Went to see Prince Caspian (of course) on Friday.

Mr. Barnes (I'm getting a little used to the name) was definitely The Hotness, and I think Susan was just a puddle of nonsense for being unmoved by him. Srsly. If I were her, I would have begged Aslan to let me stay!

But then, of course, there wouldn't be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (in which Caspian plays another lovely role–can't wait for that!) and, even more exciting, The Silver Chair (which is my favorite of the series I think). 

Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie, uneven dialogue notwithstanding. It definitely kept my interest for the 2:20 that it ran–which is unusual for me. I'm usually checking my watch cell phone for the time about 45 minutes into it, and my youngest daughter is usually just as antsy. But I was surprised when I took her for a bathroom break and saw that 1:20 had slipped by without my even realizing it.

That was great.

My biggest impression of it was that it was The Lord of the Rings Lite. There were lots of scenes that reminded me of LOTR, particularly The Two Towers–and pretty much most of those scenes weren't in the book anyway (in fact, I remember this book being my least favorite; perhaps that's why).

I don't make the comparison in a derogatory way, though. Not at all. This is, after all, a kids movie–thus the PG rating. 

Reepicheep come to life was adorable, by the way. And Tilda Swinson, in her short scene, looked beautiful. And Anna Popplewell (Susan) is really going to be a beauty; almost Angelina Jolie-like.

William Moseley (Peter) looked like a bit of a dweeb, and Edmond not so much as he did in the first movie. Maybe by the time of Dawn Treader, he'll really have filled out.

And Lucy…absolutely adorable. Reminds me so much of my youngest in both looks and personality! 

So that's my take on it. What did you think? 

As the weekend is upon us, and the opening of Prince Caspian (yay!), I had to find out what the hot guy in chain mail's name was. He has such a luscious accent in the trailer ("I am Prince Caspian." *sigh*)

So I did. And I sort of wish I hadn't.

Does this hotness look like a Ben Barnes to you?

Me neither.

Hmph. Just goes to show how important names are.

Perhaps he shall just remain…The Hot Guy in Chain Mail. 

Now that Lindsay Lohan has hit rock bottom, her mother is working on destroying a second of her children.

Watch and be prepared to feel ill for the rest of the day. Or longer.

So over the weekend, Music Man and I took our three munchkins to see a local community theater production of Oliver!

This was fun on several levels. First, because as some of you know, Music Man and I met while doing the same production at the very same theater, with the same community theater group, eighteen years ago.

(Stopping for a moment to realize eighteen years ago. Holy cow.)

Since I can't sing (though I can act), I wasn't a cast member of the production eighteen (OMG. eighteen?!) years ago. However, I was the Assistant Director/Stage Manager, and, as I am fond of telling people–that was great, because when I met Music Man, he was merely a cast member. Which meant that our relationship started off on the right foot: he had to do what I said!

Heh.

(Not that that lasted for very long.)

Anyway, after the production, we took the kids backstage to show them the set and the props table, the green room, the dressing rooms, etc. One thing we didn't show them was the little dark corner of the wings where the Assistant Director/Stage Manager caused one of the cast members (ahem) to…er…nearly miss his entrance.  Heh.

But the really neat thing about this particular production of Oliver! was that they cast most of the male leads as women, and the smaller female leads as men. A real gender switch–and my word! It worked! It worked really well.

What I mean is, we had a Mistress Bumble ("One Boy For Sale"), a female Fagin ("Reviewing the Situation"), a female Artful Dodger (she was fabulous). We had a Mr. Corney as well, which made for a very fun rendition of "I Shall Scream"–in which case the woman (Mistress Bumble) was the initiator, and Mr. Corney, true to the original role, was the shy widow(er).

Nancy (who was a woman) was fantastic, and so was Bill Sykes (a man). He was the best Sykes I've ever seen–including in professional productions. (And because of our past, Music Man and I always try to see a production of Oliver! whenever we can. We even saw one during our visit to London twelve years ago.) 

If you haven't seen Oliver!, I highly recommend the show. The songs are simply wonderful–in fact, we were playing the soundtrack all week before the show and the kids have been singing them ever since. 

So. Have you seen Oliver!? If so, what's your favorite song? (I think mine is "It's A Fine Life" or maybe "As Long As He Needs Me.") What about other well-known plays that have been adapted? How did it work? 

So the winner of the Colette Gale book is 

REN

Yay! You can email me at books at colleengleason dot com and let me know which book you want and where to have it sent. (Or I'll be in touch via email.)

Congrats!

And so…what movie are you all going to see this weekend? You know you are. Which one?