brief update from the land of Nod

• While there's no word concerning the first interview yet (despite a callback from me, gently inquiring as to same) the agency has called with another potential interview. Guys, I appreciate these calls- especially since the other agencies I'm registered with haven't shown any activity since roughly the Paleozoic Era- but, err, an actual interview would be scrummy.



• In case you're one of the four people who haven't read it yet, Half-Blood Prince is astonishing; I literally finished the last page, went back to the first, and began rereading. Will post spoiler-type comments and something I wrote, set immediately after the end of the book when I have more time; I'm writing this in between haggling with van rental companies, trying to get a cargo van with which to go to Pennsic (an SCA event held in western Pennsylvania every year). I've been meaning to go to this since I've been living in New York; damn if this isn't the time.



• Apart from fanfic, I'm also into the third chapter of a children's novel. It's about a boy who wishes himself into another land to escape the unpleasantness of his home life; although he comes to realize that his experiences may have been imaginary, he still senses himself to have been changed for the better by having had them. I wrote a scene which happens near the end of the book which had me near tears, in which the boy's companion tells him that while she may or may not be imaginary, her friendship for him is certainly real; in many ways, this is the book I wish I could have read as a child. (Also, I'm rarely on LJ these days, the main reason for this being that my apartment mate is also writing a book- a history of every character in comic book history to use the name "Captain Marvel," in fact. There's something really cool about getting up from a session at the keyboard, only to walk by his door and see him typing away as well; makes me feel as if I'm living in a garret in Paris or some such.



• You know, I'd really like to ask Tim Burton and Alex McDowell if How Green Was My Valley was a design influence on Charlie and the Chololate Factory, what with the factory looming over the town and all; there are a few other things (Charlie sleeps in a raised bed like Huw's), too. Depp's Wonka takes some getting used to, after the wonderfully ambiguous charm of Wilder's performance; however, I think the reviewers who grumbled about the Oompa Loompa numbers are simply too damn cranky. (And zoethe, you were right about the removal of the Slugworth plot element; Charlie's character isn't as well-drawn without that moral quandary.)



• I'm wishing you the best, hon.