Though I lack your power, I will still persist.

Like a good amount of the UK (if the trending topics on Twitter are anything to go by) I was going to watch Spirited Away earlier. But after a while I found that I couldn't understand what was going on because only half of the dialogue was subtitled.

In a way, I feel like I shouldn't complain: I ended up watching most of My Neighbor Totoro on another channel (I missed the beginning of it), and it was just beautiful and I probably would have never watched it otherwise (and as it was in Japanese, I didn't have to worry about subtitles, because it was shown with subs for an English-speaking audience!). But at the same time, I really would have liked to watch Spirited Away and been able to understand and enjoy it as much as someone who could hear all the dialogue. Which is pretty much the point of subtitles, right?

Thing is, I don't know where the problem is: the problem could be with my TV/cable box, or with my cable company, or with the broadcasters. If I watch something on normal TV (i.e.: not using the cable box), I can't have subtitles, so I can't rule out any of the three on my own. What I need is to hear from other people in the UK who regularly use subtitles when watching TV to see if they have had similar problems. Only I don't think I actually know anyone who does.

This doesn't happen often and it's only something I've noticed on the BBC channels (but that's probably because the subtitles on those channels are generally quite good, and I do watch a great deal of their stuff). The last time I remember it happening was during the most recent season of Merlin - it happened so much through the first few episodes that I just gave up trying to watch it at all. It might have happened since then, but it's only something that I'd remember if it happened during something I really wanted to watch at the time. I nearly always have the subtitles switched on and the way my cable box is set up means that it's pretty obvious when the subtitles are being switched off/on.

I don't know what to do about this.



In other news, the big cookies I made while playing FFX yesterday are lovely - I've eaten the caramel cookies (caramel flavoured with bits of caramel wafer), which were delicious but turned out a little more like a flattish cake than a cookie. I ignored the recipe's instruction of "do not flatten before cooking" for the second batch (chocolate chunk) which turned out much more cookie-like - that said, I probably went a little too far when I flattened them again halfway through the cooking time (you can still see the marks from the spatula I used to flatten them with!), but you live and learn. Also, I'm not sure that they're quite as good as the cupcakes I made last week while playing Devil May Cry, but it's difficult to tell, because the cupcakes no longer exist. Not that the cookies are expected to last much longer. Which is pretty bad seeing as I'm by myself this weekend (and possibly most/all of next week). Also, choosing between cookies and cupcakes is ridiculously difficult thing to do anyway. You'd have to be a really horrible person to make people choose between the two.



Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go find the bottle of washing up liquid that I've somehow managed to lose today.

Yesterday I decided to watch a film I loved as a child: Labyrinth. I hadn't seen it since I started losing my hearing over two and a half years ago, but for me it's one of those films I can say the lines along with the characters, because I remember it that well.

All the same, I decided to turn the subtitles on to make things easier for myself. I wish I hadn't.

( Can the examples really be considered spoilers if the film came out in 1986? )

( Bonus rant - subtitles and songs )

So, um. It's been a while since I last updated (a week, I think?), mainly because my body decided it needed it be weird (period-related symptoms, but no period, WTF?) and then my brain decided it needed to be extra scary on Friday, which I'm still recovering from.

Other than that, the main reason I haven't updated is because I haven't really been doing much while dealing with the above...

But while I am here, a question: does anyone know if the new Shrek film is worth seeing? It turns out that my local cinema will be showing it on Sunday with subtitles, but it's the 3D version, so I don't know. Part of me is tempted just to go to see how well subtitles on a 3D film work, but at the same time it'll cost me £8.20 (+80p for the 3D glasses), which is kind of ridiculous seeing as seeing it in 2D would only cost £6.10 (but that wouldn't have subtitles, making it pointless).

... Damn, now I need something to cheer me up after working that out :(

At my local cinema, 21 films are scheduled to be shown between Tuesday 22nd and Monday 28th June 2010. When added together, there will be 353 separate showings during this time.

Out of all those showings, only 1 showing will have subtitles.

So please, when I say I can't watch a film in the cinema because I need subtitles, don't tell me that I might be able to because they might show it with subtitles. Chances are that I won't be able to, and I would rather not get excited about things that are extremely unlikely to happen.

(In case you're wondering, only 14 showings were marked as having audio description - and all of those will be showings of the same film.)

Things I was going to make a post about, but will probably never get around to:

• Saw the new Doctor Who at the weekend. Still not sure how I feel about it.


• Saw Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. For a film that so many people think is awesome, I was left feeling distinctly meh about it (except for that bit with the kid, which made me happy). Maybe I just expected too much of it?


• My grandad bought me an Easter egg from Hotel Chocolat. If I melted it down and made rice crispie cakes out of it, they would be the best rice crispie cakes ever. At the same time, I just couldn't bring myself to do it, it's that good.

Wow, I really did have nothing to post about over the last few days.

So my current "films I want to buy" list has 10 films on it. After checking on both Play and Amazon, I still don't know whether 5 of them have English subtitles on the UK (Region 2) version.

Has anyone got any ideas about how to find out if a film has subtitles before buying it? For most of the DVDs I buy, going to a shop and looking at what it says on the cover isn't an option - they're either too old or not well-known enough to be in stock - so my only real options (that I know of) are the internet and asking friends. And, while you are all pretty patient with me about these things, I really hate bothering you all every time this happens.


(For those of you wondering, the titles of the 5 films I'm wondering about right now are under the cut.)

( Read more... )

I'm having some trouble deciding which film to review next for gay_also_means_happy.

I can think of three more films that I currently own that might fit the community's guidelines, but I'm not sure if they actually do. Considering that all they have to do is feature queer protagonists/main characters who get happy endings, you'd think that this would be an easy call to make, but I'm really bad at making these decisions.

Of course, this calls for a poll!

A while ago, I ordered a copy of a film I really wanted to see on DVD. There were some problems on the website's end, so it took a while to turn up, and I finally sat down to watch it tonight.

It has no subtitles.

I tried. Oh, how I tried. But after ten minutes I had it turned up so loud that I could hear every little background noise, but I still couldn't hear what anyone was saying. They just spoke so quietly, and I just couldn't follow what was going on.

And that's why all DVDs should have subtitles available. Because it doesn't matter how good, or how pretty a film is - if I don't know what's going on because of lack of subtitles, I'm not going to watch it.

For the record, my weekend was awesome. It involved being with two people (and a cat who's pretty much a people) who I care about a lot, listening to Adam Lambert for the first time (while not my usual scene, I did quite like what I heard), and watching the Wizard of Oz for the first time (I've been told about the book, and I just daren't read it now), and failing miserably at Guitar Hero (half the songs I tried just sounded like noise, but my one working ear feels like it needs to pop/has water in it/something like that, which might be why), and I got a present, which I'm not going to tell you about until I can get it to work (the manufacturer seems to actively hate the idea of someone actually using this product, judging by how hard it is to open the battery compartment).

Anyway, I'm on my way home now, which is probably why the sun is shining. Seriously, not a cloud in the sky. Which is typical, considering it was raining all weekend.

Talking of sun, am I the only adult in the world whose reaction to bright sunlight is to sneeze? I've heard of kids doing it, but they all grew out of it, and I never did. Also, I'm the only person on this bus who's wearing sunglasses, which makes me seem even weirder. Except it also makes everyone around me seem weird, because this is some bright sunlight.

Oooh, wind turbines.

My therapist called me earlier (just as I was getting on the bus, because that's what Sod's Law is) to tell me that my next appointment is next Tuesday at 2:30. Or, at least, that's what I think she said. I'd better phone her back later to check. Here's hoping she won't mind.

I might just have enough money for a little treat, but I can't decide what. So...

[Poll #1521382]

people made me happy by replying to the original entry at Dreamwidth.