So, in preparation for last night, Medeia and I stalked the local library for Holly Black books. The Spiderwick Chronicles to be exact. And then, as a reward for our "efforts" we went to see the movie. Despite the irritating green line projected down the middle of the screen by faulty equipment for the duration of the film, I must say that it was greatly enjoyed. And I don't know how it happened.Seeing as I tend to be something of a purist in book to movie transitions I was shocked by how much I liked Spiderwick. Although the first half was accurate enough, the second took great liberties with the plot, building on the events in the very short books. But the dialogue was humorous, intelligent, sometimes even snarky and the characters turned out to be well acted. Freddie Highmore, a young English actor, played both of the Grace twins wonderfully, adopting completely different persona whenever he made the switch. And Mallory was noteworthy as well (note* expect swords and plenty of green blood). Happily, even through the big screen portrayal, the essence of the books remained. The fantastical and borderline macabre sensations from the works of Holly Black's incredible talent were maintained and worked upon to make a film that the target audience could enjoy as well as the older set (leaning, but not catering, to a younger crowd).
Not to mention that the creatures looked as if they had come from the Field Guide itself. There were griffins, sprites, rock trolls, goblins, griffins, flower fey, brownies, boggarts, griffins *blithers for another hour or so*. Even Mulgarath, the ogre, closely followed the illustrations of the honorable Mr. Diterlizzi and was suitably fearsome.
To say the least, Medeia and I's conversation while leaving the theater went something like...
M: And did you see...
A: I know and then the sword *jabs air* in that part...
M: That was brilliant! And the rock troll...
A: And HOGSQUEAL!!
M&A: *burst into laughter*
Father Siofra: *odd look*
A: I know and then the sword *jabs air* in that part...
M: That was brilliant! And the rock troll...
A: And HOGSQUEAL!!
M&A: *burst into laughter*
Father Siofra: *odd look*
So go see it, but with an open mind. There might be room for compromise in novelty cases after all.
Bewildered and Searching the Sky for Griffins,
Aella Siofra
27 comments:
I never liked the Spiderwick books. They were dumb.
okay, Spiderwick books were NOT dumb.
i loved those books in elementry school, and honestly, i even got the new Nixie's Song one out of the library when it came out, and even liked that (mainly because of hilarious emo Jared).
if you don't have a constructive comment to make about a book, well, you know what they say.
and i'm glad you liked the movie. i want to go see it, though i had heard they took some liscense. personally, i don't care as long as the movie is still good, and the basic spirit is the same.
OH. MY. CARLISLE.
Serafina-Zane, I just gained untold amounts of respect for you.
But I'm sticking to my opinion.
Bravo, Serafina, bravo.
They kept the essence of the books and made minor adjustments so that the movie would work... very well done
And Reese, what can I say but.... -20 pts.
Sera Zane, nicely said +10pts
I get -20 for not agreeing with you??? Is this not America??!!
-10 for you Meds! For being nonpatriotic!
You get -20 pts. for not backing up your claim... and no this isn't America... it's the Internet, deal with it...
I don't need to back up my claim. I'm not looking for a debate. I'm stating my opinion.
And most countries do have free speech. And we ARE in America.
yes! that New Year's resolution thing about picking fights on the internet is finally sinking in!
speaking of movies...i just went to the movies. saw Jumper. it was pretty good, fawesome special effects and lots of nice locations and some cool soundtrack. also, hot British guy.
next i want to see Spiderwick....
Ooh ooh don't start an internet debate without me! I like this point system!
Okay, -5 pts to Reese for using vague language (dumb). -10 points to Medeia for the points from Reese, because that decision was hasty and unfair (when I complained about PotC, at least you asked me to justify myself). -5 to Reese for retaliating immaturely, and -5 for bringing in America, -10 for using "patriotism" as justification.
-2 points to Reese for assuming the Maelstrommers are from America, because as the 3EC profiles state they are from the UK and the Maelstrom profiles are hidden, such an assumption is unjustified, though likely correct. -1 point to Reese for not citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the UN, of which nearly every nation in the world (the blue ones) belongs to.
And -15 points to myself for bringing biased judgements and opinion into a point-docking system.
Total Points (from me):
Reese -23
B. -15
Medeia -10
B.
You have a tendency to look too deeply into things, B. I'll have to quote myself:
"I don't need to back up my claim. I'M NOT LOOKING FOR A DEBATE. I'm stating my opinion."
Now, I'm not going to get into all of this again. Not now anyway. But I'd like to say that I happen to KNOW the Whirlwinds are Americans. You lose points for assuming I don't know what I'm talking about. Ha!
Uh-oh. -5 That was immature.
Oh! And B. A word of advice. Don't call them the Maelstromers. Make sure to use the right terms. Or Meds will kill you. They are the Whirlwinds and Maelstrom is The Maelstrom.
Just a heads up.
Excuse me. If everyone would stop for a moment with the points. I gave neither b. nor Reese the ability to allot points. -2 to you both for assuming that this was anyone's task, but mine. And that's a warning subtraction.
*Aella
Look! Now you've done it! I'm in, okay?! I'm in!
Aella, I have the ability for points because I believe (I'm not positive) I made them up. You are keeping track, which is great, but you aren't the only one with the power of pointage.
actually i think (on this comment thread at least) Medeia started the points-giving.
however, i do think this power too great for any one person.
absolute power corrupts absolutely, you know.
Serafina~
We've been doing points for a while now, between ourselves. It just sort of happened. And we all have the power of points.
B. gets a SET -50 for confusing opinion with some kind of debate and wanting facts to back up an opinion. Everyone else 'sept Sera gets a SET 0 for arguing childishly about the points.
About the locations, would you care to provide a link to the profile? I can't find one that is public and something tells me that they wouldn't have set you as a friend...
a.
I think A. hates me, which is unfortunate because I don't understand why. I appeal for a revocation of the point deduction from A., based on these reasons:
If a poll were taken, it is likely that the majority of people in this thread would say that Medeia and Reese were arguing. If this is wrong, I can revoke this statement.
I didn't want facts for an opinion, I wanted facts supporting an argument ("most countries have free speech"), and therefore A. is incorrect.
And yes, here is the link to the 3EC shared profile, as evidenced by the blogs.
Sorry Reese, I probably got carried away, and I'll revoke the -2 since you actually did know that they were in America (although the fact that Aella apparently speaks fluent German does suggest other possibilities). Further apologies to the Whirlwinds for misnaming them.
yeah, i figured something like that, which is why i added the "in this comment thread" qualifier.
Ok, everyone had better stop with the whole points thing *glare* especially when they are wrong. Just because I did it does NOT mean you all are allowed. And don't throw back any crap about free speech, because I DON'T CARE.
That means all of you, it's very rude to start awarding points willy-nilly when it isn't even your blog. Unless Aella says it's OK (sorry for not getting permission Ael, I didn't know that people would do that...they have none of your point-giving skills)
Got that everyone? You need Aella's permission before deducting/awarding points.
Jumper was good? I do want to see that, so I'm glad to hear it isn't a total waste of time. Thanks Serafina.
AAARRRGH!!!! As co-creator of points, I feel like someone who has created something terrible,a monster.
AND B! SHUT UP!! You have ruined the letter B for me. The whole first half of the alphabet is tainted! You don't know everything! In fact,I think you suck.
Thank you.
So, I've been meaning to see Jumper. Prices are high at my theatre though. Is it worth it?
Has anyone seen Juno?
yeah, Jumper was good, and the kind of thing that's better to see in the theatre than on tiny noncinematic TV (though perhaps this is not as much of an issue for people whose TVs are less crappy than mine).
did provoke an interesting discussion on how Hayden Christiansen actually, like, can't act and is a total robot.
was still good movie.
Really? I thought it was just me! I always knew there was something weird about him. *shifty eyes*
Are we actually going to argue about a fabricated point system I started when I was ten? And I must say that B. was completely in-line on this discussion. And since when did the 3 Evil Cousins become a part of this discussion? It would be unwise to mar their noble names with such petty differences.
*Aella
No. No, no Aella, we are not. In fact, we are ENDING it. Right now. Right here in religion class.
STOP. FIGHTING.
There, see? Done. That was fun!!!
crap. it put me as anonymous.
I just can't shut up. Can I?
Almost every child, at some point in their life does points. We all created it. I saw a bunch of fifth graders do points just yesterday. It is just the way things are.
Okay. I really am done this time.
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