Maggie
Stiefvater

The Official Blog

Three Things: Ironman, Batman, and the Beach

July 26th, 2012  
Batmobile Comic-Con San Diego 2012
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36 Comments

I have been quiet on my blog because of these things.

1. I was at San Diego Comic-Con. These were there.

San Diego Comic-Con, Ironman

So was this.

San Diego Comic-Con - Batmobile

2. Speaking of that, I saw the Batman movie. I was . . . underwhelmed. I’ve thought about it a lot over the past 24 hours, trying to decide why I was underwhelmed when so many of my peers thought it was brilliant, and I think it’s because the ending was quite nifty. I thought the entire thing was an hour and a half too long and very self-consciously dark/ manipulative (let’s add tension to this scene by adding some civilians. I know, how about a BUSLOAD OF ORPHANS!). I couldn’t get past that, but Lover could, because the ending was so very much what we both wanted. So. Don’t let me stop you from seeing it, but know that I miss the days of 100 minute films.

3. I went to the beach with my in-laws. I made this:

My Sand Horse

(the horse, not the bikini or the sunglasses).

My Sand Horse

I’ll be back next week and blogging lengthily about SOMETHING, I’m sure.

Displaying 36 Comments

  1. avatar
    Liviania
    July 26, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    I liked The Dark Knight Rises, but I think a good thirty minutes could’ve been whacked from the running length.

  2. avatar
    Juliana
    July 26, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    Ohh, your horse is beautiful!

  3. avatar
    Alanna
    July 26, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    Ooh, did you get to see Robert Downey Jr.?
    I’m totally with you on missing the days of 100 minute films.

  4. avatar
    Xid Trebor
    July 26, 2012 at 12:10 pm

    Thank you for sharing – I love the Sand Horse!!

  5. avatar
    Christina
    July 26, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    That horse is impressive!

  6. avatar
    Gwyneth
    July 26, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Hi Maggie! You deserted meeeeeeeeee…I was waiting allllll week for a new post…and now I have it!!!!! Your sand horse is wonderful, I can’t even make a sand castle [insert laugh here]. When I saw it, I instantly thought “THE SCORPIO RACES!!!!!!!!!!!!” Can’t wait for the next post!

  7. avatar
    Kaida
    July 26, 2012 at 1:17 pm

    I feel the need to say ditto to the comment above. I’m very happy about the new post and I wish I could make things out of sand- I can’t.

  8. avatar
    Jillian
    July 26, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Your horse reminds me of the unicorns peeking out of the waves in The Last Unicorn.

  9. Hannah Saskia
    July 26, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    Awesome horse!! That’s so cool, you’re so talented!!!

  10. avatar
    Beth
    July 26, 2012 at 2:50 pm

    I’m so glad we got a new post! :) Also, that horse is EPIC. I half expect to see Sean Kendrick diving after it to save it from a capaill uisce.

  11. avatar
    Rose
    July 27, 2012 at 1:36 am

    You are too adorable for your own good in that beach gear! Horse is fantastic. I finally got my schedule upheaval (new job, new shift) worked out and back into reading so I am ashamed to say that I just finished ScorpioRaces this morning. So subtly epic! Will definitely have to add the to my signed copy collection! As for movies, I love long movies as much as I love monstrous books, if they are meant to be that long and can’t be broken into a series. I have been known to watch an entire 11 ish hour mini series, The 10th Kingdom, straight through. I disliked twilight though, despite it’s size, because it was just not something that need to be all tht long. Good thing I have you! Your books are perfect, even if I never want to leave them!

    • avatar
      Maggie Stiefvater
      July 28, 2012 at 11:43 am

      Oh, I like long books and long movies . . .but I like it when the length is EARNED. I miss the days when they had to justify every minute over an hour and a half, because it meant they really worked hard to keep the storytelling tight.

      And thank you for the lovely compliments.

  12. avatar
    Arianna Sterling
    July 27, 2012 at 5:53 am

    I just…just can’t agree about Dark Knight Rises. I loved every second. I feel Nolan and Bale completely nailed everything that Batman needed to be, in every moment of this trilogy. And maybe that’s my enormous Batman geek side coming out (I mean I HAVE loved the series since I was…I don’t know, three or four?) but jeez, all of my feels.

    ….Which is why I’ll be going to see it a third time any day now.

    And I quite like the horse.

    • avatar
      Maggie Stiefvater
      July 28, 2012 at 11:44 am

      Oh, I’m a tremendous Batman geek as well, which is perhaps why I was so hard on the final installment. It is, as my husband hates for me to say, just NOT HOW I WOULD’VE TOLD THE STORY.

  13. avatar
    Ann Jaworski
    July 27, 2012 at 7:00 am

    I love your sand horse. Reminds me of when I was a kid an used to make “snow turtles” because it was less work than picking the snowballs up and trying to stack them into a snowman.

  14. avatar
    Kat Asharya
    July 27, 2012 at 10:09 am

    I. Love. That. Sand Horse!! I can’t even manage an old-school castle in the sand, so I’m definitely impressed!

    I def. had mixed feelings with Dark Knight Rises, too. Liked the ending a lot, but there’s a nice list of stuff that bugged me. I don’t want to get too spoiler-y in case people haven’t seen it, but even stuff like the way Bane’s voice was mixed in the sound got to me! Matthew Modine’s character! The whole Miranda thing! The Star-Spangled Banner!

    • avatar
      Maggie Stiefvater
      July 28, 2012 at 11:47 am

      I’ll confess that I hit up google to find tricks to making sand sculptures more stable (lots of water, apparently, and jiggling, and carving instead of building up).

      And yes, my list of complaints is long, which is amazing, considering how attractive the movie was over all. If it was not the Nolans, maybe I wouldn’t have had such high hopes, but . . . yes. YES. Miranda could have been cut entirely and saved the audience 35 minutes and the plot from extreme craziness. And I thought both Bane and Batman’s dialogue was mixed badly, at least in my theater. I just — Okay. I must stop. My list is long and, yes, spoilery.

  15. avatar
    Alexandra Corinth
    July 27, 2012 at 11:09 am

    That sand horse is BEAUTIFUL. And I thought I was impressed with your printer+perma-marker art. ;] (Still am, of course.)

    I have yet to see DKR — in part because of my feelings about Aurora, in part because of my friends’ reactions. Most of my Batman!Fan friends also thought it was too long, and that Bane did not hold up against the Joker.

    • avatar
      Maggie Stiefvater
      July 28, 2012 at 11:48 am

      I am regretting the sand sculpture as I am now covered in dozens of sand flea bites. But thank you.

      Also, it was very hard for me to put Aurora out of my mind in the first part of the movie, which is a shame, because a movie shouldn’t have to outstrip that sort of bad karma. But still. It was there.

  16. avatar
    Anonymous
    July 28, 2012 at 11:25 am

    I totally love the sand horse. Perfect.

  17. avatar
    Frances
    July 30, 2012 at 9:17 am

    I thought the movie was dragged out too at first, but then I started to wonder if it was done intentionally. I mean, toward the end I started to feel helpless. I felt that everyone was going to die and I just wanted it to end, but that kind of reflects how the people of Gotham were feeling, right?

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Maggie Stiefvater
Hi, I'm Maggie Stiefvater

Professional novelist by day and artist by night. I live an eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia with my charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, and neurotic dogs. I'm the author of the Books of Faerie (LAMENT and BALLAD); the bestselling SHIVER trilogy (SHIVER, LINGER, FOREVER), and THE SCORPIO RACES.

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Copyright 2012