Updates and soapboxes

Darn, I didn’t realize till just now that the last post didn’t really work very well. Eh.

Sooo… Liz has croup, so it’s just Ray and I for the next few days. Poor girl was miserable yesterday and Ray just wouldn’t leave her alone. He tends to be attracted to whatever she’s playing with, and the concept of “stealing” isn’t even on the radar yet. There was also a distinct lack of sleeping on Liz’s part, so I had a long day of keeping her happy despite a constant runny nose, overly tiredness, and general not feeling goodness.

Becca and I decorated for Christmas last week, although the apartment still needs something to make it feel more right. Stockings on the fireplace for one, and lights around the window. And presents under the tree. Oh, and a real tree instead of our current fake one would do wonders, but that’s just my own bias.

Last weekend the girls and I took Erini to Maggiano’s to celebrate her new jobs. Yum. Maggiano’s has this cool family dining option where you chose 2 appetizers, 2 salads, 2 pasta dishes, 2 main dishes, and 2 desserts and then you get all you can eat and share everything around. You need at least 4 people, but that’s not a problem for us, and if you count the whole other meal you get out of the leftovers it’s a pretty reasonable $25 a person. We also shared around a bottle of St. Michelle’s Eroica Riesling which was simply amazing. Then we went and saw The Golden Compass. Nicole Kidman is amazing. I’ve loved her since seeing Far and Away as a kid. There were a few other disappointing things about the film, but that’s mainly because I just read the books a few months ago. It’s definitely worth seeing. The books are even more worth reading. But speaking of The Golden Compass, I’m going to get on the proverbial soap box for a second and complain about a couple news articles I read the other night about the movie.

I found both these on Yahoo news.

In an article about how much Compass made in it’s first weekend, associated press movie writer David Germain writes :

“The Golden Compass” follows the adventures of an orphan girl hurled into a parallel world of witches, strange flying machines and talking polar bears.”

This makes it seem as if Lyra is from a different world from the one with this witches, polar bears, etc. Not true. She is born, raised, and stays in the same universe for the whole movie.

In an ABC news article about the controversy surrounding Compass, Emily Friedman writes:

“As Lyra gets closer to her goal of reaching the Magisterium — located in the alternate universe of Bolvanger —…”

Blovanger is not in an alternate universe. Again, no one leaves the universe the movie is set in at any point in the movie. I know these seem like small details, but isn’t the news supposed to get things right? This is not about opinion or perspective. It’s simple facts. If you’re going to write a news article, at least know what you’re talking about. Did they watch the movie? I think it would be confusing to have read those article and then gone to see the movie if I had never read the books. It just bothered me.

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