Message in a Bottle

Now, I am a member of Gaia. A really nice social networking site with games, cool items, and all that fun stuff. Now, in their aquarium section of the site, they have teamed up with Verizon Wireless to do messages in bottles. So you write a message and send it out on the web among other Gaians. It is interesting. Depending on who gets the bottle you can have some cool comments, others are just downright sick or rude. Not that I really care about that.

This post is about asking about a favorite book. The majority of hits off that bottle were about people who said they never read. Really, quite tragic. My siblings don’t like to read either. It might not help that my 10 year-old stepsister had to learn English as a second language, but she doesn’t read and gets intimidated by somewhat bigger books, some that aren’t that big at all.

It is really disturbing to see the number of people who don’t read. Libraries, journals, publishing companies are closing, cutting back, and re-organizing. It is rather scary that in this world, the written word is taking a back seat to movies, video games, and other instant gratification activities. I am guilty of this sometimes, but I always try to find time to read, whether it is a scanlation of a manga that I like, or re-reading an old favorite (like Austen’s Mansfield Park), or finding a new book to read (like Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons – not new as in recently published, but new as in ones I have not yet read).

I have a huge list of books that I want to read. My best friend Sassy says that as long as there are books to read that you haven't read yet, you can't die until you've read them all. It's a fun sentiment. My friends and I are all bookworms, bookaholics, bookaphiles. We read. We devour books. So it is hard to imagine a generation of people that seem to be bookaphobics. There are many books that are well worth the time you spend reading them, some that you wonder how they ever got published, but still worth reading at least once, right?

How do we get the younger masses reading again? Maybe it would help if parents weren’t so busy today and could actually spend time reading to their children, like my grandmother used to read every night to my sister and I.

I am only 24 and already missing those good ol’ days.

Micro-fiction that makes no sense

Sometimes the girl wondered what the big deal was.  It was just another day like any other.  Sure, it was the day that began a new biological year, but what was it’s significance?  It was never really celebrated or rejoiced.  In fact, she was pretty certain that her mother cursed this day every year – if she wasn’t too drunk to remember that is.

The girl sighed.  Life, supposedly the greatest gift.  This morning she had received one card telling her she was now officially over the hill at 25.  Enclosed was a picture of a Mayfly, a creature that lived such a brief life.

Sometimes the girl wondered why she was born.  Her parents hated each other enough to get divorced and move half a world apart, leaving her behind, stuck in the middle.

The girl sighed again and looked down at the card on the table.  She was burning that picture tonight.

Where have I heard that before?

My little sister told me that she wants to be a famous writer.  Nothing wrong with dreaming, although we all know the likelihood of them hitting it big is relatively low, especially in this economy, digital age, and the instant gratification factor.

My favorite part about this is the fact that she hates reading.  Now, this could be because of her ESL nightmares, however, I think not. She is enraptured with her movies and television, but can’t be bothered to pick up a book.

Now, I am from the school that to be a good writer, you have to be a good reader.  Am I wrong?  I guess one doesn’t have to read a book to write a book, but it helps.  Especially if you can get your hands on those really special, well-written tomes.

I have always been an avid reader.  I have had stories and poems circulating and percolating in my brain for ages.  But I believe all the literature I have read, and the classes I have took, have made me the better writer.

It really breaks my heart to hear that the majority of children would rather watch tv than curl up with a good book.

Burn, Baby, Burn

And so this is how it begins. This is how it begins, and this is how it ends . . . in fire and in ice. Burning passions, freezing loves consuming the world – seeking, searching. It is never enough. It is never enough. This echoes and resounds. He is consumed by fire – nothing but burning passion. She is ice incarnate – her love burns as it freezes. Seeking, searching. They can never find the other without withering within. Opposites consumed by fire, burning hot, burning cold til nothing is left, even heaven has turned to ash.

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.