What I’m Reading: As You Wish By Cary Elwes
As you know, one of my greatest pleasures is reading entire books while in the book store. I used to daydream about having an amazing personal library in my mansion. The walls were lined floor to ceiling with books. My kids and my grandchildren would stand in awe, marveling at what a smart guy I was because of the amount of books I read. There is no way one would not become an endless wealth of knowledge having read every single one of those books. It was a lovely daydream, but I realized it would never happen because I used to spend so much time in the bookstore that I got into the habit of reading books in their entirety while sitting in the over stuffed chairs at SLO’s Barnes & Noble. Yes, that’s how long ago I started this habit. That place has not had overstuffed chairs in YEARS. Having moved out of SLO to a town without a bookstore I’ve taken to reading books at Target while Coral and the kids shop. Obviously, the book section at Target leaves a lot to be desired, but “As You Wish” caught my attention. It took a couple of trips to Target, but I eventually made it to page 25 when Christmas rolled around and lo and behold…Coral gave it to me for a present. I put off reading it until today because I had to finish another book first. I’m not a big fan of reading multiple books at the same time. Anyway, “The Princess Bride” is a classic that has held up to the test of time, so it’s very interesting to read about the making of it through the eyes and words of the man that played the main character. Just today I learned (not that it will benefit my life in any way) that the costume designer had the FX department make a plaster mold of Cary’s head so that they could make a custom mask for him. To me, that just sounded like crazy talk. I mean, what’s wrong with a bandana with holes cut out of it for his eyes? It’s behind the scenes stuff like that which fascinates me because as a viewer it’s easy to dismiss all the intricate details that go into making something, whether it’s making a movie, building a house, writing a novel or even making a painting. There are so many things that have to happen before the finished product (movie, house, novel, painting, etc.) is released to the public that, as viewers, it would be wise to make a conscience effort to consider how much time and dedication people devote to their creations. Anyway…
Have fun storming the castle.
