Painting the Horizon

So I just finished reading Unseen Academicals, and it's definitely one of the best Discworld novels. The characters are all made of love and adorable, and also large quantities of badass.

Fanart may be on the way, though I may or may not be able to scan anything until after I'm done moving.

Since I've been on a Sherlock Holmes kick lately, I decided to see the 2009 movie, which was good enough a movie, I guess, but just didn't feel like a Sherlock Holmes movie to me. :( Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind the plot or the action scenes, but the massive property damage felt out of place.

I've no issue with Watson's portrayal, and although I don't appreciate making Irene Adler into a career criminal, I have to admit that she kind of kicked ass too. Despite being made into a love interest. Again. The special effects were neat enough, too even though the animation of some CGI objects was a bit off to my eye, and even though lot of the showy explosions and whatnot felt gratuitous.

But the real problem for me was Holmes himself. Now, Downey acted well, but there's only so much he could do about a script that didn't do the character justice. And then there was his appearance. Holmes in the books has his eccentrities, but I just can't buy a Holmes who makes no effort to look presentable. Watson and Holmes in the film often seemed roughly equal in intellect, too, which just should not happen. Now, Watson's not the idiot he is commonly portrayed as, so his level of intellect in the film seemed appropriate enough; It was Holmes who seemed to have been dumbed down. Holmes is a kind of a Marty Stu. He's supposed to be so far above mere mortals in his mental capacity that anyone capable of outwitting him is quite extraordinary in their own right. It's the very core of his character. Not so here. He is outwitted entirely too frequently - granted, often by characters who are supposed to be his match, but even then with laughably simple methods.

Now, I admit, I've been watching the Granada series with Jeremy Brett recently, so it was virtually impossible for any other Holmes to meet my expectations with Brett's portrayal (and such portrayal!) so fresh in my mind, but given the limits placed upon him for this film, Downey could not have outdone the foggy recollection I have of Basil Rathbone's version.

Okay, so basically, if any of you have seen the animated movie Howl's Moving Castle but have not read the book? You ought to read the book. The movie just doesn't compare, not to mention that it only contains like one-fifth of the plot of the book. And what it does contain it distorts almost beyond recognition.

Oh, and I watched Sweeney Todd yesterday. It was kinda underwhelming.
Throughout the movie, I couldn't help but marvel at the odd colouring of the blood. It looked kind of... milky I think is the word I'm looking for. Too opaque and oddly light in shade, considering the high-contrast, low-saturation quality of the picture in most of the movie. The sideplot with Johanna and What's-His-Face felt half-hearted and faintly creepy. Most of the songs sounded pretty much the same and, well, neither Johnny Depp nor Alan Rickman sings half as well as they act (granted, both still sing way better than I do). Helena Bonham-Carter was pretty amazing, though.
Then again, this could just be that I haven't been able to take any sort of scary movies seriously for years. Perhaps I'm interrogating the ngenre from the wrong perspective.


Ps. jadeile, Palauttelen tuon kirjan sulle varmaan tän viikon aikana. Joko oot Good Omensin lukenut? Jos et, en tuputa sulle enempää luettavaksi vielä, mutta jos olet... mwahahaha. >:D

So I now own Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All.

What I lack is a DS.

Oh, there is a DS I am occasionally allowed to play, but it sorta belongs to my youngest sister and it's pink. So I've also invested in a DS of my own, the order for which was placed today. I can hardly wait!

Also: I re-read Good Omens yesterday. Only I'd forgotten just about everything, so it's almoust as though I was reading it for the first time. I have never before stayed up all night to get to the end of a book I've read before. I knew how it ended and I still couldn't put it down. I'll tell you, it didn't have as strong an impact on me back when I was thirteen, and I suspect that's because it was the Finnish translation back then. I know for a fact that Terry Pratchett's writing doesn't translate easily, and I suspect Neil Gaiman's doesn't, either.

Also Also: sketchdump on the way. Maybe tonight or tomorrow, depending on stuff.