Marginalia

[coalescent]

Genius: "FACT! As of today, November 10, 2004, it is one year since 'Hey Ya' was released in the UK. So all you Beyonces and Lucy Lius and Babydolls GET OFF THE FLOOR.' And keep reading down to the 'note to DJs' at the end ...

Via tamaranth (several days ago), the Guardian interviews Neal Stephenson.

At Locus, Howard Waldrop and Lawrence Person like The Incredibles a whole damn lot.

Philip Pullman clearly never saw 'Isaac and Ishmael', or maybe just disagrees: "The Christian right in America is the mirror image of the Islamic fundamentalists," he says.

An adaptation of The Master and Margarita causes controversy: 'Russia's Orthodox church has reacted with dismay to a film of the seminal novel The Master and Margarita, saying it offers a version of the Gospel that is "nothing but negative" and fearing it will offend or confuse many believers.' Shocking.

Comments

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Well, this article talks about a new film franchise, and I don't think one film generally counts as a franchise. But I'm sure I've read, or seen, Pullman saying that it would be a trilogy of films.

Interesting that it's being called Northern Lights and not The Golden Compass.

[danmilburn.livejournal.com]

IMDB has it as The Golden Compass, not that that means much..

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

IMDB vs. Reuters ... Hmm ... ;-)

[john-d-owen.livejournal.com]

Interesting that it's being called Northern Lights and not The Golden Compass.

As far as I'm aware, Northern Lights was the original title for the first book: it may have got changed for overseas publication.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing the reaction of the Religious Right in Amerika to the third film in the series (or for that matter, to the unflattering depiction of Christianity throughout the trilogy), especially if Pullman's original is followed, and the death of God is featured. Heh, heh, let's see how that will play in the Red States.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm aware, Northern Lights was the original title for the first book: it may have got changed for overseas publication.

I think you're right on both counts. I'm just a little surprised that they're not keeping with the altered version for the film, at least on the grounds that it's more consistent with the other two ('the [adjective] [artifact]').

[kalorlo.livejournal.com]

Yup, Northern Lights was definitely the original title. And I'm happy they're keeping it since I like it better :)