I saw Peter Pan today. All singing, all dancing, all Freudian messes popping up around every corner. Actually, there was no singing and dancing, which made me very happy, but there was cool eighties music at just the right moments. What really captivated me in this movie was how much it reminded me of my own childhood, in the same way My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away do. And it used the beautiful lyrical words of J. M. Barrie that are left out in the Disney cartoon version (but don't get me wrong, I love it anyway, probably because my brothers and I watched it almost everyday when we were little). These words flow so nicely and make Mary Martin's Peter Pan tolerable.
Jason Isaacs was splendid as Captain Hook, but suprisingly the character who I liked the most was Wendy. Maybe I was just in a good mood today, but she really made me happy, especially when she admitted a secret desire to be a pirate, "I wonder what Mother will think of my becoming a pirate . . ." Brilliant, brilliant I tell you. As a girl who spent much of her childhood practising sword fighting with sticks so that she might be ready when adventures arose it is very gratifying to see this happen to some girl at least. Tinkerbell, always a rather obnoxious character to me, was played as a sort of Spice Girl. I was amused to find that the actress who played her was Mlle Naked-Girl from Swimming Pool (part of the fall's Independent Film Series at the Bijou), Ludivine Sagnier.
Right then, on to the jolly Freudian stuff. Barrie wrote Peter Pan (the play first, then the novel) when Freud's ideas were first becoming popular, and it is a bit unnerving to see these ideas clearly played out in what we all expect to be a children's story. These ideas do seem to fit better into a child's psyche than a grown up's, though. A twelve year old doesn't believe that the idea of her kissing should be repulsive to anyone, to use a rather innocuous example. The sexual tension in this movie between Wendy and Peter and, interestingly enough, between Wendy and Hook, and then Tinkerbell's furious jealousy really add to the richness of this charming story. Wish they could've made Tinkerbell more charming though . . . do I believe in fairies?
One word I believe we need to use more in everyday speech is "cavalry" (another is "chimera," but we would all have to sound like John Rhys-Davies for that to work, and we don't). I say this because for one thing it's a good word, especially when it is screeched by Marty McFly in Back to the Future III, the context with which I always associate it (see blog title quote), but also, the word "cavalry" should be used more because far too often people confuse it with the word "Calvary," and that's just bad form. Yesterday I was watching The Two Towers with cast commentary and one of the actors kept going on about how Rohan was so great because of their calvary. So, cavalry. Go out and use it with impunity. Oh, and for all who haven't seen it, the cast commentary is well worth watching (or listening to, rather). It made me think about when I first saw Fellowship of the Ring and how happy I was that it was a beautiful and well-made interpretation, and I feel a bit bad about all the things I said about Return of the King, because, while I did mean them, I guess I watched it more looking for things not to like, and that's never the way to watch a movie. Bad Linnea, bad. She will have to go iron her fingers now.
In honor of the much-overlooked St. Stephen's Day I'd like to share a song particularly dear to my heart.
Here they are, the somewhat unintelligible lyrics for that great family classic by The Chieftains and Elvis Costello, The St. Stephen's Day Murders:
And you have two sisters who's name it was Christmas, and one was named Dawn of course the other one was named Eve. I wonder if they grew up hating the season, the goodwill that lasts till the Feast of St. Stephen. For that is the time to eat, drink and be merry, till the beer is all spilled and the whisky has flowed, and the whole family tree you neglected to bury, are feeding their faces until they explode. They'll be laughter and tears over tea and the beers mixed up with that drink made from Gurdis, cause it's all we got left as they draw their last breath, and it's nice for the kids, as you finally get rid of them, in the St. Stephen's Day murders!
Uncle is gargling a heart breaking air, while the babe in his arms pulls out all that remains of his hair, and were not drunk enough yet to dare criticize the great big hippertie he's about to baptize. With his gin flavoured whispers and kisses of sherry his best kringeled shirt slung out over the shot while the lights from the Christmas tree blow up the tele, his face closes in like an old cold pork chop, and the carcass of the beast left over from the feast may still be found haunt in the kitchen, and their life in it yet we may live to regret when the ones that we poisoned stop twitching. They'll be laughter and tears over tea and the beers mixed up with that drink made from Gurdis, cause it's all we got left as they draw their last breath, and it's nice for the kids, as you finally get rid of them, RID OF THEM!, in the St. Stephen's Day murders!
Okay, I really have no excuse for blogging, I haven't done anything exciting or really thought anything deep. Haven't read anything of much interest, but . . . well, wait. I have finished two books in the past few days.
I finished How To Be Good, and while the ending was not really conclusive, I did not find it unsatisfying as some said they did. I like the no-easy-answers feeling, the same that seems to run through the film About a Boy (I haven't read the book, but I definately mean to). I liked the dealing with people and the way they relate to one another. I think Nick Hornby has a lot of insights into people that even Christians-with-the-answers miss. There is that whole, no healing without God thing, and that's very true, but there's something to be said for people who realize that they're stupid and bad, but still want to try to be good. I don't know if the book really gives a reason to be good. It was a refreshing perspective, though, I like things that don't try to give answers. Suffice it to say I found it a quite satisfying read. And I thought it was brilliant how he brought in Dick from High Fidelity as a minor character.
I also finished Sunshine by Robin McKinley. A vampire book in which no one gets bit. Hmmmm . . . Not one of McKinley's best, not for that reason, though. I liked her Damar books, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. In my experience fantasy is a very iffy genre, even if you find an author you like.
We are icing the gingerbread people now and my brother William is trying to give the gingerbread Aragorn a five o'clock shadow. I don't think it's working, but he insists that it is.
I found a Time magazine lying on my seat on the plane on the way here and it had a rather interesting article about the band Fountains of Wayne. It said the band, mainly Chris Collingwood, is rather disappointed that they have gained their fame from the song "Stacy's Mom" and its rather . . . promiscuous music video. The quote that I found rather humorous, in a sad and fatalistic sort of way, was "I hope this doesn't haunt us." I bit too late for that I'd say. The article did say, though, that they're going to be coming out with a video for "Mexican Wine," filmed in Brazil.
I just read a very splendid hypothetical question by Lewis Carroll and I wanted to share it with everyone. Today was very Christmassy. I set up the presepe (which is an Italian kind of nativity scene, only it's the whole town. Here's a picture of one, rather more ornate than ours.) and William and I made gingerbread men, or rather gingerbread hobbits and kings and such. Tomorrow we're going to ice them. And we listened to Christmas music and watched the Grinch and Christmas Carol. Yesterday we watched the animated Jack Frost which is one of my favorite Christmas specials. I love Kubla Kraus and little Donnie and the k-nights, even though all those other little people get really sappy and sickening.
I didnt feel that Return of the King was so much a letdown as a major personal disaster. Well, not really, but I dont understand why so many say this is the best of the three movies. I really dont think this movie shows Jacksons true potential. And I dont get all of this Tolkiens vision and Jacksons vision talk. I didnt think Jackson was so much giving us his own version as a bad interpretation of Tolkiens version. I was willing to give the Jacksons vision excuse to anything in the first movie, but this movie seemed to be taking far too many liberties with original key elements to actually be good form. I think that anyone who was angry about the changes made in The Two Towers should have been just as angry about the changes made in Return of the King. Like Arwen. I couldnt believe Jackson decided to bring her back more. I thought, oh, thats over, shell just come in at the end and itll be all cool and happy and right. But I was forgetting that Jackson had gone too far in the last movie and he had to bring her back from the path to the Grey Havens and all. And that scene with Frodo getting mad at Sam over the lembas and then the one about Elrond coming to the camp and telling Aragorn to go through the Paths of the Dead and completely changing the motives. It was supposed to be destiny and Aragorn was supposed to know. Its like Jackson didnt want Aragorn to look like a king. It was all crap and it made me sad. I had to edit it out in my head.
What really bothered me was the cuts. It started out alright, but the further the movie went the more ridiculous it got. Cut to five seconds of Faramir and Denethor then cut to five seconds of Rohan then cut to five seconds of orcs, cut cut cut. I just wanted to finish something. The worst part of the cuts, though, was when Eowyn had her big scene with the Witch King and it was completely mangled by cuts. Jackson had to bring Aragorn back in the middle of the scene. He couldnt just finish it and then go to Aragorn. And it didnt cut to Aragorn just once, I think it was about five times.
Now I will talk about things I liked.
I liked the eighties sparkles when they were reforging the sword. I was waiting for the disco music to start. Sorry, too many eighties fantasy movies for me. Oh, and I also liked when Sam told Frodo, Now we need to find you some clothes, you cant go through Mordor showing the moon to everyone . . . oh wait, he didnt really say that, but wouldnt it have been fun, a little hobbit innuendo to make everyone happy? There were some great singing parts with Merry and Pippen, and I loved the way they showed Pippins devotion to Gondor. I loved the Rohan parts. I think the movies really brought Rohan to life. Theoden has a magnificent kingly presence. My favorite part in the whole movie was the lighting of the signals. That was one of the most beautiful and moving montages (I hope Im using that word correctly, I usually refrain from technical film talk) I have ever seen.
On the whole, I didnt really like the movie, but I think it was mainly the editing that bothered me and perhaps with more viewings I could get over that. I also thought the Frodo and Sam scenes just dragged and none of the dialogue in this movie really struck me as worth remembering, except I was happy they put in, I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam. There were glorious moments.
Having just finished As Good As It Gets, I am now sitting here watching britcoms with my family. I like being home. I'm very sad though, because every year I make mince pies at Christmas time, and they're jolly good mince pies, too, but this year again I find that I can't get British mincemeat. You have to get British mincemeat because, see, the Americans don't understand the importance of suet. I know it doesn't sound very cool and fun, but it is, you have to have the animal fat in there. Christmas won't be Christmas without any suet.
So now I need to get down to the business of reading as much as possible. I have a book list this Christmas that includes How To Be Good (at the top), Walker Percy's The Message in the Bottle (which I discovered last summer, but I didn't finish), Robin McKinley's new book, and hopefully the rest of the Silmarillion that I didn't get to last Christmas. I realized, though, that at Christmastime I'm always so exhausted from the last semester that it's a lot harder to concentrate on anything.
I finally got around to seeing Return of the King last night. I really don't know what to think. I'll mull over it a bit more and get back to you tomorrow. All I have say now is, did Denethor have to be eating tomatoes?? I just felt like tomatoes were completely out of place there. Tomatoes are just distinctly American, I can't see a civilization like Gondor having tomatoes.
I'm sitting here drinking lukewarm black tea. No milk. No sugar. I hate exam week because it makes me do crazy things like that. Must conserve caffiene. Oh dear. I have a history exam tomorrow, Contemporary Global History. In some ways I really love history. I like to watch the patterns and see what leads to what and why. This history of the latter half of the twentieth century is especially good for watching patterns and cause and effect. I don't like history exams, though. It's those essay questions. History profs expect so much more clarity and explaining than English profs. I like to BS and give my own opinions and stuff. This doesn't work on history essays. Whew, finished the tea.
interesting inter-dorm activity lately. See Ryan's blog. With all of the pranks this week involving flour, sugar, cocoa, shortening, and icing, the Carter stairwell is beginning to smell quite Christmassy.
This morning I watched the trailer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I really like the children's choir rendition of "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble." This movie looks like it actually has some atmosphere. That's what really annoyed me about the other two. The books were so full of a particular feeling of humor and magic and the movies just lost that entirely. This movie looks darker, but that's good because the book is darker. I'm really excited about this director too, Alfonso Cuaron. He directed "A Little Princess" and "Y Tu Mama Tambien." I was reading an article in Newsweek in August and it talked about this movie and Cuaron's vision for it. Let me share a little quote with you:
"Yes, 'Azkaban' is the puberty movie of the franchise--the one, says Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, in which 'all those lovely, lovely hormones start coming out.' How will the movie reflect the changes afoot? 'Lots of sex," says Alfonso Cuaron, the Mexican director who's taken over the reins of the series from Chris Columbus. 'Lots of nudity. And lots of sex.'"
Last spring I discovered this really amazing stuff called Buckley's Mixture. It's Canadian and is probably somehow illegal in the states. It's an amazing cough syrup that tastes and feels like someone has melted down Vicks and added some ammonia to it for good measure. I get a big kick out of carrying this stuff around campus and making people smell it. I found out about it in a kind of funny way. Some of you may remember Miranda Stone, a Canadian musician who came through last spring and played at Stoplight Cafe. Well I went to hear her at the Mudpie and she kept drinking out of this little bottle during her performance. Finally she told the audience that what she was drinking wasn't alcohol, it was cough surup. She explained what was in this stuff and what it tasted like and then offered to give a free CD to anyone who could drink it without making a face. I got up there with two other people and we all won CD's. I do think that I drank the most, though. Anyway, I had a very sore throat that night and this stuff totally took care of that so after the show I had a get Miranda to write down the name of this amazing mixture so I could get some of my own. It's my favorite stuff to give friends, or even casual acquaintances, who might not be feeling too well. I love watching their faces. The advertising line of Buckley's, by the way, is "It tastes awful. And it works."
Okay, I am getting annoyed. I know I read somewhere the other day that Dr. Foreman once suggested changing the Covenant motto from "In all things . . . Christ pre-eminent" (and can I just say that while it's a good motto that little elipsis in the middle really annoys me) to something about sexual frustration. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read this or what the exact Dr. Foreman quote was and I want to know because I remember it was extremely accurate. I was trying to describe the Madrigals scene to someone today and I really needed that quote. So if anyone else read that, tell me.
Oh, did everyone notice how they took that darn flag down. Perhaps it wasn't quite as all-weather as they thought. That whole sleet thing and the whole snow thing was a bit much for it I guess. If it froze would it shatter, or would it take something like liquid nitrogen to do that?
And furthermore, I just want to say girls need to stop being paranoid about the library staff. I'm tired of hearing girls talking how they think Tom or John was hitting on them. It's just not true and not funny. They're friendly guys and very cool and maybe you should stop being paranoid and listen to them. I mean, what is the deal here with people in the library, do people think I am hitting on them, too?
Oh dear, I walked across campus tonight and almost died. The wind has been beating our windows all night and whipping across the plastic on Carter roof, making a really cool sound, almost like some invisible person knocking on the window, but I didn't think that much of it because I wasn't thinking about going outside. It's so cold out there I didn't even think, "it's cold" all I thought was "ouch."
I've been so socially tired lately. I was thinking about this today and about how people so often wear me out because they have so many different ideas and perceptions than I do. It's so hard to talk to people because they understand things in a completely different way than I mean them and it's like we're all speaking different languages. I wonder if people could understand what each other meant better before Babel. In that case Babel would truly be a tragedy. I believe that in heaven we'll have some kind of language (because I really don't believe that we'll dispense with language and words) in which everything will be easily and truly expressed. The thing that annoys me most about language is how far short it comes of expressing what I mean.
In French Fiction and Drama right now we're reading The Diary of a Country Priest, which is an amazing book, and it addresses this idea: "It is one of the most mysterious penalties of men that they should be forced to confide the most precious of their possessions to things so unstable and ever changing, alas, as words." Last semester Hope, my dear sociology major roommate, took Interpersonal Communication where she learned all about non-verbal communication. Since then she has been quite enamored with this idea and I think it's rubbed off on me a bit. Non-verbal communication is amazing and in a way so much more direct than words. I think in heaven we will have lots of non-verbal communication. But words are important, words are life to me. I love words. It's just so hard to use them in the right way . . .