Mulan, in Live Action

Somebody urged me to watch this movie yesterday, and I loved it!

There were lots of hints in the media that the live action version—let’s call it Mulan 2020—was different from the animated version, Mulan 1998.  I didn’t know what to think of that; I had already fallen in love with the animated version, and I could not imagine how different the live-action version could be, and still be the same story.  Also, I was going to miss the little dragon a lot; not just because I loved Eddie Murphy in that role (though he was so not Chinese), and I thought that all the unbelievable stunts would make more sense in a sort of fairy-tale feel of an animated version.

Well, the first thing that happened is that the actress who played Mulan in the new movie just waltzed right in, and made believers of us all.  Her name is Yifei Liu.

(I was amazed at how well she was acting, but just a few seconds ago I learned that she had been trained in a Chinese acting school, and was already famous in China and neighboring countries having starred in a couple of top-ranking features, including a major motion picture.)

Yifei—assuming that’s her personal name!—and the actresses who played her younger selves, were brilliant at capturing the essense of Mulan's sense of humor.  I guess that means that the humorous aspect of the character as envisaged by Niki Caro, the director and creative force of the movie, was well transmitted to both acresses.  The writing was also excellent; the dialog was funny without being clumsy.  I guess Disney writers are good at that game!

In the end, the absence of the family Dragon mascot didn’t make much of a difference; somehow Mulan absorbs the lessons that she needs to pull off her deception.

For more than half of the movie, these strengths were enough for me; Mulan learns to deal with the crude fellows in her squad, without revealing that she wasn’t a guy.  But then, we arrive at the Martial Arts part of the show, and here the editing became far too self-indulgent.  There were lots of quite unnecessary slow-motion segments showing Mulan in a wild airborne roundhouse kick, and now we’re in the Martial Arts Universe, with all it’s momentum-destroying fan service, I think it’s called.  But normally, the editing in these Martial Arts movies are brilliant; in this movie, it's just a little too plodding!  Overall, though, I think it is a lovely movie.  (I'm sure someone could tighten up the editing before it’s released on BluRay.)

Kay

Christine's Christmas

One of my stories which I published in an unfinished form was Christine's Magical Christmas, about two teenagers who, with their high school choir, get pulled into a performance of J. S. Bach's Weihnachtsoratorium, or the Christmas Oratorio.

The story is about how some six high school choirs are invited to learn and perform the Oratorio, after which four from each school go on to sing it at a concert, with professional soloists and a Baroque orchestra.  In the story, I describe how a certain solo aria is sung with a very difficult solo violin accompaniment.  But I just saw a video of that very song this morning, and---guess what!  It is accompanied by two solo violins!  So now the story has to be 'repaired'.

More than repaired, the story has to be completed; this is not a story that can be left the way it is; it sits there, glaring at me, demanding a completion.  Well, I must make it believe that I fully intend to complete it sometime this Christmas.

I have added below a photo of the two violinists playing the accompaniment to the tenor aria mentioned in Magical Christmas.

Kay

P.S. I have just uploaded a new edition to Smashwords.  There is no new content; I have just made sure that the Table of Contents has working hyperlinks.  (This is such a short story that these hyperlinks are not very useful!) - Kay

Violin Obbligato

It's the Weekend Before Christmas!

Christmas plays a large role in my stories.  I ought not to, but I feel that I should apologize to my Jewish readers and friends, for not investing an equal amount of excitement in Jewish festival days!  I must admit that I know very little about the Jewish religion, except for what little we see through the lens of Protestant Christianity, from which the anti-Jewish hysteria (and there's a whole lot of that, I'm sad to report) has been carefully removed.

Honestly, Christmas is, to my mind, the only Christian festival worth celebrating.  It stands for everything I believe in: eradication of poverty; generosity; shelter for the homeless; survival under a hostile regime, even if it is our own.

There are things to deplore, as well: principally the commercialism, and every sort of excess that businesses are eager to encourage.  And this year, it is somewhat amusing that businesses are greatly frustrated at being unable to encourage the usual foolishness of the season.  I am going to support the local soup kitchens as much as I can, though I'm living on savings right now.  One hopes that they plan for the future, and spread their revenues over the whole year.

There are several stories in which Christmas figures prominently.  (You need not read these if you're not so inclined!)

Christine's Amazing etc. Christmas

Jane

Helen and Lalitha

Helen on the Run

Helen vs. Handel's Messiah

Helen at Westfield

I must admit, every story whose timeline goes through December has some Christmas references, including Alexandra, in which I thought the Christmas chapter was particularly poignant.   Jane features two Christmasses; Westfield has an attempted suicide shortly after Christmas, which was tasteless of me, but my stories that year were rather drama laden.  I did not mention Christmas on the Voyager, though it was a particularly romantic one; the same goes for the holiday season in Helen and Lalitha.  In On the Run, Helen is hugely pregnant at Christmas, and there's a lot of excitement for various reasons.

Kay

"On The Run" has a new cover, by Halchroma!

I'm gradually getting our artist Halchroma to replace all the goofy covers for my books published through Smashwords, as most of you know.  When I say goofy, I meant that many of Halchroma's covers are better than mine, and many are a lot better.  (Yraid 's cover was by Chayna-Gina, and was really based on a self-portrait of her.)  You can read the detail in the post "On The Run is getting a new cover!" on the Helen blog; it comes after the so-called jump break at the bottom.

Kay H. B.