Tolkien’s friend C. S. Lewis takes up the question of why, if you have a serious comment to make about real life, you would drape it in a never-never land of your own. He shrewdly argues that it is because real life does have mythic and heroic qualities — in abundance.

Jasmine Watson has been hired to do the jewelry for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe!!

Variety confirms that British actor James McAvoy has been cast as Mr. Tumnus the faun in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Walden Media/Disney co-production, based on the first book in the classic C.S. Lewis series of children’s novels, is due to shoot this summer in New Zealand, directed by Andrew Adamson.

The training of all the current horses has commenced. There are approximately a dozen on site and there seem to be 3 main horses so far – 1 black, 1 chestnut, 1 grey. The grey seems to be undergoing specialist trick training -such as rearing. The other horses are currently being trained for liberty work – i.e. like circus horses running in formation left or right while the main horses are ridden.

Tilda Swinton is fixing to cast her spell on “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe.” “Narnia” director Andrew Adamson — due in Cannes in a few days for the Competition showing of DreamWorks’ “Shrek 2,” which he co-directed — confirmed that Swinton has boarded the Walden Media/Walt Disney Co. co-production as the evil White Witch.

Here he is folks. Aslan. At least it’s the lion that will be used as the model for Aslan, that is to be Computer Generated for the films.

Buena Vista Games, Inc., the global interactive entertainment arm of The Walt Disney Company, today announced that it will publish video games based on the epic tale of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the best-selling story by C.S. Lewis and the forthcoming film by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, for the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system, Xbox(R) video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube(TM), PC and handheld consoles in fall 2005.

Richard Purtill, a former professor of philosophy at Western Washington University, sets out to answer those questions. His new book offers a clear, systematic assessment of Lewis’ lasting achievement.

At the heart of Lewis’ body of work — from “Miracles” to “The Chronicles of Narnia” to “The Screwtape Letters” — Purtill finds a rare combination of imaginative, moral and intellectual talents.