Earthsea: What a Long Sad Trip It's Been ... (not really news)

[chomiji]

You may recall the travesty that was the Earthsea television special. You may also recall the joyous news that Studio Ghibli (best known for Miyazaki-sensei's films) was going to make an Earthsea movie, and then the much less joyful news that it was Goro Myazaki (Hayao's son) who was actually going to be making the movie.

More recently, Oyceter brought to my attention the fact that in the Ghibli movie - as in the TV mess - everyone is white.   > sigh <   With that in mind, having stumbled over a link to the Australian website for the Ghibli movie, I thought I'd post it here so people can see the trailer etc. if they haven't had that chance. And for good measure, here's Le Guin's commentary on the film, which also mentions why we won't be seeing it in the United States anytime soon.

Comments

[chomiji]

Studio Ghibli is, I think, trying to poise themselves for the day when the senior Miyazaki finally does retire for real (he keeps coming back). But I think they're fooling themselves: everyone knows who the real genius is.

I presume your "to read" stack is already of Sears Tower vertical dimensionality, so I won't attempt to urge you to read the Earthsea books ... Howl's Moving Castle is fun and many people enjoy it, but it's not my most favorite Diana Wynne Jones (although I maintain that DWJ on her worst day is better than many fantasy authors at their best).

[theloomofmoira.livejournal.com]

my favorite book growing up, and I think my first quazi-science fiction book ever, was Dogsbody :)

[chomiji]

I like Dogsbody, but it's so sad! It's a favorite of Neil Gaiman's too, if I recall correctly ... yes:

... yesterday I finished reading Diana Wynne Jones's marvelous Dogsbody to Maddy yesterday. When I finished she didn't say very much. Then she looked at me and put her head on one side and said "Daddy? Was that a happy end? Or a sad one?"

"Both," I told her.

"Yes," she said. "That was what I thought. I was really happy, but it made me want to cry."

"Yeah," I admitted. "Me too." It also made me try to figure out why and how Diana had made the ending work so well, triumphant and heartbreaking at the same time. I want to do that.

- http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2002/03/neil.asp

By my estimate, Maddy Gaiman was 9 or so at that time (she's about a year younger than my daughter).