All posts by Carl V. Anderson

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Wacky Winter Weirdness

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Its been quite awhile since I have done one of these meme posts and since I was “tagged” by Janet I thought I’d go ahead and post my answers and encourage you to do the same.

Here are the rules:

“The first player of this game starts with the topic “five weird habits of yourself,” and people who get tagged need to write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don’t forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says “You are tagged” (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.”

And so, without further ado, here are

Five Weird Habits of Mine:

1. After the initial go around I prefer to eat meat cold: chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs…this actually doesn’t just apply to meat now that I think of it. I like stuffing cold, and rice-a-roni, etc. Those cheap tacos from Taco Bell…love em cold!

2. I have certain books that I feel compelled to re-read every year around the same time of year. I don’t always go through with it but the feeling is still there: Peanuts and Dracula in early fall, Stainless Steel Rat and Stardust in the spring, sci-fi favorites in the winter, Neverwhere pretty much anytime.

3. I am a habitual movie re-watcher. There are certain movies that I can watch over and over again and thoroughly enjoy each time. I think a common thread with these movies that I like to rewatch is dialogue. Movies like Emma, Sense and Sensibility, An Ideal Husband, Return to Me, You Can’t Take it With You, Twelfth Night…it is the witty banter between characters that I like. That is one of the main reasons Firefly/Serenity became an instant favorite when I was introduced to it.

4. I love to put candy birthday cake letters on vanilla ice cream and eat it. I tend to not eat breakfast but on the days I do its usually because there is ice cream or left over pizza around. I like orange juice with tons of ice in the glass and love to drink it when eating chocolate.

5. I change my voice mail message on my work phone every day to reflect that days’ date and to indicate which building I’ll be in and when. I’m one of the few if only people at my place of employment to do this and often get complimented on it by my fellow co-workers. The truth is I got in the habit of doing it when an old boss used to think I was never around so I did it initially out of paranoia. Now its just an unusual habit.

There you go, bitches (Janet’s words, not mine 🙂 )

Okay, those tagged with blogs would be:
1. Jules
2. Rob
3. Angela
4. Fence
5. Mosker and Suzanne

I’m breaking the rules and calling out you other bloggers too, Mysfit, Jenn See, Ciera, Anne, Shannin and anyone else.

Participate if you want but I won’t be offended if you don’t.

Non-blog owners feel free to post your 5 weird habits in the comments…actually you bloggers can do this to if you don’t want to put them on your own site.

Happy weirdness!!!

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Happy (late) Birthday Frankie!

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Yesterday marked what would have been the 90th birthday of Old Blue Eyes. I came to like the old crooners (Frankie, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin) when I was a teenager and started watching old movies. Despite being prolific throughout his life I can never picture Frank Sinatra in any way other than the picture above as that is the way he looked in the movies that I’ve seen him in. He has such an amazing voice. One of the reasons I like the Real Rhapsody program so much is that I have been able to go and add classic songs from these guys to my library of music. Some of my favorites are: I’ve Got You Under My Skin, You Make Me Feel So Young, I Won’t Dance, Witchcraft and the Christmas classics like Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, and The First Noel.

Happy late birthday Frank. Your voice continues to be a gift to us long after your passing.

Julie, what was that Sinatra song you always played for Tori that she like so much?

Film

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

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Although C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia have been a part of the public consciousness since before I was born I myself did not read them until 5 or 6 years ago. I ended up re-reading some of the books to my daughter and am really familiar with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I have to admit that I was somewhat worried that the movie would not live up to my expectations but I needn’t have been. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was every bit as good as the trailers indicated.

I make it a habit to stay away from reviews until after I have seen a movie mostly because I do not want anything to be spoiled for me but since I knew this story well I occasionally looked at forums to see what the rumors were. The most frequently discussed topic seemed to be whether or not the special effects would meet people’s expectations. Could WETA, who made motion picture history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, do it again? One of the things that helped with the realism of the digital characters in LOTR is that the color palette of the movie was darker which helped digital and real characters blend together in the scene. LW2 was a much bolder, brighter movie and I must say WETA did a wonderful job. The crowning achievement of the movie was, of course, Aslan and he looked incredible. Every hair on his mane was lifelike and realistic. It was marvelous. The other creatures inhabiting Narnia were terrific as well. I especially enjoyed the beavers. The other unknown was how a group of relatively unknown child actors would do with such a beloved classic tale.

Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Anna Popplewell, and William Moseley played Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter Pevensie. The four Pevensie children are wisked away to Professor Kirke’s country estate to protect them from London air raids during WWII. While there young Lucy stumbles across a wardrobe during a game of hide and seek through which she enters the magical world of Narnia. This is truly one of my favorite moments in both the book and the film. Lucy is the Pevensie child that I enjoy the most and Georgie Henley did a wonderful job of conveying the innocence and awe of a child whose imagination is at its peak. I love the scenes between her and Mr. Tumnus (played terrifically by James McAvoy). Lucy and Mr. Tumnus talking over tea and toast is just such a comforting scene. The other actors/actresses did well also. Edmund was just dislikable enough to believe that he would do the selfish things he does and yet not so much as to cause the viewer to write off the character. Anna Popplewell did a great job of conveying the fact that Susan is at that uncomfortable age between childhood and adulthood and does not feel confident in either role. William Moseley’s Peter was played just right…brave enough to do what needed to be done to protect his family but no so brave as to look superhero-ish. My favorites next to Georgie Henley (Lucy) and James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus) was Jim Broadbent as Professor Kirke. The scenes between the professor and the children were terrific and I wish he could’ve factored into the story more. A number of people left the theatre at the “end” of the movie only to miss the very poignant moment between Lucy and the Professor. For me that scene alone made the whole movie wonderful.

In the few negative reviews that LW2 has garnered the most common complaint is either the “preachiness” of the story or that it was just too simplistic. My response to that is these reviewers must have not read the book as the movie stays very close to the letter and spirit of the novel. C. S. Lewis was very open about the religious allegory in these stories and yet they are written (and the movie was filmed) in such a way that you can read into them whatever you like. The story is very simple on some levels but one must remember it was a story written in the 50’s for children. Some reviewers complained about the violence being glossed over and dumbed down to get a PG rating but the fact of the matter is that it played out onscreen like it does in the books. There are not long, bloody accounts of the battle in the book. It is presented in such a way to be understandable and palatable for young children. I admire the fact that they stayed true to the spirit of the book and didn’t try to amp up the violence, etc. to make the movie more appealing to the LOTR crowd. There is just the right amount of humor, adventure, magic and suspense to appeal to the whole family. Despite the PG rating there are some scenes, the one at the stone table for example, that are fairly dark with scary creatures that may frighten some young children.

Reading the books as an adult the thing that struck me the most was the idea of these children living out full lives in Narnia and then suddenly being brought back to the here and now only moments after they left. It is a somewhat haunting idea that brings with it a bit of melancholy. Although his onscreen time was brief I see this melancholic longing for Narnia in the attitude of the professor. The books/movie give the idea that the knowledge of Narnia fades into a dreamlike quality (as does the real world when you are in Narnia) which somewhat explains how a person could go back to living a “normal” life after years of living and ruling in a magical realm but the whole idea has always been somewhat sad and fascinating for me. To me the idea is akin to the occasional longing for childhood one can experience at different times in life.

Overall I found the movie to be a wonderful experience and while it doesn’t come close to replacing the Lord of the Rings films in my affections it is a marvelous cinematic rendering of a beloved classic children’s tale.

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Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

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(Since I don’t have a digital camera Dominique was wonderful enough to take a few pics for me this morning and email them to me. Thanks Nick!!!)

Finally, it has snowed. I love snow, especially during the holiday season. In my perfect world there would be a light snow every day starting the day after Thanksgiving and lasting until New Year’s Day. It started snowing yesterday morning and stayed at it through the entire day and all through the night. In total we were blessed with about 10 inches of snow.

One of the best things about snow is that feeling that you can play hookey. It began for us last night. We dropped our daughter off at youth group and she went home to spend the night with friends. We went to an amazingly empty mall (best time to shop…snowstorms!!!) so that I could have Mary try on clothes for me to help me with my Christmas shopping. There were more employees than customers making it alot of fun for shopping. We returned home to watch one of our Netflix movies:

The Wedding Date was a really fun movie. I had some doubts considering it was a somewhat different take on the Pretty Woman story (a movie I’ve grown to despise over the years), but it ended up being an enjoyable romantic comedy. If you’ve watched Will & Grace then you know that Debra Messing is wonderful, and Dermot Mulroney was good as well. I really hope Messing does more films as she seems very down to earth and has great comedic timing. The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the music. Not only are there a few very nostalgic (for 80’s children) Air Supply songs, but there is a wonderful score and a few terrific musical numbers by Michael Buble. I particularly like Home and Sway. I recommend it for lighthearted fun.

I love the way the world looks at night when the ground is covered with snow and the sky is white with falling snow. The outdoors have a glow that is not replicated in any other situation and I found myself getting up a few times throughout the night to look outside and enjoy the beauty. Mary’s work was closed and I took the day off and we slept in. We awoke to the most perfect, pristine, snow-covered world. Mary made us a big breakfast and we sat down to watch:

The Family Man is a retelling of the classic It’s a Wonderful Life. It borrows the themes of that Frank Capra classic but maintains its own identity. I love Christmas movies and this is one that I both look forward to and dread at the same time. (Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen it) I love the little girl Annie so much in this movie and when Jack (Nicolas Cage) goes back to his actual life the thought that she does not exist makes me tear up everytime. Mary likes to point out that the idea is there that they will have this child in the future but its not the same for me. It just gets to me. Its an exquisite sadness though as I really love the heart of this film. Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni are great and have such a wonderful chemistry. Tea Leoni brings such life and passion to the role that she makes it rise above what could be a cookie-cutter female romantic lead character. Don Cheadle and Jeremy Piven are also great in this. And of course Makenzie Vega is a darling (I was surprised to find out that she was the girl who played Nancy at age 11 in Sin City…thought that girl looked familiar!) I am man enough to admit that this is one of those sappy Christmas romances that I enjoy watching every year!

I’ve enjoyed playing hookey today and spending time with my wife. Tonight we will watch another Christmas film with our daughter and enjoy the warmth and comfort of home. I’m thrilled that it snowed and hope for more as the season continues. I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season thus far and wish you joy, peace, comfort and relaxation as December rolls along.

Film News

X-Men III teaser trailer

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As first reported (to me) on Sci Fi Chick’s site, the X-Men 3 teaser trailer went up online today. You can view it by traveling to the official movie site here or click here for a link directly to the trailer. From what little you see it looks to be pretty fantastic. They are supposed to debut this on the big screen during King Kong when it comes out next week and I look forward to seeing it there as well.

The Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest teaser trailer can be seen here. It looks every bit as fun as the first one.

It is not too early to start getting excited about next year’s spring and summer blockbusters!!!