Movies & TV shows 21-40

22. Gone with the Wind:  In middle school we had a substitute teacher once who told us the story of  Gone with the Wind one lunch break while we were stuck in the classroom due to bad weather.  She was a great story teller and it was a great story, I just fell in love with it.  Of course, she didn't finish the story, just told us about the 1st half or so of the 1st part of the movie.  I think maybe we watched it in class after she told the story?  I'm sure, but if she didn't then I talked my parents into renting it shortly thereafter. 

22. Harry Potter and the Socrcerer's Stone, 23. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 24. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:  grouping these three together seemed prudent.  Although, my favor Harry Potter movie was the Prisoner of Azhkaban.  I loved the change to the darker story, less childlike.  The new set of the Hogwarts was fantastic and really showed how Hogwarts is just off on its own, not really a part of anywhere else. 

25. The Hobbit:  Saw the cartoon when I was a kid, sorry Andrea - I spit hot cocoa all over her back because Gollum scared me so much... Still really dislike Gollum.  Not excited about reading this book.

30. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:  There are so many versions of this, and generally I try and watch them all.  I've seen the cartoon, the TV Mini-series, the Sci-Fy channel's reimagined Alice (which I loved), and tried to watch the new Tim Burton movie... but I've fallen asleep watching it twice.  Its just a little too out there for me I think.  I like 'different' and 'outhere' but there needs to be a reason for it, this one just seemed to be different for different's sake.

33. The Pillars of the Earth:  Currently reading - saw the first two episodes of the miniseries. 

35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: This is another movie, where I very much like the original and just had a really hard time with Tim Burton's update.  The original is just the very weird, musical, dark movie with amazing bright and happy parts to it.  I still have dreams of scoping marshmellow creme out of the spot of a mushroom. 

40. Emma:  I know that I have seen Emma - but I honestly don't remember it from Sense and Sensibility and a few others that all came out around that same time.  I guess I'll watch them all again after seeing the movie. 

Up next week:  41 - 60.  Still reading Pillars of the Earth, but I've only read about 10 pages in the past two weeks.  

A little bit further along

I'm enjoying Pillars of th Earth so far.  I started watching the mini-series a while back and saw the first two episodes and really like it.  I remembered at that point that I had the book, and that I should probably read the book first so I stopped watching the rest of it.  I've read about 100 pages or so, and its well written, but I just don't have time for much pleasure reading.  I'm still not up to the point where I was in the TV show though, looking foward to blazing new territory soon. 

This got me thinking about movies I've seen based on the books on the list.  Here are the books/movies 1 - 20 that I've seen:

1. The Lord of the Rings:  This is one of those backwards ones where I'm so glad I saw the movie first.  I NEVER would have made it through the book.   They are stuck in the damn Old Forest with Tom Bombadil for what seemed like an eternity, had I not known there was more story - that was amazing - to come I probably would have put the book down right then.

3. His Dark Materials: I've seen The Golden Compass...  I think I enjoyed it at the time.  It made me think - "I bet I'd like the books" but - it really didn't stick with me because all I remember is a polar bear and Nicole Kidman as a very bad woman. There is some controversy surronding these books and how they were 'anti-religon' or was it 'anti-christian' - but really that just makes me want to read them more.

4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:  I started to watch the movie -- but fell asleep...

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:  I've read all the Harry Potter books and seen all the movies... so I have a hard time remember what was in the books vs. what was in the movies.  The Goblet of Fire was such a long book, I know they had to cute out a lot of stuff.  It did introduce America to Robert Pattinson though, such a cutie!

6. To Kill a Mockingbird:  Amazing book, amazing movie, not much else to say.

9. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe:  confession time - I read this book in the 3rd grade, so I honestly didn't remember much of it until I saw the movie.  It was funny how it all came back to me, the story that is.  There is also some religous controversy with these books, with the promise of the return of the king, even though I'm not Christian I still think its a very entertaining and fun story for children.

16. The Wind in the Willows: Does the cartoon count?  I really like "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" at Disneyland!

17. Great Expectations: I saw the version they made about 10 - 15 years ago.  I haven't read the book, and I went to the movie with someone who had read the book many times and had to listen to her remark on every little thing in the movie. 

18.  Little Women:  I read this book one winter when we were snowed in at home in Foresthill.  I think I was about 15 or so.  I enjoyed the movie as well, Winona Ryder pre-shoplifting, did a good job as Jo. 

I'll write about the next 20 books in next weeks blog.