To Never Not Add a Never?

Oddly, I don’t believe this variant occurred to me until just last night:
Never Never World.
Originally Barrie had another “never” listed for the name:
Never, Never, Never Land.
One too many? Barrie thought so, too, eventually.
In one of his many revisions to the play, it became just the two. Then, when it came time for the novel, he not only dropped one of the two but eliminated the space. The Neverland. Barrie preferred the book, so it seems a safe assumption that he preferred this name for the magical isle as well. However, his screenplay written about a decade later once again calls it Never, Never Land. Thus, he did not entirely abandon the moniker. Therefore, both are correct, depending on how silly you’re feeling at the time.

I chose to label the planet simply NeverWorld to remain consistent with the novel, as I continued the story in book form. Oh sure, I used a pinch or so from the play and a little more from Barrie’s unused screenplay. But I didn’t see the need for the extra “Never” in front of World. World is capitalized to help differentiate the new home as well as a nod to the original upper case of Land. In this way it is different, and the same.

In my yet-to-be-completed interquel Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between, I make a joke, of sorts, out of Never-Never-Never Land. Peter frustrates the fairies by becoming fixated on the repetition. “Isn’t one Never as much as anyone needs?”
So, if you’re feeling particularly verbose or better yet, silly… go ahead and say
Never Never World. But, technically, it’s “less correct.”

UPDATE:  Peter Pan: Betwixt-and-Between is now availabe in paperback and e-book.

Old Saying, New Twist IV.iii

Descartes Variation #3

cogito ergo vos es.
("I think therefore you is.")

This one comes from the Terry Gilliam movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. It's spoken by the King of the Moon, who is under the delusion that he created all things...nay, is STILL creating all things. (And yes, I know it should be "you are" but hey, it's a quote and I already told you the King is crazy. [Loony, even.])

Old Saying, New Twist I
Old Saying, New Twist II
Old Saying, New Twist III
Old Saying, New Twist IV
Old Saying, New Twist IV.ii

Just the THING you want to hear!

Eric Heisserer is the man who is writing the new The Thing movie. Just listen to what he has to say regarding this assignment:

Matthijs and I are hard at work with the very smart team at Strike on the prequel. We are all so much in love with Carpenter’s film, so protective of it, we’re doing all we can to avoid stepping on its toes. I jumped at this job because I hold the Carpenter adaptation to very high standards, and I knew it would be a challenge to create a comparable companion piece. Sort of a “Nobody better screw this up, especially me” mentality. Lucky for me, the people at Strike and the director have the same standards.
- quoted from his blog.

Bravo, sir! I salute and share your dedication to the craft. Can't wait to see the new pieces!

He's also the guy who penned the new go around for A Nightmare on Elm Street. Sweet.

Lil' Updates...

The novel I’m currently writing has just passed the point of no return. Okay, I just wanted to sound dramatic. All that means is I’ve completed the “big” chapter. Now comes the aftermath of the event before the big payoff, so to speak. Darn this “sequential” writing I’ve gotten myself into… it will be nice when I can skip around again in time.





The trailer for Where the Wild Things Are has shown up on the internet.




Oh. My thoughts? Looks pretty good, but I didn’t get wrapped up in it, I must admit. Perhaps it didn’t get packaged quite right? After all, a trailer can do wonders. Three cases in point: The original trailer to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder depicted it as lifeless, pointless and dull. (Watch it. IMDB does not have the original. It's on the DVD.) No justice to the movie in the least. The trailer for Superman Returns had me drooling for it to come out - only to discover it belongs in the “Wish-I’d-Never-Wasted-My-Time” category. Bravo to whoever concocted that trailer for they worked a miracle. And then there’s the famous re-cut of The Shining, which proves that you can make a movie look like anything! So…no, I am not disappointed by Where the Wild Things Are, but it could have been a little more engaging. Let’s hope it’s of the Wonka variety.

Our opera season has come to an end. Last night Bart and I attended The Abduction from the Seraglio, a Mozart work. Perhaps you remember it from Amadeus. It’s the one with “too many notes.” But that certainly did not seem the case. Another memorable masterpiece of sublime aural and visual delight. Bravi, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bravi! We were all saying what a fantastic season it has been. Not one of the productions left anything to be desired. And some rarities, too!
It also proved a twinge bit sad, as it soon became time to bid farewell to our opera friends. Doesn’t that sound pretentious? Well, it’s really not. I just mean the wonderful people who sit around us. We’ve become quite fond of each other, catching up on our lives in the minutes before our mutual love of opera begins. And we discuss the pieces at intermission and afterward, too. But for the most part, we only see them perhaps once a month, actually, more like every month and a half. An odd relationship, but one I wouldn’t trade. Fortunately, we plan to get together with a few of them after London, so we’ll have even more to talk about (at their request.) We also have been out to dinner a couple of times with our usher. If you met her, you’d want to have dinner with her, too. She wants to hear all about London as well.

And I once again want it to be Monday. Thanks, Heroes!

All right…I’m sure I have something I should be doing…

It's a Play? It's a Movie? Try BOTH!

There is now a video up on the
Peter Pan at
Kensington Gardens site.

How much more excited can I be?

It feels like: None. None more excited.

But I just bet I'm wrong...

Take a look at the video and see what has me bouncing in my seat!

It's a marvelous "Betwixt-and-Between"* of movie and play!

* Which is another moniker of Peter Pan in the book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, of course.

(And how excellent is it that the site includes Solomon Caw?)

Who Has the Floor?

We all know Peter Pan flew to Wendy's window.
But how high did he have to fly?

I've noticed the number of floors varies in each major production on film.

Naturally, we have to check the source.

Barrie keeps it consistent in his play and novel.

Two have the same as Barrie.

But the other three would have you believe otherwise.

Which two counted in all the floors?

Silent Disney Mary Martin Cathy Rigby P.J. Hogan

Select with your cursor for the results:

The nursery is 3 floors up. (Barrie) Not surprisingly, Hogan shows three. But Disney, too, depicts three floors.
As for the others: Silent - 2, Mary Martin - 2, Cathy Rigby - 4

Dash - Raise - Wild!

Thought I’d keep you up to date with my thoughts on some Hollywood rumblings (oh boy!)

It’s reported that Thor will feature some other characters from the Marvel Universe as well. At first this upset me, but then I remembered: I had already deemed the same crossover technique quite cool in their other movies. (Granted, I have not seem many of them, as superheroes have worn on me of late.) Thus, how could I be miffed about them creating the very inter-connectivity of their comic books onto the silver screen? I can’t. Then I realized what actually made me sad. The only aspect of the movie I looked forward to had been the Norse mythology. You might recall I’m quite eager to see a big-budget well-crafted film using the Norse epics. So, I shall ride along, seeing how it plays out.

On the other side of the coin is a movie I had rolled my eyes at when I first heard of its forthcoming. A remake of The Thing. No no…don’t roll your eyes just yet. It’s not really a remake. It’s along the lines of a “quel” as I describe in this post. The opening scene in John Carpenter’s wonderful horror flick is being expanded. We know the Kurt Russell character and his camp had an adventure, but it begins with people from another camp. Thus, the new movie is their story. A prequel, but not quite. A gaiden adventure, nonetheless. If they tackle it with care and have a good script – just might work.

And, as if you couldn’t tell, the new poster for Where the Wild Things Are is here. The trailer is coming very soon. I’ll post a link when I can.

So… to recap: hopes dashed, an eyebrow raised and the wild things escape.

UPDATE: I've posted the trailer in Lil' Updates...