Cannibals. Prepositions. Typical Friday Night.

March 2

I went to see Hannibal tonight, expecting to dislike it-- as I disliked quite a few things about the book. I was pleasantly surprised, though. I enjoyed the film more than I did the novel (what a rare statement that one is for me to make! Though I expect I'll say it about the Lord of the Rings movies, too). I much prefer Julianne Moore's rendition of Starling to Jodi Foster's-- Moore's performance had much less of an "aw, shucks" quality about it. The movie diverges in many ways from the novel, most of those divergences on the order of simple omissions, but in the few places where changes are made, I think they actually improve the story. The film's conclusion was totally different from the novel's... and since I didn't like the way the novel ended at all, I thought that was a good thing. The film's ending is much more true to the characters, I think. The movie also doesn't try to explain away Lecter's behavior as the result of childhood trauma, as the novel does. I wonder whether Harris meant that "explanation" in a tongue-and-cheek way... but either way, it annoyed me. I got the sense that Harris was sick of these characters in that novel, that he wanted to piss people off. The scriptwriters (one of whom was David Mamet) treated them with a bit more respect. Of course, Harris can do whatever he wants to his characters... but I'm glad this movie got made, and did something else with them.

Was that sufficiently spoiler-free? And sufficiently obscure and annoying, if you haven't read the book and seen the movie? Ah, well.

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I took a sick day at work, after waking with a head full of thudding phlegm. Mornings are always the worst when I'm sick. By early afternoon I felt much better, just some sniffles and a sore throat (that's not as sore as it was yesterday). I decided, since I wasn't getting paid today, I should do something to generate revenue. So I printed a few stories, addressed a few envelopes, and wandered down to the Post Office. I got eight stories in the mail today. I'm so bad about sending rejected stories back out. Almost as bad as I am at paying bills on time. Another half-dozen stories need lesser-or-greater degrees of revision before I send them out, and of course I still have several currently in circulation... when I finish revisions, I should have about 30 stories in the mail. Someone buy a few of them already!

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I promise, no more sick-litany. It bores me, so I know it can't possibly thrill you. So unless I collapse in a faint and some humorous slapstick-style havoc ensues, I'll refrain from mentioning the state of my cold. I may mention when it's all gone, though.

*

My life's boring when I take days off. I have nothing about which to bitch. Ah, though that sentence (which so priggishly refuses to end with a preposition), does remind me of a bit of personal dorkdom I'd meant to mention.

In general, I'm a big believer that usage denotes correctness-- language is an evolving thing, it changes under the hands (or tongues, if you'd rather) of those who use it. The French Academy annoys me, because language changes to suit the needs of those who use it. The language you speak is not an inviolate cultural treasure, it's the language you speak. Moreover, I've always been annoyed by the "don't end a sentence with a preposition" rule. This is a rule in Latin. English is not Latin. English is not even Latinate-- it's mostly Germanic. Not that I want English to reflect German word order, either-- I don't like waiting until the very end of a sentence to get my verb, thanks very much.

And yet... though I'd never insist on them in conversation or even most writing... I think there's a certain elegance to those constructions that are designed to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition (Churchill's famous "Ending sentences with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!" notwithstanding). I like "for which" phrases and "to whom" a lot-- they just sound so good to my ear. Except when they sound awkward, of course.

Which brings me to Aimee Mann. Because Aimee Mann uses these constructions, which is reason #213 why she rules! I get such a thrill hearing her sing "am I the only one to whom that's making sense?" and "But now here I am and the world's gotten colder/and she's got the river down which I sold her."

Loveliness!

I'm such an English-major-geek. It's in my chromosomes, I think. I can't do anything about it.

Hell. I wouldn't really want to.

Er. That is: That isn't something about which I would like to do anything.