Finding Neverland

I finally saw Finding Neverland cause my parents rented it from Netflix. It's an awesome movie!!!! Johnny Depp is awesome, as he always seems to be, and Kate Winslet is really good too. I saw Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean with Orlando Bloom and in Chocolat with Juliette Binoche. He's going to star in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this summer too, which I am definitely going to go see cause I love that book. This movie is supposed to be more like the book than the old musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Although that one is good too.

My list of movies to see this summer: Star Wars Episode III, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic 4, Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, Herbie Fully Loaded, Bewitched, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki's latest film), War of the Worlds, The Pink Panther (that I have to see...The Pink Panther with Steve Martin and Beyoncé...should be funny!!), Madagascar and The Brothers Grimm, plus probably more that I can't think of.

I missed a lot of movies last summer because I was too focused on working 6 days a week at my dead-end job in fast food.

My brother thinks I'm crazy to want to go see the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movie. But I want to see it because (1) It's directed by the same guy who did Spy Kids, and those were good, and (2) I've never seen a movie in 3D before.

I'm going to try to see a movie or two before I leave next week. It would have to be Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning though since I don't get paid till Tuesday. I do want to see Star Wars Episode III before it's not at the theaters anymore (although I doubt that'll happen soon). I think Howl's Moving Castle might be out now so I should catch that soon since it's unlikely to be there long.

But about Finding Neverland. It was great. I'm going to rewatch it with the commentary. I like to do that on DVD's.

What I really liked about it is its theme, about how you shouldn't grow up too fast and how even grownups (like Barrie) can still use their imagination. I sincerely believe in that. Yet part of me is telling me that I'm too old for fairyland and all that. Balderdash!! I'm a writer, and a writer without an imagination is like the monist's view of the human: a body without a soul.

If I ever grow too old for fairyland, I would rather die right then than go on living a non-creative life. In a world permeated by rationalism, we need fantasy, because, whether we're Christian, atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, or Shinto, we all know somehow in our inmost being that this universe is not all there is, that there is something outside it, something good. Since our human minds cannot grasp the idea of heaven and of God completely (as Paul wrote, "We see through a glass darkly"), fantasy and creativity is a way for us to take hold of some of that divine essence which we cannot fully understand. It is when we abuse that, and substitute fantasy too much for our own lives, however, that things go wrong. Then we are delusional, and fit for the mental hospital.

Now I admit that I spend more time with the characters of my mind's eye than with my real-life friends. But I try to balance it out. I have no desire to be anti-social; after all, I work in retail now and interact with a lot more customers, so I can't afford to be anti-social. I just have always been an introvert, more comfortable when by myself. Sure, I can be pretty outgoing, but in most social settings I am not comfortable.

It's like I told my coworker Chris the other day. It's like I have two personalities...one is shy, the other outgoing; one is rash, the other reserved; one is willing to take risks, the other insists on planning everything out beforehand to ensure success. One could do just as well without computers and such, and is satisfied with books, while the other leans more towards surfing the Net, watching movies and TV, and playing video games. It's all very confusing.

I am glad that I have somewhere to say this in writing. It's so much easier to write than to say out loud.

In other news, my summer class starts tommorrow, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the books yet, but the first few exercises aren't due till next week anyways. Phew.

Tales of Symphonia is going well. I am heading to the Seal of Wind, I think. I just didn't do the windmill puzzle yet that you have to solve to get to the seal itself.

Okay, bye for now.