Stupid Question
I'm going on a date on Saturday with a guy I met totally randomly at a bookstore near my house. I was killing time after a jog and I *love* how the huge store allows people to read books without buying them, so I bought a cup of iced coffee and sat down and started reading "From Hell" in the store's cafe area.
Anyway, this random stranger came up to me and said, "Oh, you like Alan Moore?"
I had no idea who Alan Moore was! But this guy was so cute and obviously flirting, so I said, "Sure do!"
We talked for nearly an hour with me neatly deflecting all questions about Moore away. Finally he asked if I wanted to "get together" on Saturday. He joked that we could talk about the "Watchmen" movie.
I've never seen it. But I lied, during our conversation, and said I had.
So now I sort of have a problem! Except for the trailers I've recently watched online, I know *nothing* about the movie. I was only reading "From Hell" in the cafe because it had been left on the table! But now this guy thinks I'm all into Alan Moore. Ugh!
Basically I either need to keep up my lies, which I'm not sure I can do, or come clean with him and admit that I know nothing about comic books/graphic novels/whatever.
After he left, btw, I went and bought the Watchmen graphic novel (it was on sale at the store!). I'm about a third of the way through, and it's pretty entertaining! That was my plan for knowing what to talk about on Saturday, though... my entire plan. The problem is, I just did some searches on the Internet, and it turns out the movie is a LOT different.
So here's my stupid question: can anyone tell me what's different from the movie versus the book? Better yet, is there anyway I can download this movie now so I can actually watch it first? It's no longer playing anywhere near me (I just checked) and the DVD doesn't come out until July.
Please don't tell me that I should just tell him the truth. I already know that I should. But it's too early in our relationship for "truth". :P
-shannon-
~really likes this guy~
Labels: shameless begging, stuff about me
posted by Shannon at 1:55 AM
14 Comments:
http://www.watch-movies-links.net/movies/watchmen/
Biggest difference from the Graphic Novel is that there is no squid in the movie (you'll know it when you read it). Personally I loved the movie but since I saw it before I read the book, I only liked the GN. Speaking as a guy, I would be very flattered if a girl faked that much interest but I can understand why you might not want to come clean. Alan Moore also wrote V For Vendetta and HATES everything of his that has been turned into movies (but still loves the checks!). He has written a bunch of other comic stuff; you should look him up on Wikipedia to get a feel for him. Hope this helps and good luck on the date!
Derek: Thank you!!! The quality sucks, but I don't care... thanks to you, I can "cheat" and watch the movie now. yay!
Kerry: I'm almost halfway through the graphic novel, now, and I still haven't come across anything like a "squid". I hope I'm not missing anything obvious... in case you couldn't tell, I'm not used to reading comic books/graphic novels! Oh, and thanks for telling me that Moore also wrote V for Vendetta. I've already seen that movie but I didn't know he wrote the comic is was based off of. Also, I'm going to take your advice and look him up on Wikipedia...
Btw, the biggest reason I'm going through all this trouble is that I lied my ass off yesterday and I don't want to get caught! The guy was very cute and incredibly nice but I swear, if that stupid graphic novel (From Hell) hadn't been on the table and I hadn't been too lazy to find something else to read, I wouldn't be in this situation! :P
Well most of Alan Moores work turned into films are very good, but if you read the books you then see how crap the movie is compared to it. But overall they are both very entertaining. I actually spent a lot of the watchmen film complaining what was wrong xD yeah I'm SAD!
But V for Vendetta, Sin city, and 300 were amazing films, saving up for the graphic novels atm. But yeah alan moore has a large collection of novels, LXG being one of my favs. Though tom sawyer in the film was WTF?! lol
But yeah, one of the main errors in the film I found was when the Midget and Rorschach are talking in the film he says "How long have I been here?" the henchman says "15 boss" yet for some reason its 20 in the film... I know its not important... thats why it gets to me so much lol! Because its such a simple thing... yet they changed it for the film grrrr.
Yeah I'm rambling now lol. If ya want any help with Alan moore feel free to email me or something.
As for things left out of the film from the novel, was the mini story of the sailor at sea... everything else was fairly close, and the ending was already discussed.
The biggest difference I see so far is that the movie makes me cry and the book doesn't... :(
...I still don't know what the "squid" comment was about. Was that a joke?
-shannon-
Hmmm...as I have been reading Alan Moore since before you were born...try talking about how you wish MIRACLEMAN would be reprinted in trade. MM was a 80s superhero book that was...amazing. Even if the relationship doesn't work out...you can enjoy all the new stuff to read. V FOR VENDETTA,SWAMP THING,TOP 10,PROMETHEA,The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen(all of the books), and what may be of great interest to you LOST GIRLS.
I'm about to finish watching this movie for the second time, now. It is so good!!! How come I never knew about it before?!?
Still working on the actual book, though. I brought it to work tonight but things were *really* crazy and I only got about ten or so more pages finished (one of them was one of those long chapter breaks pages, though).
Alan Moore seems like a really eccentric asshole, btw!! But still, League of Gentlemen aside, he's a fucking genius to come up with this stuff! V, Watchmen, From Hell, Sin City... he has such a great imagination!
And btw, Sean? I'm totally going to look into Miraclemen and basically everything else in his bio. I always dismissed comics/graphic-novels before as cheap, but the Watchmen has opened my eyes!
-shannon-
~still can't believe V was a comic first~
Might be a little bit late, but I'll throw in my two cents:
Big difs between the comic vs. the movie:
1). "Squid" refers to the comic book the kid reads outside the newstand intermittently through the actual comic book. The events are symbolic/coincide with what's going on in the actual storyline, so aside from being reduntant, it would have been impossible to replicate that effect in the movie. I believe they did release the "squid" story as a seperate animated DVD though.
2). I mean...well....they change the whole fucking ending. The island where the "alien" was suppose to be developed? Dr. Manhattan taking responsibility for the various explosions vs. the "alien" invader being seen as responsible for the one explosion? Not that I'm complaining. I think it was due to the limitations + time constraints on film. Still well done though. Ish.
3). Rorschach's journal is discarded at the end of the comic. So in theory, no one ever finds out the truth behind the big ol' alien disaster. It's found at the end of the movie, however.
"From Hell" was a neat movie. Has Johnny Depp. Loosely based on the book, but still worth a watch.
Actually they do use the Journal, it is discarded, but the Editor does say "Just use anything" and the kid picks up some of the pile, and the Journal is in it, so its left to the reader that it will be discovered and used later.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Ummmm no, in the comic, the squid is the "alien" monster that Ozymandias genetically engineers to "invade" New York. This is also where the giant Lynx comes from but since nothing about genetic engineering was mentioned in the movie, it was one of the things that made no sense to copy from the comic.
re: AJ - I stand corrected. It is not explicitly tossed in the comic, but it is definately found in the movie. Still, I thought it was kinda neat that the "Hollywood ending" in this case was that the journal is found, so the peaceful resolution found after all that killing would inevitably fail and chaos would insue. Yay chaos. But truth prevails. Moore's ending in the comic is slightly darker, no? With the whole utopia that is established and no one ever finding out the truth (potentially).
If this is the new FF forum, I'd love to hear some feedback.
re: Sal - Right. That clicked in for me like, 2 days after I posted my response. "OOOOOH, the squid is the "alien" not the whole pirate-water-comic-thing..." It does kinda look like a squid.
re: Shannon - Frank Miller did Sin City. Frank Miller is also an asshole. I mean, Moore is a bit of a sexist, but I'm pretty sure Miller beats his wife and has her baking pies in the kitchen while he plays Battleship w/ his son. Also, League of Gentlemen was a really neat graphic novel. The movie had very little to do w/ the book. Come to think of it, V wasn't much like the book either. I can see why Moore was up in arms about no more movies being made after his work.
Hi; one of the above posters is correct. Based on your writing, you will love love LOVE Lost Girls. It's so good and full of sex and fairy tales. It's quite expensive though, so be willing to put out the cash! My girlfriend had already bought it, luckily for me.
Stepping aside from all of the Watchmen discussion, I agree that it's probably a bit early in the relationship to unload on the guy on whether you're an Alan Moore fan.
I mean, that sounds like the sort of thing to bring up later on and make into a funny anecdote that the two of you share with your friends later. I'm not being sarcastic, either. It'd make for a cute 'how did you meet' story down the road.
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