So JOHN CARTER came out this last weekend, and apparently is not doing well at the box office. This saddens me. I love movies. You all know I love movies. I post lists of favorite movies on this very blog! I used to review movies on a website back in the early days of the interwebs. Heck, I'm even IN a movie. (No, seriously! I was an extra in the airport scenes of THE RM. Check it out!) And more importantly, I loved THIS movie, and hearing people bash it is making me le sad.
You can imagine my excitement at hearing about JOHN CARTER. It's based on A PRINCESS OF MARS, the first book in the Barsoom series by Edgard Rice Burroughs, who also wrote TARZAN. I have never read the Barsoom books, but c'mon, these books were written over a hundred years ago, about a Civil War veteran fighting giant aliens on Mars! What's not to love? Also, it was directed by Andrew Stanton (No, not the Andrew Stanton I went to high school with, the director of FINDING NEMO and WALL-E). The movie had a huge budget, a great cast, and every clip and trailer looked like enormous fun. In fact, the first trailer introduced me to the song "My Body Is A Cage" by Peter Gabriel, which I loved so much I bought the single.
My sister, who knows of my love for movies and my excitement for this one in particular, offered to babysit for us, despite the newness and screaminess of Baby Roo, and so Mike and I were able to go on Saturday. And see what was one of the Best. Movies. I've. Seen. In. Forever.
It was fun. It was funny. It was exciting. It was romantic. It was dramatic. It was, in short, everything you might want in a movie. I have no idea how long it was, but when it was over, I wanted to stay in my seat, clapping my hands and yelling, "Again! Again!" like a Teletubby.
There were no inappropriately sexual jokes. There was no scatological humor. The dialogue wasn't embarrassingly cheesy (a failing of many sci fi movies). The special effects were amazing, I never once saw something and thought, Green screen! In fact, both my husband and I admitted to having the sudden realization that the Tharks WEREN'T real . . . Tharks are ten feet tall, have four arms and tusks, and we fully believed in them. The acting was excellent, too, both voice and physical.
In fact, the acting was stellar. Look at the cast!
Willem Defoe. Samantha Morton. Thomas Haden Church. Dominic West. Mark Strong. James Purefoy. Ciaran Hinds. Taylor Kitsch is great as John Carter, and I loved Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars. LOVED her!
First off, she's a scientist and a fighter, not your typical damsel in distress. She also has a very nice body. Yeah, okay, that sounded weird. But I have a pet peeve with movies, especially lately. I have a little problem with people asking me to believe that Angelina Jolie, who looks frighteningly gaunt lately, can jump off a moving train and not snap like a brittle twig. Watching SALT I was cringing every time she did a stunt or got in a fight, she looked sickly and fragile. Lynn Collins has a shapely, healthy figure. She looked good in a bikini, but she also looked like she could swing that sword without falling over, and she totally did. She was tough without being masculine, intelligent without being portrayed as a nerd with no social skills. She was a REAL WOMAN.
Also, I totally want an eight-legged Martian dog. I just do, okay? Disney is really missing out on some marketing opportunities. If there were John Carter action figures, I would buy them all. And a plush Wolla. (I think that was the dog's name.) And some Dejah Thoris paper dolls. Where are my Happy Meal toys? I have a light up Jake Sully from AVATAR, and his six-legged blue horse. Where's my John Carter with glowing medallion, huh? HUH?
And here's the thing about this movie tanking, which Laini Taylor brought my attention to last week. She's started the hashtag #JohnCarterParty on Twitter, and has been encouraging people to see it. Not because she's a huge Barsoom fan, either, but because of what it represents. This is an intelligent, fun, big budget science fiction movie. If you want to see more movies like this, you need to show your support. More good sci fi and fantasy books can be adapted into good movies if Hollywood sees a profit. More good sci fi and fantasy movies can be made, period. Sure, there are some standouts in recent years like AVATAR or the new STAR TREK, but for every AVATAR, there's at least five MISSION TO MARS. (About about fifteen Adam Sandler movies. *shudder*)
If you need more convincing, allow me to sum it all up in this handy list:
Why You Should See JOHN CARTER:
1. Great cast, great acting.
2. A good story.
3. Great effects.
4. Excellent female role models. (Not just Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, but also Samantha Morton as Sola the Thark maiden.)
5. Suitable for (nearly) the whole family, the violence was more science fictiony than gory/shocking, there was no sex, profanity, or poo!
6. (And most importantly) It will encourage Hollywood to make more fun sci fi/fantasy adventure movies!
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
A Baby! And the Best of the Books!
So, I was going to put up my best of the year lists, and then I totally had a baby and stuff. For the purposes of this blog, the baby shall be known as Baby Roo. ALL HAIL BABY ROO! We call him Baby Roo because, at 6 lbs. 2 ozs. he was the smallest of my three children, and when we brought him home from the hospital even newborn clothes were so big that he looked like a handkerchief with knots tied at the corners, much like the illustrations of Roo in the Winnie-the-Pooh books.
Baby Roo got off to a bit of a rough start. The delivery went well, but about fifteen minutes later he stopped breathing. It turned out he had an infection in his lungs, and he ended up staying in the Special Care Nursery for ten days with oxygen masks and antibiotics and such. I was staying on at the hospital to be near him when I suddenly collapsed a few days later, with the same infection, which turned out to be Strep A. Strep A is not what you have when you have strep throat, Strep A is also known as the Flesh-Eating Bacteria, it's horrible and deadly. Roo and I were lucky to be in an excellent hospital (What up, LDS Hospital?! You rock!), and were able to get immediate care. We both made full recoveries and are doing well, though Roo cannot go out and about and potentially have germs breathed on him, and he is still very small.
And that, gentle readers, is our story.
Enough about sick babies, I say! It is now time for the books, and the talking of books thereof and whatnot! For behold, while I was in the hospital, I did indeed make a list of my favorite books from 2011. Now, remember, not all these books were published in 2011. Some were older, one or two were ARCs of books that are just available now. But I read them in 2011, and so they are on the list!
BEHOLD, I SAY! The list of my favorite books from 2011!
(And, incidentally, after maybe 1 or 2 on each list, they're not really in any particular order. I'm being a bit lazy this year.)
PICTURE BOOKS
1. THE CHRISTMAS MAGIC by Lauren Thompson and John J. Muth
2. A BALL FOR DAISY by Chris Raschka (This year's Caldecott Winner, announced on the day Baby Roo was born, no less!)
3. THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O. Henry and P. J. Lynch (It's Lynch's beautiful illustrations that make this story magical for me.)
4. OUTSIDE OVER THERE by Maurice Sendak (The basis for LABYRINTH!)
5. PIG KAHUNA by Jennifer Sattler
6. BLOOM! A LITTLE BOOK ABOUT FINDING LOVE by Maria van Lieshout
7. SLIDE ALREADY! by Kit Allen
8. HIGHER! HIGHER! by Leslie Patricelli (Really, any of her books. My three-year-old cannot get enough of them!)
9. SONG OF THE STARS: A CHRISTMAS STORY by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Allison Jay
MIDDLE GRADE
1. A MILLION MILES FROM BOSTON by Karen Day (No relation to me, just an absolutely superb writer!)
2. A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS by Megan Whalen Turner (The Attolia books just get better and better, she's amazing!)
3. THE ADVENTURES OF NANNY PIGGINS by R.A. Spratt and Dan Santat
4. THE GIGGLER TREATMENT by Roddy Doyle (I disapprove of "poo jokes" usually, but this was hysterically funny.)
5. ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby (It's got vikings!)
6. LIESL AND PO by Lauren Oliver
7. WONDERSTRUCK by Brian Selznick
8. ENCHANTED GLASS by Diana Wynne Jones
9. THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA by Tom Angleberger
10. HAZZARDOUS UNIVERSE by Julie Wright and Kevin Wasden (Not just saying this because they're my friends: this book is awesome.)
11. A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness
12. LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld (Okay, so it's supposed to be YA. That's why I'm putting it at the bottom by the YA books . . . An avid middle grade reader could handle this book. They would love this book. This book is awesome.)
YOUNG ADULT
1. HOW TO SAVE A LIFE by Sara Zarr (This really is my favorite YA book of last year. So beautiful, so heart-breaking!)
2. DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor
3. IF I STAY/WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman (You must, must read them both!)
4. DARKNESS FALLS by Cate Tiernan
5. FALLEN GRACE by Mary Hooper
6. WINTER TOWN by Stephen Emond
7. WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan
8. BOY 21 by Matthew Quick (So odd, so wonderful, so different from what I expected.)
9. ALL THESE THINGS I'VE DONE by Gabrielle Zevin
10. DRINK, SLAY, LOVE by Sarah Beth Durst
11. SHUT OUT by Kody Keplinger
12. THE DEAD AND THE GONE/THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Again, you're going to have to read them both. Reading all three at one go wouldn't be remiss.)
(Yes, there are twelve favorite YA books. This is 2012, after all!)
NONFICTION
1. DOC by Mary Doria Russell (A fictionalized but historically accurate bio of Doc Holliday. You know you want to read it!)
2. THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot
3. UNFAMILIAR FISHES by Sarah Vowell
4. BOSSYPANTS by Tina Fey
5. MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS by Rhoda Janzen
6. CHOCOLATE: A BITTERSWEET SAGA OF DARK AND LIGHT by Mort Rosenblum (If you attempt to read this without chocolate near at hand, you will suffer. I'm warning you!)
7. YES MAN by Danny Wallace (A reread. Just so I could laugh until I cried yet again!)
8. CHOCOLATE NEVER FAILETH by Annette Lyon (An awesome cookbook for chocolate lovers, full of fun facts and anecdotes as well as great recipes.)
9. THE UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER COOKBOOK by Dinah Bucholz (If you're a Harry Potter fan, you must have this. If you're curious about British cooking, you must have this, too. Full of classic recipes, with references to the Harry Potter books as well as the history of the dishes in general (Did you know what gravy used to be made of?!)!
ADULT FICTION
1. THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern (So good. So very, very good.)
2. AMERICAN GODS: The 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Neil Gaiman (So good. So very, very good.)
3. SHOGUN by James Clavell (I've seen bits of the miniseries. I've heard friends rave about it, while others couldn't make it through. BUT I MADE IT THROUGH, AND IT WAS AWESOME!)
4. HEARTLESS by Gail Carriger
5. THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery
6. THE SILENT LAND by Graham Joyce
7. THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin (He better hurry the frak up with the sequel . . . )
8. I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU by Dan Wells (I don't want to kill you either, Dan, but I do hate you just a little for writing the perfect ending to this trilogy.)
9. ROOM by Emma Donaghue
10. HARD MAGIC by Larry Correia (It's like Dashiell Hammett went nuts and started writing about telepaths!)
11. CHANGES by Jim Butcher
12. DANDELION WINE by Ray Bradbury/SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (Okay, what's up with that? Well, this year I reread both of these for the first time since high school, and I have to say, they both got better with time, and I recommend you re/read them.)
Baby Roo got off to a bit of a rough start. The delivery went well, but about fifteen minutes later he stopped breathing. It turned out he had an infection in his lungs, and he ended up staying in the Special Care Nursery for ten days with oxygen masks and antibiotics and such. I was staying on at the hospital to be near him when I suddenly collapsed a few days later, with the same infection, which turned out to be Strep A. Strep A is not what you have when you have strep throat, Strep A is also known as the Flesh-Eating Bacteria, it's horrible and deadly. Roo and I were lucky to be in an excellent hospital (What up, LDS Hospital?! You rock!), and were able to get immediate care. We both made full recoveries and are doing well, though Roo cannot go out and about and potentially have germs breathed on him, and he is still very small.
And that, gentle readers, is our story.
Enough about sick babies, I say! It is now time for the books, and the talking of books thereof and whatnot! For behold, while I was in the hospital, I did indeed make a list of my favorite books from 2011. Now, remember, not all these books were published in 2011. Some were older, one or two were ARCs of books that are just available now. But I read them in 2011, and so they are on the list!
BEHOLD, I SAY! The list of my favorite books from 2011!
(And, incidentally, after maybe 1 or 2 on each list, they're not really in any particular order. I'm being a bit lazy this year.)
PICTURE BOOKS
1. THE CHRISTMAS MAGIC by Lauren Thompson and John J. Muth
2. A BALL FOR DAISY by Chris Raschka (This year's Caldecott Winner, announced on the day Baby Roo was born, no less!)
3. THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O. Henry and P. J. Lynch (It's Lynch's beautiful illustrations that make this story magical for me.)
4. OUTSIDE OVER THERE by Maurice Sendak (The basis for LABYRINTH!)
5. PIG KAHUNA by Jennifer Sattler
6. BLOOM! A LITTLE BOOK ABOUT FINDING LOVE by Maria van Lieshout
7. SLIDE ALREADY! by Kit Allen
8. HIGHER! HIGHER! by Leslie Patricelli (Really, any of her books. My three-year-old cannot get enough of them!)
9. SONG OF THE STARS: A CHRISTMAS STORY by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Allison Jay
MIDDLE GRADE
1. A MILLION MILES FROM BOSTON by Karen Day (No relation to me, just an absolutely superb writer!)
2. A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS by Megan Whalen Turner (The Attolia books just get better and better, she's amazing!)
3. THE ADVENTURES OF NANNY PIGGINS by R.A. Spratt and Dan Santat
4. THE GIGGLER TREATMENT by Roddy Doyle (I disapprove of "poo jokes" usually, but this was hysterically funny.)
5. ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby (It's got vikings!)
6. LIESL AND PO by Lauren Oliver
7. WONDERSTRUCK by Brian Selznick
8. ENCHANTED GLASS by Diana Wynne Jones
9. THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA by Tom Angleberger
10. HAZZARDOUS UNIVERSE by Julie Wright and Kevin Wasden (Not just saying this because they're my friends: this book is awesome.)
11. A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness
12. LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld (Okay, so it's supposed to be YA. That's why I'm putting it at the bottom by the YA books . . . An avid middle grade reader could handle this book. They would love this book. This book is awesome.)
YOUNG ADULT
1. HOW TO SAVE A LIFE by Sara Zarr (This really is my favorite YA book of last year. So beautiful, so heart-breaking!)
2. DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor
3. IF I STAY/WHERE SHE WENT by Gayle Forman (You must, must read them both!)
4. DARKNESS FALLS by Cate Tiernan
5. FALLEN GRACE by Mary Hooper
6. WINTER TOWN by Stephen Emond
7. WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan
8. BOY 21 by Matthew Quick (So odd, so wonderful, so different from what I expected.)
9. ALL THESE THINGS I'VE DONE by Gabrielle Zevin
10. DRINK, SLAY, LOVE by Sarah Beth Durst
11. SHUT OUT by Kody Keplinger
12. THE DEAD AND THE GONE/THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Again, you're going to have to read them both. Reading all three at one go wouldn't be remiss.)
(Yes, there are twelve favorite YA books. This is 2012, after all!)
NONFICTION
1. DOC by Mary Doria Russell (A fictionalized but historically accurate bio of Doc Holliday. You know you want to read it!)
2. THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot
3. UNFAMILIAR FISHES by Sarah Vowell
4. BOSSYPANTS by Tina Fey
5. MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS by Rhoda Janzen
6. CHOCOLATE: A BITTERSWEET SAGA OF DARK AND LIGHT by Mort Rosenblum (If you attempt to read this without chocolate near at hand, you will suffer. I'm warning you!)
7. YES MAN by Danny Wallace (A reread. Just so I could laugh until I cried yet again!)
8. CHOCOLATE NEVER FAILETH by Annette Lyon (An awesome cookbook for chocolate lovers, full of fun facts and anecdotes as well as great recipes.)
9. THE UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER COOKBOOK by Dinah Bucholz (If you're a Harry Potter fan, you must have this. If you're curious about British cooking, you must have this, too. Full of classic recipes, with references to the Harry Potter books as well as the history of the dishes in general (Did you know what gravy used to be made of?!)!
ADULT FICTION
1. THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern (So good. So very, very good.)
2. AMERICAN GODS: The 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION by Neil Gaiman (So good. So very, very good.)
3. SHOGUN by James Clavell (I've seen bits of the miniseries. I've heard friends rave about it, while others couldn't make it through. BUT I MADE IT THROUGH, AND IT WAS AWESOME!)
4. HEARTLESS by Gail Carriger
5. THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG by Muriel Barbery
6. THE SILENT LAND by Graham Joyce
7. THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin (He better hurry the frak up with the sequel . . . )
8. I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU by Dan Wells (I don't want to kill you either, Dan, but I do hate you just a little for writing the perfect ending to this trilogy.)
9. ROOM by Emma Donaghue
10. HARD MAGIC by Larry Correia (It's like Dashiell Hammett went nuts and started writing about telepaths!)
11. CHANGES by Jim Butcher
12. DANDELION WINE by Ray Bradbury/SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut (Okay, what's up with that? Well, this year I reread both of these for the first time since high school, and I have to say, they both got better with time, and I recommend you re/read them.)
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