down the rabbit hole

Today is October 1, so I remembered to say my "white rabbits."

Unfortunately for some old federal coworker friends and the rest of the nation there are too many on Capitol Hill who want to take us all down the rabbit hole. Hopefully the government shutdown will be short-lived, and a blot on the resumes of those responsible come (re)election time.

fairy tales a go-go

I stopped watching the fantasy fairy tale mash-up Once Upon a Time pretty early into its second season last fall as I was simply bored. But the kid likes it, so we thought we'd give it a try and watch the first episode of the third season last night. As much as I like Robert Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin, I have to say that once again, Once Upon a Time failed to thrill. Lots and lots of whining and haranguing, and very little action or magic. That's OK, it's not like I really need to watch another serial-story television show.

During one of the commercial breaks a promo for its spin-off, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, aired. Even more fractured fairytales seemed like way too much of a not-so-great thing when I first heard about the new show, but then I caught a glimpse of Lost's Naveen Andrews. Damn. And apparently Iggy Pop (at least in voice) is also involved. I guess I'm stuck with at least checking out a few of the episodes.

like a disappearing kitty . . .

. . . Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is at times surprising, even annoying, but ultimately ephemeral. It's not likely to stick with me very long, I'm afraid. Helena Bonham Carter unsurprisingly, steals the show, with Crispin Glover a close second. The girl who plays Alice, Mia Wasikowska, is also quite good. The problem, I'm afraid, lies with M. Depp.

I love Johnny Depp and think that he is a phenomenally brave actor and quite talented. But his Mad Hatter is a mess. It's not all his fault. 50% wrong is the character's look. As I've mentioned before, after seeing promos for the movie I thought the overly heavy make-up job on Depp was a huge miscalculation and would distract, rather than delight. And now after seeing the film, the make-up is even more incongruous, as Bonham-Carter's Red Queen, CGI enormous head and all, has much more subtle and effective make-up—it's still out of this world, but not outlandish. But I'm afraid what really sinks the Hatter, however, is how Depp voices him. And how does he, exactly? It must remain a mystery. At times he lisps, at times he has a completely unexplained Scottish brogue. If he spoke a little differently each time so that we could put it down to madness—but no, alas, the performance is less mad than mishmash.

There are other question marks. Burton also inexplicably seems obsessed with skewering eyeballs at various points in the movie which makes the whole experience more than a little creepier than already expected for adults and kiddies alike. And the "good" White Queen seems just as creepy as her red sister. But mostly, the magic was more than a little missing. We saw it in 3-D, which added a little fun, but honestly there was already enough to look at. I continue to be interested in Tim Burton's work, but I haven't really loved anything he's done since Ed Wood. As was voiced by my movie companions, what would really be interesting is for someone to do Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Someone, not Tim Burton. Maybe Alfonso Cuaron? Or Guillermo del Toro?

white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits

Today is March 1st - have you said your "white rabbits x3" for luck?

I pulled out The Annotated Alice the other night, as it seemed timely reading, March hares and all. In the preface author Martin Gardner talks about Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, or Lewis Carroll, as he is more commonly known, and how he would keep a record of good days:

Adopting the Roman symbol for a day of good fortune, he would write in his diary, "I mark this day with a white stone" whenever he felt it to be specially memorable.

Now what does that remind me of . . .

I've always liked the White Rabbit and could understand Alice's obsession with him—where is he off to in such a hurry? Monty Python's killer rabbit is also a personal fave ("That's no ordinary rabbit.")

I have to admit that I'm a little leery of the upcoming Alice movie. From the advertising it seems that they should have just cut to the chase and called it Tim Burton's The Mad Hatter. I respect both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp as artists, but the creepy make-up job that is Depp as the mad hatter—is it really necessary? What is wonderful about the original Alice is that the nonsense comes from the words. We'll see. I will definitely check it out, but I'm on guard. Their recent collaborations were very problematic for me. Sweeney Todd was interesting to watch for about a hour, but the repetitive throat slashing ultimately drowned out the very excellent singing efforts by the cast. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was so creepy and weird it just totally missed the mark for me, not capturing Roald Dahl's book or even any of the magic of the 1971 Gene Wilder film. I have no desire to see either film ever again.

So, back to The Annotated Alice in the meantime. She's about to finally get through the door into the garden, I think . . .