Monday, June 30, 2008

Austen Heroines to become Shakespearan Princesses

Plus, of course, the girl from King Kong.

Interesting trio. So what is this about?

Keira Knightley, Gwenneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts will be joining Anthony Hopkins in a new version of Shakespeare's play "King Lear".

Now I must say that I'm looking forwards to this. It's got good talent- and King Lear is a wonderful, though slightly disturbing play. I just hope that they don't mess up the story by adding a bunch of sex and then go graphic on the eye-gouging and battles and earn it an R-rating...

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Fairy Tale Novel Fan Art

Being more or less confined to bed with illness today, I found myself with time to do some decent graphic designing. It has been a long time since I've done any graphics inspired by Regina Doman's books, and I certainly haven't made anything that could really be called "good."

So with that in mind I whipped up three signatures- one above and two linked below:

Rose playing the violin- description

"Do I look like a dangerous character?"

Then I spent well over an hour- possibly two, carefully crafting together differant pictures into this desktop wallpaper of Blanche Brier, with text from Black as Night.

Rose, however, is the more popular of the sisters, and after several clamors over at the forum, I played around with the coloring and came up with a Rose Brier version of the wallpaper, with text from Waking Rose.

I am really falling in love with graphic designing. I've always loved color and design and since I'm happy to spend hours at a computer, this seems to be a good outlet for that (besides costuming, of course).

Feel free to borrow any of these- although I'd like credit if you use them on another website. And I'd love to know if you end up using a wallpaper...it would be nice to know that all that time is actually benefiting someone. ;)

100 books

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. (Gasp of horror from me)

The Rules:

1) Look at the list and put one * by those you have read.
2) Put a % by those you intend to read.
3) Put two ** by the books you LOVE.
4) Put # by the books you HATE.
5) Post.

**1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
**2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
**3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
**4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
*5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
**6 The Bible
*7 Wuthering Heights
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
# (I've started this twice and have not been able to finished it. Yuck) 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
**11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
*(not all of them)14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
**15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
**16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
%20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
%21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
% 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
*%(meaning I started and intend to finish someday)23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
%24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
%28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
*30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
**33 Chronicles of Narnia- CS Lewis
**34 Emma - Jane Austen
*35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
**36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (How can Narnia and LWW be separate?)
%37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
*40 Winnie the pooh - AA Milne
%41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
**45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
**46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
*54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
**57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
%58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
**65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
# (No, I haven't read the whole thing)70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
*71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
%72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (How does Dracula get on this list, but not Frankenstein?)
*73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
(apparently the movie is good...so maybe I'll read this someday)79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
**81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
*87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
**89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
*(some of it. We studied it in Brit Lit. Rather interesting)91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad % (both of my parents were in this in high school, so I feel as though I should read it at some point)92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
**94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
*97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
%98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
*99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
*%(which means that I read an abridged version)100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

So my total is around 32...mmm...better than average, although I wish it was higher... oh well, you can't blame me that a lot of the newer novels aren't really worth reading anyhow.

Friday, June 27, 2008

A bit of something amazing

I wish I had gotten a picture of the lake this afternoon.

It had already rained once and we decided to go out tubing again. The sky was still cloudy, but there were patches of blue and the air was warm.

We took the boat out and went skimming across the glassy water...what a delightful feeling to watch the clear green waves whoosh beneath you!

Then, across the lake it was as though a curtain of mist had fallen over the trees. I stared at it for a minute, wondering if it was fog. But the air on our side of the lake was still so clear that I realized that it must be a sheet of rain.

I have never seen such a sight. Either it is raining- or it is not. Yet here we sat in clear dry air and on the opposite shore we could see the blinding storm. Over the next five minutes as we drove into shore I watched that line of rain drive across the lake. It caught us by the heels as we dived under a pavillion for shelter.

God's creation is amazing. And water is one of my favorite parts.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Quick Updates

I feel as though I should do a quite *update* post to assure you all that I have not vanished from the face of the earth...

This weekend we celebrated my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was a very special time for all of us- especially seeing them renew their vows. I love them so much!

I also got to spend quite a bit of time with my out of state cousins- including the baby. I've never seen a baby go after books the way that one does! (I didn't even know that a 10-month-old could recognize what a book was!)

Meanwhile I'm smack in the middle of my summer project- costuming a local production of "Beauty and the Beast." It is going to be fabulous! If you've never seen this performed on stage, I strongly urge you to keep your eyes open for a nearby production! The added songs and dialogue are wonderful- and really add depth to the show and characters (especially the Beast). At some point here, after I get back from vacation (no idea if I'll have internet there or not!) I hope to do at least one blog post about the deeper themes of this story.

Finally, if you haven't heard already, Narniaweb has announced the casting of EUSTACE CLARENCE SCRUBB for Walden/Disney's next installment in the Narnia series, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." The young actor, Will Poutler (sp?) was last seen in the film "Son of Rambow" which I am looking forwards to watching eventually. It looks very intriguing!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

What Dawn Treader *could* be (but shouldn't!)

My good friend and forum "sister" Lady Rose wrote this hilarious take on a teaser trailer for VotDT. Basically, it's a "what if" on what would happen if Disney decided to combine VotDT and POTC....

(I am reposting this here with her permission)

Jerry Bruckheimr logo, followed by Walt Disney and Walden Media.

Eerie music.

Caspian, Lucy, Edmund and Eustace stare upwards as they sail into blackness.

THEY SET OUT ON AN ADVENTURE…

Caspian spreads out a map.

Caspian: We are looking for the seven lords banished by my uncle Miraz.
Eustace: Why? Why can’t we look for something worthwhile? Like England?

TO FIND THE LOST LORDS...

Edmund: Where were they sent?
Caspian: They were sent out to sea. Westward. They never returned.
Eustace: And now we have to search the whole ocean?

AND THE END OF THE WORLD…

Reep: Why not keep sailing, all the way to Aslan’s country? To world’s end?
Eustace: Because it’s too far… and the world is round!

BUT THEY DIDN"T EXPECT TO FIND…

Sound of sword being drawn. Edmund, Reepicheep and Lucy stare upwards.

Lucy: Who are you?

A Pirate looks down from where he is standing on a mast Music pauses.

JACK SPARROW.

Jack sighs and rolls his eyes.

Jack: Captain! Captain Jack Sparrow!

THIS SUMMER…

Music changes to more adventurous theme.

Jack: So, do you have a heading for this venture?
Caspian: No, I don’t.

Jack waves something.

Jack: Then if you’ll allow me to take the wheel…

Pushes Caspian out of the way.

Jack: I think I have something that can help.

Shows Jack’s compass.

Jack: I am now in charge of this ship.
Caspian: Oh are you?
Jack: I’ve got the wheel, the compass, the directions… and I shall now transform the crew into a measly bunch of pirates. You’ve got no control. Savvy?

BE PREPARED…

Slavers tying up hands.

Caspian: I am the king of Narnia!
Edmund: So was I!
Lucy: I’m the queen!
Jack: I’m not with them.

FOR THE UNEXPECTED.

Sea Monster curving over ship. All looking up nervously.

Jack: You don’t tie up people to masts, do you?
Lucy: Of course not! Why?
Jack: Just wondering.

Jack v.o. Do you have the courage and fortitude…

Swords clash as Caspian and crew fight off the slavers.

Jack v.o. …to follow orders…

Eustace sneaking water from near empty barrel.

Jack v.o. … and stay true in the face of danger…

Sailors fall to ground or run away in fright as dragon swoops over.

Shows Jack and Reepicheep sitting at a table..

Jack: And almost certain death?
Reepicheep: Are you calling me a coward?

*quick succession of scenes*

Lucy looks into book

Jack runs down beach with invisible Dufflepuds hopping after him

Edmund’s boot turns to gold

Doors open to reveal a lost lord

Ramandu’s daughter smiles at Jack

Aslan turns from a lamb to a lion

Eustace sees dragon

Seagull flying out of the darkness

Reepicheep sailing in boat up the wall of water at the end of the world

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Pirates of the Dawn Treader

Reep and Jack talking while sitting at a table.

Jack: You don’t want to go there mate. End of the world? Terrifying. Huge wall of water going straight down,
Reep: It does not, it goes up!
Jack: Down!
Reep: Up!

Coming to Theaters June 2010.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Into the Wild

Fairy tales seem to be quite popular these days.

Just a few days ago, Regina Doman linked to Sarah Beth Durst's blog- specifically to a post about the obscure fairy-tale, "Snow White and Rose Red." Durst has done hilarious commentaries on several obscure fairy-tales and I read through several of them with great amusement.

Then I realized (feeling rather silly as I did so) that Durst herself was an author, and that the book on the side of her blog was actually her own creation. Intrigued, I looked it up the next time I was at the library. And, of course, I read it pretty much in one sitting.

"Into the Wild" is the story of young Julie, a girl guarding a dangerous secret. Under her bed is a leafy growth known as: "the Wild." Years ago the Wild held all the fairy-tale characters captive, forcing them to relieve their stories over and over again, with no ability to change the outcome. Each time a story ended, they lost all of their previous memories.

However, by some unrevealed secret, Julie's mother Zel, (AKA- Rapenzel) and the other characters managed to escape this puppet-like existance and are now living incognito in the small town of Northboro MA. They are safe as long as the Wild remains contained under Julie's bed.

But, of course, the Wild does NOT remain contained. Someone drops a wish into the Wishing Well of Julie's grandmother and before the next day is over, all the characters (and a good many ordinary citizens of Northboro) have been ensnared once more in the never ending cycle of Fairy-Tales.

It is up to Julie- and her "brother" Boots (Puss in Boots, that is) to save their family and themselves from the Wild.

I heartily enjoyed this book. It is full of originality and humor- and reasonably appropriete for the intended audience. (There's a description of a kiss that pre-teens will probably find rather gross, but that's the intention of the passage).

Readers, both young and old will enjoy this unusual adventure. And fairytale savvy people will be tickled pink when they recognize the many referances to obscure fairytales.

So if you like fairytales...don't hesitate to pick this one up!