De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da is all I want to say to you

In case you didn't recognize, the above is the title of a Police song. To the left is the ubiquitous symbols from The Ghost in the Machine.

I just got back from the show in Dallas, and it was amazing. Twenty four years after their break up, they still got it. Elvis Costello opened the show, yawn. Actually, I felt bad for him because the venue was outdoors and the sun was shining right in his face and it looked like he got a pretty bad sun burn.

The opening song, Message in a Bottle, nice. No saving the best for last, although they did that too. Great music, great showmanship, great times, incredible concert. They played about everything you could imagine, at least all the songs you'd expect. I did kinda hope they'd my favorite song to sing when my wife is outta town, "the beds too big without you" or the completely random number "on any other day", they didn't, but a guy can hope, right? You can hear to song done to a non-police video here.

All in all they played almost everything except "Roxanne", Everything She Does is Magic" and "King of Pain", the first encore handled that. It also featured at least a 3 minute solo from Andy Summers on "lonely", it was brilliant. The final song of an almost 2 hour set was "Next to You".

Above is a "Roxanne" from the show.

Of course it wouldn't be Sting if there were no cause, no Amnesty International or pictures of kids in third world countries; it was and there were. A great montage of pictures inspired the audience to "Invisible Sun".









I dont want to spend the rest of my life
Looking at the barrel of an armalite
I dont want to spend the rest of my days
Keeping out of trouble like the soldiers say
I dont want to spend my time in hell
Looking at the walls of a prison cell
I dont ever want to play the part
Of a statistic on a government chart

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole days done

Its dark all day, and it glows all night
Factory smoke and acetylene light
I face the day with me head caved in
Looking like something that the cat brought in

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole days done

And theyre only going to change this place by
Killing everybody in the human race
And they would kill me for a cigarette
But I dont even wanna die just yet

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole days done

Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia.

I was looking for the right moment to launch back to the blogosphere, and here it is; Prince Caspian. Ok, I took a brief hiatus, but unlike Lewis time line, mine was a bit shorter than 1300 years. Since the movie has to be talked about, I return from retreat.

Narnia at wikipedia - a brief understanding
Chronicles of Narnia - View the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com - interview with the director
Lewis’ thoughts on Aslan in the silver screen
Buy the books


I just returned from a private screening of The Chronicles of Narnia's, Prince Caspian, the second installment of CS Lewis enormous epic.

Mathematically speaking - Lord of the Rings + 300 + National Geographic + Aesop = the silver screens newest Lewis legend, Prince Caspian. In my opinion, the movie had two purposes; for good to triumph over evil and to begin the passing of the baton from the older Pevensie's to Caspian, the younger Pevensies and eventually, Eustace Clarence Scrubb.

Since this in not so much a review as my thoughts, here goes.

Digress...

It's a PG movie involving an epic battle, with lots of violence. OK so it's not really 300 gore, but there are deaths a plenty; but they are nice deaths, not the ones bathed in gratuitous amounts of ketchup.

Disney originally stated that all 7 of the books would be put to film but current rumors disagree. The Disney rep that hosted our viewing said VOTDT would be released in 2010. Director, Michael Apted has scouted several locations for filming which is scheduled to begin in October 2008.

Although this is Disney’s second installment of their commitment to at least 3 of the 7 books in the series, the chronological listing of books Prince Caspian would be 4.

Published Order

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader , The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy , The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle

Chronological Order

The Magician's Nephew, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle

Regress...

Great sets – the sky was beautiful blue, the waters crystal clear, the colors incredible and all around scenery, awesome. Even with all the beauty, it was a bit darker than its predecessor.

The cinematography was captivating. Scene transitions pulled me in to the movie and kept things moving.

With the exception of the incredible scene transitions, amidst the almost constant war fare, I found the movie slowed down quite a bit in the middle parts.

CGI - the nyads and dryads were incredible, bigger than life, fun and amazing.

Liam Neeson – did a great job as the voice of Aslan, but could they make him talk any slower? I guess its difficult to animate a lion talking fast.

Overall, great movie. I took my 7 year old and she loved it. She particularly noted the humor and the (spoiler alert) Kiss; stating that later was "totally unnecessary". She didn't fixate on the violence, war, and plot laziness of the movie. Get your tickets early, cause Disney is sparing no expense promoting this (for example, click the Liam Neesom link above before 5/16). In the end, its a great feel good, and draw some redeeming conclusions movie.

Go see it now!