His Dark Materials

GAH!

Alright, I’ll give props to Dana for making me get on the bandwagon.

Golden Compass:

Favourite aspect: That Pullman gets right into the plot without taking heaps of time to explain what daemons are and blah blah blah.

As for the banning, the Calgary Herald reported GC’s return to Catholic libraries.

“There is no doubt that the text is harsh in terms of its language about organized religion and that it presents a consistently negative view of church, clergy and faith-based institutions; however, there are glimpses of light with opportunities for positive reflection,” the review stated.

…..school board officials have decided to use the novel’s counter-religious themes as a teaching opportunity for Catholic students.

The Subtle Knife:

Very quick read… it is a YA book… (and I’m not eager to go from Pullman to Eco!)

Juno

I wish I had seen it in the first week before all the hype. Despite that, it’s still a movie I’ll be buying when it’s released on DVD. The only question is: DVD, Blueray or HD??

Check out the trailer here.

Juno has sparked an obvious debate. On January 25th, the Boston Herald commented:

Conservatives didn’t like the movie’s casual, nonjudgmental attitude toward teen sex. Juno struggles telling her disappointed parents. And she hates waddling around high school. But that’s as horrible as her pregnancy gets.

Pro-choice advocates, such as The Nation’s Katha Pollitt, says, “A teen who saw this movie would definitely feel like a moral failure for choosing abortion.” When Juno goes to an abortion clinic, she recoils at its dinginess and decides against abortion (especially after running into a classmate who tells her unborn babies have fingernails).

Pollit points to a spate of recent movies – from “Knocked Up” to “Waitress” to “Bella” – in which the heroines all find themselves pregnant and all decide to give birth and everything’s swell. Yet in real life, 29 percent of pregnant teens do choose abortion and of the 57 percent who do give birth, less than 1 percent do what Juno did: give the baby up.

Reality aside, Juno was a great flick with awesome music. The soundtrack features The Velvet Underground, Belle & Sebastian, Cat Power, Kimya Dawson, Sonic Youth, The Kinks and plenty others. Plus, any reason to see Michael Cera do what he does best is a good reason. Best quote, “Juno: You’re like… the coolest person I’ve ever met and you don’t even have to try. Paulie: I try really hard actually.”

The Kite Runner

I can’t believe it took me so long to read The Kite Runner. What an unbelievably wonderful and sad book!

Watching the movie I felt rushed through the book again. I liked it if only as a reminder of how great reading the book was. But in terms of standing alone as a movie, it doesn’t.

The casting of the Hazara boys the best part of the movie. The kites in the sky were also great to watch – whomever was responsible for the kites: Well done!!