Interviews and Unschooling

Image by popturfdotcom here

Yesterday, Mum and I made a movie together. We settled down in the living room and set up out tripod, a dining room chair with a pile of out-of-date encyclopedias sitting on. I sat in one of the big armchairs. Mum set up the camera on the 'tripod'. Today Mum would be interviewing me about being unschooled and about studying at university.

I glanced at the list of questions I had sitting in my lap. We discussed what I was going to say. Was this a good idea? It felt a lot like public speaking, which scares me. I'd much rather sing to a crowd than speak to them. Taking a deep breath, I waited for Mum to start filming. The little red light appeared on the camera. I smiled at my non-existent audience and began to speak.

Once I got going, it wasn't too scary after all. Every so often we stopped the camera, discussed what I was going to say in the next segment. Mum took a rest from holding onto the camera.And then we carried on. I talked for what seemed to be ages before we finally got through all the questions and finished filming.

Then Mum took the video to her room, downloaded it onto her computer and started editing it into something acceptable for other people to see. As I passed her room occasionally, I caught snatches of my own voice, babbling on about one thing or another, and winced. There is nothing so humbling as hearing your own voice. It didn't take long for Mum to have the movie finished though.

"Do you want to see it?" Mum asked me.

I shook my head at once. "No thanks. I don't like listening to myself talk."

But even though I didn't watch it, other family members told me that it was good. It seemed that me sitting in front of a camera and attempting to talk about my experiences unschooling and now studying at university had ended up with a fairly good video. Already we're thinking about the next movie. Now that I've been interviewed once, I wouldn't mind too much doing it again. My brothers and sisters might have a turn too. Who knows what we might come up with next?

If you're interested in hearing what it was like to be unschooled, and what it's like to study university over the internet, then please check out my interview. You can find it here: Imogen Talks about Unschooling and University

Villains: Becoming the Good Guys

The best villains, in my opinion, are the ones who are smart and witty and not easily beaten by the good guys. They’re the ones who use their brains, and come very close to beating the hero, and who you can have respect for. They’re not your common or garden criminals. They’re artists, taking villainy to the next level.

But what’s better than a villain who’s amazing at being bad? Why, a villain that’s amazing at being good. I’ve noticed that a few of my favourite movies and books have this aspect to them.

My most favourite movie of all time is Megamind, about a villain with a giant blue head, who ends up fighting evil and becoming the hero. It’s all about turning the typical superhero story on its head. Megamind is smart, and funny, and at the same time, so clueless about being the hero of the story.

In books, I recently read a series of books about a boy in a villainous academy, where he was being taught how to be a villain. The name of the academy was amazing. It was called HIVE: Higher Institute of Villainous Education. And this boy, he might have been learning how to be a villain, but he was leaning to be a gentlemanly villain, fighting off the real bad characters. Again, it took the idea of a villain, and turned it on its head.

A villain’s a great character. And it’s even better when they can be turned into the good guys. Do you have any other examples of this?

Rapunzel Hair

When I was younger, I always wanted to have Rapunzel hair. I dreamed of long golden locks shining down my back, swaying as I walked. I longed to have hair that I could do in one long braid. And I envied my sister's friend who wore a waist length plait.

Sadly though, despite all my wishing, my hair never grew that long. And probably a good thing too, considering it looked like a bird's nest all the time. And think of all the problems I could have got into with that much hair. I was the girl who got a hair brush stuck in my sister's hair because I was trying to roll it round the brush like the hairdresser.

Eventually I forgot about having long, Rapunzel style hair. The long hair I had was eventually cut off and replaced with a much easier to keep bob. I'd grown out of that dream.

Or so I thought.

It was all Tangled's fault. Rapunzel's hair was so awesome. 70 feet of hair. Can you imagine the possibilities? I certainly could. In vain did I try and persuade myself it would be terrible trouble. I wanted that 70 feet of hair for myself.

Would I have 70 feet of hair if it was even possible? To tell the truth, no. I'm content now with my shorter, manageable hair. Besides, just think of all the trouble I'd get into with a secret weapon like that!

"It's Not The Done Thing In Cranford"

After the success of "Little Dorrit", Mum, Charlotte, and I wanted to watch another period drama together. Last time had been so much fun, we just had to do it again. So, which period drama to choose?

Over the internet grapevine Mum had heard that "Cranford" was a good movie to watch. And so, hardly a week after "Little Dorrit", we sat down to start Cranford. Even Dad was persuaded to join in and trial this new mini series.

Never having read "Cranford", or even heard of it before then, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was what was written on the back of the case. And that sounded a little dubious. A series about old ladies running a village? Boring, right?

Wrong. It might have been a mini series about old ladies, but these old ladies had us in stitches before we were ten minutes into the first episode. Cats ate antique lace, cows wore flannel pyjamas, gossip flew around the village, and the characters embroiled themselves in more and more trouble every episode. We loved it.

One episode in, I went and looked up Elizabeth Gaskill's book "Cranford", which is one of three books the mini series is based upon. Again, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would it be as good as the mini series? As funny? Were they anything alike at all?

The book was just as good as the mini series, and heightened my enjoyment of it. I anticipated good scenes, and was never disappointed.

When the last episode ended, we sat back and sighed. It feels so good to finish a wonderful mini series like "Cranford". However we didn't take long to plan our next movie. Only the next evening we sat down to watch "Return to Cranford", which reunites most of the principle characters of "Cranford."

And where to after this? What will our next period drama be? Well, on my shelf sits yet another mini series, "Bleak House". Both Charlotte and I have read the book. Now we can't wait to get started on the series!

Turning Books into Films

I have a lot of favourite books. They're the one's I've read over and over again until I've memorised whole passages and can imagine every character and scene in my head in full colour and motion.

Now if there's one thing I like almost as much as reading my favourite books, it's watching them on DVD. I'm always excited to hear of a favourite story being turned into a film, and am eager to watch the film and see how it compares to the book.

I was extremely excited when I heard that The Lightning Thief had been turned into a film. In fact I even went to see it in the cinema, which is rare for me. But although it was a great film, and has been added to our collection, it wasn't satisfying to me.

This made me think. What makes a good movie adaptation of a film? Why do some adaptations work better than others?

For me, the best adaptations are the ones that stick fairly true to the story and have good actors who fit the parts. The BBC mini series of Pride and Prejudice is my favourite film version of the book, simply because it is so much like the original story, and so much like I imagine it in my head. Little Dorrit and The Lord of the Rings are more examples of good adaptations by my standards.

Where Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief failed for me was that is was so different. So much had been changed, altered. All the things I loved most about the book and had hoped to see in the movie were missing. It was too different. And it was disappointing for those reasons.

I don't say that films loosely based books are bad. Taken as films, they're good. They just don't work as film versions of books for me.

What makes a good film adaptation for you? What are your favourite adaptations of books?

Watching Jane Eyre

We're Jane Austen girls. We've read all her novels several times each and are constantly discussing some aspect or other of her life or writing. Charlotte in particular loves to read about Jane Austen's life and times. Her head is whirring with unusual Austen facts such as:

"Did you know that Colonel Brandon didn't have a first name?" or "Did you know that Colin Firth, the BBC actor of Mr Darcy wouldn't take his shirt off to swim through the lake?" or most recently "Did you know that the Bronte sisters didn't like Jane Austen and her writing?"

That last one made me stop and think. I've read so much Jane Austen, but hardly any books by the three Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Several years ago I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for school work. But it had never before occurred to me to read any of her other books. I resolved to try out some others before too much longer.

It was only a couple of days later when I discovered that the Cinema was playing the new Jane Eyre movie. At once both Charlotte and I longed to go and see it.

"Look up the times and we'll get you to a showing," Mum said.

So it was off to the computer to check the times. A time was decided upon and relayed to Mum. Then we had a brainwave.

"How about we ask Mum to come with us? She'd probably enjoy it."

Mum was delighted to be asked. Mum is not a movie person normally, but the new Jane Eyre might just be worth going to see.

Tickets bought, we waited outside the cinema door. Charlotte and I eagerly discussed everything Bronte: the sisters's pseudonymous, the story of Jane Eyre, the other version we'd watched. Mum sat on a chair and watched us, by now used to us spouting strange knowledge.

Then the doors opened. We hurried inside, picked the best seats, and waited for the movie to start. The lights dimmed. My excitement mounted. And then the movie started.

I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. The beautiful scenery, the enthralling storyline, the characters, everything drew me into another world. I followed Jane's tragic story with avid interest. Then, suddenly it was all over. The credits rolled across the screen, the lights switched back on and we were walking out of the dim cinema into the bright light of day.

"So, what did you think?" Mum asked.

"It was great," Charlotte the fussy-about -movies said. "I really enjoyed it."

"Let's get the books of Jane Eyre out when we get home and read the real story," I suggested. "You haven't read it yet have you Charlotte?"

A new bunch of books now lies before us. Will we enjoy Charlotte Bronte's books even more than Jane Austen's. What about the other two sisters, Emily and Anne? I'm sure that Charlotte will raid the library for books about the Bronte sisters and their writings. Maybe one day we'll be the Bronte sisters rather than the Jane Austen sisters. Who knows?

What writers do you like? Do you like to find out more about them and their books? Have you read any of the Bronte sisters's books?