(no subject)

# lol... my sister e-mailed me this video: voting machines in Florida.

# Beautiful sunny warm day, apple trees insanely picturesque, full of red, orange and yellow fruit, sun on my face while the horse contentedly muches windfall apples.

# Watched the Master & Commander dvd; I'll have to see it again before I can give a real review - especially because my English apparently has grown so rusty that what with all the nautical terms I had to switch on the English subtitles and they're kind of distracting; several of the scenes no doubt were much more impressive on a big screen, but all in all it's a very nice film, quite true to O'Brian's style and pacing, though I'm not so sure whether in a movie that is altogether a good thing; and there's always the pleasure of seeing all those characters brought to life. Still - even after having read only the first four volumes in parts the movie felt a little abbreviated and patched together, when you constantly have to silence an inner voice complaining "But Stephen/Jack said/did this when..."

So Crowe is perhaps a little slimmer and Bettany a little prettier than Jack and Stephen canonically are, but I'm shallow, so who am I to complain about beautiful men in a movie, especially since neither of them has been absurdly out-of-characterally [is this an actual word?] prettified; and Weir captured their friendship nicely, even without being able to resort to O'Brian's more effusive declarations and demonstrations, and their string duets are lovely. Crowe is a very good Jack, and if I feel there's a little something lacking, I can't even put my finger on it. Stephen's character has been deprived of some of his depths and darker edges, but I guess they would be impossible to fit into one movie. Removing the bullet himself (and I'm still wondering whether anyone has ever actually done this) makes practical sense in the movie - given the surgeon's skill it's his best chance for survival, while in HMS Surprise it has a definite touch of self-punishment for killing Canning, for letting himself be driven to this point by Diana. And his activity as a spy is only hinted at in a way that doesn't make sense unless you know about it from book canon.

Jack and Pullings (and James D'Arcy is another very, very pretty man...) have great chemistry too, almost effortlessly conveying their long history together...

The Hollom episode (book canon, I presume?) made for an interesting subplot, subtly contrasting this man who, given the choice, most likely wouldn't have chosen a career as a sea-officer, who doesn't understand at all what Jack tries to tell him about authority and respect, with the barely teenaged blond kid who you just know will make one hell of a commander one day.