Chapter 126 – the rant

I planned for Honorine’s life to develop in this manner, but I never imagined how much I’d sympathise with her.  The word “shut-in” hit home rather harder than I could have predicted it would.

You know what I really dislike?  When an author starts a story and then abandons it midway, betraying the readers in the process.

I screwed up.  I honestly don’t know what happened.  I wouldn’t blame you if you thought I’d given up on this story, because you have only my word – and you do have my word – that I didn’t.

Lately, I’ve just lost touch with everything, and everyone.  I haven’t been playing guitar, I haven’t been playing piano, haven’t been reading; I’ve lost contact with people, online and even somewhat offline, and not realised how long it’s been until, well, now.  Offline, I have the lame excuse that I have no money and no job, but online I don’t even have that.

There are so many things I should have blogged, but didn’t.  At the moment I find myself very much sympathising with sulz, who I only just learned is stopping blogging indefinitely.  I don’t have her excuses, but like sulz, somehow my heart just hasn’t been in writing lately.

I read a post on Museditions’ blog earlier which I think has made me realise my problem: I’ve been wanting to blog out of necessity – that is, desire to complete the story – but I have had little interest in the blogging itself.

For this reason,I’m not going to insult your intelligence as readers by making more promises.  The fact is, I don’t know if I’ll update regularly.  I am clearly not reliable.  I hate myself so much for this, but I think it’s one of those things I need to face up to.  Of course, I’ll try to update regularly.  But, well, I’m a hypocrite.

And I’m tired, so I need to wrap this post up, but I think I should mention:

Brüno and The Half-Blood Prince

I’ve been to the cinema twice since I last posted.  I went with friends to see Brüno, and I went with my family to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (well, it would hardly have been the other way around!).

That’s right, innocent little Bobby G watched Brüno.  And for the most part, I was entertained by it, although it was extremely crass in places.  It’s a mark of how jaded the Internet has left me that the only thing that really shocked me in the movie was the attitudes of the stage parents.  Oh, and the fact that he was still alive after that comment about Osama bin Laden.  (Oh good grief, I think I lost my innocence to imageboards! :( )

I don’t know why I even joked about that.  It seriously bothers me that I’m not as innocent as I was.  That’s my personality I’m losing.

I had been extremely apprehensive about this new Harry Potter film, and I was especially upset to learn that it left out Luna’s commentary scene, which is the best moment in the entire series, but I was pleasantly surprised by the film.  They didn’t have the commentary scene, but it was nevertheless an excellent adaptation of the novel, and possibly my favourite Harry Potter movie so far.  The acting was a lot better than that of the previous film, which certainly helped.  The characters were very convincing this time around; Malfoy, Luna, Slughorn and Lavender really were Malfoy, Luna, Slughorn and Lavender.  There was something a little odd about hearing Harry say the word “tosser”, but he is supposed to be sixteen by this point (of course, he looks a deal older).  If you haven’t seen it, I definitely recommend this movie.

Goodness, I’m tired.  I have no idea how I’ll be up in good time tomorrow at this rate.  It’s 3:20 already.

Goodnight!

Current listening: S Club 7, “Don’t Stop Movin’”

Chapter 23 – the rant

Yes, Bradley just dissed media studies.  For shame, Bradley.

This is the future, so naturally Bradley gets pay-per-view TV on demand.  TV is already moving in that direction in real life, so it’s not improbable that all television will be like that in the future.

Aren’t you glad I’m putting my media studies lessons to good use?

And, this being the future, the school has an automated sprinkler system.  None of my schools had one of those.

BBC iPlayer (Summary 3)

This is a summary of this article, written 26/2/2008.

ITV’s online video service was launched in August 2007.  It reached its peak popularity in November.  Since then, it has experienced a decline of about 200,000 views.  Naturally, ITV chiefs are worried, especially since only 40% of views (about 1m) are full-length programmes.

Compare that to the BBC iPlayer, which had 11m programmes streamed or downloaded this January.

However, Internet research firm comScore assessed all ITV websites, including xfactor.tv, itvlocal.com and citv.co.uk and found that a much more promising total of 8.1m videos had been streamed from those sites.  That’s still less than in November, and still less than the BBC iPlayer, but it’s more than 4oD.  In addition, the number of users streaming videos from ITV websites has actually increased since November.

The BBC’s success with the iPlayer may in part be down to the marketing campaign they launched, featuring big names like Jeremy Clarkson and David Attenborough.  The fact that the BBC’s website was already popular before the iPlayer got launched is probably also a factor.  The BBC iPlayer also has a significantly bigger budget than ITV’s video player.

Ian Maude, of the research firm Enders, said that the BBC iPlayer is “off to a good start”, but that other broadcasters are “struggling to get traction”.  He also pointed out that the ITV video player is very good – yet very few people seem to be using it, for some reason.

Maude also said that YouTube is still the most popular video site, suggesting that Internet users prefer short clips to full-length television shows.

The Internet FAILS

This morning I couldn’t get the Internet to work.  There was something wrong with the server, or the modem, or something.  Anyway, when I got home today, it was working again, and it looks like I got off easy: in South Asia and the Middle East, the Internet servers have been disrupted by severed cables yesterday, as reported by the BBC.  Also as reported by the Beeb, the disturbances are set to continue, with 50% of India’s bandwidth and 70% of Egypt’s bandwidth affected.  The companies serving the east coast of the USA and the UK are the worst affected.  The cause of the damage is as yet unknown, but it may have been a ship’s anchor. o_0;

Anyway, this got me thinking about how much I – and we, as in, the culture I am a part of – rely on the Internet.  It’s so important to so many people, and yet it hasn’t been around for all that long (according to Wikipedia’s article, the World Wide Web was invented in 1989, but I’m sure it didn’t become as popular as it is now until broadband became widespread).  Today a friend of mine was shocked when he realised that he spends more than 20 hours a week online.  I might be just as bad.

Another reason to feel depressed is the weather.  A lot of people probably think we in the UK make a lot of fuss about nothing when it comes to weather – “You call this a blizzard?  Back in Alaska, we call this sleet!” – but the fact is that we in the UK are simply not used to weather that can kill you directly.  For us, weather is normally a constantly changing (remember, we’re an island) nuisance, nothing more.  So when we get freak snowfalls or 70mph gales, we naturally get a bit freaked out.  I remember feeling very annoyed when a publication – can’t remember what it was – described the floods that occured in this area last year as “the most boring natural disaster ever”, and implied that nobody cared.  People died.  People’s houses were flooded.  We in the UK just can’t deal with that kind of thing!

As it is, I live on a hill, so the worst I personally got from the flooding was a drenching and a slight cold (it helped that I was in Scotland during the local, deeply ironic drinking water shortage, too).  Similarly, today I was not blown off the road or snowed in.  I did, however, get very cold and wet, and overall I’m not in a good mood.

Meanwhile, I’m feeling snowed under with Music Tech coursework.  Music Technology is the fourth hardest subject taught at my school (after the three sciences), and due to numerous setbacks, I’m really behind with the coursework (which I can only do during school time, due to the equipment required).  I’m currently planning to write lyrics for my Composition 1 piece, but I have a mental block when it comes to writing cheerful lyrics.  They always end up sounding cheesy and insincere.  I’m good at depressing, though, but I don’t want to write emo songs.

Huh, I thought ”black monday” was a couple of weeks back.  So, here I am, back in my (moderately) warm house, enjoying my Internet connection, hoping that Pink Floyd, Gorillaz and the Smashing Pumpkins will alleviate my gloom.

Current listening: Pink Floyd, “Interstellar Overdrive”.

Video sites benefit from writers’ strike

As reported by the BBC, the American writers’ strike has resulted in an increase in the number of Americans using video sites.  The net management firm Nielsen Online claims that some video sites have doubled their audience since the strike began.

The number of YouTube viewers increased by 18% two months after the strike began, whilst newer sites like Crackle have experienced unprecedented audience growth - there are now twice as many Crackle viewers as there were in October.

The Pew Internet Project notes that there has also been a gradual increase in the viewing of online videos over the past year.  On a typical day 2007, 15% of US Internet users watched a video online.

 I guess that’s one way to keep yourself entertained in the absence of Heroes.

More Internet statistics

According to the BBC, 39% UK adults use social networking sites.  This compares with 53% in Canada, 34% in the USA, 32% in Japan, 22% in Italy, 17% in France and 12% in Germany.

These stats are courtesy of an Ofcom report.

 The report also showed that the USA is the only country where more there are more female Internet users than male ones (52% of US Internet users are women).  The only country where there are an equal number of male and female Internet users is the UK.  Everywhere else, men use the Internet more.

Yep.  Interesting.

And while I’m on the subject of that report, the UK enjoys some of the cheapest deals for mobiles, broadband and television.  Which is odd, because I was under the impression that everything costs more over here than elsewhere.

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT!!!

Well, not quite, but I’m not one to pass on an opportunity to run around like a headless chicken, screaming at the top of my voice, am I?

According to the BBC, Nemertes Research have predicted that the Internet will run out of capacity by 2010.  This will apparently result in a massive slowdown, and downloads will take forever again.  As the BBC put it, it could be a return to the connection speed of “the bad old days of dial-up”.

And just when I was getting to like the Internet too.

 Apparently, the money required to avert this in the US alone would be in the region of $42 billion – $55 billion dollars.

Well, that’s just fantastic.  Fan-blooming-tastic.

iPhones – The wait is over!

Recently, so many people have been talking about the Apple iPhone.  Those people can rejoice – the iPhone is out now in the UK, and the country seems to already be iPhone mad.

Whether it’s down to hype, special features, or company reputation – and I suspect it’s a combination of the three – people have been queuing up to buy their iPhones, and if the BBC is to believed, many of them “love” their iPhones (I’m strongly reminded of Danielle Flora and her BlackBerry here).  This mirrors the reactions in the USA, as reported by the BBC, where overwhelmed happy customers have lauded it as “amazing” and ”a masterpiece”.

There have been some complaints, mostly centered around the fact that the iPhone can only be used with the O2 network.  Unlocking them for use in other networks voids the warranty and could, apparently, damage the ‘phone.  This hasn’t stopped 250,000 Americans from unlocking it, which makes sense if your area doesn’t even have good O2 coverage.

The BBC also publish a review of the iPhone by Darren Waters, who writes that “The greatest success of Apple’s iPhone lies in the realisation that most phones you have owned previously are compromises.”  Although he levels numerous criticisms at the device – overhyped, 2G not 3G, slow-loading pictures, O2’s Edge network only working well in urban areas, lack of ability to send instant messages and voice over IP, lack of ability to sync data, ”deeply disappointing” camera and only 8GB of flash memory – his review is overally positive, concluding that “like the iPod, the iPhone will force every other competitor in the market to raise its game. And for that consumers should be thankful for the iPhone – even if they have no intention of buying one.”

The perils of cinematic adaptation, or Why I dislike the Harry Potter movies

Recently I was reading an Andrew Collins DVD review in the Radio Times of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Collins writes “Though I’m an avowed non-reader of the books, I admit to thoroughly enjoying Harry Potter on screen”.

“Wait a minute!”  I (almost) cried aloud.  “If you enjoy the films, why are you avowed about not reading the books, which are in every way superior?”

Perhaps I need to provide an explanation at this point.  I do enjoy the Harry Potter books, and I would go as far as describing them as outstanding examples of modern children’s literature.  I have never particularly liked the films because, as a fan, I find myself constantly irritated by the changes made in the adaptation (that and the general problems of underuse of great acting talents and over-simplified, confusing plots).

Thinking about this got me thinking more broadly about the amount of changes made in big screen adaptations of works, the reasons why they are made, and the reactions they provoke among fans.  The way I see it, there are two main types of changes that are made:

1.  Changes made for the purpose of adapting the work for film.

These are unavoidable to an extent, since films and books are vastly different media.  They usually take the form of omissions, since there’s a lot more that you can cram into a book which may take people hours, days or even weeks to read than you can into a film.  Case in point – the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which cut substantial amounts of the story and was still absurdly long – anyone who can sit through all three of them in one viewing must have a significantly more durable patience than me, significantly better bladder control, the ability to go without food and sleep for extended period of time, and virtually no life.  Yet there were still fans who objected to scenes being skipped, most notably the house of Tom Bombadil, the fog on the Barrow-Downs and the scouring of the Shire.  In some rarer cases, such as video game adaptations, events may be added because the work doesn’t have enough of a plot to make a film (these efforts are usually tedious and disliked by game fans and film critics alike).  Changes are also sometimes made for pace, or to heighten the spectacle or drama.

 The problem with omitting elements of a story is that it can reduce the quality of the work considerably.  For example, the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix explored themes such as mental illness, slavery, censorship, discrimination, loss, thought, disillusionment with parents, time, love, death, association, war and oppression, to varying extents.  The film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix excludes some of these themes and marginalises others.  The film also removes several substantial plot elements such as <SPOILER!!!> Kreacher’s betrayal of Sirius </SPOILER!!!>, meaning that aspects of it don’t really make sense (according to the Andrew Collins review, Kreacher wouldn’t have been in the film at all if Rowling hadn’t insisted).

 2.  Changes made for no apparent reason.

These irritate me.  For some reason, the director takes objection to an element of the original story, or maybe the script writer didn’t read the source material, or the actors were completely the wrong ones for the job.  Whatever the reason, changes get made that seem to serve little or no purpose, and may even lessen the understanding of the story, reduce the amount of visual spectacle, or otherwise worsen the film from a cinematic outlook.

This really irked me in the case of Harry Potter.  For example, several characters in the fifth movie were changed completely.  Grawp went from being a dangerous and initially rather frightening (although not actually evil) giant in the book to a cute, harmless creature in the film.  His scene was completely changed!  And if I wasn’t a firm believer in forgiveness, I’d say their treatment of Cho Chang was unforgivable.  If she <SPOILER!!!> betrayed the DA (which is totally out of character for her), but was under the influence of veritaserum at the time, wouldn’t Harry forgive her?  After all, he’d be just as helpless under the influence of that potion. </SPOILER!!!>  She also had her personality removed, as did several other characters, like Ginny Weasley.

The worst offenders, in my opinion, are recurring characters whose personalities are changed.  The Hermione Granger in the films bears very little resemblance to the one in the original novels.  To compare some moments from the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets book and films:

From the book:

“‘A month?’ said Ron.  ‘Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!’  But Hermione’s eyes narrowed dangerously again, and he added swiftly, ‘But it’s the best plan we’ve got, so full steam ahead, I say.’”

From the film:

Ron:  Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!
Hermione: (apologetically)  I know, but it’s the best plan we’ve got.

From the book:

“‘Malfoy called her “Mudblood”, Hagrid -’
Ron dived out of sight as a fresh wave of slugs made their appearance.  Hagrid looked outraged.
‘He didn’!’ he growled at Hermione.
‘He did,’ she said.  ‘But I don’t know what it means.  I could tell it was really rude, of course…’”

From the film:

Hermione: (crying) He called me a Mudblood.
Hagrid: (shocked) He did not.
Harry: What’s a Mudblood?
Hermione: (sounding angry and very miserable) It means “dirty blood”. Mudblood’s a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, someone with non magic parents… someone like me. It’s not a term one usually hears in civilized conversation.

And, of course, some of the personality distortion is down to her appropriating other people’s lines.  Just one of many examples:

From Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (the book):

“[Dumbledore said] ‘Call him Voldemort, Harry.  Always use the proper name for things.  Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.’”

From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (the film):

Hermione: Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.

From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the book):

“‘Voldemort!‘ said Harry furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced.”

Later, when Hermione does say “‘V-Voldemort”‘, we are told “It was the first time she had ever said Voldemort’s name”.

Well, I seem to have got side tracked into a rant – whoops.  They’re so much fun, you know? 

But anyway, that’s an example of how fans can react negatively to having their favourite stories mangled by adaptations.  This isn’t limited to films, by the way – it happens to television too.  I have a friend who refuses to term the animated series of Naruto “canon” because it contradicts the manga in places.  He won’t even consider it canon as a separate series in its own right, although since he’s an animé nut, he still watches it.

The long and short of it is, when a story is adapted from one medium to another, fans are left with three options.  They can either (1) ignore the adaptation because it’s “wrong”, (2) treat the adaptation as a separate work, albeit one that is clearly derived from the original, or (3) invent a bizarre theory involving parallel universes.  I tend to plump for option 2.  Which doesn’t mean I think the Harry Potter films are especially brilliant.  They’re a laugh, and they’re quality children’s entertainment, but the acting isn’t always that great, and there’s not much substance to them.

That and the fact that they keep underusing great acting talents and having confusing plots.

 Edit:  For more examples of this, check out tvtropes.org – they’ve got a page on what they term “Adaptation Decay“, as well as a more positive one on “Adaptation Distillation“.

Is yours an average UK family?

The BBC website has a bunch of stats on what an average UK family is like.  There’s a lot there, too much to summarise, so read it for yourself.

 Some points of interest: 40% have two cars, one of which is likely to be a Ford Focus, 79% have a mobile phone, and 65% have a home computer.

I’m surprised that 35% of UK families don’t have a home computer, since nowadays people seem to expect you to have the Internet (I remember how irritating it was before we got broadband – teachers kept setting homework that required me to be on the Internet for extended periods of time.  It was a nightmare).