are you excited.....?

i can't wait!

i am almost done with the 3rd book in the hunger games,

and i wish those movies were coming out sooner...
and that they are as good as the HPs....

book review - hunger games

ok. 

i am sorry that it took about a dozen of your recommendations before i read this one...

cause now i have an addiction.

i keep telling chris about it and how he should read it, 

and today as i was in a mini-rave about how fun it is to read it,

he goes, "wow- i don't know that i have heard you rave about a book in a long time."

i believe in good writing so i am usually a harsh critic and most books will entertain me, 

but i will shred to pieces with "crappy writing" or "boring story"

which, in all honestly, i know isn't all that fair...

this chick has a gift i can only compare to jk rowling.

the book has a similar mystical feel to harry potter,

the plot is ridiculous and something that a normal brain 

wouldn't concoct unless by dream,

but it also has a depth.

in fact, i get so caught up in the "what will happen" of it all,

that i completely ignore my usual dissecting of the text itself...

[that's good writing]

this isn't a fantasy story though- it is a war story.

its about real people but in a time that doesn't exist yet.

what makes it mystical is only that it mixes the primitive with the techno-advanced...

they have television and botox, 

but they also have places that hunt for food and starve 

because of a rising powerful government.

in that way, i can't help but get lost in the story- 

and be intrigued by the political commentary this could be- 

though i don't believe it really is.

of course the movie is in pre-production, and i am excited to see what they will do.

it will be hard, but the goal, the producer says, is to keep it within a PG-13 rating.

it will be hard with all the violence,

but oh will it make a great flick.

which brings me to another point...

i am the 

"read the book before the movie" type

and chris is the

"don't read the book -- it ruins the movie" type...

we will see if i can't get him to read this one first though-

lets face it, i will probably be that annoying mom that makes 

her kids read the whole book before they see the movie version.

maybe it's the english teacher in me...

long-winded movie review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

harry potter and the half blood prince

i would like to begin by expressing how much

cc whined to see this flick. this makes me happy. he is, however,
the type that has to see the movie first, or it would ruin the book. right.

i normally do not agree with this,

but i was glad to have forgotten much of the book until i saw it
because it all comes rushing back

and it's so fun to watch

why this one was my favorite HPs of the 6 so far:



the best edit we've seen of the books.
whoever was the exec editor deserves a standing O.
they finally figured out how to keep the fun details that add to the plot
and lose the ones that don't.
so it moves fast and you can keep up.
and it was, in my opinion, the most true to the book of any...



the acting/directing is so much tighter.
the kids have grown up, sure, but they are better,
and so was the directing.
timing was better, and the flow was more succinct.
the relationships could really pop.



screenplay.
speaks for itself.
much wittier and quicker.
add a few fun actors
and you have a show.

in my humble, yet correct opinion: 5/5
own it or rent it: own it.

(cause it would be stupid to not have 6
when i know you already have the rest!)