Review: New Moon

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I read this book (and Twilight) out of sheer stubbornness. I wanted to understand the cultural phenomenon that it has become, though I didn't really have any interest in it. the frothing fan base really turned me off of the whole series. To be honest, I was disappointed that I didn't hate the first book. It was okay. Just okay; it wasn't good. I would probably have really liked it when I was 14, which is a good thing, since it is a young adult novel. I moved on to New Moon with tenacity, but I was absolutely bored to tears by it. While the first book was largely a long deliberation on how pretty Edward is, this one was a long lamentation on the fact that he wasn't there any more, and (to me, at least) there was absolutely nothing there that sparked any interest. I will probably read the rest of the series out of pure stubbornness, but I would tell anyone else who wants to understand the crazy cultural phenomenon that no, they don't.



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Book versus Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Let me get this right out in the open so that there are no illusions about my lack of bias here: I hate Michael Cera. I hate looking at him, I hate listening to him talk, and I hate the only role that he has ever played: the awkward kid that is somehow supposed to be cool or funny or something. HOWEVER. I also acknowledge the fact that the role of Scott Pilgrim was pretty much made for him.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the books. I resisted reading them for a very long time based entirely on the fact that Michael Cera plays the main character in the movie, and that must mean that I will hate everything about the main character. Who wants to read about a protagonist that they hate? (For example: Holden Caulfield.) I was eventually swayed entirely by overbearing peer pressure. Contrary to my expectations, I really liked the comics. I found them a bit disjunct, but I think that was probably intentional. I liked that the characters had some emotional depth to them, each with their own back story and the emotional baggage therewith. Each character makes some kind of personal development, and there is a greater, overarching story line that is not really ever made completely clear until the very end. All of these things I thought were really great, in the comic.

You’ll notice that each of the things I thought were great in the comic were the things that were unceremoniously ripped out of the movie.

I was encouraged at first when the opening scenes were taken word for word from the beginning of the comic. I thought that the style of the movie in general was really true to the comic, but the story seems to have got a disfiguring face-lift. Every relationship between characters became a little simpler so that they could justify cutting out interactions. (For the sake of brevity, I imagine.) As a result, the whole story got much less complicated, and much shallower. The entire side-plot about Envy was pretty much dissolved. The band-mate with the cyborg arm? She got less than one second of screen time.

Don’t get me wrong. The movie was still entertaining. People like it. If it weren’t for my irrational hatred of Michael Cera, I might even be willing to say that I enjoyed it. My problem is that they took a good story, with at least somewhat three dimensional characters who develop, and dumbed it down into a simple, whimsical action movie. I guess I am just disappointed because the movie is kind of dumber than I was led to believe.

[Edit: I sort of truncated this post because I felt it was getting kind of babble-y, and I wasn’t sure if the internet world really needed my detailed and specific opinions on the subject. Since I have been told by a couple of people that this seems like it was going somewhere and then didn’t, I guess I will go into the detail that I intended to go into originally at some point in the future. There will be a link later.]

Half-Way Review: The Valley of Horses

I am half way through reading the book The Valley of the Horses, by Jean M. Auel and I feel like my opinion of it is not going to change between now and the end of the book, so I am just going to talk about it now, while I have nothing better to do.

First of all, I really liked the first book in this series. (Clan of the Cave Bear.) The culture that Auel developed for the Clan people was interesting, and I found the characters to be generally likable and engaging. I read it straight through without getting bored, and the story certainly held my interest.

I am having a harder time with this one. It flips, every other chapter, between the story of Ayla (the main character from the first book) and a pair of brothers that seem to be completely unrelated to Ayla’s life. (I assume that she is going to meet these brothers at some point.) I find that, after the main plot point of each chapter has been revealed, I can usually figure out what is going to happen, and lose interest about half way through the chapter. By the time I get to the next chapter I am excited to start a new sub-plot, but the same thing tends to happen. I don’t find the story of Ayla befriending animals particularly engaging, and I have no emotional attachment to the two brothers, so at this point I am reading on waiting for the point when the two stories collide, hoping that it will get more interesting at that point.

I guess the short version is this: It hasn’t kept my attention. I’ll keep reading it because I hate not finishing books, and I’ll let you know if I change my mind.

Somehow I Know That There's Much More To Come

(Whisper, Evanescence)

I am so stressed. Everything is going on at once. Masterclass, which I just found out is for guest guy terrifies me... Because I'm not ready at all. I have to do my education essay and I don't even have a topic yet. I have to do my history essay and I have never even heard the piece that I'm writing about before. I have to do my education presentation. I have a skillz dictation coming up, which I am not ready for, mock auds in two weeks, and I'm sure there's something else I am forgetting. Programming assignments every week... I seriously can't handle all of this. I think maybe I might have to drop out of programming. No computer science minor for me. But... I'll tough it out. I'm smart enough for this. I know it. I think low sleep and bad nutrition are just making me cranky.

Besides that... I've been reading a book on and off since the beginning of the school year, and I just don't have the time to get into it... It seems like it would be fascinating, though. It's called This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science Behind a Human Obsession. Thus far it hasn't gotten into the really juicy stuff, but it's about what happens in the brain because of music. Why music has the power to make us all teary and whatnot, and how it affects people. (Remembering my rant about sad songs... I should continue that, come to think of it. It's a good rant.) Honestly, really really interesting. I wish I wasn't drowning in work so that I could read it.

You Know It Makes Me Want To Cry, Cry, Cry...

(Isn't Love Strange, Moody Blues)

All this talk of getting old
is getting me down, my love.
Like a cat in a bag,
waiting to drown,
this time I'm coming down.
And I hope you're thinking of me
as you lay down on your side.

Now the drugs don't work,
they just make you worse,
but I know I'll see your face again.

But I know I'm on a losing streak
'cause I passed down my old street.
If you want a show,
then just let me know
and I'll sing in your ear again.

Now the drugs don't work,
they just make you worse,
but I know I'll see your face again.

'Cause baby,
if heaven calls, I'm coming too.
Just like you said,
if you leave my life
I'm better off dead.

The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve/Radiohead?

Now that's most of the lyrics to that song, removing most of the repetition. Quite frankly the repetition doesn't mean a lot, in text... And I'm not sure who it's by. I thought it was Radiohead, but the internet doesn't seem to think Radiohead ever did this song. So I can only assume it's the Verve. That's beside the point. That song actually makes me want to cry. I want to know what about a song touches a person so deeply. Really, I have very little in my life that I can relate to this song with. As far as I can tell, the song is about someone who is very sick, or hurting very badly, and nothing will help them get better. The line that really gets me though, is If heaven calls, I'm coming too. Just like you said, if you leave my life I'm better off dead. That is so sad! Maybe I'm just being a silly, sappy girl... But if I listen to this song in the right mood, it will actually make me cry. I want to know what can do that to a person. I actually just have a fascination with songs that can evoke such strong emotions in people. I think I might be more susceptible to that kind of thing than a lot of people... There are actually some orchestral pieces that have literally brought me to tears. Why?

There's a book I accidentally wandered across in Chapters a while ago, called This is Your Brain on Music: The Science Behind a Human Obsession. It sounds FASCINATING. I wish I had the time to start reading it... But alas, class forbids it. Maybe next summer. For now it will collect dust on my bookshelf.

I Remember Every Little Thing As If It Happened Only Yesterday

(Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Meatloaf)

Book that I highly recommend: The Game, by Neil Strauss. I started reading it last night, and I am in love with it. It's competing hard for the title of my favorite book. Read it. It's fascinating, and entertaining, and all that good stuff.

Anyway... So I'm back at home, and working, and all that jazz. As I suspected, the place where my Dad works did not even call me, because I am a girl... My brother got a call. You know how it is. Girls can't work in plants. It's dirty and smelly. Whatever. I am bitter.

The Badly Planned Road Trip went spectacularily. We didn't even die in a horrible car wreck, even though the car needed $1500 of work done to it when we got back. Disconnected struts and a cracked ball-joint... For the record, it was like that before we left. (I'm serious!) So apparently we were lucky to have made it at all. It was a good time, though. We went to Ottawa, and stayed at Cassie's family's house, and then to Montréal, where we stayed in an interesting (but cramped) youth hostel. It was neat. I spent a lot of time playing (fighting) with Cassie's family's dog... It made me miss Kaos. I want my puppy. :(

Bryan is finally moved into my place. His stuff is still sitting in boxes, with nothing done to it aside from it being slightly messed up from the times when he started digging through it because he needed something. (I am guessing at this last part... It's pretty likely, though.) He claims that the floor is crooked, and that the ceiling is too low, which it is, but it's not a bad little place.

Bryan is coming to the Tetris party... We're going to sit around, (four of us,) and play Tetris until our eyes bleed. Actually, we're playing until we beat the game. We'll do it. It can actually be done, because it's the N64 version. Winning does exist in that game.

I got my final grades back, finally. I have to take theory again, which upsets me quite a bit. I think otherwise my school schedule should remain unchanged, aside from bumping theory back a year, which will be a pain in the ass. I got a D in theory, but I needed a C+, because music is an honours program. It stresses me out.

I forget all the other stuff I was going to talk about... So I'll just cut it off here.