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A few minutes ago, I stepped out into my little garden/patio to dump some spare drinking water into the soil near my peach tree.  (The same peach tree happened to be the source of a real Milago Beanfield moment for me earlier this year, namely the Death of the Blossoms.) 

I don’t wear shoes in the house.  But I keep a pair of sandals near both the front and back door for quick trips outside, like checking the mail or filling the bird feeder. 

As I stepped into my hiking sandals, something cool bunched up against the toes of my left foot.  The left sandal happens to be the one with the loose lining, thanks to its most recent trip through the washing machine.  So I didn’t think anything of it.  But then, as I was about halfway to the tree (all of five feet) it suddenly didn’t feel like loose lining at all.  A little too cool.  A little too. . . wriggly.

In one sentence?

Perhaps the best prison break movie since Shawshank Redemption.  Or possibly Chicken Run.

Okay, that’s two sentences.

Also, the action sequences in this G-rated animated movie were far more exciting and engrossing than the action sequences in the vast majority of action movies I’ve seen.  It’s interesting to me that I rarely come out of an animated film feeling like I’d just wasted time and money, but I rarely come out of a live-action film feeling like it was entirely worth my time and money.

I know you feel very strongly about the issue of Search Engine Optimization.  Have no fear, kind sirs!  Your passion for this subject comes across quite clearly in your dedication to, and fascination with, my contact form.  I thank you for your selfless concern for my website’s wellbeing.  And I applaud your dedication to using only the finest white hat optimization techniques.  You rule.

(And, by the way, I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve had problems with your email solicitations getting intercepted because peoples’ spam filters are set too high.  That’s a shame.  In a just and fair world, spam filters would only intercept, you know, spam.  Like unsolicited emails containing vaguely targeted business proposals.  I now understand why you feel the need to randomly contact people who have commented on my blog.  Chin up and shoulder to the wheel, my friends!  Don’t let those bastards at SpamAssassin get you down!  Also, in completely unrelated news, my irony meter just exploded.)

I also thank you for your gentle yet frantic, persistent yet ominous reminders that I may be — at this very moment! — neglecting my “international clientele”.   Indeed, your warnings about my absence from the most popular Slovakian and Mongolian web search engines has caused much soul searching here in the international headquarters of my business empire (by which I mean my spare bedroom).  

[Edited, 6 Jan 2012:  This blog post refers to the original Swedish film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, directed by Niels Arden Oplev, and starring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace.  Here is a link to another post about the American remake, directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara.]

Like zillions of other people, I’ve been devouring the Stieg Larsson “Millenium” “Millennium” trilogy.  My copy of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest hasn’t arrived yet, which has made for some painful waiting.  (Darn you, Powell’s!  Why must you be so far away?)  But I anticipate an engrossing read when it does arrive.  The first two novels in the series made a joy of my 100 minutes of daily commuting.

I’m still processing my thoughts about these books.  They break many of the rules of thumb that we like to recite when it comes to writing and storytelling.  In many places they stand at odds with the standard advice beginning novelists receive.  But for all that they’re compulsively readable and, let’s face it, huge international megabestsellers.   So the late Mr. Larsson sure did something right.

Anyway, last night I zipped over to a local college campus to catch the film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  I’m glad I had a chance to catch it while the novel was still somewhat fresh in my memory.  I found myself continually comparing the film’s storyline to that of the book, taking note of the places where the screenplay diverged from the book, and theorizing about why the filmmakers made the choices they did. 

Since The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a mystery, it’s kind of hard to do such a plot comparison without some major spoilers.  So, if you haven’t read Dragon Tattoo yet and don’t want it ruined for you, don’t read below the cut.

Went to see the Russell Crowe/Cate Blanchett Robin Hood last night.  It seemed (very) overly long, and the story—such as it is—never really figures out what it wants to be about.  Sort of a poster child for “written by committee”.

I completely gave up on this movie when we hit the slow-motion shot of Russell Crowe yelling, “Nooooooooo!”

That is honestly in the film.  Hard to believe, I know.  And I’m pretty sure that bit was meant non-ironically, since this wasn’t intended as a comedy or satire.  I’ll bet I can guess what you’re thinking: hasn’t noooooo been a cliché since almost forever?

Yes.  Yes it has.