Wolves of Willoughby Chase

[jack]

Hey, when you first saw "Wolves of Willoughby Chase", did you realise it was alternate history? I didn't really think about it then, and then never thought about it again until I looked up the book now.

I guess I was fairly young, used to children's books that play with reality fairly freely, and wouldn't actually have noticed if any country was explicitly mentioned in the dialogue or known if there were any places that populated with that many wolves and those fashions.

I also noticed:

Bonnie looks and acts incredibly like Ron Weasly in the films.

If you google for something and are filtering for any likely hits, do not follow anything to myspace. "Pictures of naked elves" don't kill eyes, "pictures of naked elves on black background as non-scrolling background to a page with dark text, too-wide-fixed-width, content and status information put into random boxes, many unconnected pictures, video, ungrammatical text, banner ads, ascii art in a proportional font[1], and automatic music" kill eyes. OTOH, before I sound too negative, some of the image manipulations were nice, the conversation was as nice and as coherent as most people I know[2], and:

It did link me to another stick-figure webcomic, Cyanide and Happiness, which is a little basic, but seems to have a spark. A man and a woman are sitting on a bench. W:Sometimes I just feel like you never notice me. / W:Charles... I think we should break up. / M:WHAT THE HELL? / M:...Benches aren't supposed to talk?!

Also, I hadn't seen before on Amazon.com entries, Statistically Improbable Phrases are the most distinctive phrases in the text of books. Cool.

[1] That shouldn't be. Though come to think of it, ascii art designed for a (specific) proportional font could be kind of cool.

Comments

[nybiara.livejournal.com]

"another stick-figure webcomic"
Do you know of xkcd? It has Livejournal references and bad science jokes. :D

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! That was the exact one I was thinking of, they seem to have the same viscerial[1] humour and style, but when they hit they really hit. Sketched comics are often like that: if they're crap it's obvious so when they're not they're really really good.

I really love xkcd for the science behind it. The "3.14159helpi'mtrappedinauniversefactory" episode and the "do you expect me to perform coordinate transformations tied to a centrifuge?" episodes just rely on so much knowledge it's priceless, like xkcd is inside my head -- which is a kind of disturbing comic to have there.

The other one close to my heart is Order of the stick (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html), a roleplaying comic. The art is basic but, well, well-drawn. When a cartoon is empty it can be a little flat, but the humour is as good as anywhere else, and over the years I've actually grown really really fond of the characters :)

[1] Tip to self: do not miss the 'c' out, it means something quite different :)

[nybiara.livejournal.com]

Argh, now I have another webcomic that I must read!

xkcd is wonderful, except when I need the joke explained to me. The "sudo make me a sandwich" one left me feeling insufficiently geeky. :(

Have you heard of Narbonic? I'm hesitant about recommending it because I adore it and don't want to hear any criticism because the whole story arc is coming to an end, and it's probably completely incomprehensible if you haven't read enough of the archive to care about the fate of the characters. But it does have mad scientists and the cutest little evil gerbils in the world.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Oops, sorry. If you want to fail your course for certain I'll send you the full list of comics I follow, with archives :)

The "sudo make me a sandwich" one left me feeling insufficiently geeky. :(

Don't tell the linux users, but me too. At least I could look it up for myself, I didn't have to ask anyone. But then, ones you don't get are inevitable when you bring out specialised humour. Often you understand them, or get them anyway, but there's a certain attrition; it's the alternative to common-denominator humour :)

Have you heard of Narbonic?

LOL. I know the problem. I like comics which have both an arc and a daily joke, but it doesn't mean many aren't very meaningful to drop into without knowing who the characters are.

OK, those two were worth reading, especially the first line, "Gerbil: I can't get control of the orbital laser" and the last, "munch, munch" -- asides are often underrated in comics where everyone gets speach bubbles.

Supposed I were to be convinced to try, where should I start? Some comics have a great beginning, some find their feet later and have some self-contained storylines after that, that are a decent introduction to the characters.

[nybiara.livejournal.com]

*finally remembers that she has things to reply to*

The artwork has certainly improved since it started, but the writing and humour have been consistently good. When I say the story arc is coming to an end soon, I really meant that whole comic is going to end. Unusually (I think) for a webcomic, the whole plot's been planned from the beginning, so all the main story arcs fit in very nicely with the whole story.

And now I shall stop rambling at you. :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

LOL. Don't feel obliged to respond to every single LJ comment you receive :) Though I have a tendency to do so by default, unless clearly not needed, I'm sorry, people.

Sphyg routinely leaves notifications and then works reads (or at least replies) to them when she has slack time, meaning a burst of responses to old posts appear at once months later, and I get to be reminded if what I said then was really worth saying :)

I started reading from the beginning. It's cute. I like the linguist :) The set up is good, and funny, and the little business is cool. Nell (and Helen) is exceedingly cute -- I'm not surprised you like it, I'm sorry :) But how long before I get to the gerbils?

I know some ongoing webcomics (eg. sluggy freelance, schlock mercenary) have plot planned out years in advance, but don't intend to reach a natural ending. 1/0 was self-contained from the beginning, and the characters dwelled on it. It's quite cool to see *anything* let alone a webcomic expanding out and then encompassing an overall plot, rather than the typical TV/book/comic series of "Ok, we beat baddy #1. Now lets do it again against lizard enemies, then ethereal ones." :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I just got to that. I really mustn't read at work though, even in odd five minutes; the art is too dense for the laptop and gives me a headache.

Party invitation

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

PS. You probably saw my party. Eni can't come, but any of you would be very welcome.

Re: Party invitation

[nybiara.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I've been roped into cooking that evening. But thank you. :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

PS. I do like that icon. Though isn't it too spooky to look at very often? :)

[nybiara.livejournal.com]

It's from a couple of years ago, from the Girton spring ball. I'm a sucker for shiny things.

Also, is Wolves of Willoughby Chase worth watching? I read some of the Joan Aiken books but I didn't realise it was ever dramatised.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Watching fireworks through trees from swingboats was one of my Jesus ball in eternal pictures post; of course I didn't go so far to have actual pictures :)

is Wolves of Willoughby Chase worth watching?

Ooh, I don't know. It was a great kids film, but I'm not sure if it'd hold my attention now or not. Probably not worth looking out but worth seeing if it's on.

It feels like a good adaption of a book, but that's always very hard to tell without having read it: if you want to see a good filming of a childhood book it's probably a good risk :)

[megamole.livejournal.com]

*snh*

[jeal2.livejournal.com]

Yes I did know it was an alternate history - well sort of, anyway.

My friend Victoria recommended the books and said something about King James III. At the time I was about 7 though, and didn't know enough history to realise there wasn't a James III (of England).

It was only a few years later that I saw the point.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes sense. I'm always a very vague until I've read a novel/play about the monarch :) (Also see senji's http://senji.livejournal.com/330817.html obscure monarchs)

[yrieithydd.livejournal.com]

I always knew, I think. I read The Whispering Mountain and then Nightbirds on Nantucket and Black Hearts in Battersea those three have far more of the politics in them. The Royal family doesn't play much of a part in Wolves of Willoughby Chase whereas the other three have a lot about it. I can't quite remember how old I was when I read The Whispering Mountain. It was a falling apart copy from the school library and I'm partially associating it with the portacabin which we were in second year juniors (yr 4 these days) so possible 8/9.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes sense! I didn't know there were sequels. I think the book has a preface, for that matter; I only saw the film, which (maybe) leaves it more open. I'm sure I read something by Joan Aiken, and it was a bit odd but pretty good, but I can't remember what.

[yrieithydd.livejournal.com]

There are lots of sequels. From memory:
Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Black Hearts in Battersea
Night Birds in Nantucket
Stolen Lake
Whispering Mountain
Cuckoo Tree
Dido and Pa
Is
and I think there's been at least one more since I grew up! Black Hearts follows Simon becoming an artist (and finding his family) in London and introduces us to Dido, who ends up going to Nantucket (Night Birds), foiling a plot to fire a massive gun at London to kill the king which would also have pushed Nantucket back against the mainland, and coming back via Hy-Brasil (Stolen Lake). Whispering Mountain is set in Wales and introduces a new character (Owen?) who saves the Prince of Wales. Then the Cuckoo Tree features Simon, Dido and Owen foiling a plot to ruin the coronation by putting St Paul's on Wheels. Dido and Pa is about Dido and her father (who is involved in Hanoverian plots) and Is follows her younger sister Is who ends up in mines in the North East.

Other books by Joan Aitken include Midnight is a Place which is about a factory run by evil men and one set in the present day but with overlap into the past (for example Roman gladiators) in a mill. I think Flatland is mentioned in it. I can't for the life of me remember the title though. And it'll be in a box in the attic. MMmm, I don't remember seeing Joan Aitken in my rummage for other things. She has also written The Lightening Tree for adults.