The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

I just finished Book 2 in the TBR Challenge. Spoilers abound so if you don't want me to ruin the plot don't read beyond this line.

This was a pretty good read. There were definitely some cliches and blatant sexism but when you read a book that was originally published in 1844, you sort of have to look past that.

The book mainly follows the story of d'Artagnan, a young man from the Gascon region of France who wants to become a musketeer more than anything else. For a while, I was afraid his character was at risk of becoming Lorna Doomed, aka, a character that's too good to be true. My reason for this was because he was younger than Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the other main characters who had been in the Musketeers for some time and yet they deferred to him. He was described as handsome, fearless and intelligent with no flaws whatsoever.

But then, he falls in love with a married woman, Madame Bonacieux who seems to return his affection because she didn't marry out of love. He's also tempted by Milady, an evil woman who leaves death everywhere she goes. His feelings for her are definitely more carnal than for Madame Bonacieux.

But the plot is definitely more drawn out than what I thought the story would be. For all the action that takes place, it doesn't feel like a lot is accomplished. But again, I did like the story. I laughed out loud when I got to chapter 65 because it begins with "It was a dark and stormy night." It made me wonder if the beginning of this horrible cliche started with this book. Anyway, I would recommed the book and now I can't wait to read The Count of Monte Cristo.

This book was part of my Classic Reading Challenge.

Rating:3/5

"Phantom of the Opera" (1925)

This movie was originally a book by Gaston Leroux in about 1911 and if you don't know the story then here's Roger Ebert's summary of the piece. "Lovesick masked psycho meets girl, girl unmasks psycho, psycho goes on rampage story with everyone living happily ever after, except the people who die grisly deaths."

The highlights for me involved gunpowder, a random shoe scene, an ugly waterfowl bed, the Phantom unmasked, the horse and the 'Easy Bake Oven of Death'.

Lon Chaney Sr. plays the Phantom/Erik; Mary Philbin plays Christine Daae and Norman Kerry plays Vicomte Raoul de Chagney. You might be thinking, what the heck is a Vicomte? Well it's a nobleman next in rank below an earl. The dictionary truly is a many-splendoured thing.

The story starts with two managers taking over the Paris Opera House. It takes these two new numskulls a while to figure out that the opera ghost (Erik) is the one who really runs the opera house. This ghost is also in love with and training a chorus girl, Christine. But Christine's sweetheart is Raoul, the Vicomte.And so, a love triangle is born, kicking and screaming.

What's really exciting is you can actually see colour in this movie, fourteen years before The Wizard of Oz debuted on the silver screen. But it's really the play of light and shadow that gets your attention in this film. The unmasking of the Phantom was actually a little frightening and the director, faces Chaney out towards the audience so they're the first ones to see his true face. The scene apparently made the audience scream and faint. The makeup is really what gives the Phantom his gruesomeness and it was all designed and done by Chaney and apparently very painful to wear.

For all that it's a milestone it also has some parts that I could have done without. As a silent movie it had some slow sections and then some ridiculous sections. Coming from my point in history, some parts seemed silly or overdone, especially near the end Raoul. He looks exactly like a Muppet and his cape is going like no one's business. Overall though, it was entertaining.

Rating: 3.5/5

"Lifeboat" (1944)

"Dying together's even more personal than living together."

It's WWII and a ship in the Atlantic has been torpedoed by a U-Boat. The survivors are stuck in a 40-foot lifeboat. It's almost like a collection of people from Gilligan's Island. There's the international journalist, the rich capitalist businessman, the radio operator, the nurse, the steward, the sailor and the engineer.

You'd think this would be enough. People from different backgrounds, with different ideas about how to survive and get back to civilization. But then, this "motley crew" pick up one more survivor. This final passenger just happens to be from the U-Boat that torpedoed their ship.

What happens next? Does the crew turn on this lone survivor from the opposing side? Does everyone break out into a rendition of "Cabin Fever"? Do they cook their shoes over an open fire after running out of food? I won't tell. You'll just have to pick up the movie for yourself.

Something to keep in mind though is that this is a Hitchcock film so there is an expectation. As well, you might be wondering how Hitchcock could possibly make an appearance in a movie that takes place on a boat. Again, you'll just have to watch to find out.

The film was somewhat limited by the space constraints placed upon it. The story, charactes and plot have to be enough to keep the viewers attention for the entire movie and at some points this was lacking.

Rating: 4/5

"A Trip to the Moon" (1902)

This is the first in a 1012 part series about the movies you should watch before you kick the bucket.

This is a black and white film otherwise known as "Le Voyage dans la lune" is a French film based on two novels of the time, one by Jules Verne "From the Earth to the Moon" and one by H.G. Wells "The First Men on the Moon".

It was directed and written by Georges Melies. It's quite short at around 14 minutes and is actually the very first science fiction film. You might know the famous scene where the rocket crashes into the moon's eye.

The president of an astronomer's group proposes a trip to the Moon. Eventually, six of the astronomers end up going. Keep in mind that these are astronomers and not astronauts. They build a spaceship in the shape of a bullet and use a cannon to laungh themselves into space. That's right folks, a cannon.

When they land you can see that apparently the moon has a breathable atmostphere. It also starts to snow and the group runs into a cavern full of mushrooms. Things get even weirder when one of the astronomers pulls out an umbrella.

My favourite part of the movie thought was when the group was attacked by the alien inhabitants called Selenites. When they get hit they explode, an early example of special effects. But the Selenites end up being too much for the group and they're taken to the Selenite king.

The film originally featured a final scene with a parade in honour of the astronomers. For almost a hundred year this scene was believed to be lost but a complete cut of the film was found in a French barn of all places in 2002. It's actually the most complete cut of the film and it was also hand-coloured. The full screening of the film happened in 2003 at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival.

Melies had planned to release the film in the US to make some money but Thomas Edison's film technicians illegally made copies of the film and distributed it around the country and made money off of it. Yet another reason to think poorly of Edison. What a complete jerk. This may be the first recorded case of what could be deemed illegal downloading. Poor Melies never made money from the piece and eventually went broke.

1001 Movies to Watch Before you Die

I've had this list on Listology.com for a while but today I came across a blog about the movies. It had pictures and reviews and I decided that I wanted to do the same things.

I'm going to do the same for my book list "Books to Read if you want to consider yourself well-read". I know it's a long title but if you haven't already figured out, I like lists. I mean, really like lists.

Real Romeo and Juliet found?

Apparently archaeologists have found two Neolithic (5000-6000 years ago) skeletons buried outside of Mantua. The pair, found in locked in an intimate embrace are believed to be a man and a woman who died young, because they still have all their teeth. Who knew dental work could be so important?

Mantua also happens to be about 25 miles from Verona. This of course, being the legendary home of Romeo and Juliet. Kinda makes you think, no? Makes you want to stroke imaginary chin hairs and wonder. Billy Shakespeare had no way of knowing that the play he wrote in the 16th century would have a real application with a couple that lived thousands of years before he did. It's kind of creepy if you think about it too hard.

Those Conservative Ads

I don't know if you've seen these new ads by the Conservative slamming Stephane Dion but it's making me kind of mad.

First of all, they took their footage from the Liberal Leadership Debates so it was easy to find Liberals criticizing each other. As well, I'm thinking, why are these attack ads showing up? It's not an election year (at least, not yet) and it makes you look bad.

In fact, Conservatives, it's making you look like a bunch of jerks or even better, schoolyard bullies because politicians often stoop to the antics of children even though they're adults. It's strange to think that these people are older than me and yet where is the maturity? You know, that's actually a scary thought.

Okay, so maybe you're trying to get a jump on a supposed "election" but come on. This is almost worse than American Democrats and Republicans starting their Presidential runs this January. I'm so glad we have a law about how long politicians can campaign up here. I mean, who wants to listen to campaign ads for a whole year?

Listen, all you people on "the hill" should be concerned about is running the country. Just do your job and stop wasting time making stupid ads and wasting taxpayers money on things people don't want or care to see.