One Semester More

                I’ve done it. I’ve finally completed this school semester. It really wasn’t as difficult as others have been in the past, which is nice. But now I only have one left. I’m saddened by this fact, mainly because I’ll greatly miss all the friends I’ve made here, who have become like a second family to me. This semester I’ve done crazier things than previous semester, often with the rationale that I won’t be here much longer; which I just realized is an awesome metaphor for us on earth. Compared to eternity, we’re here for a very short amount of time; we might as well use our time to the best of our ability.

                I’m also looking forward to finishing up school here. That will be one more chapter of my life completed. The exciting part will be starting the next chapter, which I currently know nothing about. However, with this kind of story, I can’t just look up spoilers on the internet, which is either a good thing or a bad thing: probably a good thing.

Thanksgiving

                So since I finally have free time again, I can now write about what I’ve been doing the past few weeks, apart from schoolwork.

                Well, shortly after posting my blog post about heaven, Thanksgiving break arrived. I was already planning on not going home for Thanksgiving this year, mainly because plane tickets from Ohio to California and vice versa are crazy expensive if you get them too last minute. Also, the semester ended like two weeks afterwards so it would have almost not been worth it. So instead of going home, I went with Xander to his house. Xander is a friend in the unit whose house I’d been to a couple times before. Since I already knew his family, it was nice to spend Thanksgiving in a family setting I was already familiar with.

During break, I did hardly any homework, which was pretty nice. I didn’t have too much to work on anyway, because like I said, this semester was generally very kind to me. So over break I got to sleep in, hang out with people I knew, and watch a ton of movies. Movies we watched that I can remember off the top of my head include The Abyss, Tremors, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Edge of Tomorrow, Guardians of the Galaxy, Source Code, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Interstellar. Thanksgiving break was only about five days I believe, and this is eight movies, so that’s at least one movie per day, which is excellent. I also played some more Minecraft (finally slaying the Enderdragon), played a bunch of board games, and started reading a book called The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which I had never heard of before, but was told is excellent.

                I also played a lot of guitar, because I greatly enjoy playing my guitar when I have free time. And while there, I got to do something I’d never done before but always thought would be awesome. One room of the large basement of their house has been turned into a recording studio or sorts. It was in that room that I had the awesome opportunity to plug my guitar into a sound system, play around with the settings, and also sing into a microphone while playing guitar. I played around with several songs, then actually ended up recording one song, just to say that I did. I was greatly helped by Xander’s dad, who helped set everything up in the “recording studio.”

For those who are interested, I recorded a song by Ed Sheeran from the soundtrack for “The Fault in Our Stars,” entitled “All Of The Stars.” I mainly chose this song because I like it, and it’s generally easy to play (it doesn’t have any bar chords). In the recording, I performed all the singing and guitar, but Xander’s dad did all the mixing, recording, and editing. He also added a track in the background of him playing bass. If you so desire to listen to this recording, it can be found here; just know that I didn’t do any vocal warm-ups before singing and I also was recovering from a cold. I have also only been playing guitar since the beginning of the summer. Basically what I’m trying to say is, don’t expect this recording to be the greatest thing you’ve ever heard. I know that everyone is always their own worst critic, so I’m taking a big step in actually putting this recording online for other people to listen to. I plan on going back to Xander’s house for Easter break next semester, and Xander’s dad and I are already planning on recording something else; hopefully one of my more favorite songs, like something by Owl City.

The End of One Semester, the Beginnings of the Next

                I should mention by the way, that I was finally able to sign up for classes for next semester! It turns out that all I had to do was borrow a ridiculously large sum of money. I kind of think that God was testing my trust and patience with this, seeing how long registration could be pushed back in order to see how much I really trust God. I’d like to say that I trusted God the whole time, that in the end I always knew that things would turn out alright in the end, but there were a few times when I was beginning to think that I would not be coming back to school next semester, or maybe even at all.

                After getting back from Thanksgiving break, I had about two weeks to draw a graphic novel, complete a World Mythology paper, create a dictionary of Cedarville terms as my lexicography project for History of the English Language, and study for several exams. I finished the World Mythology fairly early, and I think I did decently on it. The dictionary was fun to make, but I completed most of it very last minute. I had a lot of fun finishing the graphic novel project for my Graphic Novel class. The other two students in my group wrote the majority of the story and I was the designated artist; basically I drew what they told me to draw. But as the artist, I had ultimate final say about what went in the novel. Therefore, I added visual cameos of Kim Possible, Indiana Jones, the Joker, Scar (from The Lion King), and our teacher. The story was set in a circus, which is why I was able to add such a variety of characters.

                Apart from finishing assignments, I also spent part of those weeks preparing for and participating in Campus Christmas. This is an annual event at Cedarville in which all the dorms on campus decorate their halls/units and people walk through them. Last year, our dorm’s theme was “Civil War in the North Pole.” This year our theme was #ImpeachClark2014 and #SupportClark2014. This was basically two competing campaigns about whether or not we should jokingly impeach the SGA (Student Government Association) Chaplain, who lives in our unit. One side was the impeach side, the other support, while in the middle section we had a riot going on, complete with someone wearing my Guy Fawkes mask “fighting” against someone with a riot shield. On the impeach side we had a section called “How the Clark Stole Christmas,” based on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” and on the other side we had the story of how he saved Christmas. When I found out they were going to do a parody of this, I immediately volunteered to write the poems; which can be found here.

                Earlier this semester I applied for a spring break missions trip, and I just found out during Thanksgiving break, that I made it! The missions trip I’ll be a part of will be located out of Hawthorne Gospel Church in northern New Jersey, which is largely the reason I chose this trip. This is the church my dad basically grew up in, and it’s only about fifteen minutes from where I used to live. So, I guess my main reason for applying was so that I could visit that area again and have the possibility of visiting family and friends, and also seeing my old house again. But I also applied for the trip, because I’ve heard good feedback from people who have gone on these trips.

Almost Home

                As I’m writing these last paragraphs, I’m sitting in the unit lounge, it’s almost midnight, and my uncle and aunt will be coming to pick me up and drive me to the airport in about five hours. I’ve packed everything I need (hopefully) and now I’m just finishing this up so I can then go to bed (that is unless I choose to watch more Parks and Recreation first).

                I detest flying, and airports. I’ve had too many bad experiences with delayed flights and such in the past, and nearly every time I fly I get a headache. The only thing that will keep me going tomorrow is the knowledge that I will be home at the end of the day.

                To Mom, Dad, Rachel, Debra, and Joseph,

I should be arriving in Fresno tomorrow around 3:00. I miss all of you, and I can’t wait to see you again!

                I love you, and see you tomorrow!

                -Michael

Why The Chronicles of Narnia Film Series Has Not Been Successful

Last semester I took a class called C. S. Lewis and the Inklings, which was easily my favorite class that semester. For the final paper, we were allowed to write on anything related to C. S. Lewis or J. R. R. Tolkien (these were the only Inklings we studied), so I chose to write on something I already knew a lot about: The Chronicles of Narnia film series. As today is the 9^th anniversary of when The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was first released in theatres, I’ve decided to post this paper on here. This was a very enjoyable paper to write, and by God’s grace I ended up getting a 95% on it. I hope this answers some questions you might have about the Narnia film series, but mostly I hope you enjoy reading it.

Why The Chronicles of Narnia Film Series Has Not Been Successful

(Originally submitted April 22, 2014)

It is common practice among film companies today to adapt well-known and beloved books into blockbuster feature films. Because film adaptations of books come with their own built-in fan bases, marketing becomes easier and a larger total at the box-office is expected. This benefits not only the film producer’s wallet but also the writer’s estate. Film adaptations of books often have the side-effect of an increase in book-sales. This often leads to an increased interest in other works the author has written. But this has not always been the case. C. S. Lewis is one of the most beloved authors of the last century. His works of both fiction and nonfiction remain bestsellers in bookstores across the world. One of Lewis’ closest friends and fellow Inklings was J. R. R. Tolkien, who is also just as beloved as Lewis. His works also have a large readership and a huge fan base. Within the last fifteen years, film adaptations have been produced of both Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Since then, a strange thing has happened: Tolkien and his works are now far more popular than Lewis and his works. This is largely due to the fact that all three movies in the Lord of the Rings film series were critically acclaimed and financially successful, while the films in The Chronicles of Narnia film series have not been received the same praise. This leads many to wonder why. The Chronicles of Narnia film series has not been well received and has not gained C. S. Lewis and his works any additional fans because the books are not well-suited for film adaptation.

I: A Hopeful Beginning – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Original theatrical poster for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

            Plans to adapt C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia books to film began several years before actual movie production started. Douglas Gresham, stepson of C. S. Lewis and producer of the films, had been planning on adapting the books for many years; he just had to wait for the right timing. That timing came during the rise of popularity in other adaptations of well-known fantasy books, namely The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. However, Gresham states that while “to some extent Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings series and the advent of J. K. Rowling’s work did call attention to fantasy in film,…  this was a market that [he] had already seen to be existent years before” (“Behind the Wardrobe”). No film company decided to pick up the series until they saw the potential it had. The adaptations of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings were extremely well-received and made almost three billion dollars worldwide. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King alone made over a billion dollars at the box-office and won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture (2003). After seeing the immense success of The Lord of the Rings film series, Disney decided to act.

Starting from 2002, Walt Disney Pictures had associated with Walden Media to distribute and produce film adaptations of children’s books. Their first film together, Holes, was well-received, so Disney decided to distribute the Walden Media-made Narnia films as their way of entering the fantasy film adaptation battle. This time of popular book-to-film adaptations was the best opportunity for the Narnia film series to start. Until this point, there had been no live-action theatrical film adaptation of the Chronicles. There had only been a made-for-television animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and a live-action television serial produced by the BBC that adapted the first four of Lewis’ Chronicles (in publication order). Disney and Walden Media felt that there was no time better time to release a film series based on C. S. Lewis’ popular Narnia books. They felt that these films had the potential to be just as successful as The Lord of the Rings film series. But despite Disney’s hopeful outlook on the series, Lewis might have thought differently. While he was alive, Lewis never sold the film rights to any of his works. In fact, he had rather a negative view on movies in general. In his essay “On Stories,” Lewis explains that “Nothing can be more disastrous than the view that the cinema can and should replace popular written fiction" (“On Stories” 509). Douglas Gresham, the head of the C. S. Lewis Company, eventually sold the film rights because he had been anticipating film adaptations for a long while. Soon after obtaining the rights a director was found, Andrew Adamson, and the main actors were cast. A December release date was set; this was going to be an early Christmas present for C. S. Lewis fans around the world.

            Upon its release on December 9, 2005, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe became a huge hit. It received generally favorable reviews and it earned almost as much money as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when that was first released. Some critics did not like it, pointing out blatant Christian themes and allegories, but for the most part it was a success. This is mainly due to the fact that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the most popular and well-known of the Narnia books. The book has an easy to follow storyline, which made the adaptation process much simpler. A few minor changes were made to the plot, but for the most part it stayed very true to the book. One change was that rather than alluding to the final battle like in the book, it is actually shown. This seems to be an obvious choice for a film adaptation, but Disney saw this opportunity to have a battle just as epic as the ones in Lord of the Rings. This and other small changes were made in order to make this film somewhat similar to previous fantasy films that had been so successful. And because it worked so well, Disney and Walden Media began work on adapting Prince Caspian almost immediately after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’s release. The first film of the series had done so well that they planned on doing the exact same thing again; their first mistake.

II: A Big Mistake – The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Original theatrical poster for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

            After the huge success of the first film, Disney and Walden Media raised the budget for the second film, expecting it to be just as successful as the first one, maybe even more so. But they didn’t take into account the text they were adapting. C. S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian is very different than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Prince Caspian’s storyline proved much more difficult to adapt. For one, chapters four through seven are one huge flashback told by Trumpkin the dwarf. This is typical of Lewis, whose novel Perelandra (the second of his Space Trilogy) is told almost entirely in the form of a flashback. The only problem is that this does not translate well to film. Another difficulty the novel placed is that the main characters are split up most of the time, and don’t all meet each other until the very end. For a large portion of the book, Lucy and Susan are with Aslan, dryads, naiads, Bacchus, and Silenus, in some scenes that may have proved to be too “boring” for film audiences. Since this was cut, the writers had to fill the space with something, and there wasn’t much to draw from in the text itself. Because so many elements of the book were hard to adapt to the screen, the filmmakers decided to step in and make changes.

            The main change made was the ordering of events. Prince Caspian blew Susan’s horn of his own accord and in the very beginning of the movie, rather than agreeing with other Narnians to use it after meeting with them in the woods. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy also meet Prince Caspian much sooner in the film than in the book. Another significant change was the added attack on King Miraz’s castle. This was done in another attempt to make the film just like other successful fantasy film adaptations. Also, Reepicheep suggests this attack in the book, so the filmmakers didn’t just make it up. Another change was the added relationship between Susan and Caspian. This has no basis in the book and was probably added for dramatic tension. All of these changes and additions were made to turn Prince Caspian into more of a fantasy/action movie. Disney and Walden Media hoped that by making this movie as epic as the first film, it would achieve the same amount of success. But these changes had the opposite effect on the audience.

            When The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was released on May 16, 2008, its first reviews were not quite as good as the reviews of the first film. Most agreed that the film was much darker and much more violent than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Many critics agreed with Trumpkin who says in the film, “You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember” (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian). The attack on Miraz’s castle, for example, is one of the darkest moments of the film. Both this and the final battle scene are particularly violent, making it surprising that it did not receive a PG-13 rating. But the filmmakers were aware of the violence in the film and “had to be mindful of the PG rating they were contractually obligated to deliver to Disney and Walden Media” (Horn 1). The fact that this film pushed the limits of a PG film made many moviegoers angry. It was meant to be more intense than the first film, but this may have gone too far. There is much more violence in the Lord of the Rings movies, but audiences did not mind it, because they expected it. The makers of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers did not have to worry about striving for a PG rating, meaning that in the Battle of Helm’s Deep they could have almost as much violence as they wanted. Because audiences did not expect so much violence in a PG-rated Narnia film, they did not like it as much.

            Monetarily, the film did not do too well either. The film was released during the summer, unlike the first film’s December release. Summer is the biggest movie season of the year, which is why Disney chose to release it then, but many other films thought the same thing. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian had to face off against other popular and highly-anticipated movies that summer, like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man. After hearing not-so positive reviews of Prince Caspian, many people chose to see other summer blockbusters instead. Another factor is that Prince Caspian is not as well known as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In fact, many fans of the Chronicles list Prince Caspian as their least favorite in the series. In the end, the film made more than its budget, but nowhere close to the gross of the first film.

Many of the people who disliked the movie the most were the fans of the book series and of C. S. Lewis. They were upset about some of the major plot changes. Though these changes were made to appease a wider audience, they had the effect of turning away even some die-hard Narnia fans. The main complaints from fans of the books were about the re-ordering of major plotlines, the adding of scenes, and the Caspian/Susan relationship (dubbed on the internet as “Suspian”). The Lord of the Rings film series by comparison are much closer to the books, which is one reason why they were more successful than Prince Caspian. What The Lord of the Rings movies removed from the books, they mostly added different elements from the books. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings novels are much longer and more complex than Lewis’ Narnia books, which is partly why changes to the plot and the removal of scenes and elements from Prince Caspian are much more noticeable than in any of the Lord of the Rings movies. It was because of these noticeable changes that many fans did not enjoy this film as much as the first film. And for the casual moviegoer, the film was much too violent for its rating. Despite trying to make the film more accessible to a wider audience, Disney and Walden Media turned people off, dashing their hopes of making a film franchise as successful as The Lord of the Rings.

III: An Unsuccessful Revival – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Original theatrical poster for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

            Because of the poor reception to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, both financially and critically, Walt Disney Pictures opted out of distributing a third film with Walden Media. This put a major halt on the production of a third film, though Walden Media still intended on making another one. Eventually, the series was picked up by 20^th Century Fox and production continued. One of Walden Media’s main goals with this movie was to return to the former glory the franchise once had with the first film. This is evident in their marketing campaign. In the first official trailer for the movie appears the phrase “Return to Hope, Return to Magic, Return to Narnia” (YouTube). This phrase also appears on various posters for the movie and on the inside packaging of the Blu-ray release of the film. This was meant to get audiences to feel that this Narnia film would finally be as good as the first one. This filmmakers even set almost the exact same release date as the first film. Also, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is often considered among Lewis fans as one of the best in the book series. Walden Media was hopeful that for these reasons, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would return the film series to its former glory so that more films could be made in the future. By taking everything that was successful about the first film and trying to turn Voyage of the Dawn Treader into that, Fox and Walden Media had high hopes.

            But that was not to be. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released on December 10, 2010, and before it had been out a week, mixed to negative reviews were already coming. Many critics agreed with Fox’s stance and saw it as a true revival of the series, while others saw the film as even worse than Prince Caspian. The main complaints people had against The Voyage of the Dawn Treader were similar to those made against Prince Caspian, except the complaint about violence. Most did not like how once again, the plot was re-arranged. Many also did not like the added “villain” of the film, “The Green Mist,” which was a form of the dark island from the book. In fact, the reason the mist was green was because the filmmakers intended to have elements from this film tie into The Silver Chair, which features an evil green lady and kidnapped Narnians. But despite drastic changes like this, Douglas Gresham was surprisingly okay with it all. He explains that part of his job as head of the C. S. Lewis Company “is to try to ensure that no matter how much the stories are changed to fit into film format (and major changes can be vital) the essential theme of the original book always remains the theme of the movie” (“Behind the Wardrobe”). Gresham believed that despite major changes to this film, audiences would still get Lewis’ message of redemption. But even then, that did not change audiences’ opinions of the movie in general.

            Another problem this film faced was that many elements and aspects of the book are hard to translate to film, a similar problem from Prince Caspian as well. One particularly memorable moment in the book is when Eustace first realizes that he is a dragon. After spending the night on dragon’s treasure, Eustace is transformed into a dragon, but he does not realize it until later. After waking up in the cave, he notices that his breathing matches some columns of smoke. “This was so alarming that he held his breath. The two columns of smoke vanished. When he could hold his breath no longer he let it out stealthily; instantly two jets of smoke appeared again. But even yet he had no idea of the truth” (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 64). This kind of writing in the book works well because it is a stream of consciousness from Eustace’s point-of-view, but something like this is almost impossible to put in film. The screenwriters did the best they could, but they still had to add and change parts of the plot so that it might make more sense on screen.

Another element from the book that doesn’t work so well in film is the way that the crew of the Dawn Treader goes from island to island without much linking the islands together. In the book, they travel from place to place for the sake of adventure, and also to find all the lost lords of Narnia, but for the film, the writers felt the need to have some kind of danger, and have more at stake. That’s why they added the Green Mist and the way to defeat it. The added plot of collecting the swords of the seven lords to defeat evil in Narnia has much more of a sense of urgency than simply looking for the lords to see what happened to them. The order of the islands visited was also changed, but this was also to serve the purpose of defeating the “Dark Island/Green Mist” as the last task before the end.

Overall, most moviegoers felt that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was an unsuccessful attempt to revitalize the Narnia film series. It didn’t receive many positive reviews, and it made a little less money than Prince Caspian made. It had some redeeming qualities, but there were once again too many deviations from the source material. Many also still had a bad taste in their mouth from Prince Caspian and did not want to go back for seconds. This film did not succeed because changes had to be made due to difficult-to-adapt scenes and elements. The books were not written to be made into films. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books were not written to be films either, Tolkien’s writing style just translates better to film than Lewis’ does, making for better film adaptations.

IV: An Uncertain Future – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (????)

Unofficial teaser image for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair.

            After The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader failed to rekindle interest in Narnia, the film series was once again put in jeopardy. With Fox and Walden Media unsure of what to do, Walden’s contract with the C. S. Lewis Company eventually expired, putting a moratorium on the series until about 2018. Douglas Gresham confirmed this, saying “If you’re aware Walden’s contract with the [C S Lewis] Company has expired, that’s true. And that leaves us in a situation that, for a variety of reasons, we cannot immediately produce another Narnian Chronicle movie” (“Interview with Douglas Gresham”). Despite their best efforts it seemed that the Narnia film series was dead.

            But before the contract expired, Walden Media had planned on adapting The Magician’s Nephew as the next film in the series. Around the time it would have been released, likely 2012, was when prequels were starting to become popular. In 2012, work began on Oz the Great and Powerful, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. But more importantly, December 2012 saw the release of the first part of a prequel to The Lord of the Rings film series; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy had performed so well that it was only a matter of time before an adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit was made. Adapting The Magician’s Nephew as the next film in the series might have worked well because movie audiences were in the prequel mood. The Magician’s Nephew explains “how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began” (The Magician’s Nephew 1). It would have also explained the lamppost, the wardrobe, and the professor, all elements from the first film, the only successful film of the series.

            Recently however, it has been announced that the Narnia film series is not yet dead. Last October, the C. S. Lewis Company announced that they “entered into an agreement with The Mark Gordon Company to jointly develop and produce The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair, the fourth book published in C.S. Lewis’ famed fantasy series” (The C. S. Lewis Company). A more recent announcement reveals that screenwriter David Magee (Finding Neverland and Life of Pi) has been hired to write the script. The Silver Chair seems a good choice as well, seeing as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader helped set it up. No distributor has been chosen yet, nor has a release date been set. All that is known about the future of the Chronicles of Narnia film series at this point is that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair will happen at some point.

            But even if all seven books are adapted, what then? The Narnia film series has problems that go beyond the films; many of the problems extent straight from the sources themselves. As previously stated, the main problems with the series have been that they’ve tried to be what they are not and they haven’t been faithful to the books. Fans of the books can always go back and read the books, but they cannot expect the same experience in seeing the adaptations. Because these books are so short, it almost forces the screenwriters to add what they can to the story. J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth however is massive. He spent most of his life expanding it, writing its history, and developing new stories. The film adaptations of his works, especially of The Hobbit trilogy greatly utilize the extra writings of Tolkien. Lewis on the other hand only ever wrote seven books in his Chronicles of Narnia, and that was all he ever intended on writing. In a letter to a young fan, he writes “the Narnia series has come to an end, and am sorry to tell you that you can expect no more” (Lewis 532). This brings up one major reason why the film adaptations of Tolkien’s works have gained Tolkien more fans when compared to the number of new fans of Lewis and his works. Many who went to see The Lord of the Rings film series were impressed and satisfied with seeing stories that closely followed the books and were generally good movies. After exiting the theatre, many of those people researched Tolkien and Middle-Earth to see what else he had written on the subject, and were pleased to find out just how expansive the world is. Fans of Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia must be disappointed however. Lewis never expanded his world at all, and the only other fiction he wrote wasn’t children’s fiction. This is partly why The Chronicles of Narnia film series has been unsuccessful. Those who saw the movies and were interested in them, found out that there were only seven books, and were disappointed that there wasn’t more.

            In conclusion, The Chronicles of Narnia film series has not done what most film adaptations have done. It has not gained C. S. Lewis and his works any additional fans, but that’s not necessarily his fault. Most of his writings, including the Narnia books, are just not filmable. Of all Lewis’ writings, the Narnia series seems like it would be the easiest to film, but even then there are elements that do not translate well from page to screen. This causes screenwriters to have to stray from the original storyline and occasionally add and delete elements and scenes. And where there are those areas, screenwriters have to fill in the holes with what they can, because C. S. Lewis never expanded his world beyond the seven Chronicles. It turns out the failure of the film series is not entirely the fault of the filmmakers. The books are just as much to blame as the movies for the unsuccessful adaptations. The books themselves are amazing and it is truly the sign of a great author that parts of a story only work if they are being read in a book. The unfilmable quality of most of the Narnia books is why The Chronicles of Narnia film series has not achieved the same amount of success as The Lord of the Rings film series, and why it has not gained C. S. Lewis and his works any additional fans.

Works Cited

(Yes, I know the MLA formatting isn't quite correct. I had to change it when I posted it on here because it was difficult to make it the same formatting as the Microsoft Word document)

The C. S. Lewis Company. The Fourth Narnia Movie Will Be THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE SILVER CHAIR. The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis - Official Site. N.p., 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <https://www.narnia.com/us/news-extras/narnia-news>.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Dir. Andrew Adamson. Screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Perf. William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, and Ben Barnes. Walt Disney Pictures, 2008. DVD.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Official Trailer [HD]. YouTube. OfficialNarnia, 16 June 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2014 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJQDPpIK6I>.

Gresham, Douglas. "Behind the Wardrobe: An Interview Series with Douglas Gresham, Part 4 of 6: "On the Narnia Film Project."" Interview by Jonathon Svendsen. NarniaFans.com. N.p., 3 Oct. 2007. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://www.narniafans.com/archives/1237#sthash.iuKbUWx5.dpbs>.

---. "Interview with Douglas Gresham." Interview. Middle-earth Radio. N.p., 16 Oct. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://radio.mymiddleearth.com/>.

Horn, John. "Darkness Falls on 'Narnia'" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 04 May 2008. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. <http://articles.latimes.com/2008/may/04/entertainment/ca-narnia4>.

Lewis, C. S. "From Letters to Children." Ed. Lyle W. Dorsett. The Essential C.S. Lewis. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 532. Print.

---. The Magician’s Nephew. New York: HarperTrophy, 2000. Print.

---. "On Stories." Ed. Lyle W. Dorsett. The Essential C.S. Lewis. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. 509. Print.

---. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. New York: HarperTrophy, 2000. Print.

Why Heaven Scares Me

                This week in Theology II, we’ve been studying eschatology (the study of end times). Today specifically we were talking about heaven, and I was surprised by the huge amount of questions that were asked. Questions like: What will our new bodies be like in heaven? Will we all be the age we died in heaven, or will there not even be a concept of age? Since the Bible says there is no marriage in heaven, will there be any concept of gender? Do all dogs really go to heaven? Will we recognize people there? Will we miss or have pity on people that aren’t in heaven? What will we remember about our life on earth when we’re in heaven? Will any of these questions even matter?

                After pondering these questions, I began to feel afraid. I know that as a Christian I should be looking forward to heaven with eager expectation, but I don’t know that I am. I know that it will be better than anything here on earth, and I know that I’ll love it; I guess maybe I’m afraid of the unknown.

                I’m also afraid that all my family and friends will be different. I know that I will get to see most of them in heaven; but what will those relationships be like? Will I still think of my mom and dad as my mom and dad? Or my brother and sisters as real siblings? And how can my parents be happy in heaven even though they won’t be married? How will I be happy about that? I’m afraid just thinking that one day in heaven I might not care about things like that. They matter here; why wouldn’t they matter in heaven as well? I look forward to reuniting with family and friends, but will we get to spend time with each other the way we do here?

                Another thing about heaven that terrifies me is the concept of eternity. That’s something I can’t fathom, and I don’t think I want to. When I get to heaven, I’ll be there forever. Like, forever and ever. Time in heaven will just keep on going and going and going. I don’t know what I think about that. Here we have a regular concept of time; days, months, years, centuries; but these terms will be useless in heaven. Time won’t matter, and we’ll have no feasible way to keep track of it anyway.

                But just thinking about being in one place and never ever leaving makes me feel uneasy. I know that God will be there, and we will be rejoicing in His presence all the time, but (and I don’t know how to say this in a good Christian way) that sounds like it would get tiring, or dare I say boring. I know that when I get there things will be different, but I just can’t grasp the idea now.

                One of my favorite pictures of heaven comes from the very end of C. S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, the final book in his Chronicles of Narnia series. “All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” This passage makes heaven sound much better than the common idea of everyone living in a golden city in the clouds. I like the idea of heaven looking a little bit like earth, only perfect. As I’m writing this now, my fears begin to fade a little bit. But at the same time I realize that I have no need to worry about this at all. Heaven will be perfect, and God will be there; that’s all I really need to know. I guess I just get caught up worrying about everything that will change, even though the change will be perfect.

                Is it a normal thing for a Christian to be more worried than excited about heaven? Because I know I am. I know this is not something I should be worrying about right now. As far as I know I still have my whole life ahead of me. Maybe someday I’ll have a better understanding of heaven and eternity, and maybe then I’ll be less frightened of the idea. But until then I suppose I’ll just try not to think about it too much; only enough to know the questions for the Theology II final…

A Long-Expected Blog Update

                I haven’t posted anything in here for about a month and a half, and that’s not okay. I started this blog as a way to both update readers on events in my life, and also as an outlet for me to write freely about what’s on my mind. I enjoy writing in here, I really do; and I've had a ton on my mind the past month that I need to get out in writing.

                So, what has been on my mind?

How I Spend My Free Time, or The Origins of Firelord Mike

            Well, let’s start with why I haven’t written on here for so long. I’d like to blame schoolwork, but that’s only part of the reason. It’s true, the semester is slowly but surely coming to an end, and as usual, the homework is piling up; but even though I have more homework, I've still had some free time, that I could have used to write, I guess I just chose not to. Writing on this blog is one of my favorite things to do, but when I have so many papers and responses to write for homework, I generally want to take a homework break that doesn't involve more writing.

For the past month I’ve usually gone to one of three outlets for free time: TV, games, or guitar. I’m still attempting to catch up on the recent episodes of Agents of SHIELD and Once Upon a Time, I just finished watching series 8 Doctor Who, and I’ve been trying to catch up on Parks and Recreation before the final season starts. I also finally finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender with my roommate, and I have to say, it was actually really good. It’s not anime like many people think it is; the animation style is similar to anime, but it’s a completely American show. The show consists of three seasons (or “books”) of twenty episodes, each around 22 minutes long. The first season, entitled “Book 1: Water,” was a bit slow at times, but still enjoyable and a good setup for the rest of the series. The second season, “Book 2: Earth,” was a lot better, and the season two finale was excellent. It reminded me of the ending of The Empire Strikes Back, but I won’t go into any spoilery details in case you, the reader, want to watch it at some point. The third and final season, “Book 3: Fire,” was also very good; the ending was satisfactory and had good closure for the characters. Over the past few years I’ve developed a passion for fire and burning things, which in past few semesters at school has turned into an acute form of pyromania: all that to say, I enjoyed the amount of fire and burning that was present in season three. Also, Firelord Ozai, the show’s central villain, is voiced by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker from the original Star Wars trilogy and the soon-coming Episode VII: The Force Awakens). Overall it was a great show and I would recommend watching it at some point. I may have to watch the sequel series The Legend of Korra at some point.

              Apart from watching these shows I also spend free time playing various games on my computer. Usually I will play either LEGO Marvel Superheroes or Minecraft. One of my favorite activities in LEGO Marvel Superheroes is wreaking havoc by either destroying cars and creating traffic jams or stealing cars and hitting everything on the side of the road. I’d like to blame my arsonist tendencies on Minecraft but I think they started before that. All Minecraft did was give me an outlet to burn all the things I want without doing harm to real-world trees and structures. I also sometimes build things on there, but nothing gives me more pleasure in Minecraft than watching the world burn >:D The door to my room, which originally just had a paper with the names and majors of my roommate and I, now has the word “Firelord” written over my name on that paper, an “Arsonist of the Year” award given by a fellow unitmate, a warning sign about explosives, and a paper with this comic excerpt:

                Speaking of fire, there may have been an incident that occurred a few days ago in our unit. I will not go into further details at this time, but I will say that the smoke alarm might have gone off for a few seconds. Fortunately it didn’t sound long enough to warrant anyone coming to the unit. If someone had, and if they had seen my door, I’m not sure what would have happened. Though to be honest, I technically had no part in what may or may not have taken place. I merely watched, smiling wickedly, doing nothing to prevent the oncoming disaster.

                But back on the original topic, when I’m not burning things I also enjoy playing guitar during my free time. I don’t know if I’ve gotten any better at it, but I haven’t gotten worse. I only practice a couple times a week, which is not as much as I would like. What I love about playing guitar is the fact that it employs a great use of hand-eye coordination. When I look up chords for random songs on ultimateguitar.com I read the chords and sing along with the lyrics while at the same time moving my fingers to the right chord shapes and maintaining a strumming pattern that sounds right. Since I’m not doing Men’s Glee this year it’s cool to still be doing something musical for fun. It’s a great way to take my mind off school and also a great way to exercise my brain. Recent songs I’ve looked up chords for are “Wonderland” and “Clean,” a couple of my favorite songs from Taylor Swift’s new album 1989, which I’d like to write a review of eventually. Yes, I pre-ordered the deluxe-edition album – deal with it.

Michael Newman and the Order of the Phoenix

                In a sad bit of news, I had to get my hair cut a few weeks ago. I would have eventually cut it; I don’t want it that long, but it would have been cool to grow it out a little longer; maybe just as long as Aragorn’s or the Winter Soldier’s hair. During the week before I cut it, the intramural ultimate frisbee team I was on made it to the tournament. In several of the previous games I didn’t play quite as well as I could have because my hair kept getting in my face. But during the tournament, my hair was long enough to tie it back into a ponytail. Don’t ask for photographic evidence, because I don’t have it. I only know of one picture in existence of my ponytailed hair, and it is currently in the possession of the student body chaplain, a guy in my unit who was also our team captain. The reason I cut my hair was because I was cast in a film project that requires me to wear a wig. With my long hair, my head was too big to fit in a wig.

                The film org on campus is working on a shot-for-shot film replication scene of a scene from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and I was cast as Lucius Malfoy, the father of Draco Malfoy and a Death Eater. If you’ve seen the movies or read the books, you know that Lucius Malfoy has long blonde hair. My hair wasn’t quite long enough to dye blonde, and I was told that dying dark hair a light color is difficult, so I cut it. I may eventually post a picture of me with my short hair, but for now, here are a couple pictures of me in my Lucius Malfoy costume, one with the Death Eater mask, the other without:

The scene we are replicating is near the end of the movie when Harry and his friends find the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries, then Bellatrix and I show up and try to take it from him. However, just recently there was a last-minute decision to cut the scene shorter; so it now ends before Bellatrix even shows up, meaning a large part of my scenes were cut as well. I don’t mind however; it was still really fun being a part of this. The purpose of the project is study what it’s like to work on making a real film, which is actually really neat. I now understand why movies take so long to make. Even for simple one or two-second shots, it is often necessary to do many different takes. A green screen is used for all the shots because a model of the set inside the Department of Mysteries is being created on a computer. Once it’s all finished, it should look pretty similar to the actual scene. Everyone involved in the film will receive a digital copy of the scene when it’s complete, so I may be able to post it on here at that point. I just finished filming the last of my scenes today, so now I’m almost completely done. The only part I have left is to come back sometime during post production and re-record my lines for audio clarity. Unfortunately I didn’t get to keep the costume or the mask, but they let me keep the wand and walking stick. Overall, it was great working on this project; I can now put this on my résumé if I decide to pursue some kind of film career.

An Update on Classes, Graduation, and the Future

For the most part, this semester has been surprisingly easy, especially for a penultimate school semester. But as usual, I’m now finding myself having to finish up all the papers and projects I didn’t work on (or didn’t need to work on) earlier. My History of the English Language class (or H.O.T.E.L.), is going alright. The class is more of a history class than an English class, so the class format and the information we’ve learned in the class is not something I’m used to. I think (or hope) I’m doing decently enough to pass the class, but I’m honestly not too sure. Theology II is going much better. I’m like half a point away from an A- right now. The class is engaging and I love how much of it actually applies to my spiritual life. We also get to answer big theological questions like “Was Jesus actually ever tempted to sin?” My Graphic Novel class is going pretty well. We’ve been reading a ton of graphic novels; the most recent of which, Persepolis, I greatly enjoyed. As the final project of that class, I, along with two other students, will create my own graphic novel, though only 12-15 pages. The other students are doing most of the story writing while I’ll be the illustrator. I’ve had practice with comic art in the past. For years my brother and I wrote comics that were originally based on Disney’s Kim Possible TV show, though now they’ve gone completely away from anything similar to the original show. All that really remains are the character names and likenesses (except for that character we turned into a shark…).

Advanced Composition, as I’ve said before, is probably my favorite class. I love the essays we read in it, like George Orwell’s “Why I Write,” and I’ve been greatly enjoying the writing as well. Many of what I write is similar to this kind of writing, only more focused. This semester I’m also taking World Mythology Online, a class that sounds more exciting that it actually is. I’ve enjoyed reading many of the myths, but I recently found out that the class doesn’t count at all towards graduation. Now that I know this I have like zero motivation for the class. I now have a 5-7 page research paper due tomorrow night for that class, but I really don’t want to work on it. I sincerely hope my senioritis is cured before next semester begins…

Next semester is going to kill me; that is, if I’m able to sign up for classes for next semester. Registration has been open for me for a couple months now, but I haven’t been able to sign up for classes due to countless financial things that get in the way, putting business office holds that prevent me from registering. I’ve talked to many people but I still don’t know what else there is to do.

So assuming I’ll be here next semester, I’ll be taking Survey of British Literature from 1800 (AKA Brit Lit 2), Contemporary Studies in World Literature, American Literature from 1820-1865, American Women Writers, and the dreaded final capstone class, English Seminar. This last class alone might almost kill me, but tied together with the others, I’m going to die almost as many times as Rory from Doctor Who next semester.

After I graduate, it’s beginning to look like my best option now is take a year off from school, work and raise money, then go on to grad school somewhere else the next year. At this point most grad schools are going through applications that have already been submitted, so it would be too late for me to submit one; I’m not sure where I would even go. It’s still a dream of mine to one day go to school in Oxford and stay at C. S. Lewis’ house, so I’ll keep that in mind for the future.

New Adventures for a Wandering Mind

                I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, though I think it’s really only been a couple weeks. I’d like to post maybe once a week if I can, but I’ve been pretty busy the last couple weeks. I’m only writing now because while I have homework I could be doing right now, this is probably more important in the long run. This is how I do most of my writing practice.

Discipleship Group

                For those who didn’t know (though I did mention it in an earlier post), I am a discipleship group leader this year. This means that once a week (for the whole school year) I lead a group of guys through a book. We’re going over Galatians for You by Timothy Keller. We haven’t gotten very far in it yet, but so far I really like it. Being a D-group leader this year means I also meet once a week with a team of other leaders also going over this book. It’s a really neat experience so far being a part of two different groups going over the same book. The leader group meets Thursday nights and helps prepare me for when I lead my group Monday nights. This is really the first time I’ve been a part of something where I’ve been an actual official leader. It’s kind of a neat feeling. In our groups, we’re not meant to be a preacher or anything; our job is to facilitate discussion in the group, and it was really cool to see that play out. For the most part, all the guys in my group (5, including me), spoke about the same amount of time. I kept having to remind myself in that meeting and in others that I am a leader. More importantly, they see me as a leader. It’s kind of been forcing me to step outside my comfort zone a bit, which is really a good practice to get into. It’s my job in the group to ask questions, to decide when we move onto the next question, and overall to guide the meeting from beginning to end. This is really my first time doing something like this, but I’ve loved it so far. For any Cedarville students reading this, I would highly recommend becoming a discipleship group leader while you still can. It’s really not too much of a time commitment, and it’s also very rewarding.

Church

                One huge lesson I learned this summer in Sequoia was how to be more adventurous. Through A Christian Ministry in the National Parks, I learned to adapt quickly to new situations and take on roles I never thought I would take. I developed a love for doing things I’d never done before. I learned how to be spontaneous and how to take risks. I’d like to think I brought these skills back with me to Cedarville.

                This year I have a new room and new roommate (though same dorm, because the guys I live with are like family). I have a new leadership role on campus. I’ve started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is actually a really good show (I’m now on season 2). I’ve also now found a church home here in Cedarville.

                The last couple years I didn’t really have a church home. I would usually go to Emmanuel Baptist with my brother, Southgate with my uncle and aunt, or other random churches with other guys in the unit. But last semester, I visited Cedarville Presbyterian with a guy in my unit, and I really liked it. This school year, I’ll be going there every Sunday.  Two Sundays ago I attended a membership class the church offered and last Sunday I became an official affiliate member of the church. I’m just an affiliate member because I’m already a part of a Presbyterian church back home, where my dad is the pastor. Also, I’m only going to be in Cedarville until May, then I’m gone (hopefully to England…).

I’m not sure if I would consider myself a Presbyterian, I just really liked the atmosphere of Cedarville Presbyterian (as well as First Presbyterian Church of Exeter back home). Most of the other churches I’ve visited the past couple years are fairly big. I’m really bad at estimating amounts of people, but probably the average people in most churches I visited were around 200 or so. Cedarville Presbyterian, however, has maybe 20-30 people, and my church back home probably has around 20 as well.

                I’m much more comfortable in smaller groups of people (which another reason I’m glad God gave me such a small D-group). When I visited larger churches, I almost felt isolated. In huge congregations, I sometimes feel that there is no way I’ll be able to join something so big and organized and busy. Even people that go to large churches all the time would not single me out. They could just assume I’m a regular attendee of this church. With so many people, it would be likely that two members of the same church might not ever meet each other despite attending together for several years. That might be a bit of an exaggeration but I hope it explains what I’m thinking. This is why I like smaller congregations better. At a church with a much smaller congregation like Cedarville Presbyterian, people notice when I visit. They see a new face in the crowd, and they greet me.

                Another thing I like about Cedarville Presbyterian (and probably most Presbyterian churches) is that we have a fellowship time afterwards. In all the churches I visited the last couple years, this was the only one that had something like this. The word church refers to the people, not the building: the people are the church. Therefore I believe churches in general need to focus more on building relationships with each other. Honestly one of my favorite parts of Presbyterian services is the fellowship time afterwards (and not just because of the food). It’s great to worship with fellow believers but I especially love talking to them and actually getting to know them. If you’ve ever seen me with a group of people, I may seem very shy and will only offer a sentence or two into a group conversation. But if it’s just me and another person, I become much livelier. I’d like to say I thrive on one-on-one discussions, though I haven’t had too many. I love listening to people’s stories people and I also love to tell my own stories. And what makes this even better is that most of the people in Cedarville Presbyterian (and the one back home) are kind-of old. These people have lived much longer than I have. They’ve seen things and experienced things I never will (or won’t for a long time). Many of them have rich histories waiting to be discovered in conversation; stories of war and other scary times, but also stories of beautiful times long past. I love that because of their age, they are filled with wisdom far beyond my years. I look forward to building relationships with them this school year.

The Caged Dog

                Anyway, I went on a longer tangent there than I meant to, but it was enjoyable. This is why I enjoy writing. I have no rules. I can write about whatever I want for as long as I want. It’s a very freeing experience. At the same time it also helps me develop my writing voice, which is key in becoming a successful writer.

                Another aspect I like about writing is actually possibly a problem: I’m very easily distracted. I notice sometimes in class that while the professor is speaking, my mind wanders off to some other topic. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m uninterested in the subject, just that I have a lot on my mind. And often when I “come back to reality” I realize that I have literally no idea what the professor has just said. I get so lost in recesses of my mind that I can’t hear what is going on. I’m sure if I really concentrated I could stop this from happening but I almost don’t want to. And I don’t get completely lost in thought; I’m sure if the professor were to suddenly change subjects or do something unexpected I would notice. But it’s really interesting that when I “zone out” like that it’s like I’m not seeing and hearing the professor anymore; I’m suddenly seeing different things in my mind, and hearing the voice of my thoughts.

                But what does this have to do with writing? When I’m free-writing, much like now, I can write about what I’m thinking while I’m thinking it. Even as I’m writing this, I’m thinking it out loud in my head (if that makes sense). This is one of the only activities I can do that syncs my inner thoughts with direct tangible work.

                Think of it this way: my mind is like a caged dog. No matter where I am – in class, in church, or wherever – the caged dog in my head is itching to get out, always thinking about what it’s going to do once it’s free. For that caged dog in my head, a blank page is like an open field: it has no boundaries. After a long day of being caged up, I’m finally allowed to run around and play.

                I’d like to end this post with a quote of myself. About a year ago in my Intro to Creative Writing class, I wrote a piece called “Who am I?” In this assignment, I was supposed to tell about myself but in new and creative ways. This especially like what I had to say about my mind:

                “My mind is a free bird with no destination; it easily wanders and is easily lost. It has gone far but still has many places to travel.”

(You can find the full text here)

Epiphany

                Yesterday, a sudden amazing idea came to me. Well, a dream of an idea anyway; like Inception. I now know what I want to do after graduation!

                Last summer, summer of 2013, I went on a three-week school trip to England (I plan on eventually writing a blog post about it). While there we visited many awesome places, usually sites having to do with either Shakespeare or C. S. Lewis. One place we visited was C. S. Lewis’ home, The Kilns. We were able to take a tour of the inside, but we were told that his home is not a museum. The C. S. Lewis Foundation wants it to remain as it originally was: a place for quiet studying and living. The people that took us on a tour there actually lived there. Not permanently; just for a couple years I believe. I guess it’s part of a program through Oxford University. Through this program, from what I know, two or three people get to stay at the Kilns for a year or two while they attend Oxford.

                This is what I want to do.

                In the past, really ever since I got back from the England trip, I have thought about the possibility of going back someday to live and/or work for a year or two. I loved it there. But I don’t know why I haven’t thought of this possibility before. I also have no idea why I randomly thought of it; though I’m pretty sure God put the idea in my head. The past couple weeks I’ve been having to answer people’s questions about my future with “I still have no idea what I’m doing after graduation.” I have also been praying for my future. Now suddenly, this idea pops into my head. I’d like to think it’s God’s idea, because it sort-of came out of nowhere. Also, I don’t think I would have randomly come up with an idea like that that would have made me so excited.

                So if this is where God is leading me, how do I know? I guess I’ll start looking into the logistics of how I could actually do this. If the door closes, and I can’t go any further, then I’ll know that this isn’t for me. But until then, I’m going to pursue this idea, because I’m super excited about it now. How cool would it be to say that I spend a year or two living at C. S. Lewis’ house in England?

                This got me thinking: if the program means I have to be enrolled at Oxford, then I guess I would have to go to school there, probably to get my master’s degree, and I would be totally okay with that option. Maybe I could take more classes on writing; maybe then I’ll get a job as a screenwriter or something; then maybe I can help write the screenplay for a future film in the Narnia film series! I know quite a lot about the Narnia film series (I may eventually post on this blog a paper I wrote on it for my C. S. Lewis class last semester; UPDATE, now I have!). Of course, now I’m just dreaming even more.

                The point is though, that now I finally have a dream, a goal, an idea of something I’d like to pursue, and I’m going to pursue it. If this is what God wants me to do, then he’ll open the doors for me, and provide a way, like how to pay for it and stuff like that.  I’m pretty excited to see what God has in store!

The Voice, The Hobbit, and the Guitar

                I try to start every blog post with an introductory paragraph or something, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that ties in the three sub-headings. I’m writing this part last, after I’ve already written the rest of the blog. Everything that follows this paragraph is older than this paragraph, not newer. So if you’re reading this, it’s almost like you’re time travelling.

The Voice

                My Advanced Composition class looks like it’s going to be one of my favorite classes this semester. In this class we are studying the essay in all its forms. This may sound boring to a non-English major, but it’s actually not. One thing I like about this class is that we have the freedom to write however we want. Now obviously there are some restraints; like we can’t write anything explicit, and we probably can’t write essays on how to make a bomb or something. But what I love about this class is that the teacher is allowing us to develop our writing voice. A writer’s voice is like their writing style; what they sound like in the head of the reader. This is something I’m hoping to work on with this blog. Every writer has a voice, and I think the mark of a good writer is having a voice that’s unique. Now, in this class we are allowed to quote other works without using proper MLA citations or anything, which is really freeing. We’re not plagiarizing, just quoting them, as if we were talking to someone in person. If you’re repeating a funny movie line to a friend, you don’t then say “The Princess Bride was made in 1987, was directed by Rob Reiner, and distributed by 20^th Century Fox.” Instead, you simply say “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

                I believe a good writing voice is found the moment the words seem more like talking than an essay. Of course, I could be wrong; I haven’t finished my bachelor’s degree in English yet.

                We also learned in Advanced Composition that in finding a writing voice, we can steal from other authors. Now I know the speaker in chapel today spoke on Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal,” but what we are doing is more like adapting. We find an author or writer whose voice we admire, and we take some of their writing styles and make them our own. One author that I believe has greatly influenced my writing is C. S. Lewis. In his essays and books on theology and apologetics, he takes complicated material and explains it in a way that seemingly anyone could understand it. But what I like about C. S. Lewis is that in addition to this he also does a great job narrating his Chronicles of Narnia.  In Lewis’ narration I feel like he is a grandfather telling me a story, which is how anyone would feel reading those stories. It takes people back to the time when they had stories read to them. It makes them feel young again.

The Hobbit

                Speaking of stories, I just recently finished re-reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I had forgotten how good it is. I believe the last time I read it was in high school, so it had been a while. I wanted to read it again before the final film was released this December. I didn’t remember exactly what happens after [SPOILERS] Smaug is defeated, but now I know. I also read some of the appendices at the end of Return of the King, specifically the ones dealing with the events of The Hobbit. So now I know what’s going to happen in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, or rather, what is supposed to happen.

Teaser poster for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

                While reading the book it was fun to see where the films split it up. The first film, An Unexpected Journey, adapts the first 111 pages of The Hobbit while also adapting a large portion of the appendices at the end of Return of the King. The main events taken from the appendices are the backstory of how Thorin Oakenshield got his name, and how Azog killed Thorin’s grandfather Thror. The name of this film is taken from the title of the first chapter, “An Unexpected Party.”

                The second hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, covers the events from chapter 7, “Queer Lodgings,” to about the end of chapter 12, “Inside Information.” This section is 121 pages long, just about the same as the first film. As many of you probably know, The Hobbit was originally just going to be a two-part adaptation. The first was called An Unexpected Journey, and the second would have been called There and Back Again. The first film would have ended right after Bilbo and the dwarves escaped Mirkwood in the barrels. Why it was expanded to a trilogy I’m not too sure. Possibly because Peter Jackson couldn’t fit everything he wanted in just two films. But since it was expanded, a third title was needed, thus the second film was called The Desolation of Smaug, which is the name of the area Smaug destroyed, and can be found on the map found in the book.

Map from The Hobbit

                For a while, most people expected the title of the third film to stay There and Back Again, but by the end of the second film, Thorin and Company are already There. Since Back Again would be a boring title for the third film, they decided to change it to The Battle of the Five Armies, after the eponymous battle that takes place at the end of the book. The third film covers 71 pages worth of material and is likely to be almost three hours long, just like the other films. All that’s left in the story really is Smaug’s demise, The Battle of Five Armies, and Bilbo’s short return journey. The only other thing that will be in the final movie is a section where Gandalf and the White Council attack Dol Guldur and drive out the Necromancer, causing him to flee to Mordor and eventually become Sauron. This is only referenced in the book, but explained a bit in the appendices at the end of Return of the King. It will be cool to see the end of this movie tie in to the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to experience the feels. This will, after all, be the last adaptation of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Right, Peter Jackson?

…

…Right?

The Guitar

                I’m taking this last section to give a quick update on life events. The only major thing to report right now? I have a guitar!

My new guitar and I. Should I name it? Do people name guitars?

                As I’ve before mentioned, I learned guitar this summer. While working at Sequoia, I got used to practicing at least once a day, but since coming out to Cedarville, I had only practiced a few times, and it was killing me. I needed to play guitar, but even more I needed to get my own guitar so that I wouldn’t have to keep borrowing my friends’ guitars. I had set aside some money from working so that I could buy my own. So when I finally had enough free time and access to a car, I went to Guitar Center. I looked at a few guitars, but when I saw the one that would eventually be mine, I had pretty much already decided it was the one. The guitar I got is a purple-ish colored Ibanez acoustic/electric. It was normally $400, but because of the Labor Day sale I got it for $330. While there I also got myself I hard guitar case, a capo, and an extra set of strings. It totaled to about $450, which was only $50 more than I had intended to spend, so not too bad in my opinion. And when I got back to campus my awesome former roommate (now R.A.) gave me a couple picks and a guitar strap he didn’t use any more.

                So why purple? Because it’s unique. I didn’t want one of the boring guitars that all looked the same. You know, the wood-colored guitars that you picture when someone says guitar. An ordinary guitar would just seem plain; but people remember a purple guitar when they see it. Also, the neck on it really pretty, and the tuning pegs are gold-colored. It also had a built-in tuner along with places to adjust sound settings if it’s plugged into an amp, of which there are two different outlets.

                Altogether, I’m happy with my purchase, and I hope I get enough free time this semester to practice and play. But even if I don’t, this is something that I’ll keep with me wherever I go in the future. If it lasts, it could be something I let my possible future kids play so they can learn, just like I learned on my dad’s guitar.

                In an unrelated note, I’ve been watching Parks and Recreation, and I now have a new OTP: Andy and April. For the uninitiated, OTP is a tumblr term. Spend enough time on there and you’ll understand. Though be cautioned: prolonged exposure to tumblr can cause severe cases of feels. Of course, the BBC also excels at that.