Nearing 30,000 visits and a mini-rant–Eragon the movie!
A while back, when I reached my 25,000th visitor, I offered a free pattern to the visitor from Berea, Kentucky. Alas, even though I’d seen a visitor from Berea before, no reply, and haven’t spotted that town on my site-meter since. Bummers. So will try again… we are barrelling in on the 30,000th visitor since February, when I started my site meter!
So, sometime this week I expect, we’ll hit that magic number. If you’re that visitor (I can post date, time, and general area you are from…sometimes folks “towns” show up with the name of a neighboring town) you’ll be able to pick any pattern you want from my website and I’ll send it to you as a thank you for visiting!
And now for the mini rant—-if you love the book Eragon, don’t go see the movie!!!!!! We DID go to see the movie Eragon, with high hopes. UGH. HORRID. How to ruin a great book.
Paul and Eli enjoyed it, because they didn’t read the book (Eli will, but it’s a bit beyond his bright 8-year old brain to read on his own, more suited to age 11-adult). Joshua and I (who have read the book multiple times…me twice, Joshua about a dozen, literally) kept muttering to each other about how they’d destroyed and twisted stuff. I can’t remember ever walking out of a movie, but I was so disgusted that if I hadn’t been with the family I would have left.
If you’ve read Eragon, DON’T go see the movie. If you haven’t read Eragon, and enjoy fantasy adventure type books on the line of the Tolkien and Narnia books, or Anne McCaffrey dragon books, READ THE BOOKS (Eragon, its sequel Eldest, and the forthcoming final book in the trilogy). Skip the movie. Think I felt strongly about this one LOL? I’m so sad for author Christopher Paolini…he has written what will be a classic, I think, in the vein of the hobbit books.
What is most annoying, is that the filmmakers could have been true to the book so easily, but instead chose to make MAJOR plot changes, and messed up on innumerable easily-fixed details. For example, the elf Arya is dark-haired. The actress cast in the role is willowy and has great facial structure for the character, but is a strawberry blond. Can you say “hair dye?” or “wig”? And then there is Murtaugh—in the book he actively resisted going to Farther Dur, the stronghold of the Varden rebels, because his late father (whom he loathed) was the arch-nemesis of the Varden and he knows that he will be suspect (if not killed for being Morzan’s son). In the movie, he is all gung ho to go there. Why in heaven’s name would they butcher a major plot line?
I understand that they had to eliminate sub-plots and details to fit the movie into 2-3 hours, but to alter major and minor plot lines and, in countless places where they could easily have made the movie true to the story with (literally) cosmetic changes, chose not to do so… well,
FROTH!
ANGER!
SPITTING!
Let’s just say that where they succeeded in making major movies true to the story and spirit of the books in both the Lord of the Rings and the Narnia movie, in this case they have given a textbook example of what NOT to do to a book.
Off soapbox, end of rant. Next post we will return to our regularly scheduled quilty and family doings! Grin!
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Oh I am so bummed. I had thought of you and Joshua when I saw all the movie posters recently… remembering how much he liked the book. Oh well… it’s not the first time a book has been butchered and it won’t be the last.
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Hi Sarah,
I read your blog everyday! Do enjoy all of your great work!
Diane S, Keagy
Amelia Island, Fl
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Ha, you sound just like my daughter after she saw the movie. She’s convinced someone will redo it in a few years, still it’s too bad they wasted all that talent doing it wrong.
January 4th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
My mom(Sue) mentioned you and your Eragon rant and I wholeheartedly agree with you! I could not believe how they butchered the important aspects of the book! All of the relationships, and emotions that made the book complete completely destroyed in the movie… *sigggghhhh….* alas, I guess we just continue to play the REAL story in our minds, and forgoe the Hollywood take on it… 😉