Dancing About Architecture

Movie Review: The Golden Compass

Based on the Phillip Pullman novel, “Northern Lights”, this movie tells the story of Lyra and her journey to rescue her friend Roger from the Gobblers and to fulfil the Witches’ prophesy. This movie looks absolutely gorgeous and they have captured the feel of the books. My main fear with translating the books into a film was that they wouldn’t be able to get the daemons right and that the child casted in the role of Lyra would not be able to act. I am happy to say that my fears were unfounded. The CGI department did wonders with the daemons and they are everything I imagined them to be when I read the books, and whilst Lyra is not the Lyra I had in my head when reading the books, Dakota Blue Richards does a great job.

Unfortunately this film suffers from trying to pack a complex novel into just 120 minutes and hence everything feels rushed. The characters, especially Lyra, don’t grow and learn as they did in the book and thus you miss some major character development which leaves you feeling a little distanced from them. You don’t feel like you have been on a long epic journey with them, more like dragged from one plot point to another. Whilst I can understand the film makers trying to get everything into a neat 2 hour film to please a younger audience, they really should have extended it out to 180 minutes. There was enough going on to keep any 8 year old upwards glued to their seats for an extra 30 minutes. This would have allowed some time to truly get to know the players in this adventure rather than a brief glimpse of them.

Those going to see the film without reading the books may have a much different reaction to the film than fans of the books have. I would love to hear what you think if you have seen the movie but not read the books.

This film is ideal for kids about 8 and above and for all adults who enjoy a good fantasy movie. It is the perfect film to get kids wanting to read the books - and I love any form of media that makes kids want to read. The Phillip Pullman novels are brilliant and I thoroughly recommend them to any lover of fantasy - both kids and adults. Like the Harry Potter novels, the books can be read on several levels - the kids will enjoy a fantastic adventure story full of magic and daemons whilst adults will enjoy the philosophical ideas that these novels contain.

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Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a holiday that seems to confuse the hell out of most Americans I know.  It is only celebrated in Commonwealth countries and basically is a good excuse for an extra day off to recover from Christmas.

In Australia, Boxing Day is a huge day for those interested in sports with the Boxing Day Cricket Test Match being held and the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.  For those whose interests are more retail orientated, today is the start of the huge Boxing Day sales where all major stores offer their post Christmas stock at ridiculously low prices.

However, for a lesbian geek, today is extremely important as it is the day when the holiday blockbusters premiere.  In previous years, we have had Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  This year, we have The Golden Compass and I will be heading off tonight to see it.   To say I am excited is an understatement.  I have been eagerly awaiting this film since it went into production.  Lelak and my fellow 30 something lesbian geek friends Veronica and Fiona will be joining me for a night of popcorn and a fantasy film - it is almost like a yearly tradition.  I also really want to see Enchanted (yes, I know it is a kid’s film), because the trailer always has me in fits of laughter.  Also on our list of must see films is No Country for Old Men.   It is going to be a movie going week this week.

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An Australian Christmas Lunch

I have just arrived home from celebrating Christmas with Lelak’s family.  It was a very Australian Christmas lunch comprising of a large Jewish family, a lesbian couple, an Indian Christian pastor and an Asian boyfriend.  Very multicultural. The afternoon would have been quite lovely were it not for Lelak’s cousins’ two children aged 4 and 2, who were frightened of our dogs and therefore screamed the entire afternoon.  For four solid hours these children screamed that high pitch scream that only children can produce everytime the dogs were in their line of sight.  In a small backyard, this was all the fucking time.
From my previous post, you know how good my dogs are with kids and this time they were just as good, if not better.  My dogs tried their very best to ignore the kids and keep out of their way, but it was damn near impossible.  Things were made even more fun when Lelak’s brother Julian turned up with his two dogs - a Kelpie cross and a German shepherd.  The kids were practically hysterical.  So, we put them (the kids) in the pool enclosure, since they wanted to go for a swim all day anyway.  They were quiet for a whole five minutes and then the screaming started again because the water was too cold.

The whole gathering let out a huge sigh of relief when they finally went home.  After that, the rest of the lunch was lovely.  We got to see the gorgeous wedding pictures of Lelak’s cousin Jessica and her new husband Shine.  It was a traditional Indian wedding and the clothes were just so beautiful.

By five o’clock, poor Rory was absolutely exhausted.  She had missed out on her midday sleep and her afternoon sleep as there was just too many people around doing interesting stuff like eating food.  In the end, she was doing her very best to sneak off and find somewhere quiet to have a sleep.  Even Caleb looked completely worn out.   I must admit I was feeling pretty worn out too.  So we said our goodbyes and headed home.  The dogs are now crashed out on the couches fast asleep and Lelak and I are on our computers.  It is going to be a quiet Christmas night at our house.

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and sharing with me your fantastic blogs.  Have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends! I hope Santa brings you something special this year.

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Being On Call on Christmas Eve

I was supposed to only be on call one day over this holiday period, but due to technical difficulties diverting the phone, I have wound up being on call for the entire holiday period.  This does not make me happy, but that’s life.

Of course, only 15 minutes after being told I am the sole point of contact over the holiday period, I receive my first tech support call.  The issue itself is one well known to me, but will take a call to the poor soul on call from the development team to fix.  But whilst I am on the phone to the client, the dogs decide that this is the perfect time to go and bark loudly at whoever or whatever decided to walk past the house.  Now the client thinks I am at the office and my office does not have two extremely loud barking dogs.  There I am trying to sound extremely professional whilst sitting in my front room when two dogs go flying past to bark loudly at the front door.  It is loud and noisy and ruins any hope of sounding like I might be at the office.

“Sorry, that’s my dogs”, I hurriedly explain whilst trying to shh my dogs by waving my hands about.  My dogs who have spotted the cat that dared to walk past the house refuse to be quiet.  More hand waving that happens to connect to doggy bottoms manages to bring things down to a more tolerable level.

“Are you at home?”, my client asks and I can tell she is trying not to laugh.

“Yeah,  sorry about that.”  I apologise.

Fortunately, my client is amused by the whole situation.  Then I realise that I don’t have access to my work email and the client needs to send me things.  My boss reassured me that I would not need access to my work email account as I would only be providing phone support and not email support.  I should not have believed her.  Reluctantly, I give the client my personal email address and  that destroys any shred of professionalism I may have possessed.  How ever tame your home email address is, it is not even remotely professional and besides who wants their clients knowing their home email address anyway?

Now, I have a professional sounding gmail address set up and the dogs have been warned about barking at the front door (though I doubt they listened to any of my lecture).   I am ready to face the onslaught of holiday tech support phone calls - that is until I discover something else I have forgotten.

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