|
|
Blog - December 2005 |
|
||
|
This page stores my blog entry from December 2005. The entry is from December 30.
"Narnia" impressions / Holiday Frenzy / A Busy Year in Review / Dirty Keyboard / Happy New Year! Friday, December 30, 2005 Pam and I saw "Narnia" this past Friday. I first read "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" back in 6th grade as a school reading assignment or something. I didn't read it again until within the past few months. Being geared more for someone of the age of the time of my first reading, I still enjoyed the book today. By today's perspective, the book seemed a little rushed and jumps around a little. This didn't really detract from the story, and the sixth grade mind probably wouldn't have thought about it. Still, my second reading and my reading through the other books (in published order, not in Narnian chronological order) perked my curiosity. I'd have to say that this movie is rather good. Overall, they did stick rather well with the book. However, I did have my issues with this version. The beginning was pretty cool towards creating the atmosphere surrounding the kids being sent off to the professor in the country, but the whole "I need to fetch my dad's photo" thing seemed a bit overly played out. The amount of crying time in this movie was overdone as well. It seemed like Lucy was always crying, and some of the sob scenes were played out entirely too long. Susan came off as being rather annoying, but I guess that kind of fits well with how she was originally written. I really didn't like either the woman who played the White Witch or the dialog. The former seemed out of place and didn't really fit the evil witch thing very well, and the latter lacked a lot in a manner of substance. The dialog of added scenes especially seemed rather empty compared to the segments from the book. I don't know what else to say about the White Witch, except that I think I just don't care for her acting. With those points aside, the movie had a lot of good points. The graphics were well-done; at no point did I really sit there and think, "wow, that was definitely computer-gen." I thought Aslan was well done, including his reaction to the White Witch's questioning in the middle of the movie. Some of the atmosphere was well set, with the statues in the White Witch's castle and the snow areas in the beginning of the movie showing some of that skill. Light bits of humor, like the post-battle scene with the White Witch's sleigh driver, pop up on rare occasions. The pace of the story felt a little better than in the book. Even though I didn't care much for the scenes the director or screenwriters added to the story, I think they help set the scenes and create better fluidity between scenes. Given the title, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", the producers appear to want to create movies from all seven books. Maybe I misunderstand the true popularity of the Narnia books, but it doesn't seem that it'd have as much drawing power as the Harry Potter movies have had. Nevertheless, this movie is definitely a must-see, and I look forward to any other movies that they may create in Narnia. ***** Christmas came and went in a whirlwind of activity and get-togethers. My Christmas present to my grandparents, Pam's grandparents, and Pam's parents was a loaf of apricot cranberry bread to each couple. I baked those while sending out my first Christmas cards ever (outside of spot cards I did before). That led me to Christmas Eve dinner at Pam's for a wonderful pork and cranberry sauce stew made with pinot noir. From dinner, we bounded off to her mom's family's gathering for dessert, drinking, and the singing of Christmas carols. The latter one led her family to proclaim me the "bosso profundo" after my participation in the arranged singing of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and a heart-felt singing of "O Holy Night", one of my favorite carols to sing. Night passed and morning followed, Christmas Day. While resting a bit in the morning with mild disgust over there being no NFL football in the morning and my failure to get the local washer to wash just one floor mat, I dashed through the raindrops to Pam's to pick her up on the way to my family's Christmas shin-dig. I got to see my paternal grandmother, who I haven't seen in at least a couple of years. We had a good dinner of prime rib, baked potato, salad, and apple and chocolate mousse pies. The day after Christmas brought my life back out of the holiday fuzz and back into reality. Worked on going through boxes in my apartment and making progress. Finding broken mirror on Pam's car. It all worked out, though. Now I find myself in the middle of two major observances (or, during, really, since Hanukkah runs through both Christmas and New Year's). New Year's is coming up with the anticipation of asti with a macaroni/sour cream/bacon casserole, some time with Pam, and ... well ... another hint as to what Pam wants to do for me for my birthday. ***** Some people say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Unfortunately, I don't have as much to recount, but the significance of my occurrences make up for it. A rough outline of my 2005:
I had a busy yet successful year this year. ***** While typing out the list above, my spacebar decided to stop working. I couldn't understand why. It's not like a ten year old keyboard would ever have problems, right? So, I did what any normal person would do: I took a flathead screwdriver, popped off all the keys, blew compressed air through it to clean it out, cleaned all the keys, and put it back together again. Now it works like new. I figure I'm good for another ten years before I'll need to clean it again. ***** As the year draws to a close, I think about how I'd like to better myself in the coming year. I've never been one to propose resolutions, since, like going on a diet, the immediate labeling of something with that descriptor immediately dooms that idea to failure. So, instead of working for a year-long goal, I'll try to work on short-term goals. Hopefully I will have more time to work on my blog and site in general. I had plans to create a 10th anniversary version of this site, but I do not know when or how that'll come about. I do hope to write a little bit more in January than I have in the past two months. I have other hopes, but I will save that for my own personal thinking. I think those ideas are a little too grand and vague to really try to accomplish. Have a Happy New Year, everyone! |
||||
