Christmas Lights and Gore and Romance

I find it interesting that, though we have Christmas "traditions," each year still ends up being undeniably unique.

This year it is rather crazy. My mother was in a car accident last week, so our whole family is under stress from that. I'm still recovering from my fall illness. (One last flush they tell me. One more. *sigh*). Immediatly following Christmas we have three or four days of filming for "The Shadow of the Bear" which includes the highly complicated "End Fight in St. Lawrence Church" sequence. And then directly after that I shall be flying out of state to spend January-April nannying and tutoring for the family of a certain favorite author of mine.

So it's been busy.

In the meantime I've still managed to do some fun reading and other entertainment pursual.

First off, I finally sat down and watched "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson. I've been avoiding it for years because of the "R" rating (and rumors of gore). However, my brother told me the other week that the gore actually wasn't so bad and that I absolutely must watch it. So I did. And he was right. Other than sort-of-not-watching-all-the-battle-scenes-very-closely I really had no problem with any of the gore that was presented in the film. I actually thought it was pretty well done, and had the exact right level of gore that a serious war film should have. Not too much, but not too little either. The acting was lovely, the script was quite good, and the costumes had me drooling. I loved how it was a personal story, rather than a grand epic war film. However, part of me wonders whether it wasn't too personal - too much about revenge and not enough about fighting to keep a family safe? I don't know, I think the message got a little muddled. But I thoroghly loved the movie anyhow, even if I have to be a little more thoughtful about it now.


Secondly I read this absolutely amazing book by Lauren F. Winner, which all 18+ Christain adults ought to read. It's called (and yes, I'm not making this up) "Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity" and is like a breath of fresh air. Neither too liberal nor too conservative, it's a refreshing, intriguing and clear explanation of the definition and importance of chastity. While I think all adult Christains should read it at some point, it is most important for the 20-somethings who are not yet married. If you're in that group, I highly reccomend that you pick it up!

Thirdly I finally read a Phillipa Gregory book that I feel I can reccomend to the 16+ crowd! (Her stuff really can be so very grownup at times that I haven't dared to mention it on this blog yet.) It's called "The White Queen" and is a wonderful historical fiction book about Elizabeth Woodville, wife of King Edward IV of England during the Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth and Edward had a beautiful love story that makes the transition from history to fiction perfectly. It is also a clear picture of the confusing political turmoil of England at that time that any Anglo-phile will love. I will admit that there is some medieval magic that I was a bit concerened about, but it follows the Biblical precident of following any act of magic with something in which the magic-user is directly punished for their use of magic. Which actually I found pretty cool for a secular book...

Then for the YOUNGER crowd -

I picked up some "Wolverine: First Class" books from my library, which is a delightful series of one-shots about 13-year-old Kitty "Shadowcat" Pryde and her first adventures in the X-Men under the guidance of gruff old Wolverine. Hilarious and pretty clean and appropriate for the younger crowd.

We also finally watched "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" which had really no depth, but was great fun nonetheless.

And meanwhile the Fairy-Tale-Novel Forum numbers keep ticking upwards... we have 490 members today. Will we have 500 by the new year? Perhaps you should join and help make it happen!