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. 🙂

TV Magic Monday: Roswell

First, I’d like to start by congratulating our winner of the New Moon Tattoos from Friday’s Mini Giveaway! I inserted the entries into random.org and the winner is:

Jaclyn Reynolds!!!!

Please contact us at hollowtreetales AT gmail DOT com with your address so I can ship those out! 🙂

Now, I know this this is a bit of a diversion from our usual movie Mondays but after talking about the striking similarities between Roswell and Twilight last week, Roswell has been on my mind.

The premise was simple. A small town girl is saved from death by a quiet, not so human hottie. But he’s not a vampire. He’s an alien. And he has the power to see into someone’s soul. *dreamy sigh* This may all sound kind of corny in theory, but the acting and the writing were so moving that they not only sold it, they made me believe it was real. Its one of those things you have to see for yourself because describing it doesn’t do it justice.

There were so many things that worked about that first episode. For starters the hook is phenomenal. When Max ran into the corner and told Liz to look at him I was breathless with anticipation. Their chemistry is effortless. It sizzles. And it only gets better throughout the season. The storyline perfectly blended scifi intrigue with high school drama constantly incorporating the themes of loneliness and alienation. And although by its 3rd season the show suffered miserably because of the corporate tools meddling in the writing, most fans watched loyally, too emotionally invested with the characters to leave them.

Even the side characters grew into their own. Everyone was multi-layered and well rounded. They all had their obvious flaws but we loved them even more for it. By the end of the first season, there were 3 couples, involving 6 of the characters, each unique and interesting in their own ways, each drawing a seperate fanbase. And who could blame them. Have you seen the pretties on this show?

If you’ve never seen it, I would highly recommend renting it. It has the allure of Twilight, but is… well, can I say this?… infinitely better. Roswell is everything Twilight failed to be. And it is still, in my heart, one of the best teen dramas ever to air. I miss it.