Trutharchivist

So, I'm going to pretend a lot of people are going to read this. In truth, there's a slight chance this'll be another swing-and-miss where no one reads (or reacts) to it. It could be that some of my followers read and reply. I would bet on a "people read but don't reply, just drop upvotes", considering this is the reaction to any status update that is longer than three paragraphs. So maybe I should just keep it short or something...

Anyway, this time I'm going to do a "don't judge a book by it's movie" rant. You'd think it'd be wasted on the avid book readers who make up most of the Shard; that's what I think, at least, but why not ignore that too? I mean, if nearly no one reads this, nearly no one is going to protest and say they never judge a book by it's movie. They'll probably tell the truth. But today, I actually want to talk about average to good movies, that people don't know are adaptations.

Fine, I'll admit it. Even though my list of books I've read is huge, I can't really say I've read many books which got this treatment. There's apparently a Jurassic Park book, and I've never read it or watched the movie. There are far more than a handful of others that got actually such good films as adaptations that the original was forgotten. Did you know the Prestige was based on a book? An example I can sadly note I've watched but not read. And that's a pity. I really should read this book. I'm not sure what's the situation with World War Z - maybe with that the book is just as famous, maybe not.

But here, I want to lay down some films that're based on books that I have read, and that went to be better known than the source material: Howl's Moving Castle, the Secret World of Arrietty (the original book is called the Borrowers), How to Train Your Dragon and perhaps Home (originally the True Meaning of Smekday, too). With Arrietty and HtTYD I'm afraid I've found the books because of the movies, too.

I'm not here to say those movies aren't good; but I'd defenitely say they strayed from the source material, far enough that I'll consider every one of them an independant work of art from the books that happens to share names and a small amount of charcterization from the books. So don't get me wrong - I loved most of those movies (Home being an exception here, but I'm not getting into that). But... When I read a book, and then I learn that it has been adapted, what I want is not a different story with similarly named characters and some plot points from the books. I want to see, as much as possible, the same story, translated to another medium. And it's true that at least three of those gave us amazing stories and the world will be lacking without them, but... I kind of wish those adaptations never existed, at least sometimes. Now that they're there, no one is going to make an actual adaptation of the book.

Take the Jungle Book, for example. Or Peter Pan. Or heck, Alice in Wonderland is only out of place here because it's hard to say it has any plot in the first place. All three of those bring to your heads, almost immediately, the Disney animated movies. And if there's one thing I don't trust Disney with it's loyalty to the source material (though I hope this trend will change with Percy Jackson) - just look at the Black Cauldron, or Artemis Fowl, or heck - every single fairy tale these guys put their hands on. And the live action remakes just make sure that the image in your head is going to be that same image they placed there. So right, the exmples I brought were actually Studio Ghibli and DreamWorks. But that's because I don't want to start thinking over Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland or the Jungle Book to make sure the differences were significant, and considering the Black Cauldron thankful relative failure (I wouldn't want to see too much defiling of one of my favorite book series) it's hard to say the movie is better known than the book. And I didn't mention Shrek because I've never read the book.

Pause while you gasp at the realization Shrek is loosely based on a book.

Actually, I'm starting to sense a pattern. Maybe DreamWorks in general are great at expanding on existent ideas and making them work even though they changed the source material beyond recognition. Studio Ghibli seemed decent at it on two occasions so far at least, too! Anyway, there's the "there's never going to be a loyal adaptation" angle, which is sad in and of itself, but also... How many people have seen those movies and never even bothered thinking about the fact they're based on books? How many of my imaginarily large audience even knew all those movies were based on books? My eldest brother said he watched Howl's Moving Castle and so doesn't want to read the book. Maybe it's because he has a lot on his reading schedule and it really didn't catch his eye (and it probably says something about how much he trusts me when it comes to book recommendations), but in any case - he lost a story that, in my opinion, is great. And I'm sure I did too by not reading the Prestige, Shrek, and many other books I didn't even know existed. I just... really wish more people would know about the books, because they're awesome. Especially the True Meaning of Smekday, which I'm not sure could ever really be translated to the big screen. 

Anyway, that has just been your latest rant from a slightly depressed Trutharchivist. Hope you liked it. Maybe I should've tried making YouTube videos about it or something. Anyway, have a good day.

Honestly, at this point, I should probably just go to sleep.

There was an idea, some of you (like @Tacitus) know this, called Trutharchivist's crew. The idea was to bring together a group of of more-or-less remarkable Sharders to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together to read books in a fun, weird way, and fight the SEFBM, the Secret Evil Fantasy Book Mafia.

This idea didn't last. Nobody died believing it. The crew was disbanded because it went nowhere, and it was probably not the best idea to begin with. Especially the part where I named the crew after myself and all that. And so, the SEFBM reigned supreme.

But from its ashes [and the ashes of another long-forgotten idea, one that wasn't mine], the fire of a new idea has been woken: the SPORG, Secret Projects Online Reading Group. And though its members are probably hearing about this previous failed attempt now for the first time, and it shares little to nothing with the original idea... I still see it as something of a successor to my crew. That was a new way to fight the SEFBM and the Society for Making Unpronouncible Elaborate Acronyms that Begin With an S (SFMUEATBWAS), and perhaps even beating them. (All right, I just invented this part and didn't tell anyone about it. But I can't just leave a plot thread!)

Either way, SPORG did something my crew never achieved: a steady reading pace, maintained by two people continents apart. It did so successfully for the first Secret Project, and I dare hope it will keep doing that - and more - for the rest of them. That's my more rational hope, at least. I have some more hopes, but frankly they don't really belong here yet.

So, if you're reading the Secret Projects and think: hey, wouldn't it be fun if I'll just read each book slower and will finish it by the time the next one comes out? And won't it be fun to read it along with more Sharders, crazy as they may be? (I'm talking about myself, mostly. I can be kind of crazy.) Even if you've already read the sample chapters, even if you're planning to read ahead - if you think it'd be fun to discuss it with people who read at a slow pace and discuss about five chapters a week (it may be changed between books), you're invited to SPORG. Now (or, well, in about three weeks. And the entire time between now and then) is a great time to join - with SP2 just around the corner! So come, hop on, this is going to be fun!

Special thanks to @Amira, @The Known Novel, @Lego Mistborn and @ash's_eyes, the active (or well, kind of active) members of the reading group. Sorry for tagging all of you! (I do that a lot. Apologizing, that is - I try to avoid tagging.)

Thank you for reading, and have a good day. (You may ignore the round parenthesis, including this one. Also, you may ignore links. Including this one - well, especially this one.)
(Credits for the opening speech go to Marvel; the SEFBM was Tacitus' idea. I take credit for most of the rest.)

On Spoilers, Expectations, First Experiances and Questions

Another thing that probably belongs in my blog! But, since I still should work on the second installment in my historical essay, and since I'm not really sure who reads my blog, I'm going to post it here. Anyway, to the topic at hand.

After watching Brandon's book club video (it was nice, if you've read Tress watching it is probably a good idea), I went on to check out the chunnels of the Youtubers I didn't know who were there. Well, one of them - Bookborn. So I watched her video about spoilers, and being me I decided to write my opinion here instead of on YouTube. But, let's be fair - the YouTube comment section isn't that much discussion friendly. Then again, considering the reactions my longer status updates get here... But I digress. Topic at hand.

In the video, Bookborn talked about researches done on spoilers and their effect on the enjoyment of books. Long story short - they aren't as bad as people assume, the worst kind of spoilers are of jokes probably, and in general they're pretty much a new thing.  What really caught my attention was when she talked about introducing her son to Star Wars and Harry Potter - that she thinks now that maybe she was trying to get him to replicate her own experiences - and since I considered similar things, it made me think of some odd plans I had.

Now, since there's a slight chance my sisters are reading this, I'm going to be forefront about it: I'm not very good with avoiding spoilers. I've read the Wikipedia article on Mistborn long before I've read the books themselves - same as with another book I count as my favorite, the Last Unicorn. I went and read the final pages of some books when I was worried about what was going to happen next (strangely, at the first time I've read Alcatraz I didn't do it. I did the second time - and chuckled at what I've found). I clearly remember asking my brother what happened at the end of a movie I thought he saw before I did (he didn't. He also lied to me about the ending, and I still remember that). My oldest brother has long despared of me not reading about things in Wikipedia. And yet, the position I'm about to make is pro hiding spoilers. Why is that, then?

Well, that's where the First Experiences thing comes in. You see, I can't recall the first time I've read Harry Potter. Or Lord of the Rings, or the Hobbit, or most every book. My first experience with Mistborn was damaged due to me having had it spoiled to me. I'm not sure about the Last Unicorn, but maybe that, too. So, if I'll ever be able to convince any child of mine to read Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings, I want them to have this first experience. I want to see how they react to it. And that kind of leads me to another topic I think is related - if you disagree, do tell me. As a matter of fact, if you have anything to say on this topic please say it. I kind of prefer comments to upvotes, if you'll excuse me. And getting free from my eternal servitude under Kell due to this essay without it starting any discussion could feel a bit empty.

Anyway, my next point is the problem of kindergarten teachers' stories - it's a bit of a Jewish problem, but perhaps some gentiles can relate to it. The thing is, every Jewish child is taught the stories of the Torah at Kindergarten. This way, every Jewish child grows up knowing the story of how Abraham has shattered his father's idols after learning by himself that there was just one G-d, how he was brought before king Nimrod for that and was thrown to the furnace as punishment, how he miraculously survived that and run from Ur to Haran and then to Kenaan. And that's great that they know the story, if it wasn't for one, simple fact: none of it is written in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, Abraham is introduced as the son of Terah - and that's mostly it. We're not told much about either him or Nimrod. For all it's worth, Abraham - in his early name Avram - is first shown directly in a story when G-d tells him to go to a land He shall show him. We are given zero explanation in the text to why G-d chose him - which makes us ask this question: who was this Avram? Why does G-d promise him so much things?

The sages answer those questions with the stories I've wrote above, and Kindergarten teachers are glad to pass them onward. But in my opinion, this spoils their future studies. The study of the bible is all about asking questions. We Jews have a holiday that has - as a pretty essential part of it - children asking questions. And I think it important that, in order for them to do so, we mustn't preemtively answer these questions. You wonder who Avram was? Good. You wonder why the heck we stop eating bread for an entire week? Great! You wonder how the first verse of the Torah actually works, at the beginning of what did G-d create the Heavens and the Earth? Well, you're probably just like me, obssessed with syntax, but this question is good, too.

Now, you don't study books that are for reading. Asking questions about them isn't an essential part of the enjoyment of reading. In short, this isn't really that much applicable outside of the context of Jewish religious studies - or, quite possibly, studies in general. But still, part of the first experience of a book is asking questions about what comes next, and knowing the answer beforehand can, I think, stunt that ability. I obviously see questioning as very important - I chose it as my Ookla name for that reason.

Now, there's still the problem of some questions I myself should ask and still don't. sometimes, they just never crossed my mind. Sometimes I might preemptively think I know the answer, which is just as bad, and worse still - I might be willfully ignoring questions due to them not fitting with my worldviews. But I think I should try and face them - every one of them. I actually see this as my biggest weakness in studying - I all too often assume I know the answer to a question, so I don't bother asking it and seeing where it may lead.

Hopefully, I inspired questions in you - and discussions. Either way, thank you for reading, and have a good day!