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May 30, 2008

The Children of Hurin

In the blog post before this one I quoted Guillermo del Toro as saying that Smaug must be "the dragon." Well, Glaurung from the Children of Hurin might have a thing or two to say about that. Even though he hasn't wings like Smaug, his destructive power is awesome, and his dark malevolence even more subtle and wicked.

I read The Children of Hurin last weekend and...wow! If you have read The Silmarillion before you will already know the contours of the story of Hurin and his children, specifically Turin Tarambur, though I did not remember it from my reading and went back and re-read that chapter. Nonetheless, the tale is wonderfully filled out here, put together by Tolkien's son, Christopher, from existing manuscripts. Christopher Tolkien also edited The Silmarillion.

In The Silmarillion, every thing that one encounters in the LOTR trilogy is bigger and badder. And the good is bigger and purer as well, as well as, sadly, the heights from which some of the good Fall. And, perhaps shockingly, this includes grievious Falls even by many elves.

This sense of a story being played out on a larger canvas, intensified to greater degrees of pathos and tragedy, is even stronger in The Children of Hurin, as the story of Turin is fleshed out with more detail and dialog and descriptions of landscapes, external and internal. And, oh my, the curses and predictions and choices and outcomes are every bit as tragic as a Greek tragedy, and I do emphasize Greek tragedy, because there is very little hope of redemption presented, though there are whispers.

All in all, despite the severely bleak backdrop...no, perhaps because of the severely bleak backdrop, the story is very satisfying. One really gets invested in hoping that Turin can avoid his fate...and then being torn to see it inexorably creep towards him. And, reader beware, some of the more distrubing elements of Greek tragedy (think Oedipus...well, kind of) are also present here, though, in no way valorized.

It all makes the victory and peace won in the LOTR seem all the sweeter, even though not even that story is the final reckoning. Tolkien meant his mythology to be a mythology for England, for our world. And we know the dear and ultimate cost that was paid to heal the wounds from the cacophony of evil that Melkor sang into the world.

P.S. A note on easier reading: If you cannot keep track of the the people and place names as you read, don't worry about and plow on, though I do recommend having a quick look at the map before reading. Things will become clearer as you go along. And, after reading, perhaps at the end of a chapter or even the end of the book, look at the geneologies in the appendix and the map for greater clarity. The story is worth this mental bother. You must either geek out (I have not done this at least) and memorize the family trees of elves and men and dwarves or be content to follow the something like the procedure I outline above. Do not try to construct family trees in your mind as you go, or it will drive you crazy. Unless you are Rainman.

P.S.S. Here is a little hope for you below [Spoiler Alert!}, in a fantastic painting by John Howe...

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Hobbit Forming

By the sound of this transcript of an Internet Q & A session with Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, it looks like the Hobbit is in pretty good hands. It is not going to be a children's movie, but that might have been a little much to expect. As for the bridge film planned for after the Hobbit connecting it to the LOTR which they filmmakers will write on their own with hints from Tolkien, we will have to see about that one.

Here are some excerpts. Yeah, I geeked out the other day and read the whole thing:

Guillermo del Toro: I hope that Mirkwood can be pretty scary but not graphic, I hope
Riddles in the dark has an element of fear and suspense and to be
deeply atmospheric but still allow the ingenious, engaging contest to
take place. And Smaug should be all shock and awe when he
unleashes his anger so, it will be pretty intense but not gorey.

Question - In the Hobbit book, we have talking trolls and the Eagles and
Smaug talks as well, however in the LOTR Trilogy, trolls did no
more than grunt, Fellbeasts screamed, and the Eagles, who were
meant to talk, just stayed silent. How much will the portayle of such
animals change in the Hobbit?

Guillermo del Toro: I think it should be done exactly as in the book- the “talking beast” motif has to exist already to allow for that great character that is
Smaug. It is far more jarring to have a linear movie and then – out of
the blue – a talking Dragon....

We’ll see about the “Tra-la-la-“ later- but the book, I believe, in
echoing the “loss of innocence” England experienced after WWI, is a
passage form innocence to a darker, more somber state- The visual /
thematic progression should reflect that in the camera style, color
palette, textural choices, etc.

Guillermo del Toro:
Smaug should not be "the Dragon in the Hobbit movie" as if it was
just "another" creature in a Bestiary. Smaug should be "The
DRAGON" for all movies past and present. The shadow he cast and
the greed he comes to embody- the "need to own" casts its long
shadow and creates a thematic / dramatic continuity of sorts that
articulates the story throughout-

In that respect, Smaug the CHARACTER is as important, if not more
important, than the design. The character will emerge form the
writing- and in that the Magnificent arrogance, intelligence,
sophistication and greed of Smaug shine through-

In fact, Thorin's greed is a thematic extension of this and Bilbo's
"Letting go" and his noble switching of sides when the dwarves prove
to be in the wrong is its conceptual counterpart (that is a hard one to
get through, Bilbo's heroism is a quiet, moral one) and the thematic
thread reaches its climax in the Bilbo / Thorin death bed scene.

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Amazing

Wow, an uncontacted tribe. There are evidently 100 of them in the world, with over 50 of these in Brazil. Can you imagine their conversations at dinner that night. This all seems a bit like something out of Star Trek. And, clearly, this photo-taking is a violation of the Prime Directive, and even though Piccard meant well, he will have to be reprimanded.

Seriously, though, wow!

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A Fine Evening in the Park

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May 25, 2008

Beachcombing Again

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May 23, 2008

And Here

Mushkpuri Top


Originally uploaded by Aawara.

Even in the sunshine, though, the mountains are achingly beautiful. The wide open spaces (on less hazy days one can see snow capped peaks in the background here) create a different kind of longing, a lonely, yet joyful one. Can't really explain. In April or May of my junior year, we camped on this mountain, very near where this picture was taken. There was snow on the far peak and it was freezing. We did go sledding on our plastic ground sheets, though. This mountan is Mushkpuri.

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Oh, I'd Like to Be Here

Nathia Gali - Good Morning Daisies


Originally uploaded by Perfect Stranger®.

This type of scenery was not uncommon during the monsoons in Murree where my brothers and I went to school. It is hard to describe how much longing this picture creates. It is one of the explanations of why I like grey days so much.

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May 20, 2008

Subway and Such

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First Fruit: Color or Black and White?

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May 19, 2008

A Creative Review and Roiling Discussion...

...of the new Prince Caspian movie is presented by Jeffrey Overstreet on his blog.

I have posted a comment, which I also reproduce here.

Very creative review, Jeffrey, and a very graciously moderated discussion. I agree that “subvert” and “sinister” are perhaps a little too strong words to employ, but, to be fair, you are only positing these as possibilities. Nonetheless, it is quite disappointing the changes to which Douglas Gresham is willing to sign off on, and, therefore, I think we can question just how good a grasp he has on his step-father’s work.

A couple little notes. To be fair, I do not have the book here as I write, but I do believe that Peter does lop off the head of one of the two Telmarine Lords after they kill Miraz (which was fairly nicely done in the moview with the arrow, though Lewis’ duel scene is far more intimately staged). Still, the violence was rather too much for a PG movie, particularly all the throat slicings.

Also, there is perhaps some merit for women fighting in Narnia, but the fighter of the two Queens is Queen Lucy in The Horse and His Boy and not Queen Susan. Well, at least Lucy is with the archers in Archenland and is said to frequently go to battle.

The changing of Aslan’s lines is rather distressing, as is the the severe editing of his role. There is very little serious playfulness and holy fear about this Aslan. I very much missed him flinging Trumpkin into the air, catching him, and then saying (I believe) “Shall we be friends?” But, as you noted, the entire Trumpkin character has been changed from skeptic to a somewhat disappointed and apathetic believer.

I must say I did enjoy the movie, but perhaps because of severely lowered expectations and by pouring meaning and my own imagination into little things the filmakers gave us (like tossing bones to dogs), like the apples in the woods around Cair Paravel and the bulgy bear sucking his paws. And I felt rather moved at Susan leaving Narnia, for the very last time. And, for the record, Peter and Susan have to leave Narnia because they have received what Narnia, and what Lewis intended the books to accomplish for children (old and young), intended them to receive, an introduction to Christ, a theme which only gets stonger as the stories go along.

Perhaps my reaction after the movie in envisioning how movie makers might address future films was more telling of my heart, though, I think. I seriously doubt whether they can make the story of Eustace and his de-dragoning without stripping it of its meaning. And will Lucy be chided for eavesdropping? And what really is the big deal about sailing to Aslan’s country anyway? Can the Reepicheep envisioned in this movie be made to have such a sweet dream?

And I really want the filmmakers to cease and desist after the Silver Chair, which I believe they may anyway (the BBC folk did, though I don’t know the real reason). I think the The Horse and His Boy could be a very cinematic story, but think it would be viewed (perhaps somewhat justifiably so, I am at pains to say) as a bit racist, particularly in a post-911 world. And The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle, well, if you strip the religious imagery out of these there is not much left. And if the film makers are unable to depict the holy and good and whimsical aspects of Narnia now (and this may simply be a function of all of us having our sense of story predicated and tinged by Fall), I do not want to see them attempt depicting a New Narnia. There are so many ways the last two books could be messed up, I would prefer not to see them even try.

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May 18, 2008

New Lens ::: Brightleaf

This is my cheapest piece of photographic equipment, yet it can produce results like this, which you really must see large to really appreciate. I should have listened to you earlier, Brooke, though I still love my other lens. This one, though, I am finding is little like a precocious child.

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May 16, 2008

A Great Story

Stephanie Kilstein, who is featured in this article, goes to my church. I must add that I do not know Stephanie that well. So, I am glad to get to know her story a bit more through this article and to share it with you. Wow.

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May 15, 2008

No Bacchus? Let's Get Raucous!

Groan. And so it begins, the list of revisions and omissions and additions that the second Narnia movie prepetrates on C. S. Lewis' story Prince Caspian. I once, perhaps rather rashly, said that they should not make a movie of this chronicle at all, and perhaps that would have been better than some of the changes they seem to have made here. But passing over this story would have created very tough sledding, like Jadis in Aslan's Spring, to bridge the story over to Dawn Treader.

Well, I am not going to remake all the points that this article, by a very sensitive Catholic reviewer, makes about the film, but, alas, there is no Bacchus, thus evicerating much of Lewis' use of myth to illustrate truth. No Susan saying, " I wouldn't have felt very safe with Bacchus and all his wild girls if we'd met them without Aslan" and Lucy responding, "I should think not." There will be no Bacchus asking, "Is it a romp, Aslan" and proceeding to create vines to tear down the stones of oppression and new wine to gladden the heart. I am just going to have to wait till heaven to dance with wild abandon as Bacchus and the maenads and Susan and Lucy did then. To be fair, though, such holy joy would have been very difficult to pull off cinematically. Though the filmmakers might have looked to the beginning of Much Ado About Nothing for some (though definitely not all) of the expressions of joy and revelry shown there.

If only the movie makers had taken Jeffrey Overstreet's advice, I might not be as miffed:

"But I just wish that efforts like this one, and like Alfonzo Cuaron’s extraordinary film Children of Men, would do away with the label 'Based on the book.' Rather, they are new stories, 'Inspired by elements of the book.'”

Also, here is the Christianity Today review. Ouch. Two and a half stars out of four.

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May 14, 2008

El Segundo

midwife
barnabas
aaron
jonathan
bridegroom, friend of
john
handmaiden
andrew
butler
holy spirit
john stockton
"on his blindness"

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May 9, 2008

Climatron with Kermit's Crazy Clone

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May 8, 2008

Antonyms

fear ::: belief

courage ::: sloth

action ::: choice

bondage ::: obedience

comfort ::: action

hope ::: depression

silence ::: love

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Le Chat de Jardin en Coleur

Not sure that is the right form of "in" to use in French, but in response to Heidi V.'s question from the last post here is the kitty in full color, because, well, this cat is worth seein in full color. He/she? was beautiful and very friendly. He/she was stuck in a tree, how cliche, and one of he Garden helpers had to help. And then it seemed to be a bit aimless, but finally seemed to find some direction. Here is the color. Make sure to click on the cat (perhaps a little scratch behind the ears) to see the full size.

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Le Chat de Jardin

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May 7, 2008

Giving Chihuly His Due

I think, perhaps, the genius of the forms can be better seen in black and white.

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A Reason We Sneeze

I cannot remember whether the water in this picture was in motion or covered in an oily scum, but I think it was the former. I took it though because of the leaves or pollen on the water and the sunny reflection and the lily pads.

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May 5, 2008

Details

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Tanya at the Garden

Not only did Tanya very kindly give me a ride to the Garden on Friday, but she very patiently stood through my first baby photo shoot, and then, also patiently, agreed to pose for the shot below. Pretty cool. The scultures at the Garden just now are pretty trippy, and some rather gaudy and crazy, but the workmanship is amazing and they can produce some pretty cool photographic effects.

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Duck...Duck.....Goose!

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May 4, 2008

Gateway to the East

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May 3, 2008

A Garden is a Lovesome Thing

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May 2, 2008

Celebrating Their Beauty Alive as Well

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May 1, 2008

Dead Duck Day

After a brief excursus into a different sort of blog post yesterday, the sun has risen again, all is well with the world, and the Dassler Effect is back to posting uplifting pcitures of dead birds ;) This is part of the "And Wears Man's Smudge" category of the blog, which is trying to illustrate the impact of our fallen nature on the planet. As for the last picture, well the only falleness nature that represents is a bunch of guys not keeping their shower clean. I am not sure exactly why we have a dead ducky in our shower, but I have long wanted to photograph it, as weird as that may sound. It seemed logical to do so on "dead duck day," a title which comes from the book About a Boy and the movie of the same name, which you should watch if you have not done so. Brilliant.

      

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