The Family Stone

Ok...I didn't know what to expect but the commercials looked wonderfully disfunctional and funny and I think Luke Wilson, Craig T. Nelson, and Diane Keaton are great so we went to see a movie this evening - The Family Stone.

Spoiler: If ya don't want to know, don't read on...

Yeah. Someone should have probably mentioned that Diane Keaton's character, Sybil the mother, had a recurring case of, and as it is alluded to in the movie, a terminal case of breast cancer and is dead at the end of the film. Sheesh.

The movie was brilliant in parts, complex, funny, breath catching and breath taking. It moved back and forth from drama to comedy (some might say too much or too unevenly because we wanted to know why Meredith was having a prissy hard time and she never says or because we wanted to know why the youngest sister was so mean and she never quite says - love maybe or the lack thereof? anway...). I highly recommend it - it was magnificent. Wonderfully written and engaging and well-acted by all involved.

And I really wouldn't have EVER watched it if I'd known ahead of time about the mother. I can honestly say that I have NEVER been to a movie where I have openly bawled, required napkins for use as kleenex, and had to focus diligently on throwing away my popcorn bucket and coke cup so I wouldn't collapse in tears on the way out. Yup, that's right. I was a basket case. Gee, I guess it has something to do with my family's history of breast cancer (fortunately my grandmother, aunt and mother are all suvivors of it - not with the grim prognosis that Sybil had) but still. I was blindsided - a bit.

And glad I was with a friend who didn't think my response was nuts. Because I was suprised by my own response to be honest.

So, while I have said that I would not have seen it, I can also say that I'm really glad I did. It was a magnificently emotional film, if you like that kind of thing....

Me and The Goble of Fire film

Well, it was a good film. I love the Harry Potters - books and movies. But this last one, well, I'm not sure why they did some of the stuff that they did to the movie.

1. the dragon fight scene - why would a dragon, having broken free, chase one boy when there is an entire arena just full of people. AND why bother with the chase scene anyway? The story is exciting enough without that dumb scene. Computer graphics aside, there's no added value.
2. Sirius's head in the fire - again, why bother? It would have been cool to have his head pop in using the floo network like it describes in the book. The coals, while a neat trick, should have been saved for another film, an ENTIRELY different series maybe. Now, this will mess with future films in continuity if they go back to the floo network and I'm assuming that someone WILL fix this - I hope. But more to the point - why bother changing it? It doesn't make sense.
3. Rita Skeeter's animagus (sp?) status being cut - ok. This one bugs me (punny :)) primarily because there's quite a bit of motive behind how she's getting her information and why, in the NEXT novel, she changes her story (ooo, I'm on a roll now :)) and writes decent stuff about Harry.
4. and here's a BIG one - leaving out the transition from muggle world to magic world at the beginning and end - this is a thematic and structural problem for me. One of the reasons that Harry Potter works so well and catches so the imagination is the possibility, however slight, that it could, just maybe, be real. And the transitions at the beginning and end ground HP in the "real" world. It means that people can imagine that there is really a way that their own lives move back and forth on a daily basis from school and office to magic and dreams. Leaving out the transition to and from muggle world, takes away that fantasy.
5. now this is a personal one - I LOVE the lead up to the camping and the world cup. I love seeing all that stuff. Drat - wanted to see more.
6. the house elves - I can see why SPEW is cut out, and I can understand why some of the storyline needs to be left out, but leaving out the whole involvment in Barty Crouch's release? couldn't they have at least alluded to it? And doesn't that set up Kreacher's role as a more negative elf in subsequent books - where it actually becomes important?
7. shorting Snape's role - it just seemed like he didn't get any character development here. And I do like Alan Rickman as Snape so I want to see more. Besides, he has a great voice. I'll give one "good" on adding stuff to the story - the scene in study hall was cute and fit their characters.
8. why in the world didn't we get any of the three friends' character development and relationship in this one? It was really weak in that respect, focusing more on action than on the friends themselves IN action. Since I like them, I'd like to see more of it.
9. changing the -

I'll stop there. There were too many changes, too many things that could have remained as they were written. There are always things that need to be changed, to be cut up or out in order to fit into a film. I know that. But come on. Please, in future, be diligent. I also know that it's only 2 1/2 hours long - I get that - but it's a longer book. Make it longer (we'll all sit there, I promise) or split it into two films (see Lord of the Rings - well done), or SOMETHING!

And, the guy sitting next to me says the same. He was livid, really worked up, a little too worked up actually, but at least he has passion. And, we agreed.

Happy watching!

A bit o' SoM Philosopy in story form..sorta'

Ladies and gentlemen –

Sit back, kick your feet up,
snap open a can of cola,
or boil up a cup of hot tea,
or perhaps the smell of roast coffee beans is more your style…
enjoy the sensations of the body, the manifestations of your desire in the physical moment.

Breath, smell, taste, touch that libation of your choice, the drink of your will
(but carefully now if it’s hot, we will no ill this night)
So experience that drink of choice, that ambrosia you wanted – all because you can. Because you will it, you have it now.
Because you wanted it, you thought about it, you let the thought become action, which ultimately became the drink of your choice which teases your taste buds right now – the perfect example of the body and all that is amazing about the body.
Your drink teases your tongue, your drink is the manifestation of thought, as is your body – so your drink is thought – and here you thought it was just drink.
Spirit, soul, body – Mind, Law, Manifestation

Now, since you’re comfortable – how about a story to go with that drink of will? A story seems like a good addition to this bodily experience – because stories are used to explain, to teach.

There are Just So stories that tell how things came to be, and stories that are just so…well, so so. But our story tonight is over a couple thousand years old…more Just So, than just so so…

Tonight across the countryside it is cold and dark, it’s late and the Christmas lights sparkle, the cars whish past in their busy-ness. But our story begins in a far-off distant time and place where torches lit the nights and the gods and goddesses dined on ambrosia – the nectar of the gods.

Our story begins with a jealous god who was very good at manifesting what he wanted. Zeus was the god of gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus. He was all that one might want in a mythical god – the good and the bad. Zeus had already wrested power from his father and had lovers aplenty but his first love, his first wife, was Metis, goddess of prudence and wisdom.

Now, it was prophesied in this far distant land, by Uranus and Gaea (father sky and mother earth) that should the goddess of prudence and wisdom have a second child, that child would overthrow his father Zeus. To prevent this, Zeus thought and took action; he swallowed his wife Metis. Let us hope he had some effective anti-acids on hand that day, something perhaps a tad stronger than ambrosia.

Well, wouldn’t you know it? Metis happened to be pregnant with Zeus’s first child when she was swallowed whole. Obviously, there would be no second child from this union. However, as you may already be a lover of myth, you know that the gods and the goddesses are immortal – mostly. Metis met her demise it seems, or was, at the very least assimilated into this ruler of gods (and who can argue that a king gets a hefty dose of prudence and wisdom? Perhaps it would be good measure for more modern rulers too?)

Months passed. Mount Olympus aged not a whit. Mortals fought and died and loved and lived. Gods and goddesses schemed and manipulated and managed and medaled with the lives of mortals. More time passed.

Zeus got a bit of a headache. And the headache grew worse; his head pounded and he could hear a voice whisper as if from within. The headache throbbed louder and the pressure grew and the voice whispered all the while. Zeus screamed and paced and clenched his fists. And finally, Zeus commanded his son Hephaestus to take his axe and split Zeus’s skull open to relieve this headache and this pounding. (Please oh gentle reader – don’t spit out your tasty drink here – remember, Zeus is a god and he’ll be just fine, even with a split skull – most likely).

Hephaestus reared back with that giant axe and - CRACK - split his own father’s skull wide open. Lo and behold, what sprang from that fearsome cracked mind? None less that his daughter Athena, fully dressed and armed to the teeth, goddess of the arts, of crafts and of war.

Just look, gentle reader, how quickly thought really does become body!

Birthday Qualities

Your Birthdate: April 5

You have many talents, and you are great at sharing those talents with others. Most people would be jealous of your clever intellect, but you're just too likeable to elicit jealousy. Progressive and original, you're usually thinking up cutting edge ideas. Quick witted and fast thinking, you have difficulty finding new challenges. Your strength: Your superhuman brainpower Your weakness: Your susceptibility to boredom Your power color: Tangerine Your power symbol: Ace Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

An old Murder, She Wrote; a snowy day; and homemade soup...

Ain't life good? So, it snowed 3 or 4 inches early, early this morning. Lovely. And I got the day off. I'm wasting it right now - have been watching Murder, She Wrote in my pajamas and making homemade soup.

It's wonderful...all this snow and we're out of school and I just get to sit around. Perhaps I'll write some more. I've been doing fairly well with the writing lately...on a wierd, rather zoned kick. The story is not what I would have expected and I'm not entirely conscious when I'm writing it...I'm just telling the story, clipping along, seeing it in my head. It's very much like when I'm reading actually.

And now I'm going to brave the melty elements to go have Chinese food. Guess I'll take that shower and have the soup for dinner. Sounds good...

Here's to snow and the higher powers' common sense to call off school on a weathery day!

Enjoy your soup!

Well, the month is done...

The month is done...but I'm not. I am however, hot on the trail of a tale.... Rather fun actually. So I'll just keep going.