This movie was recommend to me by a person who is a bit of a horror and genre movie guru. I saw it on his recommendation and was a bit disappointed. It was so good but it just missed something for me. I read the book last week and found everything in it that was missing in the movie. I found answers and back story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Right_One_In
I always find it interesting in book to movie interpretations that sometimes they get it so right eg Virgin Suicides and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And then like with this one they miss by a hairs breath. Or when they change the book to make a good movie eg Children of Men, and I can see why they changed that one where they did, and both of them still come out great.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_of_Men
Or how big Stephen King books often lose something in the translation from book to movie but his novellas make sublime films.
I think the success of a book to movie conversion comes when the people involved love the source material. If love is used and change is made to make it a good movie the changes made compliment the original.
If you can get hold of Let The Right One In it is a great read. I hate the new vegetarian Vampires that are been spewed out at the moment. So if you like your Vampires old school this is for you.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
The Last Resort or what was ment to be a review on that book but turned into a ramble through my ideas of Africa based on books and movies.
My obsession with Africa started with the movie Out of Africa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa_(film)
I saw it at the old Dawn Theater at Chermside.
http://chermsidedistrict.org.au/chermsidedistrict/
With its marble stairs and the old milk bar. We sat in the vinyl seats with the brass stud tacks in them. The seats where all so old that they had a permanent sag in the seat.
I was always happier in those chairs then in the canvas ones at the front of the cinema. As a small child I could not reach the floor and I could never sit right in them.
I saw Out of Africa there when I was 8 years old. Since then I have dreamed of my own farm in Africa. But sometimes I have thought that it goes deeper then that. And have decided that if the scientist are right and we all come from Africa, then something in me has always yearned for our collective home. Why else would I pine for a place I have never been?
I remember that I felt encompassed by the vastness of the scenes in the film and over joyed at the vistas I saw about me. The flying scenes in that film are still some of my favourite film moments. I was still 8 years from my first real flight at that time, but in my mind that was the first time I flew.
Much of the movie went over my young head at that time. All I really understood was that She (Tania or Karen or Isak Dinesen or Baroness Karen Von Blixen-Finecke) lost her farm, lost the beautiful Berkeley Cole and then the dashing Denys Finch Hatton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Blixen
Showing my early good taste I was madly in love with Berkeley Cole and not Denys. I was not surprised to find out later that DFH was a bounding cad and asked Tania and Beryl Markham on the flight that he died in. Neither went and so we have a rich font of information about European women in Africa at that time. He had Tania on one side of the mountain and Beryl on the other side.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Markham
After the movie Out of Africa it was The Gods Must be Crazy (Don't pretend that you haven't seen it!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy
Everything and anything on the slave trade, Barbary Pirates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_corsairs Doctor Livingstone, Arabic Africa, the Boer Wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_Wars Breaker Morant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant Nelson Mandela http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_mandela and and and, you get the idea and yes I was "that" kid.
Don't get my started on Jane Goodyear and Born Free.
So by a long and winding path I get to The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=75705814569
In truth it was the beautiful frog on the front cover that first caught my eye. So a frog got me in, the blurb tickled me and the book delighted me. Considering it is about surviving in modern Zimbabwe delighted seems a rather flippant word.
But truly the people in this book are delightful. If you, like me, love people who do the forks to those that oppress them, you will like this book. If you love people who can live with grace, style, bravado or just plain old fashioned cussedness in times of trouble you will like this book.
I now follow Douglas Rogers on Facebook, to keep up to date with what is happening to his family and friends in Zimbabwe. And one day when I do get home to Africa I hope to spend sometime at The Last Resort with his wonderful Mum and Dad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa_(film)
I saw it at the old Dawn Theater at Chermside.
http://chermsidedistrict.org.au/chermsidedistrict/
With its marble stairs and the old milk bar. We sat in the vinyl seats with the brass stud tacks in them. The seats where all so old that they had a permanent sag in the seat.
I was always happier in those chairs then in the canvas ones at the front of the cinema. As a small child I could not reach the floor and I could never sit right in them.
I saw Out of Africa there when I was 8 years old. Since then I have dreamed of my own farm in Africa. But sometimes I have thought that it goes deeper then that. And have decided that if the scientist are right and we all come from Africa, then something in me has always yearned for our collective home. Why else would I pine for a place I have never been?
I remember that I felt encompassed by the vastness of the scenes in the film and over joyed at the vistas I saw about me. The flying scenes in that film are still some of my favourite film moments. I was still 8 years from my first real flight at that time, but in my mind that was the first time I flew.
Much of the movie went over my young head at that time. All I really understood was that She (Tania or Karen or Isak Dinesen or Baroness Karen Von Blixen-Finecke) lost her farm, lost the beautiful Berkeley Cole and then the dashing Denys Finch Hatton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Blixen
Showing my early good taste I was madly in love with Berkeley Cole and not Denys. I was not surprised to find out later that DFH was a bounding cad and asked Tania and Beryl Markham on the flight that he died in. Neither went and so we have a rich font of information about European women in Africa at that time. He had Tania on one side of the mountain and Beryl on the other side.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Markham
After the movie Out of Africa it was The Gods Must be Crazy (Don't pretend that you haven't seen it!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy
Everything and anything on the slave trade, Barbary Pirates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_corsairs Doctor Livingstone, Arabic Africa, the Boer Wars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_Wars Breaker Morant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_Morant Nelson Mandela http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_mandela and and and, you get the idea and yes I was "that" kid.
Don't get my started on Jane Goodyear and Born Free.
So by a long and winding path I get to The Last Resort by Douglas Rogers http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=75705814569
In truth it was the beautiful frog on the front cover that first caught my eye. So a frog got me in, the blurb tickled me and the book delighted me. Considering it is about surviving in modern Zimbabwe delighted seems a rather flippant word.
But truly the people in this book are delightful. If you, like me, love people who do the forks to those that oppress them, you will like this book. If you love people who can live with grace, style, bravado or just plain old fashioned cussedness in times of trouble you will like this book.
I now follow Douglas Rogers on Facebook, to keep up to date with what is happening to his family and friends in Zimbabwe. And one day when I do get home to Africa I hope to spend sometime at The Last Resort with his wonderful Mum and Dad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa
Thursday, August 19, 2010
A place I go
A place in cyberspace where I go when I am blue.
I go just to see the beauty.
And because it always puts a smile on my face.
http://www.antiquedress.com/gallery.htm
I go just to see the beauty.
And because it always puts a smile on my face.
http://www.antiquedress.com/gallery.htm
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Skellig
This is a tiny book that had a big impact on me. My very dear friend in England Catherin gave me a copy one day and said you have to read this. I did and I loved it.
It is not a big book, but it has big ideas. It is really just a wisp of a thing, but like a wisp of smoke, or a wisp of light it can change how you see an event or how your day goes. Despite it's big ideas it is as gentle on the readers hart as a of a wisp of smoke.
A young boy, during a time of change in his life comes across a secret and a new friend. And that is all you really need to know. Read with an open mind and open your hart to Skellig.
It is not a big book, but it has big ideas. It is really just a wisp of a thing, but like a wisp of smoke, or a wisp of light it can change how you see an event or how your day goes. Despite it's big ideas it is as gentle on the readers hart as a of a wisp of smoke.
A young boy, during a time of change in his life comes across a secret and a new friend. And that is all you really need to know. Read with an open mind and open your hart to Skellig.
Different Types of Legend
When I saw the movie I am Legend I really liked it. I love movies and books about the last person on earth or the last of a kind or the end of the world. It all seems so fantastical that it is like a dark fairy tale to me.
So finally I got around to reading the book and if you want a happy ending do not read this book. It is a great ending but it is not an ending you will like if you go in for the happy Hollywood ending.
This Richard Matheson book was published in 1954. When you read it you will be impressed with his idea of the future. It is set in the 1970s and it has the whole Cold War feel that the 70s had. SiFi writers are clever buggers. I am never not amazed with what they write and how so much of it comes true. Well elements of it come true.
I think that the movie was a good interpretation of the original work, despite the happy ending, I know the Will Smith character died, but the others got to safety. I am now looking forward to seeing Omega man as well to complete my
I am Legend journey.
So finally I got around to reading the book and if you want a happy ending do not read this book. It is a great ending but it is not an ending you will like if you go in for the happy Hollywood ending.
This Richard Matheson book was published in 1954. When you read it you will be impressed with his idea of the future. It is set in the 1970s and it has the whole Cold War feel that the 70s had. SiFi writers are clever buggers. I am never not amazed with what they write and how so much of it comes true. Well elements of it come true.
I think that the movie was a good interpretation of the original work, despite the happy ending, I know the Will Smith character died, but the others got to safety. I am now looking forward to seeing Omega man as well to complete my
I am Legend journey.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The Man loves his Hometown
Just finished The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Lehanehttp://
The man loves his home town. Every one of his books has an extra character, Boston. Every time I read one of his books or see a film version of his books, I want to see Boston, I want to walk the wet gray streets, and feel the pulse that is in all of his work, but then I wonder would I have had to live there my whole life to feel it as he does.
I love my home town, I would never live anywhere else, but can I feel and write it as he does? There are a handful of writers who can do this, let you in to the world they know, the streets they walk, the smell, the grit. I love his work.
I found the story engrossing as well, I am fascinated by history, race relations, the union movement and the red menace. All of this is covered in the book and a lot more. Family, family we are born into, and the family we create. I liked this book so much that I was having trouble finishing it. I was so worried that bad things would happen to the people in it that I at times could not keep reading because I could not face them been hurt!
And can this guy be more diverse? He jumps all over when it comes to subject matter, but he always jumps in Boston.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Lehanehttp://
The man loves his home town. Every one of his books has an extra character, Boston. Every time I read one of his books or see a film version of his books, I want to see Boston, I want to walk the wet gray streets, and feel the pulse that is in all of his work, but then I wonder would I have had to live there my whole life to feel it as he does.
I love my home town, I would never live anywhere else, but can I feel and write it as he does? There are a handful of writers who can do this, let you in to the world they know, the streets they walk, the smell, the grit. I love his work.
I found the story engrossing as well, I am fascinated by history, race relations, the union movement and the red menace. All of this is covered in the book and a lot more. Family, family we are born into, and the family we create. I liked this book so much that I was having trouble finishing it. I was so worried that bad things would happen to the people in it that I at times could not keep reading because I could not face them been hurt!
And can this guy be more diverse? He jumps all over when it comes to subject matter, but he always jumps in Boston.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Layer Cake or more like an Onion cos it makes your eyes water.
Disgrace by J.M.Coetzee can be read in many ways. It could just be a book about an ageing man learning to let go of his youth, it can be about a whole Country falling apart, it can be about human bondage and it can be about race relations. While it can be any or all of those things the one that it definitely is, is well written.
http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9780099526834
I seem totally unable to write about this book. So all I will say is, it is beautifully written, it will reflect any number of scenarios back at you and will open your eyes to a world you want to think does not exist. It could be Australia, and if we don't look at ourselves and how we live with others here, it could be our future.
P.S I would like to know how my South African Friends feel about this book.
http://www.randomhouse.com.au/Books/Default.aspx?Page=Book&ID=9780099526834
I seem totally unable to write about this book. So all I will say is, it is beautifully written, it will reflect any number of scenarios back at you and will open your eyes to a world you want to think does not exist. It could be Australia, and if we don't look at ourselves and how we live with others here, it could be our future.
P.S I would like to know how my South African Friends feel about this book.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sarah Waters The Little Stranger
I love a good ghost story, the paranormal, and mysteries. But I very rarely find authors that I like who write in that field. Sarah Waters is a difficult writer, her writing is wonderful and always draws me in, but sometimes I don't like what she does to her people!
The Little Stranger is like that, I sat down to read and 7 hours later I was finished. I love the book, but was so unhappy with the outcome. It was just like I felt when I finished her other book Affinity. She really is someone I want to sit down with and ask her "what the hell?" Why the outcomes?
The Little Stranger is set in an old English manor house after WWII, the locale Doctor is drawn to Hundreds Hall and the Ayres family. As Dr Faraday gets to know the family better he learns they are living under a threat, it's source unknown.
The book is creepy good. It made me a little jumpy and made me wish I had not started it at night time. I liked the people in the book and I liked that the minor players where well rounded even if they where only in it for a short time.
If you want to think and get a thrill give Sarah Waters a go.
http://www.sarahwaters.com/
The Little Stranger is like that, I sat down to read and 7 hours later I was finished. I love the book, but was so unhappy with the outcome. It was just like I felt when I finished her other book Affinity. She really is someone I want to sit down with and ask her "what the hell?" Why the outcomes?
The Little Stranger is set in an old English manor house after WWII, the locale Doctor is drawn to Hundreds Hall and the Ayres family. As Dr Faraday gets to know the family better he learns they are living under a threat, it's source unknown.
The book is creepy good. It made me a little jumpy and made me wish I had not started it at night time. I liked the people in the book and I liked that the minor players where well rounded even if they where only in it for a short time.
If you want to think and get a thrill give Sarah Waters a go.
http://www.sarahwaters.com/
Thursday, April 15, 2010
A bit of Magic
When I lived in London I was fascinated by the Ghost Stations of the London Underground and by the Wild Apple Trees that you would see all along the way. Why where the Stations empty and how did the Apple Tree grow where it did? Where did the little doors go and the random staircases lead too?
These where the thoughts I followed every work day for two years. They where the thoughts that took me away from the over crowed Tube, the smell of too many damp people and not enough ventilation.
London is a magic place, it is so old, and it's little by ways can still lead you places. This is the London that Neil Gaiman brings to life in his lovely book Neverwhere. I have been in a book funk recently and thought that my reading 3 books a week since I was 11 had finally brought me to a place where the might not be anymore surprises for me. Maybe I had read every version of every story there was to tell.
With that in mind I took my time at work and drove my Josiegirl mad with my constant cry of "Which Book"
Neverwhere won and I am so happy it did. It is a wonderful modern fairytale and I love it. After seeing the movie Stardust I should have known he was different, that he had something new to give.
So if you are feeling a bit sick of the everyday, and want to see your world in a new way give him and read and then work your own magic into every day.
http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/24/traditional-orchards-biodiversityhttp://
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-news/w-latest_news/w-news-orchardwindfall.htmhttp://
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/neil-gaiman/
These where the thoughts I followed every work day for two years. They where the thoughts that took me away from the over crowed Tube, the smell of too many damp people and not enough ventilation.
London is a magic place, it is so old, and it's little by ways can still lead you places. This is the London that Neil Gaiman brings to life in his lovely book Neverwhere. I have been in a book funk recently and thought that my reading 3 books a week since I was 11 had finally brought me to a place where the might not be anymore surprises for me. Maybe I had read every version of every story there was to tell.
With that in mind I took my time at work and drove my Josiegirl mad with my constant cry of "Which Book"
Neverwhere won and I am so happy it did. It is a wonderful modern fairytale and I love it. After seeing the movie Stardust I should have known he was different, that he had something new to give.
So if you are feeling a bit sick of the everyday, and want to see your world in a new way give him and read and then work your own magic into every day.
http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/24/traditional-orchards-biodiversityhttp://
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-news/w-latest_news/w-news-orchardwindfall.htmhttp://
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/g/neil-gaiman/
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Alice and her Muchness
I saw Tim Burtons wonderful Alice in Wonderland yesterday and what I want to know was what movie did the crictics see?
Nearly ever review I have seen or read has been negitive, but why?
Oh I am sick of all reviewers, except of course the wonderful David and Margaret.
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
I love this movie. I love it's reminder to us to not let go of who we are,
as The Hatter terms it our Muchness.
I love Jonny Depps Hatter who is infact in two minds about everything.
I love the undertones of English/Scottish History.
I love the White Queen who seems to want to do bad things but, she has her vows.
I loved the red Queen, who really just needs someone to love her big head!
I loved everything.
I loved our Australian Alice, the critics said she was too insipid, did they not get the idea that Alice was finding herself again?
Did they miss the first pasrt of the movie where everyone is telling the young Alice that it was all a dream?
I loved the costumes.
I loved the sets? Are they sets when it is green screen?
Ooh I llllloooooovvveeeeddd Allen Rickman as Absolem, I can just dream of a day when that voice reads me the phone book at night to send me of to sleep!!
I love to make up what happen to so-and-so after the book or movie, so I can totally embrace this movie.
It stayed true to Alice of Old.
So many times the interprutation or trueness of a characotr is lost in the re working of a book or clssic film, but this one was WONDERFUL.
Ok just kidding but don't you think that is what Underworldian would like!?
I saw Tim Burton's wonderful Alice in Wonderland yesterday and what I want to know was what movie did the critics see?
Nearly ever review I have seen or read has been negative, but why?
Oh I am sick of all reviewers, except of course the wonderful David and Margaret.
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
I love this movie. I love it's reminder to us to not let go of who we are,
as The Hatter terms it our Muchness.
I love Johnny Depps Hatter who is in fact in two minds about everything.
I love the undertones of English/Scottish History.
I love the White Queen who seems to want to do bad things but, she has her vows.
I loved the red Queen, who really just needs someone to love her big head!
I loved everything.
I loved our Australian Alice, the critics said she was too insipid, did they not get the idea that Alice was finding herself again?
Did they miss the first part of the movie where everyone is telling the young Alice that it was all a dream?
I loved the costumes.
I loved the sets? Are they sets when it is green screen?
Ooh I llllloooooovvveeeeddd Allen Rickman as Absolem, I can just dream of a day when that voice reads me the phone book at night to send me of to sleep!!
I love to make up what happen to so-and-so after the book or movie, so I can totally embrace this movie.
It stayed true to Alice of Old.
So many times the interpretation or trueness of a character is lost in the re working of a book or classic film, but this one was WONDERFUL.
as a side note check out this site where Alice is called Shite the whole way through???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(2010_film)
Nearly ever review I have seen or read has been negitive, but why?
Oh I am sick of all reviewers, except of course the wonderful David and Margaret.
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
I love this movie. I love it's reminder to us to not let go of who we are,
as The Hatter terms it our Muchness.
I love Jonny Depps Hatter who is infact in two minds about everything.
I love the undertones of English/Scottish History.
I love the White Queen who seems to want to do bad things but, she has her vows.
I loved the red Queen, who really just needs someone to love her big head!
I loved everything.
I loved our Australian Alice, the critics said she was too insipid, did they not get the idea that Alice was finding herself again?
Did they miss the first pasrt of the movie where everyone is telling the young Alice that it was all a dream?
I loved the costumes.
I loved the sets? Are they sets when it is green screen?
Ooh I llllloooooovvveeeeddd Allen Rickman as Absolem, I can just dream of a day when that voice reads me the phone book at night to send me of to sleep!!
I love to make up what happen to so-and-so after the book or movie, so I can totally embrace this movie.
It stayed true to Alice of Old.
So many times the interprutation or trueness of a characotr is lost in the re working of a book or clssic film, but this one was WONDERFUL.
Ok just kidding but don't you think that is what Underworldian would like!?
I saw Tim Burton's wonderful Alice in Wonderland yesterday and what I want to know was what movie did the critics see?
Nearly ever review I have seen or read has been negative, but why?
Oh I am sick of all reviewers, except of course the wonderful David and Margaret.
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
I love this movie. I love it's reminder to us to not let go of who we are,
as The Hatter terms it our Muchness.
I love Johnny Depps Hatter who is in fact in two minds about everything.
I love the undertones of English/Scottish History.
I love the White Queen who seems to want to do bad things but, she has her vows.
I loved the red Queen, who really just needs someone to love her big head!
I loved everything.
I loved our Australian Alice, the critics said she was too insipid, did they not get the idea that Alice was finding herself again?
Did they miss the first part of the movie where everyone is telling the young Alice that it was all a dream?
I loved the costumes.
I loved the sets? Are they sets when it is green screen?
Ooh I llllloooooovvveeeeddd Allen Rickman as Absolem, I can just dream of a day when that voice reads me the phone book at night to send me of to sleep!!
I love to make up what happen to so-and-so after the book or movie, so I can totally embrace this movie.
It stayed true to Alice of Old.
So many times the interpretation or trueness of a character is lost in the re working of a book or classic film, but this one was WONDERFUL.
as a side note check out this site where Alice is called Shite the whole way through???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_(2010_film)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A book that changed the course of a year for me.
I Heard The Owl Call My Name, is a book that changed a whole year of my life. 2002 was not my best year, in fact parts of 2002 very nearly was the death of me. Not a literal death, but a death of the sprite of me. The hope and love and joy that is very much who I am.
A very wise man I knew at the time told me to read this book. And for a very long time I did not get around to it. Then one day at a book store there it was. One copy of a book I had been told I would have to get ordered.
Aha, I am stubborn and I can be dumb, but I know when life is trying to tell me something so I got the book and started to read it on the bus, I got off the bus and read while I walked and got home and read and finished in about 3 hours.
Every single thing that had been wrong 3 hours before can into focus and was forgotten. The anger and the pain and the hopelessness was put aside by one line in a very small book.
Page 138 "In his tiny house the teacher heard the running footfalls on the path to the river bank, and he went quickly to the door and could not open it. To join the others was to care, and to care was to live and to suffer."
Now that line may not change your life, but maybe you will find one line or an idea or a person in this book that could change you, uplift you and make your day better.
And that is what writing should be about. This book is only 133 pages long, how I wish I could write one book of that few pages and hope that is could be that powerful. Instead I am happy to write about books and movies that help me, change me, uplift me and hope that I can share that power to others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Owl_Call_My_Name
A very wise man I knew at the time told me to read this book. And for a very long time I did not get around to it. Then one day at a book store there it was. One copy of a book I had been told I would have to get ordered.
Aha, I am stubborn and I can be dumb, but I know when life is trying to tell me something so I got the book and started to read it on the bus, I got off the bus and read while I walked and got home and read and finished in about 3 hours.
Every single thing that had been wrong 3 hours before can into focus and was forgotten. The anger and the pain and the hopelessness was put aside by one line in a very small book.
Page 138 "In his tiny house the teacher heard the running footfalls on the path to the river bank, and he went quickly to the door and could not open it. To join the others was to care, and to care was to live and to suffer."
Now that line may not change your life, but maybe you will find one line or an idea or a person in this book that could change you, uplift you and make your day better.
And that is what writing should be about. This book is only 133 pages long, how I wish I could write one book of that few pages and hope that is could be that powerful. Instead I am happy to write about books and movies that help me, change me, uplift me and hope that I can share that power to others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Owl_Call_My_Name
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Missed The Point
I just saw the Lovely Bones movie and I was sad.
Not because of the content but because it missed the point.
It missed the point by so much.
If you have seen the movie trailers or read the book you know what it is about.
So I am not giving anything away by saying it is about the murder of a young girl.
That should be sad and depressing, but in her amazing book Alice Sebold has given us a thing of beauty and love.
The beauty of a life after death, where people who are cheated in this life by an early death can go to live some more and learn and love.
Love in a family that is not stopped by someone else's evil.
A beautiful dream space where the deceased can watch over their loved ones and see justice done.
At work I am always telling people to buy this book, I tell them it is amazing and uplifting, and they give me a look as if to say " Are you nuts its about a child murder" , but nearly every time they come back and tell me how wonderful and up lifting it was and how they are now going to buy it for everyone they know.
Sometimes I think we just have to understand that some ideas will not be taken from the page and put on film. Some ideas are to beautiful and complex to be put in the world out side of books. I would hate for someone to see the movie and then not read the book because of the movie. The book is so uplifting and life affirming and the movie weighted me down and left me sad, for days.
And now to Stanley Tucci. They got his charaactor so very wronge and by getting him wrong it made a lot else seem wrong. Why on earth was he doing a Dustin Hoffman voice? Why did this normally stellar actor make the bad guy into a near cartoon, rendering his evil to Dr Evil type nonsense?
So my friends is you have a spare $20 and it is a toss up between the movie and the book, get the book. The movie will just leave you sad for days, whereas the book will lift you up and give you more then you had before.
And isn't that what great art is meant to give us?
http://www.lovelybones.com/#home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Sebold
Not because of the content but because it missed the point.
It missed the point by so much.
If you have seen the movie trailers or read the book you know what it is about.
So I am not giving anything away by saying it is about the murder of a young girl.
That should be sad and depressing, but in her amazing book Alice Sebold has given us a thing of beauty and love.
The beauty of a life after death, where people who are cheated in this life by an early death can go to live some more and learn and love.
Love in a family that is not stopped by someone else's evil.
A beautiful dream space where the deceased can watch over their loved ones and see justice done.
At work I am always telling people to buy this book, I tell them it is amazing and uplifting, and they give me a look as if to say " Are you nuts its about a child murder" , but nearly every time they come back and tell me how wonderful and up lifting it was and how they are now going to buy it for everyone they know.
Sometimes I think we just have to understand that some ideas will not be taken from the page and put on film. Some ideas are to beautiful and complex to be put in the world out side of books. I would hate for someone to see the movie and then not read the book because of the movie. The book is so uplifting and life affirming and the movie weighted me down and left me sad, for days.
And now to Stanley Tucci. They got his charaactor so very wronge and by getting him wrong it made a lot else seem wrong. Why on earth was he doing a Dustin Hoffman voice? Why did this normally stellar actor make the bad guy into a near cartoon, rendering his evil to Dr Evil type nonsense?
So my friends is you have a spare $20 and it is a toss up between the movie and the book, get the book. The movie will just leave you sad for days, whereas the book will lift you up and give you more then you had before.
And isn't that what great art is meant to give us?
http://www.lovelybones.com/#home
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Sebold
Monday, January 25, 2010
DUNE 20th time and still GREAT
Dune by Frank Herbert, I think is the best ScFi ever written.
http://www.dunenovels.com/
Big statement I know but I think it is true!
If you have not read it I would say to you just read the first one, even if you do not read the whole series just read the first one.
I am re-reading it for, I think and this is a conservative estimate, the 20Th time, that works out to once a year since I was 12 and I know there are years when I have read it twice.
And it never gets boring and every time I read it I get something new from it.
In the past the one of the things that has always resonated with me is the Litany against Fear from the Bene Gesserit rite;
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
That has brought me comfort over the years and has helped me be less fearful. But this time as I was reading the book a new thing stood out for me.
The first Law of Mentat is;
"A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it."
And now I have a new idea to mull over in my life and see how this helps me change.
I find it amazing that a person could create in his head a universe of such depth and layer and history. That from a place on earth, because that is the start, he could imagine a future like this for humans. Our history is interwoven in this future, bits of us make it into this realm.
Maybe that is why it is so easy to follow. Maybe we can see that our future could go something like this.
I have a deep fondness for the Bene Gesserit, a school of metal and physical training mainly for female students. I would love to be a Bene Gesserit, although I have deep reservations about their work, in their quest to keep humane bloodlines safe, they have forgot the "humane' and seek out the Divine. The Kwisatz Haderach.
I have deep feelings of love for many of the people in this book. Yes I know I just called them people and not characters, but to me over the years they have become real. I feel a savage joy in their victories and I still cry when some of them die. I feel for the Lady Jessica and her place in the world, I want a different path for the Duke Leto, I feel for Dr Yueh, knowing what the Harkonnens can do you understand how he does what he does. The Dukes main men are men I would like to drink with. And Alia, the one who was awoken early, for her I feel such empathy.
And they aren't even the main characters!! Are you starting to see the pull?
Since Frank Herbert's death more books have been added to the world of Dune. I like these books and they add to the fabric of the legend. But they do not have the touch of a Master. His son Brain Herbert and author Kevin J Anderson just do not have his tone. But that is to be expected and I think they have done a wonderful job.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Herbert
I really look forward to reading some of Brian Herberts non Dune novels.
This is an article I found on line and I think it will do a better job then me at sharing one the ideas that I find most interesting in his books.
http://baheyeldin.com/literature/arabic-and-islamic-themes-in-frank-herberts-dune.html
Also there is the group of Hidden Jews that are in his books, I found this wonderful and amazing. To me it rang true, that no matter what happened to them or how they where hounded they survived.
A warning though, if like me you go and google this be very careful. A bunch of wanker white power idiots and anti-Semite F&#@ers have hi-jacked this aspect of his work and you might like me end up on a page that makes you sick.
There is so much I would say about these book and why I love them, but as always my inability to express how I feel in words eloquently pulls me up and I just say to you read this book, give it a try and see what you see.
At some other point I will get on to the David Lynch movie. I really liked it but other fans hate so it will be a whole other post!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(film)
http://www.dunenovels.com/
Big statement I know but I think it is true!
If you have not read it I would say to you just read the first one, even if you do not read the whole series just read the first one.
I am re-reading it for, I think and this is a conservative estimate, the 20Th time, that works out to once a year since I was 12 and I know there are years when I have read it twice.
And it never gets boring and every time I read it I get something new from it.
In the past the one of the things that has always resonated with me is the Litany against Fear from the Bene Gesserit rite;
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
That has brought me comfort over the years and has helped me be less fearful. But this time as I was reading the book a new thing stood out for me.
The first Law of Mentat is;
"A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it."
And now I have a new idea to mull over in my life and see how this helps me change.
I find it amazing that a person could create in his head a universe of such depth and layer and history. That from a place on earth, because that is the start, he could imagine a future like this for humans. Our history is interwoven in this future, bits of us make it into this realm.
Maybe that is why it is so easy to follow. Maybe we can see that our future could go something like this.
I have a deep fondness for the Bene Gesserit, a school of metal and physical training mainly for female students. I would love to be a Bene Gesserit, although I have deep reservations about their work, in their quest to keep humane bloodlines safe, they have forgot the "humane' and seek out the Divine. The Kwisatz Haderach.
I have deep feelings of love for many of the people in this book. Yes I know I just called them people and not characters, but to me over the years they have become real. I feel a savage joy in their victories and I still cry when some of them die. I feel for the Lady Jessica and her place in the world, I want a different path for the Duke Leto, I feel for Dr Yueh, knowing what the Harkonnens can do you understand how he does what he does. The Dukes main men are men I would like to drink with. And Alia, the one who was awoken early, for her I feel such empathy.
And they aren't even the main characters!! Are you starting to see the pull?
Since Frank Herbert's death more books have been added to the world of Dune. I like these books and they add to the fabric of the legend. But they do not have the touch of a Master. His son Brain Herbert and author Kevin J Anderson just do not have his tone. But that is to be expected and I think they have done a wonderful job.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Herbert
I really look forward to reading some of Brian Herberts non Dune novels.
This is an article I found on line and I think it will do a better job then me at sharing one the ideas that I find most interesting in his books.
http://baheyeldin.com/literature/arabic-and-islamic-themes-in-frank-herberts-dune.html
Also there is the group of Hidden Jews that are in his books, I found this wonderful and amazing. To me it rang true, that no matter what happened to them or how they where hounded they survived.
A warning though, if like me you go and google this be very careful. A bunch of wanker white power idiots and anti-Semite F&#@ers have hi-jacked this aspect of his work and you might like me end up on a page that makes you sick.
There is so much I would say about these book and why I love them, but as always my inability to express how I feel in words eloquently pulls me up and I just say to you read this book, give it a try and see what you see.
At some other point I will get on to the David Lynch movie. I really liked it but other fans hate so it will be a whole other post!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(film)
Monday, January 18, 2010
Avatar
Magic in Movies.
I saw Avatar today and I loved it.
It is every childhood dream I had of different made up worlds that could just be around the corner or under a leaf.
It was the Swiss Family Robinson Tree on steroids.
It was my fairy dreamland made alive.
It was an underwater dream scape on land.
It was pretty and beautiful and grand and wonderful.
It was an imagined world made alive.
I am so happy that some very few blessed people in our world are granted the talent to be able to bring the imagined to life for us.
Do I wish I was one of those people?
Yes I do.
But I am not, so I am just happy to the bottom of my bones that some people are able to do it and that they think big.
It is a tale that has been told many times, so not a new story.
But a story told in a new visual way.
The characters are all archetypes, so not new to us.
But because they are archetypes instantly familiar to us.
It is a metaphor and didactic,
but still wonderful despite this.
It has bits and bobs borrowed from every war, love, battle, cross cultural film ever made,
but not boring.
Even the cadence of the Pandoraian Natives is familiar, sounds like North American Indian cadence.
But even that harks back to a story already told and not learned from.
We have all seen the small worthy group beat the bigger badder foe,
so nothing new there, but still not boring.
There is said to be nothing new under the Sun, and that may be so,
But James Cameron gave us a new Sun to look upon and for that I am thankful.
I love love love love love love love love love Cinema and this is just one reason why.
We as humans are not so bad I think, even though we do vile evil things at times, if we can still make beauty for others.
http://www.avatarmovie.com/index.html
I saw Avatar today and I loved it.
It is every childhood dream I had of different made up worlds that could just be around the corner or under a leaf.
It was the Swiss Family Robinson Tree on steroids.
It was my fairy dreamland made alive.
It was an underwater dream scape on land.
It was pretty and beautiful and grand and wonderful.
It was an imagined world made alive.
I am so happy that some very few blessed people in our world are granted the talent to be able to bring the imagined to life for us.
Do I wish I was one of those people?
Yes I do.
But I am not, so I am just happy to the bottom of my bones that some people are able to do it and that they think big.
It is a tale that has been told many times, so not a new story.
But a story told in a new visual way.
The characters are all archetypes, so not new to us.
But because they are archetypes instantly familiar to us.
It is a metaphor and didactic,
but still wonderful despite this.
It has bits and bobs borrowed from every war, love, battle, cross cultural film ever made,
but not boring.
Even the cadence of the Pandoraian Natives is familiar, sounds like North American Indian cadence.
But even that harks back to a story already told and not learned from.
We have all seen the small worthy group beat the bigger badder foe,
so nothing new there, but still not boring.
There is said to be nothing new under the Sun, and that may be so,
But James Cameron gave us a new Sun to look upon and for that I am thankful.
I love love love love love love love love love Cinema and this is just one reason why.
We as humans are not so bad I think, even though we do vile evil things at times, if we can still make beauty for others.
http://www.avatarmovie.com/index.html
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
OLD SCHOOL
Love In a Cold Climate
I had read about the Mitford Girls many years ago and found their family and life fascinating. They really did live a life that seems today unreal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family
I knew that Nancy was a writer but had never seen her work in print. With the new release of the classic orange and tan Penguin Books selling for only $9.95 I decided to finally give one of her books a go.
I enjoyed her work the way I enjoy Evelyn Waugh.
http://www.evelynwaughsociety.org/
Both of them write intimately of a time and place and a world we will never know. They write about that world with love and disdain. They mock it and at the same time you know they have a deep fondness for it because it was their world.
While reading Love In A Cold Climate I was constantly thinking it was really a bit a of a bio, if you read any of the many books about the Mitford family you will know what I mean. The story is set in the stately homes of England and the people are all what we would call posh. It is about the relationships within a sprawling family and the journey of one, Polly, to find love.
I don't really care that much for Polly, but I do enjoy all that goes on around her and within her family.
If you enjoyed movies like Gosford Park or Brideshead Revisited or like to peak at a different world you might get into this.
I had read about the Mitford Girls many years ago and found their family and life fascinating. They really did live a life that seems today unreal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family
I knew that Nancy was a writer but had never seen her work in print. With the new release of the classic orange and tan Penguin Books selling for only $9.95 I decided to finally give one of her books a go.
I enjoyed her work the way I enjoy Evelyn Waugh.
http://www.evelynwaughsociety.org/
Both of them write intimately of a time and place and a world we will never know. They write about that world with love and disdain. They mock it and at the same time you know they have a deep fondness for it because it was their world.
While reading Love In A Cold Climate I was constantly thinking it was really a bit a of a bio, if you read any of the many books about the Mitford family you will know what I mean. The story is set in the stately homes of England and the people are all what we would call posh. It is about the relationships within a sprawling family and the journey of one, Polly, to find love.
I don't really care that much for Polly, but I do enjoy all that goes on around her and within her family.
If you enjoyed movies like Gosford Park or Brideshead Revisited or like to peak at a different world you might get into this.
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