New Moon Movie Review

New Moon, the second installment in the Twilight saga, is a fairly decent movie. It his all the high points in the book and told the overall story pretty well. It was fun to see the Cullens again, and I'm glad Jasper got a line in the movie so we could hear his southern accent (he was a confederate soldier, after all). I liked that Rosalie got a couple lines to explain why she doesn't want Bella to turn into a vampire. But I'm sure the back stories of Jasper and Rosalie will never make it into the movies, nor will those of Esme, Emmet or Alice. At least Carlisle's was hinted at in this one.

The best thing about this whole movie was the Volturi, the ancient and powerful governing body for all vampires. The Volturi are led by Aro, expertly played by Michael Sheen. Sheen stands out as a seasoned professional among an entire cast of amateurs. He is deliciously evil and power hungry, and I'm bummed that the Volturi aren't part of the third story.

The second book was all about the wolf pack so I was a little disappointed that they didn't go into more detail about it. They could have spared a minute or two to explain the pack mentality and how they're all connected all the time (and they all hate it). They very briefly mentioned that a pack member has to (i.e., physically cannot do otherwise even if they want to) follow the Alpha's orders. I was most surprised they left out the imprinting since it has such a huge impact on the end of the last book. But I guess they're going to follow the pattern of the Harry Potter movies and just chunk it all into the last movie.

My complaint about the special effects is that when the sun hits Edward he radiates light like a light bulb is in inside of him and shooting out of his pores. The effect is worse than a disco ball. I much prefer the low budget effect of the first movie which matched perfectly how I imagined Edward in the sun.

Overall the movie was decent. It's a must-see for Twihards, but for the mere Twi-curious you might want to skip the chaos of the movie theater and wait for the DVD.

Movie & Book Reviews

I'll start with the movie reviews. 2012 rocked! Great special effects drive this movie starring John Cusack and Amanda Peet. The editors of this movie did a great job at balancing the special effects with the human interest stories. If the world were to experience something this huge in such a short amount of time, this is probably very close to what would happen. Great movie, great story. Go see this one.

The Damned United is a British movie starring Michael Sheen as soccer coach Brian Clough. It's a true story about Clough and his drive to be a better coach than his rival Don Revie. I like that it's not the typical story arc where the guy starts as nothing and ends up on top and everybody lives happily ever after. The movie is filled with fantastic British actors such as Colm Meaney, James Broadbent, and Timothy Spall. If you don't catch this one in the theater, make sure you put it in your rental queue.

Now on to books. The Magicians by Lev Grossman was a very interesting read. It sounds like it would be Harry Potter all over again because our protagonist, Quentin, finds out that he can do real magic and goes off to magic school instead of college. However, this book is absolutely nothing like Harry Potter. HP is the typical hero's story. This book is about the elite students at an elite school who are insufferable snobs who excel at what they do. When they graduate from school they have the capability to do almost anything, and they're given vast amounts of money to do it with. But with no focus in their lives they become overly self-indulgent and grow bored with themselves. The author holds degrees from Harvard and Yale, so we can see that he has plopped his Ivy League experience into a story about magicians. This is very well done and, as I said before, it's very interesting to read. I definitely recommend this one.

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris, the latest book in her Harper Connelly mystery series, is probably the best story in this series so far. After getting struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper can sense dead bodies. While discovering the reason for her client's father's passing, Harper uncovers secrets about that family's past which end up tying into her own family secrets. If you're looking for something easy and entertaining to read, give this one a shot.

Battle of the Blades - Week 6

We're down to the final three: Simpson, Lemieux and Richer. I think that these are the top three guys so I'm pleased with the voting and judging so far. Tonight, though, the judges were highly praising Lemieux and Richer, and sort of dissed Simpson for his edges. I disagree completely. All three of the them are good at tossing their partners around in various lifts, but only Craig Simpson has truly embraced figure skating. He's learned how to do a waltz jump (and, in fact, did three of them in a row last week), today he did a spiral, he's done some tricky footwork, and he's the only guy to actually skate on one foot! I don't understand why the judges don't appreciate his hard work as much as I do.

On a side note, Katerina Witt was the guest judge and she's just a little weird. She kept making remarks about wanting to be in a threesome with the skaters. o.O Her comments were just a little odd. Maybe her thoughts didn't quite translate well from the German in her head to the English out of her mouth. However she was handing out 6.0's like they were going out of style. It's about time. For a few weeks I've been screaming six-point-oh! at the TV every time Craig Simpson and Jamie Sale skate and she gave them one.

For the Monday night skate off, Richer's partner had hurt her back and couldn't skate. The judges decided, and the skaters agreed, that all three pairs will remain in the competition and all will skate in next Sunday's competition. So Canada, make sure you watch and vote next week!

Book Reviews

Covet, the latest book by JR Ward, is the first of a new series in which the world hangs in the balance between angels and demons with one guy who can save us all. There will be seven books in this series, one for each of the deadly sins. This book really appealed to my inner sci-fi/fantasy/action geek. There were a few scenes that could have been tightened up a little, but overall I really enjoyed this book. I recommend it to anyone who loves the Urban Fantasy sub-genre of books.

Soulless by Gail Carriger is cute and funny. It's set in Victorian England, which is usually a big "ugh" for me. But the whole book was filled with such silliness that I couldn't help but enjoy it. I guess I'd classify it as a historical vampire/werewolf mystery adventure. (Does that even make sense?!) Our spunky heroine is a parasol-carrying soulless spinster (at the ripe old age of 25) who is determined to solve the mysterious disappearances and murders of all the supernatural beings. If you have any interest in something light and a little off the wall I recommend giving this a try.

Tempted is the latest in the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristen Cast. It's the continuing story of teenager Zoey Redbird, favored priestess of the vampyre goddess Nyx, who tries to lead a group of her friends against the forces of evil that erupt in her life. This is series just OK. If I were a teenager I'm sure I'd like it more, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to my adult friends unless they were specifically looking to read something like this.

This Is It - Movie Review

It was truly stunning to watch Michael Jackson's concert rehearsal footage for his never-realized This Is It concert. This footage was taped over the course of a few different rehearsals each at different stages of completion. Michael Jackson was involved in every part of this production from the instrumental music, vocals, dancing, staging, lighting, special effects and everything in between. I found it interesting to see how he inspired everyone to achieve excellence through his passion, commitment and, most refreshingly, his genuine kindness. And in an age where many singer's voices are dubbed and digitally corrected due to (extreme) lack of talent, it was awesome to hear him sing and sound just like he does on his albums. And, of course, his dancing is phenomenal.

I loved some of the phrases he used while giving directions during rehearsals. In one scene he was trying to get the tempo right on The Way You Make Me Feel. He wanted the beginning slower and with a specific overall "tone" (for lack of a better word on my part). He told the keyboardist that he wanted the musical feeling of "just getting out of bed" - which, when you listened to it, was an accurate description of how it sounded. Then the keyboardist started adding more music too quickly, and Michael Jackson corrected him by telling him that he wanted the music to "simmer" for awhile before it kicked in.

I was enthralled with this whole movie. I want to see him perform this concert live. It's clear why the 50 shows he had scheduled sold out almost instantly. I wish we could turn back time and somehow prevent his untimely and UNNECESSARY death. It's clear that he was physically healthy and excited about performing these shows. I am both inspired and heartbroken. *sigh* Anyone who has even the slightest interest in Michael Jackson should go see this movie. You will not be disappointed.

Battle of the Blades - Week 5

We're down to the final four pairs tonight, and I think it's pretty clear that Tie Domi has to go. He's clearly the worst skater of the group. He excels at lifting his partner, Toughy Hough, and swinging her around, but he lacks the ability to actually skate. The other skater in the bottom two with Tie tomorrow night will either be Stephane Richer or Claude Lemieux. Both of them skated well but not spectacularly.

Craig Simpson is the guy who is head and shoulders above the rest. He and Jamie Sale skated to the Austin Powers theme and they clearly had a lot of fun taking on the movie personas for this performance. He blew me away with a three waltz jump combo - and it was done in unison with Jamie. I look forward to watching them skate every week. The judges gave them 5.9s, but it was most obviously a 6.0 performance.

For Monday night's skate off, Domi really got turned around during the middle of his performance and then couldn't seem to get himself back together for the rest of his program. He ended up getting the boot.