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This is really the last part! Whoohoo! You know, apparently Mr. Gibbs really does have a sister named Margaret. It's in The Pirate's Guidelines, which I could not resist buying from Wal-Mart.
And we're back!
And because it's 12:45, To Be Continued Again.
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When I recap-reviewed At World's End, I mentioned that I had "very definite Ideas" about what happened to Elizabeth in the ten-year interval between her wedding day and the epilogue. These are those ideas-- they're kind of sketchy in some places and really detailed in others. My basic thought was, "Oh, God, I am so not writing this fanfic," so I didn't; but that didn't stop me from pondering it. This sort of rough sketch is the result. I'll post the rest of it tomorrow or the day after.
"There are no turtles anywhere."
Aug. 3rd, 2007 07:11 pm( icon )
These are the rest of the books I read over my vacation. I won't do another of these entries for quite a while, I should think, because now I'm reading Les Miserables.
For the first one, The Science of Discworld, I made an icon which I rather like, text from the book, images from the internets:
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Yes, I am. Basically, I'm just going to type until I get called to dinner.
First of all, let me say that all of the bombs in cars in London freak me out especially because I was just there. Like, the one they found in Hay Market? There was an article about it with pictures, and I was like, "Whoa. I came off of that tube stop they how have blocked off! I was standing right there, in that roped-off section of Picadilly Circus! Geez.
Second of all, I made a youtube account for myself this summer for the sole purpose (or "purples," as I mistyped it originally) of favoriting videos I like so that I know where they all are. Unhappily, several of the Jane Eyre vids and one for the '83 Mansfield Park that I liked a lot just got deleted. But anyway, some really cool clips and and fanvids (a guilty pleasure of mine) can be found there-- including a couple of clips of the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream I was raving about when I got back from England-- can be found there currently. Check it out if you're bored or whatever. Good times.
Also, something that came up on my flist last week: They're making a Color of Magic/Light Fantastic Movie? For real? I had heard absolutely nothing about this! Again, like The Wee Free Men, and Hogfather, if it comes down to it, a weird choice, but I'm all for more Discworld movies, regardless. I'm not sure whether this is another TV movie that we'll never get to see in America like Hogfather or whether this is an honest-to-goodness theatrical film. I hope the latter. Well, depending on the quality, I suppose.
But I saw the Hogfather movie, finally, via veoh.com. It was really good. A bit long, yes, and probably confusing if you haven't read the book, but it was very well-cast. Michelle Dockery, who played Susan, was absolutely excellent. And Mr. Teatime was creepy, though not in the way I expected him to be. Overall, it was good times. And the intro got me so psyched. It's on my youtube.
Finally, my blog's birthday has once again passed me by unawares, but Turtle is now three years, one month, and three days old today. To celebrate, here are some icons that perhaps only Whitney will get, but I don't care.
Basically, I wrote a silly story about how Cutthroat Badminton is the traditional pasttime of a pirate, and Jack Sparrow doesn't know how to play.
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Okay, this is my entry on how much I loved Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and this is the second time I've written it because my computer deleted it the first time.
But first I want to say that I now have a job, and I can work from home, and I want to give a big thank-you to Angela for letting me stay with her and being so nice to me and taking me to so many cool places to eat. Thank you! I had fun!
Now, Pirates. I will start out by saying that I wasn't sure I was going to like this movie because I'd heard such mixed things about it. By the day before I went to see it, I was sure i was going to like it, but nobody else I knew was going to. The night before I went, I read the spoilers on Cleolinda's journal, and I was reminded of why I sometimes need spoilers in my life. Because had I not read them, I would most likely have gone, "AAAAAH WHY IS HE WHAT DOES HE THINK HE IS DOING MAKE HIM STOP THAT RIGHT NOW ARRRRRGH!" Out loud. In the theater. And I would have been too traumatized for enjoyment. I like being prepared for these kinds of things. And I am so glad I know that it really all does end happily. The rest will be cut for spoilers although, if you haven't seen it yet, what's wrong with you?
( Not for nothing is this called Shipwreck Island, home of Shipwreck Cove and the town of Shipwreck. )
So, yeah, I loved it, and I have some very definite Ideas about what happens in the ten-year interval, which I will share at a later date.
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One more entry on Pirates, and then I'll talk about something else, I swear. I just wanted to share some reflections after watching all of the DVD commentaries (I'd only watched Keira and Jack before) and seeing the new movie a second time. The second viewing is very helpful, by the way. While the plot made sense the first time, seeing it again helps to clarify details and character motivations at any given time.
Anyway, watching the writer commentary I learned that the first movie is very unique in that it apparently has a protagonist (Elizabeth), a hero (Will), and a star (Jack) all at the same time, as different people. After watching the second movie it occurred to me (I'm kind of amazed that it never occurred to me before) that Elizabeth is actually the main character, and that carries over really well into the second movie. I felt really smart when the writer commentary confirmed this.
Elizabeth is the character whose journey we are following. She is the character who develops the most, and DMC is the logical continuation of her character's evolution. Every single thing that she does is in character, even the betrayal of Jack at the end. Some of that carries over from deleted scenes from the first movie, but it's all there in the scenes that remain, as well. The fundamental basis of Elizabeth Swann is established in the very first scene of CotBP. She is not a nice girl. She steals the pirate medallion from Will and then lies about it. She is a pirate. What these movies are about now, for her, is her coming to terms with that and discovering her place in the world.
Elizabeth and Jack really are very alike. What she wants more than anything... is freedom. In one of her interviews on the first DVD, Keira says something about Elizabeth that I find to be very true: she's a modern girl stuck in the eighteenth century. You hear people sometimes (myself included) say that they were born in the wrong era, they belong in the past. But just think how much worse it is to be born centuries behind when you should be. You wouldn't even know where you belong. It would be terribly lonely, disconnected. Here is Elizabeth Swann, confined by the corsetry and etiquette of the mid-eighteenth century (it's driving me crazy that I can't get a more exact date than that), "condemned to be a woman, barely fit to educate," and what she wants is freedom, but she doesn't know how to get it.
Naturally, she is fascinated by pirates. By the end of the first movie, she is completely disillusioned wiht them. Then her faith is restored by Will and, to an extent, Jack. So the second movie is about her finding the pirate within herself. She can't trust anybody but the pirates now, and she can't trust them any further than she can throw them. The corset is gone. Inhibitions start to fall away. She tastes freedom. And in the end she reveals herself for the pirate that she is. The only problem is, she hates what she has done.
What's great about DMC is that at the end of CotBP, you think you know who you can trust. And so, clearly, to Will and Elizabeth. And then they are proved completely wrong again, and they don't know who they can trust anymore. All of the characters evolve, but I find Elizabeth's evolution the most interesting.
Another thing that the writer commentary taught me is to have faith that Will and Elizabeth are going to end up together. Because, look: the second act of a trilogy is the part where everybody is at their lowest, and that's certainly the case for Will and Elizabeth's romance. And the end of the trilogy needs to be happy, and Will will not be happy if Elizabeth is with Jack. The writers are pretty clear that, from the beginning, Will and Elizabeth are set forth as The Couple. So, I'd say I'm 80% confident in their romance. Wow, I sound so confident there, I'm tempted to up it to 85%.
Basically, I don't know what I'm trying to say with this entry. I just thought I'd ramble on for a bit. But I will say that every now and then I'm working on a thing called (in true eighteenth century style) "The Remarkable True Confessions of a Governor's Daughter: Her Strange and Fantastic Account of the Cursed Pirates of the Caribbean," which I may post parts of here in the future.
Also, do you like my icon? :)
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OMGSQUEE!
I just saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie and I'm on a complete piratey high! It was so good! And now I want to go around with a British accent which, in my head, I already am. Movies with British people do that to me.
I was afraid going in that I was going to be disappointed due to high expectations, because a lot of what made the first Pirates so wonderful was that you went in with no expectations, and were pleasantly surprised. But on the other hand, I am very hard to disappoint. Really, all I wanted was to be entertained and know what happened to these characters I like. And that I most certainly got.
And the special effects were really very amazing. Especially Davy Jones and the Kraken.
Okay, the movie was a bit too long (toward the end I was actually thinking, "Surely it has to be over soon?"), and the plot is definitely all over the place. But everything in it connects back to the first movie in some way, so that's good. Including the throwaway line, "And then they made me their chief." I think it helped a lot that I had seen the first movie again recently. I don't know what the Star reviewer was bitching about, it makes sense. I mean, I could probably do with seeing it a second time to figure out how all of the dots completely connect, but that's just because they connect rather quickly.
The ending is a complete cliffhanger, which I was expecting. But still, now I'm all anxious for the next movie. Perhaps this is what people felt like in 1980 after they saw Empire Strikes Back? The difference being that they had to wait three years for resolution, and we only have to wait less than one. I really hope they don't break up Elizabeth and Will. Because then I would be sad. It is fate, baby. Also, I really hope they explain decently how Barbossa is somehow not dead. They actually did explain what the deal was with Bootstrap Bill and the curse and all that. And the monkey was back! And I'm sure Keira was very happy that he had between one and zero scenes with her. And Scruffy!Norrington is very, very hot. He lost everything but his wig, poor man. Which brings me to a very important point:
THE EVIL EAST INDIA COMPANY MAN WAS MR. COLLINS! Tom Hollander from the latest P&P movie. This hit me suddenly in about the third scene he was in. In my head I was going, "He seems a little familiar... A little like... like... Ohmigod! No... It can't... is it? Is that.... I think it IS!" And then I leaned over to Bethany (my companion in piracy) and said, "Is that Mr. Collins?" And she said, "I think it IS!" And then we both just started laughing. Which continued through every single scene he was in. It's the revenge of Mr. Collins. He is out for vengeance on any Elizabeth played by Keira Knightley. Their scene together made this especially hilarious. This is his motive in the film. Not anything to do with the key to the chest, etc. etc. The only question now is... is he working for Lady Catherine ("I'll teach you to have the audacity to marry my nephew!") or is he working alone? (Also, I believe Captain Jack called her "Lizzy" at one point.)
On another wonderful in-joke front (which there were a lot of), Elizabeth's "When in doubt, faint" policy did not work this time. And I love the Will taught her how to fight. And man, did she kick some pirate ass! In speaking of pirate ass... poor Elizabeth was all, "Excuse me? I would really like to do the sex now!" which I thought was funny. Her poor dad just looked at her in the jail scene like, "Um... Elizabeth? I think... it's time that you and I had a little talk." And I liked the rum jokes. And pretty much all of the other jokes that carried over from the first.
So, in conclusion...
Mates, fetch the nets and rackets! It's time to play... Cutthroat Badminton!
I'm actually off on a Saturday tomorrow, and to celebrate I'm going to go see Pirates of the Caribbean. Yay! I'm excited.
In related news, I was watching the red carpet on E! last week (or whenever it was) for the premiere in Disneyland. This just in, folks: Keira Knightley has officially apologized for being so much more generally awesome than all the rest of us. The interviewer kept saying how it's not fair that Keira has gotten to kiss Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and gotten all of these awesome roles, etc., and she's only 21, and all of these things I've been jealous of for so long. And Keira's response was to look embarrassed and say-- twice-- "I know! I'm sorry!"
I accept your apology, Keira Knightley. Because despite the fact that you are only seven months older than I am and have done a Star Wars movie, an Arthurian movie, a Pride and Prejudice movie, and a corset-wearing, ass-kicking movie, I still think you're awesome. It's not your fault you're better than us. Thank you for apologizing, anyway; it makes us feel better.
Also, I finished the second chapter of Pemberley last night-- finally. It's longer than the first, and I enjoy it. It includes Elizabeth's stays, snow, Georgiana, three letters, and Puppy Jane. What's not to love there? I'll try to have it typed up and sent out by the end of this weekend.
If it worked for Austen...
Mar. 17th, 2006 06:43 pm( today's icons )
A new story on Notebook: Cutthroat Badminton. Features pirates!
Because I forgot to post it last time, Oscarblog 2006!
And, because it is the most FREAKING AWESOME AND HILARIOUS THING EVER, the brand new trailer for the movie Snakes on a Plane. It's about snakes. On a plane. And Samuel L. Jackson. For serious, you have to see this. It singlehandedly improved my day and kept me laughing for about twenty minutes.
ETA: A link that might work.
The opening night of The Tempest is tonight; I'm not even in it, and I'm pretty nervous. If everything goes right (which, last night, it did not), it will be really awesome. I'm backstage doing odd jobs, mostly. Also, Nathan is supposedly here, right now, on this campus. I have yet to see him, but hope to, at least to tour him the theater tomorrow.
Dear Everyone,
Please stop giving me sequels to Pride and Prejudice to read. I think I've had about enough for a while. Not that I don't enjoy them, but I think that if I read another one it's going to seriously mess with my head and maybe make me bitter. I'm getting closer and closer to deciding to write my own, just because. I wanna show y'all how it's done. (Just kidding; I'd probably suck just as much as the next person.)
What happened was that a friend of mine saw me reading Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife (Over and Over Again, In Every Room of the House) in Old English class. She was all, "Oh! You have to read Mr. Darcy's Daughters! I'll let you borrow it!" So I did. And I liked it. It was very cute. It's actually pretty much the opposite of MDTAW because there is (almost) no sexing, and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy, despite what the title may lead you to believe, are not even in it, except to write some letters. My review of it is going to be more of a recap, so if you don't want to know what happens, don't read on.
This is an interesting breed of fanfic. Only minor characters from the original work are used, and are often out of character to suit the plot. The main characters are all OCs, which means you have to work harder to get me to care about them. This author was semi-successful. I'm not sure whether the fact that the plot was that of P&P recycled helped or hindered this. Georgiana and the Bingleys are barely even mentioned, which seems odd.
The book is about the Darcys' daughters. One would never expect the Darcys to have such daughters as these. First of all, they all have silly names, like Letitia. She's the oldest, and I nicknamed her Mary Jane, because she's really just a combination of those two characters from P&P. The youngest is Alethea, who I actually liked. Before her are the twins, Georgina and Belle, who are both Kitty-Lydia. Our heroine is Camilla or, as I like to call her, Lizzy 2. The Darcys have gone to Constantinople (WTF, I know) on a "diplomatic mission." To me, this always recalls Star Wars, so I have fun images of Darcy and Lizzy lightsabring battle droids. Anyway, the Daughters are staying with Colonel Fitzwilliam and his young wife in London. Only Colonel Fitzwilliam is no longer a Colonel and has turned into Darth Fitzwilliam who doesn't like girls to have fun or think or act independently. Because it's not like he ever had a thing for Lizzy or anything, geez. The Gardiners, who flicker in and out of character, have somehow gotten very rich and they have a bratty daughter named Sophie. Sophie is engaged to a man named Wytton, who we'll call Darcyesque. He has a best friend we'll call Fitzley, because he's a bit like Fitzwillim (good Fitzwilliam) and Bingley.
Anyway, Lizzy 2 falls for a man whose real name is Sir Sidney, but we'll call him Gay Wickham because he's like Wickham except that he's gay. Around about three chapters in I was like, "I think this dude's gay," but it took Lizzy 2 half the book to figure it out. She was most vexed, especially since he had proposed to her so that he could get married and have an heir, and she had to break it off. Woe. So then she starts to spend more and more time with Darcyesque, because it seems like Sophie doesn't really want to marry Darcyesque and doesn't want to be alone with him. Lydia shows up, only Wickham is dead and she's remarried and is for some reason also very rich. The twins fall under her influence. Bitchley (also married) appears, too, and is the most in character of anyone returning from P&P.
The Daughters' reputations go through some ups and downs, but finally it all comes to a head at this one big party. First Mary Jane runs into her not-so-dead-as-previously-supposed ex-fiancee and has the gall to actually have a reaction, causing tongues to wag. Then it turns out Alethea has been dressing up as a boy and playing flute with the band, but nobody but Lizzy 2 and Darcyesque find out about that. Then Lizzy 2 goes looking for Kitty Belle and Lydina and finds Lydina sexing some married guy in a back room. Kitty Belle has been shamelessly flirting with everything male that moves all night. And Bitchley and the Bitchley stepson have been circulating rumors (for no reason other than 'cause they're mean) that Lizzy 2 is making a play for Sophie's fiancee, Darcyesque. Darcyesque is very helpful all night, and finally Lizzy 2 realizes that she's in love with him becuase they're both dorks who want to travel everywhere and read and be awesome together. He agrees, but he is engaged to Sophie.
Then Lydina elopes with the married guy and Lizzy 2 and Mr. Gardiner (who is experienced in this area) and Darcyesque all go to France to get her. They find her knocked up and unashamed and actually married, because this married guy was not so married as previously supposed. So they all head back to England only to find that Kitty Belle has run off to elope with someone, only it turns out that she didn't really. But while they think she did, they can't figure out who it is because she flirts with everything male that moves. In a note she says that it is Captain Deus Ex Machina. Sophie hears about this a flies into a rage because it turns out she loves Captain Machina, who conveniently shows up and reveals that he did not run off with Kitty Belle at all. Kitty Belle actually ran off with some guy named Mr. Roper, but he just took her to meet the parents. The Gardiners give Sophie the go-ahead to marry Captain Machina instead, so Darcyesque asks Lizzy 2 to marry him, and she accepts. Mary Jane gets engaged to Some Guy, I Think His Name Was Barcombe. Lizzy 2 and Darcyesque marry and traipse off to Constantinople to blast droids with the Darcys. The end.
I have to go to Tempest now!
