UKLeG on Earthsea, Found Santa, and a sad story

[skreidle]

It would seem Ursula K. LeGuin is none too pleased about the direction that was taken with the movie adaptation of her story, what with the themes they fabricated and injected and the words they put into her mouth...

The US Dept. of Justice released posters aimed at assisting authorities with properly identifying and searching Muslims and Sikhs; BoingBoing.net created one to offer to South Asian shopkeepers in rural areas: Common Redneck Head Coverings. (via bluekitsune)

Santa Claws Lobster and his flying crawfish! (via xviragox)

Worst human interest story I've heard recently, relayed by liandriel:

There's been a small drama over on Xanga this week -- a wonderful woman has been illegally evicted from her home with nine days' notice and put up a Paypal link for donations, so her kids won't be homeless for Christmas (long story short). Some random girl surfed by and made a snotty comment that this woman should get a job, rather than begging for money online. Drama ensued, and one of the things this girl said was, "Seriously though why give money to someone you dont even know?"

Comments

[communtycard.livejournal.com]

holy crap that lobster is upsetting.

[liandriel.livejournal.com]

I should say that the woman who lost her home left a high-paying job to move to the boonies and care for her ailing grandparents. There, she works full-time for relatively very little compensation, does some freelance web design on the side, and volunteers much of her time to serve her community. She receives no child support from her unemployed ex-husband.

The girl who attacked her is 28 years old and living with her parents, unattached, and living with her parents.

*shakes head*

[reverend-dave.livejournal.com]

Hey, she cashed the Sci-Fi Channel's check, therefore she has no right to bitch.

[typhanie.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I always wonder what the author thinks when hollywood takes their books and botches them up. I think she has a good point that the director has a right to give his interpretation of the show/book, but not hers. It's too bad she didn't get a say in the matter. I was, however, wondering how good the miniseries was. If they're changing it all, there's really no point in watching.

Funny lobster and redneck pages. :)

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

If you've been good, you get a pearl! If you've been bad, you get that yellow gunk!

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Unattached, living with parents, needs a slap upside the head..

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Check the details--this isn't a simple case of hard times.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Well, she's not so much complaining about the movie itself, but about the words being put into her mouth--which the check has no bearing on.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Well, I've never read 'em, so I still intend to see the miniseries in its own right. :)

[liandriel.livejournal.com]

That's a given.

[reverend-dave.livejournal.com]

She's complaining that the movie puts an entirely different spin on the book's story, including things she absolutely didn't intend. Well, that's the sort of thing that gets handled in the negotiations; some authors require a certain degree of control over scripts (case in point: JK Rowling). She didn't, she signed on and failed to secure any control for herself.

I stand by my statement.

[standby-go.livejournal.com]

Y'know, it's pretty disgraceful that the DOJ feels it necessary to issue "Common Muslim American Head Covering" posters. It says that (1) They expect that a lot of Muslims will need to be searched (2) They think people have to be told to show respect to people when searching others, and (3) Americans are so incredibly ignorant of foreign cultures that they wouldn't already know that "followers of the Islamic faith are called Muslims. Some Muslim women cover their head, based on religious belief and the Islamic injunction to dress modestly." What a country we live in! (I'm just hoping that the original poster was fabricated as a joke too.)

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I'm just hoping that the original poster was fabricated as a joke too. It really doesn't look that way..

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

And that aside, because I agree, I maintain she has every right to be annoyed at words being put in her mouth, movie adaptation aside.

[reverend-dave.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of the story of a reporter's conversation with Ray Bradbury (possibly right after the dud of a Martian Chronicles TV mini-series). Supposedly, the reporter asked Bradbury what he thought about poor screen adaptations ruining his books, and the author gestured at his bookshelf and said "They're not ruined! They're right there!"

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Ha! I've heard about that. :)

[reverend-dave.livejournal.com]

But yeah, I see what you mean. One wonders whether communication between LeGuin and the filmmakers broke down in some way, or if she tried to be involved and was rebuffed.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I get the impression from a later article that she was supposed to, or at least thought she would, have much more input in the process, but didn't in the end.