Weekend recap and Movie Review: The Golden Compass

So I had a nice weekend, spending all day Saturday with EtsyRain folks at our first show! I really loved how laid back it felt to be there, when everyone surrounding me was either someone I knew or had talked to online. There were a few folks that I didn't get to properly introduce myself to, but I'll get around to that eventually. :)

Sunday was going to be my day of relaxation, but I got the materials for another freelance indexing project, and that kept me busy for the better part of the day. And I remembered to call my mom to wish her a Happy Mother's Day when I was picking the broccoli out of my General Tso's chicken. I ate one piece of broccoli, just like I had to do when I was growing up. Being a grown-up does not mean liking broccoli. Ever.

+++++

And in movie news, I finally got to watch The Golden Compass yesterday. I had been really looking forward to it, but I really wanted to finish reading the book before I saw it. Well, I finished the book shortly after Christmas, and then we never went and saw it in the theater.

On the surface, this looks totally like a movie that I should love. It's quasi-Victorian, quasi-steampunk, there's some weird mystical magical stuff going on, etc. However, having read the book first probably spoiled it for me.

For one thing, I felt like the book was running on fast-forward through the whole movie. Yeah, they hit at least 90% of the high points in the book, but there was so much more that just got cut out of the movie. To me, it really felt like fast-forward. (Perhaps I should note, however, that it took me a ridiculously long time to read the book, because I never sat down with it for more than an hour or so at a time. So that could have contributed to me thinking it was REALLY long.)

The other big problem that I had with it was the ending. That's not where the book ended. I think I may have started in on The Subtle Knife and might be thinking that there's a whole lot more that isn't actually supposed to be in The Golden Compass, but there's a very definite part that they just lopped off the end, which should have been in the movie. So that, too, was aggravating to me, especially as they teased at that portion of the story.

So my recommendation here is that if you haven't read the book, you might enjoy the movie. But you should also read the book, because it's wonderful. And at least seeing the movie made me think that I should drag the book (I have all three books of the trilogy in a single volume) back out and finish the series. Yeah, in my infinite free time...