(no subject)

The house is cold. Outside is not. This means that the long-sleeved turtleneck I put on this morning (yes, I live in SoCal, but OTOH I have a slightly lower than normal body temperature) was in fact not appropriate for going grocery shopping and getting rid of duplicate manga at the local Book-Off. Now that I am back home again, however, I am once again cold-ish. But I have nori strips, so life is good.

I'm also about three-quarters of the way through Mansfield Park. I know I saw the movie of it in theaters several years ago, but my vague memory of it was that it was heavy on the "slavery is horrible" (which, well, YES) theme which doesn't seem to be cropping up in this book at all, beyond a) the plantation in Antigua existing, and b) one referenced line by the main character trying to aid in a conversation. It's also a rather long book. Much longer than the other three I've read by Austen. The print I'm reading is 488 pages. I'm also a bit surprised because the guy the readers knows the heroine is not going to end up marrying seems to actually have a transformation into being a decent (if not quite the equal of the guy she will end up marrying) person. Wow, finally a book where choice #2 is not a thorough cad!

And I should be cleaning. Or baking. Something.

(no subject)

Have watched another episode of Haru Toki and I think it's on my watching list. I've also watched the first episode of Gankutsu-Ou, aka The Count of Monte Cristo, and it's DEFINITELY on my watching list. I got through one of Dumas' Three Musketeers novels and part of a second and never did get any further, then a few years later I read The Count of Monte Cristo on a recommendation, and I adore the novel. It is the single best work about revenge ever written, in my opinion, and I've never seen an adaptation that does it justice. There was a Gerard Depardieu version and a Hollywood version (with some pretty imagery) in recent years that I've seen and they both change the ending! I hate hate hate that, have ever since high school when I watched a clack and white version of Great Expectations wherein it was a happy ending, and no, there's just not a reason to changing the endings of classic novels. There is a point, there is a reason, there is a why.

The anime of Monte Cristo is visually different from most other anime I've seen. The clothing of the principal characters is cut-outs over a static, patterned background (hard to describe...) and the style puts me in the mind of Gustav Klimt's works. The story, transposed to a galactic setting rather than the European one of the original, is told to the audience through the viewpoint of Albert, a point of view choice I very much like. I have hope for high consistency throughout because of one very simple visual: the hollowed-out emerald the Count keeps pills in. If such a little thing is kept, how much more may yet be true to the novel? I also think the episode itself was well-told. It had beauty, drama, horror, comedy, and actually made the main character (and the audience, or at least me) think.

What is the cost of a life?