Eragon

What a huge disappointment. The twins and I all read the book, discussed at great length the parallels to Star Wars and LOTR (along with some Dragonriders of Pern, which the boys haven't read yet), and eagerly awaited what we thought would be a great movie. The pre-release reviews were promising - great effects, yada, yada. The effects were good - especially the flying sequences, but nothing we haven't seen before. The rest - pure crap.

The twins devoured the book and absolutely loved it. I was okay with the book, admiring the fact that it had been written by a teen and appreciating the concept while recognizing too easily the characters and some of the scenes. Using universal literary themes and formulas is one thing - blatantly "borrowing" the details is another. Still, I thought it held promise for a decent fantasy movie.

Where the book succeeded with creating characters that were full and detailed (albiet, familiar), the movie completely failed. Several of the characters that appeared in the book were either flat and undeveloped (Murtagh) in the movie, or not even there (dwarf king). Having read the book, I recognized some characters like Orik, who didn't even get called by name in the movie. I'm not one of the freaks that thinks that every detail from a book should be in the movie. I do think that this movie (clocking in at 1:40), cut itself short by having flat characters with no back story.

Covering all the bases...

Got this in an email:

For My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting these greetings, you are accepting the aforementioned terms as stated. This greeting is not subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself/himself/others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

For My Republican Friends:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'm back...

November is over. NaNoWriMo is over. 50,799 words later. It was the craziest 30 days in recent memory and I am glad it's over, but at the same time kind of miss it.

I used to write all the time (unlike the postings on this blog) and at one time it was a true passion. I have gotten away from it and forgotten how fun and rewarding it can be. Thank you to the person who convinced me to give NaNo a try. I am in your debt.

Now the focus is on the holidays. My trees are up. The lights are lit. Some of the shopping is done. I have put in for my vacation (Dec 22 - Jan 2) and I have a lot of plans - as usual. I would like to paint my bedroom, build some shelves, catch up on my scrapbooking (which I am woefully behind on), do some sewing...the list goes on. As usual, however, I will likely be a complete vegetable. I guess that is what vacations are truly for anyway - deep relaxation.

For a while, my son and I thought about a road trip to the Alamo Bowl. While it would be fun on one level, being gone for hubby's birthday, New Year's, and possibly our anniversary, traveling 15 hours to see the Hawks get kicked by Texas just didn't seem worth it.

Hope everyone had a great November!