New Blog

So, I am a crappy blogger, I admit it. So, due to some chemical imbalance in my brain (and a lot of insanity) I have started a new blog.

That doesn’t mean this blog is dead in the water. I just couldn’t justify putting all the new stuff in this blog because it really doesn’t fit what this blog was supposed to be about to begin with. Not that I actually have kept with the idea very well anyways.

But if you are interested in Asian drama, anime, literature, and music, then check out the new blog at:

http://asianaddictsannon.wordpress.com/

Peace out!

Everything I Want to Say about Twilight But Can’t

Perusing the web, there is an online review about New Moon, the second movie in the Twilight Saga, published by USA Today. While listening to this article, I believe that author nicely sums up all my problems that this series has, but that I cannot not elucidate nicely.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2009-11-19-twilight-new-moon_N.htm
I was in my math class today and my students were irate with my opinion of the Twilight series because I expressed my dislike for the overly maudlin tale. And though I found the movie okay, I can honestly admit that it was not my most favorite film and that it actually lacked quite a bit from making it better.
And for all those Twilight lovers, take it with a grain of salt. Everyone’s taste is different. I would like to point out that there are actually better werewolf and vampire media out there, you just need to know where to find it. ^_^
Anne Rice can be long-winded and overly descriptive and I admit that Louie’s story is boring and difficult to get into, but honestly, her vampire books are just plain good – especially those told in Lestat’s voice. I highly recommend The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. Now, for tweens and teens, L.J. Smith’s Vampire Diaries series isn’t all that bad. I can read all four books all the way through without skipping pages due to saccharine and overly angsty crap.
Another good one for teens is Companions of the Night. Bittersweet ending, but not bad writing at all, again something I can read all the way through and enjoy.
Speaking of werewolves, Blood and Chocolate is a great read, although they distinguish themselves from werewolves as something like it, but not exactly a werewolf. I would skip the movie. It was crap and did not follow the plot line of the book at all. But again, not bad, not too angsty and a lot more enjoyable than Twilight.
So, yeah. To each their own.

G.I. Joe

I used to love watching the cartoon when I was a child so I was excited yet worried that they were making a live action. I guess I can’t be too disappointed granted that I can’t remember too much about the series as it has been close to 20 years since I have watched it.

The action sequences were decent. The CGI, well, you could tell whatever was CGI was indeed all computerized. It is interesting how some CGI you can hardly tell at all that it is computer generated and others you can tell and you seriously wonder if they actually tried to make it look realistic.

I did enjoy the movie. I loved Ray Park as Snake Eyes. It is funny how this martial artist actor always seems to play characters where you can’t see his face, i.e. Toad from X-men, Darth Maul from the Phantom Menace. I loved his fighting with his nemesis from Ninja school.

Speaking of his arch nemesis. Ok, there are many Japanese actors out there, they exist, so why was a Korean playing a Japanese ninja? I am just curious. The actor did a great job, if I didn’t know better, I suppose a person wouldn’t even know that he wasn’t Japanese, but I do, so I found it amusing. And, totally off topic, another Japanese Ninja movie will be coming out sometime later this year or next year and the main star is indeed another Korean, Rain. Is the reasoning behind this that all Asians supposedly “look alike” (which is not true, you can tell the difference between Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese, etc – if you know what you are looking for)? Just an interesting question to contemplate.

Back to the topic at hand. Yes, I liked G.I. Joe. Yes, it had cheesy acting and more action than anything else, but it was at least enjoyable, which is hard to say for some of the more recent movies I have seen.

Wolverine: Origins

Ah, Wolverine: Origins. As a huge fan of Wolverine and the X-Men universe, I was excited yet nervous to see how the Origins storyline would be handled. Since the other movies ventured away from the many alternate universes of the X-Men comics, I was worried that they would stray way too far away when they gave Hugh Jackman's character his own movie. They did stray, but not in a horrible 'I can't believe they did that way.'

Funny enough, they made Victor Creed and Logan brothers. Yes, Logan had a half-brother. Although the comic never came out and actually stated this, it was so obviously implied. No, his brother wasn't a mutant. Especially not Victor Creed. Aka: Sabertooth. Remember Sabertooth? The blond idiot from the first movie. To this movie's credit, they never mentioned that Victor was Sabertooth, but come on, anyone who knows X-Men history knows these two people are synonymous. I kow that Sabertooth's powers are much like Wolverine's but I didn't think that Creed was really older than even Logan. I could be wrong though.

Since they didn't connect Victor with Sabertooth, is that their way of trying not to conflict with the first movie? I mean, it was pretty hard to tell if there was a connection between Sabertooth and Wolverine. The only part really hinting at anything would be Sabertooth keeping the dogtags. That's about it. So did he or didn't he?

Yay! Silverfox was in the movie. Um. But in the X-Men realm I am familiar with, I don't remember the storyline all that well. I know that Wolverine thought that she was dead and I think that Sabertooth was supposed to have killed her, but the whole Weapon X stuff I am fuzzy on. It was kind of obvious that she was going to betray him or that something was going to happen because of the Wolverine story she told.

But the best part was Gambit! Heck yeah, we saw the swamp rat Remy Lebeau finally! Even with his imfamous stick that he uses to fight. They even put in some of the teasing/fighting relationship that he and Logan had. Tres cool.

So, overall, good movie. It's a whole bunch of events patched together, but when you're trying to explain the complicated 200 years or so of a character's life, it is bound to be difficult. And at least they have an explanation for the memory loss. Adimentium bullets to the brain - ouch. They explained it in Origins the comic, maybe, but I can't remember. I just remember the girl he loves dies (killed by him?) and after she dies, her diary where she chronicled Wolverine's history was burned, ergo, he will never know who he was before. Sad day. Oh well.

The Monkey’s Paw

A bookshop in Toronto, The Monkey’s Paw, is definitely a curiosity shop.  It specializes in “uncommon scholarly and out-of-print books; ephemera & images; manual typewriters; [and] biological specimens.”

Seriously. One would expect some odd things in a book and curiosity shop, but biological specimens?  Definitely a must-see if one is ever in the Toronto area.

The books offered are amusing to note, such as A Treatise on the Use of Flogging in Medicine and Venery by John Henry Meibomius along with poetry by Alfred Lord Tennyson.  Something for everyone. From history nerds, literature lovers, and people who are just amused by rare and weird items.

To check out some of what The Monkey’s Paw stocks, check out their blog. [http://mo-paw.blogspot.com/]

NewPages Reviews New Issues of Literary Magazines

NewPages updated their Literary Magazine Review column yesterday. It contains 11 new reviews of the current (or one of the most recent issues) of online and print magazines.

Magazines reviewed in this batch of reviews are:

The Antioch Review :: The Chaffin Journal :: ChiZine :: Eclectica :: The Farallon Review :: Journal of Ordinary Thought :: Manoa :: The Missouri Review :: storySouth :: The Sun :: Tuesday

This edition even contains a double review of the two most recent issues of Tuesday; an art project. So go and dip your toes into the world of literary magazines and maybe you’ll even be inspired to purchase the issues reviewed or even to subscribe to the magazines in question.

NewPages Book Reviews

It is the first of the month again - that means that NewPages has new book reviews up. From memoirs to short story collections to poetry to YA novels to essays on Emerson and writing, there is a little something here for everyone to dip their toes into and explore new books from several independent publishers.

Enjoy the reviews!
[http://www.newpages.com/bookreviews/2009_4/april2009_book_reviews.htm]

Mansfield Park Delights and Horrifies

There are three feature film versions of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.  Next to Pride and Prejudice, that particular Austen novel is my favorite.  So, I was happy to discover film versions - sad but true.  Now, I first saw the 1999 version before ever having read the book.  I absolutely loved it!  I loved Alessandro Nivola as the dastardly Mr. Henry Crawford and Frances O'Connor was a vivacious Fanny Price.  I still love that movie version.  It is a unique blend of biography (Austen's) and fiction (obviously, the book Mansfield Park). There are points where I wish it would follow the book a little more closely, but I really can't complain with the acting or the script.

Afterwards, I learned of another version.  This one made in 1983 starring Sylvestra La Touzel as Miss Price.  Now, I love this version because it follows the book so well, hence it's six hour length.   However, I do not like the fact that there is a lot of over-reacting.  Too much, in fact.  Mostly on the part of Ms. La Touzel.  I think that her histrionics are over-the-top and unbelievable (such as when Sir Thomas chastises Fanny for not wanting to marry Mr. Crawford).  That is really the worst part of the entire film.  Other than that, there really is nothing else to detract from the greatness of a good adaptation of the book.

Now, I caught part of Mansfield Park (2007) on PBS one night.  Bad reception deemed I would not get to watch it.  But I recently acquired the film and must say I could not get through it at all.  Which, I suppose, is horrible to say since it was only 1.5 hours.  The reason?  Bad acting, bad costumes, bad make-up and, most importantly, a bad Fanny.  Miss Price is not some wild girl with unkempt clothes and hair (her corset was always peeking out of an extremely low cut bodice) and her hair looked like it never saw a brush in it's life.  Now, the 1999 version had a more outspoken Fanny, but that worked for the film and the actress.  It seemed to fit just right.  In this film, it seems scandalous.  Maybe because it was so atrociously done. Also, Lady Bertram's character is horribly rendered as a gossipy, holier-than-thou matriarch.  Heaven forbid! Making Tom Bertram and Mr. Yates into one character is deplorable (especially since Julia Bertram becomes attached to Yates).

One must wonder what the writers were thinking.  There are enough Jane Austen aficionados still today who will descry the '07 version.  If you cannot remain true to the characters and you employ bad acting, the wrong clothing of the time and a too-swift moving plot, I doubt there is anyone who can enjoy it.

I do find that after watching the 4-6 hour versions of book adaptations, I lose interest in the 1.5-2 hour versions, mainly because they do not follow the books so well and cut out sometimes integral (at least in my eyes) scenes.  However, I still enjoy the '99 version after seeing the '83.  I don't know how anyone could like the '07 version. 

Twilight - Good and horribly bad

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer was better than expected. I have now read books 2 and 3 in the series and am currently working on finishing Breaking Dawn. In general, I find I like the series, however, I must admit to some OMFG moments and times where I wanted to scream in frustration. Which, I suppose, could be what the author was going for. And if that is the case, how irritating.

Nothing is worse than deliberate misunderstanding – which Bella does through the entire series. She doesn’t think Edward can love her because she’s too plain. No matter what he does, no matter how many times he’s proved his general overwhelming affection for her, she is completely clueless. It was extremely annoying to see those thoughts going through her head. The girl needs to be slapped and slapped frequently. Although Bella is never described as a raving beauty, it is interesting how every male in her high school seems to fantasize and want her for themselves. How does she go from invisible in Phoenix to highly desirable in Forks? The conversion seems a little . . . much. It could be that the same thing happened in Phoenix and she was oblivious like she still could be in Forks, but that doesn't seem to be the case - which makes a person wonder why she is so desirable to the male population there in general. At least Edward makes sense since her blood has a highly intoxicating smell, but her desirability with all other males is never lighted upon and it seems unbelievable.

Along with Bella’s obvious obtuseness comes another beef with some very cheesy and trite phrasing. Clichés are all well in good, but in order for something to be cliché it is usually highly overused, such as a lot of Jacob’s thoughts in Breaking Dawn when Meyer’s gave Jacob Black his own little section. One begins to understand the horrible overuse of certain expressions when he seems to use them all. Plus, some better blonde jokes would have been nice. I could definitely join in with Rosalie’s frustrations at these horribly overused jokes. Ah, yes Rosalie.

Meyer actually had a great moment with Rosalie. We don’t see too much of her in the Twilight books. Mostly Edward, Bella, Jacob and Alice. Emmett, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Japser tend to have less screen time. However, what we do see of Miss Rosalie leaves much to be desired, even when you can understand her animosity towards Bella. Then, in Eclipse (I think) we finally get Rosalie’s story, why she is the way she is – it’s a great moment, ruined by her entire attitude in Breaking Dawn. Sure, one of the things she wanted most was coming to pass, but at what cost. Sure Bella lives, to be expected (generally speaking main characters aren’t killed off too much), but Rosalie is not concerned at all about Bella, just the creature inside her. When I was finally starting to like the blonde, Meyer had to spoil it.

Also rampant in these four books is some of the biggest persecution complexes known to man. Edward beats himself up over everything, followed by Bella doing the exact same thing. Not to mention both of them believe almost everyone is against them at one point or another during the entire four book series. I guess that’s what makes them perfect for each other – all the overwhelming angst. Seriously, it all is a tad over the top. Okay, not a tad, but a lot. As much as I like the storyline, I dislike how much they berate and punish themselves over the stupidest of comments and trifling mistakes. Vampires are seen as brooding creatures, but Edward broods entirely too much and, like I said before, Bella is right there behind him. Here blatant overlooking of the truth with wallowing in misery and angst is downright annoying.

Besides an overabundance of angst is the ever maudlin love between Edward and Bella. They are soul mates, that’s great. The intensity and the lovey-dovey-ness of their relationship gets really hard to stomach the farther the books continue on and is even worse in the last book. Sure it’s due to the changes, right. It seems a bit off that Bella can really only ever concentrate on Edward. Single minded to the point of recklessness and sheer absurdity. Edward is the most beautiful person she’s ever met. Wow, so that must equal obsession and swooning every time. I don’t think so. Ridiculous with a capital ‘R.’

With all these complaints, how can I possibly like the books? I don’t know, but I do. Edward and the Cullens are likeable characters, Bella is too when she is not being overly dense. It says something that I can sit down with one of these books and not want to come up for air until they are finished. I keep pushing through, another page, one more chapter. Meyer’s does well in keeping the pace going enough where you can’t wait to see what happens next. What will Bella do this time? How will these new events play out? They can be quite the page turners.