Child? Star

First off, who ever cast John Menga as Dill needs to have their brain checked. Dill is supposed to be this cute little boy with blond, almost white hair. Not a scrawny, sickly little kid with greasy black hair, huge ears, and a serious case of buckteeth mixed with a huge overbite. Sorry, but that just doesn't sound cute to me. Plus, compared to Jem (Phillip Alford) and Scout (Mary Badham) who are absolutely adorable, he looks like a little monster. In the book he comes across as a vulnerable little boy just looking to make some friends, but in the movie all you want to do is grab hold of Jem and Scout and shield them from his wrath of monstrosity.


Otherwise the movie is ok.


The original book by Harper Lee is such a good mix of racial issues mixed with human morals. By convicting Tom Robinson, the jury puts their prejudices ahead of their morals. They know he is innocent, but because he is black they convict him anyway. And when he tries to escape and they kill him instead of just wounding him shows how hard the county was shook by the whole incident. Especially Jem, whose whole idea of justice has just been shattered.


While reading, you can sense the story from every one's point of view. You can understand why Mayella lies, why the townspeople are against Tom Robinson in the beginning, and why Boo Radley never comes out. Even if you don't agree with their choices, you understand why they chose what they did.


Plus the whole "to kill a mockingbird" idea follows you throughout the whole story. Is Boo the mockingbird, or it Tom Robinson? Here we see the death of innocence. To kill a mockingbird is a sin, and yet we do it, again and again.


And then you have the nice little twist of Boo Radley stabbing his own father. After he was convicted of locking the county beadle in the court outhouse his father locked him up in the house for fifteen years. After stabbing his father, he was locked up in the courthouse basement, only to be sent home by insisting county council. Even after his father died and his brother moved in he still wasn't seen and it was rumored that his brother was continuing to keep him locked up. In the end we found out that most of this is a lie; that they're not keeping him locked up, but that he just never leaves the house.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Six-year-old Scout Finch lives in Maycomb, Alabama with her older brother, Jem, and father, Atticus, a widowed lawyer, during the Great Depression. During one summer, they befriend a boy named Dill, who has come to Maycomb to stay with his aunt. The three children become fascinated with their neighbor "Boo" Radley. None of the adults around town like to talk about Boo and he hasn't been seen in years. The children feed their imaginations by making up rumors about Boo Radley amongst themselves and try to think of ways to lure him out of his house. The children have also been finding small gifts that were left in the hole of a tree on the Radley property, and little do they know that these are gestures of affection from the ever mysterious Boo Radley.

Atticus is assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson in court for the supposed rape of Mayella Ewell. Much to the disagreement of the community, Atticus agrees to defend Tom Robinson to the best of his ability. At school, Scout stands up for her father when other students make fun of him, even thought Atticus told her not to. Atticus also has do deal with a bit of criticism when a lynching mob turns up at Tom Robinson's jail cell while Atticus is there with him. Before the mob does anything, Scout, Jem, and Dill turn up and guilt the angry crowd into seeing the situation from Atticus and Tom Robinson's point of view.

(Spoilers Ahead)

When the trial comes, Atticus makes it known that he does not want Scout, Jem, or Dill to be present, so instead they watch in secret from the colored balcony. Atticus establishes that both Mayella and her father, Bob Ewell, the town drunk, are lying. He says that the lonely Mayella was looking for a friend and she was the one making sexual advances towards Tom Robinson and her father caught her in the act. Despite this unnerving evidence, the jury convicts Tom and he is sent to prison, where he is later killed for "trying to escape." Humiliated by the trial, Bob Ewell vows revenge on Atticus, and tries to reap it by attacking Jem and Scout on their way home from the school Halloween pageant. In the struggle, Jems arm is broken, but a mysterious man comes to their rescue. He carries Jem home and Scout realizes that he is none other than Boo Radley. The sheriff finds Bob Ewell dead in the forest and, rather than blame it on Jem or Boo, says that he simply fell on his knife when he was attacking the children.

Later, Scout walks Boo home and as she stands on his front porch, looking out on the neighborhood, she is able so see things how he sees them and wishes that she would have repaid him for the gifts he left in the tree and for saving their lives.

In Real Life

Let's start of with some differences between book and movie:

1. The books does a lot more to show just how smart Matilda really is. It lists the books she reads, and the benefits of them. It also talks about how good of a cook she is. In the movie we see her walking to the library and making pancakes, yeah, excellent representation (with heavy sarcasm).

2. Another major difference from movie to book is the idea of Matilda's powers. In the movie, once realizing her powers she quickly is able to use them flawlessly, while in the book it takes much practice and energy before she is really able to control them. (In the book) it is thought that her powers come from all the extra energy she has in her head, which is why she loses them when she goes to college, because she has to think a lot more. In the movie, she just decides to stop using them, for the most part.

3. The movie also appears to take place in America, as opposed to Great Britain. A small difference, but curious in that it was really a necessary change in the first place. Oh well.

4. Another issue not discussed in the movie is the idea of Ms. Honey's poverty and her servitude under the Trunchbull. While it is implied that she suffers under the hand of the Trunchbull, no specific reference is made to show any kind of monetary exchange between them (mainly the giving up of all of Ms. Honey's salary).

5. My favorite difference is the monitoring of all the "violence" that takes place in the book. For example, the girl who is thrown by her pigtails by the Trunchbull does not land on her face, but is saved by Matilda and lands in a field of flowers. Ahhhhh. Or the boy who is thrown from the window for eating candy during class, which is mentioned, but otherwise ignored in the movie.


On a different note, I think the younger version of Matilda should have been the main character in the movie, the one they originally showed going to the library. She was so much cuter and while it was impressive to watch a plain seven year old take care of herself, it would have been better to watch the very cute five year old. But whatever.

Matilda

At five years old, Matilda Wormwood is showing signs of being a child prodigy, much to the indifference of her slimy, stuck up, child favoring parents, who encourage the young girl to watch television instead of reading her beloved books. Left to fend for herself everyday as her parents leave for work (actually, her mom just goes to play bingo) and her rather stupid brother goes to school, she makes regular trips to the library where she practically devourers the books, learning a great deal. Starving for attention, although why she wants attention from people like the Wormwoods I will never know, she amuses herself with little jokes, like super gluing a hat to her father's head and then bleaching his normally black, and very greasy, hair, using her mother's peroxide.

Upon entering school, her vast knowledge is unearthed by her kind and caring teacher, Ms. Honey. Ms. Honey asks to have Matilda moved up, but the vile headmistress, Ms. Trunchbull, refuses, insisting that all children are stupid. Trying to go around the headmistress, Ms. Honey pays Matilda a visit at home, where she is surprised by how indifferent Matilda's parents are to there daughter's unique talents. Meanwhile, at school, the children suffer under the hand of "The Trunchbull," who pays frequent visits to each class to show the teacher a thing or two about how to properly discipline the students, which really is nothing short of child abuse. Her idea of proper discipline ranges from throwing children out of windows to swinging them around by their hair or locking them up in the "Chokey," a small, damp closet with nails sticking out of every side.

(Spoilers Ahead)

During a class inspection one day, Matilda's friend, Lavender, puts a newt in the Trunchbull's water glass. When Matilda is immediately blamed for it she becomes so enraged that the water glass suddenly tips over. This is when she discovers that she as psychokinetic powers (*cue: Twilight Zone theme song*). She confides her secret in Ms. Honey who, in return, invites her to come home for tea. When Matilda finds out that Ms. Honey is living in near poverty, she becomes curious, and Ms. Honey explains that when she was two years old her mother died. Her father, needing help looking after his child, called upon the Trunchbull (*sharp intake of breathe*), who happened to be his wife's sister. When she was five, her father "killed himself," and she was left under the care of the Trunchbull, who more or less employed her as her slave. When Ms. Honey was older, she found a job and moved out, but the Trunchbull insisted that she give her all of her paycheck except for one pound in return for taking care of her for all these years. Too afraid to protest, Ms. Honey agreed.

As revenge, during the next class inspection, Matilda uses her powers to pretend to be the spirit of Ms. Honey's deceased father. The Trunchbull is so scared that she faints and the teachers have to carry her from the class. She doesn't return to school the next day and is never seen again. Ms. Honey is able to move back into her father's house and later adopts Matilda (her father has been doing some shady trading of car parts and the family is now moving to Spain to escape the police). And they obviously live happily ever after.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

EveryWho Down in Who-ville Liked Christmas a lot...

But the Grinch,Who lived just north of Who-ville, Did NOT!

The Grinch, a bitter, cave dwelling creature, lives at the top of the snowy Mount Crumpit. With his heart "two sizes too small," he looks down from his home with his dog, Max, on the festivities taking place down in Whoville for the upcoming Christmas season. He his jealous of the Who's happiness and decides that he will steal all of the Christmas presents and decorations in an attempt to keep Christmas from coming. After being thwarted by a tiny Who girl, the Grinch learns that Christmas is more than just presents and decorations, and that he in fact can't stop Christmas from coming. Upon returning the presents and decorations back to the people of Whoville, his heart grow three sizes and he is warmly welcomed into the community.

And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight, He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he...

...HE HIMSELF...! The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," has become widely popular, with it's heart warming tale of an outcast learning how to accept others and be accepted, all while being surrounded by the joys of Christmas. Published in 1957, it has been made into two movies, one in 1966 and the other in 2000. The first rendition follows the story line to a "t," while the other version has adapted a slightly different style while still following the same basic story line.

Personally, I think the 2000 version is absolutely terrible. The Grinch isn't portrayed as scary, just disgusting, Cindy Lou does much more than ask for a cup of water, and the Whos cry when the Grinch steals their presents instead of being happy that it was Christmas, with or without the presents. That's the whole moral of the story and they totally twisted it. The presents aren't supposed to matter, and the only time they don't matter is after the Grinch has returned them. Maybe it's just me but I kind of think we're missing the point here.

Beauty Meets Cutie

First off, let me just say that I absolutely love the movie "The Little Mermaid." So incredibly adorable!!! I also love Hans Christian Andersens original story, it is so beautiful. The thing is, I love them separately. Each is unique. The problem is the screen writers shouldn't have tried to base the movie off the book, or at least said that that was were the original idea came from but not the story line. I mean come on, because, you know, a little kids story where a mermaid gets her tail cut in half and then ends up dying is really my idea of a bedtime story, but maybe that's just me (heavy sarcasm). Sure, you could argue the story lines are pretty much the same, a young mermaid falls in love with a human prince, and the antagonist has more or less the same character flaw, being in love blinds them from reality, but all other details are totally different.
On the other hand, I love the subtle details they added into the movie from the book. Like the statue of the prince in her "garden," I didn't catch it at first, but it was a total "AH HA" moment when I did. I didn't like how she actually collected human artifacts though, in the book, the statue was the only thing she had, but in the movie, she sings a whole song about everything she has. I also thought that her sisters should have played a bigger part in the movie. In the book they cut off their hair in the end to save their younger sister, but in the movie, all they do is sing a little, and quite badly if I do say so, during the introduction. They seemed to have replaced the sisters with the king, because he is barely mentioned in the book while he plays a big roll in the movie. I also like how the girl the prince fell for in the book had a beautiful voice, which is why he didn't fall for the Little Mermaid. The same thing happened in the movie, when Ursula uses Ariel's voice to lure in the prince.
While reading the story, I couldn't help but dislike the prince. Obviously the girl who found him on the shore didn't save him, she just happened to be the first one in her group to reach him. All he remembered her for was her beauty, he knew nothing of her personality or dreams. He knew the Little Mermaid, he knew her personality as well as her beauty, and he loved her. He knew how much she loved him, still, instantly upon seeing the other beautful princess, he forgot all about the Little Mermaid.

A Disney Depiction

Ariel (she actually has a name this time), is a sixteen year old mermaid, unhappy with her life under the sea. She is curious about the human world and, with the help of her friend Flounder, a fish, she collects artifacts from the world above. Knowing full well that any contact between merpeople and humans is strictly forbidden, she travels to the surface to watch the birthday celebration for Prince Eric. Ariel, upon seeing the prince, falls madly in love with him; and when a terrible storm hits, she rescues him and returns him to the shore unconscious. She sings to him, but when he begins to stir, she dives back under the water, leaving him with only a vaque impression of the girl with the beautiful voice who saved him. He vows to find her, just as she vows to find a way to join him on land.
(Spoilers Ahead)

When Ariel's father, King Triton, learns of his daughter's adventure, he destroyes all of her human treasures, forbidding her from ever visiting the surface again. Out of anger and desparation, Ariel invokes the help of the evil sea witch, Ursula. Ursula promises to give Ariel legs, but at the cost of her voice, which Ursula captures in a shell she wears around her neck. She also must kiss the prince within three days or she will transform back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. Ariel recieves her legs and is helped to the surface by her sea friends, no cutting her tail in half, no walking on knives.

On, the shore, she is found by Prince Eric, who at first thinks she is the girl who saved him, but discards that idea when he finds out she cannot speak. He helps her to the palace where the servants decide that she must be a shipwreck survivor. After a few "almost kisses," Ursula becomes worried that Ariel may succeed, so she transforms her self into a human, Vanessa, and gives herself Ariel's voice. Upon hearing Vanessa's "voice" Prince Eric falls into a trance and says that he and Vanessa are to be married the next day.

When Scuttle, the bird, descovers that Vanessa is really Ursula, he hurries to tell Ariel and they both rush off to stop the wedding. When the shell holding Ariel's voice is broken, her voice is returned and Prince Eric is released from his trance. Realising that Ariel is indeed the girl who saved him, he rushes to kiss her, but the sun sets first and Ariel turns back into a mermaid and is captured by Ursula and taken back to her lair. Here, King Triton sacrafices himself for his daughter and Ursula declares herself Queen of the Oceans. Prince Eric and Ariel both fight against Ursula and when she is defeated, all of the spells are lifted and King Triton is freed. Seeing how much Ariel truly loves Eric, he transforms her back into a human so that she might stay with him.

Ah, The Joys of Spell Check

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

-- Sauce unknown

The Little Mermaid?

The Little Mermaid lives at the bottom of the sea with her father, grandmother, and five older sisters. When a merperson turns 15, they are allowed to visit the surface and watch the world above water. As each of her older sister's visit, returning with wonderful stories to tell of the suface and the humans, she anxiously awaits her turn. When her turn comes, she visits the surface only to find a ship with a most handsome prince on it. With just this distant glance, she falls head over fins in love with him. Suddenly a great storm hits and the little mermaid saves the prince from drowning. She takes him, unconcious, to shore and waits with him until a young girl comes along. The prince never sees her.


The Little Mermaid askes her grandmother if humans can live for ever if they do not drown. Her grandmother explains that humans actually have a much shorter lifespan than merpeople's 300 years, but when they die their soul lives on in heaven. When merpeople die, they turn to foam and cease to exist. Longing for a soul and the prince, visits the Sea Witch. The Sea Witch tells her that in exchange for human legs, she must give her her tongue, for the Little Mermaid has the most beautiful voice. She explains that drinking the potion which will transform her tail into legs will make her feel like a blade is being pasted through her and whenever she walks it will feel as if she is walking on knives. Also, she will only get her soul if the prince loves her and marries her, for then they will share one soul. If the prince marries someone else, at the dawn of the first day after the marriage, the Little Mermaid will die of a brokenheart and will turn to foam, without love and without a soul. Needless to say, she drinks the potion anyway.

(Spoilers Ahead)

Once on shore, she meets the well-to-do prince, who falls for her beauty and grace, even though she is a mute, though who could be graceful while walking on knives, I cannot say. Most of all, he likes to watch her dance. When the prince's father tells him the that he is to marry the neighboring kingdom's princess, the prince tells the Little Mermaid that he will not, for he does not love her. He explains how he only loves the temple girl, the one who found him on the shore after the Little Mermaid rescued him from drowning. He hints, though, that the Little Mermaid is starting to take her place in his heart.Upon meeting the princess, he discovers that she is the temple girl who he was in love with, she had been sent to the temple to be educated.


The prince marries the princess and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks, but before dawn, her sisters give her a knife that they got from the Sea Witch in exchange for their hair. If she kills the prince with the knife, she will turn back into a mermaid and live. Unable to bring herself to do it, at dawn, she jumps into the sea and dissolves into foam. Instead of dying, though, she becomes a spirit, a daughter of the air. The other daughters explain that by doing good, she will earn her eternal soul and rise to heaven.

A Surprisingly Good Rendition

In this non-literary portrayal of "Of Mice and Men," the very challenged Lenny (John Malkovich) is seen strolling along in a carefree style alongside George (Gary Sinise). The picture lightens as they make their way to the clearing in the forest. Birds are singing, and squirrels are chattering, as the brook bubbles happily in the background. Curlely is played by Casey Siemaszko, Curley's wife is played by Sherilyn Fenn, Slim is played by John Terry, Candy is played by Ray Walston, and Crooks is played by Joe Morton.

Whoever wrote the script for this film should receive no credit whatsoever!!! Each line is taken exactly from John Steinbeck's original story. EVERY LINE!!! I realize that viewers get mad when the screen writers deviate from the original story line, but playing out the book line for line is taking it a little too far. I've read the book, I know what happens, add a little scandal, more of a climax. I'm not saying that we should leave out entire chunks of the story, but maybe just tweak a few minor details.

On the plus side, I think that whoever put the cast together did a really good job of picking out the characters. Everyone was recognizable in that they matched the book's description of their character surprisingly well. Seeing as anyone who read the book would view the characters differently, it's very hard to find someone who fits under multiple descriptions. Although they followed the storyline a little too well, there was nothing to complain about when it came to the actual characters.

Of Mice And Men?

This classic American tale depicts two men making there own way through the world. George, the smart one, is caretaker of Lenny, who has a nasty habit of unintentional killing things. Due to a run in between Lenny and "a girl with a very soft dress," the two are forced to flee their jobs and set out in search of a new town where no one knows of their past. Coming upon a ranch, they inquire about be taken on and begin working the next day. Here we meet a variety of new characters.

First on the list is Curley's wife, we never know her actual name, who is often referred to as a 'tramp' or 'tart' or a variety of other lovely nicknames which really do actually depict her everyday nature. Next we are introduced to Curley, the boss's son, whose ego guides him through every minute of the day; known for his easy tempter mixed with quick jealousy. Crooks, the black stable-hand, single-handedly handles the moral wrongs of segregation subtly hinted at throughout the story. After Crooks we meet Slim, who lacks a character flaw, and it always looked to for advice by the other workers. Lastly we meet Candy and his very old dog. Candy is an old ranch hand that is worried that his old age is making him useless.

George is always telling Lenny stories of the future when they will have their own ranch. Candy buys into the stories and asks to be invited along, to which George grudgingly agrees. As the story progresses, Lenny and George are accepted by all the other workers, except for Curley. Looking for an easy target, Curley picks a fight with Lenny, only to have him hand crushed by him.
(Some Spoilers Ahead, but if you've read this far part of the story has already kinda been ruined)

Then, after accidentally killing a puppy, Lenny is visited by Curley's wife. She explains how lonely she is because Curley never pays any attention to her. Noticing the dead puppy, she consoles Lenny and she offers to let him feel how soft her hair is (who saw that one coming?). Lenny grabs on too hard and when Curley's life begins to struggle against him he accidentally breaks her neck, killing her. Realizing what he's done, Lenny runs for it. When Curley finds his wife, he sends out all the workers to find Lenny. George is the first one to find him and he shoots him in the back of the head out of mercy.

Person Opinion:
I thought that the overall story was actually pretty good, although I started with much suspicion, seeing as we were required to read it for school and usually their assigned books are not the best. The plot line would be dry if Curley's wife weren't in there to add a little scandal, though.

First Ever Real Life Post . . .

So, um, I guess I have a blog now. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, I just hit the button that appeals to me the most at the moment, and voila, words. It's kind of an impulse thing, gotta go with my gut instinct, ya know, testing the water, seein' what else is out there. I'm the new kid in town. There's plenty of fish in the sea, and I want to be a shark!!!
So I'm sure you're wondering what the heck 'I Pa'ipunahele Hau'oli means, and if not, feel free to skip this paragraph, because I'm about to explain. It started off with me trying to translate "I love books" from English to Hawaiian. A simple enough sentence, I figured it would be no trouble at all to get it translated, but no, here I've been for about an hour now, rifling through website after website, looking for a simple translator. Most of them were trying to sell me "great and affordable tickets for the whole family," needless to say, I wasn't interested. Finally I found a semi-promising site. I translate the word "I," which turned out to be I, that was a real shocker right there. After recovering from that lapse insanity, I translated "love," as you can see, love is much bigger than our simple four lettered counterpart. Then it turned out that there is no Hawaiian translation directly for book, apparently when saying book, they just substitute the word "happiness." So technically, my title says "I love happiness," which is true, just not exactly what I was going for. In case you are wondering, I myself am not Hawaiian, nor is anyone in my family, or anyone I know. To be honest, I was surprised that they actually had their own language (no offense to any Hawaiians out there), I just figured they spoke English and said "Aloha" instead of "Hi."
From that very subtle introduction, I'm sure you would have never of guessed what this blog will be about. Books. Lots and lots of BOOKS!!! (and a few movies, and maybe a little music) A personal favorite of mine is books made into movies, because rarely do they turn out good. It's really kind of hard to talk too much about music because there's more to it than a story line, it has more background than any book or movie.

Dare to disagree?

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

More blind jokes

A blind man walks into a store with his seeing eye dog. All of a sudden, he picks up the leash and begins swinging the dog over his head. The manager runs up to the man and asks, "What are you doing?!!" The blind man replies, "Just looking around."

Joke

Q: Why don't blind people skydive?
A: It scares the heck out of the dog!!!