I didn't like this theme. First of all, I don't read half as much as I'd like to and, even when I have music playing in the background, I gradually get so into the book that I end up completely ignoring it. Also, I'm shit at remembering things.
About le gecko's post: my sister actually loves that song! I personally think it's no "Point of No Return", but, yeah, it's still kind of nice.
My thoughts on The Phantom of the Opera are a bit hard to explain. I guess you can compare it to the Harry Potter films: I like watching it over and over, and yet, there's nothing more I love than to make fun of it. So, do I like it? Well, yes and no. I don't deem it as a good film per say; it can't compare to titles like Se7en, Inception, Perfect Blue and The Tracey Fragments (some of my favourite films, although from completely different genres than the Phantom), however, it's pleasantly silly and I never resist a re-watch.
I actually read the book after I watched the film version, so I don't know how partial about this I really am, but I think we always end up being a bit unfair to film adaptions of books. Allow me to explain: books and films are two completely different mediums! Films have loads of restrictions books don't have and that's probaby why we so often accuse them of failing to convey the intended message.
First off, you have the running time of the film, which is one of the hardest things to achieve, aside from writing the script (where you're forced to simplify a complicated plot and painfully eliminate some "unnecessary" elements, not to mention tranforming others so they can still manage to work in this entirely different new medium), then there's casting, special effects and, oh, the list goes on and on!
And then, after these people working together day and night with the noble goal of creating a good adaption of the book, we (and, don't forget, they) all know and love, we arrive the cinema, turn on the TV, click the play button on the computer, and declare, with snob certainty and not a second's hesitation: "Well, this sure is shit compared to the book!". Of course it's not going to be exactly like the book! That's not feasible - certainly not in this day and age! That's why it's called an adaption.
Sometimes more faithful, others less (although this is not necessarily a bad thing! Re-interpretations of books can be super awesome, once in a while - case in point: Howl's Moving Castle [I could only find the English dubbed trailer, sorrry about that!], about which Diana Wynne Jones, the book's author, said the following "It's fantastic. No, I have no input - I write books, not films. Yes, it will be different from the book - in fact, it's likely to be very different, but that's as it should be. It will still be a fantastic film."), but what matters is that you can't have that rash attitude without really thinking things through first; much less take with you when you're going to see the film for the very first time!
To sum up, I think people should really think about they're saying when they claim a film sucks because it's not 100% like its book counterpart. Of course, it's always difficult to be absolutely neutral when they drag something you care about so much and are so used to, to new, ground-breaking territory. It's frightening and many of us can't help but protest, while we should actually be cheering them on instead, for offering the fans a priceless gift with such effort, time and love put into it.
Oh, I almost forgot: there was a song in the middle of all of this, wasn't there? Ah, yes, another cover relating to this week's theme, it's Smash Mouth's take on "I'm a Believer" (which you 99,9% sure know from Shrek)! The reason I chose this song is because every time I hear it, it reminds me of the Kids Next Door. You know, that awesome TV programme about a secret kids organisation fighting against adult tyranny, created by Mr. Warburton? Yeah, that's the one!
Confused about why that particular song reminds me of it? Well, you should be! Unless you ship Numbuh 3/Numbuh 4 as hard as I do, in which case you have probably seen many of the videos out there that support that pairing. For those who haven't, though, I will kindly explain: pratically every single video ever made dedicated to these two cute little operatives' relationship uses the same background tune - you guessed it, "I'm a Believer"! In all fairness, it fits pretty well, but, let's admit it, folks, after the first guhzillion times, the orgininality starts to fade bit by bit...
Ah, who can blame you lot! Smash Mouth's cover is, in fact, quite addicting and, in my head, it will always have that nostalgic feel of the good ol' days, when I first discovered shipping!
