Sunday, June 8, 2008

Fan of Fantasy

I told the Princess of Penang that I’ll write a rejoinder to his Sex (but not) in this City post. But it has to take a back seat as I just watched The Spiderwick Chronicles and it brought back to life my fantasy craze.

The movie for sure is for kids. It’s a fantasy film on the same breath as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe of the The Chronicles of Narnia and the series Harry Potter and the so-on-and-so-forth: there’s the evil fantastical creature out to conquer the world, there’s a bunch of kids who are so responsible for their age that they’ve taken up the cudgels of saving everyone, then the good overcomes the bad in the end.

Of course, this is a bit simplistic way of telling the story. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy watching the film. But then again, I’ve been a fantasy buff for the past few years and it takes very little imagination of flying beings and magical characters to get my attention.

Then there’s also Freddie Highmore of the August Rush fame and the voice of Pantalaimon in The Golden Compass. He’s not an object of my fantasy (that’ll be gross and a big crime) but I’m willing to wait for the kid to grow up. I liked how he played the two characters of the identical twins but so poles apart in character Jarrod and Simon Grace.

While I do enjoy watching these kind of fantasy flicks, I await the time when fantasy epics will get to the big screen. Much like what they did to the Lord of the Rings.

If I am to be asked what my fantasy films are, I will definitely say The Wheel of Time and The Riftwar Saga. If they can pitch in The Riftwar Legacy, the Legends of the Riftwar and David Eddings' The Belgariad, much better.

TWOT was what hooked me to fantasy books. Penned by Robert Jordan, who unfortunately died before he can finish the last of the 12-book series, TWOT created a whole new fantasy world that millions have followed. Others said that TWOT actually takes up from the tradition of the LOTR. Who cares? My Philo professors used to say that nothing in philosphy is original anymore after the Greeks.

While also placing magic as a major part of his novels, Raymond Feist’s Riftwar Saga meanwhile interestingly put non-magical people at the forefront of the stories. Maybe it had something to do with what Pug aka Milamber said: in the end, there is no magic.

My fantasy character to play Pug is James McAvoy and for Thomas the Valheru, Brad Pitt of course! Give me a break, it is my fantasy.

To the Penang Princess, sorry for not doing a post about yours. But just let me say to him that at the rate things are going here, Sex IN THIS City is also just a fantasy for me.


Most probably, I won’t be able to make a post for the next two weeks due to this and this.

While I do plunge into fantasy worlds, these are the kind of events that keep me rooted in the world’s realities. There’s also the added perk of seeing old friends and comrades.

If ever I don’t find myself blogging, I’ll see you guys after a fortnight!

17 comments:

mrs.j said...

i love fantsay too.. hay kaya lang parang i feel that a lot of fantasy films are typical same formulas

... said...

mas mabuti pa ang tumira sa mundo na puno ng pantasya. parang walang limitations. imagination lang ang kelangan. masakit mangagat ang reality. sobra. hihi

. said...

With the way things are going these days, it's better to dive into our own fantasy worlds in hopes that we could forget...

... How real life has become a struggle these days.

KRIS JASPER said...

spiderwick was shown in th UK 2 months ago, but i only watched it in the plane 3 days ago...

i cant wait to watch narnia.. and hopefully the new saga of HP will be shown soon too.

Anonymous said...

@mrs. j: if it doesn't end good ... it can't be anyone's fantasy..;)
@mel: at for sure, tayo ang fairies sa fantasy!
@mugen: it is. kaines!
@kris: sana mapanood ko ang Prince Caspian

PrincheCHA Fiona said...

At dahil tamad ako magisip. aaggree na lang ako kay mel at joms. ahihihihihi.

O sige na nga, hiramin ko na lang ito sa huli kong post: "Minsan, masarap magpanggap na wala kang problema at ang lahat ay maayos at matiwasay".

Wilberchie said...

Ay nko, fantasya land na ako ang Dyosa!

Pangarap!

Gayzha said...

I watched Bridge to Tarabithra (?) last night. Tama nga. We should always look at the world with an open mind !!!

Thanks for sharing - I will start reading Jordan.

Lyka Bergen said...

If i know, Wizard Of Oz ang ultimate favorite fantasy film mo. Chika ka!

Miss you! Tse!

From the best friend of Dorothy,
Lyka Bergen

Diablo said...

kailangan talaga natin ng mundo sa labas nitong ating mundo.

si gma at bush ang terorista at tayo ang mga counter terrorists, ganun? lol

the boomerang kid said...

masarap mag-basa ng fantasy. yun nga lang, lately, parang hirap akong dedmahin ang mga reyalidad na hinaharap ko.

Anonymous said...

@fiona: para kang nagpanggap na straight. mahirap. hehe
@wilberchie: at dyosa ka naman ng ano?
@gayzha: natuwa rin ako sa film na yan. though me pagka-tragic din.
@lyka: ultimate fantasy ko is to got o the US. chos! miss you too. tse ka rin!
@diablo: actually, yan ang tunay an reality!
@zen: mahirap talaga. kaya hanggang 2 hours lang ang fantasy limit ko.

FerBert said...

yay! kung kelan nagbalik na ko saka ka naman nagblog break... :D

Dabo said...

wow.. may draft ako nakahanda na iipost about fan fic im writng.. it's a sypnosis.. pero nadyahe ako after reading this..

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Bryan Anthony the First said...

sino po si Penang Princess?

love LOTR too--book and movie

musta J? woof!

Sendo said...

i've been a buff as well when it comes to fantasy/adventure, mystical, supernatural uber movies, but haven't seen spiderwick yet. The latest I had was Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian, and I loved it much! Not to mention that it had several parallelisms to Christianity - gusto ko na nga magwala at maghanap ng aparador haha

Sendo said...

mahilig ako managinip dati nung bata pa ko at mag imagine na ako ay isang power ranger...ngayon naman, nagpapantasya pa rin ako na ako ay ninja hahaha