My first western ever, and I loved it!

Yesterday was once again time to best course one can think of: film course! We just listen 20 minutes, when the teacher tells us some interesting and funny facts about the night's director and then we can just watch some classic films for free. Could there be a better way of course credit?
   We have already seen Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin and North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock. And yesterday our teacher had picked up The Searchers by John Ford. I admit that my first thought was 'Who the heck is John Ford?' and the second one 'He directed westerns? Oh my God, no!!!!' I have never before been able to watch a whole western (I either give up or fall to sleep, depending on the time and place). I do not know why. It just happen.
   But now I can say I have experienced the change of heart (well, not exactly, but at least I am willing to watch another western, someday). Ford is genius! The Searchers tells about Ethan Edwards, who comes back to his brother's farm in Texas after fought for the Confederacy in American Civil War. But peace is broken, when Edwards homestead is burned by Comanches (Indian tribe), while Ethan and some other men are lured away to seek stolen cattle. Ethan's brother and most of his family are killed, but Chomanches have kidnapped the youngest one of the family, little 8-year-old Debbie. So Ethan starts his long and almost obsessive search of her with his brother's adoptive son Martin.
   The film deals with dark themes like revenge and racism, but Ford has also created some really humorous moments to counterbalance the grim moments. It has been a long time since I last time laught so much while watching a film, and this were not even a comedy!
   Ford has been a great inspiration for younger directors (like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese) and without a reason. Some of them have even planted tributes to him into their productions (e.g. does the smoking remains of Edwards homestead remember a bit the remains of certain moisture farm in a desert planet in a galaxy far far away?). I can strongly recommend to everybody. If you have not seen it, you do not know what you are missing.

Mark: 9+

Good novel=good anime=good manga?

Howl's Moving Castle Film Comic, Volumes 1-4
668 pages in all
published by VIZ Media LLC in 2005

Sophie is a quiet and shy girl working in his late father's hat shop. But one day everything changes: she meet a mysterious young man, is chased by some black creatures and finally displease Witch of the Waste, who transform her into a old woman. Sophie can't stay at home any more, so she have to try her wings and venture into the big strange world. Soon she find herself in a moving castle of wizard Howl, who is rumoured to eat a hearts of the young and beautiful women. How can Sophie break the curse? And what is the secret contract between Howl and the fire demon Calcifer?

An example of mangas screens

   The story in question is the plot of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Howl's Moving Castle, which Hayao Miyazaki adapted in to an anime film, which became manga. Whereas anime take some liberties concerning the novel(not necessary bad ones), manga is almost fiercely loyal to the anime. Althought I usually like adaption that follow the original source for a certain extend, in this one I find it slightly annoying. The fault is not in the story line (which is the same as in the anime), it is more in the visual presentation: every screen is straight from the film. I have to admit it looks pretty cool, but the annoying part is that the similarities doesn't end there. Manga is clearly trying to mirror the rhythm of the film, but it ends up becoming just small screens with just slight differences in them (like characters turn or sit), which is really irritating, because all the details stuffed into them makes them seem like find-10-differences pictures. That made me skip almost whole pages, where practically nothing happened.
    Another annoying detail was imagery of sounds. I don't know is it the same in the English version (I read them in Finnish), but the translator had been lazy and left them in their original Japanese form. Nothing doesn't break your reading rhythm better than an unintelligible scribble over an otherwise beautiful picture.
    I highly recommend that if you are interested of story would rather pick up the novel or the anime. They honor the story way better.

Mark: 6

Manual of marring a Finn

 "How do you tell if a Finn is an extrovert? He looks at your shoes, not his own!"

A few years back Phil Schwarsmann's book How to Marry a Finnish Girl made a small fuss in Finnish media (practically everything conserning Finland does. We are so worried of what others might think of as :). It's a collection of Schwarsmann's experienses in the land of the thousand lake. It includes weather, Finnish mentality, winter, language and, of course, Finnish women.
   Schwarsmann also list of things to do, if you want to get an Finnish wife, which he gives an 30-Day Guarantee. This include such things as cknowledging Finnish girls superiority compared to Swedish girls, find a one and some pick-up lines, which make Finnish girls giggle, such as this to:

"Put your tongue on my flagpole and see if it sticks."

"No, that's not a Nokia Communicator in my pocket."

Schwarsmann's book is time to time hilarious. He make some clever observations about Finland, which we born-and-bred Finns don't always think about (like enormous secrety concerning baby names).
   I think for those who have not ever been in Finland or meet any Finns, the book might be a bit confusing. But for others (espesially for Finns who doesn't take them selves too seriously) the book can offer many good laughs.

Mark: 7+