Dec. 31

I have a good reason for not posting in so long. The day after Christmas I threw up eleven times starting at 5:20 in the morning, and couldn’t stand without doing so. Since then, I’ve been sick with various things and haven’t felt like doing anything but lying around until today. Now I just feel like I have a cold.

I don’t have much to write about, since I’ve been sleeping and reading and watching TV since my last entry. I finished reading White by Ted Dekker, which I was able to borrow from a friend. The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, and White) is great. I highly recommend it to everyone.

We rented The Santa Claus 3 and Meet the Robinsons. I like the other two Santa Claus movies better. They should stop making them now, methinks. Meet the Robinsons is very cute, however.

Don’t read any farther if you like Eragon.

My dad bought the movie, horror of horrors, and not even in the five dollar bin at Wal-Mart. I suffered through it :p You might even be able to call the book “good” compared to it. I have some comments to make aside from my magic-is-evil-and-should-not-be-portrayed-as-anything-else convictions.

1. Whoever played Galbotorix played him very poorly. The character didn’t come across strongly or as a threatening bad guy. Durza was a more menacing and evil character.

2. They completely should have gone with Arya not liking Eragon as in the books. Her instant affection for him is unwarranted and unbelievable in the movie. I could pass his for her off as infatuation with a beautiful elven princess, but she should know better.

3. The movie strayed far from the book’s lines, though they’d have had to make it much longer to stick to the book.

4. Eragon, despite what some believe, was not cute.

5. I found myself almost liking Murtagh against my will. But he was only in the end, so even if the unlikable elements of the plot were excluded, he wouldn’t have redeemed the entire movie (and then there’s the knowledge that he betrays everyone in the next book).

So even you don’t share my convictions (please note that I’m not a’tall condemning you if you disagree with me), the movie really isn’t worth watching. If you’re a fan of the book, you’ll dislike the movie because it’s so different, and if you’re just watching it for a fantasy movie, it’s a poorly done.

You can read my friend’s notes on the book here, and I agree with everything she says above the essay: http://nimelen.wordpress.com/notes/eragon/

Have an amazing rest of your life.

- WM