posts I'm going to write about them XD 

I know I've talked about this in the past, but sometimes it's surprising to hear the actor's real voice compared to their character's voice. Recently I was surprised to discover that three actors have British accents. Finn, from Star Wars. Elphaba from Wicked. And And Spiderman (the newest one, from the Marcel Cinematic Universe). 

Also from the MCU, I laugh when I see two certain British actors sounding American. It still surprises me sometimes. 

Disney Villains

Recently I heard some discussions about people's favorite Disney villain. Which, of course, got me thinking. And I don't have a definite answer. Partly because there are so many different ways to judge a villain. For example, which is the scariest villain? Or has the best design? Or is just has that attitude. So I'll talk about villains in terms of categories. And I'm only focusing on proper villains in this posts - not merely antagonists.

Best surprise villain: Te Ka. I'm usually pretty good at spotting the surprise villain before they reveal themselves. But man, this one really got me. And wow, what a reveal. 

Villains that are just cool and full of attitude, of varying types: Scar (Lion King), McLeach (Rescuers Down Under), and Barbosa (Curse of the Black Pearl - his role becomes more confusing in the following movies, so for this post I'm just referring to the first film). I might also put Zira on this list (Lion King 2). Probably Mother Gothel too (Tangled). 

Scariest Villain: Apparently when this movie came out, it was voted to have the scariest film villain. Which is fascinating, because you never even see them. And this movie also gets made fun of for being so cutesy. But I think I'm going to agree and say "Man," in Bambi. Damn, that scene where Man is first introduces is pretty powerful.

Cool animation: Ursula. Man, all those tentacles. How long did she take to draw? They seem to avoid drawing the tentacles as much as possible by focusing on her top half. But it's still impressive.

I had written down a category for "most evil villain." But I've mostly been looking at the animations, and generally cartoons don't get too evil since they're aimed at kids. But as I thought about it, I think the most evil Disney villain (at least in the animated features) might be Frolo, from Hunchback of Notre Dame. I suppose some of the early Disney Villains could be considered pretty evil, like in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. But they're more or less stock characters.

Then there are a couple characters that start out as villains, but end up veering toward good. For those, I like Long John Silver (Treasure Planet-and I suppose Treasure Island too) and Vitani (Lion King 2).

 

And just a quick nod to my favorite villain, who is not actually from a Disney movie. He also falls in that last category. 

Fiddler from the Past

I bring you a thorough distraction from what I'm supposed to be writing, in order to tell you of a very long-winded coincidence. 

One year my middle school put on the play Fiddler on the Roof. I tried out for it. Probably the first and only time I did so. I would have been out of town for one of the performances. That's definitely why I didn't get picked - not because of my lack of acting talent. 

O__O

(I actually have no idea how good my audition was, or how good I was at singing back then). 

Anyway, I must have seen the Fiddler on the Roof film before my school announced the play. I definitely saw it a few times. And a long time ago, probably a few years after my failed tryout, I bought Tradition off of iTunes. I thought I was buying the version from the film. It wasn't from the film. That didn't stop me from listening to it many times. But somewhere along the way, the song vanished from my computer music collection. So I haven't listened to it in some years. Nor have I seen the movie in a long while. 

Fast forward to the last few days, when I got distracted by watching some freaking awesome videos about making the Wicked movie. And the scene from Spiderman No Way Home where Dr. Octavius attacks Peter. Youtube suggested a video about filming Spiderman 2. Dr. Octavius's actor is in his full villain outfit, including the arms. I was thrilled to discover that those arms are sometimes real - not only cg. And they're moved by puppeteers. Puppet robot arms! I love it (maybe because Dad and I have been watching some of the old Muppet Show episodes, which are a lot of fun). Man, that must be an awkward rig to be strapped to, but I love when things are real. Cg can do amazing things, but real is just so... real, you know? All this is to say, actor Alfred Molina is ready to film the next scene. But he pauses to sing "If I were a Rich Man," from Fiddler on the Roof. Complete with the mechanical arms clacking in time to the beat. 

About a week before, I had just seen a completely unrelated video featuring the exact same song. An interesting coincidence. I want to watch the movie again. But I also never knew that Alfred Molina sings. When I found out in high school that Hugh Jackman sings, I was blown out of the water. I listened to his version of Oklahoma so many times - that was long before The Greatest Showman existed. I wonder how I would have reacted back then if I realized that both Wolverine and Dr. Octavius sang.

Last night, I found Alfred Molina's version of Fiddler on the Roof on Youtube. Not great video quality - so I guess it was sneakily taken by someone in the audience. The video was blurry, but it was fun to hear the songs again. I was amazed at how well I remembered some of them. 

Something about their version of Tradition caught my attention. I made a mental note to look into it.

Just now, I pulled out my stack of old CDs. I have a massive music collection. I've gone to great lengths to find some songs. And I continue to burn my music collections onto CDs, because I have had many close calls with the music on my computer. For example, when I've gotten a new computer, and a number of the songs wouldn't transfer over. For some reason, every now and then a song stops working. And some songs from iTunes that I've bought and show up on my purchase history will not load onto my computer, or laptop, or phone. Even an employee couldn't figure it out. Maybe that's how Tradition fell off of my computer. So yes, I keep CDs of all my music because I've had to rely on them many times to recover songs that have somehow self-destructed. I was confident that the Tradition song I'd bought as a teenager was still on one of those CDs. It was (thankfully on one of the first CDs I looked at - they're labeled pretty well XD )

I plugged in my disk reader and loaded the CD onto my computer. None of the songs were labeled, which is always annoying, but for some reason that often happens on burned CDs. It's like the computer remembers the names, but the CD itself doesn't remember them. I kept telling myself that of all the versions of Tradition available on iTunes, it was highly unlikely to be the same version I had just listened to. But for some reason at the last second, I decided that it must be the same version. I clicked play. And the version of Tradition I listened to all those times was the version that Alfred Molina sang. 

I guess I'll take this opportunity to put Tradition back on my computer. It's clearly a very determined song.

Takoyaki

I went back and tweaked something on the post I wrote a couple days ago. The one where I went on a random Spiderman tangent about Dr. Octavius: villain name Dr. Octopus. 

I have a pile of recipes I've printed out that I want to try making. After fixing the blog post, I picked up the recipe on the top of the pile. It was a recipe for Takoyaki. Fried octopus. 

Me going:

 

And just to make it stranger, a couple weeks ago I started a National Geographic series about octopuses. And I'll be finishing that soon.

Back to the Drawing Board

Sigh, once again I have rewritten my query letter. I kept a few phrases, but that's about it. I wonder how many times I've completely re-written it. 

Fern Finally has a Timeline. And Octopuses.

I've thrown Fern into all kinds of stories. Movies, books, anime, games. But I never really had a proper timeline. It was just a vague order of the places she visited. And it was mostly the order in which I thought saw the movie (or anime, etc). 

I haven't written out most of her stories - I just kept notes on them. But occasionally I do write them if I have a clear video in my head. Otherwise I'll lose some of the details over time.

Sometimes Fern goes back to a place over and over, sometimes to help across a span of time, and sometimes just to visit old friends. It was during some of these longer-term missions that I realized I needed a proper timeline. Otherwise I had no sense of what might be happening in her life that would affect her decisions and relationships. 

At long last, I started putting Fern's timeline into place. Even different plot points, if they're broken up into different parts. I had to be careful, because some of the missions do influence each other. And I also had to keep in mind how old she was - her timeline spans several years. Though the first couple years are with the X-Men, which is where she got her start (literally - it's the first time I created a character named Fern, though at first she was just a side character).

It's kinda cool. Now that the timeline is done, I can see how Fern and her friends grow over time.  And how her team builds.

 

I often get super attached to actors who play characters that become Fern's friends. There are a lot of them.

What seems like a random Spiderman digression will eventually work its way back in to the topic!  Mostly.

Sometimes when I revisit a movie/etc that I've stuck Fern into, I get a surge of motivation about it. I just watched a movie from very early in Fern's timeline: Spiderman 2 (from the Spiderman movies I grew up with, starring Tobey Maguire). I always loved the first two movies. My mom always thought that the villain in Spiderman 2 was a dumb design for a super-villain. But I always liked him (he seems to be pretty popular in this role). When I watched the movie this time, I figured out why I like him so much. 

Dr. Octavius only has a few minutes of screen time before the disaster. But he makes amazing use of those minutes. On his first appearance, he's a little aloof and annoyed at being bossed around by this rich kid. And who can blame him? (I mean, Harry is more concerned about revenge and money than Rosie's death and Doc ending up in the hospital). But he and Peter bond right away, and soon are at his house. You can see how much he and his wife love each other, and the way they talk and tease really draws you in. Just in that short scene, you can't help but grow to like them. I'd never noticed before how impressive it is that they accomplish it so quickly. (When Peter and Doc are bantering in that scene, I want to laugh and shout, "nerds!" I am a nerd, so I use that word with love). I can't think of other characters make a stupid joke, and then apologize for it.

Then comes the accident, leaving Dr. Octavius completely devastated. Not only was his life's work destroyed, but his wife was killed during the malfunction. He's completely vulnerable in that moment, and that's when he loses control to his own machines. Only when Peter reconnects with him does he manage to regain control of his mind and his machines. Dr. Octavius manages to save the city, but at the cost of his own life. 

It always pissed me off that he only had a couple minutes between breaking free and dying. So, enter Fern. I love using Fern to save people. She and Spiderman would be buds. They're both animal-themed nerds, after all.

As a matter of fact, the reason I pulled out these older Spiderman movies was because I just watched one of the newest Spiderman movies (I've been in the very slow process or catching up with the MCU films). I'd heard that Doctor Octavius would be in Spiderman No Way Home, but I didn't know how it would play out. To my astonishment, the MCU version of Peter Parker crosses the boundaries of space-time and saves Doctor Octavius and a number of others (Watch me going, "hey, that was my idea!" I love using Fern to interfere with other stories, but I get annoyed when other people do it XD Can you say "hypocrite?"). But I was also happy to see some "old friends." There's the scene Dr. Octavius wakes up, finally in control of himself. He says in wonder that his mind is his own again. No more sinister voices directing his actions. It gave a whole new perspective to what he must have been going through. 

And it was hilarious seeing Peter take over Dr. Octavius's arms and drag him around. I just found that scene on Youtube, and I was laughing my head off. Man, Doc is so pissed.

So, again, Spiderman No Way Home lead me to re-watch the first two Spiderman movies. I hadn't seen them in quite a while even though I own them. I had a new perspective on the mechanical arms this time. Octopuses are so freaking cool (spiders also, to be fair). Each octopus arm kinda has its own brain, which is exactly like the mechanical arms. (Also I just realized that Peter never really seems to acknowledge or mourn the fact that his friend died while shutting down the machine? At least not in Spiderman 2)

I also got a bunch of new ideas about Fern's role around this movie. For example, Ben and Doctor Octavius would definitely be lab partners, geeking out about all kinds of tech (saying that phrase makes me think of Entrapta and Hordak). And it's cool to think that the mechanical arms - once so dangerous - could become a powerful asset wielded by an ally. 

I always thought that Spiderman 2 was the first movie I'd seen his actor in: Alfred Molina. But every now and then I look up the actors that appear in a specific film. And sometimes I discover, to my astonishment, that they appear in other movies that I know very well. Which was the case with him. Alfred Molina's first film role was in Indiana Jones. He was covered with live tarantulas. There's a documentary about making Indiana Jones, where he talks about the experience. He's standing there during filming, with giant spiders all over his back, and they're telling him to look scared. And he's going, "I'm scared! I'm sacred!" (Does anyone else find it fitting that he went on to fight a certain spider in a later film?) He also had a role in Ladyhawk. A slightly hokey older movie, which I nevertheless love. 

Okay, final digression. My high school principal looked exactly like the villain from Spiderman (the first film). I wasn't the only one who thought so. They mentioned it in the yearbook. To my nerdy delight, Alfred Molina also bears a slight resemblance to the band director I had in high school. I loved to make fun of the fact that Spiderman villains were taking over my school.

Greatful

I have a confession

I always spell "greatful" wrong. 

It's really spelled "grateful." "Great" doesn't actually appear in the word. Except, grate-fully, I'm finally starting to get it write instead of having to re-right it each time the red underline appears on a word document. 

 Red-fronted brown lemur

Moana 2

I was undecided about whether or not I wanted to see Moana 2 in theaters. I knew it would be visually fun to watch. But Dad wanted to go. He likes the original Moana, as do I. And he loves the fact that Maui's tattoos move. My dad, believe it or not, is half covered in tattoos. And Maui's tattoos are more entertaining than the ones in The Illustrated Man (another tale of moving tattoos, but more dangerous than Maui's).

It was fun to revisit old friends. And get to know some of the Motunui people better. I kinda wish it had a more interesting name than just "Moana 2" though. 

Spoilers. I need to create some kind of icon to put with my "spoiler warnings."

I didn't like Maui in the first movie. I've complained about it so much to other people, but I don't think I ever explained it here. Basically, I really love most of the first Moana. But the whole middle section annoyed the heck out of me. Mostly because of Maui. He literally tries to kill Moana, and never even apologizes, or acknowledges it. He locks her in a cave with no food or water, and it's mostly by dumb luck that she gets out. All I can say is that I eventually became accustomed to Maui.

Then the Jungle Cruise movie came out. I wasn't super excited about it, though it grew on me more after I went to the Amazon myself. Maui's actor plays the main guy in Jungle Cruise. I liked him in it. And because actors can make me like characters more, I think that may have gotten me to warm up to Maui slightly.

Moana 2 made me like Maui more. I wrote about this a really really long time ago, but there's a topic in film (and other media) that always hits me hard in the gut. It's when the tough, unflappable characters are brought low. That happened in Moana 2, when the crew rescued the drowning Maui. To be fair,  Maui got his @$$ handed to him in the first Moana, clobbered by a giant crab. And while it is hard to watch, I didn't like Maui in the first movie, so didn't really feel it. 

 

Funny story interlude. Some people at Fanime have awesome character costumes. A few years ago, I saw a guy dressed as Maui. I asked to take a picture of him, so I could show my dad. Maui posed and let me take the shot. 

"Thank you," I said. 

"You're welcome." 

Oh man, I'd stepped right into that one. I was kinda infuriated, but also very impressed. He got me good.

 

It's nice that they gave the coconuts (kakamora) more depth. 

The music didn't sound same like the same song-writer from the first movie. And indeed it wasn't the same person. It sounds like Lin Manual Miranda just had too much on his plate. Though the songs were pretty good. I won't be able to judge until I get to know the new ones better though.

It was pretty to watch. But it left me asking "why" over and over.  

Why did Maui lose his tattoos? Was it supposed to represent that he lost his powers, or something? It seemed like the only reason to do that. But it also didn't really mean anything. He was only without his powers for a couple minutes, and I don't think they would have been any help during that two minutes. He'd already lost his hook.

What's with the thunder god and bat goddess? We don't really hear anything about how they got to where they are, and what happened to them. Are they trying to imply that a Moana 3 is on the way? And why were they going so far out of their way to make the bat lady seem evil? She would have been really cool if she made more sense. 

I think this is unfair, but I almost feel like Moana's sister was just put there for motivation factors. 

Also, something about the way the animate the faces is different. It's strange, which my just be because I'm used to the first movie. 

Did they really need to pull the "On no, Moana's dead!" card? They already did that with Elsa and Olaf. I didn't buy it then either. We know you're not going to kill off the princess, Disney. (Moana says she's not a princess, but she's a "Disney Princess"). The only thing I liked about that scene is that it was good seeing Maui's vulnerable side. All the rest of it, I was just going, "really?"

And what were they trying to imply with her tattoos? Is she supposed to be a demigod now, like Maui? 

Ah well. As far as sequels go, this one was pretty good.

Wicked

Wicked! Finally, finally, finally, they made a movie of it! 

When I first saw the trailer, immediately sent Nick a message about it. He's the one that taught me about the stage play. I was both excited and terrified. Excited for the potential of an amazing film, and terrified in case they messed it up. In the message to Nick I said, "I'm gonna cry if they don't do it justice." 

The two of us went to see it together. And when the movie started, it took us flying up over Oz, and to Munchkinland. Everyone there is celebrating Elphaba's death. And Glinda is celebrating with them, but you can just see the heartbreak she's trying to hide. And I started crying. So, Wicked did make me cry. But only because they did an awesome job. 

I loved it. They really captured heart of the stage play. In fact, I only had one complaint, but I'll get to that later. 

Spoilers, as well as some vague references to part 2. 

The movie is long. Considering this is only the first half of the story, I expected they had added a ton of filler. But they didn't. I couldn't identify any random stuff they threw in. All they did was fill out the existing parts. And maybe some scenes were a little long. Like the dance. That was supposed to be super awkward, but they could have shortened it a bit. 

I love the original Elphaba and Glinda so much that I thought it would be hard to like new versions of them. But both of the new ladies were awesome too. And I love that the two original stars got a cameo. A pretty hilarious one too. And it was so sweet to see them greet the new versions of their characters. 

I love that the whole school is smitten with Fiyero. He looks too old to be in school, but the play does cover many years. So he'll fit the part when the next movie rolls around. (Fiyero's actor is actually one year younger than Elphaba's).

Madame Morrible is a nasty piece of work (especially in part 2). But damn, she has style. 

Doctor Dillamund really got me this time. Maybe because I've gotten to be good friends with some goats. But his fate hit me a lot harder this time than it did during the play. Poor guy. TT^TT. I hope they include something in movie 2 about him getting help. 

I also hope that movie 2 does a better job with Boq. I could never accept that the play version was anything like the corresponding character in The Wizard of Oz. 

I like they way they framed "I'm Not That Girl." With the green plants and pink flowers in the background. Green and pink, representing Elphie and Glinda.

And Defying Gravity. Such a freaking awesome song. The new Elphie is an amazing singer. But this is where I had my only complaint about the movie. They broke up "Defying Gravity" into too many pieces. It kinda took some of the power out of it. It was broken up some in the original version, but not as much. I'm going to find the soundtrack and see if there's a version that's a little more fluid. 

I managed to drag my parents to see it with me. Mom saw it in theaters with me and Nick (I kinda bullied her into coming, so she could drive XD It was a long time ago). Dad was familiar with many of the songs, after hearing me sing them dozens of times over the years. I was glad to find that Dad was getting hooked into the movie. At one point, Mom leaned over and whispered to me about Glinda, "what a little shit!" I laughed. She really is at first. Mom had forgotten that from the play. I had not.

And while Glinda may be a little shit to Elphie at first, I so love both characters. 

The only question is, when they release part 2, will there be a special edition DVD set? And can I wait that long to get it?

Hitting the Library

A lot of the librarians know me because I frequently check out big stacks of books. 

There are the usual. I'll get a movie and manga about once a week. Sometimes a novel, if I don't have a giant stack of books I'm in the middle of. 

But mostly they're reference books. I don't read most of them. I've been getting a research list for future stories. I scan them to see if they look helpful. Some books I'm marking for a later date. Others I want to buy for current research projects. 

 Sometimes they ask me what I do with so many books, and it's strange trying to explain it.

Sifaka lemur

Ghibli on the Big Screen

Ghibli movies made the rounds through our theater again this year!  I sought out as many as could that I had never seen on the big screen. Or in Ponyo's case, that I hadn't seen it since it's release. Now that I know Ponyo so well, I can spot little details that I had never seen before. 

For example when they're on the boat, Ponyo runs across the water to see the baby. She knocks the backpack into the water. And when the boat shrinks back down, there's a split second where you can see that the thermos shrank (along with the hat and binoculars). 

I always loved the opening of Ponyo. It's so beautiful and mysterious. I didn't quite get what was happening, until I got the art book, and read the information in it. Fujimoto is making jellyfish! And for a while I was convinced that he was somehow taking the glow from the squid. But not so - he's using his light to communicate with the squid. Which is nicer than stealing its glow. 

(He's so strange - I love it)

Bit by bit, Ponyo and Sosuke leave everything behind, until only the bucket is left (though Fujimoto returns the boat at the end, which I assume still holds the other things that shrank with it). 

The same thing happened in Princess Mononoke. One by one, all of Ashitaka's things are lost, right down to the shirt on his back. They face the finale with only their strengths, and bonds. It happens in Castle in the Sky too. 

There's a couple things about Princess Mononoke which took me a while to notice (though they're not recent discoveries). At the very end, you see the survivors of Iron Town floating on the raft. There's a moment where you can see that the people with leprosy have been cured. One lady is looking at her hand in amazement, the bandages fallen away. And there's a point where San slams her fist into Ashitaka's chest. She's holding her dagger. I thought she had the blade inside her fist enough that it wouldn't actually stab him. But not so. That dagger stabbed Ashitaka. But the curse has progressed so far that it doesn't seem to damage him at all.

 

I caught Nausicaa too. It was awesome to see the ohmu looking full-sized. I noticed for the first time that some of the kids are feeding Kai and Kui in the background. 

Dad wanted to come see Whisper of the Heart with me. I think he just wanted to go to the movies in general, but he had fun. I just spotted a small detail, where Shizuku's looking at the bunk bed above hers. You can see the slats creaking. Man, what detail. 

I didn't notice anything specific in The Tale of Princess Kaguya. But I was glad to finally see that one on the big screen.

Now I just need to see Arrietty on the big screen. And I haven't seen The Wind Rises since it came out, so I'd like to see that too. And probably The Boy and the Heron as well.

Miyazaki's birds

The Boy and the Heron is probably Miyazaki's strangest movie. Which is saying a lot. I think it was common for people to walk out of the theater, wondering what the heck had just happened. I was one of those people. 

But as I learned more about the film, I grew to appreciate it more. 

Through all the strangeness, at it's core is a boy who's hurting from the loss of his mother, and is growing up during a terrible war.

The movie's not as random as it seems. Many of the events in the film are based off of things that happened in Mikazaki's life. And the characters represent family, and people he's worked with. (I want to know so much more about how the heron represents Suzuki-san).

The heron, even in his normal bird form, is a bit unsettling to look at. It's largely because of his initial behavior, but the eyes aren't normal bird eyes either. Though he can be pretty. Especially when his beak is newly repaired, and he's thrilled to be back in his bird form. 

I saw gray herons in Japan, and had some beautiful views of them. Stalking the ponds in front of the Gold Pavilion Temple. And standing in the river at night, street lights reflecting off of the water. One eye glows (which is very Miyazaki-esque).

We have blue herons where I live. I once saw one swallow a big rat, though it wasn't as big as the fish the heron eats.

I also want to know what the other birds represent. It feels like Miyazaki really wanted to draw birds. Huge packs of them. The pelicans can be quite pretty (considering what an oddly shaped bird they are). I've handled pelicans before, at the rescue center. I've held them while they were fed, and it's like holding a dinosaur. It was awesome. But one of the staff there got nailed by a pelican. That hook on their beak left a red gash down his face. So, don't mess with pelicans. 

The parakeets aren't particularly pretty. They're also the most dangerous birds in the movie. 

I saw the movie first in Japanese. When I saw the English version, I was thrilled to recognize some of my favorite characters. Kipo is Himi. Wade is one of the Parakeets. Scarlemagne is another parakeet, but that guy is good at disguising his voice, so I need to listen again and see if I can figure out who he plays. 

And that first scene with the fire is stunning, and haunting. 

There's a scene where Mahito has to cut open a giant fish, and all the guts spill out. I thought that was nasty the first time I saw the movie. Then I went to the class in New Jersey, and gutted a fish for the first time. And I did such a horrible job, I felt just like Mahito must have. Experts make it look easy to gut a fish. I think they must be cheating somehow. Because I could not get the insides out of that poor fish. I had organs bursting in my hands, until there was blood up to my wrists and my hands were too slippery to grip. Some parts just wouldn't come out, and I ended up having to saw them loose. No one else was having the trouble I was having, so I don't know what the heck I was doing wrong. But the next time I saw The Boy and the Heron, I was laughing at the fish scene because I could relate.

Epic: The Musical Odyssey

Nicole's really good at finding things for me to get hooked on. 

The latest is Epic: The Musical. 

When she asked if I knew about Epic, I thought she was talking about the movie with the coolest namesake (Queen Tara).  Then she told me about Jorge Herrans, a guy who has been making a musical based off of The Odyssey. 

She played me animatics of "Warrior of the Mind" (where Athena is introduced) and "Suffering," (with the sirens). I read a ton of Greek myths as a kid. Other myths too, but Greek mythology is easy to come by. I'd read a lot of the Odyssey for school, and liked it. So I was already willing to dig deeper into Epic. (I just borrowed my uncle's copy of the Odyssey to read it again. I'm not sure if I ever read the whole thing.)

I told Nicole that either she's really good at selling stuff, or really good at selling me stuff. Because she's given me several things that I've gotten hooked on. On the other hand, I keep trying to tell people about Epic, and no one has been interested. 

Just over a week ago, Jorge released the final songs. I almost always find out about things long after they've been popular. But this time, I actually feel like I got to take part in it! I started tuning in just before the Vengeance Saga, to see the end of Epic come about.

Here's a link to the full playlist, but I recommend you check out his videos. He talks a lot about how he wrote the songs, he has some of the singers appear to act out scenes, and sometimes there's just general horsing around. I love that he can't keep a straight face when he's trying to make a joke.

There are also a ton of amazing fan-made animatics for the songs. I went crazy during a vacation and made a huge playlist of them. I'm sure there are more great ones I've missed.

Now that the music is done, Jorge can start turning it into a real play! I hope I can go see it.

His latest albums have been selling at the top of the charts. Even though he's not working with a big company, and has done most of the work himself (it reminds me of Undertale). And despite the fact that I've never met him, I'm so proud of him. I randomly feel proud of people that I have no actual relationship to. I may be just a little jealous too, since he's only in his mid twenties XD

Most of the cast actually went to Ithaca to celebrate the completion of the soundtrack!

It's awesome to hear his process for writing songs. He works in so many elements. For example, characters will pick up instruments and themes that are usually reserved for other characters, for example if they're trying to appeal to someone. And he'll drop melodies into songs to hint that one character is involved in something else. I love it. 

He also uses a lot of slant rhymes, which are interesting to find.

He sings the part of Odysseus. His mom, dad, girlfriend, and friend all have parts. This guy attracts music somehow.

He's posted some videos where he reviews video games. I always love seeing analyses of character motivations and such. 

There's lots of great singers involved. But one stands out as my favorite. Calypso is not a great person. But her singer is stunning. Her voice. Wow. I stumbled across a lot of comments with similar viewpoints. They don't like Calypso, but they love the singer. Even Jorge posted a video saying that it's important to critique the singer. It cut to a clip of her singing, and Jay's gushing, "you're so goood!" 

I love Polites' song. It's so catchy. "Dangerous" is too. I gravitate toward the fun, catchy ones. But so many of them are really good.

So, God Games. Does anyone else think that Zeus isn't mad that Athena won, but is mad at the arguments she used to win over Hera?

(Also, I want to do a God Games animation where it goes "Apollo, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Aries, Hera, or, Poseidon." He'd actually be easy to win over. Athena would just say that he can't kill Odysseus while he's with Calypso (while Athena's muttering apologies to Odysseus under her breath).

Coco Live

When I went to the Ghibli concert, there was a poster outside of the concert hall that caught my eye. They would be playing Coco, and the soundtrack would be performed live by the symphony. I'd been tempted to attend a live soundtrack for a while. I'd seen them for Star Wars, and other big-name movies. I never expected to stumble across a playing of Coco. So I knew I would be returning to the hall again.

It was so fun. And not just because of the live music, but because of the massive, excited audience. Their cheers got me so pumped up that I wasn't even tempted to cry. 

Not only did they play all of the background music and guitar accompaniment, but they even played some of the little musical sound-effects from various musicians in the movie. 

I noticed songs that I'd never really paid much attention to, because they're not on the soundtrack. I wonder why they leave off so many little bits of music. Are they just too short, or simple? 

The conductor had a computer screen above the score. The screen marked the downbeat of each bar, so he could keep exact time with the film.

I wonder how they get film audio that only has the spoken and sung words. Is there some way to separate the layers of audio? Or is it something that's saved as a copy when the movie is made? I have no idea how that kind of stuff works!

It was great. It would be fun to see other movies with a live soundtrack.