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Muggle Matters' Merlin going to Lumos 2006!
Oho! "Muggle Magic" and Gumshoe's excellent theory
Symbols Revisited
Saint Mungo
Snape Revisited
Draco Malfoy
Goblet of Fire Mistakes
Book ban appeal
Slughorn and the Ring
Laborious Libations
Hogwarts, Hogwarts,
Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare
And full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff.
So teach us stuff worth knowing,
Bring back what we forgot,
Just do your best
We'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot!
1: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2: Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3: There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4: Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5: Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6: His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8: The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9: The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10: More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11: Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12: Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13: Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
| Whoaaa!!! I think this might be worth seeing if Shyamalan directs the next HP movie. I've been a pretty harsh critic of the movies in general compared to, say, the Jackson LotR films. But I have to admit I love Shyamalan's other work and I'd loved to see how he does book 5. But it's just a rumor.... |
Comments on "M. Night Rumor"
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jkr2 said ... (July 12, 2006 5:54 PM)
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jkr2 said ... (July 14, 2006 8:16 PM)
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Merlin said ... (July 14, 2006 9:20 PM)
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Merlin said ... (July 14, 2006 9:22 PM)
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jkr2 said ... (July 15, 2006 6:48 AM)
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jkr2 said ... (July 15, 2006 6:50 AM)
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Merlin said ... (July 15, 2006 12:28 PM)
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Merlin said ... (July 15, 2006 12:32 PM)
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Sumara said ... (July 17, 2006 4:21 AM)
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jkr2 said ... (July 17, 2006 5:26 AM)
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Merlin said ... (July 17, 2006 11:15 AM)
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Pauli said ... (July 17, 2006 11:26 AM)
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Sumara said ... (July 17, 2006 7:35 PM)
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Sumara said ... (July 18, 2006 6:54 PM)
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Merlin said ... (July 18, 2006 8:10 PM)
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Sumara said ... (July 18, 2006 9:01 PM)
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Sumara said ... (July 18, 2006 10:59 PM)
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Merlin said ... (July 18, 2006 11:17 PM)
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Sumara said ... (July 19, 2006 12:26 AM)
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Merlin said ... (July 19, 2006 1:46 AM)
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Merlin said ... (July 19, 2006 1:55 AM)
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Sumara said ... (July 19, 2006 4:27 AM)
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post a commentyeah. i think he'd be a very cool choice!
hey merlin, posted a little quote over at my blog i thought you might like.
jo
Jo, Thanks - I loved it ... in fact I would say I wrote more in response than I originally intended or you expected. So I thought I would hop in here and tell people that I was indulging my verbosity over at your site, so they can stop by and check it out - since it happened to be the one place I forgot myself and threw caution to the wind and gone into my excitement over Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
but, again, good sleuthing ... I really enjoy hearing her talk about it because I think she has this pure and genuine interest and joy in what she is doing ... you can tell she is a Hermione with her brainy side that could definitely flare up at somebody like Harry - and I think she has a bit of Ginny's red hair too, but I think she is mainly a "mischeivious brainy" kind of Hermione and it makes her comments very fun to read - I still have to get around to checking out that inteview between her and Stephen Fy, that has to be a classic.
In the interviews on the extra stuff of the DVDs of the first two movies she always gets this twinkle in her eye where you can tell she is calculating her words carefully not to give certain future plot elements away
And yes, Shymalan directing HP ... that would be very interesting, especially book 6
here's the link to that interview with stephen fry. (you probably have it already)
http://www.quick-quote-quill.org/articles/2005/1205-bbc-fry.html
i think you can download it to listen to. you should do that. maybe i can convert you to fry from dale!
jo
ps, a friend of mine is really interested in talking potc with you merlin
jkr says in one interview that she deliberately chose an unusual name for hermione for two reasons.
1. her parents wanted to show off how clever they were.
2. other swotty, bossy, buckedteethed girls (like she had been herself) wouldn't get teased for sharing that name.
did you read that snape one too?
cheers,
jo
I have to check out the one on Snape yet, should be good though.
And I am in my, what has officially become known as, my "sparrow mode" so I am up for discussing potc with any and all such said (and even unsaid)personages (sparrow mode in greatly helped by sleep deprivation, to which said beasty of an encyclopedia project contributes greatly) ... but since DMC I have also been captivated by Bill Nighy's performance as Jones - any time I I walk into my friend Michaels office to ask him a question on the project I begin with something like "and what about you michael? do you fear death? all you worst typoes and grammatical mistakes laid bare?" or "join my editing crew and postpone the punishment ... one hundred years before the keyborad and monitor" (instead of "before the mast" and we have concluded that on this editing crew, instead of half your face being carbuncles/seashells like W. Turner Sr, like half your face would be made of post-it notes, and you would develop a stapler for one of your hands and a red pen for the other hand, studd like that)
BUT in all serious, Bill Nighy rules ... I just looked up the spelling of his last name on IMDB to have it right here and realized he was Slartibartfast in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
And ... the most central thing ... Gore Verbinski and his screenwriting crew are my heroes. I have just been realizing all the great imagery ties he has between the two moveis thus far. Ones that deepen the imagery's connecttion to the themes too. Like Becket holding up the "P" brand and gazing at it when he says to Will "we both left our mark on each other" and Jack gazing quizically at the blazing poker before he burns the mules butt with it to get him going to use the machine to break the chains in movie 1 - to break free, Jack does what the East India Trading Co and Beckett did to him.
I already loved Verbinki's stuff from the first "Ring" movie, now I'm really into him
I think they should have M. Night direct movie 6 and Gore Verbinski direct movie 7 (I'm assuming that with it being 1 year from release date, movie is already slotted for somebody? indeed they are probably already sitting in the chair directing if it is going to be out in a year - I just haven't heard names or looked at it at all - still a bit of the sour taste in the mouth from movie 4)
Hi Merlin!
I'd be the aforementioned said (or unsaid) personage wanting to ramble on about Pirates.
(I just wish I knew as much as you about the directors you're talking about and their work. I'm still in the early stages of my fascination with film. You inspire me to learn more)
So I'm glad you're in Sparrow mode. Tell me more about Jack as a Christ figure. I found the image of Jack facing the beastie and preparing to fight it even as it seemingly overcame him to be really powerful. But then I also thought - he wasn't there voluntarily, he was only still on the ship because Elizabeth shackled him there. Though I guess Jesus wasn't there voluntarily either - he tried to get out of it before hand but when the time came he faced it head-on. Hmmm, answering my own questions here...
And Barbosa seems to be turning out to be more central or important than I'd thought he was. We were led to believe that he's the bad guy but somehow the bad guy is vital to the journey to seek the good guy.
Or something. Sorry I'm not nearly as eloquent as you lot.
Oh and I totally agree with you about the hero-worthy-ness of Gore Verbinksi.
And yeah, Shyamalan would be really interesting to direct #5 or 6...
(ok, I have no idea, I only said that to try and fit in. LOL)
sumara, you're such a dag! (but in a very cool way, alright?)
Sumara,
ahhhh, excellent questions, some of which I have been pondering already and think I may have some hints on, but some of it is ambiguous (or maybe rather, ambivalent ... I think in places and intentional ambiguity that contributes to the tension of the themes).
at present (ie this very moment in the day) we are in "swinging and swearing" mode ... ie being past deadline our editing area bears a striking resemblence to the barroom in Tortuga.
But just wanted to drop a note and say that, since this comments thread has gotten a wee bit long and covering a couple of different topics, I am going to avail myself of some license taht was granted a while ago, to discuss POTC in main posts (Pauli was keeping an eye on staying on topic and then we saw that some other bloggers in the Potter-fan circle were bringing up POTC and decided that, given, it would not make things seem too much like sprinboarding sporadicaly)
So, I am actually going to write a post on it, here soon ... as soon as said terrible beastie of a manuscript is out the door to the publisher.
So ... there you have it ... not an answer - something much more better - a promise of an answer :)
Merlin, I think I'll "loosen-up" a little on the POTC discussion. I think we can deal with it as having symbolic content even though we can't call it "literature", being that it's all in the film medium. I think that was behind my initial reluctance. But certainly there is a rich treasure of symbolism in the story.
So you don't have to "make it relate to HP" -- IOW, swing away!
Oh yes, please do. :)
Thanks Merlin for the ever so much more better promise of answers.
And thanks Pauli for giving permission. ;)
I just remembered what Captain Jack being "consumed" by the beastie reminds me of - Gandalf being "consumed" by the Balrog in The Two Towers. And the same thing happens - it almost looks as if he's about to escape but just when you think he's safe the creature overcomes.
Just had to get that down before I forgot it again.
Hope the editing goes well. :)
Sumara,
That is inetresting, I hadn't thought of it but it fits very well. One of the things I liked in DMC was Sparrow's use of the term "beastie" because in the Old Testament Israel's relationship with Yahweh is always contrasted with the the idolatry of the suurounding nations, and idoloatry is most often focused on beasts. The Golden Calf, the worship of satyrs in the desert (satyrs= goat-gods - which is why on Yom Kippur the High priest always had to offer a bull and a goat, a bull to ritually celebrate forsaking Aaron's sin of making the calf and a gaot to celebrate forsaking the people's sins of worshipping Satyrs ... one prof I have had always likened it to a reformed alchoholic demonstraing his or her commitment to reform by every morning ritualistically smashing a bottle of gin in the sink as a sort of "sacrifice"). Which is why Nebuchadnezzars' fall into evil involves him reverting to being like a beast in the field ... the pagans saw "the power of the gods" in the beasts and instead of turning from creature to creator, worshipped what they thought to be the creator present in the creature. In doing so humans, who are supposed to be stewards of beasts in creation, rather become like the beasts like Christians try to become like Christ because He was God become human.
The Balrog in LOTR is basically a demon-god, in form, and they picked up on that really well in the movie, using the standard "diablo" image of horns - which especially come from the bull image.
So, I think that is a pretty insightful idea of a connection between the bull-demon-god form of the Balrog and the "said terrible beastie" that Jack faces
They're both terrible creatures, evil lords of the deep dark places below.
Interesting connection between the beastie and the beast-idols. And all the idols (or beasties) must be deefeated and put to rest before the world (or the ocean) can be restored to goodness and freedom.
And of course Gandalf defeats the creature and emerges triumphant having gained more power.
I'm pretty sure Captain Jack will do the same (have you seen any photos from #3 - he gets a funky new outfit!).
Where are the pics of him?
Searching searching searching... I didn't save the link where I saw them and can't find it again but here's a pic on someone's journal:
http://the-grynne.livejournal.com/183820.html
It's a shame, I think that he gets a new hat. Rather fancy that old hat of his. :)
Sorry to keep interrupting your work, I'll leave you alone now and hang out patiently for your upcoming post on Pirates.
Nah, the project is done for me ... used up the last of the funded hours tonite, got my friend mike within striking distance for getting this first round done by this weekend and with the way the push was on we started doing things in such a way, adapted the system, such that there is really nothing more that I can do, the way the physical material is set up he has to work on these last two files hands on.
So, tonight was a bit of a wierd night ... after 26 years of having some connection to that college (even albeit this project being only working for one of thier profs on a project not directly connected with that school itself, but still part of the "academic" game taht connects with the school because him being academically connected in projects for other people is part of the schools larger academic connections) ... I have no connection there - I walked by the building my father's office was in and it felt strange (he died on March 27 of this year), I felt sort of like a ghost, so I drove out to his grave for a few minutes ... I miss him.
but back to the topic at hand ... I'm not going to write the Pirates post till tomorrow but I had to throw something about the hat in here because you mentioned it ... the hat is really important. Hat's are symbolic of place and identity (and his will be transformed by being "in the belly of the whale" and resurrectin. My friend Dom and I had thoughts on hats in the first movie but we couldn't really prove it until this movie and so people would say "um, yeah, sure ... interesting theory" At the end of the last movie Will finds his place between Norrington (instution/law) and Jack (Free Spirit) - Norrington says "you forget your place" and Will says "no, it's right here ... between you and Jack" - keeping the balance - and that is when he finds the treasure, when Elizabeth finds her place beside him and says "and so is mine" ... AND (as Dom and I noticed) Will has that funky hat on AND Sparrow makes mention of it, whimsically "Will ... nice hat" - hats are clothing, clothing is symbolic - vestments and "investiture"
Ok, That's all for now except one more thing ... I did a search looking for pics and found a site with some quote by Gore Verbinski on World's End, on a "double meaning" to the title - and I was really chuffed. I already suspect the central theme is globalization, but this adds a new dimension ... the eschatological dimension (for this encyclopedia I wrote one of the entries, the one on eschatology - because it gets a lot of use in the primary texts of the arena the thing is on, but those texts and the articles on them a lot of times simplyuse the term "eschatological" without explaining it in depth, and there was no entry on it so when I brought up the matter to my friend he said "you want to write a short entry on it?"... so looks like I'm getting published in the deal too)
I'll try to explain more later but for now - the double meaning, if I am right, would be that "world's end" is not just spatially but time-wise too (not sure how familiar you all are with "eschatology" but it is basically the culmination of history, the "end of time")
Thanks for the link ... very interesting pic, I like it
I hate it when I forget to mention everything I was going to say
... the confirmation this movie gives of the importance of the hat is that when the Kraken comes up for him it spits the hat back out to him, kind of like throwing it at him, kind of like saying "you made this deal to be captain of a ship, now here is your captains hat ... suite up, it's time to face me" (as far as the ship ... remember that ships are always feminine)
I think the hat was somehow a physical pledge of the deal with Jones for 13 years captaincy of the Pearl - it was a real connection to the pearl, his badge as captian - that is why it is so important in the first movie ... and notice how he lets it go after Turner puts the spot in the hand, it hits him (this is my theory) that teh hat may throw the Kraken off his trail a little, maybe a decoy because there is some real connection the hat has as the pledge object or "investiture" of his being captain of the pearl, and that is what he made the deal with Jones for and the beastie does Jones' bidding etc ... and it does throw the beastie off his trail for a bit ... those poor unsuspecting sailors that found the hat.
Aaaah, yes. Hats and identity. World's End and End of the World.
I like it. I like it a lot.