going to the movies

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ DIVERGENT AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED DO NOT READ THIS POST.

So here's the thing.  We finally went to see Divergent tonight.  

Divergent is probably one of my top five favorite books.  I loved that book more than Twilight, more than the Hunger Games.  I actually can't think of another book that I loved as much.  I think because Tris is such a strong character.  A likeable character.  She's human, she's flawed.  She wants to fit in, she wants to be loved, to be liked, but she stays as true to herself as she can be.

So seeing the movie should be at the top of my to do list, right?

Well, not so much.

I started to get an inkling when I saw the preview at the Veronica Mars movie.  I started crying.  I had done a pretty good job of not watching any interviews or trailers.  Ever since New Moon when I watched and read every bit of information I could about the movie I felt like I spoiled it for myself so I've been much more careful.

Anyhow, after friends went to see it without me (I begged off, just not feeling well, Ray wasn't home to watch the girls) I figured I would just wait until it came out on video.  Where I could watch it in the comfort (read: privacy) of my own home.  But Ray wanted to go see it too so that's what we did tonight.  And I loved it.  Of course, it wasn't perfect and if I had the choice I probably would have chosen someone else to play Tris, to play Four and I wouldn't have cast three guys who all look incredibly alike to play three different characters (Will, Al & Peter).  But it was good and for the most part stayed true to the book.

My problem is purely grief and this really does just prove what a freaking book nerd I am.

I feel like I'm mourning the losses again.  When Tris takes that zip line ride for the first time after the War Game I could only think about Four taking that same ride at the end of Allegiant and I could barely hold it together.  Even now, thinking about it again I am incredibly sad.  There were moments during the movie where I hoped, maybe it would be different.  Maybe her mother would not die.  Maybe her father would not sacrifice himself.  When I saw Caleb after their mother dies my lip actually curled in disgust.

All because I know.  I know what's going to happen, what will be revealed.  What they have done and how they all end up and I cried and I mourned for those lost when the books finished and I'm doing it all over again.

And I realize as I'm reading this back to myself how ridiculous it all sounds.  It's a book!  It's not real.  The people don't exist, but for a time, in my head while I read they did and that's enough.

dissecting the games, ch 7 thru 9

Remember....don't read these posts if you haven't read The Hunger Games!

There's a lot going on in now.  The Games are getting closer and closer and now it's time to show the Gamekeepers what they're all about.  It's also the chance for tributes to see each other up close & personal before they start killing each other.

• Peeta's mother is even more of a bitch than originally thought
• Peeta & Katniss fight over how great he thinks she is
• Haymitch, waaaaay smarter than we thought??
• we meet Rue - kind of
• two of my favorite quotes
• maybe Effie isn't as horrible as we thought?
• Katniss beats Peeta
• And it makes him feel bad?
• Gale makes life happier
• Katniss is like a dead slug
• Cinna makes Katniss real
• Katniss turns herself into a girl
• Peeta's big reveal

The training begins.  We find out just how truly awful Peeta's mother is when he reveals that during their 'goodbye time' she says that maybe District 12 will have a winner again - and she doesn't mean Peeta.  Haymitch wants the two to stick together like their friends.  Keep up appearances as best they can.  Does he already know Peeta loves Katniss?  Was his plan in place before or after Cinna had them hold hands during the opening ceremonies?  At this point, it's clear that Peeta knows he will die in the Games, but he's determined to make sure Katniss doesn't.

There's a point where they're trying to keep conversation going and Katniss tells Peeta about the time she was chased by a bear.  He laughs, looks engaged and she thinks he's better at this (faking business) than she is, but I think he is actually interested in what she has to say.

We get to see the steel in Katniss's spine when she goes in for her private training session and shoots 'at' the Gamemakers' table hitting the apple in the roasted pig's mouth.  Then she concludes with 'Thank you for your consideration.'

Lovely.

Of course, afterwards she freaks out 'cause she's pretty sure something bad will come of that.  And when she finally comes out of her room to join the others for dinner we finally get to see a side to Effie that shows she's not as idiotic/awful/useless as we thought.  But everyone is surprised and rewarded by Katniss's number and even Peeta's number is better than expected.

After this scene Katniss runs through how she met Gale.  They were both so young, but already heads of their households.  She says how being out in the woods with Gale she was sometimes actually happy.  And of course she was!  This was the only time she not only felt that she was doing something, but she also got to do it with someone who knew how she felt and she could be herself with.  She didn't ever have to be strong for Gale.  She just had to be herself.

So in the wake of their number shockers Peeta tells Haymitch that he wants to train separately.  Katniss's first feeling is betrayal, but she doesn't believe that feeling because how can you be betrayed by someone you never trusted.  Dun-dun-duuuuunnnnn....

A bit of comedic relief is injected as Katiss gets a charm school lesson from Effie and leaves in a huff holding her dress up to her thighs.

Then back down to business as Haymitch and Katniss try to determine how she's portray herself to the masses.  Well, Haymitch tries to decide while Katniss fumes.  My favorite line is here where Haymitch says they want to know about her....'But I don't want them to!  They're already taking my future!  They can't have the things that mattered to me in the past!'

After all this gets them nowhere Katniss holes up in her room where she throws a full on tantrum.  One of the things I just don't like about her.  Don't get me wrong, I can't imagine what she must feel like.  Basically, she knows she's going to die.  It IS unfair and all these lessons and training are annoying, but dang it girl, suck it up.  This is my dilemma with Katniss.  Yes, I admire her.  Her strength and determination to keep her family from starving.  Her honesty and her grudges.  Yes, I admire her.  But I don't like her.  And I know it's not fair.

And then Cinna tells her to be herself.  During her three minute interview with Caesar it's as if she becomes the person she would have been had her father not died.  If all the responsibilities of life on the Seam hadn't rested on her shoulders.  She answers honestly still, but she revels in her beauty, in the dress & the attention.  She giggles and all of a sudden you see Katniss as a girl, not as a provider or a fighter or the daughter of a dead coal miner.  To me, it is truly one of the best scenes in the book.

Now it's Peeta's turn and he has everyone rolling in the aisles until....Caesar asks him if he has a girl back home and he tells everyone in Panem that the girl he's in love with he's going to have to kill.

And then it's onto the Games.

dissecting the games, ch 5 & 6

And on we go.  Remember if you haven't read the books, don't read this post!

Stuff in chapters 5 & 6:

• Cinna is awesome
• Peeta & Katniss have their first real moment together
• Katniss becomes The Girl of Fire
• Katniss gives Peeta a kiss on the cheek - for strategic purposes?
• Effie is an idiot
• Katniss meets an Avox and the room stands still
• Peeta comes to Katniss's rescue

After quickly meeting Katniss's styling team we begin to wonder if everyone in the Capitol has fluff for brains, but then we meet Cinna.  Katniss notices right away that he's different.  He talks differently, dresses differently and acts differently than everyone else she's met so far.  We learn that this is Cinna's first games and that he requested District 12.  It makes me wonder....is Cinna's part in the revolution something he was already a part of or was he a part of it because of Katniss?  hmmmmm

We all know that Peeta loves Katniss, but mostly because we already read the books.  Katniss has no idea because she isn't thinking like that.  She's thinks that Peeta is just trying to keep her off balance so it will be easier to kill her later.  They have their first real moment together while laughing at Haymitch during the opening ceremonies.  It's during these moments where I wish she would just let go and trust, but to be honest, would you?  I can't even imagine the insanity she's a part of at this moment.

So yeah, Effie is an idiot.  And she's power hungry, or at least image hungry.  She's been irritated to be saddled with the poorest district with the most pathetic victor ever.  When she begins to see a glimmer of hope that maybe these aren't the weakest tributes yet she gets a little more interested.  I'm not sure if her helping them is solely for her own gain or because she cares about them.  There are moments when you think her care is genuine, but those moments are few and far between.

And then there's the Avox.  Someone convicted of a great crime gets their tongue cut off and is then a servant to the Capitol.  The movie doesn't really go into this at all.  Katniss makes a comment to Peeta about how they'll cut off their tongues, but it doesn't sound like she's serious, like it's a real punishment.  When Katniss recognizes the Avox serving them dinner the adults in the room (Haymitch, Effie, Cinna & Portia) all freeze.  Haymitch and Effie insist there's no way she could know the Avox and Peeta jumps in with the name of a girl who Katniss must've been thinking about (who looks nothing like the girl here).  They both know he just covered for her, but it does the trick and the adults back off.  Katniss later tells Peeta how she and Gale saw that girl and another boy outside the fence.  She saw the girl get sucked up by a hovercraft & the boy get speared.  While the whole thing is brief and seemingly unimportant, as a whole in hindsight it has more bearing on the story.

Coming soon.....training!

dissecting the games, ch 3 & 4

I can't keep up with the twitter business.  Yeah, I suck.  Oh well.  I'm still reading the tweets Lauren posts & reading along so I guess maybe I don't suck that bad?

Remember, if you haven't read the books, don't read this post.  If you don't want to read the books (cause you're crazy) but do want to see the movies, don't read this post.

Anyhoo....let's move on to chapters 3 & 4.  Here's what we know:

• Katniss is already preparing for the games - no crying
• despite her bitterness she loves her mother
• doesn't really trust her to take care of Prim
• Peeta's father is much better than his mother
• the mockingjay pin comes from Madge
• Gale's goodbye was the worst - made me cry - again
• District 12 is in the Appalachians
• the Capitol is in Colorado
• Madge starts the revolution?
• Katniss's birthday is May 8th
• she's named for a plant
• Haymitch might not be as useless as thought

 So the names have been called and Katniss & Peeta are whisked away to the fancy(er than they're used to) rooms where they'll say goodbye to family & friends.  Katniss wastes no time in instructing her mother & Prim how to take care of themselves while she's gone.  And despite her inner monologue insisting that she's not going to return to District 12 she begins taking steps to fight, like making sure she doesn't cry so cameras can't catch it and people think she's weak.

Peeta's father comes to her and gives her a bag of cookies and tells her that he will make sure that Prim is taken care of.  Madge arrives to give Katniss the mockingjay pin.  And finally, Gale.  He does what Katniss did to her mother & Prim, his best to make sure she can survive the games.  And he too promises that her family doesn't starve.

On the train ride to the Capitol we learn that the Capitol is somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and District 12 is in the Appalachian Mountains.  While the Appalachians span from eastern Canada through 18 US states we can assume from the fact that District 12 supplies coal that they're somewhere in the Coal Region of Northern Pennsylvania.

Katniss studies Madge's mockingjay pin for the first time and realizes that the pin is sort of a slap in the face to the Capitol.  Does this mean that it was Madge, not Katniss who really starts the revolution?  And maybe even more so as it seems to be deliberate whereas Katniss seemed to stumble upon rebellion?

We learn a lot more about Katniss's father here and the sting of losing him is harsh.  She recounts the months after he died again and the moments after Peeta's offer where it seemed hope had finally taken flight.  She finds katniss, the plant she's named after, growing in a pond and remembers her father's joke 'As long as you find yourself, you'll never starve.'

Finally, Haymitch starts to become the mentor he is supposed to be for Katniss & Peeta.  He makes them a deal after the a quick fight at the breakfast table.  If they don't interfere with his drinking he will stay sober enough to help them.  There's some 'controversy' about Haymitch in the movie when it comes to his drinking.  Though I believe Woody Harrelson did a great job as Haymitch, he did seem to get - and stay - sober really quickly.  There wasn't much discussion and it didn't seem like he was the alcoholic in the movie that he was in the book.  I'm not sure I necessarily agree with this.  Though there are certain points where it's mentioned that he takes a swig out of his flask after the vomiting on the train incident he seems to keep everything under control.

And there we are at the end of Chapter 4...

dissecting the games

I mentioned here that I was going to be rereading The Hunger Games with Busy Bee Lauren.  I've actually even tweeted....twice I think.  I thought about writing as I went along here, but wasn't making any promises.  I'll try though....it's mostly going to be a lot of comparison to the movie, but also just trying to recapture that feeling from the first time I read it.  It's been long enough since the last read that everything starts to feel a little new again....if you haven't read the books (first of all, you're nuts - go out and get thee to a library please) then you should skip over these posts for I'll be holding nothing back.

There's so much information in chapters one and two that never really made it to the big screen.  Already at the end of chapter two we know these things:

• Katniss loves Prim fiercely
• She pretty much despises her mother
• Her mother came from 'wealth'
• And is pretty much useless 
• Katniss is hard, bitter & older than her years
• We know what tesserae is (and it's not a tile)
• Katniss's father died in the mines
• There was a revolution
• District 13 existed and was obliterated
• The Capitol sucks
• Gale is important
• Gale is more vocally passionate about his hatred for the Capitol
• Peeta basically saved Katniss & her family's life
• Peeta's mom is an asshole
• Peeta loves Katniss

That's really a lot of info for 33 pages.  And think of how much of that wasn't really in the movie.  Big stuff too like District 13.  I guess that it will be talked about in the next movie??  I mean, you can't leave them out, right?  But really, they were a big part of the first revolution so you'd think they'd get a mention.  Did they even really explain the reason for the Hunger Games in the movie?  I don't even remember.

Little things, like Haymitch groping Effie and falling off the stage.  It's small, but it was part of a portrait.  Katniss doesn't find the mockingjay pin at The Hob.  She sells strawberries to Madge.  Little things....

It doesn't matter how many times I read it I am still hopeful that another name gets pulled out of that glass ball.  How silly is that?  Rereading just reminds me of what a talented writer Suzanne Collins is. There are so many things I love so quickly.  The crowd going silent while Effie is trying to illicit applause for Katniss's volunteering.  The three fingered salute that begins the revolution though no one really knows it at the time.  Peeta taking a blow to the head to feed Katniss.  Despite her grudge against her mother, the hopeful little girl in her comes out for a moment when she sees the dress her mother has laid out for her for The Reaping.

I want so badly to love Katniss, but it's hard.  I respect her.  She's smart, resourceful, tough and honest, but she is not loveable.  And I guess that's the way it should be.  Not that there weren't moments that I didn't get glimpses of the person underneath all that hardness.  I did, but in the book so far we haven't gotten there yet.

books vs. movies

There are two types of people.  Those who read books and those who wait until those books are turned into movies.  Back in the day there wasn't too much of this, or if it was it wasn't so widely advertised.

Now, thanks to Harry Potter & Twilight movie rights for books are being snapped up as soon as it hits the Best Seller's List or before it's actually published and now, before it's actually written.

For awhile I was a little irritated by these practices.  I want those movie watching people to come up with their own ideas.  Aren't they supposed to be creative?  I want to protect my book reading people.  We'll still be called nerds, but dang it we should have GOOD books to read.  Of course, I have no qualms about the Harry Potter or Twilight movies.  Duh, I'm a potterhead, or a tweirdo ... however you want to define me.  While I want the movies to be as true to the books as they can be I also understand they can't always and to me the movies have been a wonderfully illustrated companion to the book.  I know that Twilight and all the movies thereafter are not winning any Oscars, but I love them because it's what was in my head while I was reading played out on the screen.

I think the only time I was upset was after seeing Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince.  The Dumbledore-Harry-Malfoy-Snape scene in the end literally had me gripping my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming obscenities.  But it is what it is.

2011 saw a ton of books-turned-movies and 2012 isn't going to be any different.  What bugs me is that stuff is getting turned into movies before I can even get my hands on the books!  Though, sometimes that's not always a bad thing.

Amanda Hocking began writing during her free time and finished 17 novels.  In April of 2010 she began self-publishing them in eBook format and by March of 2011 she had sold over a million copies of 9 books and made two million dollars in sales.  Pretty impressive for a self published author.  When I saw that her Trylle trilogy was purchased to turn into a movie I was intrigued.  The cover art was interesting and the story sounded good.  Even better, I saw Hocking as a determined young woman who made her dreams come true, right?

Unfortunately (and of course this is only my opinion), the first book, Switched was a flaming pile of crap.  The story IS interesting.  A young girl, whose mother tried to kill her when she was 6 discovers she's a changeling and returns to the world she was taken from to live the life she was meant to live.  The writing however, was awful.  It read like something a middle school student wrote for a school project.  It was the worst book I read in 2011.

And now it's going to be a movie? 

I get that someone else will write the screenplay and it's just her idea that the movie will be based on, but come on!  What's even more impressive is that she made two million dollars off books she was charging $1.99 for!  And now, the Trylle trilogy is going to be published in hardcover.  I cannot believe that the literary world is so hurting for material that they will print this stuff!

Stephenie Meyer's The Host will be coming out in movie form soon.  I'm sure the next in the HORRIBLE I Am Number Four series will get crapped out as a movie.  They're still trying to make Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, though for some reason that one seems to be jinxed.  The screenplay for A Discovery of Witches will be penned by Proof writer David Auburn and even The Great Gatsby is getting a Hollywood makeover this year.

I don't know.  It seems that everywhere people are running out of originality.  I'd just like to find a few more books that blow my mind.  Is there anything out there like that anymore?

breaking out for some vamps

So yesterday was the day we were waiting for.

Kim and I were to meet JeNae & Jennifer at the theater to see Breaking Dawn, Part 1 at 11:59.  Kim and I spent the evening text messaging about how cool we are while our husbands made fun of us.

By the time it was time to head out everyone was asleep and Kim texted to say she was outside my house waiting for me.  I get in the car and she says 'I feel like we're sneaking out!'  The greatest thing about Morgan Hill is that at 11:20 pm there is NO ONE driving around so you feel like you're the only people in the world.  Dead town.

Of course, last night, everyone in Morgan Hill was at the movie theater standing in line.  And because Kim and I are so cool we walk up just as they start letting people into the theater and they just wave us in.  Whopee!  No line waiting!

The movie was exactly what I expected.  I laughed & got teary & rolled my eyes, but dang I had fun.  JeNae and I ganged up on Kim and her Team Jacob-ness (bleck) and then Kim almost cut off the circulation in my arm as the birth scene got a little too graphic for her.

Slight spoiler alert for one paragraph!!  I wondered how they were going to do Jacob's part of the book.  For about 90% of it he's in wolf form and all the communication is done in their heads.  They did well in that most of the time Jacob, Leah and Seth were in human form so they could just speak, but there was one point where all the wolves are communicating with weird voice overs and I must say it was lame.

The best part of the night?  Seeing a 80 something year old man coming out with two slightly younger gentlemen.  See!?!  Everyone loves Twilight!

Now get yourselves to the theater!

only a few hours to go!!!

Tonight's the night - finally!!!  If you'll notice on my sidebar there are only 12 hours left until Breaking Dawn!!  Woo hoo!  I'll be there at 11:59 with my fellow Twinerds.  So excited!!

I'm bummed that it's going to be just Part 1, but I guess it just prolongs the fun for one more year, right?  And sometime between this one and the next we'll have the first of The Hunger Games.  Which I just recently saw the newest preview for.  Did anyone else watch it?  What did you think?  Even though I've read the books when I started watching the preview I thought 'Too much, too much!'  It felt like there was too much given away in the preview.  Stuff that, visually I kind of wanted to be surprised, but oh well.

I'm still not a fan of that Josh kid as Peeta.  He looks awful with blonde hair.  Ugh.  But I am excited to see the movie.  It looks fantastic!

But let's focus here.  Back to Edward & Bella and that other kid I don't care for.  I'm so interested to see how they do the whole entire part of his 'book'.  Since most of it was in his head (and in the heads of the other wolves) and Edward can't translate everything I'm wondering how much Jacob will be a wolf?  I'm also wondering when they'll cut it off to go on to the next.  I'm thinking it'll be at the end of Jacob's book.  But we'll see.  I can't wait!!

ten day challenge, day eight

Let's just jump right into it, shall we?  Three movies.  These are probably not your favorite movies!  I have weird taste in movies I think.  Now, I've already briefly discussed these movies way back in the day so if you're a regular reader of the blog sorry for the repeat!

1.  Dream for an Insomniac.  Sounds silly, but this movie literally changed my life.  I was living in Texas where my ex-husband (before he was the ex) was attending his A-School for the Navy.  I watched this movie 100 times.  I was Frankie.  Literally, everything that came out of her mouth I could relate to.  The way her friends saw her, well, that was me.  To top it off she was an insomniac and guess what??  So was I!  But it was the line 'Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of your time.  There are too many mediocre things in life to deal with and love shouldn't be one of them.'  Here I was living in this horribly run down pay-by-the-week motel in a town where I knew no one, basically all by myself to be closer to a man that I just didn't love anymore, if ever.  When I thought about those words I realized that I was wasting my life away, living for someone else and I just wasn't going to do that anymore.  So I didn't.  And I made the best decision I've made in all my life.  And I'm sure that at some point I would have come to that conclusion myself, but hearing those words on my little tiny motel TV just made it happen sooner.

2.  Another dialogue centric movie.  Kevin Smith's third movie and the third in the Jersey series, part of the View Askewniverse.  Chasing Amy is probably my favorite Kevin Smith movie maybe tied with Mallrats.  I love Alyssa's reasoning for being bi-sexual and Silent Bob's Chasing Amy's story.  Where Mallrats was pretty much hilarious all the time, Chasing Amy has moments of poignancy that seemed to resonate with me.  And just like the other two in this list I could, and have, watch this movie over and over again.

3.  A Place in the Sun was the first black and white movie that I watched of my own choosing.  I stayed home sick from school on day and Channel 36 was showing classic movies.  This one started and I just didn't get up off the couch to change the channel (we didn't have a remote control).  But I was quickly engrossed in the movie.  The plot was suspenseful and full of irony, but more than that Elizabeth Taylor at 19 years old, was flawlessly beautiful.  I spent years trying to figure out what this movie was called (again, beside not having a remote there also was no imdb.com).  It definitely jump started my love for the classics and though I've not seen too many Elizabeth Taylor or Montgomery Clift movies the black and whites will always be among my favorites.

If you missed the first seven days and are curious about them you can find those:

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

you is kind, you is smart, you is important

Last night I went with some friends to go see The Help.  Some of us have read the book and some hadn’t.  In the end, it didn’t matter.  The movie was as close to perfect as you can get.

1962 was a volatile time in our nation’s history.  So much happened in such a short time and really, it was only the tip of the iceberg, wasn’t it?  The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during that year.  Eugenia (Skeeter) Phelan has returned from college with big dreams of being a journalist.  Of course, no one in her circle of friends takes her seriously.  For them, the most important issues are who is having babies and building separate bathrooms for their colored maids.

The longer Skeeter is home the more she sees that things are just not right.  She' can’t stomach the way the maids are treated, the way blacks all over town are treated and she embarks on a complicated, dangerous journey to try to begin to set things right.  She enlists in the help of Aibileen who is just going through the motions of life since her son died.

The book itself is amazing.  The characters rich and full of life.  Each and every character brings something so important to the story and in some way each one surprises the reader.  And the movie, well the movie is just literature come to life.  Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Emma Stone are so amazing.  Maybe even more so was Bryce Dallas Howard who plays Hilly Holbroock.  She’s so good at being a hateful, awful woman!  I spent most of the movie wanting to punch her in the face.

I wish I could tell you everything about this movie, but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.  I want you to read the book, see the movie and laugh and cry just like I did.  While the book and movie deal with a very dark time in U.S. History it also shines like a beacon of hope promising that while things don’t become perfect, they did get better.

and so it is done

*photo from ign.com

I’ve read a lot of posts today and the last couple of days, heard a lot of friends say the same thing about Harry Potter.  How when the books were done, this movie was over, they felt as if a part of their childhood died.  Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone was published in 1997.  I didn’t read it then because I just wasn’t into ‘kid’ books.  But even if I had, I was no kid.  My childhood was over and done with and for goodness sake I was married!  It was just before the first movie came out in 2001 that I read the book.  I loved it.  I loved JK Rowling’s imagination.  It literally knew no boundaries. 

It was fascinating in a way that nothing was or has ever been since.  She created this world, this beautiful, magical world that you could completely immerse yourself in and get lost.  She created characters that at times we hated, but always, always loved.  She made magic feel real.  She made you believe.

Reading the books as an adult I had a much different perspective than the younger fans I suspect.  I was disheartened by Rowling when characters close to Harry began to die.  I felt that it was so unfair, being fiction, why can’t the boy have a bit of happiness in his life?  He’s already lost so much.  But in the end, I understood.  I was moved by the loyalty of his friends and teachers.  By the students who believed in him regardless of if he came through for them or not.

Most of all I loved Hermione Granger.  She was smart and bossy and completely unapologetic of it.  Harry could never have completed his journey, hell Harry couldn’t have survived if it weren’t for her.  She was scared, like the rest, but brave beyond her years.  She read books, tons of them and proved that half bloods were just as good, if not better than full blooded witches.  She was magnificent.

Ron made me laugh.  He was the unlikely hero.  The best friend who slowly grew into himself and gained the confidence he so greatly needed.  He always seemed to say the wrong thing at just the right time.  There was very little filter given to Ron.  But he too was brave, even if he didn’t know it at the time.

And so many others, besides Harry who colored the story more brightly than anything I have ever read or probably will read in my lifetime.  Neville and Luna with their clumsy attempts at life.  Cedric in his perfection, McGonagall and her rigid standards who was more like a mother to Harry, though he didn’t see it until the end.  Hagrid and his unconditional love.  Dumbledore and his wisdom.  Severus and his painful heartbreaking love for someone that carried on to the boy who lived.  Draco and his struggle to become who he should be and not who he was made to be.

And so many more.  Each character brought to the story something tangible and wove this tapestry of wonder that no matter how many times I reread the books covers me like the warmest of blankets.

And now the last movie has graced the screens.  We’ve waited in the last midnight showing line.  We’ve sat for the last time in a theater with other fans cheering and crying at a story we already know, but can’t help but relive on the big screen as if it were new.

Sitting there, tears pooling in my eyes, it dawned on me that at some point in time these movies became less children’s movies and more adult.  They matured as their audience and characters did.  Watching each movie from beginning to end you can see the progression.  Themes are darker, choices are more difficult and the brave begin to perish.  For a whole new generation of Harry Potter fans who might be opening the books for the first time right now, it will be a few years yet before your parents might allow you to watch these movies.

But oh, wasn’t it perfect?  David Yates you are redeemed in my eyes.  After the disappointment that was The Order of the Phoenix and the disaster that was the Half-Blood Prince I feared for the franchise when I saw you were chosen to direct the last two movies.  While some complained of the slowness of Part 1, I thought it was a much better offering coming from you.  And now, well after Part 2 I’m okay with you.  The only disappointment I felt at the end of this movie was that it was the last.

Thank you JK Rowling.  For the last 10 years of magic in my life.  For reminding me that there is always magic in books.  For quite simply being.

Now I must go and get my dad to watch all 7 of the previous movies so I can go with him to see this last one again (but in 3D this time)!

it all ends here

For those of you who might be living under a rock and do not know today is Harry Potter day.  Well, really tomorrow is as the movie officially comes out tomorrow, but we're going to see it tonight so today, for me, is Harry Potter day.

Since I haven't posted in awhile (been busy, I'll catch you up later) I thought I'd leave you with a little Harry Potter fun-ness.  This is not for the prudish, okay?  This is going to be a lot of cursing and other such fun stuff.  I'd probably give it a R+ rating, but it's freaking hilarious and one of my favorite Smodcasts & Smodimations of all time.  Enjoy people!

let’s chat

I’m thinking about writing a blog post, but I am completely distracted by the Glee Project and not in a good way.

I’ve come to the realization that I don’t like actor wannabes.  I don’t think I spelled that right, but whatever, you get the point.  I love Glee and I know that they’re going to have to introduce new characters and not everyone is going to be Darren Criss.  I thought if I watched this show that would endear one of them to me so that when they eventually end up on the show I won’t hate them.

It’s not working so far.

Half of them creep me out, most of them make me think of cheap imitations of the original cast.  There’s a Santana, a Rachel, a Mercedes, an Artie and none of them are nearly as good as who they wish they were.  I’ll give it a chance, maybe I’ll end up liking someone.

Tomorrow Emma and I are going to take the train to meet Ray.  We have to leave the house around 6:30-ish.  That should be an adventure.  Emma’s been on the light rail, but not the train so I’m excited to take her though she might just want to sleep since she is my late waking baby.  But she’s super excited to see her Daddy.  We’ll be right next door to the It’s-It Factory.  We’ll be stopping by there of course.  Ray will be in meetings for the day so we’ll have to find some stuff to keep us busy.  I’d like to go into the city, but I am a mess when it comes to taking public transportation.  I’ll let you know if we get lost.

If you’ve never read a Jack Reacher novel go out and get one right now.  You should start with the first one, The Killing Floor, but my favorite is probably the second book Die Trying.  While reading that book I had to set it down so I could exclaim to anyone within hearing distance that I LOVE Jack Reacher.  He is a bad ass good guy.

Let me give you a little background on this guy.

Jack Reacher has spent almost all of his life in the military.  His father was a Marine and he eventually joined the Army.  He’s 6’5” with a 50-inch chest and can break a man’s neck with one hand, kill a man with a single punch.  Blond, blue-eyed.  He mustered out of the Army in the late 90’s and since he’d spent all of his life on some sort of military base, mostly outside of the US he decided he would just drift from town to town and see the country he was a citizen of, but barely knew.

Somehow he always finds trouble.  Part of his problem is that he cannot stand to see injustice.  Can’t stand to see someone weaker being bullied or threatened by someone stronger.  Despite his desire to keep to himself and just meander through the rest of his life his conscience won’t let him walk away.  Sometimes he comes across as cold and uncaring, but he’s definitely the opposite.

All in all, Jack Reacher is one of the best book characters.  I always thought I would love to see Lee Child’s novels turned into a movie just so I could see Reacher in action.

Now I wish it will never come to be.

Why, you ask?  Because the actor they’re considering to play Jack Reacher is Tom Cruise.  I’m not joking.  It sounds like a joke.  Tom Cruise is literally the antithesis of Jack Reacher.  And I don’t like Tom Cruise.  I should like the actor who plays Reacher.  To be honest I cannot think of anyone who could play Reacher.  And apparently, that’s the problem they’ve always had.  Lee Child’s books were optioned years and years ago, but there was never any clue as to who could play Reacher.  I guess they gave up and are trying to hire the guy who was available.

If I don’t sound upset enough it’s because I can’t properly express to you how devastating this news is to me.  When they cast Josh Hutcherson as Peeta I was upset.  And I still am, but really, I could care less.  I don’t think I will be as excited about The Hunger Games movies as I would have been about seeing Reacher on the big screen.  If Tom Cruise is actually cast I won’t see the movie.  Period.  I don’t mind some altering going on.  A movie can’t be a complete copy of the book, but this is the main character!  This is why the books are written!  Why they’re as good as they are!  AND TOM CRUISE IS NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BOO!!!!!

So let’s see…..something good……I got nothing.

Let’s move on.  Actually, let’s not.  This post is way too long as it is.  So there you are.  Several paragraphs of rambling for your amusement, ridicule or for you to ignore completely.

puh-leaze … like i would ignore this??

Did you think that I am not super excited about this??  You would be mistaken. 

*sigh* *squee* I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot wait

photo courtesy of slashfilm.com

scary kari gets scared

I wrote this post about the award that Ixy gave me the other day and I mentioned my fear of clowns.  Ixy was intrigued.  Then only of my other fave bloggers Busy Bee Lauren did a post about things that scare the crap out of her so I thought I would do a little post about scary stuff.

There really isn’t a lot that scares me I think.  Off the top of my head I can think of two books, 3 movie moments and then of course there’s my Coulrophobia.  No, I did not know that word off the top of my head.  I had to google that and just freaked myself out by the lovely pictures that accompanied that. 

I really don’t know when my fear of clowns started.  I feel like I’ve always hated them.  I do know that I read It by Stephen King at a REALLY young age so that must be where it comes from, however I don’t really remember being scared by that book.  I mostly remember being confused because he kept flip flopping from past to present and the events were so similar I kept getting lost.  Anyhoo…that is my only explanation for this.  And I can read about them.  It doesn’t really scare me to read about clowns or hear the word ‘clown’, but seeing them….well, that’s a whole ‘nother story.

There is something terribly wrong about a man covering up their face with makeup, creating a whole new expression on their face to hang around with children.  There is something off putting to me about anyone covering their face for any reason.  Generally, if I can see them coming I can brace myself and deal with it.  My family is really good at helping me.  My brother and I watch a lot of the same TV shows.  If there’s a clown on a show he would warn me beforehand.  My parents once gave me a cookbook by these two guys who dressed up as clowns.  My dad went through the book and covered up all the clown pictures.  Ray will avert my attention whenever we come across some clown picture of actual clown person.  It actually happens a lot more than you’d think.

Now when I’m taken by surprise mostly bad things happen.  I was at Blockbuster once scanning the movies and my eyes glanced right over a cover of a documentary on John Wayne Gacy.  I was going to post a picture of the cover here, but I couldn’t do it.  So you can see it here if you like.  So I glanced at it and moved on, but for some reason my eyes drifted back before I could grasp what I was seeing.  Then everything kind of went black and there was a guy next to me trying to help me up off the floor asking me if I was okay.  It’s a really freaky cover people.

I hate clowns.

Even just writing about it now is bothering me.  And like I said, it doesn’t even have to be the standard clown.  I so badly wanted to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland that I spent the year before the movie came out desensitizing myself to Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter and even then there were some iffy parts.

The funny thing is scary movies don’t scare me.  Horror genre books bore me.  So when I say I am scared of clowns, believe me that to me there is nothing scarier than a clown.

Stupid clowns.

I might feel like puking…

Today has been back and forth with the yuckies.  Not too fun and nothing that I’ve eaten today tastes good at all.  But these things have made me smile today.

I know it’s not Christmas, but I love my reindeer sock slippers.  They’re super comfy and way too cute even with one missing eye!

When I first bought Jack and Sally I was bummed that Zero didn’t come with Jack and ever since I bought these I’ve never seen them anywhere else.  I’d resigned myself to the fact that I’d just have to be happy with Jack & Sally and then today I found Zero!  Isn’t he so cute?!?!

I love my Monster High Frankie Stein.  She is the cutest.  I NEED the rest of the set!

My UglyDoll.  His name is Ninja Batty Shogun.  I think that says it all.

My books this week are fantastic.  It’s been awhile since all six books I’ve set up for myself have all been books that I enjoyed thoroughly.  Chevy Stevens is a new author for me and I’m loving her style.  I always forget how much I love Kathy Reichs, despite her super technical style.  Lisa Gardner is always awesome.  I read Heather Gudenkauf’s first book and so far this one is even better.  This Vampire Kisses book is the first three novels in one.  I finished the first last night and I think it’s super fun!  Doesn’t take itself seriously and a perfect balance to the heavier novels I’m reading alongside.  The Iron Witch is so different, but similar to a lot of YA fantasy I read.  It’s slow so far to get into the story, but slow in a good way!

My favorite soundtrack right now.  I love, love, love, love it.  Had to search far and wide to get my hands on it today, but it was well worth it.

So there you have it folks.  If you want to make me smile send me something creepy!  What makes you smile when you don’t feel good?

yes, i too was shocked and surprised

I read a lot of books and have probably read well over 1,000 in my lifetime so far.  Generally I stick to the same genre (romantic suspense or psychological thrillers and government conspiracy types) but sometimes I’ll branch out when I feel like I’ve run out of books to read.  Reading Twilight opened up a whole new genre that I really hadn’t tried before, YA Fantasy and YA Fiction.  I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the fantasy genre in YA though I’ve only just now started an adult fantasy book.

Sometimes in my branching out I’ll read something rather reluctantly because either the hype surrounding the book drives me to a frenzied state of curiosity (thank you spell check as I would’ve sworn curiosity was spelled cursiousity) or because the guilt of not reading some classic breaks me down.

And some of those I’ve finished and thought to myself ‘Self, you were right.  That was not your kind of book’ but sometimes I’m just in love with it and rather surprised at myself.

This may be revealing more than I should about my taste in books (or rather lack thereof) but I’m going to tell you anyway.  These are the books that surprised me the most.

I can’t even remember when I read this one, but I know I was pretty young when I did.  At this point in my reading career I was obsessed with Dean Koontz & Stephen King.  The idea of reading a 1000 plus book that wasn’t It didn’t really sound that appealing, but I really wanted to watch the movie and even then I was a firm believer in reading the book before seeing the movie.  I devoured the book.  Scarlett was a brat, of course, but she was captivating and for some reason, against better judgment you rooted for her.  I guess what was even more surprising was that I loved Scalett by Alexandra Ripley just as much as I loved Gone with the Wind.  Oh, and the movie … the best.

In college I read this one as an assignment for my Asian-American Lit class.  To me, any book that is assigned is doomed to fail on my like-o-meter.  Amy Tan’s masterpiece wasn’t one of them.  While not Chinese myself I felt a kinship to Jing-Mei “June'” and her love-hate relationship to her more traditional mother.  I was intrigued and horrified at the lengths the women of the club went through to make their way to the United States.  I learned things I never knew before about a culture that I had grown up somewhat exposed to.  The book haunted me and stuck to me like very little else ever has in such a way.  It started my love of Gail Tsukiyama’s Chinese and Japanese based books.

At first I balked at reading this mainly because of the little sticker claiming Oprah loved it.  Now, I think Oprah is fantabulous, but she and I do not share the same taste in books, but my aunt passed it down to me so for lack of anything better to read I picked it up.  And boy, was I glad I did.  Definitely not a warm & fuzzy book Lamb delves into a twisted and complicated book about mental illness, sexual abuse, betrayal and heartbreak.  Sounds depressing, I know and it is, but so well written and multi-layered that I fell into the book and wished so badly I could reach in and fix Thomas and find some way to make Dominick happy.  The story had such a way of sucking the reader in and making you invest so much of yourself that in the end you feel wrung dry, but somehow wildly triumphant.

I generally don’t like books that take place earlier than 1970.  First I feel like I can’t relate.  I spend much of the book wondering how they could possibly get anything done without any sort of modern technology (I know, I’m a boob) and the author tries to write as they spoke back then and I just can’t get into it.  When my book club chose this one as one of our monthly reads I was slightly disappointed, but also mildly curious about the subject matter.  Taking place sometime during or just after the Crusades (I believe) the reader finds a town in England that is cursed with a child killer.  No one is able to solve the crimes and the King calls upon his Italian cousin to help.  The cousin sends a forensic investigator who is trained in ‘The Art of Death’ hoping maybe this professional might be able to gleam facts from the deceased children’s bodies and solve the murders.  The only problem?  She’s a woman.  The writing was superb.  Ariana Franklin gives the sense that people are speaking the way speech was back in the day, but doesn’t confuse you with the actual patterns.  The story itself is twisting and dark, the suspense – magnificent!

I loathe non-fiction (unless it’s true crime) and the touchy-feely-goodness of this book really put me off.  But again, I succumbed to the pressure of society and because I wanted to see the movie I picked up the book … and I loved it.  The beginning was an awakening for me.  I had been where Elizabeth had been.  I had been married and left for reasons my ex couldn’t really understand – nor did he really want to.  I fell into another relationship that drained me emotionally, but I didn’t have the courage to walk away from everything the way she did.  Oh, I was green with envy at the personal journey she took to find what she was looking for in herself.  I cried so many times throughout the book, was charmed by some of it and reflected on others.  I haven’t picked up Committed yet and not really sure I will, but this one’s a keeper.

And finally there’s Twilight.  I remember way back, way, way back I started seeing the name ‘Edward Cullen’ pop up in weird places.  Once I even saw something that said ‘Edward Cullen could kick Angel’s ass’ and thought ‘whoa there, you can just go straight to hell now’.  My sister and I wondered what all this Edward Cullen nonsense was until I discovered it was a teeny bopper book.  Dismissed.

But then my friends who were not book friends started asking me if I had read the books.  Shocked when I said I hadn’t they insisted that this was right up my alley and I must go pick it up at once.  When my friend Gina basically told me our friendship depended on me reading the books I shrugged and found the cheapest copy I could get online.  But there were four books in the series and I never read any series without having all the books on hand so I waited until I had all four.  This drove Gina nuts.

I dragged my feet.  I really didn’t want to read a teen romance and being a Buffy loyalist I couldn’t see loving any vampire more than Angel.  But I’d had enough bullying so I began reading.

I got to page 83.  Set the book down and called Ray and told him ‘I LOVE this book.’  Now, when I read a book I read 6 at the same time.  I divide the book into 1/6 sections read one section and move onto the next.  It keeps my ADD under control.  I got to the end of the first section and forced myself to put it down.  By the time I got to Eclipse my 6 book requirement went out the window.

And I get all the critiques on the book.  No, it isn’t well written, but it is a well told story.  Yes, Bella could be annoying and probably did take a whole generation of young girls back to the days before feminism, but dangnabbit I loved it.  I loved the courtship and the anticipation.  I loved to hate Jacob.  I loved the Quileute lore.  I loved the setting.  I loved the surrounding characters.  I loved the fierce loyalty both clans possessed.  Most of all, I loved remembering what it was like to be in love for the first time.  I am jealous of the people who have not yet read these books, but will someday pick them up and read them for the first time.

So there it is folks.  What books have you read that surprised you?

Well, Yes, I’m a Geek.

I used to watch movies a lot.  A lot a lot a lot a lot.  Lately they’ve kind of taken a backseat to reading and other stuff.  I think I’ve mentioned before the gross amount of TV I have backlogged as well.

There’s quite a few movies slated to be remade (or as they call it now ‘rebooted’ so as not to seem tired and boring).  I can honestly say that I have never once been excited about a remake.  There have been ones that I’ve liked, but I never heard of a remake and thought to myself, now that sounds like a good idea.
So it got me thinking about movies I do love and because you all know how I love my lists I’ve decided to compile a list of my faves.  These aren’t in any particular order.  If I were to do that I would be here all day.

1. Dream for an Insomniac – Beautifully written, dialogue centric.  This movie literally changed my life.
   
2. Annie – I still know every song and have the greatest memories of playing Annie in my cousins' closet.  Pretending we were all orphans trying to escape after Ms. Hannigan locks us up.
   
3. Grease – For some reason my mom thought this movie was appropriate for children.  Of course, it wasn’t until I was older that I realized just how scandalous those songs were!
   
4. Charade – Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant.  Comedy, romance, intrigue.  Need I say more?
   
5. Casablanca – I remember thinking that this movie was probably going to be overrated.  Oh, but it wasn’t.  It’s called a classic for a reason people!
   
6. You’ve Got Mail – *gasp* A remake??  Yes, but out of the Meg Ryan & Tom Hanks pair ups this is my favorite.  I love the script, I cry every time she sees herself twirling with her mother in the bookstore and it’s about books!
   
7. Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi – I loathe the newest additions to the Star Wars saga, but these three (in my mind they will always be the first three) were the most amazing and perfect movies I had ever seen as a kid – and they still are.
   
8. Chasing Amy – Oh, Kevin you slay me with your words.  The dialogue in this movie is priceless.  Do people really talk like this?  Who cares!  It’s so awesome and even though he’d done amazing things before this (ahem Clerks!) this is the movie that put Kevin Smith on everyone’s radar.
   
9. Clerks & Mallrats – I love the quote-ability of Kevin Smith’s movies, but these are the classics and they are not to be messed with.
   
10. Memento – This movie blew my mind the first time I saw it.  Genius.
    
11. Amelie – charming, sweet, funny and in French!
    
12. The Godfather Part II – The first was great, the third was okay, but the second was my favorite.  And the reason why I always loved Robert DeNiro.
    
13. A Place in the Sun – This was the first black and white movie I had ever seen.  I was sick, home from school and it was on Channel 36.  Not only is this movie based on a book, but it was also a remake!  Originally a book, An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser (which was based on a true story) the movie of the same name was released in 1931.  When Paramount began to make noises about not making A Place in the Sun, director George Stevens sued them for breach of contract.  His movie began filming in 1949.  Elizabeth Taylor was only 17 at the time and she was exquisite.  I remember being stunned by her beauty and the story was so heartbreaking and tragic.  It was a piece of art.

I could probably go on and on some more, but I fear you would all either lose interest or find my taste in movies to be nuts.  Though, I will readily admit that most, if not all of the movies I would add to this list haven’t seen a movie theatre in at least 10 years.  You’ll also be so kind to note that I didn’t include any of the Twilight, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movies.  While I love them, I love them more for being a visual version of books I love more than just movies I love.  But I still love ‘em!

So what’s on your list?  Are there any movies coming out soon that you’re excited for?  I think the only thing I’m excited about right now is Sucker Punch.  It looks AH-Mazing!

Oh, No

I just read this article on /Film about Josh Hutcherson wanting to play Peeta in the Hunger Games.  At first I thought, oh yes that would be great.  Better than Alex Pettyfer who (let’s face it people) might be a pretty face but is pretty limited in his acting ability.  And not to mention seriously over exposed already.  Oh yeah, and like 100 years older than Peeta (though so is Jennifer Lawrence who will probably play Katniss).

But then I actually looked at Josh Hutcherson and realized he’s the idiot best friend in Cirque du Freak.  Oh, no no no no no no.  Please, 100 times no.  He’s a cute kid and all but he is not Peeta.  I cannot get behind this.