(ETA: Omg, it weights five pounds.)
Meanwhile, more writing, less swimming; I reread Stardust yesterday, and I have to say, I like what they did with the movie (see Thursday night) even more now that I can compare it directly. The book is wonderful and bittersweet, but--for example--Gaiman glosses over several adventures Tristan and Yvaine have on the road (and I like that in the book), and a lot of the book is the pleasure of the language as opposed to the pleasure of the things actually happening. With a movie, a lot of the pleasure is in the visuals and the action (and I don't even mean the Stuff Blowed Up Good action; I mean the simple fact of people doing things), and "they did stuff but I'm not going to show you" doesn't really work in a movie. The very things that make books enjoyable often don't work onscreen--much the way that the things that make movies enjoyable often don't work in books, either (have you ever tried reading a blow-by-blow action scene?). So all in all, I'm pretty happy with what they cooked up for the movie.
While we're here:
cleojones (who is not me) also saw an early screening. I'd say more, but the thunderstorm has my connection on the fritz. 
