Fantasy Books to Movie Adaptation: Love Them, Hate Them

Would I say I love or hate the way many classic fantasy books have been adapted to movies ? Well, I cannot say that I truly hate them, for I am always excited whenever Hollywood announce such projects. I do not really love them too (except maybe for the Peter Jackson's LOTR) , for what we usually get are dumbed down, Hollywoodised fantasy turned into action movies.

Reading any book , especially fantasy genre , requires a huge dose of imagination. I would say my imaginations usually exists in 2 dimensions, rather like figures in a comic book. In a movie, to see my imaginations take shape in 3D, in full colours, in impossibly beautiful scenery settings is wonderful, but at the same time sad. For these beautiful scenes will overwrite my initial visions. The feeling is just not the same anymore, and even if I reread the books, I find it hard to recapture the initial feelings. And then, I realise these new visions does not even belong to me , but to the directors' , and shared by millions of viewers.

In the end, there is only hope. Hope that the producers and directors do their best to keep true to the story. It is a good chance book lovers to share with movie lovers in the wonderful stories, and along the way, also bring new fans that will read the books because of the movie.

Prince Caspian: The Chronicles Of Narnia

I approached this movie with trepidations, wondering if this movie will rise above the "really a kid's movie" I bestowed on it's predecessor , The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Well, glad to say that it was better than the 1st movie, it deserve to be described as "an above average teenage movie" (well, the kids have obviously grown up here now, so it cannot be a kid's movie anymore , rite ?).

The four main leads have much improved, unlike the 1st movie where they hardly make any impressions at all. Maybe that was the problem with the 1st movie, it feels ridiculous for four kids to be proclaimed Kings and Queens of Narnia. Now that they are older and more mature , it was somehow more acceptable. I do look forward to the next installment now, if only to see how Edmund and Lucy will blossom in their characters.

However , the newcomer as Prince Caspian does not make much an impression on me , other than being quite cute and having a soulful gaze. But luckily the much touted additional romance element between Caspian and Susan was not too bad. Except for a not so subtle first look at each other (roll eyes ...) and the compulsory "hero save the damsel"(roll eyes again!) moment, it was very barely there. And I actually think that the impulsive kiss by Susan at the end of the movie was kinda sweet.

Another major gripe is the many silly jokes inserted to lighten up the movie, which I feel is totally unneccessary. I mean, this story was set in 1940s England, an era where people do NOT make smart retorts or silly remarks . I would not mind a few jokes, but there were way too many that I keep rolling my eyes whenever yet another character make yet another cute quip ! Most jokes were so typical "American sitcom-like", I could almost hear the prerecorded laughter.

As usual there were many big battles and special effects thrown around the movie. Most were reminiscent of The Lord Of The Rings, but then which fantasy movie does not? So I shall keep my peace on this point here.

All in all, much better than the 1st movie, much better than I expected, and I can now safely look forward to the 3rd one.

Iron Man

Usually I do not like superheroes movies unless they are really good , and Iron Man is one of the more enjoyable one. Okay, the main reason I gave this movie a chance is Robert Downey Jr.

He is a critically acclaimed actor who unfortunately often made headlines for the wrong reasons. I have always liked him since his early films like "Chaplin" and am glad he cleaned up his act and made good this comeback movie.

I had some misgiving at first about Gwyneth Paltrow providing the eye-candy in this movie. Well , eye-candy she definitely is not, for she had quite a washed-out look throughout the whole movie , but that is in line with her character as the harrased , unappreciated assistant to Tony Stark aka Iron Man. She is the perfect foil to the irrespressible Robert Downey Jr. I only wish she didn't have such a silly name - Pepper Potts !

As for the bad guy, you can spot him one mile off. No surprises here from a typical villain, well, at least he didn't do the evil laugh routine , which really turns me off superheroes movies. As for superheroes moments , I would say there are very few here . No saving a busload of innocent schoolkids or catching a falling damsel in distress ala Superman - good !

All in all, quite a fun and enjoyable movie.

Light is The Left Hand Of Darkness

So that is the answer to the rather cryptic title of this book.

It took me more than one year to finish this book, and the book has accompanied on 2 working trips to Japan. This has been one difficult book to 'digest' , although Ursula K. Leguin has always has my deepest respect and admiration for her Earthsea series.

This book about the world of Genthen has two interesting concepts as its basis : that it is an icy and genderless world.

It is really fascinating to see how Genthenians adapt to a world stuck in perpetual Ice Age. From clothes to transport to housing and the physiological aspect, the Genthenians has evolved to adapt to the harsh environment. It is thought-provoking to ponder what will happen to us, human beings when another Ice Age strike Earth, for surely we will survive, but how ?

The concept of being genderless most of the time is interesting too. For the Genthenians will only turn into a male or female during the "kemmering" state, a few days in a month when they are sexually active. For the rest of the time, they are neither a she nor a he, with no sex drive at all. As the world is not divided into the dominant and docile sex, the concept of war and agression is unknown to them. Thus, Genthen turns out to be a peaceful but harsh world. It really makes one rethink about "All men are equal" in a new light.

Although this is one interesting story, the pace of the story crawled slowly, as the writer lavishly create this world. This is certainly not a page-turner , but an elegant story set in a interesting world that rightly deserve its status as a sci-fi classic.

Quill , the Japanese film

Quill was shown on 8TV as a Labour's Day special . Quill chronicles the 11 years of life of a Labrador that became a guide dog for the blind . Although I was surprised it was dubbed in Cantonese , the voice actors did quite a good job here .

I expected Quill to be a touching tale of a dog's life . But the film style here is more documentary-like , which can get quite boring . Although Quill is quite a cute Lab , the funny or touching moments are few and far in this film . The problem is Quill is such a good , restrained dog that there is not a single bark from him throughout the film . His happiness or unhappiness is expressed by a few whimpers at most . The viewers only get to know of Quill's feelings through the narrator of the story .

I love dogs but somehow dogs that does not bark seem unnatural to me . I think I would much prefer Marley (of the The World's Worst Dog fame) more than the obedient Quill .

The Great Eastern contest

Great Eastern has launched a contest called 52 Amazing Experiences in conjuction with Great Eastern centennial celebrations .

As I am eligible to join this contest , I was really attracted to win one particular Experience : Northern Lights in Scandinavia .

But to my disappointment , after getting all hyped up and penning down a sure-win slogan , I found out at the end of the online registration that I need to give 3 referrals names and contact numbers !

As I am one who always respect the privacy of my friends , I would NEVER divulge such private information as contact numbers no matter how attractive a contest may be . What irked me the most is that this rule is NOT stated clearly BEFORE one joins the contest , resulting in wasted time and effort for me .

I was so incensed that I actually wrote a quite a scathing email to Great Eastern . Well , let's see if there is any response .... and oops , I just increased the statistics of my failed trivial pursuits .

If anyone is eligible (read GEL policyholders , of course) to join this contest , check it out at :
http://www.live100percent.com.my/ . Contest ends on 30th Nov 2008.

The AXA online contest

The AXA Affin Life Insurance Berhad is having an online contest, where the winner gets to walk away with a cool RM 50,000 . Needless to say I quickly register to try my luck .

The game is easy to play and after a few tries , I kinda get the hang of it . The trick to get more GamePoints , is to click [YES] as fast as possible to most of the questions . Just do not bankrupt yourself and do NOT get into the RED ZONE of the pie chart . The RED ZONE will make you lose points very quickly at every move until you get out of this zone .

My highest GamePoint is 2749198 , which I feel is quite high , but it didn't even get me into the Top 10 ranking . Sigh .... another failed trivial pursuit ...

Check it out at http://www.myaxaplan.com.my/. The contest ends on 30th June 2008.