Drea

Hey Drea

As per your request, my "Recently Overheard" has been updated and moved up the sidebar. Merry Christmas

More Christmas Ideas

More Christmas Ideas

Might I recommend the World Vision 2005 Gift Catalog. For only $75 you can provide school for a child for one year.

Nitpicks

Nitpicks and Accolades of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

1.Lucy steps into the wardrobe as they explored the house, not in a game of hide and seek. (Query, wasn't it also a hide and seek game in the 1897 version?)
2.Wardrobe was "the type with a mirror in the door." Nope. Carved and Ornate. And huge considering that an apple tree was cut down to make it.
3. When Lucy opens the wardrobe two mothballs fall out. One point for the movie.
4. Mr. Tumnus had "a red woolen muffler around his neck." Two points.
5. Above the mantlepiece was a "picture of an old faun with a grey beard." In the movie it was on the sidetable?
6.All of the book titles in the case come straight from Lewis, including "Is Man a Myth." More points indiscriminately tossed about.
7. Mr. Tumnus asks if he may keep the handkerchief.
8. Aha. Hide and Seek was why Lucy got in the wardrobe the second time and Edmund followed (And not in their bathrobes either).
9.The dwarf doesn't attack Edmund for not recognizing the Queen. The White Witch calls him to task herself.
10. The White Witch tells Edmund that his brother and sisters will be Duke and Duchesses, not servants.
11. Susan, not Peter, says "it's not as if we're taking them out of the Wardrobe."
12. A general observation, it was really nice to see the talking animals in proportion. In "The Magicians Nephew," Lewis said that all the small animals were made larger, and the larger animals smaller, when they were given the ability to talk. In older versions, full sized humans played some of the animals. Regardless of the reviews of the CG, more points for the relative sizes of the animals!
13.The Beavers and Peevensies don't make a treck to the Witch's castle, but go straight to Cair Paravel once Edmund is found missing. (Speaking of which, did anyone else think the Witch's castle looks a good deal like the castle at Minas whatever in The Two Towers where Frodo and Sam start climbing the stairs towards Shelob's Lair?)
14.Needless to say there was no frantic escape from the Wolves scene, including the ice flow. They and the Beavers had quite a head start, so by the time the wolves got to the dam it was cold and dark, and the snow had begun again, so there was no trail to follow. Except that Edmund had heard about the Stone Table.
15. "Come in, come in, fortunate favorite of the Queen...or else, not so fortunate." My second favorite line. Another point.
16. They spent the night in the hollow underground before they met Father Christmas. (Another scene that looked a good deal like LOTR -- where the four hobbits are hiding from the Nazgul under the hollow)
17."Battles are ugly when women fight." I'm glad they changed that line. I've never liked it. One commenter and Cinema Veritas says it best. 'I have to say that "Battles are ugly when women fight" struck me as a bizarre remark even at age eight--what are battles when men fight, ballet exhibitions?'
18. Susan in given a "little ivory horn," not the big brass sucker in every other movie. More points for accuracy.
19. Here's a change I liked very much in terms of Edmund's character development. In the book he was never in prison, merely given dry bread instead of Turkish Delight while waiting for her sleigh to be hitched up. But putting him in the dungeon with Mr. Tumnus, forces to see the direct consequences of his actions was an inspired move. Way to go in terms of departure.
20. Also the fox was not a spy in the book, but a member of a Christmas party that was turned to stone. We can pretend, since I very much liked the bit with the fox apologizing to "Your Majesty" and then telling the Witch that he wasn't speaking to her, that they skipped the Christmas party altogether, and met with another fox in the woods. That takes care of both contingencies.
21.The instructions given to the Wolves was to go to the Beavers' house, and if they were gone already, proceed directly to the Stone Table. Negating the ice flow scene. Those wolves then treed Susan (but not Lucy) allowing Peter his first battle experience. The other wolf stays hidden in the forest until he runs off to find his mistress, promting Aslan to send his rescue party.
22. In the book it refers to the Pavilion at the Stone Table, and the 1987 movie does as well, but I was rather glad to see a camp that looked more like an army and less like a garden party.
23. "The witch, after staring for a few moments with her lips wide apart, picked up her skirts and fairly ran for her life." That would have been way cooler than her looking startled and sitting back in her chair. Although I suppose running would have been difficult in the spray on insulation they called a costume.
24."Despair and Die" intact and well delivered.
25. The entire scene with Aslan on the Stone Table was very well done.

George Muller

The Orphan's Friend

I skipped church today and instead read the biography of George Muller. He was an amazing man. Enough money was found to build an orphanage capable of housing 3,000 children without him once in 50 years soliciting money. Every day he prayed, and every day somehow the money came in. God provided for his needs and often just his wants. Muller said "We do not serve a hard master."

Nancy and I have noted this phenomenon, as did the Wycliffe team on tour. One day a girl was at the end of her rope and prayed for internet connection and a hottub. We arrived at our house for the day and found a computer in the guest room and a whirlpool bathtub. I was grateful that I got in on the blessing. A few days ago, just as I was having a major craving, a box of gourmet french chocolates appeared in a donation box. I suppose I could brush it off as coincidence. But I prefer to see it as a gift.

I love how Muller depended on God entirely to support his ministry. The fundraising part of show always rankled, even though all excess funds beyond the cost of the production were given back to the church. There is a fine line I suppose between making people aware of an opportunity or need and soliciting funds. I once donated to a certain organization, and they've kept better track of me than my credit cards or student loan company through all my moves. Once a year I get a call reminding me that they care. I'd rather they leave me alone about it. I found them once unsolicited, and if I want to donate again I will. Anyway, back off the soapbox.

I've had Muller's story in my head since I heard an Adventures in Odyssey sketch about him years ago. This is the first time I've read the whole story.

And Dickens stopped by the orphanage once to see if conditions were better than the workhouses he abhored (hence, Oliver Twist), and left favorably impressed. Yay Dickens.