tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post1326954367437045490..comments2023-05-08T04:34:28.557-07:00Comments on Sydney's Blog: His Dark Materials: Not So DarkSydneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17360198761136198922noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post-255839507616797642008-05-04T22:33:00.000-07:002008-05-04T22:33:00.000-07:00I think this is some of the best critical writing ...I think this is some of the best critical writing I've ever read about anything. Haven't seen the movie. Read the books with attention because they were favorites of a dear friend. The last really does get all wobbly and didactic. Which is a pity, because it was really a very good fantasy action adventure. Pullman had a great story to tell, but he didn't really have anything to say about faith, except that he's agin' it.<BR/><BR/>It suppose it resonates more with people who were abused with religion as a pretext. My father, who grew up wanting to be a scientist in fundamentalist Texas, has a similarly puerile picture of religion: he'd never been around an intelligent person of faith, and had no idea that any such existed.Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14523194846272870013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post-25958745237384396622008-01-20T23:37:00.000-08:002008-01-20T23:37:00.000-08:00lol At the end of the movie the Darth Vader action...lol At the end of the movie the Darth Vader action minus the mask and respirator is pretty thick. It's really, really hard to miss in the movie... so hard to miss, the only way you COULD miss it is if you had no idea who or what Darth Vader is/was. xDAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02375814414724591132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post-19040786133291991462008-01-20T16:10:00.000-08:002008-01-20T16:10:00.000-08:00Sam- Oh man, I can't believe that I didn't see the...Sam- Oh man, I can't believe that I didn't see the Darth Vader parallels before now! That is hilarious! All she needs is asthma and a helmet. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, although I don't know how they could fit even a quarter of the book into a two hour movie.Sydneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17360198761136198922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post-68050508632964425992008-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:002008-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:00Joseph- What's so funny to me about you not regist...Joseph- What's so funny to me about you not registering killing God as blasphemous (or whatever) is that the book doesn't really either! <BR/><BR/>**START SPOILERS**<BR/><BR/><BR/>When they find God and break him out of his little crystal cage, it's so anticlimactic. And then no one ever mentions it again! What the hell! <BR/><BR/>**END SPOILERS**<BR/><BR/>My other gripe, that I keep forgetting, re-remembering and then re-forgetting (but which is currently in my head) is the whole nonsense with... Okay, I will try to make this comprehensible to those who haven't read the book. Imagine you're reading a book about Troy and it's told from the Trojan perspective, so Achilles is like Mr. Bad News. It gets to the big fight with Memnon, Achilles is all ready to do battle, sharpening his sword, polishing his shield, and out of the corner of his eye he spies some Trojans wearing big leather Trojan belts (just pretend it was like the thing that made them Trojan: belt wearing). And in the midst of all of this he thinks, "And when I'm done with Memnon, I'm so going to take those belts away. Yeah, that'll teach these nasty Trojans to mess with Achilles! No more belts for any of them!" He stands up, takes a step towards Memnon and Paris shoots him in the heel. One must ask one's self, "What was with the belt thing? What was the purpose of that?" There is such a scene in "The Amber Spyglass" and it really makes me question the editor. I mean, who wouldn't have cut that?Sydneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17360198761136198922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post-49078568641386375562008-01-19T23:18:00.000-08:002008-01-19T23:18:00.000-08:00I haven't read any of the books yet, but it is som...I haven't read any of the books yet, but it is something that I plan on doing eventually. (I highly doubt that Astoria has these books being sold ANYWHERE).<BR/><BR/>However, I did hear about all the hullabaloo with the easily offended Christians and honestly -- since I'm evil or something (who knew?) -- it makes me more curious about reading them. Now though, reading the third book is starting to seem more of a waste than anything since almost all of my friends that HAVE read it were very dissatisfied for the same reasons that you are.<BR/><BR/>Beau and I did see the movie the other night, and while I was able to follow along with what was going on it seemed that more than a few people in the audience were left behind about 5 minutes into the film. (To them, dust = soul = pet thing and that was about as far as they got except for acknowledging that Nicole Kidman is evil and her monkey likes attention (that just sounds wrong, but thats ok!)). In itself, I think the movie was very rushed and probably missing about 50% of the book. It was pretty too look at but I wasn't very satisfied with the film in general (mainly because the story lacked in substance and smooth connections to events).<BR/><BR/>***quasi spoiler commentary***<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>Really, the movie was more of OMG POCKET WATCH! and OMG I KNOW HOW TO USE IT! Let's save people! The end. Oh and as Beau mentioned in the movie theater "Darth Vader, much?" in reference to Mrs. Coulter.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>*** end quasi spoiler commentary***<BR/><BR/>Who knows? Here's to hoping that I actually remember to pick up the first and maybe second book next time that I am on Portland or Eugene. I am fairly certain that I will enjoy the book much more than I did the movie.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02375814414724591132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36817113.post-18883843502961066002008-01-18T17:38:00.000-08:002008-01-18T17:38:00.000-08:00Yup, that's pretty much exactly right. The first t...Yup, that's pretty much exactly right. The first two were pretty clever and interesting, and then in the third one Pullman goes all "Yeah, I'm just going to throw down some half-formed plot arcs on a paper and hope my editor fixes things up for me."<BR/><BR/>The anti-religion thing didn't really register with me, as funny as that may seem. I mean, I knew they were supposed to kill God and all, but I just remember thinking "That's kind of silly", not "Goodness! How blasphemous!" But that's 'cause I'm weird, I guess.Sephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16950623837896169505noreply@blogger.com