A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Netflix came through again. I’m trying to see all the Hugo nominees before I vote and today we got The Golden Compass. The disc we got was the widescreen, single disc, with no special features. You can check out the YouTube trailer for the film and related videos if you haven’t seen the film already.

Based on the novels by Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass is the first book of His Dark Materials trilogy. I read The Golden Compass several years ago and have forgotten a lot of the minor details but pretty much remember the major threads of the story. I also remember the big bru-ha-ha when the film was being made about the changes that were made in order to soft-pedal the anti-religiousness of the film. Personally, I thought at the time that that was a bit much since the book wasn’t against religion exactly but against blindly following anything without questioning the authority, integrity, or morality of that which is being followed.

The movie has been changed from the book, which is to be expected, all books go through tremendous changes before they become films, it’s just the nature of changing from one media to another. The film was also a lot lighter than I would have thought based on the material in the book. Some may find it was too dark, after all they are kidnapping children and experimenting on them. What is barely touched on is what that experimentation does to the child, why it is being done, and the ramifications for the others in that universe/world. Some of the explanation can be garnered from the film but mostly it is barely mentioned or visually represented unless you’ve read the books and have prior knowledge to understand what’s happening. Then the film ends prior to the end of the book. Granted the book ended on a very dark note for Lyra but why not end at the ending if you intend to do a follow up with book two (The Subtle Knife)?

What they didn’t change is Lyra. She’s still a wonderful character: strong, witty, intelligent, headstrong, quick thinking, brave, and just about every quality that makes a hero. She’s also young and knows when to ask for help and a keen judge of character in most situations. The other characters are more supporting roles, Lyra is the center of all the action. She’s on a quest to set things right and the others fall in with her on her adventure. But, like most adventures, she’s lacking a lot of the information that she needs to make her decisions and so she goes with her heart and what she feels is right.

The animation of the Ice Bears is wonderful. They really look like armored talking polar bears. The daemons are varied and delightful, though not fully explained. The fight scenes are fast, furious, and not pleasant; but then no fights are pleasant and they shouldn’t be here either. The world is wonderfully realized for the film with a lot of detail and small touches that make you let go and believe.

So, while it wasn’t as strong on story as I would have liked; it made up for it in special effects and some nice scenes. Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra was excellent from start to finish, doing a marvelous job of making the audience believe in her character. All in all, well worth seeing — even if you haven’t read the book. Perhaps even better if you haven’t read the books because then you don’t have prior knowledge that would cause you to be disappointed.

Some people just love this program. Many have told me that it’s on the edge and as funny as can be — my humor center must be damaged. I’ve just watched the entire first season and well, it’s okay but I’m glad I didn’t pay for these disks (renting is a good thing).

The animation is fine, colors are bright, scenery is not fully developed so it often is lacking in texture and depth but still okay. After all, it’s supposed to be cartoonish. The dialogue is even clear and understandable (except when beeped for language–and I’m wondering if the beeps were in this when on TV or only on DVD).

Underlying some of the episodes is some serious material but it’s so buried in juvenile sex humor that you’d be hard pressed to pay enough attention to catch the other themes. At least for me it was. I just don’t care for sex, sex, and more sex jokes. Which is weird since the only two characters that have any redeeming characteristics are Six (the love slave robot) and Gus (another robot). Most of the humor is on a level with junior high locker room bragging and showing off.

All in all, I’m glad I saw it so I know what everyone has been talking about but I’m very happy that I didn’t go with the hype and buy the set. On the other hand, I wish it could have risen above the juvenile level when dealing with the rights of robots/clones, political payola, control over one’s body, ecology, gun control, and some of the other topics that were in the series — I’m sure they could have found a way to be just as funny (or in my case, funnier) without stooping to the lowest common denominator.

So, if you’ve wondered about this series…rent it first before buying just to be sure it’s your idea of comedy.

Just got back from seeing Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man (Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger, Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes). It’s based on the Marvel comic. I never really got into Iron Man comics, leaning more to superwomen than supermen, so I didn’t get a lot of the hidden easter eggs in the film. However, the film is action packed with a lot of really cool special effects and even has some hidden depth.

Tony Stark is an engineering/inventing genius and head of Stark Industries along with his father’s partner Obadiah Stane. Stane stepped in when Stark’s parents died. The movie opens with a few scenes to show us Stark as a multi-millionaire playboy who loves his toys and thinks he’s doing his best to protect America by building bigger and badder weapons than the other guy. Until, that is, he’s captured by terrorists who seem to be amply supplied with Stark Industries armaments. His captors want him to make them the newest missile system and get him the parts to do so — otherwise they’ll kill him. His cell is complete with a doctor who hooked him up with a magnet and battery to keep him alive and acts as his translator. As the pressure amps up to build the missile, Stark and his cellmate become friends in a way. This is Starks first taste of what life is like for the people who are on the receiving end of his company’s products. While in the context of the movie it seems to take a little time, the detail of this first bit does make you believe in the transformation of Tony Stark into a person who now questions what he’s been doing with his creations.

Of course, the film goes on with a bad guy who turns out to be only a puppet and some, for me with my unfamiliarity with the comic origin story and Iron Monger story line, to have some interesting (thought partially expected) plot twists. And after a number of really interesting scenes of building machines, equipment, wonderfully realized high tech gadgets and toys, AI assistants, explosions, battles, flights of fancy, witty dialogue, and of course the requisite number of special effect spectaculars, we have a very satisfying ending. However, if you wait until the credits finish rolling, there’s a hint of more to come in a bit of a scene at the end.

So, all in all, lots of fun with a bit serious talk about weapons and their place in war, peace, and power struggles. So, while it’s a lot of what’s expected in a movie based on a comic, it also has that underlying note of seriousness that leaves you with some things to think about when the show is over.

Finally got a copy of Sense & Sensibility from Netflix. This is the Jane Asten movie that we missed during public televisions The Complete Jane Austen series. Directed by John Alexander and starring Hattie Morahan, Charity Wakefield, Dan Stevens, Janet McTeer, Mark Williams and others. The screen play was by Andrew Davies who did most of the other movies featured during the series.

This is a lovely and lush film. There are some scenes that don’t exist in the book but are hinted at in the backstory or off the pages. However, I read the book so long ago now that I’m going to have to go back and reread the original story. I’ve now seen three movie versions of the film (including this one) and while the central story remains that of Elinor and Marianne some of the details change depending on the film. In fact, one film eliminated Margaret from the film entirely. While Margaret may have a small part to play, she is essential as a younger sister being taught the code of conduct that the older sisters have or should have already internalized.

This film has focused more on the differences between the family’s life at Norland and their new life in the cottage in Devonshire. There is a lot of use of the sea and the landscape in Devonshire to highlight the isolation of the Dashwoods from the life that they once had. From being women of leisure, they now live in a cottage with only two servants and must do much of the menial tasks themselves. They are learning but it’s difficult for them as they must learn to economize and yet still maintain their manners and style of living to associate with Sir John and his family and neighbors.

There’s obviously a bond between the sisters but where Elinor controls her feelings, Marianne allows her feelings free range. In fact, Marianne at times seems to glory more in showing her feeling to the world than in feeling them herself. Elinor holds her feeling close to herself as treasures, while Marianne paints them on a marquee. In a society where appearance and surface adherence to propriety is more important than the actual propriety, it is dangerous to allow oneself to show what is felt. Elinor’s mask of calm protects her from censure or ridicule but Marianne has no such protection as she hides nothing of what she feels.

Because of their character they each come close to loosing what they love. Davies may have changed, added, deleted, or emphasized some of the books scenes but he’s nevertheless maintained the heart and soul of the story. We feel for these people and because of the writing and the directing we get a feel for the rigid society in which they lived.

It’s almost impossible for those of us who have grown up in today’s vastly different society where women do have rights and can inherit or work at employment of their own choosing to understand the much narrower choices available to women of the Dashwood’s level of society. Remembering too that much of their problems came from their father’s son refusing to honor the promise he made to take care of them. Much of the movie revolves around promises made, promises kept, and promises left unfulfilled. Then, as now, a person isn’t honorable because of their place in society, the amount of money or status that they have, but because of their actions.

All in all, the film was an excellent rendition of the the novel (as I remember it). Now, I have to slip the book into my reading stack so that I can refresh my mind on the details.

I was lucky enough to attend the book event at Borders in the Annapolis Maryland mall and hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak about life, knitting, and some of the things she’s learned. It was an entertaining talk. I’d bought the book at the event and brought it home to read.

The book is small (about 6.3 inches by 4.2 inches) and fits in a purse for quick moments of reading just about anywhere you’re stuck waiting. There’s an introduction and 45 things learned with a few lists interspersed. So, it’s a perfect book for short breaks as most of the ‘things’ are on average about three pages. It took me a while to read because I chose to read it in short spurts reading 1 or 2 or 3 things at a time.

If you’ve read the Yarn Harlot’s blog you have a good idea of her writing style. It’s simple and down to earth, witty, humorous, and often slyly thought provoking. I say slyly thought provoking because she often says she writes knitting humor and she does. But, what she doesn’t stress is that her writing is humorous because it based in the knitting culture and in society in general. The introduction talks about attention and filter theories in science and psychology and how they apply to knitters. Often knitters take a lot of flack for knitting items that could be purchased cheaper elsewhere or for wasting time (usually said by someone just sitting and doing nothing). Stephanie Pearl-McPhee uses science and common sense to refute some of those charges and to prove to knitters that not only are they taking part in an activity that brings them joy but that also keeps their brains active and engaged, produces usable products (mittens, sweaters, socks, scarfs, and so on), and teaches them new things about life and the world everyday.

She has short essays on lesson learned such as: “Patience is a Virtue”. Knitters, she writes, aren’t knitters because they are patient but patient because they knit. Basically, on observation, she believes that if you took a knitters knitting away when they are in a situation that requires patience, such as waiting in a doctor’s office, the knitter would shortly be climbing the walls. I can certainly agree with this lesson since I find knitting is superior to picking lint out of the air, pacing, or “gasp” staring at the walls wondering if I could climb one.

Another lesson is Practice Makes Perfect. Knitting is an activity that is done over and over again. It’s basically of two stitches — knit and purl — and with these two stitches you can make socks, sweaters, mittens, and so on. The more you knit the better at it you get. It’s a simple concept, but with knitting it is easily seen by an individual. Of course, the book explains this lesson in a much more humorous and illustrative manner. A knitter who wouldn’t dream of do-overs for many of life’s mistakes will with no prompting unravel and reknit something over and over again until they get it right. This ‘practice’ can transfer and allow knitters to keep trying when things get difficult because with knitting eventually you’ll succeed. In life that doesn’t always happen but some people never learn to try, try again — they give up. Knitters persevere.

If you are a knitter, you’ll enjoy the book for those flashes of recognition of your own behavior or the behavior of other knitters that you know. You’ll also find that after the laughter, when you remember and think about all the lessons learned, that this is not just knitting humor, this is a litany of what knitters know and what they should recognize about themselves and their craft. They are persistent, meditative, creative, good at math, thoughtful, generous, and caring. If you’re not a knitter, but know some or hope to be one someday, reading this book to give you an idea of the sorts of things that are involved in knitting. It’s not just a craft but as with any art — a way of life that can profoundly effect how you look at the world.

Highly recommended.

Several years ago (more than I want to admit to), I decided to give Jane Austen a try since so many people had recommended her writing to me. My first try was Pride and Prejudice. It was okay, and then I watched the A&E movie version staring Colin Firth. Once I saw the movie, I reread the book and enjoyed it even more. I’ve since gone on to read most of the Jane Austen’s works but Pride and Prejudice is still my favorite.

Pride and Prejudice is mostly Elizabeth Bennet’s story. We may hear of events that took place out of her view but only when these events are told to her. So, Mr. Darcy’s thoughts, feelings, and actions outside of Elizabeth’s view are unknown to us or only known by shrewd guessing. There’s also the additional problem that Elizabeth, in the manner of Mr. Darcy, is not a reliable narrator. She has her own prejudices about him and his behavior and it colors her view of him and all his actions. So, we’re left wondering what Mr. Darcy thought of Elizabeth Bennet. What could make this man of wealth, education, and position fall so in love with Elizabeth that he’d go against his family and his social connections to marry her.

Luckily, Mary Street has given us a Mr. Darcy’s side of the story in The Confession of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Street retells Pride and Prejudice from Fitzwilliam Darcy’s point of view. Where the two books overlap, Jane Austen’s version is paramount as to action and conversation but with the added interest of Mr. Darcy’s thoughts and insights. Where events take place out of Elizabeth’s view (not in Austen’s work but hinted at, such as the events in London after the ball at Netherfield and the conversation with Wickham about Lydia) the narration and action matches what we’d expect of a gentleman of Darcy’s station. Street keeps well within the canon of story and characterization.

What is missing is the passion of the characters. Elizabeth is engaging and exciting the most when the book intersects Pride and Prejudice and there is a blueprint to follow. Darcy’s character, even though we are often in his thoughts, is still wanting. This is a man that is comfortable in the highest levels of society, yet his passion for Elizabeth Bennet is such that he willing takes the chance that he and his new wife could be shunned by society because of the disparity of their socio-economic status. He is gentleman and she is a gentleman’s daughter, but there is still a gulf between them of more than an obnoxious mother and wild sisters. There’s no sign here of a love or passion that could account for Darcy’s proposing marriage not just once but twice to the same woman.

It seems that in trying so hard to maintain the tone and style of the original Austen novel, that the lively wit and by-play that are the hallmarks of Austen’s work got smoothed out. So, while this book does fill a gap that so many of us want filled, it does leave us still wondering about Mr. Darcy’s inner most thoughts and feelings.

Worth reading? Yes, definitely. The author did a remarkably good job with the material, it just left this reader wishing that the characters had a bit more life to them. And, while some of the scenes, such as a short bit where Col. Fitzwilliam and Darcy decry the potential name for the Fitzwilliam’s brother’s child, were bright and witty, I wish the author had let loose her fancy a bit more because while those small additions show that the ability to make the characters come alive exists, it was just held in check and most likely in honor of the original and fear of stepping too far out of bounds. I enjoyed the book but wish there had been more depth to Mr. Darcy.

Tonight we dug out The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. We hadn’t seen it in a while and thought we take another look. It’s one of those movies that just make you feel better about being a part of the human race.

Based on the novel of the same name written by Christopher Monger, it tells the story of the mountain Ffynnon Garw in Wales. The townspeople took pride in having the first mountain in Wales (as you move west from England). World War I is raging in Europe and the people work hard to supply coal for the war effort. Then into town come two Englishmen to measure the mountain for the survey maps. Lo and behold the mountain is only a hill. The villagers band together to keep the Englishmen in town long enough for them to build a mound on the mountain, to have it remeasured, and return it to its status as a mountain.

It’s really the story of the indomitable will of people to not give up, to continue in the face of incredible odds in order to save what is important to them. To give them pride, to do something important, something that they can feel and see and touch. By maintaining the mountain status of Ffynnon Garw, they can forget the war and the men who may never make it back — they will maintain the home that they left behind — they will keep their mountain and the village intact.

It really is a heart-warming story of a community pulling together. I love happy endings. There’s a letter about the book, movie, and the mountain written by Ed Sullivan of Visalia, California for Professional Surveyor, Nov./ Dec. 1998. The story is really about Garth Mountain and the town of Taff’s Well. So there is some basis in fact for the novel and movie.

Simply done with no big fight scenes or special effects, it’s a simple film of hope and the spirit. A feel good movie that make one feel that maybe the human race sometimes gets it right.

Sunday, March 23rd, PBS’s Masterpiece Theater aired Emma (with Kate Beckinsale as part of The Complete Jane Austen series. I’ve seen this particular version of Emma several times — I have it on tape and need eventually to get the DVD version. I do have Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow on DVD but don’t watch it as often — not because it isn’t a decent version but just because I find the A&E version closer to the novel.

No matter which version of Emma you enjoy, all are based on the novel Emma by Jane Austen. Emma is a young girl, living alone with her father. Her sister is married to the brother of a neighbor, Mr. Knightly. Emma’s companion has recently married and now lives a half a mile away with her husband. Emma is a bit bored and thinking herself bright, intelligent, and wise in the ways of the world, she decides to befriend a woman of about her own age with no family but educated and mannerly and find her a husband. Of, course Emma is nowhere near as smart as she thinks she is and of course misunderstandings happen and through them growth occurs.

First I have to confess that Emma is one of the Austen novels that I haven’t read yet. While both movie versions listed above are interesting. I do think that I like the one that PBS chose for The Complete Jane Austen series. Here Emma is believable as the young lady who runs her father’s household and believes that she knows all there is to know about life. She’s confident that there is nothing she can not handle. And, of course, it’s that conceit that is at the core of the story. For, as you probably suspect, Emma must learn that there is more to being a young gentlewoman than being aware of her place in society. Emma has been a big fish in a small pond and when Jane Fairfax comes to live with her Aunt Bates — Emma learns that others may not be her equal in status but beyond her in sense, education, and talent.

The film allows us to see Emma’s flights of fancy as she leaps from a phrase or hope to full blown accomplished fact in seconds. She jumps to conclusions with little fact and less thought but with each failure or disaster, she learns until finally she learns to look within her own heart.

Austen, in Emma, creates a girl who has just stepped into womanhood, and must find her way to sense and thoughtfulness. A story of growth and filled with scenes that will make you laugh, some that make you uncomfortable, and others where you can feel the pain meted out and received.

I highly recommend this version and I’ll try to revisit my impression once I’ve had the chance to read Emma.