Recommendation: Do not go to a movie theater near a mall on the day before Christmas shopping ends.
I went over Heidi’s and G.’s on Saturday. I’ve been spending the Christmas holidays with Heidi and her family since, let’s see–1996, I think. Sorena refuses to allow me to sleep in my own bed on Christmas Eve; I must spend the night there and be there for the morning festivities. I told Heidi that this is probably my last year doing so–Sorena will be 13 next year, and old enough to understand that I want to do Jewish things on Christmas.
Or I may change my mind and still spend the night there. Who knows?
The Chronicles of Narnia is an excellent movie, and more than makes up for my shelling out six bucks to see King Bomb. I’m afraid I must have blinked and missed all the Christian symbolism. Solly was right.
You know, my parents’ generation all had a Solly that they knew somewhere. I think we ought to bring back the name, so I can have a Solly to refer to that isn’t the guy who runs Solomonia. Then again, I don’t mind referring to that Solly, so maybe I should just count my Sollys and be quiet.
Driving home tonight, there were two restaurants with full parking lots: The Denny’s and the Waffle House, just off I-95 in Small Town South of Richmond. I had been tempted to stop off at Waffle House for some hash browns, but decided I could live without them. I was at the Waffle House at the Fredericksburg rest stop years ago, taking a break while driving from NJ to Richmond on Christmas Eve. It was full then, too. I always wonder who the patrons are, and where they’re going, and whether they’re in transit or have nowhere to go for Christmas. It’s very interesting, being Jewish on Christmas. Then again, people are probably wondering the same thing about me. I should wear a button or something saying, “I’m not alone on Christmas, I’m Jewish.”
Shyeah, that would bring in the stares.
You know, I come home from a house with a Great Dane puppy that steals my sneakers and swipes my sleep-mask out of my bag, only to have my cat pull my sweater off the chair where I left it to dry.
Cats.
Dogs.
Feh.
Hey, at least you have Denny’s and a waffle house. The only place open here on Christmas is a deli that’s been around forever and where the food tastes like it’s been sitting on a counter forever. The slogan should be “food poisoning served anytime”.
Then again, I had homemade latkes today, so I’m happy right now.
We need more Sollys, I agree — and Yudys and Moes and Izzys, too! Great names and nice guys, and all missed.
I don’t mean to be male-exclusive — though it seems, at least on running through the names of my relatives, that we still use most of the female names. We could use more Altas — and, come to think of it, Selmas — too!
A good blog entry on Narnia: Andrew Rilestone
If you read through the comments, it’s pointed out that the movie does “de-Christianize” the book to a good degree with a few small changes. Not that I mind, of course, being an atheist.
“Jewish things on Christmas…?” You mean, like eating Chinese food or Pizza?
I wish we had Waffle House here in the northeast. No Waffle House, no Red Lobster round here. :(
And Goldies and Roses. One of my grandmothers was named Rose. I always wanted to name a daughter Rose.
Aslan is the Christian Symbolism. The Lion of Judah; Jesus, King of the Jews. Jack was writing for kids and kids aint much on spotting the subtle. :)
Actually, that part I got. It was the rest of the Christian symbolism that I must have missed.
And using the movie only, well, Aslan’s resurrection was kinda dumb. “Deep magic”? WTF is that?
I read the book, once, in high school. I had almost no memory of it.
I have some memories of the book, but ‘deep magic’ isn’t among them. The impression I got was that God had more for Aslan to do, and so was sending him back.
I get reincarnated, Aslan gets resurrected. I’m going to have to talk with God about his obvious bias the next time I die.
The “deep magic” is the underlying moral order of Narnia. It was in the books as well, IIRC; Aslan’s resurrection is more or less the same in both versions.
God sending someone back because he had more to do was in that other fantasy movie, the one with the ring. :-)
The Christian symbolism didn’t really get thick in Narnia until the later books.