Happy Christmas, fellow Tolkien-lovers!

Christmas came early today with the release of the first teaser for "The Hobbit". I am overjoyed. It's been like seven hours and countless reviewings since the trailer was released and I'm still overjoyed, that's how brilliant it is. I've been waiting for this since I was five years old and all that waiting was worth it. I couldn't be happier, really. And I can't help but wonder what the actual trailer will look like if this is only a teaser! The trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises" that was released a few days ago was really good, and I also love the "Hunger Games" trailer, but nothing. Nothing comes close to this. Nothiiiiiiiing.

I have a hunch that Fili, Bofur and Ori will be my favorite Dwarves, aside from the incomparable Richard Armitage as Thorin. And Freeman looks splendid as Bilbo, and I get to see more of him in action soon too with the release of series 2 of "Sherlock" (finally!), yay.

I'd better get to bed, it's incredibly late right now and I want to make rice pudding tomorrow morning. Brown rice pudding. Because, you know, I'm eating healthy and all ;)

Anyway, Happy Hobbit Day! And I hope to post lots of new writing over Christmas break, so if you are on the Radish Room, look out for that. And I also have to post my summary posts about 2011, my book round-up and all. I'm sad I didn't make it to 100 books read this year but honestly I'm quite pleased with my final total as well. I got basically no reading done in November/December because school was INSANE. It's a strange feeling to have no homework now.

Posters!

The new poster for John Carter was released today and it's absolutely gorgeous, very retro-scifi-feeling in all the best ways and super brightly coloured (a joy compared to all the dark and pretentious posters out there). Just like how I have this weird love for movie trailers I love a good poster. My favorite poster of 2010 is probably the one for War Horse, a film I can barely wait to watch:

Colors, composition, the contrast between the emotion on the boy's face and the serenity of the horse, the beautiful amber lighting . . . it's beautiful. My runner-up would have to be the poster for The Artist, another film I've been eagerly anticipating for over a year now:

I guess I have a thing for dramatic lighting. But look at it! It's gorgeous, I love how elegant and classical it looks. And I love profiles of any kind, so that too. I'm seeing both of these movies over Christmas break, it's going to be wonderful!

Top 10 Books that I want to see turned into (awesome) Movies

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (One of my newest reads but oh my Silmaril it would make an amazing film. Actually, arguably more amazing would be if the BBC made a miniseries out of it--imagine the previews. They start out looking like the usual British costume drama and then BAM! re-animated corpses and evil faeries and pineapples growing out of people's mouths. That'd be perfect.)

2. The Silmarillion (Okay, this is only half true. I want a Silmarillion miniseries. No kidding. I might be the only person on the planet who would watch it, but imagine how epic it would be! A Beren and Luthien episode? The Kinslaying? The Fall of Gondolin? EPIC, I TELL YOU.)

3. The Bartimaeus Trilogy (One of my favorite trilogies ever. Ever ever ever ever ever.)

4. The Mark of the Horselord (One of the less likely titles on my list to actually become a film, as hardly anyone knows about it, but that's a crying shame because it would be fantastic. Sutcliff is such an unbelievably visual writer anyway.)

5. The Once and Future King ("Camelot" just doesn't cut it. This would have to be like a Trilogy or something--Part I would be The Sword and the Stone/The Queen of Air and Darkness, Part II The Ill-Made Knight, and Part III The Candle in the Wind. And it would be beautiful.)

6. The Thief/The Queen of Attolia/The King of Attolia (I know another girl who'd be first in line to these films, but I'd be second. A very close second.)

7. The Last Unicorn (As much as I adore the animated film, I really wish there was a proper live-action version. There's been rumors about one being in the works for years, but so far nothing really has happened.)

8. A Tale of Two Cities (Like The Last Unicorn I love the film we already have (Ronald Colman is LOVELY) but it is from the 1930s and so suffers a bit as an adaptation in terms of editing the story. We need more Dickens in the cinemas again!)

9. The Hero and the Crown (Fantasy with strong female lead, visually impressive setting, and lots of eventful magic happenings. Why hasn't this been made yet? Same goes for The Tombs of Atuan which, I admit, could be a bit dull since half the time it would have to be set in pitch-darkness, but it'd still be cool.)

10. The Charwoman's Shadow/The Worm Ouroborous) (Another couple of great fantasies hardly anyone knows about. The Old Woman with a Young Shadow is such a great image, and Eddison's tale of Mercury-dwelling Demons and Witches is just gloriously weird.)

I need to post more often

This is getting ridiculous, really. Anyway, quick bringing-up-to-date stuff: I am currently back at school, classes are going pretty well with either my Argumentative Writing or my Fairy Tale courses probably being the best and Astronomy being the worst but all still in A-range, where I hope to keep them all semester! I've kept busy exercising a LOT in my spare time, and will be competing at Oireachtas this year, which is both frightening and exciting. Also I get to go home for Thanksgiving this year which feels really strange because I never have before. It'll be odd spending a week at home then coming back to Hawaii for a few weeks and then going home again so soon! I can't wait to see all my siblings again, they've all grown, especially the baby. I see her on Skype sometimes and she likes waving at me and things, so she probably thinks I'm just on the computer screen now, I hope she isn't frightened when I show up physically and real at the airport, that'd be awkward.

I have at least been keeping up with my book reviews, and as you may have noticed I have been doing a LOT of reading. September was a high point, I read like ten books or so, October has been a bit more full of school and midterms and things so I am not sure how many books I'll be able to finish this month. We'll see. I'm currently partway through about five. I tend to read many books at the same time.

Also, film. I went to the theatre to watch "Real Steel" a couple weeks ago and to my own surprise I enjoyed it; it's somewhat predictable (the fatal flaw of any sports movie really) but despite that I really cared about the characters, the robots were fantastic, and the humor and energy of the film was really fun. So as a light, silly piece of entertainment it was pretty good. Also, Hugh Jackman was in it, as well as the kid who played little Thor in "Thor", and Evangeline Lily from "Lost", as well as Kevin Durand, so the casting alone made it a pleasure to watch :)

I'm still rabidly following any and all "Hobbit" film news. Speaking of which, I am a Hobbit for Halloween this year. I put my entire costume together in a day (thank you Salvation Army thrift store!) thanks to being incredibly fortunate in finding the perfect pair of pants and even a long green woolen coat at the thrift store. Also, I am now very fond of the suspenders I bought for the costume too, I want to wear them all the time but I'm afraid that most people find suspenders to be stupid, not cool. Oh well. I even found a costume store that sells pointed ear tips and the gum to attach them with, so I am wearing pointy ears too! I'm going to save this costume so I can wear it to "The Hobbit" premiere next December, I think.

As far as films I'm interested in that are a bit closer, I am mostly keen on watching "The Artist" and "War Horse", but I'm also planning to probably watch "The Muppets" (I'm a huge Muppets/Jim Henson fan but have been really displeased with most recent Muppet things and so want to be sure this film is a return to form before I commit) and "The Adventures of Tintin" (I think I'm finally sold on the mocap visuals).

Hm, what else? Hawaii's nice, it's been a bit rainy lately but the humidity's mostly manageable, thank goodness. I like all my classes. It's great seeing old friends again. And yet I am eager to go back home for Christmas already--cookie baking and present wrapping and hot cocoa making and getting to goof around with seven younger siblings and two extremely awesome parents, what could there possibly be more delightful than that?

I'll pop back in in a few days with my book reviews for October, and then hopefully I'll keep to a more frequent posting schedule after. Cheers!

The Star Spangled Maaaaan!

I finally got to watch "Captain America: The First Avenger" a few days ago! It was one of my most anticipated films of the year and I am pleased to report that I loved it. Anglophile that I am, I finished the film proud to be American, haha. I generally only am proud of my American-ness when reading about our nation's history up to the Great Depression, so this is something of a feat. Chris Evans is just as good in the title role as I had hoped he would be, and remains sympathetic and lovable during the entire film without being weak. The humor was great. The WWII trappings and trimmings were fantastic. The love story was sweet and tragic so . . . as anyone who knows me can attest, that means it was exactly to my liking. And I have that brilliantly horrendous "Star Spangled Man" song stuck in my head all these days later!

If you're on the fence about seeing it, I recommend you take the plunge. It's a great movie. Oh, and it has a trailer for "The Avengers" hidden after its credits, which was wonderful as well! ^_^

My remaining 'high-anticipation' films of the year: "War Horse" and "The Artist".

Less than a month until I am back in Hawaii, now. It doesn't seem real yet. But the homesick ache I get whenever I try to think about it is definitely real.

Yep, it's Summer

Happy Summertime, everyone! Well, except for my NZ friends, that is, who are now enjoying their winter. I still can't quite wrap my head around that, partially because summer is in such full swing here. Every day for a couple weeks now the sky has been cloudless and blazing, and the air so thick with heat it burns against your skin. Normally I'd be hating it. As it is, however, I'm enjoying it as much as I can because once I return to Hawaii the heat will be humid instead of dry (dry heat being much easier to bear, in my opinion) and at least here at home I have a working air conditioner which I don't have in Hawaii. So I'm trying to be philosophical about things. Same with the insect-life; sure the June bugs have started buzzing around, but if I was in Hawaii it'd be cockroaches, so I should be grateful for what I have--or, rather, do not have--right now.

Anyway, the heat also provides a fantastic excuse for both cold drinks and cold desserts and going to the local theme park to get drenched on their water rides, so I'm feeling rather kindly to it on the whole.

It will be overwhelmingly strange and sad to leave home again to return to college, but I know once I am back in Hawaii I will settle quickly and easily into my routine there again as though I had never left. In a way, this saddens me more than it reassures me. I'm scrambling in an attempt to get my driver's license before I have to go back to Hawaii, but I'm not sure if it's happening or not, we'll see. I am a much more confident driver now and can handle myself well on the busy main roads, but I have not yet ventured onto the freeway (nor do I want to) and my parallel parking is . . . not as parallel as I would like.

Movies! I'm looking forward to seeing "Captain America" so much, and am interested in "Cowboys and Aliens" but am not yet sure whether I'll pay to see it in theater or just wait until it comes out on DVD. More films I'm eagerly looking forward to: "The Artist", "War Horse", and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", the first because it just looks absolutely amazing in every way, the second because of the gorgeous music and the fact that it's a WWI story (and I also want to see the play but since I can't anytime soon this'll have to do), and the third because of the cast. Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Tom Hardy, and BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH all in one film together?? Really??

Speaking of film, I recently watched "This Gun for Hire" for the first time, and it's really good, I'd recommend it. The very end was a little too staged for my liking, but other than that it was a very enjoyable film, and Alan Ladd is awesome.



Okay, that's all from me for now, but I'll be trying to write more regularly. Cheers!

AT LAST

The Hobbit cast all gathered together in one fine video Q and A!

[link]

I am so excited right now, I don't even know what to do. Other than watch the video again

What makes me the happiest? . . . The revelation that there's going to be Dwarves singing in the film. That makes me almost ridiculously happy, hahaha.

Also the fourteen guys seem really brilliant together, so . . . basically I can't wait for 2012. Even more.

I made a promise to my friends while the Hobbit was still in limbo a couple years ago that if and when it finally was released I would go to the cinema dressed as the Lonely Mountain. I guess I have to start planning my costume now

(Reposted from my dA page, which explains the little emoticons, haha)

A long overdue 'Farewell to 2010' post

So the final book count of 2010 is . . . 62! Yep, I managed to read 62 new books this year, a final tally I'm quite pleased with, although I had hoped to read 10 a month. Life, and lack of library access, sometimes gets in the way of lofty ambitions. You'll find reviews for most of these books scattered throughout my blog posts of the last year, if you wish. I'll include a full list of titles below.

Also worthy of notice are the films I watched for the first time this year! I may be a bookwyrm at heart, but I also love film, and so although I don't review the movies I watch really on this blog I still think they deserve a shout-out in this post. I'm counting not just films that came out last year, but any movie I watched for the first time in 2010. I watched 24 films this year. And here are my favorite three live-action films, followed by my favorite three animated films that I discovered in 2010:

Live Action
1. Lawrence of Arabia- A glorious epic, thought-provoking, emotionally devastating, and brilliantly filmed.
2. Inception- One of my most anticipated movies of the year, and it surpassed my expectations. I love films that make you think and that make me emotional, and this was both.
3. Sunshine- It's flawed, sure. But it's also one of my favorite movies now. The climax of this film gives me chills, and there are a few scenes that are absolutely some of the most beautiful and heartwrenching moments I've seen in any film.
Runner Up: (Tie) Memento, (500) Days of Summer

Animated
1. Toy Story 3-I really can't place this film above the other two, but it did provoke more philosophizing from me than any other film. I think on the whole that it stabbed my heart more than won a place in it--affected me profoundly but I'm not keen to watch it again and again, that'd be too painful XD
2. How To Train Your Dragon-I expected this film to be lame, and by the time it got to the 'Hiccup drawing Toothless' scene I was practically in tears because I was so happy and completely taken aback. I really truly love this movie, and would say without hesitation that it's one of my favorite films, period. Gorgeously animated, completely endearing characters, a bittersweet ending that shocked me and was basically the perfect icing on the cake--This is a winner.
3. Tangled-This is the film that probably is closest to my heart, though. The animation is stunningly beautiful, the story basically exactly the sort of thing I love best--self sacrifice, humor, drama, a cute romance, great characters, Alan Menken music, fantastic songs, lotsa teary-eye moments, magic, 'twoo wuv'--I could go on and on, but I have already in the past, so basically I'll just make it clear that my three favorite animated films are basically tied for number one this year for different reasons. Yeah, I can do that!
Runner Up: The Secret of Kells-A less-well-known film, but the hand-drawn animation is stunning and the story is excellent. Add to that an enormous dose of Celtic goodness and you have a winner! I really recommend you track this one down and give it a watch.

And below is a full list of my 10 favorite reads of 2010. I'm not even going to try to crown one of them king, though. Note that some are Books of the Month, and some aren't. Since I'm just grouping my reading into one year instead of separate months for this final reckoning, there are a few times where I read multiple books in one month that I liked better than another book that got the BotM title due to lesser reading material during its month. I'd recommend reading all of the below:

The Mark of the Horse Lord
The Shield Ring
Neverwhere
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
Fahrenheit 451
All Creatures Great and Small
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Caves of Steel
Prospero's Children
The American Revolution

So there you have it, my favorite films and books of 2010! Now here's to a brilliant 2011, hm? I know I'm super late on posting my newest reviews--or, indeed, anything this year!--so I'll be fixing that over the course of the next few days. My reading is off to a good start though, thanks to some Christmas money and a few trips to the local library. Book reviews for January will be posted soon.

As to film, I'm mostly excited about The Hobbit which of course isn't even being released this year! But there's plenty of movies I really want to see this year, too, most of them frivolous sorts: Captain America, Thor, Cowboys and Aliens, Sherlock Holmes 2 . . . We'll see how many I actually go watch.

Righto, I hope your 2011 is treating you kindly so far, and I look forward to continuing my blogging once more!

A Spoiler-Free Review of "Tangled"

First of all, let me just say it right away: I LOVED this movie. It is now my third-favorite Disney princess film, after "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid". Perhaps even tied with "The Little Mermaid". There's only one thing holding it back from placing higher than Mermaid: the songs. They're fun, and sometimes beautiful, and fit just fine within the framework of the film, but they aren't Ashman/Menken quality. I'm still absolutely buying the soundtrack and have had a few songs stuck in my head the past few days, particularly "Mother Knows Best (Reprise)", "I See the Light", and one pricelessly hilarious line from "I've Got a Dream". I also was a little disappointed that the last shot of the film *MINOR SPOILER* was of a character other than the two protagonists, *END SPOILER* but I can forgive the film that because the rest of it was so splendid.

All right, now a brief summary of reasons why I loved "Tangled". I do mention a couple extremely minor spoilers, but have included warnings where they appear, so if you don't want to read them, you can easily navigate around them. They do not give away anything essential to the plot. :)

1. Rapunzel. Not much is really given away about her personality in the trailers. It was a surprise to me, therefore, to realize at the end of the film that she's somehow become my second-favorite Disney princess--yes, beating out Ariel! I think the difference between her and Ariel is while Ariel was willful, Rapunzel is sweeter, though no less brave. Rapunzel is both hilarious and heartwrenching to watch because she is constantly attempting to define herself throughout the film, having been trapped in her tower all her life without any way of connecting with other people, apart from being emotionally abused by the villain of the story, Mother Gothel. What I really liked about her is how often she acts not on rationalized thought, but instead upon intuition, a 'gut feeling', if you will. Interacting outside her tower is an entirely new experience to her, and sometimes she's scared, and sometimes she's confused, but she's quick and intelligent and even though she has to slowly gain confidence in herself, she never hesitates in moments of trouble to do what she instinctively feels she must. The entire movie she's basically making one leap of faith after another, and that's sometimes taken advantage of by other characters, but it also is what saves her and develops her. One of my favorite moments of the film *MINOR SPOILER* is where she starts an impromptu dance in a market square and ends the dance in Flynn's arms; there's this shot of her dancing with a blissful smile on her face, her eyes closed and face uplifted, which to me was pure poetry, and really summarized her character for me. After trying to meet him throughout the dance, she only manages it with her eyes closed, letting her feet carry her as they will. *END SPOILER* She's a wonderfully endearing, complex, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious character.

2. Flynn. I can't say too much about his character without heading into spoiler territory, but it was very enjoyable to watch his character arc progress. He and Rapunzel basically make the cutest couple ever, and he's both a hilarious character in his own right and surprisingly easy to form an emotional attachment to considering how little backstory he gets in comparison to Rapunzel. After watching some trailers I was worried he would be obnoxious, but he wasn't at all, so no worries there.

3. Mother Gothel. Again, I cannot say too much about this villian without giving away important plot points. I will mention something I found very interesting, however; I thought she was an extremely wicked villain, and quite scary, definitely one of my favorite Disney antagonists now. My brother, however, wasn't that impressed by her; he prefers Frollo and Ursula. So what I'm wondering, is whether she was designed specifically to work better with a female audience? I loved her subtleties and sweet venom, but he didn't find them that interesting I think. I won't say more for fear of spoilering, so just let me know what you think, if you've watched the movie.

4. The music. Alan Menken can do no wrong? Eh, maybe. There were moments where I missed the chillingly powerful beauty of "Beauty and the Beast"'s score, sure. But the more I think on the music in this film--a slightly more intimate, fun feel pervaded most of it--, the more it seems to fit it. And there were plenty of chill-inducing moments, too *MINOR SPOILER*; watch for the dancing scene, a beautiful moment involving Rapunzel's parents, and many of the darker scenes in the film, as well as one sweet romantic moment too. *END SPOILER* The magic is still there, definitely. The track 'Kingdom Dance' on the soundtrack is one of my favorite pieces of music ever.

5. The animal characters. I don't really have a peeve against animal sidekicks like so many people seem to, but whatever. These guys don't talk, but their facial and body language is plenty eloquent enough. I was worried they'd distract from the human story, but overall they enhance it, so yay :)

6. The animation. I watched "Tangled" in 3d, and I would say it is definitely worth spending the extra money for. The animation is astounding. The characters are as expressively and gracefully animated as hand-drawn characters from the Disney Golden Age, and that old artistic feel of 2d is somehow apparent in the scenery and location designs too, but all with the added warmth and detail and vibrant color of CGI. I honestly don't know how they did it. This is a CGI film that feels 100% fairytale, and I thank Glen Keane for that fervently. Rapunzel's hair is gorgeous, and speaking as a girl with very long hair I really liked watching how it moved and how it looked when it was wet, etc. All very well done. I no longer can really say I wish it was in 2d, hand-drawn animation, which I suppose is the highest praise I can bestow.

7. The story. Obviously I can't say anything about this really. But let's just say that I'm a sucker for romance, adventure, and self-sacrifice, and this story had them all.


All right, so that's all I'm going to say right now! I might have been able to think of more earlier, but I'm tired now and it's late so I'm just going to end here and get back to NaNoWriMo-ing. If you have watched "Tangled", comment and let me know what you thought! And if you have not watched it--what are you waiting for? Go ASAP; this is not a film you want to miss.

"Tangled" Tomorrow!

I am so extremely excited about this film, it's unbelievable. It's an obsession. I'm terrified it won't live up to my expectations. Augh, why do I do this to myself?

Here's a shiny new trailer--Japanese, no less!--which is a million times better than the standard American trailers. Why couldn't the American trailer been more like this one in tone? It gave both me AND my 16-year old brother goosebumps. Take a look. The audio is in English, never fear, although the voiceover is Japanese. I tried to get my brother to translate for me, but he was able to manage translating only about 60% of it.



I've been kidding my younger sister and saying that we shouldn't comb our hair until we watch the film. My younger sister is 10 and has never had a haircut, and my own hair is down to my knees, so we are major Rapunzel fans.

Sacramento was gorgeous and fun. The drive there and back went pretty well, all things considered--we got a new 12-seater van, which was really strange, especially since I was sitting in the back and found out the hard way that my parents in the front seats can't hear me when I'm way back there unless I yell at the top of my lungs. HR, my 6-week-old baby sister, cried sporadically but overall was extremely well-behaved. I'm very proud of her.

I did not recall in my championship, but I did place 22nd. To be ranked 22nd in the entire Western Region is not a bad thing; sure I wish I had placed high enough to be recalled, but I am grateful I was able to dance at all, and enjoyed myself. I haven't been to any big competitions in a long while.

My little siblings weren't that excited about the competitions, since they go to feises all the time; dance is old news now. Instead, they were excited about other things: a horde of cows we saw (and smelled) on the drive; trying to translate the Latin painted on the walls of the cathedral we attended Mass in; howling with laughter when the wind blew my umbrella inside-out during a rainstorm; seeing magpies for the first time; collecting the bright-red fallen maple leaves. I liked all that too, as well as the cold weather; it was nippy, but so refreshing a change, especially seeing all the fall colors.

There was a basketball court at the hotel we stayed at, so my dad got a basketball from the front desk and we all trooped outside to play. The littlest kids have never played basketball before, so it was fun teaching them and seeing them attempt to dribble and shoot a ball which is basically as big as them. Then we had an impromptu game after dividing up into teams. It was fun until my 16-year old brother for some reason decided to pass the ball to me by throwing it as hard as he could at my face while I was standing about two feet away from him. I was afraid I had broken my nose at first, but it seems okay now, though still very sore if I touch it. That was the end of the game for me, anyway.

Now I will spend the rest of the month focusing on exercising, "Tangled" (I am saving to buy the soundtrack and graphic novel), Thanksgiving, and my NaNoWriMo novel. Said novel is currently only at 15,000 words, partly because I spent the last week or so devoting all my writing energies to writing a birthday story for one of my sisters (it ended up being 38 pages long), and partly because of how dance has been eating up my time this month. I wrote a lot more on the car trip though, and I'm determined to get back on track. Somehow. I'll do it. I WILL.

"Tangled"!

First of all, I am soooooo excited for this movie, it's almost absurd. As a "Beauty and the Beast" devotee I have the bar raised incredibly high for "Tangled", but I honestly think it'll clear that bar just fine. Everything I know about it just makes me fall in love with it more. Have you seen the clips Disney has released?



Only three words really to say about this clip: ALAN MENKEN MUSIC. Oh, and Rapunzel is adorable.



And the animation is beautiful too!



As for the characters? I LOVE them.

And the songs?



I can't wait to hear them in full! I'm going to be like a little kid at the theater.

If anyone else out there is as excited about this film as I am, here's a few giveaway contests you might be interested in; follow the links for the details: http://tanisharenee.blogspot.com/2010/11/disneys-tangled-giveaway.html and http://thedirtytshirt.com/walt-disney-pictures-tangled-giveaway

Before I can watch "Tangled", however, I have to get through Oireachtas, which is next weekend! I'm extremely nervous, and I'm not sure if it's more terrifying or reassuring to know that this time next week it will all be over. Today was a five-hour dance practice, and I'm still exhausted from that.

So, this will be a very busy week for me. I might not even post again until after the Oireachtas is finished! If that is the case, wish me luck everyone, and see you again on the other side!

I've been wondering today about what book Belle is reading in the beginning of 'Beauty and the BEast'. I mean, Belle is one of my heroes (heroines?) and so I've wanted to know what her favorite book is since I was very small, but for some reason the question has returned to puzzle me today, I'm not sure why. When I was small, I was convinced that the book was "The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald, but I couldn't really tell you why that is.

Three more weeks until "Tangled" is released, and I can't wait! A song, a romantic duet, has been released online by Disney, and it's utterly charming. I'm trying to not remember that before I can watch the film, I have to get through Oireachtas, which is the weekend previous . . . too scary a notion, that!

Another scary notion? The idea that NaNoWriMo is only 2 days in, and I'm already behind. Only by 700 words or so, but . . . eesh. I'm going to stay up now before bed to get caught up. Yes. Song currently running through my head: "Hushabye Mountain" from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". One of my favorite movies, but I haven't seen it in a while, I wonder why I'm thinking of it now?

Book reviews for October coming up soon! And there's actually quite a lot of reviews this time, too!

The Hobbit!

Aaaaah, so 'The Hobbit' is FINALLY greenlit, and yesterday the first round of casting was announced. We now know who our Bilbo, Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Gloin, Ori, and Bombur are. I, being a devoted Tolkien fan and scholar, am absolutely thrilled. I read 'The Hobbit' for the first time when I was five, so it's been a dear friend of mine for a long time. Can't wait to see what the films are going to be like! My only difficulty now is not going onto spoiler-y sites to look up set photos, clips, interviews, etc; I want to see the two movies relatively unspoiled, but I also have zilch patience. I guess I'll just see what happens and how much I can resist the siren call of theonering.net. I'm even debating with myself about whether I want to look up the rest of the casting announcements when they arrive or whether I want to remain blind about the rest of the cast. I don't know!

Anyway, Martin Freeman is Bilbo. I was, originally, rooting for James McAvoy to have the role, but then he got cast in a X-Men movie of some sort so I figured that was out of the question now . . . And I also watched the new BBC miniseries 'Sherlock' over the summer. In 'Sherlock', Freeman plays John Watson, and it was my first time watching him act. Basically, based on his performance in the miniseries, I'm absolutely happy with him as Bilbo, and think he will do a great job. If you haven't watched the series, maybe check it out (I think it premieres in America soon) so you can craft your own opinion.

Also, Richard Armitage is Thorin. Something I'm loving about the casting so far is how varied all the actors look, not only physically but also age-wise. The thirteen dwarves will really be an ensemble of thirteen characters who will hopefully be all distinct and nuanced persons we can really connect with, and not just thirteen Gimli-clones, which I'm very pleased about. I liked Rhys-Davies as Gimli in LotR, but he mostly left the emotional weight of the story to other characters like Aragorn or Sam, and so dwarves based solely around his character just wouldn't work in 'The Hobbit'. Armitage is actually a tall, stately-looking fellow, but I love that he'll be Thorin. He's a great actor. If you like period costume dramas in the tradition of 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Jane Eyre', do yourself a favor and check out the 2004 BBC production 'North and South'. It's a beautifully done miniseries, and the male lead is played by Armitage. Although the performance is a little old now, it'll still give you an idea of his capabilities.

I made a pact with some friends that when 'The Hobbit' comes out I'm going in costume, dressed as the Lonely Mountain, so now I can actually look forward to that, hahaha. Not sure how I'll pull it off yet, but I'll do it! It's a little sad that my most-anticipated film is still two years away, but at least it's finally getting made now after so many years of stagnancy. It'll be twelve years since FotR first opened in theatres, can you believe it? Wow.

Speaking of movies I'm looking forward to, there's a few left this year that I'm eagerly anticipating:

• Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I love the Narnia books, and have liked both Narnia films pretty well so far, so I really want to see this. I've heard rumors about plot changes that are a bit weird though, and I doubt it can beat the awesomeness of the original BBC miniseries from years ago. Still, I want to watch it, partially because I hope it'll be good anyway, and partly because I just want to support the Narnia franchise so that later books in the series--most notably The Horse and his Boy and my favorite, The Silver Chair--will also get the film treatment. I really like the Edmund and Lucy actors, and Eustace looks like he'll be great, so hopefully it'll be a fun film!
  
• Tron: Legacy. I like the original 'Tron', and so I'm stoked about this. I'm not usually one to put visuals over story, but--The effects look amazing in this movie! That's all I'm going on at the moment because I don't know much about the plot, but hopefully with Pixar helping out it'll be worth watching. Anyway: Cool music, cool visuals, fun actors, sequel to a film I already like--Yeah, I wanna see this one.
• Tangled. This is a later addition to the 'I want to watch this' party, but I'm actually more excited for it now than I am for the other two. The reason? I have chosen to believe the directors, numerous early reviewers, and the evidence of my own eyes from reading an already released junior novelization of the film that this movie is going to be a humorous fairytale musical but in the tradition of classic Disney, instead of choosing to believe it will be the kind of Shrek-esque movie that the trailers apparently want viewers to think it is. I am so in love with the movie I hope this movie to ultimately be, I'm worried I'll be disappointed even if it's good. But anyway. Do I wish it was animated in traditional 2d? Well, yeah. Am I going to hold that against it? Not at all. I'm hoping they managed to get an artistic look from their 3d animation, since art is of course not limited to one dimension specifically. I linked to a trailer even though I think the trailers are doing an atrocious job of teasing what the film will actually be like (I mean, pop music? What??), but I'm also going to link to some interviews and reviews (here, here, and here) so you can get an idea of why I'm actually excited for this film. Also, Alan Menken's score is apparently a fusion of medieval style and 1960's folk rock. YES.

What do you think of 'The Hobbit' casting? And are there any films you're excited to see in the last few months of this year, or does nothing look appealing? Leave a comment! ^_^

INCEPTION

I finally got to watch it yesterday! And I love it. I had high hopes, but was as unspoilered as I could manage, and the film both surprised me at times and met and even exceeded those expectations. I didn't find it confusing, since the pacing was excellent and the levels of the story seemed pretty clear-cut to me. It was just a captivating mind puzzle and adventure and (in the tradition of "The Prestige") pulled the very mind trick of its title upon the viewer by the end. I don't often say this, but--I want to watch it again!

I don't want to say any more about it, because then I'd end up spoilering, since I'd start gushing. But it's my favorite movie of the year, along with "How to Train Your Dragon" and "Toy Story 3".

A quick note about my 'Book of the Month' feature: Due to a really busy dance schedule and my eye infection last month, I didn't actually get to finish any new books. I did however get my dad to read "Til We Have Faces" for the first time, so I suppose that can be July's official book on my blog, although I won't be posting a review of it since I've read it many times before. But I'm already reading plenty this month, so hopefully I'll be able to make up for July's dearth in August.

Toy Story 3: What Starts as a Review Ends as a Meditation on Why I Cried

I finally got to watch "Toy Story 3" today, after months of waiting. Going to the preview screening of the first half of the film was awesome, but of course it meant I was stuck on a cliffhanger for a looong time, haha. I read a few reviews before going, but deliberately stayed away from spoilers; I prefer to see movies without knowing that much about them beforehand, which is also why I'm staying away from "Inception" reviews right now. I couldn't help but gather, however, that TS3 made numerous people cry. I thought this a good sign, but of course people have cried in past Pixar films too--my younger brother still tears up whenever he watches "Up", and Jessie's song in "Toy Story 2" is heartbreaking every. single. time. I expected "Toy Story 3", therefore, to continue Pixar's tradition of creating thought-provoking, heart-touching, funny and sweet and complex and beautifully multi-layered films (with the exception of "Cars". Sorry, I just don't connect with that one).

So did it? Well, in my opinion--yes, absolutely. It was funny, scary, excellently plotted and paced, gorgeously animated, and forms a very fitting and natural end to the Toy Story saga. I remember watching the first "Toy Story" when I was four years old very clearly, because it was the first time I really lost myself in a film. I had favorite movies before then, and I had loved films before then too, of course. But while watching TS in the movie theatre, I quite literally lost myself in it. It was only when my friend's mom nudged my shoulder to offer me popcorn towards the end of the movie that I came to my senses with a jerk, suddenly aware of being in a large, dark room, surrounded by strangers. I was disoriented, dizzy, and confused. I had forgotten where I was, being so swept up into the story on the screen that I had temporarily entirely left my own.

That experience hasn't ever happened to me again. Sure, there are movies I absolutely adore and have been swept up into--the Lord of the Rings trilogy comes to mind, as do many others: "Star Trek", "Ratatouille", "Pan's Labyrinth", "The Princess Bride", "Lawrence of Arabia", and most recently "How to Train Your Dragon"--but I always, at least at the very tip of my subconscious, am aware that I am watching something on a screen, am aware of my surroundings, am aware of my own body and self independent from the story I'm watching. That kind of pure absorption only happens to me now when I read a really good book. Perhaps a magical experience like that cannot happen more than once. Perhaps I've grown up too much.

"Toy Story 3" did not make me forget where I was while watching it. I laughed, and listened for the sounds of other people laughing with me. I glanced at my siblings sitting next to me to gauge their reactions to certain spots. I readjusted and readjusted my 3D glasses (Yes, I did see it in 3D, but it was on discount and definitely worth it). TS3 didn't work the magic of making me lose myself utterly in film. What it did work was the magic of making me cry.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hardened sort of film-watcher. It's actually painfully easy to get me emotional. I've teared up while watching many, many films. The beginning of "Up" made my eyes swim. I still get a painful lump in my throat when I watch Frodo farewell Sam at the Grey Havens. "Ice Age" has a few scenes that almost bring me to tears. It is, however, difficult to get me to actually weep. I could probably count the times that's happened on one hand. But it's time to add "Toy Story 3" to that select list, because it didn't just make me drop a tear or two. I had tears streaming down my face, dripping from my chin. I had to clench my jaw to keep from sobbing aloud. I wept even as the credits began rolling, and when I did manage to finally compose myself, I tried to talk about the movie with my mom on the drive home and started crying again.

I was stabbed in an emotional solar plexus I didn't even realize previously that I had.

St. Augustine, in his "City of God" and "Confessions", condemns plays and fictions as sinful, because they can compel us to feel emotions for things that are not real, thereby (according to him) hardening our emotions against distressing realities. St. Augustine was a great theologian and a great man, but I think he's not quite right on this one. It's true that film can, in some ways, desensitize us, but it can also strike our hearts in ways that make us better people. During the scene that caused me to cry in "Toy Story 3", I was overwhelmed because I sympathized with Woody and acutely felt what his character was going through, but in addition to that, I sympathized with Andy, just as fully as I did the toy protagonist. That in itself doesn't really disprove Augustine's argument about fiction damaging the viewer. What does, however, is that the grief I felt wasn't really just about pictures on a screen; it was about myself. When Andy's brilliantly animated face subtly flickers through a myriad of expressions, I knew what he was feeling, and knew it like a knife, because I have felt it too. I didn't ache for Woody just because he was a character I liked; it was because I've had to struggle with goodbyes and uncertainties as well. What Pixar manages to do in this film is not merely get me to sympathize with the characters, but actually through them sympathize with myself. That may look like Andy and Woody up on the screen, but it's also me. I see hard choices and issues and fears that I've had to tackle in my own life, the things one usually just grits one's teeth about and plunges through somehow without letting emotion get in the way--and it's like living those moments again, but now I can shed a tear or two not only for the hurt but also in relief because I know I've made it through difficult times and I can see that reflected in the story unfolding before me, too. Okay, so perhaps Augustine would still think I am a nutcase. But as Gandalf so wisely says, 'Not all tears are an evil.' I cried, sure, but I'm not embarrassed about it. It was something of a healing experience, as silly as that sounds. The last act of the film was one of the most perfect moments of cinema I have ever watched. One of the most painful parts of growing up is struggling to say goodbye to a childhood that slips away so gradually you tend to lose it before even realizing it's gone. "Toy Story 3"'s final moments basically serve as a beautiful distillation of childhood, mine, yours, and everyone's; childhood in a concrete form that you can really say goodbye to and finally get some real closure for.

So I guess I did kind of become absorbed in the film after all, but not to the point of losing myself, as I did all those years ago when I was a five-year-old kid on a playdate with a friend. This time, I lost myself in the film deep enough to find myself in it. And that's a special kind of magic all of its own.

And the Days Go By . . .

I seriously need to start working on my novel. I mean, I've been writing, sure, but not as much as I should. Starting tomorrow, I'm determined to treat this like it's my full-time job. The fairytale is coming along nicely; I hope to have the next part posted tomorrow, but we'll see; I have dance and things tomorrow that will take up time.

Dance is actually taking up a lot of time lately; I'm determined to get into the best condition possible for Regionals this year. Of course the practicing and training is hard work, but to my own surprise I'm finding it rather fun. Not that I don't usually enjoy dance anyway, but it can be wearisome to drill and work and work like that. Now, however, I'm enjoying the hard work. I think it's a side-effect of being forced to be largely inactive for long periods of time. After not being able to practice every day while in Hawaii, I better appreciate the simple fact that I CAN train hard, and am thus more likely to make use of that fact.

This week I finally got around to watching "Fringe", something I've been considering for a while. The first couple of episodes didn't really grab me, but I kept at it and, eleven episodes in, I'm enjoying the show a lot more than initially. It took a bit of time for me to warm up to the characters, I guess . . . or something, maybe the show's tone or pacing. (By the way, I was both delighted with and distracted by the usage of music from "Sunshine" in the Pilot episode. One of my favorite science fiction films ever!) Anyway, I'm having fun with it now. Even if I keep squealing "Denethor! Denethor!" every few minutes, hahaha . . . Still, this Walter Bishop fellow seems like the sort of guy Denethor might have been reincarnated into if such things happened . . . father-son issues, high intelligence, a dangerous interest in dangerous and weird powers/sciences . . . need I go on?

Anyway, now that I've wrested the keyboard back from my inner geek, I can turn my attention to other recent news. Nothing really important, I suppose: I stayed up until 3 AM baking cookies a few days ago, painted my younger sisters' nails, am now almost halfway through "Portrait of a Lady", and have been drawing a lot lately. I've also taught myself to crochet, so perhaps I can finally make those Doctor Who dolls! I made a little mad scientist already; I will post a photograph or two of him later. I still need new charcoal, drawing paper, and calligraphy ink. This weekend I hope to see "Inception", after looking forward to it for months. But first, of course, I need to attend to that writing. So much life to do, but so little time to do it in! Life sometimes just doesn't seem big enough for itself. But I'm sure it is; it's just I have to train my mind to use it properly and to its full potential.

One Down, Four to Go

I have completed my Russian 202 course, what a relief! The final exam went pretty well. Now I'm studying for my exam on Dante and Arthurian legend, which is tomorrow--And this studying is MUCH more enjoyable than studying for Russian, I can tell you that much!

A new trailer for "Inception" was released today. I've been wanting to watch this movie ever since I saw the first teaser, and it's just looking better and better with every trailer and poster. I hope it's as excellent as it seems, because this new trailer? AMAZING.



I didn't even really like "The Dark Knight", so that's not a factor here--this film just looks like it'll be intelligent, mind-bending, well-acted, and--what makes me most happy in this age of film adaptations and tired sequels--original. Exciting!

A Rambling Ramble

A lot happened over the past few days. After finding my library card literally as I went out the door to go to school, I left school early so I could hop on the bus and make it to the library to pick up my books which were on hold. After arriving at my stop, however, I was extremely not delighted to discover that, thanks to new furlough days, the libraries here are ALL CLOSED ON WEDNESDAYS. Oh, and it was a Wednesday.

So. Not. Right.

Anyway, I was stranded at a downtown bus-stop for forty minutes or so as a result. And didn't get my books, because I had no time from my crazy schedule for the rest of the week to pick them up, and anyway that was the last day I could have kept them on hold. Sometimes the world has an ironic sense of humor. Yesterday (Saturday), however, I walked to a library that's closer to where I live but much smaller, and borrowed four different books. And used my school's online library catalog to put about five more books on hold at school--I don't even remember the exact number, haha. I don't know how I'm going to read all of these before school ends and I'm flying home, but that's okay. It's better to have too many books than too few.

On Friday I finally got to watch "The Secret of Kells", a fantastic and beautiful Irish animated film about the Book of Kells. The animation is riveting, and the story is compelling too . . . the big conflict in the story, the big question, is whether to spend manpower building walls to keep out the Viking invaders, or to spend it illuminating beautiful manuscripts like the Book. If we devote all our energies to producing works of art, and to writing and knowledge and beauty, are we being foolhardy? Or is it really better to spend our time being practical and building those walls at the expense of building art and knowledge, because then we don't really have anything worth protecting? The power of the abstract vs. the practical; light vs. dark; imagination vs. reality; myth vs. mundane . . . That's some heady stuff. And of course the film is completely saturated in Irish-ness and Celtic-ness, which means I'd have loved it even if it hadn't been as good as it was, ha. The music was great too, and I did get sniffly towards the end. When this film (which, sadly, is being released only in very limited numbers of theatres in the US) is available on dvd, I strongly recommend you at least rent it. The animation alone, hand-drawn and inspired by the illustrations in the Book of Kells, is mesmerizing and unique. Here's a trailer, to give you an idea of what this film is like :)



After going to the library yesterday I had dinner with a whole side of the family I had never met before--the side I get the Hawaiian from. I enjoyed meeting everyone, and got to try all sorts of foods I've never had before--poi, lomi salmon, laulau . . . there was also some really tasty tako. All in all, it was a very good day.

And now I have to get ready for yet another crazy, busy week. Only a few more to go until I get on the plane to go home, though. Whee!

Whew . . .

Gotta do Russian studying. Now. And I have a headache.

Anyway, I was all set to enjoy the long-awaited Desmond-centric episode tonight when it got cut off at a crucial moment by a flash flood advisory. So. Annoying. It marred the whole episode, which is a huge shame. Anyway, I ended up liking the episode, but also being very, very confused. I need to watch it again. On Hulu, where no flood advisories will get in the way.

And there's no worries about flooding where I am, so that's why I sound so nonchalant about the whole advisory thing. It just broke the mood of the episode for me at a crucial point, which made the episode less engrossing than it should have been!!!

Although . . . Daniel and Desmond and Charlie all in one episode together? That already gets a happy dance by default. Emotional-scene-that-was-ruined-by-flood-advisory would have been epic, I know. SO, I will empty my mind, rewatch the episode, and not only like it, but love it like I should have the first time. Hopefully. I was loving it until the beeping and recorded voice cut across everything! >:(

I bought tickets to watch the Hawaii premiere of "The Secret of Kells" on Friday night, which I'm super excited about. I've been wanting to watch this film for a long time, thank goodness it's finally here on the island!

And I'm going to fail my Russian midterm tomorrow. But I can retake it. So I will retake it and do better.

I also have not managed to find my mysterious vanishing library card, so I guess I'll just shell out the fifteen dollars or whatever needed to buy a new one. What a pain.

Any last notes? Um . . . I watched Laurel and Hardy's "The Music Box" at an Honors English Program meeting today. That was fun. And I'm almost done with S is for Space. It's an interesting group of stories.

Also, after a vote in class today my Western lit classmates voted to read excerpts from Plato's Republic for next classtime instead of my choice, excerpts from Herodotus' The Histories. I've read both books before multiple times, so I don't really care I suppose, considering that after the real thing I'm always disappointed in excerpts anyway, but I'm not going to bother reading Plato. I know that blasted Analogy of the Cave by heart and back-to-front by now, thank you very much--I've only had to study it every single year of my life since I was thirteen!!! And role-play about it in class last semester, no less!! Sigh.

I like Plato's writings, they are interesting, and the Analogy is very compelling. It would just . . . have been nice to have been able to reread about Xerxes attempting to punish a river by throwing hot branding irons and chains into it for a change. I don't want to have to sit through yet another explanation of the Cave while most of my fellow students are introduced to it for the first time. Thursday will be a slooooooow day.

"How To Train Your Dragon"

Blessed Good Friday to you!

I went to the movies with my grandmother today, because she's been wanting to watch "How To Train Your Dragon" for a long time. I would not have gone on my own, because I wasn't sure if I was interested in the film or not; I've never liked anything by Dreamworks before, and the trailers looked only so-so to me.

Well, after watching it, I have to urge you to watch the film. It was very, very good. It managed to get past the somewhat trite plot that is in just about every kid's movie (kid doesn't fit in; kid is therefore a disappointment to his father; kid decides to secretly do his own thing; kid is found out; kid is in trouble; kid manages to become a hero and save the day) by fleshing it out and adding an emotional depth to it that I have not seen in many computer animated movies beyond Pixar's, and certainly not in any previous Dreamworks film. The animation is gorgeous; the scenery is beautiful and the characters are great fun. Yeah, I'm gushing a bit, but honestly, I really loved this movie, and loved it all the more because I wasn't expecting to love it. Therefore this is an honest, unbiased reaction. I walked out of the theatre wanting to go back and watch it again, which didn't happen for "Alice in Wonderland", for example. Please go watch it and support it! My grandmother cried at the ending, and though I didn't, I was grinning for the entire film, and yeah . . . I did get a bit emotional at times, and no film since "Up" has done that to me (although "Up" did get me to actually shed tears). "Dragon" was so good, I'm wondering how "Toy Story 3" can possibly top it. And I'm a complete Pixar fan too. "Dragon" isn't "Ratatouille", but it is extremely good nonetheless.

Speaking of "Up", there are a few silent montage scenes in "Dragon" that reminded me strongly of the opening of "Up": The emotion and time progression being conveyed through only the visuals and beautiful music. Very different in mood to "Up"s amazing scene, but still very effective. I wonder if Dreamworks was inspired by that Pixar movie in making those montages, and I hope that such minimal animation is used in future films, because I find it very artistic.

By the way: I watched it in 3D, and it's definitely designed to be fully experienced in 3D, as there's plenty of beautiful flying sequences and stuff (and a part that looks like ashes are floating right past your head, haha), but it's not slavish to the 3D format, so I think it would be beautiful in 2D too. I say this because I know 3D is way more expensive than 2D, and we're all pennypinching these days, aren't we?

Oh, and I found out afterwards that David Tennant voiced one of the Vikings, an unnamed minor character, but still. He's getting everywhere. And that's not a bad thing :)

A large part of why the film was so wonderful, to me, was the music. I'm posting a Youtube video below that contains main themes from the film, so you can have a listen. This is now one of my favorite soundtracks ever; the Celtic-ness of it all of course plays to my Irish dancer nature anyway, but it's absolutely beautiful and emotive as well, and pairs perfectly to the film itself. It should definitely be nominated for awards this year. Give it a listen.

Anyway, I'm done jabbering for now. I'll try later today to post a medieval poem I discovered yesterday which I think is very suitable for Good Friday. Have a wonderful Easter weekend!



PS: I am aware that "How To Train Your Dragon" is originally a book. I am also aware that this film is supposedly completely different from the book apart from sharing the title and some character names. I haven't read the book, so I can't really say which is better, but I think this is a case of "Howl's Moving Castle": The book may be excellent, and the film may be very different from the book, but the film is excellent too, in its own right.