PRINCE CASPIAN

I've found that one can express excitement in writing in all caps! Let me tell you, I was excited to see Prince Caspian. Megano and I went yesterday to a matinee. (I'm finding that I'm too old for midnight showings. I have a hard enough time getting to sleep at night.) The movie was a lot of fun. There were moments when I had to cover my eyes (not too many, but there was violence) and moments were I was grateful for Megano's willingness to poke fun. (I mean, do you really think Susan was that aware of her...never mind.) So, all in all, I liked it. I'd probably give it 3.5 stars out of 4. The negative half is not because the changes to the story - that was expected. After all, any blockbuster movies has to be exciting from beginning to end, donchaknow. The negative half comes from the idea that if a main character hasn't had a line/screen time in x minutes, he she has to have a moment. It ruined the flow of the big exciting epic movie. But, nothing that I couldn't handle.

Okay, for those who want to go and watch this innocently, without comparisons to the book, stop reading now. Really, if you know the book, technically there shouldn't be any way to spoil the movie, but boy are you wrong!





Once again, SPOILER ALERT!





Stop reading if you don't want to know - you're not going to blame me!





Well, it opens with Caspian's aunt giving birth. His nurse and growing up, the stargazing and learning from his tutor are all left out (though the tutor is there.) Dr.Cornelius is shown running into Caspian's room, because Miraz has sent people to kill Caspian while he slept, but thankfully there is a secret way out through his wardrobe. He is taken to his horse, and Cornelius gives him something wrapped up, that he is only to use at his greatest need. It sounds all fixed, but it is quite exciting.

So Caspian runs off, and is chased through the forest by these men. He gets knocked off his horse, but there's a man on horse still following him. Two figures come out of a nearby tree, one (Nikabrik) comes after Caspian, the other, (Trumpkin) goes after the man on horse, and we later see him as a prisoner in Miraz' castle. Well, this is Caspian's direst moment, so the now unwrapped horn is blown.

We now cut to England were Lucy (who has grown up to be a very worried little girl) almost gets run over by a car, and Susan, weraing makeup, being hit on by a geeky boy, who she lies to about her name.

They descend to catch the train and see Peter in a fight, which Edmund joins at the last and helps out, with it eventually being broken up by the police officers. It seems that Susan really has gotten used to not going back to Narnia, and in some ways doesn't want to go back. Peter can't get over the fact that people treat him like a kid. Edmund and Lucy honestly seem the most well adjusted: neither denying Narnia, nor still living there.

Well, we mustn't forget the horn: the train station disappears, and the four children end up on the beach, where they discover that it's really Care Paravel and that time must have passed. This time is mostly the same, though they aren't confused about why there are ruins, and the apple trees are mostly ignored, though we do see Lucy eating an apple.

Back to Trumpkin - he's been taken captive and was beaten a bit by Miraz, and then he is sent to die in the river. They have neatly skipped over Caspian already being at the Howe, etc. Now having a boat, they travel, and we see Lucy almost being eaten by a bear, and they're off.

Lucy seeing Aslan, with Edmund defending her was okay. At the expense of excitement, the kids personalities are very flat, I must say.

The Bridge of Beruna is a new creation, built so that Miraz' armies can get across the Ford. Miraz first starts the war, because he accuses Trumpkin and co. of being kidnappers, but soon he declares himself king, which were his intentions all along.

Eventually, the children and Caspian's group meet, but Caspian and Peter fight, not knowing who each other are, and here we have tension between Caspian and Peter.

I've been okay with the story changes thus far, but here in the middle, I do not like was has happened. I've decided to call it the Faramir Conundrum (FC): people aren't naturally good, especially tough warriors, so we have to let the audience see them grow. Poor Faramir lost his goodness in LOTR, and now both Peter and Caspian have lost some of theirs. sigh.

Instead of staying at the Howe, they attack Miraz' castle. Story wise, it's necessary, because Dr. Cornelius is rescued, but really, he could have managed to find them out as he did.

sigh.

But, to keep you al from the gloom of the FC (I'll let you sort that one out yourselves), I forgot to introduce probably the most successful character: Prince Caspian, Nikabrik and Trufflehunter are off to meet with the rest of the old Narnians, and are found and chased by soldiers. Then, we see the soldiers being cut down, but all you see is movement in the undergrowth. Then, Caspian trips, and is confronted by no one other than Reepicheep! hoorah!

okay, So the attack on the castle fails. Caspian and Peter blame each other. We see the White Witch, courtesy of the hag and werewolf, but Edmund puts a stop to it. Hooray for Edmund!

Lucy and Susan are sent off to find Aslan. Caspian is worried, because not so secretly have he and Susan been making eyes at one another. eww....

They ride off on horseback, only to be followed, so Susan gets off and sends Lucy off alone while she holds her ground for a while, but, oh heart, Caspian followed, and saves her. Teenage girls are now swooning.

Lucy keeps on, being followed by one who got past, and he is scared off by Aslan. He wakes up the tress, and they head off.

Meanwhile, Peter has challenged Miraz to a duel, and he wins. Caspian has arrived back from rescuing Susan, and so Peter allows Caspian to deal the death blow, but of course he doesn't kill him, but allows him to live. The unhappy Lords of Miraz kill him with one of Queen Susan's arrows, treachery is called, and the fight is on.

I have to admit, this next sequence is quite entertaining.

Then the ents... I mean trees come and secure a win for the Narnians.

The army retreats to the bridge, but Lucy is there, then Aslan walks out and calls the river god which comes rushing down and washes away the Nazgul, I mean army. Sorry, no Bacchus.

The river god breaks the bridge, and victory is to the Narnians.

The ending is close enough, except for inordinate amounts of makeup and hairgel for Susan so that she and Caspian can share a kiss before she leaves. sigh.

They go through a tree (no door), and end up back in the train station.

I liked the movie. I enjoy seeing how others view the books I love, and how they adapt them to the big screen. I realize that the mediums are very different, so the end products are usually different. For example, I love BBC's Pride and Prejudice, but they make it too true to the book at times, overlooking the strengths and differences of film. An adaptation that I feel is more successful is Persuasion.

When I become frustrated with an adaptation is when they change the feel of a character. Peter would not have done that. Susan may have fallen for Caspian. The first, unacceptable, second change, fine, if you feel the need to add romance, go for it.

Perhaps I am in the minority, but that is why I love these 'epic' novels: the people. Sure, it's great that Frodo destroyed the ring of power, and Reepicheep sails to the end of the world, but Faramir learns to stand up for himself, Eowyn realizes what true love is, Sam funds Rosie, Edmund changes, Eustace stops being a scrub and Puzzle believes he is worth something.

quote from uncle mike

When introduced to the blogging world:

"So, a blob is just like someone's personal website?"

To his daughter:

"Why don't you and Kevin make a blob?"

done.

i've been thinking

It's come to my attention that the internet is, for all the possible goodness that lies within, a time sucking machine. Many times I find myself up later at night than I should be (if one were to look at the posting time, that would be proof!) - I was about to begin listing things that it keeps me from doing when I realized that it can be summed up fairly concisely:

It keeps me from doing what I should be doing.

This thought process was brought upon a friend's musings.

Well, what I've been considering as a detoxification of sorts is to take a weeklong fast from all media - especially the internet.

The idea still makes me quake. No email? Not checking statii on facebook?

The timing would need to be on, and I would have to make rules to follow during the week, but I think I could do it....

Thoughts, opinions....

prince caspian

By the by, I now have tickets to next Friday's release of Prince Caspian! Opening Day matinee. hoorah! I'll have to listen to the book once again before then, so I know exactly what is different from the book. tee hee.

i'm alive, and really, i am twenty five

Before I begin, I'd like to brag for one moment. The picture below was taken of test configuration pages of my new printer. Yup, you read correctly. I have a new printer. I know I'm moving somewhere this fall, and printing is expensive. This printer was not. It's an old HP Laser Printer that I snagged for $4.96! Hoorah. It was from publicsurplus.com. You can bid on items that school districts, etc. (government agencies) are discarding, and can usually get for fairly decent prices.

I do have to find a power cord, and a parallel to usb cable, but I do believe it is still worth it.



One thing you will not see a picture of is the state of my room. It is a disaster!

Pictures will be posted at a later date of graduation. It's official. (Well, with the tweaking of my final paper....) And I enjoyed much the wearing of pink shoes and hoodie.

The post title stems from the surprise many express at finding which degree I graduated with (Masters versus Bachelors [The fact that it's music is great, too]) and my true age. It's almost shocking - and I get a kick out of people's disbelief every time. (Whenever someone asks me my age, and I'm not being put off by them being impertinent, I'll have them guess first. It's great fun.)

Last weekend. I was a VIP shuttler person for BYU's Women's Conference. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. At one point, the Relief Society General Presidency was in the van, along with the Young Women's counselor . It was fun to listen to their conversations, and I could tell that they honestly were friends, and interested in helping the sisters of the church.

One more aside, then back to the point.

Sis. Silvia Allred was waiting to get in the van, when a friend of her passed by, and they became conversing in Spanish. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she mentioned that she had been in an accident on the way down, so I couldn't help but express concern. (In English) It didn't throw her off that an obviously white girl could understand her. And she wasn't condescending in any way. So kind.

I lied, one more aside: the topic in the car (I had decided to not follow the other shuttle because I didn't want to make a left turn into traffic so they were in the car longer than a normal trip to the Smith Fieldhouse would take. It turned out there was an officer directing traffic. Oh well.) ...the topic of conversation turned to Preach My Gospel! And how great it is. I wasn't really in a position to offer my opinion, but I did mention to Sis. Thompson who was in the front seat that it was great. It makes my heart happy that this manual is being taken extremely seriously and being implemented in so many ways. It was even a topic of at least three different sessions during the conference.

Okay, I'm back on target.

On trips where there was only one or two presenters, they would chat with me. The conversation usually went something like this:

WCP: Are you a student here at BYU?
M: Not any more, I graduated last week.
WCP: Oh, that's so great, congratulations! What did you graduate in?
M: Music
WCP: Oh, how wonderful! (I could hear some of them hearing beginning strains of the that one group of people who sings.)
Do you sing/play piano?
M: No, I play the oboe.

At this point, some would be grateful we arrived at their destination, others expressed how much they loved the oboe, and what a distinctive sound it had. I just smiled, thankful that I was driving, so as to hide the smirk.

One lady, when mentioning that her husband had originally started out in Piano Performance, changed majors when he realized he couldn't support a family with that degree and changed to [insert random business degree here]. She then continued to let me know that's it's okay that I chose music, because I don't have the added pressure of needing to support a family. sigh. bite tongue.

I never really mentioned what degree I was awarded unless they started listing off their children's degrees. They really weren't expecting that, because I am, after all, so young.

My favorite moment of this came while I was picking glasses at this nice old man's optometrist shop. I like the plastic frames, that don't have nosepieces, for the occasional times that I put my glasses on my head. It saves tearing out a good chunk of hair. He informed me that that was the way to go, because it was the style that all the young kids were wearing.

My dad and I were there, and there was the standard chit chat. Somehow, it came out that I just graduated.

When he asked, "So what are you going to study?" I just smiled to myself.

My dad spoke up, saying that I just graduated with my masters, and that I was probably going off this fall to start a doctorate degree. There was a split second of disbelief, but he hid it well, and accepted the truth quickly.

Maybe I should have gone for the more grown up glasses?!

It happened again on Tuesday evening. It was a break during a rehearsal for Elijah in Gardner Hall at the UofU. One of the other orchestra members asked me my name and about me. I told her I just graduated. "Okay, so you are a student." I explained that I really was older than I looked (i.e. I did belong in the orchestra) and she replied, "That used to be true for me, but then I aged about eight years in one." If you're looking for a phrase that makes someone wonder what to reply, that is one. I murmured an "I'm sorry," she saw someone she knew, and I was off the hook.

I don't want to look old, nor lose my 'youthful' appearance, but it does make it a bit harder to have people take you seriously, but conversely, I can get away with some things, too. :)

Perhaps if I were to carry around a picture of myself when I was 14 or so....