HIS DARK MATERIALS

Done. Damn. Not the ending I would have guessed, but the right one it was.

Oh and I did like this from way upthread:

That said, Lee Scoresby = Sam Elliott

-- g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Thursday, August 7, 2003 9:18 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Link

The power of prediction! (Then again I think Sam Elliott is required to play crusty old Texans by law now.)

More after mental digestion and pondering but you know what the mulefa/wheelie creature world reminded me most of? The first book in Doris Lessing's Canopus in Argos series, Shikasta. I wouldn't be surprised if there was an intentional reference going on.

i read an interview that was done years ago where pullman said he imagined scoresby as sam jackson!

And then you cut away his daemon. Meanie.

My god, Ned, what kind of mother do you think I am?!

Actually, nevermind - don't answer that.

I started reading the first book to Alex tonight. So excited! I suppose this "reading aloud" ritual is going to stop sometime soon, but for now it's still so fun for both of us.

Also I am excited to re-read!

Make sure you do all the voices.

Anyway, noted that what is apparently the big fansite for the whole shebang has some word on the full Cannes footage. A couple of added characters but it'll probably have the advantage of fleshing out the Magesterium's role a bit in the first film. That said, I do like how the books continually amp up and out -- what seemed pretty wide-ranging in the first book ends up darned parochial at the end.

Whoa, this thing is coming up pretty quick, I realized.

Official site features the new trailer. Mostly extensions of what we've seen before but there is a specific change -- Ian McKellen is doing the voice of Iorek (as can readily be heard).

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10242007/gossip/pagesix/nicoles_next_another_turkey_.htm

:-(

dont really trust page six's film criticism.

especially rumours that are as vague and unsourced as possible.

I am almost done with the first book and, to be honest, I don't think it's that great. I don't like Pullman's tendency to switch tenses in the midst of a sentence, and suddenly include in Lyra's inner monologue a universally-addressed "you" as in "Lyra blah blah blah, but you wouldn't ever want to do that..." blah blah blah. It's alright, don't get me wrong. But it is only occasionally INVOLVING (like when she & the kiddies are attempting to escape the kiddie prison.) Also, I think the treatment of the alethiometer could have been more expansive. Pullman seems to have given up on in depth explanations towards the end and instead just gives quick answers. Kind of irritating.

it doesn't get better

yeah, i don't have much interest in reading more.

not to mention the shit with the bear king is TOTALLY unbelievable.
unless i am overestimating the intelligence of a bear.

Punks, both of you.

have you read A Game of Thrones yet, Ned?

x-post -- Although since Remy is probably still in tears over The Dark is Rising's abomination in screen form I forgive him.

I'm rethinking my decision to wait out the conclusion of long series before reading them, given Jordan's inadvertant screwing up of his plans.

what does that have to do with this? have you read it yet?

read game of thrones before the eye of the world. Jordan's series rapidly devolves after the fourth or fifth book. xppp

Didn't I mention this elsewhere, s1ocki? For a long while now I've preferred to wait until series are complete before reading them (there are tons more self-contained things I can and do enjoy reading -- and writing! -- in the meantime).

so, is anne rice still writing those vampire novels? how can you BEAR to wait on those?

;-)

Hahah, THAT'S a train I'm glad I never got fully on (read the first three shortly after the third came out and then got bored -- LIKE ANY SANE PERSON WOULD BE).

imma back ian up 100% on game of thrones, they are a brilliant read.

anyone else try the prince of nothing series?

i actually just started reading this the other day. really enjoyable so far.

....btw, is there a thread on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? THAT book fucking rocks.

<I>Prince of Nothing</I>, I admit, really catches my eye. I might just go ahead and take the plunge on that one, plus Steven Erikson's stuff.

Steven Erikson is AWESOME.

Meantime, this Idolator post is prefaced with a bit including my new favorite phrase: "the increasingly fragmented attention economy." That really applies in my case! For instance, I'm gearing up on a long-mooted project with my NaNoWriMo work next month, one I expect to take up a lot of time beyond November. Being able to dip into a single book or standalone ones in a larger framework (like Iain Banks's Culture novels) feels handier for me right now; also, at a certain point I realized, "Wait, the more time I spend getting lost in huge series all over the place, the less time I have to do the writing I want to do!" It's all trade-off in the end, we make the choices we feel best about.

Didn't I mention this elsewhere, s1ocki? For a long while now I've preferred to wait until series are complete before reading them (there are tons more self-contained things I can and do enjoy reading -- and writing! -- in the meantime).

-- Ned Raggett, Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:03 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

but this series is finished! so that's what i wondered.

Oh right, I see the confusion. No, I finally read this trilogy a few months back, my comments are upthread somewhere.

I'm intrigued as to how a His Dark Materials movie sequence will go down in the USA, considering what happens at the end of the trilogy.
-- caitlin (caitlin), Monday, July 7, 2003 3:44 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

this is the only reason I'm curious to see the film -- the plot really spins into areas that most of the moral majority will find unacceptable, it's completely unfilmable -- it's beyond the point where they can water it down, it's going to require a lobotomy

don't tempt me into reading the rest of the trilogy.
bad milton, bad caitlin.

it doesn't change in tone, though it does get darker and morally ambiguous. I'd only read it if you have time.

btw, is there a thread on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell? THAT book fucking rocks

OTMFM. Never read anything quite like it.

Re: ending of His Dark Materials, I don't think it gets morally ambiguous in the end, i think he cops out and goes for a more standard ending. In fact, the entire last book was a major disappointment.

Am I the only person with family and acquaintances religious enough to be sending me forwards warning me of the dangers of seeing this movie - or letting my kids see it? Seriously, I got two today in my email.

(Also, why do people who know me think I identify as a Christian? I don't get it.)

Oooh... what are teh dangerses?

Sara -- send 'em this in turn and tell 'em to fuck off. (Politely.)

Aw, Ned. You know I always say that politely.

Here's the link to the Snopes.com page which contains the email and details of TEH DANGERS:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Of course, the ironic part is that this is probably the best word of mouth advertising that the movie could get; a good number of people will see it to see what all the fuss is about.

the churchy backlash was inevitable. i'm surprised they haven't made a bigger deal out of the books before, they've been popular enough in the u.s. i guess the forces of light were too busy fighting harry potter.

I would like the film version to be 2.5 hrs of bears in armor, with Marlon Perkins voiceover.

Sara, send them Pullman's v long interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury and/or tell them to shut the hell up.

The second of two interviews, not sure if the first one is also online.

Sorry, the first occasion wasn't a conversation, it was the Archbishop's address on the subject of religious education.

Just to clarify, Laurel's excellent link was to the last page of the conversation. Here is the start of it. Any hysteria over this book/film should be dispelled by reading this conversation.

So we went to see the film last night, and...

Emma and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't amazing, and nowhere near as good as the books, but considering I think the books are amongst the best I've ever read, to match them is a big ask.

I thought the girl who played Lyra was terrific. Nicole Kidman was very good. They kept all the key elements of the book, both plot and characters. The aesthetic was TERRIFIC, from the 30s style dinner parties to Scoresby's ship to the panserbjorn's armour, I thought it all worked. The electric carriage was particularly cool.

I wish... I guess I wish it had been a little braver and a little more adult; I wish they'd made it twenty minutes longer, given more context to the world, to the Gyptians, had the bit on the fens, not quite telegraphed things as much. The first 30 minutes of the film were SO FAST. I wish they'd upped the scariness / gore a touch too, made it a 12 or a 15A.

But overall, thoroughly enjoyed it, and would go to watch it again on a 2for1 Wednesday, definitely.

I like the previous work of that polar bear in the Coke TV ads.

i have to go see this today for work. lol.

i'm pretty much with scik. it's hard tho if you know the books already.

I am seeing it specifically because of this comment in the NY Times review:

"Despite the pit stops and lovely clutter, some of it visibly influenced by David Lynch’s “Dune,”

that's a WARNING