A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful member of a rebel army out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
I watched the House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu) tonight. Wow. That was an intense movie. It is basically a love story with all the twists and turns those can take. It has the classic gravity-defying martial arts, but that doesn't usually bother me. I enjoy seeing what they come up with. And compared to some other movies I've caught moments of, this didn't seem that out there.
The music was beautiful, the acting was good, although I don't watch a lot of Asian movies, so I am not an expert. What is the most striking thing in the movie? The use of color. You will notice it almost right away. Pretty much after the first 15 minutes (maybe less) everything is filmed outside. But even in those first few minutes colors are so vivid. There's blues and purples, organges, greens that look painfully beautiful (e.g. when they're fighting among the bamboo). Yes, colors are amazing in this movie.
There isn't much blood in the movie, though you do see a little. No gore. No all-out sex scenes, although there are a few quick instances and one I'd fast forward a few seconds. Discernment.
I really enjoyed the movie. Like I said, it was intense. And beautiful.
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, p. 75
C.S. Lewis
Going to see it tonight after Christa's 8th grade girls' basketball game.
UPDATE:
Wow, the movie was great. There were changes. What can be expected though, not some horrendous nightmare of one. I liked the music, I liked the acting (Lucy was fantastic.), and the CGI Aslan was very well done. Even Liam Neeson as his voice seemed to fit, in my opinion. The battle was neatly done and fit very much what was written, though expanded upon of course.
I love the book. And it is different than the movie. The intrusive author is one of the things you might miss in the movie. But over all I think they did a good job. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment. And the Christian themes seem to resound right off the pages of the book. And some added words from Aslan..."It is finished," when the battle is over. A little bit of double meaning there. Someone cheered in the theatre when he said that.
If you've been on the fence whether or not to see it, I would say go. I don't think you will be disappointed.
I am feeling much better today. But I am allergic to the tape that they use to secure the surgical drape, so I have a big square of itchy redness on my back that is driving me crazy. I think it might be a little better today. I basically have to lie on my back all day to keep from scratching it. And there is nothing to do for it. The doctors said not to put anything on it. It will go away by itself. Agh! But the incision is getting better.
I tried to use the stimulator once, but it made me feel bad. I need to heal some more. Plus, I will probably have to have it reprogrammed since the surgery was like getting a new IPG all over again. These old programs are from when the old IPG stopped working. So they are all turned up high and weird feeling. I might not be able to use them much.
You've heard the quote by George Santayana:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
I like this one better:
Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it; those who fail to learn history correctly-- why, they are simply doomed."
My brother and I are fascinated by dreams. I often have dreams because I don't sleep in regular cycles. This morning was something of a break through for me. I used to be a lucid dreamer. And am still to some extent. The definition of lucid dreamer pretty much means the concious mind of the dreamer controls the dream. This allows complete control. The first step is recognizing you are dreaming. This can often be the most difficult part. Usually you train yourself to recognize dream signs. These can be many things. Things that could not or likely would not occur in real life. Or it can be more personal to you. Something that you know that would "wake" you up inside the dream.
I am often aware of myself in my dreams. For instance, one of the things I first learned to do was wake myself up at will. Now, this came to be necessary for me, because I feel pain in my sleep. So I often wake myself up to move, to moderate my pain.
But over the years I lost most of my control in the dream even though I was aware I was dreaming. All I could do most of the time was wake myself up at will. But today...
Today was the day. I was dreaming a very extended drama that I won't go into, suffice it to say, at this point a precious lady in my church had asked everyone in the church to watch dogs that had been abandoned in the hurricane. And that meant like twenty dogs each. I was house-sitting for someone, and had dogs in the backyard and some inside.
In the morning, some of the dogs outside had been killed. Enter Micah C.S.I.
I was trying to discover evidence of the killer, when I stepped barefoot on a dangerous looking plant acidentally.
[Sidenote: this is one of the most often recurring themes I have in my dreams. I wind up barefoot outside and step on nails, glass, needles, spiky plants, or spines. You can imagine it isn't fun. And usually I pull them out in the dream, or wake myself up.]
Well, I was about to pull my spiny needles out when I decided, WAKE UP. Now, that is exactly what the conscious part of my mind says to wake myself up. Call it uninspired if you will, but it usually works on the first try.
This time it did not. So I tried, WAKE UP, I TELL YOU. Then I realized I didn't really need to wake up. Because even though I felt pain, I was still in a dream and I could do anything. Yes, folks I was truly becoming lucid.
And I took off into the air. There is nothing like flying in a dream. I dodged some helicopters and admired the beautiful vibrant fall colors. It was so beautiful up there over the city and countryside. By the time I got to the ocean, I had decided to do something else. I went underwater. I figured I didn't need to breathe under there. I saw some fish, some whales. And then woke myself up. I really was in pain. I needed to move.
It was a great adventure. Plus, I woke myself up only a few minutes before my alarm went off anyway.
Well, we made it back at 7 something. I don't really remember when. I was checked into the hospital at 7h45. So about 12 hours. I was in the preop room with my IV and completely hooked up from 8 to 12h30. I was supposed to have surgery at 10h15. But...you know how it goes. I was very bored. No books aloud. No one to talk to. I couldn't sleep but for a few minutes near the end of the wait. So I listened and people watched (as much as I could without my glasses). There are many accents floating around Duke University Hospital. It was pleasant to hear. And also, I prayed. God was good too. The waiting really wasn't too bad, and the surgery even less so.
My mother said that the surgeon was very kind to her and patiently answered her questions. I found him still obnoxious and I was frustrated, but the rest of the team comforted me and encouraged me. Thankfully. I needed it.
They discovered fluid in the IPG battery (they are sending it to the lab to figure that one out). They removed it and replaced it. And when they did. It seemed like everything was fine. The new one turned on and I had parasthesia. It seemed like my programs were okay too.
Another plus, there's only one cut. And it isn't too big. I should heal pretty fast and not have a lot of pain. Or at least not too much. Thank you for all of your prayers on my behalf.