"Breaking Dawn" book club

Well, my neighborhood book club held the meeting for "Breaking Dawn" that was of course a blast. Always fun to chat about that story. I decided that Bella and Edward are definitely one of my favorite literary couples. And I felt that "Breaking Dawn" (which is my favorite book of the series) finally showed me, at least, who Bella and Edward are as a couple. I finally felt I got a sense of their relationship especially in the last half. So many great moments in this book and I loved the little funny moments. *** Spoilers*** The honeymoon: hyperventilating on the bathroom floor, biting pillows, breaking bed frames; drinking blood; wanting to throw the book across the room when Jacob was narrating, wishing he would grow up!; indecent proposals; surprise imprinting, well really beyond surprise; Bella becoming a vampire is where the book gets the absolute best for me: Oops, entwined in a way not appropriate in company, that was graceful even for a vampire, dress shredding due to hunting large prey, you stupid mutt!, the cottage, epiphany of unnecessary "human moments" leaving time for much better activity, crushing the rock, bella being a major player, and of course of course of course, the last two pages where Edward gets to see Bella's thoughts and can't concentrate - "damn it!" :) *** END OF SPOILERS*** Then we took a picture to send in for the video to support Stephenie Meyer who deserves better than what she's gotten from her "fans" and "trusted friends". I did try and take out as much red eye as possible, but what can you do? I guess it's somewhat appropriate ;)

"Dune Messiah"

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the second book in the Dune series. The syntax takes getting used to, but it's made easier by the ingeniousness of the plot and characters. Herbert truly is a master storyteller. You know some serious tragedy is coming, but not sure what, to what extent, or how. The scope of these stories just simply blows my mind. You get a true sense of a lot of different sects of people and different ruling families, and different people vying for power... just incredible. I'm really excited to read the next one.


View all my reviews.

"Midnight Sun"

I feel terrible for Stephenie Meyer! If you haven't heard yet, someone she had entrusted with a copy of her unfinished "Midnight Sun" leaked it onto the internet where it was then spread around. She has put it on hold indefinitely saying were she to finish it in her current mood, she might just have James win and kill and the Cullens. She also stated that she doesn't want her fans to have to be tempted into being dishonest (i.e. looking up an illegally posted copy) and so has posted the copy on her own website. As fun as it was to read what she has written so far, I would much prefer the wait for an actual printed copy. But, here is the link to the unfinished manuscript of what she has written thus far (be warned, it stops right before the meadow). You'll have to scroll down through her message and click on "Midnight Sun Partial Draft" to view it in Adobe Acrobat.

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

Twilight Lexicon has some suggestions on how to show our support. They are as follows:

Post this banner for your MySpaces, Blogs, LiveJournals, website sigs etc. http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=9g8uwo&s=4

Write a letter to Stephenie at
Stephenie Meyer
c/o Author Mail Little, Brown and Company
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Participate in a "We support Stephenie Meyer" video. All you have to do is send a picture of yourself showing support to twilightthanks@gmail.com and put "VIDEO" in the subject line. Be creative with your show of support, but make sure it is a still photograph and not an actual video. We will take the photos and make them into a video that will later be posted on You Tube.

For those of you graphics people who want to do something, we have another idea. We are going to make a virtual quilt. Send a 200 X 200 support graphic to twilightthanks@gmail.com and we will work it into a virtual support quilt. Make sure you put "QUILT" in the subject line.

On Saturday Sept. 13, in honor of Bella’s birthday, wear a twilight themed t-shirt to show your love of the series. If you work or have other obligations that won’t allow you to wear a Twilight shirt, wear all black, white, and red to show your support.

"Nobody was Listening"

So, I just had to link up to this incredibly insightful article about truth and how people react to it. Well, more specifically how the intellectual elite react to it. I find it disturbing that a lot of people will be voting off of an emotional reaction this November, not saying everyone, just a lot. It seems irresponsible to me and in my opinion, will only help to defeat the democracy of this country. Anyway, give the article a read, I found it fascinating. (And p.s. This was written by an extremely intelligent person who also happens to be my favorite author, OSC)

http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2008-08-10-1.html

I'm trying to see how many posts I can do in one day :)

Memory Game
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Poll Results/New Poll

Only 6 votes? Really? 4 said it would help Mccain's campaign, 2 said it would hurt his campaign. Well, it will be interesting to see who Mccain picks. Ethan doesn't seem to think he'll pick Romney because Mccain's campaign has been running ads about Biden saying bad stuff about Obama during the primaries and so Obama would definitely run the same kind of ads about stuff Mccain and Romney said about each other. Anyhow, this weeks poll is pretty self-explanatory I think, so vote! :)

"North and South"

Several months ago I discovered, if not THE best, then one of the best period movies ever! It's a bold statement, but "North and South" deserves it. It's about 4 hours long (it was a BBC miniseries). I own it if you'd like to get on my waiting list to borrow it :) This is one of those few movies where I'd recommend it to everyone. Seriously, everyone I've lent it to so far absolutely loves it. Ethan is my "Mr. Thornton" for sure - perfect combination of manly and sensitive. Let me know if you'd like to borrow it, you know you want to. The above is a short trailer (only 2mn) so you don't have to gamble 4 hours to know if you'd like it.

"The Wedding Dress"

The Wedding Dress by Virginia Ellis

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had a hard time getting into it at first, but about 40 pages into it or so, it seemed to click. There are some "surprises" that aren't really surprises, but I still loved reading how they unfolded. It was a fun, light, romantic, feel-good fluff. Overall, I enjoyed it, and my heart fluttered at the end and I had a smile.


View all my reviews.

Fablehaven:Grip of the Shadow Plague review

Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
These books are so great! I actually enjoy them more than the early Harry Potter(Though I love Harry Potter, especially from book 3 and on)and they're easily on the same level as the rest of the Potter series. The dialogue is smart and snappy, the sibling rivalry between Seth and Kendra brings a smile to my face. And I'm pretty surprised at a good amount of the words he uses considering it's supposed to be a kids' book. (Kids who read these books will have a larger vocabulary than many an adult!). This is quite a talented author, and he has created this wonderful magical world. And it's fun to see the kids take part in helping solve the problems, especially a new character introduced in this book, Gavin. I love seeing that kid kick some serious butt! Does that make me an adolescent stuck in a 26-year-old's body? Probably, but we already knew that :)


View all my reviews.

The Way We Live Now

Well, most of you must know, "surely you must know", I am in love with period movies. A while back, before I started blogging, I ran across a BBC miniseries called The Way We Live Now and discovered a gem. It boasts an amazing cast: Mathew McFadyen (in a very un-darcy role), Cillian Murphy (the whole reason I wanted to rent this, *grrrrrrroooooowwwwwwlllll*, which is probably weird of me), Miranda Otto, and that guy who was Rogue Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend (Jen, Lindsay, and Heather will remember that). McFadyen was a revelation for me in this. Of course I loved him in 2005 P&P, but he is truly truly talented. He plays Felix in this, who goes after a rich introverted and socially akward girl in order to help his family's financial situation. And, he's hilarious as a drunk! I could only find one usable clip on youtube. It's between Cillian Murphy and Miranda Otto. They were once engaged, but she never showed up when they were supposed to meet up a couple years back. He figured it was off and wrote to ask her to officially release him (he didn't say, but had fallen in love with another woman). So, what does she do? Go all the way to London to face him. The library has it and I would highly recommend watching it!

Veggie Tales Silly Songs

This is Ava's new favorite silly song from Veggie Tales. Be warned: it gets stuck in your head. Larry the Cucumber makes me smile.

If you have lived through the '90's then this one will probably make you smile. Just think of all the 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys, and Boyz II Men videos we lived through :) Especially the white outfits, the overly bright lighting, the cuts to each member during the chorus, the shape of the lit up tunnell, the rap break. good stuff.

McCain/Romney poll

So, I've decided to try and have a new poll up every week. We'll see how that goes. But I wanted to see what people's opinions were on this. Since the economy will be such a big issue this election, do you think Romney's impressive financial background will help? Or, do you believe that his Mormonism will put off enough Evangelical voters to hurt McCain's chances of winning? Obviously the poll is anonymous, but if you have reasoning you'd want to share, please feel free to leave comments on this post.

If my life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

I saw this on Mike and Amy's blog. Here's what you do:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the "next" button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!

Here's mine:

Opening Credits: Elephant Love Medley- "Moulin Rouge"
Waking Up: Sound of Pulling Heaven Down- Blue October
First Day At School: Make Us One- Sally Deford
Falling In Love: The Very Thought of You- Rod Stewart
Fight Song: Finlandia Op 26 No 7
Breaking Up: Oh Fortuna- Opera Babes
Prom: My Soul Hungered- "Book of Mormon Video" (NOT movie!)
Life's OK: With My Own Eyes- "Atonement"
Mental Breakdown: Looks Like You've Started Something- Linda Eder
Driving: Girls of the Night- "Jekyll & Hyde "
Flashback: If All Men- "Book of Mormon Video"
Getting Back Together: That Old Feeling- Rod Stewart
Wedding: A Heart Full of Love- "Les Miserables"
Birth of Child: Code of Silence- Stephen Schwartz
Final Battle: Beautiful Disaster- Kelly Clarkson
Death Scene: This is the Moment- "Jekyll & Hyde"
Funeral Song: All the World- Fauxliage
Credits: One Day More- "Les Miserables"

I swear I didn't cheat! I only skipped songs that were classical (After all, Symphony 5 No 3 Allegro doesn't make sense in this) or the two Weird Al songs that I came across, because it's in my Library, but I haven't listened to them in forever. Also, if the song was from a musical or movie I put the title in quotations instead of the artist (I figured that would be more recognizable.)

Twilight Movie Update

I have no doubt those in my neighborhood have already heard due to the diligance of Tiffany and Lori ;) but just in case, the Twilight movie release date has been moved UP to November 21st since there was an opening left by Harry Potter moving to next summer! Of course, that stinks about Harry Potter, but that's exciting for Twilight. Go Twilight!!!

The Dark Knight

Holy crap! Are you serious?! This movie is so kick-butt! I was so agitated that I couldn't keep still and kept fidgeting in my seat. Okay, so if you want a movie where the hero comes out on top and unscathed don't see this movie. It is very dark. That being said, holy crap. This movie works on so many levels. It is such an awesome adventure movie - the fight scenes and chase scenes are beyond cool; there are some funny one liners and little moments of humor to breathe before the next onslaught. The sound track is the best soundtrack for this kind of movie! I couldn't believe how it just got your blood pumping! Music can make or break a movie, and the music in this movie perfectly complimented it. There are also some very deep ethical dilemmas. The Joker is the embodiment of pure evil without any scruples whatsoever. I have no idea how the screenwriters (Christopher Nolan, also director, and his brother) came up with the stuff that the Joker does. Every part was so subtely and superbly acted. And the hype about Heath Ledger as the Joker is completely justified! You forget you're watching the same guy who was in "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale". No wonder Ledger had such a hard time sleeping while doing this role. It was icky feeling to watch him, I can't imagine trying to embody that character as an actor. If you haven't already seen it (which I'm sure everyone else already has) GO! This is beyond a comic book/adventure movie. This is high quality stuff!

This is Tay's favorite dance to watch on Youtube. She seems to be a big fan of Cyd Charisse ('cause she has good taste like her mommy!). She also likes the dance scene from "Singing in the Rain" when Ms. Charisse is in the green dress. As a side note, my high school friends can attest to this, I always wanted to be that "chick in the green dress" from that movie! That was the most awesome part in my mind (my second choice would have been Leena "An' I can' stand 'im!") Anyway, Tays could watch this dance multiple times a day and is enraptured during the whole thing (as you can see in the pic). And I've noticed I'm a big fan of parentheses! Go parentheses! You rock! (um, yeah, I only had like 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night)
Edit: For those who might not be familiar with Cyd Charisse, she is in the blue dress in this dance

Up and Running

Here we are ladies and gents! And here is where we'll stay. Again I apologize for the inconvenience if you already favorited the other site, but rest assured, you won't have to do that again. :) Brace yourself for lots of boredom, boredom, and Aroura's ranting opinions on things (which is basically a long synonym for boredom) ;) Don't worry, I know if you're visiting this blog, you are either massocistic, or find me amusing - whichever is fine to me. (As a side note: dry, self-depricating humor doesn't always come across without my magnificent dry, self-depricating expressions to accompany it, but feel free to imagine those as you read through this post)