Finding Neverland

Wow, I just watched "Finding Neverland,"...it's probably one of my new favorite movies.

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"Award winners Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie star in this magical tale about one of the world's greatest storytellers and the people who inspired his masterwork, Peter Pan! Well known playwright James M. Barrie finds his career at a crossroads when his latest play flops and doubters question his future. Then by chance he meets a widow and her four adventurous boys. Together they form a friendship that ignites the imagination needed to produce Barrie's greatest work!" ~Synopsis on the back of the DVD case =D
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Pros:

• One of the reasons I enjoyed this movie was because it combined two of my favorite things: Fantasy, and theatre!!
• Also, I found the scenery to be absolutely stunning throughout the whole film!
• The musical score was beautiful!
• I personally loved the snatches of the actual play of "Peter Pan" that you catch throughout
• Smaller children will enjoy the small, subtle references between the people who influenced the main characters of the "Peter Pan" and, uh, the characters they influenced, if that makes sense.

Cons:

• Um.... It says on the little label in the back, " Some material may not be suitable for children." I can't exactly think what that might specifically entail... oh wait, brilliant; it says, "For mild thematic elements and brief language." I don't recall language being used... but whatever.
• Uh...Not all the acting is superb.

All in all, I must say I found this movie very enjoyable!! Again, I'm studying as much as I can relating to "Peter Pan," for the play that I'm officially going to do!! Auditions are this Wednesday, so keep me in your prayers!! Thanks so much!!

Woohoo!!!

I just got my hands on an unabridged version of "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare!!! If your looking for me anytime soon, I suggest searching all the odd & obscure corners where I read!! Cheerios!!

Peter Pan: A Book Review

So I don't know if I just don't have a broad enough imagination or what, but I really didn't care for "Peter Pan" by Sir James Barrie. The plot seemed too...... it seems as if Sir Barrie made it up as he went along. Actually, there was no major discernible plot as far as I could tell. But here's the summary (thanks to Commonsensemedia.org):

"One night Peter Pan flies through the window of the Darling nursery in search of his shadow. There he meets Wendy, Michael, and John, teaches them to fly, and leads them to the home of the Lost Boys in Neverland.
... There, among pirates, Indians, and wild animals, the children have innumerable adventures.
But Captain Hook, the evil leader of the pirates, is determined to wipe out the Lost Boys, and especially the cocky Pan. He concocts a plan to kidnap the boys and Wendy, poison Peter, and make the boys walk the plank while Wendy watches. But Tinkerbell the fairy saves Peter from the poison, setting the stage for a final confrontation aboard the pirate ship."

I can't say I found any of the characters lovable, nor could I identify with any of them. They were all so... I don't know the word- the author describes Peter multiple times as "conceited" or "cocky," which I found to be true, but that wasn't the word I was looking for. The Darling children are described as "selfish," which was true towards the end, but again, not quite the word. I suppose it's that they're either so stereotypical, or that they're so outside the box that you couldn't quite believe that they were real.

The time concept just threw me off completely, I really couldn't discern what was happening when and where. And then the ending did not satisfy me at all. (I shan't say what the ending was, for the sake of *trying to* keeping this spoiler free, but it was VERY annoying and dissatisfying. Well okay- *spoilerish* practically everyone forgot)

I'm trying to think of something positive to say about it... it's very interesting to watch all of these characters, with their idiosyncrasies, interact with one another. The cocky Pan, the motherly Wendy, oblivious Smee, scheming Hook, etc.

After seeing the Disney movie, it's interesting to note that Captain Hook was voted the second scariest villain in children's literature (The White Witch from "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" came in first)(And I have to admit, I thought Hook was indeed scarier in the book than the Disney version).

Well, I'm afraid I'm just rambling now, so I'll stop. But wait- before I stop, I wanted to mention that the reason I read "Peter Pan" was because a theatre is putting on a production of it here and I was thinking of taking part in it. I still haven't decided if I will, but if I do, you can all be sure that I will tell you ;-P. Okay, I'm really stopping now. Cheerio!!

Adding to my booklist...

In addition to what I posted earlier, here are a couple other books I plan on reading. I figured that the original list was far enough down on the page that I could just continue up here, if that makes sense. So here we go:

13: Peter Pan Sir James Barrie

14: Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte (I actually started reading this at one point, but I had to return it to the library ): )

15: Don Quixote The authors name I forget at the moment...

16: Crime & Punishment Another forgotten author's name

17: The Shack What is it with me and forgetting the names of all these authors?!

18: My Antonia Willa Cather (YES!!! I remembered an author's name!!)

19: SHERLOCK HOLMES!!!!! Sir Conan Doyle I've finished "The Hound of the Baskervilles," and I plan on reading several more in the near future.

20: I started "Gone With the Wind," but it was super intimidating so I only read like five pages. I think I'll try it again later, but uh, it's not looking too hopeful...

Yeah, and that's about it for now. If you have any suggestions, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssseeeee, I'm begging you, let me know!!! Thank you!

A Word on Words

Those of you who know me personally may have noticed that me vocabulary is not limited to the English language, or even any written language. I use "my words" (Words that I've simply made up, or interesting phrases that I've heard elsewhere) all the time. I'll also use actually words that you can find in the English dictionary, but that no one seems to know. To name but a few, there are:

-Awesomeness
-Awesomerest
-Ridiculousness (I use that one a whole darned lot)
-Skadoosh
-Flubberbuckets (A term I commonly use when referring to the makers of the "Eragon" film. What were they THINKING?!?!)
-Dandiful (Meaning "full of dandyness- I use it quite a bit)

Actual words that can be found in the dictionary (again, here's just a sampling):
-Collywobbles (Means, can you guess, a stomach ache!!! It's hilarious to see peoples faces when you go up to them and say something to the effect of:" I've got the collywobbles")
-Collimate (To make parallel- I don't use this one so much since there really aren't a lot of opportunities to employ it)
- Shillyshally (An extremely indecisive person-- so me!! My friends and I use this one quite a bit...)
-Fard (Ha HA!!! This is a favorite of my family!!!! Can you guess what it means?? I'll put the answer on the comment board!)
-Dandy. I really don't know how I got started on this one, but I use it on a daily basis
Phrases...

-Grand idear. Man, I mean the looks people give you when you say this!! "Did you just say "idear?" "Yes, i-d-e-a-r, ideeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaarr."
-For the love of cheese pizza!! 'Nuff said.
-Oh my crunchy goodness!!
Aaaannnddd.... I know there's a bunch of other ones, but I can't think of them at the moment.

Oh, here's two other real words: Fantstical & fantasticalnes. I have used these quite often, thinking they were "my words". I put them on an email or something awhile ago, and then spell checked it, thinking that they would be highlighted as an improper word, but they weren't!! So I looked it up in the dictionary, and sure darned enough, there they were!! "Fantastical" & "fantasticalness". Quite the interestingness.

Oh, and just so that we're all aware, "skadoosh" and "awesomeness" were my words long before Kung Fu Panda ever came out!!!! Actually, I haven't seen Kung Fu Panda, but I had been using those words around some one who had seen it, and they said something to the effect of, "Hey, did you pick that up from Kung Fu Panda?" "NO!!!!!" "Oh...well they use those words in them..." Sheesh people!!! What in the heck is up with this?!?! I've got to start copyrighting these or something...

First Freeze of the Year!!

Hello everyone!! It FROZE here the other night; I was sooo excited about it!! And I got some lovely pictures of the ice and such (yeah, I know, I'm a bit of a dork). This may not seem like such a big deal to some, but I was quite pleased that everything looked so lovely. =) Anyway, here they are; enjoy!

The ice hanging off the ladder on the swing set...

^I'm not quite sure what this is; some plant in the backyard, but I liked it. :)

The ground had this cool pattern all over it.

And *cough* the sticks.

I've got to go now, but... yeah, I like winter!! Cheerios!!

Is there something wrong with this??

So, this is a little random, but my little brother just beat me in basketball. Big time. In around the world, H-O-R-S-E, & C-A-T. I beat him in one-on-one only because I'm taller. Anyway, is there something wrong about that?! I believe that I am the only non-athletic member of my family... quite the unfairness. =P

2009 Reading List!

Delaney did something similar on her blog, and I have decided to do the same. For those of you who would like to know, here's what I plan to be reading this year!~

(Not necessarily in this order)

1: I want to read more Shakespeare; specifically, Macbeth, Hamlet, and a couple others
2: Also, I need to read more G. K. Chesterton. I believe I've read a few of his, but I want to read more =D
3: I will probably be re-reading all of the Chronicles of Narnia at least once more. (for about the one hundred eighty-millionth time)
4: I am determined to read all of Jane Austen's novels; thus far, I've only read Pride & Prejudice, and I'm halfway through Emma.
5: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Mark Twain
6: The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux (I'm actually in the process of reading that right now)
7: My Antonia Willa Cather
8: Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
9: Left to Tell Immaculee Ilibagiza (I'm also reading this one right now)
10: I want to re-read Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) as well as Little Men, Jo's Boys, etc.
11:The Witch of Blackbird Pond Speare
12: I'd like to read the Anne of Green Gables series again...

And.... yeah, a bunch of others. If you have any suggestions, please let me know on the comment board!! I'd really appreciate any suggestions!! That's all for now!

What are they thinking?!

So I heard through the grapevine that Andrew Lloyd Webber is writing a sequel to the Phantom of the Opera. I didn't believe it at first, but then I did some research (I love google =D). Here's what I finally came up with.


Called "Phantom: Love Never Dies", the upcoming musical is loosely based off the novel "The Phantom of Manhattan" by Frederick Forsyth. Webber hopes to release it late 2009 with simultaneous openings in London, New York, and Asia. As far as I could figure, the plot was basically thus (And, for the record, made me want to gag):

After losing Christine, the phantom flees to Coney Island, and starts his own little show business. Still mourning the lost of Christine, etc, etc.
Meanwhile, Christine has become a very famous opera singer, but Raoul has expended the family fortune, through some means or other. Thus, Christine is obliged to except a high paying gig in New York (Coney Island, to be specific). When she goes to meet her new boss, who should it be but - flash of light, crash of cords - the phantom!! Ahem. So Christine has a child and the proverbial "they" in the show are trying to figure out who the father is; Phantom or Raoul.

Ugh.

I believe I heard Katherine Jenkins is starring as Christine. Phantom is either going to be played by Gerard Butler (who was the phantom in the 2004 film adaption) or Hugh Jackman, the star of Baz Luhrmann's film Australia, who has appeared on stage in Sunset Boulevard, Oklahoma! and The Boy from Oz, for which he won Best Actor in a musical Tony Award. "They" know who will be playing phantom, but they aren't saying. *scowl*

So I'm wondering whether to laugh or to cry at the thought. What are they thinking?

Goodbye 2008

Have a very happy, blessed new year, everyone!!

Hello 2009!