Ramblings and Musings and Wibblings

arwen_lune started this meme after talking to someone about this. Here's mine.

What wouldn't I have had if I hadn't discovered pTerry?

My sanity. The books kept me sane during a period I was confused and lost in a world I didn't know. I lived in Discworld for extended periods of time. I would pick up a book and disappear into it completely. If I had to choose between food or Pratchett, I chose the book every time (but only if I still had bread and peanut butter in the house).

Somewhere to belong. I found there was a group of people out there with a similar mindset. For the first time in my life there was this group of people who accepted me for who I was. A group with non-standard minds. Geeks. Silly people. Weirdos, but nice weirdos. I found a group I could truly belong to. I wouldn't have realised I'm okay the way I am and that I don't need to pretend to be something or someone I am not.

I wouldn't have found #afp and met some of the best people and friends I've ever had. I wouldn't have come through losing my dad and breaking up with my then boyfriend as well as I did without people offering asylum when it was most needed.

I probably wouldn't be living in the UK right now. Not that I wouldn't be living here at all, just not right at this minute. It might have taken me a few more years.

And lastly, I wouldn't have had a wonderful snuggly weekend.

I think I'll go hunt down some books when I get home. I feel like another trip to Discworld.

...but it is not an extraordinary film. It's neither astonishingly bad, nor astonishingly good. It's an enjoyable movie, provided you suspend disbelief by the neck until deaddeaddead. Which I did, and therefore I enjoyed myself.

Just one slight peeve:

Book-Nautilus. Nemo's ship. Sleek, stealthy bugger, very luxurious inside. At least that's what I always imagined when I read "20,000 Leagues".

Movie-Nautilus: beautiful artwork, both exterior and interior. All very pretty. And also completely stupid. This was supposed to be a fairly secret mission. Now, Nautilus is a submarine. Which should mean the aforementioned stealthy sleek bugger. But what do we get? We get a baroque (or maybe rococo) version of the Brittanic. In exquisite detail. Seriously, 90% of the screen time Nautilus gets is of her on the surface. Now in my book, stealth does not mean popping up to the surface so Allan Quatermain can shoot clay pigeons. (Also: fiddly details? Not so good for aerodynamic flow.)

And the other thing: Nautilus is meant to be big. Looking at the film, she's easily 500 yards long, probably more. And what do they do with her? They breeze into Venice with her! You know, Venice? The watery city of the narrow waterways with lots of low bridges and corners? And they sail this big fuck-off ship in there! How the bloody hell is she supposed to turn corners? Teleportation?