Stardust.

[wolven7]

Queens of the Stone Age - [First It Giveth]--- Very British. The changes only irked me Because they were changes. (Prince of Persia - Sands of Time - [The Bath Fight]). One of the best book-to-screen adaptations I've ever seen.

Tell your children real faerie tales. Read them tales of wonder and lessons and using your wits. Read them tales with danger and excitement. Read them Stardust.

Pitchshifter - [What's in It for Me?]--- Is it safe for your children to read or hear? Is any story that gives them something worthwhile Truly safe? Or is safety what happens when you dull the corners, douse the fire, and keep the trainers on the bike?

Safe is good, but too much safe makes you stupid.

Good night.

Comments

Terminology

[teididh.livejournal.com]

"Safe" in terms of media irks me.

As in, those commercials for the Christian radio station in Atl whose motto seems to be" SAFE for the WHOLE FAMILY!"

As opposed to those other stations who are choking hazards???

Or who perhaps cause razor blades to fly out of the radio at children restrained in car seats?

Re: Terminology

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yep. Brain razors. *nods*

[sanx.livejournal.com]

I agree.

I have a friend of mine that has 3 boys and he will let them watch certain fairy tale movies but not all.. not Dark Crystal, Return to Oz, because they are all dark and kind of scary.. But when I was a child, those were the movies I loved. Gave such imagination and made me want to explore more fantasy ideas. I think those kinds of movies like Stardust are really good for children at all ages.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

I agree, completely. I didn't see The Dark Crystal until I was 12 or so, but even then it was a powerful movie. I got to watch things like Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey, when I was a kid, though, and it had much the same effect.

They made the movie a little less dark than the book (again, the dumbening of American audiences may be to blame), but it still gets a bit across. Now, HDM, and "The Dark Is Rising," look to be pretty damn wonderful.

[razelore.livejournal.com]

When I was a small child I was allowed to read anything I could get my hands on, and being who I am I gravitated towards fantasy and science fiction.

I was never told the definition of fiction, I grew up believing everything was real, that stories of dragons and faeries were just as much historical fact as the world wars and ancient Rome. That flights to Mars and beyond were things humans did often and with amazing results.

It changed me, coloured my mind, thinking every forest was a gateway to another world, every mushroom ring could, perhaps, trap me in Faerie. I'm grateful for it. I would be a much more banal person without it.

I worried about what I said, I didn't want goblins to come and take my little brother. I was different from other children, smaller, darker. I thought I was a changeling for a long time, a stolen soul, and somewhere another me lived with the fae while I was sent to watch mankind. I feared cold iron and silver, not knowing if such things would burn me with their touch.

Now I don't know what I am, but I know that all that reading has made me something different. Books change people and I'm happy to be something new, something not fully human, because while I may look it on the outside, inside my mind still tells me that everything is real.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

And it is, to varying degrees, for different values of "real." It's about where you stand, how you look, and who and what you're standing near.

[razelore.livejournal.com]

Then again, there's things like these which tell me nothing is real at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/14/science/14tier.html?ex=1344830400&en=2300cf446929c707&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That article is part of what started the two-posts-previous rant.

[razelore.livejournal.com]

Damn, now I've got to go look up Ruby...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

It's worth a listen.

[spinallandscape.livejournal.com]

I'm in a total state of flux, what with moving in 2 days and all. Have you seen the movie yet? Did I miss a post if you did? I could take an hour right now and chitchat about it but I need to take a shower before the cable peoples get here.

I have so much stuff! ZOMG!

[wolven.livejournal.com]

This was pretty much it. I was tired as hell, last night, when we got back from it. I liked it, pretty good, but there were some gaps and disconnects that kept me from getting fully into it, but it was all right.

Your thoughts?

[spinallandscape.livejournal.com]

I pretty much felt the same way. I was kinda bummed by the whole "HUGE MEGA HEATED BATTLE" at the end....but there was some way cool ideas in it that kept the whole thing novel. The way they killed Septimus Rocked! And M.P. is so damn hot.

And DeNiro was pretty great.

I wish they had kept Tristran being somewhat unextraordinary but with amazingly insightful, yet somehow plane, comments. I really liked that about him. You didn't really want to like him, he was kind of..well, Doormousey... and then at the end you really like him, and don't know how it happened. In this movie you Do know how it happened, though he is still a bit oblivious.

I think Yvaine was kinda boring though. And her admitting stuff to the mouse was pretty lame, so was her 'zomg you could hear me?' conversation. I really wish they had done that introduction of her with the whole 'fuck'. That was the best first-character line moment ever. She wasn't willful enough.

And I also have to say I really really really liked the original stardust ending. With Tristran growing old, and dying, and Yvaine being a perfect and terrible queen and singing to her sisters. That always gave me chills how it was written.

And, I have to admit I was totally excited about the scene with the Nymph-turned-tree....but they so teased you! And had a lame montagy type story expose. But eh, I knew that stuff would happen...I just didn't expect to be teased like that!

Yes, I reread it recently. I am not That awesome after 9 years. But yeah, there definitely felt like there were typical 'book made movie' blips, and I kept wondering if everyone else could follow the movie clearly. My friends I went with though, who hadn't read it, did adore it...soooooooo I dunno!

[wolven.livejournal.com]

really wish they had done that introduction of her with the whole 'fuck'.

I was thinking the Same thing. I kept waiting for it, but it never came. I was a little sad, then, as I knew that it was going to be a bit familied-up.

The more I think about it, the more I think mech_angel was right in saying it was a bit Too family friendly, in some parts, and not dark enough.

I re-read it last week, the original soft-cover illustrated. I think, having read it, we as a group will definitely get a different Thing out of it than those who see it, and Then read it.

[spinallandscape.livejournal.com]

That's always the case. See and then read always puts like..Clair danes in your head and makes you go 'whoa this is so much more in depth!'. Where as the other way around, you really can only be disappointed. I don't care what book or what movie, you are always in love with something and it's partly what your imagination came up with, not what MGM did.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

It's true, but I think that the levels of disappointment will vary, depending on who does it, how well they do it, and how much They love the original material.

[hametsunosaturn.livejournal.com]

When I saw it with mummy there was a little boy in our row that was crying during the witch fight at the end. He said, "I don't wanna watch this part, this is scary!" Poor kid.

But I thought the movie was amazing. The fact that it was such a good adaptation is a little surprising, because Neil didn't write the screenplay. Though, it's possible he didn't because he trusted the man.

I really think that this is a movie that'll last, even though it didn't do well in Box. It's just a good movie. People are speculating whether it's the next Princess Bride (and I've had my professional Princess Bride opinion asked on it, even).

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Poor kid, indeed... Witches are scary, sometimes, but if you don't watch, you won't know how to beat them.

I think the comparison to the Princess Bride is... a bit premature. I'd like to see the original illustrated book become a widely known and respected Faerie Tale, first, and I'll let the movie do what it's going to do.

I think we need a bit of distance from it, before we can start calling 23-year legacies.

I really need a PB icon...

[hametsunosaturn.livejournal.com]

True enough.

My response to the person who asked my professional Princess Bride opinion was the following:

I'd heard that before going in to see the movie. And from just knowing the basic plot, I didn't think it was Princess Bride-y at all.

After watching it, though, I did have a faint feel of Princess Bride-ness. Definitely the phrase, "murdered by pirates" stuck out. That's something Yvaine says, "I should get murdered by pirates?" And of course, "When Buttercup got the news that Westley was murdered -- " "Murdered by pirates is good!"

There are elements about it that make it more like The Princess Bride than any other movie I've seen... what with the young man dragging a young woman all over the place and keeping her out of danger. But it's hardly the same thing. There are very few direct similarities and really more of a similar feeling.

So I'd say that it's maybe The Princess Bride of the 2000s + but not that it's the same thing. But it was an amazing movie, an epic adventure, something both guys and girls can enjoy and comical the whole way through. I don't doubt it'll receive a similar cult standing as The Princess Bride, but with a younger crowd.

Re: I really need a PB icon...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

I think that captures it pretty nicely. You should definitely read the illustrated novel.

Re: I really need a PB icon...

[hametsunosaturn.livejournal.com]

I probably should...

Re: I really need a PB icon...

[wolven.livejournal.com]

*nods*

(headtilt)

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

To what capacity do you have a "professional Princess Bride opinion"?

That makes for all sorts of interesting.

Re: (headtilt)

[hametsunosaturn.livejournal.com]

The fact that I'm ridiculously obsessed with the movie. I've got the whole movie memorized, for one thing. Line for line. Well, I did, I probably need to brush up now.

I've probably seen the movie more times than anyone else you know (I'm willing to bet... but I've lost track of the number). I know all the music. I know how all the lines are spoken. I know how many time Vizzini laughs before he falls over dead. I know Buttercup says "OOT" when she lands at the bottom of the ravine. I can list all of the sword fighting techniques that Westley and Inigo talk about (though, I dunno about the spelling...).

I cannot recall a time in my life when I didn't know pretty much the entire plot of the movie. You can ask me any trivia questions about the movie, I'll probably know the answer (unless they're production questions, questions about the actors or silly things like "how many seconds were Buttercup and Westley under the lightning sand?" which I have been asked and knew at one point).

I've read the book, but I'm not nearly as knowledgeable about it as the movie, unfortunately. I do know, though, that in it there was a great line that was something like, "the fireswamp also had Snow Sand, which is not to be confused with Lightning Sand" despite the fact that it was called Lightning Sand in the movie!

I've got a CD of the soundtrack, two posters... maybe three, I forget. I've got two tee-shirts. I've got the VHS edition where they spell Westley's name wrong on the box (forgot the T!). I have the DVD, as well. I had a copy of it recorded off of HBO which I accidentally, and very devastatingly, left on a bus when we watched it on the way to Disney World when I was in 8th grade.

All of that... and it absolutely drives me mad every single time I hear someone misquote the Impressive Clergy Man's "Mawwage" speech.

Damn it. It's:
Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us togevah today. Mawwage. That Bwessade awandement. That dweam wivin a dweam.
(sand your ground men... stand your ground!)
Then WUV... Twoo Wuv... wiww fowwow you... fowevah...
So tweasure your wuv...
Have you the wing?
Do you... Pwincess Buhuquap ---
Man and wife.

My biggest pet peeve is when people say it and say it wrong. Because it's one of the most quoted scenes... Except The Impasse, which I think people are really afraid to try and quote because it's too long and confusing. I've heard people try and get the TO THE DEATH! NO! To The Pain... scene. But only 'cause it has the best barrage of insults.

I'm always sad that people are more interested in quoting the Mawwage scene rather than Fezzick's Dread Pirate Roberts scene. Which happens at the same time and is also speech impediment comedy. And has such great lines as, "My men are heah... I am heah... but soon YOOOU WIWW NO BE HEAH! Awe yo wost nightmes ah abot to come twooooooo!"

Is that sufficient?

<i>Impressive. Most impressive.</i>

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

But not "professional", pardon the pedantry. I was expecting you to be involved with making of, or maybe a movie or literature professor, or... basically getting money for your mania. (Not that I think any less of you for such.)

(Buhuquap, really?)

I'd say the movie of The Princess Bride isn't paced like a fairy tale, while Stardust is. So not a straight analog, but possibly a similar (and sometimes overlapping) following. Sadly, I haven't read either.

And I used to hate The Dark Crystal because of how scary it was, but now I like it.

Re: <i>Impressive. Most impressive.</i>

[hametsunosaturn.livejournal.com]

Bad choice of words on my part. Would Princess Bride Expert be more adequate?

Also, The Princess Bride was taglined as a fairy tale.
"Heroes. Giants. Villains. Wizards. True Love. - Not just your basic, average, everyday, ordinary, run-of-the-mill, ho-hum fairy tale."

Though, I've never been a huge fan of that tagline, mostly because I didn't consider Miracle Max a wizard. He's very clearly a Miracle Man, which I think is different.

Also because I always thought it should be, "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles" like the line the Grandfather has.

It's fairy tale-ish, though. It's supposed to be a satire on fairy tale stories, in a way. And I had said that I figured a younger version of the Princess Bride fans would be the sort to like Stardust, since they have similar qualities in the overall feel of the story. ...Basically all I'd said in my post above.

Drat, did it again.

[raidingparty.livejournal.com]

I'm a mite disappointed that the Subjects don't let you tag them.

More than adequate, I certainly wouldn't question your credentials. Definitely more accurate.

... and I agree with your fairy tale assessment.

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

is it a graphic novel? I've seen the paperback in the store but I was under the impression it was originally illustrated and would rather purchase the illustrated version.

I restricted a few things media=wise from my boys for political/personal reasons: Disney's The Little Mermaid - because I did not want them watching a movie about an anorexic twit whose biggest goal in life was to change her whole fucking body in order to appeal to some strange guy she saw ONCE and The Incredible Hulk because I did not want them to go see a "fun" movie about a guy whose only redeeming quality is that when he gets pissed off enough, he trashes everything but since he's trashing "the bad guys" its acceptable. Both insipid aspirations of femininity and cavallier attitudes about masculinity were abhorrent to me.

Sometimes restrictions can be good - at least in this crazy society.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Sometimes restrictions can be good

Oh absolutely, there's no question about that, but it's a matter of What restrictions, and Why.

And it's... more like an illustrated novel. It's really very pretty. Charles Vess is an amazing artist.