Inkheart Attack

As you can probably guess from the title, I watched the Inkheart movie today. It's been forever since I last saw a movie in the theater. Okay, I think it might have been October, which is hardly forever, but still kind of a long time. As usual, most of the previews were pretty annoying. Hey, there's a movie about some guy becoming young again! What an original concept! And a live-action Dragon Ball movie? It's not like I care that much, since I never liked the show [1] (my brother used to watch it, and it seemed pretty dumb), but the general cartoon-to-live-action thing has been done to death, and pretty much always badly. There wasn't a preview for the latest generically-titled spoof movie, Dance Flick, but I did see a poster for it. As someone who takes parody seriously, I have a particular distaste for the recent spoof films where even the titles scream out, "We didn't put any effort whatsoever into this! But we reference stuff, so that's funny, right?" I'm sure the producers who green-light these things will be first against the wall when the revolution comes. It WAS cool to get a glimpse at the next Harry Potter movie, though. [2]

And now for our feature presentation. Like the book, it wasn't one of my absolute favorites among recent fantasies, but it was definitely engaging and well-crafted. It's interesting that they started right in with the stuff about reading things out of books, when the original story took a while to build up to it. That makes sense, though, as the book had a lot of starting and stopping that wouldn't have really worked on the screen. I'm not really sure why Fenoglio's family was omitted, but I get the impression that this, like most of the changes at the end, were due to the fact that the book was leaving room for a sequel (which I still need to read, but I have several things on my list ahead of it). And these days, I get the impression that it's generally easier to get a book-sequel published than a movie-sequel produced, especially when it comes to fantasy. [3] Not surprisingly, I did enjoy the multiple references to The Wizard of Oz (and most of them were to the book, not the movie), which weren't in Cornelia Funke's book. I don't know whether Oz features in either of the sequels, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't, as the books are even more obscure in Europe than in the States. Also, the appearance of the ticking crocodile led me to check Peter Pan out from the library. It's never been one of my favorite stories, but it's referenced so much in other places that I feel kind of obligated to actually read it.

[1] I do, however, like Akira Toriyama's work on Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, as I'm sure you could have gathered.
[2] SPOILER: Michael Gambon kills Dumbledore! No, wait, that already happened a few movies ago.
[3] Hey, Hollywood! Where's The Subtle Knife, huh?

Making a list, forgetting it twice

Here are two list-type memes I came across recently. Actually, with the latter, I've seen it a lot of times, but never got around to doing it myself.

First, some comments on this list of comfort foods:

• Apple Pie - I like it, although I can't really eat a whole lot of it. Pie crust is so filling.
• Baked Beans - No, I've never liked them.
• Banana Pudding - You'd think I would like it, but I don't remember being too keen on the kind I had at Charlie Brown's Steakhouse. I'd like to try Kelly Hogan's, though. And bananas in and of themselves are a favorite of mine. They're my Ray Comfort Food. {g}
• Beef Stew - I'm not a big fan, but it's okay sometimes. Stew is one of those things that can really taste like just about anything, you know?
• Brisket Pot Roast - I've had pot roast, but I don't think briskets were ever involved, and I wouldn't consider it a comfort food.
• Chicken & Dumplings - Well, Chick-fil-A is a comfort food for me. I like chicken served in other ways, but it's too messy for me to be totally comfortable with it.
• Chicken Pot Pie - While I like pot pie better than stew, it has similar variety in quality. My favorite brand of frozen pot pie is Myers, which I don't think they sell outside my general area.
• Chicken Soup - Well, chicken noodle, maybe.
• Chili - I've never been a big fan, but I guess it can be okay if it's not too spicy.
• Chocolate Chip Cookies - Yeah, I think they'd qualify, although I actually prefer oatmeal raisin. I'm weird that way.
• Corn on the Cob - Not a comfort food, but pretty much the only way I actually enjoy eating corn.
• Fried Chicken - I guess that qualifies, although, like I said, it's messy.
• Gelatin - Not by itself, but my mom used to make a mixture of Jell-O and yogurt that I think would qualify as a comfort food for me.
• Green Bean Casserole - I don't think I've ever had it, or that I'd want it. Green beans are all right, but I've never been too keen on casseroles.
• Hot Dogs - Sure, I think that qualifies.
• Ice Cream - Yeah, another fairly safe one that fits the bill. No plain chocolate ice cream, though.
• Macaroni & Cheese - Yeah, I like it. My dad used to make baked macaroni that was really good, but he'd often insist on throwing in onions and celery, which kind of ruined it.
• Mashed Potatoes - I mention this pretty much every time there's a list of foods, but I've never liked mashed potatoes. I'm really not big on potatoes in general, but especially not mashed.
• Meatloaf - Another food I never really liked.
• Potato Salad - Not only do I not like potatoes, but it just LOOKS gross.
• Pumpkin Pie - Not sure I'd qualify it as a comfort food, but I do like it.
• Shepherd's Pie - Don't they have mashed potatoes in them? I just SAID I didn't like those!
• Spaghetti - Definitely, especially with meat sauce.
• Tomato Soup - See, the thing is, I remember eating tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches with my dad as a kid, but I think I've lost my taste for it. It's not terrible, but I can't eat much of it.
• Tuna Casserole - I've never been a fan of tuna. There's a reason cats like it so much, and that's because it essentially IS cat food.


And here's a list of bands/artists I like, one for each letter in the alphabet. I tried to go with my overall favorite for each letter, if I had one.

Tori Amos
Frank Black
Neko Case
Dresden Dolls
Elf Power
Fastbacks
Gothic Archies
Hypnotic Clambake
Interpol (I really don't know too many I bands, so I just went with the one I have the most MP3s by.)
Elton John
James Kochalka (Superstar)
Tom Lehrer
Magnetic Fields
New Pornographers
Olivia Tremor Control
Pixies
Queen
Rasputina
Sugarplastic
They Might Be Giants
Unit 4+2 (I only know one song by them, but it's pretty much all I have under U in my iTunes library. Anyone want to recommend a U band?)
Vermillion Lies
Rufus Wainwright
XTC
Young Fresh Fellows
Zombies