The

Angel sang of

peace on earth

goodwill to all men

yet if you believe in angels

there is little hope of either.

If you believe in any god

he must exclude all others

and any belief cannot be in

mankind.What would an angel know

of peace on earth? What would an angel know

of death or birth or all the things between? Angels do not live

as you or I

or die.



Prometheus Bound by Robert Ford

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader REVIEW

My favourite Narnian story has been released as a 3D film and I'm delighted to say it was well done. The Dawn Treader was everything I thought she would be and I felt as if, at last, I'd sailed on her. I read one critique that said the film disappointed. Perhaps it would disappoint the jaded palate of a film critic, it did not let down this life-long fan of the Narnia Chronicles.

How does this compare to Harry Potter? We in this 'critic's' opinion that is like comparing the depth of MacBeth to East Enders. I did try to read a Harry Potter book - once. I haven't bothered since.

I think that the 3D format gave this film a real boost because there's such a lot of story to cover within such a small time frame, and it brought the whole thing to life. It also greatly enhanced the presence of the ship, itself a main character. That is always a difficult thing to pull off but I think it succeeds here.

Any plot adaptations that were made were in keeping with the spirit of the book and further served to unify and bring extra meaning to the themes. Also the almost noises-off presence of Susan and Peter, Anna Popplewell and Will Moseley helped continuity as it was seeing old friends.  

Most main characters' faces were familiar to those who have seen the previous films. Tilda Swinton's  continued presence as the embodiment of evil (a green mist this time) works well because let's face it, Tilda Swinton can be green mist if she wants to be - or anything else... Her role is one reason I hope the production team will try to make The Silver Chair - a gift vehicle for such a talent!

Reepicheep was as adorable as ever and the change of voiceover in this film I think, improves his gravitas and boy does that mouse have gravitas ;) I have to say the furry characters are much furrier in 3D and when Lucy hugged Reepicheep you could almost feel that fur. The poor, funny Puddleduffs are quite adorable too.Fellow Ballymena-man Liam Neeson is the voice of Aslan once more. (God just has to be a Ballymena man!)

In this film Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes and the very dashing Ben Barnes reprise their roles as kings and queens of Narnia. It has been said they cannot carry the story but these stories do no rely on a single set of actors to carry them. The whole point of Narnia is that the characters change but the story goes on. That depth of meaning allows Will Poulter as the obnoxious Eustace Scrubb (he really does deserve the name) to be ultimately redeemable and he can take credit for a fine artful-dodger-style performance although not for the cgi dragon...

I was interested to see how another director would handle Narnia. Michael Apted's direction was a seamless takeover from Adamson, I imagine that was a conscious decision and the right way to go. Apted did a fine job in bringing this film to the screen and as one who has waited 40 years to see it, I loved what he did with the magician's Mansion, Death Water, Dark Island, Ramandu's Island... I can't think of a single thing that didn't exceed this Narnia fan's expectations and I look forward to the next.

By the way, if you already own 3D glasses of that type with red/green lenses, they won't work here. 3D is not done like that any more. It's done by polarising lenses. Light rotates clockwise for one eye, anticlockwise for the other and then the frames are alternated on screen at terrific speed to fool your brain into thinking the images are not alternating but simultaneous. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the extended dvd so that I can study the making of... One of my favourite things about film is getting behind the scenes. Ooooo how do they do that? How did they make that water so - wet?

I was glad to hear the name Jill Pole mentioned right at the end of the film - it held out hope that I will indeed be going back to Narnia even is Edmund and Lucy will not. Can't wait.

"Once a King or Queen in Narnia, Always a King or Queen."

Treading the Boards

 Found this old photograph circa 1979 of me in the Glyn Derw High School Pantomime playing the swash-buckling tenor (more baritone really) with two other members of staff, Pat Cadwallader on the right and I think the one in the middle was called Liz but I'm probably completely wrong. This was my first teaching post (I taught only French in that school) and my first year in Cardiff, out on my own. I was 25.

Think I rather suited the theatrical mustache.

Not sure why this is in monochrome... Ah, the good old days ;)

Watch the Birdie

Oh I haven't been in Static Movement for a few months but I'm back with a right good December love story Date that I hope you'll like and I have a couple of poems coming up in BwS so look out for those too.

There's been plenty of static movement here - we;; more stuck than static ;) We're snowy here. Over a week of snow and drifts of two feet but we've had some nice visitors too

and though you can't always catch them

it's worth having  go

Even if they don't seem pally





It's MAGIC

The Fittest

Okay so this particular motoring tip wouldn't do your radiator much good - but it does work - I can personally vouch for that.  Sometimes a girl has to cook up a solution...

It was 1982 -ish and my first mini was overheating on the way home from school. I didn't have any groceries in the boot but I was calling into TESCO on my way home when a brilliant plan came to me - if I could make it to Tesco's car park...

Well I did :) and see what I came up with.

The Fittest

Three in a row at Microhorror

Okay so I know I'm judging the competition but it was too nice a theme to miss - SPACE :) Besides would it not have been churlish to eschew the competition just because I CAN'T WIN?  So here you have them - three in a row on the subject of SPACE

The Unknowable Unknown
A V O I D
Oubliette Oubliee

of which if I am allowed a favourite, it is The Unknowable Unknown.

And I'm having a great time reading all the entries! And more stories are still in the pipeline. Nathan you see had an appendectome and has got a little behind - actually quite a big behind - I was being kind :) Progress is being made - fear not!