So, what should we use instead of Ironically?

After the show Castle informed me that the use of the word "Ironically" to mean "a situation in which the outcome and the desired outcome are contradictory" is incorrect, I've been searching for a substitution (Irony's actual meaning is the expression of one meaning through words which normally mean the opposite - the contradiction being between the denotation of the words and the intended meaning).  For about a week, I've been using "oddly," "humorously," "funnily," and other such fumbling attempts.  However, wikipedia has suggested "incongruously," which I think is perfect!

(Pedantically, the idea of "irony" being the contrast between desired and actual outcomes can be termed "situational" or "cosmic" irony - but it seems very imprecise to me.)

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I can has Wellies?

I has goned to Walmart and boughten some galoshes.  And they keeps my foots dry (though not warm).  Yayness!

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The Once and Future King

Secret: I used to hate the story of King Arthur.

I never understood why we should care about a stupid king and his stupid wife and her stupid lover.

However, that was the opinion of a 13 year old, carried on for ten years, until I took my second Arthurian literature class, and read two authors on Arthur: first, I was introduced to Gillian Bradshaw's Gwalchmai (Gawain) trilogy (Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer, and In Winter's Shadow), which finally presented the characters in such a way that I cared about them, and ended in a way both profoundly painful yet sweetly hopeful.  Second, I finally reread The Once and Future King.  White's ability with words had always enthralled my poetry-starved heart (and yet, I still hate poetry, in general - but find poetic prose unbearably beautiful - as in Tolkien's The Silmarillion - in that and in The Once and Future King, I often find myself reading aloud to myself in a whisper just to hear the sound of the words), but I didn't have the life experience to understand the true emotional weight of the tragedy.

But now, I finally get it.  Arthur's tragedy hits me with full force - in Bradshaw, as a man passionate for Light and making the world a better place for the poor and and rich alike to live - in White, a boy, bewildered at becoming king (even as an ancient man), "a simple and affectionate man, because Merlyn had believed love and simplicity were worth having."  Never very bright (as a very bright - and arrogant - 13 year old, I found his dimness particularly frustrating - more fool me), but always noble in the very best sense of the word.

Now, as a 23 year old (still bright, still arrogant, but I hope a little wiser), I find myself nearly weeping when I read the book.  And so I leave you at present with these two quotations:

"Arthur, who had come pattering through the stone ridors of his palace with a mind fixed on the work in front of him, stood waiting in the doorway without surprise.  The men of the chevron and thistle, turning to him, saw the King in the last minute of his glory.  They stood for a few heartbeats silent, and Gareth, in a pain of recognition, saw him as he was.  He did not see a hero of romance, but a plain man who had doen his best -- not a leader of chivalry but the pupil who had tried to be faithful to his curious master, the magician, by thinking all the time -- not Arthur of Englad, but a lonely old gentleman who had worn the crown for half a lifetime in the teeth of fate.

Gareth threw himself on his knees."

"He [Arthur] smiley gravely, saying: "We hope it will be speedy."

But he was referring to his death...

At the last moment a hand was tugging at his sleeve, reminding him of the friend he had forgotten.  He lifted the Hedgehog with both hands under its armpits, and held it at arms length, face to face.

"Ah, tiggy," he said.  "Us have thee to thank for royalty.  Farewell, tiggy, and a merry life to thee and thy sweet songs."

But the hedgehog paddled its feet as if it were bicycling, because it wanted to be put down.  It tugged the sleeve again, when it was safe upon the floor, and the old man lowered his ear to hear the whisper.

"Nay, nay," it mentioned hoarsely, clutching his hand, looking earnestly in his face.  "Say not Farewell."

It tugged again, dropping its voice to the brink of silence.

"Orryvoyer," whispered the urchin.  "Orryvoyer." (from The Book of Merlyn - unpublished and preachy, but still agonizingly poignant at this ending - conclusion to The Once and Future King)

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2010 Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature, really early thoughts

Inspired by my last-night Black Friday purchase of Coraline, I thought I'd check out what the buzz is for Oscar for cartoons (one of the few categories I still care about) - and found out that far from being the Up vs. Coraline slugging match I thought it would be, there are 20 possibilities, and the contenders will be expanded from 3 to 5 contestants.  Here's my ranking (with a lot of uncertainty at the top):

1. Coraline - I know it's odd for me, a die-hard Pixar fan, to expect and half want a Burton-esque (and I do dislike Burton's style, though Sellick isn't Burton, and I think that does show in Coraline) film whose creators have openly disparaged Pixar's efforts (the behind-the-scenes book consistently had the animators deriding Rataouille for having "cute" rats, and the interviews with the team on YouTube have them subtly or not-so-subtly saying that CGI, even Pixar's CGI, is either inhumanly perfect, not a "real" animated performance, or not "timeless" enough compared to the "hand-crafted" look of stop-motion) to win.  But the phenomenal likeability and animation of Coraline herself, a heartbreakingly brave and spunky heroine, I think deserves a fair shot against the somewhat unsatisfying structuring and characters of Up (more on that later).  Which is not to say that Coraline doesn't have problems - I think the script is often quite weak, only saved by incredibly strong voicing and animation, and they both alter the ending annoyingly by having a boy come save Coraline (though it's a bit more subtle than that, it's still annoying that he's there at all), and cut out the most powerful scene in the book (Coraline's flashback about her dad and the bees).  But I'm glad I bought it, and think it does have a strong chance.

2. Up.  Of course - Pixar has dominated the category with only a few upsets (and those, like Cars, weren't hard to understand why - though I do like Cars, I don't think it's what the Academy was looking for - I am curious about why Ratatouille, for all its brilliance, beat Persepolis).  But I was frustrated with both the structure of the story - the ending really didn't feel as if it really followed from what went before, and the best part of the story was the first five-ten minute synopsis of a marriage - heartbreaking and warming simultaneously - and nowhere else does the film aspire or achieve that kind of deep emotion - especially not with the rather annoying kid and his predictably broken-home backstory.  I admit this is a bit harsh, but I was expecting a bit more from my favorite animation company - I mean, they've made my absolute favorite superhero film (beating even Spider-man 2 and Batman Begins) and made me cry about car racing and robot romance (both of which are concepts I find really annoying, especially with Wall-e's bad science - but it worked anyway because of the sheer power of the storytelling and structure - which is where I really think Up falls down - not failing absolutely, but not nearly as strong as any of Pixar's other stories).

3. Ponyo - I'm not either Miyazaki or anime's biggest fan, and I haven't seen this one (only seen Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle - which were very sweet, gorgeous, yet off-puttingly odd and bizzare and unfollowable at the end), but Miyazaki transcends anime's low-budget bad animation, and has won in the past, so even though this one's getting "It's not as good as previous Miyazaki films" reviews, I would say that it has a chance against "It's not as good as previous Pixar films" Up and Coraline's beautiful yet flawed chances.  And I would like to see it at some point.  I'm just not expecting a whole huge lot.

4. Fantastic Mr. Fox - I have to say this film interests me not at all - I've not seen Wes Anderson's films, nor do I want to.  I have read the book - and like Where the Wild Things Are, I just can't understand why people are making films of these books.

These are the only ones I think are almost certain to be on the five-film slate.  The next few are ones I expect to be hotly contesting for the last spot.

5. 9 - though reviews have been very, very bad for this one, the sheer beauty of the ideas and animation (at least, according to reviews) may boost it up - as might Tim Burton's name attached to the producing credits.  However, I a) don't like Burton, b) don't like post-apocalyptic; c) don't like crummy stories and bad dialogue, which is what the reviews are crediting it with, so I have little desire to see this one.

6. A Christmas Carol - Unfortunately, despite my newfound love of Dickens (yay Little Dorrit!), this film has waaay too many strikes against it for me to want to see it anytime soon: 1) I hate Robert Zemekis; 2) I hate Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind notwithstanding, this does not look like it's going to be another one of those); 3) I don't like motion-capture animation; 4) Beowulf didn't get any real animation nods.  So, I neither want to see it (I'd rather reread the excellent book - see there's a book that does deserve a good adaptation - just don't think this is it - or listen to the radio dramatization) nor expect it seriously to win - but it might get on the shortlist.

7. The Princess and the Frog.  Honestly, I don't much think it looks any good - I'm much, much more excited about Rapunzel - but it might have a good shot at the shortlist since Disney's making a big deal about returning to 2D animation (which it should - I just don't think this is really looking that interesting from the trailers).  I doubt I'll see it before DVD, though - and I won't be rushing even then, unless someone I trust gives it a huge rec.  Like I said, Rapunzel looks much more interesting.

The rest of the films really, really don't look to me like Oscar material - but you never know - I wouldn't have picked Shrek for it either, and it did win.  But I hope none of these make it - as much as I would like to see some of them.

8. Astro Boy - it looks cheap, silly, and dumb.  But the design might garner a bit of attention.  I haven't really heard any buzz about it - but the trailer just looked, well, you know.

9. Monsters vs. Aliens - I actually do want to see this, but mostly because of the clever parody of the Alien vs. Predator in the trailer - I hate horror, and seeing it sent up like that made me happy.  But it's so deliriously silly I just can't imagine anyone taking it that seriously as a contender - but then, Kung Fu Panda (for behind-the-scenes reasons) beat Wall-e in the Annies, so it might have some kind of thing going for it.  But I don't think anyone seriously will vote for it at the Oscars.  Again, I do still want to see it, despite thinking it will be very, very silly.

10. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - I admit to not being able to finish Ice Age 1, on account of the absolutely repuslive main character.  And the trailers looks absolutely idiotic.  And yet it's the most profitable animated movie of the year worldwide.  What the heck, world?  I have faith that even the Academy won't vote for it, though.

11. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - I dislike the book - it really creeped me out as a kid - but the cheery, sunny character design makes me want to give it a try.  Despite that, or maybe because of that, I seriously doubt a mad-scientist kiddie book adaptation with cutesy design will make the shortlist - I don't think Meet the Robinsons or The Tale of Despareaux did either, and this film looks sort of like a mash-up of those two.  I think I'll like it better than either of those two, at least, I hope I do.

12. Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure - I am a giant Peter Pan fan (the play, book, and 2003 film, not the Disney version, just to clarify), and so I feel morally obligated to watch these films.  And I do like them, for sweet, pretty, nicely animated direct-to-DVD poorly written and structured films.  But despite the fact that I plan on enjoying this one, I seriously doubt it's anywhere close to being on the Oscar voters' radar.

13-19. I admit to not knowing or caring anything whatsoever about these films, and don't seriously expect them to be on the shortlist: 

Battle for Terra

The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer

Mary and Max

The Missing Lynx

Planet 51

The Secret of Kells

A Town Called Panic

20. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.  Do you really have to ask why this is at the bottom of my list?  I watched the first one (and by the way, how in the world is this getting an "Animated feature" nomination?  It's well over 1/4th live-action, isn't it?), and wanted to claw my eyes and ears out - I simply do not understand why idiotic adult + stupid immature rude annoying chipmunks = good movie.  If this makes it anywhere near the shortlist, I will know that the Oscars have lost even the semblance of relevance.

So, way more than anyone ever wanted to know about my animation-nerd-ness.  But I'll be keeping my eye on these - as they're pretty much the only films I really care about winning any awards this year.  I mean, the other films I've seen this year (Teminator Salvation, Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, New Moon, and The Young Victoria) are unlikely to win anything other than best costumes, maybe a few acting nods, best score, or best special effects.  Though I do like the score race - since I love filmscores.

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And the numbers are in for my last Rutledge paper...

AND IT'S A 98!  WOOOOOHOOOO!

Now I just have to write my 20 pager.

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Test and Amazon Deal

This is a test to see if my posterous will actually import to my facebook and Livejournal.

But to make it a semi-real post, I just found out that Amazon's giving away $3 gift certificates for mp3s!  Just check out the Amazon mp3 section - it should show up somewhere - but only this week, since it's for Black Friday.

I got three tracks:

- The Meadow from the New Moon soundtrack - a score excerpt by Alexandre Desplat (though it's actually an arrangement - for some reason, the actual mp3 isn't downloadable).

- Farewell to Lorien - from the Two Towers special edition score - a bonus track from the Fellowship of the Rings Special Extended Edition.  I listened to this when I borrowed the special score from the library about six or seven years ago, but I only bought the original score release (which is gorgeous).  Now I have the extra one as well!

- Due for Flute and Piano, by Aaron Copland, movement 1.  I recently did a semi-presentation on 1950s art music for my Introduction to Cultural Studies class, and listened to some late Copland I'd never heard of before as a result, including this absolutely gorgeous piece.  It reminds me of a cross between Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man - spare, clear, pastoral, angular, sweet, and utterly beautiful.

Farewell To Lorien (Bonus Track - Album Version) by Lord Of The Rings 2  
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20 - Farewell To Lorien (Bonus Track-Album Version).mp3 (8714 KB)

Duo For Flute And Piano/I. Flowing by Aaron Copland  
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08 - Duo for Flute and PianoI Flowing.mp3 (9857 KB)

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A Collocation of Discursivity

So, I was disappointed by the portrayal of Eowyn in the film The Return of the King. I was surprised and delighted by Miranda Otto in The Two Towers, so it wasn't the acting. Rather, it was the complete loss of what I loved about her character in the novel.

A little to the left facing them stood she whom he had called Dernhelm. But the helm of her secrecy had fallen from her, and her bright hair, released from its bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon her shoulders. Her eyes grey as the sea were hard and fell, and yet tears were on her cheek. A sword was in her hand, and she raised her shield against the horror of her enemy's eyes.

...the face of one that goes seeking death, having no hope.

Still she did not blench: maiden of the Rohirrim, child of kings, slender but as a steel blade, fair yet terrible.

Quoted from The Return of the King, Book V chapter 6.

So, on the zee pictures:



Um, it looks like she's blenching to me.

Also, how hard is the original chronology of the fight to follow, anyway? Theoden is down, she stands between the kings, talk talk talk, she laughs and takes off her helm, the Witch-King's beast leaps into the air and then falls on her, she strikes off its head, she springs back, the Black Rider rises, cries and breaks her arm with his mace, she falls to her knees, he stoops for the kill, Merry stabs him in the back of the knee, he stumbles, she totters up and stabs him, he is destroyed and she falls on his mantle. But nooooo, Jackson has to rearrange it all: Theoden goes flying - whee! more exciting, see?, Witch-King tells it to eat away, Eowyn runs in between (so far, so good), dialogue is exchanged (but in the wrong order), beast charges (no flying), Eowyn chops off its head, the Rider rises, Eowyn blenches ferociously, the morningstar (not mace!) whirls about, is parried weakly once and then breaks her shield and arm, she falls back on the dead horse, the Nazgul grabs her by the throat and threatens her with terrible dialogue, Merry stabs him the back of the knee, Eowyn falls back again, then stands up all nice and tall and proclaims her non-man-ness, then draws back her arm for a very drama...er lame looking stroke, which takes way too long, and then her sword goes flying (not splintered!), the Witch-King implodes, she holds her arm looking rather dumb...really, why the changes? I understand that some things are necessary, but the scene is visual and exciting in the book. These things were really unnecessary.

I suppose this might be counted as not blenching, but at this point, she's supposed to be tottering, and instead we get inspirational feminist quips:



Bother. At least she looks about right, though I think the lighting in this scene is too warm. I always imagine this scene as rather cold, grey-blue, matching the despair of her mood. Oh, and lots of upward camera angles, both to show Merry's POV and to emphasize her heroism without lame dialogue additions.

Funnily enough, I was watching The Princess Bride, and I think that Buttercup in the first 30 minutes of the film is a lot better Eowyn than Eowyn in The Return of the King. Right look, right attitude, and even the same description - eyes as grey as the sea (oh, wait, she's describing Wesley. Never mind - but the wording is exactly the same;-).

So, this is how I think Eowyn should look in that scene: