Uncreated Conscience

I am apparently a knitting guru. Yesterday on the commute ride back home to Astoria from work, a random girl asked me to help her with her dropped stitches. Is it easy fixing a stranger’s work while standing on a moving W train? No. Did I do it anyway? Yes. Not that I’m a font of knitting knowledge myself; I just started a new pair of mittens that I may or may not have to unravel entirely. (Six inches of it! Watch as I cry.)

Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter

I have changed my mind with regards to how I will style my makeup and hair for med school prom. As my dress is not period 20s, I will forego the flapper makeup for another time and occasion and instead ape Claudette Colbert‘s look from It Happened One Night (a favourite romantic comedy of mine and Mum’s along with The Sound of Music).

As I’m researching fashion and hairstyles of the 1930s, I’m finding that a few of Nicole Kidman’s recent movies serve as great visual inspiration. While The Golden Compass isn’t set in any “real” time period, the art design team obviously went Art Deco with the movie’s look which is perfect for my needs. Australia is a little later what I want, but I love the idea of a white flower in my hair.

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Fucking hell, apparently Tom Stoppard wrote the first screenplay for The Golden Compass before the director Chris Weitz decided to write it himself.

Except the director is the man who gave us the American Pie series and About a Boy (not that either of those weren’t touching in their own ways).

But…Tom Stoppard! Seriously! What was New Line thinking when they gave up his draft?

I am on pins and needles for this movie and it won’t be out until December. Argh! Argh!

I think I might spend the train ride to Philly after work photoshopping Nicole-Kidman-as-Mrs-Coulter’s blonde hair black because it irks me that much.

Edited to add: Okay, I feel slightly more mollified after having read this about Chris Weitz:

Like Pullman, [Weitz] attended an Oxbridge College – in this case, Trinity College, Cambridge, which was every bit as grand and arrogant as the confabulated Jordan, Oxford. Although I was born in the U.S., I did the full three years at Cambridge (the standard course is three years, not four), as I went to “sixth form” (high school) in London. I held both junior and senior scholarships in English Literature at Trinity. My period was the seventeenth century. I am a reasonably experienced Milton hand, and I flatter myself no slouch at Blake either (c18, I know…). In addition, I am a lapsed- Catholic crypto-Buddhist, which is I think appropriate for the piece…

Read the rest of the interview here.

Reason no. 12 to go see Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End: they will be showing the trailer for The Golden Compass before it.

The Golden Compass Poster

I swear I am one of the worst His Dark Materials fangirls ever. First the daemon meme goes around and I almost miss it entirely, and secondly, an early movie poster has apparently been released and it nearly passed me by completely unnoticed as well. Nevertheless:

LOOK AT THE POSTER IT’S THE POSTER OMFG SQUEE!!!!!!

There’s Iorek Byrnison (squee!) and Lyra (meep!) and the alethiometer (yay!) but one of the most important elements is missing:

Where is Pantalaimon?

Granted, I know the movie is in post-production and daemons probably haven’t yet been digitally added to the movie stills that have been released, but to add him to the movie poster is absolutely essential. I believe the form he’s in most of the time in the North is an ermine and really, is it too much to ask to digitally draw him in around Lyra’s neck for a poster?

Despite my issues with Nicole Kidman’s blonde hair, I am beginning to think that she may be a decent Mrs. Coulter after all. Certainly she has a stunning and perfect face, and playing an evil megalomaniac could work for her. According to the Internet Movie Database entry, Philip Pullman had always wanted Nicole Kidman to play her and I vaguely remember reading an interview here and there that said the same thing.

However, Samuel L. Jackson as Lee Scoresby? What the fuck?

Writer Philip Pullman wants Nicole Kidman to play Mrs. Coulter and has indicated that he would like Jason Isaacs to portray Lord Asriel. He has also indicated that he would like the part of Lee Scorsby to be played by Samuel L. Jackson.

First off, whoever submitted that piece of trivia misspelled Lee’s name.

Secondly, I do believe Jason Isaacs as Lord Asriel might have been brilliant, but Daniel Craig is perfect. The fact that he was a fan of the books before he was cast makes him all the better.

Factoid the third, I may be a little bit in love with Dakota Blue Richards (why is Dakota such a popular name for young girls these days?) as Lyra.

I have high hopes for this movie. I just hope I’m not disappointed when it’s released.

Speaking of children’s fantasy series I adored as a child being made into movies: who’s terrible idea is it to set Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising in America?

It Chars My Heart.
Wow, I’m behind the boat on the this one, but I just discovered these new promotional images from the movie version of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. (Or, Northern Lights in the UK.)

Wait as I take a deep breath.

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