Can't Wait?

My speculations on movies coming out this year.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Pros: A Jack-only adventure is sure to be fantastic.
Cons: Penelope Cruz/Might be inappropriate.

Kung Fu Panda 2
Pros: The first movie was great!
Cons: This isn't the first movie. (There's also a rumor floating around that the villain is a...peacock?)

Cars 2
Pros: It's Pixar/A pretty good plot.
Cons: None, except that I didn't really like the first one.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Pros: It's Harry Potter.
Cons: I really disliked part 1.

Winnie the Pooh
Pros: Who doesn't love our "silly old bear"?
Cons: It seems like Disney's grasping for straws at this point.

Captain America
Pros: A patriotic superhero is just what we need.
Cons: The chance of inappropriate content/What if they portray political ideas?

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island
Pros: I loved the first movie
Cons: The cast/The possibility it won't be that great.

The Three Musketeers
Pros: I love Alexandre Dumas's classic.
Cons: Again, the possibility of inappropriate material/What if they don't get it right?

Arthur Christmas
Pros: We need a new Christmas movie, and animated films tend to be good.
Cons: A not-so-big-production-company made it/Am I the only one who thinks this looks like Prep & Landing?

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Pros: The  book was fantastic/The casting seems pretty good so far.
Cons: They might not get the book right.

National Treasure 3
Pros: The first movies were brilliant.
Cons: What if it's not brilliant?

A Long-Expected Movie



Picture by Celtic Traveler, courtesy of theonering.net & Picnik.com





The Magician's Nephew Quotes

Picture by Kecky
"Grown-ups are always thinking of uninteresting explanations," said Digory.

I suppose you planned the whole thing, so that she'd go without knowing it and then I'd have to go after her."
"Of course," said Uncle Andrew with his hateful smile.
"Very well. I'll go. But there's one thing I jolly well mean to say first. I didn't believe in Magic till today. I see now it's real. Well if it is, I suppose all the old fairy tales are more or less true. And you're simply a wicked, cruel magician like the ones in the stories. Well, I've never read a story in which people of that sort weren't paid out in the end, and I bet you will be. And serve you right."

What it said was something like this - at least this is the sense of it though the poetry, when you read it there, was better: Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;/Strike the bell and bide the danger,/Or wonder, till it drives you mad,/What would have followed if you had.
"No fear!" said Polly. "We don't want any danger."

Digory suddenly remembered that Uncle Andrew had used exactly the same words. But they sounded much grander when Queen Jadis said them; perhaps because Uncle Andrew was not seven feet tall and dazzling beautiful.

I expect most witches are like that. They are not interested in things or people unless they can use them; they are terribly practical.

And if you want me to come back, hadn't you better say you're sorry?"
"Sorry?" exclaimed Digory. "Well now, if that isn't just like a girl! What have I done?"
"Oh nothing of course," said Polly sarcastically. "Only nearly screwed my wrist off in that room with all the waxworks, like a cowardly bully. Only struck the bell with the hammer, like a silly idiot. Only turned back in the wood so that she had time to catch hold of you before we jumped into our own pool. That's all."

"This is not Charn," came the Witch's voice. "This is an empty world. This is Nothing."

"Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love. Think. Speak."
 
"Of course it can't really have been singing," he thought, "I must have imagined it. Who ever heard of a lion singing?"
 
"Why," said the Bulldog, "if a fellow can't trust his nose, what is he to trust?"
"Well, his brains perhaps," she replied mildly.
 
"I don't suppose they're anywhere yet," said Polly. "I mean, there's no one there, and nothing happening. The world only began to-day."
"No, but people will get there," said Digory. "And then they'll have histories, you know."
 
"No thanks," said Digory, "I don't know that I care much about living on and on after everyone I know is dead. I'd rather live an ordinary time and die and go to Heaven."
 
"Be just and merciful and brave. The blessing is upon you."
 
"Understand, then, that it would have healed her; but not to your joy or hers."

Love Letters

Picture by Francesco Hayez
Even famous people wrote letters to thier loved ones.
Huzzah for sappy holidays!


A letter from you, and the universe (that's me) sings.
-Malcom Lowry to Jan Gabrial

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart...
-William Wordsworth to His Wife Mary

But your belongings are like that for me-they're sacred. When I see your hat, it becomes "the only hat in the world" for me.
-Katherine Mansfield to John Middleton Murry

The sun cannot shine without you, the birds can make no melody. The flowers have no other beauty or perfume-all is a meaningless waste. I love you darling...You are in every thought, dream, hope, desire.
-Austin Dickinson to Mabel Todd

Everything reminds me of you so much. If I go into the drawing-room, the piano reminds me of you and your violin and the "Shepherds Dance", and "One More", and I feel miserable. Then if I go into the dining-room, there's somebody missing from the table and I'm miserable...
-Unknown Author to Mary Cartland

When you have gone away,/No flowers more, methinks, will be-/No more maple leaves in all the world-/Till you come back to me.
-Yanagiwara Yasu-Ko

The Shortest and Sweetest of Songs

                  Come

                  Home.

-George MacDonald

No...

I just got news that my favorite author, Brian Jacques, passed away  this Saturday. He was 71 years old.

His Redwall series opened up a new world for me. I remember walking into a library six years ago (was it only six?) I had seen the books before and decided to try them out. I'm so very, very glad I did. I loved everything about them. I loved the heroes and the battles, and the sense of justice and hope in each one. I read through the series as fast as I could, checking out a new one each week. When my library ran out of them, I went to a new library and continued reading them.

The Rogue Crew will be coming out in March. How I wish it wasn't the final one.

R.I.P, Mr. Jacques.
Thank for everything.

Oh My Goodness

I've been awarded the Versatile Blogger Award by Margaret W.
Thank you so very much!
Now I have to tell you seven things about myself.
Let's see...

1. I simply can't stand modern art. Give me a Vermeer or a Monet any day. (Same with books. The older, the better.)
2. I really get into movies when I watch them. Even in movie theaters I gasp and jump at certain moments.
3. I think all the time, and sometimes I concentrate so hard that people come up to me and ask if I'm alright.
4. I will eat almost anything. Even haggis.
5. I'm a sucker for a good romance.
6. I love sunsets. And I'd hate to live in a big city where I couldn't see the stars.
7. I wish I could discover something that wasn't yet discovered.

Enough about me. I award these amazing bloggers:
A Celtic Cowgirl~Gwyn
Gray's Locket~Gray
Where the Sun Shines~Sananora
Random Writer~writergirl

Whoa

Inception

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout.

How to describe it? Words like mind blowing, stunning, trippy and pure genius seem adequate enough.

But they'd still be an understatement.

Inception has to have the most brilliantly-constructed plot I've ever seen. The totems, dream levels, limbo, everything. It was amazing. And it perfectly captured the strangeness and wonder of dreams. I ecspecially liked how they had to (literally) fight thier subconcious.
And it actually wasn't too difficult to understand. All you need to know  is that Mal is his dead wife and Cobb is on the run.

The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the swearing.
One thing. That's rare.

Well, what can I say? Though I was hesitant to watch it, it is seriously one of the best movies ever made. I was so glad I saw it. You'll be, too.

Just one word of advice: Don't trust your eyes.

Verdict: Go rent it now. And then watch it all over again when you've finished. (And possibly even again after that.)
Grey Travel Rating: 4/5
Special Effects: 6/5
Plot: 6/5
Characters: 5/5
Acting: 5/5
Objectionable Content: Uses of the D-word, H-word and the Lord's name in vain. Also, Cobb vaguely mentions a love nest.