Last night I watched Miyazaki's adaptation of
Howl's Moving Castle. On the one hand, it was absolutely beautiful and really enjoyable to watch. On the other, it was basically nothing like the book. Considering I still haven't entirely made up my mind on the book, maybe this is a good thing, but a lot of the changes the movie made just didn't make sense. There was no reason to make the Witch of the Waste into a senile old lady. Why was Michael a little boy (who apparently goes by Markl)? What was the point in making the scarecrow-prince in love with Sophie? If you're going to introduce Lettie, why put her in just the one scene and then not bring her up again the entire movie? I'm thinking that if I hadn't read the book, I would be able to appreciate Miyazaki's film for what it is. Certainly it is a very pretty fairy tale. Jones's book is a deconstruction and affectionate parody of the fairy tale genre, though, so I'm thinking Miyazaki either missed the point or liked some elements of the story enough to produce his own wildly different variation of it. I just missed seeing Sophie be really awesome at the end, I guess. So ... yeah. I've now seen my fourth Miyazaki.
Spirited Away is still my favorite. Which one should I watch next? I've seen
Spirited Away,
Princess Mononoke, and
Ponyo.
Here are this week's other happenings:
- Today was Myers-Briggs day at work. I'm an INFJ, which actually made a lot of sense when I read the description. Apparently Eleanor Roosevelt was also an INFJ, and she's one of my favorite historical figures ever, so hells yeah.
- Boy Meets Girl is so darn predictable and has every Cabot quirk I don't like. I shall prevail, though, because this woman's writing is like my crack. I wish I could quit you, Meg Cabot! Except no, I don't.
- My knees hurt from too many lunges. Ouch.
- I am enjoying my Very Potter Musical soundtrack way too much. My neighbors haven't knocked on my door and asked me to stop singing along yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do.
- Inconsistent Internet is inconsistent. At least I'll be back in the dorms soon, where I rarely have any Internet problems.
- Ahh last week in the apartment. I shall be a laundry and cleaning fiend next weekend. This weekend, though, I plan on being a lazy bum. No one can stop me!
- The weather is so gorgeous right now. Other than the mosquitoes, I would love it if every day was like today.
Flawless weekend, here I come!
