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downthemanhole April 16 2011, 19:11:37 UTC
He really, really is. and yes, I agree, Skandar is quite delicious himself.I'm amazed that between those two I was able to follow the "plot" (you know, the other plot, not the not-so-subtle telling of the love story between Edmund the Just and Caspian X, star/universe- crossed lovers.)

So Ben Barnes has amazing powers of distraction: I mean, on my first viewing, I didn't even realize how gay the "let's watch the stars while standing really close together" scene was because I was too busy contemplating how gorgeous his face was in the firelight.

Mmh, Dorian Gray. I've attempted to watch it twice so far, but honesty couldn't get past the first thirty minutes or so. Which is a shame, because I know I missed orgies and nakedness, but it is such a bad adaptation that even Ben Barnes was powerless against my weird second-hand embarassement. It's still on my hard-drive though, and I've planned to watch it when I'm too tired to care about anything but Ben Barnes' face and body.

and god, you have no idea how excited I was when I saw you've wrote a huge story, and that you're writing an even bigger story.No idea.

I already know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Or tonight. mmh...

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keire_ke April 16 2011, 19:23:25 UTC
I think it's lucky. The plot was quite laughable. XD But yeah, I absolutely agree, the movie's A plot is The Tragic Love Story, everything else is just window dressing. Point of interest, "star-crossed" means "thwarted by bad luck", so...

Hahaha, I'm much the same way. I have on on hard drive, I mean to watch it, but I just know it will be bad... and I know there's a Mary Sue love interest at the end. Plus, I have a very strong second-hand embarrassment. XD

*grins* I'm happy you're happy! The sequel is done plot-wise, but I know it needs a few edits, so it may be a while before it's fit for public consumption, but you may rest assured it is (in some way) done. :) Happy reading!

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downthemanhole April 16 2011, 21:02:14 UTC
I'm lucky that I got in the books after the movies, so at the time I was able to enjoy it as an holiday movie. I didn't think much of the plot, but it was pretty (and I'm not just talking about the actors :-p), and I loved Eustace and his bromance with Reepicheep, so it was enough.

Now, not so much. I'm especially pissed about Edmund's character treatment. The goldwater/Dragon/Burnt island scene was uncomfortable for me to watch at the cinema, but after reading the books, it filled me with as much anger as second hand embarassement. (I got a great one too. In fact, I even thought of watching DG on mute to get past some of its awfulness, but I can't bring myself to watch any movie that way, it's not right, no matter how bad it is)

I'm happy that there is a sequel, so I don't mind any delay really. I'm just glad there is such a talented writer and artist as yourself for this pairing.

<3

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keire_ke April 16 2011, 21:50:26 UTC
Not so with me, I read the books almost twenty years ago and lived them for years - to this day I can quote them from memory (and I only re-read them a few months ago). I did love some of the issues the movies explored, like the inevitable trouble they all would have by having grown to adulthood and then being returned to being children, which the book handwaves as amnesia dust. I did like many of the changes in the plot of all three (I was pissed at the poor portrayal of sailing, but that's just me).

I know, right? In the book Goldwater island was Edmund being sherlockian and analytical and they instead turned him into a PC!Peter clone. But hey, it gave us raging UST, so who are we to complain. :D

<3 *blushes* Thank you.

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 07:16:42 UTC
Then I feel your pain, because I've been invested in these books for only a few months, and I'm really annoyed by some of the choices made (case in point, Peter in PC, especially since he is so great in it), so when you have years of love for this series. It must be a mjor bummer.

I agree on the aging issue too. It is one of those things that are not really adressed and that make me completely paranoid in my interpretation of things. Like at the end of the LWW, when they're told they shouldn't talk about the traitor thing anymore (thus not tell Edmund about aslan's sacrifice), or the amnesia they get after deathwater. This one got me especially paranoid: I know you're meant to think that the vagueness of theirn memories is due to the fact they were bewitched, but I somehow interpretated as aslan's doing.
and I know it should be ridiculous to concern myself with consent when those are kids who have been waltzed from their world and had so the responsability of another one thrust upon them, but I'm horrified by what is my own twisted interpretation of things, which is the implication that some things are better left unsaid, and better still, forgotten.
Mmh, if I know this is paranoid thinking, my lucidity definitely makes me less crazy than I sound, right? :/

oh the UST was amazing, especially that moment when Caspian has this smile and this look when you don't know whether he 's thinking how ridiculous Edmund is being, or how much he'd like to kiss him as an effective way to shut him up.

But his demonstration of his deductive prowess is one of my favourite of Edmund's moments. Sherlock Holmes was one of my childhood heroes, so I got such a kick out of it.
Though I must say, as much as I love that they live in the same fictional universe as Holmes and Watson (do you know if it has been explored in fics? Because I'd so be there), I was disappointed that it meant that those detective novels he read weren't Doyles's ones.
I actually spend a few minutes wondering which authors he could have read, while cursing my limited knowledge of classic detective novels, besides Christie and Doyles for the whodunits, and Chandler and Hammiel for the pd business.

also it makes me think of Lucy's comment about reading too many romance novels in your fic: I don't know if it was meant to be only taken as a joke, but I really could see him reading a few. I mean, as far as I remember, the only books he's been said to have read are adventures (I also love how his knowledge of those is also useful in PC)and detective ones, which despite or because of their popularity have a long history of being looked down upon as lesser genres.

*sighs* I really should learn to be more concise.

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keire_ke April 17 2011, 11:15:43 UTC
I'm mellow about film adaptations, really. I just close my eyes and tell myself they are AUs and all is well. :)

*evil grin* When you get right down to it, Aslan is a bit of a bastard, that tampers with their heads. I did always assume Edmund found out sooner or later. I imagine during a fight with his siblings one let something slip, because in VoDT Lucy talks about the knife with Edmund present and he doesn't react (duh, there's also the way he summarised the story for Eustace, which implies he knew). It's also interesting that in HHB Lucy again tells the story of how they arrived in Narnia and yet there is the implication that Edmund's musing about knowing a traitor who mended go unacknowledged, which leads me to believe it got edited.

Paranoid is good! Paranoid is ficcing fodder. Oh god, is it ever!

The movie is build around the UST, no kidding! The conversation they have over getting dressed, oh god! Instead of a fistbump of the "yea, verily, let's kick their arses, bro!" variety, we get Caspian looking away guiltily like a Victorian bride and going around Edmund to fasten up his armour, then giving the back of Ed's neck this little look (I have a fetish for napes, so you understand the bit speaks to me).

I don't know, but it would be awesome! It took me until now to realise what you mean about them being in the same universe, too. XD He might have read Watson's journals though. Were they ever published?

I did some googling and a popular romance/detective novelist in the forties was Georgette Heyers (hahahaha, which explains Edmund's penchant for romance, as Ms Heyers invented historical regency romance, apparently!). As to his reading choices, we know he is familiar with the Odyssey, enough to use it in analogies. LWW also gives us the line he grew up to be great at counsel, which implies he was learned.

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 14:46:45 UTC
In general, I don't mind film adaptations that much: as long as the movie is good, and stays faithful to the spirit if not the letter of the book, then I'm contented. For example, for the longest time, The Prisoner of azkaban was my favourite adaptation, because despite all the things it overlooked, it was beautiful, and had this delicious sense of foreboding. I know many reproached it to be too dark, but it made sense, really, considering the direction the books took from goblet of fire.
But when it is done poorly and overlooks too many things, then yes, so not okay.

I actually wondered quite a lot about whether Edmund discovered aslan's sacrifice (I've read the books in chronological order, so I had quite a lot of time to mull over it), and for my part, I would like to think that Lucy told him. Because I hate that it was implied Edmund should be left in the dark about it: no doubt it is a painful truth, but I think he would have liked to know nonetheless.
Your "duh" comment made me laugh a little, because I actually didn't realized what his conversation with Eustace implied (too busy flailing over their bonding and sharing. crowning moment of heartwarming for me) before they got to Ramandu's island, when you know for sure he is aware of aslan's sacrifice. I felt a little stupid after that realization.

and yes, this goddamned scene. I'm just unable to hold my snickering when Caspian is all "you're my bro" and you just know that no, not really.
I mean, the more I watched the movie, the more I was baffled by the UST. Caspian undressed Edmund with his eyes at least twice, and the camera only seems to go from one another -and most often than not when it does, there are already staring at each other.
Then Edmund definitely sniffed his hair during their finale hug (I honestly don't know how else you can see it). Seriously not just a bromance.
It comes to the point it is almost hard to decide which is a gayest scene. But I think that aside the ending, my favourite so far is when Coriakin is all "you must defeat the darkness within yourself" (he made me laugh so much with his insistence on the evil thing of evilness) while staring at Caspian pointedly (he probably knows), and just after Caspian looks over at Edmund, before averting his eyes, in the "I'm denying my feelings for you" fashion. God, talk about subtle!

and yes, now that you mention it, I do think he published them, or at least some of them. I'm a little blurry about the details though. But it is awesome, because it means Edmund's deductive outburst could totally have been influence by Holmes, and this is glorious. Glorious. <3

also you made me quite curious about Heyers. I think I may read one of her books sometime soon.

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keire_ke April 17 2011, 16:15:59 UTC
I loved PoA! It remains to this day my favourite HP movie (and book)! It was beautiful. :) And the spirit of the book versus the letter is well-put. LotR on its own, is a good movie, if not wholly faithful, but the sheer amount of love that went into it, the details, the clothing, the designs, hell! It was amazing.

I like to think Lucy told him, but I have a sinking feeling he found out by Susan implying something while she was angry at him. Dunno, it seems more angsty. :D Absolutely, I agree, he would have liked to know, even if it hurt.

Gah, the camerapeople were so highlighting Casmund! I know I nearly snorted in the cinema during the star-watching scene, when Caspian was verbalising his random daddy issues at the sky and the camera moves to reveal Edmund is laying right next to him! Then they pan out and everyone has enough space to make gravel angels, or more. Another gem is Caspian's rousing speech, where he pauses to look around, then it cuts to Edmund who gives him a proud grin, and Cas is up and running again. The hug... yeah. I don't know either. My pet theory is that the movie was written as the Tragic Love Story and the rest (like the evil mist of evil, which is evil) was added by the ten-year-old son of one of the writers, and everyone was aware of it. I also love that the camera follows Edmund after the hug and he looks terribly depressed, as he goes to bow to Aslan, while in the background Caspian hugs Lucy. I have yet to watch any special features, but Ben apparently mentions Skandar every time he opens his mouth, so clearly their chemistry is to blame.

Subtlety is a rare breed among filmmakers. Even the non-slash fans picked up on it!

Edmund being influenced by Holmes would indeed be glorious. :) Hahaha, I have to admit I only plan to read Heyers. Have discovered her via google while writing OTBE, but I am going to find something by her, soon as I can. XD

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 17:36:20 UTC
PoA is still without contest my favourite HP book (how could it not, when it introduces Lupin and Sirius, two of my favourite characters. Sirius is my favourite, period.), but as a movie it is now ex-aequo with HBP. Though I should probably have a marathon again to decide of it for good.
HBP gets extra credit because I thought the book was kinda awful, and is also the first movie everyone acts quite well, whereas PoA suffers from the fact I've seen it so many, many times (the same reason why for a while I couldn't bring myself to watch the Fellowship of the Ring, because there was this 6-7 months period when I watched it almost every week-end.).
and yes. My sister and I spent hours upon hours watching LoTR commentaries, and documentaries, amazed by the painstaking attention to details, and the passion behind it. <3

I love your pet theory. If you don't mind, I would like to make it my own too. Because I could actually understand the lack of nuance if it were written by a ten-y-o. Not so much by adult scenarists. Oh well, at least we got plenty of Casmund.
and yes, I still have to watch PC cast commentary, but I did read that Ben was gushing over Skandar's every scene, which is quite funny. I've read somewhere that there isn't a cast commentary for VoDT, and that's a shame. I was looking forward to it.

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keire_ke April 17 2011, 18:14:30 UTC
:D Ditto on my reasons. I enjoyed Deathly Hallows, too, until we arrived at the point where Neville waltzes in and out-awesomes everyone with his awesome, at which point you realise you have read 500 pages of camping, while Neville was guerilla fighting. :D

Ooooh, the extended LotR edition! The hours and hours of people in love with their jobs patiently whittling away every last piece of weaponry and frigging furniture, it was almost as beautiful as the movie itself!

:D This is exactly my point. The relationship of Caspian and Edmund was nuanced and subtexty and charged, the plot would at home in a Pokemon episode, clearly, they were written by different people.

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 19:15:37 UTC
Lol, this is quite a good summary. Though I haven't read it since it came out (was it 2007? God, already?), so I'm really fuzzy on the details. But Neville is awesome, no doubt about that.

This edition is gold. My favourite part about it is when they show the sets. I find them almost as magical as the fictional places, because there is so much work and love, and dedication. It floored me when I first saw it, and it still does whenever I think about it.

and yes: I wouldn't have watched it half as many times as I did if it wasn't for Caspian/Edmund and their obvious love. <3

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 07:20:50 UTC
also I'm curious about your qualms about sailing. I've only been on boats a few times, and it was motorized ones, so I must say I'm completely clueless about the whole sailing thing. What pissed you off?

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keire_ke April 17 2011, 11:47:14 UTC
Pissed off is maybe putting it too strongly, let's just say the hook for suspending disbelief when it comes to sailing is higher than most others. It's the physics and partially geography of it, mostly. I spent a lot of time on yachts, and even tall ships, so a few things are sticking out (things I hasten to add which Lewis got very much right!).

Firstly, there is the time and space. Part of the journey was to explore the unknown lands, which are outside the normal sailing distance. Lewis gives us figures, DT was stocked for 28 days of travel, so two weeks out is the average range of a vessel, which tells us the first island was at about 6000 miles away from the furthest known land. Then the islands were closer together, but still far enough to take days to sail (sailing speed of a ship like DT would be about 10 knots, which is ~1,15 miles per hour). Meaning the great ocean of Narnia's world was at the very least as big as the Pacific.

Secondly, and this is partially due to the distance, the water of an ocean is never flat, except maybe in total and complete stillness, which is death to a ship, as Lewis rightly points out. Optimal sailing conditions mean waves about 10 feet high (again, Lewis uses Eustace to make the point), therefore sea-sickness. It's not something for land-lubbers, either, I've seen experienced sailors throw up in the middle of doing something, then go right back to doing it.

Thirdly, and this is largely physics, a vessel of this type can only travel with the wind, at a slight angle, at most. This leads to some laughable scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean, for instance, when two ships sail at each other, and both have the sails rigged for back wind (meaning, they are both sailing with the wind, while facing each other). It also means that there would be a direction of the waves in relation to the ship, etc. Then there was the storm, which Lewis' describes as horrific and a gale and all that, and the movie only rocks the set like it would rock during optimal sailing conditions.

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 15:31:46 UTC
Can I just say how much I love all the thought you put in seemingly every detail of the books and movies? Because I do. <3

also, thanks, this is quite enlightening. I did wonder how wide the great eastern ocean was, so thank you for that bit of information.
But it makes me kinda curious: Edmund and Lucy did spend some time navigating during the old age,but they are hardly seasoned sailors, so wouldn't it made them as likely of feeling seasick as Eustace?

also, I didn't know sailors could still get sea-sick: my ignorance about such matters is obviously endless.

is it sad that one of the first thing that crossed my mind after reading your answer was that "of course, they couldn't make the ship lurch more, because this would have led to them stumbling into each other, and the longing stares were just as gay as they could get without the subtext becoming blatantly obvious"? I have a hunch it might be.Oh, well...

may I ask if you sailed as a hobby or a profession?

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keire_ke April 17 2011, 15:50:16 UTC
^____^ Not every detail, to be quite fair, but VoDT was always my favourite part, so...

You can get used to seasickness, after a while, but it affects people very differently. I can handle gentle rocking, but anything more and I need to lie down. I get up, do what I need to, then lie back again. It's got to do with how your inner ear is wired. Some people don't even trouble with it at all. A fairly reliable way to know is to check if you can read in the car without being carsick.

Snicker, if they made the movie any more gay, we would have Brokeback Narnia on our hands. XD It was bad enough!

It's a hobby. My parents met in a sailing club, so when I was little we went sailing a lot, and there is a School Under the Sails programme that allows secondary/high school students spend up to two months on the sea, while studying. You might have heard of the Frederic Chopin disaster a while back (October, I think) - that kind of thing.

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downthemanhole April 17 2011, 17:54:35 UTC
(Victor! <3)

I have trouble reading in trains at times, and can't read in a car without the urge to throw up after a little while, so yeah, I can't imagine spending more than an hour or two at a time on a boat (that and I tend to be wary of large surfaces of water). Let alone to do something like study.
Not that I don't think it could be an amazing experience.

I must say I'm completely clueless as to what this Frederic Chopin disaster is...

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