insaneneko

I watched the 1996 TV adaptation of Emma starring Kate Beckinsale as Emma and Mark Strong as Mr. Knightly this weekend. I now feel a lot more positive about the book. I found Emma (the character) hard to stomach in the beginning, but Kate Bekinsale does a great job (her expressions are priceless) and I quickly softened towards Emma. By the end I really enjoyed the story...Though seeing Frank Churchill in action made me really wish something bad happened to him in the future. Ugh, what a slimy, icky ass. I'm a bit curious as to what was cut out and what was changed, so I might someday pick up the book and try to read it again. ^^;

Could Mansfield Park be made palatable when turned into a film? I'm a bit tempted to find out....

Seeing Mark Strong makes me want to rewatch Stardust, in which he is an awesome villian. Now that was a really good adaptation of a book.

I am terribly disappointed that Jane Eyre is currently limited release. I have a perverse desire to see the movie, perhaps because I don't care for the book.

I was eating lunch at a local udon restaurant today when the Korean actor who was in Lost and is now in Hawaii 5-0 came in to eat. I had to snort at my attempts to NOT stare at the guy even though I'm not that into celebrities in general and didn't watch either show. The girls at the next table were adorable, though, whispering about trying to get autographs and/or pictures. I wish I could've seen them do it, but I left before they did. :P

I've been rereading old BL novels and manga the last month or so. I had initially been looking for a particular book, but I couldn't find it*. Instead I started reading stuff I hadn't read in a while. Talk about a mixed bag. I own some truly crappy books as well as some really good books I don't reread enough.

I reread a book about best friends in high school in which one has loved the other since forever and finally confesses, turning his friend's world upside down. Sadly, the best part of the book was the art. I was trying to remember books about best friends with sekrit unrequited love on one side because I'm sure I've read tons of them. I could only think of two involving working adults and one with students off the top of my head, which isn't that many...Any recs? I like the premise a lot if done well. I can rec the two working adults books: Slow Rhythm by Sugihara Rio and illustrated by Kinoshita Keiko (♥ her!) and Tadashii koi no nayami kata by Watarumi Naho and illustrated by Sasaki Kumiko. I can't find the student one, but that one wasn't that great anyway. :P

Two books I truly enjoyed rereading: Sono otoko, toriatsukai chuui! and Sono otoko, shinyuu kinshi! by Narumiya Yuri and illustrated by Sakuragi Yaya. They are about a young road construction worker Saeki Keisuke and the guy who becomes his boyfriend in the first book. The blurb for the first book says that Keisuke is a loose guy who will sleep with any guy or gal. He becomes friendly with a government worker who moves in next door, Ogata Mizuki. When Ogata confides that he's in love with some other guy, Keisuke offers to teach him how to sleep with a guy. He's always been the one doing the fucking with guys, but he ends up being fucked by Ogata. The book also has some yazuka (and random criminal) action, but the main point of it is the disgustingly sweet yet adorable relationship between Keisuke and Ogata. Keisuke is tall and decently built, looks a bit intimidating, and is good in fights, but is like butter in Ogata's hands. He's a bit embarrassed, but isn't too full of pride/tsundereness/whatever to hide it constantly. The second book has the insecurities and misunderstandings that seem to show up a lot in second books with established relationships (go cliches!), but in the end the sweetness makes it all okay to me. It helps that I love the art. XD;

*Has anyone read a BL novel about a salaryman with an actor boyfriend whom he supports financially? The boyfriend is on the verge of getting his big break and their relationship becomes destabilized. I hope I find it one day... ;_;

Random news:

Ugh, I hope the rumor that Robert Pattison may play Tetsuo from Akira is wrong. Putting aside the "why is a white guy playing a character who is sooo NOT WHITE" thing (which is neither here nor there as it doesn't apply in this case as per the article the location will be "New Manhattan" instead of "New Tokyo"), I have an aversion to the actor (thanks to how awful he looked in the Twilight promo material).

For people in the US: Costco has a printer cartridge refill service!

Odd, possibly bad: Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata rearranges the entire score of The Sound of Music on their newest album.

I kinda want to see the Priscilla Queen of the Desert musical just for the cupcake scene.

Amazon is shutting down ebook lending sites.

I've been rereading random BL novels and finding that I'm dissatisfied with quite a number of sequels. The first books usually would do a refreshing or unusually satisfying take on some cliched storyline, but then the sequel would fall prey to the cliches they'd managed to work around/with the first time around. I don't know if my happiness in reading more about the characters I grew to like in the first books outweighs my irritation at the cliche fail in the sequels. :P

I was a lot happier rereading Slow Rhythm by Sugihara Rio and illustrated by Kinoshita Keiko. It reminds me of Suki to ienakute just a little because it features a rather clueless guy and his handsome, talented, considerate, gay best friend, and how they become more than friends. It's different in that the characters in Slow Rhythm are salarymen and there is less angst and more confusion. The best friend has loved not-very-perceptive main character for, like, ever, and the main character sort of knows, but they remain just very, very good friends. The best friend is a victim of "I love him too much" cowardice, as well as "I love him so I just want him to be happy and I know he's straight so he'll probably eventually find some woman" selfless concern. He actually tells main character back in high school "Don't worry, I'll never fall in love with you," which is the most obvious yet backwards way of declaring your love I'd ever heard. And yet main character is just dense enough that he can't quite read the true meaning of those words (though there is an element of deliberate taking-at-face value thrown in there) and they keep their delicately-balanced friendship for 12 years...

It felt like nothing much happened in the book, and yet I was very satisfied in the end. I think what I liked were the misunderstandings that came from being different people that weren't blown up into the Greatest Tragedy Ever. They are a big deal to the characters, but they aren't the end of the world either. Erg, I can't quite express why I enjoyed the novel so much. Maybe in the end it's just nice reading something that isn't as dramatic, angst-ridden, or full of odd coincidences as most of the books out there. Also, the art goes perfectly with the narrative which always gives a book an extra boost. XD;

I guess the 90% of households with peanut butter factoid is not so crazy after all. My totally unscientific poll came to approximately 80/20. :P

I don't remember if I had peanut butter in the house or not when I was young. I don't remember eating it much...Especially not by itself. (Ick)

Erg, Futsuu no hito by Eda Yuuri and illustrated by Kinoshita Keiko, a reprint that includes the two volumes Futsuu no hito and Futsuu no koi, will be including a new story that happens after Futsuu no koi...Which means I will have to get it. I HATE new editions with extra stuff that forces me to buy something I already own. >_< It'll be interesting seeing the characters I love drawn by a different illustrator, especially since it's someone I really like.

It's been a while since I've read these books--I wonder if I can dig them out so that I can read them? I love how ordinary the two main characters are, especially in the first book. They get a little too...romance novel-ish in the second book, tho. :P

Just wanted to share a couple of manga I've fallen in love with. No damn clue if they are licensed or being scanlated, sorry. :P Hopefully they are, because they are both very enjoyable.

No Color by Natsume Isaku is about neighbors serious student Sakamoto and easy-going but driven part-timer Iida. Sakamoto is often irritated with the noisy Iida as he tries to study, but he is even more inconvenienced when Iida moves in with him after Iida's room explodes and has to be renovated...Aaand things just kind of go from there. XD;

The manga is not very original, but terribly delightful. It helps that the artist illustrated Junjou Island, a novel I adore, and it kind of has a similar dopey feel (if not quite as retarded). There's a bit of breaking out of the mold of parental expectations, learning to be honest with what you really want, some misunderstanding, and a lot of sweetness. The art is very clean and attractive. There are a couple of very pretty panels, and the way their first time happens is pretty damn hilarious.


( some panels )

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Kiss Blue by Kinoshita Keiko is even more predictible and cliched, but instead of being yet another ho-hum been-there-done-that manga it was a shining example of when superb execution trumps hackneyed storylines and characterizations. Tomosaka and Noda are college students. They were friends from...at least junior high? In any case, Tomosaka is a serious, low-key, nice guy. Noda is also mostly a nice guy, just one of those that have two or three girlfriends at one time. A certain incident makes Tomosaka realize that...He's in love with Noda!! The requisite suppression and denial and suffering follow, leading to the most annoying cliched development that can happen in these situations...That instead of annoying me actually made me feel really bad and sad for the characters. The beauty of this manga, for me, was the mood. It feels slightly reserved, a tad bit detached, but with flashes of the underlying fierce emotion allowed out in tightly controlled phrases expressing Tomosaka's feelings.

As this is only the first book, I have no idea how the story is resolved. The second book, Kiss Blue II, comes out next week. Hopefully I'll have it in my greedy little hands soon after, but in some ways I don't feel an absolutely burning need to read it. I'm worried that the end will be predictable yet lame or suprising but retarded...And I like the uncertainty at the end of the first volume. Even if the end sucks, the first book is so strong I'd reccomend it (with a warning not to read the second volume!) to people who don't need closure to enjoy a well-told story of that type.


( a nothing scene )