I managed to see a preview of Prince Caspian at the movies on Friday May 9, as a member of the press. Having read the Narnia books as a young boy, I was reasonably familiar with the story and expected a swash-buckling effects-laden experience. I was not disappointed. Here’s the trailer.
Filming was shot by NZ director/producer Andrew Adamson, whose earlier work includes Shrek I, 2 and 3, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Familiar NZ scenes for me were the Dart River near Glenorchy (I spent a week walking through there in 1991) and Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula (I spent Christmas there in 1982). Studio shots were filmed in Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic. Other scenes were filmed in Slovenia and Poland.
As Trumpkin says, “You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember”. Adamson takes the stories of battle hinted at by C.S. Lewis and brings them to the foreground. People and creatures die, though without any clear bloodshed. This is a family movie after all. A whole new sequence is added to the plot - the storming of the Telmarine castle. Battle scenes are provided with elaborate plot twists.
In the book the Pevensies (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) connect up with the Narnians towards the end. For the sake of dramatic interplay between the characters (including tension between Peter and Caspian) that meeting is introduced much earlier.
Adamson brings the story into the 21st century with an alternative to the C.S. Lewis sheltering of the female gender. Susan is clearly engaged in battle in the movie and enjoys a romantic attraction to Caspian. “It would never have worked out”, she says.
There are subtle flavours added by the casting team. Caspian, Miraz and the other Telmarines speak with Hispanic accents, a reference to their pirate origins. The centaurs appear to have an African origin. It makes good sense in terms of increasing the ethnic spread of the audience, but runs the risk of perpetuating the English jingoism that formed the backdrop of C.S. Lewis’ world.
My favourite character would have to be Trumpkin, played by Peter Dinklage. This dwarf has a deeply cynical, humorous and yet reflective character that appears to have been developed through years of patient long suffering.
The theology of this C.S. Lewis novel is subtle, with hints of questions relating to the absence and invisible nature of Jesus. Why can some see him and others not? Would the plot have been different if Lucy and her siblings had responded to Aslan’s guidance earlier? Aslan twice reminds Lucy that things don’t happen the same way twice, once in a dream sequence and once in waking mode. Was that a glitch in the script or an example of dramatic irony?
Be prepared for a long movie with stunning cinematography, simmering effects and a storyline that will keep you guessing.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, will be released in cinemas nationally in Australia on June 5. Heritage HM will also be delivering a range of resources to churches and schools Australia wide. For details contact 07 5445 6865 or email info at astounded.tv.
I’ve just heard (via Stephen at Prodigal Kiwi) that Mike Riddell’s 1997 book, The Insatiable Moon, is being developed as a feature film. In fact the film proposal is being taken to Cannes Film Festival this week.
The book (and now screen play) focuses on Arthur, a Maori man who is known to the residents of Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand, as the self-proclaimed second son of God. Arthur has a mission, which includes finding the Queen of Heaven (who turns out to be Margaret of Pakuranga). He interacts with the local vicar, a few homeless people and people living in the boarding houses of Ponsonby, to challenge the status quo of respectable society.
Mike, when he wrote the novel, was lecturer at the Baptist College of New Zealand in Auckland, a role he’d taken on after years pastoring at Ponsonby Baptist. Mike resigned and moved to Dunedin, knowing that many Baptists would have trouble with the gloriously graphic sex scene in the novel, let alone the ‘blasphemous’ exploration of a psychiatric patient’s claims to be the second son of God.
Arthur will be played by Rawiri Paratene , known around the world for his role as Koro in Whale Rider. I remember Rawiri’s poetry performances (with jazz pianist Mike Nock) from his time in Dunedin when he was Robert Burns Fellow at Otago University. Rawiri is likely to be joined by Timothy Spall, James Nesbitt and John Rhys-Davies.
Chicago/Christchurch creative agency TimeZoneOne has launched a viral campaign promoting Spruce Beer, focused on Waitangi Day, New Zealand identity and beer.
A creative experiment focuses on developing a new brand capturing the essence of New Zealand identity. Rejects include All Black Jock Strap Ale (too yeasty), Crowded House Bitter (too bloody Australian), and Ernest Rutherford Lager (unpleasant fall out). Second on the list of accepted beers is Kiwi Bush-Bee Beer (part bumble part killer). First place goes to Captain Cook’s Spruce Beer, first brewed by Captain Cook in 1773, designed to prevent scurvy.
The spot suggests that 8 out of 10 doctors now agree beer solves most health issues.
Spruce Beer, is a New Zealand beer based on Captain Cook’s original recipe and was first made in Dusky Sound, New Zealand, 1773. It is flavored with ’spruce’ (rimu) and tea tree. Spruce Beer is brewed for Heritage Foods (NZ) Ltd. by Wigram Brewing Co. in Christchurch.
Rugby Racing and Beer
A New Zealand folk song recorded by Rod Derrett in 1965
When I was just a little kid,
Knee high to a keg,
My Daddy took me on his knee.
He drained his glass and closed his eyes
And gave me very sound advice
On how to be a good Kiwi.
“Get to know your football sides
And learn to spell from Moore’s race guides
And don’t forget down under over here
Because of your great parentage
You have a national heritage
Of Rugby, Racing and Beer.”
Rugby, Racing and Beer,
Rugby, Racing and Beer,
Down under we’re mad over our
Rugby, Racing and Beer.
Old Uncle Charlie went to see
The Doctor yesterday
He cried, “You’ve got to help me Doc and quick,
I’m seeing spots before my eyes,
My head feels twice its normal size,
And every Sunday morning I feel sick.”
The Doctor took one look at him
And said, “Well Charlie things look grim,
I hate to have to tell ya but I fear,
You’d better write your will tonight,
‘Coz you’ve got kiwi-itis,
That’s Rugby, Racing and Beer.”
Rugby, Racing and Beer,
Rugby, Racing and Beer,
Down under we’re mad over our
Rugby, Racing and
Rugby, Racing and
Rugby, Racing and Beer.
Today the New Zealand Parliament voted in amendments to the terrorism suppression laws, allowing the government to designate terrorist organisations and creating a new offence of commiting an act of terrorism (penalty of life sentence). The Prime Minister will have the responsibility of designating groups and individuals as terrorists. Police will have the power to lock people up without charge, under the instructions of politicians.
It’s a move that is said to arise from international response to the existence of groups such as Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah. Only problem is that violent activism has been part of New Zealand’s short history since European invasion. And the raids of Tuhoe land in the Ureweras over the last month would have cut to the bone of the memories that were associated with resistance to land confiscation.
With the restriction of certain rights the Government has a responsibility to ensure that extra efforts are made to protect vulnerable bicultural relationships. Nothing can be taken for granted.
Stuff.co.nz today published a photograph (by Peter Meecham) of two All Blacks wearing pink as they trained on a northern hemisphere tour in 2006.
The suggestion of pink comes as the All Blacks are required to wear their silver strip in their match against the French this weekend. French captain Raphael Ibanez said that the New Zealand rugby team could play in blue or pink or without any jersey and they would still be the All Blacks.
The poll run by the Fairfax site asks readers to vote on pink, black, silver/grey and topless. There is something about the black and silver that makes the All Blacks who they are. The black and white colours come from the traditional Maori art. What’s missing is red. The All Blacks should be wearing red socks.
On this day in 1935 Bert Sachse is credited for creating the pavlova. Sachse was a chef at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth, Western Australia. It is said that the pavlova was named after ballerina Anna Pavlova who had visited Australia in 1926 and 1929 and had died in 1931. Australians like to use this date to claim pavlova as a national dessert.
New Zealanders have a problem with this. Professor Helen Leach, a culinary anthropologist at Otago University in New Zealand, found a pavlova recipe in a 1933 Rangiora Mothers’ Union cookery book, along with an even earlier copy of the pavlova recipe from a 1929 rural New Zealand magazine. She’s written the story up in “The pavlova cake: the evolution of a national dish”, an article in Food on the Move: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, 1996, edited by Harlan Walker.
The pavlova, a whipped cream-filled meringue dish usually topped generously with passionfruit, strawberries or kiwifruit, is considered the national dessert of both Australia and New Zealand.
Bruce Simpson is the editor of Aardvark Science and Technology News and Commentary. Based in Tokoroa, New Zealand, he is notorious as the guy who built his own DIY cruise missile for under $5,000. He’s known as Missile Man and Rocket Man and appears on TV productions including acting as a technical adviser or “expert” for Junkyard Wars, Scrapheap Challenge and Let’s Get Inventing. He’s also built a massive pulse-jet powered dragster that’s used “to scare the snot out of movie stars” and has appeared on several TV shows. This guy reminds me of another New Zealander: Burt Munro from The World’s Fastest Indian - a guy with a dream who keeps refining his inventions in his local back yard. In this case Bruce tests his jet engine inventions out on the Tokoroa airstrip.
Here’s a video of Temuera Morrison trying out the pulse-jet JetKart at Tokoroa.
Neemia Tialata, All Black prop, features his tattoos and faith in a slideshow on Rugby Heaven. Neemia talks about the process of getting his tattoos in Petone, the reaction of his mum, and the role of faith for him and a few of the Pacific Island guys on the All Blacks team.
Pictures, audio and production were by Peter Meecham, Fairfax photographer.
New Zealand television review site Throng has today launched a world-first web 2.0 television listings format. In development for more than two years, the new format replaces the traditional TV guide grid and makes it easier to find what is on at a glance. Shows are displayed based on what is on now, what starts in the next hour and what is on in prime time tonight. Shows are weighted according to popularity on throng.co.nz. Members of the website throng.co.nz personalise their listings to highlight their favourite shows and hide ones they’re not interested in.
“We’ve thought long and hard about TV listings and what we’d like them to be. We found traditional listings hard to scan because they’re organised by channel and you can easily miss things. We’ve removed the clutter and made your choice simpler,” says co-founder Regan Cunliffe, also at Cre8d design.
See the new look listings from today at throng.co.nz.
Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
