Greetings from Newport Beach, California, USA!
Photo taken on Friday, July 4, 2008.
In little over a month, I watched three movies. The first two were Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls and Wall-E. Now I have watched a movie based on a popular series of books by a British writer. If you are thinking Harry Potter, then you guessed wrong. I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The mistake is an understandable one. Both series are comprised of seven books and written by Britons. In fact both authors use their first and middle initials in their pen names: J. K. Rowlings wrote the Harry Potter books while C. S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.
I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series years ago and my memories of the stories vary from book to book. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe is the first book and the one that I know best. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (book #3), The Magician’s Nephew (#6) and The Last Battle (#7) also stand out in my mind. Having read the books first, I had certain expectations when seeing the filmed versions. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe neither disappointed nor amazed me but Prince Caspian fared better.
I highly recommend the Chronicles of Narnia books (the Harry Potter ones goes without saying) and read them in the order as originally written and published, which the movies are following faithfully. In recent years, the books have been rearranged so the stories are in chronological sequence. For example The Magician’s Nephew is book #6 initially but in the rearrangement is book #1. The series has a few surprises that are best enjoyed if read in the original order. Trust me on this.
This week was the United States’ Independence Day – the Fourth of July – when this country declared its separation from Great Britain in 1776. Naturally the day is a national holiday and it fell on a Friday this year, making a three-day weekend but I’m not working and every day is a holiday for me. One roommate, his friend and I fired up the grill that day. Our other roommate was out of town, visiting his family.
Later that evening we three walked to a nearby cliffside to watch fireworks. Despite the crowd we had a view of well over 180 degrees. My roommate claimed to have counted 10 separate firework shows but I could only pick out 6 in the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and Long Beach. Regardless of the actual number, the combined shows were a blast (pun intended). I share just a mere moment of that experience in this week’s photo but note that the contrast could be sharper. Fellow spectators and palm trees silhouette the cliffside view of a night sky brightened by city lights, a crescent moon and firework bursts. HAPPY BIRTHDAY #232 to the USA.
Angelo
Photo taken on Friday, July 4, 2008.
In little over a month, I watched three movies. The first two were Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls and Wall-E. Now I have watched a movie based on a popular series of books by a British writer. If you are thinking Harry Potter, then you guessed wrong. I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The mistake is an understandable one. Both series are comprised of seven books and written by Britons. In fact both authors use their first and middle initials in their pen names: J. K. Rowlings wrote the Harry Potter books while C. S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.
I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia series years ago and my memories of the stories vary from book to book. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe is the first book and the one that I know best. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (book #3), The Magician’s Nephew (#6) and The Last Battle (#7) also stand out in my mind. Having read the books first, I had certain expectations when seeing the filmed versions. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe neither disappointed nor amazed me but Prince Caspian fared better.
I highly recommend the Chronicles of Narnia books (the Harry Potter ones goes without saying) and read them in the order as originally written and published, which the movies are following faithfully. In recent years, the books have been rearranged so the stories are in chronological sequence. For example The Magician’s Nephew is book #6 initially but in the rearrangement is book #1. The series has a few surprises that are best enjoyed if read in the original order. Trust me on this.
This week was the United States’ Independence Day – the Fourth of July – when this country declared its separation from Great Britain in 1776. Naturally the day is a national holiday and it fell on a Friday this year, making a three-day weekend but I’m not working and every day is a holiday for me. One roommate, his friend and I fired up the grill that day. Our other roommate was out of town, visiting his family.
Later that evening we three walked to a nearby cliffside to watch fireworks. Despite the crowd we had a view of well over 180 degrees. My roommate claimed to have counted 10 separate firework shows but I could only pick out 6 in the cities of Irvine, Newport Beach, Dana Point, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach and Long Beach. Regardless of the actual number, the combined shows were a blast (pun intended). I share just a mere moment of that experience in this week’s photo but note that the contrast could be sharper. Fellow spectators and palm trees silhouette the cliffside view of a night sky brightened by city lights, a crescent moon and firework bursts. HAPPY BIRTHDAY #232 to the USA.
Angelo
