A little bit of Christmas spirit; saw & recommend Sweeney Todd, somewhat recommend Golden Compass

Thanks to Devon, I have finally developed a little bit of Christmas spirit. What with it being Christmas Eve, we're getting right down to the wire, so it is about time.

I haven't been feeling well these last few days. I'm spending all my time at Devon's house, sleeping infrequently and not well, and both my depression and my back pain have kicked up to fucking annoying and awful levels. Nothing new, but not exactly ideal for celebrating Christmas. The changes of the season and the family aspect have definitely lead me to it, which is predictable. I'm behind on Christmas shopping, as my parent's gift is nowhere in stores (either here or up in Portland/Wilsonville) so we'll have to order it, and spending money on gifts of course makes me uncomfortable about money. In short, I've been hiding and panicking and not doing well, which surprises no one but is still annoying.

Dev, however, went out yesterday to buy me a present (after discovering I was going to receive two copies of the gift he had bought, and as such needed to find something else), and it's finally driven me to curiosity and interest. I know it's a Square RPG for my PlayStation, I know that the three sales people at Fry's all thought it was "sweet" and that I'd spend "a thousand hours playing it," but I don't know what game it is and Wikipedia hasn't turned it up. So I'm curious, and while Devon is answering yes/no questions, he won't tell me what it is.

And it's made me excited. It also proves that I am shockingly materialistic, but we already knew that. Plus, it's not just materialism—it's also that I just enjoy gifts, enjoy joy, enjoy simple pleasures, and I use them to distract me from everything else in my life that makes me depressed. And this, well, it's providing that distraction.

All plans followed, I'll open it today anyway, so I haven't that long to wait. But I'm very thankful to him—he's been worried about me lately, and he's done so much to make sure I don't get worse, and to make sure that I am happy whenever I can be. I love him.

In other news of things to make me happy: I saw Sweeney Todd last night, and I hugely enjoyed it and absolutely recommend it. I do agree with the common consensus that neither Johnny Depp nor Helena Bonham Carter have very strong singing voices, which is even more apparent when contrasted to the Anthony and Joanna characters, who have lovely and strong voices. But once you get passed that, it's a wonderful film. Alan Rickman is both evil and a bit vulnerable as the villain, and is also flagrantly erotic (that's the "you gandered at my ward" video, and yes, you should watch it, and yes, on repeat). Johnny Depp carries the look and attitude of Sweeney Todd with the same panache and natural "charm" that he plays other characters, and the closeups make up for his singing voice, making the character intense and almost gleefully vengeful. Helena Bonham Carter is entirely perfect as Mrs. Lovett—her costumes are exquisite, she nails the characterization, and her chemistry with Depp, especially in the songs, is wonderful. She brings the film to life, staring with The Worst Pies in London, which is a squeamishly hilarious song. The black and white and red scheme is wonderfully exaggerated, as much like a drawing brought to life as Nightmare Before Christmas was. Tim Burton is the best possible director for this film—his absurd gothic style keeps the violence at once both squeamish and humorous, and never too much of the other (the film is much like Sleepy Hollow in that regard), and he works so well with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, making this a great combination of cast, director, and style.

So while, yes, parts of it were predictable, while the voices weren't always perfect, while some of the songs were awkward, the film is enjoyable, engrossing, exaggerated, and just an awful lot of fun. It was everything I expected, worth the hype, and I'm glad I had the chance to see it. I recommend it to others, wholeheartedly.

On a side note, the absurd contrast of goth with the seaside in By the Sea was perhaps the best part of the film. Fucking hilarious.

I have just two more films to see now: Atonement, for the love of Keira Knightly, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets, for the love of the first National Treasure movie. I already saw The Golden Compass, and though I enjoyed it, I don't entirely appreciate it. I like that the film is so faithful to the book. I think that shows a lot of respect, and the book is after all incredible, and no changes were necessary. Those that were made are small or necessary enough that I have no quarrel with them, with one exception: by cutting off the last few chapters, they take away the bittersweet end to Lyra's story, creating a different, artificially, equally annoying cliffhanger that only feels more positive. I think that was a horrible call. The casting, however, is exceptional and entirely spot on, which is the true joy of the film. The daemons are perfect, and I love to see an example of current film technology used to its best possible purpose: like Narnia's Aslan, the daemon are real and entirely convincing despite being CGed. If they had looked fake it would have ruined the film; the realism brings the film to life.

But for all of that, the film feels a bit pointless. It can't possibly incorporate all the aspects of the book, so it feels like the same story, only more shallow. It makes no changes, no commentary. Some of the effects are wonderful and lifelike, but some (like the Dust) are far from, so in terms of bringing the story to life, it's mostly a wash. It's an enjoyable movie, but since it is based on an incredible book, the movie falls flat. I'm glad I saw it, I recommend it, and I love it for showing me Lee Scoresby, Lyra, Pan, Seriphina, Iorek Byrnison, and many of the other characters, but it is, for me, much like the Harry Potter films—decent in their own right, but no comparison to the book, and so go back to the books instead.

And, indeed, I am currently rereading The Golden Compass.

In other good news, I just sent a long email off to Lizzie. If you've heard me talk about her, you probably know why this is so wonderful—she was a good friend from England, and I have missed her immensely. We fell out of contact (entirely my fault), so I sent out an email to get back in touch with her. And she's still out there. ^_^ Getting her little email this morning has already made this a wonderful day.

BPAL-centric post coming up very shortly, but I shall end this here. Goodness knows it's long enough. Except to say:

Merry Christmas, everyone! To those that celebrate, of course, and Happy Holidays to all of us. I know everyone is at different points in their celebrations and whatnot, but I hope you all have a wonderful time. Enjoy.

BPAL chatter: Christmas aquisitions, new favorites (with reviews), disappointments, a recommendation

In another piece of good news all of my Christmas BPAL is finally here, and it was a wonderful set of gifts (from me to myself, and from Devon to me). I have had to move them into a new box, as the old one was overflowing entirely out of hand—but as I see it, that's no bad sign. All told, all packages here, I've received about 35 new scents. Needless to say, I'm not entirely done testing them. But I have made some wonderful discoveries so far.

The best of the best starts with the welcome surprise of my new trio of loves: ( BPAL blather, behind a cut to save your friends page. )

There have been disappointments along the way: Some scents (Perilous Parlor, for example) smell lovely but don't suit me—I mean, pear, after all. Some scents (Delight, for example) have confirmed my suspicion that floral is fine but not really my thing (and sometimes not fine, when it goes straight soap, but that's another matter). And then some, like Morocco, damn near broke my heart by proving than in about half the blends that contain it, carnation amps up to frighteningly sharp and herbal levels. As one of my favorite flowers and scents, this is really disappointing. At least The Masque and Brisingamen, both of which have carnation, manage to be lovely on me.

This does mean that I have a small but certain reserve of reject imps, so I'll probably continue to gift those on an infrequent basis.

I will say, though, that venturing out of my trusty GC imps has been a great experience. The success rate isn't quite so high, but the good ones are just great, and some of them, like the cocoa-and-red trio, are all-consumingly wonderful.

Oh, and lupanotte, if you like Bastet, you have to try:

HECATE (GC)
Deep, buttery almond layered over myrrh and dark musk.
The rich creamy almond of Bastet made just slightly bitter, slightly sweet, slightly smokey, slightly musky, and slightly dark. It is refined but not "perfumey," pure but never simple, and so wearable. I think you'd love it.