Movie Magic Monday: M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender

Okay, going into this, I have to say two things.  Firstly, I never watched the cartoon.  Avatar: The Last Airbender is basically an American anime, and minus a Miyazaki film here and there, I’m just not much of an anime person.  Secondly, I’ve never watched an M. Night Shyamalan movie all the way through.  I like what I’ve seen of The Sixth Sense, I have to admit, but I know too much about the simple twists he uses, and really scary movies just aren’t my thing.  When I heard Shyamalan was directing this (along with a rumor that he was being considered for Breaking Dawn) I wasn’t really sure what to think.  Maybe that he was expanding his portfolio?  Maybe that he was selling out?  I don’t know.

I went to see this with my fiancé, who did watch the show, and I have to say that both of us enjoyed it a lot.  The basic premise is that in this world there are four separate tribes, each who follow and identify themselves with a separate element: Earth, Air, Water, and Fire.  Every generation, an Avatar is born—a person who can control all four elements.  The Avatar is reborn into each tribe in a circulating pattern.  Because of this, it was known that the next Avatar would be born into the Air nation – and the Fire nation destroyed the entire Air nation because of it.  It so happens that Aang, the Avatar, was not with his nation when the genocide happened, though.  Years later, after the Fire nation has taken power over much of the world, he is discovered by members of the Water nation, and together with some new friends, travels to different tribes to learn about the other elements, and to encourage hope and free will in the minds and hearts of the people.

The film doesn’t make a lot of sense cinematically if you’re not familiar with the show – or at least with anime in general.  There are several moments where the focus is very close on the face, and everything behind is blurry, etc, but that’s just a stylistic thing.  It didn’t bother me, though I’ve heard it has bothered others.  My fiancé was delighted with the movie visually, and from what little bits I’ve seen of the cartoon, I thought it was beautifully done.  Shyamalan definitely paid a lot of respect to the original work.  The creatures in the film were beautifully represented, and the powers were fun to watch.

My one criticism actually comes from my sister (who was also a fan of the original) in that it wasn’t half so fun as the cartoon.  Then again, anime-like hysterics probably wouldn’t translate all that well to a live-action film, either.  The film was beautiful, really.   It was a little bit slow, though.  To be fair, I’d had almost no sleep the week before, but I did almost fall asleep towards the end of the movie.  Still, I enjoyed the film a lot.  And it was fun to see Jackson Rathbone in a non-Twilight role.

All in all, I really enjoyed the movie.  I give it a B-.

Lisa’s Tuesday Perspective: This Week – Comic Con!

Some of you may know that tomorrow starts the annual San Diego Comic Con, the biggest pop culture convention in the world, basically.  I’ve been going to the Con for years now, either working it or just going for fun with my family.  I’ve seen some fun stuff, too.   The Supernatural boys (actually, just Jensen), David Tennant from Doctor Who (be still my heart!), movie panels, sneak peaks at movies and TV shows… the works.  I’ll only be going a couple of days this week, but I’m looking forward to it.  It’s a lot of madness and a LOT of people, but it’s always fun.

The biggest thing I’m looking forward to this year?  Well, there’s no Twilight panel (I’m kind of relieved) but there just so happens to be a Deathly Hallows one.  Or, okay, a WB one, that will include the Deathly Hallows.  I’m not holding my breath towards seeing Dan Rad or Rupert Grint, but maybe if life loves me I’ll see a Phelps boy or two.  There is a slim possibility that Ryan Reynolds will be making an appearance in said panel also, to promote The Green Lantern.  I’m going to spend all Saturday morning standing in line to see this panel, but I’ll be doing it with a nice boy who loves me, so it should be fun.

My point in all of this?  Is that I plan on taking a lot of pictures and reporting back here next week.  I’m also hoping to get some yummy ARC books from the publishing house tables.  Mmmm, free books.  See you all next week!

Lisa’s Tuesday Perspective: Alex Reads Twilight

Hello, lovelies.  As you may have read in Isabelle’s post yesterday, things are a little hectic in my life at the moment.  Impending wedding, along with some new professional opportunities have put me well behind on my reading.  I wanted to share a little something that is really sorely tempting me to waste a lot of time lately, or rather, someone.

This someone is Alex Day.  He’s a musician who’s found a kind of quirky (and smart!) way to get himself out there on youtube.  He not only vlogs, but he also does a lot of commentary videos, and right now he’s working his way through Twilight, with commentary on the chapters as he reads through.  I’ve listened to the first two chapters so far and besides being a refreshing reminder of reading the books myself (though a little different, considering I loved them the first read through!) (and still do, if I were forced to swear to it), Alex has some really fun comments on Bella Swan and Stephenie Meyer’s interpretation of teenagers.  This isn’t really anything you haven’t heard before, but Alex is fun, along with being adorably British, and yes, that does make a difference.

Be forewarned, there is a little bit of language in these vids.

From what I can tell, Alex is up to chapter 18 (16-18 is the vid) and I have a feeling I’ll be ducking in throughout the week to catch up on where Alex is.  I do enjoy it, though.  I think my favorite comment so far is his talking about Bella’s description of Edward’s hair being “bronze,” and how unlikely a description it is.

And since I stumbled along this as well, here’s a taste of Alex’s music, which I actually like quite a lot.

We’re not affiliated with Alex at all, I just found him clever and funny, and maybe you will too.

Movie Magic Monday: Breaking Dawn (times 2)

Though this might already be old news to all of you guys, I’m just catching wind of the fact that Breaking Dawn has gotten the green light to be broken down into two films.

Twihards everywhere are shrieking in contentment.

I, on the other hand, am somewhat less than thrilled. The chemistry of Twilight seriously failed me in the first movie, it got better in New Moon, I’m not remotely sure what to expect in Eclipse, and the idea of BD being two movies- well, it kind of horrifies me.

The book was, in and of itself, was a test of my true fangirlness, as I cringed from page to page, forcing myself to read in hopes it would get better, and quickly finding it only got worse. The only redeeming quality about that book and the awful name they gave that poor child was Jacob and his chapter titles and the refreshing change in POV when Bella seems to have lost her mind. But I digress.

Here’s a little video I found of Pattinson chatting up in regards to the famous cesarean scene, and just a few fun thoughts expressed in pretty british. Enjoy, ladies.

Fun Friday: Crafty Fantasy Fans!

Hello and Happy Friday!  Lisa here.  As some of you may know, in my other life, I’m a yarnie and bookbinder.  I’m also a big promoter of the craft site Etsy, and I have a little shop there where I sell my journals.  I’m far from being the only fantasy-loving craftie on the site, though, and I wanted to showcase a couple of the fun things people make, inspired by the very kinds of stories we love here.

Firstly, a journal from a fellow bookbinder… this is, yes, a Vampire Diary, by repaper.

It wasn’t exactly inspired by the show or the books, according to the listing, but personally I can’t help but thinking about a Salvatore or two when I look at it.  I think the toothy look of the binding and the bits of red “blood” are especially clever.  Fun!

Secondly, some Summer Fairies yarn by WeirdAndTwisted.

This yarn shop is fab.  I also really like her handspun that’s inspired by Hagrid’s coat on Harry Potter.  This fairy yarn is lush and perfect, though… it definitely looks fairy-worthy.

This next listing is reverse-engineered by BoopieCreations from the new movie Alice in Wonderland, which I just reviewed on Monday.

You can see just how close this knitter came to the originals, in the picture here.  You can also find a lot of Twilight knits on Etsy, of course!

And lastly, because I was so excited to run across it…

This is a lovely necklace by cynthial11 that’s inspired by Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series, shown with a cover of Shiver, one of my favorite books that I read last year.  The sequel, Linger, is due out in just a little over a month (July 20th!) and I can’t wait!  You can read our interview with Maggie right here.

I just love seeing how people can take inspiration from myths and stories and create beautiful things—or recreate, as the case may be.  Are any of you crafters?  What inspires you?

Book Geek Wednesday: I Kissed a Vampire Webseries

So, I’ll admit, I’m not really up on Disney teeny boppers and what they do on their spare time, however, while perusing the interwebz today, I came across this video for a vampire rock musical. Yes, you read that right, a vampire rock musical. I did not even know what to say to that. Upon watching it, I was torn between being horrified and laughing. I mean, it looked like an SNL sketch. It didn’t seem to be promoting something real. But it’s real. And from what I hear, it’s going to be coming to theaters? They’re promoting it as Glee meets Twilight. Holy cow. Some things should NOT get mashed up.

Lisa’s Tuesday Perspective: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

I realize today’s post is more than a bit late, but I’ve only just finished The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer.  I have to admit, I took advantage of the free version at breetanner.com, though that made finishing the story a bit difficult when you had to reflip to the page you’d ended on whenever you went back to the webpage.  Considering I had no idea if I’d enjoy the book at all, though, I was more than grateful for the chance to check it out before buying the book.  (It’s free online through July 5th, by the way, and only 178 pages, if you want to read it online!)

So.  I only vaguely remembered Bree from the end of Eclipse.  She was our one look at a “newborn” vampire, and one that Bella looks at with a “I could turn into that” point of view.  We didn’t know much more about her, though, except that she wanted to suck Bella dry—not that that was exactly a new thing for non-Cullen vamps in the Twilight world.  Probably like a lot of people, my first reaction to hearing about The Short Second Life was… why do I care about her perspective?  Why should I care about Bree Tanner at all?

I have to admit, though, when I read the intro by Stephenie Meyer, and I read the tagline from the inside flap of the book of it being another story full of “danger, mystery, and romance,” I kind of got my hopes up. Maybe Bree really was going to captivate me and hold me by the throat the way Twilight first did.  I was starting to look forward to it, even though vampire books really aren’t my cup of tea, and this is the most vampirish of any of the Twilight stories.

Now that I’ve read the story, though… do I feel differently?  Honestly, I don’t know that I do, much.  I have to admit, I enjoyed Bree’s perspective.  She wasn’t whiny like Bella, even though she was still kind of a scaredy, and kept out of all the real action.  Her interaction with Diego was fun to watch, but so short-lived that I felt the “romance” tagline was forced at best.  In fact, the romance itself seemed a bit overrated, even by Bree.  She didn’t have time to fall in love with Diego properly, so her agony at the end of the story doesn’t truly hit home the way it would if the two had more of a real relationship.  That said, I did enjoy their interaction, as I said.  Once Diego was out of the picture, though, we get caught up in the one big stumbling point Twilight—or any first-person perspective—can’t help but have… we were stuck with Bree’s point of view, even when it may not have been the most interesting one.

But learn insight into what happens in Eclipse, we certainly did.  I don’t know that it’s as essential to understanding the novel as it claims to be—Eclipse would be a failure of a novel if it needed outside help after all, which it’s not—but it was interesting.  And it was refreshing to stumble back into familiar territory at the end of the novella, too.  I think Bree ended up a lot more human than Meyer ever implied newborn vamps could be, though, and a lot more rational, too, no matter how many times she’d derail her logical thinking by saying she couldn’t concentrate—I didn’t buy that, half the time.

So I guess I could say that I’m glad I read this.  But unlike the rest of the Twilight novels, I don’t honestly know that I’ll ever read it again.  It was nice to step back into that world for a minute, though, and I have to admit, I really, really loved Fred.  I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him, in the future.

I give you a B, Bree Tanner.  Maybe a B+, since a dollar of every book is donated to the Red Cross.  Is that cheating?  Yes, but hey, it’s for a good cause.  If you do read the book online, there’s a chance to donate there, too.  Don’t miss it.

Fun Friday: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

You’ve probably heard about this already, but it deserves its own post!

It was announced on Tuesday that Stephenie Meyer will be releasing a short novella in June, entitled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner.  Bree is, if you remember, one of the newborn vampires created by Victoria in Eclipse.  This 192-page book started as a “writing exercise” for Meyer, but will apparently be influencing the Eclipse film.  The book will be available in June as a hardcover, or for free online at breetanner.com, which will be up from June 7th through July 5th.  A dollar of the proceeds from each book will be donated to the American Red Cross, and there will be an option on breetanner.com to donate directly, as well.

I’m not 100% sure how interested I am in Bree Tanner, to be honest.  Whether I’m going to be reading this or not is not even a question, though.  Yes, I’ve had my quibbles with Ms. Meyer, but the fact is, if she write it, I’ll read it, end of story.

Fun Friday: Eclipse Trailer!!!

I don’t think I have to say more than that.  It’s here.  Enjoy.

Movie Magic Monday: StoryCasting

Today’s Movie Magic Monday is not going to focus on or review a specific movie, rather, we’re going to talk about a fun, addictive little website that helps us make visual sense of our favorite books. What am I referring to? Storycasting.com – tagline: for the story in your mind. Brilliant.

How many of us have read a book and pictured a specific actor playing the role? I know I have. Remember the whole controversy when Robert Pattinson was first cast as Edward in Twilight? The book fandom nearly had a conniption. He was not what everyone had imagined. In fact, many readers argued over which actor fit best, as many had their own preconceptions even with the ‘majority’ favorite floating around. So it seems I’m not alone in this little quirk. Storycasting proves it.

I often visualize my heroes first, as they come in clearer than my heroines. *shrugs* Don’t ask why. I have no clue. I’ve ‘worked’ with:

Ian Sommerhalder

Jason Behr

Erik Eidem

Ok. Not literally, obviously. But I have characters who have definitely taken these shapes. Now, you can cast your favorite books, or even your OWN books on storycasting.com. Try it out! It’s way fun! Compare other people’s visions to yours and see why reading a book can be such an individual experience.