A monster post
Jan. 17th, 2006 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieLong long catch-all post for all 3-day weekend activities.
Finished The Brigade by Howard Blum, a non-fiction account of the Jewish brigade in the British army that fought in WWII and afterwards hunted down Nazi criminals and helped Jews escape into Palestine. It’s an amazing read that follows 3 of the Brigade’s members and if it didn’t happen for real, you’d think this was severely implausible.
I am also reading Jude Morgan’s The King’s Touch which is a novel of Charles II through the eyes of his illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth. It’s a really unusual approach and I simply love the style and the prose.
I saw Tristan and Isolde yesterday and liked it, Isolde’s bizarre tendency to read John Donne notwithstanding. Yes, he is a poet who transcends space and time, but I never thought this worked backwards. Why not just have her read some translated Roman or Greek love poetry? Some of it was pretty hot stuff. Catullus and all.
But James Franco looked really good with his shirt off, which he did a lot, and he could certainly cry on a dime. And I loved that the movie showed the dreary nastiness of those days and the fact that T&I’s love was in many ways selfish and heedless and destructive (of course, they are young and out of control), and I loved Lord Mark most of all (as portrayed by the still uber-hot Rufus Sewell).
I also saw a movie on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
koalathebear’s rec and actually fell madly in love. The movie? Turn Left Turn Right with Takeshi Kaneshiro (yum) and Gigi Leung (who I simply must see more of). It’s a very romantic, very light, very understated movie about two neighbors who never meet because they always go different ways but when they finally meet, it’s love. They exchange phone numbers but they end up being washed out by the rain. Will they meet again?
There really is something magical about this movie. It never feels mawkish or precious or contrived. It just works. I shudder to think what it would look like as a Hollywood remake. TK is utterly lovely as a very shy violinist who falls for GL’s character probably because she allows him to come out of his shell and connect. GL is possibly even shyer than he, and is so adorable in a totally natural, slightly klutzy way. These characters are never played for cheap laughs, despite the possibilities of such, and in fact the overwhelming feeling I was left with by the end was tenderness. Go watch it.
I need more Asian Cinema movie recs.
And now, on to my thoughts on Escaflowne. I found the open ending very unusual but I loved it. I loved the fact that we don’t know what will happen to Millerna, because what I wanted for that character all along wasn’t to end up with Dryden or Allen or whatever, but to have choice, to be fully cognizant of what she is doing and to be free to choose. What will she do at the end? I will be happy if she decides she loves Dryden and will be open to his wooing. Or if she will get her training and become a doctor. Or if she decides to pursue Allen, now that she knows about his background and the fact that his feelings about her are ambivalent at best. She is free now to choose, and she won’t choose blindly, because she is pressured for time, or because all the other options are even worse (I am convinced she was merely infatuated with Allen, and in large chunk because she was forbidden to do anything useful, and because the threat of arranged marriage was huge). The biggest gift Dryden gave her was her freedom. I don’t like the character (he gets on my nerves) but I think that this was an amazingly cool thing to do. And I think Millerna has grown amazingly by the end. That is why the last interactions we see between her and Allen is her rejecting his help because she is so right to say if she takes it she will start relying on him (and that is why I don’t think Allen is controlling, he might have tendencies to protect but if someone tells him to stop it, he will), and the last image of the two of them together is his kneeling to her, a knight going into battle to a princess, ritualized and rather grown up. For all I know, they will get together much much later (I doubt it), but if it will happen, it will be on an equal footing and complete knowledge on both parts. Much healthier.
And that leads me to a thing I found interesting, because Escaflowne seems to be all about letting go as a good thing, as opposed to being abandoned or lost. And the difference is choice and knowledge and consent. So many character are traumatized or crippled by loss or abandonment: Van with Folken and his parents, Allen with Celena and his father and Marlene, etc etc. But that is because they had no choice in the matter and they had no knowledge of the true circumstances. Once they deal with all of this (Van learns that Folken, however misguided is a good guy, Allen finds Celena etc etc) their burden is eased. But letting go? It’s mutual, and not forced and is a choice so it only makes things better, not worse. Van and Hitomi let go of each other (though I suppose they can conduct the world’s longest long distance relationship), Allen lets go of Hitomi and (to an extent he ever held on to her) of Millerna. Dryden lets go of Millerna etc etc. But it’s all done with full knowledge and consent so it makes sense.
I think this also ties up to the issue of “for every action there is a reaction:” it’s clear horrid possessiveness will result in some bad stuff. Hitomi has to let go of Van’s emotions during the battle because she realizes her own feelings seep through to him and reinforce his (to protect Hitomi, to love Hitomi) and thus make him go beyond reason. But a more measured reaction is better. Because otherwise? We have Folken (looking like a fallen angel at the throne of God) stab Dorkirk and end up stabbed in return, we have the intense luck of catgirls turn into poison in their blood, we have Dilandau turn back into Celena because that is precisely what she is supposed to be (Allen gets Celena back not because he is a good guy who deserves to have his sister back (though his protecting her at the battlefield is to die for) but because that is who Celena is supposed to be. She was such an effective Dilandau precisely because Celena was so opposite). Just like Hitomi’s pendant, which is a pendulum.
I did like Van/Hitomi and I loved that they separated at the end: they are what, 15? 16? And this world is not her world. She might be able to see him again, or not, but it made so much sense. And after talks with Husband, I was able to reconcile her earlier passionate desire to get back to him, as they still had huge unfinished business at that time: she didn’t tell him how she felt, and he was still in huge danger, there was a lot of stuff for her to do. Plus, we get the super cool image of Van flying down on Escaflowne.
One more thought: I guess Dornkirk or anyone else didn’t realize that the machine won’t really work because they all live in autocratic societies. If they lived in a democracy they’d realize you can’t grant everyone’s wishes at once. You can’t have both my neighbor’s right to blast music at super loud levels and my right to sleep. You compromise through nuisance laws. And I do think Dornkirk was kept alive only because it was his wish to see the machine operate.
I also loved the chilling image of the “nuke” going off, and the really gaspingly cool fight between Allen and Van, and Van flying Hitomi out of Dornkirk’s palace and Folken’s renunciation of Dornkirk right at his feet. And the fact that Allen realized that his feelings for Hitomi were merely transference (Allen is glamorous but fucked up and I am glad that Hitomi realizes that it’s Van she truly wants).
Now I need good Escaflowne fic recs. Surely there must be some there.
OK, now interested in more anime. So far, choices are:
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Pro: bothkatranna and aliterati recommend it, and considering they also recced Escaflowne, I should trust their taste.
Con: it just sounds really really really odd.
Peacemaker, or Last Exile, or Magic Knights Rayearth
Pro:crumpeteer assures me the story is good and full of angst
Con: Hmmm, where to find. Also, know nothing about them.
InyuYasha
Pro: It's on cartoon network
Con: the little I've seen of it didn't inspire me
Cowboy Bebop
Pro: Husband likes it. Plus, from what I've seen of it, Spike is cool
Con: Noir is not really too much of a thing, plus, it's not as tightly plotted.
Fushigi Yuugi
Pro: It's the genre of heroic fantasy which I like. Also,dawntreader likes it. Plus, after my teasing of Miaka/Tamahome, maybe I should check out the source.
Con:katranna and aliterati both tell me Miaka is a huge Mary Sue.
Rurouni Kenshin
Pro: I already own it. Plus, I like Kenshin and Kaoru and it has fights. And I loved the OVA and liked the first few eps I've seen.
Con: The storyline (so far) is not as closely connected or tightly run as Escaflowne. Plus, it's very tied to a specific period in Japan.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Pro: I can certainly get it in our neighboring video store
Con: I know nothing about it except that it involves giant battling robots
Gankutsuou
Pro: I like Western-based stories, and this one is based on Monte-Cristo. Plus,crumpeteer really recommends it.
Con: I don't think all of it is available on DVD yet, is it? Plus, am sucker for heroic fantasy.
Finished The Brigade by Howard Blum, a non-fiction account of the Jewish brigade in the British army that fought in WWII and afterwards hunted down Nazi criminals and helped Jews escape into Palestine. It’s an amazing read that follows 3 of the Brigade’s members and if it didn’t happen for real, you’d think this was severely implausible.
I am also reading Jude Morgan’s The King’s Touch which is a novel of Charles II through the eyes of his illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth. It’s a really unusual approach and I simply love the style and the prose.
I saw Tristan and Isolde yesterday and liked it, Isolde’s bizarre tendency to read John Donne notwithstanding. Yes, he is a poet who transcends space and time, but I never thought this worked backwards. Why not just have her read some translated Roman or Greek love poetry? Some of it was pretty hot stuff. Catullus and all.
But James Franco looked really good with his shirt off, which he did a lot, and he could certainly cry on a dime. And I loved that the movie showed the dreary nastiness of those days and the fact that T&I’s love was in many ways selfish and heedless and destructive (of course, they are young and out of control), and I loved Lord Mark most of all (as portrayed by the still uber-hot Rufus Sewell).
I also saw a movie on
koalathebear’s rec and actually fell madly in love. The movie? Turn Left Turn Right with Takeshi Kaneshiro (yum) and Gigi Leung (who I simply must see more of). It’s a very romantic, very light, very understated movie about two neighbors who never meet because they always go different ways but when they finally meet, it’s love. They exchange phone numbers but they end up being washed out by the rain. Will they meet again? There really is something magical about this movie. It never feels mawkish or precious or contrived. It just works. I shudder to think what it would look like as a Hollywood remake. TK is utterly lovely as a very shy violinist who falls for GL’s character probably because she allows him to come out of his shell and connect. GL is possibly even shyer than he, and is so adorable in a totally natural, slightly klutzy way. These characters are never played for cheap laughs, despite the possibilities of such, and in fact the overwhelming feeling I was left with by the end was tenderness. Go watch it.
I need more Asian Cinema movie recs.
And now, on to my thoughts on Escaflowne. I found the open ending very unusual but I loved it. I loved the fact that we don’t know what will happen to Millerna, because what I wanted for that character all along wasn’t to end up with Dryden or Allen or whatever, but to have choice, to be fully cognizant of what she is doing and to be free to choose. What will she do at the end? I will be happy if she decides she loves Dryden and will be open to his wooing. Or if she will get her training and become a doctor. Or if she decides to pursue Allen, now that she knows about his background and the fact that his feelings about her are ambivalent at best. She is free now to choose, and she won’t choose blindly, because she is pressured for time, or because all the other options are even worse (I am convinced she was merely infatuated with Allen, and in large chunk because she was forbidden to do anything useful, and because the threat of arranged marriage was huge). The biggest gift Dryden gave her was her freedom. I don’t like the character (he gets on my nerves) but I think that this was an amazingly cool thing to do. And I think Millerna has grown amazingly by the end. That is why the last interactions we see between her and Allen is her rejecting his help because she is so right to say if she takes it she will start relying on him (and that is why I don’t think Allen is controlling, he might have tendencies to protect but if someone tells him to stop it, he will), and the last image of the two of them together is his kneeling to her, a knight going into battle to a princess, ritualized and rather grown up. For all I know, they will get together much much later (I doubt it), but if it will happen, it will be on an equal footing and complete knowledge on both parts. Much healthier.
And that leads me to a thing I found interesting, because Escaflowne seems to be all about letting go as a good thing, as opposed to being abandoned or lost. And the difference is choice and knowledge and consent. So many character are traumatized or crippled by loss or abandonment: Van with Folken and his parents, Allen with Celena and his father and Marlene, etc etc. But that is because they had no choice in the matter and they had no knowledge of the true circumstances. Once they deal with all of this (Van learns that Folken, however misguided is a good guy, Allen finds Celena etc etc) their burden is eased. But letting go? It’s mutual, and not forced and is a choice so it only makes things better, not worse. Van and Hitomi let go of each other (though I suppose they can conduct the world’s longest long distance relationship), Allen lets go of Hitomi and (to an extent he ever held on to her) of Millerna. Dryden lets go of Millerna etc etc. But it’s all done with full knowledge and consent so it makes sense.
I think this also ties up to the issue of “for every action there is a reaction:” it’s clear horrid possessiveness will result in some bad stuff. Hitomi has to let go of Van’s emotions during the battle because she realizes her own feelings seep through to him and reinforce his (to protect Hitomi, to love Hitomi) and thus make him go beyond reason. But a more measured reaction is better. Because otherwise? We have Folken (looking like a fallen angel at the throne of God) stab Dorkirk and end up stabbed in return, we have the intense luck of catgirls turn into poison in their blood, we have Dilandau turn back into Celena because that is precisely what she is supposed to be (Allen gets Celena back not because he is a good guy who deserves to have his sister back (though his protecting her at the battlefield is to die for) but because that is who Celena is supposed to be. She was such an effective Dilandau precisely because Celena was so opposite). Just like Hitomi’s pendant, which is a pendulum.
I did like Van/Hitomi and I loved that they separated at the end: they are what, 15? 16? And this world is not her world. She might be able to see him again, or not, but it made so much sense. And after talks with Husband, I was able to reconcile her earlier passionate desire to get back to him, as they still had huge unfinished business at that time: she didn’t tell him how she felt, and he was still in huge danger, there was a lot of stuff for her to do. Plus, we get the super cool image of Van flying down on Escaflowne.
One more thought: I guess Dornkirk or anyone else didn’t realize that the machine won’t really work because they all live in autocratic societies. If they lived in a democracy they’d realize you can’t grant everyone’s wishes at once. You can’t have both my neighbor’s right to blast music at super loud levels and my right to sleep. You compromise through nuisance laws. And I do think Dornkirk was kept alive only because it was his wish to see the machine operate.
I also loved the chilling image of the “nuke” going off, and the really gaspingly cool fight between Allen and Van, and Van flying Hitomi out of Dornkirk’s palace and Folken’s renunciation of Dornkirk right at his feet. And the fact that Allen realized that his feelings for Hitomi were merely transference (Allen is glamorous but fucked up and I am glad that Hitomi realizes that it’s Van she truly wants).
Now I need good Escaflowne fic recs. Surely there must be some there.
OK, now interested in more anime. So far, choices are:
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Pro: both
katranna and aliterati recommend it, and considering they also recced Escaflowne, I should trust their taste.Con: it just sounds really really really odd.
Peacemaker, or Last Exile, or Magic Knights Rayearth
Pro:
crumpeteer assures me the story is good and full of angstCon: Hmmm, where to find. Also, know nothing about them.
InyuYasha
Pro: It's on cartoon network
Con: the little I've seen of it didn't inspire me
Cowboy Bebop
Pro: Husband likes it. Plus, from what I've seen of it, Spike is cool
Con: Noir is not really too much of a thing, plus, it's not as tightly plotted.
Fushigi Yuugi
Pro: It's the genre of heroic fantasy which I like. Also,
dawntreader likes it. Plus, after my teasing of Miaka/Tamahome, maybe I should check out the source. Con:
katranna and aliterati both tell me Miaka is a huge Mary Sue.Rurouni Kenshin
Pro: I already own it. Plus, I like Kenshin and Kaoru and it has fights. And I loved the OVA and liked the first few eps I've seen.
Con: The storyline (so far) is not as closely connected or tightly run as Escaflowne. Plus, it's very tied to a specific period in Japan.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Pro: I can certainly get it in our neighboring video store
Con: I know nothing about it except that it involves giant battling robots
Gankutsuou
Pro: I like Western-based stories, and this one is based on Monte-Cristo. Plus,
crumpeteer really recommends it. Con: I don't think all of it is available on DVD yet, is it? Plus, am sucker for heroic fantasy.
