No, No, Narnia

C.S. Lewis did not like the idea of turning his "Narnia" stories into movies. See his protest letter below to BBC producer Lance Sieveking.

Disney will release a film version of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" on 9 December, 2005.

We shall see.



The Kilns,
Headington Quarry,
Oxford
18 Dec. 1959

Dear Sieveking

(Why do you ‘Dr’ me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn’t free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician’s Nephew] except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed – adamant isn’t in it! – to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.

All the best,
yours
C. S. Lewis

[Letter to BBC producer Lance Sieveking (1896-1972), who has written at the top: ‘The Magician’s Nephew’ and, after the address, the phone number “62963”.]

Source: nthposition.com

Say What?

"The long-term value of today's IT specialists will come from understanding and navigating the situations, processes and buying patterns that characterize vertical industries and cross-industry processes," Diane Morello, VP, Gartner Research, 29 November,2005

Junk English is alive and well, as evinced by Ms. Morello.

She could have delivered the gobbledygook in everyday English: "Today's businesses will increasing look to hiring IT (Information Technology) professionals with added skills. They not only specialize in IT, but also understand the business. More important, they must be able to handle assignments outside of their area."

Deep Purple

Play this MP3:
Bea Wain (1939)
- Deep Purple (De Rose & Parish)

Music: Peter De Rose (1934)
Lyrics: Mitchell Parish (1939)

Top of the Chart: Larry Clinton & His Orchestra (1939)
with Bea Wain

When the deep purple fall
Over sleepy garden wall
And the stars begin to flicker in the sky
Through the mist of a memory
You wander back to me
Breathing my name with a sigh

In the still of the night
Once again I hold you tight
Though you're gone
Your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat
Lover we'll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams

(Instrumental interlude)

In the still of the night
Once again I hold you tight
Though you're gone
Your love lives on when moonlight beams
And as long as my heart will beat
Lover we'll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams

First Sunday of Advent - Hope

"Do not, I beseech you, be troubled about the increase of forces ALREADY in DISSOLUTION. You have mistaken the hour of the night. It is already morning."
--G.K. Chesterton 'Orthodoxy'

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
-- Isaiah 9:2, KJV

Acknowledger of All Things Worthwhile

Among other usual junk mail I receive daily, two authors had recently sent invitations to my Amazon.com book reviewer's account. One appeared to be a published author. He invited me (and others I presumed) to visit his blog. The invitation read like a spam. I have filed it in the "Second Look" folder.

The second author, or want-to-be author, wrote a long resume of sorts as an introduction. He wished me to read and comment on the first ten chapters of his unpublished book.

This up-and-coming author began in his invite as follows:

'While browsing Amazon reviews I came across yours for Percy’s “The Moviegoer” and decided that I’d send this message to ask if you, as an avid reader and acknowledger of all things worthwhile, would consider reading a bit of my novel, FUTUREPROOF...'

I can see it now. I, the Book Reviewer and Acknowledger of All Things Worthwhile, walking down the Halls of the Unpublished Purgatory, and let each of these languishing souls bow and kiss my ring.

I'd expected a vote from this "Futureproof" author on my review of "The Moviegoer." Not even as a token prelude to his request, he didn't vote.

Would I excuse his insolence and condescend to read his draft, you ask?
Well, my friends, The Acknowledger of All Things Worthwhile says: Que Sera Sera.

If you are inclined to read and comment of this unpublished work, go to Futureproof.

There will be no audience with His Worthwhileness today. He will leave presently to see the new "Pride & Prejudice" movie at a theater near him. No puns please. LOL.

Thankful

This post was sent from the mobile iPAQ hx2755.

I am thankful the fullness of time has not come. God is still being patient with me - and with the world.

Thanksgiving 2005

THANKSGIVING
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1901)

We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor,
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.

Our cares are bold and push their way
Upon our thought and feeling.
They hang about us all the day,
Our time from pleasure stealing.
So unobtrusive many a joy
We pass by and forget it,
But worry strives to own our lives,
And conquers if we let it.

There's not a day in all the year
But holds some hidden pleasure,
And looking back, joys oft appear
To brim the past's wide measure.
But blessings are like friends, I hold,
Who love and labor near us.

We ought to raise our notes of praise
While living hearts can hear us.

Full many a blessing wears the guise
Of worry or of trouble;
Far-seeing is the soul, and wise,
Who knows the mask is double.
But he who has the faith and strength
To thank his God for sorrow
Has found a joy without alloy
To gladden every morrow.

We ought to make the moments notes
Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;
The hours and days a silent phrase
Of music we are living.
And so the theme should swell and grow
As weeks and months pass o'er us,
And rise sublime at this good time,
A grand Thanksgiving chorus.

Expired: Click to Listen - George Winston's "Thanksgiving"

Hoagy

Hoagy Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981)

A Hoagy sandwich is nice anytime of the day. A delicious thought no less.
That will have to wait for another time.

Today is Hoagy Carmichael's birthday .

Expired: Click to Listen - Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust"

Stardust
Music: Hoagy Carmichael (1923)
Words: Mitchell Parris
Vocal: Denny Dennis (World War II reocording)

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we’re apart

You wandered down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The story of the years gone by

Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely nights dreaming of a song
That melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you

When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago
Now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song

Beside the garden wall
When stars are bright
You were in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
Of paradise where roses grew

Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain

Elvira Madigan

It's not nice to fool mother nature. Just don't do it again.

Click sur le lien pour entendre:

Fin: le concerto 21 de Mozart, l'andante "Elvira Madigan"

Now Thank We All Our God

This post was sent from the mobile iPAQ hx2755.

Benediction: "Therefore , since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken , let us show gratitude , by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe." (Hebrews 12:28, KJV)

Being one of the greeters for this Sunday's 11 AM service, I got to listen to the Hallelujah Brass played Saint-Saint's Third Symphony "Maestoso" in the Prelude to worship - again. (I heard it at the 8:30 AM service.)