Current Book and Movie Updates

Greetings to all who read this!

The time has finally come for a new blog entry!  My sincerest apologies to all my dear readers who have checked back here time after time looking for a new entry.  Here it is!  I hope it was worth the wait.

I went to visit my family over Thanksgiving and what fun it was!  The perfect holiday!  I told my mother about my blog, so if you read this, mom, please leave me a comment and let me know!!

The first thing I want to do is follow up on my reading list.  Since last time, I have finished Anne Rice’s Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt.  As you might recall, I said last time that I thought many in the Christian community would shun this book on the basis of who wrote it.  I take it back.  This book is not only one of the best Christian books I’ve read in a long time, it really and truly belongs on the shelves of Christian bookstores everywhere, and I have no doubt that it will arrive there soon.  

I liked Interview with the Vampire.  I liked the movie, and I liked the book better.  Yes, they were “guilty pleasures”, as you might say, but I liked them.  This new book is the opposite of that though.  I like this the way I liked The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings.  I want to proclaim that I liked it from the hilltops.  It’s that good people.  I’m telling you, I cried not once but twice while reading it!  I prayed while reading this book!  I thanked and praised God for it!  That’s what we’re talking about here!  Don’t walk, run to the bookstore and pick this up.  

And now a prediction, for anyone who’s interested.  I predict that Ms. Rice will write at least three novels in this Christ the Lord series (“Out of Egypt” being the first), and I predict that a series of movies will be made of them which will be Harry Potter-level blockbusters.  I’m telling you, the film studio that does this will rake in the dough, and I can’t wait!

Oh my gosh… a thought just hit me…!  Will there be an Xbox tie-in game like with the Narnia movies?  I tremble at the thought.  Could we be entering a world where there will be a video game based on the life of Christ?  I’m not sure I’m ready for that.  On the other hand, if it’s done right (and I’m not even sure that it could be) it might actually work.

In other reading-material-related news, I’m currently reading Bee Season by Myla Goldberg.  Why am I reading this, you ask?  Well, I saw the trailer for the movie, and it looked interesting, so I said; “It this is gonna be a good movie, how good must the book be?!”  And I went and got the book.

Ok, I got the book on tape, but it’s unabridged, so it counts as reading it!

I’m not very far into it.  The best I can say is that I haven’t put it down yet.

I saw Harry Potter 3.  Was it good?  Yes it was.  Was it the best Harry Potter yet?  I don’t think so.  There was just too much material to cover in one film, and personally, I always thought the “Tri-Wizard Tournament” seemed … well, contrived.  The only thing of importance that occurs in the film is the resurrection of Voldemort, and once again the way Harry escapes from this is extremely deus ex machina.  To me, this has always been a weakness to the Harry Potter stories.  Since magic rules the universe, there are basically no rules, and therefore there can be no real tension.  Since anything can happen, there’s no real reason to care about what happens.

Lest you think I’m just slamming Harry Potter, I’m not.  I’ve read every book in the series, and I’ve seen every one of the films in the theater.  I even own all the DVDs (but I don’t think I’ll be buying this one).  I guess I’m starting to get a glimpse at the man behind the curtain, so to speak.  It’s been the same way with Lemony Snicket.  I absolutely loved the first few Baudelaire adventures, but they all start to seem the same after a while.  It’s just the same stuff over and over and over again.  I didn’t even finish the last one I started.

Well, the hour is late, and I’ve got to start getting some sleep.

Until next time (which hopefully won’t be as long as last time)!

-Tim