"To punish and enslave"
I hope everyone's Fourth was good. As for me, there was nothing too spectacular about the day. It being the baby's first, I had planned to take her to the parade in downtown Plymouth, but successfully failed to wake up in time. Still, I did dress her up in the ever-patriotic red, white and blue, which was much fun in and of itself. We did some mid-morning shopping, then headed up to my uncle's house for the traditional Fourth of July BBQ, where Aislinn got doted on by the fam who hadn't seen her since Christmas. Then, it was off to a friend's for some early evening fun; short-lived, of course, since I had to work in the morning. I could've done without the dreary weather, though; it was a real downer.
badasslytherin and I went to an early morning showing of Transformers during it's first weekend at the boxoffice. We had the theater to ourselves, which was fantastic; it was like we were at home on the couch, but with a way bigger screen for all of the action-packed goodness. My overall opinion? It kicked serious ass, of course! I mean, there was my favorite childhood cartoon, brought to life on the big screen. I laughed; I cried; I cheered; I yearned for more. Heck, I even checked out Shia Lebeouf's butt a few times. And the action scenes shot in slow-motion - beautiful, simply amazing! I know I was skeptical when I first heard about the film a little over a year ago, but, I am glad to say, my expectations were met and exceeded. Thank you, Michael Bay, for not f-ing the whole thing up. And, agreeing whole-heartedly with
khallandra, if my car was a Transformer, I would like it to be like Bumblebee, too. Except I think my Toyota is a girl.
I liked Order of the Phoenix almost as much as Transformers. (Again, my viewing companion was
badasslytherin, accompanied by
donkeytool, her husband and daughter, and
badasslytherin's mom.) It was a thrill to watch; the effects were awesome, especially the battle at the end. Luna was f-ing fantastic; Ginny was a badass; and Tonks was just plain cool. Cho? Well, I hope she drowns in a pool of her own tears. Blech! As for Harry... we all know how I feel about Harry! Still, I definitely left the theater feeling unsatisfied. Now, I'm not a big fan o' J.K. Rowling, though my gripe with her is more personal than professional. (For those of you who don't already know, I think she's a writer who hit it big in the industry by sheer luck and the fact that children's fantasy was just-then coming to the forefront of literature as a genre; basically she's living, and cashing in, on my dream. Damn her and her luck, not to mention her plucky writing and ambition!) However, even a non-Potter reader such as myself could tell that a whole lot of the book was left out. I'm usually pretty good with going along for the ride and filling in the gaps that the films tend to leave, but, this time, I had to grill my companions for details of import that I'm sure were missing. I felt like Transformers got more out of me; OotP was just something pretty on the screen. And, because of this uber letdown, I am almost tempted to swallow my pride and actually read the series just to see for myself what I missed out on by only watching the film. Almost.
I just finished reading The Great Tree of Avalon series, by T.A. Barron, an amazing read; the trilogy was so well-written that I didn't even realize it was young adult lit. But, from now on, I need to make sure, when I start to read a series of books, that I have the entire series. It seems I always end up buying one and then finding out there's a second or third book I'm missing, or, worse, that the follow-up hasn't been released yet. This drives me nuts because, when I read, I like to plow straight through all the books in a series without stopping until the story comes to an end; being a book-a-day reader only makes it harder to handle when I have to wait. That's the torment I went through after the two days it took me to read books I & II in the series. My mom happened to get them for me for Easter (a little something she does for me every year), and I, like her, assumed that she had grabbed the whole set. Well, at the time, she did; book III hadn't been released yet. So, there I was, barely done with the second book and already wanting more. I hopped on the computer to see if it was in stock at the local Borders - nope. (Ex-Borders employee
pizzdiggity, also made a call for me, just to be sure.) I called around to every bookseller from Braintree to the Cape and got the same answer: "We could order it for you." No, that would take too long. But signing up for a free trial of Amazon Prime - that was the ticket. I got next-day shipping for only $2 and had the impatiently awaited tome in my hand by the time the mail came on Friday. Two days later, I finished, and am now completely content.
Now, there are some books I read knowing that I have to wait for the next one to come out, and that's okay. Somehow, the going into it knowing makes it easier. (Except in the case of Melanie Rawn, whose third book in the Exiles series has been forthcoming for almost 10 years now!) This is how it has been with The Assassin King, the sixth book in the "Symphony of Ages" series, by Elizabeth Haydon. And now that it has become my other recent literary purchase, I'm guessing it will be just as good as those that came before it and worth the wait.
badasslytherin and I went to an early morning showing of Transformers during it's first weekend at the boxoffice. We had the theater to ourselves, which was fantastic; it was like we were at home on the couch, but with a way bigger screen for all of the action-packed goodness. My overall opinion? It kicked serious ass, of course! I mean, there was my favorite childhood cartoon, brought to life on the big screen. I laughed; I cried; I cheered; I yearned for more. Heck, I even checked out Shia Lebeouf's butt a few times. And the action scenes shot in slow-motion - beautiful, simply amazing! I know I was skeptical when I first heard about the film a little over a year ago, but, I am glad to say, my expectations were met and exceeded. Thank you, Michael Bay, for not f-ing the whole thing up. And, agreeing whole-heartedly with
khallandra, if my car was a Transformer, I would like it to be like Bumblebee, too. Except I think my Toyota is a girl.
I liked Order of the Phoenix almost as much as Transformers. (Again, my viewing companion was
badasslytherin, accompanied by
donkeytool, her husband and daughter, and
badasslytherin's mom.) It was a thrill to watch; the effects were awesome, especially the battle at the end. Luna was f-ing fantastic; Ginny was a badass; and Tonks was just plain cool. Cho? Well, I hope she drowns in a pool of her own tears. Blech! As for Harry... we all know how I feel about Harry! Still, I definitely left the theater feeling unsatisfied. Now, I'm not a big fan o' J.K. Rowling, though my gripe with her is more personal than professional. (For those of you who don't already know, I think she's a writer who hit it big in the industry by sheer luck and the fact that children's fantasy was just-then coming to the forefront of literature as a genre; basically she's living, and cashing in, on my dream. Damn her and her luck, not to mention her plucky writing and ambition!) However, even a non-Potter reader such as myself could tell that a whole lot of the book was left out. I'm usually pretty good with going along for the ride and filling in the gaps that the films tend to leave, but, this time, I had to grill my companions for details of import that I'm sure were missing. I felt like Transformers got more out of me; OotP was just something pretty on the screen. And, because of this uber letdown, I am almost tempted to swallow my pride and actually read the series just to see for myself what I missed out on by only watching the film. Almost.
I just finished reading The Great Tree of Avalon series, by T.A. Barron, an amazing read; the trilogy was so well-written that I didn't even realize it was young adult lit. But, from now on, I need to make sure, when I start to read a series of books, that I have the entire series. It seems I always end up buying one and then finding out there's a second or third book I'm missing, or, worse, that the follow-up hasn't been released yet. This drives me nuts because, when I read, I like to plow straight through all the books in a series without stopping until the story comes to an end; being a book-a-day reader only makes it harder to handle when I have to wait. That's the torment I went through after the two days it took me to read books I & II in the series. My mom happened to get them for me for Easter (a little something she does for me every year), and I, like her, assumed that she had grabbed the whole set. Well, at the time, she did; book III hadn't been released yet. So, there I was, barely done with the second book and already wanting more. I hopped on the computer to see if it was in stock at the local Borders - nope. (Ex-Borders employee
pizzdiggity, also made a call for me, just to be sure.) I called around to every bookseller from Braintree to the Cape and got the same answer: "We could order it for you." No, that would take too long. But signing up for a free trial of Amazon Prime - that was the ticket. I got next-day shipping for only $2 and had the impatiently awaited tome in my hand by the time the mail came on Friday. Two days later, I finished, and am now completely content.
Now, there are some books I read knowing that I have to wait for the next one to come out, and that's okay. Somehow, the going into it knowing makes it easier. (Except in the case of Melanie Rawn, whose third book in the Exiles series has been forthcoming for almost 10 years now!) This is how it has been with The Assassin King, the sixth book in the "Symphony of Ages" series, by Elizabeth Haydon. And now that it has become my other recent literary purchase, I'm guessing it will be just as good as those that came before it and worth the wait.