Adventures with DEP, Chapter Twelve Thousand Something...

[rolanni]

The day was interrupted by a visit from an engineer attached to the Maine State Department of Environment /P/e/r/s/e/c/u/t/i/o/n Protection, bearing the happy news that the remediation building on our property (aka, the Ice Cream Stand) is at long last Going Away. DEP has been with us since we bought this house -- some fourteen years ago. At that time, they estimated that the remediation (gas tanks left in the ground rotted through, gas got into the groundwater and lurked in pockets deep inside the busted up shale that is our land) would take six months. Fourteen years later, they're looking at being out of here by the end of the summer. Qualified Huzzah! (Unqualified Huzzahs forthcoming when the damn' building is gone and all the test wells are filled in. Call me an Attitude Case.)

Some books were mailed at Unity, some more were packed to be mailed tomorrow, some writing was done, and some minor dinking around in SL -- I bought out my neighbor, who apparently wasn't getting enough dwell to justify her free money scheme, for a very reasonable price. I'm thinking about planting a garden, though flowers are pretty expensive in SL...

We watched Howl's Moving Castle last night. kinzel had never read the book, while I, based on manymany recommendations, had read it for the first time last year, and so was several times struck by the deviations of plot. Nonetheless, a good time was had by all.

Progress on the Book Without a Name

35,283 / 98,000 (36.0%)

EDITED to bring word count into alignment with reality.

Comments

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I watched Howl's Moving Castle tonight. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book has been in my enormous to-read pile for quite some time. When I heard they were making a movie from it, I decided to leave it there until after watching the movie, since I tend to enjoy movies more if I don't know how they deviate from the book.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I've seen the movie, but I've never read the book. How different are they? Is one better than the other, or are they just different? Meanwhile, I understand that Miyazaki's next project is Earthsea. Now, do you think that his adaptation will be an improvement over the Skiffy Channel's? Is the Pope a Catholic?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

How different are they? Is one better than the other, or are they just different?

The book encompasses several subplots which were -- reasonably enough, in terms of space -- excised from the movie. The problem is that Diana Wynne Jones a masterful job of weaving her threads and making sure that the action in each of the subplots supports and reinforces the main thread. Excising the subplots meant that at several points in Howl, the Movie Things Just Happen. But you're so swept along in the beauty of the thing, it hardly matters. I did think the movie did a wonderful job with the door in Howl's castle, which open onto various times-and-places, Depending.

Meanwhile, I understand that Miyazaki's next project is Earthsea. Now, do you think that his adaptation will be an improvement over the Skiffy Channel's?

That'll be interesting. I've heard Ursula's public laments of the Sci-Fi Channel's handling of Earthsea, so I hope the animated version makes her happy. But, y'know, you have the advantage of me, with your vast knowledge of film and cable. I only ever see things when I rent them from Netflix, or occasionally at the cinema, or when a kind friend sends a care package of Woosters and Claudius...

[(Anonymous)]

Excising the subplots meant that at several points in Howl, the Movie Things Just Happen.

That might explain one problem I had with the movie. The male lead has a reputation for being a scary wizard and yet he never does anything to that effect, aside from melting all over the place. Was this tell-don't-show also a problem in the book?

My vast knowledge of film and cable... I'm not sure about that although it is true that I know enough that I could easily do the 6-degrees-of-separation between Rolanni and Kevin Bacon.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Darn. Did it again. I didn't mean to post the above as 'anonymous'.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Did it again. I didn't mean to post the above as 'anonymous'.

There's something slipping in LJ; I've been, by ghod, logged in and then find I've posted something as Anonymous.

The male lead has a reputation for being a scary wizard and yet he never does anything to that effect, aside from melting all over the place. Was this tell-don't-show also a problem in the book?

Howl had a reputation as a scary wizard in the book, too, with the understanding that the general populace considered all wizards scary to one degree or another. Which was very wise of them, actually. More would probably constitute spoilers, except to say that the author is in control of the story, and lets us know exactly what she wants us to know, how and when she wants us to know it. It's really a good job -- you should read the book.

I know enough that I could easily do the 6-degrees-of-separation between Rolanni and Kevin Bacon.

While I have only the haziest notion of who Kevin Bacon might be...

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

True, true, Rolanni and Kinzel... I had forgotten that people would find someone with such powers scary on the simple basis of his having such powers.

As for Kevin Bacon...

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno...

isn't changing into a self-propelled warbird involved in actively attacking battleships.... potentially scary? He returns from several sorties obviously full of darkness...