Shooting Stars and other Links

Been a while since I've posted anything but here's some link candy as a start.

Stardust Based on one of Neil Gaiman's best stories the movie version is due out in a week or so. The cast is great - Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro have the major roles but there are also some very good names in minor parts (Ricky Gervais, Rupert Everett, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole ..). Given that a major part of the plot is about a falling star its opening date of the 10th of August is conveniently just two days before the Perseid Meteor Shower.

For some hints and tips on seeing the Perseids you could start with Shadow and Substance - a very nifty site with useful links and animations about astronomical events that you can see without generally needing much equipment (meteors, lunar & solar eclipses, comets and such). They give a chart and some advice on catching the Perseids on August 12th which might be worth making an effort for this year since the event coincides with the new moon for nice dark skies.

Later in the year another Gaiman project, Beowulf, will hit the big screen early November. That is shaping up to be quite interesting and although I have my doubts about how well the story can be presented as a movie I'm hoping it will work well. In any case as Daithi pointed out in a Twitter post earlier in the week the casting of Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother is absolutely inspired.

Some other upcoming movies of interest.
The Golden Compass. (also here )If you haven't already read Phiip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" then do yourself a favour and go out and buy it. It is a fantastically crafted story and I'm hoping that the film will do justice it.

Coming in 2008 Where the Wild Things Are. Maurice Sendak's classic is my all time favourite "Book to read to (very young) children" and at a push I could probably still recite it all from memory. I've no idea how anyone can consider turning a 20 page 300 word children's bed time story into a movie but they're doing it and I'm dying to see how it turns out.