First of all I feel I should address the matter of the latest Harry Potter movie. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1 had its premiere November 17th 2010, if my memory serves, and yes, I was there on the premiere night. And I have to say, I thought it great! It had sufficient amount of information, it had all the main things from the first half of the book, the actors have really grown up and gotten better, and there were no dull moments. In my opinion it's the best of the movies out, and I have high hopes for the last one. Part 1 has been cut off at a very reasonable point, and that scene works as a very suspenceful cliff-hanger for those who haven't read the books. Those who have read the books probably think with satisfaction: "Oh yeah, that's where all the FUN begins!"
If you haven't seen it yet, I sincerely recommend it. It's worth it, even for the Seven Potters scene alone! (Hint: My stomach was cramping from laughter. Both times I saw it.)
Just for the record, I wouldn't mind a keychain or necklace of the Deathly Hallows symbol. It's very nice and simple.
I've also seen two other new movies after my last update. RED - yeah, the one about retired CIA agents starring Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malkovitch and Morgan Freeman - didn't get good reviews, but I liked it. It was exciting and not in-your-face funny (like that stupid new Focker movie trailer, with the kid throwing up on Ben Stiller), and I loved it to bits. Though it might be worth noting that I'm slightly biased. The movie happens to feature Karl Urban in a suit, and, well... Yeah. He looks so darned good in that suit! Just look at him:
The gun helps too.
Lastly, there was Rare Exports. I was really excited to see it, because it's been talked about a lot here. It's Finnish, but it has gained a lot of international attention, and it's a very different kind of Christmas movie. It was entertaining, yes. It was great when you considered the fact that they had a very small budjet, yes. Did I like it? Yes. Did it impress me? Not so much. Though I have to say the well-placed contrasts of ordinary things and epic music was exceedingly hilarious!
So now I can progress to books. Let's start with Robin McKinley's Deerskin. It's a remake of the fairytale "Donkeyskin", and my, what a beautiful piece it is! I had read McKinley's Beauty before, but this was something completely different. First of all the style was much heavier than I'd expected, and so it took me quite some time to adjust to it. After that, I made fairly quick progress with it. The story is about a princess who, after being raped by her father, flees the castle she has lived in. The lady of the forest helps her by disguising her, and she loses all memory of what has happened. So she wanders the kingdom with her dog, a fleethound called Ash, looking for her place in life and trying to find out who she is. I fell in love with McKinley's descriptions of the dogs in the story. She must have had fleethounds herself, because she has managed to capture their behaviour splendidly.
Ah, now then. Sorcery and Cecelia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. If I was younger, say 14, it would now be my favourite book. It's an epistolary, a correspondence between two cousins, Kate and Cecy, of whom the former is in London and the latter in the country, both encountering magical situations. It's regency romance married with fantasy, and it makes very delightful reading. I'm at the moment about a 100 pages into the sequel, the Grand Tour.
I just finished today with George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand I enjoyed it very much, and have actually already ordered the next part of the series, but on the other hand I don't think it will be a book I'll read over and over again. Then again, you never can tell, and I'm already quite fond of several characters and want to know what happens to them. There's also a TV series of it coming next spring, I think, and it'll be nice to see what they've done about it. A few of the actors I'm already familiar with - Sean Bean will be Eddard Stark, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is to be Ser Jaime Lannister. Looking though the faces on IMDb, I have to say I'm rather pleased with the casting. After that, it's up to acting-skills, script-writers and the director.
I guess that's all covered now. I'll mention my studies again, because it has been my first term and it's all still a little exciting - I've been doing rather well in my courses (though I haven't gotten my grades for Global and Regional Variations, English Literature or Translating from Finnish to English) and have gotten so many new friends it's almost overwhelming. But yeah, I'm happy overall.
Now, on with the reading! As I got money for Christmas, I'll be going to some bookstores tomorrow to see what is for sale, and then to some antiquaries to bookhunt. And maybe have coffee with a friend, if she has time.
Actually, that reminds me. I went to see the latest Narnia film, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, on Boxing Day. Now, I have never read the books, or even seen the first movie. I've seen Prince Caspian, and now this third one, and that's about it. But I liked this one better than Caspian, maybe because it wasn't as epically epic. Ben Barnes's beard was less hideous than in the pictures I'd seen, and the distribution of time between events seemed balanced. It was fun, and it didn't feel long. So I'd recommend it, even though it's not a bloweth-your-minde experience. Should probably mention that I saw it in 2D, and there was one single scene during which I slightly regretted not being at the 3D version. I'm opposed to 3D in general, at least until they find a way for us glasses-people to enjoy it without pain. But I digress - here's a pic:
Yes, it's pretty epic after all.
Dinner is ready! I'll be seeing you guys more often from now on. Hopefully.
Love, Wilzo
