At Last!
It is finally feeling like a proper summer, and just in time for Summer Proper to arrive! You know--temperatures in the 90s. Flash storms. All that good stuff. ^_^<3
So! In recent news for me (I don't think I have any national/world news today I'm compelled to share), I finally sucked it up and took the car in for maintenance. Aaaaand.... THE CAR! SHE IS FINE! Thank goodness--I've spent the last few months terrified by my transmission, believing it could die horribly at any moment. Apparently, it's just fine after all. So, she's got fresh oil, and got gas the same day. AWESOME.
Adrian is all summered up too! He got a new tricycle with all kinds of bells and whistles and an inflatable kiddie pool that he just got to use for the first time today! He thoroughly enjoyed it. ^_^ Of course, now that he as a new pool, I had to get him new swim trunks, because I thought he'd outgrown his swimwear from last year. I may need to double-check that, because his new trunks, despite my careful check of height/weight size recommendations are HUGE on him--as in, he is in constant danger of them falling off. ^_^;
I'm feeling pretty good because I feel rather on top of my art game right now--I'm working ahead on July art and have some meme-requested art in the coloring process at the moment, so yay. So, while I'm feeling ahead of things here, I would like to take the opportunity to again offer my crafting services for holiday gifts this year. Now, it takes time and effort to make crafts, and I've got less time this year than I did last year (a slight downside of fulltime employment), so, please, make your requests NOW, people! NOW. DO NOT WAIT or I CANNOT promise you'll get it in time for the holidays. I'm setting request cutoff for Halloween this year. Now, as for what you want, I can make you just about anything. Last year, as examples, I made two pairs of slipper socks, three scarves, three hats (including an Alphonse Elric hat), and a stuffed kitten. I also recently made a hand towel and washcloth set for a swap, and gave my dad a handmade bookmark for Father's Day. Or, if you'd rather, I can also make you pipecleaner dolls. So, here's what you'll need to do for me if you want a holiday craft handmade by yours truly:
-First, let me know what you want! At least, give me a genre, e.g. socks, a hat, a scarf, bag, bath set, toy, whatever. But, please, try to choose something relatively small (that will not require more than about three balls of yarn), just due to time and budget constraints. In other words, not a sweater or a blanket, for instance. I'll put it this way... If you don't tell me otherwise, you'll get a bookmark. After all, everyone could use an extra bookmark.
-Second, let me know if you have any preferences or restrictions regarding colors or fibers. I want it to be something very special that you'll love, and so I'd rather make it in your favorite color(s), and not with any fibers you might be allergic or otherwise object to.
-Third, if this is an item that would not be "one size fits all" (such as a pair of socks), let me know what size I'll need to make for you--preferably in inches.
-Finally, since with few exceptions among those of you reading this, I will most likely be unable to present your gift in person, I'll need shipping information for you. For your safety, I recommend that you email that info to me at ardruna@gmail.com. Simply put, if I don't know where it needs to go, I'm not going to be able to get it to you.
I am also happy to say that I finally got the opportunities to go and see both "Star Trek" and "Angels and Demons." As I said before, "Star Trek" is made of win and awesome and frickin' casting GENIUS (even if I did keep waiting for Spocklar to unzip somebody's head), despite the handful of Stuff Thrown in For No Explicable Reason. Not that it was bad stuff--just stuff that they tossed in from left field with no explanation offered whatsoever. And, gotta love the fact that Iowa is still Iowa, except now with giant buildings and the occasional Huge Chasm of Doom. XD
As for "Angels and Demons," well, it was a good movie, easily on par with its counterpart "The Da Vinci Code." Of course, I just re-read the book very recently prior to seeing it, and so I have my usual list of inter-media commentary and Completely Unnecessary Changes to go with it:
The most glaring alterations between the book and the film center on The Body--you know, the one we see in the first chapter that always drags poor Dr. Robert Langdon away from his Harvard ivory tower to go solve an esoteric mystery. In the book, the unfortunate victim is Leonardo Vetra, self-proclaimed theo-physicist, Catholic priest and adoptive father of Our Heroine Vittoria Vetra. His eye has been cut out, his neck snapped, and his chest branded with an ambigram spelling out "Illuminati"--which is what causes the director of CERN (the research facility where he works) to call upon Langdon to figure out what the hell is going on. Around 5 a.m., Langdon gets an insistent call for help from said director, and is very confusedly flown to Switzerland via space plane, shown the body, and thus begins his trip into Wackyland. In the film, The Body is a guy named Silvano who is merely Vittoria's research partner who also happens to be a priest, and, while his eye IS cut out, there is no "Illuminati" (or any other) brand on his chest. Rather than being summoned to Switzerland to see The Body, Langdon is summoned directly to the Vatican by the Swiss Guard because someone FAXED IN the Illuminati ambigram--he never even sees The Body, and runs into Vittoria in the Swiss Guard Waiting Room.
This, unfortunately, robs the film of a particularly delicious layer of ironic complexity because of the whole deal with the late Pope being the camerlengo's natural (not just adoptive) father, which parallels Vittoria's relationship with HER father. ...for the record, while it IS mentioned in film that the Pope was the camerlengo's adoptive father, they don't touch the whole "the Pope was *really* his father!" bit either in the movie, sad to say. My guess to why is that a) they probably wouldn't have had time to adequately cover these points in the film without it feeling like a distraction from the antimatter plot and b) they wouldn't want to offend anyone's theo-political sensitivities about such things, especially since I think there was a news story recently about a priest in a Third World country who had fathered children with women in his parish, not to mention the whole "Father Oprah" bit that happened here not too long ago. For that matter, it also takes away another level of motivation for Vittoria's character, since she doesn't seem particularly interested in avenging her lab partner's demise.
The next glaring (and, in my opinion, unnecessary) change was the Illuminati brands themselves. In the book, there are a total of six ambigrammatic brands: "Illuminati," "Earth," "Air," "Fire," "Water," and the Illuminati Diamond. In the film, there are only five: the four elemental brands, and then a pair of crossed keys. I don't really understand why they did it that way, because it doesn't actually change the plot all that much--the camerlengo still runs down into the catacombs to get the antimatter, but it just changes the clue and makes him seem more innocent at first, I guess. Maybe the prop and makeup departments just got lazy at that point, I dunno.
Also in the list of totally unnecessary changes are two changes of nationality for two of the characters. In the book, the camerlengo is named Carlo Ventresca, and, duh, is Italian. Meanwhile, the guy doing the actual killings is a Middle Eastern fellow simply referred to as The Hassassin. In the film, our camerlengo is now an Irishman named Patrick McKenna and the assassin is just some white guy who apparently thinks he's Clark Kent (no, seriously, his big disguise is a pair of glasses). I suppose with The Hassassin, changing him was probably done so as not to appear OMG!racist! and stereotype that particular ethnicity--which may also be why they suddenly give him a gun (he uses a knife more often in the book) and completely leave out his taste for dominating women (which means Vittoria does not get taken hostage in the film, alas). As for changing the camerlengo... My best guess is that they couldn't figure out any way to transform Ewan McGregor into an Italian (and, not to say that he didn't do a fine job as the camerlengo, I don't think I would have made him my first choice for the role).
I was a little disappointed to see that they left Cardinal Baggia alive in order to become Pope in the film (he drowns in the fountain in the book), because then Cardinal Mortati (the guy who's supposed to be in charge of running Conclave) wasn't able to take on the role, as in the book. For that matter, I'm a little confused as to why they mentioned the possibility of electing the camerlengo as Pope by means of Election by Adoration without actually DOING it in the film (in the book, it happens and he gets to be Pope for all of seventeen minutes before becoming a human torch). I suppose it's right at that point in the film when the camerlengo realizes all his schemes are in the open, but still. Kinda pointless to bring it up and then not do anything with it--just like Langdon mentioning the Diagramma being printed on sedge papyrus, which dissolves in water, without having the page get dissolved, like in the book (though I will approve of THAT particular change, since I cringed horribly to think of that history lost forever, and I suppose it makes a decent enough parting gift since the Illuminati Diamond apparently doesn't exist at ALL in the film). Which, alas, also means we didn't get to see Langdon jump from the helicopter into the river. A shame.
Also missing from the film is Director Kohler--though he gets a brief mention in the beginning. This is understandable, though, to a degree, since his sole purpose in the book is essentially a plot catalyst: he recruits Langdon to explain the Illuminati situation, and then ends up being the one to out the camerlengo as the mastermind. The roles are filled in by other characters in the film to fairly equal effect.
For a few other observations, it was a little irksome to keep hearing them refer back to a prior "incident" (which is plainly supposed to be the "Da Vinci Code" film), when "Angels and Demons" is supposed to PRECEDE "The Da Vinci Code." Of course, the stories are stand alone--they don't build upon each other--so it makes sense somewhat if you consider that most people who are watching the movie probably saw "The Da Vinci Code" and probably have NOT read the books. This may be a partial reason for the continued refusal to acknowledge Langdon as a sexual being in the new movie: "The Da Vinci Code" film suggests a possible romantic connection between Sophie and Robert (downplayed, I'm sure, because of the whole purity of Christ deal--though, in the book, it's much more blatant, seeing as Sophie pretty much promises Robert a week of sexin' whenever they see each other next at the very end) and, golly gee goodness, no guy in his right mind would leave/cheat on the last living descendant of Jesus Christ, right? Otherwise, there really was no reason to omit the Robert/Vittoria subplot except for possibly to keep the film's runtime down/detract attention from the Big Main Antimatter Plot. This annoys not only my hopeless romantic sensibilities (though I use the term "romance" here loosely in this case), but also that it flattens Langdon's character so he's little more than a walking symbology encyclopedia, rather than a human being.
...however, is it just me, or does Dr. Langdon seem AWFULLY cranky in this movie? In fairness, having your morning spoiled at the crack of dawn by some stranger urgently needing your help to solve a mystery that quickly turns into a terroristic bomb plot so you only end up with four hours to figure things out, with people dying left and right, stretching very late into the evening, all while fighting jet lag is enough to make ANYONE irritable. Still, he's about ten times more snarky in "Angels and Demons" than he ever was in "The Da Vinci Code." Just sayin'.
Ok. I think that's all for now. Until next time! Don't forget--I need those holiday requests ASAP, so get them in!
So! In recent news for me (I don't think I have any national/world news today I'm compelled to share), I finally sucked it up and took the car in for maintenance. Aaaaand.... THE CAR! SHE IS FINE! Thank goodness--I've spent the last few months terrified by my transmission, believing it could die horribly at any moment. Apparently, it's just fine after all. So, she's got fresh oil, and got gas the same day. AWESOME.
Adrian is all summered up too! He got a new tricycle with all kinds of bells and whistles and an inflatable kiddie pool that he just got to use for the first time today! He thoroughly enjoyed it. ^_^ Of course, now that he as a new pool, I had to get him new swim trunks, because I thought he'd outgrown his swimwear from last year. I may need to double-check that, because his new trunks, despite my careful check of height/weight size recommendations are HUGE on him--as in, he is in constant danger of them falling off. ^_^;
I'm feeling pretty good because I feel rather on top of my art game right now--I'm working ahead on July art and have some meme-requested art in the coloring process at the moment, so yay. So, while I'm feeling ahead of things here, I would like to take the opportunity to again offer my crafting services for holiday gifts this year. Now, it takes time and effort to make crafts, and I've got less time this year than I did last year (a slight downside of fulltime employment), so, please, make your requests NOW, people! NOW. DO NOT WAIT or I CANNOT promise you'll get it in time for the holidays. I'm setting request cutoff for Halloween this year. Now, as for what you want, I can make you just about anything. Last year, as examples, I made two pairs of slipper socks, three scarves, three hats (including an Alphonse Elric hat), and a stuffed kitten. I also recently made a hand towel and washcloth set for a swap, and gave my dad a handmade bookmark for Father's Day. Or, if you'd rather, I can also make you pipecleaner dolls. So, here's what you'll need to do for me if you want a holiday craft handmade by yours truly:
-First, let me know what you want! At least, give me a genre, e.g. socks, a hat, a scarf, bag, bath set, toy, whatever. But, please, try to choose something relatively small (that will not require more than about three balls of yarn), just due to time and budget constraints. In other words, not a sweater or a blanket, for instance. I'll put it this way... If you don't tell me otherwise, you'll get a bookmark. After all, everyone could use an extra bookmark.
-Second, let me know if you have any preferences or restrictions regarding colors or fibers. I want it to be something very special that you'll love, and so I'd rather make it in your favorite color(s), and not with any fibers you might be allergic or otherwise object to.
-Third, if this is an item that would not be "one size fits all" (such as a pair of socks), let me know what size I'll need to make for you--preferably in inches.
-Finally, since with few exceptions among those of you reading this, I will most likely be unable to present your gift in person, I'll need shipping information for you. For your safety, I recommend that you email that info to me at ardruna@gmail.com. Simply put, if I don't know where it needs to go, I'm not going to be able to get it to you.
I am also happy to say that I finally got the opportunities to go and see both "Star Trek" and "Angels and Demons." As I said before, "Star Trek" is made of win and awesome and frickin' casting GENIUS (even if I did keep waiting for Spocklar to unzip somebody's head), despite the handful of Stuff Thrown in For No Explicable Reason. Not that it was bad stuff--just stuff that they tossed in from left field with no explanation offered whatsoever. And, gotta love the fact that Iowa is still Iowa, except now with giant buildings and the occasional Huge Chasm of Doom. XD
As for "Angels and Demons," well, it was a good movie, easily on par with its counterpart "The Da Vinci Code." Of course, I just re-read the book very recently prior to seeing it, and so I have my usual list of inter-media commentary and Completely Unnecessary Changes to go with it:
The most glaring alterations between the book and the film center on The Body--you know, the one we see in the first chapter that always drags poor Dr. Robert Langdon away from his Harvard ivory tower to go solve an esoteric mystery. In the book, the unfortunate victim is Leonardo Vetra, self-proclaimed theo-physicist, Catholic priest and adoptive father of Our Heroine Vittoria Vetra. His eye has been cut out, his neck snapped, and his chest branded with an ambigram spelling out "Illuminati"--which is what causes the director of CERN (the research facility where he works) to call upon Langdon to figure out what the hell is going on. Around 5 a.m., Langdon gets an insistent call for help from said director, and is very confusedly flown to Switzerland via space plane, shown the body, and thus begins his trip into Wackyland. In the film, The Body is a guy named Silvano who is merely Vittoria's research partner who also happens to be a priest, and, while his eye IS cut out, there is no "Illuminati" (or any other) brand on his chest. Rather than being summoned to Switzerland to see The Body, Langdon is summoned directly to the Vatican by the Swiss Guard because someone FAXED IN the Illuminati ambigram--he never even sees The Body, and runs into Vittoria in the Swiss Guard Waiting Room.
This, unfortunately, robs the film of a particularly delicious layer of ironic complexity because of the whole deal with the late Pope being the camerlengo's natural (not just adoptive) father, which parallels Vittoria's relationship with HER father. ...for the record, while it IS mentioned in film that the Pope was the camerlengo's adoptive father, they don't touch the whole "the Pope was *really* his father!" bit either in the movie, sad to say. My guess to why is that a) they probably wouldn't have had time to adequately cover these points in the film without it feeling like a distraction from the antimatter plot and b) they wouldn't want to offend anyone's theo-political sensitivities about such things, especially since I think there was a news story recently about a priest in a Third World country who had fathered children with women in his parish, not to mention the whole "Father Oprah" bit that happened here not too long ago. For that matter, it also takes away another level of motivation for Vittoria's character, since she doesn't seem particularly interested in avenging her lab partner's demise.
The next glaring (and, in my opinion, unnecessary) change was the Illuminati brands themselves. In the book, there are a total of six ambigrammatic brands: "Illuminati," "Earth," "Air," "Fire," "Water," and the Illuminati Diamond. In the film, there are only five: the four elemental brands, and then a pair of crossed keys. I don't really understand why they did it that way, because it doesn't actually change the plot all that much--the camerlengo still runs down into the catacombs to get the antimatter, but it just changes the clue and makes him seem more innocent at first, I guess. Maybe the prop and makeup departments just got lazy at that point, I dunno.
Also in the list of totally unnecessary changes are two changes of nationality for two of the characters. In the book, the camerlengo is named Carlo Ventresca, and, duh, is Italian. Meanwhile, the guy doing the actual killings is a Middle Eastern fellow simply referred to as The Hassassin. In the film, our camerlengo is now an Irishman named Patrick McKenna and the assassin is just some white guy who apparently thinks he's Clark Kent (no, seriously, his big disguise is a pair of glasses). I suppose with The Hassassin, changing him was probably done so as not to appear OMG!racist! and stereotype that particular ethnicity--which may also be why they suddenly give him a gun (he uses a knife more often in the book) and completely leave out his taste for dominating women (which means Vittoria does not get taken hostage in the film, alas). As for changing the camerlengo... My best guess is that they couldn't figure out any way to transform Ewan McGregor into an Italian (and, not to say that he didn't do a fine job as the camerlengo, I don't think I would have made him my first choice for the role).
I was a little disappointed to see that they left Cardinal Baggia alive in order to become Pope in the film (he drowns in the fountain in the book), because then Cardinal Mortati (the guy who's supposed to be in charge of running Conclave) wasn't able to take on the role, as in the book. For that matter, I'm a little confused as to why they mentioned the possibility of electing the camerlengo as Pope by means of Election by Adoration without actually DOING it in the film (in the book, it happens and he gets to be Pope for all of seventeen minutes before becoming a human torch). I suppose it's right at that point in the film when the camerlengo realizes all his schemes are in the open, but still. Kinda pointless to bring it up and then not do anything with it--just like Langdon mentioning the Diagramma being printed on sedge papyrus, which dissolves in water, without having the page get dissolved, like in the book (though I will approve of THAT particular change, since I cringed horribly to think of that history lost forever, and I suppose it makes a decent enough parting gift since the Illuminati Diamond apparently doesn't exist at ALL in the film). Which, alas, also means we didn't get to see Langdon jump from the helicopter into the river. A shame.
Also missing from the film is Director Kohler--though he gets a brief mention in the beginning. This is understandable, though, to a degree, since his sole purpose in the book is essentially a plot catalyst: he recruits Langdon to explain the Illuminati situation, and then ends up being the one to out the camerlengo as the mastermind. The roles are filled in by other characters in the film to fairly equal effect.
For a few other observations, it was a little irksome to keep hearing them refer back to a prior "incident" (which is plainly supposed to be the "Da Vinci Code" film), when "Angels and Demons" is supposed to PRECEDE "The Da Vinci Code." Of course, the stories are stand alone--they don't build upon each other--so it makes sense somewhat if you consider that most people who are watching the movie probably saw "The Da Vinci Code" and probably have NOT read the books. This may be a partial reason for the continued refusal to acknowledge Langdon as a sexual being in the new movie: "The Da Vinci Code" film suggests a possible romantic connection between Sophie and Robert (downplayed, I'm sure, because of the whole purity of Christ deal--though, in the book, it's much more blatant, seeing as Sophie pretty much promises Robert a week of sexin' whenever they see each other next at the very end) and, golly gee goodness, no guy in his right mind would leave/cheat on the last living descendant of Jesus Christ, right? Otherwise, there really was no reason to omit the Robert/Vittoria subplot except for possibly to keep the film's runtime down/detract attention from the Big Main Antimatter Plot. This annoys not only my hopeless romantic sensibilities (though I use the term "romance" here loosely in this case), but also that it flattens Langdon's character so he's little more than a walking symbology encyclopedia, rather than a human being.
...however, is it just me, or does Dr. Langdon seem AWFULLY cranky in this movie? In fairness, having your morning spoiled at the crack of dawn by some stranger urgently needing your help to solve a mystery that quickly turns into a terroristic bomb plot so you only end up with four hours to figure things out, with people dying left and right, stretching very late into the evening, all while fighting jet lag is enough to make ANYONE irritable. Still, he's about ten times more snarky in "Angels and Demons" than he ever was in "The Da Vinci Code." Just sayin'.
Ok. I think that's all for now. Until next time! Don't forget--I need those holiday requests ASAP, so get them in!