Saturday, May 17, 2008

Don't Change the Book - Prince Caspian

I saw the new "Chronicles of Narnia" movie "Prince Caspian" last night with my brother and a bunch of his friends. I thought it would be the highlight of our evening. Instead, the highlight was sitting in a car, in front of my parent's house, beginning to catch up with each other since he'd been away for two and a half weeks, sharing hearts.

Neither of us liked the movie. In fact, we liked it so little that we're not sure we'd go see another new Narnia movie.

Why do movie creators feel a need to change the perfectly good stories in a book? The magic was gone. None of the playfulness, the nods to mythology with Bacchus and waking the trees. By our estimation, about 2/3 of the movie was not from the book. Much was added, and it did little for me in terms of enjoying the story. It didn't pull me in. It was essentially, as my brother put it, "like any other Hollywood action movie". Epic battle scenes. The triumph of good. Blah. Blah. Blah. No magic.

My favorite scene (admittedly a minor one in the book) was also missing.

There is a scene in the book that has spoken deeply to my heart this last year, where Susan (the oldest girl) re-encounters Aslan after avoiding and denying him...

Then, after an awful pause, the deep voice said, "Susan." Susan made no answer but the others thought she was crying. "You have listened to fears, child," said Aslan. "Come, let me breathe on you. Forget them. Are you brave again?"

"A little, Aslan," said Susan.

(Prince Caspian, pg. 386)

Before 8 am and Into the Day

These are the things I accomplished prior to 8:00 this morning (apparently you can be productive if you get up when you can no longer sleep):
  • shower
  • shave my legs
  • read 20 pages or so of a novel
  • french braid my hair into two braids
  • moisturize
These are some of the things I'm going (or hoping) to do the rest of today:
  • clean off my desk
  • fold clean laundry from a week ago and put it away
  • prepare a Sunday school lesson for tomorrow
  • pack for an overnight trip I'm taking with my roommate and a friend tomorrow night
  • cook something (anything really!)
  • hang with some friends
  • go with my roommate to get her nose pierced
  • clean our laundry room
  • sweep the hallway/bathroom/kitchen/my bedroom
  • chat on the phone with a couple friends
  • buy a new shower curtain liner and hang it
  • read
  • do something creative
  • go to the farmer's market
  • buy wine for a couple of upcoming trips
  • rehang our coat hooks by the front door
  • go to the park