Remember Koom Valley!

So, at the moment I'm re-reading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. And just somewhere in there, easy to overlook, I found this one little annotation.
It's about history and about the battle of Koom Valley. The Discworld Wiki says about that battle:

“Remember Koom Valley!” Hundreds of years ago, the trolls and the dwarfs met in a battle at Koom Valley. It was a remarkable battle in that each side ambushed the other and, of course, in being the historical event symbolizing the enmity between trolls and dwarfs. Nowadays, dwarfs celebrate the Battle of Koom Valley Day, on the same day that trolls celebrate Troll New Year. Sometimes, in a city where both dwarfs and trolls live (e.g. Ankh-Morpork), the two groups are careful enough to plan their celebratory marches so that they are coincidentally on the same street (see Men at Arms).

And here's the annotation (Thief of Time, p. 215):

Every society needs a cry like that, but only in a very few do they come out with the complete, unvarnished version, which is 'Remember-the-Atrocity-Committed-Against-Us-Last-Time-That-Will-Excuse-the-Atrocity-That-We're-About-to-Commit-Today! And So On! Hurrah!'

By the way, the book was released in 2001. I couldn't find any exact date, but Terry Pratchett must have been done writing before September of that year. Read more on this article...

Bromance! - Womance?

I've been re-watching Saiunkoku Monogatari and one thing I really like is the friendship between Ran Shuuei and Li Kouyuu. Apparently a lot of fanfiction revolves around those two, too - slash fanfiction that is. And once again I disagree with it. I do like yaoi, but as I have mentioned before, sometimes the friendship is just too precious. A sexual relationship just doesn't fit them, in my opinion.
There are many relationships in manga and anime like that, for example Kyōraku and Ukitake of Bleach and Kotetsu and Barnaby of Tiger & Dragon. Nowadays this is called "bromance", I guess.

And there's quite a few epic friendships like these, not only in anime. There's Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. There's all the buddy movies, Bud Spencer with Terence Hill, Leathal Weapon, Rush Hour. There's Miami Vice and Dr. House and Wilson. Of course there's Merry and Pippin in Lord of the Rings, Silk and Barak in the Belgariad, there's Captain Kirk and Spock and Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.
Epic bromance is everywhere to be found!

And what about women?
According to wikipedia, there's "Womance". Which, honestly, sounds like a weak copy of the male version...
And it's hardly visible. There's Thelma & Louise, of course. But otherwise? Hardly anything deserving the description "epic". There's Buffy and Willow, but they had Xander, so does it count? As for mangas/animes, there's Nana.

I think there's a lack of epic friendships between women.
Or is it only me? Are they just of a different nature? Read more on this article...

Howl's Moving Castle

I just spend the whole day reading the book. Again. I just love this book, it's fantastic!

It's a shame that a lot of people don't know that there's actually a book. They only know the anime movie by Hayao Miyazaki.
I was like that, too, but then I learned that there was a book written by Diana Wynne Jones, I read it and I loved it. I read the two sequels, too. And the Chronicles of Chrestomanci by the same author (another great set of books). There's still many books by her that I haven't read, and I'm looking forward to reading them all.
In March 2011 Diana Wynne Jones sadly passed away.

I love the disctinct British touch about Howl's Moving Castle (like with Pratchett and Rowling). It's witty and funny. Things don't turn out like you'd expect them to, so it's not your usual fantasy story.
There's romance. This part is a bit cliché, with them seeming to dislike each other at first. But I enjoyed their fights too much.
The best part is the characters. Especially Howl - he's impossible in so many ways, but you can't not like him. The main characters have their bad habits, weak points and flaws. Actually a lot of things in the story happen because of them making mistakes. And even Sophie's sister and stepmother have distinct personalities, even though they're not mentioned that much.

I can't really put into words how awesome this book is. I think it's one of the best I ever read (and I read quite a few).

By the way, I love the movie, too.
A lot of people always complain about the movie being so different from the books. But it has to be! It's a completely different medium.
The movie has a very Miyazaki touch to it. You have the beautiful, detailed backgrounds, the steampunk-like fantasy setting, the wonderful soundtrack. And the pacifist morale. Miyazaki added a war that was only imminent in the book. The plot is simplified and altered quite a bit, so that even if you know the movie, you'll still be surprised by the book.
Howl's all the charming, handsome, vain young man he's supposed to be, and really like his voice. I love the scene where he meets Sophie - I like it better than in the book, actually. The castle is great, too, but it doesn't look too much like you think a castle would.
Except for the war, the movie is very much "chibi-fied", made more fitting for children. Calcifer, the fire demon, is more cute than frightening (but I love this Calcifer!). Michael, Howl's assistant, is a lot younger, and as such of course doesn't get engaged. Howl's womanizer character isn't mentioned. Then there's the dog and the scarecrow. And the biggest difference is probably the other wizards, especially Witch of the Waste, who is not the beautiful, powerful, cunning heartless person she's in the book, but rather a fat, old lady - and her fate is much better, too. This is one thing that bugs me a bit: everyone was afraid of her, but the anime movie kind of makes you wonder why. The whole end of the plot seemed kind of strange.
But Howl's Moving Caslte still one of my favourite Miyazaki movies.

Read more on this article...