Ravens and Writing Desks

Alice in Wonderland. Or is it actually Alice in Underland? I still don’t know. The book and the movie contradict each other. So my class writing this week will be about, as you have probably assumed by now, Alice in Wonderland. We read the tea party scene in class (which is my favorite chapter in the entire book) and even had a cup (or two) of tea to go along with a video of clips from the Disney version of the movie. The humor in that excerpt of the book spans the generations. I laughed at it when I was a young child, I laughed at it the other day in class, and I hope that in twenty years I will still be able to laugh it. Inspired by reading the chapter I decided to go see the new movie after an extremely hectic (but enjoyable) day on Saturday. A good friend and I decided to close off the day with a visit to the movie theatres for a showing of the new version of Alice in Wonderland. We settled down with coke and sour patch kids for approximately two hours of a very “trippy” but enjoyable movie. Johnny Depp managed yet another impressive performance and although I had never heard of the girl who played Alice I thought that she did a good job. The movie was a sequel to the original story and included a foretelling of Alice slaying the Jaberwocky and freeing Wonderland (or Underland) from the Queen of Hearts evil rule. The story line left a bit to be desired but the special effects were fun and the acting was better than I had expected. I was, however, disappointed by the performance of Anne Hathaway. She played the “White Queen” but seemed to be acting as a spoof of the character. She did not seem very believable and despite the fact that I typically enjoy her movies I found her presence in this one a bit unnecessary and leaving much to be desired. Overall, I am glad that I went to the movie and would watch it again once it comes out on dvd. Not my favorite movie of all time but far from being my least favorite. There were certainly moments that I was close to tears from laughing so hard, and that made it worth the trip.

Now that I have seen the movie I decided that I should re-live my childhood days are read the book. I have been reading for short spurts over the past couple of days and am enjoying the humor and the creativity of Carrol. It is a strange story but I have been able to sit down and simply enjoy it. His creativity is astounding and the characters are both endearing and witty. If you have not read the book in the near past I encourage you to do so. It can be finished very quickly and is well worth the time. I have enjoyed my weekend of Alice and Wonderland and wish that it could go on for just a bit longer. But I suppose that the weekend has come to a close and so I close with a short riddle- have you got any idea how a raven is like a writing desk?