some thoughts on The Silence of the Lambs

Generally speaking, I think movies made from books are never as good as the original material. The Silence of the Lambs has not joined my short list of exceptions.

This is not to say that it's a bad movie! No, it's a very good movie. It deserved that Oscar. But the book is better.

( Obviously the case had to be streamlined, which was by and large done sensibly... )

But really, Clarice Starling is the heart of the story; it lives and dies with her characterization. I miss seeing her do technical forensic work, and I miss seeing her consciously decide that she's willing to flunk out of Quantico rather than abandon Catherine Martin and the case, but aside from the sexist warping of the basement scene at the end, she makes it largely intact from book to screenplay and Jodie Foster brings her convincingly to life.

So yeah. A good movie. Still not as good as the book, but a very good movie. I'm glad I watched it. :D

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(For the record, the two movies that I think are better than their source books are The Princess Bride and Mysterious Skin. There are probably also some movies that are better than their source short stories, but while those face the problem of translating from one medium to another, they don't have the problem of how to tell the same story while chopping at least half of it out.)

3 things: cooking, work, and appliances

1. I am making a crockpot thing with chicken, onion, green pepper, tomato, a Lipton garlic and whatever seasoning packet, and some white wine. I have no idea how it will turn out -- this is an experiment -- but it should be done sometime tomorrow morning and I'll probably have some for Sunday lunch or dinner, at which point I will report back.

I am sure it will at least be edible, but there's a big difference between edible and good, you know?

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2. Valley Boss has formally passed me over to Hill Boss, which means my scheduled hours have been significantly reduced for the next few weeks. This was likely to happen anyway, as Valley Boss acquired a couple more receptionists to work into her schedule, but it's still a little sad. On the bright side, this does mean I'll have more time for college reading and job searching, so. *makes equivocating gesture* Six of one, half a dozen of the other, I guess.

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3. I had a scare with my refrigerator yesterday. It made really distressing noises around midnight on Thursday, and on Friday the door felt a little reluctant to open and the cold air didn't come on the way it usually does, even when I opened the freezer. But I decided to wait an hour before calling Landlady, in case of false alarms, and about forty minutes later things were working normally.

I'm going to keep a closer eye on the fridge from here on, though, because a dead refrigerator is not something anybody needs.