More on Movies, and Dropping the Bomb

This is going to be one of those potpourri catch-up entries.

More on Movie Adaptations

People who commented on last night's entry had an interesting variety of thoughts on the subject of movie adaptations. I thought everyone had good points to make:

Sarah mentioned being curious about adaptations, "because I'm interested in how directors and actors and costumers and other creative types bring things to life." That's true for me, too, up to a point.  If I were to tot up what I liked best about Peter Jackson's LotR, it would have to do with getting the casting exactly right, and all the amazing work Richard Taylor's WETA people did on the sets and the armor and the costumes and the creatures and...!

Mary finds that most movies are inferior to the book, but enjoyed the "new," different story in Under the Tuscan Sun.  I haven't seen that, but that's part of what I was trying to say.  Movies can give an alternative story, a different "take" on the same basic concept.  That's what  Mary Poppins did, and what Peter Jackson did in beefing up Arwen's role (at the expense of poor Glorfindel, but that's okay).

Vince, who apparently isn't worried about Hitchhiker's Guide, made a sly reference to my Mavarin books.  As often as I joke about the movie rights to these, I haven't really thought about the degree to which a director would change the story, or whether I would mind this.  I guess if the movie got the characters and major events right, I wouldn't mind other changes.  Like Sarah, I'm interested in seeing the translation of people, places and things from page to screen. I'll love to see live action, moving versions of Del and Crel, Rani and Fayubi, and how the FX people would render the tengremen.
  
Becky prefers that films be faithful to the books, and appreciates the first two Harry Potter movies for doing this well.  Cynthia, on the other hand, thought the first Harry Potter movie was weak "because it was too faithful to the book."  She thinks a film should have something new to add, some surprises or "magic." Paradoxically, I think they're both right.

Paul mentions a similar discussion on www.brightweavings.com, part of which focuses on the Lord Of The Rings films. He points out that different fans react differently to the same liberties with the books, and have different favorite scenes from the book that should not be messed with. This makes sense to me, too.  I'd be surprised to learn that anyone was actively pleased by the omission of "The Scouring of the Shire" or Tom Bombadil, but I'm sure that each omission bothered some people more than it did others.  And I expect that I'm not the only one who liked Arwen's enhanced role in Fellowship, but for purists that must have really grated. I had the same negative reaction to Aragorn's spurious, unnecessary fall and and near-drowning.

Dropping the Bomb

This is the week I'm working evenings to try to close the books on 2004, so if I skip a day in my posting you'll know why.  I'll try not to, though.

Today at work I suddenly remembered a form that I was supposed to fill out, for which the deadline was today.  The purpose of it was to provide ARC (the company that collects the airlines' money from travel agencies each week) with contact info for setting up the new secure-but-web-friendly version of their reporting procedures.  Since this won't happen until April or later, I was reluctant to put myself down as the contact person, as Mal intended me to do.  I was going to have to tell him this, and why.

So I waited until the poor guy was off the phone (he worked a 12-hour day today himself!), and asked to speak to him for a minute. I was hoping he'd take the hint and go into my office or the conference room, but no such luck.  He was too busy for that. So right there at his desk up front, I told him that I was uncomfortable with being the contact person on the form because "I don't know how much longer I'm going to be here."

He looked stricken.  I really thought he had some idea it was coming.  I was wrong.  He said he didn't know anything about the ARC procedures in question, but I reassured him that it didn't matter. I wasn't going to leave him "in the lurch" without training someone in this stuff.  So he put his name down on the form, and I faxed it to ARC.  End of discussion--for the moment.

After the end of the day (for him--I had another hour-plus ahead of me), he came into my office and said this was the first he'd heard of my leaving.

I told him that if I weren't $50,000 or so in debt, I'd stay as long as he would have me, and that I'd hoped he had at least an inkling what was coming.  We talked about the CPA exam coming up in May and whether I would pass it, and my master plan of getting my work caught up and training a replacement before moving on.  He seemed relieved that I wasn't planning to leave immediately.  After that he relaxed enough to chat about accounting issues one of our clients has, due to the company's government contracts.

It's going to be all right.  The discussion I was dreading is now over.  Mal is surprised and disappointed and maybe a little hurt, but he's also understanding and supportive.  I'm not kidding or exaggerating when I say that he and Sandy (his wife, who no longer particupates actively in the business for health reasons) are far and away the best bosses I've had in my entire life.

Let's hope the next bookkeeper appreciates them, too.

Writing and Stuff

I think I'll post the writing/editing update in Inspirations instead.  Meanwhile, go play a fun "Choose Their Adventure" game with Sara G.

Karen