This afternoon, after I’d taken care of a trip to Barnes and Noble at noon to take advantage of my sister’s employee appreciation discount, I went to the movies with Vin and saw “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

It was actually OK. I don’t know that I’d pay to see it again in the theatres, but it might be a DVD purchase. The children they have playing the Pevensey children (Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan) are not nearly as annoying as they could’ve been. As a matter of fact, they’re all quite endearing and delightfully British. The girls playing Lucy and Susan really do look like they’re sisters and Edmund is just different enough from his siblings - with his dark hair and his brooding expression - to convey his “outsider” role without beating us over the head with it.

It was a little weird that the youngster playing Lucy was the only one with that particular British dialect/accent wherein one says, “bruvah” instead of “brother” and “fink” instead of “think” - but not consistently. So either she was doing it on purpose or covering up her cockney (I lack the energy to look up the proper term - my apologies) and letting it slip sometimes. Either way, she is an adorable little girl. She’s not exactly what you’d call china doll pretty… not some delicate little English rose… but her face had a certain openness that was very effective in that role. All the kids were very well cast, so BRAVO, casting director!

Also, the actor who played Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy) was pretty great, too. I knew he looked familiar and a quick trip to imdb.com confirmed that he is familiar since he was in the Sci Fi Channel mini-series, “Children of Dune.” It’s odd - the two times I’ve seen him playing someone on film, he’s been shirtless. Fighting bare-chested in “Children of Dune” and walking around shirtless on goat legs in “Narnia.”

Now to today’s heading: “It’s a Jesus thing.”

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for your entire life, you are aware - whether due to previous reading or awareness or due to recent media publicity - that “The Chronicles of Narnia” have some pretty strong Christian imagery/metaphor/references going on. C.S. Lewis was a staunch Christian, so it stands to reason and, even beyond that, most Western literature written in the past two centuries is laden with Christian religious imagery, whether in a reverent or irreverent way. It’s neither new nor amazing - IF you’ve bothered to be involved in anything cultural at any point in your life. For me, this is non-negotiable. Having some cultural literacy, to use E.B. Hirsch’s term, is absolutely necessary.

Sooo… while we were watching the movie, there was a couple sitting behind us in the theatre. They were probably in their late 30s or early 40s. The male half of the couple was a loud laugher and very easily amused. This isn’t terribly annoying, but the fact is that the movie isn’t exactly “pratfall central” and that the little asides the children make aren’t meant to have the audience ROTFLMAO (ha - didn’t expect THAT, did you!?) but rather to lighten the mood of an otherwise fairly serious movie. Anytime the children good-naturedly chided each other - even saying something like, “I thought we were too old to believe in Santa”, this man was LAUGHING like it was the first time he’d ever heard a joke.

Perhaps he doesn’t get out much. His partner, the woman in this couple, was a good deal more annoying because she apparently considered herself to be quite the theological scholar - or something - and would point out each and every tenuous Biblical reference, but not even in a smart way.

For example, when Aslan the lion sacrifices himself, the woman behind me said to Mr. Laughey, “Do you see? How it’s like Jesus?” and then when the lion was resurrected and the stone tablet upon which he was killed cracked in half, she said quite loudly, “See? It’s a Jesus thing.” At this point, because of her volume and the use of the phrase “Jesus thing,” I turned around and glared at her. Then I turned back to the screen and shook my head so she could see that I was shaking my head over her commentary. She made a little noise to indicate that I was being bitchy, but the moron did manage to keep her mouth shut for the remainder of the movie. Then again, after Aslan is resurrected, it’s all battle-scene and denouement, so she didn’t have much else to discuss.

Before the end, though, I turned to Vin and said, “I bet people are going to applaud at the end.” He disagreed and said, “Nah. I don’t think so.” Lo and behold, there were applause aplenty because people don’t seem to get that the SCREEN is not a STAGE and that the actors, director, (or CGI beavers and cheetahs in this case), etc. CANNOT HEAR YOU. Applause are meant for the performers to hear that you appreciate them. The very nature of the modern motion picture makes applause irrelevant in that environ. If you’re at a premiere and - oooh! there’s the director! there’s the lead actor! - then sure. Applaud away. Otherwise, you’re just being silly.

I wrapped the bulk of my Christmas gifts tonight. The only remaining things are the packages arriving this week and then cash for my brother since he bought himself a 3 year subscription to XM satellite radio for his new car and just wants us to pay for that since he didn’t want to wait until Christmas to get it. That blows and sort of disrupts my entire take on Christmas, but fine - OK. I got him a little something additional so I don’t feel like he’s getting cold hard cash. Not that I’d mind cash, but I enjoy owning stuff and never have a problem coming up with a movie or candle or book or tea or yarn or t-shirt that I’d like to own.

Crap. It’s almost 11. I got very little sleep last night/this morning since I didn’t fall asleep until 5 a.m. and then awoke at 8:30 of my own volition. I realized that it was 8:30 in the morning and went right back to sleep until 10. Then I got up, showered, went to B&N, went to the movies, came back home, finished knitting Christmas scarf #2 (which I need to wrap up) while watching the “Law and Order: SVU” viewer’s choice marathon and am now doing this.

But I must sleep. Work holiday party tomorrow. I don’t want to go. I don’t want to participate in all this holiday happiness at work. Not that I mind anyone at work or that I mind the holiday, but I just feel drained and do NOT want to be social. It’s going to be a LONG day, emotionally and actually. Crap. Must pull clothes from dryer. No rest for the wicked, I guess.