2008 in Retrospect- Christmas Around the World

 

                                                           

      If I had to sum up this year in terms of movies I went to see it would be varied, diverting, fun and very well rounded. Wall-E was not a typical Disney movie because it had a true universal appeal, it’s circumstances were entirely plausible but the plot stretches the imagination. I don’t like to give away story lines but I will say this: it’s the first movie that has ever pulled my heartstrings with a ‘bot’ rather than a human hero. Adults will not feel childish and children will be thoroughly entertained and not jive-talked to death. There is nothing cutesy about the interaction between machine and the animated humans and it almost makes you feel that it was natural.

 

     The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian wasn’t all I expected it to be, and I feel that if someone had not seen the first movie- which had most of the original cast and the plot was directly tied in with the first- many of the main characters would not be understood- motives or heroics, either one. Putting that all aside, Prince Caspian is one of the best stories in the series originally written by C.S. Lewis. I do recommend the movie for a family night in- to be fair.

   

     Even though it was very slickly made and every true element of Batman in print was there- The Dark Knight still left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth- so to speak. That is a bad pun for those who have seen it. My tolerance for violent movies is quite low, even the suggestion of it, leave alone the violence directed at women specifically in this one. The only thing that made it bearable on any level, for me, was the hi-tech equipment and devices that Bat Man utilizes. Heath Ledger was almost insanely perfect in his portrayal of The Joker and may be talked about for years of the repercussions of playing such a role as this for his swan song.

     Bringing up the rear is Jim Carrey as Yes Man which is a great mixture of goofy and thought-provoking satire. This is always Jim at his best because as an actor he ‘gets it’ and as a ‘comedian’ he practically ‘wrote the script’. I just went to this movie and I don’t think I’ll stop talking about it for awhile. For one, I really identified with the character Jim played in almost a reverse fashion. He practically has to be bullied into saying "yes" whereas I simply have a difficult time telling people "no". I think what intrigued me the most is that he plays a rather lonely, refusing type of single guy (a rather typical type for over-thirty single men, I might add ) who becomes transformed into the type of guy who finds a woman who was already like him in many respects. His brush with Homeland Security in an airport was almost too real to be funny. If you can’t stand someone getting in your face with your worst traits you’d better just say no to Yes Man !

     Let’s face it, though. There’s more to life than movies, right? Sigh. Just say yes ! At one time I was an avid movie-goer but I very seldom attend now and when I go I really want to see the film. This was a year I would never want to repeat on one level because I’m having the kind of financial difficulties that just make you want to curl up and die rather than forge ahead. What did I do? I forged ahead. I’m a brave soul. On another level- getting my official web site revamped gave me a lift and increased readership which is always a plus. Getting England up on the site will be quite a task but I’m looking forward to the challenge once it’s ready to go up. (More later on that.)

 

     The utter and complete failure of my auction on this blog- for the second time- was such a let-down that I can’t even begin to describe my disappointment. I’m always trying to make this venture as fun as possible but somehow it just didn’t come across and no one ‘got it’. Be that as it may, it was a learning experience. Apparently quite a few people are such loyal fans of E-Bay that they wouldn’t dream of buying, trading or selling any where else. Personally, I wouldn’t want to spend as much time on E-Bay as some people do but everyone has their own thing and it’s best just to leave them to it. It’s my belief that the only way to pull ourselves out of this economic decline is to buy local. (More on that later on my ilovecastles.blogspot.com blog.)

     I assumed that people who want to be on what is now called our networks actually are interested in what we put on our individual blogs and perhaps read them. However, I am finding that this is not necessarily true as I have fielded the following question twice now. That is: "What is this fascination you have with castles?" The other one prior to that was from someone who didn’t even have an MSN account. (Remember when they were allowing that? ) His question was much less formal and crass to boot but the tone wasn’t very different. This is a question I would put to all who pull up this blog. "If you aren’t interested in castles, why would you want to bother with this blog site at all?" There is no lack of castle pics, info and web sites to the castles themselves from all over the world on the internet. If you don’t believe me, Google the word "Castles". That will make a believer out of you. I don’t think I’ve ever found a more interesting subject, once you really dig into the architectural and historical details about them. Maybe it isn’t for everyone, but obviously millions upon millions of people are and I get googled constantly by them looking for all kinds of info- even genealogical.

     Having said that, I will conclude this article with a short quote from St. Augustine. "Hear the other side." If everyone took their respective subjects and interests only at face value and didn’t delve deep, they probably wouldn’t write very much on their blogs (and many don’t ) or make an impact on the world that amounted to very much. I believe everyone is capable of impacting their world much more than they do. I suppose that would require some research, time, effort and extensive reading. If you’re onto something, go for it !

     By the way, if your aim is simply to understand me, then stop staring at my photos and read something on my blogs. You may find you’re more interested in my subject than you originally thought. I don’t just write about castles but the title of this blog is Do you love castles like me? I am focused on my vocation and proud of the work I’ve done. The work alone validates me and that’s good enough for me.

           

 

The Castle Lady dice e` stateo un piacere! 

(always a pleasure )

Adesso….divertiamoci !

(Now… let’s have some fun !)

 

 

 

     Christmas Around the World  

 

   

                   Skating at Rockefeller Cnt, NYC            Galeries Layfayette in Paris

 

Moscow

 

 

Barriere Hotel in Normandy, France

 

                              Prado Comio          Lisbon, Portugal  

 

   Puerta del Sol, Madrid, Spain                                                                                         

 

 

Old Town Square at Prague        

 

   Trafalgar Square, London